D (1:59)

I was told to respond to this area in connection to an apparent homicide

A (2:04)

that occurred in August 1987. John Murray works homicide for the New York State Police.

D (2:11)

As I walk down towards the end of the trail here and reaching the river, I noted that there was a concrete shelf like area. And against that shelf area there was the body of a woman lying partially submerged in the water. Her back was scraped up from what looked like her sliding down this rough surface of the concrete into the river.

A (2:37)

Initial signs point to murder. An autopsy will later determine the victim had been strangled and confirms the presence of semen and the possibility of a sexual assault. Meanwhile, John Murray needs to ID his victim.

D (2:52)

Her pocketbook wasn't found. There was nothing here that indicated who she was.

A (2:58)

An APB is put out and investigator Murray waits for someone somewhere to recognize his victim.

B (3:06)

Wow. She didn't come home and I knew she always would come home and this time she didn't.

A (3:15)

Mary Ann Diesel is worried. She has not seen her daughter, 19 year old Diana since last night. It is now going on 11pm we

B (3:26)

were sitting watching the news at 11 o' clock and they had said that they had, you know, found an individual on the other side of the Hudson in North Greenbush. And I looked at my husband and he looked at me and I said, oh no. I said, this can't be.

A (3:46)

The family contacts police who put them in touch with investigators working the Hudson river case.

B (3:52)

One of the investigators had her brush and you know, he showed me that and he said, is this hers? And I said yes right away.

D (4:03)

The mother believes that the boyfriend Michael Pullman was probably involved.

B (4:09)

He was like, you know, the motorcycle guy used to hang out and you know, kind of see the bars in Albany.

D (4:19)

He was an automobile mechanic. He had reputation for having a temper. He also was known to be a little bit abusive.

B (4:28)

He wasn't your stand up everyday guy, you know, that's why I didn't approve of her being with him.

A (4:37)

Maryanne may not have approved, but Diana was infatuated with Pullman. In fact, he was the only thing on her mind the night she went missing.

D (4:47)

Diana apparently made several phone calls trying to contact Michael, hoping that they were going to have some sort of a rendezvous that night.

B (4:54)

That was her mission that day, that night. That was her mission. There was no other reason to think of anybody else. It was just him.

D (5:05)

Well, we went looking for him obviously that very next morning as a person that we really needed to interview because she had in fact left looking for him and we wanted to know if she had found him.

F (5:18)

I was on my way to work when I got pulled over by half a dozen police officers and state police and everything else.

A (5:25)

Michael Pullman is surprised to see blue lights flashing in his rearview mirror. His thoughts immediately turned to Diana Diesel.

F (5:34)

And I says, I know what this is all about. They said, oh you do? I have a feeling. And they wanted to know what did I think. I said this is about Diana Diesel.

D (5:46)

We found that to be kind of strange thing for him to ask

G (5:51)

right

D (5:51)

off the top like that. I mean he could have been stopped for any number of things. And the first thing that comes out of his mouth is is this in relation to Diana.

A (5:59)

Pullman is brought in for questioning and told Diana has been murdered.

F (6:05)

I just flipped. I just couldn't believe it. I just, I didn't know. I didn't know what to do, who to turn to. I just didn't know where to go with it?

D (6:14)

Well, this whole area was very well and highly used.

A (6:19)

Detectives know exactly where to go. Focusing on Pullman's whereabouts the night Diana went missing.

D (6:25)

He told us he did not see Diana that night. He told us that he had never had any sexual contact with Diana. He told us that he had gone to bed at 1 o' clock in the morning with his girlfriend. The alibi that he had was basically substantiated with the girl he was living with, but it was pretty shaky.

A (6:44)

Shaky because some witnesses say Pullman was out in his truck the night Diana went missing. Some even recall seeing his truck in the area where Diana's body was found.

D (6:55)

It was a red truck and it had a blue and green hood. It would be a truck that if you saw it, you'd remember it.

F (7:03)

I didn't even know what they were talking about.

A (7:05)

Pullman denies driving into the area that night. His story, however, does change. Pullman now remembers leaving his house after midnight to look for towing jobs. Senior investigator Ed Gertler is suspicious of Pullman's new story. I don't know what he was looking for tow jobs with that particular kind

E (7:26)

of truck he had because it sure wasn't constructed to be a tow truck,

A (7:32)

according to the people. They, they did in fact see this truck going up and down this area here. Pullman's changing story piques the interest of investigators who asked to search his truck.

F (7:43)

My car, my house, my clothes, my truck. And what triggered them off a lot even better is when they. When they searched my truck, I had a blanket on my seat of my truck.

D (7:55)

There was some fibers found on Diana at the time of autopsy, as well as some dog hair. There was fibers found on a blanket in Michael's truck as well as dog hair that were all similar in nature to the ones found on Diana. That puts Diana in contact with the blanket which was found in Michael's truck.

F (8:19)

Duh. No kidding.

A (8:21)

Diana had sat in the front seat of Pullman's truck many times, making the fiber evidence a tenuous link at best. Pullman is asked to take a polygraph and passes. Matter of fact, when we told him, he passed the polygraph.

E (8:36)

He wanted to hug my partner at the time.

A (8:39)

Pass or fail, Pullman remains suspect number one and his attitude doesn't help.

F (8:45)

I had a cocky attitude toward them because they didn't have nothing on me. I knew that and they couldn't pin anything on me.

D (8:53)

I knew that he didn't want to cooperate in the investigation. It would seem if he didn't have anything to hide that he'd really be interested in trying to find out who had killed Diana.

F (9:05)

I always had to look over my shoulder because I didn't know when they were going to show up or who would follow me. And I've had a couple of them follow me.

A (9:14)

Michael Pullman is not arrested for Diana Dieso's murder. The investigation eventually runs cold. The suspicions surrounding Pullman, however, never seem to fade.

F (9:26)

And my own sister turned around and said, did you do it? I said, what? I said, you too? I said, where are you people getting this from?

D (9:34)

Well, this box here was a rape kit that was done on Diana.

A (9:39)

It is now 1997 and investigator John Murray is reopening the cold homicide case of Diana Disobey, a 19 year old found strangled to death 10 years earlier.

D (9:52)

Samples of human sperm were found in a couple areas as well as on her clothing.

A (10:02)

In 1987, DNA testing was not available to police. Now it is, and investigator Murray knows who he wants tested. First.

D (10:13)

We had circumstantial evidence putting Michael Pullman at the scene.

A (10:19)

Michael Pullman was a friend of Diana Dieso and Murray's chief suspect. Ten years earlier.

D (10:25)

He said that he had never had sex with Diana. And we had the sperm from Diana indicating that she had had sex the night that she was murdered. So we thought, along with the circumstantial evidence that we had with Michael, if we could prove that he was the one that had intercourse with her, that it would be enough for us to arrest him.

A (10:47)

Murray obtains a warrant and asks Pullman for a sample of his blood.

F (10:52)

They wanted me to do a DNA. Do I have a problem with the DNA? And I says, not at all. And I went and did the DNA.

B (10:58)

And this is the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center. This is where we process hundreds of criminal cases.

A (11:06)

Dr. Allison Eastman works on evidence in the DSO homicide, including a rape kit taken from DSO's body.

B (11:14)

And I developed a DNA profile from a very probative item.

A (11:19)

The profile is then compared to Michael

B (11:22)

Polman's blood sample and it wasn't a match.

D (11:25)

It basically shot us in the foot. We had no case, we had no real viable suspects from there. This would have made our case for us. When it came back as not his, it was devastating to the case and devastating to the investigators working.

A (11:41)

The results appear to clear Pullman as a viable suspect. Investigator Murray still isn't convinced.

D (11:48)

It doesn't mean that he's not the killer. It means that he's not the one that had sex with her prior to her Death.

F (11:56)

I see a lot of these TV programs where they always find a crooked way or another. If he ain't got no witnesses, they're gonna try, depending on somebody. And that's what I thought. I figured, well, they probably ain't got nobody else. So if it doesn't. If the DNA doesn't match, they're gonna make it match just to get somebody on this case because it looks bad for them because they ain't got nobody.

A (12:16)

For years, Michael Polman remains on edge about a possible setup. Pullman, however, is wrong. The New York State Police are simply waiting for evidence that will lead them to the truth.

B (12:29)

Family tragedy touches us, and we're not cold lab robots. We're human beings, and we personally get involved in these cases.

A (12:41)

In 2004, seven years after she first worked on Diana Diso's rape kit, Dr. Alison Eastman hasn't forgotten her.

B (12:50)

They just kind of stick to you. Young woman, 19 years old, just goes out one night, and then her family never sees her again. And you're thinking about, what if it happened to your family?

A (13:01)

In 2004, Eastman is working with a new breed of DNA testing called Short, Tandem, Repeat, or STR. It's a prerequisite for access to CODIS, a database containing 1.5 million felony samples, and requires a new profile extraction from the DESO evidence.

B (13:21)

I knew there was a little bit of evidence left, and I thought, we can't just leave this case sitting. So I figured that we would just give it one more try and go for the gold, I guess.

A (13:34)

Eastman is able to develop a full STR DNA profile. She enters it into CODIS and finds a match.

B (13:43)

It hit on a convicted offender by the name of Ray Keller.

E (13:47)

Once we got the DNA hit on Ray Keller, this is where we came and did all our research.

A (13:52)

Dave Madden jumps on the Ray Keller lead, teaming up with investigators Steve Ortiz and Debbie Komar.

B (13:59)

What was the connection between Ray Keller and Diana Dasso?

E (14:02)

Yeah, we really worked that hard. I mean, we had a lot of investigators in both your unit and in our unit, we really beat the bushes on that.

A (14:10)

Keller has no apparent ties to Diana, but the team finds his criminal past to be telling.

D (14:17)

Just looking at his criminal history, which has sexual assaults in it, rapes again,

E (14:22)

that was another thing that, to us,

A (14:23)

indicated he was a real good suspect in this cold case. Keller is serving up to 25 years for raping a girl. In 1989 in New York, detectives decide to talk to Keller's victim before speaking with the suspect himself.

B (14:40)

She was scared to death of Ray Keller and one of her first or second comments were he tried to kill me.

A (14:48)

Komar notes that the attack bears a striking similarity to Diana Diso's case. Like Diana, this victim was choked. Unlike Diana, she survived.

B (15:00)

I can't emphasize enough the importance of her describing his neck hold on her and knowing that cutting off someone's air supply like that could cause death in a very short amount of time.

A (15:14)

Investigators have Keller's DNA at the scene and a similar act to put their case over the top and eliminate Michael Pullman as a suspect. They need a confession to murder.

E (15:26)

We had talked about the possibility that somewhere along the line that night Diana had had a consensual encounter and that Michael Pullman had found out about it and as either in a temper, a fit of rage over jealousy very well could have committed the homicide in that the DNA sample could have been from nothing more than innocent encounter.

A (15:49)

One of my big fears was that he was going to shut us right out. Yeah, I had sex with her.

G (15:54)

So what?

A (15:55)

Investigators need to get inside their suspect's head to get him thinking and then get him talking.

G (16:02)

At some point something snapped inside of me. Something went wrong. I was just, you know, squeezing, squeezing. I was just squeezing.

A (16:18)

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H (19:04)

During my day, I typically meet with adults who have committed sex offenses of different types.

A (19:10)

Dr. Richard Hamill is a psychologist who spent the past 22 years talking to sexual predators.

H (19:17)

These are folks who oftentimes have unusual ways of looking at the world, and if they sense that you don't understand or are being judgmental about their way of thinking, they clam up. They keep quiet right away.

A (19:30)

In 2004, he's tapped by Cold Case detectives who want to get inside the head of Ray Keller.

H (19:36)

Prison changes people, and it seems that he has made some changes.

A (19:41)

Keller is a convicted rapist and suspect in the murder of 19 year old Diana Diso 17 years ago. Dr. Hamill offers to study Keller and classifies him as a sexual type rapist, one who harbors romantic fantasies about his victim.

H (19:59)

There are some types of rapists who really don't care about the perceptions of others, but the sexual type rapist often does. They feel unfairly raised, rejected or stigmatized by other people and so oftentimes work to have folks have as positive an image of them as possible Dr. Hamel

A (20:21)

suggests playing on these insecurities in the hopes that Keller might open up if

H (20:26)

he thought he was being misunderstood or might be misunderstood. It was possible that he would step forward and provide incrimination information toward the goal of showing people that he was not such a bad guy.

A (20:40)

The plan is to present Keller with the DNA evidence and give him the opportunity to take responsibility and put himself in the best possible light.

E (20:49)

It's your suggestion, a direct approach. Don't play games. Just go right at him. Tell them what you got.

H (20:55)

This was the one time that he had to go on the record. This was his one shot. Two to introduce some information to you, potentially back to the court.

A (21:05)

For detectives, it is also their one shot at a confession.

G (21:09)

The day that they called me, I just knew. I just knew that today was the day.

A (21:16)

On December 17, 2004, Detectives Ortiz and Madden have a face to face with inmate Ray Keller.

E (21:24)

I see a man who looks almost like a deer caught in the headlights.

G (21:28)

They bring me out shackled up and all cuffed up.

E (21:31)

I think a little bit of him in the back of his mind knew why we were there.

G (21:37)

They put me in a corner, and Officer Ortiz was basically a foot away from me.

A (21:44)

So I just told him, 1987, he had an encounter with a girl named Diane Dessau. And he indicated, you know, he does not know who that name is.

G (21:53)

And I'm like, well, I don't know. You know, that's 17 years ago, you know, a long time ago, whatever.

E (22:00)

And when he said he didn't know anything about her or had any connection to her or any recollection to her, it's then when Steve showed him the

G (22:07)

picture, and that's when they asked me, you know, do you know who this is? And I was like, no.

E (22:13)

And we were in a good place. Because even if he continued to deny, we knew from our DNA evidence that he knew her. He was there with her. And by denying it, it really. It helped, but yet we weren't quite there yet. What we wanted we were there for is we wanted to know exactly what happened and how it happened. And we wanted him to tell us that.

A (22:33)

That's when detectives play their trump card. The DNA match between Keller and Seaman found at the scene.

D (22:40)

And after, I'd say, 20 to 30

A (22:43)

minutes, he just looked up into the ceiling and said, hypothetically, if I were to tell you what happened, how do I know that you wouldn't tell the truth when you left this room?

E (22:53)

When he said that to us, I

A (22:54)

knew we had him with audio tape Rolling. Keller takes detectives back to 1987 and the night Diana Diesel was murdered.

G (23:04)

Hi, Ray t. Keller, on December 17, 2004. State the following to be as true to my memories at this time. I was high on coke and wild. You know, I guess you could say I was looking for maybe some sex. You know, I'm not gonna sit here and say maybe, you know, that. That wasn't in my mind.

A (23:32)

Keller says he was driving around when he spotted a young woman hitchhiking and pulled over.

G (23:38)

I asked her where she was going, said she was going home. She got in the vehicle. I asked her what was going on. She said that she had a fight with her boyfriend and she seemed upset. I guess you could say she was in an angry mood, hurt, whatever.

A (23:55)

From what I recollect, the two ended up at a secluded area near the Hudson River.

G (24:01)

We then went out to the back of the truck and that's when we had sex. But not by her choice.

A (24:10)

Keller sexually assaulted Diana, then allowed his victim to get dressed. That's when Diana Dieso made a comment that probably cost her life.

G (24:20)

I remember her saying she was going to tell. At some point, something snapped inside of me. Next thing I knew, I had my. My arm around her neck and throat and it choke hold from behind. I had Diane by the back, by the throat, my arms around her throat. And I was just squeezing and she was struggling but couldn't say anything because of the chokehold. Just anger, just anger was going through my mind as I was just, you know, squeezing, squeezing. I was just squeezing.

A (24:57)

Diana collapsed and Keller was left holding her body.

G (25:01)

I must have believed at that time that she was dead. I must have thought that. Or if I didn't think that she was dead, I guess I must have thought that I put her in the water, she will be dead. I then dragged her over from the back of the truck by her shoulders to the embankment and pushed her down towards the river. I left and went home.

A (25:24)

Detectives Ortiz and Madden have pushed the right buttons and their suspect confesses exactly as Dr. Hamel predicted.

E (25:33)

We knew what he did and everybody was gonna know what he did. And now he needed an opportunity to try to make himself look as best as possible.

B (25:41)

19 year old Diana Disa was raped and strangled 17 years ago. And today her killer, Ray Keller was finally sentenced to 22 years for the crime. You are a despicable coward.

A (25:53)

In a Rensselaer county courtroom, Ray Keller stares straight into his past and into the face of Mary Ann Diesseau, whose daughter he murdered.

B (26:03)

I pray every day that your Miserable existence consists of cold steer bars, torment and turmoil, and the faces of your victims. He's a little Napoleonic figure and was asking for our forgiveness, and, you know, just like most of them do, and, well, I wasn't gonna stand for that at all. Revenge is sweet for us, and there will never be any forgiveness for you. Coming from the Disso family, Keller is

A (26:35)

sentenced to 22 years to life for raping and murdering Diana Diesel.

G (26:40)

Nobody's gotten the real side of the whole story.

A (26:44)

In his interview with Cold Case Files, Keller readily admits to murder, but now claims there wasn't any rape.

G (26:51)

There was nothing. No fighting, no nothing, no force for sexual, you know, for the sex that we had. We then went out to the back of the truck, and that's when we had sex. But not by her choice.

A (27:09)

Keller's latest story contradicts his official statement and doesn't sit well with detectives who worked the case.

E (27:16)

I think rape is a very powerful thing, particularly for a man to admit that he's a rapist. I think now that he's had time to think about what's going on and he's gotten some feedback on all of what's happened and realizes what he's told us, I think he's trying to back off on that.

G (27:30)

I am completely, you know, I'm truly sorry for what I've done, you know, and all the people I've hurt. And I've got nobody else, you know, nobody to blame but myself, you know, I mean, I did what I did.

A (27:42)

For longtime suspect Michael Pullman, Keller's words lift the shadows of suspicion. His life, once again, is his own.

F (27:51)

I can just go back to my normal self again. Just be wild, crazy, outgoing. Just, you know, live life to the fullest and enjoy it.

A (27:58)

As for Marianne Diesel, she is left with nothing but her grief and a grave site in place of her child.

B (28:06)

You're safe. I know you are. The person responsible for your death is put away for hopefully for the rest of his life. I kind of wondered today what she would be like. So she would be 37, and I don't know, she might have children. I believe that she would have been special for somebody.

C (28:39)

I knew she was killed. I knew she had died, and I knew that someone had choked her.

A (28:45)

Kristen Newcomb is 28 years old. In 1983, she was 8 when her mom, Rachel Kossib, was murdered in San Antonio, Texas.

C (28:56)

And that's all I needed to know at age 8. But as you get older, you do start to wonder. And I've always loved cold case. Shows and I just knew one day that it would be solved. I prayed every day that it would be solved.

I (29:14)

This is my office. This is where I go through my cold cases.

A (29:19)

George Sadler is a cold case detective with the San Antonio Police Department.

I (29:24)

As you can see we have several files behind us. This is just one case sitting here of a young 11 year old girl that came up missing and found dead. These are where I keep my statue because I have so many cases going on.

A (29:37)

In 2003, Sadler's phone rings at the other end is Kirsten Newcomb.

C (29:43)

I had reached out to Detective Sadler and just begged him to is there anything that we can do?

I (29:49)

One last ditch effort, the attitude when she calls me, she's not calling me to blame anybody. She's not trying to blame the police department or the system. She called looking for honest help.

A (29:59)

Sadler agrees to take a look at the case that began 20 years earlier with a call to the San Antonio

I (30:05)

police department about 9:21. I had the San Antonio Police Department dispatcher number five call our office and request that we make the scene.

A (30:18)

In 1983, Frank Tovar works as a medical investigator. On June 6th he is called to an interior design shop in northeast San Antonio.

I (30:29)

I walked to the rear and I saw a Hispanic female lying face down on a carpet surface, partially nude.

A (30:39)

Rachel Kossub lies dead on the floor, her pantyhose cinched around her neck and

I (30:46)

the fact that her clothes has been torn off. She's nude from her waist down. Mostly there's a strong possibility she was sexually assaulted.

A (30:56)

Seaman is recovered from the body confirming Tovar's suspicions. Meanwhile, detectives work the scene.

I (31:03)

There was no indication of forced entry, so it's someone who either she knew or she let in under. He came in under false pretenses or whatever.

A (31:14)

Investigators question out locals and known sex offenders but fail to turn up a viable suspect. One year later, however, they get a break in the form of another victim.

H (31:27)

Well, we had in this area, we had had a rape that occurred in Universal City, which our neighboring city.

A (31:32)

Gary Hopper is a detective in the city of live Oak, about 12 miles outside San Antonio in 1984. He is working a string of sexual assaults.

H (31:43)

We definitely knew it was something serious we wanted to get on top of right away. I interviewed both of the ladies and they were able to prepare a composite sketch for me of the suspect that attacked him.

A (31:55)

Hopper runs the sketch on the evening news and waits for tips.

H (31:59)

I received a call that morning that I knew sounded very promising. It was a gentleman. He owned a business. He Told me that his secretary could identify this person.

A (32:10)

The secretary says the man in the sketch often loiters around her shop and seems like he's up to no good.

H (32:17)

She was frightened enough of this individual that one day, as he went to the car and got into the car, she wrote his license plate down, kept it, and that's what she gave to us that morning.

A (32:28)

Hopper runs the plate, and it comes back to Mike Dossett, a local Little League coach with no criminal record. Hopper tracks down Dossett at his home.

H (32:38)

When he came and saw us and we looked at our composite and looked at him, it was almost right there in my mind. I said, we've got the guy. This is him.

A (32:46)

Dossett is confronted about the two assaults, and almost immediately, he confesses.

H (32:53)

He seemed like a lot of pressure was off of his back. He seemed like, you know, I'm glad this is all over with. He then told me, he said, you know, I really got something else I need to tell you.

A (33:03)

Dossett tells Hopper he's been haunted by a recurring dream and a possible murder.

H (33:09)

As he started talking about this dream, he told me that, you know, I'm in this building. I'm on the staircase, so I'm looking down. He said, there's this lady. He said, I know she's dead. I know I have something to do with it.

A (33:22)

As Dossett talks, Hopper remembers the Rachel Kossip murder just one year earlier.

H (33:29)

At that point, just simply, you know, coincidence hit. You know, this was to me, I knew what it was. It was the murder of Rachel Kossub at Sandra Murphy Design. Because I'd been in the business before. I had been on that staircase. I. I knew at that point, right then and there that, you know, this is the man that murdered Rachel Cossack.

A (33:49)

Hopper's suspicions are confirmed when he gets a look at the crime scene photos.

H (33:54)

This was what he was describing to me. This is what he was telling me about. And I knew right then and there, you know, this wasn't in a newspaper. It wasn't reported. There was only one way he knew about that, and that was he had to have been there on the day of that crime.

A (34:08)

San Antonio has jurisdiction over the cost of murder. When Dossett sits down with their investigators, however, he refuses to talk.

H (34:17)

Maybe he got down there and really realized at that point, now I'm in big trouble. You know, these guys got me for something. Rape. Now they've got me for something here that could, you know, put me in the death chamber or in life in prison.

A (34:28)

Dossett pleads guilty to sexual assault and robbery, but is not charged with the cost of murder.

H (34:35)

I tell you, it probably was the thing that ate on me more than anything in my career.

A (34:39)

Career.

H (34:40)

Just thinking that this guy was going to be back out on the streets. You know, he was coming back to San Antonio. He was going to be twice the threat he was before.

A (34:50)

In December of 1992, Mike Dossett is released on parole. A decade after that, Detective Sadler promises Kirsten Newcomb he will take a look at her mother's case. When Sadler pulls the file from storage, everyone involved is in for a surprise.

C (35:07)

He said that we don't have a case file. We have a piece of microfiche. And I thought, wow, everything has been destroyed. We'll never get this case solved.

A (35:24)

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B (36:52)

Free.

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I (37:20)

A working file usually looks something like this in the green. And this is usually what we start out with.

A (37:26)

When we start looking in 2003, Detective George Sadler is looking for a cold file. The 1983 murder of Rachel Kossub.

I (37:36)

By the time we get done with our cases, if they're finished, cases like this one here takes up three file folders. So I was expecting to find something like that. And we had two or three pieces of paper in a file folder and we couldn't find any files.

C (37:51)

He said that we don't have a case file, we have a piece of microfiche. And I thought, wow, everything has been destroyed. We'll never get this case solved.

A (38:03)

Kirsten Newcomb is Rachel Kossub's daughter. After learning her mom's file is missing, Kirsten is at first discouraged. But then she offers Sadler a lead.

I (38:15)

Then she calls me, you know, and then she tells me she's got the name and she says, well, are you aware of the fact that this guy Mike Dossett is the suspect?

A (38:23)

Mike Dossett is a convicted sex offender, free on parole in 1984. He became a suspect after he told police he had dreams about a dead woman.

I (38:34)

He had a dream and in his dream he's describing what happens or what he does, does to a woman.

A (38:40)

Dosset's dream tracks reality, painting a vivid picture of Rachel Kossub's murder scene. A dream, however, is no substitute for hard evidence.

I (38:51)

This was going to be one of my tough ones.

E (38:53)

Yes.

A (38:54)

The detective believes he has a viable suspect. Without a case file, however, his options are limited.

I (39:00)

Once I started looking into it and talking to all the retired detectives and stuff, there was so much out there and I realized, you know, everything they're telling me is just missing pieces of paper that could be recreated. And that's what I started doing. I started re interviewing witnesses, getting statements from them, and again started searching for the physical evidence that I knew was still in the property room or out at the lab.

A (39:23)

His paper file is recreated and Sadler heads to the police property room looking for the Kossub rape kit.

I (39:31)

Over the years, we've had three different crime labs. Somewhere in the shuffle, switching over, some of the evidence has gotten lost. I really had almost given up hope and was just totally frustrated with the fact that we couldn't find evidence.

A (39:43)

After weeks of searching, Sadler heads back to the crime lab for one last ditch effort. If he finds nothing there, this cold case investigation could be over before it starts.

I (39:56)

This is the Bexar county crime lab and morgue.

A (40:00)

On April 17, Sadler walks into the county crime lab. In the hallway, he meets Dr. DiMaio Chief Medical examiner.

H (40:09)

And then you began to ask me about the rape kits.

A (40:13)

Sadler tells Di Maio about the missing evidence.

H (40:16)

I said, rape, kids, I've got them all. You never threw them away.

I (40:20)

I know. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I fell over.

H (40:24)

I kept every rape kit from 1981 when I arrived, until 1988 when after that, all the evidence went directly to the crime lab.

A (40:36)

DeMaio leads Sadler down the hallway.

H (40:39)

This is the toxicology laboratory. And if you look in the freezer, it was all the way in the back, on the right hand side, on the floor, a large brown cardboard box with all the unanalyzed rape cases from 1981 to 1988, which we had been

A (41:04)

storing on the floor of the county freezer. Detective Sadler finds the evidence he has been looking for.

I (41:11)

The clerk pulled it out here for us. She opened the top and they were lined up in rows. And the very first one, because I

H (41:18)

knew the name and the.

I (41:19)

The case number already was sitting right there on top. In fact, in my excitement, I wanted to reach down and grab it. I said, okay, I need this to go to DNA. And they had to stop me, say, no, no, there's a procedure for getting it from there to the other side of the building. And I'm like, well, I don't care how it's done, but I want this tested.

A (41:34)

Swabs from Rachel Kossib's body are rushed to DNA analyst Lonnie Ginsberg for testing.

F (41:40)

The actual swabs that we tested were

A (41:44)

in very, very bad condition. There appeared to be mold growing on these swabs, which is very, very detrimental for DNA analysis. Despite the long odds, a genetic profile is generated and compared to Mike Dossett.

I (41:58)

Bonnie Ginsburg paged me and told me that they had got a match and that it was Dossett's DNA.

A (42:04)

On June 26, Dossett is arrested and charged with murder. In January of 2005, Mike Dosset stands trial for killing Rachel Kossub. 21 years earlier, Rita Spiegel prosecutes for the state.

B (42:19)

We had that physical evidence, that last piece, and yes, it was the DNA that was the deciding factor.

A (42:26)

In addition to DNA evidence, Spiegel presents Dosset's dream statements to the court.

B (42:32)

I do recall seeing myself standing by a banister that curves and looking out a window. I don't know if this is at the interior decorating place on Randolph Boulevard or not. And there is your curved banister. It's a wooden banister about 2 or 3 inches wide. And there it is again. Just the way he describes it. I remember seeing a picture of a girl laying naked all tied up, and I could see that she was dead. I could not see her face. And there she is, the bottom with the banister, and you can't see her face.

A (43:04)

Dossett's statements put the case over the top. After seven days of trial, the jury is back with a verdict. Guilty of murder in the first degree. At sentencing, Dossett receives a term of 40 years. And Kirsten gets a chance to speak to the man who killed her mom.

C (43:23)

My family, myself and my son. I think the hardest thing I've ever had to do was to face the defendant and tell him what I felt today.

B (43:35)

I want you to know you have

A (43:37)

my own birth with my mother.

B (43:39)

You have raised my father, my family, myself and my son.

C (43:45)

I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders after all of these years.

A (43:50)

You are a little son of a grandmother you will never know.

B (43:54)

Someone who would love him dearly and would worship the grand he works on.

C (43:59)

And I knew that it was finally over. Closure was near and I was going to be able to hopefully move on with my life and finally put it behind me.

I (44:10)

I don't think he expected your mother there that day.

A (44:13)

Also in the courtroom that day is Detective George Sadler.

I (44:17)

I mean, the look on her face and talking to her. This is not about me, not about an investigator. It's about the families of these victims that are left behind.

C (44:25)

I'm so thankful to Detective Sadler. If it wasn't for him, I don't think this case would be solved. His persistence and just the care that he showed, you know, in this case was just incredible. He's a great man.

A (44:40)

After 21 years, Kirsten Newcomb finally has answers and justice for her mom.

C (44:47)

The day after the verdict and he was sentenced, I brought a huge bouquet of yellow roses out for her. She always loved yellow roses, her favorite color. So I brought a huge spray for her and put it there and told her that she could rest in peace now. And I really think she is able to.

A (45:14)

Pluto TV has thousands of free movies and TV shows. We're coming at you with everything we got. This is the mindset.

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This is the mantra.

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This is the mindset. With movies like Pineapple Express, the entire Star Trek film franchise and Gladiator, and TV shows like Survivor, SpongeBob SquarePants, the Fairly Odd Parents and Ghosts, Pluto TV is always free. Huzzah. Pluto TV. Stream now, pay never. And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row

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