13x20 - DNA Dragnet

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- Up next, did this
surveillance image

show a kidnapping, or
a casual encounter?

- It was a very curious
surveillance tape.

- Digital photo enhancement shows
the trip wasn't consensual.

- If you get into a car, you go
to the second spot, most likely

you've just signed
your death certificate.

- Then, there's a second
m*rder hauntingly

similar to the first.

- For the most part,
you had a female.

You have an early morning event.

You had control.

You had geographical area
close in time, close in proxim.

- Was a serial
k*ller on the loose?

- Every morning, 55-year-old
librarian Damaris Wynn

walked for miles in Duncan
Park, a 100 acre wooded area

next to her house in
Spartanburg, South Carolina.

- If you're standing in
the middle of the park,

on you might feel like
you were on a well

traveled trail in
a national park.

But as soon as you
took 10 or 15 steps

on either side of the
center, you would see houses.

So it is by no means isolated.

- One morning, however,
she didn't return home.

A few hours later,
a municipal worker

found her body in some
underbrush in the park

less than 100 yards
from her home.

- She was nude, with the
cord from her Walkman

around her neck.

Jewelry still on the body,
which is more important to me

as a prosecutor
than any other fact.

Because you now know that
robbery was not the motive.

It's something else.

- All of Damaris'
clothing was gone.

Did the k*ller take it
as some sort of trophy?

- The crime scene we had was
a forensics nightmare for us

because of the downpour
where she was lying

began to fill it with water.

- An autopsy revealed Damaris
had been sexually assaulted.

The cause of death was
manual strangulation,

but it looked like
the k*ller tried

using the cord to her earphones.

- Why wrap the cord
around the neck

if you chocked her
with your hands?

- Her Walkman, however, was gone.

- We feel like the suspect
most likely took the Walkman.

We had searched through the park
trying to locate the Walkman,

her clothing, any other
items that we could find.

And we just did not
turn up anything.

- There was just
this overwhelming,

how can this happen
in our community.

And instantly people thought,
a stranger is amongst us.

- Damaris' husband
James said he was home

when she went for
her morning walk.

It was a Saturday, and he
didn't have to go to work.

When she didn't
return, he claimed

he drove around the
neighborhood looking for her.

- He thought he was going to
find his wife around the corner,

you know, holding
her ankle or her leg.

That he even said that
as the time went on,

something in his gut let him
say, this just is not right.

- But police found something
suspicious in the couple's

home.

It was Damaris' Walkman.

- We have a purple Walkman
still in her residence.

We have her outside
across the street

wearing a purple headphones.

That was very interesting
from the beginning.

- When confronted
with this evidence,

James Wynn offered
an explanation,

one investigators
found hard to believe.

He claimed Damaris
had two Walkmans,

and he offered to
take a polygraph test

to prove his innocence.

He failed.

And then, James did something
even more suspicious.

He had his wife's body cremated
against her family's wishes.

- You know, if the
husband didn't do it,

then why'd he have
her body cremated?

It can never be looked at,
exhumed again and looked at,

and those are the
obvious reasons.

- Police were convinced
James Wynn was

responsible for this m*rder
until they compared his DNA

to the evidence collected
from his wife's r*pe kit.

- We received a sample with
the initial submission.

It did not match the
evidence from the r*pe kit.

- And once they took
him off the block,

people then started
going back to the, well

could it have been
somebody else,

or did he get away with m*rder?

- The perpetrator's
DNA profile was also

entered into CODIS, the
national DNA database.

There were no hits.

- So that means that the
perpetrator had not committed

a crime that qualified him
to be a part of our database.

- It looked as if police
had a random m*rder

on their hands, the
hardest type to solve.

Duncan Park is a landmark in
Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Since 1926, families
have used the park

for recreation and picnics.

So it's an unlikely place
for a brutal m*rder.

Investigators learned
that on the day

Damaris Wynn was m*rder*d,
four municipal workers

were cutting trees in the park.

All of them were asked
to provide a DNA sample,

as was any male who
lived near the park

or worked with Damaris.

- We swabbed around


We tried to pinpoint
people that we

really thought may be involved.

And everyone we went to, you
know, volunteered their swabs.

- Again, there were no matches.

Five months later, there
was a similar m*rder

in the Reidville
community of Spartanburg

County 15 miles away.

- It was the same, essentially.

There were some differences,
but for the most part,

you had a female.

You had an early morning event.

- 32-year-old Rhonda Ward
drove into the parking lot

of the convenience
store where she worked.

It was early in
the morning, and it

was Rhonda's job
to open the store.

- Rhonda was the type of lady
that, if she was supposed

to be there at 7:00,
she came in at 6:30.

- Security cameras
in the parking lot

showed a man walking up to
her and having a conversation.

- You can see a subject
walking up the sidewalk,

then he cut across, come
into the parking lot,

and approached her.

And she was standing
at the door.

- It looked like the
two knew one another.

They got into Rhonda's
car and drove away.

- This was totally unlike Rhonda.

It was a break in her pattern.

And that's what also
made me very suspicious.

- 36 hours later,
Rhonda's nude body

was found in an apple
orchard about 15

miles from the
convenience store.

- She'd been stabbed to death
and sexually assaulted.

But again, because of the
time of the year it's cold.

Decomp hadn't started.

And we... we had a
lot to work with.

- Blood underneath
the body indicated

Rhonda had been m*rder*d
where she was found.

And just like Damaris
Wynn's m*rder,

the k*ller had taken
Rhonda's clothes.

When news of Rhonda's
m*rder became public,

a potential witness
contacted police.

She said that on the
morning Rhonda disappeared,

she was driving by the orchard
where the body was found.

She saw a white car parked
on the shoulder of the road

with two individuals
walking toward the orchard.

She said one looked
like the victim.

The other was a light
skinned black man.

At the time, the witness
didn't think anything of it.

- I'm certain he had been there
before, knew about the area.

May have already planned
it out in his mind.

- Police assume the k*ller
had also stolen Rhonda's car.

Fortunately, after speaking
with the Nissan car company,

investigators
discovered the company

had something they could do.

- The ability to
start the car could

be disabled if
payment were not made.

And because of her death, she
missed a payment and the car

was disabled.

How they were able to do that
with a satellite, I don't know.

But I do know that
they disabled the car.

- Apparently, the gambit worked.

Police found Rhonda's
abandoned car

three miles from
the crime scene.

Someone, presumably the
k*ller, had set it on fire,

most likely to destroy
potential forensic evidence.

- You just don't burn cars
because they won't start,

unless you got something
you want to hide.

- But the radio was missing.

So police put word out
to their informants

to be on the lookout
for an individual

trying to sell a
Nissan car stereo.

Store employees who watched the
security camera videotape said

the man look like Chester
Donovan, a man Rhonda

had been dating.

- It was someone
that Rhonda had more

than just a friendship with.

- 32-year-old Chester
Donovan was a teacher's aide

at the school Rhonda's
children attended.

A background check
revealed a previous arrest

for domestic v*olence.

Donovan denied any
involvement, and consented

to a polygraph test,
which he failed.

- You've got him
identified, you've

got him failing a polygraph, and
he had a connection to Ms. Ward

with a violent past.

So I mean, obviously
that was where

the investigation was focusing.

- When a witness reported
seeing Rhonda Ward walking

towards the orchard with
an unidentified man,

she was asked to identify
him in a photo lineup.

- Out or six people in
that lineup, the witness

we had actually
picked Chester out.

- Chester Donovan was dating
Rhonda Ward at the time.

But Donovan had an alibi.

He was at work at the time
Rhonda Ward was abducted.

- He had a alibi better than
the one I had that morning.

Nobody could tell you where I
was at 7 o'clock that morning.

Except my wife.

He had about five people that
could tell you where he was.

- In addition to his
alibi, investigators

performed a DNA test.

And Donovan's DNA did not
match the biological evidence

from the r*pe test kit.

But the DNA test did
provide an important clue.

The DNA of Rhonda's
k*ller matched the DNA

profile of Damaris
Wynn's k*ller.

- I don't know that any of
us actually expected it.

There were few that
actually expected it.

But there were some that
were like, well, you

know, it'll be a luck
hit if we get it.

- Investigators knew that
the man with Rhonda Ward

on the surveillance
image was her k*ller.

Two surveillance cameras
captured the incident,

but both produce dark
and blurry images.

So Spartanburg investigators
contacted the Secret Service,

which has a lab with
state of the art

equipment for video enhancement.

- I know most people associate
us with the protection

of the president, but the
Secret Service was originally

created in 1865 is a
law enforcement agency.

- In fact, the Secret Service
was working on technology that

would get one of its first
try outs in this case.

- It was just an
amazing coincidence

that a case of this high profile
came in to our office for us

to work on.

- The Secret Service discovered
that the surveillance cameras

in the parking lot
were out of focus.

To correct that, they
returned to the parking lot,

set up a beam of
light through a panel

at the same spot
as Rhonda's car.

Then, photographed it with
the surveillance camera.

- The single point
source represents

a single point of data
on the image file.

So in a focused camera,
this point source

would be round circle.

A out of focus
camera would actually

be a distorted image
of that circle.

And it's that image file
that is used and imported

into the software to attempt
to refocus the image.

- This camera was
pretty out of focus.

It was pretty bad
in terms of quality.

Being able to clean up, clarify
some of the things in the video

helped identify some the
actions that took place

to put together this
story of what happened.

- The improved images revealed
that something different

happened between Rhonda and
her assailant, something

that investigators
hadn't seen before.

- She gets in the
driver's side, and he

has to walk around
the front of the car.

When he gets in, there is a
slight movement of the hand.

- The man reached across
from the passenger's seat

and put the keys
in the ignition.

The man must have grab Rhonda's
car keys out of camera range

as soon as she got
out of the car.

- One thing that stood out
to me as a woman is never

let him take you
to the second spot.

If you get into a car, you go
to the second spot, most likely

you've just signed your...
Your death certificate.

- Despite the enhanced
video, the images still

weren't clear enough to
identify the suspect.

- In this case, it was just
too far away from the crime,

from what happened, to be
able to make out faces.

- Technology provided
some answers,

but investigators weren't any
closer to finding the k*ller.

The murders of Damaris
Wynn and Rhonda Ward

were five months
and 15 miles apart.

Investigators had the
k*ller's DNA, but no clues

to his identity.

His DNA was not in
any of the state

or national DNA databases.

- In our state, if you were
convicted of a violent offense,

then you were part
of our database.

You were required to provide
a DNA sample to SLED,

be included in our database.

- The requirement became
effective in 2002.

So either the k*ller had never
been convicted of a crime,

or if he had it was before 2002.

As police searched their
files for any crimes

similar to these
murders, they got a tip.

They learned that a local man
tried to buy cocaine by trading

a radio from a
Nissan automobile.

This was significant,
since the radio was missing

from Rhonda's car
when it was found.

- He went by the name
Snow, so perhaps he

didn't think anybody
would know who he was.

- But police informants
identified the man

as Fredrick Evans.

Evans lived within walking
distance of Rhonda's workplace,

where this surveillance
video was shot.

And he was no stranger
to law enforcement.

- This was a bad man to the core.

And I've seen some of
the lowest of the low.

And the thing about Fredrick
Evans, you look at him.

Doesn't scare you.

- 35-year-old Evans,
a short order cook,

divorced with a


served time in prison for r*pe
and robbery prior to 2000.

This was only the
latest in a series

of crimes that
began in his teens.

- Fredrick Evans had one
as*ault and battery with intent

to k*ll where he sliced a
man's throat with a box cutter.

One larceny and simple as*ault
where he stole a woman's purse

and punched her in the face.

- Evans denied any
involvement in either m*rder.

Police decided to
call his bluff.

They told him they'd
shown the surveillance

tape to his mother.

- He said, you
showed it to my mom?

I said, absolutely.

And he said, what did she say?

And I said, Mr. Evans,
you know what she said.

She identified you in the video.

- Evans fell for this ruse,
and changed his story.

- His story was that
they knew each other,

it was consensual sex, got
rough, they got in a fight,

and she tried to
s*ab him, and he

turned around and stabbed her.

- That's not even a good
Lifetime television movie.

I mean, that's just ridiculous.

- Investigators
obtained Evans' DNA.

And the test results
left no doubt.

His DNA matched the
biological evidence

from Rhonda Ward's
r*pe test kit.

His DNA also
matched the evidence

in Damaris Wynn's case.

Fredrick Evans
friends told police

that Evans was sleeping
on a bench in Duncan

Park on the morning
of Damaris' m*rder.

Prosecutors believe Evans
abducted her, dragged her

to the woods, sexually
assaulted her,

then strangled her to death,
first with her headphones,

and then manually.

For reasons that
aren't entirely clear,

it appears Evans took Damaris'
clothing and her Walkman,

possibly as a trophy, but
didn't take her jewelry.

In Rhonda's case,
prosecutors believe

Evans was walking through
the store parking lot

when he saw Rhonda Ward drive
up to the convenience store

to open it for the day.

According to the surveillance
video, he grabbed her keys,

probably threatened
her with v*olence,

and told her to get in the car.

Evans forced her to drive to
a deserted location nearby.

And that's when the
witness saw the two

walking towards the orchard.

And just as in Damaris'
case, Evans sexually

assaulted Rhonda, k*lled her,
and took all of her clothes.

Later, Evans was
unable to start the car

because the manufacturer
had disabled the starter.

So Evans set the
car on fire, but not

before taking one
last item, the car

radio which led to his capture.

- Well ma'am, it's not
as... it's not as it seems.

It's not as it looks.
- What is it, then?

There's two sides.
- Tell me what it is.

- It's two sides to every story.

- Tell me your side of the story.

- I can't... I don't
have enough time

to sit here and explain to you.

- How and why did you m*rder
Rhonda Ward and Damaris.

- I'm not going to answer that.

- One year after the
crimes, Fredrick Evans

went on trial for
multiple charges,

including m*rder and kidnapping.

- You're entitled to know the
impact that Rhonda Ward's death

must have on her
family and friends.

You are entitled to know
the character of Fredrick

Antonio Evans, and you got it.


wants, when he wants it.

- Evans did not testify
in his own defense.

- I used to have this old quote.

You know what you call
defendants who don't testify

at trial, and the
answer is inmates.

- The experience is one that
I would not wish upon anyone.

It is very time consuming,
it is very emotional,

it is very heart breaking.

- Evans was convicted
on all counts

and was sentenced to death.

- If you had looked at Fredrick
Evans, he had a pattern.

It was just a pattern that took
a while for them to connect.

- The only way in this day and
age to get a death sentence

is to have very
strong forensics.

And frankly, the only way to get
a conviction at the guilt phase

is to have strong forensics.

Much more than
eyewitness testimony

or any of the
other old standbys.

It's all about science.

If you don't have science,
you're not going to win.