Deadline For Justice

Two Cold Cases, Two Families, On 48 Hours Mystery

(CBS)  Dr. Eric Buel, now head of Vermont's forensic DNA lab, was hoping to match that DNA to one of 20 suspects - men who knew Patty or were at the falls that day.

"They investigated and investigated and investigated and still came up empty," says Patty's father, David.

"It was something we that we hoped to be able to solve since we had such great evidence, but in 1991 we didn't have a DNA database," notes Dr. Buel.

Vermont was one of the last states without a DNA database, so they couldn't compare crime scene DNA against known offenders.

The Scovilles realized that the key to finding justice for Patty was to channel their grief and energy lobbying lawmakers for a DNA database. "I was so impressed when I met David and Ann for the first time," Howard Dean remembers. "They put their heart and soul into getting this passed; they were the face of this."

Lawmakers wanted to force convicted felons to submit to DNA testing. But even with the support of Gov. Dean, getting the legislation passed was a tough sell. "People are very sensitive of their invasion of privacy and there was some resistance to getting this passed," he says.

Years began to pass. In the meantime, Patty's family kept her memory alive with memorial bike rides, dedication ceremonies, and offers of rewards.

After seven long years of lobbying, Patty's parents saw the bill creating Vermont’s first DNA database signed into law. They had achieved the impossible.

But the DNA from Patty's killer was run against the first group of samples and there was no match. The unidentified DNA from the Scoville case was now part of the new database.

"And I think my worst fear all the way through was that either I would die or the person who committed the crime would die before he was discovered," David remembers.

Progress was slow. There was a massive backlog of cases and little money for testing. But suddenly in 2005, seven years after the database was established, and 14 years after Patty was murdered, there finally was a match.

"I was flabbergasted. It was just remarkable that we were saying this is a way to solve this case and it happened," Dr. Buel remembers.

After testing 80 people and following up on 1,000 leads, investigators had a name: Howard Godfrey, a 59-year-old window installer who had served time for assault.

"We wanted to know everything about him before we sat down to interview him," remembers prosecutor Cindy Maguire.

Godfrey's DNA was taken in 2000 when he was released from prison. Asked why he was in the database, Maguire tells Dow, "As a result of the conviction from 1996 for the aggravated assault."

But before police could make an arrest, the law, which the Scovilles helped pass, required police to re-confirm the source of the DNA.

But investigators couldn't risk just walking up and asking for a sample - instead they needed a way to secretly get Godfrey's DNA. So they staked out his window business. Through their surveillance, investigators knew Godfrey was a smoker, and were able to gather his discarded cigarette butts.

Police bagged and tagged the cigarettes and sent them to the lab for testing; this time the DNA results came back a lot quicker - there was a match.

After 14 long years of waiting, Det. Merriam had his man, or did he?

[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.