so he has to think about her and i can remember her again. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin thank you for watching what evidence doesn't lie? it actually tells a story. >> you're there at the crime scene. >> you can almost recreate the crime. >> right there on the wall, a mystery scrawled in blood. three cryptic letters. what would you make of this? >> is that a word? is that a person? >> the clues pointed to so many directions that it was a mystery. >> the case, the murder of a former model and flight attendant. >> when she got dolled up, oh my god, gorgeous. >> did she write these letters?, is this a hint? s to who killed her. >> this is a message saying this is my killer. >> like you would see in a movie. ll >> and the ending, that was just like a movie, too.

>> i can't believe what people do to each other. ♪ hello, welcome to "dateline." >> roc, in this case, those three letters would tell a story all their own. when karen pannell was found murdered in her south florida home, the letters scrawled in blood above her body seemed like a beacon that couldn't lead detectives to her killer. but what exactly did they mean? what other crucial clues were in plain sight? it would take dogged specialist with a keen eye to unravel this? mystery.ee here's dennis murphy with "written in blood." y. >> reporter: if year-round water and sun is your thing, florida's west coast coast should be high on your checkout list of places

to live. karen pannell. once the one-time model and flight attendant got sand in her shoes, she never looked back. >> she loved the beach, diving, boating, that life. >> her friend worked the counter at american airlines in tampa with karen. if you were a frazzled passenger. who isn't these days? karen is the anti-dote, exactly the right agent to bump into to get you on your way. >> karen was very pretty. she was smart. smiled all the time. funny. >> reporter: but when the always capable and reliable karen or didn't show up for her saturdayn morning shift on october 11th, 2003, clearly, something was wrong. her boyfriend had tried calling her at home. >> when she wasn't at work or answering her calls, i began to get worried, but it was a couple hours before i really got panicky about it. ie

>> reporter: the boyfriend drove over to karen's condo, the front door was unlocked. a bad sign. he said he stepped inside and looked to the right to the kitchen. s >> i saw her body and i knew he immediately there was no doubt in my mind she was dead. i picked up the phone and i called 911. >> she's laying on the floor, there's blood everywhere. >> reporter: karen pannel, sprawled on her back, a murder victim in her own home, bloody. the detective would lead the investigation. >> when the first deputies arrive on the scene, her boyfriend is in the front yard, he was hysterical.is he actually threw up he was so upset about finding his girlfriend. >>s deputies gave the shaken boyfriend a chance to collect himselfan in the backseat of an air-conditioned patrol car. that's where he placed a call to her friend katherine with the

unimaginable news. >> karen, it's tim. i'm at karen's apartment, she has been stabbed. >> stabbed? >> it's a horrible way, it's abm very horrible way to die. >> karen, the baby of the family with five older brothers suddenly gone. she had been especially close to her oldest brother mike. >> my brother called me. i was at the airport, and said, you better sit down. he said, karen's been murdered. >> any theory about what had happened? >> i don't know. i was trying to figure out the why and relying on the police to do what they needed to do. >> and what they had to do was plenty. they processed the crime scene, filmed every inch of karen's home, knocked on doors, tried to figure out just who their victim was. detectives holbrooke and larry

nelvin began with the man that made that 911 call. >> the first thing a lead investigator we'll do is talk to the people closest to her. in this case, we had timothy per meanter finding his girlfriend. we took him back to the office and talked him to extensively. >> tim a car salesman, gave them a runldown of where he's been in the hours leading up to the terrible discovery. he said he popped in briefly on karen the night before to drop off a gift. a photo calendar of kittens he s knew his cat lover girlfriend would find irresistible. tim said he left about 7:30. that was the last time to see karen alive. >> wouldn't it have been your routine to stay the night? >> not on a friday night. she had to go in work the next day. >> after saying good-bye, he said he ended up spending the night with friends about an hour to the north. >> is he saying anything, he can't do it? i know boyfriends are figured suspicions, i want to talk to a

lawyer?oy has any of that stuff come out of him? >> no, he's being more than cooperative. >> while tim says he was off t with his friend, there appeared to have been a frenzied struggle at karen's house. forensic specialist anna cox assessed the bloody aftermath. >> she put up a heck of a struggle. >> what are you looking at?ed >> she had defensive wounds, the way her body was contorted. i was thinking, she fought for her life. she put up in a heck of a struggle. >> do you think oh my goodness or have you seen anything different at this point?er >> i can't believe what people do to each other. it's terrible.o >> reporter: around the back, cox, the crime scene tech found the security bolt onne a slidin glass door had been dislodged and there were other signs of tampering. >> there was a cable box that was open. so youox start to think to yourself, someone trying to cut the wires. there was a knocked over bird bath. so there was evidence outside that at first you need to thinkw

to yourself, i think that this might be a burglary. >> and karen's overturned purse on the stovetop supported the break-in theory.ar anna cox took an inventory of everything at the crime scene. a pizza box, a garden glove, a grocery receipt, all routine findings so far. but it's what authorities spotted on the wall above the body that would turn this case into something out of the movies. three-letter message in blood. you didn't have to squint to make it out, either, roc. on the victim, karen's right hand index finger was clearly stained with blood. roc.ic what was the murdered woman try to tell the cops? >> all these theories were running through my mind? what does that mean? is that a person, a thing? the clues pointed in so many different direction, it was a total mystery. >> reporter: there's a concept ma the law known as a dying declaration.t my

with those three letters scrawled in karen's own blood lead to the apprehension of her own killer. >> coming up, investigators dig into that three-letter mystery. who or what was roc? when "dateline" continues. out f allergens in each cubic yard of air. no wonder you rub your eyes hundreds of times a day. but now, relief is just one drop away. introducing pataday® full prescription strength pataday works right in your eyes. right on the cells that make them itch. fast. just one drop, once a day means relief that lasts all day. so turn your day, into a pataday. now get pataday without a prescription. everywhere. protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years.

frontline plus. and here we have another burst pipe in denmark. if you look close... jamie, are there any interesting photos from your trip? ouch, okay. huh, boring, boring, you don't need to see that. oh, here we go. can you believe my client steig had never heard of a home and auto bundle or that renters could bundle? wait, you're a lawyer? only licensed in stockholm. what is happening? jamie: anyway, game show, kumite, cinderella story. you know karate? no, alan, i practice muay thai, completely different skillset. sensitivity it's very common to have a gum health concern as well. but if you have sensitive teeth, you probably aren't going to brush your teeth as effectivity because it causes pain. and if you see blood you should do something about it. you know, i talk to dentists every day and they're able to recommend one product, new sensodyne sensitivity & gum, to address both conditions at the same time. if we only treat one versus the other, the patient's mouth is never going to be where it needs to be. it's really good dentistry to be able to recommend one product for patients that can address two conditions.

it's starting to people are surprising themselves the moment they realize they can du more with less asthma. thanks to dupixent, the add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma. dupixent isn't for sudden breathing problems. it can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as 2 weeks and help prevent severe asthma attacks. it's not a steroid but can help reduce or eliminate oral steroids. don't use if allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, which is severe. tell your doctor right away about signs of inflamed blood vessels, such as rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs.

tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection and before stopping any asthma medicines, including oral steroids. du more with less asthma. talk to your doctor about dupixent. the camera always liked karen pannell.

she was both hard to miss and hard to forget. just ask her boyfriend tim permenter, who was smitten right away when he met her at the dealership where he worked. what did you think of her? >> she was gorgeous, she was beautiful. >> you were pinching yourself. you thought you were the luckiest guy around. >> i thought she was the one. i thought she was the one i could settle down with. >> settling down hadn't been part of karen's growing up. she and her five brothers were raised as military brats and moved bases a lot. now that family was gathering from far-flung parts of the country for her funeral. shocked and in mourning for the lost sister who had long been their glue. >> all the boys kind of got involved in our own stuff, but then there was karen. she was really what connected all of us to the family unit. >> what does that tell us about her? >> she was really more important to us than we knew.

i think she was always more interested in family as a whole than she was in herself. >> brother mike wasn't alone in thinking his kid sister could have been a sky is the limit person. >> she could have been anything she wanted, a scientist or a doctor or whatever. >> well, her friends loved her. >> and she was hard not to love. >> even harder to forget what a cruel fate she had suffered at the hands of a killer unknown. >> during the viewing, there were invisible stab wounds on her hand. you know, so we kind of pulled flowers down a little further. >> a few days after the funeral. her many friends say good-bye. >> twl is a chapel in the main terminal in the airport. there were so many people there from all different airlines the security people, it was incredible. >> meanwhile, the pinellas county sheriffs investigation was moving quickly on several fronts. first, they validated boyfriend

tim's story. he said after visiting karen early that evening, he spent the night with a friend, george solomon in moon lake an hour to the north. >> he did, in fact, go up to where george was staying with his girlfriend if pasco county. this was confirmed with interviews with george as well as george's girlfriend. george gave us a timeline which was consistent with what tim gave us. >> his story checked out and he voluntarily came clean. on something right from the start. he had a record. he had done time. >> early on in your life, you get in trouble. what was going on with you? >> i was running an escort service. got stupid, started it up small, basically, running an ad out of a newspaper, getting a small office. it expanded and ballooned. >> what kind of money were you pulling down a week? >> i was grossing about six to

$7,000 a day. >> a day? you were how old? >> at that time 20, and that's the trap. why am i going to school when i'm making this kind of money? >> why go straight? >> yes. >> it ended up in a gunfight? >> yes, sir. >> tim says he was worried he'd be painted as a bad guy right away because of his sorted past. so he promised to cooperate every way possible. the cops took him up on it. >> i allowed them to photograph me. removed my clothing. i allowed them to go to my home. take anything they wanted. >> there was nothing about his clothing, his car, his person that led to us believe that he was involved in any other way than he said he was. he came over to see her, found her and was devastated. >> reporter: tim's permenter's alibi checked out. police dismissed any clues pointing to a home invasion. after all, karen had been stabbed 16 times, an attack so ferocious, it could only be a crime of passion. now the detectives were

desperate to figure out what their biggest clue of all meant, those three letters written in blood. roc. this is a creepy scene. i mean, you got this scrawled in blood message saying this is my killer. i'm now dead, you find this guy. that's what it's suggesting, isn't it? >> absolutely, it's what it's detecting. suggesting, just like you would see in a movie. >> detectives found how those letters on the wall, r-o-c were connected to the victim lying beneath them. roc it turned out was a man that spelled trouble for karen in the past. >> roc was an ex-boyfriend karen pannell had problems with previously. >> and whoever and wherever this roc was, he'd just become the prime target of the investigation into her murder. >> okay. well, there it is. that's what she meant to write was roc. they have to follow that lead, off they go. >> to find roc? >> to find roc. >> coming up, mission

accomplished. find him, they do. but what would they find next? >> i'm looking at murder, somebody's talking to me about a murder. >> when "dateline" continues. hey, can i... hold on one second... sure. okay... okay! safe drivers save 40%!!! guys! guys! check it out. safe drivers save 40%!!! safe drivers save 40%! safe drivers save 40%!!! that's safe drivers save 40%. it is, that's safe drivers save 40%. - he's right there. - it's him! he's here. he's right here. - hi! - hi. hey! - that's totally him. - it's him! that's totally the guy. safe drivers do save 40%. click or call for a quote today.

but when allergies and congestion strike,

take allegra-d... a non-drowsy antihistamine plus a powerful decongestant. so you can always say "yes" to putting your true colors on display. say "yes" to allegra-d.

♪ a stomach churning crime scene, with a cryptic message in blood. roc. but it wasn't a big mystery for

long. roc was the unusual but proper spelling of karen pannell's ex-boyfriend. >> so tell me about the former boyfriend known as roc, letters scrawled in blood? who was he? >> roc was an ex-boyfriend. he had a little legal problems, a little substance abuse problem. >> roc had a personality as big and loud as the pipes on the harleys he loved to cruise. he worked at an auto body shop handling insurance claims. when he met karen, she was on a downward spiral. after being married five years, she recently got a divorce. the doctor had given her awful news. she had multiple sclerosis, 38-years-old. >> to be a young, divorced woman, with this awful diagnosis, what do you think that did to her? that's a lot to put on your shoulders. >> right. i think that really affected

her self esteem. frankly, i think it had an impact on the kind of men she was attracted to. >> karen came to rely on roc to take her to doctor's appointments and give her injections. but when she took the step to ask him to move in, her friends and family thought she was asking for trouble. >> i think that's true. is it my place to say, well, you need to go find somebody that is going to offer you a better future? >> you can't dictate terms to your kid sister? >> no you can only fix yourself. >> as it turned out, roc wasn't a fix for karen either. the relationship soon took an ugly turn. >> they seemed to get along for a while and she was happy. and he turned into not a very nice guy. he was a little creepy. >> he was tough on her? >> there were some unexplained bruises. i used to tell her, what are you doing? he did not deserve her. she wouldn't listen.

>> the fights got worse and police were called three separate times to intervene. one time roc allegedly broke down the front door. that was the last straw. karen filed a domestic battery complaint and roc moved out. tim says even a year later, he was still harassing karen about a rolltop desk he left behind. >> she was starting to get scared of him toward the end. >> the issue he had was i got a valuable piece of furniture, i want it back. >> right, but karen said that was a ruse. >> trying to worm his way back in? >> that's the way she put it to me. >> they knew they had to confront this roc, so they tracked him down and paid a surprise visit. he wasn't happy to see this. >> i'm in the garage at my home in north port, florida. black on white shows up. everybody know what is that is. i'm thinking, what the heck is that? >> detective holbrooke identified himself and said they need to talk to him about his friend karen.

>> he sit down on the porch and goes, well, she's dead. this doesn't register. i said, you need to tell me what's going on. >> but the detective wanted roc to do the talking. he asked about his troubled relationship with karen. >> roc indicated that he was using drugs and that karen liked to drink and that they fought often. >> roc said he savored the good times with karen, too. >> when she got dolled up, oh my god, gorgeous. i mean, picture perfect. wasn't anything out of place. >> were there some sparks there, roc? >> yeah, there was, she was all that, just by herself and ready to go. she looked hungry for attention and she was alone and it was perfect. it was a perfect setup. >> what do you think she saw in you? what was working from her side? >> probably the bad boy kind of thing. i wasn't your conventional straight laced kind of guy.

>> roc was open with the detectives, even came across as a good guy. but conceded there were screaming matches with karen and a few rip roaring fights but said she was the instigator. >> she'd get violent, physically violent. just stuff. things would happen. but nobody ever got arrested, but they'd come out. they would address the issue. >> as roc tells it, she gave as good as she got. he dodged a few pieces of thrown crockery. >> she was ready to stand up for herself at the drop of a hat. she was a tough girl. >> reporter: roc remembers karen playing hardball about that rolltop desk of his, too, not liking her attitude. >> i did call her on several occasions about my rolltop desk. >> the desk. >> that stupid desk and it was bugging me. i mean, it was a nice piece of furniture and i wanted to get it back. she pretty much said, you left,

you're not getting it. >> he never did get it. that roll top was still in karen's condo on the night she was stabbed to death. now, detective holbrooke pointedly wanted to know if roc had been there, too. >> he says, where were you on such-and-such a day. i'm like, well, first of all, i'll have to look at the calendar because i don't know where i was that day but i guarantee you i wasn't in oldsmar. so we go from there to discussing where i was, who i had been with, where i lived. >> so are you getting a serious grilling? >> right. he ends up telling me that we found your name in blood on the wall. >> roc? >> so, obviously, i'm a suspect. i acknowledge that. i mean i'm looking at murder. i'm getting somebody's talking to me about a murder. >> roc waved his right to a lawyer and agreed to give

fingerprints and swabbing. it looked as though police found yet another cooperative boyfriends from the victim. >> i said, if you are looking for fingerprints, they're all over that home. i lived there a year. you are going to find them. >> did you lose your patience? >> no. i did lose my patience when they take the end of my fingernail off taking my fingernail. now i'm done. >> roc's cooperation had an edge to it. was he really trying to cover his tracks? detectives were determined to find out. >> and they put that bloody clue under the microscope. were those three little letters really what they seemed? >> coming up the csi of roc. >> i remember thinking, wow, i wonder if that's what wrote these letters. >> when "dateline" continues. aleve it. aleve is proven stronger and longer on pain than tylenol.

when pain happens, aleve it. all day strong. how do you thrive while inside? ♪ ♪ activia is here with billions of probiotics to support your gut health. and help you thrive while you stay inside. activia. thrive while inside. they're out there. thousands ofr allergensyes know in each cubic yard of air. no wonder you rub your eyes hundreds of times a day. but now, relief is just one drop away. introducing pataday® full prescription strength pataday works right in your eyes. right on the cells that make them itch. fast. just one drop, once a day means relief that lasts all day. so turn your day, into a pataday. now get pataday without a prescription. everywhere.

hell le i'm dara brown.

here is what's happening. new york governor andrew cuomo signed an executive order to allow independent pharmacists to caught covid-19 tests. and expanded first responders, front line healthcare workers and essential workers. more beaches reopening in parts of florida. proper social distancing is required. the state's governor says it is justified because the numbers are improving within the state. now back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. who killed karen pannell? florida investigators were looking at her ex-boyfriend roc, his name was scrawled in blood at the crime scene. roc admitted to having a stormy relationship with karen but insisted he didn't kill her. was there more to the bloody clue than met the eye? forensic specialist anna cox was

trying to unlock what her naked eyes could not see. and when she did, her discovery would send the investigation in a completely new direction. here again is dennis murphy with written in blood. >> the handwriting was on the wall and forensic specialist anna cox was intent on breaking down the three letters in blood, roc. you would spend hours looking at these letters? >> i did. >> you actually cut the sheet rock out of your place and took it into your lab? >> yes. i have to look at those letters everything about them. >> using a high powered microscope, she did an analysis of the specks of blood that stained the wall as karen was stabbed 16 times. that flown spatter served as a gruesome canvas for the letters roc then written over it. >> when the letters were written on top of it, it skimmed right

over it and didn't disrupt it at all. >> since the specks of blood weren't smeared, roc must have been written after they dried, but how long after? >> i have a special machine i use to make spatter. >> she used animal blood to test how long it took for spatter to dry on a similar surface. >> once i came back and was able to apply spatter to some sections of some card board, then i was able to get some blood and to start writing the word roc. i must have written this word a million times over different areas of spatter. >> in the lab, it took at least 20 minutes of drying time before the forensic specialist could write without smearing the spatter. she concluded there must have been about that much time between the attack on karen and the word roc being written on the wall. next she looked for fingser prints in the letters themselves. sounds impossible, right? >> if she's writing and applying pressure to the wall, you would

think that there would be some type of transfer of ridge detail. >> ridge detail, we all have it, unique telltale patterns on every human pattern and hand. anna wasn't finding that. rather she detected unusual hint of a pattern, something like polka dots. >> i thought back to myself, the garden glove on the counter that was missing its match. missing its pair. >> a garden glove was found in karen's kitchen just one glove, the mate was never located. it had a distinctive dot pattern. >> on the interior side where the palm and the fingers were, it's like that rubber and it's got those little things that stick up for gripping purposes so when you're gardening it doesn't slip, and i remember thinking wow, i wonder if that's what wrote these letters. >> cox bought similar gloves at a hardware store and after

several more days of testing was satisfied that her hunch was correct. anna cox had come up with two important findings. the message in blood had likely been written with a gloved hand and it had been scrawled at least 20 minutes after the onset of the attack on karen. she reported her results to the detectives, that learned a fact about the victim. >> karen was exclusively left handed and her left hand did not have blood smear on it. >> not only that, when the autopsy report came in it suggested karen couldn't have written anything with either hand. from what the medical examiner was seeing, was this a victim who was going to dip in her own blood and write roc on the wall? >> no, absolutely not. over 90% of her spinal cord were damaged by the knife wounds. >> she was incapacitated. >> incapacitated. it wasn't her. she didn't write that. >> the evidence was overwhelming. karen pannell did not write the letters roc in blood.

it was a huge turning point in the case and the best news possible for the ex-boyfriend roc herpick. >> they confirmed 100% that she could not have done that. she couldn't have done it. she would have been physically incapable of doing that. and it surely wasn't me. i mean, why would you write your own name on the wall? >> police agree, implicating yourself in a murder just made no sense. roc got moore good news after police checked out his alibi, that he was home on the night of the murder. >> we got his cell phone records. the cell towers were hitting off around the same time we know karen was killed he's in north port, florida, that's a good hour, hour and a half away. >> you went over these alleged beefs he might have had with her when they were boyfriend, girlfriend? >> yep. and he had moved on. >> the detectives were able to move on, too. they officially cleared roc. it was a major development.

karen's ex had suddenly gone from being a prime person of interest to a victim himself. victim of the real killer who tried to frame him for the crime and was still out there somewhere. whoever did kill her did know somebody named roc was part of the story here. >> right. somebody knows my name. but if you think about it, it's not even a smart thing to do. >> reporter: roc was right. the people of suspects had suddenly narrowed to a small handful of karen's intimates who knew about him and knew the unusual way he spelled his name. roc. detectives holbrooke and nelvin were about to take a hard look at all of that. >> coming up -- >> you could walk right by and think it has no importance at all. it ended up being crucial in this case. >> could a box of pizza help solve this puzzle? when "dateline" continues. happen every day. people are surprising themselves

the moment they realize they can du more with less asthma. thanks to dupixent, the add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma. dupixent isn't for sudden breathing problems. it can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as 2 weeks and help prevent severe asthma attacks. it's not a steroid but can help reduce or eliminate oral steroids. don't use if allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, which is severe. tell your doctor right away about signs of inflamed blood vessels, such as rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection and before stopping any asthma medicines, including oral steroids. du more with less asthma. talk to your doctor about dupixent. instead of using aloe, or baby wipes, or powders, try the cooling, soothing relief or preparation h,

because your derriere deserves expert care. preparation h. get comfortable with it. they're out there. thousands ofr allergensyes know in each cubic yard of air. no wonder you rub your eyes hundreds of times a day. but now, relief is just one drop away. introducing pataday® full prescription strength pataday works right in your eyes. right on the cells that make them itch. fast. just one drop, once a day means relief that lasts all day. so turn your day, into a pataday. now get pataday without a prescription. everywhere. i heard there guwere fleas out here.r? and t-t-t-t-t-icks! and mosquitoooooooooooes! listen up, scaredy cats. we all have k9 advantix ii to protect us. it kills and repels fleas, ticks and mosquitoes, too. i've always loved and i'm still going for my best, even though i live with a higher risk of stroke

due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin, i'll go for that. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. what's next? sharing my roots. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. eliquis, the number one cardiologist-prescribed blood thinner. ask your doctor if eliquis is what's next for you.

police had reached a startling conclusion, karen pannell did not write the name roc on the wall, her killer had. but those three letters were still a gift to police because investigators figured he had to know both karen and roc. detectives started questioning the other men in karen's life. >> karen had nicknames for her

boyfriends, car guy, tim permenter. another one she referred to as dr. pilot. >> dr. pilot, a british airways captain had recently been sending karen romantic texts. but he was aboard a flight over the middle east when karen was killed. so he was ruled out as were most of karen's known male friends, all can prove they were nowhere near her house in oldsmar that night. every boyfriend except car guy, tim permenter reported finding her body. >> is she conscious? >> i don't know. >> is she breathing? >> i don't know. >> tim was inconsolable later in the 911 call and later told detectives he had lost the love of his life, the woman he was hoping to marry. but the people who knew karen best started telling police a very different story. >> i'm not sure why she stayed in that relationship or began a relationship like that. >> the relationship began with tim trying to sell karen a new car. police learned he sold her a

bill of goods about himself, saying he had been a navy seal, involved in top secret missions never mentioning the sort truth about his criminal past. >> karen told me he explained the squars he got injured on a mission. >> super commando stuff? >> i think that was his impression of himself. >> why are you lying to her? giving her a crock? >> there is no excuse for it, other than if you are an inmate or a convicted felon, no matter how good you do, no matter what you do, there is always going to be that spectre hanging over you. >> it was several months into the relationship before tim finally revealed his ugly secret. he was a felon that spent more than a decade behind bars, not a navy seal but a violent one-time pimp. a self-described escort king. >> i said, i have been waiting for the right time to tell you this. she was flabbergasted. i think that she became

frightened of me. >> why didn't you shake hands and call it quits? >> because i loved her. >> karen's friends and brothers say she told him she was afraid and when she tried to pull away from tim, brother mike says those fears were quickly borne out. >> did you ever hear evidence she was not being treated well? >> yes. and she called me and said that tim had choked her and i felt like after that conversation that i had convinced her to file a police report. >> but no report was filed. still, karen's co-workers could tell something was terribly wrong. >> she had bruising on her neck. in fact, one of her friends at work remembered her missing a day or two and when she came in she wore a turtle neck. over the summer months in florida, you don't wear a turtle neck then. >> while the detectives chased

down every lead, the crime lab made another big discovery. unlike the mellow dramatic and bogus message in blood, this evidence was something forensic tech anna cox almost passed right over. a pizza box on karen's kitchen counter. >> you could walk right by and think it had no importance at all. it ended up being crucial in this case. >> cox was able to lift a clean fingerprint from the box. it was tim fermenters. it blew a hole in his minute my minute account. >> he initially stated that he wasn't there when the pizza was delivered. >> he told the officers in the initial interview i was out of there at 7:30? >> well, his fingerprints were on that box. >> and you had a receipt saying it was delivered at 8:48. >> yes. so he has now put himself right there at the scene and right there in the last crucial hours of her life. >> that's a poor set of facts. >> for him. >> and then tim's time line and alibi took another hit.

he first said he was home when he called his friend george just after 9:30. detective nelvin found evidence proving otherwise. >> once we get the cell phone records back and the cell phone site locations back, we are putting him at her house. >> so the tower is catching him in a lie in. >> absolutely. his 911 phone call in the morning, it hits off the same tower he was hitting off when he called george at 9:46 the night before which is directly north of karen pannell's house. >> nelvin and hole brook could think of one reason to lie about those times. it was that karen's car guy was the killer. they brought to him headquarters again, this time for an official and much more aggressive interrogation. >> he gave the same timeline as he gave previously. we went through it again with him. he held true to what he told us. at that point we started attacking his story. >> tim had a simple explanation for the time line problems, he was confused.

>> this is what cooperation got me. confused. >> confused? >> we don't want you confused. tim, you lied. >> when the pizza arrived, i was still there. >> 8:48 delivered. >> and it was right after the pizza arrived. i would say i was there another ten, 15 minutes. >> why do you tell cops 7:30? >> i'm horrible at times and days and the problem was is that making a mistake became a i'm hiding something. >> cops call your mistake a lie? >> of course. >> tim, why did you lie to us about the times? you were there at least 8:30 to 9:30. >> it's impossible. >> no. pizza man keeps a receipt. you can track, okay. >> tim had been slipped up by his own statement. the detective said the suspect knew the charade was over.

>> he put his face in his hands and he it leiterally covered hi face for two to three minutes. tim ultimately looked up at us and the car salesman guy that we knew as tim permenter completely left the room. >> what did you see in his eyes, what did you see in his face? >> the first thing i thought was satan just walked in the room. coming up -- >> i knew i was innocent. >> was he? >> juries like to see forensics. >> right. >> dna the blood samples and they didn't have it. >> that was the biggest concern for me. >> the trial and the verdict when "dateline" continues.

i wanted more from my copd medicine that's why i've got the power of 1, 2, 3 medicines with trelegy. the only fda-approved once-daily 3-in-1 copd treatment. ♪ trelegy ♪ the power of 1,2,3 ♪ trelegy ♪ 1,2,3 ♪ trelegy man: with trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3, i'm breathing better. trelegy works three ways to open airways, keep them open and reduce inflammation, for 24 hours of better breathing. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. trelegy is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. think your copd medicine is doing enough? maybe you should think again. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy

and the power of 1, 2, 3. ♪ trelegy, 1,2,3 man: save at trelegy.com. hold on one second... sure. okay... okay! safe drivers save 40%!!! guys! guys! check it out. safe drivers save 40%!!! safe drivers save 40%! safe drivers save 40%!!! that's safe drivers save 40%. it is, that's safe drivers save 40%. - he's right there. - it's him! he's here. he's right here. - hi! - hi. hey! - that's totally him. - it's him! that's totally the guy. safe drivers do save 40%. click or call for a quote today.

safestaying connected your way you're just a tap away from personalized support on xfinity.com. get faster internet speeds with a click. order xfi pods to your home in a snap. or change your xfinity services with just a touch. all in one place. you're only seconds away from all of that on xfinity.com. faster than a call. easy as a tap. now that's simple, easy, awesome.

detectives were now convinced that tim permentor, the boyfriend who plenled to help solve karen's murder was really the killer. tim said police had nothing on him and were only targeting him because of his criminal record. >> i didn't do it. i knew somehow, some way i was going to get it pinned on me. i knew the minute i saw the body. >> detectives arrested him and sent him to county jail. the state attorney got the case. >> what are about timothy permentor?

>> he is a psychopath, someone who i think had gotten lucky to be with karen. once she got past the superficial aspect of him and realized what he was like, she wanted out of that relationship and that ultimately lead to her death. >> the prosecutor said he acted the bereaved boyfriend. >> oh, god! >> the prosecutor said permentor got thrown off the tear-stained script when he called karen's best friend soon after making the 911 call. >> he said katherine, it's tim. i'm a karen's apartment and she is laying on the floor and there is blood everywhere. she has been stabbed. >> stabbed? >> stabbed. not she is dead, but she's been stabbed. >> he said she has been stabbed. >> okay.

she has been stabbed. >> we didn't know that at that point in time. >> he knew something crucial he shouldn't have known. >> because he's the 1 that stabbed her. >> the prosecutor looked at the rejected lover and they showed was at the scene of the crime and lied about it. he charged permentor with first-degree murder and decided to seek the death penalty. weeks before the trial was scheduled to start, tim's friend george solomon, his sleep over alibi witness recanted his story, and how. >> he came up with a new story that permentor admitted he killed karen that night. >> blurted out a confession? >> that's a holy cow moment. >> death penalty cases can take a torturous path when reaching a courtroom. this had taken long years and despite building a strong circumstantial case, prosecutors did not have a murder weapon or physical evidence linking tim to the stabbing. defense attorney dudley kline. >> you have a complete lack of physical evidence. no bloody fingerprints. no bloody footprints or the

door. >> the prosecutor was confident about the evidence he did have. >> i think circumstantial cases are sometimes the best. they don't lie. the circumstances don't lie. people lie. >> that's the case lawry made to the jury. the circumstances showed tim permentor was the only one with a motive and opportunity to kill karen. everything he did afterwards of fabricated to cover up the crime. >> the issues in this case or the murder of karen by the only person that really could have done it and that person lied about all these things. there was no reason for a person to lie about the death of their loved one if that's true. >> defense attorney countered with common sense, arguing that karen's killer must have been drenched in blood after a frenzied attack. there was no forensic evidence show his client was that person.

>> in order to buy the state's case, you have to make assumption upon assumption upon assumption. that's not what our system is about. >> how did i do it? how on earth did not one single drop of blood get on my clothing or anything like that? >> or in your car which was ripped apart. >> right. i agreed to let them look. get what you want. i knew i was innocent. >> the defense alsoer to into the credibility of the state's star witness, george solomon saying it was ridiculous to think timed get an invitation to spend the night after blurting out a murder confession. >> i killed somebody just now.

really? let's go see my wife and kids. no way. >> a confident tim permentor decided to speak directly to the jury. he took the stand in his own defense. >> the attitude was look, you have to get up here and talk to these people. >> how do you remember him on the stand? >> i think he was calm. i think he answered the questions as best he could. very simply. i think very completely. we felt we had made a showing that the state had not met the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. >> mike waited four long years to get justice for his sister. but now, he wasn't sure what the jury would do. >> there were times that i felt the evidence was very circumstantial. >> in this day and age, juries really like to see forensics. the dna and the blood samples. >> that was the biggest concern for me. >> but it took the jury just four hours to find tim permentor guilty of first-degree murder. she was spared the death penalty by the judge who ordered him to

serve a life sentence with no chance at parole. i spoke to permentor at florida's liberty correctional institution. the murderer said he is the victim of a justice system tilted against him from the start. >> did you murder karen? >> no. >> this would be a great time to relieve her family of a lot of remorse and fess to it. >> i understand that, but i did not kill karen. i did not. i will probably spend the rest of my life here and when i'm 80 if i'm still alive, i did not kill karen. i will pay for it and i am paying for it, but i didn't do it. >> the detectives who cracked the case say they might have believed him if only he had not tried so hard to fake his alibi. starting with the three letters written in blood. >> this hollywood touch as i think of it, rock did it. the declaration. it bit him? >> it bit him hard. very hard. he outsmarted himself and that's why he is in prison.

>> roc is free to ride his harley these days, but it still eats him up that a man he never met tried to frame him for murder. >> for you could talk to him the way we are sitting here, what would you say? >> i am restrained, correct? i couldn't get to him? i would not be a good communicator in that conversation mode with him sitting there. i couldn't do it. >> mike pannell couldn't do it either. he would rather not think about tim permentor and the last moments of his precious baby sister's life. >> i am not interested in remembering karen associated with that crime. >> it's been a long ordeal for you. >> i want to remember karen as a brilliant beautiful young woman that she was.

>> maybe this smiling person. someone who loved her friends, loved the beach, and died too young. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. first up on msnbc, moving forward. not business as usual, but in some parts of the country, a big step. >> opening orders to get a citation. >> if you cannot afford to pay us, then you have to let us work. in other places, business owners taking matters into their own hands. heat wave on the west coast. open beaches seeing