All language subtitles for A.U.S01E20.1080p.WEB.h264-CASUALTY_track3_[eng]

- [Narrator] A secret
couple looking for privacy

make a horrifying discovery

behind a log that
blocks their path.

They see a woman
in severe distress.

- She'd been shot in the head.

She was only wearing
panties, socks,

and the waffle stomper boots.

- [Narrator] After
a vicious attack,

she's still alive,

but unable to talk.

- This woman has a bullet
wound above her right ear,

which very likely has
impacted her ability to speak.

- Walter and Cathy are
in a state of shock

at their discovery

and waste no time getting the
young woman into their car.

- [Narrator] The couple rushed
the woman to a hospital,

but she's declared
dead on arrival.

- I lost my closest
friend that day.

- Police round up every
suspect they can find,

but there's no evidence
to point at any of them.

- All law enforcement
has at this point

is circumstantial evidence.

They have pieces of information

that may suggest there
is an opportunity

for the suspect to
have been the killer,

but is there motive?

Is there concrete evidence?

They have nothing.

- This particular case was
obviously done by a stranger.

When a stranger commits
this kind of crime

and you run outta leads,

you know you're
at a point where,

is it even solvable anymore?

It's probably unsolvable.

- [Narrator] It would
take decades for police

to realize the potential
of a key piece of evidence

waiting to unlock the case.

(suspenseful music)

- The unsolved ones,
we have to stand up.

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

- Let the world knows

that those out there
that did commit a murder,

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] Snohomish
County, Washington,

20 minutes north of Seattle.

It's known as the heart
of the Pacific Northwest.

The area boasts a
growing tech sector,

aerospace industry,

and modern agriculture,

along with a population
of nearly a million.

- Snohomish was a quiet
place where kids could play.

It was rural.

People rode horses and
did simple things for fun.

- [Narrator] But in 1972,

development hasn't
reached the area yet.

There are plenty of
places in the county

where no one can see you.

33-year-old Walter Morris
and 18-year-old Cathy Gogal

pull into a secluded part of
a forest in Snohomish County.

- It's not entirely clear

what Cathy and Walter
are doing in the forest.

They tell police they
were going to practice

shooting Walter's
22-caliber rifle,

but it's also a good place
to spend their time together,

since they were keeping
their relationship a secret.

- [Narrator] Turning
off Penny Creek Road,

Walter and Cathy are
blocked by a downed tree

and stop the car to move it.

Behind the tree,

they see a woman
in severe distress.

- It was by chance that
they found her there.

- [Narrator] The young woman
is almost entirely nude,

clutching her bra in her hand.

She's still alive,

but unable to talk.

- This woman has a bullet
wound above her right ear,

which very likely has
impacted her ability to speak.

- They observed that she'd
been shot in the head.

They saw that there was a lot
of semen in her underpants.

She was only wearing
panties, socks,

and the waffle stomper boots.

She was actually
thrashing a little bit,

so they thought that
they could save her.

- Walter and Cathy are
in a state of shock

at their discovery

and waste no time getting the
young woman into their car.

- The girl held Jody's
clothing up over her

to cover her body

and held her head up
to keep her airway open

while they drove to the hospital
as quickly as they could

to get her some help.

- Time is of the essence,

given the condition the
young woman is found in.

She has a gunshot wound to the
head and is unable to speak.

- [Narrator] The couple rushed
the woman to a hospital,

but she's declared
dead on arrival.

(telephone rings)

County sheriffs are
alerted of the crime

and begin looking for a killer.

- Normally, when you
go to a crime scene,

you try not to go in
and disturb anything.

So the initial patrol
people cordon everything off

to keep everybody out.

And then when the
detectives arrive,

they go through methodically
trying to process everything

without disturbing anything.

So the first thing they're
gonna do is take photographs

of the entire area and look
for evidence as they move in.

- When the police are
notified of this crime,

there's very little to go on.

All they can do is
canvass the area

and ask people if they
see the young woman

before she's murdered.

- [Narrator] Investigators talk
to a 14-year-old young woman

who works at a fruit stand
on her family's property,

which is along Jody's
route to the stable.

- Kenda tells the police

she remembers a young
woman on a 10-speed bike

riding by that day.

The young woman would sometimes
buy fruit for her horse

on the way up to the stables,

located a few miles up the road.

And she remembered the boots

the woman was wearing that date,

which struck Kenda as unusual
for a person riding a bike.

- [Narrator] While
scouting the area,

police find a
white 10-speed bike

not far from where
the woman was found.

As the area is
flooded with deputies,

police question the
owner of the stables,

who gives them the name

they've desperately
been searching for.

- [Glen] The owners of
the stable pieced together

that the young woman
police are looking for

could be 20-year-old
Jody Loomis.

- [Narrator] By the
time police arrive

at the doorstep of
Jody Loomis's house,

she has already been
missing for several hours.

- Her mother had given
her a dime to call home

if she was going to be late,

but that call never came,

so everyone in the house
was under intense stress.

- I noticed that my mom and dad,

they had a funny look on
their face and they were like,

"Jody should have been
home quite a while ago,

and we haven't heard from her."

(suspenseful music)

A knock came on the door

and it was a detective

and said, "We think we
have your daughter."

My mom went down to the ground

and before my dad
could even get to her.

That's a moment.

There's those moments
everybody has in their life

and that's one for me.

The last thing my
mom made sure of was,

"Did she have that
dime in her pocket?"

We always had to
carry a dime with us

in case we ever
needed to make a call.

I was 12 years old when we
lost Jody and my world changed.

I lost my closest
friend that day.

- [Narrator] Jody
lives in a house

with her parents
and sister Jana,

along with her fiance Jim.

- By all accounts,

Jody is a kind free spirit
who thinks for herself.

- If she loved
you, she loved you,

and that didn't mean she
wouldn't be mad at you

in the next moment,

but she loved you.

- [Narrator] Jody is an animal
lover and a talented artist.

- [Jana] I really appreciate
what she was able to do.

- [Narrator] In the early 1970s,

brown suede boots with a
thick waffle-shaped sole

became a fashion trend.

The so-called waffle stomper
boots may have been warm

for a sunny August day,

but Jody wears them anyway.

- Jody is petite and has the
same shoe size as her sister,

so she borrows her
sister's boots.

- If she hadn't
worn those boots,

who knows whether the
girl at the fruit stand

would've noticed Jody ride
past on her bike that day.

- [Narrator] Police investigate
the hours leading up

to Jody's horrific
attack in the forest.

Jody leaves her
home on her bicycle

in the afternoon of August 23rd.

- My mom would often drive Jody,

but she was getting into
bicycling with her fiance

and was trying to
get in better shape

so she could keep up with them,

and so she decided to ride
her bike to her horse pasture

and get that extra exercise.

- [Narrator] Jody's
horse, Saudi, is
located at the stables,

six and a half miles
north of the family home.

Jody makes a stop at her
friend's house, Linda Hook.

Linda's family is one of many

who are leaving Snohomish County

in search of better
opportunities.

When Jody knocks on her door,

Linda is packing
to go to California

and won't go horseback
riding with Jody.

- The feeling that they
could have been there

to prevent what happened to Jody

is a heavy emotion
for a friend to carry.

Although it wasn't her fault,

those pervasive what if thoughts

can be difficult to silence.

- [Narrator] Kenda tells police

she remembers Jody taking
a little extra pause

before continuing on her bike.

- It's unclear why she pauses.

Perhaps Jody sees something
that makes her hesitate

or perhaps she's a couple of
miles into a six-mile bike ride

and simply needs to
catch her breath.

- [Narrator] Jody is found by
Walter and Cathy at 5:30 pm

suffering from the gunshot
that would ultimately kill her.

- Police determined
that Jody was attacked

while riding her bike
towards the stables

sometime between when she's
seen at the fruit stand

and when she's discovered.

- I felt like she was so smart,

but I felt like she was quick
to say, I don't like you.

Get outta here, you know?

And then that could
have triggered
something in the murder.

- [Narrator] With somewhat
limited information to go on.

Snohomish investigators
continue to push hard

to find who did
this to Jody Loomis.

(suspenseful music)

Jody Loomis is riding her
bike on the way to the stables

where her horse is boarded.

- Jody has been missing for
several hours at this point,

so everyone in the house
was under intense stress.

- Jody should have been
home quite a while ago

and we haven't heard from her.

- [Narrator] Jody is found by
Walter and Cathy at 5:30 pm.

- She'd been shot in the head.

She was only wearing
panties, socks,

and the waffle stomper boots.

- Walter and Cathy are
in a state of shock

at their discovery

and waste no time getting the
young woman into their car.

- [Narrator] The couple rushed
the woman to a hospital,

but she's declared
dead on arrival.

Investigators talk to a
14-year-old young woman

who works at a fruit stand
on her family's property,

which is along Jody's
route to the stable.

Kenda Rice tells police

she remembers Jody on
her bike that afternoon

appearing a bit
hesitant or nervous.

Jody stops on her
bike for a moment

as though she might
be unsure where to go.

- Kenda tells police
she remembers that pause

as being odd and memorable.

Police look into the possibility

that Jody might have felt
she's being followed.

- The crime is
shocking to everyone,

especially in such
a quiet rural place.

The effects of distress on a
community can be substantial

and would've caused deep trauma

on Jody's friends and family.

- When she's found,
Jody is not clothed,

except her knee-high socks,
her boots, and underwear.

She's clutching her bra and
her clothing is beside her.

And autopsy reveals
Jody has been raped.

- [Narrator] Ballistics indicate

that Jody is shot from above
by a 22-caliber pistol.

- The bullet wound is located
above Jody's right ear.

- It was surmised

that she was probably
sitting on the ground

tying her left boot when
she was shot in the head

by her assailant.

- [Narrator] Police scramble

to determine if this
random act is premeditated

and whether Jody may
have known her killer.

- In some cases, everyone
becomes a suspect.

- [Narrator] Detectives consider

whether they might already
have interviewed Jody's killer.

They look for connections
to her rape and murder

that they may have missed.

Police questioned the man who
brings Jody to the hospital,

Walter Morris.

They also questioned
Jody's father, John.

- The added trauma
of feeling suspected

of your own daughter's rape
and murder is unimaginable.

- Police have to be thorough

and can't rule out
anyone at this point,

including her own father.

- [Narrator] The police
wonder if somebody

on the 1,000-acre farm property
may have stumbled upon Jody

and acted in a crime
of opportunity.

Investigators add to
the list of suspects

13-year-old Alan Rice.

- Alan Rice is the
son of the family

who owns the 1,000-acre farm

where the fruit
stand is located.

He has been with
his father all day

cutting wood in the nearby area.

- Mr. Rice was
there with his son

cutting firewood in that area.

They were initially
contacted and interviewed

and needed to be ruled
out as possible suspects

as they were in the area.

- [Narrator] Alan tells police
he was apart from his father

on various areas
of the property,

cutting large amounts of
firewood for the coming fall.

- The boy tells police
that he passes by the area

where Jody is
attacked several times

over the course of August 3rd.

If he saw or did
something that day,

he's not admitting
it to the police.

- [Narrator] Snohomish
County sheriffs

fan out their investigation,

searching for
answers everywhere,

including an area biker gang
called the Reapers Roadmen.

- The Reapers Roadmen
have a clubhouse

not far from the scene
of Jody's murder.

One member of the
gang named Yamaha

is known to possess
a 22-caliber pistol.

- [Narrator] Local residents
make police aware of Yamaha

using his weapon
to fire at trains

as they pass through town.

(gun shooting)

It's enough of a connection
to add Yamaha's name

to the list of
possible suspects.

Inexplicably, much
of the evidence,

including the panties

that could now yield
so much DNA material,

has been lost.

- Years later when I
looked at the case,

all of that evidence
had disappeared.

We couldn't find her panties,

we couldn't find the swabs,

we couldn't find the slides

that they examined
the spermatozoa on.

So all that evidence
had just disappeared.

- [Narrator] Key
pieces of evidence,

like the bullet retrieved
from Jody and her socks,

are gone forever.

Documents are also
lost over the years.

One piece of evidence that
is still in police custody,

the boots that Jody
wore that fateful day.

- All law enforcement
has at this point

is circumstantial evidence.

They have pieces of information

that may suggest there
is an opportunity

for the suspect to
have been the killer,

but is there motive?

Is there concrete evidence?

They have nothing.

- [Narrator] Police wonder

if Jody Loomis knew
her killer at all

or if it was just a random act.

Perhaps she pedaled
right into a trap

laid out by a devious predator

lurking in the Washington woods.

- With only sparse
information in this case,

there's no way to tell how
Jody encountered her attacker.

It's going nowhere for police
and the case is growing cold.

- Initially, the
community is very alarmed

when they hear that
something like this happened,

and that's why oftentimes
now the police will say

that the community
is not in danger

because this is an
isolated incident

based on the
circumstances involved

and people that knew each other.

But when you have a
case like Jody Loomis

where she's killed
by a stranger,

(gun shooting)

then the whole
community gets alarmed.

They start locking
their doors more

and being more careful
than they used to.

Because back in 1972,

people left their doors open.

- [Narrator] The rape and murder
of 20-year-old Jody Loomis

goes unsolved.

- This particular case was
obviously done by a stranger.

When a stranger commits
this kind of crime

and you run outta leads,

then you know you're
at a point where,

is it even solvable anymore?

It's probably unsolvable.

- [Narrator] It would
take decades for police

to realize the potential
of a key piece of evidence,

an item that hadn't disappeared

and had been sitting in
their possession all along,

waiting to unlock the case.

(suspenseful music)

20-year-old Jody
Loomis gets on her bike

to make the six-mile
trek to the stables

where her horse is boarded.

She would only get halfway
through the forested area

before she's attacked.

A couple happens
to discover Jody

and rush her to the hospital,

but it's too late.

- I was 12 years old when we
lost Jody and my world changed.

I lost my closest
friend that day.

- Police round up every
suspect they can find,

but there's no evidence
to point at any of them.

- [Narrator] Key
pieces of evidence

are also lost over the years.

- We couldn't find her panties,

we couldn't find the swabs,

so all that evidence
had just disappeared.

- [Narrator] One
piece of evidence

that is still in police custody,

the boots that Jody
wore that fateful day.

- With police unable to
clear names for years,

Jody's parents and sister
had to learn how to cope

with an overwhelming
lack of closure.

It's hard to imagine
being a 13 year old

who has to make sense of this,

never having the
answers you crave.

- [Narrator] The
case remains unsolved

and the file goes
relatively unchanged

for more than 35 years.

(upbeat music)

In 2008, police breathe
new life into the case

as Jody's murder is featured

in a deck of cold
case playing cards

that Snohomish County police
distribute to prison inmates.

- For years, the US
military gave troops a deck

of most wanted enemy cards.

Around 2007 and 2008,

the idea took off
across many states

to give prison inmates a
deck of unsolved murder cards

to see if anyone
had information.

- [Narrator] Jody's case
is the oldest cold case

in this deck of cards.

- Something happens
and then you're like,

oh, maybe that could
make a difference.

And that's what
2008 brought for us,

there was some hope.

- [Narrator] Law
enforcement hopes

to uncover new
information behind bars.

For this particular case,

the playing cards come up empty.

That same year,

members of the Snohomish County
Cold Case Unit send evidence

from Jody's murder to
the state crime lab

for an examination.

- The evidence has been looked
at by forensic scientists

a number of times
over the years,

but this time a lab technician
finds a key piece of evidence

that has been under
their noses for 36 years.

- The crime lab discovers
a small semen stain

on the waffle stomper boot.

- This becomes an
important discovery in 2008

because of DNA technology

that is now available
to law enforcement,

but it would've been meaningless
to investigators in 1972.

Back then,

DNA analysis would've
seemed like science fiction.

- They take a sample of
the stain for DNA analysis.

They determine the DNA
of the man's semen,

but also discovered DNA
that matches Jody's DNA

mixed with a male's DNA.

This confirms that it is the DNA

of the man who had
intercourse with Jody.

It's very likely the
DNA of their killer.

- [Narrator] The DNA information
breaks the case open.

- The men who were suspects
in 1972 give DNA samples

to clear their names

through comparison with the
semen found on Jody's boot.

At the same time, the
DNA is sent to CODIS.

- [Narrator] CODIS, the
Combined DNA Information System,

is a nationwide
stockpile of DNA samples

taken from convicted
felons, missing persons,

and crime scenes.

It is created and maintained
by the FBI since 1998.

Alan Rice, now in his 50s, is
cleared of any involvement.

So is Walter Morris,

who found Jody after the attack.

And the biker gang
theory loses steam.

- Jody's father
passes away in 2005

before DNA can point
him to Jody's murderer.

- [Narrator] After
a cross reference

with the millions of DNA
samples in the CODIS database,

investigators come up empty.

- They can't find
a DNA connection

with someone else
in the data bank.

There's nowhere to
go with the file

and it becomes a cold case.

- [Narrator] It would
be another decade

before police finally
linked their DNA evidence

with a suspect.

(suspenseful music)

A famous case involving
a serial rapist

and killer in California

give Snohomish County police
a new weapon in their arsenal.

- With the availability
of DNA home kits

to establish genealogy
and build family trees,

law enforcement
sees an opportunity

to use genetic genealogy
for criminal investigations.

You can find relatives of the
criminal, partial matches,

which can lead to the DNA match.

- The Golden State
Killer case in California

is the first example of
genetic genealogy being used

to solve a murder.

- [Narrator] California
law enforcement linked DNA

from a raped kid

to a close relative of
Joseph James DeAngelo,

who is responsible for at
least 13 murders, 50 rapes,

and 120 burglaries in
the 1970s and '80s.

- Before DNA
technology came along,

you needed a smoking gun, a
fingerprint, or an eyewitness.

Now you can connect those
dots on a molecular level

using genetic genealogy.

Even when a close family member

is found through this technique,

police still have
to have a DNA match.

That means finding a
sample from the accused

and matching it with
existing DNA evidence.

- Despite law enforcement

and genetic experts
finding a relative,

there would still be plenty

of follow-up
investigating to do.

- You just had the
Golden State Killer,

you just had some
things breaking open,

and I felt like, wow,
this is breaking ground.

Jody's case was
so incredibly old.

What were the odds that
we'd be able to find him?

- [Narrator] Could the DNA
from Jody's boot lead them

to a family member
of her killer?

(suspenseful music)

20-year-old Jody Loomis
leaves home on her bike

one August morning in 1972,

never to return.

She would only get halfway
through the forested area

before she's attacked.

- I lost my closest
friend that day.

- After exhausting all
leads in this case,

police run out of places to go.

The investigation
goes cold for decades.

- [Narrator] Key
pieces of evidence

are also lost over the years.

- We couldn't find her panties,

we couldn't find the swabs,

so all that evidence
had just disappeared.

- [Narrator] That same year,

members of the Snohomish County
Cold Case Unit send evidence

from Jody's murder to
the state crime lab

for an examination.

- The evidence has been looked
at by forensic scientists

a number of times
over the years.

- This time they get a hit.

- [Narrator] 46 Years later,

Snohomish County cold case
officers get a phone call

from the genetic genealogists.

Finally, after nearly 50 years,

police close in on a suspect.

The ancestry database links
the DNA from Jody's boot

to the parents of six brothers,

but one brother in particular

immediately stands
out for police,

Terrence Miller.

- It was really weird
when we heard the name.

I thought for sure I was
gonna recognize the name,

and it didn't mean
anything to me at all.

- [Glen] Terrence Miller does
not have a criminal record,

so he wouldn't be
listed in CODIS.

- [Narrator] However,

he had a number of
run-ins with the law,

and many of those
incident reports

involved sexual impropriety,

but no charges were ever filed.

Police quickly gather
information on Terrence Miller.

He was accused of sex crimes
several times in his life,

some of those times
with family members.

And he lived just five miles
away from the wooded area

where Jody Loomis
is found in 1972.

Police stake out Miller's home

where he and his wife of 43
years operate a ceramics shop.

- They're hoping he will leave
a sample of his DNA behind,

so they can see if it's a match

with evidence they already have.

- [Narrator] August, 2018.

Police conduct surveillance
on Terrence Miller,

hoping he will leave
behind a piece of DNA

that will fully match
the DNA from Jody's boot.

- Police are desperate to
acquire DNA from this suspect,

hair, saliva, anything,

and he will not give
it up willingly.

- He probably knows
he's being followed

and they're after his DNA.

He's gotta be
sweating over that.

He can't leave DNA
evidence behind.

- [Narrator] For
Jody Loomis's family,

time is of the essence.

- My mom got to know

that they were going
to be making an arrest

and that it was close,

and the detective had
that time with her

to let her know that he was
working as fast as he could

and getting as much done.

- Her mom was disabled
and bedridden.

I can recall going there and
talking to them several times

prior to the point where
we could get it solved.

It was important to let her know

that we were working on the
case and it wasn't forgotten.

- [Narrator] Sadly,

Rosemary Loomis would
pass away in January, 2019

at the age of 91.

- I felt really bad that we
weren't able to go and tell her,

hey, he's behind bars.

Jana had told her mom
that it's getting close,

so her mom, I think, was
at peace when she died.

- We didn't make it to
the arrest with my mom,

but it was enough
for her to know

that they were narrowing it
in and that it would be made.

- [Narrator] It won't be

until Terrence
visits a local casino

that he slips up and
leaves them a sample

of biological material.

- You want to get
your best DNA evidence

from something that
has saliva on it

'cause there's a lot
of good DNA in saliva.

- All scientists need
is less than a gram

of genetic material.

We're talking a number of cells,

and it can be from dead
skin, dried saliva,

or anything from
a person's body.

The dried saliva from a
coffee cup can be used

to identify the person
who's been drinking from it.

- [Narrator] Now that
they have a DNA sample

from Terrence Miller,

they send it back to
the lab for analysis

to ensure it matches the
DNA extracted from the boot

and to answer the question,

is Terrence Miller
Jody Loomis's killer?

As police await results
of the DNA analysis,

they continue
their investigation

with a visit by
undercover detectives

to the Miller residence.

Inside the ceramics shop,

there are stacks of
newspapers used to wrap items.

A number of newspapers
contained stories

about violent crimes,

specifically about DNA
evidence and cold cases.

But one newspaper
laying out on the table

gets the attention
of law enforcement.

- It's a newspaper from
seven months earlier

with a headline about
a previous arrest made

using genetic genealogy.

- [Narrator] Using
genetic genealogy,

Snohomish County sheriffs
arrest William Talbott

for the unsolved 1987
rape and double murder

of a young Canadian couple,

Tanya Van Cuylenburg
and Jay Cook.

- In the 1987 case,

Tanya is shot in the
head after being raped.

Police use DNA
from a semen stain

and match it to DNA
discarded by Talbott

more than 30 years later.

- We had undercover detectives
go into his wife's business

to try to see what
they could learn

that could connect
him to Jody's crime

and they found that newspaper
sitting out on a table

in her ceramic business.

He held onto that
for seven months,

knowing that we had the
tools that could catch him.

- The Golden State
Killer pleads guilty,

so a court has never
tried and convicted

using evidence from
genetic genealogy.

Prosecutors are in uncharted
territory with this case.

- [Narrator] With the saliva
DNA on the coffee cup,

matching the DNA on the boot,

detective Sharp is confident

that Terrence Miller
is the killer.

In April,

a judge issues a warrant for
the arrest of Terrence Miller.

Now 77 years old,

he's charged with
first-degree murder.

- After I arrested him,

I found out that he had
been on a bowling league

with my brother for
six or seven years.

So it finally hit home

that here I had been on
Washington's most wanted,

telling Terry Miller
that I had his DNA

and I'm coming after him.

And he's going to bowling
every Monday night

looking at my brother's face
that looks similar to mine,

knowing that that guy's
brother is after me.

I hope he lost a lot
of sleep over that.

- Rosemary Loomis
dies just three months

before Miller is arrested.

Terrence Miller tells police
he didn't know Jody Loomis.

- Innocent until proven guilty.

This case is 47 years old.

The accused denies everything

and prosecutors are using
unprecedented technology.

This case is far from over.

- [Narrator] And a disturbing
event during the trial

will send shockwaves
through everyone involved.

(suspenseful music)

Using DNA from a
discarded coffee cup,

Snohomish County
sheriffs believe

they have the man responsible

for the rape and
murder of Jody Loomis,

47 years earlier.

(gun shooting)

They matched the DNA

with a semen stain
found on the boot

Jody was wearing the day
she was killed in 1972.

Terrence Miller's wife
of 43 years looks on

as her husband is charged
with first-degree murder.

He's free on a
million-dollar bond.

- At this point,

Terrence Miller is 77 years old

and not considered
a flight risk,

especially not with
the bail set so high.

- By the time the case
against Terrence Miller

goes to trial,

William Talbott is
found guilty of murder

and a precedent is set.

That's hopeful news
for prosecutors,

but the burden on the
prosecution is still huge.

There's a mountain
to climb here.

- [Narrator] While
the prosecution

brings forward its evidence,

the defense points out
that the burden of proof

is on prosecutors to prove
beyond a reasonable doubt

that Terrence Miller is guilty.

The defense questions the
integrity of the entire case,

suggesting that
there's not enough

to convict Terrence
Miller of the crime.

- The job of the
defense attorney

is to poke holes in
the prosecution's case.

With key pieces of
evidence missing,

be it from willful
destruction of the evidence

or things being lost
as they're rearranged,

these are holes in the case
the prosecution must overcome

to get a guilty verdict.

The prosecution
basically tells the jury

that science doesn't lie.

They show the DNA evidence
from the boot to the coffee cup

and how they made the match,

and then let the jury decide.

- [Narrator] November, 2020.

Both sides complete
their closing arguments

and the jury deliberates.

But Terrence Miller takes
justice into his own hands

just hours before the jury
is expected to come back

with its verdict.

- The trial ended on a Friday

and the jury went
out to deliberate.

I think he saw the
handwriting on the wall

that Monday he was
gonna be found guilty.

So that Monday morning
before he came to court,

he went into the backyard

and somewhere he'd
gotten a 22 revolver

and shot himself in the head

(gun shooting)

instead of coming to
court to be found guilty.

- We were getting ready
to go in the courtroom

and one of the
detectives walked in

and had this funny look
on her face and she said,

"I've got some news to tell you.

And Terry Miller won't be there,

he just took his
life this morning."

- Immediately law
enforcement wonder,

could this 22-caliber
pistol be the murder weapon

used way back in 1972?

It's a gun that Miller owns,

but in order to know,

you have to examine the bullet
removed from Jody's head

and that bullet has been lost.

- The jury is
already deliberating

at the time of Terrence
Miller's suicide.

So in an unusual move,

the judge decides to allow
them to come to a verdict

without telling them that
the accused is already dead.

- [Narrator] Unaware that
Terrence Miller is dead,

the jury comes back with a
verdict the very next day.

They find him guilty
of first-degree murder.

- They let the jury,

without knowing that
he'd murdered himself,

let them make the decision,

and he was found guilty.

At least our family
was able to hear that.

I'm glad that the jury was
able to make their decision.

- Getting a conviction
using genetic genealogy

is still a new technique,

but becoming more wildly
accepted in courts.

There are now dozens of
cases being prosecuted

using this approach.

- Using genetic genealogy
to locate a suspect

and then confirming it

with two DNA samples taken
nearly a half a century apart

is a huge step
for investigators.

It shows there is no
time limit on justice.

- [Narrator] Genetic genealogy,

it's another tool in the
arsenal for investigators.

For the family of Jody Loomis,

it brings a piece of
closure on a tragedy

that left a 50-year scar.

- The one thing
that Jody would want

is to give other cold
case families hope.

I think that would be
Jody's biggest drive.

- The only way I think
you can have closure

is if you could bring
Jody Loomis back

and give her back to her family.

All you can do as an
investigator is do your best

to find out the truth,

to hold the person
responsible for the crime,

and to allow the family
to have some answers.

We do this work to give
the family some answers

and peace of mind

'cause I don't think you can
ever really give 'em closure.

- [Narrator] With the DNA on
the boot that Jody was wearing

when she was found

and the DNA on the coffee cup

that Miller casually tossed out,

the rape and murder of Jody
Loomis is finally solved.

- Seeing that boot again,

it was like, okay, yeah,

it doesn't look
quite, you know what?

It aged a lot.

To see it again and
to hold that boot

and to know that so many
things in Jody's case,

so many things have
been lost along the way.

This person's no longer alive.

And then all of a sudden, the
boot is what saved the day.

(suspenseful music)