Murder In Spokane
East Sprague Avenue in Spokane, Washington: That’s where you come if you’re looking to pay for sex. It is a rough place for the prostitutes who work there.
"I've been raped out there. I've had a gun held to my head," says one, whom we’ll call Rena. She's off the streets now. But Rena worked as a prostitute on East Sprague for years.
In 1997 the street suddenly got a lot scarier. Within a two-year period, 16 women, most believed to be prostitutes, were murdered, their bodies dumped in out-of-the-way places.
On Aug. 26, 1997, Jennifer Joseph and Heather Hernandez were found the same day, one in the county, one in the city. Then 29-year-old Darla Sue Scott was discovered on Nov. 5, 1997, partially buried with white plastic bags over her head. The cause of death: two gunshot wounds to the head.
Then on Dec. 23, Shawn Johnson was found. A mother of two young boys, she was struggling to overcome a drug problem when she was murdered.
Looking for evidence to link the four murders, police formed a task force in late 1997. On Dec. 26, two more murdered prostitutes were found, their bodies buried head-to-head within inches of each other: Laurie Ann Wason and Shawn McClenahan
Detective Fred Reutsch was determined to put an end to the bloodshed. "They were human beings. Every one of them was a daughter, a sister, a lot of them were mothers. They were loved by somebody," says Reutsch, who was part of the task force.
Former forensic pathologist George Lindholm soon discovered something else that tied the killings together. Most were shot twice in the head.
By the end of 1997, seven women had been murdered. No one on the task force had ever dealt with anything like this. “It was a whole learning experience for all of us. And many of us have been involved in homicide cases, but this was our first serial killer case," says detective Ben Estes.
Early on, a crucial decision was made, to keep details, and possible clues to the crimes, a secret from the public. That decision came under fire from the hosts of a Spokane talk show, "All About Crime," Mark Fuhrman and Mike Fitzsimmons.
The police defend their decision: "Since the beginning of crime it's been a cat-and-mouse game," says Hill. "We educate criminals when we give them something. They larn how to fight what we do. When we come up with fingerprints, they learn to wear gloves. When we come up with DNA, they learn to wear a condom."
In fact, investigators had found DNA evidence and fingerprints. Detectives soon had another lead: 16-year-old Jennifer Joseph, the killer's second victim, was last seen climbing into a white Corvette on East Sprague. The police couldn’t know it at the time, but this car would prove to be the key to solving the case. Police made no mention of it to the public.
The killings, and the police response, gave Fuhrman, a former Los Angeles police detective who played a major, and controversial, role in the O.J. Simpson case, the subject for a book on the crime.
Fuhrman and Fitzsimmons began to investigate the crime scenes. "We were very well meaning, trying to really get information that they needed out to the public from an avenue that could illicit some kind of clues," says Fuhrman.
At one scene, the two men discovered unexamined debris not far from the crime scene. It turned out to be unrelated to the murders, but the failure to examine it was sloppy police work, they say.
Then on Feb. 8, 1998, the body of the eighth victim, Sonny Oster, was discovered. She was known to work East Sprague. She had gunshot wounds to her head. Once again, Fuhrman and Fitzsimmons decided to investigate. "We canvassed all the homes and we asked if the police had been here and asked questions, and the answer was no," says Fitzsimmons.
Fuhrman criticized the task force; they in turn, said they did not need his help. “In all fairness to Mark Fuhrman, I have all the respect for him that I do any other convicted felon in this community,” says Estes.
Fuhrman and Fitzsimmons began to openly question the thoroughness of the task force investigation. In late February, 1998, the police commissioned a National Guard helicopter, equipped with an infrared camera, to fly over the crime scene where the two bodies were found. They were looking for heat emanated by decomposing bodies.
They found nothing, and announced that there were no bodies. The next day, another body was found. Nine women had been murdered in 21 months.
Can police catch the killer? Find out in Part 2.
© MMI, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. "I've been raped out there. I've had a gun held to my head," says one, whom we’ll call Rena. She's off the streets now. But Rena worked as a prostitute on East Sprague for years.
In 1997 the street suddenly got a lot scarier. Within a two-year period, 16 women, most believed to be prostitutes, were murdered, their bodies dumped in out-of-the-way places.
On Aug. 26, 1997, Jennifer Joseph and Heather Hernandez were found the same day, one in the county, one in the city. Then 29-year-old Darla Sue Scott was discovered on Nov. 5, 1997, partially buried with white plastic bags over her head. The cause of death: two gunshot wounds to the head.
Then on Dec. 23, Shawn Johnson was found. A mother of two young boys, she was struggling to overcome a drug problem when she was murdered.
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Detective Fred Reutsch was determined to put an end to the bloodshed. "They were human beings. Every one of them was a daughter, a sister, a lot of them were mothers. They were loved by somebody," says Reutsch, who was part of the task force.
Former forensic pathologist George Lindholm soon discovered something else that tied the killings together. Most were shot twice in the head.
By the end of 1997, seven women had been murdered. No one on the task force had ever dealt with anything like this. “It was a whole learning experience for all of us. And many of us have been involved in homicide cases, but this was our first serial killer case," says detective Ben Estes.
Early on, a crucial decision was made, to keep details, and possible clues to the crimes, a secret from the public. That decision came under fire from the hosts of a Spokane talk show, "All About Crime," Mark Fuhrman and Mike Fitzsimmons.
The police defend their decision: "Since the beginning of crime it's been a cat-and-mouse game," says Hill. "We educate criminals when we give them something. They larn how to fight what we do. When we come up with fingerprints, they learn to wear gloves. When we come up with DNA, they learn to wear a condom."
In fact, investigators had found DNA evidence and fingerprints. Detectives soon had another lead: 16-year-old Jennifer Joseph, the killer's second victim, was last seen climbing into a white Corvette on East Sprague. The police couldn’t know it at the time, but this car would prove to be the key to solving the case. Police made no mention of it to the public.
The killings, and the police response, gave Fuhrman, a former Los Angeles police detective who played a major, and controversial, role in the O.J. Simpson case, the subject for a book on the crime.
Fuhrman and Fitzsimmons began to investigate the crime scenes. "We were very well meaning, trying to really get information that they needed out to the public from an avenue that could illicit some kind of clues," says Fuhrman.
At one scene, the two men discovered unexamined debris not far from the crime scene. It turned out to be unrelated to the murders, but the failure to examine it was sloppy police work, they say.
Then on Feb. 8, 1998, the body of the eighth victim, Sonny Oster, was discovered. She was known to work East Sprague. She had gunshot wounds to her head. Once again, Fuhrman and Fitzsimmons decided to investigate. "We canvassed all the homes and we asked if the police had been here and asked questions, and the answer was no," says Fitzsimmons.
Fuhrman criticized the task force; they in turn, said they did not need his help. “In all fairness to Mark Fuhrman, I have all the respect for him that I do any other convicted felon in this community,” says Estes.
Fuhrman and Fitzsimmons began to openly question the thoroughness of the task force investigation. In late February, 1998, the police commissioned a National Guard helicopter, equipped with an infrared camera, to fly over the crime scene where the two bodies were found. They were looking for heat emanated by decomposing bodies.
They found nothing, and announced that there were no bodies. The next day, another body was found. Nine women had been murdered in 21 months.
Can police catch the killer? Find out in Part 2.
© MMI, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved
