11x36 - Ticker Tape

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Narrator: a small texas community mourned the tragic

Death of an outstanding high-school athlete and scholar.

At first, there wasn't much hope that the k*ller would be

Apprehended, but tiny paint chips and bits of plastic

Provided evidence far more accurate than an eyewitness.

San antonio is one of the fastest-growing cities in texas,

Which, in turn, required the construction of one of the most

Sophisticated systems of state highways in the country.

Unfortunately, increased traffic often means increased

Fatalities.

And one of those tragic cases was that of a teenage boy found

One morning near highway .

No one deserves to die on the side of the road alone, even if

Their last breaths are those that are shared with a stranger.

Narrator: it looked to investigators like he had been

Hit head-on by a motor vehicle.

The abrasions to the person, the absence of socks on the

Feet, and he appeared to have rolled down the roadway, which

Is all conducive to being hit by a motor vehicle.

Narrator: the boy's shoes were discovered up the hill on

Highway , along with a sock and a broken neck chain.

But there was no evidence to show how fast the vehicle had

Been going.

You cannot generally tell that by the force of the impact

That the individual's knocked out of his shoes.

For some reason, it's a common occurrence with

Motor-vehicle-and-pedestrian accidents.

Narrator: police identified the victim as -year-old

Rafael garcia, a football player and standout student at

Southside high school in south central texas.

I was shocked.

I thought it was just a dream, I was gonna wake up from it,

'Cause, honestly, you know, you just talked to the person the

Day before.

He said, "yeah, I'll be at football practice."

And then, all of a sudden, he's gone?

Narrator: rafael was one of six children raised by a single

Mother.

His family was poor, and rafael worked weekends to help support

His family.

Mike harrison was rafael's football coach.

He broke the news of rafael's death to the rest of the team.

One of the hardest jobs as a teacher and a coach is to look

At a group of young men that you've grown close to and tell

Them that one of their teammates is not gonna be there anymore.

And it just devastated our kids.

They cried so hard.

And it just, for the next week to days, it just was pure

Emotion for them.

Narrator: from body temperature and degree of rigor

Mortis, investigators estimated rafael had been k*lled around

Midnight.

Since no one reported the accident, it was officially

Listed as a hit-and-run fatality.

On the highway, investigators found evidence of where rafael

Was standing when hit.

It was clear from the debris field that rafael was, in fact,

On the side of that road.

There's no evidence at all that rafael was walking in the lane

Or even close to the lane of travel.

Narrator: there were no skid marks, indicating the driver had

Not tried to stop before or after the crash.

They did find broken pieces of glass and plastic as well as

Seven tiny red paint chips on the shoulder of the road and in

The grass.

They also found a broken side-view mirror.

All the deposited parts were clean.

They didn't have a lot of dust on them.

They hadn't been rained on, it didn't appear.

So we believe that they are all linked to the same crash.

To be able to find these at a busy road intersection where the

Crime was committed is a task in itself.

Narrator: but investigators weren't optimistic since most

Hit-and-run accidents go unsolved.

It usually involves a motor vehicle, and almost everybody

Owns a motor vehicle.

It's almost like finding a needle in a haystack.

Narrator: hundreds of people turned out for rafael garcia's

Funeral.

He was remembered as an athlete who put his studies before

Sports.

When it came to raf, his education came first, even

Before football.

I remember there was one time where he didn't go to practice

'Cause he had a late assignment.

He was a good person, and there's a lot of people here --

A lot.

And we're just gonna miss him.

And we want to know that the person who did this is facing

The consequences for that and not able to just get away with

Taking a life.

Narrator: the autopsy revealed that rafael suffered a

Fractured skull and other blunt-force trauma to the head.

This suggested that he was facing the oncoming traffic when

He was hit.

The medical examiner also found large bar-shaped bruises on

Rafael's thighs.

They looked as if they might have come from the front grille

Of a truck or s.u.v.

It was sort of a pattern injury.

Part of the grille hit the right thigh, and he was probably

Wrapped around the side of the truck, and the other part of the

Grille hit the left thigh.

Narrator: toxicology tests for dr*gs and alcohol were all

Negative.

But why was rafael walking along highway late at night?

Investigators discovered that rafael's friend dropped him off

At home around : p.m.

But the friend said rafael didn't go inside.

Instead, he started walking toward highway .

He was known to walk down to what they refer to as the corner

Store, which is -- they're kind of out in the country, so it's a

Ways down.

He didn't own a car.

He didn't have his own car to drive.

So he was usually walking out there.

Narrator: rafael was hit and k*lled on highway just a

Quarter-mile from his home.

The only clues to the driver's identity were tiny bits of

Glass, plastic, and red paint, presumably from the vehicle's

Front headlight and turn signal.

Detective jose travino worked in the auto industry before going

Into law enforcement.

He was particularly interested in the passenger-side mirror

With a built-in heating element found near rafael's body.

I recognized it as a chrysler emblem, so therefore it led me

To believe it was a chrysler vehicle.

Narrator: by checking the part number, investigators

Learned that the mirror came from a dodge ram pickup truck

Manufactured between and .

To most people outside the auto industry, those numbers

Wouldn't mean much.

To an engineer, these codes are much like identification such as

Your social security number or even dna.

Narrator: although this narrowed the search

Considerably, these trucks were extremely popular.

It seemed like a needle in a haystack because now it's a

Dodge pickup truck, very commonly used in texas.

It narrows it down to have the year range, but still, there's

So many.

And I thought maybe it was impossible to find it.

In , we sold about , dodge ram pickups in texas

Alone.

And that involved almost one out of every six or seven trucks

That we produced.

Narrator: but investigators could narrow it down further

Since they knew the dodge ram pickup truck was red.

Rafael's football teammates offered to help find the

Vehicle.

The head person that led this was our defensive captain,

Gilbert gossidis.

He played middle linebacker.

Him and raf were real close, and he said, "you know, he ain't

Gonna go out like this.

We're at least gonna find out something," you know?

I feel sorry if we find that driver 'cause he k*lled one of

Our brothers.

We're a family.

Narrator: police used local media outlets to ask vehicle

Body shops as well as concerned citizens to be on the lookout

For a red dodge pickup truck with damage to the front end.

Strangely, none of the local body shops reported a red truck

Coming in for repairs.

Police also issued a bulletin to all police departments

Nationwide in an effort to find the red truck.

But the first tip that came in was from one of rafael's

Classmates.

He said that his mother's boyfriend came home that night

Of the accident -- or the crash -- and said that he hit a

Deer on the highway and the police were gonna get him, and

Then he took off and hadn't been seen since.

Narrator: the man's name was robert huffman, a -year-old

Construction worker.

Vehicle records indicated huffman a red dodge pickup truck

Made in the year .

According to huffman's girlfriend, he disappeared the

Morning following the accident, and she had no idea where he

Went.

Time is of the essence when you're trying to solve these

Crimes.

And knowing that the truck is your big piece of evidence and

Knowing it's out there driving around in the elements, which

Means you're losing physical evidence.

Narrator: making matters worse, huffman didn't have any

Credit cards or an atm card.

So police couldn't track his whereabouts.

We should never lose hope on these cases because you just

Never know what information may come forward, who may call in,

What could be found -- even years later.

Narrator: the prime suspect in the hit-and-run death of

-Year-old rafael garcia was robert huffman, a construction

Worker who owned the type of truck police were looking for.

A background check revealed huffman had two previous

Convictions for drunk driving, and he had just finished serving

A two-year sentence for a weapons offense.

The media attention prompted an anonymous tip.

Someone told police that huffman was at a local bar on the night

Of rafael's death.

The media put out the description of the truck.

She phoned in.

She said that she knew he had been at the bar that night.

He had left between : and :.

And he was driving this huge red truck in the direction where

Rafael garcia was ultimately k*lled.

Narrator: huffman left town immediately following the

Accident, and his whereabouts were unknown.

It's kind of heartless, you know?

I mean...

Knowing you k*lled someone and just running.

I guess he really wasn't looking at the fact that there's

A family involved.

Narrator: for weeks, there was no progress.

Then, almost three months later, investigators got another tip --

This time from a police officer a thousand miles away in sumner

County, tennessee.

He noticed a red pickup truck with texas plates in the parking

Lot of a seedy motel.

A man matching huffman's description was registered in

The motel under a different name.

He gave the name of robert hokum, which later he

Admitted to the authorities was not really his true name, so

Initially they had him detained for providing a false name.

Narrator: huffman denied any involvement in the hit-and-run

Death of rafael garcia and once again claimed he hit a deer.

When police looked at his vehicle, they noticed that the

Passenger-side headlight was intact, as was the plastic cover

On the turn signal.

After all this time that had passed -- / months -- the

Trip to tennessee yielded no evidence, no forensic evidence.

Narrator: but investigators had the seven chips of red paint

From the crime scene.

Was it possible that they were from huffman's truck?

Martinez measured the seven paint chips.

Each one was approximately a half-inch in length.

Martinez and his colleagues noticed something.

There were places on the front bumper of huffman's truck where

The paint was missing.

So martinez started the painstaking process of trying to

Match the paint chips to the truck scratches.

I wasn't sure, exactly, where it was going to match up

Specifically.

So it was almost as if it was a game -- trying to find and put

The piece of the jigsaw puzzle back to match that area where it

Came from on that vehicle.

Narrator: the pieces were jagged, and so was the exposed

Metal on the truck.

Unbelievably, martinez discovered that the paint chips

Did come from huffman's truck.

They fit perfectly.

A physical fit is the only for-sure thing in forensic

Science.

Its probabilities are astronomical.

There are no statistics that can calculate or duplicate the odds

Of tearing any two pieces identical.

It is the only thing in forensics that is the for-sure

Thing and, in fact, better than dna.

Here's this paint chip that plugs in perfectly.

That's hitting the home run, the bottom of the ninth, bases

Loaded.

Narrator: but investigators still wondered...

If huffman's vehicle hit rafael garcia, why wasn't there

Any damage to the headlight and turn signal?

They found the answer to that question in his storage shed

Back in texas.

I went to robert huffman's house, and in the back shed, we

Saw a ' maroon dodge truck that was missing the

Passenger-side turn-signal light.

Narrator: apparently, huffman owned a second pickup truck -- a

Dodge ram.

Interestingly, the model was similar to his red

Model -- so much so that the head lamps on both trucks were

Dimensionally identical.

The length, the width, the depth, all those features --

The mounting points -- they're all gonna be in the same

Location.

We took a model-year truck.

We removed the head-lamp module.

And we inserted a model-year head-lamp module.

And the two fit perfectly.

Narrator: but even with this evidence, the case wasn't over.

Prosecutors now had to prove to the jury that huffman was the

Driver.

With hit-and-run crashes, if you're able to locate the

Vehicle, that's just half the battle because now we have to

Prove who this person is that was driving at the time because

It may not be necessarily the owner of the vehicle.

Narrator: although investigators could prove that

Robert huffman's red truck was the vehicle that k*lled

Rafael garcia, they still needed to prove to a jury that huffman

Was driving the vehicle.

To do that, investigators had to tie huffman's whereabouts on the

Night of the fatal crash to rafael garcia's.

Rafael's friend said she dropped him off at home around

: P.m.

But rafael didn't go inside.

Instead, he started walking back towards highway , presumably

Headed to the country store a short distance away.

Patrons of a local bar indicated that huffman was there drinking

That night and left the bar sometime between : and

: P.m.

A bar patron said that huffman got into his red pickup truck

And headed south on route towards his home.

Rafael was walking north on route at approximately the

Same time.

The forensic evidence proves that huffman's truck swerved off

The road, onto the shoulder, and hit rafael...

Sending him flying feet down the embankment, k*lling him

Instantly.

There were no skid marks.

Prosecutors say huffman kept driving.

But tiny pieces of glass, plastic, and paint, along with

The passenger-side mirror, were left behind, identifying the

Make, model, and color of the truck.

When he got home, he told his girlfriend that he had hit a

Deer and removed the broken headlight and replaced it with

The headlight unit from his other truck.

He fled the state the next day, driving a thousand miles to

Tennessee, hoping the case would blow over and be forgotten.

But by this time, too many law-enforcement agencies were

Looking for him.

All the planets were aligned because it was every single

Little piece of evidence together that made this such a

Strong case.

And it just -- everything fell into place.

Narrator: the paint chips at the scene fit perfectly to

Huffman's truck, and the truck's grille also matched rafael's

Injuries.

You could almost compare the height of the grille on that

Truck to the height of where the bruises were located on rafael,

And they matched up almost perfectly.

Narrator: in february of , robert huffman was tried

And convicted of failure to stop and render aid after an

Accident.

Because of his previous drunk-driving offenses, he was

Sentenced to the maximum -- years in prison.

He never confessed, never showed any remorse, and was

Rather indignant about the fact that he was being tried for this

Offense.

Narrator: investigators say that without the science, this

Case, like most hit-and-run accidents, would probably have

Gone unsolved.

To be able to establish a physical match is a rare find.

To be able to actually solve a case and to obtain a conviction

Is even rarer.

It just, to me, shows the determination of law enforcement

To leave no stone unturned and to really look at the scene.

And they did a great job, obviously, of evidence

Collection in this case.

And it really, really helped this case along.

One in a million.

Like I said, it's a miracle.

By the grace of god, they found it.