10x07 - One For The Road

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: in today's
electronic world, security

Cameras track our every move.

A simple cellphone call
pinpoints our location by the

Nearest cell tower.

Every minute, gps navigational
systems can monitor our vehicles

And boats.

From otherworldly science to a
tear mark on some duct tape,

Investigators unravel a crime in
two cities, a crime of betrayal,

Lust, and greed.

Selling real estate in florida
can be very lucrative, since

Conspicuous consumption is
almost a competitive sport.

Mike garvin was a particularly
good real-estate agent, which

Afforded him and his wife,
shirley, a lifestyle most would

Envy.

They were a fairly prominent
couple in the upscale mandarin

Neighborhood community of
jacksonville.

He had been president of the
mandarin community club, and she

Was very active in local
politics down there.

Narrator: in january of 2003,
temperatures in mandarin got a

Little chilly for the couple's
liking, so they decided to drive

Down to the island of key west
for a mini vacation.

Shirley, once she retired
from working, became quite

Active.

We were all very thankful to see
that they were doing things

Together and that they enjoyed
it.

Narrator: the first morning
there, mike went to a nearby

Drugstore to pick up a
prescription for his wife.

When he returned an hour later,
shirley was gone.

He thought maybe his wife
went to a restaurant for

Breakfast or might have taken a
walk down to the beach.

Narrator: it was also
possible that shirley simply

Went shopping.

Shirley was a world-class
shopper.

We'd spend hours talking and
shopping and come home having

Purchased absolutely nothing,
but we would've considered it a

Very successful shopping day.

Narrator: but when mike found
his wife's purse in the hotel

Room, he suspected something was
wrong.

After several hours had passed,
mike called the police

Department to report her
missing.

Narrator: when questioned by
police, none of the hotel

Employees recalled seeing
shirley leave that morning.

Family members and friends were
shocked to learn that shirley

Was even in key west.

I was the last person to see
shirley, and we really didn't

Talk about shirley leaving town.

Shirley told me nothing about
going away.

Nothing.

Narrator: they mentioned that
shirley liked to wear expensive

Jewelry and this could've made
her a target.

We told the police that
shirley would probably have on

Her diamond earrings, the rings
that she would have on, and that

She had a rolex watch.

Narrator: police brought in a
specially trained dog to assist

In the search.

We had the k-9 dog try to
track shirley through some of

The clothing that was in the
hotel room.

Crime-scene investigators
collected evidence inside of the

Hotel and dusted for
fingerprints.

Narrator: but they found no
foreign fingerprints in the

Room.

And the dog couldn't pick up
shirley's scent anywhere outside

The room.

The next day, the local
newspaper ran the story.

It was a missing-person
story.

The story in the headlines and
the questions were, "what

Happened to shirley garvin?"
Narrator: media reports

Generated several potential
sightings, but none were

Shirley.

Police continued to search the
entire island of key west, which

Is only six square miles.

And they found a pair of women's
sandals on the beach which

Looked similar to ones shirley
wore, leading to speculation

That shirley may have had a
swimming accident.

And investigators learned
another troubling fact.

Mike garvin's previous wife had
committed su1c1de by hanging

Herself in the basement of their
home.

Mike was the one who found her
body.

I think this guy has got some
bad luck with his wives.

That's what I thought.

Narrator: when 55-year-old
shirley garvin went missing from

Her hotel in key west, florida,
police wanted to know more about

Her activities.

So they asked mike to retrace
their steps and tell them

Everything they did together
since their arrival.

Mike said they'd checked in to
their hotel and that he left to

Get them both dinner.

Narrator: but the bartender
said mike only ordered one

Chicken sandwich, and the
restaurant receipt confirmed it.

Well, that receipt started
making me believe that

Mrs. Garvin never made it to
key west.

Narrator: a check of mike's
credit-card activity revealed he

Stopped at a convenience store
in miami on the way down to

Key west.

But the store's security camera
showed mike was there alone.

And we just thought it was
odd that after driving that long

That shirley wouldn't be coming
in there to go to the bathroom,

Get something to drink, you
know?

We never see shirley coming in
to the store.

Narrator: next, police
checked the security videotapes

Located in the toll booths
between jacksonville and

Key west.

They screened hundreds of hours
of videotape until they found

Mike garvin's white jaguar.

You see the car stopping to
pay the toll and then driving on

Through.

Narrator: when they enlarged
the picture, they saw an empty

Passenger seat.

We asked him where shirley
was sitting in the car.

He said she was sitting in the
front seat.

We asked him if she ever got in
the backseat.

No, she never got in the
backseat.

She never reclined the seat.

So at this point, we pull out
the picture of the toll booth

And show it to him.

He looks at the picture, and we
say, "where's shirley?"

Narrator: mike garvin had no
explanation.

He says, "I don't know."

And he at this point starts to
get very agitated.

He was telling lies, and they
were starting to be uncovered.

And the more they uncovered, the
deeper they found it and the

Harder they looked for shirley.

Narrator: next, police
interviewed mike's co-workers at

His real-estate office in
jacksonville.

I went to talk to some of his
co-workers, who did not know

That he was married.

Seemed very surprised to find
out that he was married.

Narrator: this was
particularly surprising, since

Mike and shirley had been
married for close to 16 years.

When police searched the
garvins' home, they found no

Signs of foul play.

All of shirley's clothes and
personal items were still there.

Crime-scene technicians used
luminol in every room of the

House, but it turned up nothing.

Then police computer experts
looked at the hard drive of

Mike's home computer and found
evidence that mike had a very

Active social life for a married
man.

Michael garvin was living the
life of a bachelor.

He was soliciting people online.

He was sending flowers to women
he had just met, arranging dates

With women just as he would if
he were single.

Narrator: and police found
this on-line ad on a singles

Website, match.com.

It included mike's picture and
lists his marital status as

Divorced.

But the question remained --
where was shirley garvin?

Narrator: when
shirley garvin's family learned

Of her mysterious disappearance,
not surprisingly, they were

Desperate for information.

We were sitting in this
restaurant, having lunch.

And I put my hand on his arm,
and I said, "mike, how are you

Getting through this?"
And he said, "you know, nancy,

I'm the type of person, I never
look back.

I always look forward."

Narrator: a background check
revealed even more troubling

News.

Mike had substantial credit-card
debt -- approximately $86,000 --

And most of the couple's assets
were in shirley's name.

To me, it appeared that she
was financially stable and he

Was financially in trouble.

It wasn't until shortly
before she disappeared that I

Ever heard her say anything even
remotely unkind about him.

Narrator: and friends told
police that shirley was planning

To leave mike.

She felt that he was
financially irresponsible.

Shirley said that she was
planning to leave the area and

Mike would not be going with
her.

Narrator: to keep tabs on
mike's whereabouts, police

Secretly put a global
positioning satellite receiver

Underneath his car.

These days, police no longer
follow suspects.

Satellites do it instead.

It is recording constantly
and sending a beacon back to a

Computer, which allowed it to be
tracked at all times and allowed

For covert surveillance of
michael garvin.

Narrator: about six weeks
after shirley's disappearance,

The gps indicated mike drove to
an abandoned golf course in a

State park 20 miles from his
jacksonville home.

Coincidentally, mike received a
cellphone call in this vicinity

On the morning he left for
key west.

We take cadaver dogs up
there, and they hit on a pond

Close by an area where the gps
shows he stopped for several

Minutes.

Narrator: it took park
officials about a week to drain

The entire retention pond, but
they found nothing.

It's very disappointing.

We spend a week doing that, and
we're still back to square one.

Narrator: ten days later,
mike made a second trip to the

State park.

This time, police notified a
park official, who spotted him

With a woman later identified as
a girlfriend he met through the

Internet.

After they left, a police grid
search found something

Suspicious very close to where
mike had parked his car.

There was an area that had
looked a little bit different.

The ground surface looked a
little bit different than the

Areas around it.

So we had crime scene probe it,
which consists of putting a pole

Down into the dirt, and it can
tell you whether the sand or

Dirt has been disturbed.

Narrator: just a few feet
below the surface was a human

Body wrapped in trash bags and
sealed with duct tape.

It was shirley garvin.

On her wrist was the date of her
death.

Her watch had stopped.

It was just rolling to the 26th.

Narrator: january 26 was the
day mike left jacksonville for

Key west.

We would have never found her
if he hadn't led us right to

Her.

Narrator: the autopsy
revealed that shirley died from

Two b*llet wounds to the head.

I absolutely thought I was
just going to crumble.

That I was going --
I was sick to my stomach.

I mean, there wasn't any part of
me that I was controlling at

That point.

And I felt greater loss than
I've ever, ever felt in my life.

Narrator: but police found no
evidence that mike owned a

.22-caliber p*stol.

In mike's garage, however,
police found three rolls of duct

Tape, which were sent to fiber
expert donna wallace.

I was able to rule out two of
the rolls of duct tape because

It had visual differences from
the tape on the bags.

It was slightly different in
color, and it had indentations

Along the surface of the tape.

Narrator: but the third roll
was another matter.

Unlike the regular tape, duct
tape has a crosshatched network

Of fibers on the sticky side to
make it stronger.

It takes more effort to rip a
piece of duct tape from the

Roll, and the fibers leave a
distinctive tear pattern at the

End, which often is as unique as
a fingerprint.

It's called a fracture-match
exam.

It's a type of exam where you --
it's like a forensic puzzle --

Try to put the pieces back
together to see if they were at

One time a single piece.

Narrator: wallace used a
high-powered microscope to

Compare the end of the roll of
tape found in garvin's garage to

The ends of all the pieces found
with shirley's body.

And she discovered that the
ripped end on the roll of duct

Tape lined up perfectly with a
piece found with shirley's body.

The fact that I was able to
fracture-match these two pieces

Of tape back together meant that
the tape that was found on the

Garbage bag wrapped around the
victim came from the roll that

Was found in the garage at the
home.

Narrator: mike garvin was
arrested and charged with

First-degree m*rder.

We have his inconsistent
statements.

We have toll-booth videos that
show that shirley was not in the

Car, we have the gps that led us
right to her body, we have the

Duct-tape matches, and we have
his girlfriends.

We're ready to take it to trial.

Narrator: prosecutors believe
shirley garvin had planned to

Leave her husband and that her
husband, mike, knew it.

Shirley probably found out
sincerely that he was running

Around.

And he also was extremely
heavily in debt.

And this was his way to take
care of everything.

Narrator: since most of the
couple's assets were in

Shirley garvin's name, mike
undoubtedly felt threatened.

Mike went from being a user
and a taker to a m*rder*r.

Narrator: on the night of
january 25, 2003, prosecutors

Believe mike garvin waited for
shirley to come home from her

Shopping trip and k*lled her
with a .22-caliber p*stol.

He wrapped her in garbage bags
and sealed them with duct tape.

Forensic analysis confirmed the
tape was from the garvins' home.

Mike placed shirley's body in
the trunk of his car and at 6:21

P.m. Spoke with his girlfriend
on the phone, something he

Probably couldn't have done if
shirley were alive.

The next day, he visited his
girlfriend's home, and she told

Police he stayed overnight for
the first time in their dating

Relationship, another clue that
shirley was already dead.

In the early morning hours, mike
drove to the state park and

Buried shirley's body.

[ Cellphone rings ]
mike answered his cellphone

While there, a call that
utilized the cell tower nearby.

Mike then headed to key west,
florida, for his cover story.

The cameras in the toll booth
and convenience store proved

That mike drove to key west
alone.

After he checked in to the
hotel, records show mike ordered

Only one chicken sandwich in the
restaurant, another

Inconsistency, one he lied about
to police.

The next morning, he reported
his wife missing.

That was his alibi.

That's what he was gonna do --
report her missing from key west

So law enforcement would center
their investigation in key west

And not in jacksonville.

Narrator: six weeks after
shirley disappeared, the gps

Showed mike in the state park
not far from shirley's grave,

Probably to make sure no one had
found it.

A week later, mike drove out
there again, this time with a

Girlfriend, who said she knew
nothing about the m*rder.

Mike told her they were going
hiking.

When they left, police found
shirley's body in a shallow

Grave.

It was less than 30 feet from
where mike parked his car.

I was able to go back to the
initial stop that mr. Garvin had

Made in this state park and
confirm that it was within 26 to


Site.

How could he have possibly
ended up 29 feet from the body

Not once, but twice?

The great irony of this case
is that michael garvin more than

Anyone else solved the m*rder of
shirley garvin.

Narrator: some
law-enforcement officials

Believe that mike garvin may
have had something to do with

His previous wife's hanging
death 16 years earlier.

Unfortunately for us, an
autopsy was never performed and

The body was cremated, so there
was nothing we were able to do

With that information.

Narrator: faced with the
overwhelming amount of forensic

Evidence against him for
shirley's m*rder, mike garvin

Decided he had no choice but to
plead guilty.

Michael garvin realized that
this was a mountain of evidence

From under which he couldn't
climb.

He was completely surrounded.

And he stood nothing to gain by
a trial, only public

Humiliation.

And that was not something he
was prepared to deal with.

It made me sick to know that
he finally personally had

Admitted it.

It made me absolutely sick.

But it confirmed every thought
that I had.

And he was too weak to go
through this trial.

Narrator: garvin was
sentenced to life in prison

Without parole.

But there's still a mystery.

And the mystery was we'll never
really know what happened

Because he didn't go to trial.

Narrator: he never revealed
what he did with the m*rder

w*apon other than to say it was
irretrievable.

Michael garvin's arrogance
caused him to believe that even

If he used his own duct tape to
seal her body that science

Couldn't trace it back to him.

And in the end, it sealed his
fate.

The science in this case is
better than an eyewitness

Because the science doesn't lie
or doesn't get confused or

Forget.

But it's never going to bring

Shirley back, and we know that.

But at least by leaving that

Courtroom having him sentenced

To life, we knew we had done

Everything we could for shirley.