All language subtitles for A.U.S01E16.1080p.WEB.h264-CASUALTY_track3_[eng]

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] A Salt Lake
City apartment block

is shocked by tragedy.

- As a parent, you
get that gut feeling

when something is
wrong with your child,

and all of Sally's alarm bells
are ringing at this point.

- [Narrator] A young woman,
mature beyond her years,

is found murdered.

- The killer used
the kitchen knife

to force Lecia to comply.

- [Narrator] The circumstances
leave the police baffled.

- She was doing her own thing,

living her own life
at such a young age,

and then for her life to
just be taken from her.

- Nobody knew who did it,

and her mother had been
looking for justice.

- [Narrator] Decades go by,

and the case finally
gets a new pair of eyes.

New technology that's blowing
other cold cases wide open

might just be the ticket to
finally bringing for Lecia.

(dramatic music)

- The unsolved ones
we have to send up.

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

- Let the world know is

those out there that
did commit a murder,

there are people that
are coming after you.

(police siren chirps)

- There's just a
lot of good people

trying to do the right thing.

(chatter on police radio)

- 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.

(dramatic music)

(gavel bangs)

(delicate music)

- [Narrator] Salt Lake
City resident Sally Kadleck

receives a phone call
from the restaurant

that her daughter
Lecia works at.

The manager tells
Sally that her daughter

has failed to show up
for her shift that day.

Though only 16, Lecia
is legally emancipated

and lives on her own
less than a mile away

from the family house
that she grew up in.

- She didn't show up for work,

and she had always promised

that she would
always come to work

and she was a very good
waitress, very good worker.

And so her manager
found that very odd,

called her mother and asked
her to go and check on her.

And so when her mom
went to check on her,

her apartment door was locked.

She knocked on the door,
had left her a note.

- [Narrator] Sally does not
have a key to the apartment,

and Lecia has moved so recently

that she has not had a chance
to have a phone hooked up,

so Sally can't try
calling her either.

- She went to the
apartment manager

and asked if he could let her in

to see if everything was okay.

- [Narrator] Sally is
hesitant to enlist the help

of the building
manager Patrick McCabe.

In entering Lecia's apartment,

she knows it will be considered
an invasion of privacy,

but she's also concerned
that her daughter

is maybe sick or injured.

Even though they no
longer live together,

Sally is still familiar
with her daughter's habits.

She's a street-smart girl

who would never leave her
apartment without her purse

or leave the fire
escape window wide open,

especially on such a
cold and windy day.

The one last place to
look is the bathroom.

- Sally is terrified of
opening the bathroom door.

As a parent, you
get that gut feeling

when something is
wrong with your child,

and all of Sally's alarm bells
are ringing at this point.

- [Narrator] To respect
Lecia's privacy,

the building manager has
been waiting in the entrance

while Sally looks inside.

- And sadly, her poor
mother finds her daughter,

the love of her life,
dead in the bathtub

in this small apartment in
the avenues of Salt Lake City.

- [Narrator] Because Lecia's
phone is not hooked up yet,

Sally and McCabe have to run
down two flights of of stairs

to his main floor
apartment to call 911.

- The police
department got a call

from the apartment manager

that there was someone
deceased in that apartment.

- [Narrator] Investigators
from the Salt Lake City

Police Department
arrive soon after

the initial patrol
officers secure the scene.

They quickly notice there
is no sign of forced entry.

What investigators see in the
bathtub clearly disturbs them.

It's even worse than what
they were expecting to find.

- After the body is found,
the investigation begins.

They collect DNA at the
time, but of course, 1977,

the technology
just is not there.

But they managed to collect
as much evidence as they can.

- She was found in the tub.
She was bound and gagged.

And so when they
initially went in there,

this is something that
they're looking at

probably as a robbery gone bad.

- Every homicide
investigation is important.

One is never more
important than another.

But with kids and young
adults, it hits you harder,

especially when you have
children of your own

who are the same age.

You know that only by
being diligent and focused

will you catch the
person who did it.

- [Narrator] Investigators
know that the young girl

they found murdered in
the bathtub is Lecia.

What they still don't know
is how or why she died.

Investigators immediately notice

that the knife block in the
kitchen has an empty slot.

And while not
absolutely certain,

they believe that the
knife on the bath mat

belongs to the same set.

The detectives are puzzled
as to why the knife is there.

It doesn't appear to
have any blood on it,

nor does there look
to be any blood

in the bedroom or the bathroom.

They start to wonder if
robbery is the motive.

It is hard to tell if
there is anything missing.

Lecia's bedroom
has been ransacked.

Her dresser drawers are open
with clothing pulled out

and strewn all over the floor.

Her purse is lying at
the foot of the bed

with its contents scattered.

- It appeared to be a robbery.

The drawers were pulled out.

Clothes were all over the place.

Her purse handle was ripped off.

- [Narrator] If the
motive is robbery.

Investigators are puzzled
as to why valuables

like the TV and
stereo are not stolen.

Was the robbery interrupted
by Lecia coming home?

The stereo looks to
be in good condition,

and the TV, though
small, is new.

These are desirable
items to steal

and can be easily pawned
or sold for cash or drugs.

Outside on the fire escape

investigators find
the window screen.

They can see a
light-colored blanket

tied to the bottom railing,

which is fairly
high off the ground.

- She had a large window that
emptied onto a fire escape

on that side of the building.

- Detectives go outside
the apartment block

and into the alleyway to take
a look at the fire escape.

The bottom rung of the ladder

is 10 to 12 feet off the ground.

So while the perpetrator

may have left their
apartment this way,

it is very doubtful that
that's how they entered.

Investigators are unable to find

any sort of item in the alleyway

that could have
been used to step on

and access the bottom rung
of the fire escape ladder.

- Did he come in
from the fire escape?

Did he leave through
the fire escape?

Who knows why that
blanket was out there?

Was she just airing
out her blanket?

There's so many questions
and absolutely no answers.

- [Narrator] As hard as it is
to interview a grieving parent

who has just found the body
of their murdered child,

investigators need to find out

about the victim's
last few hours

in the hopes of
tracking the killer.

The family had seen
Lecia two days prior

on the morning of December 3rd.

They had picked her up
to go apartment hunting

and had dropped her
off back at her place

between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m.

so she could get ready for
her evening shift at work.

Detectives are quickly
able to determine

that Lecia showed up

for her Saturday evening
waitressing shift

and worked from 5:00
p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

They speak to Lorraine,
a friend of Lecia's,

who lives next door to her.

At 10:00 p.m. the night before,

she had knocked on Lecia's door
to borrow some laundry soap.

Lecia was in her bathrobe
getting ready for bed,

and everything seemed fine.

Detectives believe that Lorraine

is the last person
to see Lecia alive,

in addition to the killer.

(dramatic music)

Sally has gone to check on
her 16-year-old daughter Lecia

after she failed to
turn up for work.

- Lecia was supposed
to work as a waitress

at Lamb's restaurant, and
her manager called her mom

because she didn't
show up for work.

- [Narrator] She finds her body

in the bathtub of her
apartment, brutally murdered.

Outside on the fire escape

investigators find
the window screen.

They can see a
light-colored blanket

tied to the bottom railing,

which is fairly
high off the ground.

Have they discovered
how the murderer

left the scene of the crime?

Lecia has a great
relationship with her family,

but is also fiercely independent

and mature beyond her years.

Her little sister adores her

and looks to her as the
ringleader of the family fun.

At the age of 16,

Lecia requested to be
legally emancipated,

and her family agreed,

rather than spoil
the good relationship

that they had with her
by fighting against it.

- Many teenagers who request

to be legally emancipated
from their families

do so because of
dysfunctional family dynamics.

In Lecia's case,
she loved her family

and was still very
close to them.

- [Narrator] Lecia has had
a few uneasy experiences

in the apartment block that
she is currently living in.

- Lecia didn't like
that apartment at all.

The residents were rowdy.

She'd been broken into
a couple of days prior.

And she told her mom,

she's like, "I need
to get outta here."

- [Narrator] Less
than a month ago,

Lecia had come home to
find her apartment door

completely taken off its
hinges and lying on the floor.

Her new stereo she had just
bought had been stolen.

- At the age of 16,

Lecia was already
far more responsible

than many others years older.

She enjoyed the satisfaction
of supporting herself

and saving money
to buy furnishings

like a TV and a stereo
for her apartment.

- So her mom and
she on a Saturday

went and looked
for a new apartment

and had found something

and were ready for
her to move out.

- After getting dropped
off at her building,

she has plenty of time
to get ready for work

before her shift
starts at 5:00 p.m.

As she heads off to work for
what will be her last shift,

investigators are asking

if that is where she
ran across her killer.

Between work, her
family and a neighbor,

investigators have now been
able to track Lecia's movements

on the last day of her life.

She started the day
off at her family home,

went apartment hunting
with her mother,

back home to
change, off to work,

and then back home and
ready for bed by 10:00 p.m.

So far there is nothing
in this scenario

that is raising red
flags with investigators.

- Lecia Schollmeyer was
found in her bathtub,

six inches of water.

She'd been strangled,
blindfold. She'd been raped.

For police it was a really
difficult case for them.

- There was a knife
in the bathroom.

She was found in the tub.

She was bound and gagged.

And so, when they
initially went in there,

this is something that
they're looking at

probably as a robbery.

- [Narrator]
Investigators as of yet

have no suspect and no motive.

The crime scene is a puzzle
that so far has not been solved.

- There was no sign of
blood anywhere in the water

or the rest of the apartment.

There was a knife missing

from the knife block
in the kitchen.

Investigators were
able to determine

that's where the
knife came from.

- [Narrator] It is hard
for investigators to tell

if there is anything missing.

And if robbery was the motive,

then why is Lecia's
stereo still in the closet

and her TV on the dresser?

Both are small enough items

for the killer to
take with them.

- Robbery was certainly
a possible motive.

The dresser drawers were open

and the contents from her
purse were strewn about.

It looked as though the killer

was trying to find
things to steal,

but investigators found
valuable items left behind.

This made them question whether
it was really a robbery,

unless the killer was
only looking for money

and small items like jewelry.

- [Narrator] The building
manager tells investigators

that he was coming home
very early in the morning

from a party on December 4th

and saw a suspicious-looking
man in the hallway,

one that was not a resident
and who he didn't recognize.

Investigators immediately
try to interview

as many residents as possible

in order to find out if anyone
else has any information.

on the suspicious man
that the building manager

saw in the hallway.

One resident, Lonnie,

who lives directly
below Lecia's apartment,

says he did not hear or
see anything suspicious.

He doesn't know her well
and only recognizes Lecia

from seeing her occasionally
enter and exit the building.

So far, the manager, Patrick
McCabe, is the only resident

to notice the suspicious
man in the hallway.

Investigators are still
trying to determine

if the fire escape was used
to enter or exit the scene,

or if the window
screen was pulled off

and a blanket tied to the
bottom as a red herring.

- The front door was locked

when Lecia's mother
arrived at the apartment.

She had to get the
building manager

to use his passkey
to let her in.

There was no sign
of forced entry.

That tells investigators

that either Lecia
let her kill her in

or they got in and out
through another way.

- She had a large window that
emptied onto a fire escape

on that side of the building.

Did he come in from
the fire escape?

Did he leave through
the fire escape?

There's so many questions
and absolutely no answers.

I just didn't see anybody
coming up that way,

because you would've had
to have jumped so high

to get up to the first
rung of the ladder

to get to that point.

- [Narrator] Investigators
now believe that Lecia

must have opened her
door to the killer,

and afterwards they
left the crime scene

via the fire escape.

Lecia is already in
bed for the night

when she hears a
knock on the door.

At this point, investigators
are still not sure

if the killer forced their
way into the apartment

or if she invited them in.

- It makes sense that the
killer used the kitchen knife

to force Lecia to comply.

The killer bound
her hands and feet,

then ripped up her halter top

to use as a blindfold and a gag.

- [Narrator] Investigators
study the bindings

and especially the knots
used to tie them into place.

They also focus on the fact

that all the items,
like the halter tops,

used in the crime
belonged to Lecia.

One more important
clue they focus on:

there is a high probability
that Lecia knew her killer,

as her eyes were covered
with a blindfold.

(somber music)

Between work, her
family and a neighbor,

detectives now have been able
to track Lecia's movements

on the last day of her life.

As of yet, the investigation
has no suspects and no motive.

The crime scene is a puzzle
that so far has not been solved.

Investigators have spent hours
canvassing Lecia's apartment

and speaking to residents.

Lorraine, Lecia's
friend and neighbor

who lives next door to her,

tells investigators
that she saw Lecia

at 10:00 p.m. the
night of her murder

and did not hear anything after.

The manager tells investigators
that he was coming home

very early in the morning
from a party on December 4th

and saw a suspicious
looking man in the hallway,

one that was not a resident
and who he didn't recognize.

Detectives learned that
several of Lecia's neighbors

have made complaints
against a peeping Tom

that lives on the third floor
in the building next door.

- There were some rumors
going around the building

that there was somebody from
that other apartment complex

that was lurking around.

- [Narrator] One of
Lecia's neighbors

had noticed the man peeping
down into Lecia's apartment

on the second floor.

- There was
certainly the thought

that somebody across in that
building next door to hers

could lurk into her
apartment and see her.

Basically they're a
voyeur that wants to look

and see what somebody's doing

and/or sometimes that
can be a sexual thing,

and that may lead
to a motivation to
go in and blindfold

and strangle and
and kill somebody.

- [Narrator] Investigators
question the peeping Tom

who insists he was out of
town the night of the murder.

Until his alibi checks out,

he is definitely a
person of interest.

Though investigators did
a huge canvas of the area,

so far the only two leads are
the mystery man in the hallway

and the peeping Tom next door.

While they wait for
his alibi to check out,

they go back to reviewing
the evidence collected.

Investigators quickly focus
in on one piece of evidence.

Everything the killer used in
the murder belonged to Lecia

except for the rope
found in the bathtub.

Detectives believe the killer

had brought the rope with them.

It was more like a
clothes line than a rope

and made out of cotton.

- Investigators can use ligature
items like string and rope

to identify the perpetrator

if they find a matching
spool in their possession.

Forensics can match
up pieces of rope

cut or torn from larger segments

and show it's unique to
what the killer used.

- [Narrator]
Detectives hope that,

by finding the store
where the rope came from,

they can trace the
purchase back to the killer

and find the rest of
the spool of the rope

in their possession.

After calling around,

investigators find out
that a small market

just up the street
from Lecia's apartment

carries the same rope.

As detectives are
questioning the store clerk,

a young man listening nearby

intrudes in on
their conversation.

To add to their growing interest

he tells them that he
had recently bought

the same kind of rope,

which immediately
raises their suspicions.

- There was a guy that
kind of inserted himself

in saying, "Hey, I bought
some rope like that.

I have rope like that."

- There's those who try
to insert themselves

into a crime scene for their
own voyeuristic tendencies.

Also, the attention seekers
who make themselves known

to either the victim's
families or law enforcement.

- [Narrator] Investigators
receive the news

that the alibi for the
peeping Tom checks out.

He couldn't have murdered Lecia.

They're hoping
that the young man

who approached them in the
store might be the one.

Upon learning that
the store customer

who had bought the
rope is on parole,

they put a call into
the boarding house

where the man is living.

Not only has the alibi for
the peeping Tom checked out,

but so has the one
for the customer

who bought the rope
at the local store.

The boarding house where
the parolee is staying

has a carefully
monitored night curfew.

The staff there have
just confirmed his alibi.

Striking out once again,

they know that the window
to catch Lecia's killer

in a timely fashion
is closing fast.

- A case is always the freshest
during the first 48 hours.

That's when you
have the best chance

of tracking down the killer.

- The hours directly after a
homicide are extremely crucial,

because evidence is lost,
evidence can be moved.

You just never know
what's being messed up

and not preserved in the
way that it's supposed to.

- [Narrator] It is
a well-known adage

that after 48 hours are up,

the chances of catching the
perpetrator drastically decline.

With both suspects alibied,

investigators try a
different approach.

They are sure that
Lecia knew her killer.

The murder looks to be committed

by someone who had
specifically targeted her

and knew that, even as young
as she was, she lived alone.

- Detectives will
look for someone

who would be aware of
the victim's patterns.

What time do they go to
work or school every day?

When are they usually home?
Do they drive or take a bus?

- [Narrator] Sally starts
to tell investigators

about Lonnie, a friend of
Lecia's who lives underneath her

and who she had
become pen pals with

while he was still in prison.

Lecia had started to
suspect that Lonnie

was the one who had
broken down her door

and stolen her stereo.

Detectives immediately
recognized the name.

Lonnie lives directly
underneath Lecia's apartment

and said he did not hear
or see anything suspicious

the night Lecia was murdered.

Lonnie also denied knowing
Lecia any more than as strangers

passing each other
in the hallway.

How has Lecia's stolen stereo

ended up back in her apartment?

She never mentioned
getting it back to Sally

the day they went
apartment hunting,

the last day that Sally
saw her daughter alive.

(somber music)

(dramatic music)

With both suspects alibied

investigators try a
different approach.

They are sure that
Lecia knew her killer.

Sally starts to tell
investigators about Lonnie,

a friend of Lecia's who
lives underneath her

and who she had
become pen pals with

while he was still in prison.

Detectives immediately
recognize the name.

Lonnie lives directly
underneath Lecia's apartment

and said he did not hear
or see anything suspicious

the night Lecia was murdered.

Lonnie also denied knowing Lecia
any more than his strangers

passing each other
in the hallway.

- They really looked into him,

and Lonnie certainly had a past,

and he was no angel
by any stretch,

and he had shown
interest in Lecia,

and she did not
reciprocate that interest.

- [Narrator] Detectives
feel that this information

will prove to be promising.

A close neighbor recently
released from jail

who had romantic intentions
which Lecia turned

down definitely fits the profile

of somebody they would be
interested in talking to.

Sally has told investigators
about the pen pal letters

and about one more thing

that might lead them to
finding their killer.

Lecia kept a diary.

- Some people have
a romanticized view

of the person in jail.

They believe them when
they say they're innocent

or it is not their fault,

or they believe,
with good intentions,

they can help them
become a good person.

- [Narrator] Lecia's best
friend had a boyfriend

who was in jail, and the
girls would go visit him.

- And Lonnie was friends
with this inmate,

and so he would visit with Lecia

while her friend was visiting
with the other inmate,

and they became pen pals.

- Investigators learned
that, back in 1971,

Lonnie was charged with homicide

by the Denver Police Department.

Detectives read in her diary

that Lecia was becoming
increasingly concerned

about Lonnie's
infatuation with her.

She had felt sorry for him,

and Ed tried to cheer
him up in her letters

because he was depressed.

Lonnie read far more into
this than Lecia intended,

and she quickly turned him
down when he asked her out

after he was
released from prison.

Investigators think
that they have found

their motive for murder.

- Lecia was obviously
a trusting person,

and even though responsible
and mature her her age,

you have to remember she
was still only 16 years old.

For an older man who has
previously been charged

with a homicide, she would've
been easy prey for him.

- [Narrator] Lonnie quickly
becomes the number one suspect.

While taking routine
photographs of his upper torso,

they noticed several recent
scratches on his back and chest

that are in the early
stages of healing.

- He had some scratches on
his body during the same time

when she's found deceased
in her apartment.

- Lonnie tells police
that the scratches

were caused the night before

by his live-in
girlfriend, Kathy.

She often has nightmares and
attacks him in her sleep.

As far-fetched as it may sound,

investigators must do
their due diligence

and try to corroborate
the suspect's story.

Upon questioning,
Kathy completely
denies Lonnie's story.

The next step is for
a medical examiner

to be brought in to
inspect the wounds.

- Due to the degree of healing,

the scratches
would've had to occur

between 72 hours
and five days prior,

which fits exactly into the
timeframe of Lecia's murder.

- [Narrator] Lonnie has
previously been charged

with homicide by the Denver PD.

He knows how to react to
this type of questioning

by investigators.

- Criminals often feel
like they're smarter

than law enforcement,

especially if they've been able

to previously
escape convictions.

Others try to keep quiet
as long as possible

and get their satisfaction

knowing it will
frustrate investigators.

- [Narrator] Lonnie
still continues to deny

having any sort of
relationship with Lecia.

He will only admit to seeing her

occasionally in the hallway.

Investigators are going to
try a new tactic with Lonnie,

one they are confident
we'll make him changes tune.

- Police back in
the '70s and '80s

use fairly basic
psychological techniques

like the time-honored
good cop, bad cop routine

in which one detective
browbeats the suspect

and the other pretends to
be looking out for him.

(tense music)

- [Narrator] Now that
Lonnie knows investigators

have read Lecia's diary,

he could be pretty certain
that they know he is lying

about how well he knew her.

Lonnie is now changing his story

about his relationship
with Lecia.

Yes, he met her while in prison.

Yes, they became pen pals.

Yes, he wanted to date her.

Yes, he was okay with
her turning him down.

And no, he absolutely
did not kill her.

There are still more pieces
to the puzzle to be answered.

Investigators don't know if
the break-in at LE's apartment

that occurred a month ago
where her stereo was stolen

is related to her murder,

and if it is, was Lonnie the
one who broke her door down?

- Based on Lonnie's
criminal history,

and the scratches,
and his story,

and his wanting to date Lecia

and she didn't want to date him

was all motivating
factor certainly,

and that's something

that you would
definitely wanna look at.

- [Narrator] After
Lonnie's interrogation,

investigators go back and
interview the residents again.

When shown a picture
of the stereo,

one witness insists they
saw it in Lonnie's apartment

the night before Lecia's murder.

Lonnie's bedroom window is
right under the fire escape

that is outside
Lecia's bedroom window.

It would be easy for Lonnie to
climb out of Lecia's window,

jump down off the
fire escape ladder,

climb back through his window,

and crawl back into
bed with Kathy,

never even knowing he left.

They have a new theory.

Lonnie has previously
stolen Lecia's stereo

and lures her into
opening her door

by telling her he found it.

He is angry at her rejections

and either uses it as an
opportunity to attack her,

or he expects gratitude in
the way of a romantic gesture.

When this doesn't
happen, he gets angry,

loses control, and kills her.

The case against Lonnie
is circumstantial,

and prosecutors do not
want to file charges

without witnesses
or physical evidence

to tie Lonnie to the murder

of 16-year-old
Lecia Schollmeyer.

Lonnie skips town a
couple of days later.

Investigators feel like they
have lost their best chance

at catching a killer.

(dramatic music)

(somber music)

After 16-year-old Lecia
Schollmeyer is killed,

her neighbor, Lonnie,

quickly becomes the
number one suspect.

A close neighbor recently
released from jail

who had romantic intentions
which Lecia turned down

definitely fits the profile

of somebody they would be
interested in talking to.

While taking routine
photographs of his upper torso,

they noticed several recent
scratches on his back and chest.

These could be defensive wounds

caused by Lecia fighting back.

The case against Lonnie
is circumstantial,

and prosecutors do not
want to file charges

without witnesses
or physical evidence

to tie Lonnie to the murder.

Over the past 36 years, the
case of Sharon Lecia Schollmeyer

has been reopened several
times with no luck.

- You want a sense
of peace for them.

You want to get
justice for them.

It's something that you
have to be passionate about.

If you aren't
passionate about it,

you're not gonna put your
heart and soul into solving it.

- Lonnie skipped town soon
after he was questioned

and was never heard
of or seen again.

Investigators repeatedly
end up at a dead end.

The case went cold.

Lecia's mother, Sally, has
been forced to face the idea

that her daughter's killer
might never be caught.

Sally has always thought that
Lonnie is the one responsible

and has developed a belief

that has helped sustain
her over the years.

She has no control
over whether he ends up

getting punished or not.

In 2013, investigator
Hilary Gordon

from the Salt Lake
City Police Department

takes on the challenge
of reopening the case.

- She was very young,
she was emancipated,

living on her own at
her own apartment,

was doing her own thing,

living her own life
at such a young age.

And then for her life to
just be taken from her

and never, in almost 40 years,

had there been any
closure or conclusion.

I just thought that there
had to be a way to solve it.

- [Narrator] She is
determined to come at the case

without the preconceived notion
that Lonnie is the killer.

She starts from scratch

and goes through every
single note and interview.

There have been
huge advancements

in the science of
DNA since 1977,

and Gordon decides to
test all of the items

that were used to bind,
gag, and blindfold Lecia.

- I looked at the clothing.

We had the bindings
in our evidence.

Where the binding was,

the medical examiner
didn't undo the knot,

they just cut to the side of
it, so that knot was intact,

and so I was able to
pull that evidence

and submit it to
Sorenson's Laboratories

and ask them to swab the knot,

and I asked them to M-Vac that,

which is like a big suction,
almost like a vacuum,

and that everything
goes into a filter,

and then they test
that filter for DNA.

- [Narrator] If there is
going to be DNA left anywhere,

it will be on the
halter tops or the rope

at the point where
they were tied.

- They were prime candidates
for being able to untie those

and then use the more aggressive
M-Vac collection method.

There's always concern when
cases especially are that old,

because back in 1977, DNA
wasn't even on the scene.

They literally
preserved the evidence,

and it was able
to, 39 years later,

be collected by the M-Vac.

- [Narrator] After
almost 40 years,

there is finally a
break in the case.

The results are back, and
male DNA has been found

in the knots of the rope
used to bind Lecia's hands.

They have been
able to compare it

to a sample of Lonnie's DNA

and finally feel they
have concrete proof

that he is the killer.

- And there's a major
contributor, which was a male,

and then there's a minor
contributor, which was Lecia.

Of course she's gonna be on it.

- [Narrator] Unbelievably,

the last thing investigators
could imagine has happened.

The male DNA is not
a match to Lonnie.

He is not the killer.

- He was a perfect candidate
to look at, without a doubt,

I can see why every single
person would focus in on him.

It would seem logical,

but he just was not that
person in this case.

- [Narrator] For
almost 40 years,

it has been believed
that Lonnie,

who lived in the apartment
under Lecia, was her killer.

The only thing left
investigators can do

is submit the unknown
male DNA profile

into the national
database, CODIS.

Once again, it becomes
a waiting game,

this time waiting for a match.

- People are used to
watching these TV shows

where the suspect is swabbed,

or an item that has
the killer's DNA on it

is run through the computer,

and a match is made immediately.

It can take months for
forensics to process an item,

especially in cold cases.

You're only going to get a match

if that person's DNA is
already in the system.

- [Narrator] Three years
later, there is a hit on CODIS.

Finally, after all this time,

Lecia's killer
will be identified.

- And so they notified
me through a letter,

and I opened it, and all of
my colleagues were there,

and I was jumping up down.

I was so excited.

This DNA came back
to Patrick McCabe.

- [Narrator] Patrick McCabe
had left Salt Lake City

for Florida years ago and
worked on a horse ranch.

- Patrick McCabe
was in the database

because he had a
felony conviction

for a sex offense
against a minor,

and so he was a registered
sex offender in Florida.

It was very easy to
put that DNA in there

and got a immediate hit
because he was in the system.

- [Narrator] Investigator Cordon
Parks flies down to Florida

and, with local law enforcement,
knocks on his front door.

- He wasn't surprised when
Cordon knocked on the door.

"Hey, we're from Salt Lake
City Police Department,

and we wanna talk to you
about a cold case homicide."

No reaction.

They asked him to come
down to the station.

He was like, "Okay."

- [Narrator] Patrick
McCabe denies

ever being inside of
Lecia's apartment.

He's adamant that he has never
touched any of her clothing

and that he never had any
type of relationship with her.

He insists there is
no way any of his DNA

would ever be found
in Lecia's apartment.

Even after he is told
his DNA is on the items

used to bind and gag Lecia,
he continues with his denials.

- But it was a couple weeks
later that Patrick McCabe

showed back up at
the sheriff's office

and wanted to confess
to killing Lecia.

He just told everybody in
the sheriff's department

that was in the interview
room that he did it.

I think he knew he was
caught at that point

with the technology
advancements in DNA,

and I think that he had
just kind of decided

that the jig is up.

"I may as well confess to it

because this is what
they already know.

They're not here talking to
me because they don't know.

They know."

- [Narrator] Patrick
McCabe tells investigators

that he had been out
partying most of the night.

He came home, laid
down on his couch,

and started thinking
about Lecia.

She was young, attractive,
and lived alone.

He decides to use his master
key to enter her apartment.

- He impulsively goes
there, he rapes her,

and when he was
there, he realized,

"She's gonna know who I am,"

because even with
the blindfold on,

she's gonna know who he is,
and he didn't wanna get caught.

- [Narrator] Fear
and panic set in,

and he dumps her in the
bathtub and strangles her.

Then he fills it with water

to wash away any traces
of him on her body.

- He murders her
by strangulation

and then leaves the apartment.

I don't know if he was looking
for anything in particular

or just staged it to be a
robbery type of scenario,

but he certainly wanted
to cover his tracks.

The most egregious thing

is allowing her mom
to go in and find her,

knowing that she was gonna
be the one to find her

when he let her
into the apartment.

- [Narrator] Patrick
McCabe is charged

with first degree murder

and sent back to Salt
Lake City to await trial.

To spare the family having
to face him in court,

prosecutors agree to
waive the death penalty

if Patrick McCabe pleads guilty.

Over the years, Sally would
watch true crime shows

in the hopes that she
would see new techniques

being used to solve crimes

and hope that one of
them would be used

to crack her daughter's
case one day.

It was exactly that, a new
technique in extracting DNA,

that finally allows Lecia's
killer to be caught.

- Finally, there
was some justice.

Finally, she could
put this case to rest.

She hadn't had an opportunity
to really mourn her child,

because she didn't know truly
what happened and who did it.

- Being able to say that
we provided the tool

that helped solve a case,

it's beyond anything that
I can really describe.

Getting a call from a
detective or a lab person

saying, "You're not gonna
believe the results we got."

They're so ecstatic
about being able

to finally deliver
justice for a victim.

It's by far the most fulfilling
thing I've ever done.

- [Narrator] Patrick
McCabe pleads guilty

to second degree murder
and aggravated burglary.

He refuses the offer
from Investigator Parks

to write an apology
letter to Lecia's family

and never shows any remorse.

He is sentenced to
serve 10 years to life

in Utah State prison.

Investigators are never
able to answer the question

of how Lecia's stolen stereo

ended up back in her
apartment closet.

- I felt a huge sense of relief

when I found out that
it was Patrick McCabe,

that his DNA was the major
profile on her bindings,

and it was just this
overwhelming sense of peace

to know that I could go
to her family and say,

"This is what
happened to Lecia."

(dramatic music)