10x03 - Plastic Puzzle

[bunniefuu]

police emergency.

NARRATOR: A hit and run driver
left the scene of the crime,

but he took something with him.

Something very important.

And he left behind a
piece of forensic evidence

that microscopically
told a story more

graphic than any eyewitness
could ever have told.

[theme music]

On a cold February
night in 1995,

Todd Christensen, a
Kalamazoo, Michigan policeman,

was on duty in his patrol car.

Things had been
quiet, and Christensen

thought it was
going to remain so.

CHRISTENSEN: I was actually
eating dinner in my car,

relaxing with a peanut butter
and jelly sandwich, when

a frantic citizen came up
and pulled up next to me.

NARRATOR: He told
Christensen that a man was

badly hurt a couple
of blocks away.

[sirens]

When Christensen got there, the
man was alive, but just barely.

CHRISTENSEN: He was what
I call circling the drain.

His breathing was not good.

He was doing all he
could to just suck

in air at that time--
major head trauma.

NARRATOR: The victim,


was rushed to the
local hospital.

KIMBERLY LAVERTY: When
I went into the room

and I saw him laying
there, and his injuries,

he just didn't hardly
look like the same person.

So it was real hard.

And my mom was, of
course, real upset.

That was her only son.

So it was very upsetting.

NARRATOR: Hudson never
regained consciousness.

He was pronounced
dead before police

could find out
what had happened.

KIMBERLY LAVERTY: When
my brother passed away,

it affected our whole family.

My mom suffered two
nervous breakdowns.

It affected all of us.

NARRATOR: Kirk's death
was the final act

in a series of tragedies.

He was an unemployed Navy
veteran whose 28-year-old wife

died of cancer just
a few years earlier.

At the time of his death, he
had been caring for his mother.

She was sick and elderly.

At the accident
scene, police found

a damaged bicycle
near Kirk's body.

CHRISTENSEN: What we saw is
definitely evidence of a crime.

The vehicle parts, the mangled
up bicycle, the person lying

in a pool of blood, would
lead any reasonable officer

to believe that this guy
got hit by a vehicle,

and then that vehicle then left.

NARRATOR: Kirk's
family told police

he often rode his
bicycle at night.

KIMBERLY LAVERTY: I
think maybe that was

how maybe he did
relieve his stress.

It didn't faze him,
really, what time it was.

He was a night person, so
that was his thing, you know?

He'd ride his bike at night
or wherever he wanted to do.

NARRATOR: Near Kirk's
bicycle, police

found a trail of plastic and
glass fragments, a small convex

mirror, some paint
chips, and an antenna.

CHRISTENSEN: The first thing
that ran through my mind

was the driver of this
vehicle was obviously drunk.

Someone left the bar, ran
this guy over, either knew it

or didn't know it--
regardless-- and left,

because they were
drunk and didn't

want to get caught
by the police.

NARRATOR: This trail
of vehicle parts

led north along the
street, indicating

the direction of the driver.

From Kirk's head
injuries, police

determined that he was riding
the bike with the traffic

on the right side of the road
when he was hit from behind.

This meant that the hit
and run vehicle would

have had right front end damage.

There was no evidence the
driver used his brakes

before or after he struck Kirk.

And Kirk's family couldn't
understand why someone

would leave him to
die in the street.

KIMBERLY LAVERTY: This
was just an accident.

He didn't mean to do it, or
she didn't mean to do it.

We just wanted them
to say to us that they

were sorry for what they did.

And that they didn't
mean to do it.

So that's all we wanted.

NARRATOR: There

to Kirk Hudson's
hit and run death.

But the force of impact
left little doubt

that the driver who hit
him knew what happened.

KIMBERLY LAVERTY: How
could they just hit

him and then just
leave him there?

To me, that was just-- I
couldn't even believe it.

I was like, why couldn't
they have just stopped?

NARRATOR: The only clues
to the driver's identity

were some pieces of truck or
car parts left at the scene.

FALL: We knew that the
evidence on top of the ice

was fresh, because
if it wasn't fresh,

it would have frozen in the ice.

So all the piece of light lens,
the antenna, reflector lens,

any parts of the
bicycle, the fresh paint

all setting on top,
we knew was fresh.

NARRATOR: Crime
scene technicians

identified the location of each
piece with a numbered marker

and then drew a detailed
diagram of the scene.

Every piece-- there were 28 in
all-- was then photographed.

But it was doubtful whether
these tiny clues would

be enough to
identify the vehicle.

LUEDECKING: After I collected
things from the scene,

I thought that we'd done
the best job we could.

But I gave it about
a 30% chance of ever

finding the vehicle
that was involved.

I didn't think that we
stood a real good chance.

NARRATOR: Among the
pieces of the vehicle

were also paint chips.

One of the chips was a
little bigger than a quarter

and contained a
wealth of information.

There were two distinct
colors on the chip

with a line running
through them.

LUEDECKING: It was a
tricolored piece of paint chip.

It was a maroon color, a
black pinstripe, and mauve.

That was very unique.

That's a two-toned
vehicle with a pinstripe.

NARRATOR: A background
check revealed

there were very
few vehicles sold

with that color combination,
which raised the possibility

that it was a custom paint job.

-That helped narrow
the scope of what

we were looking for even more.

NARRATOR: Next, investigators
turned to the shards

of orange plastic
recovered from the scene.

Under the microscope, they found
a combination of small cubes

and rectangles designed to
reflect and shine light.

This meant it was most
likely from a turn

signal or parking light.

Investigators then
took each charge

and attempted to piece
together what they had.

-You literally may have
one piece that's broke here

and another piece that fits into
it, or you get jagged pieces,

and they all come
together microscopically.

And that's what you look for.

NARRATOR: On one
shard, investigators

found a pentagon
with a star inside.

It looked like a
Chrysler Dodge logo.

On this shard, there appeared
to be a serial number.

HOLMES: The one part had
some markings on it--

some numbers on it-- and I was
in hopes that it would be part

numbers that we could
identify what type of vehicle

this lens had came from.

NARRATOR: So investigators
gathered all the pieces

from the crime scene and
went to a local Chrysler

Dodge dealership.

And there, parts
manager David Johnson

found himself doing
something well

outside his job description.

JOHNSON: I'd read about it
in the paper about the person

getting hit in
downtown Kalamazoo,

and they thought
it might be a van

of some kind that had done it.

And when the officer came in and
questioned us, it's like, wow.

I wonder if it was a Dodge.

NARRATOR: Johnson
confirmed these pieces were

from the plastic casing
of a turn signal.

He then took the serial number
and went through old parts

manuals and discovered
another piece of the puzzle.

JOHNSON: There was no doubt in
my mind what this came off of.

It had to be off of a Dodge van.

Once we saw the paint chip
and the antenna on it,

I knew it had to be
a conversion van,

because those were
not standard items.

NARRATOR: A conversion
van is customized

to the owner's specifications.

Johnson said the parts
from the turn signal

indicated the
vehicle was a Dodge

Ram, a van made
between 1986 and 1993.

But a closer look at the small
mirror found at the scene

narrowed this down even further.

This was a customized part, and
was only available from 1986

to 1987.

Police now knew the make and
model of the vehicle that

k*lled Kirk Hudson
within a two year range.

LUEDECKING: We were
in a real big hurry

to try to find the vehicle.

Time is pretty
critical, you know?

You don't want that
vehicle sitting out

there for a long period of time.

NARRATOR: Incredibly, in
Kalamazoo alone, there

were hundreds of vehicles
fitting that description.

Nationwide, tens of thousands.

And the driver and his
van could be anywhere.

After examining pieces of
the vehicle that k*lled Kirk

Hudson, police knew they were
looking for a 1986 or '87 mauve

and maroon Dodge
Ram, a conversion

van with a black pinstripe.

Police had a list
of the hundreds

of people whose vans
fit the description.

-It's like looking for
a needle in a haystack.

It's not an easy thing to do.

NARRATOR: Kirk Hudson's
family was informed,

but warned not to
get their hopes up.

KIMBERLY LAVERTY: My
brother did have a family,

and they did care, you know?

He was a person, and
it was important for us

to follow through on
this and make sure

that justice was served.

NARRATOR: A description of the
van was released to the media.

Some calls came in, but
they were all dead ends.

Then, about a month after
Kirk Hudson's death,

a customer in a local bar
started to ask some questions.

WOMAN: I was at
my my normal seat,

and the bartender said
something about an accident

where a guy on a
bicycle had been k*lled.

And I said, oh really?

When?

NARRATOR: The woman, who asked
that she remain anonymous,

wanted to know more
about the accident.

When she heard the accident
took place just a few blocks

from the bar and read the
description of the hit and run

vehicle, she suspected she knew
the identity of the driver.

WOMAN: Because he
had the only Dodge

van in that
neighborhood that color.

I don't even remember what
year his Dodge van was,

how old it was, or new
it was, or whatever.

I just know that that
van, it had to be his van.

NARRATOR: She called police
to voice her suspicion

that the driver of the
van was Jim Northey,

and she said she
was with Northey

on the night of the accident.

The two had been
drinking together.

WOMAN: Well, I couldn't
even possibly come

close to saying how many he had.

I wasn't keeping track.

NARRATOR: She said Northey
left the bar alone in his van

shortly before the
accident occurred.

Northey was 46
years old, and had

seven previous convictions
for drunk driving.

Vehicle records confirmed
he owned a 1987 Dodge Ram

conversion van the same color
as the one in the accident.

But when police discovered
where Northey worked,

they started to doubt whether
they'd ever solve the case.

HOLMES: He worked at this
local recycling place

where they shred vehicles.

We were afraid that the
vehicle got shredded

and it's in a thousand
pieces out there

in the junkyard someplace.

NARRATOR: Police rushed
to Northey's home

and found the windows
of his garage taped

closed with towels
and plastic bags.

FALL: Nobody could
see inside, which

is unusual for a
garage, which just

got up my interest even more.

NARRATOR: When
questioned, Jim Northey

denied he was involved in
a hit and run accident,

but he acknowledged that
his wife had driven the van

and gotten into a minor traffic
accident a few weeks earlier.

FALL: I could see
that the van had

been involved in an accident.

The front light right light
assembly had been replaced.

It was just hanging
there from the wire.

NARRATOR: But
police weren't sure

how they could tell whether the
damage was caused by the hit

and run accident or
the other traffic

accident Northey referred to.

Then, almost by chance, police
discovered an important clue.

-When I got to a
workbench, it was

covered with several things.

Tools, work stuff,
that type of thing.

And I proceeded to
take everything off

from this work bench
just piece by piece.

And as I got the bottom, I
found one piece of orange lens--

light lens-- just like the ones
we'd found out at the scene.

NARRATOR: But it
wasn't enough just

to find a similar
piece of plastic.

The most important
thing was did it match?

Although Jim Northey
denied hitting Kirk Hudson

with his van, police
confiscated the vehicle

and ran it through
a series of tests.

LUEDECKING: The
first thing we did

is we processed the
van with luminol.

We look for trace blood.

We next processed the van to
see if there was any hairs

or fibers that came
from the victim.

NARRATOR: But more than a month
had passed since Kirk Hudson's

death, and there was
no biological link

between Northey's van
and the crime scene.

So police turned to more
durable evidence-- the plastic

and paint from the
suspect vehicle.

A comparison analysis was
done on a paint sample

from Northey's van and paint
chips from the crime scene.

The colors and chemical
composition of both samples

were identical.

-The state police crime lab did
match up paint from the vehicle

and paint from the scene.

NARRATOR: Next, investigators
turned to the tiny chip

of plastic they'd found
on Northey's workbench.

As if they were putting
together a jigsaw puzzle,

they tried to fit this chip
into the turn signal partially

reassembled from
the crime scene.

Incredibly, the piece fit.

HOLMES: When an
amber lens breaks,

the pieces don't even
break the same way again.

So basically, we had a
fingerprint found at the scene.

There was no doubt.

NARRATOR: This tiny
shard of plastic

told an important story.

It was proof that Jim Northey
had removed the broken turn

signal lens, placed it
temporarily on his workbench,

and when he went to throw
the broken item away,

inadvertently left behind
this one tiny piece

that matched the broken
pieces at the crime scene.

Investigators now turned
to Kirk Hudson's bike.

They placed it next to the
suspect van in an attempt

to gauge the point of contact.

FENTON: There was a dent in the
bicycle that would have been

similar from where
the van hit it.

The same height, the same
location, passenger side.

Just all kinds of
jigsaw puzzle pieces

fitting together like a glove.

LUEDECKING: I saw the damage
to the bicycle matching up

to the van, the parking
light lens at the same height

as the seat, the color scheme
of the van as to what we

picked up out
there, the antenna.

I got that warm fuzzy feeling
that we'd done our job.

We'd got the vehicle involved.

NARRATOR: Based on
the forensic evidence,

Jim Northey was
charged with leaving

the scene of a fatal accident.

KIMBERLY LAVERTY: It was good
to have the person's name.

That was important.

Not that we knew him,
but just who it was.

That maybe we could
get some closure.

NARRATOR: Northey
was offered a chance

to plead to a lesser
charge in exchange

for a reduced sentence,
but he refused.

The defense team was convinced
the tiny bits of plastic

and paint assembled by
forensic technicians

weren't enough to
convince a jury.

But they faced a major hurdle.

Since no one had seen
Northey driving, all they had

was the physical evidence to
put his van at the crime scene.

-There were no eyewitnesses.

And when there are
no eyewitnesses,

that remains a difficult
part to sort out in your mind

until you hear all the evidence.

-The pieces of
amber parking light

lens that you took
from the scene--

NARRATOR: During the trial,
prosecutors spent hours

telling the jury how
each and every piece

of plastic and
paint fit together.

When completed,
it told the story

of how Kirk Hudson had
been hit and left to die.

FENTON: Scientific evidence
is always compelling.

Juries love scientific evidence.

They watch CSI.

They watch your show.

This is the rare type of
case where we actually

have a lot of
scientific evidence.

JANICE: It had to be
more than coincidence

that a piece of plastic or a
paint chip or a piece of glass

doesn't just happen to be there.

And when they showed them,
blew them up, magnified them,

it was easy to see how
they exactly matched,

and that was very
convincing as a juror.

-All of these
little markers here

that I referred to are
pieces of evidence.

NARRATOR: After a three
day trial, and only

four hours of deliberation, the
jury found Jim Northey guilty.

FENTON: They jury put
him behind that wheel

beyond a reasonable doubt.

That pretty much is
the end of the story.

NARRATOR: He was sentenced
to four years in prison.

Kirk Hudson's family
still grieves,

but they're grateful
the k*ller unknowingly

left behind the information
that led to his capture.

KIMBERLY LAVERTY: And I know
that all those little pieces

came to be one piece that
really helped solve the case.

Maybe if this had
happened 20 years ago,

it might not have gotten solved.

But it took all
those little pieces

to come together
to get it solved,

so we're very grateful for that.

LUEDECKING: Evidence is great
for any criminal proceeding.

You know, I can sit here
and say you ran a stop sign,

and you say, no I didn't.

But if I say I got
your fingerprint

or I got your parking
light, you can argue it.

It's evidence.

-Another moral of this
story is dogged police work

and investigation,
patience, determination,

can bring people to
justice that otherwise

might have avoided it.