Forensic Files (1996–…): Season 7, Episode 6 - Palm Print Conviction - full transcript
in 1997 two years after a series of
unsolved kidnappings and sexual assaults
in California one of the victims
suddenly recalled an important detail of
the crime she never told police she left
some forensic evidence in the assailants
vehicle evidence that left quite an
impression
nestled at the base of the magnificent
Sierra Nevada range Visalia California
received unwanted publicity in 1995 a
serial rapist was stalking young women
sometimes striking in broad daylight all
of the descriptions of the assailant
were similar but not identical
this woman was the first victim whom
we'll call Maria I was 16 years old
trying to keep up my grades do good in
school on July 14 1995 as Maria was
about to walk into her apartment she
stayed outside for a moment to smoke a
cigarette
just as she lit the match a stranger
appeared he pointed a gun at her ordered
her to get into the vehicle told her if
she did not he would kill her
the man admitted being high on
methamphetamines he drove her to a
deserted field assaulted her then let
her go
at the hospital a rape test kit did not
recover any biological material suitable
for DNA testing
Maria described her attacker as a young
white male with curly hair about six
feet tall his weapon was a
semi-automatic pistol that face never
leaves your mind
never he just feel sad betrayed hurt
angry you get mad you just go through a
lot of pain Maria said the assailant
drove a blue or grey pickup truck police
found a tire impression near the crime
scene
they photographed it and made a mold of
the impression ten days later there was
another incident a 33 year old woman
parked in the local shopping centre was
accosted by a young white male in a
white Ford Bronco end of your purse now
and enjoy Jeanette see you she
challenged him verbally and he fled
two weeks later a college girl was
stopped by a man in a blue Thunderbird
asking for directions I'm looking for
Esplanade Street could you get any help
me I don't but the girl was suspicious
and ran away later that morning the same
man stopped a young woman will call and
tell me how to get to Spinoza Street
actually would you mind getting in the
car and just driving with me to show me
I'm an agreed to show him where to go to
look at him he was a tough guy who you
could imagine luring the girls in her
cart because he looked relatively clean
Ted was relatively soft-spoken I had
nice vehicle along the way he stopped
behind a dairy barn saying he needed to
get some fresh air
and notice drug paraphernalia and
pornographic material in the backseat
the pornography depicted degradation and
violence towards women now fearing for
her safety she decided to run away when
she opened the door the man put a gun to
her head he tied her hands hit her in
the head and the salted her eventually
he allowed her to go and she ran over a
mile and a half for help and described
the assault as particularly demeaning
while he was doing it this guy was
particularly brutal particularly
demeaning to the women that he was
assaulting and that was consistent with
all three of the cases at the crime
scene police found shoe impressions
possibly those of the assailant
and said the weapon was a semi-automatic
pistol the same type of gun used in
Maria's assault the victims each
described the attackers physical
appearance differently and if it was the
same man police questioned why he drove
a different vehicle to each crime
detectives in Visalia California were
investigating four separate incidents
involving attempted kidnapping robbery
and sexual assault in each case the
perpetrator was described as a tall
young white male carrying a
semi-automatic pistol he left little
forensic evidence behind a shoe
impression at one crime scene and some
tire impressions at another but the
vehicles were different and the victims
gave different descriptions of the
assailant raising questions about
whether it was the same man there was a
discrepancy in the height which often
occurs when you're attempting to
describe an assailant who has just
sexually assaulted and abused you at
gunpoint there was also some issues with
regard to describing the suspects hair
his hair length the first break in the
case occurred when police in Fresno
California about an hour's drive away
arrested a man they suspected of
committing similar crimes there he found
out that a similarly described suspect
with a similar vehicle have attempted to
separate kidnapping at incidents up in
their City
later in the day actually the same day
that our victim here in town was
confronted to see if this was the same
man assaulting women in Visalia police
showed the victim Maria a photographic
lineup that included the Fresno suspect
but Maria could not identify any of the
man next police showed the lineup to an
Tim I'm pretty sure that that's him we
placed a photo lineup in front of our
one victim and she positively identified
him now
Visalia police were convinced they had
their man but there was a problem in
their initial interviews with police
both Maria and and described their
attacker as having very little chest
hair the fresno suspect had a lot of
chest hair and his shoe size did not
match the shoe impression found at the
crime scene police doubted the Fresno
man was their perpetrator their
suspicions were confirmed a few days
later when the crimes in Visalia started
all over again
a white male in a blue Thunderbird
approached the 14 year old girl and her
six-year-old sister at an intersection
and tried to coax them into his car when
they refused he sped off a few hours
later police saw a blue Thunderbird in a
convenience store parking lot
the driver matched the description given
by the two girls he was 20 year-old Chad
Melvin man SIBO the son of a prominent
local dairy farmer he was married had no
criminal record but police found meth
amphetamines in his car the mo of his
attacks in these women were indicative
of someone who was using methamphetamine
or crank pretty heavily he was very
aggressive
he was very demeaning in just very
brutal with the women it's and it's
consistent in my experience with someone
who's chronic use of methamphetamine
I know you've done this before Maria and
just taking a photographic lineup Maria
positively identified Nancy bow as the
man who assaulted her
she was visibly shaken she began crying
as I recall and was quite obviously
quite upset I'm sure I've brought back
two memories of that day when she was
with that kidnapped and broody rake but
Maria said her assailants vehicle was a
pickup truck not a sedan police found no
evidence man SIBO had ever owned a
pickup truck I also had my agency
checked for vehicles that were had been
stolen in the last month matching that
description as well and everything came
back negative I couldn't get a lead on
anything in mansi Bo's home police found
a pair of tennis shoes when forensic
analysts compared Mansi Bo's shoes to
the Footwear impressions found at one of
the crime scenes the results were
inconclusive an also identified Manziel
as her assailant from the photographic
lineup but she had identified another
man just a few weeks earlier sure
because of these inconsistencies
prosecutors wanted more than just eye
witness identification they were hoping
for scientific evidence
that's him
on the strength of the eyewitness
identifications 20-year old Chad Nancy
Bowe was arrested for the kidnapping and
sexual assault of an aunt Maria what was
so horrific about the case was that it
involved such horrendous acts of
violence forcible rape and robbery
kidnapped at gunpoint to prosecutors it
appeared that Mansi beau was relatively
unconcerned about the charges he was
completely self-absorbed he was in a lot
of trouble he just couldn't understand
why mom and dad couldn't bail him out of
this and he repeatedly asked for mom and
dad to be able to come down and take him
home and he thought he was you just
thought they could get him out of this
the problem facing prosecutors was that
one of the victims had previously
identified someone else
our memories are actually not accurate
at all and victims at the time of a
crime most victims are victims at
nighttime when it's dark out so you
already have a visual disadvantage we
also know that your eyesight actually
diminishes in when you're in a panic
situation when you're afraid
and so when the victim says that's the
man and they're unequivocal that did
this to me they're probably wrong with
no forensic evidence prosecutors knew
that men's evos defense attorney would
challenge the victims identification as
man SIBO awaited trial investigators
interviewed his wife despite the
circumstances she tried to be helpful
she was pregnant with their first child
at that time and she knew that he had a
had been abusing methamphetamine she
knew that he had some bizarre sexual
appetites that became worse when he was
using methamphetamine but I don't think
she suspected he was involved in these
things the Mansi Bo's home was located
on his parents dairy farm which had a
number of different vehicles a search of
the California Motor Vehicles database
confirmed the chadman SIBO did not own a
blue or silver pickup truck that Maria
described but his father once did and
recently sold it police located the
vehicle 60 miles away this is the police
video tape of Maria examining that
vehicle
she said it was similar to the one she
remembered but wasn't sure it was the
same one the new owner had made a number
of repairs and improvements so the
headliner in this vehicle is dead
suddenly Maria remembered an important
detail she had completely forgotten I
remember I did it
it was at that point that she recalled
while she was being sexually assaulted
outside the driver's side door as the
defendant had her bent over
she bit down on the weatherstripping I
wanted to leave something behind some
type of evidence teeth marks scratch
marks something I scratched the inside
of the truck and I bit down on lefty the
door by the window
I bit down really hard to try to leave
some type
tee's mark to identify
to police the marks on the black
weatherstripping appeared to be just
wear and tear but maria insisted it was
evidence the two-foot piece of black
rubber was carefully removed from the
driver's side window and sent to
forensic odontologist dr. Norman's
Berger
during his 40-year career
dr. Sperber has examined bite
impressions in a number of items found
at crime scenes I've seen them in apples
I've seen them in cheese I've seen it in
sandwiches and never before however on
weatherstripping I had never seen that
before
although it had been nearly two years
since those bite marks were made the
elasticity of the rubber retained the
imprints in their original form all of a
sudden I could see four small rectangles
which I knew represented the lower front
teeth dr. Sperber marked the
indentations with small dots next
Maria's teeth were set in a kelp
alginate material to make a model of her
teeth
when doctors pervert compared Maria's
dental impressions to the bite marks in
the weatherstripping he discovered a
clear a match on the weatherstripping I
noticed that one of the teeth was
sticking out the right front tooth the
victims teeth I noticed the same tooth
that right front tooth is sticking out
every tooth just fit precisely I had
never really seen a match quite so good
on inanimate object before despite the
fact that two years had passed despite
the alterations to the car made by the
new owner police could now prove Maria
had been inside that vehicle it was not
a crime about sex it had to do with
violence the defendants hatred for women
the things that he said to both of these
girls during the commission of the
sexual assault a girl remember bitches
while he was doing it when police
searched Chad Nancy Bo's home they
discovered even more incriminating
evidence they found the pornographic
videotapes and reported seeing in mansi
Bo's car and police also found
ammunition for a 380 gauge
semi-automatic pistol when JEB Mansi
beau went on trial for the kidnapping
and sexual assault of both Maria and
Anne prosecutors portrayed him as
extremely dangerous
a man without guilt or conscience he
didn't care who he had to hurt to get
what he wanted like I say he's a
hedonistic self-absorbed little brat as
expected the defense challenged hands
identification of Nancy beau since she
had initially identified another man
although there was very little forensic
evidence what they had was overwhelming
Maria's bite marks proved she had been
inside the truck owned by the Mansi both
family a vehicle the Chad often bothered
after explaining my conclusions under
direct examination by the prosecutor I
remember being very surprised that there
was very little questions and very
little time spent by the defense in a
cross-examination of on me and I assumed
was because the evidence is so dynamic
the sixteen-year-old biting down on the
weatherstripping
was what you would call the smoking gun
in the case essentially it prevented the
defense from arguing that they had the
wrong guy in that particular case and
the fact that she at the time was being
sexually assaulted thought enough to
bite down on the black rubber weather
stripping and scratch the door area is
amazing it's incredible that someone
would think to do that
the jury found Chad Mansi both guilty of
two counts of kidnapping rape and sexual
assault he was sentenced to 155 years in
prison and won't be eligible for parole
until he served 133 years
it was a huge sense of relief that this
sexual predator will never walk the
streets again he will never be able to
do this to anyone else
he's a brutal user if I'm convinced I'm
given the opportunity he would use again
he would use people again to get what he
wants for his media pleasure I wouldn't
want my daughters around him I wouldn't
want your daughters around him and I
don't think in the any caring parent
would chad Mansi Bo's conviction has
provided closure for Maria
who has since moved to San Antonio Texas
to build a new life without her bite
impressions in the rubber on that pickup
truck prosecutors might not have been
able to make their case the message that
should be sent is if this does ever
happen to someone else and they are
being sexually assaulted leave behind a
piece of evidence because that forensic
evidence can absolutely be a crucial
piece of evidence in a case I didn't
want anybody going through what I went
through by him and now I'm satisfied
with myself because I know that will
never happen to anybody else by him
Oh
unsolved kidnappings and sexual assaults
in California one of the victims
suddenly recalled an important detail of
the crime she never told police she left
some forensic evidence in the assailants
vehicle evidence that left quite an
impression
nestled at the base of the magnificent
Sierra Nevada range Visalia California
received unwanted publicity in 1995 a
serial rapist was stalking young women
sometimes striking in broad daylight all
of the descriptions of the assailant
were similar but not identical
this woman was the first victim whom
we'll call Maria I was 16 years old
trying to keep up my grades do good in
school on July 14 1995 as Maria was
about to walk into her apartment she
stayed outside for a moment to smoke a
cigarette
just as she lit the match a stranger
appeared he pointed a gun at her ordered
her to get into the vehicle told her if
she did not he would kill her
the man admitted being high on
methamphetamines he drove her to a
deserted field assaulted her then let
her go
at the hospital a rape test kit did not
recover any biological material suitable
for DNA testing
Maria described her attacker as a young
white male with curly hair about six
feet tall his weapon was a
semi-automatic pistol that face never
leaves your mind
never he just feel sad betrayed hurt
angry you get mad you just go through a
lot of pain Maria said the assailant
drove a blue or grey pickup truck police
found a tire impression near the crime
scene
they photographed it and made a mold of
the impression ten days later there was
another incident a 33 year old woman
parked in the local shopping centre was
accosted by a young white male in a
white Ford Bronco end of your purse now
and enjoy Jeanette see you she
challenged him verbally and he fled
two weeks later a college girl was
stopped by a man in a blue Thunderbird
asking for directions I'm looking for
Esplanade Street could you get any help
me I don't but the girl was suspicious
and ran away later that morning the same
man stopped a young woman will call and
tell me how to get to Spinoza Street
actually would you mind getting in the
car and just driving with me to show me
I'm an agreed to show him where to go to
look at him he was a tough guy who you
could imagine luring the girls in her
cart because he looked relatively clean
Ted was relatively soft-spoken I had
nice vehicle along the way he stopped
behind a dairy barn saying he needed to
get some fresh air
and notice drug paraphernalia and
pornographic material in the backseat
the pornography depicted degradation and
violence towards women now fearing for
her safety she decided to run away when
she opened the door the man put a gun to
her head he tied her hands hit her in
the head and the salted her eventually
he allowed her to go and she ran over a
mile and a half for help and described
the assault as particularly demeaning
while he was doing it this guy was
particularly brutal particularly
demeaning to the women that he was
assaulting and that was consistent with
all three of the cases at the crime
scene police found shoe impressions
possibly those of the assailant
and said the weapon was a semi-automatic
pistol the same type of gun used in
Maria's assault the victims each
described the attackers physical
appearance differently and if it was the
same man police questioned why he drove
a different vehicle to each crime
detectives in Visalia California were
investigating four separate incidents
involving attempted kidnapping robbery
and sexual assault in each case the
perpetrator was described as a tall
young white male carrying a
semi-automatic pistol he left little
forensic evidence behind a shoe
impression at one crime scene and some
tire impressions at another but the
vehicles were different and the victims
gave different descriptions of the
assailant raising questions about
whether it was the same man there was a
discrepancy in the height which often
occurs when you're attempting to
describe an assailant who has just
sexually assaulted and abused you at
gunpoint there was also some issues with
regard to describing the suspects hair
his hair length the first break in the
case occurred when police in Fresno
California about an hour's drive away
arrested a man they suspected of
committing similar crimes there he found
out that a similarly described suspect
with a similar vehicle have attempted to
separate kidnapping at incidents up in
their City
later in the day actually the same day
that our victim here in town was
confronted to see if this was the same
man assaulting women in Visalia police
showed the victim Maria a photographic
lineup that included the Fresno suspect
but Maria could not identify any of the
man next police showed the lineup to an
Tim I'm pretty sure that that's him we
placed a photo lineup in front of our
one victim and she positively identified
him now
Visalia police were convinced they had
their man but there was a problem in
their initial interviews with police
both Maria and and described their
attacker as having very little chest
hair the fresno suspect had a lot of
chest hair and his shoe size did not
match the shoe impression found at the
crime scene police doubted the Fresno
man was their perpetrator their
suspicions were confirmed a few days
later when the crimes in Visalia started
all over again
a white male in a blue Thunderbird
approached the 14 year old girl and her
six-year-old sister at an intersection
and tried to coax them into his car when
they refused he sped off a few hours
later police saw a blue Thunderbird in a
convenience store parking lot
the driver matched the description given
by the two girls he was 20 year-old Chad
Melvin man SIBO the son of a prominent
local dairy farmer he was married had no
criminal record but police found meth
amphetamines in his car the mo of his
attacks in these women were indicative
of someone who was using methamphetamine
or crank pretty heavily he was very
aggressive
he was very demeaning in just very
brutal with the women it's and it's
consistent in my experience with someone
who's chronic use of methamphetamine
I know you've done this before Maria and
just taking a photographic lineup Maria
positively identified Nancy bow as the
man who assaulted her
she was visibly shaken she began crying
as I recall and was quite obviously
quite upset I'm sure I've brought back
two memories of that day when she was
with that kidnapped and broody rake but
Maria said her assailants vehicle was a
pickup truck not a sedan police found no
evidence man SIBO had ever owned a
pickup truck I also had my agency
checked for vehicles that were had been
stolen in the last month matching that
description as well and everything came
back negative I couldn't get a lead on
anything in mansi Bo's home police found
a pair of tennis shoes when forensic
analysts compared Mansi Bo's shoes to
the Footwear impressions found at one of
the crime scenes the results were
inconclusive an also identified Manziel
as her assailant from the photographic
lineup but she had identified another
man just a few weeks earlier sure
because of these inconsistencies
prosecutors wanted more than just eye
witness identification they were hoping
for scientific evidence
that's him
on the strength of the eyewitness
identifications 20-year old Chad Nancy
Bowe was arrested for the kidnapping and
sexual assault of an aunt Maria what was
so horrific about the case was that it
involved such horrendous acts of
violence forcible rape and robbery
kidnapped at gunpoint to prosecutors it
appeared that Mansi beau was relatively
unconcerned about the charges he was
completely self-absorbed he was in a lot
of trouble he just couldn't understand
why mom and dad couldn't bail him out of
this and he repeatedly asked for mom and
dad to be able to come down and take him
home and he thought he was you just
thought they could get him out of this
the problem facing prosecutors was that
one of the victims had previously
identified someone else
our memories are actually not accurate
at all and victims at the time of a
crime most victims are victims at
nighttime when it's dark out so you
already have a visual disadvantage we
also know that your eyesight actually
diminishes in when you're in a panic
situation when you're afraid
and so when the victim says that's the
man and they're unequivocal that did
this to me they're probably wrong with
no forensic evidence prosecutors knew
that men's evos defense attorney would
challenge the victims identification as
man SIBO awaited trial investigators
interviewed his wife despite the
circumstances she tried to be helpful
she was pregnant with their first child
at that time and she knew that he had a
had been abusing methamphetamine she
knew that he had some bizarre sexual
appetites that became worse when he was
using methamphetamine but I don't think
she suspected he was involved in these
things the Mansi Bo's home was located
on his parents dairy farm which had a
number of different vehicles a search of
the California Motor Vehicles database
confirmed the chadman SIBO did not own a
blue or silver pickup truck that Maria
described but his father once did and
recently sold it police located the
vehicle 60 miles away this is the police
video tape of Maria examining that
vehicle
she said it was similar to the one she
remembered but wasn't sure it was the
same one the new owner had made a number
of repairs and improvements so the
headliner in this vehicle is dead
suddenly Maria remembered an important
detail she had completely forgotten I
remember I did it
it was at that point that she recalled
while she was being sexually assaulted
outside the driver's side door as the
defendant had her bent over
she bit down on the weatherstripping I
wanted to leave something behind some
type of evidence teeth marks scratch
marks something I scratched the inside
of the truck and I bit down on lefty the
door by the window
I bit down really hard to try to leave
some type
tee's mark to identify
to police the marks on the black
weatherstripping appeared to be just
wear and tear but maria insisted it was
evidence the two-foot piece of black
rubber was carefully removed from the
driver's side window and sent to
forensic odontologist dr. Norman's
Berger
during his 40-year career
dr. Sperber has examined bite
impressions in a number of items found
at crime scenes I've seen them in apples
I've seen them in cheese I've seen it in
sandwiches and never before however on
weatherstripping I had never seen that
before
although it had been nearly two years
since those bite marks were made the
elasticity of the rubber retained the
imprints in their original form all of a
sudden I could see four small rectangles
which I knew represented the lower front
teeth dr. Sperber marked the
indentations with small dots next
Maria's teeth were set in a kelp
alginate material to make a model of her
teeth
when doctors pervert compared Maria's
dental impressions to the bite marks in
the weatherstripping he discovered a
clear a match on the weatherstripping I
noticed that one of the teeth was
sticking out the right front tooth the
victims teeth I noticed the same tooth
that right front tooth is sticking out
every tooth just fit precisely I had
never really seen a match quite so good
on inanimate object before despite the
fact that two years had passed despite
the alterations to the car made by the
new owner police could now prove Maria
had been inside that vehicle it was not
a crime about sex it had to do with
violence the defendants hatred for women
the things that he said to both of these
girls during the commission of the
sexual assault a girl remember bitches
while he was doing it when police
searched Chad Nancy Bo's home they
discovered even more incriminating
evidence they found the pornographic
videotapes and reported seeing in mansi
Bo's car and police also found
ammunition for a 380 gauge
semi-automatic pistol when JEB Mansi
beau went on trial for the kidnapping
and sexual assault of both Maria and
Anne prosecutors portrayed him as
extremely dangerous
a man without guilt or conscience he
didn't care who he had to hurt to get
what he wanted like I say he's a
hedonistic self-absorbed little brat as
expected the defense challenged hands
identification of Nancy beau since she
had initially identified another man
although there was very little forensic
evidence what they had was overwhelming
Maria's bite marks proved she had been
inside the truck owned by the Mansi both
family a vehicle the Chad often bothered
after explaining my conclusions under
direct examination by the prosecutor I
remember being very surprised that there
was very little questions and very
little time spent by the defense in a
cross-examination of on me and I assumed
was because the evidence is so dynamic
the sixteen-year-old biting down on the
weatherstripping
was what you would call the smoking gun
in the case essentially it prevented the
defense from arguing that they had the
wrong guy in that particular case and
the fact that she at the time was being
sexually assaulted thought enough to
bite down on the black rubber weather
stripping and scratch the door area is
amazing it's incredible that someone
would think to do that
the jury found Chad Mansi both guilty of
two counts of kidnapping rape and sexual
assault he was sentenced to 155 years in
prison and won't be eligible for parole
until he served 133 years
it was a huge sense of relief that this
sexual predator will never walk the
streets again he will never be able to
do this to anyone else
he's a brutal user if I'm convinced I'm
given the opportunity he would use again
he would use people again to get what he
wants for his media pleasure I wouldn't
want my daughters around him I wouldn't
want your daughters around him and I
don't think in the any caring parent
would chad Mansi Bo's conviction has
provided closure for Maria
who has since moved to San Antonio Texas
to build a new life without her bite
impressions in the rubber on that pickup
truck prosecutors might not have been
able to make their case the message that
should be sent is if this does ever
happen to someone else and they are
being sexually assaulted leave behind a
piece of evidence because that forensic
evidence can absolutely be a crucial
piece of evidence in a case I didn't
want anybody going through what I went
through by him and now I'm satisfied
with myself because I know that will
never happen to anybody else by him
Oh