12x13 - Pressed for Crime

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Narrator: a brutal m*rder, lots of suspects, and

Conflicting evidence...

But the forensics were clear on one thing --

The k*ller knew his victim, and that alone gave investigators a

Head start.

For many young women, the allure of the stage, theater, and the

Arts is difficult to ignore.

-Year-old heather stigliano thought she might have what it

Takes to succeed.

She liked to pose and model and be onstage, and she had a

Beautiful voice.

Narrator: after high school, heather planned to pursue her

Dreams but put them on hold for a year as a favor to her mother.

I had just gone through a divorce, and she promised to

Stay with me for a year until I got my legs, and when that year

Was up, she made her plans, and she moved.

Narrator: her destination was myrtle beach, south carolina,

Where she had some friends.

She wanted to be in the entertainment industry.

I know she loved singing, and she wanted that, and I think

That's one of the reasons why she moved down to the

Myrtle beach area, because this area has a lot of entertainment.

Narrator: heather rented a small apartment in this house

Near the beach and took a job as a waitress.

But heather found it difficult to get work as a singer, and she

Told her mother she was discouraged.

She wanted me to come down.

She was feeling homesick, and things were not going as well as

She wanted it to go down there.

Narrator: it would be the last time susan heard her

Daughter's voice.

A week later, friends found heather's body in her apartment.

She had been beaten, stabbed, and strangled to death with an

Electrical cord.

The crime was one of the most brutal crimes that I've seen as

A prosecutor.

Narrator: next to heather's body, investigators found broken

Pieces of plastic.

There was small, black plastic pieces, particles

Found -- some on her body, some scattered around the room, and

Laying next to her body, which we could not identify.

Narrator: there were no signs of forced entry, but the motive

Appeared to be robbery.

Heather's wallet, her -millimeter camera, television

Set, and automobile were missing.

We didn't understand at that time how he got in the house

Or anything else, so, yeah, we were very concerned about it,

And we wanted to try to find him or her before another crime

Could take place.

Narrator: police issued a "be on the lookout" call for

Heather's car, a -year-old chevrolet monza with

Pennsylvania license plates.

We have a system that is nationwide computer-run through

The fbi in washington, d.c., Called ncic -- national

Crime information center.

And we can enter stolen vehicles, stolen items,

Articles -- pretty much anything -- and it will go out

Nationwide.

Narrator: at the autopsy, the medical examiner photographed

And then measured the wounds on heather's body.

There were wounds in all.

I will do diagrams, photographs, and acetate

Tracings -- lay a sheet of acetate over the body, trace the

Injuries onto the acetate.

Those are then kept as evidence.

Narrator: from the amount of decomposition, dr. Downs

Estimated heather had been dead for about a week.

There were several s*ab wounds that were inflicted to

Her body after she d*ed.

There were some injuries that probably happened during the

Final few moments.

It was obvious that there was at least three different methods

Of m*rder there 'cause she had a wire that was around her neck.

Narrator: the medical examiner also found a bloody

Shoe impression on heather's shirt and what looked like Kn*fe

Wounds on her neck.

Both were indications the k*ller tried to subdue her.

A r*pe test kit found no biological evidence of sexual

as*ault.

One of the things that you try to do as a forensic

Pathologist is to try to tell the story as best you can of

What happened to an individual.

In a case like this where there is a savage att*ck on a young

Girl, you really want to try to answer those questions.

Narrator: in the search for the k*ller, investigators found

A significant clue at the crime scene.

The k*ller put a pillow under heather's head, but there was no

Blood on the pillow.

It looked to me like it had been placed there -- not a part

Of the scene.

Narrator: and it looked as if the k*ller knew her.

Narrator: at the crime scene, investigators found several

Clues to the identity of heather stigliano's k*ller.

The evidence showed the k*ller tried to clean up her apartment

Afterwards.

There was several places there was blood was found, but

It was obvious that somebody had tried to wipe up a lot of the

Blood -- a lot of smears and stuff like that.

Narrator: analysts applied a chemical called amido black to

The bathroom and kitchen floor.

It was determined that this chemical would react to the

Dried blood left at the crime scene.

Evidence such as footwear impressions -- those that were

Partially visible and some that you couldn't see at all.

Narrator: seconds after it was applied, multiple shoe

Impressions appeared...

From a size- athletic shoe.

It was the same shoe impression found on heather's shirt.

You know it belongs to the bad guy.

When you get evidence like that, it's been a good day, so you

Feel good inside.

Narrator: in a search for suspects, investigators spoke

With heather's friends, co-workers, and acquaintances,

And there were quite a few.

She was very friendly.

She loved to be with her friends.

She wanted to be part of anything that had energy.

Narrator: police discovered that heather had an

Ex-boyfriend, jack norton, who was a pilot stationed at nearby

Pope air force base.

Heather was having some problems and wanted to get back

Up with him.

We didn't know if they had gotten back up and, you know,

Some domestic situation going on -- argument, struggle, or

Something like that might have happened.

Narrator: investigators asked m*llitary officials where norton

Was stationed on the week of heather's m*rder.

Found out while we were there that he had been deployed, that

He wasn't around during the time that she would have d*ed.

Narrator: norton had been in saudi arabia that week and was

Eliminated as a suspect.

Next, heather's family told investigators that she had had a

Problem with a man at a halloween party several days

Before her m*rder.

She claimed that an air force captain named robert dolan had

Sexually assaulted her at the party.

Well, she had drank a little bit more than she should have.

She did tell me that she thought that she had been r*ped by one

Of the -- the husbands of one of the guests there while she was

Passed out.

Well, I think he had around years in the air force and,

I think, three kids, and that would be a motive.

This was gonna ruin his career.

There was no doubt about it.

Narrator: captain dolan's wife, carol, also became a

Suspect.

We felt that carol had gotten word that heather was going to

The police about this, about being sexually assaulted by her

Husband, and, of course, that just gave us more, you know,

Reason to suspect carol of either committing this homicide

Or her letting her husband, robert, know and him committing

This homicide, or them together.

Narrator: heather never did report this incident to police.

When questioned, captain dolan and his wife cooperated fully

With the investigation and provided their fingerprints for

Analysis.

I compared the ink prints to the latent prints taken from the

Crime scene, and none of the ink standards were identified to the

Latent prints at the crime scene.

We couldn't say he didn'tdo it, but there was nothing

Indicating he diddo it.

Narrator: then investigators identified a fourth suspect.

Chris harkins was heather's friend who stayed in her

Apartment when he was in myrtle beach on business.

After interviewing chris, it was found that they were just

Friends and there was no sexual contact or anything like that

Between them.

Narrator: and harkins had an alibi.

He was in lexington, south carolina, miles away

The week of heather's m*rder.

[ Telephone rings ] then investigators got an

Unexpected call from an antique dealer miles away, in

Pawleys island, south carolina.

He and his wife read about heather's m*rder in the

Newspaper and had some information they thought might

Help.

[ Bell rings ] they told us a gentleman who

Had come down there -- he looked like he had been in some type of

A scrap or fight, and he was trying to sell a camera.

Narrator: the camera was the same make and model as the one

Missing from heather's apartment.

Just real suspicious-acting to them the whole time.

He even got a little aggravated when they said they didn't want

It.

He told them he just wanted some money, and he had a look that

Scared them.

Narrator: he described the man as white, mid-s, with dark

Hair.

And he had the presence of mind to write down his license-plate

Number on his coffee cup.

It was registered to heather stigliano, who was our

Victim.

So, at that moment -- total excitement, a great first-line

Suspect.

We're getting somewhere in our case now.

Narrator: an antique dealer gave police a detailed

Description of the man driving heather stigliano's car.

From that description, a police artist created this composite

Sketch, which was distributed to news outlets throughout the

Country.

As a result, employees of a local construction company in

Myrtle beach told police that they recognized him.

They said, "well, we had a subject named james whipple that

Worked here but all of a sudden was just gone, never called in,

Never gave us a notice.

He's been gone for about a week now," which was kind of

Connecting to some of the timeline.

Narrator: james whipple was years old and had a police

Record in four different states.

He had several burglaries, grand larcenies, unauthorized

Use of vehicle, petty larcenies, even a d.u.i. Or two with

Resisting arrest.

Narrator: six days later, police found whipple in

Melbourne, florida, driving heather stigliano's car.

I was on top of the world.

In one day, we came up with two bits of information -- a suspect

And a car.

Narrator: but what connection, if any, did whipple

Have to heather stigliano?

Investigators learned that whipple knew heather's friend,

Chris harkins, because they had worked together in the past.

But that was the only connection that whipple had had

With heather at the time.

They had briefly met right then, and, you know, he left with

Chris.

There was no other connection between heather and whipple.

Narrator: inside heather's car was a virtual treasure trove

Of evidence.

Found a lot more than I expected to find.

Went through a methodical process of working from the

Outside in on the vehicle.

Narrator: under the front seat, investigators found a bent

Serrated Kn*fe, a broken clothes iron, a pair of men's athletic

Shoes, and bloody clothing.

They sent the Kn*fe to forensic pathologist dr. Jamie downs.

With the serrated Kn*fe, I looked at the separation of the

Tines of the serrated Kn*fe, the little points that stuck out,

And noted that those were at repeated intervals -- very

Consistent repeated intervals.

Narrator: dr. Downs then compared the size of the

Serrations to the Kn*fe marks on heather's skin...

And they were the same.

A group of abrasions on the side of her neck, no bigger than

A half an inch, was matched back to a Kn*fe in the possession of

The suspect in the case.

Narrator: dr. Downs also compared the clothes iron found

In whipple's possession to heather's wounds and

Concluded the iron had also been used in the crime.

Next, steve derrick wanted to see if the black plastic pieces

From the crime scene came from this iron.

So, at that point, it became a puzzle.

After everything was photographically documented, I

Started gluing the plastic pieces back together.

Narrator: after some trial and error, derrick discovered

The pieces fit perfectly.

The pieces from the crime scene and the iron in the car

Created a link to whipple being at the crime scene.

Narrator: investigators also analyzed the athletic shoes

Found in whipple's possession.

They were size , the same size as the shoe impressions found in

Blood at the crime scene.

Steve derrick used standard red fingerprint powder to dust the

Right shoe, then made an impression on a transparency.

The size and tread pattern were the same.

More importantly, the wear patterns, known as accidental

Characteristics, were virtually identical.

There were a number of small cuts and little nicked-out areas

In the raised areas of the outsole, which corresponded from

That shoe to the bloody impression from the bathroom.

The right shoe that had been taken from whipple was the shoe,

To the exclusion of all others.

Narrator: derrick also concluded this was the shoe

Which made the bloody impression on heather's shirt.

The outsole design of whipple's shoes matched this

Bloody impression on the t-shirt.

Narrator: and tests showed that clothing in the car

Contained heather's blood.

They did that by first determining the type -- that the

Blood was consistent with her blood type -- and then, two,

That the blood contained these enzymes that her blood

Contained.

Narrator: in his very first interview with police,

James whipple confessed.

He said, "I k*lled her, and I deserve the death penalty for

Doing what I did to this young lady."

Narrator: james whipple told police his addiction to cr*ck

Cocaine had taken over his life and that the need for money to

Support his habit drove him to m*rder.

His family indicated that he had had some real problems with

dr*gs and that he had an anger problem.

He had lost his wife, his marriage, his kids, and

Everything because of the dr*gs, and they said that it was

Something he could not control at all.

Narrator: whipple knew heather stigliano and knew she

Worked as a waitress and would have cash in her apartment.

He knew that she worked at a restaurant, had good tip money,

Usually, on most nights.

Narrator: prosecutors believe whipple went to heather's

Apartment for one reason and one reason only -- money.

He asked heather if his friend chris was there, which was

Probably a ruse to see if she was alone.

Heather said she had his telephone number and allowed him

Inside.

Desperate for money and high on dr*gs, whipple att*cked.

I don't want to hurt you.

I just want money.

Narrator: he struck her with the clothes iron, which broke

The plastic housing...

Then strangled her to death.

Whipple took her money and whatever household items he

Thought he could sell.

He also stole her car.

The next day, whipple said he returned to heather's apartment

To clean up.

He wiped his fingerprints and tried to remove as much blood as

He could.

But forensic tests found the shoe impressions he thought he

Had cleaned.

Before leaving, whipple placed a pillow under heather's head --

A sign he knew her.

He also took the clothes iron and Kn*fe, later found in his

Possession.

[ Bell rings ] a short time later, he tried to

Sell heather's camera to an antique dealer, who notified

Authorities.

We usually don't buy cameras.

Down the road.

[ Bell rings ] we told the jury jim whipple

Was guilty in terms of committing the offense.

He had confessed not only to police -- and the judge was

Gonna allow those confessions in 'cause all of them were done

Properly -- but he had talked to journalists, he had talked to

Detention officers, he had written letters telling

Everybody he'd committed this terrible crime.

I never had a m*rder suspect, you know, confess like that and

Askfor the death penalty and say it so many times.

Narrator: james whipple was convicted of first-degree m*rder

But didn't get the death penalty.

Instead, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

This, in my mind, is the second most horrific case that

I've ever been involved in, in terms of the trauma to the

Victim, the t*rture that the victim endured, the level of

v*olence used to commit the m*rder.

Narrator: the forensic analysis not only identified the

Perpetrator...

But documented the extent of his brutality.

Forensic science is amazing with the evidence that they can

Find from a piece of hair, you know, a little dna or whatever.

But it doesn't surprise me in the least.

That really, to me, is impressive.

That's what forensics is, is answering questions that haven't

Even been thought of yet.

Any time I can bring a case to a positive conclusion and

Provide a service to one of my fellow citizens, then I've done

My job, I feel good.