13x17 - Fashion Police

[bunniefuu]

Up next, an apartment complex

is the site of a brutal m*rder.

- She was stabbed multiple times.

It looked like it was
sexually motivated.

- How could someone do that?

Why would someone do that?

Police find a
clue next to the body.

- During that struggle
is when the button

came off and fell to the ground.

But who k*lled her?

- It was a sex crime, but that
didn't limit it just to men.

A jealous lover, an
exotic dancer, an ex-husband

all had a possible motive...
And the button held the key.


worked as a consumer loan

officer in Fresno,
California, helping

people get car
loans and mortgages.

But that wasn't the only
way she assisted others.

- If someone was
hitchhiking down the road

with a can in their
hand for gas, she'd go,

mom let's stop and pick them up.

And I'd say, Julie,
are you crazy?

And I used to tell her, you
know, to just be careful.

- She was always positive.

She never yelled at anybody.

If you didn't get
along with her,

then there was something
wrong with you,

'cause she was the nicest
person in the whole world.

Julie was always punctual.

So when she didn't show up
for work one Monday morning,

it was cause for alarm.

Julie's boss called and
said she didn't come to work

and didn't call in.

And I mean, I just
started shaking.

I knew there was something
wrong because Julie

was not that kind of a person.

Julie's mother
went over to her daughter's

apartment and found her
body just inside the door.

She had been stabbed to death.

- When my daughter died,
it was like someone

took a piece of my heart.

Julie was my whole life.

The medical examiner
estimated that Julie was

m*rder*d the night before
her body was discovered.

She had been stabbed 37 times.

It appeared to be a
sexually motivated crime,

but oddly, there was
no sexual as*ault.

- She was in her underwear, and
there was just a massive amount

of blood under her,
and around her.

Uh, it was obvious that there
was a significant amount

of physical damage to her body.

Fortunately,
Julie's two children

weren't home when
the crime occurred.

They were with
Julie's ex-husband.

Robbery wasn't a motive.

Julie's purse, with money and
credit cards still inside,

lay untouched on
the kitchen counter.

A possible m*rder w*apon,
a four inch steak knife,

was in the kitchen sink.

But it was clean.

There were no signs
of forced entry.

Was it possible Julie
knew her k*ller?

- Everything pointed to whoever
came in that apartment,

came in, uh, non-violently,
was allowed in.

It wasn't something
where they had

forced their way in
and att*cked Julie.

Police found
some bloody shoe prints

at the scene... one
on Julie's body.

- When I saw that
footprint, that told me

an awful lot about
who I was looking for.

He showed exactly what he
thought about what he did

by just pushing her
aside like she was

nothing more than
a piece of meat.

Unfortunately,
none of the shoe impressions

could be used as evidence.

- With carpet, you can't tell
the pattern on the shoe,

but you could tell the form
of a shoe print in the,

uh, in the blood itself.

In a search for suspects,

Julie's apartment managers
told police an unusual story.

Three nights before the
m*rder, the manager's wife

was taking her nightly walk
around the apartment grounds.

A new tenant, a young
man she barely knew,

told her there was a
broken window at the end

of his hallway, and he
asked her to check it out.

- OK, where exactly is
the broken glass at?

- It's, it's just...

- It's down a dark walkway.
He's persistent.

Over and over he
asks her, come over

here and take a look at it.
Come over and take a look at it.

She wants nothing to do with it.

The manager's wife
told that person

that she would notify
her husband, the manager.

The next day she checked.

There was no broken window.

- For whatever reason that
person had, that person

wanted to take the
apartment manager's wife

into a very dark,
very, uh, secluded area

of that apartment complex.

And that raised a
huge flag for us.

We wanted to talk
to that person.

Coincidentally, the tenant

was Julie's next door neighbor.

In a haunting irony,
Julie Ann Braun

chose her apartment complex
because of its safety features.

- She specifically rented that
place because of the security.

They had security gates.

You couldn't get in
without a key to get,

you know, the,
like, key to get in.

And, uh, it was
really a nice place.

The apartment
manager's wife told police

to question Julie's next
door neighbor... a new tenant,



Jeremie lived with an exotic
dancer named Holly Doyle.

They met at the strip
club where she worked.

Overstreet was
unemployed, and Holly

said she found him
articulate and attractive.

- She was kindhearted, you know.

Felt sorry for him, you know.

Uh, things of that
nature, you know.

She brought him home.

When questioned by police,

Holly said Overstreet was
home on the night Julie was

m*rder*d, and she saw no blood
on his shirt when he came in.

- There were
witnesses, people that

had been over at
Holly's apartment.

He had gone back
to the apartment.

Instead of doing
what he normally did,

which was sit down, have some
drinks, and continue to talk,

straight... went
straight to a room,

told people not to disturb him.

He was tired.

A background check revealed

Overstreet had a
criminal record.

- Jeremie had just been paroled.

He had been incarcerated
for a previous r*pe.

But Overstreet
violated the terms

of his parole by
moving to Fresno.

Holly said Overstreet took
off when he saw all the police

around the apartment complex
investigating Julie's m*rder.

- That by itself would've
gotten him picked up the...

By the first officer
that found him.

As police
searched for Overstreet,

another suspect emerged.

- I had no idea who
would hurt my daughter.

My first thought
was her ex-husband.

Investigators learned
that Julie's ex-husband, John

Braun, did something on
the night of Julie's m*rder

that he'd never done before.

He didn't bring the children
home to Julie's apartment

as he had always done.

He said there'd been
a change of plan.

- It was strange
because he always

took the boys home at 6 o'clock.

That night, they had gotten
back from the lake too late.

- I'm sure I was the first
one they wanted to talk to.

They were wondering,
why were you late?

Were, were you circling around?

Did you come in, leave
the boys somewhere?

You know, why, why this
night are you late?

In addition, police
learned that John Braun was

a few thousand dollars behind
in child support payments.

Could this have been
a motive for m*rder?

With no signs of forced
entry into Julie's apartment,

John was certainly someone
Julie would have allowed in.

- When we have a
homicide investigation,

we look at everybody.

Everybody could be, and
is a potential suspect.

- Any time you're having a
divorce situation where kids

are involved, and one
half of that equation

is getting on with
life and getting

into a new relationship,
that gets volatile.

And John Braun was
moving forward.

He was dating someone.

It was getting serious.

In fact, John's new
girlfriend, Brenda Stanton,

was another person
police wanted to talk to.

Julie would also have allowed
Brenda into her apartment.

- There's nothing to say
that it couldn't have been

a female suspect that
went in and did that.

Brenda, a


had no criminal record.

But three days before
Julie's m*rder,

Brenda and Julie
got into a fight.

Apparently, Brenda believed
that Julie was trying

to get back together
with her ex-husband.

- We used to call his
girlfriend "Elvira".

And she said Elvira and
her got into an argument,

and John and her had
gotten into an argument,

and it was just one big mess.

- Go question her too.

We'll question everyone.

I wanted to make sure that
whoever did this got caught.

Then, investigators
found an important piece

of evidence in
Julie's apartment.

- About 18 inches to 2 feet
west of where her head lay,

I noticed a button.

And it was just
there, on the carpet,

right close to
where her head is.

The logo on the
button... Eddie Bauer 1920,

was clearly visible.

Strands of thread were
hanging from the button,

indicating it had been
torn from a shirt.

The button did not come
from Julie's clothes,

or any of the blouses
in her closet.

- That didn't just
fall from somebody

who might have visited
her the day before.

That was something that
the k*ller left behind.

According to
the Eddie Bauer company,

the button found at Julie
Ann Braun's crime scene

could have come from a woman's
blouse or a man's shirt.

When questioned by police,
Julie's ex-husband, John Braun,

and his new girlfriend,
Brenda Stanton,

both denied owning
an Eddie Bauer shirt.

- We had to find
out who it belonged

to, where it came from.

We had to find a specific tie
to this button... why it's there.

Then, Julie's
mother remembered something

that Julie said to her on the
phone the night she was k*lled.

- I'll remember that day forever.

She says, mom, let
me call you back.

I'm helping a
neighbor right now.

If that neighbor
were Jeremie Overstreet,

it could account for the
lack of forced entry.

So the search for Overstreet
took on a new significance.

When questioned, Overstreet's
girlfriend, Holly Doyle,

said she bought Overstreet
four shirts, and one of them

was missing.

- She described it as a
green, tan, and a red plaid,

uh, short-sleeved shirt.

Holly bought
the shirt at an Eddie

Bauer store just
a few miles away.

- She immediately went
to the men's department,

a particular clothing section.

She looked around
and said, this is it.

She picked it out of
all the other shirts

that were... this is
the one I bought him.

This is the one that's missing.

And I asked her, are
you sure about this?

And she says, yes.

I'm sure.

The buttons on this shirt

appeared to be
identical to the button

found at the crime scene.

- Everything was kind
of falling into place.

Everything was going
in the direction

that we need it to go in
order solve, solve this case.

Police scoured the
inside of Julie's apartment

for any signs of
forensic evidence

that would link
Overstreet to the crime.

Unfortunately, they
couldn't find any.

They also couldn't find
Jeremie Overstreet.

- You could tell
by looking at Ben,

and I'm sure he could
tell by looking at me,

that our stress level
was about at 100%.

One week later,
because of his credit card

activity, police
found Overstreet

in a San Jose hotel 150
miles west of Fresno.

Police had nothing concrete
to tie him to Julie's m*rder,

but were still
able to arrest him.

- We had him in custody
for parole violation,

but nothing else.

We had time on our side to
work the Julie Braun case 100%.

In his wallet, Overstreet

had one of Julie
Braun's business cards.

- What he had was a trophy.

It wasn't a business card
for business purposes.

It was a trophy to stamp
another victim in his book.

During his
interrogation by police,

Overstreet wouldn't say where
he put his Eddie Bauer shirt.

- One of those shirts was
gone, and also a pair of pants

were gone.

Jeremie had no explanation
for where they were,

or why they were missing.

And that's consistent with
somebody who had slashed Julie,

stabbed Julie, and had
blood on their clothes.

And that wasn't gonna wash
out... not with that crime scene.

He had to get rid of them.

On Overstreet's right hand,

investigators noticed
a large, healing scar

across his knuckles.

- It sure looked an
awful lot like a knife

had gone down that knuckle.

But investigators
didn't find Overstreet's blood,

or any other forensic
evidence at the crime scene.

Investigators needed
more than a shirt button

take charge Overstreet
with m*rder,

and feared he could walk free.

The prime suspect in
Julie Ann Braun's m*rder

was her next door neighbor,
Jeremie Overstreet,

who had a previous conviction
for r*pe and robbery.

Investigators didn't
find Overstreet's blood

in Julie's apartment,
despite the fact that he had

a recent wound on
his right hand.

So investigators decided
to look for evidence

in Overstreet's apartment.

- We did notice some
items of clothing

that belonged to Mr. Overstreet.

Those were taken as
evidence, but none of them

were the clothing that
we were looking for.

But with so much
blood at the crime scene,

investigators paid
particular attention

to anything that resembled
blood in Overstreet's apartment.

- We observed these small,
brownish-colored specks... one

on the bathroom door, and
a couple on the cabinet

below the sink, and one cross
on a, on the opposite wall.

A phenolphthalein
test showed it was human blood.

- We can work with very,
very small amounts of DNA.

I've always said that if
it's sort of pin-sized, uh,

I can see it, that
I can get a profile.

But scientists didn't
find just one DNA profile.

They found a mixture
of two female donors.

One was from Holly
Doyle, which made sense,

because she also lived
in the apartment.

- Which could have been simply
from her touching the door.

The other was
compared to Julie Braun's DNA.

- The DNA that I extracted and
typed from the bathroom door,

in my opinion, came
from Julie Braun.

I have no doubt about
that whatsoever.

- It was a home run, if
there ever was a home run.

In fact, the
odds were 1 in 2.3 trillion

that it was anyone
but Julie Braun.

- When I was told that the
DNA belonged to Julie,

words can't describe the
feeling that came over me, uh,

that came over us
in, in the unit.

- There's only one way her blood
got into his, his bathroom,

and that was because he was
at the scene at the time.

Jeremie Overstreet admitted

being inside Julie's apartment.

He said she was giving him
advice on how to get a car

loan since she worked
in the finance field.

- An unbelievable story.

You know, you have no
job, but yet you're

gonna go to, go talk
to this person who's

in charge of financing to
get financing for a car.

Let's be real, here.

Overstreet denied
any involvement in a m*rder,

but he couldn't
explain the blood.

In July of 1999,
Jeremie Overstreet

was charged with first degree
m*rder and attempted r*pe.

- He gave her the
same choice that he

gave his victim from
Southern California.

You can either have sex
with me, or you can die.

The choice is yours.

Prosecutors believe
Overstreet was hunting

for victims, and
that the apartment

manager's wife may
have been a target.

Fortunately for her, she
didn't take the bait.

- It really won't
take long at all.

You don't have a... just a
quick moment to go back and...

- No.
No I don't.

But I can... I can send
a maintenance guy, OK?

Three nights later, prosecutors

say Overstreet conned his
way into Julie's apartment

with a story about
financing a car.

- So, uh, you're looking
at buying a car, huh?

At 7:30 PM, Julie's
mother called the apartment.

And that's when
Julie told her mother

that she had company...
One of her neighbors.

At some point Overstreet
grabbed a steak knife

and ordered her to undress.

Instead, Julie tried to
get to the front door.

There was a fight,
and she ripped

the button from his shirt.

Overstreet was much bigger than
Julie, and without a w*apon,

she had no chance.

He stabbed her
repeatedly, spattering

himself with her blood.

He washed some of it
off in the kitchen,

then grabbed one of her
business cards as a trophy.

He then went back to his
own apartment to clean up,

and some of Julie's
blood landed on the door.

This cross-transfer of Julie's
blood and a button from a shirt

like one Overstreet owned
led to only one conclusion.

Jeremie Overstreet
was the k*ller.

- Jeremie didn't need
to r*pe Julie Braun.

He had an exotic dancer,
a beautiful woman,

who he could've had sex
with just by asking.

This wasn't about
wanting to have sex,

this was wanting to dominate
her, to use force on her.

It was a crime of v*olence.

- How could someone do that?

Why would someone do that?

It's disgusting.

Why would someone want that?

Why would someone
try to do that?

Why would anyone want
to have other people go

through what they
would go through?

On March 1,


was convicted of
first degree m*rder,

attempted r*pe, and burglary.

At his sentencing,
Julie's family

had some words for her k*ller.

- I hate you, but I'm not

gonna let that
take control of me.

'Cause I'm not that
kind of person.

I'm stronger than you.

And my mother was
stronger than you.

And you know it.

- I felt sick just
speaking to him.

I kept looking at
Jeremie Overstreet.

Then, all I could see was
his gli... glum face smirking.

Then he'd look down sometimes.

A button and a
speck of blood told the story.

A jury heard it, and sentenced
Jeremie Overstreet to two life

sentences with no
possibility of parole.

- This guy is an...
Pardon my French,

but an evil bastard,
and I'm relieved he's

going to go to prison
for the rest of his life.

- You can try as hard as you
want to to cover all your bases.

But with forensics, and what is
becoming on a day-to-day basis,

you better be awful damn good
to get rid of everything.

Because that little speck
of blood was Julie's blood,

and I could prove it.

- They always say that, that
God works in mysterious ways.

I believe that the
button was put there,

was left there, for us to
find, and for us to continue

our investigation, and led
us in the right direction.