14x15 - Trail of a k*ller

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Up next...

A woman is m*rder*d in broad
daylight.

This is the monster jumping
out of the bushes and grabbing

you and k*lling you.

Cellphone records
and search dogs provided some

leads.

They were able to track a
scent trail to a residential

area that was very close to the
canal trail.

But if not for some
crafty police work and a chance

encounter, the entire
investigation could have gone up

in smoke.

We have an individual that's
still out walking about who can

do this again.

I don't know how much scarier
it can get.

During her lunch
break in Concord, California,

Kathy loreck went for a walk, as
she often did, along a jogging

trail near her office.

That was something that she
just kind of did on her own as

her own kind of a meditation
throughout the day.

I know that sometimes she would
use that opportunity to, you

know, make some personal phone
calls.

Kathy was an
executive secretary, married,

with children.

On this day, she spoke with her

husband, who was in Europe on a
business trip.

I'm taking a walk in the park.

Her husband reported that
suddenly she made a loud... a

groan or a gasp, and the phone
went dead.

Kathy's husband
knew immediately something was

wrong and called her co-workers
and asked them to look for her.

They couldn't find her, they
came back, and they called the

police.

And the police got there within
minutes.

About 20 minutes
later, a police officer saw what

looked like streaks of blood.

The blood was like somebody
had taken a paintbrush with red

paint and simply drawn lines on
the ground like you see somebody

just dripping paint and drawing
with a paintbrush on concrete.

The officer
followed the blood trail down an

embankment to a heavily wooded
area, where he found

Kathy loreck, barely alive, in a
pool of blood.

He recognized that with the
way her clothes were arranged

and disheveled that she'd most
likely been sexually assaulted

and that she needed immediate
medical attention.

Kathy was rushed to

the hospital, but she d*ed en
route.

Kathy had several major
lacerations on her head.

What we believe to be the w*apon
was found near Kathy's body.

The w*apon was a fence post.

It was approximately 2 to 2 1/2
feet long, from what I believe.

Detective Finney came on to
the phone and told me that my

mom had d*ed.

Next thing I remember, I kind of
lost control, and I think I

yelled at detective Finney for a
little bit.

Although Kathy was
using her cellphone when the

att*ck occurred, investigators
couldn't find it anywhere in the

area near her body.

When police checked her
cellphone records, they

discovered someone had used her
cellphone after her m*rder.

One of the numbers called, a
person told us that a subject,

Juan Sanchez, had called them.

Investigators
tracked 23-year-old Juan Sanchez

to his residence, and there,
they found Kathy's cellphone in

his possession.

But Sanchez claimed he found the
phone on the jogging path.

He explained to us that he
was riding his bike on the canal

trail, and while he was riding
his bike, he found the

cellphone.

He decided to use it for his
personal use.

Sanchez showed
police exactly where he found

the phone.

Remarkably, it was just 50 feet
from Kathy's body.

There was only one
individual, in our minds, who

could've had that cellphone, and
that would've been the

individual who att*cked Kathy.

But Sanchez denied
he was the k*ller and denied

seeing the blood on the trail
near the cellphone.

Investigators knew right away
this would not be a routine

m*rder investigation.

This was shocking.

We're talking about a woman
close to her office going for a

walk on a trail frequented by
many people in broad daylight.

And to have this kind of thing
happen to her, it would be like

being struck by lightning.

Family, friends,
and even police were stunned by

the sheer audacity of
Kathy loreck's m*rder.

I was shocked that something
like that happened because I've

never seen any sign of anything
like this going on, you know?

I still want to walk, you know?

I don't want to be intimidated
to stop and change my routine.

For this att*ck to occur on a
beautiful, sunny day with a lot

of people who realistically
could've been around the

incident at the time it
occurred, it's pretty brazen

and, you know, pretty bold on
the part of the suspect.

An encampment of
several dozen homeless people

just 1/4 mile from the trail
meant a random att*ck was a real

possibility.

There had been concerns about
transients and homeless people

on that trail previously, and a
lot of folks felt it just wasn't

safe to go out on that trail.

But that wasn't the
only possibility.

There are numerous access and
exit points to this canal trail,

either by the public roadways,
by individuals using adjacent

fields, and access gates.

The m*rder w*apon
was a broken piece of metal

fencing.

This perpetrator actually
broke off a piece of metal fence

post, and it appears that they
waited for her to return from

her walk and then dragged her
off the trail.

There was blood but
no prints on the m*rder w*apon.

Kathy's autopsy confirmed that
she had been sexually assaulted.

The DNA profile from
Kathy loreck's r*pe kit didn't

match any in the statewide DNA
database of known criminal

offenders.

It didn't match Juan Sanchez,
the man who found Kathy's

cellphone, either.

He appeared to be very
truthful to us.

He didn't have any trouble
answering our questions, and he

volunteered to take a voice
stress analyzer test, which he

took and passed.

It was very disheartening to
find out that the cellphone

didn't lead to any place in
particular.

In a search for
suspects, police rounded up

everyone who was on or near the
trail at the time of the m*rder.

Some were homeless people.

Others were joggers and bikers.

About a half dozen of them told
a story that was remarkably

consistent.

What's the matter with this
fish?

They had seen a male standing
at the fence line, looking into

the canal and talking about the
little fishes in the canal and

drawing this to the attention of
people that were walking by.

And this person seemed like they
were out of place.

It was a white male, maybe


kind of heavyset...

Go away.

Not muscular but maybe a
little bit overweight,

brownish-blond hair, and
disheveled.

Some of the people described him
as possibly transient or

homeless.

Two of these
potential witnesses were sent to

police sketch artist Gil zamora.

I asked them the question,
"if you saw him again, would you

recognize him?"
If they say yes, then I know

that I can draw the sketch.

With each witness,
zamora tried to induce a state

of deep relaxation and then had
them describe what they saw.

I asked them to kind of tell
me what they were doing right

before they met the person and
then kind of go through the

entire process of the meeting,
or the event, and then up until

police get involved.

Eventually, these
two drawings emerged from

witnesses who had never spoken
with each other.

Except for the sunglasses, the
sketches were virtually

identical.

They were two independent
witnesses, and they did not know

each other.

I think these witnesses both saw
the same person.

Then police got a huge break.

Investigators using k9 teams
identified a potential lead.

They were able to track a
scent trail to a residential

area in Concord that was very
close to the canal trail.

A background check
revealed a man living in this

neighborhood had a criminal
history.

He also looked similar to the
composite drawings.

His name was mark Fisher.

He was known to be violent...
Violent to his relatives,

violent to police officers and
to other public officials.

Witnesses in the
park were shown a photo lineup

which included Fisher's picture.

At least three of the
witnesses were positive that the

photo of Mr. Fisher was the
subject they had seen on the

trail.

But when
investigators went to Fisher's

house, they got some shocking
news.

The police were met by a
relative, who told them, "you

haven't heard?

My brother, Mr. Fisher, just
k*lled himself... jumped off the

golden gate bridge and committed
su1c1de."

mark Fisher k*lled
himself less than 24 hours after

Kathy's m*rder.

This person now kills himself
a day after this type of crime.

There are no coincidences like
that.

You know, it just doesn't happen
in my experience.

It was our belief that after
the as*ault, he felt remorse and

he felt guilt and he just
couldn't live with what he had

done.

A search of
Fisher's room seemed to confirm

his role in the m*rder.

We found a pair of sunglasses
similar to the type of

sunglasses seen in the sketch.

They seized some clothing
that appeared to have

bloodstains on it and noticed
that a newspaper in the house

was open to an article about the
m*rder, and a picture of the

suspect's sketch was there, as
well.

The circumstantial
evidence clearly pointed to

mark Fisher as the k*ller.

But would the forensic evidence
agree?

Police were certain
mark Fisher was the man who

sexually assaulted and m*rder*d
Kathy loreck along the jogging

trail.

Police sniffer dogs tracked the
k*ller's trail right to his

front door.

Several eyewitnesses chose his
picture from a photo lineup, and

it appeared he committed su1c1de
just as police were about to

arrest him.

After Fisher's su1c1de,
scientists took a DNA sample in

the morgue and compared Fisher's
DNA profile to the biological

evidence from Kathy loreck's
r*pe test kit.

Shockingly, it didn't match.

We strongly believed that
mark Fisher was responsible for

Kathy's death.

All of a sudden, he's not.

What that means to us is that we
have an individual that's still

out walking about who can do
this again and that this

individual is free.

It basically put us back to
ground zero, and we had to start

over again.

With a k*ller still
on the loose, investigators

instituted a DNA dragnet of all
the homeless men in the area who

had a violent criminal history.

We began contacting everybody
that used the trail... all the

transients that we knew of.

A total of 42 DNA
profiles were tested against the

k*ller's DNA.

This was actually, in fact,
the most reference samples that

I had ever tested, that the
laboratory had ever tested.

But there were no hits.

Then, nine days after the
m*rder, investigators got a

potential break.

A mountain biker called police
to say he recognized the man in

the composite sketch.

He'd seen him on the jogging
trail on the day of Kathy's

m*rder.

Hey, dude, can I get one of
those?

Sure.

He said the man
asked him for a cigarette, and

they had a short chat, although
he didn't know his name.

The mountain biker smoked one
cigarette, and this other man

who he was talking to smoked two
cigarettes.

Investigators asked
the mountain biker to show them

where this happened.

It was within maybe 200 yards
of the crime scene, and he

pointed right to the ground and
said, "those are the cigarettes

that we were smoking."

But nine days had
passed, and analysts were

skeptical about getting DNA.

Certainly, if it's been
sitting outside, if it's been

exposed to U.V. light or rain or
mud or dirt, the longer it's

been sitting out in the
elements, the harder it would be

to develop a DNA profile.

But the cyclist did
provide an important piece of

information.

He said the man told him he
worked as a telemarketer in

nearby walnut creek.

A background check revealed
there was only one telemarketing

firm in walnut creek.

The manager immediately told
me, "you're looking for

Robert Frazier."

He had gotten into some trouble.

He had committed some robberies.

He had spent time in prison.

He had committed some very
violent assaults in prison and

out on the street.

He was a drifter, may have
spent time in the Chicago area,

in Indiana, as well, as well as
contra costa county in

California.

Frazier's
co-workers said he looked like

the composite sketch.

However, they said he quit his
job around the time of

Kathy loreck's m*rder.

Police visited

Frazier's last-known address and
found his ex-girlfriend.

She said Frazier left town and
she hadn't seen him since.

He's been gone a couple weeks.

I think he left town.

But Frazier's
girlfriend had a parting gift

for police...

Frazier's toothbrush.

They hoped it would be the
forensic answer they were

looking for.

Police now had a
suspect in the sexual as*ault

and m*rder of Kathy loreck...
Robert Frazier.

But he'd left the area shortly
after the m*rder, and they had

no idea where he'd gone.

Investigators had cigarette
butts that they thought were

used by Frazier while on the
jogging trail the day of the

m*rder.

But they'd been exposed to the
elements for nine days before

police recovered them.

I really felt that if that
could happen to this victim,

that could happen to anyone.

So I felt that I really wanted
to do my best in working hard on

this case to help catch this
individual.

Fortunately for the
scientists, it hadn't rained on

the cigarette butts, and they
were able to generate a DNA

profile and compare it to
Kathy's r*pe test kit.

The person who had smoked the
cigarettes was Kathy's k*ller.

Scientists then
compared the DNA on the

cigarettes to the DNA on
Frazier's toothbrush.

Unfortunately, the toothbrush
actually contained DNA from at

least three individuals, male
and female DNA.

Once I was able to actually see
that within that mixture

Frazier's DNA was on there, you
know, of course I was excited.

Perhaps most
important, scientists also

discovered Frazier's DNA from
skin cells on the bloody fence

post found near Kathy's body.

Finding Robert's DNA on that
fence post, which was the m*rder

w*apon, was very important.

It showed that Robert was the
one responsible for Kathy's

death.

The DNA evidence established
a credible eyewitness who saw

the m*rder*r in person on the
day of the crime at the location

of the crime scene.

But where was Robert Frazier?

Well, you know, m*rder
investigations typically don't

proceed in a linear fashion.

Police subsequently entered
Mr. Frazier's name into the

national criminal offender
database known as ncic and

discovered that he was being
held on a criminal charge in the

state of Indiana.

He was actually arrested for
some sort of traffic infraction,

and it was learned that he was
on probation and that his

probation officer was looking
for him.

California police
immediately flew to Indiana to

question Frazier.

He seemed to be very
cooperative, not nervous at all

like you would expect somebody
in that circumstance.

He talked about being religious
in some sort of way.

Frazier admitted he
heard about Kathy loreck's

m*rder on television.

But Frazier slipped, revealing a
piece of information only the

k*ller would know.

It wasn't until investigators
told Frazier they found his DNA

on the m*rder w*apon and on
Kathy loreck's r*pe test kit

that Frazier changed his story.

The only thing Robert was
able to come up with is, well,

maybe he was down there in the
tree-line area where Kathy's

body was found previously and
that he had urinated in the

area, and that would be the only
way.

Prosecutors believe

Kathy was walking along the
jogging path, talking to her

husband on her cellphone when
Frazier first saw her.

We have to find some other
place.

Prosecutors think
Frazier chose Kathy as his

victim because he saw no one
nearby in either direction.

Then he struck her with a piece
of a metal fence post.

He quickly dragged her from the
jogging trail down the ravine,

where he sexually assaulted her.

Afterwards, he struck her
several more times in the head

and left her for dead.

Thanks to the incredible
accuracy of the eyewitness

accounts, a superb composite
drawing, and the chance meeting

with a cyclist, Frazier left
plenty of forensic evidence

behind.

I still don't understand why
it happened.

There really hasn't been a why.

He never showed any remorse,
and that's a real sense of

frustration and anger that, you
know, that this person just

didn't care about another human
being.

And you wonder how anybody could
be that way.

Robert Frazier was
tried and convicted of

first-degree m*rder and r*pe.

He was sentenced to death.

In my opinion, he's the
lowest person that you can be.

He is a...

He doesn't deserve to breathe
another breath in this life.

He doesn't.

He took so much away from us,
and he needs to pay.

I think Robert ward Frazier,
for lack of a better term, is a

monster.

I don't know how he became a
monster, and, frankly, it

doesn't matter to me how he
became a monster.

And the DNA is what solved
this crime.

If this crime had happened 30
years ago, Robert ward Frazier

would've gotten away with it.