The Interrogation / The Slide

Summary

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Cold Case Files – "The Interrogation / The Slide"

Original Air Date: April 7, 2026
Narrated by: Marisa Pinson

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Episode Overview

This double-length episode of Cold Case Files dives into two harrowing investigations: the wrongful accusation and eventual exoneration of a teenage boy accused of murdering his sister in "The Interrogation," and the decades-later resolution of a brutal sexual assault and murder in "The Slide." The central theme unites both cases: the dogged persistence of defense lawyers, detectives, and forensic scientists in their pursuit of justice—often in the face of official resistance, human error, and the emotional devastation suffered by the victims' loved ones.

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Case One: "The Interrogation" — The Crowe Family Tragedy

[01:31–04:48] The Interrogation & False Confession

• Setting: Escondido, CA, 1998. Fourteen-year-old Michael Crowe is brought in for questioning the day after his 12-year-old sister, Stephanie, is found stabbed to death at home.
• Police suspicion: The absence of forced entry leads investigators to suspect a family member.
• Michael, overwhelmed by grief and pressure, resists accusations at first but quickly unravels:
  • “I just fell completely apart. I mean, nothing was real to me anymore.” (Michael Crowe, [03:52])
  • Police lie about evidence, claiming Stephanie's blood was found in Michael’s room, which was untrue.
  • “They left no room for me to question it… They said that her blood was in my room. They didn’t say we think, they said that her blood was in my room.” (Michael Crowe, [04:31])
• Under hours of psychological pressure, Michael gives up and, explicitly stating he is lying, fabricates a confession.
  • “Okay, I’m just gonna warn you right now. It’s a complete lie. Tell us the story.” (Detective/Michael Crowe, [05:23])

[06:01–08:27] Public Outcry & Prosecution

• Michael and two friends (Joshua Treadway, Aaron Hauser) are charged. Media plays up the narrative of teenage violence.
  • “They thought that these boys had taken the violence from these games to such an extreme that they actually would plan and carry out a murder.” (Mark Sauer, [06:59])
• Family is torn apart, convinced of the boys’ innocence but powerless.
  • “It was almost David and Goliath in a sense—it wasn’t just the prosecution, it was the media.” (Michael Crowe, [07:57])

[08:47–13:05] Unraveling the Interrogation

• Defense lawyer Mary Ellen Attridge steps in, parsing the flawed interrogation.
  • “That is a per se violation of the law… He’s guaranteeing him an outcome as if he is the judge, the jury, and apparently the executioner of Michael Crowe.” (Mary Ellen Attridge, [09:06])
• Attridge discovers another possible suspect: Richard Tuit, an unmedicated schizophrenic with a history of stalking girls, present in the neighborhood at the time.
  • “The shirt itself, it looked like a big old sponge of biological material… There was definitely something to be had here.” (Mary Ellen Attridge, [12:03])

[13:05–15:45] DNA Breakthrough & Exoneration

• Testing of Tuit’s red sweatshirt (previously overlooked) produces an “extremely strong DNA hit”: Stephanie Crow's blood is found.
• All charges against the boys are dropped—but Tuit is not immediately charged.

Notable Quote:

"They dropped the charges against us and then tried to bury the case as best they could and protect Tuit."
—Michael Crowe ([13:05])

[15:45–19:39] The Cold Case Detective Steps In

• Vic Koloka becomes invested in the case, reviewing Michael's confession tapes and finding them deeply troubling.
  • “What I saw was the opposite of what I was taught. We’re hurting somebody very, very badly.” (Vic Koloka, [15:54])
• Koloka works to dismantle far-fetched theories (e.g., that Tuit found the bloody shirt in a dumpster) by gathering photographic evidence of Tuit wearing the shirt before the murder.

[20:02–24:49] Prosecutorial Resistance & New Forensics

• Local DA remains fixated on the boys’ supposed guilt. California Attorney General’s office takes over.
  • “They simply wouldn’t do it because they were too invested in the guilt of the boys.” (Gary Shawns, [20:02])
• Forensic testing by Faye Springer and Connie Milton shows Stephanie’s blood on, and under, both of Tuit's shirts, which couldn’t be due to contamination.
  • “Maybe a jury could buy possibly contamination as to one shirt, but, you know, come on, lightning striking twice on the same tree? No, no way.” (Jim Dutton, [23:56])

[24:49–26:44] The Trial & Aftermath

• At trial, Michael watches his own false confession and explains to the jury why he broke.
  • “I always knew in my heart…at trial they’re gonna see the whole thing and 12 people are gonna experience what everyone else has experienced.” (Michael Crowe, [24:58])
• Tuit is convicted—not of murder, but voluntary manslaughter, due to mental illness, and sentenced to 13 years.
  • "I really think he should have gotten more. But at the same time, I understand why... Obviously if I had my way in a perfect world, it would have been more." (Michael Crowe, [26:44])

[27:20–28:20] Lingering Impact

• Closure remains elusive for the family and investigators.
  • “I don’t buy this closure thing. It’s a really neat social worker term. Great. You think Michael has closure? Michael’s just moving on with his life. I wouldn’t call it closure.” (Vic Koloka, [27:20])
• A poignant moment:
  • “Give me back Stephanie.” (Vic Koloka, [28:04])
• Epilogue: In 2013, after a retrial and questions about evidence contamination, Tuit is found not guilty and released.

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Case Two: "The Slide" — Justice Delayed for Agnes Pfafrowicz

[29:11–31:27] The Killing of Agnes Pfafrowicz

• 1984, Minneapolis: 69-year-old Agnes is found raped and dead of a heart attack.
  • “Her purse was dumped out and there was contents of her purse in the bathroom and that wasn’t right. Doors were open and drawers were open in the kitchen like somebody was looking for something that wasn’t normal.” (Sgt. Bob Nelson, [30:43])
• A search for her stolen checkbook begins, hoping the killer will slip up.

[32:01–33:32] Early Suspect: Bill Volmar Bailey

• Checks are cashed in Bailey’s name after the murder, drawing suspicion.
• Bailey lies about his relationship with the victim and the tasks he performed for her.
  • “We already knew the grass was 7, 8 inches tall and it hadn’t been cut in weeks… We felt very strongly that he was lying about everything he told us.” (Sgt. Bob Nelson, [34:55])

[36:00–38:38] Case Goes Cold

• Bailey is initially arrested, but physical evidence is insufficient. He is released and the case goes cold following the destruction of physical evidence in 1992.

[38:38–41:02] Hope Through Forgotten Evidence

• 2000: A family member’s emotional phone call to Sgt. Barb Moe prompts a new investigation.
• All evidence was destroyed—except for sexual assault slides stored by the medical examiner.
  • “Extremely hopeful. That’s all we had to go on. So, yeah, everything was riding on that.” (Barb Moe, [40:56])

[41:02–43:10] A Forensic Miracle

• Kathy Knutson, DNA analyst, painstakingly recovers viable DNA from the slides.
  • “You wouldn’t expect to see this particular 5 locus DNA type more than once in 15 million individuals.” (Kathy Knutson, [43:02])
• The DNA matches Bailey.

[43:13–44:22] Trial and Verdict

• Bailey is charged and prosecuted, with DNA and handwriting evidence key to the case.
  • “I once heard something like DNA is the finger of God pointing down, saying, you did it. And that’s kind of how I felt about finally, you know, they're gonna get him.” (Barb Koob, [43:22])
• Jury convicts Bailey, providing the family long-awaited relief.

[44:36–45:31] Retrial and Finality

• The conviction is overturned due to a Miranda violation, but in a 2005 retrial, Bailey is found guilty again.
  • "He’s the type of person that should be in prison the rest of his life. And I think now he will be." (Sgt. Bob Nelson, [45:27])

[45:40–46:07] Remembering the Victim

• Barb Koob testifies, reminding the court that Agnes was "a member of our family... We all miss." ([45:47])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "They dropped the charges against us and then tried to bury the case as best they could and protect Tuit." —Michael Crowe ([13:05])
• "What I saw was the opposite of what I was taught. We're hurting somebody very, very badly." —Vic Koloka ([15:54])
• “I once heard something like DNA is the finger of God pointing down, saying, you did it.” —Barb Koob ([43:22])
• "Give me back Stephanie." —Vic Koloka ([28:04])
• "He’s the type of person that should be in prison the rest of his life." —Sgt. Bob Nelson ([45:27])

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Timeline of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Summary | |-----------|----------------| | 01:31 | Trigger warning and opening statement about the rarity of solved cold cases | | 02:24 | Michael Crowe's initial interrogation | | 05:16 | Michael confesses after two days of questioning | | 09:06 | Mary Ellen Attridge identifies illegal interrogation tactics | | 12:26 | Motion for DNA testing on Richard Tuit’s clothing | | 13:05 | Charges dropped against Michael and friends—Tuit not charged yet | | 15:45 | Detective Vic Koloka takes over investigation | | 20:02 | California Attorney General steps in | | 22:03 | Forensic analysis invalidates contamination theory | | 24:49 | Michael explains his confession at trial | | 26:26 | Jury convicts Tuit of voluntary manslaughter | | 27:20 | Reflections on the impossibility of closure | | 28:20 | Epilogue: Tuit eventually acquitted in retrial | | 29:11 | Beginning of second case: Agnes Pfafrowicz’s murder | | 33:45 | Interrogation and arrest of Bill Bailey | | 38:38 | Barb Moe searches for lost evidence in basement | | 41:02 | Kathy Knutson recovers viable DNA | | 43:02 | DNA match to Bailey | | 44:11 | Jury returns guilty verdict | | 44:36 | Conviction overturned, then retrial brings justice |

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Summary & Final Thoughts

Cold Case Files: The Interrogation / The Slide demonstrates the perils of tunnel vision and the immense value of scientific progress and brave individuals in overcoming miscarriage of justice. Both stories reveal how errors, biases, and lost evidence nearly denied closure, but dogged persistence—by defense attorneys, cold case detectives, scientists, and heartbroken families—can finally expose the truth, no matter how long it takes.

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Transcript

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[Narrator]

This program contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. There are over 100,000 cold cases in America. Only 1% are ever solved. This is one of those rare stories.

[Detective]

I'll tell you what, Mike, why don't you have a seat in that yellow chair over there.

[Michael Crowe]

I just remember being led to this small room with a hard plastic chair and up against the wall and just being told to have a seat.

[Detective]

And my badge, it says, you know, it says police on it and it says detective. But that's not really what I do. What I do is I help people solve problems.

[Narrator]

In Escondido, California, on January 22, 1998, 14 year old Michael Crow sits in an interrogation room speaking to a detective.

[Detective]

My daughter, she's 12 years old and she's. Crow is dead on the floor.

[Narrator]

The day before Michael's sister Stephanie was discovered stabbed to death in their suburban home.

[Detective]

The paramedics are en route, but she's dead.

[Narrator]

Police are under pressure as San Diego waits for them to catch the killer. Investigators say 12 year old Stephanie Crow was stabbed to death in her own home as her parents, siblings and grandmother slept. With no witnesses, no weapon and no signs of forced entry, solving this crime will not come easy. With no sign of a break in, police believe it to be an inside job and focus on Michael as the probable killer.

[Detective]

We feel there's evidence that warrants us talking to you in greater detail. That's the long and short of it. That's why you're here.

[Narrator]

Michael denies any involvement. Police, however, don't believe it.

[Detective]

The good part of Michael didn't do it. I did. The Michael that helps his sister. You telling me I didn't do it? The part the Michael that helps her with her math. I didn't. I didn't do this.

[Michael Crowe]

I just fell completely apart. I mean, nothing was real to me anymore. Everything was just wrong. And I just had nothing to hold onto.

[Detective]

There's blood in your room. How could that blood get there? How could it conceivably get there?

[Michael Crowe]

They told me that my hair was in her hands, that her blood was in my room. And I just remember thinking that that was impossible. But at the same time, this is the police telling me this. I didn't think they were lying.

[Detective]

This wasn't telling you an answer that I don't have. It's not possible to tell you something that I don't know.

[Michael Crowe]

They left no room for me to question it. They told me that her blood was in my room. They didn't say. We think they didn't say. They said that her blood was in my room.

[Narrator]

In fact, there was no blood found in Michael's room. The police are bluffing.

[Michael Crowe]

I always put my faith really into science. And that's kind of what I guess my weakness was in this case. They had told me that science said I did it. And I trusted that over my own memory.

[Detective]

The 11th hour is rapidly approaching. All this evidence is going to be in. Put a rush on some things that quite frankly is going to bury you, my friend.

[Narrator]

After two days of questioning, detectives get what they are looking for from Michael Crowe. A confession.

[Detective]

Tell us. If I tell you a story, the evidence is going to be completely. Well, then tell us the story. But it won't a lie. I'll have to make it up. Tell us the story, Michael. You want me to tell you a little story? Tell me the story. What happened that night? Okay, I'm just gonna warn you right now. It's a Complete lie. Tell us the story. Okay, you let me know when you hit the lie button. Okay, here's the part where I'll start lying. That night. It's all better. He couldn't take it anymore. Okay, so I got a knife, went into a room and I stabbed him.

[Narrator]

Michael Crowe is arrested for the murder of his sister Stephanie Escondido.

[Mary Ellen Attridge]

Police arrest Stephanie's 14 year old brother

[Narrator]

Michael for the murder.

[Detective]

We've got a brother who now is her accused killer.

[Narrator]

So she'll never come back and he's got to be held responsible for his

[Mark Sauer]

actions when the story breaks. It's a heck of a story.

[Narrator]

Mark Sauer is a reporter for the San Diego Union Tribune.

[Mark Sauer]

First of all, the initial news is you've got a 12 year old girl stabbed to death in her bed. The shocking news within a short period after that is that her brother and a couple of his friends had conspired and carried out the murder. That's an unbelievable story.

[Narrator]

We have evidence to indicate that all

[Michael Crowe]

three were at the scene and that

[Sheryl Crow]

there was participatory acts by all three individuals.

[Narrator]

Joshua Treadway and Aaron Hauser, teenage friends of Michael, are also charged with the crime.

[Mark Sauer]

They thought that the boys were deeply into video games and to almost a cult status into dressing in dark clothing. They thought that these boys had taken the violence from these games to such an extreme that they actually would plan and carry out a murder. When you think, what's the worst that could possibly happen? You can imagine to you, let's see, your daughter's murdered in her bed next to the room you're sleeping in. Well, no, the worst is that happens and then your son is falsely accused.

[Detective]

People who aren't guilty aren't supposed to be accused like this. It's not supposed to happen this way.

[Narrator]

Sheryl Crow is Michael and Stephanie's mother.

[Family Member (possibly Mother or close relative)]

It just made us sick. It was horrible to watch that, watching your child just be ripped apart right in front of your eyes. Then we knew absolutely that he didn't do it.

[Michael Crowe]

I mean, it was almost a David and Goliath in a sense, because it wasn't just the prosecution, I mean, the media.

[Detective]

The day Stephanie Crow was buried, her

[Narrator]

family and friends were overcome by grief

[Detective]

and particularly stunned that it was her

[Narrator]

own brother who was being held on suspicion of murder.

[Detective]

Now police have arrested two of his friends as well.

[Michael Crowe]

The media just loved the idea of this, you know, violence from the high schoolers and it really fit their stereotype of what teenagers were like.

[Detective]

I haven't lied to you.

[Mary Ellen Attridge]

It was Disproving one case and proving another. It was sort of like being a prosecutor and a defense lawyer at the same time. First you react to it actually, as a person. I mean, you obviously, as a lawyer, make note of those things, but as a person, it's just, I can't believe that they would do this to a kid is really my first reaction.

[Narrator]

Mary Ellen Attridge is a San Diego county public defender. In February of 1998, she begins to pick apart the Crow interrogation.

[Detective]

You have my personal guarantee that the help you need to accept this is going to be forthcoming.

[Mary Ellen Attridge]

That is a per se violation of the law. That right there rendered this whole thing unusable. He's guaranteeing him an outcome as if he is the judge, the jury, and apparently the executioner of Michael Crowe.

[Detective]

I don't know what's going on because I have a memory.

[Vic Koloka]

You know what?

[Detective]

That's possible.

[Mary Ellen Attridge]

Well, Michael's 14. You know, Michael had never been in a police department before. Plus, I mean, his sister had just been murdered. I mean, how emotionally vulnerable can a person get? And then ultimately he writes this letter that they want him to write. And he says, well, you know, I must have done this because you're telling me I did this in your own words.

[Detective]

And I think it's important that you tell us that's exactly how you feel.

[Narrator]

Michael's letter reads, dear Stephanie, I'm so sorry that I can't even remember what I did to you. I feel that it is almost like I am more being convinced of this than really knowing it.

[Mary Ellen Attridge]

It's not a confession. That's an equivocation, specifically because he can't say that he knew he did it. There never was a confession by Michael Crow. What there was is there was a fiction invented by the Escondido police department.

[Narrator]

Attridge is a true believer in Crow's innocence. Getting a jury to believe it, however, is another matter.

[Mary Ellen Attridge]

Most people don't believe that they would confess to something they didn't do. So it's really difficult to convince a jury that this is a false confession. And so I knew that we had to. I knew that I had to prove that somebody else did it.

[Narrator]

Attridge pours through police reports looking for that somebody else and finds a man named Richard Tuit.

[Mary Ellen Attridge]

He was an unmedicated schizophrenic, and he went to a neighbor's house that night, and the woman described him as having Charles Manson's eyes.

[Narrator]

The night of Stephanie's murder, Richard Tuit was wandering through the crows, neighborhood, knocking on doors looking for an ex girlfriend.

[Mary Ellen Attridge]

We did a lot of work with witnesses who saw him in the area both before, during, and after the homicide. And we developed his tendencies to sort of. I don't want to say stalk, but harass. Young girls of a similar appearance to Stephanie. Accrue.

[Narrator]

The day after Stephanie's murder, Richard Tuit was questioned by police. Police with a growing focus on Michael as a suspect. However, police dropped the lead and released Tuit.

[Mary Ellen Attridge]

They didn't step back and say, well, who else was in the neighborhood? And what about that guy?

[Narrator]

Attridge likes Tuit as a suspect. She wants to have a look at his red sweatshirt confiscated from Tuit at the time of his questioning and never tested for DNA.

[Mary Ellen Attridge]

This is so dirty. You know what I mean? There is so much stuff on here. The shirt itself, it looked like a big old sponge of biological material. There was definitely something to be had here. And so that's when my antenna pretty much went up, stayed up, and from there on, I started making demands about the shirt being tested.

[Narrator]

Attridge makes a motion for DNA testing of Richard Tuit's red sweatshirt. Three spots of blood are identified on the sleeve.

[Mary Ellen Attridge]

Basically, what it boiled down to is that there was nobody who ever walked the earth who could have been that donor, except for Stephanie Crow. It was an extremely strong DNA head.

[Narrator]

The San Diego District Attorney dismisses charges against Michael Crowe, Joshua Treadway, and Aaron Hauser.

[Detective]

Comment, Erin? No comment.

[Sergeant Jim Heimerl]

No comment.

[Connie Milton]

You want to say anything? I mean, this must be a relief.

[Narrator]

It's a day of celebration. The celebration, however, does not last long.

[Michael Crowe]

They dropped the charges against us and then tried to bury the case as best they could and protect Tuit.

[Family Member (possibly Mother or close relative)]

I thought he would be charged right away. I thought the DA would, of course, you know, want to charge the murderer, but didn't happen. No.

[Narrator]

Tuit is locked up on an unrelated conviction, and the DA adopts a wait and see approach. He is in custody. He's received a three year prison term, and that allows us to investigate again without any sort of rush.

[Detective]

This crime is not going to be solved by the police or the district attorney because they are invested with the delusion that these three boys conspired to commit this murder.

[Mark Sauer]

We had a quote in the paper from a former da. We asked him about the position that the district attorney was in and the police, and he said, well, they're in a very tough spot. It's like trying to pick up a turd by the clean end.

[Narrator]

For months, the case languishes despite the DNA link. There Is no arrest of Tuit forthcoming?

[Michael Crowe]

You know, we haven't heard anything in a while, what's going on, but we have a new team investigating. You know, it's just another way of. I think, really, they were just sitting on their hands, hoping that no one would ask whatever happened, hoping no one was going to push it. And finally, you know, we had to push it. We had to be the ones.

[Vic Koloka]

This is our closed file room. Primarily, we've got the Crow case pretty much in this corner here. All these boxes.

[Narrator]

Vic Koloka is a cold case detective for San Diego County. In 2000, he volunteers to take the Crow case despite a partner's warning that to do so would be career suicide.

[Vic Koloka]

I'm pretty well known for if there's something wrong, I voice my opinion. I don't care how many stripes you got on your shirt or on your bars, and I'll tell you how the truth is. So I think it's kind of why I fit the case. Because it was gonna be one of those kind of cases. I was gonna have to go against probably. Probably the district attorney himself. It was kind of tough for a while because you didn't trust us.

[Narrator]

One of Colloca's first steps is to pay a visit to the Crows. A family that now sees the police as the bad guys.

[Family Member (possibly Mother or close relative)]

I think about it. So we didn't know who to believe. So we just had to.

[Vic Koloka]

I understood your position, too. I wouldn't trust me either. Just another cop.

[Family Member (possibly Mother or close relative)]

He said that he was gonna investigate the case and he was going to follow the case, you know, wherever the evidence led. And if it led back to the boys, he was gonna charge him.

[Vic Koloka]

But Mr. Crow at least said to me, prove to me that my son did this. If my son did this, I'll accept it. But you prove it to me.

[Mark Sauer]

They both had a common thing that they could cling to, an anchor. Both of them were searching for the truth to come out. The family believed they knew the truth. Vic Koloka was going to tenaciously go after the truth.

[Narrator]

Koloka's search for the truth begins with a review of Michael Crowe's confession.

[Vic Koloka]

When I watched this tape, what I saw was just amazing to me.

[Detective]

I haven't lied to you. I haven't. I don't know.

[Vic Koloka]

My feeling has always been, as a cop is that we're here to help people. You know, we're here to help the innocent people. And what I saw was the opposite of what I was taught. We're hurting somebody very, very badly. Michael had given up. Michael was going to tell him whatever he wanted. That, to me, was the most critical part of the statement from Michael. And I knew that Michael admitted to something that we could prove never happened.

[Narrator]

Detective Koloka believes the blood on Richard Tuit's sweatshirt provides sufficient evidence of guilt. The district attorney, however, doesn't necessarily agree.

[Vic Koloka]

Tuite was a transient dumpster diver. And the theory was, well, maybe the boys were wearing this shirt, killed Stephanie and threw this bloody shirt into the dumpster. Or they threw something else bloody in there that got under the shirt. Then Richard Tuit is lounging around looking for something to eat and finds his shirt.

[Narrator]

Koloka needs to prove the theory wrong. He begins by gathering arrest reports involving Tuit.

[Vic Koloka]

I get a call from a deputy up in north county here and said, hey, I've got a photograph of a guy named Richard Tweet. He'd misspell the name. I said, do you want it? I said, yeah, let me take a look at it. He sent it to me, and lo and behold, there's Richard Tuit in a Polaroid photograph wearing the same shirt about a week or so before the murder. So the fact that he found a dumpster that was totally done away with it was totally dismissed.

[Narrator]

Koloka believes he's zeroing in on Richard Tuit, but he is walking a lonely road. Every officer he knows is convinced the three boys killed Stephanie Crow.

[Vic Koloka]

What am I missing? Am I making a mistake? And what am I doing wrong here? And I just kept going over and over again. Came back, same conclusion. Richard Tuit killed this little girl. Then the battle started. Is trying to convince other people how it was that the boys didn't do it.

[Narrator]

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[Vic Koloka]

I was into about a year when I finally realized that the like you said, the district attorney's office here was basically compromised.

[Narrator]

Vic Koloka is a cold case detective with a problem. He is convinced a drifter named Richard Tuit killed 12 year old Stephanie Crow three years earlier. The DA for San Diego county, however, refuses to file charges.

[Gary Shawns]

Vic asked them to charge to it and they simply wouldn't do it because they were too invested in the guilt of the boys. I think it's probably the best way to describe it.

[Narrator]

Gary Shawns and Jim Dutton are prosecutors with the California Attorney General's office. They agree with Colloca. The local DA has tunneled in on the victim's priority brother, Michael Crowe as a suspect and ignored the case against Tuit.

[Jim Dutton]

And I think just about anybody who would look at those 40 hours of interrogation tapes would know for sure at the bottom of their heart, as I did, there's no way that those kids did it.

[Gary Shawns]

But what was amazing about the case against Tuit was that everything fit. And what was also amazing is it seems as if and this is rare in a criminal investigation, particularly a homicide investigation, but the case actually got better over time.

[Narrator]

On May 14, 2002, the state of California takes the initiative away from the local DA and swears out a warrant for Tuit's arrest.

[Jim Dutton]

We're in the old San Diego courthouse down in the bowels. This is the basement where they actually literally store thousands of cases. And we're going to go look at all that evidence that you collect in the Tuit case.

[Narrator]

This is the smoking gun in the state's case against Richard Tuit. The defendant's Sweatshirt stained with drops of Stephanie Crow's blood. Tuit's defense, however, has an explanation.

[Jim Dutton]

They said that he may have been sitting on the floor in this particular cell or holding area, and that some of the police officers who were at the scene earlier that morning that have gone through the bedroom could have picked up blood on their soles of their shoes. And those same officers are then tramping through this area where he is. And therefore, if he had sat down on the floor because there was no benches, then the blood could have transferred from there to the shirts.

[Narrator]

Cold case investigators send Tuit sweatshirt back to the crime lab to criminalist Faye Springer.

[Faye Springer]

They wanted me to look at those to see if I could tell the manner in which they were deposited. So are they transfer stains or are they spatter patterns, or, you know, what is it I could say about those kinds of stains?

[Narrator]

Springer examines the blood stain and notices it has actually formed beads around the shirt's fibers.

[Faye Springer]

It had formed around the fibers of the textile, taken up the shape of the fibers, and beaded up around the individual fibers. When it does that, that would indicate that it was wet, at least partially wet, when it was transferred.

[Vic Koloka]

We spent a lot of time trying to shore up how that blood got there, and every time we'd look at it, it always came back the same thing that happened during the time that it was airborne when Stephanie was being stabbed.

[Faye Springer]

The photograph is as I saw it when it came into my laboratory.

[Narrator]

Springer's analysis, however, does not end there. She takes a look at other clothing taken from Richard Tuit after the murder.

[Faye Springer]

This is an overall view of the front of the T shirt, including a

[Narrator]

white T shirt worn under the red sweatshirt.

[Faye Springer]

I went ahead and looked at it for any additional blood stains and found a smear on the front lower hem area.

[Connie Milton]

You could see them with the naked eye. They were very small. There was three distinct stains very closely located to one another.

[Narrator]

Connie Milton is a criminalist. One month before trial, she extracts human DNA from the T shirt stain.

[Connie Milton]

It was actually mixtures in all three stains, mixtures of DNA from at least two people, and all three were slightly different in their composition, but they did indicate that they were mixtures of DNA of Richard Tuit and Stephanie Craig.

[Jim Dutton]

It really helped us. I mean, you know, maybe a jury could buy that, possibly contamination as to one shirt, but, you know, come on, Lightning striking twice on the same tree? No. No way. So we really felt that that firmed up our case.

[Narrator]

The prosecutors, however, harbor no illusions about the difficulties inherent in the case. They know Tuit's defense will retry the case against the three boys originally charged with the murder, Michael Crowe, Aaron Hauser, and Joshua Treadway.

[Jim Dutton]

Not only do we have to prove that another person did it, Richard Tuit, beyond a reasonable doubt, we essentially have to disprove that the three boys did it. And if somebody just looks at that first glance, that's built in reasonable doubt.

[Detective]

You want me to tell you a little story? Tell me the story. What happened that night. Okay, I'm just gonna warn you right now, it's a complete lie. Tell us the story.

[Narrator]

At trial, Michael Crowe watches his videotaped confession to the murder. He then explains to the jury why he confessed.

[Michael Crowe]

I always knew in my heart was that at trial they're gonna see the whole thing and 12 people are gonna experience what everyone else has experienced. See what I saw? See what happened to me?

[Detective]

Officers came in and testified and noticed that they, Michael Crowe, seemed removed, not emotionally engaged in what was going on that morning, that afternoon at the station, watching the TV and chuckling, playing the video game at the station.

[Narrator]

Six years after his sister's death, Michael Crowe is again being questioned about his role in the death of his little sister. This time, however, hard evidence in the case points in another direction.

[Vic Koloka]

This shows the movements of Mr. Tuit that night.

[Jim Dutton]

We had a timeline that put Richard right there at that location at the time that we believe the murder happened around 10 o' clock at night.

[Vic Koloka]

He starts out first down here. Mrs. Thomas sees him down here at the Lutheran church. He's next seen again over here at the Mogulinski residence. Knock at the door, she says, come in. Next thing we know is he moves down here to the Houma residence. Mr. Houma looks out his bedroom window and sees his face. And he jumps, startled, grabs an axe. He's last seen, according to the reverend, walking. You can't really see too well. Walking back down the road in this direction.

[Narrator]

After three months of testimony, the case goes to a jury.

[Mary Ellen Attridge]

We, the jury in the above entitled cause, find the defendant, Richard Raymond, to it guilty of the crime of voluntary manslaughter.

[Narrator]

Citing the defendant's history of mental illness, the jury opts for a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and a 13 year prison term.

[Michael Crowe]

I really think he should have gotten more. But at the same time, I understand why. I think I can understand where the jurors were coming from. I mean, obviously if I had my way in a perfect world, it would have been more.

[Family Member (possibly Mother or close relative)]

I'm just glad that it's a conviction. I mean, he did it Everyone knows he did it. I kind of fear for the community when he gets out. I just hope that everybody learns to lock their doors.

[Narrator]

In the eyes of the criminal justice system, the Stephanie Crow case is closed. For those who lived it, those who continue to live it, nothing about this case is ever really over.

[Vic Koloka]

I don't buy this closure thing. It's a really neat social worker term. Great. You think Michael has closing? Michael's just moving on with his life. I wouldn't call it closure. All of a sudden Richard Tuitt's convicted. It's over. It's never over, Mrs. Crow. Never over for her. I can't imagine any worse than losing a child. It was the right thing to do.

[Family Member (possibly Mother or close relative)]

Yeah, I bet you'll sleep better at night too.

[Vic Koloka]

I sleep pretty good.

[Michael Crowe]

When he said that Tuit was guilty and he could prove it, he was flying in the face of everything that everyone was telling him to do. When they handed over the case, I'm sure that they made it very clear to him, don't say that. Agree with us. Just make this thing go away for everyone. And when he did that, I think it was an incredible act of bravery.

[Vic Koloka]

Never had a little girl, always wanted one. Should have been something. She would have been somebody really special man. People say, oh, Vic Coloca, he's a hero, yada yada, he's a detective, give him an award. I don't, I've gotten awards. Give me back Stephanie.

[Narrator]

In a 2013 retrial, Tuit was found not guilty of the murder due to possible contamination of evidence and released from prison.

[Detective]

Lay down on the ground.

[Narrator]

It's just past 5am in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Lt. Jim Highmerl is in pursuit of a drive by shooter.

[Sergeant Jim Heimerl]

They've got two weapons in a car recently fired. They hit him in a car, they tried to walk away from the vehicle,

[Narrator]

he just came on a corner and flipped.

[Sergeant Jim Heimerl]

The majority of the killings that occur in Minneapolis occur in north Minneapolis, right here. So these guys deal with it on a daily basis.

[Narrator]

Jim Heimerl deals with violence every day. Today it's a drive by. 22 years ago it was something very different.

[Sergeant Jim Heimerl]

The phone rang and I assumed by the way the urgency of the call came in was that it was a homicide.

[Narrator]

On May 20, 1984, dispatch sends Heimarl to a small house on the northeast side of Minneapolis. Inside the sergeant finds 69 year old Agnes Fafrowicz face down and dead.

[Sergeant Jim Heimerl]

One of the things you look at when you walk in obviously is the room and the positioning of the body. The victim's underwear had been pulled around her ankles and her shoes off. I mean, that's not a natural position. And automatically that just tells you right then and there, more than likely it's a sexual assault of some kind.

[Narrator]

Highmerle works his way through the house and isolates the killer's point of entry.

[Sergeant Jim Heimerl]

The first bedroom I actually walked into was his bedroom. And this is what I see right here. I see an open window. The screen had been removed. You can see where the glass had been removed. Broken out, the window's up.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

Basically, it was a whodunit. But there were some leads.

[Narrator]

Sergeant Bob Nelson takes the lead on the case and examines the ransacked house.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

Her purse was dumped out and there was contents of her purse in the bathroom and that wasn't right. Doors were open and drawers were open in the kitchen like somebody was looking for something that wasn't normal.

[Narrator]

In the kitchen, detectives find several cigarette butts and bag the evidence. The next day, Nelson gets word that the victim's checkbook is missing. He puts a call out to the bank and waits for the killer to make a false step.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

Well, it was, yeah, hopeful. Generally, the suspects aren't that stupid that they go out and cash a check and. But it was a shot.

[Narrator]

Meanwhile, at the morgue, doctors receive the body and begin their search for evidence.

[Mark Sauer]

The cause of death was not as evident as it is in many cases.

[Narrator]

On May 21, Dr. Gary Peterson supervises the autopsy of Agnes Pfafferwitz. With no obvious signs of trauma, the cause of death is a mystery to police. Until the medical examiner opens up Agnes chest.

[Mark Sauer]

The assault caused stress on the heart. Extra demands on circulation, increased the heart rate, blood pressure. The heart, because of the underlying disease, was not able to withstand that.

[Narrator]

Agnes had a heart attack while she was being raped. The medical examiner collects semen and releases the body for burial. Meanwhile, Sergeant Nelson receives a phone call with the break he has been waiting for.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

Nelson. Hey, what's up?

[Narrator]

On a Tuesday morning, Nelson takes a call from a manager at the bank.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

They had just taken in these two checks. One appeared to be a forgery to her in that it didn't match Agnes Wofrovich's writing. The check was made out to Bill Volmar Bailey.

[Narrator]

The check in the amount of 200. $230 was cashed at a local liquor store on Friday the 18th.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

We believe that Agnes Rafrovich was probably killed Wednesday night into Thursday morning, the 16th into the 17th. So she was already dead when this check was made out and cashed.

[Handwriting Expert]

You look at the Starting stroke. You look at the height of the letters, you look at the baseline.

[Narrator]

Nelson calls in a handwriting expert to compare the checks.

[Handwriting Expert]

The size of this A compared to this A, there's a different size, there's a different angle. And this letter R does not match with this letter R. And plus, you have different slants. You have a slant here, and this slant is going straight up and the ending stroke and everything else is different. This was not written by Agnes. This is a simulated signature of Agnes by the person doing it.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

So we definitely wanted to find this person.

[Narrator]

Nelson jumps in his car and heads to the liquor store looking for the man who cashed a check from a dead woman. His name, Bill Vollmer. Bailey.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

So we went to the liquor store and we talked to Mr. Giddio, whose wife had taken in that check on Friday the 18th.

[Narrator]

The store owner says Bailey is an ex conviction who moved to the area a month earlier.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

We were back by the, you know, bottles of booze, and we're talking to Mr. Giddio and he's giving us a description of this guy. White male, about five, nine. And I see this white male subject walking by right in front of the liquor store. And I said to Mr. Giddio, his back was to the window. I said, is that him? And he turned around and says, yeah, that's him. And so he walks straight into his apartment here.

[Narrator]

Minutes later, Bailey leaves the apartment. Nelson is right on his heels.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

And he was walking across the lot here. My partner and I got in the unmarked squad car, the homicide squad, and we pull up on the wrong side of the street here where Mr. Bailey was. And approximately about right here, we got out of the car. He was smoking Camel cigarettes with the gold band underneath the filter, which were similar to cigarette butts that were found in the ashtray of the house.

[Narrator]

Nelson puts Bailey in the squad car and begins to question him.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

I asked him why she had given him a check for $230. And he said, yeah, she wrote that to me. Why? Well, I did some work for her. What kind of work did you do for her? Well, I cut her grass. Yeah, I cut her grass. Cut her grass twice. How long ago? A couple days ago. Well, we. We already knew the grass was 7, 8 inches tall and it hadn't been cut in weeks. I asked him what else he did. He said he did a brake job for a car. He said he'd clean up the battery post. We knew that was a lie because both battery posts were caked heavily with an acid crusted. So we felt very Strongly that he was lying about everything he told us.

[Narrator]

The investigators bring Bailey to the station, read him his rights, and continue the questions.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

Everything he told us was wrong. And Snowbeck, my partner, asked him about the check again. And Ron asked him, if she was already dead when the check was written, how could that be? And he said, quote, that's a good question. That was about the last thing he had said to us pertaining to this case, and he didn't want to give us a written statement.

[Narrator]

Bailey is arrested and charged with the murder of Agnes Vaferwitz.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

Several months later, we found out from a burglary detective that he'd gotten Bailey in another set of three burglaries. Two of them were occupied dwellings where he'd assaulted the older women. And we were like, what's he doing out of prison or out of jail? And we found out that the county attorney had dismissed the case, dismissed the case against Bailey because the lab work came back, and we. We didn't have DNA in them days. We were pretty mad. We were pretty mad.

[Narrator]

After six months in jail, Bailey is back on the streets, and the case slips into the cold files, where it will stay for more than 15 years until a key piece of evidence turns up in the unlikeliest of places.

[Nancy Rowan]

There was no other evidence to be found anywhere as far as I know, and this was definitely the last shot.

[Narrator]

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[Detective]

We're coming at you with everything we got.

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This is the Mindset Free. This is the mantra.

[Detective]

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[Barb Moe]

We're in the basement of Minneapolis City hall and this is the evidence storage unit. I had come here looking for evidence on a 1984 murder case of Agnes Vafirewitz. She was a 69 year old female that had a heart attack during a rape.

[Narrator]

Barb Moe is a sergeant in the Minneapolis homicide squad. In May of 2000, she takes a call about a murder some 15 years cold.

[Barb Moe]

I received a phone call one day and it was a woman, Virginia Golden. Her mother had been murdered in 1984 and she had called me. It was right around the anniversary of her mother's death. You can imagine, you know, without any kind of closure to this. She was still emotional about it and it still bothered her enough to make a phone call, you know, to ask for help.

[Narrator]

Mo agrees to take the case and heads to the property room where she is dealt a blow.

[Barb Moe]

In this case. All the physical evidence on record had been destroyed in 1992 and it was inadvertently destroyed because at the time they were trying to make space in the evidence unit and clear it out of unnecessary evidence. And I think the property sheets from this murder case had just inadvertently been placed in amongst the others and they were signed off as to be destroyed.

[Narrator]

Among the items destroyed are the rape kit, cigarette butts and victim's clothing. All items with potential for DNA. It's a mistake that could cost Mo her case.

[Barb Moe]

It was upsetting because this was a woman that was in her home living alone and a total innocent victim. So. So it's a case that you would like to see something come of somebody held accountable for it.

[Narrator]

Over the next several weeks, Mo works the case, searching for a way to tie the murder to her suspect, Bill Bailey.

[Barb Moe]

I knew that there had been an autopsy done, so naturally there would have been a sexual assault exam done, which would have meant that they had obtained some samples from her.

[Narrator]

Mo wonders if perhaps the the medical examiner kept his own samples in a separate storage area. Mo figures it's worth a shot.

[Barb Moe]

Extremely hopeful. That's all we had to go on. So, yeah, everything was riding on that.

[Nancy Rowan]

This is the underground storage facility of our hospital. We keep old records, old slides, equipment, anything that doesn't actually have to be accessed on a regular basis in the

[Narrator]

basement of a Hospital in downtown Minneapolis. Nancy Rowan searches through row after row of evidence hoping to find the one slide that could crack a cold case.

[Nancy Rowan]

It was just a regular cardboard box and it was dated SA slides 1984. The boxes look like this and they will have the year and then the number that of the assault.

[Narrator]

Inside the box, Rowan finds two slides collected at autopsy.

[Nancy Rowan]

Well, I was glad that I had found it because then we at least had a chance. So I just pulled the slide and proceeded upstairs with it.

[Kathy Knutson]

Just were really unsure as to what to expect.

[Narrator]

Kathy Knutson is a DNA analyst.

[Kathy Knutson]

Essentially that was a one shot deal. You're working with limited sample, you're working with sub quality, substandard quality DNA and essentially you need to use it all when you do your one amplification.

[Narrator]

On October 14, Knudson examines the slide.

[Kathy Knutson]

I need to get to it. It's like sandwiched in between two pieces of glass with some sticky glue in between. And I wasn't getting. There's no way that I could get these cells off without removing all of that.

[Narrator]

Knudsen uses heat to melt the glue and get to the DNA.

[Kathy Knutson]

Now basically just by waving it over the heat. What this is doing is it's softening that mounting medium and you'll see bubbles and you'll see it start to pull apart like that. It's starting to release.

[Narrator]

Knutson is able to extract a partial profile from the slide. When compared to Bill Bailey, it's a match.

[Kathy Knutson]

You wouldn't expect to see this particular 5 locus DNA type more than once in 15 million individuals.

[Barb Koob]

I guess that's what DNA does.

[Narrator]

Barb Koob is Agnes Vaferwitz's granddaughter. She has been waiting 16 years for a phone call from police.

[Barb Koob]

I once heard something like DNA is the finger of God pointing down, saying, you did it. And that's kind of how I felt about finally, you know, they're gonna get them.

[Narrator]

In December of 2000, Barb's prayers are answered as Bill Bailey is charged with the murder of Agnes Pfaffrowitz.

[Sheryl Crow]

I knew from looking at his criminal history that he was a very dangerous person that deserved a lengthy sentence. So that was our mindset.

[Narrator]

Mike Fernstahl prosecutes the case against Bailey.

[Sheryl Crow]

We felt fairly confident we had, obviously the DNA evidence was very important to us. The handwriting evidence was important. We had Bailey being in possession of a stolen check and we had him giving a story that we could prove was not true. So we felt fairly confident.

[Narrator]

The trial opens In February of 2002 after nearly three weeks the jury returns a verdict. Barb Koob is there as the guilty verdict is read.

[Barb Koob]

All the cousins were holding hands and we all just. Yes. So. Yeah. And crying and. Yeah, we were. It was done, it was over and he was going to get punished for it. Yeah. So it was a relief.

[Narrator]

The relief, however, is short lived as the conviction is overturned two years later on a Miranda rights violation.

[Sheryl Crow]

After he was advised and he waived his rights, his story didn't change. So it was disappointing for them to rule that the statements were taken involuntarily. I knew he was a very dangerous person and so we were going to go back and start over again and retry him with every intention of convicting him again.

[Narrator]

More than one year later, Bailey is back in court. On September 21, 2005, a second jury finds Bailey guilty of murder.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

I feel he's a psychotic personality. He's a very violent person.

[Narrator]

Sergeant Bob Nelson has waited more than two decades to see Bailey punished for his crimes.

[Sergeant Bob Nelson]

He's the type of person that should be in prison the rest of his life. And I think now he will be.

[Barb Koob]

I don't think he's got emotion. I don't think he's got a conscience. He can't. He can't to do what he did to her and other women. He can't have a conscience.

[Narrator]

At sentencing, Barb Koob has a chance to tell the court about the grandmother she has lost throughout the trial.

[Barb Koob]

I think everybody thinks of her as the victim and forgets she was a person. So I can't express what she was to our family, that she had a lot of friends, she's a God fearing woman. She was a, a member of our family. We all miss.

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[Detective]

We're coming at you with everything we got.

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This is the mindset. Free. This is the mantra.

[Jim Dutton]

Free.

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[Narrator]

Huzzah.

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