11x10 - The Gambler

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: late at night, a man stopped his car on a

Residential street.

Within seconds...

He was dead.

What did he see?

And why did he stop?

An asthma inhaler found nearby and tiny acrylic fibers answered

Those questions when there were no eyewitnesses who could.

Six g*nshots fired in rapid succession shattered the

Early-morning calm of rockford, illinois.

[ g*nshots ] [ telephone rings ]

Police responded to the area, where they saw a car sitting in

The middle of the roadway.

Narrator: it was a maroon chrysler.

The lights were on.

The car was still running.

Behind the wheel was a middle-aged man who had been

sh*t repeatedly in the head and chest.

The car was still in reverse, an indication the man saw

Something, stopped, then drove backwards to investigate.

It was apparent from his position in the car and the

Seat belt on that he had no time to react to the force that

Was used against him.

Narrator: he was dead before he could put the car in park.

When police ran the license plate, they got some shocking

Information.

The car had been registered to kevin rice.

And then did a double take and realized, "my god, it's kevin."

Narrator: kevin rice was one of their own -- a rockford

Police officer.

A -year veteran with a spotless record.

Theo glover was his partner.

I got a call from a commander, and he says, "yeah,

Kevin has been sh*t."

I said, "I'm getting ready.

I'm gonna get dressed, and I'm gonna be there."

And then he stopped.

He said, "theo, kevin's dead," at that point.

And, you know, sort of...

The scene was strangely quiet.

Officers were kind of huddled together.

Some were grief-stricken.

Some were just silently assessing the evidence.

I remember one officer.

He was just crying the whole time while he was trying to find

Evidence in the grass.

And he was just like, "well, you know, what else was I going

To do?" You know, "our job now is to

Solve a crime," that had just been committed.

Narrator: -year-old kevin rice was the father of

Three children.

The youngest was only months old.

He and his wife, ardine, had been married for years.

The day doesn't go by when I don't wake up in the morning and

Think about him and I don't go to bed at night thinking about

Him.

Little kevin's always asking, "when is my daddy gonna come

Back from heaven?" Narrator: ardine rice told

Police that kevin got a phone call just after midnight.

It was from the man who was laying carpet in their new

House, the one they were moving into the very next morning.

Apparently there was a problem with the carpet.

I don't know what the problem was.

So kevin left to go over to the new house to check out what the

Problem was.

Narrator: the carpet layer told police kevin stopped by,

Told them what he wanted done, and left.

He was gone for about an hour, and when he was driving

Down the street where he was staying at the time, that's when

He encountered his attackers.

Narrator: shell casings at the scene indicated he'd been

sh*t with a .-Caliber w*apon.

The witness reported seeing a man in a dark hooded sweatshirt

Running away from the area.

Police had to consider the possibility that the phone call

From the carpet layer might have been a setup.

We really didn't know why he was k*lled.

We didn't know if it was intentional.

We didn't know if it was random.

In pretty short order, it became apparent there was a grim

Determination on the part of the officers to go about the

Business of finding out who had done this to kevin.

[ Bagpipes playing ]

Narrator: thousands of residents in rockford, illinois,

Turned out for the funeral service of detective kevin rice,

The city's first slain police officer in years.

That was really something special to see -- the hundreds

Of police cars, the thousands of people lining the streets.

It was quite a tribute, but we also realized why they were

Doing this tribute -- because kevin was sh*t and k*lled trying

To protect this community.

Kevin was a servant.

He was a servant to god, to his family, to the department, to

The city.

It was just so unbelievable that so many people could come

Out for my husband and acknowledge what a good person

He was.

♪ He'll make it all right it was just a hard thing to

Cope with.

So...

Tried to stay strong and...

But his memory stays alive in my heart.

Narrator: once kevin was laid to rest, his fellow officers

Went to work to find his k*ller.

There was three goals here -- identify who k*lled kevin rice,

Arrest him, and convict him.

Narrator: since kevin rice spent the last seven years on

The force investigating crimes that involved g*ng activity,

This was a potential lead.

My first thought was, maybe it was some type of gangbanger

Who was out there trying to, you know, become a leader type of

Thing.

People don't enjoy having police officers interfere with

Their criminal activity.

If they want to sell dr*gs or g*ng-bang, they usually don't

Take too kindly to that, so you never know what someone might

Do.

Narrator: detectives went through prison records to see if

Anyone kevin arrested had been recently released.

Meanwhile, in a search of the crime scene, police found some

Potential clues.

In a nearby backyard, they came across a key ring with two keys

On it.

A few feet away was an asthma inhaler.

We now had another piece to the puzzle, and we were becoming

More excited about, you know, we were really on to something

Here.

Maybe this is going to lead us in a direction that we really

Needed to go.

Narrator: these items were dusted for prints, but none were

Found.

In an odd turn of events, police recognized the keys.

They were from the auburn manor apartments, located about two

Blocks from the sh**ting.

Because of so many problems that were there, the management

At auburn manor had given us a set of keys, and if we needed to

Respond to that building, we would be able to open the outer

Doors to let ourselves in.

Narrator: next to the apartment building, police

Noticed a dark-blue hooded sweatshirt on the ground.

We knew that the witness who was awakened by the g*nshots saw

The figure wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt.

And this was abandoned fairly close.

So certainly it was a good possibility that it might be

Involved.

Narrator: the sweatshirt was given to forensic analyst

Mary wong.

Since the k*ller used a .-Caliber handgun, there was

The potential of g*nsh*t residue on the sleeves.

When a w*apon is discharged, a cloud of gas is formed.

And then these particles are then deposited on any surface in

The vicinity of the discharge.

Narrator: wong processed the sleeves and cuffs with a stub

Sampler, an aluminum disk with a carbon-tape adhesive surface.

The sample was bombarded with electrons, and the x-rays

Revealed three chemical elements -- lead, antimony, and

Barium.

If those three elements are present, then that leads me to

Believe that that particle is actually a primer

g*nsh*t-residue particle.

Narrator: this meant kevin rice's k*ller was wearing

This sweatshirt.

Was it possible that the k*ller lived in the auburn manor

Apartments?

The decision was made by the supervisors to send those keys

Out with teams of detectives to see, or at least rule out, if

Those keys went to any of the apartment buildings.

Rockford police.

Narrator: investigators tried the keys in dozens of apartment

Doors -- a tedious, time-consuming process -- with

No success.

The apartment complex -- I think it's four or five

Buildings or six buildings.

You know, there's a lot of apartments.

That's why they set out with four sets of keys and teams of

Detectives.

Narrator: they were beginning to wonder whether this was a

Dead end.

Until they got to the bottom floor and finally got a hit.

They were surprised, you know, to the point they were

Saying, "oh, my god.

This key works at this particular apartment here."

Narrator: the man inside the apartment was -year-old

Calvin powell, and he was well known to police.

He's a colorful character.

He's got several minor arrests.

I believe there are some felonies for dr*gs or for

Property crimes.

Narrator: powell insisted he had nothing to do with rice's

m*rder, but he could offer no alibi.

He told investigators that -year-old william buck

Sometimes slept in his apartment and said that buck owned a

w*apon.

What he told us was that in the past buck had assaulted him

With a .-Caliber semiautomatic handgun.

[ g*nshots ] we knew that was the caliber, or

The size of w*apon that was used to sh**t and k*ll kevin rice.

Narrator: and there was another coincidence.

The asthma inhaler found near the crime scene was traced by

Its lot number to william buck's doctor.

William buck was a patient at this clinic and actually had

Been prescribed the precise type of inhaler that we found, an

Inhaler used for asthma.

Narrator: a background check of william buck also revealed he

Was no stranger to violent crime.

Narrator: -year-old william buck was now the prime

Suspect in detective kevin rice's m*rder.

A background check revealed some chilling information.

He had just been released from a juvenile detention center after

Serving six years for a m*rder he committed when he was

Years old.

There was no rhyme or reason to that k*lling.

He was outside a tavern on the west side of rockford, saw this

Man at the curb drinking a beer and went up to him and sh*t him

And then fled the scene.

People were wondering, you know, "how is it that he could

Have been released?" You know, "why did this happen?"

Narrator: when questioned by police, william buck denied any

Involvement in officer rice's m*rder.

He implicated his friend, -year-old vincent holmes, as

The man who k*lled kevin rice.

Vincent holmes -- he was a street kid, late teens.

He was friends with william buck, hung out at the

Auburn manor apartment complex.

Really had a flat affect, borderline functioning,

Intellectually.

Just a street kid with really no purpose in life.

Narrator: not surprisingly, when holmes was questioned, he

Pointed the finger at william buck.

This created a problem.

Could forensics prove who pulled the trigger?

Several residents at the auburn manor apartments saw

William buck and vincent holmes together on the night of the

m*rder.

They were outside the apartment drinking.

The residents were able to identify the clothes each man

Was wearing.

And with a search warrant, that clothing was retrieved from

Their respective apartments and sent to forensic analyst

Mary wong.

She conducted the same test she used on the hooded sweatshirt.

No g*nsh*t residue was found on either man's clothing.

So the hooded sweatshirt and the shirts from both men were sent

To skip palenik, one of the country's premier experts in

Trace-evidence analysis.

In terms of physical evidence, microscopic evidence,

This was the only evidence available.

And so it assumed great importance in the case as the

Investigation proceeded.

Narrator: his job was to determine which man was wearing

The sweatshirt.

Whenever two objects come into contact, there's always a

Transfer of material.

Anybody who's ever worn a new sweatshirt knows -- especially

If you take a dark sweatshirt and put on a white shirt -- that

It sheds horribly.

You get fibers all over the place.

Narrator: under a microscope, palenik discovered that the

Sweatshirt was made up entirely of acrylic fibers.

Palenik could find no acrylic fibers on vincent holmes' shirt,

But he did find some on william buck's shirt.

But were these fibers from the sweatshirt?

Most clothing isn't dyed with just one color.

Usually, it takes a combination of colored dyes to get just the

Right shade.

To identify the chemical makeup of the blue fibers, palenik

Placed them on a plate of silica gel and dipped them into a

Solvent.

The solvent mixture travels its way up the plate, and it

Starts to separate the dyes into individual components.

It's sort of a gratifying moment as a scientist to see each dye

Separating out.

Narrator: the fibers were unusual.

Most contain three or four color mixtures.

These fibers contained seven.

And the colors and the composition were identical in

Both samples.

This meant the blue acrylic fibers on william buck's shirt

Came from the k*ller's hooded sweatshirt.

He was wearing either that shirt, or just by pure dumb luck

He was wearing an absolutely identical shirt to that one.

Narrator: finally, investigators swabbed around the

Neck of the sweatshirt and found microscopic skin cells, possibly

From sweat.

The dna profile of those cells matched buck's genetic profile.

William buck was arrested and charged with first-degree

m*rder.

And it was william buck's accomplice, vincent holmes, who

Revealed why kevin rice stopped his car on that fatal night.

Narrator: on the night he was m*rder*d, detective kevin rice

Was preparing to move into a beautiful new house, one he

Built largely by himself.

This was really his dream.

It was something he wanted to do.

He was really crafty and could do the carpentry things and just

Really well versed in that area.

So he was really looking forward to, or did look forward to,

Building it himself.

Narrator: the furniture was to be moved in the following

Morning.

The carpet was being laid that night.

And there was a problem.

He got a call at home shortly after : in the morning from a

Friend of his who was finishing carpeting the house and informed

That there was a problem with the measurements.

So he just threw on some casual clothes, jumped in his car, and

Went to see what the problem was.

Narrator: kevin went to his new house, helped fix the

Problem, then headed home.

According to vincent holmes, he and william buck were breaking

Into a car when kevin rice saw them.

Even though rice was unarmed, he confronted them.

William buck was fresh out of prison and had no intention of

Going back.

Buck fired six sh*ts.

Five hit kevin rice.

g*nsh*t residue contaminated buck's sweatshirt.

As he ran from the scene, buck dropped his keys and his asthma

Inhaler, then discarded his sweatshirt.

But the unusual acrylic fibers from the sweatshirt still clung

To buck's shirt.

The g*nsh*t residue on the sweatshirt, the dna from the

Sweat, the fiber transfer onto his shirt were clear proof

William buck fired the g*n.

That was a blessing from god that he was running and he

Happened to drop something out of his pocket that he didn't

Realize he had dropped.

We felt very strongly about

The evidence, just how they were able to tie everything together.

Just something as simple as a hair fiber, a drop of sweat on a

Tag on a sweatshirt, and being able to extract dna evidence

From that.

That was a very important part of the entire case, obviously.

Narrator: william buck was convicted of k*lling a police

Officer and sentenced to years in prison.

In this day and age of tv shows like "csi," jurors have

Come to expect forensic evidence.

This would have satisfied any one juror who sought that or

Required that before they could reach a guilty verdict.

Narrator: no charges were filed against his accomplice,

Vincent holmes, who testified for the prosecution.

Vincent holmes entered into a cooperation agreement that

Required him to tell the full

And complete truth, and he did that, and he was not charged in

Connection with kevin's death.

When we put this uniform on, we're putting this uniform on to

Protect them and protect their children.

So from that aspect, the community came together and they

Appreciated the rockford police department.

And it was done, brought together, by the death of my

Friend kevin rice.

Narrator: in a case with no eyewitnesses, tiny acrylic

Fibers and an asthma inhaler told investigators all they

Needed to know.

There was so much evidence that they found on that

Sweatshirt.

You kind of marvel at, like, how everything just kind of was able

To be put back together.

We're not in the business of taking sides in a case.

The only side we're on is the side of truth.

Kevin would have been very

Proud, and...

He just would have been very

Proud at the way everybody

Rallied together to get his

Family justice.