The Girl Next Door
Will Forensic Reconstruction Help ID Nameless Murder Victim?
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Play CBS Video Video The Girl Next Door Without a name or a missing person's report to identify the murder victim, police turn to forensic sculptor Gloria Nusse, who will use the teen's skull to create a life-like bust. Harold Dow reports.
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It took sculptor Gloria Nusse five weeks to create this bust of Jane Doe. (CBS)
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(CBS)
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(CBS)
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Sculptor Frank Bender created this bust of Greg May, which eventually helped in identifying his remains. (CBS)
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Interactive Forensics 101 Find out more about forensics, DNA and some cases in which DNA has made a difference.
With Greg May’s skull now identified, prosecutor John Kies finally had the evidence he needed to take May’s killer, Doug DeBruin, to trial.
"The chances of him getting away with this now were almost negligible," says Kies.
But Kies wanted to make sure his case was iron clad. So he offered Doug DeBruin’s girlfriend, Julie Miller, immunity. In return, Miller agreed to testify against DeBruin.
"The prosecutors feel that they had to make a deal with the devil, so to speak, in order to prosecute DeBruin," says Don May.
Miller confessed that DeBruin had strangled May. Together they dismembered his body. Then they scattered him across 400 miles of the Midwest.
Miller had given just enough detail for Don and Shannon to know where to search for their father. Volunteers helped them in the solemn task of sifting through leaves and debris.
But it was Don himself who ultimately found what he and his sister had spent four years looking for: a fragment of their father’s remains.
"This is where people put their trash. My father wasn’t trash," his sister Shannon tearfully adds. "He was a human being. Part of this makes me really angry and I’m still angry today. Because I know there are remains out here that will never be found."
At Doug DeBruin’s murder trial, the jury took under an hour to come back with its verdict, finding him guilty.
"I remember the May family, literally crying with joy. Don May hugging me. Shannon May hugging me. It felt pretty good," says Kies.
Prosecutor Kies suspects Julie Miller knew DeBruin planned to kill Greg May and did nothing to stop him. Don and Shannon hold out hope that despite Miller’s immunity, Kies will somehow find a way to bring her to justice.
"I’m not gonna stop. I’m not gonna forget. I’m not gonna go away. I don’t care what the legal system says right now about not prosecuting you, you’re gonna get prosecuted at some point, count on it," says Don.
Until then, they can find some peace of mind knowing their father has at long last been laid to rest. It's peace of mind that would not have been possible without Frank Bender and his sculpture.
Does Bender have any words of wisdom for Jane Doe's investigators in Castro Valley, Calif.?
"These things take time," says Bender. "It’s sort off like fishing. You have to just leave that line out until you get a nibble."
Sgt. Dudek is still desperate to get that nibble. “You got a little girl out there that every single night her mom and dad must wonder when she’s coming home,” he says.
Ellen Leach’s lead, a young girl missing since 2001, seemed promising.
"We were very hopeful that it was going to be our little Jane Doe. We requested the dental records on this little girl,” recalls Dudek.
But this girl's dental records do not match Jane’s perfect teeth. It’s another dead end.
So Dudek is back to square one, manning the phones, and waiting for DNA tests on the necklace left on Jane’s grave. This is one mystery he is determined to solve – for the young girl who lost her life and the people like Dave Woolworth who have forever taken her to heart.
"We’ve never lost hope in this and we’ll never lose hope in this," says Dudek. “Sooner or later, somebody’s going to make a connection and they will pick up the phone and they’ll call us and they’ll do the right thing.”
If you have any information on "Jane's" identity, please call Sgt. Scott Dudek of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office at 510-667-7478.
Greg May's children gave their $15,000.00 reward to Internet sleuth, Ellen Leach.
By Clare Friedland/Jay Young ©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.


