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Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A beautiful young mom, a

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Speaker 1: school teacher, goes out early early in the morning, around

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Speaker 1: four a m. To jog so she can get back

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Speaker 1: to take care of her tiny children and get to

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Speaker 1: work on time, not waking up a soul, including her husband.

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Speaker 1: As she leaves in the darkened morning hours for her run.

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Speaker 1: Eliza Fletcher never makes it home. She is kidnapped. I believe,

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Speaker 1: sex assaulted and murdered. In the last hours we learned

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Speaker 1: the state has announced it will seek the death penalty.

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Speaker 1: I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for

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Speaker 1: being with us here at five station and serious XM

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Speaker 1: one eleven. First of all, take a listen to our

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Speaker 1: friends WRG if it's levin.

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Speaker 2: The absolute control of this court. In this case, we

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Speaker 2: tried forty end of twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 3: But things could take a while longer as the prosecution

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Speaker 3: is asking the TBI to release more evidence, which could

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Speaker 3: lead to more time before the case goes to trial.

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Speaker 4: But what is certain and just made public.

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Speaker 3: Is the prosecution's plan to seek the death penalty if

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Speaker 3: absent Henderson were found guilty.

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Speaker 2: This return is obs indicating that to feel this with

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Speaker 2: the factory of classic murders, especially hanous, atrocious or cruel trays.

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Speaker 5: Heinous, atrocious, and cruel is a term of art, and

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Speaker 5: what it refers to is a level of violence that

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Speaker 5: goes above and beyond that necessary in order to cause

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Speaker 5: the death.

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Speaker 4: That's right.

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Speaker 1: Prosecutors announce they are seeking the death penalty for the

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Speaker 1: man accused of abducting a Memphis mom, Eliza Fleas, during

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Speaker 1: her early morning routine run, and killing her. The Shelby

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Speaker 1: County District Attorney named Steve Mulroy filed that official notice

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Speaker 1: he will seek the DP on Kleotha Abstin. Now, get this,

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Speaker 1: Cleota Abstin already had one rape charge against him that

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Speaker 1: had never been prosecuted because the rape kit sat on

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Speaker 1: a shelf at the crime lab and had not been

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Speaker 1: analyzed until after Eliza Fletcher was murdered, which leads me

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Speaker 1: to speculation if he had been prosecuted for the earlier rape,

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Speaker 1: he would likely have been behind bars because there's a

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Speaker 1: DNA match and Eliza Fletcher would be alive today. Okay,

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Speaker 1: that said, wait for it, there was another attack years

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Speaker 1: ago by this guy, Kleotha Abstin, and yet he's out

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Speaker 1: walking free.

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Speaker 4: Where did it all start?

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Speaker 6: Listen, It's been just over twelve hours since Elijah Fletcher

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Speaker 6: disappeared and multiple agencies have joined forces, and I can

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Speaker 6: tell you there's a lot of concern in the community

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Speaker 6: as time passes by.

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Speaker 4: Where is Eliza Fletcher?

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Speaker 6: That's the question many are asking across the Mid South

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Speaker 6: after investigators say that Avid Jogger was adducted.

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Speaker 7: It's very important that if anybody knows the whereabouts of

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Speaker 7: miss Fletcher to contact the police immediately.

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Speaker 6: Fletcher was jogging down Central Avenue around four point thirty

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Speaker 6: this morning when investigators say she was approached by someone

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Speaker 6: who forced her into a dark colored suv and drove off.

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Speaker 4: You don't want to hear that that's going on. We

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Speaker 4: want to find her. We don't know what's going on.

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Speaker 6: Hart Robinson is a friend of Fletcher and got the

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Speaker 6: news this morning and immediately came to the area of

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Speaker 6: Central Abbas and Zach Curling Street where she was last seen.

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Speaker 4: Where everybody's destinally looking for it.

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Speaker 1: The search was on for the missing mom of to

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Speaker 1: Eliza Fletcher. You were just hearing our friends at WRG

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Speaker 1: Channel three there were only two clues left behind.

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Speaker 6: Listen Fletcher's cell phone and a water bottle were found

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Speaker 6: in front of a home owned by the University of

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Speaker 6: Memphis and a safety alert cent to students. They say

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Speaker 6: she was reported and missing after not returning home from

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Speaker 6: her run. The suv that she was last seen in

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Speaker 6: was sponded driving westbound down Central Avenue. Multiple agencies, including

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Speaker 6: the FBI or assisting with the case, would one goal

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Speaker 6: in mind, find Eliza Fletcher.

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Speaker 7: Our concern is to locate miss Fletcher. So if anybody

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Speaker 7: knows where she's at, call the police immediately.

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Speaker 1: Really just think her life could have been spared. I

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Speaker 1: firmly believe it, and then the frantic search. Listen to

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Speaker 1: our friends at NBC.

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Speaker 8: Around seven to fifty am, roughly three hours after the abduction,

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Speaker 8: the suspect's brother and another witness telling investigators they saw

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Speaker 8: him wash his clothes in a sink and clean the

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Speaker 8: inside of the car with floor cleaner, according to an affidavit,

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Speaker 8: the brother also saying he was acting very strange that

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Speaker 8: bizarre scene allegedly unfolding less than a mile from where

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Speaker 8: police discovered the unidentified body late Monday. The affidavit also

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Speaker 8: says abstin left sandals behind authorities using DNA from those

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Speaker 8: shoes to zero in on him.

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Speaker 1: So, while the frantic search throughout the Memphis area is

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Speaker 1: ongoing for the missing mom, you see Cleota Abstin frantically

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Speaker 1: cleaning the back of his GMC, washing his clothes, and

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Speaker 1: his brothers sink. Wow, isn't that quite the coincidence? And

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Speaker 1: then the gruesome discovery our friend's wr.

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Speaker 9: A good wrenching discovery in South Memphis, as detectives confirm

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Speaker 9: a body was located a few yards away from where

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Speaker 9: Eliza Fletcher's alleged abductor came hours after her kidnapping. Monday,

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Speaker 9: Memphis police swarmed this area after finding a body in

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Speaker 9: an overgrown lot near a vacant home on Victor Street,

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Speaker 9: The scene just a stone's throw away from where Memphis

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Speaker 9: police say thirty eight year old Cleota Absent came hours

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Speaker 9: after abducting Fletcher. They believe he cleaned blood from the

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Speaker 9: interior of the suv used in the abduction and washed

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Speaker 9: his clothes, and his brothers sink.

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Speaker 10: In the past ten minutes, Memphis police confirming those new details,

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Speaker 10: saying that the body they found yesterday is that of

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Speaker 10: missing mother Eliza Fletcher, and now the man they had

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Speaker 10: in custody, already charged with her kidnapping, faces murder charges.

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Speaker 10: And this is coming just about sixteen hours after they

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Speaker 10: discovered a body here not far they said, within walking

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Speaker 10: distance to apartment complex where the thirty eight year old

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Speaker 10: Cleota Absen was seen cleaning his suv shortly after the abduction.

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Speaker 1: Our friends at Fox thirteen joining WRG when Eliza went missing,

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Speaker 1: the search ensued. You see the defendant, the suspect caught

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Speaker 1: on video just cleaning, cleaning, scrubbing, scrubbing, trying to get

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Speaker 1: rid of blood. He would need some sort of hydrochloric

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Speaker 1: acid to do that trick. It didn't work, blood throughout

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Speaker 1: his suv. And then a couple hundred yards away, the

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Speaker 1: body of Eliza Fletcher found just discarded in tall grass.

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Speaker 1: Her Lululemon running shorts found in a garbage bag not

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Speaker 1: far away, also discarded. And now today we find out

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Speaker 1: her abduction, her likely rape, her murder could have all

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Speaker 1: been avoided. How take a listen to our friends at

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Speaker 1: wat N.

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Speaker 11: The man accused of kidnapping and killing Eliza Fletcher is

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Speaker 11: facing three new criminal charges tonight. The charges are from

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Speaker 11: another case in twenty twenty one. In this case, he's

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Speaker 11: facing charges for aggravated rape, kidnapping, and unlawful possession of

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Speaker 11: a gun. Memphis Police confirm a sexual assault report was

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Speaker 11: taken on September twenty one of twenty twenty one. The

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Speaker 11: sexual assault kit was submitted to the Tennessee Bureau of

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Speaker 11: Investigations two days later on September twenty third, but that

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Speaker 11: kit was not tested until he was connected to Eliza

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Speaker 11: Fletcher's disappearance.

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Speaker 4: Did you hear that? Another aggravated kidnap and rape?

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Speaker 12: All the way back almost a year ago twenty twenty one,

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Speaker 12: a rape kit was taken, it was sent to the

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Speaker 12: Tennessee Bureau of Investigations the TBI, and not a thing

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Speaker 12: was done.

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Speaker 4: It sat on a shelf.

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Speaker 1: And in that Manila evidence bag sealed shut with the

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Speaker 1: investigators initials over it.

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Speaker 4: To maintain the chain of custody.

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Speaker 1: Was the evidence that would have put Cleova absent behind

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Speaker 1: bars at the time Eliza was kidnapped and murdered. Joining

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Speaker 1: me right now an all star panel to make sense

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Speaker 1: of what we know right now. But first I want

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Speaker 1: to go to Dave Matt Crimeoline dot Com investigative reporter Dave,

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Speaker 1: what went wrong?

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Speaker 13: Nancy.

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Speaker 14: You know, we talked about how quickly they were able

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Speaker 14: to identify the DNA of Kleotha Abstin on the slides

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Speaker 14: that they found at the kidnapping scene for Eliza Fledger.

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Speaker 14: They turned that around in less than eighteen hours from

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Speaker 14: the moment they found the slides to the moment they

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Speaker 14: identified the DNA coming from Kleiosa absince. In the case

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Speaker 14: from September twenty first, twenty twenty one, a woman reported

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Speaker 14: the rape, They did a rape kit, and forty eight

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Speaker 14: hours later, on September twenty third, the rape kit was

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Speaker 14: submitted to the TBI DNA case files. The problem is,

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Speaker 14: unless they order a rush on the DNA, it goes

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Speaker 14: into the regular file.

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Speaker 1: Just stop, no offense, Dave Matt But I really don't

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Speaker 1: want to hear that, because that is all BS. I

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Speaker 1: know you're reporting, whether TBI wants me to hear. But

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Speaker 1: when it comes to a life threatening violent crime, why

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Speaker 1: is there a wait? I pay half my paycheck every

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Speaker 1: year and have been since I was a lowly assistant

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Speaker 1: in the District Attorney's office since before that when I

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Speaker 1: worked at the library at Mercy University. Why do I

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Speaker 1: pay taxes? So Cleota Absence can walk free and murder

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Speaker 1: Eliza Fletcher, leaving her two children with no mother. You

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Speaker 1: know how much that screws a kid up forever. And

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Speaker 1: you're telling me it sounds like with a straight face

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Speaker 1: that it was in line.

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Speaker 4: To get analyzed. You know what, I don't want to

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Speaker 4: hear it.

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Speaker 1: She's dead and she endured a horrible death that sguv

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Speaker 1: was covered in blood.

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Speaker 4: I put money on it.

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Speaker 1: She was forcibly raped, likely sodomized as well. Why because

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Speaker 1: of a ligne a cue for evidence crime stories with

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Speaker 1: Nancy Grace In the last days, the District Attorney has

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Speaker 1: announced the state will seek the death penalty against Cleotha Abstin.

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Speaker 1: This guy is a one man crime wave. And I

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Speaker 1: don't mean shot lifting or stealing a car, which of course,

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Speaker 1: in themselves are crimes that need to be prosecuted. I'm

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Speaker 1: talking about violent crimes where people are hurt, they are raped,

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Speaker 1: they are assaulted, and in this case, murdered. This young

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Speaker 1: mom minding her own business, trying to get out and

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Speaker 1: jog and keep up with her schedule of taking care

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Speaker 1: of her children and getting to work. You know a

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Speaker 1: lot of people have said, why is she out so

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Speaker 1: early in the morning. You know what, you're wrong. This

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Speaker 1: woman is trying to do it all. Exercise, take care

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Speaker 1: of children, work, take care of her home, the whole shebang.

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Speaker 1: So don't even start about why is she out so

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Speaker 1: early in the morning. I get up at five o'clock

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Speaker 1: every day without fail, so I can get everything done

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Speaker 1: before I take the twins to school and get to

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Speaker 1: the studio, to get to work, go to a crime scene,

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Speaker 1: go to a courthouse.

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Speaker 4: I want to do it all.

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Speaker 1: And so did she, and now she's dead and her

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Speaker 1: children are sentenced to life without their mother. Why, according

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Speaker 1: to prosecutors, because of Cleotha Abson. So Lisa Daddy, the

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Speaker 1: director of the Center for Advanced Policing and Graduate program coordinator,

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Speaker 1: University New Haven, Lisa, could you please interpret what Dave

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Speaker 1: Matt was just trying to say.

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Speaker 7: Honestly, Nancy, the police department messed up on that one,

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Speaker 7: and you know, I really.

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Speaker 1: Will wait, wait, messed up. Let's just analyze what you

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Speaker 1: just said.

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Speaker 4: Messed up.

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Speaker 1: This is more than just messing up. They didn't fall

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Speaker 1: through the cracks. They screwed up horribly, and Eliza is

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Speaker 1: dead because they couldn't analyze a rape kit to Rachel D.

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Speaker 1: Fisher joining me Special guests, registered nurse, sex assault nurse examiner.

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Speaker 4: She's an expert witness.

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Speaker 1: She's author of Taking Back the Pen and you can

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Speaker 1: find her at legal r in consult dot org. Rachel,

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Speaker 1: did you ever get tired of he hearing about one

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Speaker 1: fail after the next? You deal with rape victims every

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Speaker 1: day and I keep screaming from the rooftops. A rape

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Speaker 1: victim is never the same like a child molestation victims. Yes,

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Speaker 1: they can go on about life, they seem like they're

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Speaker 1: having a normal life, but they're never the same after

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Speaker 1: a rape. Maybe you can say it better than me, Rachel.

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Speaker 15: Yeah, the impact that a victim has after being assaulted,

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Speaker 15: it's lifelong. It never goes away. A murder is one

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Speaker 15: thing that's the end result, but there are people living

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Speaker 15: with the effects of this for the rest of their lives.

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Speaker 15: And it comes down to the fact that jurisdictions, communities

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Speaker 15: don't put an emphasis on crimes of violence against women

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Speaker 15: are the vulnerable. These sex crimes are just tossed the side.

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Speaker 15: There's not proper funding, we don't adequately staff our law

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Speaker 15: enforcement agency their crime labs, and then the statues I

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Speaker 15: mean Tennessee, you don't even have to the law enforcement

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Speaker 15: agency does not even have to turn over the kit

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Speaker 15: until sixty days to the crime lab. So the statutes

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Speaker 15: are showing, Okay, there's not a priority. What can happen

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Speaker 15: in sixty days. A lot can happen. Other rates can happen.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, like Eliza Fletcher can get murdered. And you know

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Speaker 1: another thing, Rachel D. Fisher, who is a rape sex

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Speaker 1: assault nurse examiner. It's a very very specialized area. I

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Speaker 1: wonder what that says to the rape victim. Like Klotha

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Speaker 1: Absten's other rape victim. I mean, we already know of

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Speaker 1: one when he was nearing adulthood, this one in September

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. I wonder how that rape victim felt

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Speaker 1: when she would call and say what status of my

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Speaker 1: brutal rape case? And she said, oh and she hears, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: Well it's in the queue. It's like you're at Target

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Speaker 1: and there's a long line, or are at Kroger on

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Speaker 1: the line wraps around the cash register. Uh huh. No,

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Speaker 1: she's not buying a dozen apples. She's trying to find

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Speaker 1: out about her rape case that forever altered her life,

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Speaker 1: and she gets told, yeah, you're in the line, they'll

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Speaker 1: analyze it. Meanwhile, this guy is walking free. But am

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Speaker 1: I talking gibberish? Karen start because I feel like I'm

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Speaker 1: not getting through. I don't think I can scream any

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Speaker 1: louder in a studio. Karen start joining me now a

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Speaker 1: psychologists out of New York at Karenstark dot com.

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Speaker 4: That's Karen with the CE. Karen, help me, please.

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Speaker 13: Nancy, you're not talking gibberis. This is how it happened.

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Speaker 1: I feel like crying and fighting and hitting someone all

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Speaker 1: at the same time.

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Speaker 13: People don't take it seriously enough. Here's something that will

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Speaker 13: damage someone's life forever. And I don't understand the because

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Speaker 13: police are supposed to be trained, they're supposed to know

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Speaker 13: that they need to do something right away. And it

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Speaker 13: is outrageous, just outrageous that they did not make sure

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Speaker 13: that that came back as soon as possible. And who

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Speaker 13: knows what else he was up to.

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Speaker 4: Nancy, Oh oh, this is the tip of the iceberg. Karen, Karen,

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Speaker 4: Karen Starr.

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Speaker 1: This guy, Claire Tha Apston, started committing violent felonies at

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Speaker 1: age eleven that we know of, and you know, Matthew Mangino.

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Speaker 1: I'm not asking you to speak, I'm just referring to

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Speaker 1: you former prosecutor, now civil and defense attorney and author.

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Speaker 1: He would argue, Oh, he was just eleven, the sweet

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Speaker 1: little boy. You know, I might buy that at eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen,

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Speaker 1: but then at sixteen, seventeen eighteen, I'm not buying it anymore. So,

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Speaker 1: Karen start, when people say he started his one man

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Speaker 1: crime wave at age eleven, how many rapes has this

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Speaker 1: guy committed? Culminating in the murder of Eliza Fletcher? I mean, gino,

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Speaker 1: don't even bother jumping in and saying he's innocent until

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Speaker 1: proven guilty. I know that we all know that, and

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Speaker 1: I believe there is a snowballs chance in hell that

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Speaker 1: he may not be guilty.

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Speaker 4: Okay, So that said, what Karen start?

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Speaker 13: This is outrageous and people, do you know that psychotest

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Speaker 13: start at an early age, so it doesn't surprise me

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Speaker 13: that this began at eleven. The outrageous part of this

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Speaker 13: is that he is not already under.

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Speaker 1: Lock and Keith walking free to grab Elisa. Okay, so

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Speaker 1: what is the excuse. Take a listen to our friend

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Speaker 1: Marcus Hunter.

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Speaker 16: Pulled the recently tested kits matching Gabson Henderson for analysis

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Speaker 16: nine months after it was received on June twenty fourth,

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Speaker 16: and completed an initial report of the results on August

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Speaker 16: twenty ninth. The sample was then entered into kotis, which

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Speaker 16: returned a match on September fifth, which was within hours

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Speaker 16: of Memphis police finding Fletcher's body on Victor Street, and

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Speaker 16: forty nine weeks after MPD submitted the rape kit to TBI,

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Speaker 16: the match of the September twenty one as sold came

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Speaker 16: back to Cleota Abson Henderson. The results were then reported

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Speaker 16: to Memphis police. According to court documents, he was indicted

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Speaker 16: all the charges of aggravated rape, especially aggravated kidnapping, and

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Speaker 16: gun charges in connection to the crime.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's just all blah blah blah words time

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Speaker 1: stories with Nancy Grace. When I look at this woman's face,

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Speaker 1: it just it makes my stomach hurt. I'm looking at

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Speaker 1: a smiling face of Eliza Fletcher, a young mom, a teacher,

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Speaker 1: a wife, a daughter, beloved by all. Why did he

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Speaker 1: have to take her? Why did he have to take anybody,

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Speaker 1: not just her, but anybody. Why was he out walking free?

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Speaker 1: This guy is a node sex attacker. He has viciously

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Speaker 1: attacked before. Now am I supposed to believe Matthew Mangino.

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Speaker 1: I'm coming to you just as a legal expert. Don't

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Speaker 1: put on your defense hand yet, okay, because we all

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Speaker 1: know you're a former prosecutor, former parole board member, author

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Speaker 1: of the executioners told so please don't start telling me

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Speaker 1: he was only eleven years old when he committed his

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Speaker 1: first felony.

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Speaker 4: Lets just save that for the shrink.

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Speaker 1: What you know, all this is bs right because they're

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Speaker 1: saying that what it was just a coincidence that when

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Speaker 1: Eliza Fletcher goes missing, and they go, oh, you know what,

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Speaker 1: you're at the front of the line. Now, let's do

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Speaker 1: that DNA kit. No, that's not a coincidence. There's no

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Speaker 1: such thing in criminal law. So they're trying to tell

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Speaker 1: me that Eliza goes missing and then they go, Wow,

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Speaker 1: I think it's time that we do the DNA on

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Speaker 1: that file way back there on the shelf.

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Speaker 4: What really happened, man Gino, Well, I.

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Speaker 17: Think what really happened is they were able to find

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Speaker 17: DNA on the sandals that were found at the crime scene,

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Speaker 17: and they immediately did an analysis.

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Speaker 1: I'm not talking about that, Matthew claith Austin DNA is

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Speaker 1: on a September twenty twenty one rape victim. Okay, so

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Speaker 1: why when Eliza gets kidnapped and there's a search going on,

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Speaker 1: do they go, Wow, I think, I think I'll run

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Speaker 1: that DNA test. That's total bs. Why did they suddenly

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Speaker 1: decide to run it then.

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Speaker 17: To cover their bites? I mean, they failed. This was

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Speaker 17: a systemic failure to test DNA that was found at

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Speaker 17: a crime scene, as simple as just running a.

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Speaker 1: Code of combined DNA index system exactly. It was cover

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Speaker 1: your ass, That's what it was. And I'm just wondering,

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Speaker 1: Matthew Mangino, why did they select that particular RATEE kit

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Speaker 1: to suddenly test. I'm guessing that that rape occurred in

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Speaker 1: the same mo modus operandi method of operation as Eliza's kidnap,

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Speaker 1: that the victim may have described the same kind of vehicle.

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Speaker 1: Something about that rape kit, about that rape, maybe it

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Speaker 1: was in the same area, just I don't know, but

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Speaker 1: something made them reach back on that shelf and pull

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Speaker 1: out that file and perform that DNA test. Is submitted

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Speaker 1: to CODIS. The combined DNA index system. Before I go

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Speaker 1: to special guest doctor Kristin Middleman from authorm Labs, I

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Speaker 1: want to circle back to Rachel D. Fisher, registered sex

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Speaker 1: assault nurse examiner. Rachel, could you please describe what is

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Speaker 1: the procedure that you go through when you examine a

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Speaker 1: rape victim and what is a rape kit?

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Speaker 15: I want to rape victim comes to the hospital. We

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Speaker 15: do a head to assessment in the detailed genital examer

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Speaker 15: reflect evidence from all the intimate parts of the body

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Speaker 15: anywhere based on the history. We submit this kit to

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Speaker 15: law enforcement, and law enforcement.

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Speaker 4: Slow down place.

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Speaker 1: As I like to say, Rachel, we're not having tea

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Speaker 1: at high grow with King Charles. Okay, when you say

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Speaker 1: we connect, we collect DNA from all parts of the

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Speaker 1: body that is certainly putting perfume on the pig. The

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Speaker 1: rape victim, who has already been brutally raped, probably beaten, terrified,

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Speaker 1: then has to go for a rape kit. Then it's

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Speaker 1: basically a pelvic exam and it takes a long time.

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Speaker 4: What do you have to do?

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Speaker 15: It's a very intrusive exam. We spread their legs, we touch,

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Speaker 15: we look, we examine, We go into all the genitalia,

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Speaker 15: We swab we in search speculum. It's retraumatizing for the

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Speaker 15: victim essentially, is what it is, because we're going back

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Speaker 15: into these places.

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Speaker 4: Okay, wait a minute.

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Speaker 1: See, See you are an expert, and when you just

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Speaker 1: roll off comments like that, not everybody knows what you

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Speaker 1: mean when you.

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Speaker 4: Say a speculum.

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Speaker 1: Isn't that kind of like a reverse eyelash curler where

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Speaker 1: you squinch the curler together Instead, A speculum is something

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Speaker 1: you stick inside the ladies vagina and anus, and then

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Speaker 1: you open up those cat female cavities and then you

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Speaker 1: go in there basically with a search light like a flashlight,

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Speaker 1: and you look around with a really long queue tip,

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Speaker 1: and you look in there and you.

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Speaker 4: Try and find with a swab.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, everybody in the studio is grimacing and looking away

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Speaker 1: right now for a real and you swab around inside

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Speaker 1: the anus and the vagina and hopefully you will get

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Speaker 1: naked to the human eye sperm DNA.

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Speaker 15: Right, that's the intent to get any sort of DNA

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Speaker 15: off of the internal orifices of the patients.

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Speaker 4: Yes, and that includes the anus. Correct.

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Speaker 15: We do also swab the anus, yes, and.

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Speaker 1: Then you have the righte kit combing as if I

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Speaker 1: would comb my hair.

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Speaker 4: What is that We take.

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Speaker 15: A comb and we go through the head, hair, the

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Speaker 15: pubic hair, getting any debris that can link it back

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Speaker 15: to potentially the scene of where it happened to corroborate

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Speaker 15: that as well. Sometimes we do plucking of the hair

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Speaker 15: in order to get DNA as well. So it's a

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Speaker 15: very painful, intrusive examine in some points of it. But

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Speaker 15: when the victims are that brave enough to come etn

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Speaker 15: for that, that's right there, the first step in they're healing.

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Speaker 15: And the first victim of this case with the positive

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Speaker 15: hit was brave enough to do that. So I can

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Speaker 15: only imagine her seeing this that she was brave enough

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Speaker 15: to go in and then nobody tested it until it

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Speaker 15: was too late. I can only imagine what she's feeling

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Speaker 15: right now. She was brave enough to do that initial

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Speaker 15: rape kit back then O a hear ago and here.

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Speaker 1: We are, and the only way her case was finally

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Speaker 1: processed was because Eliza was murdered. It took a murder

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Speaker 1: to get her rape kit done. That's the harsh truth

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Speaker 1: of what we're dealing with. Rachel Dave Fisher, could you

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Speaker 1: please describe the spectrum of demeanors your right. Victim patients

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Speaker 1: have displayed.

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Speaker 15: They come in sometimes completely with no affect, meaning their

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Speaker 15: face isn't smile, they don't frown, they're just quiet, they

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Speaker 15: don't make eye contact. Sometimes they laughed and distracted themselves.

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Speaker 15: Sometimes they're crying. Trauma presents in very different ways, and

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Speaker 15: each victim is different. And I've seen law enforcement or

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Speaker 15: even say, well, she doesn't seem like anything happened. We're

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Speaker 15: not even sure if it's real because of her demeanor.

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Speaker 15: Like you, I've heard it all. But each victim processes

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Speaker 15: their trauma differently.

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Speaker 18: So regardless of.

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Speaker 15: How they respond to it, if they're brave enough to

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Speaker 15: come get an intrusive exam in a busy er and

438
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:27,960
Speaker 15: have an examiner stick things into their bodies, something happened.

439
00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:32,520
Speaker 15: Nobody willingly does that, regardless of what their demeanor is.

440
00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:35,200
Speaker 15: They're there for help, and we help them all the same,

441
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:38,120
Speaker 15: and we prioritize it on our end, and then we

442
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:40,920
Speaker 15: do the next step in our process is handed over

443
00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:44,160
Speaker 15: to law enforcement for them to do their due diligence,

444
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:46,160
Speaker 15: which is supposed to me to take it to the

445
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:48,600
Speaker 15: crime lab. But Tennessee has a statute, but they have

446
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:51,200
Speaker 15: sixty days for it to sit on their shelf before

447
00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:53,320
Speaker 15: they're mandated to give it to the crime lab.

448
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:57,480
Speaker 4: Sharon start, you know, I'm thinking of these right victims

449
00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:03,360
Speaker 4: when it's so horrible, they can't even begin to grapple

450
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 4: with it. Karen Start, that's right, Nancy.

451
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:11,040
Speaker 13: Is they disassociate and you really can't pay attention to

452
00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:16,320
Speaker 13: how someone reacts to trauma and to death because everyone,

453
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,320
Speaker 13: each one of us is very, very different, and there

454
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,840
Speaker 13: are people that cry. Think about you know when people

455
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:27,160
Speaker 13: sometimes get nervous and they start laughing, and they're not

456
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:31,120
Speaker 13: laughing because it's funny. It's just their response that they

457
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,480
Speaker 13: have no choice. That's how they deal with that kind

458
00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:37,720
Speaker 13: of a situation. And that's what you're describing. I've been

459
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:43,240
Speaker 13: to funerals where somebody was so angry at the death

460
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:48,800
Speaker 13: of their spouse. They were furious, and you would never

461
00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:52,760
Speaker 13: know that this was happening because they're grieving and loving

462
00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:57,480
Speaker 13: and in pain, and it all gets mixed up when

463
00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:00,880
Speaker 13: they have to deal with this kind of a situation terrible.

464
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:05,880
Speaker 1: And now, having spoken to the rest of our panel,

465
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:10,800
Speaker 1: I'm going to lay it all in your lap, doctor

466
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:16,040
Speaker 1: Kristin Middleman. She is this chief development officer at the

467
00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:22,520
Speaker 1: highly respected authorm ink. You can find them at dnasolvs

468
00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:27,400
Speaker 1: dot com. One of their specialties I have learned is

469
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:34,960
Speaker 1: taking old or degraded DNA and somehow pulling a miracle

470
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:37,120
Speaker 1: and getting a match.

471
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:38,920
Speaker 4: I'm talking about DNA that's.

472
00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,320
Speaker 1: Been in mud, been under water, been through a fire,

473
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:47,960
Speaker 1: fifty sixty years old. I'm going to lay it all

474
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:53,400
Speaker 1: in your lap, doctor Kristen Middleman. She is this chief

475
00:31:53,560 --> 00:32:00,320
Speaker 1: development officer at the highly respected authorm ink. You can

476
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:05,800
Speaker 1: find them at dnasolves dot com. One of their specialties

477
00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:12,320
Speaker 1: I have learned is taking old or degraded DNA and

478
00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:16,600
Speaker 1: somehow pulling a miracle and getting a match.

479
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:18,440
Speaker 4: I'm talking about DNA that's.

480
00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:23,280
Speaker 1: Been in mud, been underwater, been through a fire, fifty

481
00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:27,840
Speaker 1: sixty years old, Doctor Kristen Middleman. First of all, I

482
00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:29,680
Speaker 1: want to know how they made the match, and what

483
00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:37,040
Speaker 1: likely statistical identification we have of cleotha abstin and any

484
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,840
Speaker 1: insight you can give us as to why they so

485
00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:47,400
Speaker 1: horribly failed the first rate victim, well, the last.

486
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:51,480
Speaker 4: Rate victim that we know of, and Eliza, how did

487
00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:52,040
Speaker 4: that happen?

488
00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:54,400
Speaker 1: I mean, you deal with this kind of thing every

489
00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:55,719
Speaker 1: day and we are.

490
00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:57,960
Speaker 18: We're going to deal with this kind of thing every

491
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:01,400
Speaker 18: single day, and I, like you and everyone's here at

492
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,720
Speaker 18: of them, believe that it's an outrage that we do

493
00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:09,360
Speaker 18: not have the technology implemented that would be able to

494
00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:12,280
Speaker 18: stop this from happening. You know, we talk about this

495
00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:15,960
Speaker 18: every single day, but the Code of Testing system was

496
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:19,400
Speaker 18: created thirty years ago and nothing new has come to

497
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,800
Speaker 18: forensic since in order to help these investigators. You know,

498
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:25,960
Speaker 18: you say the investigators might have failed. I don't think

499
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:29,120
Speaker 18: the investigators are failing. We work with these guys every

500
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:32,040
Speaker 18: single days. ACT We work with CBI, and they work

501
00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:34,400
Speaker 18: day and night trying to make things work. They're not

502
00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:39,360
Speaker 18: given the technology that's necessary to be able to clear

503
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:42,400
Speaker 18: these cases at scale. The government is who's failing. The

504
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:46,959
Speaker 18: government has failed to fund and adopt new technologies that

505
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:50,840
Speaker 18: would allow us the backlogs to truly clear. We have

506
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:54,440
Speaker 18: backlogs everywhere because this technology is the way that it's

507
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:57,760
Speaker 18: written right now, it is not stalable. You can't hire

508
00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:01,720
Speaker 18: enough people to do every single test immediately and have

509
00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:04,960
Speaker 18: a result in eight hours is just not possible. But

510
00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:08,040
Speaker 18: there is new technologies here. Are is this one of

511
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:10,840
Speaker 18: the new technologies that could help clear a lot of

512
00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:13,480
Speaker 18: the backdop that gets stuck when there's no DNA answer.

513
00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:16,640
Speaker 18: But there are other new technologies here. Could you imagine

514
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:21,000
Speaker 18: doing this podcast on computers from thirty years ago? No,

515
00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:23,759
Speaker 18: you wouldn't. You would get the new computer, You would

516
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:26,040
Speaker 18: get the best mike, You would do the next best thing.

517
00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:29,080
Speaker 18: You would do it just for your business. Why isn't

518
00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:30,440
Speaker 18: forensic changing?

519
00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:35,040
Speaker 4: Okay, hold on, Dodger, Mettlelman. It is far far.

520
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:42,680
Speaker 1: Beyond me your knowledge regarding DNA and scientific testing. But

521
00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:47,799
Speaker 1: I'm not asking for a result in eight hours? What

522
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:51,040
Speaker 1: about eight days? What about eight weeks? What about eight months?

523
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:55,719
Speaker 1: This was a year. The last rape victim that we

524
00:34:55,840 --> 00:35:00,239
Speaker 1: know of cloth Aston's was September twenty twenty one.

525
00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:03,440
Speaker 4: You're preaching to the choir, doctor Middleman.

526
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:08,120
Speaker 1: I spent a third of my time as a prosecutor

527
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:11,280
Speaker 1: as a Georgia State crime lab. And can I tell

528
00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:17,759
Speaker 1: you those people weren't like dogs. Scientists in ballistics, in

529
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:22,440
Speaker 1: fiber analysis, hair analysis, DNA, blood, you name it. They

530
00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:26,480
Speaker 1: weren't like dogs. They already were over time. What more

531
00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:27,719
Speaker 1: do we want them to do?

532
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:28,400
Speaker 6: So?

533
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:30,520
Speaker 4: Where is the fail?

534
00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:33,879
Speaker 1: And I guarantee you the tb I, Tennessee of your

535
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:35,400
Speaker 1: investigation crime lab.

536
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:35,920
Speaker 4: Is the same.

537
00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:42,719
Speaker 1: So how is it he's walking the street to murder Eliza.

538
00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:46,560
Speaker 18: Because the system has failed to implement all the necessary tools.

539
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:49,279
Speaker 18: You know, let me tell you, Nancy, It's just like

540
00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:51,799
Speaker 18: if I gave you a bicycle and I told you

541
00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:55,959
Speaker 18: go ahead and deliver mail all over the United States. Well,

542
00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:58,680
Speaker 18: how do you possibly deliver mail all over the United

543
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:01,840
Speaker 18: States that bicycle? It would never happened. It's not possible.

544
00:36:02,239 --> 00:36:05,160
Speaker 18: But if there were cars and planes and roads and

545
00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:08,200
Speaker 18: everything else there and the infrastructure put all together, then

546
00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:11,680
Speaker 18: you could deliver that mail all over the United States. Unfortunately,

547
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:15,319
Speaker 18: we are at the bicycle state of forensic science when

548
00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:19,240
Speaker 18: it comes to solving these backlogs with texticals and murders.

549
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:23,160
Speaker 18: We are DNA testing. Is that it's infancy still and

550
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:26,600
Speaker 18: there are so many ways. I mean, our technology, we

551
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:29,320
Speaker 18: don't need a code of database to identify someone. You

552
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:31,680
Speaker 18: don't have to have raped someone else in order for

553
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:34,560
Speaker 18: us to identify you. That's the biggest key. You can

554
00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:38,760
Speaker 18: rate one person and get identified the very very first time.

555
00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:43,400
Speaker 18: Yet our technology isn't widely used everywhere because people scream

556
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:45,439
Speaker 18: all sorts of stuff. Oh well, it's new, we don't

557
00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:48,200
Speaker 18: know if it works. Oh my god, privacy, Oh oh well,

558
00:36:48,239 --> 00:36:51,680
Speaker 18: the government's slow and funding it. I want to perpetrateor

559
00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:53,480
Speaker 18: and jail the first time they commit a crime. I

560
00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:55,320
Speaker 18: don't want to have to wait till the second victim

561
00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:57,720
Speaker 18: and a third victim, or the eleventh or twelfth victim.

562
00:36:57,719 --> 00:37:01,280
Speaker 18: And trust me, we've identified those as well. They're encoded

563
00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:04,600
Speaker 18: so many many times that no one's ever identified them.

564
00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:06,800
Speaker 18: They come to us finally, and now they're identified in

565
00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:10,000
Speaker 18: all these crimes are solved. That's devastating.

566
00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:12,640
Speaker 4: Take a listen to Marcus Hunter WRG.

567
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:18,160
Speaker 16: The TBI accepts rush DNA cases when requested by a

568
00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:22,240
Speaker 16: local investigative agency, as we did in the recent Eliza

569
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:26,040
Speaker 16: Fletcher case. It went on to say, our scientists identified

570
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:30,560
Speaker 16: Cleota Apston as a suspect less than eighteen hours after

571
00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:34,319
Speaker 16: receiving a key evidence. The agency said the sample they

572
00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:38,640
Speaker 16: received in September of last year was not submitted as

573
00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:42,560
Speaker 16: a rush case. Therefore it was placed with the standard

574
00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:46,440
Speaker 16: case work, which can have an average turnaround of thirty

575
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:48,200
Speaker 16: three to forty nine weeks.

576
00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:50,720
Speaker 4: Let's star our friends at Fox thirteen.

577
00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:54,480
Speaker 19: And Affid David reveals new details about Fletcher's final moments.

578
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:56,560
Speaker 4: Investigators say data.

579
00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:59,080
Speaker 19: From the FBI CAST team, which is used to track

580
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:03,760
Speaker 19: cell phones, led them to East Person Avenue and Victor Street.

581
00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:07,640
Speaker 19: While searching that area Monday, just after five, they say

582
00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 19: officers noticed high grass at a vacant home, as well

583
00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:15,760
Speaker 19: as vehicle tracks. In the high grass. Officers also smelled

584
00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:19,760
Speaker 19: and older of decay. We're told the officers fanned out

585
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:23,440
Speaker 19: and walked to the back of the property. Immediately to

586
00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:26,200
Speaker 19: the right of the steps, they say they found a

587
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:29,680
Speaker 19: woman's body. To give you an idea why it was

588
00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:33,680
Speaker 19: so hard for officials to find her is because even

589
00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:36,120
Speaker 19: though they're in the middle of a neighborhood, you can

590
00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:39,960
Speaker 19: see there's very tall grass shielding the view from the street.

591
00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:42,960
Speaker 4: I'm five to five. Take a look at this grass.

592
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:44,400
Speaker 4: It's towering over me.

593
00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:49,160
Speaker 20: Then there's this abandoned home and we're told Fletcher's remains

594
00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:51,799
Speaker 20: were found behind this house. Walk with me, so you

595
00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:55,520
Speaker 20: can see beside these steps here and you can even

596
00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:59,120
Speaker 20: see an imprint in the dirt right here.

597
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:05,200
Speaker 1: Kleiotha Abstin faces murder and abduction charges. I'm waiting to

598
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:08,160
Speaker 1: find out if rape charges are going to be added

599
00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:13,280
Speaker 1: to that. Eliza's body found days after she was abducted

600
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:17,160
Speaker 1: on her morning run in a wooded area in southern Memphis,

601
00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:21,280
Speaker 1: not too far from where police say Abstin was caught

602
00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:26,799
Speaker 1: on surveillance footage frantically cleaning out his car. I got

603
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:32,200
Speaker 1: news for you. You're going to need something like black swan,

604
00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:35,720
Speaker 1: some sort of acidic cleaner to get rid of DNA

605
00:39:36,040 --> 00:39:41,040
Speaker 1: kleiotha absent. And I'm pretty sure four nine is not

606
00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:43,360
Speaker 1: going to do the trick, but good luck with that.

607
00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:47,120
Speaker 1: He has also been charged with an additional account of

608
00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:50,640
Speaker 1: aggravated kidnapping and rape. And that separate incident I was

609
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:54,240
Speaker 1: telling you about that took place about a year before

610
00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:56,320
Speaker 1: Eliza was kidnapped and murdered.

611
00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:00,279
Speaker 4: Yeah, he should have been behind bars on that could

612
00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:02,480
Speaker 4: have should have. So this is what I predict is

613
00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:04,640
Speaker 4: going to happen at trial. I predict that.

614
00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:09,799
Speaker 1: His prior sex attacks and aggravated assaults and kidnaps, oh yes,

615
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:15,000
Speaker 1: there's several will come into evidence as similar transactions. Now,

616
00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:21,360
Speaker 1: as you know, under our jurisprudence, our frame of constitutionality,

617
00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:28,040
Speaker 1: a jury cannot hear about bad reputation because the constitution

618
00:40:28,239 --> 00:40:31,319
Speaker 1: wants the defendant tried on the facts of the case

619
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:36,640
Speaker 1: in chief. However, similar transactions prior bad acts can be

620
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:40,560
Speaker 1: introduced in front of a jury to show course of conduct,

621
00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:48,880
Speaker 1: frame of mind, method of operation that tend to prove

622
00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:53,719
Speaker 1: the case in chief, like a fingerprint crime. And I

623
00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:57,600
Speaker 1: would argue to the judge that these are two fingerprint

624
00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:03,840
Speaker 1: crimes that will prove that CLO the absence murdered Eliza Fletcher.

625
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:06,400
Speaker 1: Now what good does that do her children? That's the

626
00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:10,320
Speaker 1: big question. The only good it can do the children

627
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:16,640
Speaker 1: is that one day they will say, somebody cared. Somebody

628
00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:20,279
Speaker 1: cared to take this case to trial and prosecute my

629
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:29,480
Speaker 1: mom's killer. To the autmost, I had someone standing up

630
00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:31,960
Speaker 1: for my mom when I was a child, and I

631
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,560
Speaker 1: couldn't do it myself. So what are the facts of

632
00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:36,080
Speaker 1: this case?

633
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:36,839
Speaker 8: Why is the.

634
00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:41,680
Speaker 1: State seeking the death penalty? Well, in every jurisdiction that

635
00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:47,800
Speaker 1: has the death penalty, they are called aggravating circumstances. For instance,

636
00:41:48,040 --> 00:41:51,600
Speaker 1: if you lay in wait, which suggests you have a cold,

637
00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:55,120
Speaker 1: calculated mind at the time, you're not angry or drunk

638
00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:57,680
Speaker 1: or out of your mind on drugs, you intend to

639
00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:02,040
Speaker 1: do what you're doing for pecuniary or money interest, murder

640
00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:06,719
Speaker 1: for hire, more than one dead body, mass murder. Some

641
00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:10,640
Speaker 1: jurisdictions allow if it's in the commission of another felony,

642
00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:14,719
Speaker 1: such as dealing drugs or a rape. Let's see, what's

643
00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:18,719
Speaker 1: another one. Some jurisdictions include a very young child or

644
00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:23,840
Speaker 1: an elderly or a law officer, so those are called

645
00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:29,560
Speaker 1: aggravating circumstances, and if they exist, that permits the state

646
00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:32,839
Speaker 1: to seek the death penalty. In jurisdictions where there is

647
00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:36,520
Speaker 1: a death penalty, and that's what's happened right here, the

648
00:42:36,600 --> 00:42:40,640
Speaker 1: state is seeking the death penalty. There's also a catch

649
00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:47,240
Speaker 1: all when the crime is particularly heinous, and I believe

650
00:42:47,239 --> 00:42:53,440
Speaker 1: this crime is. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace's

651
00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:56,360
Speaker 1: crime story is signing off goodbye for the

652
00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:00,839
Speaker 12: Nine