Forensic Files (1996–…): Season 7, Episode 15 - Who's Your Daddy - full transcript
Hair and fiber evidence help solve the 1988 murder of an Ohio woman whose body was discovered in a frozen river.
[music playing]
[sirens blaring]
[ominous music playing]
[sirens blaring]
Firefighters risk
their lives to rescue
a man from a burning building,
but they were too late.
The medical examiner
found evidence
that the victim suffered through
more than the smoke and flames.
They used to say the
"dead men tell no tales."
But nowadays, dead
men tell a lot.
[music playing]
[music playing]
[music fading]
[music playing]
Around 5 o'clock in the
morning on July 16th, 1992,
a motorist saw a house on
fire in the residential area
of Danville, Illinois.
He ran to a nearby
home for help.
And I opened the door.
His eyes were huge, and
he said, "Call 911."
Within minutes,
the firemen arrived.
[music playing]
Neighbors assumed the
homeowner was away.
Someone had opened the garage
door, and his car was gone.
So we, at that time, then
thought, "Well, good.
He's not home, that
he's hopefully OK.
He's just out for breakfast."
We fought the fire.
It was quite intense.
Came back out on the
porch, and then went back
in again to do some overhaul.
And that's when we saw him.
It was the owner,
68-year-old Charles Lynch--
known as "Jack" to friends.
Although badly burned,
Lynch was identified
through dental records.
I wish no one would have
to see anything like that.
Someone that has been burned to
that degree is-- I don't know.
It's hard-- it's hard
for us to explain.
[music playing]
Jack Lynch was a lifelong
bachelor with no children,
but he treated the neighborhood
children like his own.
He was always there
for me when I was a kid,
so it was like he was
there for my generation
and he was there for my
kids when they were young.
He was just part of my family.
He was just like
a grandpa to them,
I guess you could
call it, because Jack
was a few years
older I. And he just
fit right in with the family.
One year, when my daughter
graduated from eighth grade,
I didn't have much money.
He made sure that she got a
dress for the graduation, which
meant a lot to me and her.
[music playing]
After the fire
was extinguished,
investigators looked
for the cause.
The fire started
on the ground floor
but in three separate areas.
It was ruled arson since fires
don't start spontaneously
in three different areas.
They found drawers pulled
open, mattresses overturned,
and signs of disarray,
but neighbors said
Lynch was a fastidious man.
Also troubling was the
discovery of tiny bits of rope
near Lynch's body--
an indication
he may have been bound.
I don't think
anybody was really
guessing other than something
had apparently happened to him.
He'd been tied up, and then
he'd been burnt in the fire.
[music playing]
Since there were no
signs of forced entry,
it appeared that Lynch
either knew his killer
or had willingly let him inside.
Eddie's been causing
trouble at my place.
Hey, Rob.
What do you--
I can't see why
anybody'd do it,
but I hope and I pray to God
that they find you before I do.
You know, he put
on quite a display.
He acted emotionally upset,
and he kept demanding
to be let in the house.
He kept saying he wanted
to see what was missing.
He wanted to see what had
happened and things like that.
He brought a lot of attention
to himself right off the bat.
This was Jack's
neighbor, Ed Kramer,
who was with Lynch
the night before and
was the last known
person to see him alive.
He'd gone over to Mr.
Lynch's house and talk to him,
then he'd turn around.
And he claimed that he borrowed
some money from Mr. Lynch,
and then he'd left
and gone home.
[ominous music playing]
And he had had some
criminal history past.
Nothing real extensive at
that time that I can recall.
Because there was no
forced entry into the home,
so that would make one think
that either Mr. Lynch allowed
someone he knew to come
in or it was somebody
from with inside the home.
Kramer was
immediately a suspect.
[ominous music fading]
[ominous music playing]
Since the fire in
Jack Lynch's home
started in three separate
locations at the same time,
it didn't take
fire investigators
long to determine it was arson.
The last known person
to see Lynch alive
was his neighbor, Ed Kramer.
He didn't work anywhere.
He had no real
alibi to speak of,
so Eddie was probably
one of the main people
we were focusing on.
But Kramer denied
having anything to do
with Lynch's death or the fire.
When asked to take a polygraph
test, Kramer agreed and passed.
He was no longer
considered a suspect.
Police found Jack Lynch's
car a few blocks away
from his home in this
housing project parking lot.
Lynch's television set
was in the backseat.
Several other items were
missing from Lynch's home--
amongst them a VCR, a microwave
oven, a video game unit,
and a .357 Magnum handgun.
Really sad.
He died for what?
I believe the cash-- under $200
cash, a little over $100 cash.
Even though Jack Lynch's
body was badly burned,
the autopsy told
investigators how he died.
Surprisingly, his lungs showed
no signs of smoke inhalation.
There was no
smoke in his lungs.
There's no soot in his
mouth, so he did not
inhale anything from the fire.
Meaning Jack Lynch was dead
before the fire started.
If he had died as
result of the fire,
the carbon monoxide
levels would be anywhere--
it would be from 45 to 85%.
His level was right at 4%.
[music playing]
The medical examiner
also discovered a number
of stab wounds in the body.
The throat wound
was the largest.
That was a gash,
and it was done
with tremendous force
that cut the jugular, that
cut his larynx.
It was almost-- cut
his neck in half.
The motive appeared
to be robbery.
Just two weeks earlier, there
had been several robberies
in the same neighborhood.
Police wondered whether
they were related.
A video store and
two nearby drugstores
had been robbed at gunpoint.
And this home, on
nearby Griffin Street,
has also been burglarized.
All of the crimes
and the Lynch fire
occurred within a
half-mile radius.
This meant-- at
least, statistically--
that the perpetrator
lived or worked close by.
Criminals are lazy,
as are the rest of us.
When we're shopping and we're
looking for goods or services,
we tend to want to
travel within a very
close area around our home.
Same thing applies to criminals.
I can remember several
murders I worked in.
Some of the people lived
right across the street
and watched us work
the scene all day.
[ominous music playing]
Investigator Jack Smith
had done some homework
on these recent
robberies and noticed
two interesting coincidences.
First, large numbers
of prescription drugs
were stolen during the
drugstore burglaries.
And secondly, living directly
in between Jack Lynch's home
and the location of the home
robbery on Griffin Street
was the home of Jamie and Robert
Moore-- two well-known drug
dealers and addicts.
The Moores were both addicted
to prescription painkillers.
No matter how much they
had it, it just wasn't
enough to keep them going.
They'd both been
using for awhile,
and that was a big
portion of their problem.
It was a big business--
the selling of scripts,
the selling of the
prescription medicines.
[music playing]
On a hunch, Jack
Smith recommended that,
in the event of another
robbery in the neighborhood,
that police consider
Robert and Jamie
Moore as possible suspects.
They didn't have to wait long.
[ominous music playing]
Just hours after the
fire, a man and a woman
entered a nearby
motel with handguns,
took money from the front
desk clerk, and fled in a van.
The patrol officers
responded to the Comfort Inn.
Others responded directly
to the Moore residence
and just waited.
[ominous music playing]
The van drove up
to the Moore's home,
and Jamie Moore stepped out.
[shouting]
The van pulled away,
but the police stopped
it just around the corner.
[horn honking]
Police.
What's the matter?
Sir, can I see your license
and registration, please?
The driver was Robert Moore.
I need your license
and registration.
Inside the van was the
money from the hotel robbery.
Just before she was
handcuffed, Jamie
swallowed a large
number of pills
and had to be rushed
to the hospital.
You have a right to remain--
And while was,
quote, "being guarded"
she attempted suicide
in the bathroom
through a broken light fixture.
Police also found the
.357 Magnum the Moores
used in the hotel robbery.
Could it be the same gun
stolen from Jack Lynch's home?
[ominous music fading]
[ominous music playing]
When police confiscated
Robert and Jamie Moore's van,
they found the cash stolen
from the hotel robbery
and a .357 Magnum pistol.
Talking to Bob Moore,
we told him, "Hey.
I want to talk to you about
that gun there was in the van."
"Well, yeah."
And we said, "Where
did you get it?"
And his response was, "I got it
out of that house the other day
when I killed that guy."
And my partner and I both just
about fell out of our chairs
because there's no way
it's ever that easy.
[ominous music playing]
In his taped
confession, Robert Moore
said he went to Jack
Lynch's home to rob him.
Yes?
Hey, now, Eddie's been
causing trouble at my place.
Eddie?
Well, I didn't hear anything.
I didn't talk to him.
Once inside, he overpowered
Lynch, tied him with rope,
then ransacked the house.
[ominous music playing]
But Lynch got loose.
[ominous music playing]
Moore admitted he
and Lynch fought,
and that he stabbed
Lynch to death.
Oh, God!
[ominous music fading]
Moore said he
stole what he could,
then set fire to the house
to cover up the murder.
[ominous music playing]
[sirens blaring]
Moore insisted he
committed the crime alone.
And no one else was with
you at any time when you
did what you just talked about?
Nope.
Not a soul.
Jamie didn't have
no part of it,
so I just don't think you
should hold it against Jamie
for something I did.
Jamie was asleep on the couch.
[ominous music playing]
At the time of Robert
Moore's confession,
his wife, Jamie, was in
the hospital recovering
from her suicide attempt.
When she was able to speak,
she told police a different
story than her husband's.
[ominous music playing]
Jamie claimed she knocked on
Jack Lynch's door as a ruse
so that her husband, hiding
nearby, could get inside.
[door opening]
Jamie--
It was pretty much
arranged that she
would go in to make
sure Mr. Lynch was home
and to get the door open.
And then her husband would
come in and commit the robbery.
[ominous music playing]
Jamie said she had no idea how
Jack Lynch died because, when
she left, she said Lynch
was tied up on the sofa
but was still alive.
Hurry up!
Hurry up!
But the forensic evidence
contradicted Jamie's story
as well as Robert's.
During Jack Lynch's autopsy,
the medical examiner
found 24 stab wounds, but she
also discovered something else.
They weren't all made
with the same knife.
The wounds had been made
by two different knives.
Both were approximately
five inches long.
One had a long, narrow blade.
The other was wider.
A killer seldom uses
two different knives.
Therefore, the medical
examiner concluded
there were two killers.
It's more likely that each of
the two people that were there
would have their own knife
and were inflicting wounds
on the victim individually.
In Lynch's kitchen was a burnt
and scorched knife holder.
There were two large knives
missing from that knife holder.
With a search warrant, police
discovered both of the missing
knives in Robert
and Jamie Moore's
bedroom behind the
couple's bed-- covered
with Jack Lynch's blood.
The knives match the
wounds in Lynch's body
in both size and shape.
So that, in itself, was one
very big piece of evidence--
that we did have two knives that
matched the wounds themselves.
I personally thought
that Jamie had something
to do with it--
purely, initially,
because of the two-knife theory.
There may be a scenario where
someone has two large knives
and is using them to stab
a person at the same time
or they have one and
they stab a person.
And then they later get a
second knife and stab a person.
None of those really seem
to make too much sense.
Unfortunately, there were
no usable fingerprints
on the knives, so there
was no physical evidence
against Jamie.
Also in the Moore's
home, police found
dozens of empty
prescription bottles--
many from the
pharmacy robberies.
They also found the stolen
goods from Lynch's home.
The Moore's children
were playing
with Jack Lynch's video games.
Obviously, this crime
was out of their league.
These people had not been
involved in violent type
of crimes, but they had been
involved in the last week
to 10 days of a series of
escalating violent crimes
involving weapons.
So anything was possible.
But prosecutors believed
the use of two knives
to kill Lynch meant that Jamie
was not just Robert's partner
in crime but also in murder.
[ominous music fading]
[ominous music playing]
Prosecutors
believed that Robert
and Jamie Moore walked the two
blocks to Jack Lynch's home.
[ominous music playing]
Jamie knocked on Lynch's
door to gain entry.
[knocking]
Robert was hiding
in the bushes.
Jamie, what's going on?
[inaudible].
[ominous music playing]
And once the door was
opened, Robert went inside.
[ominous music playing]
Together, they bound
Lynch's hands and feet
and looked for items to steal.
[ominous music playing]
At some point, Lynch got free.
[shouting]
[inaudible].
[ominous music playing]
And the forensic
evidence suggests
that both stabbed
Lynch repeatedly
with two different
knives-- 24 times in all.
[ominous music playing]
They loaded the stolen
items in Lynch's car,
started the fire
to cover the murder
but made the mistake
of setting the fires
in three different locations--
a common sign of arson.
[ominous music playing]
They also left behind
remnants of the rope
used to restrain Lynch.
The Moores later abandoned
Lynch's car a few blocks away.
I parked the car.
The TV was still in the car.
If I could've hurried up and
got it out, I'd have kept it.
[door slamming]
Later that same day, still
desperate for money, the couple
rob the Comfort Inn
Motel using the handgun
stolen from Jack Lynch's home.
Although police had
two confessions-- one
from Robert Moore and
the other from his wife,
Jamie-- they differed
in many respects.
But on the crucial question
of who killed Jack Lynch,
they were consistent.
Robert insisted he
alone killed Jack Lynch.
The forensic evidence
contradicts that.
I think that was probably
another part of his reasoning
for wanting to take
the blame himself
so Jamie could be
home with the kids
while he went to
the penitentiary.
He knew there was going to be
sufficient evidence to link him
up to the murder, and I
think he told a story that he
could formulate best
in his mind to keep
his wife from going to jail.
In exchange for dropping
the murder charge,
Jamie agreed to plead
guilty to armed robbery
and to testify
against her husband.
It's not an easy
thing for a person
to agree to testify
against their spouse--
especially when
that spouse might
be looking at a death penalty.
But the night before
she was to testify,
she attempted
suicide once again.
I made the decision
that I was not
going to bring her
into court and try
to force testimony out of her.
I'd had no clue what she
might really say when
she got on the witness stand.
[ominous music playing]
Although Jamie's suicide
attempt prevented her
from testifying
against Robert Moore,
one of Jack's close
friends, Kim Arwin,
did testify about the kind
of man Jack Lynch was.
And she got the chance to look
the accused killer in the eye.
He was in there when
I was on the stand,
and he just had this
look on him like there
was no remorse whatsoever.
No kind of feeling.
And as I walked off, I
looked at him like I hope he
rotted in hell for what he did.
[ominous music playing]
Robert Moore never change
his story-- claiming that he
alone killed Jack Lynch.
Moore was found
guilty of murder,
but he escaped the
death penalty and was
sentenced to life in prison
with no chance of parole.
The vote was 11 to 1 in
favor of giving death,
but the one juror who stated he
would not vote for death, as I
understand it, indicated that
he thought that Bob, if he
were given life in
prison, that Bob
could perhaps be rehabilitated.
I honestly feel the Moores
went in there with the intent
to kill Jack Lynch.
It got out of hand and went
from there, but what made it
the felony murder was
because it involved home
invasion, robbery, weapons.
And that made it
the murder case.
[ominous music playing]
He just ripped the
heart's right out of us
when they took his life.
It was like pulling
a piece of my life
and my kids-- my whole family.
And I don't know if he
realizes what he did,
but he'll never replace or
be able to justify to me
why he did what he did or her.
For her part in these crimes,
Jamie Moore was sentenced
to 39 years in prison.
[ominous music playing]
The geographic profiling, the
determination that the crimes
were related because of their
proximity to one another
and to the Moore's home
helped solve the case.
Even in the end, in this
day and age of mobility,
you don't see that many
people from out of town
coming in and doing
something illegal.
It does happen
from time to time,
but the vast majority
of crimes are
committed by people
that are pretty
much to be your neighbors.
[ominous music playing]
[music playing]
[music playing]
[sirens blaring]
[ominous music playing]
[sirens blaring]
Firefighters risk
their lives to rescue
a man from a burning building,
but they were too late.
The medical examiner
found evidence
that the victim suffered through
more than the smoke and flames.
They used to say the
"dead men tell no tales."
But nowadays, dead
men tell a lot.
[music playing]
[music playing]
[music fading]
[music playing]
Around 5 o'clock in the
morning on July 16th, 1992,
a motorist saw a house on
fire in the residential area
of Danville, Illinois.
He ran to a nearby
home for help.
And I opened the door.
His eyes were huge, and
he said, "Call 911."
Within minutes,
the firemen arrived.
[music playing]
Neighbors assumed the
homeowner was away.
Someone had opened the garage
door, and his car was gone.
So we, at that time, then
thought, "Well, good.
He's not home, that
he's hopefully OK.
He's just out for breakfast."
We fought the fire.
It was quite intense.
Came back out on the
porch, and then went back
in again to do some overhaul.
And that's when we saw him.
It was the owner,
68-year-old Charles Lynch--
known as "Jack" to friends.
Although badly burned,
Lynch was identified
through dental records.
I wish no one would have
to see anything like that.
Someone that has been burned to
that degree is-- I don't know.
It's hard-- it's hard
for us to explain.
[music playing]
Jack Lynch was a lifelong
bachelor with no children,
but he treated the neighborhood
children like his own.
He was always there
for me when I was a kid,
so it was like he was
there for my generation
and he was there for my
kids when they were young.
He was just part of my family.
He was just like
a grandpa to them,
I guess you could
call it, because Jack
was a few years
older I. And he just
fit right in with the family.
One year, when my daughter
graduated from eighth grade,
I didn't have much money.
He made sure that she got a
dress for the graduation, which
meant a lot to me and her.
[music playing]
After the fire
was extinguished,
investigators looked
for the cause.
The fire started
on the ground floor
but in three separate areas.
It was ruled arson since fires
don't start spontaneously
in three different areas.
They found drawers pulled
open, mattresses overturned,
and signs of disarray,
but neighbors said
Lynch was a fastidious man.
Also troubling was the
discovery of tiny bits of rope
near Lynch's body--
an indication
he may have been bound.
I don't think
anybody was really
guessing other than something
had apparently happened to him.
He'd been tied up, and then
he'd been burnt in the fire.
[music playing]
Since there were no
signs of forced entry,
it appeared that Lynch
either knew his killer
or had willingly let him inside.
Eddie's been causing
trouble at my place.
Hey, Rob.
What do you--
I can't see why
anybody'd do it,
but I hope and I pray to God
that they find you before I do.
You know, he put
on quite a display.
He acted emotionally upset,
and he kept demanding
to be let in the house.
He kept saying he wanted
to see what was missing.
He wanted to see what had
happened and things like that.
He brought a lot of attention
to himself right off the bat.
This was Jack's
neighbor, Ed Kramer,
who was with Lynch
the night before and
was the last known
person to see him alive.
He'd gone over to Mr.
Lynch's house and talk to him,
then he'd turn around.
And he claimed that he borrowed
some money from Mr. Lynch,
and then he'd left
and gone home.
[ominous music playing]
And he had had some
criminal history past.
Nothing real extensive at
that time that I can recall.
Because there was no
forced entry into the home,
so that would make one think
that either Mr. Lynch allowed
someone he knew to come
in or it was somebody
from with inside the home.
Kramer was
immediately a suspect.
[ominous music fading]
[ominous music playing]
Since the fire in
Jack Lynch's home
started in three separate
locations at the same time,
it didn't take
fire investigators
long to determine it was arson.
The last known person
to see Lynch alive
was his neighbor, Ed Kramer.
He didn't work anywhere.
He had no real
alibi to speak of,
so Eddie was probably
one of the main people
we were focusing on.
But Kramer denied
having anything to do
with Lynch's death or the fire.
When asked to take a polygraph
test, Kramer agreed and passed.
He was no longer
considered a suspect.
Police found Jack Lynch's
car a few blocks away
from his home in this
housing project parking lot.
Lynch's television set
was in the backseat.
Several other items were
missing from Lynch's home--
amongst them a VCR, a microwave
oven, a video game unit,
and a .357 Magnum handgun.
Really sad.
He died for what?
I believe the cash-- under $200
cash, a little over $100 cash.
Even though Jack Lynch's
body was badly burned,
the autopsy told
investigators how he died.
Surprisingly, his lungs showed
no signs of smoke inhalation.
There was no
smoke in his lungs.
There's no soot in his
mouth, so he did not
inhale anything from the fire.
Meaning Jack Lynch was dead
before the fire started.
If he had died as
result of the fire,
the carbon monoxide
levels would be anywhere--
it would be from 45 to 85%.
His level was right at 4%.
[music playing]
The medical examiner
also discovered a number
of stab wounds in the body.
The throat wound
was the largest.
That was a gash,
and it was done
with tremendous force
that cut the jugular, that
cut his larynx.
It was almost-- cut
his neck in half.
The motive appeared
to be robbery.
Just two weeks earlier, there
had been several robberies
in the same neighborhood.
Police wondered whether
they were related.
A video store and
two nearby drugstores
had been robbed at gunpoint.
And this home, on
nearby Griffin Street,
has also been burglarized.
All of the crimes
and the Lynch fire
occurred within a
half-mile radius.
This meant-- at
least, statistically--
that the perpetrator
lived or worked close by.
Criminals are lazy,
as are the rest of us.
When we're shopping and we're
looking for goods or services,
we tend to want to
travel within a very
close area around our home.
Same thing applies to criminals.
I can remember several
murders I worked in.
Some of the people lived
right across the street
and watched us work
the scene all day.
[ominous music playing]
Investigator Jack Smith
had done some homework
on these recent
robberies and noticed
two interesting coincidences.
First, large numbers
of prescription drugs
were stolen during the
drugstore burglaries.
And secondly, living directly
in between Jack Lynch's home
and the location of the home
robbery on Griffin Street
was the home of Jamie and Robert
Moore-- two well-known drug
dealers and addicts.
The Moores were both addicted
to prescription painkillers.
No matter how much they
had it, it just wasn't
enough to keep them going.
They'd both been
using for awhile,
and that was a big
portion of their problem.
It was a big business--
the selling of scripts,
the selling of the
prescription medicines.
[music playing]
On a hunch, Jack
Smith recommended that,
in the event of another
robbery in the neighborhood,
that police consider
Robert and Jamie
Moore as possible suspects.
They didn't have to wait long.
[ominous music playing]
Just hours after the
fire, a man and a woman
entered a nearby
motel with handguns,
took money from the front
desk clerk, and fled in a van.
The patrol officers
responded to the Comfort Inn.
Others responded directly
to the Moore residence
and just waited.
[ominous music playing]
The van drove up
to the Moore's home,
and Jamie Moore stepped out.
[shouting]
The van pulled away,
but the police stopped
it just around the corner.
[horn honking]
Police.
What's the matter?
Sir, can I see your license
and registration, please?
The driver was Robert Moore.
I need your license
and registration.
Inside the van was the
money from the hotel robbery.
Just before she was
handcuffed, Jamie
swallowed a large
number of pills
and had to be rushed
to the hospital.
You have a right to remain--
And while was,
quote, "being guarded"
she attempted suicide
in the bathroom
through a broken light fixture.
Police also found the
.357 Magnum the Moores
used in the hotel robbery.
Could it be the same gun
stolen from Jack Lynch's home?
[ominous music fading]
[ominous music playing]
When police confiscated
Robert and Jamie Moore's van,
they found the cash stolen
from the hotel robbery
and a .357 Magnum pistol.
Talking to Bob Moore,
we told him, "Hey.
I want to talk to you about
that gun there was in the van."
"Well, yeah."
And we said, "Where
did you get it?"
And his response was, "I got it
out of that house the other day
when I killed that guy."
And my partner and I both just
about fell out of our chairs
because there's no way
it's ever that easy.
[ominous music playing]
In his taped
confession, Robert Moore
said he went to Jack
Lynch's home to rob him.
Yes?
Hey, now, Eddie's been
causing trouble at my place.
Eddie?
Well, I didn't hear anything.
I didn't talk to him.
Once inside, he overpowered
Lynch, tied him with rope,
then ransacked the house.
[ominous music playing]
But Lynch got loose.
[ominous music playing]
Moore admitted he
and Lynch fought,
and that he stabbed
Lynch to death.
Oh, God!
[ominous music fading]
Moore said he
stole what he could,
then set fire to the house
to cover up the murder.
[ominous music playing]
[sirens blaring]
Moore insisted he
committed the crime alone.
And no one else was with
you at any time when you
did what you just talked about?
Nope.
Not a soul.
Jamie didn't have
no part of it,
so I just don't think you
should hold it against Jamie
for something I did.
Jamie was asleep on the couch.
[ominous music playing]
At the time of Robert
Moore's confession,
his wife, Jamie, was in
the hospital recovering
from her suicide attempt.
When she was able to speak,
she told police a different
story than her husband's.
[ominous music playing]
Jamie claimed she knocked on
Jack Lynch's door as a ruse
so that her husband, hiding
nearby, could get inside.
[door opening]
Jamie--
It was pretty much
arranged that she
would go in to make
sure Mr. Lynch was home
and to get the door open.
And then her husband would
come in and commit the robbery.
[ominous music playing]
Jamie said she had no idea how
Jack Lynch died because, when
she left, she said Lynch
was tied up on the sofa
but was still alive.
Hurry up!
Hurry up!
But the forensic evidence
contradicted Jamie's story
as well as Robert's.
During Jack Lynch's autopsy,
the medical examiner
found 24 stab wounds, but she
also discovered something else.
They weren't all made
with the same knife.
The wounds had been made
by two different knives.
Both were approximately
five inches long.
One had a long, narrow blade.
The other was wider.
A killer seldom uses
two different knives.
Therefore, the medical
examiner concluded
there were two killers.
It's more likely that each of
the two people that were there
would have their own knife
and were inflicting wounds
on the victim individually.
In Lynch's kitchen was a burnt
and scorched knife holder.
There were two large knives
missing from that knife holder.
With a search warrant, police
discovered both of the missing
knives in Robert
and Jamie Moore's
bedroom behind the
couple's bed-- covered
with Jack Lynch's blood.
The knives match the
wounds in Lynch's body
in both size and shape.
So that, in itself, was one
very big piece of evidence--
that we did have two knives that
matched the wounds themselves.
I personally thought
that Jamie had something
to do with it--
purely, initially,
because of the two-knife theory.
There may be a scenario where
someone has two large knives
and is using them to stab
a person at the same time
or they have one and
they stab a person.
And then they later get a
second knife and stab a person.
None of those really seem
to make too much sense.
Unfortunately, there were
no usable fingerprints
on the knives, so there
was no physical evidence
against Jamie.
Also in the Moore's
home, police found
dozens of empty
prescription bottles--
many from the
pharmacy robberies.
They also found the stolen
goods from Lynch's home.
The Moore's children
were playing
with Jack Lynch's video games.
Obviously, this crime
was out of their league.
These people had not been
involved in violent type
of crimes, but they had been
involved in the last week
to 10 days of a series of
escalating violent crimes
involving weapons.
So anything was possible.
But prosecutors believed
the use of two knives
to kill Lynch meant that Jamie
was not just Robert's partner
in crime but also in murder.
[ominous music fading]
[ominous music playing]
Prosecutors
believed that Robert
and Jamie Moore walked the two
blocks to Jack Lynch's home.
[ominous music playing]
Jamie knocked on Lynch's
door to gain entry.
[knocking]
Robert was hiding
in the bushes.
Jamie, what's going on?
[inaudible].
[ominous music playing]
And once the door was
opened, Robert went inside.
[ominous music playing]
Together, they bound
Lynch's hands and feet
and looked for items to steal.
[ominous music playing]
At some point, Lynch got free.
[shouting]
[inaudible].
[ominous music playing]
And the forensic
evidence suggests
that both stabbed
Lynch repeatedly
with two different
knives-- 24 times in all.
[ominous music playing]
They loaded the stolen
items in Lynch's car,
started the fire
to cover the murder
but made the mistake
of setting the fires
in three different locations--
a common sign of arson.
[ominous music playing]
They also left behind
remnants of the rope
used to restrain Lynch.
The Moores later abandoned
Lynch's car a few blocks away.
I parked the car.
The TV was still in the car.
If I could've hurried up and
got it out, I'd have kept it.
[door slamming]
Later that same day, still
desperate for money, the couple
rob the Comfort Inn
Motel using the handgun
stolen from Jack Lynch's home.
Although police had
two confessions-- one
from Robert Moore and
the other from his wife,
Jamie-- they differed
in many respects.
But on the crucial question
of who killed Jack Lynch,
they were consistent.
Robert insisted he
alone killed Jack Lynch.
The forensic evidence
contradicts that.
I think that was probably
another part of his reasoning
for wanting to take
the blame himself
so Jamie could be
home with the kids
while he went to
the penitentiary.
He knew there was going to be
sufficient evidence to link him
up to the murder, and I
think he told a story that he
could formulate best
in his mind to keep
his wife from going to jail.
In exchange for dropping
the murder charge,
Jamie agreed to plead
guilty to armed robbery
and to testify
against her husband.
It's not an easy
thing for a person
to agree to testify
against their spouse--
especially when
that spouse might
be looking at a death penalty.
But the night before
she was to testify,
she attempted
suicide once again.
I made the decision
that I was not
going to bring her
into court and try
to force testimony out of her.
I'd had no clue what she
might really say when
she got on the witness stand.
[ominous music playing]
Although Jamie's suicide
attempt prevented her
from testifying
against Robert Moore,
one of Jack's close
friends, Kim Arwin,
did testify about the kind
of man Jack Lynch was.
And she got the chance to look
the accused killer in the eye.
He was in there when
I was on the stand,
and he just had this
look on him like there
was no remorse whatsoever.
No kind of feeling.
And as I walked off, I
looked at him like I hope he
rotted in hell for what he did.
[ominous music playing]
Robert Moore never change
his story-- claiming that he
alone killed Jack Lynch.
Moore was found
guilty of murder,
but he escaped the
death penalty and was
sentenced to life in prison
with no chance of parole.
The vote was 11 to 1 in
favor of giving death,
but the one juror who stated he
would not vote for death, as I
understand it, indicated that
he thought that Bob, if he
were given life in
prison, that Bob
could perhaps be rehabilitated.
I honestly feel the Moores
went in there with the intent
to kill Jack Lynch.
It got out of hand and went
from there, but what made it
the felony murder was
because it involved home
invasion, robbery, weapons.
And that made it
the murder case.
[ominous music playing]
He just ripped the
heart's right out of us
when they took his life.
It was like pulling
a piece of my life
and my kids-- my whole family.
And I don't know if he
realizes what he did,
but he'll never replace or
be able to justify to me
why he did what he did or her.
For her part in these crimes,
Jamie Moore was sentenced
to 39 years in prison.
[ominous music playing]
The geographic profiling, the
determination that the crimes
were related because of their
proximity to one another
and to the Moore's home
helped solve the case.
Even in the end, in this
day and age of mobility,
you don't see that many
people from out of town
coming in and doing
something illegal.
It does happen
from time to time,
but the vast majority
of crimes are
committed by people
that are pretty
much to be your neighbors.
[ominous music playing]
[music playing]
[music playing]