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- [00:01]
Vanessa Richardson
Hi, it's Vanessa Richardson. Crime House is home to the best true crime shows and you don't want to miss the latest episode of Murder True Crime Stories. Carter Roy is looking into the mysterious unsolved case of the Boy in the Box. In one of America's most haunting mysteries, the body of a young boy was discovered in a box in 1957. Join Carter Roy as he walks you through the story. Listen to and follow True Crime Stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Sports Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.
- [00:41]
Carter Roy
This is Crime House.
- [00:47]
Vanessa Richardson
During the week of August 11, 2006, John Mark Carr was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand. He was suspected of murdering 6 year old JonBenet Ramsey in her Boulder, Colorado home. Nearly 10 years earlier, he freely confessed to the crime, seemingly bringing the investigation to an end. But there was just one problem. Carr was lying. Fourteen years earlier in 1992, 11 year old Holly Staker was murdered while babysitting for a neighbor in Waukegan, Illinois. Authorities quickly identified a suspect and he admitted to the crime. But eventually he. He took it all back because it turned out he'd been pressured into confessing. Making this week's theme False Confessions. Welcome to Crime House the Show. I'm Vanessa Richardson. Every Monday we'll be revisiting notorious crimes from this week in history. From serial killers to mysterious disappearances or murders. Every episode will explore stories that share a common theme. Each week we'll cover two stories, one further in the past and one more rooted in the present. Here at Crime House, we know none of this would be possible without you, our community. Please support us by rating, reviewing and following Crime House the Show wherever you get your podcasts and for ad free and early access to Crime the Show plus exciting bonus content. Subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. This week's theme is False Confessions. We'll start Today's episode in 2006 when John Mark Carr told police he'd killed six year old JonBenet Ramsey almost eight months earlier, seemingly bringing an end to one of America's most notorious murder investigations. Then we'll go back to 1992 when 11 year old Holly Staker met her own tragic. And like with JonBenet Ramsey, a suspect was identified, arrested and made a confession. And in both cases, neither one was actually the killer. Their reasons for lying were vastly different. But each of these false confessions exposes a dangerous flaw in the pursuit of justice that even if someone admits to committing a crime, that doesn't mean they did it.
- [03:34]
Adams
At New Balance we believe if you run, you're a runner, however you choose to do it. Because when you're not worried about doing things the right way, you're free to discover your way. And that's what running is all about. Run your way@newbalance.com Running.
- [04:02]
Vanessa Richardson
It's Wednesday. Adams I see you're trying to distract yourself from your own banal thoughts. Let me help. Here's a recording thing made of my latest root Canal.
- [04:24]
Adams
Wednesday Season 2 is now playing only on Netflix.
- [04:35]
Vanessa Richardson
On August 16, 2006, a small group of plain clothes officers closed in on an apartment building in Bangkok, Thailand. They moved swiftly through the narrow halls, guns at the ready, before knocking on a door. The officers heard movement inside. Then the door slowly opened revealing a slight balding man peeking out at them. His face was stoic. Dressed in a blue polo shirt and khakis, he looked calm and non threatening, but the police believed he was capable of indescribable violence. 41 year old John Mark Carr was a schoolteacher from the United States. He'd spent the last few years living in different countries working in various schools. Earlier in 2006, he'd arrived in Bangkok and got a job teaching second grade. He lived alone and usually kept to himself. He never bothered his neighbors. They had no idea he was living a double life because authorities believed that Carr was hiding a very dark secret that he was responsible for the murder of a little girl named JonBenet Ramsey ten years earlier in 1996. Six year old JonBenet Ramsey lived in Boulder, Colorado with her family. On the surface, it seemed like she had the perfect life. The Ramses were extremely well off. JonBenet's father, 53 year old John, was the president of a successful computer company. Her nine year old brother Burke seemed to be following in his footsteps steps. He was a star student with a knack for technology. Meanwhile, JonBenet seemed to take after her mother. 40 year old Patsy Ramsey was a former beauty queen from West Virginia and was heavily involved in charity work. JonBenet's heart was just as big and she enjoyed competing in pageants just like her mom. She'd already won a few competitions including Little Miss Colorado and National Tiny Miss Beauty. The Ramses were close knit and very involved in the community. John and Patsy had a ton of friends in the area and so did their kids. The family's social calendar was always full and on Christmas night 1996 they were at a party at a neighbor's house. The Ramses were there until about 10pm before John and Patsy decided to head home with the kids. They were traveling to Lake Michigan the next day so they wanted JonBenet and Burke to get a good night's sleep. The next morning, around 5:30am Patsy crept down the stairs of their palatial home. She was careful not to wake the others as she got everything ready for their trip. But when she walked into the kitchen, something caught her attention. There were a couple sheets of paper on the counter with a black Sharpie next to them. They were from a notepad that Patsy and John used to jot down messages and grocery lists. But she didn't remember the papers being there the night before. Patsy also didn't recognize the handwriting on the notes. She quickly realized that it wasn't a quick reminder from John or from one of their kids. It was a ransom note. The writer said they belonged to a small group of quote unquote foreign criminals. They claimed they'd kidnapped JonBenet. They wanted $118,000 for her safe return. They claimed they were watching the family's every move and they threatened to kill JonBenet if the Ramses called the police or refused to hand over the money. The kidnapper said they planned to call the Ramses house between 8 and 10 in the morning to set up the exchange. Patsy was too panicked to process all the information. Without thinking, she ran to JonBenet's room and threw open the door. The bed was empty. Patsy screamed and that's when John came running. Once Patsy explained what was going on, John darted to Burke's bedroom. Thankfully he was there, but JonBenet wasn't with him. Then, despite the warning in the letter, Patsy ran to the telephone and called 91 1. While officers headed to the home, Patsy called a few friends who lived nearby, including their neighbor Fleet White, whose party they'd attended the night before. Within minutes, the Ramsey's friends were there. Fleet left briefly to take Burke back to his house where his wife would look after him while the investigation got underway. Soon after, Boulder police officers arrived. They asked Patsy to show them the ransom note. Then they got to work obtaining a search warrant of the Ramsey's 6,800 square foot home so they could look for any clues the kidnappers might have left behind. A few minutes later, 41 year old detective Linda Arndt, who would be heading up the case, arrived at the house. The moment she stepped through the door she noticed some strange details. For one, she felt that while Patsy was understandably distraught, John was unusually calm and collected and they never seemed to be in the same room. Almost like they were avoiding each other. Arndt was used to people having different trauma responses, but she would have expected two panicked parents to be comforting one another. She put these thoughts in the back of her mind, though she was focused on tapping the Ramses landline so she could monitor the ransom call. But 8am came and went, then 9, and finally 10. The call never came. Detective Arndt racked her brain for what to do next. Time was of the essence, and they were still waiting on the search warrant. Feeling like she had no other option, Art asked John Ramsay to search the home himself. His friend Fleet White joined him. They started in the basement, specifically in the Ramsey's wine cellar. When John stepped inside, he noticed a blanket bunched up on the ground. He took a step closer and saw blonde curls sprawling out from underneath it. Jon fell to his knees and pulled the blanket back. It was JonBenet. A white cord was tied around her wrists and neck and duct tape stretched across her mouth. She wasn't breathing and one side of her head was badly wounded. John ripped the tape off. Then, in a state of shock and devastation, he carried his daughter's lifeless body upstairs. He walked into the living room and placed JonBenet beside the Christmas tree. Hearing his cries, Patsy came running. When she saw JonBenet's body, she fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around her. Through tears, she begged God to bring her daughter back. As their friends quickly surrounded them, someone called an ambulance. Then Detective Arndt told everyone to step back. This was no longer a kidnapping case. It was a murder.
- [11:53]
Unknown
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- [12:21]
Carter Roy
The Sea Packages by Expedia. You were made to occasionally take the hard route to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We were made to easily bundle your trip Expedia Made to Travel Flight Inclusive packages are atoll protected.
- [12:41]
Vanessa Richardson
On December 26, 1996, officers scoured the basement of the Boulder, Colorado home where the body of six year old JonBenet Ramsey had just been found. From the beginning, things weren't adding up. There was the ransom note, but no call from the kidnapper and JonBenet's body had been in the house the entire time. It was a strange situation. Without even factoring in John and Patsy Ramsey's odd behavior. And it was only getting more confusing once the police were finally able to search the house later that morning, they noticed one of the windows in the basement was broken. A hard side suitcase was underneath it, almost like it had been used as a step stool. John told the officers that he'd broken the window the year before after he accidentally locked himself out of the house. But he said he'd gotten it fixed. It seemed like maybe JonBenet's killer had broken the window to escape before anyone could notice them. There was only a single shard of glass on the suitcase, meaning the killer had either cleaned up after themselves or maybe John wasn't being fully honest about having it fixed. It was a peculiar situation. But before detectives could investigate further, they had to figure out exactly how JonBenet had died. The next day, on December, December 27, the Boulder County Medical Examiner's office conducted the autopsy. They confirmed that JonBenet was the victim of a homicide. And based on the timeline of events, she'd been dead for a few hours before she was found. The medical examiner also found, quote, unidentified male DNA on JonBenet's underwear and underneath her fingernails. With the details of the little girl's death now revealed, the detective, Linda Arndt, was developing a theory about what had happened. And her suspicion led her to a grim possibility. She wondered if the kidnapping had simply been a ruse to distract from the fact that someone had killed JonBenet. Someone in the Ramses home. Either a friend of the family or someone who was family. Working off this theory, the police asked the Ramses to come to the police station a few days later to to provide DNA samples. In the meantime, the story of JonBenet's death flooded the news seemingly overnight. Everyone in the country knew the little girl's name. America instantly fell in love with her rosy cheeks and innocent smile. Which made her murder all the more heartbreaking. The case was everywhere, especially once news got out that the Ramseys had all submitted DNA samples. The media ran wild with this information. Tabloids churned out salacious rumors and speculation that John, Patsy and maybe even 9 year old Burke were responsible for JonBenet's death. All the while, Boulder PD was still trying to figure out what had really happened. But the DNA samples didn't seem to lead anywhere. And they didn't identify any other suspects either. Lee leaving the case wide open for speculation. By 1998, about a year and a half after JonBenet was murdered, the police were no closer to an answer. If anything, the story kept getting murkier, especially as more details were gradually revealed. It became clear that the initial investigation wasn't handled properly. The day JonBenet's body was found, the Ramsey's home was wasn't immediately cordoned off, meaning John and Patsy's friends were allowed to stay inside, potentially contaminating the crime scene. And the Ramses themselves had made things harder. Not only had Jon removed the duct tape from JonBenet's mouth, but he'd also moved her body. Patsy had also come in direct contact with her daughter after John brought her upstairs. They weren't the only ones at fault, though. For some reason, the police had waited four months before they formally questioned the Ramsey family. Because of all this, a huge portion of the public started feeling contempt toward the investigators, Namely the detective in charge, Linda Arndt. The pressure on her became so intense that on May 1, 1999, Detective Arndt resigned not just from the case, but but from the department altogether. But even though she was gone, the Boulder PD still had their eyes on the Ramses. However, by October, the District Attorney's office announced that there wasn't sufficient evidence to file charges against any member of the Ramsey family. After that, no new evidence emerged and JonBenet's murder investigation went cold. However, the public's obsession with it never waned. There seemed to be a never ending thirst for stories and coverage about the case. One of the most popular pieces of media coverage included a documentary called who killed JonBenet? It was produced by a University of Colorado media professor named Michael Tracy. The documentary was so successful, Tracy went on to create two more documentaries about the case, including he became a well known expert on all things JonBenet Ramsey. And one day in 2002, Tracy received an email about her. The writer called themselves Daxis and he claimed to love JonBenet Ramsey. However, he said he didn't just know about JonBenet through the media, he knew her in real life and he was there when she died. Daxus claimed he'd first met JonBenet after attending a party at the Ramses home. He didn't say when that party took place, just that afterward he began sneaking into the Ramses home through the broken basement window. When the family was asleep, he would go upstairs, take JonBenet from her bed and bring her down to the basement. He explained the terrible things he did to her, referencing many of the key details about the crime scene like the white cord, duct tape and sexual abuse. Tracy was shocked and nauseated as he read the man's vile description of the encounters. But rather than immediately alerting the authorities, he responded to Daxus asking for more information. The two men corresponded over email and eventually started having regular phone phone conversations. Tracy knew the case through and through, and all of Dax's claims lined up with the known facts. There was only one thing that surprised him. Daxus said that on the night JonBenet died, she had accidentally slipped and hit her head. He said she was disoriented because he had drugged her. So he faked the kidnapping to cover it up. It seemed like a reasonable explanation. However, something about the story stuck out to Tracy. He had never heard of drugs being found in JonBenet's system. Despite that inconsistency, Tracy was still convinced that Daxus was the killer. Especially because he did seem to know things nobody else did. For instance, he said that one time when he was at the Ramses home, he'd spotted a check stub on a counter. It was a bonus, but from John's company, totaling $118,000. The same amount that the supposed kidnappers had asked for in the ransom note. Daxis said the number stuck with him and after he killed JonBenet, he wrote it down as the ransom amount in the fake kidnapping letter. Tracy was eager to see what else he could learn. So the two men talked regularly for four years. All the while, Daxus divulged the lurid details of his abuse of JonBenet as well as other children. Then, in 2006, Tracy finally decided to alert the Boulder County District Attorney's office. We don't know exactly what caused him to do it. Maybe he was confident enough that Daxus was the killer. But to find him, Tracy needed needed the authorities because he still didn't know Daxis real name and they had access to resources he didn't. Working with Tracy, the authorities arranged for him to mail Daxus A photo of JonBenet. Daxus agreed and gave him an address in Bangkok, Thailand, at a store called mailboxes etc. When the photo arrived on August 7, 2006, Thai authorities were in place to follow Daxus back to his apartment after he picked up the package. Working with their counterparts in the US they were able to identify him as a man named John Mark Carr. They entered his name into a national database and discovered a hideous past. About five years earlier, in 2001, Carr had been charged with the five counts of possession of child sex abuse materials in California. Then he skipped out on his probation and fled the country. He was still wanted on those charges. Based on all that, the police agreed With Tracy, it definitely seemed possible that John Carr had killed JonBenet. Now they just had to find him. The Boulder County DA's office instructed Michael Tracy to keep communicating with Carr while all the while investigators monitored everything. At some point, Carr revealed that he was living in Bangkok, Thailand working with the Thai police. US Federal marshals found out that Carr had been working as a second grade teacher there for months. Concerned that he would hurt more children, they quickly closed in and on August 16, 2006 they made their move. When they put placed him under arrest, he didn't resist. Officers quickly brought car to the local police station where he was met with a flurry of reporters. Within moments he was surrounded by cameras and microphones. News anchors shouted questions at him through the commotion. One reporter asked Carr, are you an innocent man? With a straight face, Carr responded no. Then another reporter chimed in to ask what happened. After a short pause, Carr simply said I love JonBenet and she died accidentally. Carr was booked and extradited back to Los Angeles county where he had the open child sex abuse material charges against him. Those charges were eventually dropped because the authorities lost a case key piece of digital evidence and there wasn't enough to convict him without it. But once he was back on US soil, Colorado authorities were able to obtain what they thought would be the last piece of the puzzle when it came to JonBenet Ramsey Carr's DNA. For two days, investigators and the rest of the world anxiously awaited an answer. Then on August 28, 2, 2006 everyone was met with some shocking news. John Carr's DNA was not a match for the samples found on JonBenet. In fact, he wasn't a match for any DNA found in the home at all. His confession was a complete sham. JonBenet's murder was still unsolved. The revelation sparked another war wave of outrage toward Colorado authorities especially as the details of Carr's emails and phone calls with Michael Tracy emerged. It was clear that there were giant holes in Carr's story. The police knew that drugs hadn't been found in JonBenet's system and that the Ramses hadn't hosted any parties during the time frame when Carr said he'd met JonBenet. But the real kicker came from Carr's own family who said he wasn't even in Colorado when JonBenet died. He was visiting them in Alabama. Carr never publicly explained his false confession. Many believe that he was motivated by a combination of obsession with the case and a deep desire for fame and notoriety and being associated with JonBenet Ramsey, even in this twisted way, got him what he wanted. As of this recording, JonBenet's murder remains unsolved. But the authorities are still investigating it and the story remains a hot button topic. Which could explain why the police were willing to overlook so many inconsistencies when it came to John Mark Carr. His confession goes to show that there are no shortcuts to justice. And even if the answer seems to be right in front of you, the truth may not be what it seems. Up next, another false confession that derailed a high profile murder investigation.
- [26:18]
Carter Roy
Your burger is served. And this is our finest Pepsi, Zero sugar. Its sweet profile perfectly balances the savory notes of your burger.
- [26:26]
Vanessa Richardson
That is one perfect combination. Burgers deserve Pepsi. The murder of JonBenet Ramsay shocked a nation. And John Mark Carr's bogus confession created false hope that her killer had been caught 14 years before his confession. Another investigation played out in a similar way. A young girl girl was killed. The public was hungry for answers. And with the police desperate to crack the case, they turned to desperate measures. On the evening of August 17, 1992 in Waukegan, Illinois, a woman named Dawn Engelbrecht hurried home with her five year old son Blake. A neighbor had brought him to the tavern where she worked. Apparently, Blake had gotten lucky locked out of their apartment. He said he'd been knocking, but his babysitter, 11 year old Holly Staker, wasn't answering. Holly had also been watching Don's two year old daughter Taylor, who Blake believed was still inside. When dawn and Blake got home, she went around the building to see if she could get in through the apartment's back door. To her horror, she saw it had been kicked in. She had no idea what might be waiting inside. So dawn ran to a neighbor's house and called 911 Lake County Police officers quickly arrived at the scene. They told dawn to wait outside with Blake while they searched the premises. As the officers looked around, they noticed that some of the living room furniture had been overturned. As they kept moving through the house, they spotted an open, open bedroom door. They snuck up carefully and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw little Taylor safely sitting on the bed. But that feeling was short lived. The wall opposite the bed was splattered with blood and Holly was lying motionless on the ground, partially clothed. She was dead. Holly was only in fifth grade at the time of her death. She loved math, reading and cheerleading. Living in a small town, her family didn't have a lot of money. So she and her twin sister Heather found ways to Help make ends meet. Sometimes they sold arts and crafts at the local country club where their mom, Nancy Kalinovsky, worked. Holly also found babysitting gigs in their neighborhood. She regularly babysat for Don Engelbrecht, who worked evenings at a nearby tavern. Holly was a good, reliable caretaker, someone dawn could trust with her kids. Now, dawn felt a mix of devastation and relief as officers brought her daughter Taylor outside and told her what had happened. Holly's family was contacted as well. While the search continued inside the home, investigators combed the the scene and obtained fingerprints, skin fragments, blood and hair from the bedroom. They also found blood near the kitchen sink, where it looked like someone had washed their hands, and on the staircase banister near the front door. Then they fanned out to the rest of the house and the surrounding properties. While searching a neighbor's yard, one officer found a knife that was broken into two pieces. Investigators believe, believed that Holly's attacker used it to kill her, then threw it into the yard before fleeing. Once the crime scene was fully processed, Holly's body was brought to the medical examiner's office. By the next day, they concluded that Holly had been stabbed, and traces of semen indicated that she'd been sexually assaulted. The Waukegan Police Department officially launched a murder investigation, but it would be a few weeks until they got any leads, until September 29, 1992, when something fell into their laps. That day, an inmate at the Lake County Jail named Edward Martin contacted police. Martin claimed his former cellmate had told him he knew who killed Holly. The cellmate's name was Juan Rivera. He was in jail on burglary charges. They couldn't speak with Rivera immediately, though. The 19 year old had been transferred to Hill correctional center, about 200 miles away. It took a little while to get everything in order, but in late October 1996, about two months after Holly was murdered, detectives James Held and Richard Davis traveled there to speak with him. Rivera was calm and polite when he sat down with them. He seemed to know exactly why they were there and he was willing to tell them his side of the story. According to Rivera, he was at a party near Don Engelbrecht's house the night Holly was murdered. At some point, someone else at the party, a man named Robert Hurley, left for a little while, and when he returned, he was sweaty, out of breath and had scratches on him. Detectives Held and Davis took down Rivera's statement and returned to Lake County. Over the next couple of days, they checked up on his claims. It's not clear whether they ever located a man by the name of Robert Hurley. But as they spoke to other residents in Dawn's neighborhood, they made a far more shocking discovery. They learned there was no party that night, not at the house that Rivera had mentioned, but or any other house. Apparently, Rivera had made the whole thing up, and detectives wanted to know why. They went back to Hill correctional to speak with him again, but not just held and Davis. Over the course of four days, multiple investigators questioned Rivera. At some point, the detectives began to think that Rivera was guilty of Holly's murder. But they didn't tell him that for the first two days. Instead, they tried to drive the truth out of him. Finally, on the third day of questioning, Investigators told Rivera they believed he was the one who murdered Holly. Once he heard this, Rivera broke down in tears upon seeing his reaction. The officers then asked him if it was true. Did he rape and kill Holly Staker? Rivera nodded. He said that he and Holly knew each other because they lived in the same neighborhood, the neighborhood where Don lived as well, and. And that he was actually hanging out with Holly at Don's house that night. He claimed that they had consensual sex, although that wasn't possible given the fact that Holly was nowhere near of age. If his story was true, Holly probably didn't think so either, because afterward, Rivera said, Holly left the room and returned a couple of minutes later with a knife. He said she stabbed him and he started punching her in self defense. Then all of a sudden, he realized that the knife was in his hand and Holly was dead. Based on this version of events, it seemed like Rivera was describing having a psychotic break. And that must have been enough for the officers, because that same day, an investigator by the name of detective Mey as well as sergeant Charles Fagan, typed out a written connection confession. They brought it to Rivera's cell and he signed it. However, the interrogations didn't end there. Mey and Fagan told Rivera that two other investigators, Sgt. Lou Tesman and Sgt. Michael Malley, wanted to ask him some more questions. So they brought him back to an interview room. This time, Rivera recounted an entirely new set of events. He said that actually he didn't know Holly at all. He claimed that on the night in question, he was walking past Don's house when he saw Holly standing outside. According to him, she said she was lonely and invited him inside to have sex. He said that when he couldn't get an erection, she started making fun of him, and that's when he killed her. Sergeants Tesman and Mali wrote up a report with this version of events. Then they left to write up a new confession. A few minutes after they left, Rivero was brought back to his cell where he started behaving erratically. He began beating his head against the wall. When the guards saw this, they escorted him to a padded cell. About an hour later, a nurse came to check on him. Rivero was still pounding his head on the wall and muttering incoherently. The nurse tried to speak with him, but quickly realized Rivera didn't even know where he was. It's not clear if she tried to do anything to help him in that moment, but when the nurse checked on him again later, Rivera was lying on the floor in the fetal position. He'd pulled out chunks of his hair so hard that there was still skin attached. The nurse determined that he was was experiencing a psychotic episode. When the Investigators returned around 8am the next day, they were escorted to Rivera's padded cell. They brought the new written confession with them and after speaking with Rivera briefly, they convinced him to sign it and then they arrested him for the rape and murder of Holly St.
- [36:15]
Unknown
Support for this podcast and the following message comes from America's Navy the Navy offers new graduates hands on training and experience in careers like computer science, aviation and medicine, plus education and sign on bonuses. Parents help your grads start their career.
- [36:32]
Vanessa Richardson
Today@Navy.Com in the fall of 1992, 20 year old Juan Rivera was arrested for the rape and murder of 11 year old Holly Staker. Even though he'd confessed to two different versions of what had happened and clearly wasn't in his right mind, the police felt confident enough to move forward with the case. The trial started in late 1993, just over a year after Holly's death. Even though Rivera had confessed to he was fighting the charges, his lawyers argued that he couldn't have killed Holly because at the time he was under house arrest for a different crime. Based on the data from his ankle monitor, Rivera was two miles away from Don Engelbrecht's home when Holly was killed. But the prosecution said that even though Rivera's ankle monitor was at the house, he wasn't back. In the early 90s, ankle monitors weren't as advanced and accurate as they are today. According to the prosecutors, Rivera had removed his monitor before going to Don's house. Doing that would have set off an alarm, but only after a certain amount of time. They believed Rivera was able to kill Holly and come back before that alarm went off. In the end, the jury sided with the prosecution. They found Rivera guilty of the sexual assault and first Degree murder of Holly Staker. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. But Rivera wasn't giving up. He filed an appeal, largely based on the claims about the ankle monitor. It was granted and a new trial was scheduled for September 1998. This time, Rivera's lawyers had expert witnesses explained that the ankle monitor's alarm would go off the moment it was deactivated. On top of that, they brought up the fact that Rivera had signed two different confessions, meaning neither of them was reliable. But the prosecution had new information this time too, from witnesses who could corroborate the basic facts of Rivera's confession. First, a young man named David Crespo took the stand. He claimed he'd met Juan Rivera shortly after Holly's murder at a Spanish Bible study group. David said that after meeting each other just that one time, Rivera tearfully confessed to him that he killed Holly. And that wasn't their only star witness. Don Engelbrecht's now 8 year old daughter Taylor also took the stand. Taylor was only 2 years old at the time of Holly's murder, but she was also the only witness to the crime. And she said she could remember some details from that day. She told the court that on the night Holly died, she remembered going to the store with her to get a pizza, then coming home to make it. Blake was playing outside while Taylor and Holly got everything ready. All of a sudden, a man burst into the kitchen through the back door. Holly tried to stop him, but the man stabbed her. Then he picked up Taylor up, grabbed Holly and dragged them both into the bedroom. Taylor said this was all she remembered. After telling her story, she identified Rivera as the man who broke into the house that night. These two pieces of testimony were enough to convince a jury yet again that Juan Rivera was guilty. He was re sentenced to life in prison without parole. His attorneys appealed again, but three years later, in 2001, his conviction was affirmed. It seemed like the lengthy legal battle was finally over. But then another, three years later in 2004, a huge breakthrough in technology changed everything. Back in 1992, Holly's autopsy showed that semen was present. This was crucial forensic evidence. However, DNA technology wasn't advanced enough at the time for the sample to be tested. But now it was. And it turned out Rivera was not a match. This major discovery sent everyone back to court for a third time. But when 36 year old Juan Rivera's third trial began in April 202009, the prosecution once again came armed with new evidence of their own. They showed the court a pair of Sneakers that they'd obtained back in 1992 from a fellow prisoner who Rivera had known before he confessed to Holly's murder. His name was David Howard, and apparently Rivera had given Howard his shoes in exchange for a tv. The prosecution claimed that analysts had discovered blood on the shoes, Holly's blood. They also found trace amounts of DNA which matched the male DNA found on her body. For the third time, the jury sided with the prosecution. Rivera was found guilty yet again. As always, he filed an appeal, and this time he came out on top. It turned out there was no way for Holly Staker's DNA to be on the shoes because they weren't being sold in the United States when she was murdered. Rivera had bought them after she died. This was a major turn of events. It caused people to lose faith in the Lake county investigators, if they hadn't already, because now it seemed like they'd planted evidence to secure Rivera's conviction. Between that and the increasingly widespread belief that detectives had forced a confession out of him back in 1992, the court ruled that Rivera had been wrongfully convicted three times. Rivera was released from prison in 2012, shortly after he filed a federal suit against Lake county over his wrongful conviction. He was awarded $20 million. But the story wasn't over yet, especially not for Holly Staker's loved ones. Because if Juan Rivera hadn't killed her, then who did? At the time of this recording, another arrest hasn't been made in Holly's case. But as of 2022, the case was still being investigated and the police said they were looking into new leads. And if they do make another arrest, hopefully this time the evidence will actually lead them to the truth. The false confessions for the murders of JonBenet Ramsey and Holly Staker are a powerful reminder of how thin the line is between fact and fiction. John Mark Carr was obsessed with JonBenet Ramsey and desperate for the spotlight, he intentionally lied so he could use both of those to his advantage. On the other hand, Juan Rivera was unjustly coerced into taking credit for a gruesome crime that he did not commit. In both cases, the stakes were extremely high because two young girls lives were brought to an untimely end. And to this day, their families haven't seen justice. All we can do is hope that time heals old wounds and investigators someday find the culprits, the real ones. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Vanessa Richardson and this is a quite Crime House the show Crime House the show is a crime house Original powered by Pave Studios at Crime House. We want to express our gratitude to you, our community, for making this possible. Please support us by rating, reviewing and following Crime House the Show. Wherever you get your podcasts, your feedback truly matters. And for ad free and early access to Crime House the Show plus exciting bonus content, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. We'll be back next Monday. Crime House the Show is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson and is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios, this episode was brought to life by the Crime House the Show team Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benidon, Natalie Pertofsky, Lori Marin, Sarah Camp, Sarah Bachelor, Hania Saeed and Michael Langsner. Thank you for listening. Looking for your next listen from our Crime House slate of shows. Don't miss Murder True Crime Stories Carter Roy is looking into one of the most haunting, mysterious, unsolved cases the the Boy in the Box. Listen to and follow Murder True Crime Stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.