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Forensic Files

Bound For Jail

Forensic Files

HLN

True Crime, Society & Culture

4.43.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2019

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A woman is found dead in a ravine near a jogging path. Crucial crime scene evidence had been washed away by severe thunderstorms. Then, almost 20 years later, two pieces of newly-discovered evidence brought the killer to justice.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

A woman jogging along a deserted footpath in central Michigan disappeared.

0:07.0

When investigators find her body, clues at the scene point to a killer with professional training.

0:16.0

It took almost 20 years before an old hat and a chip of stainless steel no longer than a fingernail

0:24.0

brought the killer to justice.

0:31.0

On a beautiful summer day in 1986, Muriel Kirby started her day, as she always did, by meeting her daughter Jeanette for breakfast.

0:48.0

Well to me it was a very special routine, just talking over what had been going on and what was on her mind or my mind.

0:57.0

It was a very special, almost a friendship breakfast.

1:04.0

But this morning was different from the others.

1:07.0

Jeanette didn't show up and she never called or left a message.

1:13.0

Jeanette's employer said she hadn't shown up for work and she wasn't at her home either.

1:19.0

Her mother immediately notified police.

1:22.0

The 35-year-old divorcee with no children wasn't known for leaving town without notifying friends and family.

1:31.0

As night fell, the sky was dark with rain clouds and during the night, it was severe thunderstorms the worst in years.

1:41.0

I knew in my heart that Jeanette was somewhere in that storm and she needed help.

1:48.0

Jeanette was an avid walker and she often explored the secluded trails of nearby River Bend Park and undeveloped public space of more than 500 acres.

1:59.0

River Bend Park is very large. It's not what you would think of as a city park manicured and small in size.

2:09.0

The day after Jeanette disappeared, police found her car at the park.

2:15.0

A parking ticket indicated the car had been there since the day before.

2:20.0

A day-long search of the park turned up nothing. The search continued into the night.

2:27.0

I remember praying dear God, let her be alright.

2:32.0

I knew that it was wrong. Something was definitely wrong. Jeanette was too close to this family. She would never let us worry.

2:43.0

When Dawn broke the next day, police found Jeanette's body in an isolated ravine just a half mile from her car.

...

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