All language subtitles for A.U.S01E04.The Taxi [eng]

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] A woman
works alone overnight

at the Swanson Motel, but,
before morning, she'll be dead,

and the discovery
of a second victim

will shatter this
once quiet town,

drawing national attention.

- With no witnesses
and limited evidence,

it isn't long before
the case goes cold.

- [Narrator] But
it isn't forgotten.

- An officer
assigned to the case

hears about the FBI's
new profiling unit

and gets a psychological
profile made of the killer.

- [Narrator] As an
emerging science,

officers aren't sure
at first how to use it,

but, 10 years later,

Detective Rummel
reads the profile

and makes a discovery that
will blow the case wide open.

- It really takes its
toll on a community,

and, for Dickinson,

that's one crime
that never went away,

and, for the police
department, it never went away.

- [Narrator] Though
it takes over a decade

for the suspect
to finally emerge,

the Swanson Motel murders
will go on to become

a textbook example
used by the FBI

in the training in their
criminal profiling method.

(dramatic music)

- The unsolved ones,
we have to stand up.

- And approach these cases
in a way outside the box.

- Let the world know
that those out there

that did commit a
murder, you know,

there are people that
are coming after you.

- There's just a
lot of good people

trying to do the right thing.

- Because it's something

that you have to be
passionate about.

- Solve this and bring some
peace to the family at least.

I was just doing my job.

(foreboding music)
(gavel bangs)

(peaceful music)

- [Narrator] The small town
of Dickinson, North Dakota.

A mere 50 miles
from the Badlands,

it's a place of rest for
many transient workers

employed in the region's
booming oil sector.

- It was an oil boom town,

so there were a lot of
people coming and going.

The town was growing
tremendously,

so there was a lot of movement
and a lot of transients.

- [Narrator] In the early '80s,
rooms at the Swanson Motel

are typically rented on a weekly
rather than a daily basis,

given that so many
of the oil workers

are there for long
periods of time.

The motel is small and older

and located on the
main road in Dickinson.

It's a staple of the
growing community

and an example of
the economic boom

many are benefiting from.

- But something
terrible is coming,

something no one
is prepared for,

and something that's gonna
make national headlines.

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] At
approximately 7:45 a.m.

on November 16th, 1981,

a man stops by the
motel to grab a coffee

and catch up with
some of the staff

like he always does
before heading to work.

The man is surprised
that there's no one
at the front desk.

- He calls out several times.

When no one answers, he
makes his way around the desk

and he's horrified to
see the body of a woman.

- [Narrator] The man immediately
calls 911 to report it.

(foreboding music)

Patrolman Chuck Rummel
arrives on the scene

with Chief Barnhart
and Detective Rice.

Rummel, the rookie,
secures the motel entrance

while investigators go over
the crime scene inside.

- Actually, I had just
gotten back into patrol.

I was in investigation
for about six months

just about two
weeks prior to that,

and I decided investigation
wasn't for me,

not at that time anyway,
so I got back into uniform,

and so I and my sergeant
go screaming over there

and my job was to make sure

nobody else gets
into the crime scene.

- As soon as the body
is discovered, the
clock is ticking.

Investigators are working
as hard as they can

to find the person
and make an arrest.

- They went inside the building

and examined the
lady on the floor.

She had her hands
tied behind her back.

She had her legs tied,

and then the cord was
wrapped around her neck,

and as I'm outside

and those guys are in there,
processing that scene,

a car comes up to
a screaming halt

and this lady jumps out and
says, "My baby, my baby."

- The woman is Melody Lietz,

the mother of
seven-year-old Danelle,

who investigators discover

spent the night with her
grandmother at the motel.

Detectives have only
started combing the scene

when they discover
a second body.

Melody's daughter
Danelle is found on a bed

in a room used by employees

working overnight
shifts at the motel.

She's covered with a sheet

and she too has
suffered head wounds

and appears to have
been smothered.

- You didn't talk about
your feelings back then.

You didn't talk about
how messed up this is.

You just acted like a robot.

We really talked about the case,

but not about how we
felt about the case

or the fact that an innocent
little girl was murdered.

- [Narrator] Officers
have the unfortunate task

of breaking the news
to the child's mother

who's here to pick her
daughter up for school.

- And I had to hold her back,

and I couldn't hold
her back, to be honest.

She was going to go in there.

- This is the first double
homicide Dickinson has ever had,

and police are feeling
the immense pressure

knowing a child is involved.

The town is gonna want answers

and they're gonna
want them fast.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] In the '60s,

this once-quiet town
experiences an oil boom,

but by the early '70s,
Then-Governor Art Link

predicts it's coming to an end,

only Governor Link's
prediction is wrong.

By 1981, the boom is
still going strong,

and the town of Dickinson

sees a population
increase of 7,000 people

within a few years.

With the new wells comes
new economic opportunities,

which attract many
to the region.

One result of this
population increase, though,

is an increase in crime.

- Well, you know,
transients, especially these,

would be able to make a lot
of money pretty quickly.

Along with the
transients came the drugs

and came a lot of
other bad things.

Thefts, burglaries.

You know, those guys don't
live there permanently,

so they really don't
care about the community.

(foreboding music)

- [Narrator] For Melody Lietz
and her mom, Priscilla Dinkel,

the economic boom
happening in Dickinson

is tempting enough to
uproot their lives for,

and, in the summer of 1981,

they make the 360-mile move
from Crystal, North Dakota,

where they lived most of
their lives, to Dickinson.

Melody moves with her
daughter Danelle for work,

and Priscilla finds a job
managing the Swanson Motel.

They all see this as
a great opportunity

and are happy with
their new chosen home.

- A town like Dickinson
is the last place

they would've
expected any trouble.

There's no way
they would've known

what was awaiting them there.

- The female victim
is identified as

Priscilla Dinkel, 53 years old.

In one tragic blow,

Melody has lost both her
mother and her daughter.

(solemn music)

- In spite of her grief,

it's imperative for detectives
to interview Melody.

If anyone had a reason to
kill her mother and her child,

she would be the one
to know it and why,

and after she takes a
moment to collect herself,

she comes up with a name,
William Thomas Reager.

- [Narrator] The day after the
murders, police arrest Reager

for drunk driving and
a suspended license.

Investigators review
the crime scene evidence

to try and paint
a clearer picture

of what may have happened.

- Priscilla is
struck in the head

and tied up with
an electrical cord.

- The most disturbing thing
investigators find is that

it appears that
seven-year-old Danelle

has been sexually assaulted.

However, this will need to
be confirmed at the autopsy.

- [Narrator] Priscilla
does not appear

to be sexually assaulted.

- The big question
here is motive.

Did the killer know the victims?

Did he know Danelle
would be here?

Was it strictly a sex crime?
Was it a crime of opportunity?

Was it financially motivated?

- How do you narrow the
field of suspects down

in a case like this

with all the strange
people in and out of town?

- Detectives explore the
theory of a robbery gone wrong.

Motel staff confirm $100 is
missing from the cash box.

- [Narrator] Investigators
question William Reager,

the man Melody accuses of
killing her mother and child.

(ominous music)
(police siren wails)

- He got a DUI the night
after, and he went up there

and he interviewed him right
then about some things,

some inconsistencies that
he had found in the case

or in his previous statement.

- Police are hopeful
that he's their man

and that they can wrap up
this investigation quickly,

but beyond Melody's hunch

that he's responsible
for the murders,

there's really no evidence

linking him to the
Swanson Motel murders.

- [Narrator] With little else
to hold William Reager for,

he is released,

and the Dickinson
police continue to
search for the killer.

(somber music)

(suspenseful music)

On the morning of November
16th, 1981, two bodies are found

at the Swanson Motel in
Dickinson, North Dakota.

The double homicide of Melody
Lietz' mother and daughter

shocks the town and
makes national news.

- Investigators respond with

a long list of
possible suspects,

but Melody is convinced that
it's a man named William Reager

that's responsible
for the murders.

- [Narrator] Reager
is interrogated

and detectives determine they
have nothing to hold him on.

He's released and the search
continues for the killer.

(solemn music)

An autopsy confirms what
investigators already suspect.

- Priscilla has
a fractured skull

and Danelle has suffered
a bruised skull.

The mark on Danelle's cheek

appears to be from a
stick from the table

that supports one of the leads.

The killer raped
her, untied her,

and then bludgeoned
her on the head.

The coroner puts
their time of death

sometime between 11:00
p.m. on November 15th

and 3:00 a.m. on November 16th.

The cause of death
for both victims is

strangulation with
an electrical cord.

- [Narrator] Investigators note

that all the weapons
used in the murder

could be found in
the motel room.

- Nothing was
brought to the scene

to suggest this
was premeditated,

meaning this was likely
a crime of opportunity,

though given the meager
amount of cash that was taken,

it's hard to believe that

the motive for the sexual
assault and murder was robbery.

- So, where do you
start, you know?

The investigators started with

the people that were
living in the motel

and they were talking with them.

- [Narrator] Investigators
interview motel guests

to see if anyone saw or
heard anything suspicious.

- Only one guest,

a man in a room near where
the young girl was murdered,

remembers hearing
anything unusual.

He described hearing a
sound like a cat meowing.

- [Narrator] Just
as the investigation

appears to be hitting a wall,

Chief Barnhart gets a report
that a witness recalls

seeing a mysterious individual
the night of the murder.

- One of the suspects we
began to look at immediately

was somebody that
had a backpack on

and was traveling through town.

- [Narrator] The
description is vague,

but the witness claims
he may have been armed.

- It turns out to
be a flimsy lead,

but investigators will
take whatever they can get,

so they start looking for

a man who fits the
witness description.

- [Narrator] In the meantime,

this double homicide
in the quiet small town

has acquired a lot of notoriety

and the attention of
the entire nation.

- On November 17th, 1981,

Chief Barnhart
addresses the press

and tells them no single
suspect has been identified,

but they're combing through
a list of potential suspects.

- [Narrator] Two people are dead

and the killer is
still at large.

People don't know if

he's passing through
town and is long gone,

or if it's one of
their own neighbors,

someone still among them.

It causes a lot of
fear and anxiety.

- To have this type
of crime happen,

particularly involving a child,

that threw everybody
into a buzz.

People got scared.

People started locking doors,

started calling things
in that were suspicious.

They took notice
and were, you know,

being very conscientious
of their surroundings.

- [Narrator]
Priscilla and Danelle

may not have been residents
of Dickinson very long,

but given their
involvement at the motel,

they're now known by
many in the community.

Priscilla Dinkel is born
on January 5th, 1928

and marries Frank Dinkel.

- Investigators interview
immediate and extended family.

It becomes clear that
no one close to them

could be a suspect.

The search for
the killer widens.

- One particular
piece of evidence

that investigators
are hoping to get

is a fingerprint
found on the door jamb

from the door behind
the front desk.

- They actually cut the frame
and preserve the fingerprint.

- The entire motel staff

is fingerprinted for
elimination prints.

Many of the prints
found in the crime scene

belong to staff or those
permitted access to the area.

(foreboding music)

- [Narrator] But the
print from the door jamb

doesn't belong to
any of the staff.

It belongs to someone else.

Perhaps the killer leaves it

when he places his hand
on the door to the back

where the child is sleeping.

By December, investigators
still have not

named a single suspect.

The case has heavy
national attention

due to the graphic
nature of the murders.

- Chief Barnhart announces that

the state crime lab in
Bismarck, North Dakota

is evaluating all the
fingerprints and other evidence

obtained from the crime scene,

but it's important
to remember that

DNA testing in the early
'80s is an emerging science,

and it is now readily available

or used in police departments.

The fingerprint evidence

and the possibility
of an eyewitness

is their best chance of
narrowing in on a suspect.

- [Narrator] Investigators
finally catch up with

the man they believe
a witness saw

the night of the murder on
Highway 22, the mystery suspect.

- We actually did find that
person in another state

like about a week later,

and investigators
talked with him,

but he had nothing
to do with it.

He wasn't even near that area.

(ominous music)

- Any time an
investigator is assigned

to the detectives division,

they are assigned to
the Swanson murder case

in the hope that a
fresh set of eyes

will bring some new
perspective to the case.

- [Narrator] In February, 1982,

Detective Jackie Martin
is assigned to the case.

- She's heard about the
FBI's new profiling unit

and contacts them
in the hopes that

they will develop
a psychological
profile of the killer,

but the technique is still new

and detectives don't know
how to read it properly.

More suspects need
to be interviewed.

Meanwhile, Detective Jim Rice

continues to send evidence
to police departments

in labs across the
country in the hopes that

they'll get a hit
on their databases.

- [Narrator] Then,
in November, 1983,

police think they may have
finally caught a break.

A man is arrested in Texas

and confesses to over
100 murders across
the United States.

- But when questioned about

Priscilla and
Danelle's killings,

he said he had no involvement.

- There were a couple serial
killers that were brought up,

and the trouble was, you know,

they weren't in the area.

They were taken care
of pretty quickly.

I mean, as far as they
couldn't have done it.

You feel defeated.

You know, you feel
like, "What did I miss?"

It haunts you.

That's the cases that haunt you.

You go to bed and you go,

"What could I have
done different?"

- [Narrator] The case goes
cold and gets shelved for now.

(somber music)

(suspenseful music)

Following the double homicide

of Priscilla Dinkel
and Danelle Lietz,

detectives canvas motel guests,

but no one remembers seeing or
hearing anything suspicious.

A fingerprint is
lifted from the scene,

but there are no
hits in the system

that is trying to
match the print.

The FBI's head of the new
criminal profile division

agrees to help with the case

and creates a criminal
profile for the killer,

and when a serial killer
is caught in Texas

who claims responsibility

for over a hundred
murders nationwide,

Dickinson detectives are hopeful

that they finally
caught their man,

but the serial killer denies

having anything to do with
the Swanson Motel murders.

The case goes cold
and gets shelved.

It's now March, 1987, and
while the case has gone cold,

it remains open,

with investigators
following any new leads

they can afford the time on.

The once quiet town of Dickinson

has not forgotten
the brutal killings,

nor have they forgotten
that, somewhere out there,

a killer still walks free,

possibly even someone they
know in their own community.

In February, 1989,

Paul Bazzano becomes the
new Dickinson police chief.

- In July, 1990,

due to the high profile nature
of the Swanson Motel murders,

the police commissioner
tasks Chief Bazzano

with solving them.

The public is hopeful
that, with a new chief,

the killer might finally
be brought to justice.

They assume that,

although some money was
missing from the crime scene,

robbery wasn't the motive.

Because there are no signs of
forced entry into the motel

and no evidence suggesting
that the victims sought help,

investigators conclude that
the suspect knew his victims.

- [Narrator] Bazzano assigns

the original responding
patrolman, now detective,

Chuck Rummel to head this case.

- The chief wants
Detective Rummel

to study the case intimately,
more than anyone has before.

- So, every investigator kind
of looks at it differently,

and, so with me, I started
from the very beginning.

I said, "Okay, I'm going
to start from ground zero,

which means I start from

those people that lived
in that hotel again.

I'm gonna start with them again

and I'm gonna process each
one more thoroughly, I hope."

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] Detective
Rummel can barely get

the three foot by four
foot cabinet drawer open

because the paperwork
is spilling out.

He has his fair share
of work cut out for him.

- The Swanson Motel
has been torn down,

so Rummel relies on
crime scene photographs.

He has a thick file
of over 90 suspects,

which includes serial killers
from across the country.

He decides to start
from ground zero.

He reads everything
in the case file.

- [Narrator] Detective Rummel
is a few months into the case

when he's sitting at
his kitchen table,

reviewing Douglas' FBI
profile of the killer.

- So I read it, I
read the profile,

and I reread it and I reread it,

and just said, "Okay, which
suspect does this fit?"

And I eliminated right off
the bat about all down to 10.

So I went from 90 to 10,

and I continued to study it
and looked through the files,

and I got down to two.

Bill Reager was one of 'em.

- From a list of
over 90 suspects,

the FBI profile appears
to fit William Reager,

the man Melody first accuses

of killing her
mother and daughter.

- [Narrator] Rummel
tracks down Reager's wife

and questions her
on his appearance.

- He knows from the profile

that the killer would
have changed his looks

after the murders.

- So I asked his wife,

"Did Bill change his
appearance in any way?"

And she said, "Yeah."

Immediately, she said, "His
hair was always jet black,

and when I saw him a couple
weeks after this thing happened,

his hair was gray, just gray."

- She also states that he
stayed around Dickinson

for about a month
after the murders.

This, along with other matching
pieces from the FBI profile,

encourages Rummel that
he's on the right track.

- I already had four
items on that profile

that were accurate.

Now I gotta dig
deeper, you know?

And so I continue to
dig into the profile.

- [Narrator] William
Reager is born

in the town of Beach,
North Dakota in 1942.

He and his family moved
to Bismarck in 1948.

Reager experiences a
tumultuous upbringing.

He begins elementary school the
year before his family moves

and is known for

often getting into
fights on the playground.

In one incident,
some of the kids

tie a rope around his waist

and hoist him to the
top of the flagpole.

Reager only finishes to
grade 11, and soon after,

he joins the military.

While he's stationed in
Germany on January 18th, 1964,

his mother is killed
by a drunk driver.

William flies home
for her funeral.

After the army, William
moves to Dickinson

and lives there
for several years.

In 1970, he's sentenced to a
year at the state penitentiary

on a burglary charge.

While in jail, his wife
at the time divorces him.

After his release in March,
1971, he returns to Dickinson.

He makes his living driving a
cab and working for the city.

Though Dickinson
police know of him,

he avoids trouble with
the law during this time.

- At the time of
the 1981 murders,

he is still driving a cab.

He's also living at
the Swanson Motel.

- As I started looking
at the other suspect,

I had two of 'em, I
kind of eliminated him.

He didn't fit some of the
profile like Bill was fitting,

and so I decided
let's stick with Bill

and let's find Bill
and let's talk to Bill.

- [Narrator] Rummel has
the records department

track down Reager

using the FBI's National
Crime Information Center.

- Anytime someone comes up in
the system, it gets recorded,

and since Reager has a criminal
record, he's in the system.

- [Narrator] Which is
how Rummel discovers that

a trooper in
Arkansas stops Reager

and runs the FBI's NCIC.

- Rummel learns that

Reager is now living in
Batesville, Arkansas,

and not only that,

he's suspected for a
homicide there as well.

- [Narrator] A decade
after the murders,

Rummel and Detective
Jerry Theison

drive down to Arkansas to
coordinate with police there

and question Reager.

On the way, Rummel
tells his partner

that he has no
plans on returning

until they find out
one way or another

if Reager is responsible for
the Swanson Motel murders.

The hunt for the truth is on.

(somber music)

(suspenseful music)

Roughly eight years after
the double homicide,

the new Dickinson police
chief, Paul Bazzano,

reopens the case.

Chuck Rummel, one of the
first responding officers

on the scene of the murder day,

is assigned the case and
asked to go over every detail.

He spends hours pouring
over files and reports,

but when he comes across
the FBI's criminal profile,

he suddenly has a revelation
of who the killer is.

Rummel believes the man Melody
Lietz suspected back in 1981

fits the profile,
William Reager.

Rummel tracks Reager
down and discovers

he's living in a small
town in Arkansas.

With the cooperation
of local police,

he may have a chance

to finally interview
his primary suspect.

Rummel's plan is to
coordinate with local police

and arrest Reager on
a polygamy warrant.

- Reager has two wives,

the one that Rummel
spoke to on the phone

who was with him after Dickinson

and a more recent second
wife down in Arkansas.

As the two detectives
cross state lines,

they discuss theories of

how Reager may have
committed the murders.

- [Narrator] The
detectives speculate that,

because Reager is
living at the motel,

Priscilla is used to
seeing him come and go

and would have thought
nothing of him being there

that late at night.

- Since there are no indications
that there was a struggle,

he could have gotten close
enough to strike her.

(tense music)

Which is something a stranger
likely couldn't have done.

- Once Reager incapacitates
Priscilla, he moves on to

the sleeping child in
the back of the bedroom,

and after he's done
the unthinkable,

he returns to Priscilla
to finish her off

and make sure there
are no witnesses.

The day after detectives
Rummel and Theison arrive,

sheriffs in a small nearby
Arkansas town pick Reager up

and hold him in their office
under arrest for polygamy.

The night that the
Dickinson detectives arrive,

their Arkansas hosts
catch them up to speed

on the local murder
Reager is suspected of.

(tense music)

- In 1988, Della
Harding is home alone

when Reager allegedly breaks
in and strangles her to death.

He then puts her in the
trunk of her own car,

dumps her in a nearby creek,

and then abandons
the car nearby.

Arkansas Detectives learn that

Reager drives by
that house every day

going to and from work.

- [Narrator] After comparing
notes, the detectives see

a similar profile emerging
for these murders.

- It's another elderly
woman known to the killer.

Though, in this case, there
is no sexual assault motive.

- [Narrator] Arkansas
detectives allow Rummel

to take a first crack
at interviewing Reager.

Rummel is nervous,
but he thinks back to

an earlier conversation
he has with Jud Ray,

the FBI profiler who's taken
over the case from Douglas.

- And he told me,
he said, you know,

"When you interview
Bill, take your time.

Just go over, you know,
just don't push him,

don't push him, and
he'll talk to you,

but plan on a couple
days of interviewing.

Interview him for a couple
hours, then let go, you know,

and take it real easy,

'cause he wants to talk to
you and he really wants to.

His conscience really
still will bother him

about what he did to
that little girl."

- [Narrator] After years
without a break in the case,

detectives finally have

the opportunity to
interview a suspect.

Rummel is convinced
Reager is the killer,

but he'll need to remember

his training and
Agent Ray's advice

if he hopes to get a confession.

- Reager's nervous,
but seems cooperative.

However, once Rummel brings
up the Swanson Motel murders,

Reager denies having
anything to do with them.

Rummel knows that
it may take time

to break the suspect down.

He does something he's never
done before in an interview.

He reveals the FBI
profile to Reager.

- I said, "Look at this, Bill.

Look at what the
FBI says about you."

And he goes, "What?"

You know, and so I
went over it with him,

and during the
interview, I said,

"You know what's bothering you?

It's the fact that you did what
you did to that little girl.

That's what's bothering you."

Because the profile itself said

he feels justified with
what he did with grandma,

but not to the little girl.

That's why he covered her up.

I said, "But, Bill,
we're gonna have to get,

you know, some closure here.

You're gonna have to
tell me what you did."

And he looks down and he says,

"Okay, you want me to
tell you I did it?"

He holds up his hands

and he says, "I did
it," just like that.

He just says, "I did it."

And I said, "Thank you, Bill.

Now, let's talk about the case.

Let's talk about the details."

And he told us. He
told us everything.

He just flat-out confessed.

- [Narrator] Reager
tells detectives that,

on November 15th, 1981,

he had dinner with Priscilla,
Melody, and Danelle.

Priscilla had cooked
for a dozen people,

many of whom were residents
of the Swanson Motel.

- Reager confesses he
returned to the office later

to talk to Priscilla
about dating Melody,

but when Priscilla refused
to help him, he grew agitated

and struck her.

(tense music)

He says he was upset with Melody

and that's when he
saw her daughter

sleeping in the back room.

- [Narrator] Reager
is meticulous

in the details of his account,

noting what the victims were
wearing, the weapons he used,

including the piece of wood
and the electrical cord,

even recalling the missing items

like the picture of the victims

and the platter
hanging on the wall.

- However, when it comes time

to confess to the
rape of a child,

he clams up and
doesn't want to talk.

The FBI profile indicates that

he is ashamed of
the sexual assault,

so this isn't a
surprise to detectives,

but they aren't happy
with half a confession.

- 'Cause when I asked
him what he did, he said,

"I sexually assaulted
a little girl."

That's as far as I could go,

where Jerry goes, "You gotta
tell us exactly what you did."

- [Narrator] Finally,
Reager breaks down

and shamefully admits
to raping a child.

As the detectives rise to
leave, Reager thanks them.

In total, the confession
has only taken

90 minutes to obtain.

- So, we're done with ours.

I come out and
I'm pretty pumped.

You know, you can imagine.

We got him and it's on tape
and all that kind of thing.

So we go out, and they
asked me a couple questions,

and I said, "If you've
got things on him,

he's ready to talk."

- [Narrator] With
Reager's taped confession,

Dickinson detectives pass him on

to Arkansas detectives
for questioning.

- The Arkansas detective

employs a much different
interview approach.

Reager refuses to talk
or offer any information

and the detective
presses the conversation.

- [Narrator] Nevertheless,
Arkansas police let it leak

that they have a serial
killer in custody.

Suddenly, departments all
across the nation are calling,

seeing if they can get Reager

to fit the killer
in their own cases.

- Rummel is worried
he'll lose his suspect

and it could be years before
this case goes to trial.

He calls Jud Ray at the FBI,

hoping to to ensure Reager
is tried in North Dakota.

- [Narrator] But with
blood in the water

and departments all
across the country

wanting a piece of Reager,

it's anyone's guess where and
when the killer will be tried.

(somber music)

(suspenseful music)

Chuck Rummel is concerned
that, after all these years,

he may not get to try
Reager in North Dakota,

but the FBI assures him that

they want one solid conviction,

and given Reager's
willing confession

of the Swanson Motel murders,

North Dakota seems the most
likely place to try him,

but the Arkansas DA
isn't interested in

giving Reager up so easily

and wants to try
him in the state.

- The Arkansas district attorney

foolishly overplays his hand.

He calls a defense attorney
who takes Reager's case

to give him a piece of his mind,

but when he learns he's not
home, he berates his wife

for allowing her husband to
defend a man like Reager.

The defense attorney

files a restraining order
against the district attorney.

The judge set to hear the matter
calls this thing a fiasco,

and then, on September
3rd, 1991, rules that

the murder charges against
Reager have to be dropped.

- It was not pretty,
but, eventually,

we were able to get him
back up to North Dakota.

The governor, Bill Clinton at
the time, signed extradition.

- [Narrator] Rummel
escorts his prisoner

back to Dickinson, North
Dakota to be tried for murder.

The community reaction to the
news is shock and disbelief.

Reager has lived
among them for years.

Priscilla's widower,
Frank Dinkel,

even knows him from their days
of working on the oil rigs.

- I mean, it hit the
papers for like for a week.

You know, always
something about Bill.

It hit the Bismarck Tribune.

It hit Grand Forks,
Fargo, all over, you know?

It was a state
celebration kind of thing.

- [Narrator] Rummel
interviews Melody

to get a fuller picture of

Reager's connection
to the family.

Melody shares that, for years,

she's written to
her dead daughter,

telling her how much she
loves and misses her.

- Melody describes to Rummel

that she didn't like Reager

from the moment she met
him in October, 1981.

She knows that he's
romantically interested in her,

but she has no reciprocal
feelings for him.

She finds him
strange and spooky.

She recounts an incident

that happened only
days before the murder.

- [Narrator] Melody gets a
call on November 13th, 1981

that her daughter is at the
motel and crying uncontrollably.

- Danelle tells her mom that

Reager was trying to play
with her and another child.

She points to her privates to
show how they were playing.

Melody confronts Reager,

but nothing more comes
of it at this time.

Melody explains she
immediately told police

that she suspected Reager
of committing the murders.

However, police
never detained Reager

or strongly considered
him as a suspect.

- [Narrator] On
February 4th, 1992,

William Reager stands before

a Southwest Judicial
District court judge

and pleads not guilty on the
advisement of his attorney.

- And that's why we made

this big cardboard
of 10 to 12 items

that he still
remembered, including
the clothing they wore,

and the fact that, you know,

he tied 'em up with
vacuum cleaner cards,

that kind of thing.

I mean, he remembered all that,

and a lot of that wasn't even
ever, you know, broadcast.

- Unfortunately, the fingerprint

that they pulled
from the door jamb

does not match Reager's.

Additionally, the DNA
samples collected in 1981

are not usable.

- The DNA evidence was ruined

when a freezer went out years
before at the state crime lab

where the evidence was stored,
so I had nothing to go on.

I had nothing to go on. I had
the sticks that were used.

I had the clothes that
the victims were wearing.

I had those kind of things,

but I had no evidence
that could link him to it.

- [Narrator] On June 9th, 1992,

one week before Reager's
trial is set to begin,

Detective Rummel
gets an urgent call

telling him to
come to the prison

where Reager is being held.

When Rummel arrives,
he learns that

Reager has passed away in
the night while sleeping,

but Detective Rummel
has no lingering doubts

about Reager's guilt

and the confession he
willingly provided.

- Reager gives details
about the crime scene

that only the killer would know.

Everything he confesses to,
including his motive of jealousy

and his interest in Melody,

aligns with the
facts of the case.

- [Narrator] The
physical evidence

and Reager's knowledge of it

instills confidence in Rummel
that he is the right man,

but it's really the FBI profile

that's the piece that
finishes the puzzle.

- After the murders,

Reager changes his appearance
and moves around frequently.

He eventually kills again,

just like the profile
predicted he would.

In Rummel's mind, there
is no lingering doubt

William Reager is guilty of

killing Priscilla Dinkel and
her granddaughter Danelle.

Reager isn't caught due
to physical evidence

like DNA, fingerprints,
or eyewitness testimony.

Instead, he's caught by

the new method of FBI
criminal profiling.

This is one of the first
instances in the United States

where this method was used

to solve a case that had
gone completely cold.

- If nothing else,

to give some families
of victims some hope.

There are still police
departments out there that care

and there are cops out
there and investigators

that pursue these
things 'til the end

to let them know
that it could break

and to give 'em
some hope, you know?

And to make sure that

those criminals are always
looking over their shoulders.

We might be there
to get you next.

That's important. So, you
didn't get away with it.

- [Narrator] To this
day, we don't know

how many murders Reager
is responsible for,

whether the Swanson Motel
killings were his first,

and whether the Arkansas
killing was his last.

What do we do know is
that justice finally
caught up to him.

(tense music)

(dramatic music)

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