The Killer's Tattoo

Summary

Cold Case Files – "The Killer's Tattoo" Episode Summary

Podcast: Cold Case Files
Host: Paula Barros
Episode Title: The Killer’s Tattoo
Release Date: September 16, 2025

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Overview

This episode of "Cold Case Files" delves into the decades-spanning investigation of the 1988 murder of John Dobbs in Saginaw, Texas—the town’s first-ever homicide. The story unravels a chilling web of identity theft, cross-state evasion, and relentless detective work, exploring how a mysterious suspect known only by borrowed names—and a distinctive rose tattoo—managed to evade capture for nearly a decade. Ultimately, the episode demonstrates the power of modern forensic science, inter-agency cooperation, and persistence in closing cold cases.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Murder of John Dobbs (02:12 – 07:41)

• On February 3, 1988, police discover the nude, beaten, and strangled body of 73-year-old John Dobbs in his Saginaw apartment.
• Rookie Detective Nancy Wright is assigned the case, and forensic examiner Tom Eakes processes the scene, collecting hundreds of fingerprints.
• The killer writes “DIE” on the bathroom mirror with hydrocortisone cream, leaving a key piece of evidence.

Quote:
“There was a writing found on the bathroom mirror that read ‘die.’ It appeared to have been written with a type of ointment or cream...” – Detective Nancy Wright [03:09]

• Neighbors and Dobbs’s family share that Dobbs was openly gay, and the presence of beer cans and fingerprints suggest the killer likely knew the victim and had spent considerable time in the apartment.

2. The Elusive Roommate and False Identity (05:05 – 11:22)

• Investigators learn Dobbs recently had an unknown man staying with him. A job application in the name “Terry Greene” with Dobbs’s number is traced to a local restaurant.
• When police contact the real Terry Greene, a long-haul trucker, discrepancies in appearance and timeline surface, confirming an impostor has been using Greene’s identity.
• Greene recalls hiring a hitchhiker called “Walter,” who had access to Greene’s wallet and sensitive information and had previously expressed hatred for homosexuals.

Quote:
“He said, ‘They’re better off dead than be around me,’ but I never connected that with it...especially if he’d had a little Jack Daniels helping him.” – Terry Greene [10:19]

• Through more interviews, Wright accesses new leads: “Walter” is also remembered for a rose tattoo with the name “Phyllis.”

3. A Phantom Across the States: Identity Theft Trail (12:18 – 21:32)

• In 1989, Louisiana resident Michael Bertineau becomes the new victim: someone uses his name and Social Security number, leading to years of IRS trouble and financial ruin.
• Bertineau, recovering from a heart attack in 1996, investigates on his own, contacting previous employers of the impostor. He discovers “Walter”—the same drifter—had stayed with his family and may have stolen his ID.
• The impostor, “Mike Bertineau,” works at Yellowstone National Park, but always vanishes before authorities arrive.
• Eventually, the IRS gathers witness testimony, including photos and the key detail: a rose tattoo with the name “Phyllis.”

Quote:
“The only thing that I could remember that really made him stand out is that he had a tattoo on his arm with the name Phyllis in it.” – Patricia Hackett [21:32]

4. Connecting the Dots: Agencies Link the Cases (21:39 – 27:14)

• IRS agents uncover the impostor had allegedly bragged about killing a man in Texas.
• Texas Ranger Dusty McCord issues a statewide teletype seeking a murderer matching the tattooed identity thief.
• Detective Wright in Saginaw instantly connects the teletype to the unsolved Dobbs case.
• Using a California driver’s license thumbprint, Cheryl Hubbard at APHIS matches the suspect’s prints to a career criminal: Robert Greer.

Quote:
“When I first saw it, I just had a gut reaction that this was gonna be him. This was going to be the key that was gonna open the doors...” – Detective Nancy Wright [24:07]

5. Forensic Breakthrough: Confirmation and Hunt for Greer (27:15 – 29:04)

• Forensic examiner Eakes compares preserved Dobbs crime scene prints to Greer’s—finding matches from beer cans and the tube of hydrocortisone cream.
• Evidence unequivocally places Greer at Dobbs’s apartment at the time of the murder.
• Detectives circulate Greer’s photo nationwide, but he remains at large.

Quote:
“I was able to identify his right thumb on a beer can from the trash can in the kitchen.” – Tom Eakes [28:09]

6. The National Manhunt and Capture (32:35 – 35:18)

• Las Vegas PD and the National Park Service are alerted to Greer's possible presence. His ex-roommate suggests he may be hiding at Lake Mead.
• A break comes when campers report Greer boasting about being featured in a newspaper fugitive story.
• Within hours of the new tip, Greer is found camping in a ravine outside Las Vegas. He surrenders without resistance.

Quote:
“Within five minutes he was spotted on the ground...he saw us. He basically just put his hands up and gave up. He knew he was caught.” – Sgt. George Headley [34:56]

7. Confrontation, Motive, and Justice (35:33 – 40:17)

• Detective Wright interviews Greer, who never confesses but hints at his troubled prison past and bias against homosexuals.
• Wright theorizes the murder motive was triggered by homophobic rage, possibly fueled by past sexual trauma in prison.

Quote:
“He clearly wanted to talk to me, but he was reluctant to talk specifically about the murder.” – Detective Nancy Wright [36:03]

Quote:
“I believed that when he’d been in prison before, he probably had been the victim of sexual assault...So I believe that our victim made a sexual advance...He became enraged over it and killed him in that fit of rage.” – Detective Nancy Wright [36:52]

• Massive forensic evidence compels Greer to plead guilty before trial. His sole demand: remain in county jail until after the Super Bowl, so he could watch his beloved Minnesota Vikings play.

Quote:
“The ironic thing about that agreement is that Minnesota got beat the very next week.” – Ranger Dusty McCord [39:05]

• Greer receives an 18-year sentence. Michael Bertineau expresses anger that Greer never paid for his years of tax and identity theft torment.

Quote:
“He should have got 11 years for what he did to me, for the 11 years he put me through.” – Michael Bertineau [39:24]

• Ranger McCord is satisfied:
  “Yes, I think that justice was done...Mr. Greer is right where he needs to be, which is in the penitentiary.” [39:55]

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Important Timestamps

• 02:12: Detectives arrive at Dobbs’s crime scene
• 05:14: Greer’s alias discovered via job application
• 07:41: The real Terry Greene provides crucial background on “Walter”
• 11:22: Identification of the rose tattoo “Phyllis”
• 14:44, 19:42: Bertineau’s battle with IRS and hunt for identity thief
• 21:32: First physical description and photo evidence of suspect
• 24:07: Saginaw PD connects teletype to Dobbs case
• 26:49: Cheryl Hubbard identifies the suspect as Robert Greer
• 28:09: Forensic print match places Greer at crime scene
• 34:56: Greer’s capture at Lake Mead after ten years on the run
• 36:52: Detective Wright explains motive theory
• 39:05: Plea deal and Super Bowl irony
• 39:55: Justice, as viewed by law enforcement

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Notable Quotes

• “There was a writing found on the bathroom mirror that read ‘die.’ It appeared to have been written with a type of ointment or cream...” – Detective Nancy Wright [03:09]
• “He said, ‘They’re better off dead than be around me,’ but I never connected that with it...especially if he’d had a little Jack Daniels helping him.” – Terry Greene [10:19]
• “The only thing that I could remember that really made him stand out is that he had a tattoo on his arm with the name Phyllis in it.” – Patricia Hackett [21:32]
• “When I first saw it, I just had a gut reaction that this was gonna be him. This was going to be the key that was gonna open the doors...” – Detective Nancy Wright [24:07]
• “I was able to identify his right thumb on a beer can from the trash can in the kitchen.” – Tom Eakes [28:09]
• “He clearly wanted to talk to me, but he was reluctant to talk specifically about the murder.” – Detective Nancy Wright [36:03]
• “I believed that when he’d been in prison before, he probably had been the victim of sexual assault... So I believe that our victim made a sexual advance... He became enraged over it and killed him in that fit of rage.” – Detective Nancy Wright [36:52]
• “The ironic thing about that agreement is that Minnesota got beat the very next week.” – Ranger Dusty McCord [39:05]
• “He should have got 11 years for what he did to me, for the 11 years he put me through.” – Michael Bertineau [39:24]
• “Yes, I think that justice was done... Mr. Greer is right where he needs to be, which is in the penitentiary.” – Texas Ranger Dusty McCord [39:55]

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Tone and Presentation

The episode maintains a chilling, methodical, and matter-of-fact tone, marked by the haunted, dogged persistence of law enforcement and the devastation wrought by the criminal’s manipulations. Personal accounts from investigators and victims’ families bring humanity and emotional depth to the story, while technical forensic breakthroughs and inter-agency effort underscore hope even in long-cold cases.

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This summary captures the essential developments, emotional arcs, and procedural milestones of “The Killer’s Tattoo.” It provides a clear path through the complexities of the case for listeners—and the uninitiated—alike.

Transcript

[A]

Picture this. You're alone in the middle of nowhere, and suddenly you realize someone is following you. That's the kind of chilling reality at the heart of Deadly Nightmares, a true crime podcast from id. These aren't urban legends. They're the real stories of ordinary people stalked by killers and attackers. On every episode, you'll hear survivors share the moment they realized their lives were in danger and what it took to escape. Families and investigators weigh in, too, piecing together exactly how those terrifying crimes played out. Now, you all know I live and breathe true crime, so I can promise you Deadly Nightmares knows how to pull you in. The storytelling, the sound design. It's like you're right there in the middle of the tension, but safe on the other side of your headphones. One episode I think you'll especially want to check out is Cabin in the Woods. It's about the Miller family and their growing fear that their son Steven's strange behavior might not just be odd, it might be dangerous. The way the story unfolds, it's haunting and it'll stick with you. So if you're ready for a new true crime obsession, listen to Deadly Nightmares wherever you get your podcasts. Hi cold case listeners. I'm Marissa Pinson, and before we get into this week's episode, I just wanted to remind you that episodes of Cold Case Files, as well as the A and E classic podcast I Survived, American justice and City Confidential are all available ad free on the new A and E Crime and Investigation channel on Apple Podcasts and Apple plus for just $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. And now onto the show. 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. At 10am on February 3, 1988, a call comes into the Saginaw, Texas Police Department. The report is for a possible homicide. It is small town Saginaw's first murder. Nancy Wright is the rookie detective assigned to follow up.

[B]

We were called to the scene of an apartment complex where a man lived alone. His sister had been trying to reach him for a number of days by phone and she had not been able to do so. She called the apartment management. They went in using their pass key and located the body of the victim.

[C]

This is February 3, 1988.

[A]

I have traced down the cord which.

[D]

Runs from the telephone.

[C]

It goes into the bedroom, is wrapped.

[A]

Around the subject's neck. The victim is 73 year old John Dobbs. He is found nude in his bedroom, beaten and strangled with a telephone cord and a belt. His body hangs limp from a doorknob. Detective Wright works the apartment room by room. In the bathroom near the back, she finds a message, apparently from the killer.

[B]

There was a writing found on the bathroom mirror that read die. It appeared to have been written with a type of ointment or cream and there was a tube hydrocortisone cream on the bathroom vanity.

[A]

Within minutes, crime scene investigator Tom Eakes arrives and begins to gather evidence.

[D]

I prefer when I process a scene to begin with the body, the objects closest to the body. So the bedroom would be the main point of interest to start with. After the body is removed, we'd look for maybe the telephone cord, things that may have caused death. And then we begin processing for latent fingerprints.

[A]

Ekis brushes a thin layer of black carbon dust onto surfaces throughout the apartment, beginning with objects strewn around Dob's body. Ikis then moves to the bathroom where he lifts a print from the tube of hydrocortisone cream used to write on the mirror.

[D]

You never know if it's really the perpetrator, but we did have prints that we felt could very easily be what we'd call hot prints that are probably the perpetrator.

[A]

In all, hundreds of fingerprints are found at the scene. The prints on the cortisone tube matched lifts taken off beer cans found in the kitchen, indicating that the killer might have known John Dobbs and spent time in the victim's apartment. Without an identified suspect. However, and in the days before computer searches, there is little eekis can do with the unknown prince. Meanwhile, Detective Nancy Wright develops a profile of the victim. John Dobbs family tells the detective that Dobbs was openly gay, but they know of no one who might have wanted him dead.

[B]

We also learned from neighbors in the area that somebody had been staying with him over the last week or so prior to us finding him, but. But nobody in the apartment complex knew who the man was.

[A]

Police are just beginning to search the apartment for some clue as to the identity of John Dobbs new roommate, when suddenly the dead man's telephone rings.

[B]

While we're there, the phone rang and one of the sergeants answered it. It was a person, a female caller asking for Terry Greene.

[A]

The female at the other end of the line is a restaurant manager named Helga Wuk. She tells police a man named Terry Green has filled out an application for a job earlier that week and gave Dobbs phone number as his local contact.

[D]

Well, he was Telling me that he just came down here to Texas and that he needed a job, he wanted a job. He is living with his old uncle and he need to support him and that he wanted a job.

[A]

Wook provides as much detail as she can about her prospective employee. When she finishes answering questions, the restaurant manager has one of her own for police.

[D]

I said, may I ask you what did he do? And the police officer told me that they just found the body from that murdered victim. My heart fell down. It almost ripped. I could not believe it.

[A]

I could not believe it. Wuk describes Terry Greene as a thin man, 5ft 11, about 40 years old, with brown hair. Her description results in a police sketch which is circulated among Dobbs neighbors who confirmed the drawing looks an awful lot like the man who had been living with Dobbs prior to his death.

[B]

We felt it was one and the same. The victim's car was also missing, so we believe that the suspect had fled in the vehicle.

[A]

Back in Dobbs apartment, detectives discover a further link to Terry Greene. Hotel registration receipts filled out in his name. The receipts list a place of employment for Greene, Monroe Trucking Company in Monroe, Louisiana. Nancy Wright contacts the company which tells her Terry Greene still works there. Wright goes on to ask what Mr. Green looks like.

[B]

One of the office workers there provided information about Terry Greene, who was described to be like 6, 4 and 200 pounds. This was a vast difference from the descriptions given to us by residents and.

[A]

By Helga Wright is beginning to suspect the man who lived with John Dobbs is using Greene's name as an alias. She arranges a meeting with the real Terry Greene.

[D]

They said, we need you to come here to Saginaw, Texas. We have a problem. We think that someone has stolen your identity and has been using it. So my wife and I went over there and they realized real quick I wasn't the one they was looking for.

[A]

In addition to the difference in physical description, this Terry Green has a solid alibi for the day of the murder. He was in the state of California on a long distance trucking run. Detectives asked Greene to search his memory and try to think of anyone who could have stolen his identity.

[B]

I asked him who would have had access to his name, his date of birth and his Social Security number.

[A]

Greene ponders the people in his past and comes up with a possibility.

[B]

He began to describe for me a person he'd picked up at a truck stop that he hired on as a lumper, which is somebody helps him to load and unload their trucks.

[D]

I picked him up over there at the old Fort Worth truck stop. I needed a lumper. I asked him, I said, you got anything going on? He said, no, I'm kind of at loose ends right now. I said, well, if you're not adverse to running the road. He said, well, I'm a truck driver. I said, well, get your gear and let's go.

[A]

In the summer and fall of 1986, Greene and the lumper he picked up in Fort Worth hauled furniture and canned goods, mostly from Texas to the East Coast. Greene tells police the lumper's name was Walter no last name because he never gave one. According to Greene, his employees seemed hardworking and trustworthy. Greene gave him full access to the truck and glove compartment where Greene kept his wallet containing his license and Social Security information. For an experienced identity thief, the trusting Mr. Green was an easy mark. Green even went so far as to explain to Walter the procedure for getting a duplicate driver's license in Louisiana.

[D]

I asked him if he had a driver's license. He said, no, I lost mine. I said, well, I don't know about Texas, but in Louisiana you could send over $5 with the information and tell them you'd lost your driver's license and they'll send you a copy. I thought he'd just send off to Austin and get his, but the boy done pulled a good one on me and sent down to Baton Rouge and got mine.

[A]

Detective Wright questions Green further about his friend Walter. Greene tells her about a conversation he once had where Walter expressed a strong dislike for homosexuals.

[D]

He said, they're better off dead than be around me, but, you know, I never connected that with it. But now that it's been brought out in the open, I can see where it could have happened, especially if he'd had little Jack Daniels helping him.

[A]

The picture Greene paints fits Wright's suspect profile. She asks Greene what else he can tell her about Walter. Greene replies with the name of a woman.

[B]

Terry told me that he had introduced Walter to a female by the name of Fay Reeves in Georgia, and that to his knowledge, that they had dated for a while.

[A]

Wright gets Fay Reeves on the phone and asks her about Walter.

[B]

She recalled that he had given her the name of Walter Confer. She said that whenever they were in town, they would stop by and she would go out with them.

[A]

Fay Reeves tells Wright that Walter Confer had one distinguishing feature, a rose tattoo on one of his arms.

[B]

She couldn't recall which, but she did recall that the tattoo had the name Phyllis incorporated in it.

[A]

When Wright runs a check on the name Walter Confer, a red flag comes up at the Social Security Administration.

[B]

They were showing him as having unreported earned income. He did not know why they were having that difficulty.

[A]

Walter Confer's unreported income is being earned by a phantom. One who takes on a person's name, uses it for a while, and then moves on. One who Detective Wright suspects might also be a killer. After a year of searching for this invisible man who has lived under the stolen names Walter Confer and Terry Greene, Wright is still no closer to his true identity.

[B]

We had no way of tracking down who this person really was. So basically, we had exhausted every avenue known to us. It began to look like we were never going to solve the case.

[A]

What the Texas detective doesn't know is that the phantom has already moved on to the state of Louisiana, where he takes on the identity of yet another man. Michael Bertineau is a Louisiana Cajun husband and father of five boys. Bertenot was born and raised on the bayou where his family gathers every Sunday for a Cajun party. In the spring of 1989, just like every other year, Bertineau files his tax return with the irs. This year, however, something is not quite right.

[C]

Well, when I filed my income taxes, I had W2 forms coming in from California, Colorado, Wyoming, Ohio, Florida, and I've never worked in any other state but Louisiana. I called the IRS and told them they couldn't understand that it wasn't me.

[A]

The IRS hits Bertineau with a penalty and tells him to pay on the unclaimed income. Bertineau chalks the mess up to bad luck, pays the fine, and goes on with his life. The following year, Bertineau sends in his return expecting a refund. But he doesn't get a check. Instead, he gets a letter telling him that once again, he owes the IRS money. Again, Bertineau appeals to no avail.

[C]

I was real aggravated at him. It's like they didn't care about nothing except the money. And it just. It kept on for years and years.

[A]

Each tax season, Bertineau and the IRS do battle over heaps of money Michael Bertineau never saw, but must now pay taxes on. Bertineau insists that someone somewhere must be using his name and Social Security number. But the IRS just keeps sending notices and imposing fines.

[C]

I mean, it's like nobody believes you. You're waiting for a refund check. It doesn't come in. They've taken your refund check, and then you owe three times what you were supposed to get back. I mean, that's hard for a working family.

[A]

In February 1996, after seven years of fighting the IRS, Michael Bertineau has nearly given up hope. His credit is ruined and his financial life is a constant struggle to prove who he really is. Then one day in 1996, as Bertineau is cooking, he drops to the floor. He wakes up in intensive care, the victim of a massive heart attack. During his recovery, Bertineau decides to do a little investigating of his own and catch the conman that has made his life so miserable.

[C]

Well, after I had my surgery, I had a lot of time on my hands. I started making calls to every company that he worked for and I explained to him, I said, you know, I'm the real Mike Burton. I said, the one that was working for you stole my identity.

[A]

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[C]

I told the irs, I said, this man is only working three, four months out the year on different jobs. I said, he's had to have done something that he's trying to hide. And it's like they weren't worried. All they were worried about was the W2s and the income.

[A]

Fed up with past due tax notices and penalties, Bertineau decides to see if he can track down his alter ego and put a stop to the scam. Bertineau even has an idea as to who the identity thief might be. In the winter of 1988, he met a man named Walter at a truck stop. The stranger was down and out with car trouble. Burton lent a hand, loaned him some money, and even let Walter stay with his family.

[C]

He'd sleep in his car. He didn't want to sleep in the house, but you know, he'd come in, take a shower, eat supper. So I mean he might have seen but old driver's license sitting on a or he dug through one of the drawers and found it.

[A]

Bertineau is convinced that the man he knows as Walter is traveling the country using Bertineau's name and Social Security number. The real Michael Bertineau decides to try and track down the suspect himself. Using W2 forms. Burton calls the identity thief's employers and asks where he might find the man. The latest W2 comes from the state of Wyoming. Listed employer is Yellowstone national park, and a man named Bertineau is still working there. He passes this information onto the IRS and asks them to check it out.

[C]

And I told irs, I said, look, he's working in Yellowstone national park as a mechanic in a garage. I says, if y' all can't find him, I said, y' all want me to go over there and hog tie him and bring him and put him on your steps? Do you think then you'll be able to catch him?

[A]

According to Burtonau, the IRS waits a month to act on his tip. By the time agents arrive at Yellowstone, the man calling himself Mike Bertineau is long gone. After eight years of red tape, the IRS transfers Bertineau's case to its criminal division. While Michael Bertineau waits for an answer, IRS agents follow the identity thief's paper trail to a small town in Wyoming and a woman who thought she knew her stepfather for three years. Patricia Hackett's mother was married to a man who worked as a mechanic in Gillette, Wyoming, and called himself Michael Bertineau. What no one in Patricia's family knew was that the real Michael Bertineau had never set foot in Gillette and that the man they knew was a fake. One fall afternoon, Patricia Hackett gets a call from the IRS and the identity scam is laid bare.

[B]

They just told me that they thought that Michael Bertineau had stolen the identity of Michael Bertineau and that they were looking for him for that and also a income tax fraud.

[A]

Hackett tells investigators the man she knew as Mike Bertineau is nowhere to be found. Two years earlier, he went fishing and never came back.

[B]

This is a man who walked out and left everything. You could basically say he was at work one day and the next day he was gone and there was no trace of him.

[A]

Patricia does provide the IRS with photos. The first glimpse the IRS has had of the elusive con man. Patricia then gives agents a further piece of evidence.

[B]

The only thing that I could remember that really made him stand out is that he had a tattoo on his arm with the name Phyllis in it.

[A]

An identity thief with a tattoo and a string of victims in his wake. IRS investigators poke a bit further and uncover one More piece of information. A whisper of rumor that Mike Bertineau, professional con man, had bragged he once killed a man and that it happened somewhere in the state of Texas. Austin is nothing if not a city of contrast. A state capital, university town, and home to a varied music scene, Austin remains steeped in the tradition of Texas. At its core are the Texas Rangers, keeping peace in the Lone Star State for more than 175 years. In December of 1997, Ranger Dusty McCord takes a phone call at headquarters. An agent from the Internal Revenue Service is on the other end of the line asking about a murder.

[E]

He interviewed associates of the person who had stolen Mr. Bertineau's identity. These associates told him that on an occasion when this person had been drinking, he made the comment that approximately 10 years previous he had committed a homicide in Texas and that he could not go back there. He did have some photographs of this individual. And this man had a tattoo on his upper left arm, approximately three roses with the name Phyllis.

[A]

It's not much of a lead, but McCord gives it a try. He begins searching for a murder committed by a man with a rose tattoo who also operates as an identity thief. McCord takes this information and puts it on a teletype and sends it to every police department in the state of Texas. Ranger McCord is not exactly hopeful.

[E]

I thought that the chances were very slim that we would get a match.

[A]

McCord, it turns out, is wrong. Three days later, in Saginaw, Texas, Nancy Wright happens to glance at the teletype sent out by Dusty McCord. Something in it rings a bell.

[B]

We received a teletype from a Texas Ranger asking for information on unsolved murders that had possibly been committed 10 to 12 years prior.

[A]

Wright believes this teletype might be describing Saginaw homicide case 88F068, the unsolved murder of John Dobbs. Her suspicions are triggered by McCord's description of the suspected killer, including the mention of a rose tattoo with the name Phyllis on it.

[B]

When I first saw it, I just had a gut reaction that this was gonna be him. This was going to be the key that was gonna open the doors for us to be able to learn what the identity was of this man.

[A]

Ten years earlier, witnesses had identified John Dobbs killer as bearing the same tattoo. The link is enough to pique Wright's interest and prompts a phone call to Ranger McCord.

[E]

I was surprised that the message actually got to someone who might have knowledge of an old homicide that was that old. Again, I didn't want to get my hopes up too high because still the chances of this being matched up were very slim.

[B]

Well, I told him that we did know for sure that he had mechanic skills. We knew that he had a tattoo with the name Phyllis in it and that our murder had happened almost 10 years ago.

[A]

Wright and McCord agree the man using the assumed name Michael Bertineau might very well be the same man who killed John Dobbs. McCord initiates a nationwide hunt, searching states where the phony Bertineau had worked and lived. In California, McCord gets a lead in the form of a California driver's license in issued to a Michael Bertineau in a year when the real Bertineau did not live there. The photo shows a man who fits the description of John Dobbs killer. Along with the photo is a state required thumbprint. Cold case detectives hoped that the print will finally reveal their suspect's true identity. In downtown Austin, Cheryl Hubbard supervises the Texas Automated Fingerprint Identification System, also known as APHIS. In January of 1998, she receives a request from Dusty McCord, Texas Ranger.

[B]

McCord submitted a fingerprint from a California driver's license to see if we could come up with another name for the person that had given the print.

[A]

Hubbard enters the California thumbprint into APHIS. Within minutes, the computer scans 4 million sets of prints, providing Hubbard with a list of 20 possible prints candidates. Hubbard begins with the first.

[B]

I looked and I saw a minutia point that was in the same position on the print. And then I would look for another minutia point in a similar position and then go from there.

[A]

Hubbard matches points of identification from the candidate's print to those on the thumbprint lifted from Michael Burtineau's California driver's license. With 16 points matched, she calls McCord to tell him she has narrowed the suspect list to one. I would not have called Ranger McCourt.

[B]

If I weren't 100% sure that that was the match.

[A]

And the name that came up was Robert Greer.

[E]

Robert Greer appeared to be a career criminal, had been arrested on numerous occasions, had a lengthy criminal history.

[A]

Investigators now know the name of the man who stole Michael Bertineau's identity. The next question, is Robert Greer also a killer? To answer that, detectives must return to the cold files and evidence collected from the Dobbs crime scene.

[E]

There were numerous pieces of evidence that still remain from the original processing of the crime scene. What we were looking for is a link to indicate that Mr. Greer had been in that apartment.

[A]

Tom Ekus has been a forensic examiner for 35 years. He conducted the original crime scene investigation on the John Dobbs murder in 1988 and has saved over 50 latent fingerprints collected from the victim's apartment in 1998. He is contacted again and asked to compare the crime scene lifts against a new set of prints from career identity thief Robert Greer.

[D]

I received a call from Nancy Wright about 10 years later that she had developed a new suspect and she thought, well, this just might be it.

[A]

Ekis begins with Layton's taken from beer cans found in the victim's kitchen. In just a few minutes, the examiner realizes cold case detectives might be onto something.

[D]

I was able to identify his right thumb on a beer can from the trash can in the kitchen.

[B]

So that put him at the scene at or near the time of death of our victim.

[E]

Well, we were ecstatic after that that we felt like that we had accomplished what we were wanting to do.

[A]

The print match places Robert Greer at the crime scene and at the center of the murder investigation. Detectives, however, still have no idea of Greer's current whereabouts or what assumed identity he might be operating under. The best they can hope for is to circulate Greer's picture and wait for a break.

[E]

He has disappeared before. Although we know who he is now, doesn't mean that he's not going to disappear again. And it will take years to find him.

[A]

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[F]

I was contacted by the Saginaw police department about a fugitive that they had from their jurisdiction wanted for murder. He was using someone else's identification and id.

[A]

Headley puts his ear to the Las Vegas pavement and discovers Greer once lived with a woman in town. Headley pays the woman a visit and shows her Greer's picture. She IDs him as her former roommate. Hedley asks if she could give them an idea about where he might be.

[F]

She thought he would either be down at one of the homeless shelters or he would have went out to Lake Mead where she met him. Due to the fact that when he first came to town, that's how he survived. Was fishing out there and living out there and knew that he could survive again.

[A]

The fugitive team scours the city checking homeless shelters and parks. Sergeant Headley also pays a visit to National Park Service Special Agent Paul Crawford asking if Greer might have found his way back to the Lake Mead area.

[D]

And I went out by foot, boat and car and just looked through the area to see if I could locate.

[C]

Him or find some evidence that he's.

[A]

Been in the area.

[D]

Campsite's littered and abandoned right now, so.

[C]

We'Ll do some follow up.

[A]

After two months of searching, Greer is still nowhere to be found and the fugitive team hits a dead end. Two months later, in April of 1998, a couple puts a call into the Las Vegas PD with a story that eventually makes its way to the fugitive team and the desk of George Headley. While camping by Lake Mead, the couple had met a man who shared their campfire and told them a story.

[F]

One night around the campfire after doing drinking, he basically confessed that he was on the run and that he was put into the local newspaper in Las Vegas and that the police were looking for him.

[A]

Spooked by the story, the couple gets in their car and heads towards the city. They drive to a library and pull a series of newspaper articles from the racks. Sure enough, the story of Robert Greer is on page 4D along with a picture of the man they met.

[F]

They actually told us that he was so down on his luck that they bought him clothes so they knew we knew what kind of clothes he was wearing and knew where he usually hung out.

[A]

The witnesses described the spot where they last saw greer less than 12 hours earlier. Headley and the fugitive division gear up and head into the park.

[F]

We flew into the area and within five minutes he was spotted on the ground. I mean, it was literally that quick. We went into one wash, came over to another one where we were told that he was usually up and he was right at the bottom of the ravine and he saw us. He basically just put his hands up and gave up. He knew he was caught.

[A]

After nearly a decade on the run, 51 year old Robert Greer is finally in custody. And Texas authorities can't wait to meet him. Saginaw, Texas Police Captain Nancy Wright has been waiting more than 10 years for this day.

[B]

I told him that this meeting had been a long time coming, that, you know, I'd been working on the case for 10 years and there had been a lot of twists and turns before we got to this point.

[A]

In 1988, Nancy Wright walked into a murder scene. Wright has often wondered what motivation lay behind the message left on the bathroom mirror. Now she has the man she believes wrote those words and the opportunity to ask why.

[B]

It was an interesting conversation. He clearly wanted to talk to me, but he was reluctant to talk specifically about the murder. But he did talk about his life quite a bit to me.

[A]

Greer never admits that he is Dobbs Killer. He does assume, however, that prison is in his future.

[B]

He asked me what the gang situation was like in Texas. He was asking about prison games and I asked him, why did you have problems with gangs when you were in prison before? And he said, well, not necessarily gangs, but I had problems. And he said, but I was cute then. I'm not cute anymore.

[A]

Greer's concern about the prison system provides perhaps a bit of insight into the twisted thinking behind the message left on Dobbs Mirror and Greer's motive for murder.

[B]

I believed that when he'd been in prison before, he probably had been the victim of sexual assault and that he was very unsympathetic to homosexual conduct. And we knew that our victim had been homosexual. So I believe that our victim made a sexual advance towards the suspect. He became enraged over it and killed him in that fit of rage.

[A]

No matter Greer's motive, the evidence against him is compelling. He is arrested and sent back to Texas where he will stand trial for murder. In downtown Fort Worth, on the fifth floor of the justice center, chief prosecutor Christy Jack works on the network of clues in the murder against Robert Greer. The thumbprint from a California driver's license established Greer's true identity. Then Greer's prints were matched to a beer can found at the crime scene. Now a second print has been matched to the suspect, placing him even closer to the murder. To me, the very strongest piece of evidence was a fingerprint on a tube of hydrocortisone cream in the victim's apartment. In the bathroom, there had been a threatening message to Homosexuals written on the mirror in what appeared to be hydrocortisone cream. And the fingerprint that was found on the hydrocortisone cream was his fingerprint. Two weeks before Greer's murder trial is set to open, with the new print evidence weighing heavily against him, Greer decides to sidestep a Texas jury and cut a deal. He offers to plead guilty to murder on one condition. Greer wants to remain in the county jail until after the super bowl, so he is certain he will be able to watch his favorite team, the Minnesota Vikings. Although prosecutors do not guarantee him anything, the deal is signed. He ultimately agreed to plead guilty in Exchange for serving 18 years in the penitentiary. We did not object to his remaining in custody in Tarrant county for the next few months. Robert Greer is remanded to the Tarrant County Jail, where the career criminal is able to watch the Vikings in the NFC Championship game.

[E]

The ironic thing about that agreement is that Minnesota got beat the very next week.

[A]

One of Greer's other victims, Michael Bertineau, takes no comfort in the murder conviction. He believes that Robert Greer should have to pay for his identity theft and for nearly destroying Burton's financial future.

[C]

He should have got 11 years for what he did to me, for the 11 years he put me through.

[A]

The man whose name Greer stole would like a few moments alone with the identity thief to administer his own justice.

[C]

I'd like 10 minutes with him, talk to him face to face. I just want him to look me straight in the face and say, I'm the real one and you put me through hell for 11 years. Then they'd have to pull me out quick.

[A]

For Texas Ranger Dusty McCord, Robert Greer got just what was coming to him.

[E]

Yes, I think that justice was done. Typically, in cases like this, if there are multiple violations of both state and federal law, the individual is prosecuted for the most serious offense. And I think that Mr. Greer is right where he needs to be, which is in the penitentiary.

[A]

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[D]

I'm a lawyer.

[A]

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[B]

What the hell?

[C]

This is the most amazing sight I've never seen.

[A]

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