06x01 - Missing in Time

[bunniefuu]

Narrator:
in 1995, carolyn killaby
of vancouver, washington,

Got into a heated argument
with her husband.

She then went
to a local bar alone.

No one has seen or heard
from her since.

But some saliva
from an envelope

And a speck of blood
on a wristwatch,

Helped solve the mystery
of her disappearance.

Narrator: in 1990,
carolyn and dan killaby

Were married,
each for the second time.

Dan managed a furniture store.

Carolyn was a medical technician
employed by the u.s. Military.

Carolyn and dan
each had a daughter

From their previous marriages,

And they moved into this home
in vancouver, washington.

Woman: my mom was basically
the backbone of my whole family.

I mean, she was
very strong-willed

And she just like, she held
everybody together.

She was the problem-solver,
she was the supporter,

She was the happiness, the joy,

She was just like everything
you could ask for.

Narrator: on saturday night,
november 11, 1995,

Carolyn and dan
got into an argument.

Man: she was in a fight
with her husband

Because her husband had decided,

Instead of doing something

With her that night
that she'd counted on,

They were going to go out,

He was going to go out
with his brother

And have some food and drink.

And she objected
significantly to that.

And I don't know whether she
stomped out of the house

Or drove over there
or how that transpired,

But she ended up at omar's,

And she was doing some
serious drinking there.

Narrator: a waitress said
carolyn was dancing,

But was there alone,
and was obviously intoxicated.

The other indication was that
she was alone at the table,

And that her head was down,

And that she had her head
on the table

And was basically
passed out at the table.

Not functioning,
not talking to anyone,

Very, very clear
to everyone in the bar

That she was highly intoxicated.

Narrator: that night,
around 11:00,

Witnesses said they saw
carolyn leave the bar,

And she was never seen again.

I came home sunday morning
and she was gone.

Narrator: the next day,
dan killaby called police

To report carolyn missing.

Family members, friends,
and volunteers

Searched the surrounding area
without success.

I knew that she would not leave
unless somebody made her.

There was no way
she would have left us.

Woman: she is the--
really the light of the family.

Her personality, her kindness...

I'm sorry.

Narrator: carolyn's car was
found in the bar's parking lot.

The killaby family
hired their own search dogs.

The dogs tracked carolyn's scent

From the bar directly back
to her home.

The police believed
this might be evidence

That carolyn returned
home from the bar

Before she disappeared.

No one else was home that night.

Dan and the two girls spent
saturday night elsewhere.

Well, they were concerned

About whether or not
dan's alibi

That he was out drinking
with his brother was solid,

And I think that
they stayed out real late

And got real drunk.

Um...

And so the police
were not 100% convinced

That that could
have been the case.

Narrator: creating further
suspicions was the fact

That carolyn had a $230,000
life insurance policy,

Payable to her husband.

Gina: I always
stood behind dan.

There was no doubt that he had--

I could never conceive the idea

That he had actually done
something like this.

Narrator: dan killaby
denied any involvement

In his wife's disappearance,

But police discovered there were
problems in the marriage.

Prosecutor: we found out that it
wasn't the perfect marriage

By any stretch
of the imagination.

I think we figured that there
were some difficulties

And some strains
in the marriage.

Narrator: two hours after
carolyn left the bar,

The police received
two calls from people

Who said they heard a woman
screaming for help

In a field about a mile
from omar's lounge.

Police searched the area
using night vision goggles,

But they found nothing.

With no solid leads,

The killaby family
offered a $10,000 reward

For any information
on carolyn's whereabouts.

And then, a bombshell.

A customer at omar's lounge

Said he saw dan killaby
with carolyn in the parking lot

On the night she disappeared.

Narrator: when 34-year-old
carolyn killaby

Didn't return home
after spending a night
drinking at a local bar,

Her husband dan
was an immediate suspect.

Prosecutor david seeley says,

There's an old saying
in missing persons cases:

"Before you look
at outlaws,

You have to look
at the in-laws."

One of the things they look
at to begin with is the husband,

In a missing person case
like this,

Because I think a large
percentage of the crimes

Are committed by family members.

Narrator: police found
no evidence of foul play
in the killaby home.

But in carolyn's bedroom, they
found some potent painkillers--

Vicodin.

My sister was having
some problems

With prescription drug
medication,

And I had confronted her
and talked to her about that.

She had acknowledged the problem

And was working on that
and we were--

The whole family was
being supportive of that.

Seeley: my understanding
of the mixture of alcohol
and vicodin

Is it makes you comatose,

And that's exactly
what happened to carolyn

When she was in the bar.

Narrator:
witnesses at omar's lounge

Say that carolyn passed out
at her table.

Hey, hey, hey.
How you doing?

Narrator:
one of the regular customers,

Dennis smith,
helped her to her car.

What smith told police
was disturbing.

He said that he and carolyn
left the bar

And engaged in consensual sex
in his truck.

As he walked her to her car,

A man approached them,

Hit smith with a bat,
called carolyn a bitch,

And forced her
to leave with him.

When shown
a photographic line-up,

Smith identified carolyn's
husband dan as the culprit.

Dan killaby angrily denied this.

He offered to take
a lie detector test,

And passed.

Dan killaby said
he and his brother

Were out drinking together
that night in a bar,

Which the bartender
there confirmed.

When police looked closer
into dennis smith's background,

They discovered that smith
had been convicted

For the m*rder of his sister,
patricia ann johnson, in 1982.

Smith served 10 years
of that sentence,

And had recently been
released on parole.

And a witness told police that
she saw mud on smith's truck

On the night
carolyn disappeared.

He came to a shell station
in clark county.

His truck was all dirty.

He asked the attendant there,
who was a friend,

Whether or not he could go
to her parents' house

And wash his car.

Narrator: the employee
also thought she saw

A blood smear on smith's shirt.

With this new information,
smith's truck was confiscated,

And police noticed that
the inside of the truck
had been wiped clean.

No fingerprints, hairs,
or fibers,

Even though smith said

Carolyn had been in the truck
for consensual sex.

Investigators did find
a tiny speck of blood

On the steering wheel.

And there was evidence
of a recent fire.

Smith said a cigarette butt

Accidentally ignited
the upholstery.

An alert homicide investigator

Also confiscated
smith's wristwatch.

In the forensics lab,
scientists found

A tiny speck of what
appeared to be blood

In the crevice of the wristband.

Tests indicated it was human.

But whose was it?

Since we get half of our dna
from our mother

And half from our father,

Scientists could identify

Whether it was carolyn's blood
in the truck

By analyzing dna samples
from carolyn's parents.

But carolyn's mother delivered
some shocking news.

Despite raising carolyn
as his own,

The man carolyn called "dad"
wasn't her biological father,

A fact withheld from carolyn
during her upbringing.

Carolyn's biological father
had died years earlier.

This made the bloodstain
analysis much more difficult.

Seeley: we didn't have
any solid dna.

We didn't have a piece of skin
or a blood sample from her,

From her body, that we could
compare to the bloodstain,

So we were a little
up in the air about what to do.

Narrator: without a body,

Scientists would have
to improvise.

Narrator: when dennis smith
learned that he was a suspect

In carolyn killaby's
disappearance,

He fled, and a nationwide
manhunt was underway.

Gina: we didn't know
who she had left with.

We had the thought that maybe
she was in a hotel and angry,

And then we found out
that she had been seen

Leaving with this guy dennis,

And so we didn't know
what that meant,

And then we found out
that he was a m*rder*r

That had been out on parole,
and so that took away some hope.

Narrator: while the fbi
searched for smith,

Forensic scientists
analyzed his truck.

Arson experts
discovered hydrocarbons

On the upholstery
of smith's truck.

Hydrocarbons are present

When an accelerant
or flammable liquid

Is used to start a fire.

A clue that the fire
was intentionally set.

The damage was extensive,

And smith's story
didn't match the evidence.

Seeley: we got
a similar car seat.

We tried to recreate the fire
in 3 or 4 different ways.

And each time
we couldn't come up

With that type of damage
that we saw in his car.

Narrator: in a small crack
in the steering wheel,

A phenolphthalein test
identified

A tiny stain as blood.

And on dennis smith's wristband,

Scientists found
another speck of blood.

But without carolyn's body,

Scientists had no dna sample
for comparison.

So detectives searched
for a sample of carolyn's dna,

And they found it in alaska.


Carolyn mailed a letter

To her girlfriend in alaska,

And her friend had
never thrown it away.

On the envelope flap and stamps
was carolyn's saliva,

Still a rich source of dna
even after 10 years.

The samples
were too badly degraded

For traditional dna testing,

So scientists used a newer
and less exact dna test

Called mitochondrial dna.

Traditional dna testing analyzes
the nucleus of the cell,

But outside the cell nucleus are

What are known as mitochondria,

Cells that can be identified,

Although not as precisely

As in traditional dna testing.

Mitochondrial dna is inherited
from a mother to her children,

And therefore if you want
to make a match

Between a sample of evidence
from a missing person,

As was in this case,

Blood stains from someone
whose body was not available,

You need only go
to a maternal relative.

Narrator: the dna
from the envelope flap
and stamps

Matched the dna from the blood
found in smith's truck.

And with dna samples
from carolyn killaby's
mother and daughter,

Dr. Melton concluded
that the mitochondrial dna

In dennis smith's truck
was that of carolyn killaby.

It was a dna profile
that existed

In only one out of 200,000
caucasians.

Melton: because there was
no body found in this case,

And I believe the remains

Of mrs. Killaby
are still missing,

It was very important
to place her

In the presence of mr. Smith.

And, of course, a blood stain
on his watchband

That comes back to her
would be very powerful evidence.

Narrator:
on the one-year anniversary
of carolyn's disappearance,

Friends and relatives gathered
for a candlelight vigil

Outside of omar's lounge,

The last place
she was seen alive.

Gina: and I'm glad
they're here,

And I'm glad they want to show
that they care, too.

Narrator: for over a year,

Dennis smith
had been on the run.

Then the television series
unsolved mysteries

Profiled the case,
asking viewers for help

In bringing smith to justice.



Revealed smith was living
in florida.

The trick now was to find him.

And I turned to dr*gs
and my stepdad turned to alcohol

And my sister turned away
from all of us

And my whole family
just fell apart.

Everything that I'd known
for 15, almost 16 years,

In one night was all unraveled.

Narrator: for 15 months,

Carolyn's family
waited for some word

On the search for dennis smith.

Law enforcement searched
all over the country,

And an informant said
smith was living in florida.

Police there stopped a vehicle
on the suspicion it was stolen.

The man driving the car
was dennis smith.

Smith tried to get away.

[g*nsh*t]

There was a fight,

And smith was shot
in the scuffle.

Gina: I was hoping
that he was in a lot of pain.

I wanted him to hurt.

I crossed my fingers, though,
that he didn't die.

As much as I hate him

And do not want him
in this world,

If he were to die,
there was really no hope

Of finding my mom's body,

Or for him having
to suffer in prison.

Narrator: smith survived
the g*nsh*t wound

And returned to washington state

To stand trial
for kidnapping, r*pe,

And the m*rder
of carolyn killaby,

Even though police
still hadn't found her body.

Smith pleaded not guilty

And stood by his story
that he was att*cked

By carolyn's husband
in the parking lot of the bar,

And that carolyn left
with her husband.

The defense reminded the jury

That smith identified
dan killaby

From a photographic lineup.

But prosecutors said smith
probably recognized dan killaby

From television news reports
about his wife's disappearance.

Gina: and it's just amazed me,
and I see other,

I mean on tv, on court shows,
on anything real or not,

How the defense always
tries to twist the victims

Into this horrible person

When they never did anything
to ask for what they got,

And they didn't deserve it.

Narrator: prosecutors believe
that carolyn killaby

Was inebriated in omar's lounge,

And that smith offered
to drive her home.

Somewhere along the way,

Smith r*ped and m*rder*d
carolyn killaby

In the cab of his truck.

Her blood spattered
onto the steering wheel,

Smith's watch,
and probably on the upholstery.

Prosecutors suspect that smith
buried carolyn's body

Somewhere near larch mountain.

A few hours later,
a gas station attendant said

She saw a bloodstain
on smith's shirt,

And that his truck
was full of mud.

Smith attempted to remove
the blood inside his truck
with detergents,

And when he couldn't remove
it all from the upholstery,

He set it on fire.

But he missed a tiny speck
of blood on his wristband

And a tiny speck of blood
on the steering wheel,

Proof that carolyn killaby had
been bleeding inside his truck.

Some of his friends
happened to be nurses.

He went into great detail
with his nurse friends about,

"What is dna?
How do you get rid of dna?

"I used pine-sol and lysol

"And other cleaning agents
in my car.

Is that going
to get rid of dna?"

And the nurses said,
"hey, I don't think so."

Narrator:
prosecutors also discovered

That when smith was in prison
for k*lling his sister,

He told his cellmate

How he would get away
with m*rder the next time.

Seeley:
mr. Smith told an inmate

That if he ever committed
another m*rder,

He would dispose of the body
by digging a hole,

Placing the body in it,
re-covering the hole,

And planting a tree on top of it

So that no one would know
that a body is under there.

And wherever she is,

It's out in most likely
a dark, cold place,

Where we can't go
and visit her physically,

Where her remains are.

Seeley: he also told the inmate

That he would dispose
of the other evidence

By burning it.

Narrator: the only scientific
evidence in this case

Was the mitochondrial dna taken
from two tiny specks of blood.

Dennis smith was found guilty
of aggravated m*rder

And sentenced to life in prison
without parole.

After his conviction,

Dennis smith offered to disclose
the location of carolyn's body

In return for some
taco bell burritos

And $10,000 in cash.

Seeley:
we obviously all know that
he knows where the body is,

And now he's trying to get
something for him

When he should do
the right thing

And give up carolyn's body
to give closure to this family.

I think it's pathetic
what he's trying to do now.

He's not--
he's not getting any money.

He already has more things
in prison than we have.

I mean, he has free cable,
he has free pay-for-view.

I mean, I have to pay
for my cable,

I have to go rent movies.

And then he wants
extra spending money?

I mean, he just...there's no way
that I would give him a cent.

I wouldn't give him a penny.

Narrator: the killaby family
may never recover carolyn's
body for a proper burial,

But they've purchased a burial
plot with a headstone anyway.

For carolyn's daughter gina,
not a day goes by

When she doesn't think
of her mother.

She has this beautiful
new granddaughter

That she never got the chance
to meet and be a grandmother to.

But that her granddaughter
will always know who she is,

And that she will always
be a part of this family,

And that we love her and miss
her very, very much.