S29.E30: Blood In The Sand

[ari333]

This one was really chilling.

[partofme]

I never knew criminalists tested their own semen.   I'm convinced the guy who killed himself is innocent.    Sucks how they ruined his life.

Edited May 2, 2016 by partofme

[psychoticstate]

The San Diego PD are crazy to think the two deaths aren't related - - both teen girls, both attacked in the same location, both with the same wounds to their breasts.  I think they want to put Claire's death on the criminalist and there was no way he could have had anything to do with the first murder.  Just sad all around.

[UsernameFatigue]

I remember seeing this story on another show - Dateline or 20/20? I am glad the widow of the criminalist is suing the police department. Their only evidence is a tiny amount of semen on a swab from someone who worked where the evidence was being tested, and it was known that cross contamination happened in those days? I hope she wins a boat load of money, not that that will help the poor guy who was thrown under the bus so that the department could close the case. Disgusting.

[txhorns79]

Quote

The San Diego PD are crazy to think the two deaths aren't related - - both teen girls, both attacked in the same location, both with the same wounds to their breasts.  I think they want to put Claire's death on the criminalist and there was no way he could have had anything to do with the first murder. 

I don't know if both are related, or just have superficial similarities that make them appear related.  With the first incident, it was a couple being attacked during an overnight camp out.  From how they described the guy's injuries, it sounds as though the killer (or killers) left him for dead.  With the second incident, it was a lone girl who was attacked, likely earlier in the evening.        

Having said all that, it does sound as if the police developed tunnel vision with the criminalist and the second killing.  Unless there is significant evidence 48 Hours left out of their reporting, there only appeared to be a rather weak case against the guy. 

[walnutqueen]

9 hours ago, psychoticstate said:

The San Diego PD are crazy to think the two deaths aren't related - - both teen girls, both attacked in the same location, both with the same wounds to their breasts.  I think they want to put Claire's death on the criminalist and there was no way he could have had anything to do with the first murder.  Just sad all around.

The blood found on Hough's jeans belonged to Tatro (also deceased), a convicted rapist who was in jail at the time of the first murder of Nantais, so he couldn't have committed both crimes.

This is a troubling story for many reasons, including the San Diego PD's track record, sloppy forensic procedures of the time and the creepy as fuck 'criminalist' who acted guilty as hell.  Lots of locals didn't believe his wife, either.  Tragically, we will probably never know the truth about either of these cases.

[stillhere1900]

How did the criminalist own semen get on the swab ? Was he testing his own semen? if yes, why ?

[biakbiak]

They said that it was common back then for criminalists used their own semen as a control sample so it was in the lab. 

Edited May 5, 2016 by biakbiak

[ari333]

On ‎5‎/‎5‎/‎2016 at 1:44 AM, biakbiak said:

They said that it was common back then for criminalists used their own semen as a control sample so it was in the lab. 

yikes

[txhorns79]

In the episode, it was mentioned that Brown's widow had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against SFPD detectives.  She had alleged that detectives recklessly disregarded the obvious explanation that the DNA sample had been contaminated due to the practices in the lab at the time.  She also noted that despite months of investigation, no connection was ever established between Ron Tatro (the rapist whose DNA was also found at the scene) and Kevin Brown.  She also alleged that the police wrongly held onto items seized from the Brown house, despite knowing they had no connection to the crime, which drove her already depressed and anxious husband over the edge, since he believed the return of the items would signal the end of the case.  The trial was in February 2020, and she won.