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Daily bonuses 24 00:00:54.840 --> 00:00:57.600 are waiting. No purchase necessary BOID. We're prohibited by Way 25 00:00:57.640 --> 00:00:59.320 eighteen plus terms and conditions applaing. 26 00:00:59.399 --> 00:01:00.479 See website for details. 27 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:02.920 Zop Host Radio. 28 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:40.439 You are now listening to True Murder, The most Shocking 29 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:43.560 Killers in True crime History and the authors that have 30 00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:50.920 written about them Gasey, Bundy, Stalmer, The Nightstalker DTK. Every 31 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:54.640 week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and 32 00:01:54.760 --> 00:01:59.280 infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your host, 33 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:02.200 journal an author Dan Zufanski. 34 00:02:11.960 --> 00:02:14.400 Hello, this is your host Dan Zupanski for the program 35 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:17.000 True Murder, The most shocking Killers in true crime History 36 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:20.479 and the authors that have written about them. My special 37 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:23.879 guest this evening is Amanda Lamb with her book we're 38 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:26.080 going to be profiling this evening is Evil next Door. 39 00:02:26.439 --> 00:02:27.840 Good evening, Amanda, How are you. 40 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:30.240 Good evening, Dan, Thanks for having me. 41 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:36.240 Well, thank you very much. Welcome to the program. 42 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:37.560 Thank you, thank you. 43 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:41.719 Just for a second, I'm courtesy of our telephone service here, 44 00:02:41.719 --> 00:02:43.960 I'm having a little couple of technical errors here at 45 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:47.199 the more technical difficulties. So this let me get past 46 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:50.960 that and we'll introduce the program like we normally do 47 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:53.840 by giving me I get a chance to be able 48 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:56.120 to read the back, a cover of your book, a 49 00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:00.439 very good description of your book, and intro for program 50 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:03.560 this evening. On May twenty one, two thousand and two, 51 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:07.360 twenty three year old Raleigh, North Carolina resident Stephanie Bennett 52 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:11.439 was found murdered in her apartment. Despite ample DNA evidence 53 00:03:11.479 --> 00:03:14.560 at the scene, investigators could find no matches in their 54 00:03:14.599 --> 00:03:19.439 criminal databases. Two years into the investigation, Detective Ken Copeland, 55 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:23.240 known as the garbage Man for leaving no stone unturned 56 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:26.240 in his search for evidence, and his partner Jackie Taylor, 57 00:03:26.919 --> 00:03:30.719 joined the case. After culling through the entire file with 58 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:34.240 fresh eyes and re interviewing witnesses, they released a description 59 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:37.319 of a suspect neighbors had seen nearby, a man who'd 60 00:03:37.319 --> 00:03:40.000 once lived just next door to the murder scene. But 61 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:43.039 the suspect refused to hand over a DNA sample, wiping 62 00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:46.840 down anything he touched and even planning decoy samples. This 63 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:48.960 is a gripping story of how a team of aggressive 64 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:52.919 detectives doggedly tracked down a killer under suspicion for a 65 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:57.680 killing spree that that investigators believe might have spent years 66 00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:00.680 in cross state lines and brought closure to an innocent 67 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:05.080 young woman's grieving family. Evil next Door, The untold story 68 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:08.639 of a killer Undone by DNA my very special guest, 69 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:11.199 Amanda Lamb. Welcome to the program, Amanda. 70 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:14.439 Thank you, am Now, what. 71 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:18.160 Why did you decide to write about this case in particular. 72 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:22.079 Well, I've been a television reporter for twenty years, and 73 00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:27.319 I've covered crime pretty exclusively for the past eight and 74 00:04:27.879 --> 00:04:30.839 I've covered a lot of crimes where I've been there 75 00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:32.519 for the crime and then been able to follow it 76 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:35.519 all the way through the judicial system until somebody is 77 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:39.240 arrested and ultimately convicted. And this is one of those 78 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:41.759 cases that I had followed very closely. It was a 79 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:46.319 three and a half year investigation prior to anything coming 80 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:50.079 to fruition. And this is one of those cases that 81 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:54.360 really shocked Raleigh, North Carolina, where I'm a reporter, because 82 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:57.199 it was a stranger murder. And as you know, Dan, 83 00:04:57.319 --> 00:05:01.120 probably from your research and your writing, that most people 84 00:05:01.160 --> 00:05:04.639 are killed by somebody they now, and in Raleigh, North Carolina, 85 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:06.439 we don't have a lot of stranger murders. So this 86 00:05:06.759 --> 00:05:10.480 was really a needle in a haystack kind of a situation. 87 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:14.560 I mean, this young woman was going about her life 88 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:18.120 doing what most of us do, working, going home at night. 89 00:05:18.839 --> 00:05:23.680 She had no high risk behavior, and yet she was raped, tortured, 90 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:28.000 and murdered in her own home. And so she really 91 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:31.120 was truly what we call an innocent victim. I mean, 92 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:38.199 she was somebody that did nothing to encourage this behavior, 93 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:41.720 and yet the worst possible thing happened to her. And 94 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:45.680 I think that just based on that, it intrigued me. 95 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:49.560 And then as I researched the case and got to 96 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:52.319 know her family and her friends, I learned more about 97 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:56.360 her and she was just really a lovely young woman. 98 00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:59.319 She was somebody that could have been your daughter, your sister, 99 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:02.079 your wife. She was just starting at her life. She 100 00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:05.399 had a lot of promise. She was kind, she was 101 00:06:05.399 --> 00:06:08.319 a hard worker. She really was somebody that I think 102 00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:10.720 anybody would have been proud to call their daughter, or 103 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:11.879 their friend or their sister. 104 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:16.000 Now, what was she doing in Raleigh, North Carolina? Tell 105 00:06:16.040 --> 00:06:19.319 us how about you know the circumstances she came to 106 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:23.839 leave her hometown in Virginia. It's a mounty rocky mount 107 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:27.319 Virginia right, travel to Raleigh, and who did she go with? 108 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:30.959 And and tell us you know where she was living 109 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:33.480 in Raleigh, what she was doing, where she was working, 110 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:37.120 and what really Raleigh, North Carolina is like, you know, 111 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:40.519 sort of is it a bigger center described. 112 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:44.720 And for people that don't know, I mean, Raleigh is 113 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:48.079 the capital of North Carolina, and so of course this 114 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:51.639 is where our state government is, and it's become much 115 00:06:51.720 --> 00:06:56.560 more urban and certainly much more metropolitan in the last 116 00:06:57.079 --> 00:06:59.879 you know, two decades. We have an area called Research 117 00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:02.399 Rangle Park where we have a lot of pharmaceutical companies, 118 00:07:02.439 --> 00:07:04.879 we have a lot of technology companies. We also have 119 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:10.519 Duke University like Forest University and other schools that attract 120 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:14.240 a lot of PhDs and people that are interested in 121 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:20.480 research and teaching and other fields. And so Raleigh to 122 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:24.079 Stephanie Bennett was really a big city. I mean, she 123 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:28.920 was from a very small rural town in Virginia, and 124 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:32.040 her family was actually nervous about her going to Raleigh. 125 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:33.480 I mean, to them it might as well have been 126 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:37.800 New York City because it seemed so daunting. But she 127 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:40.480 was a young woman who really wanted to be out 128 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:45.040 on her own. She was a subcontractor for IBM, and 129 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:48.240 it was a great professional opportunity for her to work 130 00:07:48.519 --> 00:07:53.240 in her fields and computers, and she had a serious 131 00:07:53.240 --> 00:07:56.000 boyfriend and had intended to get married, but before she 132 00:07:56.120 --> 00:07:59.120 did that, she really wanted to be out on her own. 133 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:02.560 So she came to with two girls from college. One 134 00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:05.560 of them happened to be her best friend and stepsister 135 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:09.600 from a very young age. And the three girls did 136 00:08:09.639 --> 00:08:12.319 what a lot of young women in their twenties did. Then. 137 00:08:12.439 --> 00:08:14.800 It's something that I did, and it's something that you know, 138 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:16.959 young women still do today. You get out of college, 139 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:19.240 you find some roommates that you can afford to, you know, 140 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:22.519 share an apartment with, and you start your career. And 141 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:27.040 that's that's basically what she was doing here in Raleigh 142 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:28.160 right now. 143 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:35.039 Was Stephanie worried about anything when she did live in Raleigh? 144 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:38.279 Was was that part of her nature to be a 145 00:08:38.279 --> 00:08:40.399 little bit of a worry ward Maybe not. 146 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:44.879 Even she was just a cautious young woman. I mean, 147 00:08:44.919 --> 00:08:46.399 this was not a girl that was out at the 148 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:50.039 bars drinking every night and you know, going home with 149 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:53.960 men and you know, doing again anything that we would 150 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:56.919 consider high risk behavior. She was a cautious young woman. 151 00:08:57.240 --> 00:09:00.440 She lived in an area of Raleigh that had a 152 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:03.919 lot of apartment complexes. In fact, I think the tally 153 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:06.320 from police at the time was that there were five 154 00:09:06.360 --> 00:09:10.720 thousand apartments within like a five mile vicinity, and so 155 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:13.360 it was a place where a lot of young people lived. 156 00:09:14.919 --> 00:09:17.720 She lived in a first floor apartment, which I think 157 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:21.320 in hindsight, you know, most people would say that's not 158 00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:25.679 very safe. But again, this was you know, ten years ago, 159 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:29.600 and it just didn't seem like Raleigh, North Carolina, was 160 00:09:29.639 --> 00:09:31.919 a place that you needed to be worried about something 161 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:36.279 like this happening. And so, you know, I think that 162 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:38.960 she was again just going about her life, doing the 163 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:44.559 normal things that people would do, and yet she did 164 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:47.960 have this cautious treat in her and at one point 165 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:51.879 there was a report that somebody had been kind of 166 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:55.559 peeping into windows in the apartment complex, and that made 167 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:58.919 her uncomfortable, and so uncomfortable that she wrote an email 168 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:01.399 to her aunt about it and talked about, you know, 169 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:04.159 I think I'm going to give up my lease at 170 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:07.399 some point soon and move out. And she had wanted 171 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:10.360 to be closer to her boyfriend, who was attending graduate 172 00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:13.360 school in South Carolina, about four hours away, and so 173 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:16.039 she talked about moving to South Carolina and leaving that 174 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:16.960 apartment complex. 175 00:10:18.600 --> 00:10:21.240 In fact, she didn't have much time left. Actually she 176 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:22.960 was it was maybe a month. 177 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:25.080 Yeah, it was about it looked like it was about 178 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:27.759 a month I think left on her lease before she 179 00:10:27.799 --> 00:10:30.720 would before she would leave, and she had already, you know, 180 00:10:30.840 --> 00:10:34.480 talked to the other girls about it, and you know, 181 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:36.240 she was ready to go. There were just there were 182 00:10:36.279 --> 00:10:38.919 some break ins, there were some vandalism, and there were 183 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:41.120 just a couple of things in the apartment complex. But 184 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:44.159 the thing that really upset her was this peeping tom. 185 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:48.200 And it was later discovered, and we're not sure how 186 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:51.320 much Stephanie knew, but it was it was discovered that 187 00:10:51.639 --> 00:10:55.360 this peeping tom had actually been looking at her particular window. 188 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:58.320 She did not see this, but another neighborhood reported it, 189 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:01.960 and so that would naturally alarm anybody, and of course 190 00:11:02.039 --> 00:11:04.600 it alarmed her with good reason. 191 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:08.600 Now, she lived with her stepsister and a really good friend. 192 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:11.519 And part of the feature that you explain is that 193 00:11:11.639 --> 00:11:14.639 they were always together basically, no matter what, just a 194 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:17.600 despite work schedules, there's always somebody around. What was this 195 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:22.759 particular feature of this weekend in May that was unusual? 196 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:28.000 It was unusual because again, like you said. They were 197 00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:31.919 always together. They were three best friends that did everything together, 198 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:37.000 but as their lives kind of became more complicated. One 199 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:40.360 had a boyfriend back in Virginia. Stephanie had the boyfriend 200 00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:43.639 in South Carolina. Her stepsister had gone home for a 201 00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:47.679 funeral back to Virginia, and so on this particular night, 202 00:11:48.039 --> 00:11:50.919 they Stephanie was alone. And Stephanie really didn't like to 203 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:53.320 be alone. She didn't like to stay alone. She wasn't 204 00:11:53.399 --> 00:11:55.120 used to that. I mean again, she'd grown up in 205 00:11:55.159 --> 00:11:59.120 a small town, in a close knit community, and that 206 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:03.240 wasn't her preference to be alone. So on this particular night, 207 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:06.080 she was alone. She had spent the weekend visiting her 208 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:09.440 boyfriend in South Carolina and come home, and she had 209 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:11.960 gone to work on Monday morning, just like she always does. 210 00:12:12.200 --> 00:12:14.279 And that night, she'd come home from work and had 211 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:17.600 a conversation with one of the roommates, Emily, on the phone, 212 00:12:17.639 --> 00:12:19.919 and she'd also had a conversation with her boyfriend on 213 00:12:19.960 --> 00:12:22.440 the phone, and they had talked about her getting an 214 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:26.399 apartment in South Carolina, and he said that he needed 215 00:12:26.440 --> 00:12:28.759 some information from her and that she needed to fax 216 00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:31.159 it so that he could take it to the apartment 217 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:33.879 complex to fill out the application, and so she told 218 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:35.480 him that night that she would try to do that 219 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:39.519 from her office the next day. So this was again 220 00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:41.639 an unusual thing for her to be alone in her 221 00:12:41.639 --> 00:12:45.679 apartment that night, and for all intentsive purposes, though it 222 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:48.080 appeared like any other night in the beginning. 223 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:54.960 Right now, the next day of May twenty first, who 224 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:57.960 is the first person that notices something is. 225 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:01.399 A miss Well again and her boyfriend and she had 226 00:13:01.399 --> 00:13:04.759 had this conversation about her sending this information for the 227 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:08.759 apartment application, and so he emails her. He calls her, 228 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:11.000 he's not able to get up with her, and you know, 229 00:13:11.080 --> 00:13:14.559 he thinks that's a little bit unusual, and at some 230 00:13:14.759 --> 00:13:21.399 point contacts her stepsister, and the stepsister immediately says, you know, 231 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:25.480 something's not right here because this is not Stephanie. Stephanie's 232 00:13:25.480 --> 00:13:28.120 the person that returns phone calls, returns emails. And again 233 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:31.480 we're talking ten years ago. People didn't have blackberries, and 234 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:35.639 they weren't immediately you know, they weren't as readily able 235 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:38.240 to get up with somebody by email as people are today. 236 00:13:38.679 --> 00:13:40.960 But it was still a time. I mean, she worked 237 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:42.840 at IBM. She was on the computer all the time. 238 00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:46.639 So eventually they discovered that she hadn't shown up for work. 239 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:50.879 The stepsister did, and the stepsister then started calling around. 240 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:53.720 She even had a friend go by the apartment and 241 00:13:55.080 --> 00:13:58.200 you know, looked to see if somebody was home. Of course, 242 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:00.639 nobody came to the door. And so at that point, 243 00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:05.440 the stepsister then contacts the management of the apartment complex 244 00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:07.799 and gives them permission to go into the apartment to 245 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:09.879 unlock the door, because she was on the lease and 246 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:11.519 she was able to give them that permission. 247 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:15.279 Yeah. And the thing too, is another point was that 248 00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:16.200 her car was there. 249 00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:18.919 Correct, her car was there, and so that was an 250 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:23.399 immediate red flag. This was not a girl who didn't 251 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:26.120 show up for work and not call somebody. This was 252 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:28.679 not a girl who didn't return calls from friends and family. 253 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:31.639 This was a responsible girl. She over and over and 254 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:33.919 over I heard, you know, Stephanie did what she was 255 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:37.919 supposed to do. Is Stephanie was a very reliable, responsible 256 00:14:37.960 --> 00:14:42.399 young woman. And so immediately they knew something just wasn't 257 00:14:42.440 --> 00:14:43.759 right here in this scenario. 258 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:49.919 Now, he gave permission to the manager to be able 259 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:52.799 to go into the apartment, and what did he find? 260 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:53.799 And then what did he do. 261 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:58.279 Who's actually a female manager, and she had one of 262 00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:01.759 the maintenance staff opened the door. They went in and 263 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:06.080 they found Stephanie in not in her bedroom, but in 264 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:09.679 the bedroom of one of the roommates, and she had 265 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:14.480 been sexually assaulted and murdered. And at the time they 266 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:18.559 didn't know how she had died. It was later discovered 267 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:21.480 that she was strangled, but there were clear marks on 268 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:25.279 her neck and around her wrists and ankles where she 269 00:15:25.399 --> 00:15:29.399 had been tied up. And so it was just, you know, 270 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:35.000 as you can imagine for somebody that doesn't know somebody 271 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:39.320 even it was just an awful, awful scene to witness that, 272 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:42.399 and of course it was very difficult and emotional for 273 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:45.919 that manager to see that, and then she immediately called 274 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:47.559 the police. 275 00:15:48.039 --> 00:15:49.840 Now the person that's one of the well is the 276 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:55.879 first responder, is Lieutenant Chris Morgan and Major Crimes Task Force. 277 00:15:56.360 --> 00:15:58.039 I think, I said, is a Ryan. 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Sign up now at 287 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:23.799 chumbacasino dot com. 288 00:16:23.799 --> 00:16:26.360 No, we're necessary d Where I lost the terms conditions 289 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:26.879 eighteen plus? 290 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:29.200 Can you tell us a little bit about this man's character? 291 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:29.759 What was he like? 292 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:36.279 He's a veteran cop, he is, he's an old school cop. 293 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:39.559 I mean, Chris had been a coup for almost thirty years. 294 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:45.240 And I actually wrote another book with Chris called Deadly 295 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:48.120 Deus prior to this book, where he was the lead 296 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:51.159 investigator up until the end this case. He actually retired 297 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:55.080 before it was completed, but he was absolutely passionate about it. 298 00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:59.360 And Chris is again he's an old school cop. He's 299 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:03.679 somebody that he's got a big personality, a big stature. 300 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:07.519 He's a good old boy on one hand, and then 301 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:11.759 on the other hand he's quoting Shakespeare. Just a very 302 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:16.359 intelligent guy, a guy that had a lot of street smarts, 303 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:20.319 you know, just sometimes went with his gut, and that's 304 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:23.519 not always popular in today's world where we want everything 305 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:29.240 nailed down with facts and DNA and specific scientific evidence, 306 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:32.599 and Chris was more kind of an off the cuff 307 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:34.920 kind of guy. Most of the time he was right. 308 00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:37.000 He wasn't always right, and he would be the first 309 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:40.799 person to admit that, but quite a character and just 310 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:44.440 passionate about the cases that he covered, to the point 311 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:47.759 where again he would admit he just got very very 312 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:51.920 close to the victims' families and to the victims themselves. 313 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:53.720 I mean, Chris was a guy that you walked into 314 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:57.079 his office and he had pictures of the victims up 315 00:17:57.119 --> 00:17:59.640 on the bulletin board behind his desk, And when I 316 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:01.480 would ask him why he did that, he said, because 317 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:05.119 I wouldn't always remember who I'm working for. And at 318 00:18:05.119 --> 00:18:06.960 the end of the day, that's who he was. He 319 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:09.279 was somebody that just would do anything, you know, go 320 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:12.519 to the mat for these victims and their memories and 321 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:15.039 try to do whatever he could to solve these cases. 322 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:19.160 And at the time that he responded to this scene, 323 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:23.079 Chris had twin daughters that were in their late teens, 324 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:27.720 and so you can imagine this was just devastating for 325 00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:30.079 him because all he could think about was you know 326 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:33.160 this could be my daughter. I mean, Stephanie was in 327 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:36.480 her early twenties, twenty three years old, and it was 328 00:18:36.599 --> 00:18:39.039 just he said, it was actually the worst thing he's 329 00:18:39.079 --> 00:18:43.440 ever seen. Which it's interesting because again, you, as a 330 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:46.880 journalist and someone who's covered these cases before, knows that 331 00:18:46.920 --> 00:18:48.480 there are a lot of crime scenes that are very 332 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:52.880 bloody and very very hard to even imagine somebody doing 333 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:54.799 that to another human being, and this was not one 334 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:56.839 of those scenes. This was not a bloody scene, but 335 00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:01.200 it was it was just heart wrenching to see this 336 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:06.519 young woman who had been just so violated and tortured 337 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:08.359 up until the moment she died. 338 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:12.240 You said that there was marks where she had been 339 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:18.359 tied and bound. There was another thing that Morgan, Chris 340 00:19:18.359 --> 00:19:22.799 Morgan noticed about the strangulation itself that he thought was unusual. 341 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:30.240 Yeah, I think, and this was later discovered from the autopsy, 342 00:19:30.839 --> 00:19:34.559 but that it was done with something called a garret, 343 00:19:34.599 --> 00:19:39.240 which is a French type of a restraint, if you will, 344 00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:42.920 that has a piece of wood or some other bar 345 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:46.440 in it that you actually used to tighten and release 346 00:19:46.599 --> 00:19:50.240 around the person's neck. So again, it's more than just 347 00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:55.200 cutting off somebody's air supply it's slowly killing them and 348 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:57.799 at that point that person obviously knows what's happening, that 349 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:01.079 they're dying, and it's just a it's a it's a 350 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:05.160 you know, absolute torture is what it is. And this 351 00:20:05.400 --> 00:20:09.960 was somebody that Chris immediately thought, this is not somebody 352 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:13.480 who knows this woman. And this because it didn't appear 353 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:17.240 to be a disorganized crime or crime of passion. This 354 00:20:17.319 --> 00:20:20.680 seems to be something that was well planned, well organized 355 00:20:20.759 --> 00:20:24.039 by somebody that knew exactly what they were doing. And again, 356 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:27.119 very frightening to think about that kind of a person 357 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:31.039 in a place like Raleigh, North Carolina that rarely ever 358 00:20:31.079 --> 00:20:31.400 has a. 359 00:20:31.319 --> 00:20:34.799 Crime like this and now is on the loose as well. 360 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:39.359 And what I also what Morgan had said as well, 361 00:20:39.400 --> 00:20:42.319 which is evidence of what you're saying, is that when 362 00:20:42.519 --> 00:20:45.720 using the garage, that this is somebody that had some 363 00:20:45.799 --> 00:20:49.880 sort of pre planning or at least understands strangulation. It's 364 00:20:50.039 --> 00:20:53.319 very disturbing to realize that that they have this method. 365 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:55.240 It's not yeah, you say, it's not in the. 366 00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:01.079 Absolutely. I mean, I've covered several domestic cases where the 367 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:07.160 assailant has tried to smother or strangle somebody and not 368 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:11.119 done so successfully and ended up using other means. And 369 00:21:11.160 --> 00:21:14.799 the reason is because those of us who watch television, 370 00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:17.839 you watch a lifetime movie, you think it's very easy 371 00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:20.559 to cut off somebody's air supply with your hands or 372 00:21:20.599 --> 00:21:22.400 by putting a pillow over their face, and that's just 373 00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:24.480 simply not the case. It's much harder than a look. 374 00:21:24.599 --> 00:21:27.279 So this was a guy who really knew what he 375 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:30.039 was doing and brought his implements with him. There was 376 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:32.720 nothing left at the scene, and that was the other thing. 377 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:35.680 So the restraints were gone from the ankles and from 378 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:39.759 her wrists, and the implement that was used to strangle 379 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:41.680 her was also gone. So this was somebody who pre 380 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:42.920 planned this very carefully. 381 00:21:44.279 --> 00:21:49.119 Now, what did police conclude in their investigation about how 382 00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:52.480 we got into the building or what was involved with 383 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:56.680 him attacking Stephanie Bennett in her own home. What do 384 00:21:56.759 --> 00:21:57.880 they conclude? 385 00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:01.559 Well, what they surmised that he had come in through 386 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:04.440 a window. There was a window in this extra bedroom 387 00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:08.440 that belonged to one of the roommates, Emily Metro, the 388 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:10.720 friend that was not the stepsister, and she was out 389 00:22:10.759 --> 00:22:14.480 of town visiting her boyfriend at the time and the window. 390 00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:19.799 It's still unclear whether the window was unlocked and left 391 00:22:19.799 --> 00:22:22.160 open or whether the window wouldn't lock. There was a 392 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:27.720 faulty window lock, and so there was some question as 393 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:31.720 to exactly what happened with that window. But they found 394 00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:35.759 things under the window, some pine needles that could have 395 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:39.480 come off the bush on the outside of the window 396 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:42.559 where he came in. They also found some things that 397 00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:44.400 had been on the window sill that had been moved, 398 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:47.240 and so the thought was that he had to move 399 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:50.480 them in order not to knock them over. The belief 400 00:22:50.680 --> 00:22:55.400 is that he probably had been watching the apartment and 401 00:22:55.480 --> 00:22:58.319