Original subtitles

truck a quaint

truck a quaint Ohio neighborhood

when a beloved member of the community

was gruesomely murdered and dumped in her own backyard.

Debra Dick: They duct taped her, turned her upside down,

and stuffed her in a well.

No.

John Futty: You have an 81-year-old lady

who was stuffed in a wishing well.

That gets some attention. That's a big deal.

Narrator: Tracking down the killer became an obsession

for a local investigator.

Det. James Day: I have this victim of a violent crime,

and I wanted to see someone atone for what happened.

Narrator: But the victim's risky business practices

left behind a sea of suspects.

She had a significant amount of cash with her at all times.

Debra: We used to tell her, "Don't do that."

She was like, "Nah. Nobody's gonna bother me."

Narrator: It was a summer like any other

for the close-knit community of German Village,

a peaceful upscale neighborhood just south of Columbus, Ohio.

But on the evening of July 9th, 2008,

an unexpected and terrifying discovery

shook residents to their core.

A father and his teenage daughter had taken a shortcut

on their way home from a nearby restaurant.

But when they cut through the backyard of a vacant housing unit,

they were overcome by a terrible, rancid smell.

They immediately noticed a stack of chair cushions

piled on top of what appeared to be a wishing well.

The girl's father instinctively knew that something was wrong

and told his daughter to stay back.

As he pulled away the cushions, the smell overcame him.

And inside the well, he made a horrifying discovery.

Columbus police detective James Day rushed to the scene.

They contacted us

at the homicide unit, telling us

that there was a dead body buried in a well.

The building where this occurred at was vacant.

It also was in a very secluded area visually.

There was a large privacy fence on the one side

and directly to the south, office buildings.

The place was a perfect location

to commit a crime like this.

Narrator: Detective Day, a 16-year veteran

of the Columbus PD,

had investigated hundreds of homicides,

but he had never experienced anything this horrific.

Day: There was a strong odor of decomposition

coming from the well,

Typical smell of death.

And I looked inside the well.

There was what appeared to be an elderly woman

buried inside the well.

Her position was head down into the well.

Her face is wrapped with a flannel shirt,

and her hands are bound with duct tape.

Narrator: Based on the condition of the elderly victim,

Detective Day drew an awful conclusion.

The woman had most likely been there for several days.

But who would want to kill a defenseless elderly lady

and hide her body in a backyard?

Who was this victim?

Day: There was a lot of personal property

that had been scattered about the yard.

Her things like credit cards, business cards,

personal papers that people commonly would carry

in their wallet or their purse.

And as we collected them, we would notice

that the name of Alyce Seff was prevalent on these items.

Narrator: The driver's license found with the body

confirmed that it was Alyce Seff,

and in a cruel twist, she had been dumped

in her own backyard.

81-year-old Alyce Seff was well known in the area.

As a long-time owner of several rental properties

in German Village, Alyce was a likable landlord

who was known for going the extra mile

to please her tenants.

Sonia Modes-Schottenstein: I could always count on Alyce.

She was the best friend you could have.

She really was a good friend.

We spoke on the phone every day.

We saw each other very, very often.

Narrator: Alyce had been married and divorced twice.

With no children to care for,

her friends and her tenants became her life.

News came on, they said there was an east end realtor murdered,

and right away, it's just like I knew.

They didn't say any name. I knew it was Alyce.

Narrator: Alyce was fondly recognized around town

as a friendly, but eccentric, elderly lady.

When I first met Alyce, she just looked like she had

just walked off the street.

She didn't care what she looked like.

She didn't care what clothes she had on.

She didn't care, probably, if you liked her or not.

But that's just the type of person she was.

She was her own person

and that's the way I always took Alyce to be.

She was her own person.

When I found out how she died, I got really upset.

I was like...

( sighs )

I still get upset.

How can anybody...

stuff somebody or bury somebody in a well?

Narrator: The impact of Alyce's murder

was felt by everyone in German Village.

Never ever had a problem with anybody,

you know, just really a super nice lady.

It's really, really sad,

especially when something that malicious happens

to such a nice old lady, you know?

And it's just the maliciousness of the whole thing

is just awful.

She had all kinds of people in and out of here though,

you know, like, doing maintenance and stuff like that,

so, you know, I mean, it could have been anybody.

Narrator: Detectives hoped that the coroner's report

could shed some light on how Alyce died,

and provide clues about who killed her.

Day: The coroner told me that because of her being bound,

because of her head being wrapped in this flannel shirt,

because of the position she was put into the wishing well,

that most likely cause of death was a positional asphyxiation.

Narrator: 81-year-old Alyce Seff suffocated to death

after being placed upside down inside the well

while still alive.

What was equally disturbing,

she had suffered blunt force trauma to the head.

Nancy Moore: The coroner concluded that there was a wound

that was inflicted to the head area.

Because of the evidence of blood that had been left

on a fence at the scene.

The blood loss would be consistent with a head wound

that would bleed heavily.

Narrator: The blood on the fence

was quickly confirmed as Alyce's.

Detectives theorized she was struck in the head

prior to her death and then thrown into the well.

But unfortunately, there were no other forensic clues

at the crime scene.

Any time we have bodies that are decomposing,

you're less likely to get evidence off of them,

especially anything like DNA or fingerprints,

because as that body's decomposing,

everything is decomposing.

Narrator: The cruelty of Alyce's death

added to the suffering already felt by her friends.

Debra: It's bad enough that she was murdered,

but they duct taped her, turned her upside down

and stuffed her in a well, distorting her body, where...

she laid... and... she wasn't dead.

So she laid all that time in pain.

No.

Sonia: It was a horrible death, just horrible.

and there was nothing she could do to help herself.

I just think it's a very, very sad story.

And a terrible way to end a life.

Narrator: With no DNA or fingerprints

to help to fill in the blanks,

police would need to cast a wide net

in order to find Alyce's killer.

Detectives started by talking to Alyce's tenants,

and what came to light was that Alyce had

a dangerous habit.

The people we spoke to told us that

Alyce had a habit of dealing only in cash.

Moore: Alyce had lots of renters.

She personally collected the rent,

and demanded that they pay her only in cash.

Alyce would wrap the money in a wad,

put the money either in a pocket or down her bra,

and carry it that way.

She had a significant amount of cash with her at all times.

Debra: I used to get so mad at her,

and we used to tell her, "Don't do that.

Don't walk around like that. Don't pull that out."

And she was just a feisty, feisty lady.

She was like, "Ah! Nobody's going to bother me."

But that was Alyce.

Narrator: Detectives did not find any money on Alyce's body,

which raised a key question:

was Alyce killed for the cash she carried?

Day: When people told us that she had this habit

of dealing only in cash,

figured somebody probably set her up to do a robbery

and she end up being murdered out of it.

This was an elderly lady, so you have someone

that basically is defenseless

or easy prey for criminals.

Narrator: Outraged by the horrifying nature of Alyce's murder,

Detective Day wanted swift justice for her killer.

Police soon discovered that Alyce was a regular customer

at a local tool store

and was there within days of her murder.

Moore: Alyce had had a tool store, Murray Tool,

that she frequented.

They had video of her on July 5th being in their store.

Narrator: Police had their first lead:

security footage that could provide critical information

as to who might have killed Alyce Seff.

Reporter: Columbus police have released a surveillance video

of two women wanted for questioning

in the murder of 81-year-old Alyce Seff.

Sonia: I remember seeing those women's pictures.

I didn't know what to think.

I don't know if the ladies did it

or somebody they know did it.

Narrator: Two days after the body of 81-year-old Alyce Seff

was found stuffed inside a well in her own backyard,

detectives had a new lead in their search for the killer:

a video tape of Alyce visiting a local tool shop.

The employees at Murray Tool were very upset

when they found out that Alyce had been killed,

and they contacted the police and indicated to the police

they had video of her on July 5th, 2008

being in their store.

Alyce's body was found on July 9th.

With the video, we were able to determine

that Alyce had last been seen alive on July 5th.

Narrator: The surveillance video was key in helping detectives

build the timeline of Alyce's final days,

but it also provided some valuable clues.

Alyce went in to Murray Tool to get some clippers sharpened.

She waited while they were sharpened.

She stayed there for a significant period of time

talking to various employees there.

It was clearly a social time for Alyce Seff.

The last video we have of her

is walking out of the store alone

carrying those clippers in her hand.

Those clippers were not at the scene.

They were not recovered.

They were never found again.

Narrator: Since Alyce's autopsy showed that she suffered

blunt force trauma to the head,

police suspected that the missing clippers

had been used during the attack.

As they studied the surveillance tape,

they noticed something else.

Alyce can be seen removing a wad of cash

from her chest pocket.

Debra: When she proceeded to check out,

she proceeded to take money out of that pocket,

out of this skirt pocket, out of that skirt pocket,

and I'm seeing... money.

Narrator: Did Alyce unintentionally make herself

the target of a killer lurking within the tool store?

Was she followed home and murdered for her money?

To find out, Detective Day sent officers to track down

and question every patron and employee

who was in the store on July 5th.

Police also discovered

that Alyce's cell phone was missing,

something she was never without.

Day: At the scene where she was found,

I noticed that she had a phone holder

on her waistband,

but it was empty. There was no cell phone.

We started concentrating on trying to locate

where her cell phone was.

Narrator: Did Alyce's killer steal her phone,

and were they currently using it?

Detectives were hopeful they could trace

any cell phone activity to the killer's location.

We then obtained a subpoena

to obtain all the information on the cell phone.

I got that information within a couple days.

It gave us all the activity of the cell phone

prior to when she was discovered.

Narrator: When Day reviewed Alyce's call history,

he noticed that leading up to July 5th,

her cell phone use was fairly predictable.

Most calls were made during business hours

to a handful of phone numbers,

and the phone was almost never used

after 9:00 PM each night.

But after 1:38 PM on July 5th,

there was an unusual period of phone silence.

No calls were made or received for the next eight hours.

Detective Day speculated

it was during that eight-hour window

that Alyce Seff was most likely murdered.

However, at 9:52 PM that evening,

call activity picked up again,

which immediately raised a red flag.

Day: It was a significant change in the pattern

of the cell phone usage, including the time of day

the cell phone was used,

the phone numbers that were being called by the cell phone,

or being received by the cell phone.

Narrator: The phone logs revealed that

two of the phone numbers had never been dialed before

on Alyce Seff's phone.

Was the killer boldly using her cell phone?

Day: Through the triangulation of the cell phone towers,

we were able to determine where these phone calls

were being received.

Narrator: The suspicious calls were made to

the east side of Columbus, Ohio.

Moore: Two of the phone numbers that were on the records

belonged to Brenda Greathouse and Norma Jenkins.

Narrator: Who were Norma and Brenda?

Did they know Alyce Seff?

And did they have an explanation

for why they received calls from her cell phone

the day she was allegedly murdered?

Detective Day went to the home of Norma Jenkins first.

Norma didn't know Alyce Seff, but she did remember

receiving some calls from that particular cell phone

on the night of July 5th.

Day: She admitted that she had actually seen the cell phone.

The cell phone had been in the possession

of a former boyfriend of hers

she identified as Charles Green.

Narrator: Norma told Detective Day that Greene--

who went by his middle name Jerome--

had lived with her briefly, but she kicked him out

because he was always broke and never paid rent.

I asked Norma what she knew about him, where he lived,

where was he at, how can we contact him?

She told me that Charles Greene was homeless,

that he lives on the street,

he has no set address,

and no way for her to contact him,

that he usually contacted her.

Narrator: Although she admitted to receiving calls

from Alyce's cell phone,

Norma claimed to not know anything more

that could help Detective Day.

Was it possible she was hiding more than she knew?

Day: It was two women using Alyce Seff's card

after she would have already been dead.

It was quite startling because one of the women

I recognized...

and apparently she had been holding back on me.

ur days had passed since Alyce's body was discovered.

So far, the only lead police had

was that a man named Jerome Charles Greene

was in possession of her phone

hours after her brutal murder.

According to Norma Jenkins, Charles Greene was homeless,

but had just shown up at her home with the phone.

But Norma wasn't the only woman called

from Alyce's stolen phone.

Another woman, Brenda Greathouse,

also appeared on the phone log.

Day: There were records indicating phone calls

to and from Brenda's residence to the victim's cell phone.

She immediately told me that she has a friend,

she knew him from high school.

He showed up there. He had this cell phone.

Narrator: She too named Charles Greene

as the man in possession of Alyce's phone.

Detective Day pressed Brenda for any more information

about her dealings with Greene

over the past few weeks, but she adamantly denied

having any other involvement with him.

Day: Now I had two persons giving me the same name,

and two people who knew this suspect,

Charles Greene... intimately.

Narrator: Detective Day checked into Charles Greene's past.

He had a lengthy rap sheet going back to 1981,

which included serving prison time

for robbing an elderly woman.

However, Day wasn't sure if his profile matched that

of the ruthless killer he was looking for.

Part of me was, he might be the main suspect.

He also might be, like, Norma and Brenda.

It might be that he obtained the cell phone

from another person, who maybe traded him

for something, whatever.

At this point in the game,

I have to locate Charles Greene,

get an interview from him.

That tells me whether I'm on the right track,

or if I have to keep looking further for another person.

( police sirens wailing )

Narrator: Finding Charles Greene, however,

was going to be a challenge.

Since Greene was homeless, he was never in one place

and almost impossible to track down.

The best way and try to find someone who's homeless

is to go to the patrol officers that cruise that area.

Narrator: Detective Day and his team

distributed wanted posters

to all surrounding precincts.

Day: I said, "Listen, you see this guy, give me a call."

I wanted to do whatever needed to be done

to bring justice for Alyce Seff,

but it proved to be harder to find him than I imagined.

Narrator: As the manhunt dragged into its second week,

another one of Alyce's possessions

suddenly turned up.

Her missing Ford Escort station wagon

was discovered abandoned in South Columbus.

Her car hadn't been seen since the day she was killed.

We decided to impound the car.

Narrator: At the Columbus PD lot,

the car was searched for prints,

but unfortunately, none were found.

Yet, Detective Day wasn't about to give up so easily.

Day: When I went and examined the car closely,

I did notice on the driver's door,

there was a drop of blood.

I was pretty ecstatic about that 'cause I figured

I might be getting some good DNA

from whomever had been driving this vehicle last.

Narrator: Police were hopeful that the speck of blood

would lead them to a suspect,

but unfortunately, there was no hit on the DNA.

Alyce's station wagon was sent to the evidence lockup

for storage, but with the activity

on Alyce's missing cell phone now stopped,

and prime suspect Charles Greene still evading police,

the investigation slowed to a crawl.

John Futty: Typically if you don't solve a murder

within the first couple of days,

you're gonna be in big trouble,

and this was a case where clearly there was not

a lot of physical evidence

that was gonna lead police to the killer.

( phone ringing )

Narrator: But on September 15th, 2008,

two months after Alyce's murder,

Detective Day received some startling news.

Day: The person that was handling Alyce's affairs

directly after her death,

found out that there's been activity on the credit card

after the time that we believed Alyce was killed.

Narrator: Detective Day immediately secured the records

from Alyce's bank to determine where

the fraudulent use of the credit cards had occurred.

And then I start going to these establishments

where the credit card was being used.

I was hoping, of course, that I was gonna be able

to get a video of Charles Greene using these credit cards,

but that's not what happened.

It was two women using the credit cards.

While the video was pretty good,

I couldn't positively identify them.

Narrator: Desperate to ID the mystery women in the video,

Day released the footage to the local news,

hoping that someone would recognize them.

Reporter: Columbus Police have released a surveillance video

of two women wanted for questioning

in the murder of 81-year-old Alyce Seff.

If you have any information...

I remember seeing those women's pictures,

rolling their carts filled with merchandise.

They used Alyce's credit card.

I didn't know what to think.

I don't know if the ladies did it,

or somebody they know did it.

Narrator: Detective Day's strategy to illicit

the public's help paid off.

It didn't take long for the tips to roll in.

Day: I did get a response

at identifying who those two women were.

Narrator: One woman was identified as Norita Sands.

When Detective Day ran her record,

he learned that Sands had just been released from prison

for credit card fraud.

The other person on the tape was a complete shock

to Detective Day.

Day: And it was quite startling,

because one of the women

was Brenda Greathouse.

Narrator: Brenda Greathouse was the same person

that Day had previously questioned about

the suspicious call activity on Alyce's phone.

But due to the poor quality of the video,

he hadn't recognized her.

Apparently, Brenda had been holding back on me

when I first contacted her about the phone usage.

Narrator: Could she be the killer after all?

If not, how was she involved?

Day: I called her house.

I very strongly told her husband that

Brenda needs to get a hold of me, like, right now.

Narrator: Two months after the gruesome killing of Alyce Seff,

police now had another suspect,

one who was clearly withholding information.

Day: She told me that Charles Green told her

that this was part of the payment for what he'd done

and he was able to use this credit card.

He asked her to get her certain personal items,

toiletries and things like that,

and told her also that she would be able

to get some items for herself.

It came out that Charles Greene had gave the women

these credit cards,

and that he had told them that Alyce

had gave him those credit cards.

No, she wouldn't have done that, trust me.

No way. Mm-mm.

Day: When they went home,

Charles came over, got his stuff,

took the credit card back

and that was the end of that.

Narrator: But since Brenda hadn't exactly been forthcoming

with police about her involvement with Greene,

Day wasn't about to let her off the hook so easily.

Day: I said, "Listen, this is it, right?

You have to tell me everything.

You can't hold anything back.

If I find out that you've lied to me

about anything else, or omitted it,

I'm coming back here with an arrest warrant."

Narrator: At that point, Brenda conveniently remembered

something that had slipped her mind earlier.

Alyce had a lot of properties, so she needed a lot of help,

and her big problem was keeping enough help

to help her maintain her property.

She was always trying to find workmen

that she could get at a bargain.

Narrator: Detective Day theorized

that one of those bargain-basement hires

was Charles Greene.

Day: I still don't have enough information to charge Charles,

but he is now my prime suspect.

Narrator: But Day still had the same problem:

Charles Greene was nowhere to be found.

Day: I would go out and look for him every now and then,

every now and then would pull him up on the computer

to see if he was being arrested for any minor thing,

a traffic violation, a disorderly conduct, or anything.

And there was just nothing. He's gone.

Narrator: Charles Greene was seemingly untraceable,

and the Alice Seff murder investigation

grounded to a halt.

Futty: It had just been so long,

there were a lot doubts it was ever gonna be solved.

Day: Time is going on and I'm getting other cases.

Just every now and then when Alyce Seff

would pop back in my mind, I would get on the computer

and look for Charles.

I had the option at this time

to turn it over to our cold case squad,

but I decided not to do that

because I wanted to finish this myself.

I think I have enough. I just need to find this guy.

I just hope he pops up somewhere.

Narrator: But years passed,

and to Detective Day's frustration,

there was still no sign of Charles Greene.

For Alyce's friends, the wait for answers

was gut-wrenching.

Debra: I used to get so upset about Alyce.

There was no putting two and two together.

She was murdered,

and I had no idea at that time

what happened.

Sonia: This was a cold case for many, many, many years.

Very sad, very sad.

I didn't know what to think,

and it was just agonizing.

Alyce was a great lady and I know she deserves

that someone pay for what he did, or she did.

Narrator: Detective Day refused to give up

and finally his persistence paid off.

Three years after Alyce Seff's murder,

he got the break he was waiting for.

Day: So at one of these times, I get on the computer,

and boom, there's an entry.

Charles Greene... he got arrested.

I see that he's in the Franklin County Jail.

He's just literally a half a mile away from me.

Narrator: Detective James Day had finally located his prime suspect,

Charles Greene.

Now that Detective Day had Greene where he wanted him,

he hoped to compare the ex-con's DNA

to the sample recovered from Alyce's car.

So, grabbed my bag and my notebook,

and some DNA swabs and run over to the jail.

He was actually scheduled to be released

within the next few days,

so I knew I was going to have to hustle.

Day: Do you know about the death of Alyce Seff?

- No, I don't. - Day: Nothing?

I know she died. Yes, I do.

- Day: And that's all you know? - Yes.

Day: He says, "Yeah, I know Alyce Seff,

but I don't know anything about this."

Day: Did you work for her that summer?

Do you know?

She was-- excuse me. She was sick.

- Day: Oh, yeah? She was-- - She was sick, I don't know.

She was in the hospital and I haven't worked for her

in a while, 'cause I used to always call her and bug her

to give me some work, 'cause I'll---

- Female detective: Mm-hmm. - Give me some work.

- She's a good lady,. - Detective: Mm-hmm.

She's a good lady and I miss her dearly.

Detective: That's what everybody had said.

I miss her.

And I really ain't gonna kill nobody.

Oh, my God, no.

Day: I said, "Listen, I need you to talk to me.

You're definitely involved. There's no doubt about that,

because of the credit card, because of the cell phone."

Day: I said you may have an opportunity.

You trying to trap me here?

Day: No, I'm not trying to trap you.

- I'm just telling you-- - I'm ready to cut it off.

- Day: Well-- - 'Cause I'm not gonna say nothing to jeopardize myself.

Day: Okay.

Day: And he says, "Nope, I'm not going to talk to you."

He wanted to get his own attorney.

- Detective: Come on. - I think I need a lawyer.

Narrator: With Greene now threatening to cut off the interview,

things weren't looking good for Detective Day,

who still didn't have any evidence

proving that the ex-con was responsible

for Alyce's murder.

Day: The way he was not being cooperative with talking to me,

I figured he would not consent.

But I then asked him if he would consent

to me taking his DNA,

and he agreed.

So he allowed for me to swab the inside of his cheeks

and take a saliva sample and that ended that contact.

I was ecstatic, you know?

This was gonna be the turning point.

Narrator: If Charles's DNA matched the blood

found in Alyce's stolen car,

Detective Day felt he'd have enough evidence

to make an arrest and finally bring

Alyce's killer to justice.

Day: Well, I submitted the DNA.

I'm waiting for this to come back.

I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas at Thanksgiving.

The blood in Alice's car was a match for Charles Greene.

I'm just like, hallelujah.

There's one chance in, like, about three million

that this is wrong.

I feel I've got this guy.

I've got the guy who was involved

in the murder of Alyce Seff.

Narrator: But sadly for Detective Day,

there was another major hurdle

to bring Charles Green to justice.

We assessed the evidence. We looked at the DNA match.

We looked at the fact that Charles Greene

had possessed her credit cards, her cell phone,

and probably had driven her car

shortly after her death.

However, we didn't have enough evidence

to put Charles Greene at the scene of the crime.

Therefore, we just didn't have the evidence

that Charles Greene had killed Alyce Seff.

Narrator: All the allegations against Green--

the murder, the credit cards,

and the stolen car--

were based upon circumstantial evidence.

Futty: Jurors tend to want physical evidence.

They watch "CSI." They want fingerprints

if they're gonna convict somebody,

so, circumstantial cases really can be tough

for prosecutors to sell to a jury.

Day: The prosecutor says, "I need more.

I need something that puts him right at the scene,

just one more little piece of evidence."

Narrator: It was a crushing blow for Detective Day.

After three years of tracking down the man

he believed was Alyce's killer,

he now had to revisit his entire case file

for any missed leads, or anything that would

indisputably place Charles Greene with Alyce

on the day she was murdered.

We reviewed the video from the tool place.

Narrator: But Charles Greene didn't enter

the tool shop that day.

Day: We look and we look, and we can't find anything

from the scene that places him at the scene.

Narrator: Detective Day had no choice but to let

Charles Greene walk free.

Soon, Detective Day's long-planned retirement date approached.

After two decades on the force,

the veteran detective was finally stepping down.

Day: It was the last case that I had

that was pending an outcome.

It is a frustrating thing because you know you're so close.

I have this victim of a violent crime,

and kind of a horrific crime.

I wanted this to come to prosecution.

I wanted it to end.

I wanted to see someone have to atone

for what happened to Alyce Seff.

Narrator: But Detective Day wasn't the only one

who wanted justice for Alyce Seff.

Prosecutor Nancy Moore was more determined than ever

to help Detective Day close the case

that he came so close to solving.

The investigators and I had put our hearts and souls

into this case for years,

and this meant a lot to us and we needed to hold

the person who had killed her accountable for her death.

We had gone to the property room

and looked through all of the property.

Narrator: They came up empty handed.

But then, they learned that Alyce's car

was still in the impound yard.

Moore: The last place we had to look,

the only place we had to go to look was the car.

Narrator: And inside Alyce's car,

investigators finally had what they needed

to get justice for Alyce Seff.

Narrator: It had been four years

since the grisly murder of Alyce Seff.

DNA results confirmed that Charles Greene

had been in Alyce's car at some point,

but the DA's office needed direct evidence

putting him at the scene of the crime,

or with Alyce on the day of her death.

Moore: We kept talking to more and more witnesses,

people who were familiar with Alyce.

Over and over people would bring up

the fact that Alyce always had receipt books with her.

Narrator: If Alyce's receipt book could be found,

would it reveal exactly who she had been in contact with

on the day she was murdered?

Moore: We had gone to the property room

and looked through all of the property.

There were no receipt books there.

We went through everything we had.

But the last place we had to look was the car.

Narrator: Four years after it had been collected as evidence,

Alyce Seff's car was still parked

at the Columbus police impound lot.

Moore: The detective began looking though the vehicle.

Narrator: They spent hours pulling out

everything in the car and examining it closely.

Moore: It was difficult because Alyce's car very dilapidated.

Finally, our investigator found the receipt books.

If she paid a handyman to work for her in cash,

she would write a receipt out to herself,

put the amount on it and have the handyman sign that

and usually he wrote his phone number on that receipt as well.

He handed me the receipt books and I was ecstatic.

There was a receipt right on top

written to Charles Greene

and it was written on July 1st, 2008,

four days before Alyce was murdered.

The receipt book showed that he was working for Alyce,

he was in close contact with her

near the time of the crime.

Narrator: Contrary to what Charles Greene told Detective Day.

Day: Did you work for her that summer?

I don't know, she was in the hospital,

I haven't worked for her in a while.

Narrator: Investigators now had proof that Charles Greene

saw Alyce just four days before her murder.

And then when we started looking closer

at the receipt books,

we compared the telephone number

that we found for Charles Greene

and Alyce's telephone records

and we found that the last call Alyce received

before she died was from the number that Charles Greene

had written on the receipts.

Narrator: Alyce's phone records proved

that Charles Greene spoke to Alyce

mere hours before her death.

Now we could finally put him with Alyce Seff

on the date when Alyce was murdered.

We decided that we finally had enough to go ahead

and indict the case.

Narrator: Investigators began to piece together

exactly what happened to Alyce Seff.

Moore: Alyce went in to Murray Tool

to get some clippers sharpened.

The last video we have of her

is walking out of the store alone

carrying those clippers in her hand.

We realized then that it was likely

that those trimmers were the murder weapon.

Day: I imagine that probably Charles Greene called Alyce

asking for work, and she agreed.

Moore: We believe Alyce picked him up as she usually did,

driven him to the scene,

gone to the backyard with him,

and gave him the trimmers that she just had sharpened

at Murray Tool.

The building where this occurred at was vacant.

No one was there.

Moore: We believe that Charles knew

she had a large amount of cash on her.

He had the trimmers in his hand.

He probably caught her in an opportune time

when she was in a position

where she was extremely vulnerable.

He hit her over the head with those trimmers,

causing the blood to be sprayed on the wall

in the backyard.

Narrator: The blow probably knocked Alyce unconscious,

but it didn't kill her.

Greene covered up Alyce's face with an old shirt,

bound her hands, and then stole her money,

cell phone and car keys.

Then he needed to hide the body.

He probably panicked. He saw the wishing well.

He put the body in that decorative wishing well,

where he "buried" the body

underneath the cushions

that he used to try to hide her.

Narrator: Then Greene fled the scene in Alyce's car.

On January 6th, 2017, almost nine years after

the murder of Alyce Seff,

Charles Greene's murder trial began.

He was charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping,

and aggravated assault.

The trial lasted seven days.

Moore: After the jury deliberated,

they returned a verdict of guilty of murder,

aggravated robbery, and kidnapping.

Narrator: Charles Greene was sentenced to 15 years to life.

Moore: In this case, justice was delayed but it wasn't denied.

Alyce finally, they think, was at peace at that point.

Day: There had been a lot of people

that got involved in this case,

but I was there from the very beginning, you know?

I helped pull her out of that well,

and when I heard Charles Greene was found guilty,

I was ecstatic, it was great.

Sonia: Thanks to that wonderful detective

who did not give up on the case.

I admire him so much,

because that case would have been a cold case, never solved.

Debra: I think that people need closure

and I think that the Columbus Police Department,

and the prosecuting attorneys

finally gave closure to Alyce.

To me, she was just a nice, friendly lady,

and that's the way I want to remember her.