i want to be able to help each and every one of them achieve their own success. >> that's it for us tonight, i'm don lemon. thanks for watching. "ac 360" starts right now. up next, a young woman makes a desperate plea for help. >> she was very shook up. >> before vanishing without a trace. >> we knew then something rotten had happened. >> police think they solved the case, until it takes a turn no one expected. >> it was hard for a lot of people to believe. >> i almost got sick. >> it was the ultimate betrayal. >> oh, my god. he was a monster in disguise. >> she got murdered for obeying the law. >> customers at the men's club in charlotte, north carolina, could occasionally get raucous, and the employees were trained to handle those situations.

26-year-old kim medlin worked there as a waitress. the money was good. >> she knew how to handle people. she could defuse the situation very quickly. >> she was beautiful, but she was smart about it. >> late one night, as kim drove home from work, she encountered a road rage incident with an angry motorist. >> they started passing her and driving closer behind her and blowing the horn at her and things like that. >> kim was afraid these men had followed her from work, so she went to the police for help. >> she was very shook up, and it took a while for the police officer to calm her down. >> she also told them that, hey, i travel this road these nights, and i'm alone here about this time. >> the captain placed a radio broadcast to the other officers that were working on his shift to be on the lookout for this red jeep and to look out for her if they saw her on the roadway.

>> unfortunately, this didn't help. two weeks later, police found kim's abandoned jeep on the side of the road. the engine was running and the lights were on. we knew then something rotten had happened. >> kim's purse and her money were still in the jeep, but strangely, her driver's license was missing. >> there was certainly no logical explanation as to why miss medlin left her vehicle. the first thing we attempted to do was to determine if, in fact, a crime had occurred. >> the next day, a search team found kim's body a mile and a half from her car, hidden under some debris. >> we watched the news, and my wife looked at me and she says, i've seen enough. it's her. so we turned off the tv and unplugged both the phones and just went to bed.

>> this was not a robbery. her wedding band, wedding ring, there was a necklace still in place around her neck, those items that would have potential value were still present on her. >> the autopsy revealed kim had been beaten, kicked and strangled, but there were no signs of sexual assault. >> there were several blows on the back of her head and neck and her back area that would have been consistent with blunt-force trauma. our theory is that she was knocked down from behind, she was stomped on her back and she was -- had something pressed up against the front of her neck. >> and there was evidence that kim's wrists had been bound, but the bindings were missing. >> typically, if the killer takes the time to tie them, restrain them and tape them, i've seen duct tape and different things, i've never seen it removed. very unusual. >> and the murder took place on a deserted road outside of town.

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to find kim medlin's killer, investigators needed to retrace her steps in the hours before her murder. kim left her job at the men's club around 2:00 a.m. her cell phone records indicated she called her husband at 2:15 while driving home. >> which was their custom. she would call her husband and let him know that she was on her way. black pickup truck driving through town around the time of his wife's abduction. >> the concern was that perhaps he wasn't being completely truthful about where he was. >> bridger was outraged. >> i said, something is rotten here. something is wrong. >> he thought police should spend more time investigating themselves. >> kim's street smart.

the only reason she pulled over was because of some figure of authority had demanded her pull over. >> was it possible that bridger was correct, that a policeman or someone in authority had pulled kim over? >> based upon the position of the jeep, the fact that the driver's license appeared to be missing, one of the investigators early on believed that this could be a blue light bandit or perhaps even a police officer involved in the stop of the vehicle. >> a blue light bandit is someone who mounts a police light on his vehicle and uses it to prey on innocent people. this theory was bolstered by the fact that kim's driver's side window was down. >> if you logically looked at it, it really narrowed down the reason she pulled over. >> and it didn't take long before a witness came forward to corroborate this theory.

a motorist said he was driving behind a red jeep, presumably kim's, on the night of the murder. he claimed the woman driving the jeep did nothing wrong, but a police officer turned his lights on and pulled her over. >> he was driving on a revoked driver's license. and so he, of course, was very concerned when he saw the patrol car turn in front of him, so he fell back, obviously not wanting to be too close and draw attention to himself. >> this explained the bruises on kim's wrists, the possibility that they were caused by handcuffs. but police needed to find out the jurisdiction of the police car. >> so we actually used that same witness and we did what we called a police car lineup. >> the witness identified the police car as one from the city of monroe, but that police department had a 110-man force, and it could have been any one of them, since they can use

their vehicles while off duty. so investigators tried to find some way to narrow it down. and latent evidence expert, ricky navarro, looked for clues on kim medlin's clothing. that's when he noticed a print on her sweatshirt. >> at that point in time, i could not determine whether i was looking at a footwear impression or some other type of object that left that impression on the sweatshirt. >> using alternate light sources and high-speed cameras, navarro concluded he was looking at the heel of a shoe. >> it was a type of shoe that was not flat from toe all the way back to the heel. it had a distinct heel in it which, like some of your hard-soled shoes would have, not like your athletic shoes would have. >> and there was a distinct "v," or chevron pattern, across the print.

navarro discovered the shoe was made by the thorogood company in wisconsin. >> they made quite a few different styles, i believe approximately 17 different styles, of uniform shoes. >> many of these shoe styles were worn by police officers. >> this particular shoe was 831 style-6114, and that was the only shoe that thorogood put that style design on at that time. >> navarro measured the print on kim's sweatshirt and determined that the killer wore a size 8, 8 1/2 or 9 thorogood shoe. the question now was to find the monroe police officer wearing them. sfx: car unlock beep.

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investigators now suspected that kim medlin's killer was a monroe policeman and they no longer believe that her husband, bridger medlin, had anything to do with her murder. they also discovered that bridger was not driving his pickup truck around town after midnight, as one of the police officers claimed. >> that particular intersection was being videotaped through an atm machine from a wachovia bank. it actually picked up the image of her truck coming through that intersection after 4:00 a.m.

>> and this was after bridger was notified by police and was headed to the scene of kim's abandoned car. >> that was the first and strongest rock-solid evidence that i was where i said i was. >> investigators were also sure that the killer was wearing size 8, 8 1/2, or 9 thorogood shoes. police personnel records showed that only three members of the monroe police department wore this make and model of shoe in that shoe size range. of the three, one was working at the fire department on the night of kim's murder. >> he was assigned to sort of a stationary duty that evening where he couldn't just get in the car and drive around. he had to be there at the department. >> the second officer was on duty, responding to a burglary that night, and was in constant radio contact with headquarters. the third, josh griffin, worked

that night until 10:00 p.m., then went off duty. >> officer griffin told investigators he had not seen kim medlin that night, he had not stopped the car, he did not see the jeep in any way, shape or form. and he basically said he had gone home and gone to bed before the jeep would have been discovered. >> officer griffin was 24 years old. he'd been a member of the police force for just over a year. when investigators searched griffin's police car, they found nothing suspicious. >> his car was absolutely almost spotless, which if you knew josh, he was kind of known around the department of having the dirtiest car in the fleet. >> with a warrant, police searched griffin's house, but they couldn't find his pair of police-issued work shoes. >> mr. griffin told me that he had thrown those shoes away because they were damaged on an accident scene investigation. >> but a check of griffin's cell

phone records contradicted his alibi that he was home sleeping that night. records show that griffin made a cell phone call around 2:00 a.m. to a tow truck company. when confronted by his superiors, griffin changed his story. he said he was sitting in his police car in uniform at baker's intersection in a restaurant parking lot after his shift ended, reading a book. >> he claimed to be sitting in that parking lot reading this law book at this restaurant that was closed. >> and the motorist asked for him to call for a tow truck because his car broke down nearby. this put officer griffin on baker's intersection just a half hour to 45 minutes before kim medlin drove by on old charlotte highway. josh griffin denied any involvement in kim's murder, but

soon, his fellow officers turned against him. apparently, everything started when kim told police she feared driving home alone at night along the dark country roads, and was concerned that a customer of the men's club was following her. in an effort to help, police broadcast an announcement asking officers to keep an eye out for kim's car, to make sure nothing happened to her. >> and we know from the investigation after the fact that mr. griffin was, in fact, out and listening to that broadcast that evening. >> the evidence shows officer josh griffin took an inappropriate interest in kim medlin, and investigators learned that griffin told fellow police officers about it. >> he saw her jeep running up and down through town and would call to other policemen and make comments about the pretty blonde-haired girl in the jeep,

that she's coming through, and he was trying to figure out a way to meet her. >> that was really alarming, too. i had other officers that knew about this pattern of behavior, but didn't say anything, and come forward so we could address it and correct it. >> after kim's murder, several women came forward to say griffin had been harassing them, too. >> tell you how sick this guy actually was, this came out in trial, there was a girl being stalked, this girl has unlisted number. she gets a call that says, i know you're home, i'm coming to see you. what does she do in a panic? she calls the police, calls 911. who is working? who responses to the call? josh griffin. >> but for a murder conviction, prosecutors needed more than circumstantial evidence. could they find anything stronger?

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prosecutors say that kim medlin's abduction and murder was the ultimate betrayal, perpetrated by a police officer hired to protect and serve, not abuse and suppress. >> i think it was just hard for a lot of people to believe that a local guy, a young, nice-on-the surface young man who was an all-american kid, could have committed a violent crime of this type. >> on the night of the crime,

griffin ended his shift around 10:00 p.m. but instead of going home, while still in uniform, he drove his police car to baker's intersection and parked at ron's restaurant, which was closed. around 2:00 a.m., a motorist stopped and asked for help telling griffin he had some car trouble. griffin called for a tow truck using his personal cell phone, which placed him near the crime scene. >> about 30 to 45 minutes later, prosecutors believe griffin saw kim medlin drive by. and as planned, decided to pull her over for a traffic violation as a ruse to introduce himself. a witness saw the policeman pull kim's red jeep over and saw that kim had done nothing wrong. prosecutors believe griffin asked kim for her driver's license, then asked her to join

him in his patrol car while he ran her license plate number. griffin may have made a sexual advance, and kim objected. griffin knew then that he had gone too far. he panicked, handcuffed her and drove off. griffin drove off of old charlotte highway, and kim knew it was a dead-end street. her injuries suggest she jumped from the moving car. griffin caught up with her, struck her on the back of the head, stomped on her back, breaking her neck, and leaving the distinctive foot impression. he then strangled her to death, probably with his police flashlight. before he left, he removed the handcuffs and covered her body with debris. >> i still can't imagine what

happened and what transpired in those few minutes, the last few minutes of kim's life. >> if i had an officer who was doing this, i don't care who it was, it shouldn't happen. nobody should die the way kim medlin did. but to get a conviction, prosecutors needed to prove josh griffin was the killer. >> with not having any dna, they actually had to build their case around that footprint. >> according to personnel records, griffin was the only officer to wear a size 8 1/2 thorogood shoe. so ricky novarro took a new pair of these shoes, made an impression and matched it to the shoeprint on the back of kim's sweatshirt. navarro believed it was the only one that could have created that impression. in february of 1998, officer

josh griffin went on trial for first-degree kidnapping and first-degree murder. he pled not guilty. but the evidence was clear, and he was convicted of both charges and sentenced to life in prison. three years later, griffin asked to speak with investigators. and on tape, he finally confessed. >> i don't know what his motivation was, but i just know what he said. >> he admitted stomping on her back. he admitted choking her with a flashlight. he admitted handcuffing her. he admitted cutting her driver's license up into a million pieces and flushing it down the toilet. of course, he admitted to all of the lies. >> he told me he actually disposed of those shoes right after this happened. he said he threw them in a dumpster right behind the kmart. >> because of incidents like this, officials caution motorists to be suspicious of

any vehicle with flashing lights, particularly if driving on a dark, deserted road at night. >> you put a signal on as if you're going to turn and you wait until you get to a well-lit area that's a public place where there's other people. i have done that since this case, and i'm married to a police officer. but i don't take my safety for granted, and i hope that no one else does either. >> in a case without much evidence, a partial shoe impression on a sweatshirt was all that was needed. >> in essence, that footwear impression was the signature of the murder weapon. >> you've got to have something, or something in this case, and one of the big somethings in this case was her sweatshirt with the evidence of her murder on her back. and, of course, one of the murder weapons in this case was mr. griffin's foot, as strange as that may sound. >> the real clincher was the shoeprint that left a piece of

evidence that you cannot deny. it's there in black and white. up next, he promises to avenge his sister's murder. >> i prayed to god that i would be led to be in the right place at the right time. >> for years, he tracks her killer without success. >> every day was another blow to the stomach. >> somewhere deep in the houston crime files are the the secrets to solve the case. he just had to find them. >> houston had 500,000 prints. everybody has 10 fingers. that's 5 million prints. >> 34 years later, investigators find the answer. >> i want to know who killed diane. in december of 1969, diane maxwell pulled into the company parking lot in houston, texas.