Deadline For Justice

Two Cold Cases, Two Families, On 48 Hours Mystery

(CBS)  At first, detectives were confident crime scene clues would lead them to Jennifer's killer. But it turned out much of the evidence was badly contaminated by the only witness to the crime, Jennifer's cat Mr. Binx.

"It took the lab quite awhile to actually differentiate between cat hair, human hair, any kind of fiber," Det. Atkins recalls.

Asked if the evidence collected pointed to any specific suspect, Bell tells Dow, "Physical evidence, no. You obviously have circumstantial evidence that would lead you to believe that it was somebody who she knew."

With that in mind, investigators focused on the two men who fit that description best: Ralph Sepulveda and Brian Travers.

"Being a suspect, you know it didn't click in my mind at first. I'm like, 'Oh, they just need to know when I saw her last.' You know, it just didn't click," Travers remembers.

In fact, investigators needed to know a lot more, because it turned out Travers wasn't just Jennifer's co-worker-they had a romantic relationship on the side.

"We hit it off, as friends right off the bat. Even though she had a boyfriend at the time living with her. And as that kind of waned, we became closer," Travers explains.

Travers was with Jennifer just hours before the time investigators determined she was murdered.

"Brian said they worked a late shift together. Made the decision that they were gonna go to Walmart," Atkins explains.

Travers says Jennifer dropped him off at his home. "I walked her back to her car, gave her a kiss goodnight. And then she pulled on out of the parking lot. That was the last I saw," he remembers.

Jennifer returned home shortly after midnight. Sometime after that, police believe Jennifer opened her door to a killer.

Sherry believes Ralph killed her daughter. Asked why, she says, "I think he was just a jealous, bitter person. If he couldn't have her, nobody could."

While investigators lacked the evidence to reach the same conclusion, they did discover a stunning reason to move Ralph to the top of their list of suspects.

"She did tell me one time that she did not like the way that he treated her when they were together intimately," Loren says. "That he wanted to strangle her while they were having sex and she did not like that."

Initially, Ralph cooperated with investigators, consenting to interviews, searches and DNA sampling. But that didn't last long. "Would not take a polygraph. Later on, subsequent interviews, he refused to talk to us as the investigation proceeded," Bell says.

Asked why Ralph wasn't arrested, Bell says, "We don't have enough probable cause to go out and make an arrest on this case. I just don't think we're there yet."

[carolcape]

I still feel that Ralph is the murderer of Jennifer Servo and I believe the police should charge him and go with what they have. There must be enough circumstantial evidence there to arrest this man. Funny how he all of a sudden took of to Kuwait when all of this was going on. He ran, the sign of a guilty man, get out of the limelight. I hope you get this *** behind bars. He will kill someone else and then the police will be saying, oh, we didn''t have enough. This woman made a very bad judgment on having this man follow her to another city. She did not know him. Young women should be very aware of moving in with someone they do not know anything about. I would tend to think Jennifer was smarter then that, but she saw too much good in a man that was full of evil. I still hope they nail this guy and they do not stop investigating this case. It should be on the front burner, for sure. Those are my views.

[adc1232]

for the other family, i''m glad they caught their killer.true loving parents don''t give up on their child, even if they''re no longer with us.But for Jennifer, i think it was also Ralph who had killed her.

[carolcape]

I believe Ralph is the killer.He couldn''t stand it when he saw how happy Jenn was when she moved out. He saw another man on her arm and I bet anything he was stalking her and knew every move she made. The police should have got a search warrant immediately and searched his apartment for evidence, also they could have searched Brian''s, but did they? And I believe that Jenn dropped her friend off because she could have been secretly scared that Ralph was following her or watching her and did not mention it to anyone. I don''t think that Brian had anything to do with her murder. The police did not do enough to solve this crime. They will never solve this murder unless the murderer talks when he''s drunked up or something along those lines. A bright light taken out and so many bad seeds still roaming around, unfair for sure. Condolences to her family.

[rational717]

Dear Curious51, I did look at the web link you provided and I read about the loss of your son, Joshua. I am so sorry for your pain and sorrier still that you don''t have any closure. I myself don''t have any answers, but I would like you to know that I will be praying for peace, for both you and your family.

[curious51]

WOW!!!
HOw about someone look into the questionable death of my son, Joshua?
www.realcrimes.com/Robinson/Robinson.html

[roscoezzz]

This is a tough one, but Brian and Ralph are still suspects to this day. Jennifer and Ralph agreed to part as friends and he moved out into the next apartment. Remember though what Jennifer told her coworker. It was revealed after the murder that Jennifer confided that when Ralph and her were intimate, he wanted to strangle her. The police said she was either strangled or beaten to death. Ralph must''ve been scared because he suddenly stopped cooperating with the police.
There was no sign of a break in and Jennifer knew the murderer. Hopefully, something will come up with the investigation. Sad, because Jennifer was on her way to such big things.

[rational717]

Dearest, rat206. Although I appreciate your interest in the case, I did want to take a few moments to address some of your questions. Brian and Jen did have a romantic relationship, however it wasn''t a secret. In fact, it was common knowledge among her friends and coworkers. I also have a question for you...have you heard of Ralph exploding into violence? Do share if you have. Any little piece about Ralph could lead to justice for Jennifer. Just one other note, you mentioned that Brian was accompanied to Jen''s apartment with their coworker. I think you have to remember that the show may not report the entire timeline of events. So, even though we saw the same show with a different perspective, I think any discussion is a good discussion if it ultimately leads to justice for Jen.

[rat206]

In the Jennifer Servo case, I believe that Brian Travers would be just as viable a suspect as anyone else in this case. Besides being the last person seen with her and having a secret romantic liason with her as well, he appears to draw attention away from himself and directs it towards Ralph Sepulveda by saying such comments as "how she seemed to blossom after Ralph moved out". If Ralph was as jealous as he was portrayed to be, it would have been harder to move him out of Jennifer''s apartment and it wouldn''t have taken him as long as eight weeks to explode into violence. Have any of the other women in Ralph''s life raised red flags? Also, why didn''t Brian go by himself to Jennifer''s apartment when she turned up missing? Probably because he needed a witness, and in this case, a co-worker and a friend as well was just what was needed to complete the ruse.