REOPENED: The Cufflink

Summary

Cold Case Files: REOPENED – The Cufflink

Hosted by Paula Barros, "Cold Case Files" delves into some of the most baffling unsolved murders in American history. In the episode titled "REOPENED: The Cufflink," released on March 6, 2025, host Paula Barros explores the haunting case of Jeanette Kirby, a disappearance that remained unsolved for decades until a breakthrough connected it to a series of violent crimes.

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1. Introduction

The episode opens with the chilling account of Jeanette Kirby's disappearance on June 10, 1986. Following her regular routine, Jeanette vanished during an evening walk in Riverbend Park, Michigan, leaving her family in despair.

2. The Disappearance of Jeanette Kirby

Jeanette Kirby adhered to her usual schedule: waking up, going to work, and taking a sunset walk after work. However, on that fateful Tuesday, she never returned home. Her mother, Muriel Kirby, initially assumed a benign reason for her absence, contacting Jeanette's workplace and maintaining communication throughout the day. It wasn't until the next morning that Muriel realized something was terribly wrong.

Muriel Kirby [00:45]: "I started calling Jeanette's office and talked to her supervisor, and we communicated all day long because Jeanette wasn't there and she didn't answer her phone at home."

3. Discovery of the Body

With growing concern, Muriel and her cousin Nancy visited Jeanette's favored hiking trail, Riverbend Park. They discovered Jeanette's car with a parking ticket timestamped hours after her disappearance, confirming she had not returned.

John Hornjack, a family friend and part of a 30-person search team, made a gruesome discovery two days later. While searching the woods, Hornjack found Jeanette's body on the riverbank, bound with police-style flex cuffs and covered in multiple stab wounds.

David Dram [04:02]: "I knew there was something drastically wrong."

4. Initial Investigation

The discovery of Jeanette's body presented a perplexing crime scene. The only significant evidence was the flex cuffs, which unlike standard zip ties, were police-grade restraints without a key. The lack of a weapon, fingerprints, or DNA samples made the case incredibly challenging for investigators.

5. Linking to Cynthia Miller's Case

Shortly after Jeanette's disappearance, another body surfaced—Cynthia Miller—found near the same riverbank. Initially, authorities feared a serial killer was at large. However, Cynthia's body had been in the water for at least a month, indicating a separate incident. Subsequently, Robert Jones and Earl Cox confessed to Cynthia's murder, but their alibis for Jeanette's disappearance exonerated them from that case.

6. Robert Jones and Earl Cox

Jones and Cox's confessions were thoroughly vetted by prosecutor Sam Smith, who found no connection to Jeanette's case. Their involvement in Cynthia's murder did not shed light on Jeanette's mysterious death, leaving the case unresolved and deemed a cold case just five months after the discovery.

Muriel Kirby [09:13]: "I talked to the sheriff's department several times, enough so that they got tired of me and they said, you know."

7. The Cold Case Persists

Despite Muriel Kirby's relentless efforts and renewed attention from the sheriff's department, the case remained unsolved. The flex cuffs lingered as a unique yet insufficient piece of evidence, tantalizing yet elusive.

8. New Developments and David Dram

Sixteen years later, in 2001, a new angle emerged. David Dram, already serving 80 years for assaulting and raping two women, became a person of interest when evidence surfaced linking him to both his previous crimes and Jeanette Kirby's murder. Dram had been implicated in a recent attempted kidnapping, where police found police-grade flex cuffs in his possession.

Detective Pete Ackerley [24:08]: "We began interviewing a number of old friends, acquaintances of David Dram's, a number of people that were never interviewed originally."

9. Linking the Flex Cuffs

The breakthrough came through forensic analysis of the flex cuffs. An expert, Scott Marrier, determined that the cuffs found in Dram's possession were manufactured on the same machine as those used to bind Jeanette Kirby. Further investigation revealed that David Dram had received these cuffs from his friend, Mark Greco, who had previously found them in an old police car.

Scott Marrier [26:56]: "These were wonderful tool marks, both in quantity and quality, and it was actually a very easy identification to make between the metal tab that was removed from the flex cuff that was found on Jeannette Kirby and the one that could be associated to Mr. Draham."

Detectives narrowed the pool of potential matches to about 1,000 cuffs, a small fraction of the millions produced. Coupled with Dram's criminal history and possession of the cuffs, the evidence built a strong circumstantial case linking him to Jeanette's murder.

10. The Trial

In April 2001, Dram was formally charged with Jeanette Kirby's murder. During the trial, Prosecutor Sam Smith presented the forensic evidence alongside Dram's past crimes to establish a pattern of behavior consistent with the murder.

Prosecutor Sam Smith [32:26]: "What happened in the Kirby case was not their movie. Jeanette Kirby was not a woman that hung out with, I guess you could call them lowlifes."

The defense challenged the significance of the flex cuffs' similarity, arguing that manufacturing similarities do not equate to guilt. However, the prosecution emphasized the rarity and specific circumstances surrounding the cuffs, alongside Dram's violent history.

Assistant Attorney General Mark Bloomer [31:12]: "Use your common sense. Because these were used all over the world, what was the likelihood that all 1,000 possible matches were right here in Lansing."

11. Verdict and Conclusion

After three days of deliberation, the jury found David Dram guilty of second-degree murder. At sentencing, Dram received an additional 60 to 90 years in prison, ensuring he would remain incarcerated for life.

David Dram [33:31]: "She's had her day in court. Justice has been served, and that's what we've been fighting for for 16 years."

Jeanette Kirby's mother, Muriel, finally found a semblance of closure after sixteen long years, witnessing her daughter's killer being held accountable.

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Production Credits:

• Host: Paula Barros
• Producers: McKamey, Lynn, and Steve Delamater
• Associate Producer: Julie Magruder
• Executive Producer: Ted Butler
• Music: Blake Maples
• Distributed by: Podcast One
• TV Series Producer: Curtis Productions (Hosted by Bill Curtis)

For more captivating cold cases, visit AE RealCrime Blog or check out the "Cold Case Files" TV series on A&E.

Transcript

[Narrator]

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[David Dram]

You know, there's a car, there's a car. But I knew, I knew there was. I knew it didn't look good. I knew there was something drastically wrong.

[Narrator]

It was time to involve the police. Right away, a 30 person search team was assembled and they began to comb the woods in Riverbend Park. Jeanette's family held out hope that she might still be out there in the woods, turned around and trying to find her way to a trail. Until one searcher, a family friend named Jim Hornjack, made a gruesome discovery.

[David Dram]

I was crisscrossing between the trail and the river. I came up to a fence line that had a gate on it and it was locked, so I couldn't go.

[Narrator]

Beyond the fence line.

[David Dram]

I was going to turn around and.

[Narrator]

Then something told me to go beyond that fence.

[David Dram]

I followed the fence down to the river and found an opening there where I could go around the fence. As I was walking, I was looking to my right and I saw something that was standing out with all the ferns there that was kind of yellowish.

[Narrator]

The color that caught Jim's eye was in fact the yellow and blue sweatpants Jeanette had been wearing that day. When Jim went to investigate, he found it wasn't just sweatpants lying on the riverbank.

[David Dram]

And when I got about four feet from it, I realized it was a body. I was just totally shocked.

[Narrator]

I was in Vietnam.

[David Dram]

I saw a lot of dead bodies, but this really did something to me.

[Narrator]

And all the time running back, I.

[David Dram]

Felt like somebody was watching me. He was very upset. He came running up to me. And one of the other officers that was present indicated that he had found Jeanette Kirby.

[Narrator]

That was Officer Larry Harrison. He was the first to arrive at the riverbank where Jeannette's body was lying face up, covered in multiple stab wounds. When the detectives moved her body, they noticed something different about this particular Crime scene.

[David Dram]

When we initially located Jeanette Kirby, her hands were behind her back. And then once they rolled her over, you could see that she had been bound with police style flex cuffs.

[Narrator]

Flex cuffs look a lot like zip ties, but they're a thicker, heavier grade of plastic. Police use them in situations where they need to restrain multiple people because officers only carry one set of metal handcuffs. In those situations, a person's hand can be tied together with these large zip ties and they work just like handcuffs, only there's no key. As unique as the flex cuffs were, they were just about the only piece of evidence present at the crime scene. Detectives scoured the area, but found no weapon, no prints, and essentially no physical evidence. Investigators were hopeful that Jeannette's body might yield more evidence than the riverbank. The medical examiner performed an autopsy and again, nothing. No bodily fluids, skin or hair samples were recovered from the body. Despite the lack of evidence, detectives didn't have to wait long for another break in their case. Just three days after Jeannette went missing, a couple canoeing in Riverbend park noticed a strange figure in the underbrush along the shore. Tangled in the weeds, they found the body of another woman.

[David Dram]

This was the body of Cynthia Miller. She was located a couple of hundred yards, two to 300 yards from where the body of Jeanette Kirby was found.

[Narrator]

Two bodies had appeared in the same location just days apart. Police feared they were looking for a serial killer, but the prosecutor on both cases, Sam Smith, thought otherwise.

[David Dram]

It didn't appear that these two crimes were necessarily related. For one thing, a body in the river obviously is going to move down that river for a while, and it was clear that that body had moved down the river.

[Narrator]

His instincts were supported by the medical examiner's report. Cynthia Miller's autopsy revealed that her body had been in the water for at least a month when it was recovered. So the cases went to separate detectives and were worked independently. Not long after the discovery of the bodies, a man named Robert Jones implicated himself and a friend, Earl Cox, in the murder of Cynthia Miller. Prosecutor Smith was not surprised to hear that both Jones and Cox had an alibi for the day Jeanette Kirby went missing.

[David Dram]

What happened in the Kirby case was not their movie. Jeanette Kirby was not a woman that hung out with, I guess you could call them lowlifes.

[Narrator]

With Cynthia Miller's case all but closed, Jeannette Kirby's murder taunted the detectives. What they thought was a probable link to a second murder had turned out to be a false lead. And more than five months after her body was discovered, Jeannette's case was no closer to being solved. Soon, detectives were forced to label the murder of Jeanette Kirby a cold case and move on. But her mother, Muriel, hadn't given up the hope of finding her daughter's killer. I talked to the sheriff's department several times, enough so that they got tired of me and they said, you know.

[David Dram]

This is an old case. You can't expect something every day.

[Narrator]

I did.

[David Dram]

I expected something every time.

[Narrator]

I called. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack sponsor. IQ Bar is the better for you Plant protein based snack made with brain boosting nutrients to refuel, nourish and satisfy hunger without the sugar crash. Are you looking for a snack that's not just delicious but also good for your body and mind? Look no further than IQ Bar. These incredible plant protein bars are packed with high quality ingredients designed to keep you physically and mentally fit. IQ bar is totally free from gluten, dairy, soy GMOs and artificial sweeteners, making it the perfect natural snack for any time of day. And with nine delicious flavors to choose from including mint chocolate chip chocolate, sea salt and lemon blueberry, there's an IQ Bar for every taste bud. Chocolate Sea Salt is my absolute favorite. It's the perfect blend of rich chocolate and a hint of sea salt, satisfying my sweet tooth without the guilt. I love throwing one in my bag before running errands so I can have a quick snack on the go when my energy level starts to dip. With over 20,000 5 star reviews and counting, more people than ever are starting their days on the right foot with IQ Bars, Brain and body boosting bars, hydration mixes and mushroom coffees. And right now IQ Bar is offering our special podcast listeners 20% off all IQ Bar products plus get free shipping. To get your 20% off, text cold to 64,000. Text cold to 64,000. That's C O L D to 64,000. Message and data rates may apply. See Terms for details. Hey guys, Mark Wahlberg here.

[David Dram]

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[Narrator]

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[David Dram]

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[David Dram]

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[Narrator]

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[David Dram]

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[Narrator]

Compounded medications are not reviewed by the FDA for safety, efficacy or quality. For years, Muriel Kirby lived with the fact that her daughter's killer, the man who had assaulted and stabbed Jeanette multiple times before dumping her body on a riverbank, was still out there. The Michigan police were still hoping a new lead might surface, and the detail of the police flex cuffs nagged at the back of their minds until March of 1990, when a seemingly unrelated case included one small, notable detail. A woman had been driving home alone one night when what she believed to be a police vehicle appeared in her rear view. The truck behind her flashed red and blue lights and signaled for her to pull over, which she did.

[David Dram]

So I pulled over when I saw the light in the back mirror and I sat there and waited for him to come to me.

[Narrator]

So far, everything seemed normal. The man stepped out of the vehicle and the woman, who asked not to be identified, waited for him to approach her driver's side door. But the man didn't approach. Instead, he ordered her to come here. So, thinking he was a police officer, she followed orders. The woman got out of her car. That's when it became clear this wasn't a traffic stop and she wasn't dealing with a police officer.

[David Dram]

All of a sudden, he took out a revolver or a gun and said, come here. Then he shot a warning shot into the woods and said again, come here.

[Narrator]

On a completely empty highway with no help in sight, the woman faced two run or fight. She didn't stand a great chance at running. He was big and could easily gun her down the moment she ran. So this woman fought like hell.

[David Dram]

I thought, wait a minute, you are not getting me into this truck.

[Narrator]

He was dragging her inch by inch toward his truck. But she was dragging out precious time while she fought plenty of times for cars to pass and for someone to maybe call the police. Finally, her attacker must have decided it was too risky. Maybe there were too many potential witnesses, or she was Putting up too much of a fight. Maybe both. So he threw her to the ground, jumped in his truck and sped off. The woman picked herself up off the ground, drove home and immediately called the real police. Sergeant Burt Meade answered the call and took down a lengthy description of the attacker.

[David Dram]

She told us he was wearing a baseball cap with a star on it that she thought was affiliated somehow with the law enforcement agency. He was armed with a 9 millimeter handgun. She indicated that he drew this gun on her and she knew immediately that he meant business.

[Narrator]

Not only did this woman provide police with a detailed description of the man himself, but she also provided them with a location for potential evidence. Police investigated the roadside crime scene and found the ejected shell casings from the round fired during the attack. They also made castings of the tire prints left by the attacker's pickup truck. Then they released a description of the truck and its driver to the public, hoping for a viable tip.

[David Dram]

This particular vehicle was outfitted with some overhead lights, which are unusual for a civilian vehicle. It had distinctive tires on it. It had a distinctive framework.

[Narrator]

They didn't have to wait long. Several tips came in about a truck matching that description seen refilling at a local gas station. Detective Meade paid the station a visit.

[David Dram]

They went through the records at the station and found a credit card receipt for purchase of gasoline that this truck and the defendant had used. And we were able to identify him through his credit card receipt.

[Narrator]

Investigators then began the work of finding the man who matched that receipt, a man named David Dram. They tracked him to his parents cabin where Dram appeared to be hiding out, along with his trusty and distinctive truck. The tires matched the marks found at the scene and Dram himself matched the victim's description. But that wasn't his only link to the crime scene.

[David Dram]

He was in the home and they asked him if he owned a 9 millimeter handgun. And he acknowledged that he did. And he told him it was hidden under a cushion on the couch. And it was later determined to be the one used and matched with the cartridge that was found at the scene.

[Narrator]

Investigators also searched Dream's home and truck and found a police cap similar to what the victim had described. Then they found a knife and a pair of police style flex cuffs. Detective Meade placed Dram under arrest for attempted kidnapping based on the rape kit as the police called it, discovered in his possession.

[David Dram]

Were under the impression that these items were to be used to bind and secure this woman after she was kidnapped from that scene.

[Narrator]

While Dram was being processed, police ran a check on his name and discovered that he was also a volunteer fireman in a county 200 miles away. The same county where Jeanette Kirby was murdered in 1986. So they called it in. Detective Larry Stacy took the call.

[David Dram]

They advise us that they've arrested a Holt fireman, that he attempted to make a traffic stop on this lady he had tried to abduct.

[Narrator]

Normally, an attempted kidnapping in one county doesn't make much of a splash in the neighboring police departments. I imagine the local officers only called it into Ingram county because the suspect was a fireman and they needed to notify the Ingram fire station. But luckily, the one small detail in the case set off alarm bells. In Stacy's mind.

[David Dram]

At the time, the only ones that carried flexicuffs were usually police officers. And we found it very significant that he would have these flexicuffs.

[Narrator]

Detective Stacy began to wonder how likely it could be that two assailants within just a few miles of each other could have gotten their hands on police grade flex cuffs. And just what would Drahm have done with his most recent victim if he had been able to get her into the car? Would she have ended up like Jeanette Kirby, whose case was sitting on a shelf somewhere? Stacey decided it was worth investigating despite a lack of evidence linking the cases to each other. But while Stacey was investigating the cold case murder, Dram's name popped up once again. And yet another investigation. This time he was under investigation for an attack in nearby Holt, Michigan. Just a year earlier. A server at Sammy's Lounge was heading home after a long shift. She left around 2:30am and made her way across an empty parking lot to her car.

[David Dram]

When she went out to her car, she got in it, started driving it, and she had the thump, thump, thump of a flat tire.

[Narrator]

That was prosecutor Sam Smith, who remembered the details of the Holt, Michigan case.

[David Dram]

Much to her surprise, there was somebody there to help her. This guy that had been in the bar earlier, named David Drahan.

[Narrator]

Draham offered the woman a ride to his house so she could use the phone to call for help. But the good Samaritan routine didn't last long. The moment she stepped into his house, the woman said, something changed in him.

[David Dram]

He appeared with a gun and a knife in his hand, put the gun and knife to her head and said, you're in trouble now. She was forced back into the bedroom, had her get on the bed, took off her clothes, and raped her several times.

[Narrator]

Terrified, injured, and fearing for her life, that woman went home and didn't report the crime.

[David Dram]

She believed he told her if she talked to the police, he would kill her. And she absolutely believed it. And if you see David at somewhere around 6, 6, 6, 7, he's a big. And at that time, he was a big, rangy boy, you'd believe him.

[Narrator]

However, seven months after her attack, Dram was safely in custody, facing charges for the roadside assault. So the woman from Sammy's Lounge decided to come forward. And rape was added to Dram's growing list of pending charges. With a mountain of evidence stacked against him, Dram was found guilty in both cases and received the maximum sentence of 80 years in prison. Meanwhile, Detective Stacy was still trying to tie him to the murder of Jeanette Kirby. But prosecutor Sam Smith needed more evidence before they could file charges.

[David Dram]

From the hour, I guess you would say that. The Leelanau County Sheriff's Office called. We thought David Draim is probably the killer of Jeanette Kirby. But what we could do to do that, other than he had flex cuffs over here and there's flex cuffs in our case, that's not very much proof.

[Narrator]

That proof they needed would take another eight years together. For weeks now, New Jersey residents have been plagued by unexplained drones flying overhead. Is there intelligent alien life? And if so, has the government been covering it up? All right. UFO sightings the military can't explain, Congressional hearings, Pentagon whistleblower.

[David Dram]

What does it all mean? What does it all mean? We are here to try and figure it all out with our new Ancient Aliens podcast. There is a doorway in the universe. Beyond it is the promise of truth. It demands we question everything we have ever been taught. The evidence is all around us. The future is right before our eyes. We are not alone. We have never been alone. Listen to the Ancient Aliens podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts.

[Narrator]

In 1991, a man named David Dram was sentenced to 80 years in prison for assaulting one woman and raping another. Unfortunately, he wasn't a special case. Criminals like Dram and crimes of sexual violence are sadly pretty common, statistically speaking. But there was one uncommon piece of evidence that surfaced during the rape investigation which linked David Drahm to a murder five years earlier. A pair of police grade flex cuffs. The tricky part now was for detectives to link the cuffs they found in Dram's truck to the pair that bound Jeanette Kirby.

[David Dram]

I know of no other cases in the United States where flex cuffs were used. That in and of itself was extremely probative, I thought.

[Narrator]

By 1998, though, the detectives were still stumped. About how to make that connection. Muriel Kirby had not given up on the search for her daughter, and she kept calling the sheriff's office until they pulled Jeannette's file off the cold case shelf. Larry Harrison, who worked Jeannette's case as a street cop, had graduated detective by this time, and he picked up Jeannette's file along with his partner, Pete Ackerley. Both detectives agreed that Dram deserved a more thorough investigation. So they started at the very beginning, looking at Dram's past and leaving no stone unturned. This is Detective Harrison.

[David Dram]

We began interviewing a number of old friends, acquaintances of David Dram's, a number of people that were never interviewed originally. Back in 1986, I tried to run down everybody that went to high school with the guy, Ever went drinking beer, smoked pot with him, worked with him, was on the fire department with him, knew him socially.

[Narrator]

That was Detective Ackerley. Both he and Harrison were determined to find something or someone in Dram's past that might offer some new information or evidence. And they found just that in Dram's old friend, Mark Greco. Fifteen years earlier, in 1983, Greco was living in Holt, Michigan, around that time, he bought a car, but it wasn't your average car. He bought an old police car, but this particular cruiser didn't have an FM radio, so Greco decided to install one.

[David Dram]

I actually had to physically get into the trunk to work underneath the back deck to wire it. And I saw the plastic bag. It was stuck between, like, the inner fender and the outer fender. And I pulled it out and it was a bag of flex cuffs, plastic handcuffs.

[Narrator]

Greco then decided to give several of those flex cuffs to his roommate, David Dram, and held onto a few for himself.

[David Dram]

I worked for a security guard company.

[Narrator]

At that time, and right in the.

[David Dram]

Back window of the car was my uniform hat. And I just pulled a couple out, stuck in my hat, and I gave him the rest.

[Narrator]

Now, that part feels a little bizarre to me. Maybe it's just me, but if I found police restraints in my car, my first instinct would probably be to get rid of them or maybe use them in some sort of home improvement project. I wouldn't give them to my friend, but maybe Greco thought that Dram had some home improvements of his own. In any case, Greco went searching for those two cuffs he kept for himself.

[David Dram]

Up in the top of my closet in a plastic bag was that uniform hat. And inside that uniform hat was that flex cuff.

[Narrator]

Detective Larry Harrison couldn't believe his luck.

[David Dram]

I couldn't believe that after 12 years that he still had this one flex cuff in the brim of his old security hat. I knew immediately this could be the link that we were looking for. To finally put the nail in the.

[Narrator]

Coffin for David Dram, the detectives needed to make a connection between the cuff and Greco's hat and the cuff found on Jeannette Kirby's body. Their first discovery was that both cuffs were the same brand made by the same manufacturer. However, that breakthrough wasn't exactly a smoking gun because that particular brand and that particular manufacturer sold thousands of other cuffs in the United States. Still, it was one step towards proving the detective's theory that the cuff in Greco's hat and the cuff in on Jeannette's body came from the same package. So they next set out to find some unique signature on the cuffs that set them apart from the thousands of others on the market. To do that, they brought in an expert, A forensic tool mark examiner named Scott Marrier.

[David Dram]

Tool marks can be unique. What happens is during the manufacturing process, when tools are made, no two objects, it doesn't matter what you're making, are completely identical in every way. And so what I do is I look for the microscopic imperfections that are left on various objects to see, you know, if if these were cut by the same tool.

[Narrator]

The marks Mary was looking for weren't apparent on the plastic cuffs themselves, but instead he found something interesting. On the small metal tabs that lock the cuffs in place, he found scratches that were created when the tab was machine cut at the manufacturing plant.

[David Dram]

These were wonderful tool marks, both in quantity and quality, and it was actually a very easy identification to make between the metal tab that was removed from the flex cuff that was found on Jeannette Kirby and the one that could be associated to Mr. Dray.

[Narrator]

The marks Mare discovered were proof that the cuffs had been created in the same plant on the same machine. But Assistant Attorney General Mark Bloomer still wasn't quite convinced the evidence was enough.

[David Dram]

It's very analogous to using forensic DNA. It's not enough to simply say there's a match, because then you have to know how many others also match.

[Narrator]

Detectives needed to take their investigation a step further. They didn't just need to prove that the cuffs were unique to a single factory or even a single machine. They needed to place the cuffs Greco found in and the cuffs that restrained Jeanette on the same assembly line close enough together that they reasonably could have been packaged together to prove that. Detective Pete Ackerley took a field trip to the manufacturing plant with the help of the plant officials. Ackerley was able to identify the exact cutting machine used to cut the cuffs. Looking at the machine, he wanted to know how many cuffs one blade could cut before it needed to be replaced. Ackerley had a theory that each blade left a unique pattern on the tabs it cut. So if he could prove that his two sample cuffs were cut by the exact same blade, he could place them within a pool of just a few dozen others that were cut by the same blade. That all depended on exactly how many cuffs a single blade could cut in its lifespan. So they ran a test.

[David Dram]

Then I took one sample, which consisted of five. Five flex cuffs every 100 through the first 1000. After that, I took a sample, which again consisted of five flex cuffs every 1,000 through a total production run, I believe, of 32 or 34,000.

[Narrator]

Ackerley brought those samples back to toolmart expert Scott Marrier to see if his theory paid off.

[David Dram]

What I found during my examination was that there was significant change between one in a thousand. Based on that, and all other things being equal in the manufacturing process, I was able to say that the two flex cuffs in question, the one that can be associated Mr. Draham and the one from Jeanette Kirby, were in fact cut by the same machine and cut within 1000 of each other.

[Narrator]

What Ackerley and Mary were able to determine was that of the millions of flex cuffs produced by that manufacturer prior to Jeannette Kirby's murder in 1986, no more than 1,000 cuffs shared the distinctive tool marks that were found on both sample cuffs. Now, if you listen to this podcast a lot, you know that I'm usually not easily convinced by circumstantial evidence. That's evidence that depends on interpretation and inference to draw a conclusion rather than fact. For example, eyewitness testimony is known as direct evidence, while an accused bank robber being found with a stash of cash is circumstantial. You have to assume that the suspect stole that money from the bank rather than winning the lottery or inheriting a pile of cash. In this case, narrowing the two sample cuffs to a pool of just 1,000among millions on the market is circumstantial. But when you pair that information with Dram's previous roadside assault, which also included flex cuffs and Greco's statement that he had given Dram the cuffs, it gets pretty hard not to connect the dots. And that's exactly what Assistant Attorney General Blumer thought as well.

[David Dram]

Use your common sense. Because these were used all over the world, what was the likelihood that all 1,000 possible matches were right here in Lansing.

[Narrator]

In April of 2001, almost 16 years after Jeanette Kirby's body was found in the Riverbend Park, David Dram was charged with her murder. Prosecutor Sam Smith tried the case and presented the jury with Ackerley's findings.

[David Dram]

Like a fingerprint. You can see the pattern. You can show a jury a fingerprint here and a fingerprint there, and they can see with their own eyes that, gee whiz, those are exactly alike. The same with the tabs.

[Narrator]

The defense attorney, Gene Turnwald, focused his case on the flex cuff match and the other 999 cuffs on the market with identical markings.

[David Dram]

If someone drives a car off the assembly line in General Motors and does a crime with that car, what does that have to do with the very next person who drives a vehicle up the assembly line? Nothing. And that's essentially the argument being made with these flex cuffs being cut with the same tool, you know, from the same manufacturer. Big deal.

[Narrator]

But the cufflink was just half of the prosecution's case. The other half was Dram's criminal past. And assistant AG Bloomer was deliberate in illustrating just how important police flex cuffs were to DRAM's M.O.

[David Dram]

I think it was essential to the success of the case that the jury understand that what we had here was a combination of him having access to flex cuffs and him being the type of person who had done this in the past and sure looked like he did it again.

[Narrator]

On April 21, both sides offered their final statements and the case went to the jury. It took three long days for them to return with a verdict. Guilty of murder in the second degree. On the day of Dram's sentencing, Jeanette Kirby's mother, Muriel, was finally given the chance to address the man who took her daughter's life.

[David Dram]

She's had her day in court. Justice has been served, and that's what we've been fighting for for 16 years.

[Narrator]

At that hearing, David Dram was sentenced to 60 to 90 years in prison, on top of the 80 years he was already serving for assault and rape. His earliest possible Release date is January 27, 2050, at which point DRAM will be 93 years old. Cold Case Files, the podcast is hosted by Brooke giddings, produced by McKamey, Lynn and Steve Delamater. Our associate producer is Julie Magruder. Our executive producer is Ted Butler. Our music was created by Blake Maples. This podcast is distributed by Podcast One. The Cold Case Files TV series was produced by Curtis Productions and is hosted by Bill Curtis. Check out more cold case [e-mail] or learn more about cases like this one by visiting the AE RealCrime blog at aetv.com realcrime.

[David Dram]

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