12x30 - Smoking Out a k*ller

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Narrator: up next, three college students are m*rder*d.

It looks as if one person had k*lled them all.

He picked on young women, picked on pretty women.

Police immediately have a suspect.

In law-enforcement terms, it's almost like winning the

Lottery.

Narrator: but not everyone was convinced he was the one.

If he's going to brag about three, why not four?

He mentioned all the other cases, but never mentioned

Susan schumake.

Narrator: for years, questions remained, until

Decades-old evidence reveals the terrible truth.

It's a horrifying thing to think that there's more than one

Monster in your community at one time.

Narrator: it was a week before the fall semester began

In .

Susan shumake moved back to the campus of southern illinois

University at carbondale.

She was anxious to start her senior year.

She had just gotten a job at the radio station, and she was

Going to be doing some of the broadcast work.

Sue schumake, section , description, narration, and

Dialogue.

Narrator: on august th, susan left the radio station

Just before : p.m.

She planned to meet her girlfriend for dinner.

But she never arrived.

The friend who she was supposed to have supper with

Called her roommate, mary.

Mary did not know where she was at.

Later into the night, approaching midnight, they

Started calling all their friends.

They went to places where they thought she might have gone.

Narrator: then next day, with still no word from susan, the

Police were notified.

That night, officers noticed some trampled vegetation near a

Dirt footpath students use to walk from one side of the campus

To the other.

As he walked into the weeds a little deeper with a

Flashlight -- and the weeds were quite high.

It was very difficult to see.

Then all at once, he saw susan's body.

This was something that really undid us.

This was -- it was obviously a horrible thing.

And I immediately started crying.

It was a very terrible moment for me.

Narrator: it appeared that susan had been beaten,

Strangled, and sexually assaulted.

Police assumed the crime occurred just after susan left

The radio station between : and : p.m., Which meant she

Was abducted and att*cked in broad daylight.

This was in the middle of the day that this happened, and I

Think that really -- that was one of the more scary things to

People, is that it was so random.

Narrator: police asked anyone who might have seen anything

Suspicious to come forward.

They also interviewed all of susan's friends, including her

Past romantic relationships.

There had been a few people who had attempted to date her

That she had denied, so they, of course, became part of a growing

Suspect pool.

Narrator: police also had to consider whether the perpetrator

Was a stranger.

Because of the location of the m*rder and its accessibility

To a number of dormitories, they were looking at dormitory lists

And who lived in the area.

She was such a blameless victim.

The thing that we're all afraid of is some monster coming out of

Nowhere and snagging someone we love or snagging ourselves, and

That's what happened to susan.

Narrator: then police learned of a remarkable coincidence.

On the day susan was m*rder*d, a subcontractor working on the new

Campus gymnasium had employed a man who'd been a suspect in two

Murders.

Both victims were students at the university.

He was within or yards.

You got to remember, he's working on campus, where there

Are , or , pretty girls walking around every day.

The investigators on that day figured that if a woman was

r*ped and m*rder*d, he's the one that did it.

Narrator: within days of susan schumake's m*rder,

John paul phillips topped the list of suspects.

He was known about town as kind of a hellion.

I met him early in his life.

He had a terrible temper.

I met him when he was perhaps or years old, in a fight.

He tried to b*at some kid to death with a baseball bat.

Narrator: phillips had been a suspect in the r*pe and m*rder

Of two other southern illinois university students five years

Earlier.

-Year-old theresa clark was found r*ped and m*rder*d in her

Apartment off campus.

At the time, john paul phillips lived in an apartment about

Feet away.

We worked that case to death.

We didn't have any fingerprints.

Dna was way in the future.

We had no witnesses.

We didn't have much of anything to go on.

But we felt pretty comfortable that he might be our person.

Narrator: one year later, -year-old kathleen mcsherry

Was also found r*ped and stabbed in her apartment.

Again, john paul phillips lived in the neighborhood.

Again, no dna, no fingerprints.

Well, where's john paul now?

Well, it turned out he lived just a few blocks north.

Narrator: there had been insufficient evidence to arrest

John paul phillips for either m*rder, but in susan schumake's

m*rder, police finally got a break.

At susan's autopsy, the medical examiner found two foreign hairs

On her body -- presumably from her k*ller.

One was a body hair.

One was a pubic hair that was recovered from susan's body.

Narrator: phillips willingly provided hair samples for

Comparison.

Based on microscopic examination, phillips' hair was

Not similar, so he was eliminated as a suspect.

Despite the hair analysis, susan's family was convinced

That john paul phillips was susan's k*ller.

And they didn't take phillips into custody at the time.

They didn't arrest him or charge him, which I didn't understand

At the time, 'cause I thought that they enough reason to.

Narrator: later, phillips committed several assaults that

Landed him in jail.

He went out to devil's kitchen lake, spotted a young

Lady and her boyfriend at one of the campgrounds, approached them

With a g*n.

He went over to carterville and kidnapped a girl, too.

Narrator: but police finally got a break in susan schumake's

Case.

First, they found susan's yellow backpack in the pyle's fork

Creek behind the dormitories.

Her wallet was missing.

Friends said she usually carried about $.

And a campus worker found a small, red bag with some

Toiletry items not far from where susan schumake was

m*rder*d.

Inside, police found some identification.

He finds a pharmaceutical bottle that has the name

"Daniel woloson," but it was prescribed at the menard

Correctional center.

They did some checking on him and found that he was on parole,

And so he became a person of interest.

Narrator: -year-old daniel woloson had recently been

Released from prison for a burglary conviction.

He was a handyman, working on campus at the time of the

m*rder.

Daniel was working at the quad apartments, which is

Probably about a quarter mile away from the crime scene.

Narrator: when questioned by police, woloson said he had an

Alibi for the night of susan schumake's m*rder -- that

He was with a friend.

And the officers took him to the various locations, trying to

Find this person with whom he spent the night, were

Unsuccessful.

Narrator: woloson cooperated with police and provided hair

Samples.

But the next day when police went to speak with him again, he

Was gone.

In his room, they found a torn note.

Some of the pieces were in the toilet.

The rest where in a trash can.

It read almost like a su1c1de note.

Narrator: police continued to search for woloson until they

Examined his hair sample.

Woloson's hair was not consistent with the hair found

On susan's body, so he was eliminated as a suspect.

The case threatened to go cold, until john paul phillips, now in

Prison for r*pe and kidnapping, allegedly bragged about his

Murders to his prison cell mate, thomas mocaby.

One day in the cell, he relates all these crimes that he

Committed to thomas mocaby, and provides detailed

Information about these murders -- detail that only the

k*ller would have known.

Narrator: phillips provided details about the murders of

College students kathleen mcsherry and

Theresa clark, but also confessed to k*lling a third

Woman -- a waitress, joan weatherall.

But he never mentioned susan schumake.

If he's going to brag about three, why not four?

He never mentioned miss schumake.

But the conventional wisdom back then was that he was

Responsible.

Narrator: police believe that john paul phillips k*lled

Susan schumake, too.

But if they were wrong, a m*rder*r was still at large.

Narrator: in november of , john paul phillips went on

Trial for the m*rder of joan weatherall, one of the

Three murders phillips allegedly confessed to during a

Conversation with his prison cell mate.

In fact, when we were done, the judge said, "I'm not only

Satisfied he did this one, I think you put on a good enough

Case that I could convict him for the other two."

Judge said that in open court.

Narrator: on the day he was sentenced, phillips addressed

The court.

He said, "well, I didn't k*ll her, but I hope she felt every

Bit of it."

And the judge immediately sentenced him to death, and then

He went off to prison on death row.

Narrator: but before the sentence was carried out, he

d*ed in prison of a heart att*ck at the age of .

Although phillips bragged to his prison cell mate about k*lling

Three women, he never mentioned susan schumake.

But her family still believed he was responsible.

We thought that phillips was the m*rder*r, and he went to

Jail and he d*ed in jail, so my family consequently thought,

"Well, this is done with."

It's over. He's dead.

Narrator: others weren't so sure.

For one thing, susan's m*rder was different from the others.

Most of his murders were under darkness, and that wasn't

The situation with susan schumake.

Minor, maybe, but just enough that it didn't quite seem right.

Narrator: lieutenant paul echols was susan's

Classmate in college and had kept the picture from her case

File on his desk.

You could just look at that picture, you could see that this

Was a happy moment -- a father standing with his daughter, very

Proud.

And knowing the story that I knew by that time -- that she

Had been m*rder*d -- it was something that always held my

Attention.

Narrator: by the year , almost two decades after susan's

m*rder, a new dna process called "pcr" made it possible to test a

Small biological sample, where in the past, much larger samples

Were needed.

Essentially, that process is just xeroxing dna.

So we're just copying the specific portions of dna that

We're interested in analyzing.

Narrator: so analysts tested the small biological sample

Taken from susan schumake's autopsy and were able to

Identify the dna profile of the k*ller.

Yeah, we're in the game now.

There's a good chance now we'll be able to figure out who k*lled

Her.

Narrator: john paul phillips' dna sample was not on file, so

Investigators took the extraordinary step of requesting

That the state exhume his body.

They wanted to eliminate him as a suspect, and they needed to

Get his dna in order to do that.

Narrator: a dna sample was obtained from phillips' bone

Marrow.

It did not match the dna from the crime scene.

I called and spoke with susan's mother.

It was a very emotional phone call.

She cried as we talked.

It's obvious that you never forget the death of a child like

That.

And she was very disappointed, but, you know, I tried to assure

Her that we would continue to go forward and try to identify the

Suspect.

I was angry at the time when this happened, because -- and

Probably on a subconscious level because I felt we had closure.

It was done with.

Narrator: and there was more bad news.

The dna did not match anyone in the statewide database of known

Criminal offenders.

So we knew it had to be somebody who's never

Participated or contributed to the codis database.

Narrator: if the k*ller wasn't phillips or anyone who

Committed a felony before the dna database was created, then

Who was it?

Where do we go from here?

And the obvious answer is, let's dig back into the case and let's

See who else was a suspect in those days.

Who else can we get a dna standard from?

Let's just keep going until we run out of suspects.

Narrator: the first person on their list was daniel woloson.

He was originally a suspect.

He was working a quarter mile away on the day of the m*rder,

Then he ran off when police tried to question him.

Police found him in michigan, where he worked at an auto

Salvage yard.

By this time, he was divorced, with one child, and did not want

To talk with police.

Woloson told them that he had provided hair samples and

Fingerprints back in , and he was not interested in

Cooperating with their investigation.

Narrator: investigators wanted a dna sample.

Woloson refused to provide one.

And the courts refused to order one, citing the lack of probable

Cause.

Woloson's hair was on file from the original investigation, but

The samples didn't contain root material, so they couldn't be

Used to generate a full genetic profile.

So investigators decided to try an unconventional method to get

Woloson's dna.

Narrator: it had taken a long time -- almost years -- and

Lieutenant echols was convinced he was closing in on

Susan schumake's k*ller.

But only dna could prove it, and the suspect, daniel woloson,

Wasn't willing to provide it.

So michigan state police decided they'd take his dna in a

Perfectly legal manner.

They decide to run surveillance on him.

The whole purpose was to try to get something that might have

Danny woloson's dna so we could either identify him or eliminate

Him.

Narrator: it wasn't easy.

Since woloson worked in an auto-parts salvage yard, only

Other employees could get close to him without arousing

Suspicion.

Then police learned he had recently sold his car, and they

Knew he smoked cigarettes.

So they traced the car to its new owner.

They asked him about cigarette butts in the ashtray.

He says, "well, I don't smoke, and all my friends throw their

Cigarette butts out the window, so these were like when I bought

The car."

Narrator: there were more than a dozen cigarette butts.

Police hoped at least one was from daniel woloson.

They gave the evidence to dna analyst jennifer andrew.

What I gathered from speaking with the investigator in

Charge -- there was a homicide about years ago of a college

Student, and me being recently out of college, it was a little

Bit personal for me.

Narrator: one by one, andrew cut open the cigarette filters,

Often a good source of dna.

Because that's where all the saliva and skin cells would be

Deposited.

Narrator: the samples were treated with a solvent that

Separates the dna.

A profile was generated from an unknown male.

People think the job is so cool.

It's actually very, very stressful, and it's moments like

This that really make it worthwhile.

Narrator: the profile was sent to illinois for comparison

With the -year-old genetic material left at

Susan schumake's m*rder...

And it matched daniel woloson.

Well, I'm ecstatic, of course.

I mean, this is -- in law-enforcement terms, it's

Almost like winning the lottery.

Narrator: naturally, lieutenant echols would need

Another dna test to confirm the dna results from the cigarette.

Until then, echols wanted to prevent woloson from fleeing, so

He tried a ruse.

He confronted woloson with some made-up evidence.

It was important for me to extract some type of information

From him that would give me enough to get an arrest warrant.

I gave him the story about the witness, which is not true.

I tell him that there was a person that he worked with at

The quad apartments who had stepped forward and had seen

Daniel woloson walking down a path behind the right one

Carrying a yellow backpack during the evening that she was

m*rder*d.

And I took it just a little bit further and told him that I had

A fingerprint that was identified to him from that

Backpack.

And then immediately, without me saying a thing, he said, "you

Know, I only took $ dollars from that backpack."

So I knew he was telling me the truth.

He was pretty much a sunk puppy there.

Narrator: so woloson was arrested and he was forced to

Provide an additional dna sample.

That test left no doubt he was the source of the dna found on

Susan schumake.

I knew enough about dna evidence to know that the odds

Of there being a mismatch is, you know -- it turned out in

This case it was going to be million to one was the most

Conservative estimate.

Narrator: prosecutors cannot fathom a reason for

Susan schumake's m*rder.

They belive woloson saw her walking alone along the dirt

Path and he decided to att*ck her.

It was late in the day.

No one heard or saw anything.

He left behind his dna, then took her yellow backpack...

Stole $ from her purse, dumped it in the creek, then dropped

His back with the pharmacy prescription in it not far away.

It's that randomness that's so frightening.

She wasn't stalked, she wasn't selected.

She just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Narrator: despite the evidence against him, woloson

Pleaded not guilty.

In march of , years after susan's m*rder, daniel woloson

Was convicted of first-degree m*rder and sentenced to years

In prison.

The university has now built a well-lighted pedestrian overpass

So students no longer have to walk through the overgrown dirt

Path where susan was abducted and m*rder*d.

It was named in susan's honor.

My wife had made the comment -- she said, "you know,

I wonder how much it cost to have one of these overpasses

Built."

And I said, "I'll tell you what it cost.

It cost one human life."

That's why we do what we do, you know -- to bring justice to

These families.

So the families deserve a lot of credit as well.

They're the people who push us along the way.

I went back to the site again after the trial, and I'd been

Beaten there by quite a few people.

There were flowers and balloons.

Obviously, a lot of people had felt that they needed to go to

That site.

It was overwhelming.