12x14 - Finger Pane

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Narrator: a serial k*ller was loose...

And investigators had no leads, until an alert investigator saw

Something no one else had seen...

A possible fingerprint on the victim's skin.

The problem was how to collect it.

Texas city, texas, is one of the largest oil-refinery sites in

America.

The oil business is labor-intensive, which poses its

Own unique set of problems.

We have a large population of contract workers that come in

From out of state -- all over the country -- come in to work

At the refinery.

And it greatly impacts the community, the police

Department, from all facets -- traffic and crime and things

Like that.

Narrator: that became all too clear on may , .

Just after dawn, in the marshland south of the city,

Municipal workers made a gruesome discovery.

They found the bodies of two young women on the edge of a

Dirt road -- about feet apart.

The first girl that we came upon was nude except for her

Shoes, was bound and bloody.

The second one was bloody, nude.

Narrator: the victims' clothing was scattered near

Their bodies.

The contents of their purses had been strewn about the scene.

Forensic investigators estimated they had been dead for less than

Six hours, making the time of death sometime around midnight.

I've run across a lot of deceased scenes and been

Involved in a lot of homicides since.

I haven't seen anything like it.

I mean, you could just...

When you saw the first -- the first body, the first victim

Lying there, you could feel the anger that was carried out that

Day.

At least I could.

I could feel it.

It was horrific.

We were dealing with somebody who's had absolutely zero regard

For another human being.

He was just mean and sorry, was my first thought.

Narrator: the two women were identified as -year-old

Dana feazell and -year-old cammy keleman.

Background checks revealed both worked as prostitutes.

I do believe that my sister was a manic-depressive and she

Just couldn't get any help that she needed, so she took towards

dr*gs.

She self-medicated herself and...

She got on the wrong drug, and it just took her.

Narrator: dana feazell's story was similar -- she had a

Lifelong drug problem, and she had been arrested many times by

Local police.

They were both beautiful young ladies, came from very

Good families, had a lot going for them.

It was a tragedy.

It was a tragedy that they went down that path.

Why?

I don't think anybody ever knows.

When we got there, we realized the remoteness of that

Area -- and the sage brush and the snakes and the coyotes and

The insects.

We couldn't get back in there to check to see if there was

Another girl that had been k*lled.

Narrator: so the coast guard conducted an aerial search.

Fortunately, there were no other victims.

Investigators looked at how the crimes were committed, hoping to

Find clues to the k*ller's identity.

In their view, it was a disorganized crime scene,

Indicating it might be his first m*rder.

Maybe, at the time, he got caught up in his actions.

In my opinion, it was kind of a sloppy scene for somebody, to

Leave so much behind, because there was so much that was

Gathered during the course of the investigation.

Narrator: near the bodies, investigators found two white

Washcloths.

We thought of "was there dna on it?

Did he put it in her mouth?

Did he put some other sort of substance on it that would help

Him achieve his goal of controlling the girl?"

Narrator: investigators also found shattered glass on the

Ground and embedded in one of the victim's legs.

She, apparently, kicked out the glass to his vehicle and

Shattered the window.

Narrator: and there were some beer cans in the area that

Looked new.

We picked up all those beer cans.

Certainly, you'd always pick up those, hoping you get whatever

You get off of them.

Narrator: investigators collected all of this evidence,

Not quite sure what, if anything, would help them find

The k*ller.

Narrator: two young women were m*rder*d in the marshlands

Of southeast texas, and their families wanted answers.

I've got to say that, no matter what they were doing at

The time of their death, nobody deserves the way they d*ed.

Not at all.

Narrator: a criminal profiler gave police a chilling

Warning -- the person who committed these murders would

Strike again.

He, in no uncertain terms, told me that "this individual is

Going to produce numerous bodies in this area if you don't stop

Him and stop him immediately."

Narrator: just before they were about to take the bodies to

The city morgue, an investigator thought he saw something.

There was a blood smear on cammy keleman's left thigh,

Which looked like it contained a fingerprint.

Every minute that you wait, it just goes down, 'cause we

Know they're out there in the elements.

Between that and the bodies are starting to sweat, you have

Animals, you have ants -- anything that will start

Anything deteriorating.

Narrator: if this wasa fingerprint, lifting it would be

Difficult.

Skin is porous and stretches easily -- two things that

Usually make it impossible to get a usable print.

The odds of getting a bloody print on an actual body is very

Slim.

Narrator: the area around the fingerprint was treated with

Amido black, a chemical that reacts with the proteins in

Blood.

The stain makes a print visible.

As in this simulation of a print forming on skin, the amido black

Enhanced the ridge detail of the fingerprint created in blood.

Anytime you have a lot of blood, it will just actually

Cover up your ridges.

So the less blood there is, the better print would be when you

Do process it with amido black.

So, the very small places that had just a tiny bit of blood --

That's where I got the print.

Narrator: but there was a problem.

Investigators couldn't see the print clearly, so they sent it

To the fbi in washington, d.c.

Fbi image analyst richard vorder brugge scanned

The image and examined it digitally on a computer.

He immediately saw the problem.

The texture of the skin on the victim's leg obscured the

Fingerprint.

There are two different patterns we're dealing with

Here.

You're dealing with the pattern of the fingerprint, which is a

Very specific type of pattern, and then we've got this texture

Of the skin that is distinct from the fingerprint.

Narrator: with the aid of the computer, vorder brugge had to

First identify the victim's skin pattern, then have the computer

Remove as much of that as possible.

It's a trial-and-error technique.

It's not unlike an archaeologist using a dental tool to scrape

Away fine pieces and leave the artifact intact, as opposed to

Taking a pickax and just swinging for the fences.

Narrator: the computer helped identify the repeating patterns

Of the victim's skin.

And I can show you how you can get rid of those wavelengths

By just sending all of those bright spots to zero.

Narrator: and what was left was the print, presumably of the

k*ller.

All investigators needed now was a suspect's print to compare it

To.

Meanwhile, another print found at the scene -- a tire

Impression -- had significant potential.

It was clearly from the side wall of a tire.

For those conditions to exist, such as the pressure of

The tire hitting the side of the mud and the moisture and the

Type of soil -- it was a one-in-a-million sh*t that that

Actually came out as perfect as it did.

Narrator: it was so perfect that technicians could actually

Read the brand of the tire.

We saw the entire "commander" logo on there, which is very,

Very rare.

It was in perfect condition when we saw it.

Narrator: casts were made of the print, and when they were

Examined, marks along the treads showed something unusual.

We concluded, with the assistance of the tire

Manufacturer, that these were snow tires.

Well, if you've ever lived in this part of texas, you know we

Don't need snow tires.

Narrator: investigators worked with the manufacturer to

Identify where these tires were sold.

We were able to conclude that these tires were actually sold

In a particular area of colorado.

My initial thoughts that day were "how in the world are we

Going to find this person?" It was a needle in a haystack.

Narrator: the murders of two prostitutes had texas police

Believing they were dealing with a potential serial k*ller.

Well, I think he's a monster.

I think we all realized the magnitude of what we had and

That this was gonna happen again if we couldn't solve it.

We would have another one to solve.

Narrator: investigators spoke to other prostitutes in the

Area, hoping one of them might help them.

They have a wealth of information of what goes on out

There.

If you can get a good rapport with one of the girls, you'd be

Surprised at the amount of information.

They know everything that goes on in the streets.

Narrator: and that's how they uncovered an important piece of

Information.

Another local prost*tute said she was att*cked three days

Before the murders.

She had been taken out to the same area, and she had been

Treated in much the same way as we suppose these other girls

Were treated, other than the fact she was not k*lled.

Narrator: she said the man tried to tie her hands behind

Her back with medical tape and gag her with a white rag.

Fortunately, she escaped.

By the grace of god, she was able to get loose or free

Herself enough.

And she had the will to survive that night.

She had the will to survive.

She was able to walk that long, lonely, dark, desolate, scary

Walk to the highway.

Narrator: she described her assailant as hispanic, in his

Early s, with a tattoo of a dagger on his right forearm.

And he was driving a white car.

She gave us a partial license plate of "c--."

And three out of six is pretty good to keep an eye out for and

Look for.

Narrator: incredibly, she said she kept the washcloth he

Used to gag her.

It was made by the same manufacturer and had the same

Thread count as the washcloth found at the m*rder scene.

She did everything right.

She's pretty street-savvy.

She has been around.

She's been in some...

Situations.

I would expect she'd been in situations where she depended on

Her wits and nothing else to save her.

Narrator: authorities combed the area for a man and a car

That fit the woman's description.

A check of motor-vehicle records indicated there were many white

Cars with a "c--" on the license plate.

We picked up several hispanic males driving a small white car.

And they were brought in.

We took dna samples.

We took tire -- pictures of tires.

And we were investigating everything we could.

Narrator: three days later...

Detective paul edinburgh was driving into work, and he passed

A suspicious-looking car headed out of town.

I just happened to look to my right, and there was a small,

White four-door car.

This one caught my attention.

And I saw the first three on the license plate is "c--."

And, I'm telling you, my heart, I think, stopped b*ating.

Narrator: edinburgh pulled the car over.

The driver was -year-old jose castillon, an orderly at a

Local nursing home.

And I saw the forearm with the tattoo of a dagger on there,

And for two or three seconds, I was speechless because what's

Going through my mind now is "this is the guy that

Everybody's been talking about."

Narrator: interestingly, castillon's stepfather was a

Texas police officer.

Castillon's only previous brush with the law was a misdemeanor

Conviction, for which he served no time in jail.

When questioned, castillon denied any involvement in the

Murders.

Employment and motor-vehicle records showed castillon had

Recently moved to texas from colorado and bought a set of

Commander-brand snow tires when he was there.

These were similar to the impressions found at the crime

Scene.

We saw a lot of uniformity between the tire impressions of

The defendant's vehicle to the actual casts that we had taken

From the crime scene -- as far as tread design, tread size, the

Logo itself.

Narrator: investigators noticed the back window of

Castillon's car was broken.

Pieces of that window were compared to the glass found on

The leg of one of the m*rder victims.

The refractive index, a measure of the speed of light as it

Passes through the glass, was identical in both samples.

Finally, investigators compared castillon's fingerprints to the

Bloody print found on one victim's leg.

It matched the middle finger on his right hand.

It was a huge moment.

It was the definitive moment in "we've got a very, very good

Case.

And let's get it to trial.

We've got the right man -- without a doubt."

Narrator: two days after the m*rder of dana feazell and

Cammy keleman, jose castillon was arrested and charged with

Two counts of m*rder.

But prosecutors wanted to know -- "why?"

Police assumed alcohol was involved, so they analyzed the

Beer cans found at the crime scene.

Through the code on the beer cans, contacted the manufacturer

To find out where those beer cans would have been -- what lot

Would they have been sold in, where was that lot sold.

They tracked it down to the store.

Narrator: and that store's computerized sales system

Indicated a man bought the beer on the same night as the

Murders.

They examined their receipts and found that this particular

Batch of beer was sold at this particular time, and sure

Enough, he'd written a check for beer.

Narrator: the check was written for $. By

Jose castillon.

And what about the white washcloths?

Castillon worked at a nursing home that used hundreds of white

Washcloths every day.

They took us back into their laundry area, and we dug through

And found washcloths from the same manufacturer, same

Description, same thread count.

And so we knew we had a link.

Narrator: prosecutors believe castillon probably picked up

Both victims at the same time.

He was drinking and carelessly discarded the beer cans.

The bar code proved that castillon bought them.

Apparently, castillon bound the women with tape and gagged them

With washcloths he stole from work.

One of the girls kicked the rear windshield and broke it.

A shard of glass stuck to her leg.

After the murders, when he dragged the women into the

Grass, he left a bloody fingerprint on cammy keleman's

Thigh.

When he drove away, he left his tire impressions in the soft

Mud.

I can't even begin to imagine and I really don't want to

Imagine.

They probably went out and decided that they were gonna go

Get high and party a little bit, and she just got in the wrong

Car.

I think they were friends and, at one point, they were

Picked up together.

And one saw the horror of the other one dying.

Narrator: evidence technicians, working fast and in

Difficult conditions, performed a minor miracle by retrieving a

Print from the victim's skin.

Later, computer technology enhanced the print and proved

Jose castillon was the k*ller.

The tire impression, too, was an almost perfect specimen.

I think that if you tried a thousand times to duplicate that

Tire impression, you could never do it.

The circumstances had to be exact.

He had to have been pretty sloppy, considering he did leave

So much evidence behind.

Maybe he just wanted to be caught.

'Cause a lot of these cases, they don't have that much

Evidence.

And there was just gobs of evidence.

Narrator: facing a certain death sentence, castillon agreed

To plead guilty to capital m*rder and kidnapping, and was

Sentenced to life in prison without parole.

It was overwhelming.

How many people do you think walk in and want to plead to two

Consecutive life sentences, if they thought they had a chance?

Narrator: no one.

Perhaps not even jose castillon himself knows what caused his

Rage toward women.

[ Glass breaking ] I can only rely upon what the

Psychiatrist told us when we met with him.

It began as control, dominance, hatred towards women, and he

Said it manifested itself initially as just minor acts of

v*olence but gradually would become more brutal, and now that

He'd taken the step that he had, that it was just gonna be a

Downhill spiral from there.

Narrator: the nature of the crime indicates he was a serial

k*ller in the making.

But the decision to process the crime scene quickly and the

Technology that helped identify the print provided all the

Evidence needed to keep him from claiming even more victims.

I think the fingerprint, with the new science and with people

Willing to experiment to get the science where it's accepted in

Court, was phenomenal.

That's one of the great things about this technology, is

That, in this case, it made a piece of evidence, that was

Effectively useless, a critical component in the prosecution of

This case.

If you got, you know, a fingerprint, it's accepted in

Every court in the land as being conclusive.

And if you've got the body of a female out here and has an

Individual's fingerprint on her body in blood, I mean, what else

Can that tell you except that he was there -- he has handled

That body sometime after there was blood on it.