Forensic Files (1996–…): Season 13, Episode 13 - Sands of Crime - full transcript

-Up next--

-My wife heard a
really awful scream

come out our apartment complex.

-A college coed goes missing and
police suspect it's foul play.

-It was pretty brazen.

Could have been a Peeping Tom,
could have been a car burglar.

-A witness thinks he
sees the victim's car,

but doesn't get a good
look at the driver.

-This guy kept looking at
him in that rearview mirror.

-He would look at people
on the side of the street

and wonder-- I wonder if
that could be Juli's killer.



-For eight years, the
mystery goes unsolved

until a pair of shoes
and a cell phone

call give new life
to a very cold case.

-This did not strike me as your
run of the mill, uh, murder.

-For 21-year-old Juli
Busken, a Bachelor's degree

in Dance from the
University of Oklahoma

was the culmination
of a lifelong dream.

-Juli always knew she wanted
to be a ballet dancer.

From the time she went to
a recital of her friends

in first grade.

-Her goal was to teach children,
possibly even special ed

children, and have
a dance studio.

-Juli completed
all of the courses

for her Bachelor's
degree by Christmas.



So her parents
drove from Arkansas

to help Juli move
her belongings home.

When they got to her
apartment, Juli wasn't there

and neither was her car.

-A police officer
came to me and asked

who we were, asked if
we were the Buskens.

I said yes and he said, you
need to contact the OU police

department, your
daughter's missing.

And Mary Jean said, you
know, something's bad wrong.

And I said, oh, she's somewhere.

So everything's going to be OK.

-Police learned that Juli took
her girlfriend to the airport

around 4 o'clock that
morning and told her friend

she was going back
to her apartment.

-And that was the
last that Juli was

seen by any of her
friends or family.

-Around 5:30, someone in
Juli's apartment building

called police.

-Norman, 9-1-1.

-Yes, we were just sleeping.

And my wife heard a really
strange-- like really awful

scream from our parking lot
of our apartment complex.

-So you didn't see
anything outside?

-No, I'm kind of afraid
to go outside actually.

-One of the neighbors heard
a male voice say, shut up.

Get in the car.

Uh, several of the neighbors
heard a woman scream.

Um, one the neighbors heard
a-- a car leaving the scene.

-I believe the scream that
was reported to Norman police

department at that
time in the morning

probably was the
scream of Juli Busken.

I have no way of proving that,
but I believe it to be so.

-12 hours after she
disappeared, Juli Busken's body

was found on the
bank of a lake about

15 miles from her apartment.

-She was in the water
from about the waist up.

Her hands were tied
behind her back--

tied with a pair of shoelaces.

-She had been shot
once, execution style.

-The gunshot wound to the back
of her head was very obvious.

It was a contact wound,
meaning the pistol's barrel was

in actual contact
with her scalp.

-And there were signs
of sexual assault.

-And the evidence
would certainly

indicate that her
pants had been pulled

down at some point in time.

-Then I got mad as hell.

And I went outside
and I cussed at God.

And I got just mad.

-You feel very helpless.

There's just nothing you can do.

Nothing.

And nothing was going to help.

-Police hope that
evidence at the scene

would lead them
to Juli's killer.

-Juli Busken had many
friends at the university.

Police interviewed as many
as possible to see if anyone

could provide
useful information.

-Juli had lots of friend boys,
but they weren't boyfriends.

And that was-- she just wasn't,
I don't think, ready for that.

I don't think she
had time for it,

first of all right that--
right at that point.

-I wasn't aware of any boyfriend
troubles that she'd had.

I wasn't aware of any bad
breakups or anything like that.

-Police found Juli's
apartment in perfect order.

There were no signs
of a struggle.

They found Juli's
car in an apartment

complex just one block away.

-It was a little eerie knowing
that that vehicle had been

sitting right across the street
in another complex, probably

since whoever'd used
it had dropped it off.

It'd been sitting there all
day waiting to be discovered.

-Red sand on the
floor of her car

looked like the sand from
the banks of the lake

where her body was discovered.

-That struck me as bizarre.

That whoever had
abducted her had, uh,

then brought the--
the vehicle back.

Why?

If you commit a crime
like this, uh, you

want to get rid of
the car o-- obviously,

but you don't want to take
a chance of returning almost

to the-- literally to
scene of the abduction.

-There was no blood
inside the car

and no obvious
signs of a struggle.

Investigators could
find no foreign hairs,

fibers, or prints.

-We knew immediately
that the cell phone

was missing and several
things out of the-- her ring.

Juli had on an opal ring and
the girls knew she had that on

and it was missing.

-Juli's cell phone
records indicated

someone had used her
phone after her death.

There was a call for the weather
forecast and one to a number

not in service at the time.

At the lake, investigators
discovered possible evidence

in the sand near Juli's body.

-There were two sets of prints
that went down to the lake,

only one set returned.

-One set appeared to match
Juli's shoes, the other didn't.

-That set, we believe,
belonged to the person

that killed Juli Busken.

-A strong wind had blown
sand into the shoe prints,

obscuring some of
the tread pattern.

Even so, analysts found
an identifiable pattern

consistent with a size nine
men's Nike running shoe.

-From the photograph that we
sent the Nike corporation,

they were able to identify the
specific shoe that they believe

made this impression
in the sand.

It was a Nike Air
2 running shoe.

-About 20 feet from
the body, investigators

found a crumpled pink
leotard with the initials JB

on the label.

It was Juli's.

-It had material on it that
turned out to be seminal fluid.

-The leotard was
sent for DNA testing.

An autopsy confirmed
Juli was shot to death

with a single .22
caliber bullet.

Ballistics experts were able
to determine that it had

been fired from a
distinctive gun.

-The projectile, it had
16 lands and grooves

with a right hand twist.

And that's a little
bit uncommon.

It allowed me to narrow the
number of firearm brands

down to just a-- just a--
a handful of possibilities.

-Research showed only six
companies made .22 caliber

handguns with this combination
of lands and grooves.

Despite the leads
and a $70,000 reward,

there were no significant
breaks in the case.

-You begin to believe
this sort of break

in the case was never
going, uh, to happen.

-There was a great fear
with law enforcement

that if this crime were not
solved, if this person were not

taken off the street,
that there would

be other-- other homicides
that we would be investigating.

-But a month later, after seeing
a picture of Juli Busken's car

on the news, a man
called police to say

he might have seen her killer.

On the morning of Juli's
murder, he saw a car like hers

pull out in front of him
and they almost collided.

This was near the lake
where Juli was killed.

-It made him mad.

He stayed right on
the little red car

that was speeding quite rapidly.

And he got a little
road rage going.

-He followed the red car
for about five miles.

-He's watching him through
the rear view mirror.

He was that astute to realize
that something's not right here

and so he-- he kept watching
because the guy kept

looking at him-- kept looking
at him in that rearview mirror.

-The witness wanted to
describe the individual,

but wasn't sure he could.

-When you view this
person in your mind,

what's the first
thing that pops up?

Is it the hair style?
Is it the body structure?

-Forensic artist Harvey Pratt
showed the witness examples

of each facial feature,
trying to get a reaction.

-He didn't realize he actually
was a witness to something

until someone tweaks
his memory, his recall.

That's what I refer to as
a disassociated witness.

-Slowly, a portrait
emerged of a young man.

Possibly a college
student, possibly Hispanic,

with long black hair
and a muscular build.

-This was eventful.

And so he was able
to focus on what

it was because this guy
almost ran over him.

-I remember being very excited
when that profile came out.

Of course, you know, I'm
pretty literal of a person.

And so I expected that
looks just like the guy

and they're going to
have him in no time

because now they know
what he looks like.

-Or did they?

-A witness was able to describe
the man he saw driving Juli

Busken's car on the
morning of her murder.

The composite sketch
was broadcast repeatedly

by the local media in Oklahoma.

-When you believe it's
a stranger, as opposed

to an acquaintance, it certainly
broadens the investigation.

And rather than a
few suspects, you're

now looking at hundreds
of thousands of suspects.

-But no one recognized him and
the case eventually went cold.

-We would drive down the
street and look at people

on the side of the
street and wonder.

I wonder if that could
be Juli's killer.

He was walking around.

He walked around
for a while so we

may have passed him
somewhere along the line.

-Then four and a half years
after the murder, police

received a letter
from a female inmate

at the Oklahoma County jail.

She said an old acquaintance,
23-year-old Dennis Stuermer,

might have murdered Juli Busken.

Stuermer, a construction
worker, had no criminal record,

but at the time of the murder,
he lived only four blocks

from Juli's
apartment and he bore

a resemblance to the
composite sketch.

Police tracked him down.

He refused to answer
questions and he

wouldn't provide his DNA sample.

So police had to get a court
order to collect his DNA.

After almost five
years, it looked

as if the case might
finally be solved.

-His DNA profile
was very, very close

to the sample that was
taken off the leotards

and off the underwear that
she was wearing at the time,

but unfortunately, being very,
very close is not a match.

And unless it's an exact
match, they're excluded.

So Mr. Stuermer was excluded
as a suspect in the case.

-But Stuermer's
profile was so similar,

it opened up a whole new
avenue of potential suspects.

-The chemist at the
time felt so strongly

that the DNA was so close, that
it was their opinion that it

could possibly be a relative of
this individual, which caused

law enforcement to
look at any relatives

that this person might
have, uh, which they did.

-Stuermer's only immediate
living male relative

was his brother and
his DNA didn't match.

Again, the case went cold.

-I think as years went on
and we didn't have an answer,

we had pretty well accepted
the fact that we might not

live long enough to know who
did this to our daughter.

-Investigators also
performed a DNA dragnet.

They asked every male Juli knew
from school and all the males

in her neighborhood
with a criminal record

to voluntarily
provide a DNA sample.

-Virtually everyone that
she came in contact with

became a suspect.

-Everyone who was
asked complied.

More than 200 people were
tested in one of the largest DNA

dragnets in US history,
but no one matched.

-After 200 plus DNA
tests with no match,

you begin to get pessimistic
about whether, uh,

this case is ever
going to be solved.

-[bells chiming]

-Then, six years
after Juli's murder,

a man named Anthony
Sanchez was arrested

for the rape of his
former girlfriend.

As with all alleged
sex offenders,

Sanchez provided his
DNA sample for testing.

While that was under
way, investigators

noticed some curious facts
about Sanchez's background.

First, at the time of
Juli Busken's murder,

he lived only one mile away
from Juli Busken's apartment.

When police tracked down his
former associates, one of them,

an old girlfriend,
showed police her diary

for the month Juli was murdered.

-There is an entry in, I
believe it's October of 1996,

where she wrote Anthony bought
me a new set of Nike shoes.

And he bought the
same style but boys.

-Sanchez wore a size nine shoe.

This was proof Sanchez owned a
pair of sneakers the same brand

and size as the shoe impressions
found next to Juli's body.

And there was one more clue.

Someone, presumably
the killer used

Juli's cell phone
after her murder.

The number dialed was one
digit off from the phone number

of a girl Sanchez was
dating at the time.

-One of Anthony's
former friends,

a young lady that
lived here in Norman,

had a telephone at her house and
that telephone number shows up

on Juli's phone records
after she's dead.

-Was it possible that Sanchez
tried to call the girl's number

from memory, but
got one digit wrong?

-That was pretty good
circumstantial evidence

even without the DNA.

-Finally, Sanchez's
girlfriend told

police he had an unusual habit.

-They had received
information from one

of Sanchez's girlfriends
that he and his father,

uh, liked to, uh, fire .22,
uh, fi-- caliber firearms

into the wall, uh,
at their, uh, duplex.

Sort of an odd father and
son type, uh, bonding.

-Since Juli was murdered
with a .22 caliber weapon,

investigators got a warrant and
used portable x-ray machines

to check the walls
of the duplex where

Sanchez lived with
his girlfriend.

When that turned up nothing,
they tore down the walls.

Again, nothing.

-After the police had run
roughshod over the apartment

and created an
absolute mess in there,

the landlord went back in
and started cleaning it up.

He had some-- what, a Shop-Vac.

He cleaned up.

And as he was emptying out
the bag, what falls out,

but a bullet.

A .22 caliber bullet.

-A ballistics test
showed the bullet

was consistent with the
highly distinctive one

retrieved during Juli's autopsy.

Finally, when tested,
Anthony Sanchez's DNA

was compared to the biological
sample from Juli's leotard.

The results were no surprise.

-The morning that the
police called and told us

they had a match--
to be honest, it's

still ki-- it's kind of foggy.

Obviously, we were excited.

Uh, we weren't
sure at this point

if that day would ever come.

-When his DNA matched
the biological material

from the crime scene,
Anthony Sanchez

was arrested and charged
with the murder Juli Busken.

Sanchez was 18 years old
at the time of the crime

and lived only one mile
from Juli's apartment.

Prosecutors said Sanchez
was an accomplished thief

and was stealing
Christmas presents

from parked cars on
the night of the crime.

And that's when he saw Juli
Busken when she returned

from driving her
friend to the airport.

[music playing]

-Investigators said Sanchez
abducted Juli at gunpoint,

forced her back into
the car, and made

her drive 15 miles to the lake.

[music playing]

-There he sexually assaulted her
and shot her, execution style.

[music playing]

[gunshot]

[music playing]

-Sanchez left his DNA, his
size nine shoe impressions

in the sand, and afterwards,
tracked sand into Juli's car.

As Sanchez left the area,
he cut off another driver

who got a good enough
look at his face

to describe him to police.

[music playing]

-Sanchez used Juli's cell
phone to call his girlfriend.

He misdialed one number.

Had he called the right
number, he most likely

would have been
caught within days.

Nevertheless, the
scientific evidence

eventually caught up with him.

-They said the DNA that
was left at the crime scene

is what's going to
convict this guy

and we're going to catch him.

And they did.

-Anthony Sanchez was
tried and convicted

of Juli Busken's murder
and sentenced to death.

-This was a senseless killing
by a cold-blooded killer that

had no respect for
human life whatsoever.

-He didn't kill Juli.

He just did and that's evil.

Th- th- that's just evil.

-Often in the face of
senseless violence,

the only hope for the
family is justice.

Increasingly, science
helps provide it.

-In cases like this, where
there's absolutely no witnesses

except the perpetrator and your
victim, who's now deceased,

there's no way these could
be solved without forensics.

-How do you account for a
crime, uh, li-- like this?

For what?

There's no money.

This is not a crime of passion.

Why?

Why do this?

There's only one man who
can answer that question

and he's on death
row in Oklahoma.

-I think that Juli's
more at peace.

And that maybe-- somebody
may think I'm a little crazy,

but I do believe
that Juli is at peace

because she knows
we're at peace.

And I-- and I believe
that with all my heart.