05x01 - Badge of Deceit

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: for 15 years,
a serial r*pist preyed

On single women
in the small college town

Of lafayette, louisiana.

Although his m.o. Was
always the same,

Investigators had few clues
to his identity.

The masked assailant would
break into women's homes
late at night,

Blind them
with a flashlight,

And as*ault them
at gunpoint.

But when the locations
of all these crimes

Were entered into a new
computer program,

Police learned more
about the perpetrator

Than they were prepared for.

In august of 1995
in lafayette, louisiana,

Thousands of college
students were arriving
for the fall semester

At the university
of louisiana.

One of the students beginning
her senior year

Was a 21-year-old woman
whom we'll call "anne."

Anne was working her way
through school at a local
health club,

And earned extra money
by baby-sitting for a friend

Who lived in an affluent
suburb not far from school.

Anne: in fact,
a city official lived

Right across the street from
this woman where I baby-sat.

I couldn't have picked
a place to feel safer.

It was just a place
that had "american dream--

No one can hurt you here"
written all over it.

Narrator: on august 30, 1995,

Anne's friend had to go
out of town for a business trip,

So anne agreed to stay
overnight with the two children.

Anne put them to bed
around 10:00.

She allowed them to stay up
a little later that night,

Since they didn't have
school the next day.

Afterwards, anne started in
on some of her homework.

Anne:
after they were asleep,

I worked on the computer
a little bit,

Decided to get a head start
on some of the assignments

That I had gotten
that day.

Then, probably around 11:00,
I decided to go to bed.

Narrator: around 2 a.m.,

Anne awoke to find
a masked intruder
armed with a g*n.

He threatened to k*ll her
and the children.

Anne: he shone
a flashlight in my face,

So I really couldn't see
anything at all.

He was wearing
these wool gloves--some
really scratchy gloves.

He had a flashlight in one hand
and a g*n in the other.

Narrator: the man wore a knit
hat and a bandana over his face,

And forced anne to walk
through the entire house.

He said he was looking
for money,

But took nothing of value.

Get down.
Don't look at me.

He found anne's home address
in her backpack

And said he would
track her down

If she did not do
exactly as she was told.

Anne: he really could k*ll me
in just a second,

So I knew that to save
my life and to save
the two children's lives,

I had to do what he said,

And so I did,
and...he r*ped me.

Narrator:
later, the perpetrator
led anne to the bathroom,

Told her to urinate,
and to count to 100
before getting up.

He also told her
not to call the police,

Because if she did,
he said he would know about it,

And he would get revenge.

He left without harming
the children.

At the hospital,

A r*pe test kit recovered
a semen sample,

But no other trace evidence

Such as foreign hairs
or fibers.

Because of the flashlight,
cap, and bandana,

All anne could say was
that the perpetrator was

An overweight white male
with piercing blue eyes.

Anne: went to school
the next day following,

Sat in class,

And felt like everyone in there
was looking at me.

It felt like every white male
who was slightly overweight

That even slightly resembled
the man who hurt me

Was staring at me,

And it felt like,
"that must be him.

Maybe that's him."

So I left that class
and just cried and cried.

I knew that life was never
going to be the same.

[Ring]

Narrator: one of anne's friends
heard about the as*ault

And called her with an important
piece of information.

Anne, voice-over: she said,
"I heard what happened to you,

"And I really want
to talk to you about it.

It sounded a whole lot
like what happened to me."

As we talked, we found out
this is the same guy.

Everything he did,
everything he said...

Every movement
was identical.

Narrator: anne's friend had been
r*ped 3 years earlier

Just one mile
from where anne was assaulted.

Lafayette police detective
mac gallien noticed

That anne's case was similar
to other unsolved r*pe cases,

Some dating back 10 years.

Gallien, voice-over:
I researched previous
sexual assaults

As far back as 1982.

I think I found some
as early as '84...

That were, uh, similar in m.o.

Narrator: if these cases were
connected,

Lafayette police not only had
a serial r*pist on the loose,

But one sophisticated enough
to elude police for years.

Narrator:
to the lafayette police,

The r*pe of the 21-year-old
college student

Sounded similar to a number
of other unsolved r*pe cases,

All on the south side
of the city.


Anne was assaulted,

A 32-year-old office worker
living alone

Had also been r*ped.

A year before that,
one mile away,

A 40-year-old hotel receptionist
living alone

Reported a similar attack.

All of the r*pes
were identical.

The women were asleep,

The perpetrator had a g*n
and flashlight,

And wore heavy woolen gloves,
a bandana, and knit cap.

He walked the women
through their homes,

Saying he was looking
for valuables,

But his motive wasn't robbery.

That type of r*pist wants to go
through the whole scenario

Of, "if I'm in this room
and I got to get out,

"Where can I go?

"If I'm in the living room,
where can I go?

"In any position
in that house,

Where can I get out
if I need to?"

Narrator: in many cases,

The perpetrator ordered
the women to shower afterwards,

Presumably to remove
trace evidence

Such as semen, hair,
and fibers.

Detective mac gallien identified
a dozen r*pe cases,

All on the south side
of the city within
a 5-mile radius,

All with the same m.o.

In some of these cases,

Semen samples were collected
from the victims.

In others, washcloths found
in the victims' homes

Were found to contain semen,

Presumably from the perpetrator.

All were sent for dna testing.

Man: if we can't find
the sample,

We can't analyze the sample,

And diluting a semen stain,
which only takes water,

Is a very effective means.

Unfortunately for...

Well, in this particular case,
it wasn't effective enough.

Narrator:


The others were inconclusive.

Investigators discovered
that all of the women shopped
at the same grocery store,

And many were members
of the health club nearby.

Since most of the women
were single and living alone,

Investigators suspected that
the victims had been stalked.

And there were some other clues
that concerned police.

First was something
the perpetrator said
to all of the women.

Smith: he didn't say, "if you
went to the police with it,

I'll find out about it."

He said, "if you go
to the police,

I will know about it."

And the fact that he uses
the phrase "I will know"

Tells me that he has
a stronger insight to
the police department.

Narrator: another clue was
the way the perpetrator held
the flashlight

High around his head,

Gripping it behind the lens.

Gallien: a layperson would
probably point a flashlight
out in front.

But most professionals that use
flashlights in their work

Sometimes hold it up like so...

Including police officers.

This is the way in which
we usually hold our flashlights.

Narrator: since the perpetrator
held his flashlight

In the same way,

Investigators suspected he may
be working in law enforcement

Or in a related field.

Crime analyst ronnie smith
was asked to develop

A psychological profile
of the r*pist

By studying the manner in which
the crimes were committed.

Smith says that
by ordering the women
to bathe after the r*pes,

The r*pist was trying
to do more than simply
remove forensic evidence.

Smith: so it's kind of like
to make a woman clean up,

It's going to be basically
to get rid of the evidence.

But the outcome would be
is, you do feel better
about yourself

Because you're clean now,
and you don't have that--

That, uh,
anger towards the guy.

Narrator: the r*pist knew
that bathing would reduce
the likelihood

Of the victims reporting
the crime.

And the psychological games
didn't stop there.

Anne: he gave me some warnings
about making sure

That the lock on the window
gets fixed.

Gave me all sorts of...
Fatherly sort of advice,

Which was pretty disgusting
after what he'd done to me,

As if it were my fault that
he came in and did that to me.

He's telling them,
"ok, this is not
all my fault, ok?

"If you would have done
this, this, and this,

"You wouldn't have been
a part of it.

"But the fact that you did
leave your door unlocked,

"Or you did leave
your window unlocked,

Uh, this is
what happened to you."

Narrator: but in one case,
the r*pist got careless.

His bandana came loose
for a moment,

Giving the woman a glimpse
of his face.

From that description,

A police sketch artist prepared
a composite drawing

Which was released to the press.

Unfortunately, it did not
appear to resemble anyone
in the police department

Who had piercing blue eyes.

The only other lead was
from one of the r*pe victims

Who said she saw a 10-year-old
brown ford pickup truck

Leaving the neighborhood
immediately after she was
assaulted.

But there were over 12,000
brown, tan, and beige
ford pickup trucks

Registered in the state
of louisiana,

And none were registered
to an employee of
the police department.

Since most of the r*pes occurred
on the south side of town,

The local press dubbed him
"the southside r*pist."

Smith: the guy was good.
He was very good.

He--he planned out everything,
he thought about it,

He knew what to do, uh,
he handled himself well
once he got in.

Narrator: and if the perpetrator
was a member of law enforcement,

He would be very difficult
to catch.

Narrator: in lafayette,
louisiana,

Dna testing confirmed
that a serial r*pist
was on the loose.

Police identified


All with the same m.o.

The r*pes began in 1984
and continued into the 1990s.

But in 1995, after the sexual
as*ault of the 21-year-old
college student,

The r*pes mysteriously stopped.

Police checked
hundreds of leads

And eliminated thousands
of suspects.

All were dead ends.

Police were starting to wonder

Whether they'd ever catch
the southside r*pist,

And whether the perpetrator
was simply too smart.

But a magazine article
in police chief magazine
changed their luck.

It described a new technique
called geographic profiling,

Written by
a detective inspector

With the vancouver
police department, kim rossmo.

Rossmo: the basic theory
that underlies geographic
profiling

Is something called
environmental criminology.

That means that people,
in regards to their
noncriminal behaviors,

Such as shopping,

Will engage in many activities
close to their home.

The same thing applies
to criminals.

Narrator: lafayette police
asked detective rossmo

To generate a geographic profile
of their southside r*pist.

So rossmo flew to lafayette
to inspect the crime scenes,

First with an aerial inspection,

Then by visiting
the crime scenes at night
and also during the day.

Rossmo did not believe
that the grocery store
or health club

Played any role
in the selection of victims.

Most of the r*pes
occurred in homes without
window coverings,

Where it was easy to see
inside from the street.

Once back in vancouver,

Detective rossmo entered
all of his information

Into a computer program
he developed

As part of his ph.d. Thesis
in criminology--

A program he calls "rigel."

Rossmo designed the program

After studying the relationship
between hundreds of crimes

And where the perpetrators lived
in relation to the crimes
they committed.

Rossmo: then the computer
assesses distances

Between the various
crime sites,

And the distances
from the crime sites

To what is really
a 40,000-pixel grid

Covering the area where--
what we call the hunting area,

Where the crimes
have taken place.

For each one of those


It will assign
a probability value

Representing the likelihood
that's where the offender lives.

Narrator: when detective rossmo
entered the locations of the 12
r*pe cases in lafayette,

The computer identified
something important.

It was a specific neighborhood,

Just two miles
from each of the crime scenes.

According to the computer,

This 1/2-square-mile area was
the neighborhood

In which the perpetrator
either lived or worked.

Surprisingly, a deputy sheriff
from lafayette lived in that
very neighborhood

At the time
the assaults took place,

Although he had recently moved.

His name was randy comeaux,

A 20-year veteran
of the sheriff's department

Who often worked
on juvenile r*pe cases.

He was divorced,
had a young daughter,

And was engaged to a volunteer
at the local r*pe crisis center.

During the 10 years
that the r*pes occurred,

Comeaux was living
in the center of the area

Identified by
the geographic profile.

One of comeaux's friends
was sergeant terry regan,

The officer in charge
of the southside r*pist
task force.

Regan: you're not going
to be able to print this,
but I was pissed off.

We go all the way back
until the mid-80s,

Working cases together.

Uh, we visited together.

I am personal friends
with randy comeaux.

Narrator: but police needed
to make sure

That randy comeaux was
the r*pist,

And they needed to gather
more evidence before proceeding.

For that, they looked
in a most unlikely place--

His garbage.

Narrator:
lafayette police discovered

That one of their own sheriff's
deputies, randy comeaux,

Was living in the neighborhood
identified by the computerized
geographic profile.

But comeaux's colleagues weren't
entirely convinced

He was the perpetrator.

Gallien: another reason
that I didn't want
any of this to get out

Is because at the beginning,
I wasn't really sure

That he was in fact
the actual perpetrator.

So I didn't want to ruin
his career

Until we found out for sure.

Narrator:
at about the same time,

An anonymous caller told police

That randy comeaux was
the r*pist they were
looking for.

Faith moody runs
the local r*pe crisis center,

And was alarmed to learn
that randy comeaux was
a suspect.

The sense of betrayal
for it being randy comeaux--

And I have a hard time,
sometimes, calling him
"detective"--

Was that he did work cases
under the children's
advocacy center.

He had worked cases for us
at the sexual abuse
response center.

Narrator: since police had a dna
profile of the southside r*pist

From semen samples
from the victims,

They wanted to gather
a dna sample from randy comeaux
for comparison

Without his knowledge.

So they sterilized
an ashtray

And discreetly placed it
in front of him at
the police station

During his coffee break.

When comeaux left,
the entire ashtray was sent

To the forensic lab
for testing.

Investigators hoped
that one of comeaux's cigarettes

Would contain enough
of his saliva for dna testing.

First, the end of the cigarette
was placed into a vial

Along with a chemical cocktail

That dissolves everything
except the epithelial cells
from comeaux's saliva--

A rich source of dna.

Then phenol chloroform
was added,

Which allowed the dna
to float free.

In this gel-like bundle
of molecules

Was randy comeaux's
genetic blueprint.

That blueprint--
the dna profile--

Can be visualized with a test
known as pcr.

And when the dna profile
of the semen taken from


Was compared to the dna profile
from comeaux's saliva,

Investigators had a match.

Randy comeaux was
the southside r*pist.

Man: we were really shocked...

And taken aback by the fact

That it was--it was one
of our own.

Uh, we were very disappointed.

Once he crossed that line,

He was just
another criminal to us.

Narrator: immediately following
comeaux's arrest,

He confessed not only to
the r*pes he was accused of,

But to two other r*pes
the police knew nothing about,

Bringing the total to 14.

When police searched
comeaux's apartment,

They found underwear
from his victims, which he kept
as trophies,

Books on r*pe, and road maps
of the southside neighborhoods.

Police also found
a brown ford pickup truck

At comeaux's brother's home


In shreveport, louisiana.

For close to 15 years,
comeaux stalked his prey

And used his police training
to control his victims

From the very outset
of the assaults.

But he unwittingly left
an important clue,

A trail that led
from his crime scenes

Straight back
to his own neighborhood.

Most of his crimes happened
within two miles of his home.

Young: we were looking
for somebody

Who was right under our noses
all the time,

Somebody who had
the information,

Somebody who knew,

And probably at some point

Was laughing at us
the whole entire time.

Even being a cop and
having that inside authority,

You know, you're still
going to mess up,

You're still going to do
something wrong,

And all you got to do is
find that one thing wrong
in each case,

And you can build on that.

Narrator: randy comeaux
pleaded guilty

To 6 counts
of aggravated as*ault,

And was sentenced
to 6 life terms in prison.

Anne: if I could turn back time,

I would never want this
to happen again.

It was the most awful thing
in my life that could happen.

But again, I chose to use this
as an opportunity

To--to learn more
about myself,

To appreciate the people
that I have in my life,

Because they could be gone
tomorrow,

And that has given me
so much more