03x06 - The Bronx Butcher

[bunniefuu]

- We got a call from a citizen
that had found body parts.

- A woman
had been dismembered.

Her remains showed up
across Brooklyn

in three black plastic
garbage bags.

- The whole neighborhood
has been pulling together

to see if we can
figure out why.

- The cuts in the body,
they were very precise,

like somebody had taken a knife
and just went like this.

A serial k*ller.

He appeared to be more
and more threatening.

- And they find a message
on her answering machine

very sexual in nature.

- She always felt that she
was being harassed by someone.

- They do get information
that he is reported

to be in Albania.

- That whole region at the time
was civil w*r.

There's not a lot of ways
to track him in a w*r zone.

Then we have this victim
in Albania

who was k*lled much
in the same way

as the woman in Brooklyn.

We were out at a lake

and found body parts
floating up on the shore.

- The victim in Albania was
found in a plastic garbage bag,

and our victim was found
in a plastic garbage bag.

I could see this
is a very similar case.

It was exciting to think,
"Oh, my God.

This could be something."

- In the FBI, we make
a lot of headlines.

Drug busts,

mob stings,

t*rror1st takedowns.

- Get down! Get down!

- We understand why people
want to tell stories about us.

- Mark it.

- Freeze!
- FBI.

- FBI!
- Action!

- But they don't know
the half of it.

What really goes down,

we save that for each other

when we're talking
agent-to-agent.

This is "FBI True."

- Kristy Kottis is
a 15-year veteran of the FBI.

She worked gangs,
crimes against children,

as well as human
and drug trafficking.

Kottis was the supervisor

of the FBI's
Threat Response Squad

overseeing the bureau's
response to terrorism threats

in New York City.

- What I think
is very interesting here

is that you both worked
on the same case, and yet,

this is the first time
you two are meeting...

both: Yeah.
- Face-to-face.

- That's right.
- We've only talked

on the phone and--
- On the phone.

- And endless emails

and everything else
under the sun on this case.

- Do you feel like you know him
just from the phone?

- I do.
He's so familiar to me.

- You both worked this case
at different times.

- We did.
- A cat known as

the Butcher of the Bronx?

- The Bronx Butcher
in the media, yeah.

- Mike Clarke
became a police officer

in New Jersey at age 18.

He was eventually recruited
by the FBI,

where he worked
with narcotics and SWAT units

before moving
into overseas investigations.

- Back in 1990,
a woman had been dismembered.

Her remains showed up
across Brooklyn

in three black plastic
garbage bags.

- Barb Daly was
the first woman

to supervise
an FBI armed robbery unit.

She spent ten years working
with expert profilers

in the bureau's
Behavioral Analysis Unit.

- So the first bag,
when it was found,

it was sort of in the way,

so the woman who found it,
actually, went to move it

and noticed that there
was blood coming from the bag,

so she called the NYPD.

Then later on,
a second bag was found

with additional body parts,

and then the third bag
was found with--

I believe
it was just the torso.

- They recovered everything
except for--right?

- Except for the head--
both: And the hands.

- The other thing
that was unusual was

her breasts were cut off
and placed in one of the bags

along with, I think,
parts of one of her legs,

which is unusual.
- Yes.

- That's not something that's
necessary to k*ll somebody,

it's not something that's
necessary to dispose of a body,

so that in and of itself
tells you a little bit about

the behavior of the individual
that committed this crime.

And the cuts were described
as "neatly dismembered."

I remember
that it was described to me

as like butcher cuts.

So initially, nobody knew
who this person was.

- How'd they figure it out?

- There was
a missing person's report filed

on a white female
from the Bronx.

Her name was Mary Beal.
About 61 years old.

- She always felt that,
you know,

that she was being harassed
by someone.

I don't know who
that someone was.

I couldn't really tell you.

When she went out,
she always said,

"If I'm not back in my store

by two days, come look for me."

- Mary's nephew had filed
the missing person's report.

- With our assistance,

the whole neighborhood
has been pulling together

to see if we can
figure out why.

That's the main reason.

- And he provides
some identifying information

about Mary, including an X-ray
of a broken ankle that she had,

and that broken ankle
ends up matching up

with the body parts
that were found.

- Police are now confirming
that the body

cut into pieces and stuffed
into two plastic garbage bags

found in this lot near the
Brooklyn Navy Yard last month

is indeed that
of 61-year-old Mary Beal.

- We feared the worst
when we found out

that she was missing.

- According to many
of the residents

in this Bainbridge
neighborhood,

Mary Beal was quite a fixture
around here,

having lived and worked here
for the past 25 years

as a real estate agent.

She was also a widow
and a native of Yugoslavia,

and we understand she spoke

as many
as ten different languages.

- The detectives go
to Mary's house in the Bronx

once she's identified,

and they start looking
at her house,

and they find a message
on her answering machine

from a guy called
Smajo Dzurlic.

He said some things
that puts them onto the fact

that they were
having a relationship.

- What kind of messages
is he leaving? Like--

- Very sexual in nature.

- The detective described it
as angry,

and every time he called
and left a message,

he appeared to be getting
more and more intoxicated

and more and more threatening.

- She had been
the court translator

during his divorce
from his second wife.

- Yeah, she spoke fluent
Serbo-Croatian.

- So that's how they met.

She was also friendly
with Smajo's sister as well.

- And Smajo had borrowed,
right, $10,000

from Mary--
- Yes.

- They conducted a search
at Smajo's house...

And found out
that he had contracted

to have his entire floors
redone in his house.

It's a telltale sign
of some cover-up

if the dismemberment was done
at the apartment,

done in the living room
or the floors.

He's trying
to get it cleaned up.

- They did pull up
those floorboards

and they found
there was blood present

underneath the floorboards
in his apartment.

- There was blood present
in both the bathroom

and the living room
under the floors,

which would be a logical place
where he would

maybe dismember her.
- Right.

- It's circumstantial,
but it's pretty powerful.

Not to mention
that Smajo had disappeared

and with his third wife
and fled.

Nobody knew where they were.
He's in the wind.

- We've got blood
in the living room.

we've got blood
in the bathroom.

Are we calling the prosecutor
at this point?

- Well, they had
a great circumstantial case,

but the King's County
district attorney's office

didn't have enough evidence

to file an indictment
on Smajo Dzurlic.

The investigation
was reassigned,

as many cold cases are,
to a new investigator,

and eventually,
the sister was interviewed,

and she basically told
the detectives

that Smajo had confessed

that he had k*lled Mary Beal
with a hammer.

And those were
very powerful statements

that, combined with
the circumstantial evidence,

the warrant's issued.
- So at this point,

the warrant is issued.

- That's correct.
- State warrant.

- At this point,
does the lead go cold?

- At this point,
once he's out of the country,

it does go cold, you know?

They get information
over the years,

the NYPD, receives different,
you know, calls.

They receive different tips.

At one point,
they do get information

that he is reported
to be in Belgium.

At one point, it was believed
that he was in Italy,

and then at some point,
it gets reported

that he might be in Albania.

- That's where they lost him,
and it's not unusual

because that whole region
at the time was,

you know, civil w*r.

So Yugoslavia, his home,
is disintegrating.

There's not a lot of ways
to track him in a w*r zone.

- So fast-forward
about 12 years later.

In 2005, I was selected
by the director

to go open up
a brand-new office

that covered the Balkans,

and it was for Bulgaria,

Macedonia, and Albania.

And our goal is to work cases.

In that area,
it's mostly counterterrorism,

organized crime,
human trafficking.

All that have a nexus back
to the U.S.

And when we go into
these countries, right,

we want to establish liaison,

we want the cops to trust us
and work with us.

The office itself was situated
in Sofia, Bulgaria,

in the embassy.

And I was over in Albania
at one of the police precincts

and they said,
"A couple weeks ago, Mike,

"we got a call from a citizen
that had found body parts

in a lake,"
which is about a mile north

of the capital city, Tirana,
"Floating up on the shore,

and we recovered them."

And divers found
other garbage bags,

which contained body parts.

And they were able
to put together

that it was a female,

but they didn't have any clue

of who she was
or what had happened to her.

And that was unusual
for the Albanians, right?

And I could tell
by the looks on their faces

that they were really worried
about this.

- So this shook them?
- It did.

They had done everything.
They don't wanna come

and ask for help,
but when they did,

I got the sense
that they really thought

they had something
that they didn't see a lot

in Tirana.

- So they bring the body out.

- Yep.
- And where do they go with it?

Like, how do they handle it?

- So the first thing I did
is I went up

with the police
and we looked at the lake.

And I asked them to please
preserve the crime scene.

And I knew they really hadn't.

And then we went down
to the morgue,

where they had brought all
of the body

that they had recovered.

And on this particular day,

the morgue didn't even have
refrigeration,

so this body is deteriorating.

It's been a few days.
It's turning into goo.

And when I looked at her--

and I'm not a forensic expert--

but it was obvious they hadn't

stitched the body back
correctly.

One limb was on the wrong foot,
was facing the wrong way,

and it just didn't look like

it was correctly stitched
back together.

- What else were you noticing
when you look at this corpse?

- She had injuries to her lip,
her face, and--

- Like, what kind?
- It was like a tear injury,

like somebody had taken a knife
and just went like this.

She had definitely
blunt force trauma

to the back of her head
and her shoulders and neck.

And then what struck me was
the way the cuts in the body

were--they were very precise.

It also looked like there was
more than one instrument

that was used on her.

- Generally speaking, when
you are dismembering a body,

it's a very difficult process.

It could take
several different weapons,

so there's a lot
of trial and error,

especially if this is the first
time that you're doing this.

So we see sometimes with what's
called "hesitation cuts"

because they don't know exactly
where to cut,

either on the joint
or on the bone.

It could take a long time.

You know,
it's a very messy process.

- There was enough there
to see--

to make me wonder, one,
was this poor victim tortured

then k*lled
and then dismembered?

Was the dismemberment part
of her t*rture,

or did she die
from blunt force trauma?

You know, Albania,
cops are very well-intended.

Some of 'em were
extremely competent and smart,

but they don't have
any resources.

I knew we had to get somebody
there that was experts

to look at this before the body
deteriorated completely.

I called right back to our,
you know--

the unit you were in,
International Operations...

- Okay.
- Division.

And I said, "Hey,
here's what I got here,

"and I think this is gonna--
I don't see a U.S. nexus

"right now, but this is
a good opportunity for us

"to build liaison
and to do the right thing,

"and for the Albanians
to hopefully, you know,

solve this mystery."

Quantico sent
a three-man team to Albania.

Craig Ackley is a behavioral
analyst special agent

who's an expert
in victimology.

Dan Birmingham was also
a BAU special agent.

- These guys are profilers.
- Yes.

Then there was also
Gary Reineke

who was the crime scene
exploitation expert.

We all agreed that we had
to get the body out

and then go back
to the United States

and do a real thorough
examination

of the victim
and try to figure out,

you know, how was she k*lled.

We arranged the body
to be flown out.

I drive back from Tirana
to Sofia.

And it wasn't more
than three or four days later

when I get this call
from Craig,

the BAU special agent.

And I couldn't believe
what he told me.

I could tell by his voice
he was very excited.

He tells me
that he was at Quantico

with some agents from New York

and a team of New York City
cold case detectives.

So yeah, Barb, you probably--

tell me--tell me exactly how
that conversation went.

- I was down at Quantico
at the BAU on another case

with NYPD cold case detective
named Jim Osorio.

And then during one
of the coffee breaks,

Jim had said to Craig,
"Hey, you working

on anything interesting?"
And Craig says, "Yeah,

I've just come back
from Albania."

And he said, "We had this woman
who was found in a lake

and she was dismembered."

And so I see Jim's face
from across the room

like, "Oh, interesting,"

because Jim and I are also
working on this other case

involving a dismemberment.

And they mentioned
that the victim in Albania

was found
in a plastic garbage bag,

and our victim was found
in a plastic garbage bag.

The more he talks about the way
this particular body

had been dismembered
and disposed of,

the more I could see
this is a very similar case.

- He went through all
of the details

of the Mary Beal m*rder,
and they have a suspect.

His name is Smajo Dzurlic.

He's from Yugoslavia.

And I said, "Huh, well,

Yugoslavia doesn't exist
anymore."

And I go, "What city?"

And he said
it was Plav, Yugoslavia.

You look on the map,
Plav's right over

the Albanian border...
- Mm, okay.

- In Montenegro.

- It was exciting to think,
"Oh, my God.

This could be something."

Mike reached out for me
and basically walked me through

some of the things
that we could start

to put into place, including
an Interpol Red Notice.

- Who do you ask for for help

to help you run
these leads down?

- The FBI has
this wonderful program

called
the FBI National Academy,

and it trains police officers
in the United States,

but it also does it
on an international basis.

And just by coincidence,
we had a Yugoslavian--

country didn't exist anymore--

National Academy--a graduate--

by the name
of Miodrag Stijovich.

We call him Miki for short.

Miki's Miki.
- We'll call him Miki too.

- So I just dial him up,
you know, out of the blue

and I said, "Miki,
this is Mike Clarke.

"I'm the new FBI head of office
in Sofia, Bulgaria.

I need your help with a case
in Montenegro."

And Miki, I'll never forget it,
on the other end, he goes,

"Michael"--in perfect English--

"I have been waiting
for this call my entire life."

- That's fantastic.

- I drove back across
the Accursed Mountains

from Bulgaria to Albania,

and then up
to the Montenegrin border,

and Miki met me

with a contingent
of police officers.

- That's nice.
- We talked about

all the particulars
of the case,

and Miki leans over
from his coffee,

and he goes, "If he's here,
I will find him."

If he's in Plav,

Miki's probably gonna
be able to find out

if he's still alive
and still there.

Still in my heart, I'm like,

"It's just too good
to be true."

That night, I get the call
from Miki, "I found him."

He's found an individual
that's the right age,

living in a different name,
living in Plav.

He had been
to the United States.

And I go, "Well, Miki,
you know, that sounds good."

So I called back to Barb,

and Barb checked
if we had any prints.

- So the only prints we have
are the ones

that were taken when he first
came to the United States.

They were old, and we had
copies of copies of copies,

so they had really degenerated
over time.

They were not good enough
to make the identification,

so we had to enhance
those prints.

- And then we had
to get his prints.

So once we got those,

then we could send 'em to Barb,

Barb would run 'em
through CJIS,

and we'll see what--
- That's right.

- If they match up.
I'm like, "Wow.

Okay, Miki, how are
you gonna get his prints?"

You know, so he figured out
a way to do it,

you know, probably sitting
in a bar.

- Mm-hmm.
- Had somebody watch him,

had him, you know,
watch the beer glass,

got the prints, rolled them,

and then I sent them back
to Barb.

- And then we had
to get the old prints.

So those prints had
to be compared.

And but it was probably only,
like, a week or two,

and then we get the results
back.

- Was your heart pounding?

- For lots of reasons,
but yeah, no,

my heart was
definitely pounding.

It was very exciting
to be able to call

and say, "This is it.
This is the guy.

It's the same person."
- Yeah.

CJIS called Barbara.
Barb called me and said,

"Mike, you're not gonna
believe this.

That is Smajo Dzurlic."

- And now
what are you thinking?

You're like--
- It's off to the races.

We gotta figure out a way
to get this guy arrested,

and that was a big dilemma,
'member?

- Yes, yeah.
- So Montenegro,

they had helped us out
so tremendously,

but they have a law.

They don't extradite
their own citizens...

- Mm-hmm.
- Ever, but because Montenegro

was a new country, they were
concerned about rule of law.

They wanted
to prove themselves.

Eventually, the decision was
made to execute the Red Notice,

give it to the Montenegrins.

- And then once
that notice was in place,

then that gives the mechanism
to at least apprehend him

and swear out
what is an unlawful flight

to avoid prosecution warrant.

- We coordinated with local
law enforcement in Plav.

The police kept him in pocket

until we got everything
in order and all the approvals,

and then they arrested him.

He did not fight.
He didn't show any emotion.

He was defiant, stoic.

- So Mike,
they've arrested him.

They're charging him
with the death of Mary Beal.

- Yes.
- What happens then?

Basically, it's called

an "extraterritorial
prosecution."

- Barbara, how did that work?
- It was really

kind of an unprecedented case.

It had never been done before.
- First time.

- So this was decided

that the prosecutor,
Jon Besunder,

from Brooklyn
district attorney's office,

was going to be allowed
to essentially try the case

via video to provide evidence
and make his case that way.

- It's just like
a regular trial

except it's on video,
and it's really taking

the evidence from
the district attorney's office

and bringing it over via video

to a five-panel judge
in Montenegro.

- Were you listening to that?
- I'm getting updates

every day.
- How long did that last?

- It was seven days?

- Yeah, it wasn't a long trial.
- Seven or eight days.

The judges listened
to all the evidence

and under Montenegrin law,
they found him guilty.

- So he's convicted.
- Yep.

As far as why Smajo
may have m*rder*d Mary,

we know that he reportedly owed
Mary some money

and that there was possibly
an intimate relationship

between them,
but the precise motive

for the m*rder was never clear.

- The Albanian case,
what happened with that,

with the woman floating
in the--

- Although the similarities
between the victim in Albania

and Mary Beal in New York
were very compelling,

there wasn't enough
additional evidence

or witnesses to bring charges
against Smajo Dzurlic

for the m*rder
of the Albanian victim.

We put out all
of the information we have

on that victim to all
of the regional countries

through our office
and through Interpol

and through everything else.

To date, it is still
an open unsolved m*rder.

- What did that mean?
When you heard

that he was guilty,

and here it did--came all
the way back around

and you had such a crucial role

in getting
this monster convicted.

- I mean, it was incredible,
you know?

It just--stuff like that
never happens in that way,

and then hearing from the NYPD

when they got to give
her family the information

about his capture,
and his apprehension,

his conviction.

You know, it was amazing.

They were very grateful
for what,

ultimately, the NYPD did
and for what the FBI did

to further this case along.

- This is the first time
you two are seeing each other.

What's it feel like to actually
sit here next to each other

and talk about this case?
- I mean,

it's so good to finally put
a face with a name

and, you know,
it just brings back, you know,

unbelievable productive energy
that we had working this case

together, and it's just
a fantastic experience.

- Mike never made me feel
that I didn't know,

you know, what to do,
like walked me through it

every step of the way,
so I'm always grateful

for that experience.
It's wonderful to meet you.

- And we did some good.