another phenomenal thing that people need to pay attention to because this could happen to anybody. >> without melinda's efforts, let's face it, clarence elkins let's face it, clarence elkins would still be in prison. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com up next, a young woman is dead and the killer was a window peeper. >> she is uncomfortable about that. >> i had no idea how this could happen. >> despite the evidence, the case can't be solved. >> we're working on it but we don't have any viable leads at this time. >> until police found evidence their suspect had killed before. >> i don't think he was finished. i don't think he would have stopped. for stephanie bennett graduating from roanoke college was only

the start. she took a job with ibm and was anxious to finally earn some money. >> she was really starting her life. she was a young woman with a lot of potential. she was excited about being on her own. >> but after working there for about a year, one day, she just didn't show up. >> she was a very responsible young woman. she was somebody that always showed up to work on time. when nobody could get in touch with her, everybody got concerned. >> so family members asked her apartment manager to check up on her. >> 911. the location of your emergency? >> i need somebody to come down to lake lynne drive immediately. i've got a dead person. >> is the person conscious? >> she's dead. >> she was dead on the bedroom floor. >> he had a dark index around her neck due to strangulation. >> stephanie had not an enemy in

the world. i was flabbergasted. i didn't know why this would happen and why it would have to be stephanie. there was no reasoning for this at all. >> there was no sign of forced entry into her ground floor apartment although the killer might have come in through her bedroom window. >> the window screen had been removed from her window. >> nothing was stolen. but some items in the apartment, a phone, a water glass, and a box of tissues were found in the closet of the second bedroom. >> the closet itself almost looked like somebody had been in that closet in waiting. >> the killer was apparently wearing gloves. >> they told me there were no fingerprints at all at the crime scene of anybody other than the ones that belonged in the apartment. >> outside in a line of bushes near the apartment, investigators found items that

might have been linked to the murder. >> there were six pair of women thong underwear stored in those bushes. at that point it appeared that this crime may be sexually motivated in nature. >> none of these items, however, was stephanies. the medical examiner estimated that stephanie was killed some time around midnight. investigators learned that stephanie was on the phone with her boyfriend, robert at 8:00 p.m. >> stephanie was a low-risk victim. she didn't engage in anything that could be characterized as risky behavior just a normal girl from a very good family. >> then police learned of an e-mail that stephanie sent several weeks before her murder.

>> she e-mailed my sister and said she was afraid but never conveyed that to me. >> stephanie was afraid because there was a window peeper around her apartment building. >> there was a report of a peeping tom. and when she found out about that, a neighbor saw it and reported it. >> this alleged window peeper but now the prime suspect pt. passenger: road trip buddy. let's put some music on. woman: welcome to learning spanish in the car. passenger: you've got to be kidding me. driver: this is good. woman: vamanos. driver & passenger: vamanos. woman: gracias. driver & passenger: gracias. passenger: trece horas en el carro sin parar y no traes musica. driver: mira entra y comprame unas papitas. vo: get up to 795 miles per tank in the tdi clean diesel. the volkswagen passat. recipient of the j.d. power appeal award, two years in a row. ugh. heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews.

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i remember how steph was never worried about what others thought of her and lived life in a free, spirited way. she was a dependable friend and a beautiful person. >> the murder of 23-year-old stephanie bennett was difficult to solve because it appeared there was no connection between stephanie and her assailant. >> i have covered a lot of murder cases and i don't think there was ever a case that caused as much fear in the community as this one. >> every day i walk in my office and i see stephanie's picture. is it a picture of her smiling and having fun with her friends

having no idea that she would be dying at the hands of someone i believe would truly evil. >> during stephanie's autopsy, the medical examiner found signs of sexual assault and recovered a dna sample. this sample was compared to dna samples of all criminal offenders in both the state and national dna databases. there were no hits. >> there was not a lot of other evidence that was found at the crime scene. it appeared almost like what the suspect brought with him he took away with him. >> investigators also compared the dna to every male who had any contact with stephanie, more than 250 people. and no one matched. police spoke with dozens of people who lived in the apartments near stephanie bennetts. many reported seeing a tall thin

man wearing a sweatshirt loitering in the area. one of stephanie's neighbors saw this person looking into stephanie's window. a police artist drew a sketch and released it to newspapers and local television stations. >> the phone calls began pouring in. it was a high profile case. and numerous leads came in. >> but after tracking down hundreds of leads, only one appeared promising, a convicted sex offender who lived in the area. >> we were able to make contact with this individual. looked very promising early on and got a dna sample. our hopes were up and we got the call back that it was not a dna match. we were very disappointed. >> with nothing else to lose, investigators went back and reinterviewed the people in stephanie's neighborhood who

claimed they saw the window peeper in the area. this time, one neighbor reported some new information. >> we actually had one that reported seeing this peeping tom walking a dog that appeared to be a large rottweiler type dog from bridge port apartments over to the other apartments. >> stephanie lived in bridge port. >> apartment managers remembered a tenant with a big black dog who moved away. >> their words were we knew who you are talking about. he is drew plant and he is a strange bird. >> drew had no criminal history and wasn't married and analyzed ingredients for the department

of agricultural. >> he was very much to himself. very few friends. >> when police spoke with planten at his workplace he claimed he never before heard the name stephanie bennett. >> wasn't many people within a 50 mile radius that was not familiar with this case. >> planten refused to go the police station so officers made an appointment to meet him at his apartment the next day. >> we told him we would see him at 5:00 and drew planten started shake uncontrollably like he was was freezing cold. i looked back at him and said are you okay? and he said i'm fine. >> at that meeting, planten denied any involvement in stephanie's murder and refused to provide a dna sample. >> we always said maybe when that first person tells us no, that. >> our man. >> but police had no evidence against planten and he bore no

resemblance to the composite sketch. so they couldn't get a court ordered dna sample. for now it appeared that police had hit another dead end.

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his dna sample for testing. but one of their scientific experts had a suggestion. >> i said we need to get a statue that was more intimate from him. you need to get a sample which he had touched or had used such as a cigarette butt or a tooth brush or an item of clothing. >> but that wouldn't be easy. it seemed planten knew he was being followed. >> surveillance was conducted on drew planten for a week at work and at home and we could not obtain any dna from that week's worth of surveillance. >> ultimately, investigators followed planten to a restaurant. but planten was one step ahead of them. >> he ate nothing but finger foods. when he would get up to go to the bathroom he would put his straw in his pocket and take it to the bathroom with him.

he flushed all of his napkins. >> for dessert, planten ordered banana pudding which he ate with a force. >> he took two bites of banana pudding and took a napkin and wiped the force for 20 minutes. and left the fork. >> i got a mixture of dna sampling meaning there was one strong profile and one weak profile on there as well. >> apparently, the restaurant hadn't properly cleaned the fork. the strong profile was from an unidentified female. the weaker, from a male, was compared to dna from stephanie's rape kit. >> the one weak profile on the fork was very similar to the profile found on the vaginal profiles coming from stephanie

bennett. >> but this profile was so weak it would be inadmissible in court. >> it was a partial match which told law enforcement we were on the right track. we just needed to get a good dna sample from drew planten. >> since planten worked for state, investigators got permission to search his workplace. mark bodet swabbed his keyboard, radio and other items he handled. dna from those skin cells was compared to buy logic evidence from stephanie bennett's rape kit. >> it was an exact match from the dna what was obtained from the sperm sample from the swabs. >> this dna evidence placed planten at the scene on the night of stephanie's murder.

based on the evidence, investigators believe the killer broke into stephanie's apartment through the bedroom window and waited for her. in the closet. investigators believe stephanie arrived home, then called her boyfriend some time between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. prosecutors think her killer watched from the second bedroom and that stephanie was completely unaware anyone was there. later after stephanie went to bed, he attacked. the evidence shows she was sexually assaulted and strangled to death. but the killer left valuable dna evidence behind.

>> i think calling mr. bennett the day we arrested drew planten was one of the highlights of my career. >> when police searched planten's apartment, they found pornography, lock picking guides and knives. they also found other disturbing evidence that opened the possibility that planten may have killed before. tigers, both of you. tigers? don't be modest. i see how you've been investing. setting long term goals. diversifying. dip! you got our attention. we did? of course. you're type e* well, i have been researching retirement strategies. well that's what type e*s do. welcome home. taking control of your retirement? e*trade gives you the tools and resources to get it right. are you type e*?

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when investigators searched drew planten's apartment they found several pieces of mail addressed to a woman in lansing, michigan, rebecca hughesman. the postmark was six years old. a background check revealed that rebecca hughesman was murdered in lansing, michigan six years earlier and the case had never been solved. coincidentally, planten was a student at michigan state university at the time which was just a few miles from lansing. rebeck that hughesman was working as a topless dancer at the time of her murder. it was something she had not planned on but she needed the money. >> she was a very beautiful young woman and trying to make some extra money so she and her

fiance could get married. >> after rebecca was finished work one october night in 1999 a bouncer took her to her car and she drove away. as she drove up to her apartment, someone, possibly a customer from the strip club, may have made an advance. whatever happened, the killer fired with a .45 caliber handgun. >> i need an ambulance. >> what is the problem there? >> my girlfriend. i just woke up and i noticed she wasn't with me. so i go out there and she's out in her car and her door's open and i go out there and she has blood all over her face and i can't hear a pulse or a heart beat or nothing. >> the motive clearly wasn't robbery. rebecca's purse was still there. >> it looks like to me, based on my experience it was a personal

crime just because, shooting somebody in the face one time. >> on the ground near the car was a .45 caliber shell casing. it was the only evidence at the scene. >> we didn't have much evidence to work with at all. we had no fingerprints, tire tracks, footwear, nothing. >> everyone who worked with rebecca said she made a point of having no personal relationships with any of the club's patrons. >> she would leave the club and not have anything to do with it outside of what she did there for her employment. >> dozens of interviews were conducted. no clear suspects emerged. >> we focused on the club whether it was a customer or not. but there wasn't any altercation between her and any of the dancers. >> when investigators in ralphie, north carolina found rebecca's mail in drew planten's

apartment they called lansing investigators with the news. they said if you have a .45 caliber handgun please let me know. he says we got two. i said keep them. planten's two .45 caliber guns were test fired. analysts were especially interested in the marks on the shell casings. imperfections from the fin are on the pin of the shell casing and each are unique to each one made. when the shell casing was compared to the shell casing from drew planten's gun. the results were unmistakable. >> some very well define parallel linear marks that were on the surfaces of all the tests and of the evidence cartridge

that was found in michigan. >> they also compared the lands and grooves on the bullet compared to the test bullet. the results matched. >> my opinion it's that gun and only that gun that could have fired. >> by this time, planten was already in custody in north carolina and things weren't going well. at his court appearance he refused to walk and had to be strapped to a gurney. >> when he was wheeled into court for his first appearance he didn't open his eyes. i believe as long as his eyes were closed and he didn't see it it may not have happened. >> but no one will know the details for certain all the details in either murder. shortly before he was to go on trial for murder in north carolina, drew planten suffocated himself with a plastic bag in prison. >> i was disappointed that we

weren't able to have a trial, that we weren't able to sit in a courtroom and hear a jury say you are guilty of first degree murder of stephanie bennett. >> we obtained information and evidence inside the apartment that led us to believe that he had looked into doing this possibly with other females. >> investigators are certain that the forensic evidence would have gained a conviction. but the real satisfaction is knowing that the evidence led to his capture. >> after we found out who planten was and did the search of his house, we did find some information on somebody he was probably currently watching for some time. it was very erie to find that person and realize that you maybe just saved her life by clearing this case. >> i know that forensic science played a huge role in this case and without the forensic science, without the ballistics,

without recreating this case, rebecca hughesman's murder would have definitely gone cold and unsolved. >> forensic science was phenomenal in this case. it was -- as one person put it, it is where old fashioned police work meets modern science. up next, a predator terrorizes a texas town. >> i said i have a family, i have a son. please don't rape me. >> he started to choke me. i couldn't breathe. >> no one knew what he was going to do next. >> we had a huge problem. >> when police find him the dna evidence exonerates him. >> i knew he was just evil and i never knew there was evil people on this earth like that. >> it was 9:00 p.m. in texas city, s.