12x29 - Guarded Secrets

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: up next, a married man falls victim to temptation.

He had made a mistake, which I am sure a lot of people can

Identify with.

She offered him a wild side that he hadn't experienced.

Narrator: then he vanishes without a trace.

He was there one minute and then gone the next.

Narrator: for almost years, the disappearance goes

Unsolved...

I kept that hope that maybe he would show up on my doorstep.

Narrator: ...until a tiny chip of paint tells of a

Terrifying ordeal.

It would drive me crazy to know what a m*rder victim goes

Through every time they're k*lled.

Narrator: the kennecott copper mine outside

Salt lake city, utah, is known as the richest hole on earth.

And copper isn't the only valuable mineral.

They mine gold and silver.

And they have very expensive equipment -- that sort of thing.

Theft is a big problem out there.

Narrator: as a result, security is very tight.

You just don't go onto kennecott copper property

Without usually encountering security.

Narrator: so, when the security guard wasn't on duty in

The guard shack on a winter night in , it was unusual.

They went up and figured that he might be in the rest room,

Checked it out for a while.

They went up and found his lunch was partly eaten.

His hard hat was still there.

Narrator: the guard, bryan ruff, was not supposed to

Leave the shack for any reason until the shift changed at

:.

It was just a strange incident where he was there one

Minute and then gone the next.

And there was no real explanation of why he was gone.

Narrator: snow had fallen just a few hours earlier, but

There were no footprints around the shack.

Bryan's car was parked in a nearby lot, and there were no

Footprints anywhere near his car.

It looked like he might have just stepped outside the door

And -- and vanished.

But it was in a very isolated area.

Narrator: inside the shack, everything was in order.

No sign of any foul play at all, no blood, nothing turned

Over or destroyed.

Narrator: -year-old bryan ruff and his wife jennifer

Had been married for two and a half years and had a

-Month-old baby.

Work records showed this wasn't the first time bryan went

Missing.

Just a few weeks earlier, bryan walked off his job and ran away

To las vegas.

He felt a big burden to provide for us, especially with

A second baby coming.

He felt that burden, and he was trying to get through school.

And I know that finances worried him a lot.

He felt bad that we had to move in with my parents at the time.

Narrator: bryan spent six days in las vegas.

When he returned, he was a changed man, and not for the

Better.

He was very cold and distant -- a side of him I had

Never seen before.

He was very cold, bitter about certain things -- finances,

Things like that -- and just angry.

Narrator: as investigators search the guard shack for

Clues, the phone rang.

Who's calling, please?

Narrator: the caller said she was bryan's wife, jennifer.

She was surprised when somebody else answered the

Phone, when bryan didn't answer.

They told her at that time that they were the police and they

Were looking for bryan.

She did tell them that she had been talking to him around :.

He had told her that, "there's another employee coming" -- is

How he termed it -- and he just had to go.

[ Telephone rings ] narrator: as soon as police

Got off the phone with jennifer, the phone rang again.

The deputy again answered the phone call, knew it was a

Different female voice, and the caller told the deputy that her

Name was jennifer ruff.

Somebody was claiming that they were bryan's wife that really

Wasn't.

Narrator: a missing man with two wives.

Police knew right away it was going to be an unusual

Investigation.

Narrator: shortly after bryan ruff's disappearance from

His security job, two women called his work phone, asking to

Speak to him.

Each of them identified herself as his wife.

The company's caller-i.d. System revealed one of the callers was

Indeed bryan's wife, jennifer.

The other was -year-old kristi bradley.

She was married to dale bradley, who was also a security guard at

The kennecott mine and one of bryan ruff's co-workers.

So, that's when they sent detectives over to dale and

Kristi's house to find out what was going on.

Narrator: kristi told police that she and bryan had

Become good friends and talked regularly on the phone.

Dale would have kristi bring dinner out to him, and

That's how bryan and kristi met is actually out at the

Jobsite when she would bring meals out to him.

Narrator: when questioned about bryan's disappearance,

Kristi said she was home all day and hadn't seen him.

Dale said he had been off from work and was running errands all

Day.

Dale bradley said he was up at the university of utah.

When his car broke down, he called his friend bill easton,

Who was down at a local bar here.

Narrator: five days after bryan disappeared, his wife,

Jennifer, discovered a potential clue.

There were credit-card bills that I had never seen before --

We had not applied for them together -- and also a phone

Bill.

Narrator: jennifer discovered that bryan was having an affair

With kristi bradley.

It was a double whammy to have him missing and then to be

Hit with such horrifying news that everything had been

Shattered.

My whole life had been shattered.

Everything that I had dreamed and hoped for was gone.

Narrator: jennifer also discovered that kristi was

With bryan in las vegas a few weeks earlier.

When confronted with this information, kristi admitted

The affair to both the police and her husband.

She told me that she thought bryan was really nice, she

Thought he was cute.

Dale was very controlling to her, and kristi didn't like to

Be tied down.

Kristi and bryan were able to talk to each other, and that's,

I think, the reason for the phone calls to the guard shack

Between kristi and bryan.

Narrator: but dale insisted he knew nothing about his wife's

Affair when bryan disappeared.

Dale had no criminal history, but the affair gave him a motive

To harm bryan, so investigators got a search warrant for his

Car.

It was checked for blood and g*nsh*t residue.

None of which we found.

We didn't find anything.

Narrator: in addition, dale and kristi bradley agreed to

Take polygraph tests, and they both passed.

When they found out about the affair, I had heard they

Interviewed dale and kristi, and dale passed the polygraph.

And at that point, they kind of dropped his name from the list

Of suspects.

Narrator: meanwhile, investigators pursued another

Potential lead.

Two of bryan's fellow security guards had been arrested for

Stealing from the mine.

They were arrested for stealing metals off of kennecott

Property and pawning them in junk-metal shops for -- you

Know, for junk metal.

Narrator: in fact, one of those guards was at the guard

Shack just minutes after bryan was reported missing.

Bryan was one of those at the guard shack who reported some of

These thefts going on.

Narrator: but without bryan ruff's body, police had no

Proof he was dead.

Officially, he was still a missing person.

Narrator: shortly after bryan ruff disappeared, police

Uncovered a theft ring run by security guards at the kennecott

Mine.

They were stealing anything that wasn't nailed down.

They were stealing gloves, shovels, you know, just any kind

Of equipment that you would find around a mine.

Narrator: police wondered if bryan might have stumbled on a

Robbery in progress.

This whole theory came up that maybe these guys were

Stealing metals off of the property that night, and bryan

Had stopped them, and they had k*lled him to cover up the

Theft.

Narrator: but none of the other security guards could be

Linked to bryan's disappearance.

He, basically, was completely alone up there in the mountain,

And it really concerned him that it was an unsafe area, that

There were no cameras, no electric gates, no security

Systems like they had in the other gates.

Narrator: weeks and then months passed with absolutely no

Sign of bryan ruff.

It was an overwhelming fear.

When I would be driving to work or driving to the store, it was

Just a constant cloud over me, a fear that somebody could just

Disappear and never come back.

Narrator: bryan's wife, jennifer, was forced to raise

Their little girl alone.

Six months after bryan went missing, she gave birth to

Another daughter.

I just couldn't move on.

I was stuck in that realm of grief until I knew what had

Happened to him.

Narrator: one year later, hikers discovered human remains

In a camping area about miles from the kennecott mine.

At first, I just thought it was rocks, and then I thought

Maybe it was a dead guy.

He still had his security outfit on, as I said, his

Wallet -- everything intact.

That's him -- bryan patrick ruff.

I got a phone call from the detectives.

And I asked them.

I said, "is it bryan?" And he said, "yeah, it's bryan,"

And that's when my world fell apart.

Narrator: dental records confirmed the victim was

Bryan ruff.

[ g*nshots ] an autopsy showed he'd been sh*t

Five times in the back.

I thought that somehow he had gotten in the middle of

Something illegal and they k*lled him for that.

Narrator: search teams found five spent shells from a

.-Caliber p*stol near the body.

Investigators believe bryan was sh*t just a few feet from where

He was buried in a shallow grave.

The next day, we're out there working again, and one of the

Dogs from the k- unit recovers a boot, a black cowboy boot that

Was identified as bryan's work boot.

That was recovered about feet east of the grave site.

Never did find a second boot.

Narrator: but so much time had passed and so much rain and

Snow had fallen that no other clues were found at the scene.

It's really frustrating.

There's no other way to put it.

Narrator: with no evidence to tie anyone to the crime, the

Case went cold, and the years passed...

Until years later when todd park, a cold-case detective

With the salt lake county sheriff's office, received a

Telephone call from authorities in neighboring carbon county.

When that call came in, it gave me, I guess, a fresh

Breath of air to look at another case and to really dig into it.

Narrator: police in carbon county were investigating

Dale bradley on the suspicion of murdering his second wife,

Crystal.

Dale had been a suspect in bryan ruff's m*rder years

Earlier.

On a hunch, todd park contacted dale's first wife, kristi, who

Was now living in texas.

So, when detective park contacted her years after the

Fact, she was surprised that the case hadn't been solved because

Dale told her somebody else had already been arrested for it,

And she just assumed this case was done.

Narrator: but that obviously was a lie.

And kristi told police something she hadn't mentioned

During the original investigation.

She said the day after bryan went missing, dale cleaned the

Inside of his car.

He had never cleaned out that trunk as long as she had known

Him, as long as he'd owned that camaro.

Narrator: why would dale do this?

Police wondered if bryan ruff had been inside that trunk.

Was there blood?

Was he sh*t in the car and wrapped in a blanket?

And looking for, you know, trace evidence, looking for blood in

The car.

Narrator: but after years, could police find dale bradley's

Camaro?

Narrator: years after bryan ruff's m*rder and

Investigators never lost hope they would solve the case.

The thing about bryan -- he was a very good kid, and he was

A very good father.

And regardless of the affair, I think he was a very good

Husband.

He just had a lot going on, and I think he would have been able

To really make something of his life and his family if he was

Able to continue on in life, and that was cut short.

Narrator: when investigators heard that their original

Suspect, dale bradley, was now a suspect in yet another m*rder

Investigation, they decided to look once again at the evidence.

And this time, on bryan ruff's boot, the one they found in the

Mountains near his burial site, they spotted something, some

Kind of scuff mark on the bottom of the boot that looked like

Reddish-orange paint.

When I saw that swatch of paint, it just flashed back to

Me that that was the same color of paint that was on

Dale bradley's car, and I got excited, and I kind of got a

Little bit of butterflies.

And I thought, "I got him."

Narrator: forensic analyst bill schneck examined this paint

With a stereomicroscope.

And I noticed it was a smear.

It wasn't, like, paint chips that were adhering to the

Boot -- it's actually smeared into the leather at the bottom

Of the boot.

There was tremendous force to get that paint smear onto his

Boot.

Narrator: was it the kind of force caused by trying to kick

Your way out of the trunk of a car, for example?

Bill schneck needed to know if the makers of dale bradley's

Camaro had painted the inside of the trunk.

Luckily, schneck had a friend who restored old cars.

And he just happened to have a ' camaro when I was there.

So we popped the trunk, and indeed, they have original paint

In the trunk.

So that was good.

That was useful.

Narrator: dale bradley drove a red camaro at the time of

Bryan's m*rder.

The mission now was to find it.

I spent a lot of hours searching for that car.

They went up in an airplane and searched high and low for that

Car, through a lot of investigation, found that the

Car had been sold.

Narrator: unfortunately, two years after bryan's m*rder, the

New owner sold the car for scrap metal.

The car was scrapped.

I mean, it's just in little cubes.

It's been melted down.

Narrator: but an examination of the case file revealed a

Surprise.

Years earlier, an alert detective had taken paint

Samples from dale's car.

We just took them.

[ Laughs ] it's hard to say why.

We just took them 'cause there really wasn't much else to take.

Those paint samples just sat in our evidence room for years.

Narrator: bill schneck took paint samples from the boot and

The car and placed them on slides with an immersion liquid.

This eliminated any air trapped between the sample and the

Slide.

Using a polarizing light microscope magnified up to ,

Times, schneck saw the paint was a lead-chromate paint.

I wanted to go back and find out how unusual is a

Lead-chromate paint.

And I contacted the national institute of science and

Technology and received a paint chip, known standard from the

' Camaro.

Narrator: using a scanning electron microscope, schneck now

Did a three-way comparison.

He examined paint from the boot, from the car, and from the file

Sample of a camaro.

All were identical.

Paint on the boot came from that particular car or another

Car having those exact same properties, composition.

Narrator: and with this evidence, dale bradley was

Arrested and charged with bryan ruff's m*rder.

It was shocking that anybody could do something so horrific,

Let alone somebody that claimed to be a good friend.

Narrator: prosecutors believe dale either knew or strongly

Suspected bryan ruff was having an affair with his wife, kristi,

And was afraid she was going to leave him.

I think that he was so angry that kristi and bryan betrayed

Him that he was gonna make them pay.

Narrator: the forensic evidence suggests dale's plan

Was to eliminate the person he perceived to be his competition.

Since he knew bryan's hours and when there would be the least

Amount of traffic, he knew exactly when to strike.

Buddy, what are you doing here?

I got something to show you.

Narrator: dale probably forced bryan into the trunk at

Gunpoint.

Get in there now.

Get in there.

Just get in.

All right, I'm in.

I'm in, all right?

You don't have to close it.

[ Tires squeal ] narrator: bryan tried to kick

His way out of the trunk during the -minute drive when a piece

Of the paint became embedded in his boot.

When dale got to the burial spot, prosecutors say he ordered

Bryan to remove his boots so he couldn't run away.

What?

Take your boots off now.

All right, fine.

Whatever you say.

Narrator: he then forced him over to a shallow grave which

Prosecutors think he dug earlier that day...

[ g*nshots ] ...then sh*t him with a

.-Caliber p*stol.

The m*rder w*apon was never recovered.

It was so typical of dale's personality to be a coward

Enough to sh**t somebody in the back and not face him when he

Was going to take his life.

Narrator: the paint and circumstantial evidence were

Difficult for dale bradley to refute.

He agreed to plead guilty to second-degree manslaughter and

Kidnapping and was sentenced to years in prison.

What bradley didn't realize was that bryan's boot held an

Important piece of evidence that told a story.

This cold case was solved because of that paint chip.

It makes me want to go out and look at every single case

And examine every piece of evidence to see if there's

Something that I can do with it.

It motivates me to solve other cases.

Narrator: dale bradley remains a suspect in the m*rder

Of his second wife.

It's ironic in a way that bryan ruff's desperate efforts

In the trunk of dale's car resulted in the capture of his

Own k*ller.

Just one little thing -- that's all it takes.

In this case, it turned out to be the paint samples coupled

With all the circumstantial evidence in this case, and the

Physical evidence that you have -- that was just a clincher

In this case.

Well, even today, though, there's a lot of detectives that

Are just focusing so much on dna they're forgetting all the other

Avenues that could be approached with trace evidence, such as

Paint examination.

I hope it sends a loud message that there is forensics

Out there, that people are willing to continue to look at

These cases, that you're not gonna get away with m*rder, and

That the more they try to cover up some of their tracks, the

More tracks they leave.