Original subtitles

A popular and fun-loving college student.

Mindy was a very bubbly person.

She always seemed to be happy.

She had a light in her eyes, and she accepted everyone.

Is found savagely murdered in her apartment.

There was a belt wrapped around her neck,

and appeared to be a broken off-knife

still stuck in her throat.

Police need to determine,

was this a sinister obsession?

He had called and left numerous messages

on her cell phone.

Just really a strange type of relationship.

A crucial piece of evidence.

There was some material under the fingernails

of her left hand.

Shines a light on a dangerous predator

no one saw coming.

I was very shocked, I think everybody was.

He was not the man we thought he was.

I don't think I would ever expect that outcome at all.

I remember trying to call Mindy a few times,

and she wasn't answering,

so me and my friend Danielle drove, and parked in front

of her apartment across the street.

I ran inside, and knocked on the door,

and there was no answer, but it wasn't locked,

and so I opened the door and I stepped in,

and about two steps in, I saw something on the ground,

right in front of my feet.

It was Mindy,

and then I noticed something around her neck.

Horrified, Mindy's friend rushes outside

to call 9 1 1.

About 10 minutes before 9:00 that night,

dispatch called me at my house,

and said that they got a hysterical caller on the phone.

I got the address, and it was one block from my house.

When I have arrived, both Danielle

and Toni were very distraught, very upset.

The apartment was located on the second floor

of the building.

As I entered, I could smell a very strong order,

like an ammonia disinfectant.

The body of the victim was

laying across the entry hallway.

And it appeared her throat had been half cut open.

Detectives begin their investigation,

and identify the victim

as 22-year-old college senior, Mindy Morgenstern.

I knew Mindy.

She was a student at the college.

I had seen her at a lot of their events,

and to see that it was her,

I was really surprised, and quite shocked.

There was a belt wrapped around her neck,

and appeared to be a

broken off knife, still stuck in her throat.

It appeared that the belt was applied to the neck

prior to the neck being cut.

Investigators find an empty bottle

of disinfectant beside the body.

Somebody had poured the disinfectant over her body,

possibly trying to destroy any type of evidence.

The killer tried to cover their tracks,

but investigators find something they missed.

There was some material under the fingernails

of her left hand, where possibly,

Mindy had scratched her assailant.

We felt that this was gonna be a DNA forensic type case,

based on the materials that were found

under Mindy's fingernails.

And to preserve that, the hands are placed

in bags for autopsy.

She had a purse around her right arm.

Her wallet was laying just outside of the purse.

It didn't appear that they'd been gone through,

or anything removed from them.

There was clean laundry around the body

in a laundry basket.

It almost appeared as if she was attacked

as she was going in the door with that laundry.

It did not look like the apartment had been ransacked,

or gone through, so it didn't appear that theft was a motive

in this killing.

There was no sign of any forced entry into the apartment.

It told us that the person was either in her apartment,

or followed her in.

Her cell phone was located, and the first missed call

on that phone was at 12:47 PM

on September 13th.

That gave us some indication

as to what time the attack may have occurred.

By 10:00 PM, more than nine hours

after the first missed call,

detectives have little to go on as they work

into the night at the crime scene.

When we first left the scene the following morning,

we had no clear indication of who may have done this.

Police reach Mindy's sister

to inform her of the murder,

and she delivers the tragic news to her parents.

Front doorbell rang, and I said, "Who's there?"

And Rebecca, our daughter, she said, "It's me, Dad.

I've got some bad news."

And then Rebecca said to me that,

"Mom, Mindy is dead."

It was just like somebody taking a knife,

and just sticking it right into your heart.

I just wanted to try to just say, "No, this isn't real.

This didn't happen."

I didn't want it to be true.

She had such a loving, loving heart,

and I loved her very much.

Born in Bogota, Colombia on April 29th, 1984,

Mindy was adopted as a baby by Valley City farmers,

Larry and Eunice Morgenstern.

The first time I saw Mindy, she had the biggest, darkest,

most beautiful eyes that I had ever seen.

It was pretty, pretty, very amazing to see this little,

little character in a basket that she brought home

to be part of our family.

Mindy was the youngest

of four Morgenstern children,

three of them adopted by Larry and Eunice.

Mindy was very much a tomboy, and as she grew up,

she got so beautiful.

She didn't really realize that she would be looked upon

as somebody that would turn boys' heads.

After high school, Mindy moved

to Valley City, and dove headlong into college life.

She just seemed to enjoy all the friends

that she had there.

Mindy was a very friendly, outgoing, bubbly person.

She just always seemed to be happy.

She had a light in her eyes, and she accepted everyone.

Mindy's future was looking bright,

until the stunning attack that cut her down in her prime.

It was very difficult

to see Mindy's body

in the condition that it was in when we found her.

I wanted to find out who did this,

because she was loved by a lot of people in our community.

Back at the crime scene,

Mindy's two friends tell detectives they weren't

the only ones to see Mindy's body.

When Toni found Mindy at the scene, she screamed,

which alerted a man in a neighboring apartment

to come out to see what was wrong.

He was there when I first entered the apartment complex,

and they showed me where Mindy was located.

He told investigators that he checked for pulse,

using the back of his hand, to not leave any fingerprints

on the victim.

It was a little odd, because people don't describe things

like that, like using the back of their hand

so they don't leave fingerprints, and things like that.

If he was there to help, I couldn't understand

why he'd be worried about something like that.

Police identify the man as Robert Lynds,

and soon notice a telling detail about him.

He had scratches on his hands that would correspond

to someone trying to get your hands off of them

when they were being attacked.

Had Mindy scratched Robert

as she fought for her life?

Robert Lynds having those scratches,

being in the same building,

he certainly needed to be looked at.

A lot of times, a person at the crime scene is the person

that committed the crime,

and any evidence of them is found,

they have an excuse for saying why it was there.

Coming up,

detectives uncover a world of secrets.

It turned out upon checking his background,

that he had a felony record.

And as they zero in on a killer.

I was absolutely certain we had the right guy.

A stunning setback turns the case on its head.

I just thought it's all over with now.

They're gonna let him go.

This case was a shock to everybody.

When we found out who the person was,

it was just, wow.

Police, investigating the murder

of 22-year-old college student Mindy Morgenstern

have just identified their first suspect,

her neighbor, Robert Lynds.

When officers met Robert Lynds,

they noticed some scratches on his hands.

And he also used the back of his hand

to see if she was deceased or not.

His concern was he didn't want to leave any fingerprints

or DNA in the apartment,

because he had nothing to do with the incident.

Suspicions aroused, police bring Robert Lynds

into the station for an interview.

All he knew about her is that she was a pretty girl,

and that she lived in the apartment building.

When investigators dig into Robert's history,

they find something troubling.

It turned out upon checking his background

that he had a felony record.

Robert Lynds was in the criminal system out in California.

He's street smart, and he knew not to leave

fingerprints at a crime scene.

Detectives ask Robert how he got

the scratches on his hands.

He claimed he worked at a place where they built

steel buildings, and stuff like that,

and he got the bruises on his hands from his job.

Police cut to the chase,

and ask Robert where he was on the day Mindy was murdered.

Robert Lynds told investigators that he had been

at at work that day from seven in the morning,

and he didn't arrive home his apartment until about 5:30.

We talked to his employer.

He did work all day.

He did work with steel,

so it's very easy for him to cut his hands.

So there was really nothing to put him at that apartment

at the time the crime occurred.

Still, police aren't ready

to rule out Robert just yet.

We asked him to provide DNA sample, which she agreed to.

While they await DNA test results,

police canvas Mindy's neighbors.

We were looking for anybody that might have seen

something, heard something, so we can get a better timeline

as far as when this might've happened.

While going door to door,

investigators are pleased to see a familiar face.

As I was collecting statements outside, I saw Moe Gibbs.

He had been living in the apartment building

with his wife, and step-daughter.

Moe works at the Barnes County Jail,

and due to the fact that he was a correctional officer,

I would run into him quite often while he was working,

and I also knew Mo because we played

on the co-ed softball tournament together.

A guy in his position probably would be

an excellent witness if he had seen or heard anything.

Moe Gibbs said that he knew Mindy

as a person that lived in the building.

He had seen her come and go.

The investigator asked Moe if he noticed

anything unusual that afternoon.

Moe had said that he went

with his wife and step-daughter for lunch,

then came back to the apartment at about 12:45,

and started packing and loading boxes,

as he and his wife were going to be moving

out of the apartment.

He mentioned that when he went into the apartment complex,

he could smell a strong, distinct order of a disinfectant.

Other than that,

he claimed that he didn't hear or see anything.

So we were working with a timeline

between the first missed call at 12:47 PM,

and the disinfectant being smelled shortly after 1:00 PM.

So we figured she probably was deceased

prior to one o'clock in the afternoon.

To rule them out, police collect DNA samples

from Moe and the other building residents.

All the DNA samples taken during our interviews

were sent to the state crime lab.

In search of new leads,

detectives turn to Mindy's loved ones.

I just didn't think there was anybody

that would wanna do anything like that to her.

Investigators push Mindy's parents

to think hard about anyone

who might've had a problem with her.

Mindy's mother mentioned that Tony had had this boyfriend

that wasn't such a nice person.

His name was James.

I was dating James Robinson at the time,

and he was doing some bad things,

and I was taking the brunt of it,

and Mindy didn't really care for him, because she had known

that there was times that it got pretty scary.

Mindy did bring him up at one time,

something about him being on drugs or something.

Mindy was trying to get Toni to quit seeing James,

and that may give him some reason

to hold a grudge against Mindy.

This James Robinson, it didn't look like he wanted

his girlfriend, Toni, to be friends with Mindy.

She did, you know,

obviously like a friend does, "Get out."

you know, "You need to leave.

He's not a good guy.

This isn't a good relationship."

In trying to help her friend,

had Mindy made a deadly enemy?

Seemed like the attack was personal in nature.

It made me think that

maybe this guy had something to do with her death.

Investigators are hunting for the killer

of popular college student, Mindy Morgenstern.

They now suspect James Robinson, who may have held a grudge

against Mindy for trying to turn

his girlfriend Toni against him.

So James was called in to do an interview,

to see what we could glean from him.

Police asked James if he has a criminal record.

James said that he had, in the past,

had trouble with illegal drugs.

He had been charged,

but he was trying to stay out of that lifestyle.

As James talks,

detectives notice suspicious cuts on his hands.

Police press James on his whereabouts

at the time of the murder.

James told investigators that he went to do community

service from these previous charges.

He then went to a friend's house,

and went back home sometime 5:00 or later.

We checked, and it was verified that he had been

at those locations that day.

Even though James' alibi checks out,

investigators collect a DNA sample

in order to officially rule him out.

As they review evidence from the crime scene,

autopsy results arrive.

The autopsy of Mindy's body indicated that she had died

from asphyxiation, and due to the cuts to her neck.

There was no indication

that Mindy had been sexually assaulted.

Still awaiting results on DNA

collected from Mindy's fingernails, detectives turned

to her coworkers for new leads.

Mindy had been working at a restaurant

in Valley City as a waitstaff.

It was important to interview Mindy's coworkers,

and see if they knew of anyone unusual

in the restaurant that stood out to them.

There was a man that lived in a motor home

across the street from the restaurant.

Mindy told coworkers,

that he made her feel really uneasy,

and he's always in there bothering them.

So hearing that information, we decided to interview him.

Mr. Wolters didn't have any ties to the area,

just kind of odd character.

He really didn't have a good alibi

for when Mindy was murdered.

Just as with previous suspects,

detectives spot a potentially damning clue.

He claimed he never bothered anybody in the restaurant

where Mindy worked, claimed he didn't know who she was.

But Mindy's coworkers tell a different story.

They all said that he was in there quite often.

Mr. Wolters would have seen her,

coming and going at least.

Would that give him a reason to follow her?

We really didn't know at that point.

Red flags were waving, of course,

but I was real careful not to jump to any conclusions

too early on in the investigation.

Detectives collect Ralph's DNA and let him go,

but they're not ready to clear him just yet.

We keep him on the list.

We're hoping DNA samples, if he was involved,

would eventually tie him into it.

Two days after the murder, the wait

for answers starts to take a toll on Mindy's family.

That was a hard part, not knowing what was going on,

and what happened, and why.

It was like living some place

in another world,

and you just wanted answers.

Three days into the investigation,

detectives catch a break when they find

disturbing voicemails left on Mindy's phone

after she was dead.

Detectives search the number, and discover

that it belongs to a man named Rodney Kuznia.

After Mindy had passed away, he had called,

and left numerous messages on her cell phone.

Investigators rush to find out

who Rodney Kuznia is, and why he called Mindy

after her murder.

Mindy's friends had told us about a previous boyfriend

by the name of Kyle Kuznia.

They had been very serious,

and they had broken up the prior year.

Mindy's phone indicated a lot of calls

between she and Kyle's father, Rodney.

We thought this was really odd,

because why would an ex-boyfriend's father be

so interested in Mindy?

There was some indication from Mindy's friends

that Mindy had told Rodney to quit calling.

It's been three days

since 22-year-old Mindy Morgenstern was found

brutally murdered in her apartment.

Police have a new suspect, an ex-boyfriend's father,

who left suspicious voicemails for Mindy after her death.

It just was really odd

why Mindy's ex-boyfriend's father

was leaving these messages,

why he was so infatuated with her,

and obviously he had feelings for her.

Eager to learn more about Mindy's communication

with Rodney, detectives start by questioning his son, Kyle.

Kyle was Mindy's ex-boyfriend,

and Mindy, I think, still had feelings for Kyle.

It was found that Kyle had broken off his relationship

with her a year before,

and was planning to get married to someone else,

and had really had

very little contact with Mindy

since that time that they had broken up.

After verifying that Kyle was working

out of town on the day of the murder,

detectives turn their questions

to his father's relationship with Mindy.

It was actually ruining his relationship with his father,

because Rodney was so involved with Mindy still.

Rod Kuznia had an almost unhealthy amount

of contact with Mindy, and then that continued

even after Kyle and Mindy broke up.

The calls were very frequent, like, multiple times daily,

and it really made us wonder,

did Mindy want him to quit calling her?

Did that make him angry?

Detectives bring Rodney Kuznia

in for an interview.

He was at least in his 50s, and we weren't sure

what it was that he wanted out of Mindy.

Detectives press Rodney about the messages

he left after hearing of Mindy's death.

It was just really

a strange type of relationship

between a man that was her boyfriend's father and her.

Detectives press Rodney on his whereabouts

at the time of the murder.

Rod Kuznia indicated that he was working on his farm

with his two sons from seven in the morning,

till early in the evening.

We checked and verified that yes,

he had been at work that day.

Detectives collect DNA from Rodney,

but with nothing concrete against him, they must let him go.

We still thought that it was such an odd relationship,

that we've certainly wouldn't close the book

on looking at Rodney any further.

The pressure to find

Mindy's killer only increases,

as the community becomes gripped by fear.

It was super scary, because you didn't know who it was.

It could have been anybody.

You were scared to go out by yourself.

You were scared to do anything.

It wasn't safe, little Valley City anymore.

Six days after the murder,

Mindy's funeral draws hundreds of mourners.

We had the funeral at a

high school gym, because

we didn't think that everybody could fit

into the church while there was over

500 people at the funeral, and the police told us

they would have some undercover agents watching,

because they didn't know for sure if this person was,

you know, after her, or after us.

And you get kind of paranoid of anything like that happening

until they finally catch the right person.

The day after Mindy's funeral,

investigators receive surprising news from the crime lab.

The state crime lab called,

and said that we have a positive match

of the DNA.

The DNA extracted from under the fingernails

of Mindy matched an unsolved brutal sexual assault

in Fargo two years previously.

And when we found out who the person was,

it was just kind of silence.

The news was a shock.

One week after the murder

of 22-year-old Mindy Morgenstern,

detectives received DNA test results

that turned the case on its head.

The DNA from every one of the suspects,

Kuznia, Wolters, Lynds, and the others all came back

as not a match to the DNA found

under Mindy's fingernails.

I asked, "Who is it?"

They told me it was Moe Gibbs.

When they got the match, it was just, wow.

The DNA match of Moe Gibbs is really unexpected for us.

I knew him personally.

He was a correctional officer,

and it really caught me off guard that somebody

in the law enforcement community would have done

something like this.

When detectives look deep

into Moe's background, they discover a hidden past.

Moe Gibbs was not the man we thought he was.

When we started digging into his background,

we had found out that he'd actually changed his name.

We found out that he was involved in a drive-by shooting,

and he had served five years in prison.

Also, his DNA matched this reported rape in Fargo

from two years previously.

Given Moe's violent criminal past,

detectives come up with a strategy

to lure him into the station.

We had called Moe, and asked him if he would be willing

to come in, just to eliminate him as a suspect.

We were playing on his friendship with law enforcement.

The idea was to get them in, lock him in to a story,

and then immediately give them a polygraph.

Moe Gibbs, who lived in the apartment building

that Mindy lived in, and he said that he had seen

her around, but he really didn't know her at all.

Moe said that he had worked at the jail

the previous night, had gotten home

about seven in the morning, and then he started packing

and loading boxes out of the apartment.

Scratches were observed on Moe's hands,

and Moe stated that he got those scratches

from moving boxes.

The polygraph operator asked him if he'd ever been

in Mindy's room, or in her apartment.

He stated that she was trying to carry

a laundry basket, and some other things

all at the same time, and he assisted her in carrying

that laundry to her apartment.

I'm thinking that he wanted to have an excuse

for having evidence in that apartment.

With Moe's story in place,

the polygraph can begin.

At the conclusion of the polygraph examination,

the examiner felt that there was

some indication of deception.

At that point, we didn't think

that he was really gonna ever admit to anything,

at least that day.

He was arrested immediately after that interview,

and charged with murder.

News of Moe's arrest opens a floodgate

of shocking accusations.

A number of female inmates in the jail

where Moe Gibbs worked came forward and said.

'He's been doing sexual stuff to us in the jail

for weeks or months."

Moe is charged with six felonies

for the sexual assaults,

and one count of first degree murder.

It was a very, very much a shock

when they revealed who was arrested.

I was very surprised, and very shocked,

due to the fact I knew him personally,

but it was a great feeling to get the person

who had done this horrific crime.

We went to trial in Minot, North Dakota, provided evidence

to the jury there about the DNA under her fingernails,

the scratches on his hand.

Despite the evidence against him,

Moe's lawyers mount a strong defense.

Their argument was the DNA found

in Mindy's fingernails was probably touched DNA

that she got from door knobs

that Moe Gibbs had been touching.

I went into the jury deliberations believing strongly

that we'd proved our case beyond a reasonable doubt.

On July 12th, 2007, the jury returns

to the courtroom with news that takes everyone by surprise.

The jury deliberated for a fair period of time,

and came back as a hung jury,

and could not reach a decision.

We were so sure

he was gonna go down,

but they just got him off.

You kind of went home and you were thinking,

what are we gonna do now?

Corrections officer Moe Gibbs has just been

tried for the murder of 22-year-old Mindy Morgenstern,

but when the verdict comes back a hung jury,

Mindy's loved ones are left fearing the worst.

I was very shocked.

I think everybody was.

I don't think I would ever expect that outcome at all.

When we heard it was a hung jury, I just thought

it's all over with now.

They're gonna let him go.

Was it possible that Moe had not killed

Mindy after all, or was a murderer about to go free?

When a hung jury like that happens,

it's extremely disappointing and hard to understand

for people, because it's just a temporary setback.

I was absolutely certain we had the right guy.

In the Minot trial, the defense,

the one thing they really hung

their hat on was that trying to say it was just touched DNA.

We felt it was obvious that to get DNA

under your fingernails, it wasn't from touching

any kind of doorknob.

So we wanted to totally rule that out,

and we're able to find another expert to help us do that.

On October 22nd, 2007,

more than a year after Mindy's murder,

Moe Gibbs goes on trial for the second time.

The expert described this as a vigorous assault.

The amount of DNA was not from touching a doorknob

or a laundry basket.

The prosecution lays out further evidence,

carefully building the case against Moe.

Moe Gibb's phone was seized after his arrest,

and there were never times when he went for an hour

or more that he was not texting,

or doing something with his phone.

He got off at seven in the morning from his shift,

and he was continually either emailing or texting people

until he had to go pick up his fiance to go to lunch.

He dropped her back off from 12:30 or 1:00,

and that's when we believe he came back

to the apartment building.

Mindy's last missed call was at 12:47 that day,

and for the next two hours,

Moe Gibbs was doing something else

other than sending texts or sending emails.

With DNA

and other evidence placing Moe at the scene,

the prosecution lays out their theory of the murder.

I believe that Mindy was carrying clothes

into her apartment, and Moe Gibbs was in the hallway,

and got her in there, and pushed her on the floor,

and attempted to rape her.

I think Mindy fought back,

and things went drastically wrong.

I think what happened was he tried strangling her

with a belt, and it wasn't going as he wanted it to.

She wasn't dying fast enough,

so he got a knife, and he stabbed her,

and then when he got done, he finds a cleaning solution,

dumps it on her body,

and then he gets the heck out of there.

Then he starts back with the texting and emailing,

and went on with his life.

As Moe's second murder trial concludes,

prosecutors have one final card to play.

There was a cellmate of Moe Gibbs

while he was awaiting trial that had told investigators

that Moe had admitted to killing Mindy.

Gibbs had told them that he'd done it,

and do it again if he had the opportunity.

As the jury deliberates for a second time,

Mindy's loved ones nervously await the outcome.

And I was wondering what's going on?

I wanted to know things.

I wanted to hear what was coming out of their mouths.

On November 16th, 2007,

after deliberating for over 27 hours,

the jury returns with the verdict.

We the jury do find the defendant,

Moe M. Gibbs, guilty of the crime of murder.

For killing Mindy Morgenstern,

Moe Gibbs is sentenced to life without parole.

He got a 12-year sentence on the unsolved rape,

and 15 years on the jail sexual assaults that had happened.

It was a relief that they finally caught the person,

that he wasn't gonna be out there to do it

to somebody else again.

The fact that Moe Gibbs is gonna be in prison,

it was finally over with, we could finally go on,

and just try to get through life,

the rest of the time that we had.

Moe got what he deserved.

Because of Mindy's actions, and her strength,

we were able to get the DNA that we needed,

and that DNA helped us solve this case.

Though justice is served,

nothing can dull the pain of Mindy's loss.

Oh, I miss Mindy so much every day.

You never get over it,

but you go on, and you pray for that time

when you can see her again, up there in the heavens.

That's where I know she's at.

I like to remember her smile.

I have a picture of her on my refrigerator,

and the light just radiates from her face,

and she's so happy,

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