don't know that we would have been successful in the prosecution. >> i still have to say that at that time and at that place, the scientific and forensic work that was done was excellent. and it was correct. the medical examiner ruled the death an accident. but a forensic detective disagreed. the final resolution took three long years and raised questions about the accuracy of an autopsy. paterson, new jersey, is an industrial suburb outside new york city which has its share of violent crime. one of the town's most unusual cases happened in 1980. >> i would personally rank it as being one of the most interesting, challenging cases i ever had. >> 29-year-old frankie pullian was found dead on a deserted

road underneath an abandoned car. apparently, the person driving the vehicle hit frankie, then fled the scene, leaving the vehicle behind. frankie pullian worked for a local funeral home as a handyman. before that, he served a brief stint in the u.s. military. >> he would run errands for the funeral home, and the funeral home was also kind of a stopping off point for the police as well. and it was one of the more successful black funeral homes in paterson. >> police discovered that the hit-and-run vehicle had been stolen a month earlier. the owner was a retired policeman who lived nearby who had an alibi for the night before. >> he was an elderly gentleman. there was no way that anyone would even, in their wildest dreams or imagination, suspect that he was involved in this. >> to approximate the time of

the accident, paterson police checked patrolmen's records for the night before and found an important clue. >> earlier that morning at approximately 4:00 a.m., the same patrol unit did pass that area, and the significance of that is when they did pass at that time, the maverick and the body were not there. >> since frankie's body was discovered at 6:00 a.m., the accident occurred some time between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m. but what was frankie pullian doing walking along this street in this part of town so early in the morning? >> it wouldn't be a place where you'd generally be taking a walk, but it certainly would be a good place for a crime, because it was dark and it was unlikely there'd be other people around. >> frankie's body went directly to the funeral home where he worked.

the medical examiner conducted the autopsy there, a common procedure at the time. >> state county did not have a centralized morgue. and what they did have were contracts with various funeral homes that would act as morgues. >> the medical examiner concluded that frankie died of massive trauma, the result of the hit-and-run accident. >> there was nothing to show otherwise, that it was other than a hit-and-run, due to the nature of the injuries that were reported by the m.e. >> but despite the autopsy report, investigators were troubled. they thought some of the elements of the accident scene looked staged. >> this car was at the far end of a dead-end street. the car looked like it was facing out. i don't know how this individual driving this vehicle could have gotten enough speed to run over somebody and kill them in the short distance. >> investigators searched the stolen vehicle for clues to the driver's identity.

there were no fingerprints in the car, not even on the steering wheel. but investigators found blood inside the car on the passenger side, which was very suspicious. >> then instantly, it gets more interesting. >> and the focus of the investigation began to change. huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker? i look around this room and i see nothing but untapped potential. you have potential. you have...oh boy. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. purina pro plan can help him drachieve it. ♪ driving rock/metal music stops ♪music resumes

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to find out whether frankie pullian's death was truly the result of a hit-and-run vehicle accident, investigators called in walter suhaka, a nationally recognized expert in accident reconstruction. luckily, police had taken numerous photos of the scene. and what suhaka didn't see in those pictures was telling. >> behind the car, there were no skid marks. anybody that comes down the road and hits a pedestrian in those days before abs brakes, the first thing a person would do would be slam on the brakes. there were no skid marks. >> there should have been serious front-end damage to the car, but there was none. and the position of the body

under the car didn't make any sense. >> in a pedestrian accident with a gentleman who's 5'8" tall and he weighed 144 pounds, you would expect that if he was struck by a car, he would end up on the hood of the car, striking the windshield and then roll off the side. >> also, it looked as if the impact literally knocked the victim's coat off his body. suhaka said this could not be the natural result of an accident. >> how does the coat come off? it did not make sense. also there was a watch with just a watch face with no straps. that didn't make sense at all. we never found the straps. >> but most telling was the blood found in the tire tracks behind the car. if frankie had been hit by the front of the car and lodged underneath, his blood wouldn't be behind the rear tires. and mr. suhaka found blood spatter on the windshield inside the car and blood drops on the

inside trim of the passenger side door. obviously, there wouldn't be blood inside a car from a collision outside. >> it was one of my suggestions that we need to exhume the body to find out what the actual injuries were. >> since the death had officially been declared an accident, it took more than three years of legal wrangling to get permission for the exhumation. the second autopsy was conducted by dr. geetha natarajan, a pathologist with the state coroner's office. >> the first thing i noticed is the level of preservation and the condition of the body being fair. the second most important finding was that the external body surface failed to show any injury.

there were no bruises. there were no brush burn like he was dragged by a vehicle. >> dr. natarajan discovered four linear fractures along the back of the skull. one, a depressed, circular fracture was not noted in the first autopsy. this blow by a hammerlike object to the back of the head did not happen from being hit by a car. >> you can't take an automobile and make it and have a person's skull being struck by a small area of 1 1/2 by 3/4-inch. >> and there were wood splinters around the wound. >> well, first of all, under a car or in front of a car, there is no wood. why would there be wood splinters in the skull? >> this was never mentioned during the first autopsy, nor do i believe that an autopsy or a full examination of the skull

was ever done during the first autopsy. >> there were also no broken limbs, virtually unheard of when a pedestrian is hit by a car. so, dr. natarajan changed the official manner of death from accident to homicide. but how were these injuries overlooked in the first autopsy? >> the medical examiner who did the autopsy who issued the initial death certificate was not a forensic pathologist. he was not even a pathologist. he was a general practitioner. he did what best he could do under the circumstances, but he was not trained formally in pathology or in forensic pathology. >> and that autopsy was conducted at the funeral home of e. lee white, the victim's employer.

apparently, white started the examination before the coroner arrived. >> the medical examiner remembers mr. white calling him and saying, doc, i'll go ahead and start with the case, so when you get here, i'll have the organs out. >> investigators now suspected that the original medical examiner didn't perform much of an autopsy. apparently, he accepted the hit-and-run scenario, since frankie's body was found underneath the car. regardless, investigators now knew frankie pullian was murdered. but why? did you run into traffic? no, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go--

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of nbcuniversal's coverage to every screen. so what's next? rio 2016. welcome to what's next. comcast nbcuniversal. there were two separate autopsies performed on frankie pullian's remains done three years apart. the original autopsy concluded frankie's death was the result of an automobile accident. the second autopsy concluded he was murdered with a blunt instrument before his body was placed beneath the car. >> had law enforcement had that

information in the very beginning, obviously, this case would have gone in a much different direction right from day one. >> and the photos of the vehicle provided evidence of where frankie was killed. >> when i started reading the reports, they said there was blood inside the car. i had to read the report twice. it just didn't make sense. turned out, there was spatter from blood on the inside windshield and on the dashboard. >> serology tests identified the blood in the car as type "o," the same blood type as frankie pullian. now suspicious, investigators dug a little deeper into frankie's background. for a man making less than $10,000 a year, frankie had nine separate insurance policies on his life with a total payout of nearly $1 million. >> it's very unusual that you would take out almost $1 million worth of insurance, and then within a few short months, someone should die. to me, that raises a flag automatically. >> the insurance premiums totaled $3,500 a year, almost half of frankie's annual salary.

>> first thing you're thinking is that, certainly, this is not right. it's very odd, to say the least, but it certainly raises the possibility that there's an insurance fraud going on. >> and who were the beneficiaries of frankie's life insurance policies? one was his boss and longtime benefactor, e. lee white. >> for his employer to insure him so heavily with multiple policies for large sums of money was very suspicious, and which now creates a motive for the death of franklin pullian. >> another beneficiary was erna boone, listed on the policy as frankie's sister, but records showed frankie had no sister and that erna boone was the maiden name of e. lee white's wife. and two of white's friends, lawrence scott and william brown, were also beneficiaries. brown had been convicted a few

years earlier for fraud. >> lawrence scott and william brown both had affiliations with the funeral home and with mr. white, also were beneficiaries on the policy. and the familial relationship that was cited there was one of being cousins. they weren't cousins. >> coincidentally, the insurance policies also contained an accidental death provision, meaning there was an extra payout of $350,000 if frankie pullian died in an accident. the last of the policies was issued just five days before frankie's death. frankie's medical records indicated he was released from the military because he was neurologically impaired. >> i think within six to eight months, he was released, discharged from the service because he couldn't pass the particular tests that were required of him. >> yet, the man who underwent

the physical examination for the life insurance policies was not neurologically impaired. >> that individual who purported to be franklin pullian was healthy and fit. certainly, it wasn't the same person. >> and there was another bizarre incident at the physical examination. >> the person who represented himself to be mr. pullian had notes, handwritten notes. and every time he was asked a question about his life, his lifestyle, he referred to his notes, which i would think would cause some concern, but apparently did not. >> a forensic document examiner compared frankie's known handwriting samples to the signatures on the insurance policies and concluded they were forgeries. >> so someone who met with the insurance writers, the insurance salesmen, had to pose as mr. pullian. >> it's pretty crazy and these are the things that we would look at and, all of a sudden, you realize, you know what? there's something that is really wrong here.

>> when questioned by investigators, e. lee white admitted he purchased the life insurance policies but said he had nothing to do with frankie's death. then a witness came forward with some not-so-surprising information. on the night before frankie's murder, she saw the car from the staged accident scene parked outside e. lee white's funeral home. honestly? i wanted a smartphone that shoots great video.

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the only ones who stood to gain from frankie pullian's death were his boss, e. lee white's wife and two fellow employees, lawrence scott and william brown. they were beneficiaries of nine different insurance policies on frankie's life that totaled nearly $1 million. >> humans are very greedy people. now they see that there's an opportunity for them to make almost a million dollars, they forget about their consciences. they'll do anything to make a fast buck. >> prosecutors believe that mr. white was the ringleader and he had planned the crime for years, hiring frankie for the sole purpose of killing him. >> it's extremely sad, but apparently, the people that perpetrated this crime realized that that's the kind of victim that they needed. they needed to find someone that

no one would care about and no one would come forward and knock on doors and look and question anything that had happened. >> mr. white purchased multiple life insurance policies on frankie's life and sent imposters to the required physical examinations. a witness reported seeing the stolen car parked outside the funeral home the night before the crime. the evidence indicates someone, no one knows who, lured frankie pullian into the stolen vehicle and hit him on the back of the skull. this created the blood spatter on the inside of the windshield and dashboard and the dripping blood on the chrome strip on the bottom of the passenger side door.

the perpetrators placed frankie's body on the ground and drove over it, but in doing so, left blood behind the vehicle. they made other mistakes, too, like leaving frankie's clothing and shoes in the wrong position. e. lee white knew that frankie's body would come directly to his funeral home for the autopsy. he also knew he could start the autopsy without raising the suspicions of the medical examiner, who, apparently, did little to investigate the death on his own. >> he did not go to the scene. he did not look at the vehicle. he did not talk to the officers who were at the scene. he did not look at any photographs. he did not examine the clothing of the victim. these are all types of things that one would expect would be done following a proper protocol of an autopsy. >> and investigators believe white chose frankie pullian as his victim because he was single and had no close family living

in the area. e. lee white and his alleged co-conspirators were all charged with murder and insurance fraud. they claimed there was no physical evidence tying them to a murder, and investigators agreed, but they said the circumstances linking the defendants to the crime were overwhelming. >> you take all that together, you know that there was an intentional killing, you know that it was a staged accident, and you know that four people stood to make over $900,000 if this theory of an accident could hold up. you put all that together and it spells out one thing to us, and that is murder for profit. >> perhaps what's most tragic about the case is that frankie pullian was an unwitting participant in his own murder. >> he was the kind of person that would not suspect anything beyond the obvious.

>> e. lee white, lawrence scott, and william brown were all found guilty of first-degree murder and insurance fraud and sentenced to life in prison. >> the murder mystery is actually who did it. there were three people that were tried and three people convicted. but who did it? >> e. lee white's wife, erna, was convicted of fraud and theft by deception. she was placed on probation. investigators say e. lee white and his accomplices almost got away with a cold, calculated murder, but their greed and the clues they left behind finally exposed the truth. >> if franklin pullian didn't die so soon after the policies were written, maybe no one's suspicions would have been aroused at that time. but i think they saw this pot of gold and they probably tripped

themselves up because they wanted a fast payoff. >> it all comes down to forensic evidence, and forensic evidence doesn't lie. it doesn't make up stories. it's what it is. the lake was deep, the night was dark, the collision fatal. the only clues were some chips of paint, a tiny piece of foam, and the fatal wound. was it enough to tell investigators what happened? according to native american legend, the great spirit scratched his hand across the land, and in doing so, created the finger lakes of upstate new york.