WEBVTT - The Murder Years: Ep. 5 - Victoria 0:00:01.960 --> 0:00:05.400 This series is inspired by true events. The stories you're 0:00:05.440 --> 0:00:08.400 about to hear are fictional, and so are the characters 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:11.920 who are played by actors. 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:19.160 Principal Palumbo here, remember Valentine's Day is Friday, and today's 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:23.120 the last day of carnation sales one dollar a carnation, 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:27.040 and the proceeds go to help fund the concert choir's 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:28.920 trip to Nationals. 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:33.720 After Charlotte Murphy's murder at the ice cream shop, it 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:37.160 was nice to have a distraction like Valentine's Day, even 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.400 though it could be pretty stressful. At Mount Pine High School, 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:43.440 a person's popularity can be basically measured by how many 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:45.640 carnations they get on Valentine's Day. 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:49.240 Valentine's Day was all about the carnation. 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:54.040 Back in nineteen eighty six, sixteen year old Lauren Collins 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:59.040 is a junior like us. She's the stereotypical varsity cheerleader. Today, 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.120 Lauren live in Houston and is the manager at a 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:03.520 high end hotel and spa. 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:07.160 It was not only about who I'm buying carnations for, 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:12.000 but who was buying carnations for me? And the colors 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:15.480 set it all white for friendship, pink for a secret 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:17.920 crush and red for love. 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:23.280 Of course, this Valentine's Day, I'm wondering how many carnations 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:25.440 all get from my new boyfriend Ethan. 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:27.040 Today. 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:30.000 He's a fifty two year old divorce attorney, and of 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:31.679 course he's divorced. 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:36.160 My clan was to make it a very romantic Valentine's 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:40.320 Day for Nancy. But man, we had no idea it 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:57.120 would be a bloody Valentine. 0:01:58.000 --> 0:01:59.000 I'm Nancy Clark. 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:03.880 This is The Murder Years, episode five, Victoria. 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:12.520 Finally, it was Friday, Valentine's Day. Flowers were going to 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:14.760 be coming to our homeroom class. 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:17.840 Tatiana and I were always in the same homeroom, so 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:21.160 we got to experience the carnations thing together every year. 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.480 I checked my diary. Of course, I wrote it down. 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:28.360 I got six white ones and one red one from 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:29.040 my boyfriend. 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:31.680 I was pissed he only got me one. 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:37.239 I got five white carnations and ten red ones. Ethan 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:42.600 did good. But Lauren, the cheerleader, well, Lauren cleaned up. 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:48.440 I got something like thirty carnations. It was kind of crazy. 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:52.480 We carried the flowers around all day and everyone took 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.640 note of who got the most. You know, sure, I 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:58.839 know It sounds dumb now, but it was very important then. 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:04.160 The plan for that night is Ethan and I are 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.280 double dating with Tatiana and her boyfriend. We all go 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:10.440 to China Buffet, then to the Valentine's dance at school. 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:12.840 At the end of the night, Ethan and I have 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.440 a pretty good makeout session in his car while Tatiana 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:19.680 and her date are still dancing, and then Ethan drops 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.240 me and Tatiana off at her house for a sleepover. 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:26.519 We're way too hyper asleep, so we're up for hours 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:29.880 talking about dinner and the dance, and then. 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:30.840 We hear something. 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:36.960 It sounds like screams, blood curling, screams. 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:38.280 Nine one one, what's your emergency? 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:41.280 Oh my god, my daughter she's gone. 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:47.120 Oh my god, my daughter is gone. 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.320 It's around two am when Mount Pine police arrive at 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.040 the Blue and White ranch house on Allendale Lane, three 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:59.560 doors down from Tatiana's house. We're outside watching everything. On 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.120 the front we see Dorothy Brown and her fourteen year 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:06.880 old son, Donnie. Dorothy is sobbing while Donnie nervously swings 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:08.680 a baseball bat and paces the lawn. 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.440 I arrived at a very chaotic. 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:16.479 Scene back in nineteen eighty six. Detective Marcia Thompson is 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:20.200 a four year veteran of Mount PINEPDE. Today she's an 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:23.960 investigator in the Prosecutor's office. She told me she would 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:26.119 only talk to me if she could find her notes 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:27.279 and review them first. 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:29.839 Thankfully she did so. 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:33.560 Yes, I was first informed that thirteen year old Victoria 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:38.440 Brown was missing, and as we know, every second counts 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:39.560 when there's an abduction. 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:44.400 People in town know the Brown family. Sadly, they're no 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:48.479 strangers to tragedy. Dorothy's husband died in a horrible car 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:51.719 accident six years before and now this. 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:57.760 So because we had a missing girl, we cordoned off 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.919 the area until the canine unit from the county arrived. 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:08.239 I tried to talk to Dorothy outside. She was hysterical, understandably, 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:12.200 so she told me everything was normal up until then. 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:17.360 She got home from work. She worked at Ridgemont nursing Home. 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:22.760 She made dinner and a heart shaped pink duncan Heine's 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:27.840 cake for the kids. Around seven point thirty, Victoria came 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:29.360 home from her friend's house. 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:31.520 She was in a good mood. 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:34.360 She didn't have dinner because she had already eaten at 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:38.039 her friends, but she did have a lot of cake, 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:42.120 which then turned into a belly ache, so she went 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:47.360 to her room and fell asleep. Donnie got home around nineish, 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:52.400 ate cake and played Autari until around eleven pm, then 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:56.120 he went to bed. Dorothy said she got up from 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.640 bed at one forty five to get a drink, and 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:03.600 when she she got close to Victoria's room, she noticed 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:07.400 the door was open and cold air was blowing into 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:13.320 the hallway. She went into her room and Victoria was gone. 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.880 I asked if she heard anything prior to realizing Victoria 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:23.080 was missing, and she said no. She thought she heard 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:27.000 a male voice earlier, and she thought she heard some commotion, 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:30.560 but she was half asleep and thought she was dreaming. 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:36.080 She says she's a pretty heavy sleeper. Donnie fell asleep 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.200 listening to his walk man, so he didn't hear anything. 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:43.880 About fifteen minutes after Detective Thompson speaks with Dorothy, the 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:48.080 canine unit arrives, led by Officer Dixon, an expert with dogs. 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.320 When Me and Copper arrived, we learned a young girl 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:52.279 was missing. 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:54.080 In nineteen eighty six. 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:57.799 Canine Officer Charles Dixon is on his third dog, Copper. 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:00.679 One of the things that makes it, So we're easy 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.760 for a canine to follow. A scent is the adrenaline 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:07.719 rush accentuates, So why don't you start the doll on 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:11.360 a particular scent. He'll follow that sent until he either 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:15.800 finds it or losing. Window was opening the girl's bedroom, 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:18.200 and the police believed she was taking out that window. 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.880 So that's where we start. Right away, Copper tractor sent 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:24.520 from that window, and I followed. 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:26.640 Officer Dixon says. 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:29.000 Copper led him to the bottom of the muddy hill 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:33.960 about fifty yards behind Victoria's house. There they find her 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:37.000 partially clothed, beaten body. 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:40.239 Oh, it was a very upsetting site. I mean, of course, 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:44.040 the worst case scenario, I'd hope Copper would help us 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:47.800 find Victoria alive, or you know, at least lead us 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.440 to a suspect. Of the two of them. Victoria's adrenaline 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:55.280 was stronger than the suspects, and unfortunately we were just 0:07:55.360 --> 0:08:02.240 too late. We set word back to Detective Thompson that 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:06.320 we found the victim again. 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:08.480 Detective Marcia Thompson. 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:12.960 I mean, it was just awful news. And her body 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:16.320 was found so close to her house and with her 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:20.880 mother and brother right there. When I told Dorothy the 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:25.200 tragic news. She was in shock and insisted on seeing 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:28.520 her daughter with her own eyes. I tried to talk 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:31.040 her out of it, but she demanded to see her. 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:34.480 So we walked. 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:37.600 Down the hill, and I mean you could see her 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:38.920 body in the distance. 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:40.440 God. 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:46.000 When we got there, the officer proved back the sheet 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:51.760 and Dorothy collapsed. She fainted. Thankfully, there were paramedics on 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:52.800 scene to help her. 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:58.520 It's hard to believe Tatiana and I are right there 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:01.680 watching this tragedy full of before our own eyes. 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:07.800 I could not believe my sweet neighbor had been murdered. 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:13.120 She was such a nice, nice girl. My babysat her 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:18.360 a few times when her mom would run to the store. Honestly, 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:20.720 this one just about broke me. 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:27.960 Dorothy, Donnie, and Victoria's grandparents are eventually escorted to the 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:28.640 police station. 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:34.120 I had to refresh my memory with the police reports 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:38.920 about what happened next. Once the family left the scene, 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:43.319 I entered the house. I'll read you some of it, 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:46.600 it says. I walked in the front door. There appeared 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:50.720 to be no signs of forced entry. The living room 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:55.000 looked undisturbed. To the right was the kitchen, which also 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:58.880 looked undisturbed. On the table, there was a heart shaped 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:03.240 cake that I said, I love you, but most of 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:11.840 the cake had been eaten. Yeah, that cake hurt my heart. Anyway, 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:13.200 I'll keep reading. 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:14.719 I made my. 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:18.600 Way to Victoria's bedroom and it was cold because the 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:19.880 window was wide open. 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:20.840 It was February. 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:26.800 Victoria's room was a typical preteen girls room, posters of 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:31.720 Michael J. Fox from Teen Wolf, The Goonies, and Whitney Houston. 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:36.880 I remember when I walked closer to her bed, I 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:41.480 saw blood droplets which led to the open window, and 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:45.320 the drapes had been pulled down. That made me think 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:49.559 that Victoria was fighting her abductor as she was being 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:53.760 taken out of the house. I wasn't sure how the 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:57.480 perpetrator got in, but I was pretty sure how they left. 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:02.520 Hoped we'd be able to get some usable prints from 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:06.760 the window sill. 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:09.480 At the station, Victoria's family sits in one of the 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:12.439 interview rooms waiting for Detective Thompson to arrive. 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:17.280 Asking the family to talk about it with me so 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:21.640 soon after seemed cruel, but we couldn't waste any time, 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:25.560 so I asked, could they think of anyone who would 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:30.840 have wanted who may have wanted to hurt Victoria. Dorothy 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:34.840 and the grandparents said no, absolutely not. They couldn't think 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.000 of a soul who would want to hurt Victoria. They 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:42.240 said she was the most wonderful girl. She was kind 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:48.480 a good student, and she loved animals. But then fourteen 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:52.800 year old Donnie spoke, I can play the audio tape 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:54.480 part of his interview for you. 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.680 Yeah, Victoria told me someone was giving her a weird feeling. 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:05.360 She says she didn't like being alone with him. She 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:08.960 said it was someone in our family. 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:24.800 Thirteen year old Victoria Brown was abducted from her bedroom 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:29.480 in her own house, beaten, sexually assaulted, and murdered. Her mom, Dorothy, 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.760 her fourteen year old brother, Donnie, and their grandparents are 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:36.320 at the Mount Pine Police station talking with Detective Marcia Thompson. 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:42.040 And Donnie just dropped a bomb. Here's more of his 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:43.240 audio taped interview. 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:47.080 My sister told me that she had a strange feeling 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:54.040 being around. Someone asked for who, and she just looked down. 0:12:55.920 --> 0:13:02.200 I asked her what that meant. Said she didn't like 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:08.440 the way this man looked at her, touched her. It 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:13.600 made her feel weird. She said, he gave her the 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:17.160 creeps and she didn't want to be along with him. 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:24.240 I asked her again who she was talking about. She 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:28.480 said it was uncle Martin. 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:37.439 Well, everyone started talking at once. Dorothy was yelling at Donnie. 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:41.719 Why didn't he ever say anything? The grandparents insisted there 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:45.400 was no way Martin would do anything to a young girl. 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:48.880 I had to call in another detective to help me 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:50.000 calm things down. 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:57.199 Martin Brown is Dorothy's brother in law, her late husband's brother. 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:00.720 He works at the Junior High School as a security guard. 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:05.320 That's where Victoria went to school. Around five am, police 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:07.440 go to Martin Brown's home and ask him to come 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:10.560 down to the station and he does, here's Martin. 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:12.120 Yeah. 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:14.760 When the officers came to my door, I was getting 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:18.199 ready to go to bed. They told me my niece 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.880 was found dead and I was like, what, Victoria's dead. 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.920 But it wasn't just that they were notifying me. They 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:29.000 wanted me to come to the station with them. I 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:32.200 had no idea why. I thought maybe they thought I 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.040 could help find the killer. It was also hard to 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:38.640 process Victoria is dead and they want to talk to 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:39.400 me about it. 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:46.480 When Martin Brown arrived, I remember he looked disheveled. In 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:49.440 my notes, I wrote what he was wearing a light 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:55.040 blue work shirt, khakis, and work boots. He looked nervous, 0:14:55.240 --> 0:15:01.000 but he also looked confused. I told him what happened Victoria, 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:04.600 purposefully leaving a lot of details out. 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:07.480 She got very upset. 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.640 I then wanted to know about his relationship with Victoria. 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:15.440 I told the detective we had a typical uncle nice relationship. 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:18.880 I supported her and everything she did. I went to 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.880 all of her soccer games. I stepped into a surrogate 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:25.960 father role after her dad, my brother died. 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:29.640 I then told him what Victoria had shared with her 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:34.000 brother Donnie, that she felt uncomfortable with him. 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.480 I asked him why he thought that would be. 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:41.720 I had no idea why Victoria would have said that, 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.520 and I was hurt that she felt that way. I'd 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:49.320 never done anything to a child, any child. I never 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:52.960 did anything to her. I wouldn't and couldn't. I mean, 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:57.920 come on, I had a daughter myself around the same age. 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:02.120 I had no answers for the detective. I did know 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:06.160 one thing. I didn't kill my niece. I loved her, 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:10.440 and I told the detective. I worked that night. I 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:13.640 worked security at the high school Valentine's Day dance, so 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:17.800 a lot of people saw me there. The dance ended 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:21.240 around eleven, but I was there until everyone cleaned up 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:24.800 and left. That was around midnight. Then I went home. 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.440 I told the detective I got home around twelve thirty, 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:33.320 and my wife could verify that, and the janitorial staff 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:35.840 could verify how late that I was at the school. 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:41.200 I didn't do it. I really wanted her to stop 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.160 asking me questions so I could go be with Victoria's 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:45.360 mom and brother. 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:50.920 So I had to verify his whereabouts, and I hoped 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:52.720 for this family's sake. 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:53.960 It all checked out. 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:00.960 By Sunday morning, police finished processing the scene. They dust 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:04.000 for fingerprints and take pictures both inside the house and 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:07.600 where Victoria's body was found outside, and they find no 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:12.000 signs of force entry. Tatiana and I never get to 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.600 sleep that night. When police come to her house, we 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:17.560 tell them what we know, which isn't much actually, just 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.359 that we heard screams sometime before two am, but that 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:25.760 was it. We didn't see anything at all. I feel 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:29.520 so bad that was happening so close to us and 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:33.040 we didn't know. We just didn't know, or we could 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:33.560 have helped. 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:53.400 I'm outside the home of an unthinkable crime which took 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:57.560 place last night. Thirteen year old Victoria Brown was abducted 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:00.040 from her own home and dragged out of. 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:01.200 Her bedroom window. 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:05.440 She was murdered and her body was found only fifty 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:10.439 yards behind her house. Police have no suspects yet some 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:14.080 of the families in the neighborhood worry this young girl 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:18.120 might be the victim of a serial killer who's been 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:22.320 terrorizing the Midwest for years. 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:31.200 So, starting back in the late seventies, the Midwest child 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.840 killer murdered four little girls, ranging in ages from. 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:35.520 Five to eight. 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:41.320 Now, those victims weren't from Mount Pine. One victim was 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:46.120 from our state, the others were from neighboring states. Yes, 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.679 some details were similar to what happened in the Brown case. 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:52.920 The killer would come in the house through an unlocked 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:57.399 window or door, usually during the summer months, abduct the 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:01.240 child always girls, and make them away from the house, 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:04.840 where he would sexually assault them and stab them to death. 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:10.879 Because there were some similarities, we called the FBI and 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:14.439 they said they'd send a team. Sure, we thought it 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:18.080 would be the same killer, or it could be a copycat, 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:24.639 or there could be no connection. Whatsoever. Personally, I didn't 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:27.960 think it was the Midwest killer. This case occurred in 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:31.760 the winter, Victoria was older than the other victims, and 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:36.880 the Brown House was locked up. No closer to finding 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:38.240 Victoria Brown's killer. 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:40.879 We called a press conference. 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:52.680 That Sunday night. There's a vigil outside the Brown's home. 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:56.600 I swear the whole town turns out. Even though I 0:19:56.640 --> 0:19:59.280 didn't know Victoria, I mean, she was three years younger 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:02.040 than me, didn't matter. It felt like we had lost 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:03.720 one of our own family members. 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:09.600 My heart broke for missus Brown and Donnie. My mom 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:12.320 brought dinner over that night. I mean, we didn't know 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:13.160 what else we could do. 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:18.960 I wanted to go hug them. Instead, we just hugged 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:19.400 each other. 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:23.439 Detective Marsha Thompson is also at the vigil. 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:29.359 I kept scanning the crowd for anything or any one strange. 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:34.280 I didn't see anything that piqued my interest or looked suspicious. 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:46.800 It was so sad that poor, poor family. The next day, 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:50.880 it was a Monday, the coroner's office called with some 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:59.080 important information. Victoria's cause of death was strangulation. In my 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:02.240 notes from that it says I went back and reread 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:06.199 the interview I conducted, and the interviews the other the 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:11.000 other officers had conducted. It was then I noticed a 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:14.399 detail that didn't stand out to me before. It was 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:17.480 from an officer who attempted to talk to the residents 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:23.280 of eighteen seventy four Allendale Lane, seven houses down from 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:29.479 the Browns. The officer's notes stated, I knocked on the door, 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:34.440 but no one answered. I thought I heard some sounds inside, 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:40.800 so I knocked again again, no answer. I decided to 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:43.959 go to that house and try again to talk to 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:45.359 whoever lived there. 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:47.919 I knocked on the door. 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:53.119 The door opened with only a crack, and a man 0:21:53.359 --> 0:21:56.280 with salt and pepper hair was standing in the living room. 0:21:56.800 --> 0:22:01.480 I asked him his name. He asked why. Why, then 0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:03.480 said I'm Frank Hartford. 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:05.240 I'm Frank Hartford. 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.520 Back in nineteen eighty six. Frank Hartford is a middle 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:11.760 aged truck driver. He's tall and burly, with a raspy 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:14.960 cigarette voice, a little rough around the edges, is putting 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:15.520 it nicely. 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:18.400 I asked him if I could come in and ask 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:22.800 him some questions, but he told me, in no uncertain terms, no, 0:22:23.280 --> 0:22:25.640 without a search warrant, I couldn't come in. 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:27.639 Then he abruptly closed the door. 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:32.680 I don't know how to explain it, but I had 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:37.520 a feeling. I had a bad feeling about him, so 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:41.280 I went back to run a Frank Hartford through the system. 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:45.520 Detective Thompson learns the house on Allendale Lane belonged to 0:22:45.560 --> 0:22:49.640 Frank's mother, who died two years before, and Frank's got 0:22:49.640 --> 0:22:53.000 a criminal record. He had a domestic violence charge, which 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:55.679 was dropped in an animal cruelty charge for which he 0:22:55.720 --> 0:22:59.000 pleaded guilty. He paid a fine and got probation. 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:03.040 I did some more digging and learned that Frank Hartford 0:23:03.119 --> 0:23:07.280 had a fifteen year old son named Stephen. I called 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:11.320 Dorothy Brown, Victoria's mother, to see if she knew anything 0:23:11.320 --> 0:23:16.760 about Frank or Stephen Hartford. Her reaction said everything. 0:23:26.440 --> 0:23:30.160 Mount Pine Police Detective Marcia Thompson is investigating the murder 0:23:30.160 --> 0:23:32.320 of thirteen year old Victoria Brown. 0:23:33.560 --> 0:23:36.280 I called Victoria's mother, Dorothy, to see if she knew 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:40.240 either Frank or Stephen Hartford who lived down the street, 0:23:40.440 --> 0:23:45.400 and she said yes. Four months prior to her daughter's murder, 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:50.000 she caught the son, Stephen, breaking into a car and 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:55.240 she called the police on him. Dorothy asked, you don't 0:23:55.280 --> 0:23:57.840 think he had anything to do with Victoria, do you? 0:23:59.320 --> 0:24:02.040 I told her I was going to investigate some more. 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:07.040 When I hung up with Dorothy, I dove back into 0:24:07.080 --> 0:24:11.600 our system and there was the car incident. Stephen Hartford 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:16.119 was arrested by juvenile detectives for breaking and entering in 0:24:16.160 --> 0:24:20.120 a car and stealing the radio. He spent two months 0:24:20.160 --> 0:24:23.639 locked up in juvie and it's on his permanent record. 0:24:24.480 --> 0:24:30.000 He's still on probation. I wondered was there a connection. 0:24:31.240 --> 0:24:35.119 Was Stephen upset with Dorothy for turning him in, but 0:24:36.200 --> 0:24:37.200 to murder. 0:24:36.880 --> 0:24:42.160 Her daughter over it? That seems pretty severe. 0:24:42.440 --> 0:24:44.920 Fifteen year old Stephen Hartford is in the same grade 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:49.040 as Donnie, Victoria's older brother. Donnie and Stephen aren't friends, 0:24:49.560 --> 0:24:52.040 but they ride the same bus to and from school. 0:24:54.240 --> 0:24:57.159 I asked Donnie about Stephen, but he really didn't know 0:24:57.320 --> 0:25:00.480 much about him. He didn't have any information that could 0:25:00.520 --> 0:25:03.480 help us. I knew what I had was thin, but 0:25:03.560 --> 0:25:09.040 it was basically a hunch, but a possible motive. So 0:25:09.119 --> 0:25:12.360 I went to the prosecutor anyway, hoping we could get 0:25:12.400 --> 0:25:16.199 a search warrant for the Hartford home based on the 0:25:16.240 --> 0:25:21.520 position of Victoria's body. We've believed that the perpetrator spent 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:25.120 some time on his knees, so we were searching for 0:25:25.280 --> 0:25:28.320 a pair of pants with dirt on the knees, and 0:25:28.400 --> 0:25:30.720 of course any clothes with blood. 0:25:32.160 --> 0:25:35.280 Police spend four hours searching the Hartford house but can't 0:25:35.280 --> 0:25:39.480 find anything incriminating. Then in an old beat up freezer 0:25:39.520 --> 0:25:41.040 in the garage they do. 0:25:43.080 --> 0:25:46.840 We found a bag of clothes. There was a sweater 0:25:47.119 --> 0:25:51.240 with what looked like blood particles. There was also a 0:25:51.240 --> 0:25:55.000 pair of jeans with what looked like blood and on 0:25:55.040 --> 0:25:58.200 the knees dried mud or dirt. 0:25:59.680 --> 0:26:02.119 In the bag were socks and tennis shoes. 0:26:02.200 --> 0:26:05.320 Those two had blood on them and the bottom of 0:26:05.359 --> 0:26:09.560 the shoes they were caked in mud. And all those 0:26:09.600 --> 0:26:14.439 clothes we found belonged to Stephen Hartford. In order to 0:26:14.520 --> 0:26:18.040 arrest Stephen Hartford, we needed to know if the blood 0:26:18.080 --> 0:26:23.200 on the clothes was victorious. Now, remember this was before DNA, 0:26:24.280 --> 0:26:27.639 so we would just match the blood type. 0:26:28.520 --> 0:26:32.560 During this time, police units have Stephen Hartford under surveillance. 0:26:33.080 --> 0:26:35.399 They don't want him fleeing or committing another crime. 0:26:35.960 --> 0:26:41.520 Several long days later, the results came back. Victoria's blood 0:26:41.560 --> 0:26:45.600 type matched what was found on Stephen's sweater, jeans, socks, 0:26:45.880 --> 0:26:46.520 and shoes. 0:26:48.720 --> 0:26:52.080