11x15 - Nice Threads

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Narrator: the lake was deep.

The night was dark.

The collision...

Fatal.

The only clues were some chips of paint, a tiny piece of foam,

And the fatal wound.

Was it enough to tell investigators what happened?

According to native american legend, the great spirit

Scratched his hand across the land, and, in doing so, created

The finger lakes of upstate new york.

The biggest is cayuga lake -- long and narrow.

And it's a popular vacation destination.

A lot of people go there to go swimming, picnics, barbecue,

Any major functions, birthdays.

Everyone goes there, to the park.

Narrator: cayuga lake is crowded in the summer with

Boating, water-skiing, and other lake activities.

Around midnight on a friday night, harry uhl, a local

Celebrity, decided to take his new boat out on the lake for a

Ride.

Harry was a well-known stock-car-race driver who went

By the nickname "hurricane harry."

Harry loved the lake.

He loved to fish.

He loved to swim.

He loved everything about the lake.

Narrator: around : a.m., Harry headed for shore in his

Boat so two of his friends could get out and use the bathroom.

-Year-old nasreen raza stayed onboard with harry.

I was just sitting up there by myself from what I remember.

That's where I was.

That's the best view, so I can imagine that's where I'd be

Sitting.

Narrator: since it was a nice night and the lake was calm,

Harry didn't tie his boat to the dock, so it drifted while he

Waited for his friends to return.

Then they heard a loud noise.

Harry stood up, and there was a crash.

There was blood everywhere.

I felt like a big monster or something came out of the water

And bit my arm off.

Narrator: harry uhl was pronounced dead at the scene.

He was just years old.

He d*ed instantly.

He was probably standing up to try to figure out what was

Coming and then just got hit in the dark by this massive object.

Narrator: harry's passenger, nasreen raza, was rushed to the

Hospital after losing an enormous amount of blood.

Her arm was just about torn off.

Her arm was shredded.

The doctors had to do just about everything they could to try and

Save her arm from being completely amputated.

Narrator: no one claimed responsibility for the crash.

Investigators were certain it was a boat and began the

Enormous task of searching for it among the , boats on the

Lake.

They did flyovers.

They rode up and down the lake in the patrol boats, looking for

Signs.

There's so many points of entrance at cayuga lake that it

Was uncertain where the other boater might have entered or

Left from, and it was really a guessing game at that point.

Narrator: to eliminate the guesswork, police brought in a

Vessel-accident reconstructionist to investigate

The crash.

There's no question that a terrible tragedy had occurred on

The lake that night.

There's no question that the person who committed it had left

The area and had no intention of turning himself in.

Narrator: but finding evidence wouldn't be easy.

The lake was one of the deepest in the country, and the currents

Were unpredictable.

Everything is continuously moving.

If there's any debris in the water, it moves.

It drifts away.

It may sink to the bottom.

The lake leaves no trace.

It just erases any sign of what happens, so you're left with

Very little to determine where the perpetrator went, where they

Came from, what their speed was -- very difficult.

Narrator: the investigation of the boating accident that

k*lled harry uhl and severely injured nasreen raza took a

Number of unusual twists and turns.

When I first got there and looking at this boat, I was

Awestruck of what I was seeing.

It looked like something had plowed right through the center

Of the boat.

It was like a big, "v"-shaped hole right where the bow was

Supposed to be, like something had driven right through it.

Narrator: the victim's boat held some important clues.

There was evidence that the boat's lights were off when the

Crash occurred.

There was no bow lights activated.

The switch was not activated.

The anchor light was not in its hole, and it was plugged with a

Rubber plug.

It was quite obvious that the boat that got hit was not

Lit that evening.

Narrator: there were numerous chop marks along the topside of

The boat that actually cut through the upholstery.

Analysts realized these were from a spinning propeller...

Proof that the boat actually left the water and flew over the

Top of harry's boat.

The suspect vessel, as it was traveling at a high rate of

Speed, tends to lift out of the water and be a little bit

Higher.

On impact, it would launch the front of the suspect vessel at a

-Degree angle up into the air.

Narrator: medical experts believe that the wounds to

Nasreen raza were also caused by the propeller.

Investigators found a b*llet-shaped hole in the

Forward section of harry uhl's boat.

This was created by the engine of the other boat.

The b*llet that punched through the hull of the boat

Indicated to us that it was an inboard/outboard motor.

Also, that the boat was traveling at a high rate of

Speed for it to be able to punch its way through the fiberglass

And continue on through, going over the top of the other boat.

Narrator: other information about the perpetrator's boat

Came from an unlikely source...

Harry uhl's autopsy.

The medical examiner found chips of white paint in harry's

Wounds.

Which just gives you a picture of how fast and how

Intense this crash must have been, to leave such evidence in

The wounds.

Narrator: investigators were also intrigued by another

Finding.

There were no marine organisms in harry's wounds.

This was very revealing.

We were able to determine that that vessel had either a

Very clean boat or, more likely, that it was based on a trailer.

When a boat goes on a trailer, a lot of times it's either easy to

Clean, and people clean them off, or all the organisms dry

Up and they wash off.

Narrator: investigators now knew they were looking for a

Damaged, white boat with a "v"-shaped hull and an

Inboard/outboard engine.

They knew its propeller was broken, and it would be kept on

A trailer and not docked in the water.

The sheriff's department released this information to the

Media and asked anyone with information to come forward.

There was a big manhunt.

The victim was a local celebrity.

It was scary because people didn't know who did this or what

Happened, so, yeah, it was a very, very publicized incident.

Narrator: a day later, a caller gave police the location

Of a damaged boat that looked like it had been involved in a

Collision.

And it had what appeared to be some damage to the bow and

Some damage to the one side of the boat and had some fresh,

Like, compound marks in the paint on the boat.

And looking at the dashboard, there was what appeared to be a

Small drop of blood near the shift lever near the driver's

Compartment.

Narrator: the boat was impounded and searched.

Everybody thought the case had been solved.

We have our bad guy right now.

The vessel in question is right here.

We have it.

Narrator: but forensic tests found that the paint on this

Boat was different from the paint found in harry uhl's

Wounds, and there was no significant damage to its

Propeller.

In addition, dna tests showed the blood in the boat was not

Harry uhl's or nasreen raza's.

But forensic evidence did not match it up...

Actually <span tts:fontstyle="italic">excluded</span>it from being the boat that we were looking

For.

Narrator: so investigators resumed their search, knowing

That each day gave the perpetrator more time to hide

Incriminating evidence.

Narrator: harry uhl, the victim of one of the worst boat

Crashes in the history of the finger lakes, was laid to rest.

A memorial stock-car race was held at the local track in his

Honor.

His passenger in the boat that night, nasreen raza, survived,

But her arm will never function properly.

I can look at my arm and just see an ugly, deformed arm, but

There's some days I look at it, and I just get this wave of

Flashback.

"Oh, my god, someone d*ed.

It could have been me."

It just feels so close to death it's creepy.

Narrator: police appealed to the public through newspapers,

Radio, and television, asking anyone with information about

This crash to come forward.

Finally, four days after the accident, a man called the

Sheriff's department with a possible lead.

He asked me what information I had, and I told him, "I think

I was a passenger on a boat that hit the other boat."

Narrator: john ottenschot, a construction worker, said he was

Riding in a boat on cayuga lake, and he said the boat hit

Something, although he didn't know what it was.

It's just...it was so dark, overcast.

We couldn't see anything in the lake.

I knew we didn't hit a log.

I don't think it would take us out of the water as far as it

Did because we were all the way out of the water.

We did know we hit something big.

Narrator: ottenschot claimed they circled back to see what

They hit but didn't see anything, so they drove their

Boat to the launch, removed it from the water, and drove home.

He identified the driver of the boat as his co-worker

Floyd wright.

He said he wanted wright to go to the police with him, but

Wright refused.

He says, "well, I don't want to lose my job.

I'm gonna lose my job.

I'm gonna lose my house."

I said, "well, this guy lost his life."

I said, "this is wrong."

Narrator: when police question floyd wright, he, too,

Said he didn't know what they hit.

Said he didn't know what they hit.

Said he didn't know what they hit.

I find it very difficult to believe that wright could not

Hear the screams of the female passenger in mr. Uhl's boat.

We have witnesses onshore, several hundred feet away, who

Could hear her screams for help.

Narrator: wright admitted that he was drinking that day

But insisted he wasn't intoxicated.

Narrator: with a warrant, police searched wright's

Property and found the boat in his barn.

You could readily see that repairs had been made to the

Boat.

The bondo and the material on the boat was not flush with the

Original fiberglass, and it had been spray-painted.

Areas had been spray-painted white.

Narrator: if there had been blood or any other evidence on

The boat's hull, it had already been removed and repainted.

The propeller had also been removed but was still in the

Barn, broken beyond repair.

That propeller, all three tines of it, showed extensive

Damage, denting, and tearing of the metal.

Narrator: there was no blood or human tissue on the

Propeller, nor did investigators expect to find any since the

Water would have washed it away.

But, amazingly, the propeller had a tiny cr*ck, and inside was

A minute piece of, what looked like, foam.

It was nothing short of a miracle that the tiny piece of

Foam had stuck in the prop when you consider the dynamic forces

Going on.

Narrator: trace-evidence expert ron stanbro analyzed the

Material under a microscope.

I did not have very much sample to work with, but it was

More than enough for the analysis that we were required

To do.

Narrator: under high magnification, different types

Of foam exhibit noticeably different structures.

As a result, one kind of foam can be distinguished from

Another.

The foam from the propeller looked very similar to the foam

Padding from the seat in harry uhl's boat.

So stanbro went a step further, using a process known as

Fourier transform infrared.

It's shining an infrared light through that substance,

And the molecules within that substance are stretching and

Vibrating, and then we're measuring the absorptance of

That infrared light in that sample.

Narrator: this provided a chemical fingerprint of the

Polyurethane in both samples.

They were indistinguishable, one from the other.

So, if we could conclude from that that they're made up of the

Same substance, and therefore, they could have common origin.

Narrator: but this wasn't conclusive.

So stanbro compared the paint chips from harry's body to the

Paint on floyd's boat.

They were heated to degrees centigrade and vaporized so that

Their chemical components could be measured by a gas

Chromatograph-mass spectrometer.

Again, the chemical composition of both samples was identical.

I would never go so far as to say that they were a perfect

Match.

I would say that they were indistinguishable, which would

Tell me then that these paint chips from the body could have

Common origin.

Narrator: prosecutors now had enough forensic evidence to link

Floyd wright's boat to the hit-and-run accident.

Narrator: based on the forensic evidence, prosecutors

Say they know what happened on the night of the fatal accident.

After taking a ride around the lake, harry uhl stopped at the

Dock to let two of his passengers use the bathroom.

For reasons unknown, harry didn't tie up his boat, so it

Drifted into the boating lane without its running lights on.

Floyd wright and john ottenschot admitted they

Were drinking but claimed they weren't intoxicated.

They said they didn't see harry's boat because its lights

Weren't on.

The propeller tore through nasreen's arm and the boat's

Upholstery.

The hull struck harry in the head, k*lling him instantly and

Leaving paint chips on his body.

Some think floyd turned around to see what he hit and, not only

Saw the damage, but also heard nasreen's screams.

Floyd wright and john ottenschot deny this.

Wright took his boat out of the water and stored it in his barn

So he could began to make repairs.

He always claimed he didn't know he hit harry uhl's boat.

They knew exactly what they had hit.

They absolutely knew.

There's no way that you could hit a full-size boat and not

Know that you've hit something significant or think that you've

Hit a log or driftwood.

It's ridiculous.

If they would have had their lights on on that boat, we

Would have seen it.

I can guarantee it that we would have seen it.

Narrator: there was no way to know what floyd wright's

Blood-alcohol level was that night.

In new york state, this severely limited the prosecutor's case.

You have to show that the accident was causally related to

The drinking.

There has to be that close connection -- new york requires

It.

So, just the fact that he had a few drinks throughout the course

Of the day doesn't necessarily mean that is the cause of the

Death.

You have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that's the

Connection.

Being intoxicated shouldn't be a way out of being held

Responsible.

The fact that he was able to run from the scene, and he wasn't

Charged with anything related to intoxication, just makes you

Question whether our laws have a loophole in allowing someone to

Leave the scene of a crime so that they can't be charged with

Being drunk at that time.

Narrator: coincidentally, wright's automobile-driver's

License was suspended at the time due to an arrest for

Driving while intoxicated.

Floyd wright was charged with tampering with physical evidence

And failing to report an accident.

He plead not guilty at the trial but was convicted and sentenced

To the maximum of four years in prison.

And that's like the issue with me.

You hit me, and you didn't help me.

You just left me there to bleed to death.

That bothers me...a lot.

And the thing is, physically, yeah, I'm hurt, but I hate to

Live with the fact that I have to hate someone my whole life.

That's not a good feeling for me.

It feels like a heavy part in your chest.

To feel something like that for someone is not good.

I don't like to feel that, but I do.

Narrator: in return for his testimony at the grand jury,

John ottenschot was given immunity from prosecution.

He now admits that he and floyd <span tts:fontstyle="italic"> were</span>intoxicated.

I'll say legally, we were probably drunk.

We'd have got a dwi.

If I'd have got pulled over on the way home, or we got pulled

Over on the way home, we probably -- definitely.

Narrator: it was the paint chips, the accident

Reconstruction, and, particularly, the tiny piece of

Foam trapped in the cr*ck of the propeller that proved the case.

The most damaging part of the evidence was that piece of foam

That had stayed on floyd wright's boat from harry's

Boat -- told everybody that that was the boat that hit and k*lled

Harry.

It's amazing what science can

Do.

It's amazing.

Otherwise, it would have been

"He said, she said," you know?

But it's amazing what science

Can do.