All language subtitles for A.U.S01E14.1080p.WEB.h264-CASUALTY_track3_[eng]

(suspenseful music)

- [Narrator] A senior
is found beaten to death

with overkill.

- The violence that occurred
to Lucile stood out.

It was a severe beating.

- [Narrator] If
she has no enemies,

why does this murder
look personal?

A relative seems
to hold a grudge.

- Could Lucile
have been murdered

by a family member in
cold blood over money?

- [Narrator] And a serial
killer is on the loose,

but no one knows why this
heinous crime has happened.

- You start going
over everything again,

and, "What have I missed,
what have I misinterpreted?"

- [Narrator] Two decades later,
a hot tip warms a cold case.

Now it's game on
to catch a killer.

- It was eye-opening
that someone

would do something like
this, it shocks you.

(dramatic music)

- The unsolved ones,
we have to stand up.

- And approach these cases
in a way outside the box.

- Let the world
know, those out there

that did commit a murder
and there are people

that are coming after you.

- There's just a lot
of good people trying

to do the right thing.

- Because it's
something that you have

to be passionate about.

- Solve this, bring some
peace to the family,

at least, just doing my job.

(suspenseful music)

- [Narrator] It's a very
cold day in Holiday,

a suburb of Salt Lake
City and known as one of

the most safe and sought
after places in Utah to live.

When Shirley England is unable
to reach her very active,

and community-oriented
mother, Lucile Johnson,

she drops into her
home to say hello.

(suspenseful music)

- Her mom's a very busy senior.

It's more common than
not that Lucile Johnson

will be very far from her phone,

but Shirley England
sees very quickly

that something's wrong.

- [Narrator] Lucile
is lying at the end

of the main floor hallway
in a pool of blood.

A pillow over her face, blood
splattered around her head.

- England's first thought
is that her mother

has been hemorrhaging
and holding

the pillow to her face
to absorb the blood.

And, on her way to the
bathroom, she passes out.

- [Narrator] She calls
911 and they suggest CPR,

but it's clear to Shirley
that her mother is dead.

But when she tells the operator

there is a pillow over
her mother's face,

Shirley England is shocked
when the operator asks,

"Are you alone in the house?"

- That's when she knows that
her mother has been murdered

and she could be
alone with the killer.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] The operator
immediately dispatches police

to the crime scene.

- So I was off and got
a call that there was

a dead body and it
looked suspicious.

- [Narrator] Patrol officers
have already cleared the house

when lead detective
Manny Lassig arrives.

- I was the first homicide
detective on scene.

The patrol officers, you know,
initially took me through

and showed me what
they had seen.

- Lucile Johnson lays in
a pool of blood at the end

of the hall with her head
against the base of a door.

- Now, there wasn't a
whole lot of ransacking

that I could see,
but the violence

that occurred to
Lucile stood out.

There was a pillow
over her face.

- The scene is quite
unusual for a neighborhood

where normally a
very petite senior

should have been
living in safety.

- You know, fairly quiet street,

decent sized lots
with nice homes

in a neighborhood, an
upscale neighborhood.

(suspenseful music)

- [Narrator] Lucile Miner is
born in 1912 in Eureka, Utah.

Kind, loving and accomplished,

she's a graduate of the Latter
Day Saints Business College

and a former member of the
Salt Lake Exchange Club.

Lucile is active in the
Church of Jesus Christ

of Latter Day Saints,

president of the Utah
Broadcasting Association

and president of the
Investment Center.

She marries Howard
Johnson in 1933,

and they are together
for almost 56 years

before he passes away in 1989.

Lucile Johnson is
independent and,

after her husband's
death, continues

to live in the same house where
they raised their children.

She keeps in close
contact with her children,

Shirley England
and Jerry Johnson.

In the summer
months, Lucile is up

by 6:00 AM working
in her garden.

She spends her days caring
for elderly neighbors,

or anyone else in need.

Her grandchildren
take a high priority.

She keeps toys stored in the
house for when they visit.

- Lucile Johnson is
healthy, she still drives.

She runs all her own
errands and she shares

an interest in
genealogy with a nephew,

and they work on family
projects together.

He spends a lot of time
in the family home,

and Lucile has helped him
financially for several years.

- But the week
before her murder,

Lucile tells him she is tired
of constantly being expected

to contribute financially
and she is going

to start cutting
back on support.

(suspenseful music)

- [Narrator] The
day of the murder,

report is broadcast
on the local news.

Lucile's son, Jerry
Johnson, hears

his mother's address
announced on the radio,

but doesn't hear why.

At the murder scene
police collect

the pillow that was
over the victim's face.

(camera snapping)

- Lucile is wearing a red
shirt covered with blood

and her body is laying face up.

There's blood spatter
on the walls and door.

She fought for her life.

- [Narrator] The height
of the blood splatter

indicates the victim
is on the ground

when she is savagely beaten.

Near the front door and
across the living room,

Lego bricks are scattered.

Shirley, Lucile's daughter,
waves a red flag to police.

- She said, "No,
that'd be outta order.

"If somebody came over
to play those blocks

"would be put away, you know,

"if they didn't put 'em away,
she would put 'em away."

She gave me some
history of her mom,

how she was a real
meticulous housekeeper.

She kept her house
real neat, clean.

- The scene appears to
be a robbery gone bad.

There are items missing,
a high-end purse,

some rings and a necklace.

However, there's other
valuable items left behind,

like a wallet and
another necklace

so it's not obviously
clear what happened here.

- [Narrator] The only
clues detectives have

are the blood soaked pillow
case and the pieces of Lego

that are indicated out
of place by the daughter.

- We gathered the
Lego blocks that were

in the front room and went
through documented, you know,

the scene where there
was some blood spatter

on the walls down at the
end of the hallway, pillow,

anything that would stand
out as far as evidence wise,

we were there to
document and gather.

- There's not a lot
to go on at this time.

It's a very sparse scene
and, interestingly,

there's no sign of forced entry.

Lucile clearly opens the
door willingly to someone.

- You had your front door
and then you had a storm door

that went on it, it
had a latch on it

and she would keep that
locked, and there were

some Lego blocks out in the
driveway, we gathered those.

- Detective Lassig
asked Lucile's daughter

if a smooth talker could
have persuaded Lucile

to open the door, but
Shirley is adamant

that her mother would've never

allowed a stranger
into her house.

There doesn't seem to
be a reason for this,

but authorities know something
the general public does not.

In Utah, there appears to be
a serial killer on the loose,

and who targets elderly
women who live alone.

(discordant music)

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] An
active senior citizen

is brutally murdered
in her own home.

Only a few items are missing,

and the only thing
out of place are a few

of her grandchildren's Lego
pieces strewn on the floor.

But police know
that a serial killer

who targets elderly women in
their homes is on the loose.

(dramatic music continues)

Lucile Johnson is the
ninth elderly woman

to be murdered in Salt Lake
City over a 10-year span.

Between 1982 and 1991,
nine women over the age

of 69 are found
murdered in their homes.

- And police don't
know who's doing it,

but they do suspect that Lucile
could be part of a pattern.

- Authorities trace Lucile
Johnson's activities that day

for clues of what
might have happened

and who might have
crossed her path.

The day of Lucile's murder,
she is typically active

and in service of
others, she visits

the senior citizen center,
she shops for groceries

and drops off food for
a neighbor in need.

- At the end of her busy
day, she's having problems

with her vehicle, so she
takes it in for servicing.

- [Narrator] She
has to leave her car

so an employee from
the dealership drops
her off at home.

- Lucile is last observed
alive in the afternoon.

A neighbor sees her
sweeping the exterior porch

of her house.

- Shirley intends to
come over to Lucile's

with a pizza after work,
but she's too tired,

puts it off to the next day.

Her daughter never
worries about Lucile,

her very capable mother,
being left alone.

(door bell ringing)

(dramatic music continues)

- [Narrator] The victim
sustains a vicious attack.

There are 24 rib fractures
and her sternum is broken.

- There was a lot of
beating to the head,

chest, there was a bloody
footprint on her chest

where she was
stomped on the chest.

And when we got her
up to the, you know,

medical examiner's
office, she died

from blunt force trauma,
just a severe beating.

- [Narrator] There
are injuries on

the front, back and
side of her head.

Two of the lacerations on
the head penetrate the skull.

Those injuries suggest the
use of a bat, or a stick.

- The killing is
excessively brutal

given Lucile's petite's
size and advanced age.

This degree of violence
suggests anger and revenge.

This killing looked personal.

And the autopsy made clear
that the victim fights back.

- [Narrator] Fingernail
clippings are
taken and preserved

in case Lucile managed
to scratch her attacker.

- Little old, single, you know,

widowed woman living by
herself in that house,

you know, she's not
gonna be able to put up

a whole lot of a fight.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Directly
after Lucile's killing,

daughter Shirley
receives a strange

and disturbing phone call
from Lucile's nephew.

- It's just a week
earlier when Lucile tells

the nephew that she's decreasing

the financial support
she's giving him.

Now, in the wake of
the brutal murder,

he's even refusing
to offer condolences.

- The nephew makes a comment
that's shockingly cold,

and displays a frightening
lack of empathy.

- [Narrator] "I have my
own feelings to deal with,

"but there are things in
that house that belong to me,

"and I want to be there
when you clean it out."

- Shirley is reminded
that there is in fact

one person who had a
problem with Lucile.

As the story spreads, family
and friends are growing

increasingly suspicious
of the nephew.

Could Lucile have been murdered

by a family member in
cold blood over money?

(suspenseful music)

(dramatic music)

At the funeral,
Shirley is hoping

that her suspicions
are unfounded.

She approaches the nephew,
but she's very disappointed.

- [Narrator] "Even
at the funeral,

"I kept thinking that, 'It
couldn't be, it couldn't be.'

"I went over and tried
to give him a hug

"and it was like a
block," Shirley England.

- Lucile's extended
family grows suspicious

of the nephew based
on his odd behavior.

Investigators agree,
the nephew becomes

a person of interest.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Lucile
Johnson is laid to rest

at a memorial park in
East Mill Creek, Utah.

And her nephew is taken by
police to be interviewed.

(dramatic music continues)

- I came at him hard,
you know, it's not,

"Well, did you do it, do you
want to tell me about it?"

You come after him and you go
hard with him, and you push.

He gave us his alibis, you
run every one of those down.

Every sentence that
he gave you as far as,

what I was doing that night,
where I was, who I was with.

- Police compare
his footwear size

to the bloody shoe print
found on Lucile's torso.

It's not a match, and
his alibi checks out.

The nephew is cleared
off the suspect list.

(dramatic music)

- By the middle
of the next year,

police have followed
all leads to no avail.

And despite a possible
serial killer on the loose,

police still don't have a
solid suspect for this murder.

- There's frustration, you start
going over everything again

and, you know, you got
your crime scene photos,

you're looking at
'em all, you know,

you're examining
each picture again,

looking to see what is there,
did you miss something?

"What have I missed, what
have I misinterpreted?"

- This ferocious killing
of a vulnerable senior

goes on the shelf, Lucile
Johnson's case goes cold.

- And then, you box up
everything that you've got.

And it gets put into archives.

Yeah, it's a little
bit personal.

If I didn't do everything
I could possibly do

and there is this
evil person out there,

preying on somebody else,
that's a tough pill to swallow.

- Detectives have
no idea they've laid

the perfect groundwork,
they just have

to wait for the
technology to catch up.

(dramatic music continues)

(discordant music)

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] A well loved
senior citizen is murdered

in a ferocious
attack in her home.

She appears to be
the ninth in a string

of serial murders
of elderly women.

But when no suspects
are unearthed,

her case goes into
cold case storage.

(dramatic music continues)

- Although Lucile's case is
stalled, the investigation

into the deaths of
female seniors continues

and within a few
years it looks like

there may be reason
to reopen her case.

- [Narrator] Salt Lake City
is an idyllic community

surrounded by natural beauty
with a strong central church.

A relatively small population,
it's a peaceful area

that is low on
unemployment and crime.

- Utah has a dark past,
the state is ranked 9th

in the US for the largest number

of documented serial
killer victims.

- [Narrator] In the
1970s, while a law student

at the University of
Utah, Ted Bundy goes

on a murder spree of
women and, eventually,

stands trial for
kidnapping and murder.

Arthur Gary Bishop is born
and raised in Salt Lake City,

a high school honors
student, and member

of the Church of
Latter Day Saints.

He confesses to the
murder of five young boys

and is put to death by lethal
injection in Utah in 1988.

Gary Ridgway, born
in Utah, is known

as the Green River Killer,
he preys on vulnerable women

and is the second most prolific
serial killer in the US.

- Over the span of a
decade, Utah police see

a pattern in the murders of
elderly women in Salt Lake City.

- So there was multiple
cases that were looked at

at that time of elderly
women that had been murdered.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Daniel Troyer is
20 years old when he attempts

to rape a 71-year-old
paraplegic woman in 1979.

He is swiftly in custody
again for burglary

and in prison until
the summer of 1985.

Weeks later, 83-year-old
Drucilla Ovard

of Salt Lake City
is brutally beaten,

strangled, and
bludgeoned to death.

- Detectives believe that the
killer hurts his right hand

in the attack, so they
distribute a bulletin

to patrol officers about a
potential daytime burglar

with an injured right hand.

Soon after, officers catch a man

with a bandaged
right hand breaking

into homes just blocks
from the murder scene,

his name is Daniel Troyer.

- [Narrator] Police
strongly suspect Troyer

is involved in
the death of Ovard

and her 69-year-old
neighbor, Thelma Blodgett,

who is murdered six
days earlier, but
they can't prove it.

- This time, Daniel
Troyer is sentenced

to 15 years for burglary,
but is paroled again in 1988

and released to a halfway house.

Troyer applies for
barber college.

Shortly after, Ethel Luckau,

who lives very close to
the school, is killed.

- [Narrator] Witnesses
report seeing Troyer

near Luckau's home just two
days before she is murdered.

- Police compare pubic
hair found on Luckau's body

and it matches to Troyer.

- In 1989, he is charged
with Ethel Luckau's murder.

However, two years
later, the judge rules

that certain evidence
is inadmissible and
gets thrown out.

The district attorney appeals.

- [Narrator] In 1996, the
Utah Supreme Court rules

in favor of the DA and Troyer

is recharged with
capital murder.

In 1998, DNA testing is done

from the Drucilla
Ovard crime scene,

and Troyer's DNA is a match,

so he is finally charged
with her murder as well.

- In June 1999, Troyer
agrees to a plea deal.

He pleads guilty to the
murders of Luckau and Ovard

so that he can receive a
life without parole sentence,

as opposed to the
death sentence.

Authorities believe
he has killed others,

but there's not enough
evidence to prove it.

- Troyer looks like
the kind of killer

that would target
Lucile Johnson.

(dramatic music)

- But police discover that
Daniel Troyer is in prison

at the time Lucile was killed,
he did not kill Lucile.

And with Troyer
eliminated as a suspect,

the case goes cold
until 20 years later.

(dramatic music continues)

- [Narrator] Police
receive a tip

from a nephew of a
man named John Sansing

regarding a murder in 1991.

The nephew states he hears
on more than one occasion,

Sansing arguing with
his wife, Kara Sansing.

She threatens to tell police
about an elderly woman

he admits to killing
in Utah in 1991.

- In 2013, detectives with
Utah's Unified Police Department

in the Greater Salt
Lake Area look for cases

that match this tip
and subsequently,

look at the Lucile Johnson case.

- In 2013, I was assigned
to our Violent Crimes Unit

and part of my responsibilities
in that unit was

to investigate
current homicides,

as well as past
homicides, cold cases.

(dramatic music continues)

- [Narrator] In that same year,

the US Department
of Justice provides

a $300,000 cold case grant.

It is for cases that
can potentially benefit

from the advances in modern
forensic DNA technology.

- When DNA first came
out, it was very,

very expensive, time-consuming,

you could go months before
you had any results.

And this particular
grant that we had

at the time was focused on DNA.

And, as I reviewed
the case, I believe

there was good
evidence in this case

that we could test for DNA,
tests that weren't available

in 1991, or even in the late
'90s for detectives to use.

- [Narrator] Sergeant
Mike Ikemiyashiro,

known as Sergeant Mike
Ike, oversees the decision

of what pieces of evidence
will be used for DNA testing.

- I looked at the clothing,
I looked at photos,

I looked at items of evidence
collected from the autopsy.

And, as I searched through
that, I made some decisions.

- Sergeant Ike hopes
that the killer's DNA

is embedded within the
fibers of the pillow,

depending on how forcefully

it was pressed down
to Lucile's face.

- I identified some of the
items, clothing, a pillow case,

and I submitted several
articles of evidence.

And, in this case
specifically, the fingernails

that were collected at
the time of autopsy.

- And if Lucile
fought her killer,

as police believe she did,

there could be DNA
under her fingernails.

- [Narrator] And CODIS
returns a hit, John Sansing.

(dramatic music)

Sergeant Ike is able to
tell Detective Lassig,

who is one of the first
on the scene in 1991,

that he's found a DNA hit
for Lucile Johnson's killer.

- I let him know
about the CODIS hit,

the identification, the process
that we'd be going through.

And from a detective
that had that case

in the '90s, the only thing
you could genuinely see

in his eyes is that he was glad.

I think that's another great
trait of good detectives

There was no pride,
there was no resentment.

He was just genuinely glad.

- [Narrator] John
Sansing has a record

of arrests that put
his DNA on file.

In fact, he sits on death
row in an Arizona prison

for a rape and murder in 1998.

But Sergeant Ikemiyashiro
doesn't have enough

to convict him in the
Lucile Johnson case... yet.

- Although his DNA is found
under her fingernails,

it could be there innocently.

Police need to investigate
how Sansing crossed paths

with Lucile because
they're going to need more,

if they want to convict him.

- [Narrator] Sergeant
Ikemiyashiro speaks

to Sansing's wife, Kara, who's
presently in prison herself.

She reports that
John Sansing worked

in Salt Lake City County at
a car dealership in 1998.

Lucile takes her car
in to be serviced

on the day she is
killed and is given

a ride home by someone
at the dealership.

- The suspect, part of his
job responsibilities was

to shuttle people back
while their vehicle

was being serviced, so
he had the opportunity

to see where she lived,
talk with her a little bit,

and then returned
later in the evening

when this attack occurred.

- [Narrator] Still, this could
be argued as circumstantial

and isn't enough
to seal the case.

Sergeant Ike goes to Arizona
to interview John Sansing

and investigate the
shocking killing

that lands John Sansing on
death row in an Arizona prison.

- Most repeat murders
have patterns,

and these are details
that Sergeant Ike

may be able to use to
prove beyond any doubt

that Sansing murdered
Lucile Johnson.

- Everything is riding
on this interview.

- This was a unique interview
because of the security issues

of the status that he was under.

It was a crowded room with
a lot of security measures

in place, so it was very
tense from the very beginning.

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] A serial killer
of seniors is ruled out

in Lucile Johnson's 1991 murder.

Evidence from the 20 year old
murder is sent for testing

and the DNA search
reveals a suspect.

But DNA is not enough,
investigators travel

to interview the
suspect who sits

on death row for an
unrelated rape and murder.

(dramatic music continues)

- When Sergeant Ike
interviews John Sansing,

he doesn't mention
a specific case,

but that he wants to know
the man's background history.

Sansing talks, he
unwittingly places himself

in Salt Lake City at
the time of the killing.

This is the corroboration
that police need.

- And the case that landed
Sansing on death row

offers Sergeant Ikemiyashiro
dark new insights.

- [Narrator] 31-year-old
father of four,

John Sansing, is high
on crack cocaine.

He and his wife, Kara, need
more drugs, but they are broke.

They decide to rob someone
for their valuables.

- They also need to feed
their four children.

So John Sansing
comes up with a plan.

He calls Living Springs
Church near Glendale,

and arranges for a
charitable food delivery.

He'll get food, and rob
the delivery person.

- [Narrator] At
approximately 5:00 PM

41-year-old, Trudy
Calibrese arrives

at the Sansing home
with a box of food.

She chats with the couple
and, as she attempts

to leave, she is
attacked by Sansing.

- The Sansing
children are present.

They testify that Trudy
Calibrese begs them

to call police, and cries
that she doesn't want to die.

Sansing beats her unconscious

with a club as she pleads
and prays, he binds her limbs

and with help from his wife,
Kara, drags her into a bedroom.

- [Narrator] Sansing orders his
children to watch television

in another room, but
they overhear events.

- At that point,
he rapes, tortures,

and murders Trudy Calibrese
then, steals her jewelry.

Afterwards, he looks out
the dining room window

to make certain that no
one has seen anything.

- Each of the four children
see Calibrese's dead body.

Sansing ineffectually
tries to hide

the body behind a
shed in the backyard.

He covers the body with
a pile of clothing.

But the next day searchers
find Miss Calibrese's truck

in a parking lot near
the Sansing home.

- [Narrator] Inside
there's a piece

of paper with the
Sansing address.

When authorities
come looking for her

at the Sansing residence,

they easily locate her
body behind the shed.

Sansing, who has driven
to his sister's house,

admits to her that he and
Kara killed Trudy Calibrese.

Eventually, John Sansing's
father telephones police

and reports his son's location.

John Sansing knows
the police are coming.

He does not attempt to flee
and submits to custody.

- Sansing is charged
with first degree murder,

kidnapping, sexual
assault, and armed robbery.

His wife, Kara, is also charged

with first degree
murder and kidnapping.

- [Narrator] John and
Kara Sansing plead guilty

to first degree murder charges.

- Kara Sansing claims
that she didn't see

all of the murder and
she didn't say anything

because she was a battered
woman under John Sansing.

Kara Sansing is
sentenced to 25 years

and John Sansing receives
the death penalty.

- Sansing expresses a
desire for their children,

who are now in
foster care, to get

a permanent placement
and to go to church.

(dramatic music)

- The similarities
between the 1998 murder

of Trudy Calibrese
and the 1991 murder

of Lucile Johnson
cannot be denied.

Both female victims
were bludgeoned,

strangled, and had
their jewelry stolen

making robbery the likely
motivation for the attacks.

But it's still not
enough to prove anything.

Sergeant Ike makes
the connection

after finding out
Sansing's children

were present for the
Calibrese murder.

- [Narrator] Sergeant
Mike Ikemiyashiro sends

the Legos that were found
strewn in the living room

in for latent fingerprint
testing analysis.

- It was one thing
that seemed oddly

out of place on the
day of the murder.

Lucile was too neat and tidy
to leave toys lying around.

- Small fingerprints are
found on Lego pieces.

Now, these could belong
to the grandchildren

of Lucile Johnson, but Sergeant
Ike has a long shot idea.

- I actually met
with Kelsey Vail,

one of the latent
examiners at the state lab

and talked to her
about the potential

of finding fingerprints
of a child,

but then comparing them to
fingerprints of an adult.

They're just smaller prints,
but the ridge detail's gonna be

the same, they're
just gonna be larger.

- Kids Lego could make
or break this case.

(dramatic music)

Sergeant Ike tracks
down Sansing's children.

They're now adults in their 20s,

but fingerprints never change.

- Myself and my partner
that went with me,

we actually carried
around, at the time,

a portable fingerprint station,

so ink pads, rollers,
fingerprint cards.

And as we interviewed
the children,

we asked them if
they would provide us

with a sample of
their fingerprints.

Obviously, at that time, I
wasn't disclosing information

as to what I was
specifically looking for

other than trying to find
some comparisons to this case.

- Police matched the
prints of Sansing's son,

who was five at the time,
on Lego bricks found

at Lucile's home, he was there
at the time she was killed.

- Maybe I was a little
naive, but there are people

in the world that will
bring family along

to commit crimes,
and it's a tough one.

- [Narrator] "When
you hear the details

"of this particular
case, you can see

"that this individual
is barely human,"

Salt Lake County
Sheriff, Jim Winder.

(dramatic music continues)

(discordant music)

(dramatic music)

A DNA match is made on
the cold case murder

of Lucile Johnson,
but it turns out

that the suspect connected
is already in prison.

- John Sansing already
sits on death row

for the brutal rape and
killing of Trudy Calibrese.

But because of DNA and
of fingerprints found

on Lego at the crime
scene, he is charged

with murder of a second
woman, Lucile Johnson.

- John Sansing goes
into overkill to torture

and prey upon the
weak and vulnerable.

What happened to him
to make him this way?

(dramatic music continues)

- [Narrator] John
Sansing grows up

in a broken home in Alabama.

He's a thief and a drug addict,

and his mother can't keep him
out of juvenile detention.

In 1984, she is fed
up with his behavior

and sends him to
his father in Utah.

Sansing his little to do with
his biological father there

and he doesn't
complete high school.

He meets his wife, Kara,
at a Salt Lake City mall.

Kara Sansing runs away from
an abusive home in Bangladesh

as a child and winds
up in a Calcutta jail.

She's adopted from
India in her teens.

And her adoptive
mother describes her

as a very tough youth who
is negatively impacted

by the harsh conditions
that she escapes.

- Their relationship is
volatile with both using drugs.

John beats Kara regularly.

They have four
children together,

none of whom are spared
their worst behavior.

(somber music)

(dramatic music)

One mystery that remains
about the night of the murder

is how Sansing gained
entry into the home.

Lucile's daughter
was sure her mother

would never open the
door to a stranger.

(door bell ringing)

It's now suspected
that Sansing uses

his own five-year-old
son as a decoy.

For whatever reason,
Sansing gave Lucile,

she likely relented out
of her inherent kindness

towards children.

- [Narrator] "It's
speculative as to whether

"the child was a
ruse that was used,

"but it's certainly
a possibility,"
Lieutenant Justin Hoyal.

- And while Sansing
kills Lucile, it appears

he leaves his
five-year-old son to play

with the Lego pieces she's
saved for her grandchildren.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] In 1993, two years

after he murders Lucile Johnson

and gets away with it,
Sansing pleads guilty

to attempted aggravated assault,

a class A misdemeanor,
in a separate case.

Two years later, in 1995,
Sansing moves to Arizona.

It is there, in 1998, that
he murders Trudy Calibrese

and is swiftly apprehended
and sentenced to death.

(dramatic music continues)

Over 20 years later, John
Sansing's son confirms

he recalls being with his
father in Lucile Johnson's home

on the night of
February 1st, and says

he has been traumatized
since the murder took place.

- I do feel bad for
his kids, you know,

the things that have
occurred by his father,

and things that he's witnessed.

In talking with him and
and looking at his history,

there's been quite a
bit of substance abuse

and, obviously, that
takes a toll on people.

- [Narrator] A
subsequent interview

with Kara Sansing confirms
her husband admits

to her around the
time of the murder

that he kills an elderly
woman in Holiday.

- There was things
that I believe

she was being completely
truthful about.

I believe there's things
that she was probably trying

to hide, or minimize,
you know, her role.

- Sansing is formally
charged with the murder

of Lucile Johnson in 2014.

Despite Sansing already
being on death row,

Detective Ikemiyashiro affirms.

- [Narrator] "It's very
important that we prosecute

"this case for the family,"
Detective Mike Ikemiyashiro.

- It's important
knowledge for the officers

who dedicate themselves
to the pursuit of justice.

- There's no way you can't
take it home at night.

The facts are what that
physical evidence tells you.

Someone bludgeoned
this woman to death

in her home for no good reason.

That motivates
you as a detective

to find out not
only who did this,

but to ensure that you build
a case that brings justice

to the decedent,
and to their family.

(suspenseful music)

- 47-year-old
Sansing pleads guilty

to the murder of Lucile Johnson.

He receives an additional
sentence of life in prison,

and sits on death
row in Arizona.

- There's no other word I can
think of other than a monster.

No regard for his children,
no regard for the victim.

Just trying to fuel
that drug addiction.

I don't know what
normal person would do

something like that
other than a monster.

- It turns out to be a
monumental turning point piece

of evidence that 20 years
earlier, detectives chose

to bag a few seemingly
random pieces of Lego.

- There's something there in
the scene that is standing out

that isn't normal, or
whatever, you take it,

is it evidence?

I don't know.

You don't take it,
you'll never know.

Had I not taken the
Lego blocks there's

a possibility this
would never been solved.

- Through a federal grant
designed for cold cases,

Lego evidence revived
this investigation,

and Lucile Johnson's
killer is now known.

(dramatic music)

- Lucile's son, Jerry Johnson,
remembers the day he heard

on the radio his
mother's address,

but didn't connect
it with a murder.

He says he remembers
then hearing

a voice say to him,
"She's with me."

- [Narrator] "I just had
a very peaceful feeling

"come over me.

"That peace has been with me
ever since," Jerry Johnson.

- Jerry Johnson says that he
and his siblings are relieved

to learn that Lucile was not
killed by someone she knew.

- [Narrator] "I think
forgiveness is what closure is.

"I think we already
have forgiven Sansing,"
Jerry Johnson.

- But Shirley England says,
discovering her mother dead

in 1991 has caused
her ongoing trauma

that will probably never end.

She's grateful to police
for what they did for her,

but she doesn't think she'll
ever find true closure.

- Did we give 'em closure?

I don't know if that
was there for them,

but I feel good about
that, as an organization,

we did everything we
could for that family.

- Whether it takes a few
short years, or decades,

DNA evidence can
expose the guilty,

and bring them to justice.

- [Narrator] "You
commit a crime like this

"in this community,
to our dying days,

"we are going to pursue
you, we will hunt you down

"and we will solve
these crimes,"

Salt Lake County
Sheriff, Jim Winder.

- This is one of the cases that
brought a lot of fulfillment

to me in my career
because I was able to see

how the case affected the
family, how that gave them

what they'd been looking
for, for over 20 years.

That's what makes it worthwhile,

and that's what motivates you.

(dramatic music)

(suspenseful music)

(suspenseful music continues)