06x18 - Bad Blood

[bunniefuu]

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NARRATOR: A small
Canadian farm town

made national news when
a woman claimed she

was r*ped by her own doctor.

DNA tests proved the
doctor was innocent.

The victim insisted
the DNA test was wrong.

What does a high school
graduate know that the world's

top scientists do not?

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Nestled along Canada's
beautiful southwestern prairie

is the tiny town of
Kipling, Saskatchewan.

The population is so
sparse, the farm animals

outnumber the residents.

In a town this size,
everyone knows one another.

SGT. BILL HAANSTRA: It's
a fairly quiet farming

community with little crime.

We may have up to five or
six sexual assaults a year

and break and enters, but
fairly small in the scope

of criminal cold work.

NARRATOR: This is
the story of one

of those alleged
sexual as*ault cases.

It took place on
Halloween night in 1992.

Depending on whose
story you believe,

it was either a night
of lies and trickery,

or an unfortunate
misunderstanding.

A woman we'll call Candy, was
working at this gas station.

Her boyfriend stopped by.

They got into an argument.

No, I am not dealing
with you anymore!

I can't even stand
to look at you!

NARRATOR: Candy drove
to see her girlfriend

who worked at the Kipling
Memorial Union Hospital.

She wasn't there.

Candy appeared upset.

A nurse suggested
she see a doctor.

Dr. John Schneeberger
was on call that night.

He was also Candy's doctor, and
had even delivered her baby.

Candy says Dr. Schneeberger
recommended a sedative.

I wasn't really
hysterical anymore.

But what I told him was
that I was so mad at Danny,

that I felt like k*lling him.

But I didn't actually
mean that I was

going to go out and k*ll him.

I was just describing
how angry I was.

I had just expected
that he would give me

a couple pills or something
just to relax my muscles,

calm me down.

NARRATOR: Instead, Dr.
Schneeberger gave Candy a shot.

She says she went numb
almost immediately.

CANDY: I had no control
over my muscles.

It's like all my muscles left,
and I was just this piece

of jelly falling over.

I tried to scream.

As I was falling
over, nothing would

come out except for a croaking
noise that a frog would make.

It was just-- it was so scary.

NARRATOR: Candy isn't exactly
sure what happened next,

but believes she was r*ped.

CANDY: When a dentist
freezes your gums,

you can't-- and he's
pulling your tooth out,

you can't feel the
pain from the tooth,

but what you can feel
is pressure of the tooth

moving back and forth.

And that's the only
way I can describe it.

NARRATOR: When she regained
consciousness alone in the exam

room, Candy had the presence
of mind to place her underwear

in an airtight bag.

Candy was too dizzy
to leave the hospital.

The nurses insisted
she spend the night.

She said nothing of
the alleged r*pe.

The next day, she
confronted Dr. Schneeberger.

CANDY: I said, what
the hell was that drug

you gave me last night?

And he asked me, why?

Did it give you wild dreams?

And then-- and then I
knew that, oh, my God.

I was going to have a hell
of a fight on my hands,

because here now he's
already-- already covering up.

NARRATOR: When Candy was
released from the hospital,

she spoke briefly
with her parents

and told them of her suspicions.

VIRGINIA: You could tell
by the look on her face

that something terrible
had happened to her, eh?

I was really hoping
it wasn't true, eh?

But when we saw
her, we knew it was.

NARRATOR: She then drove to
Regina, a town 2 hours drive

away, and went to a
r*pe clinic for testing.

There they found evidence of
semen on her panties, jeans,

and on a vaginal swab.

CANDY: That was part of
my reasoning for going

for the r*pe kit-- to find
out if this really did happen,

or am I going nuts?

Did my mind play
some tricks on me?

Or what the hell
is going on here?

NARRATOR: Blood
tests also revealed

an unusual drug in Candy's
system, a drug called Versed.

JACK MULLOCK: They use it
as a preanesthetic agent

to induce anesthesia.

You start to go numb and not
feel the power of your muscles,

or able to use your muscles.

And then you become very
tired, and then asleep.

NARRATOR: When Candy
formally accused

Dr. Schneeberger of r*pe,
many residents of Kipling

believed Candy was lying.

Dr. Schneeberger was a respected
member of the community.

He had never been accused of
anything like this before.

Some believed Candy,
as a single mother,

was either
romantically interested

in the married
doctor, or her motive

was to get some sort
of financial settlement

to end the controversy.

DANIELLE DASCHUK: The town
looked up to the doctor.

He was a good doctor.

And he would never do
anything like that.

It was impossible.

NARRATOR: Also
suspicious, was the fact

that Candy had said
nothing to hospital nurses

on the night of
the alleged r*pe.

DEAN SINCLAIR: There were two
nurses on shift that night.

In fact, both of them were
in that room, the room

that the r*pe allegedly
occurred in, very shortly after.

They saw nothing amiss.

NARRATOR: To end
the controversy,

Dr. Schneeberger
willingly agreed

to give blood for a DNA test.

The DNA in the blood drawn
from Dr. Schneeberger

did not match the
biological material

from Candy's r*pe test kit.

CANDY: And I was in shock again.

And I said, no.

That's impossible!

That's impossible.

How can this be?

NARRATOR: 7 more years would
go by before that question

was finally answered.

When DNA tests showed
the Dr. Schneeberger was

innocent of the sexual as*ault
on his 20-year-old patient,

most people in
Kipling tried to put

the whole thing behind them.

But Candy, the alleged victim,
would not let the issue die.

All during the next
year, she insisted

that someone, somehow, had
tampered with the first DNA

test at the hospital.

So Dr. Schneeberger agreed
to a second DNA test

in August of 1993.

His blood was drawn
by a registered nurse.

The test was monitored
by the police.

And the vials were
taken directly

to the forensic laboratory
at police headquarters.

They watched the
needle actually

penetrate the doctor's arm.

NARRATOR: Once again,
Dr. Schneeberger's DNA

did not match the DNA on Candy's
clothing or the r*pe test kit.

CANDY: Of course I
didn't believe them.

A lot of other people
did believe them.

And I guess it's hard.

How?

You've got-- DNA
is the new thing.

And it's supposed to be
so right and so perfect.

We knew there was
something wrong.

We totally believed her, eh?

And we knew he was
up to something.

NARRATOR: Dr. Schneeberger
defended himself

by saying the drug he
injected into Candy

that night in the
hospital, Versed,

can cause erotic hallucinations.

DEAN SINCLAIR: Versed
can account for all sorts

of hallucinations, possibly.

But it can't produce semen.

And according to
the complainant,

the last time she
had had intercourse

was weeks before this incident.

NARRATOR: With no other
evidence, in 1994,

the police closed their
investigation into this matter.

The doctor has already
given two samples.

And those two
samples were tested.

And they came up as being--
having a DNA profile.

And the profile
didn't match the semen

that was left at the scene.

So now we're stuck, where
we really can't do anything.

DANIELLE DASCHUK:
The town of Kipling

was not kind at all to Candy.

NARRATOR: She hired a private
investigator who broke

into Dr. Schneeberger's car.

On the headrest, he
found strands of hair,

but there were no
roots attached.

So they couldn't be
used for DNA testing.

Also in the car, was a tube
of lip balm, presumably

used by Dr. Schneeberger.

At her own expense,
Candy asked a private lab

to test the epithelial cells
on the end of the lip balm.

Those epithelial cells would
contain enough DNA for testing.

And when they did, Candy
finally got her first piece

of positive news.

The DNA from the lip
balm matched the DNA

from Candy's r*pe test kit.

CANDY: I knew it all along.

It wasn't a shock that
something was going to match.

But it was a bit of a relief,
because at least we had

that to prove to the police.

NARRATOR: But there
were two problems.

First, there was no proof
that the cells were Dr.

Schneeberger's.

Second, the evidence
couldn't be used

in court, since the
investigator broke into the car

without a warrant.

But if the cells on the lip balm
were those of Dr. Schneeberger,

why did the DNA from his lips
differ from his blood sample?

To find out, Candy filed a civil
suit against Dr. Schneeberger

and brought charges against him
with the local medical society.

At the hearing, Candy sat
directly across from Dr.

Schneeberger's wife.

CANDY: If looks could
k*ll, I would've been dead.

Lisa was sitting across
the table from me.

And she just sat
there with her arms

crossed, just glaring at
me, like, you little bitch.

You are ruining our lives.

And I just sat in my chair
thinking, oh, my God.

You're so stupid.

You know? [laughs]
You are so stupid.

And if you don't watch it, it's
going to happen to your kids

too.

NARRATOR: All of this
pressure prompted

Dr. Schneeberger to agree
to yet another DNA test.

This time, the procedure
was videotaped by police

and performed at
their forensics lab.

The doctor appears
friendly and helpful.

The technician wants to
take blood from his finger,

but the doctor politely
refuses, saying

he has a disease that would
cause his hands to bruise.

That's how we usually
take the sample.

We don't need much blood.

NARRATOR: Since this
is a voluntary test,

the doctor can't be forced to
do anything against his will.

So the technician inserts
a needle into his left arm

instead.

Nothing comes out.

JEAN RONEY: The vein was
larger, or appeared much larger

than I would have expected.

And I thought that
was a little unusual.

NARRATOR: She tries another
tube, but still has trouble.

JEAN RONEY: Sometimes
the vacuum is poor,

and then it would
not pull the blood

out of the individual's arm.

NARRATOR: Eventually, she
was able to extract a sample.

Afterwards, the
nurse was puzzled.

And the lab determined
that the sample was

too degraded for DNA testing.

Police broke the news to Candy.

CANDY: And I'm like, oh, my God.

Whatever.

Like, that's bull [bleep].

This is our last chance
to get blood from him.

And you guys screwed up again.

NARRATOR: Even the
police were suspicious

when DNA from Dr.
Schneeberger's lip balm

matched the DNA from
Candy's r*pe test kit.

But since Dr.
Schneeberger had passed

two prior blood DNA
tests, officials

were hesitant to charge him.

Because of his submitting
voluntarily to a DNA sample,

it gave him the out
that, it wasn't me.

Here's a DNA sample
showing it is not.

The only person who had an
opportunity, limited as it was,

was her doctor.

But we believed in
the DNA testing.

I mean, we believed
in the science of DNA.

They had to follow the rules
of the Canadian justice system.

I call it the Canadian
criminal system, [laughs]

because that's
basically what it is.

It's the criminals that
have all the rights.

NARRATOR: On April 25, 1997, 5
years after the alleged r*pe,

police got a break.

Startling new information
was discovered

inside the doctor's own home.

Schneeberger's stepdaughter,
his wife's biological child,

claimed that the doctor
assaulted her too.

For several years, the
youngster says her stepfather

had been coming into
her room at night,

and giving her injections.

His wife discovered a box full
of condoms, needles, and dr*gs,

including Versed, in the
doctor's home office.

I blame myself.

I still blame myself.

CANDY: I screamed.

I bawled.

I was pretty disgusted,
because all of these years,

I mean, I'm fighting
to get the truth out,

but also to make sure that it
didn't happen to anybody else.

NARRATOR: Dr. John
Schneeberger was

arrested and ordered to
undergo yet another DNA test.

Again, the procedure
was videotaped.

I also advised you that we
have a warrant to obtain bodily

substances for the purpose of--

NARRATOR: The doctor was
withdrawn and silent.

Police took several samples--
hair, saliva, then blood--

taken from his
finger, not his arm.

And this time a surprise--
DNA from all three samples

matched DNA found on
Candy's vaginal swab.

CANDY: Oh, that was wonderful.

That was what I had
wanted all along.

I mean, I had even offered
to go chop an arm off.

I would have socked
him one in the nose

to get that blood-- no problem.

It was quite a happy day,
because we knew we knew we

had him, that Candy was right.

And everybody else who
didn't believe her was wrong.

NARRATOR: But a big question
remained unanswered.

How did Dr. Schneeberger fool
the previous blood DNA tests?

It was a puzzle how those
samples had come to be

different than the last finger.

Even if we knew there
was something different,

there was no way that
we could prove anything.

NARRATOR: Especially since
the nurses and police

all witnessed the
needle being inserted

into Dr. Schneeberger's arm
while the blood was drawn.

On the stand, Dr. Schneeberger
would reveal his secret.

In November of 1999,
Dr. John Schneeberger

went on trial in
Saskatchewan for the r*pe

of this patient, Candy,
and his own stepdaughter.

On the witness stand,
he said he surgically

inserted a plastic
tube under the skin

into his left arm, filled with
blood from one of his patients.

This is why he
insisted that the blood

be drawn from his left arm
rather than anywhere else.

If you look closely at the
videotape of that blood test,

you'll see that the doctor
is careful to pull his sleeve

only so high, so as not
to reveal the incision

where he inserted the tube.

And for a brief moment,
you can see the tube

protruding from his arm.

But by the time
the third test was

done, 5 years after the
r*pe accusation, the blood

in the tube was old and
dark, which explains why

the technician was suspicious.

Doctor Schneeberger,
however, denied raping Candy.

He claims Candy broke into
his home, stole a used condom,

and used that biological
sample to frame him.

He said he used his patient's
blood for the DNA test,

because he had no other
way to defend himself.

DANIELLE DASCHUK: When
that came up at trial

that he thought Candy broke into
his house and stole samples,

or whatever.

It was laughable.

It was absolutely
laughable that he had

to grasp at straws like that.

It was just laughable.

I was a bulldog on the stand.

I kicked his lawyer's ass.

And he's supposed to
be the best lawyer

in southern Saskatchewan,
best defense lawyer.

Wow.

I showed who was boss.

When you run across
strong willed individuals,

sometimes the strong willed
individuals are right.

And sometimes they're wrong.

And this particular strong
willed person was right.

And she was right all along.

And she was determined to
see that what happened to her

didn't happen to anyone else.

This would be right up
around the top as far

as being the most bizarre
and most involved,

and involving all the
forensic evidence here,

of any case that I had.

NARRATOR: Dr.
Schneeberger was found

guilty of sexually assaulting
Candy, as well as drugging

her, and obstructing justice.

He was also
convicted of sexually

assaulting his
stepdaughter, and was

sentenced to 6 years in prison.

I'm so proud of Candy.

If it was me, I
don't know if I could

handle the whole-- everything
that she went through.

It was just-- when the
test came back negative,

and she had to fight, and it
was just a constant battle.

NARRATOR: While
taping this interview,

Candy received a
telephone call in which

she learned Dr. Schneeberger
had been denied parole.

I won again!

[laughs] That's so exciting!

He lost.

He lost both of his
chances to get out

for day parole and full parole.

Oh my, God!

Isn't that great?

Woo-hoo!

[sighs] Anyway, I was so worried
that he was going to get out,

and everybody was going to fall
for his lies and bull [bleep]

again.

But they didn't.

They didn't.

They're smarter than the rest!

Oh, my God.

Do you guys know how
exciting this is for me?

It's like celebration.

You have to remember that the
DNA also lead us off the path.

So when I lecture on
this particular case

to younger police
officers, I say to them,

remember the DNA does
give you something,

but it has to be supported
with cooperative evidence.

It was very
frustrating not being

able to have all the
answers, but it finally

did come together after


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