11x09 - Key Evidence

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: a young woman just landed her first big modeling

Job.

A few hours later, she disappeared.

The weave pattern on some fabric, the mixture of some

Concrete, and a dog hair were the keys to the mystery.

It was a friday night in central illinois, around : p.m.

A motorist saw an abandoned car along the side of the road.

The driver's-side door was open.

The lights were still on.

The engine was running.

But there was no one inside.

A purse was inside the car.

The inside of the vehicle was a little bit disheveled.

It appeared to be a little bit suspicious.

Narrator: there was no identification in the purse.

The car's license-plate number was registered to david swann, a

-Year-old employee of the local newspaper.

When police called swann, he said his girlfriend,

Karyn slover, had borrowed his car that night to pick up her

-Year-old son, christopher, who had spent the day with his

Grandparents.

But the car was nowhere near the grandparents' home.

It was miles away, facing in a different direction.

A that point, she's just missing, you know.

At that point, we're not sure if it's a kidnap.

You assume it's a kidnapping...

A hijacking on the highway.

Narrator: investigators ask family and friends if karyn

Might simply have run away.

Everyone said it was impossible.

Friends said karyn had just gotten her first professional

Modeling job and was excited about it.

She was an aspiring model, and she had received a phone

Call from paris international, indicating that they were going

To possibly offer her some work out of state.

She was very excited about the modeling job.

She was flitting around the office with a big smile on her

Face and pretty much letting everyone know that she was

Excited about it.

Narrator: two days passed.

Still, there was no sign of her.

Then, miles away, some boaters on lake shelbyville

Noticed something.

They thought it was some garbage in a garbage bag that

Had floated up to the shoreline.

First thing I thought of when I saw that was, "oh, this is gonna

Be bad."

Narrator: inside the bag...

Was a woman's head.

Nearby, police found other garbage bags with the rest of

Her body.

I realized that there was a missing person from the friday

Night before -- a female in a neighboring county, and the

Thought flashed through my mind that this probably is that

Missing female from the neighboring county.

Narrator: dental records confirmed that the body was

Karyn slover.

She was just years old.

She liked everybody.

Everybody liked her.

Who could do such a bizarre thing?

You don't think about that happening to you until it does.

Narrator: the bags were sealed with duct tape.

Inside were chunks of cement and cinders, consistent with the

Material found on the floor of the car karyn was driving.

Apparently, the k*ller used the cement to keep the bags

Underwater, but the body gases most likely raised them to the

Surface.

Analysts found six dog hairs stuck to a piece of the tape,

But there were no fingerprints found on the tape or the bags.

The lake, apparently, washed away all other trace evidence.

I have been in law enforcement years, and I have

Seen a lot of carnage.

This affected me, probably, worse than anything that I have

Ever seen.

Narrator: at karyn slover's autopsy, the medical examiner

Found she was sh*t in the head six times with a .-Caliber

Handgun at point-blank range.

Somebody was very angry, and I think, when the actual m*rder

Occurred, absolutely lost control and just continued to

sh**t until the g*n was empty.

Narrator: the last time anyone saw karyn slover alive

Was when she left work to pick up her son, who was spending the

Day with his grandparents.

More than likely, karyn was k*lled sometime between :

P.m., When she left her job, and roughly :, when her car was

Found out on the interstate.

There was many theories about it.

One was, was she abducted by a pervert -- a serial-k*ller-type

Investigation.

Narrator: the first potential suspect was her ex-husband,

Michael, the father of her little boy.

There was obviously some v*olence in that relationship.

We talked to several people who indicated that michael had

Battered her in the past.

I don't think it was a good relationship.

Narrator: karyn wasn't very fond of michael's family either.

They were the ones babysitting karyn's son, christopher, on the

Day of her m*rder.

Karyn had a tough time with her ex-in-laws.

They're the ones who watched her son, and it was frequently

Stressful when she either would go to drop him off or to pick

Him up.

Narrator: but karyn's former husband, michael slover, had an

Alibi for the time of karyn's disappearance.

He was working as a security guard at cub foods.

He had made an arrest that afternoon at cub foods.

The police had been there.

Narrator: since michael had an alibi, investigators turned

Their attention to karyn's current boyfriend, david swann.

He'd had some run-ins with law enforcement.

He'd been put on probation in the past.

He had pretended to be -- or impersonate -- a law-enforcement

Officer in the past.

He'd spent time in a mental ward at a hospital.

Narrator: -year-old david swann had been dating

Karyn for only a short time.

A background check revealed a disturbing incident.

He had been involved in k*lling a deer and then had put

The deer over a swimming pool and had used a chain saw or a

Like instrument to clean the deer.

Due to the fact karyn had been dismembered and we weren't

Exactly sure what the means of dismemberment were, we were

Interested in information like that.

Narrator: and david's alibi was shaky.

On the night of the m*rder, he was attending a friend's wedding

Rehearsal, and witnesses said he was minutes late for the

Rehearsal dinner that followed.

This created a -minute window that could not be accounted for.

We were concerned that david swann was free for a

Period of time and could have possibly committed the crime

During that time period.

I felt like he very, very possibly could have been the

One.

I remember telling the sheriff that "I think I've got the guy."

Narrator: karyn told friends she dreamt of moving to georgia

To pursue her modeling career.

Was it possible that david grew angry over her plans to leave?

Investigators brought in a profiler to study david's past.

The fbi profiler indicated that david did match the profile

Of the type of person that could be responsible for this type of

Crime.

Narrator: but investigators had no hard evidence against

Him.

And without it, they couldn't obtain a search warrant.

Despite repeated interrogations, he denied having anything to do

With karyn's m*rder.

If david swann was the k*ller, he might have committed the

Perfect crime.

Narrator: police were convinced david swann was

Involved in karyn slover's m*rder.

He had an alibi for the night of her m*rder, except for a

-Minute period he said he was running some errands.

But no one could corroborate that.

After six months, police decided to interrogate david one last

Time, hoping he'd incriminate himself.

We all held hands and prayed that, "lord, if this is your

Will, if david swann is, in fact, the one involved, let us

Get a confession.

If he is not involved, give us a sign we can go elsewhere."

Narrator: in this last interrogation, police continued

To ask where he was on the night of the m*rder during the time he

Couldn't account for.

The pressure paid off, but not the way police expected.

We had him in there over four hours, and right at the very

End -- I mean, we pushed and pushed and pushed him -- and

Right at the very end, he tells us about this atm thing.

Narrator: david said that the reason he was late to the

Rehearsal dinner was that he went to the bank.

Investigators went to that bank and checked the atm surveillance

Video.

It showed david swann, just as he said it would.

We were able to verify, through the atm tapes,

David swann did not have a window of opportunity to commit

This crime.

Narrator: with david swann cleared, there were no other

Suspects.

Investigators feared that karyn slover's m*rder might

Never be solved.

I took it personally.

I spent a lot of sleepless nights thinking about this case,

Wondering what I was missing, what we weren't doing, what we

Needed to do to actually come up with a k*ller in this case.

Narrator: as a last resort, police looked one more time at

The crime scene.

It was clear there had to be another car at the scene.

There had to be more than one person involved with this.

You couldn't leave a vehicle along the interstate and walk

Back to wherever you left from.

Someone had to drive there and pick you up and take you back.

Narrator: so who would have had the motive and the

Opportunity to commit this crime?

Karyn's ex-husband, michael, had an alibi for the night of the

m*rder, but his parents did not.

They were the ones watching karyn's son, christopher, on the

Day of the m*rder.

Michael slover sr. -- He works at a power plant up in the

Decatur area.

And once he clocked out, he has no alibi after that time.

Jeannette slover, who wasn't employed or anything, she had no

Alibi or anybody to collaborate their alibi.

Narrator: -year-old jeannette slover detested her

Ex-daughter-in-law, karyn.

And everyone knew how much she loved her -year-old grandson,

Christopher.

I think the relationship between jeannette and the boy

Was not normal, that jeannette treated the boy as her own and

Actually believed it was her own son.

Narrator: in fact, she told friends that, after christopher

Was born, <span tts:fontstyle="italic">she</span>began breast-feeding him.

Investigators checked telephone records and discovered that

Michael jr. Called his parents times on the weekend of the

m*rder.

Also suspicious -- the slovers owned a used-car lot just one

Mile from their house.

The lot, patrolled by two junkyard dogs, was always dirty

And in disrepair.

Just after karyn disappeared, neighbors said the lot got a

Makeover.

Michael jr. And michael sr. Were seen by the neighbors out

At miracle motors cleaning up the lot, cutting brush, cutting

Weeds, burning items, and the neighbors told us that this

Place was a junk heap.

They'd never been out there to clean it up.

Narrator: was it possible they were trying to remove

Something connected to karyn's m*rder?

To find out, investigators contacted richard munroe, a

Well-known forensic geologist.

Concrete and cinders were found with karyn's body.

Could he tell if they came from the slovers' car lot?

Both samples were placed in a scanning electron microscope and

Hit with high-energy radiation.

In a vacuum, in the s.e.m., The darkness that's in the

Little chamber, there is no light source.

The only light that puts in is the x-rays.

Narrator: this enables the images of the samples to be

Magnified up to , times their actual size.

Visually, the samples looked similar.

Munroe then ground the samples into a powder and bombarded it

With x-rays to identify the chemical makeup of the samples.

Munroe concluded that the material found in the bag with

Karyn's body and the material from the car lot were similar

Enough to raise suspicions.

It wasn't a direct physical match where it was exactly from

A certain piece, but all the elements fit together to say you

Have a high level of consistency.

But investigators needed more than that.

And to get it, they turned to an unlikely source -- the

United states army.

Narrator: more than two years after karyn slover's m*rder,

Investigators now suspected that her ex-in-laws were involved.

The motive -- karyn's former mother-in-law, jeannette, wanted

Sole custody of her -year-old grandson.

I think jeannette slover is filled with rage.

I think that the relationship between jeannette and karyn was

Not good.

I think that jeannette felt like the boy was her own, that karyn

Was a thr*at to take the boy from her, and she had to

Eliminate the thr*at.

Narrator: investigators found no forensic evidence inside the

Slovers' house, but concrete from their used-car lot was

Consistent with concrete found in the garbage bags with karyn's

Body.

Investigators wanted more proof and went to unusual lengths to

Get it.

They called in the army to help them remove all the topsoil from

The slovers' ,-square-foot car lot.

During a late-winter snowstorm, -gallon buckets were filled

With material.

For six painstaking months, teams of investigators sifted

Through the debris.

Finally, they found a potential clue -- a button that read

"Authentic paris sports club."

The jeans karyn was found in had the exact same buttons.

I get goose bumps thinking about it right now.

I'm not kidding you.

I mean, I've got goose bumps.

I mean, it was so exciting.

'Cause we had worked so long and so hard on this and really had

Not come up with anything.

That was the first piece of evidence we felt like we had

That was gonna lead us to the direction of the K*llers.

Narrator: further sifting revealed some rivets which were

Also consistent with karyn's jeans.

Then investigators found a different type of button.

It was cloth-covered plastic, the type used on shirts and

Blouses.

I called the investigator, and I asked, "where's the white

Sleeve that was on karyn's body?"

He goes, "what sleeve?" And I said, "I can see here in

The crime-scene photos that there's a cloth-covered button

On that sleeve.

I want that sleeve."

Narrator: scientists took a fiber from the button on karyn's

Blouse and placed it under a comparison microscope.

Both buttons were composed of a cotton/polyester mix.

Narrator: the next thing was to identify the weave patterns

On both buttons.

In this case, we had a simple, one-by-one weave

Pattern.

And that was consistent both with the button that was found

At miracle motors and the button that came from the sleeve of

Karyn slover.

Narrator: both buttons were the same size, made of the same

Material, covered with the same fabric, with an identical weave

Pattern.

Finally, the slovers had two dogs, and scientists wondered if

The hair on the duct tape came from one of them.

The analysis of animal dna for forensic applications is

Unusual in that there are probably only three or four labs

In the country that do it.

Narrator: only one of the six dog hairs from the duct tape

Provided enough dna for an analysis.

We concluded that there was a dna match between the hair on

The duct tape and the reference dog, and that, therefore, the

Chances were very high that the hairs came from the same dog.

Narrator: jeannette and michael slover sr. And their

Son, michael jr., Were all charged with first-degree

m*rder.

Michael jr. Was charged because he aided his parents in the

Planning and commission of the crime.

The motive -- the slovers were afraid karyn would move out of

State, depriving them of time with christopher.

Based on the forensic evidence, prosecutors believe karyn went

To the slovers' car lot to pick up her son.

[ g*nshots ] [ g*n clicks ]

During the dismemberment, buttons from her blouse and

Jeans fell on the ground.

And they used cement and cinders from their lot to give weight to

The plastic bags containing karyn's body.

Some of the dog hair stuck to the tape they used to close the

Garbage bags, and its dna matched the slovers' dog.

They dumped karyn's body into lake shelbyville and abandoned

Her car along a deserted highway.

But the forensic evidence linked the slovers to the m*rder in

Every imaginable way.

Obviously, this was a highly circumstantial case, but the

Forensic evidence we had was

Pretty clear-cut.

Narrator: although michael jr. Was working at the

Time of the m*rder, he called his parents times that

Weekend and helped clean up the

Crime scene afterwards.

Prosecutors were convinced he was actively involved in

Planning the m*rder and cover-up.

The three slovers were all convicted of first-degree m*rder

And sentenced to years in prison.

We were delighted that it was finally over.

And the fact that all three of them were found guilty was even

A major blessing, because we felt all three of them were

Involved.

I think the lord had some

Intervention in this and put us

Down the right path.

So that's just my little

Evangelizing to you, for what

It's worth.