All language subtitles for At.Witts.End.The.Hunt.for.a.Killer.S01E02.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH

[somber music]

♪ ♪

PASTOR: We do pray
for Missy's safety.

We pray for her safe return.

That's what we're asking
God to give us

and hoping that he does.

We're asking that
wherever she is right now,

that somehow she senses
a peace and a strength

that comes from those
who are here.

♪ ♪

CHARLENE:
People are just, you know,

they're in their
thoughts and prayers.

This family,
how are they holding up?

Are they hopeful still, or...

PASTOR:
Yeah, they are hopeful.

And I don't blame them.

I--I would be hopeful too.

In fact, I am hopeful.

It's hard not to think
sometimes,

in other realms,
but they're maintaining hope.

FRIEND:
I know prayer is the one thing

that is gonna change
this whole situation,

and it's the one thing

that's keeping me sane,
that's keeping me from--

keeping my mind straight,
really, the one thing.

And, you know, just--
just knowing that

God is in control
of the situation is--

is what's keeping us
optimistic.

♪ ♪

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

[clicking, whirring]

[pensive music]

♪ ♪

[clicking]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

FRAN: It is a heart-wrenching
day today for the family

of 19-year-old Melissa Witt.

ANCHOR: Family members are
hoping against hope

that the body found
in Franklin County

this morning is not Melissa's.

A local trapper
apparently found the body

of a young white female
early this morning

in the Ozark National Forest.

Fort Smith Police drove
to a wooded area

near the Mulberry River
around 9:30,

but they could not positively
identify the body.

However, the dental work
appears to match

that of the popular
Westark college student

who has been missing
since December 1st.

A police chaplain broke
the news to Melissa's mother

and drove her home from work.

No positive identification
has been made.

The state medical examiner
arrived on the scene

just moments ago to take
the body back to Little Rock

to determine if it's Melissa's

or some other
young white female.

Standing by outside of
Melissa's home in Fort Smith

is Charlene Shirk,
who has talked with

Melissa's mother
throughout this long ordeal.

Is there anything new that you
can add to this, Charlene?

- Wilbur,
we're outside of the home,

just in case
Mrs. Witt does receive

any additional information.

But at this time, there is
no positive identification.

Now, as you can see behind me,
family and friends

have already begun
to gather at the home

to show their support
as the community

and as they have done
throughout this entire,

as I said,
heart-wrenching ordeal.

And we've all been
wearing the ribbons

and hoping against hope.

And there is still a glimmer,

but it does seem to be
dimming at this hour.

♪ ♪

- You know,
and we got that call that--

that they found a body
and it was a female.

You know, my photographer
and I drove up there.

♪ ♪

We kind of figured, you know--

you know,
Fort Smith and this area,

it's so heavily wooded,
it's so mountainous.

You know,
there was a good chance

that if--if--if her body
had been hidden,

it was going to be
by either people hunting

or people camping.

ANTHONY:
So on January 13, 1995,

we ended up receiving a call

from the Franklin County
Sheriff's Office.

The sheriff had reported
that a trapper was out

in the woods
in the national forest

and found a deceased female
that was not clothed.

The sheriff knew that
there was no other

missing persons
in the area at the time

and could only think
of Melissa Witt.

So the sheriff calls over
down to the PD,

and now everyone's gearing up
to head out

to the--where the body
was located.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

[clicking]

[static droning]

♪ ♪

LEVI:
So it's a--what I would call

a logging road
or a forestry road

north of Ozark.

♪ ♪

Get out. Uh, wooded area.

what I would call scrub brush.

And they pointed out where
the--the body was laying.

- So you have this
U.S. Forestry Service road.

So not many people are really
going up and down there.

You have to be somewhat
familiar with the area.

- I mean, I've lived
in this area my whole life

and, you know,
I knew of Ozark, Arkansas,

but I'd never driven out
in that area

close to Franklin County up
there, which is quite remote.

So you kind of have to know
where you're going

or have to know that spot,
I guess--

at least be somewhat
familiar with the area.

I remember seeing that

the top part
of her torso was--

had decomposed,
and it had probably

been eaten by small animals,
a lot of it.

Naked, no jewelry, no watches,
no clothing on her,

and so just laying out there
by a big rock and trees around.

♪ ♪

- Part of processing
the crime scene is,

you're taking
fingernail clippings, swabs,

and all that type of stuff
from the body.

The state crime lab actually
sent one of their

investigators out there
to the scene

to assist with the collection
of evidence.

They're gonna take
soil samples.

They're gonna take the leaves
and pine needles

that were over the body
or underneath the body.

Anywhere the body
might have been,

they're gonna be
taking samples from.

Cigarette butts were found
out there, several of 'em.

♪ ♪

There was a Mountain Dew can,
napkins,

all kinds of little things
that were collected.

And it's not to say that
those items were associated

with the person who did this.

You're--you're taking anything,

whether it might be related
or not, because you don't know.

And it's better
to take everything

than leave something behind,

because it might be the thing
that breaks the case.

- Really,
there's nothing unusual,

except the way
that she was kind of--

not displayed, I guess.

Like I say,
there's animal activity

with that big rock there.

Somebody--I think somebody
knew where that rock was

or something
and something had gone on.

But there was
kind of a rock there,

kind of jutting
out of the ground.

- It looks like the body may
have been in another spot,

positioned on a rock.

There were several
large boulders,

rocks that were sticking up
out of the ground.

And it looks like the body
was moved from the rock

over to the final
resting place.

- It seemed like it would have
been more logical,

if you can apply logic
to a murderer's mind,

to put her behind the rock,
or at least try to cover her up

with brush
or something like that,

and they didn't try to do that.

So that was kind of
the unusual part of it.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- Over by the rock in question,
there was--

the ground was disturbed
and you could see

where there was tissue.

And at some point, body fluid,

you know,
from the decomposition,

was over by this rock,

and that included hair
from the scalp.

So at some point, we know
she was over by that rock

and then ended up being
moved over a little bit

away from the rock,
closer to the road.

Animals may have moved her.

You know, depending on
snowfall, rain,

all that kind of stuff,

the body could have slid off
over time

with the decomposition

and ended up in the position
that we found it in.

So that's something that
just--we can't confirm.

We don't know what happened
or why her body was--

appeared to be in one place

and then moved slightly over
to another.

It wasn't very far
from the rock,

but far enough where something
or someone had to move her.

DALE:
The body has been picked up

by the Medical
Examiner's Office,

and it's in their vehicle now,

and they're picking up
some other items

of evidence at the scene.

REPORTER: When is it gonna be
removed from this area?

- They should be coming out
in the next few minutes.

REPORTER: Where is the body
gonna go from here?

- It'll go directly
to the state crime lab

in Little Rock.

There's not been any family
members called to any scene.

The only personnel
that are on the scene here

are law enforcement personnel,
other than the witness

that actually found
the body this morning.

He has been to the scene.

- I have no knowledge of that.

- We had to wait till the body
was positively identified.

They had her dental records,

and that part of her body
was intact.

So they were able to make
an ID fairly quickly.

- The cause of death was ruled

strangulation, asphyxia.

And then the manner of death
was ruled a homicide.

And part of that is,
they're gonna test

and see if Melissa was

sexually assaulted
at some point.

There was no evidence
to support

that she was or wasn't.

Samples that were taken,
swabs that were taken

were tested,
and it may be negative on semen

that would lead you to believe
that a sexual assault occurred,

but it doesn't rule it out.

Due to the comp--decomposition
and being out in the elements,

you have the potential
of losing evidence.

- I don't remember
if I talked to Mary Ann

on the phone...

that day or that night.

I just remember having
that conversation with her.

Why didn't somebody
find her sooner?

Like, how long had
the body been there?

Or how long had
she been alive or kept

somewhere before her body
was taken there?

Why did it take 45 days later,

around that time period,
for her to be found?

And when she was found,
I mean,

it wasn't that she was buried,
right?

It wasn't that she was und--

I mean, she was right there.

So eith--somebody did a real
sloppy job of--of--of--

I hate to say
"disposing of the body."

I hate to think of her
in those terms,

but there wasn't
a big grave dug.

She was just left there,

which bothers me again
to think that--

that this young girl was
so disposable,

so dismissed in the beginning
and so disposable in the end.

And it just makes me angry.

PASTOR:
It's been tough on everybody.

It's been very,
very difficult.

It's kind of
shattered the, uh--

maybe the security thing

that we felt
we had in Fort Smith,

and it's been a very tragic
thing all around.

- When they positively
identified her,

the first phase
of that story is

having to tell that community,

a community that had been
holding its breath,

a community
that had been scared,

a community that had come
together and bonded over this.

And we had to tell them
how this had ended.

I felt a compassion,
not just for Mary Ann,

but for our entire community
in Fort Smith.

COWORKER: It's been very,
very hard for us.

And she's just
a very sweet, loving person.

And I--I just knew that--

that she wouldn't just run off
or anything.

CHARLENE: You know,
the first 24, 48 hours

were kind of
letting them down,

letting them know.

And then we had to shift
to, OK, what do we have?

You know,
who could have done this?

Again, now we've got
all these kinds of leads

and we've seen this person
or we think we saw this person.

And, you know,

what's the description
of this person?

So then--then it
kind of started that

all over again, right?

It was almost like the parking
lot all over again.

The leads end up getting cold
and drying up.

And it's something
that's never left me.

It's just absolutely
never left me.

Because as I've aged and grown,
I think about her,

and I think about what her
life would have been like,

who--who she would have
become, you know.

Mary Ann not being able
to see her graduate college

and seeing her daughter
accomplish great things

and, you know,
being at her wedding

and Mary Ann
becoming a grandmother.

Like, both women were
so robbed of that.

And as I progressed in my life
and I reached milestones,

I really did--
I've--I've thought about her.

I've--I've held on to her file
all my--my--

my file with her
missing posters and her--

and, you know, I think
it was about--just about

five years ago or so I said,

"Well, I've got to let
some of this go, you know.

"Why am I holding on to this?

I've got to let
some of this go."

PASTOR: And we don't know
how to deal with it.

I mean, you take it
one step at a time

and learn as you go,
so to speak.

CHARLENE:
Why do you think people

have responded so much
to Melissa?

I'm assuming
it's because of the kind

of daughter that you raised.

MARY ANN: Well, I think that
so many people

relate to this because they
have children themselves

and they know how it feels.

I mean, even though they may
not have gone through it,

they can imagine,
and they understand that.

And the thing I tell everyone,

the only thing I want
is--is the prayers.

I think that's the only thing
that is helping or will help.

CHARLENE:
OK. Anything else?

- I believe that's all.

I don't--I can't
think of anything.

♪ ♪

[soft music]

CHARLENE:
Even though Mary Ann is gone,

her mother is gone,
and her mother will never

have justice in this case,

it is important to still
find out who did this.

Young girls should be able
to walk out of their car

and go across a parking lot

and meet their mother
in a bowling alley.

This cannot be dismissed.

She cannot be dismissed again.

We have to be able to say,
this person did this,

and that has to be
a mark on them.

This has to--they have to have
this as part of their history.

And it has to send a message
that cases like this

are not going to be forgotten.

The police will be relentless
in finding out what happened.

This case may then lead them
to other unsolved cases,

and that's important,
because you know what?

Their mothers and parents
may still be alive,

and their friends may
still be searching for them.

And if this person is
still alive,

well, we need to stop this
person from doing this again,

from doing this to other women

to doing this
to other families.

It is never OK just
to let something go and say,

"You know what?
We'll never figure this out.

We'll never get
the answer to this."

I don't think that's ever OK.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

PERSON ON TV:
The principle that land

must not be obtained by force.

Such a policy is fodder
for the president's critics.

[person on TV speaking
indistinctly]

♪ ♪

PERSON ON TV:
But the president's problem

is not just with
the Europeans.

The Pentagon and the majority
of the American people

strongly oppose U.S. military
involvement in Bosnia.

In the end, only the Bosnians

have been willing
to die for it.

Barrie Dunsmore--

[screen ripping]

[ominous music]

[glass shattering]

♪ ♪

[fanfare playing on TV]

World News Sunday.

[person on TV speaking
indistinctly]

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

[engine rumbling]

FRAN:
I think it started '93

and it went through '95.

We had back to back serious,
serious crimes.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- It seemed like it was
a Sunday afternoon, maybe,

or something like that,
kind of--when we got a call.

Patrol had responded
to a missing persons call.

♪ ♪

FRAN:
Her name was Juanita Wofford,

an elderly woman
that I personally knew.

I lived down the street
from her, in fact.

She was much--very much
of a loner, you know.

And she lived in a house
that you really couldn't tell

if it was a house or not
because it was

so overgrown around the house.

LEVI: Two church members,
I think, reported her

not showing up for church,
which was unusual.

And they went to her house--

the patrol officers went
to her house,

noticed there had been
forced entry.

They contacted the detectives,

and the detectives
contacted us.

♪ ♪

Going to the house,

you noticed that
the screen door

had been ripped open.

The front door had been
obviously

forced open, shattered.

The door frame was
shattered open

to a lot of different pieces.

As you open the door...

♪ ♪

Lots of blood on the floor,
readily identifiable.

You could tell
there had been a struggle

in the living room area.

There was even damage
in the ceiling, blood spatters.

♪ ♪

There's so much blood
that it was difficult

to get from the living room

back to the kitchen
bedroom area

where the victim was found,
where Mrs. Wofford was found.

♪ ♪

Once you stepped through
the small living room,

there's a bedroom kitchen area.

She's on the right-hand side
of the doorway as you walk in.

She's had her shoes
and socks on

and a--like a T-shirt
or something

that was pushed up
around her neck and head.

She was laying
on her face and--

face down on the bed
and appeared

to have been sexually assaulted
and obviously deceased.

FRAN: Right inside the door
of the living room

was a pool of blood--
thick pool of blood.

And in it were drag marks.

And, I mean, you could tell
they were drag marks,

which I thought, you know,
she had been drug through it

and taken back to the bedroom.

There were no footprints
other than a little dog.

She had a dog, and its
footprints was in the blood.

At first we thought
maybe she was stabbed

with the door jamb,

you know, 'cause it was
splintered pretty bad.

She was stabbed in the neck,
the head, I think the torso.

But it was
the--the neck wound, I think,

that was the worst.

And, like I said,

she bled out right there.

There was a rag
next to the bed

that had semen on it.

But there was also urine
around the bed,

on the--the bed posts,

on the headboard,
and all around the walls.

The pieces of wall
where the urine was,

it was collected.

You know, all the bedclothing--
everything,

all that was collected

and all went
to state crime lab.

♪ ♪

I had received a call
from a woman

who had reported being raped
at one time.

She called me and she said,

"I know it's my brother
that did this,

"and I'm--we're scared.

My sister and I
are scared of him."

Contact was made.

I--you know,
I gave the information

to the group
of investigating officers

that were working
Juanita Wofford's murder.

They went and talked
to the two sisters

about Danny Bennett,
their brother,

who lived two houses
down from 'em,

which was also very close
to Juanita Wofford's house.

- Several suspects
had been developed,

and Danny Bennett was developed

kind of as a primary suspect
in the case.

There had been some
circumstantial evidence

pointing to him.

FRAN:
He would walk at night.

♪ ♪

During the day,
he'd stay home,

but at night, he'd be out
prowling all night.

He would walk up
and down those railroad tracks

that were right behind
Juanita Wofford's house.

So behind the house,
it was all searched,

the ground and everything.

And behind the house
was the railroad tracks.

And a ball cap was found,
a blue ball cap.

♪ ♪

It did not appear to have
been out there a long time.

It wasn't, you know,
filled with dirt

and just, you know, nasty
from having laid out.

So, you know, we felt like
it was maybe with,

you know,
evidence in the case.

So it was collected.

I made contact with

Danny Ray Bennett's sisters.

They were shown
a picture of the cap.

They said
that was Danny's cap.

So, you know, bingo.

You know,
we've got us a suspect.

In talking to the sisters,
they talked about

how cruel he was to animals

and how he had three dogs
that he let starve to death.

And he would beat 'em and just
terrible things, you know.

And--and then they went on
to tell me about his childhood,

how their mother would make him
sit on the corner of the bed

for hours and hours and hours.

He would have to use
the bathroom,

and he would use
the bathroom in a cup

or whatever was close

because he wasn't allowed
to get up,

and that he and his mother
had an incestual situation,

you know, and--and she
would bring men in and--

and have sex in front of him.

And she was just really mean
and cruel to him.

And they were scared of him
because he had said

that he had killed people,
had killed his ex-wife.

And, you know,
we checked all that out.

He hadn't.

But he also, you know,

carried a knife with him.

Well, Juanita Wofford
was stabbed.

We interviewed, you know,
some ex-wives

and people that knew him,

and--and he had a thing
about urine.

He would urinate on women

as part of his sexual thing.

You know,
we felt like he was very,

very strong suspect
in the case.

We wanted to talk
to Danny Bennett again,

so we picked him up again.

And he was always
very cooperative, you know.

He--we'd advise him
of his rights,

and he said he understood 'em.

And he started talking to us.

He gave us the boot knife.

He said that the tip
was broken on it,

and he didn't really remember
how the tip got broken.

In his apartment,
he had bottles of urine

all over the place.

♪ ♪

There was a door that,
in his apartment,

that looked like
just a closet door.

And I opened it up and it was--

went to a basement,
a dirt floor basement.

And there was
all these animal bones.

♪ ♪

He had a real thing for urine.

And, of course,
we collected that

and sent that
to the crime lab as well.

We were waiting on the DNA,

and we decided
to pull him back in again.

[ominous music]

I interviewed him.

He admitted he needed money.

He had used
all the money he got.

He got a disability check,
and he used all the money

and he was out looking for
something to get some money.

And that's why he decided
to--to break into her house.

And he said that
he kicked the door.

♪ ♪

She was right there,
and she was on him,

and he took his knife out,
and he stabbed her.

Then he drug her
to the bedroom.

And I said,
"Well, when you turned around

and looked back toward
the door, what'd you see?"

He said, "I saw
the big pool of blood."

And I said,
"What else did you see?"

And he went like this,
and made two marks.

♪ ♪

After he gave a statement,
he was placed under arrest

and put in jail.

♪ ♪

DNA takes a while.

You know,
it's a wonderful tool,

and it's even better now

'cause it doesn't take
quite as long.

But back then, 30 years ago,
it--it takes a while.

And so we were waiting on it,
and he was in jail.

You know, the prosecutor
was talking about,

you know, filing the charges
and--and doing, you know,

getting ready for court
and all that.

And then we get the report back
on the DNA that it wasn't his.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

And so, you know, we just--
we had to regroup.

To this day, I just really
feel like he was there.

He was not the one
that had sex with her,

but he--he was there.

♪ ♪

LEVI:
The body was found.

[ominous music]

Small metal pins
covering up blood drops.

♪ ♪

- You immediately notice
forced entry to the door,

elderly victim that had been
sexually assaulted

and raped and murdered.

That's why they called us there

is 'cause it looked like
one of our crime scenes.

♪ ♪

When Mrs. Henderson--
the incident occurred,

the Crawford County
Sheriff's Office

and maybe the state police
had been involved.

And they'd contacted us,
knew that we had

the Juanita Wofford
investigation ongoing

and it was unsolved and that--

that was an elderly
sexual assault victim

that had been murdered,
forced entry.

Basically the same crime scene,

just in a different location,
different county.

And they called us over there
to assist them

with the crime scene
investigation.

♪ ♪

PERSON: Several visual
inspections of the house

reveals blood
only in the entrance

to the bedroom
off of the living room

and in the middle bedroom.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

FRAN:
We later developed a suspect,

Charles Ray Vines.

♪ ♪

His name came to light
when he tried to kill a 16--

I think it was 16-year-old girl
in Crawford County.

- The sister to the juvenile
that was attacked

worked for me
in Central Records

there at the police
department, so.

- He broke in on her,
tried to rape her,

and he tried to kill her.

And her father came in
and took care of the problem,

and he was arrested.

- He lived near--

or knew or was aware of
the family that was there.

The father of the victim
and the mother of the victim

had left,
were gonna go eat dinner

or something or another.

Vines had went there.

The victim was a--knew him.

I don't know how well,
but was aware of him,

opened the door,

had some sort
of conversation with him,

and then was attacked.

The parents had
forgotten something

and had returned home
and of c--

found Vines attacking
their daughter.

- Him breaking in,
kicking in the door,

going in, it's similar
to Juanita Wofford.

So, you know, we really take
a look at stuff like that.

- Somebody at the crime scene
there said, you know,

that Mrs. Henderson lived
just right--you could--

I think you could see
Mrs. Henderson's place

from theirs or lived right
down the road from there,

and that he'd been living
in the location,

and they started putting
two to two together.

And that's when
all of the--the crime scenes

started adding up.

- Once Charles Ray Vines
was arrested

for that incident
in Crawford County,

blood was taken.

You know,
we were involved somewhat

in that investigation
because of the similarities.

The semen that was
found on a rag

by Juanita Wofford's bed

was sent
to the state crime lab,

and it was compared
to Charles Ray Vines.

His DNA was sent down there,
and it did--

it was positive
that it was his DNA.

REPORTER: The case of
Juanita Wofford is now over.

Charles Vines admitted
before a judge

he is guilty of beating
and stabbing

the woman to death in 1993.

The agreement was this:

police would ask
Vines questions

about unsolved cases,

including Melissa Witt,

Morgan Nick, Lori Murchison,

Dora Doe, and Juanita Wofford.

Vines tells the truth,
he gets to live.

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

[soft music]

♪ ♪

ROB: Well, this is
a more important rock pile

than that one over there.

PERSON:
Yeah, I agree.

ROB:
So we'll at least--

we'll at least do this
before that one.

Let's mark it,
put it in the priority

where you think
it's most important.

But let's clear it--

With Charlie Vines
you have a--a--

you know, at present,

looking back, we now know
he's a serial killer.

During his interviews,
he--he did say

during his interviews that
he liked to have sex with them

after they were dead.

♪ ♪

His words were, you know,

"Having sex with a dead body
was the ultimate high."

- Charlie Ray Vines worked
at a--like, a funeral home.

There were allegations
that he was

sleeping with
the deceased persons.

There were even allegations
that he was

messing with the bodies,
whether that was

actually sleeping with them
or cutting up the bodies

and putting
different people's organs

in other people's body parts.

- He's one of those outliers
where generally

a person's taken
for sexual reasons--

you know, some serial killers
will kill a person

for that reason,
whatever it is about the murder

that they get
gratification for.

Vines was like
the blending of the two.

He--he enjoyed the sex
and the murder at the same time

and had a real weird fetish
in that regard.

- After the fact,
it was determined

that he was a "serial killer."

Typically, investigators
start to go back

and start to look at, OK,

who all went missing
around the same time?

[ominous music]

And then they start
to think, OK,

does this fit this person's
MO on how they do things?

And ultimately,
that's how we got back

to Charlie Ray Vines
and Melissa Witt.

- In the grand scheme
of things,

to have a known serial killer
in your area

and then have an abduction,
you know,

or missing persons of any type,

you have to consider
that person.

When you look at
a 19-year-old missing,

right in the middle of his
period of victimization

and right in the middle of--

of where he was preying,

then you have to consider him
as a highly viable suspect.

- We initially were looking at
Charlie Vines for Morgan Nick

and potentially Melissa Witt
at the same time.

But with that correction
being made

through their communications,
now we understand

that the--the potential crime

that Charlie Vines was
talking about while in prison

was that of Melissa Witt.

So then we look
at Charlie Vines' background,

his proximity to the area,
the crime itself.

You know, we see--we know that
he's predisposed to murder.

We know that
he targets opportunities.

We also found that a coworker
of Charlie Vines

that worked for Ocker

helped Charlie dig cemetery
plots and set headstones,

had reported that Charlie Vines
liked to play pool

and even kept one
of those collapsible

pool cues, the nicer--

you know, the guys
who were serious about pool

would have those
in a collapsible box.

He reported to that interviewer
that he knew Charlie Vines

to have a pool cue,
and that any time they would

stop and went somewhere
for lunch or a break,

if there was a pool table
in that restaurant or whatever,

that Charlie liked
to play pool.

At that time, Bowling World
had several pool tables.

So that would at least
give us a reason

to believe Charlie to have
known about Bowling Would,

frequented Bowling World.

We also--going through
the old files of Fort Smith PD,

there was a, uh, uh--a lady
had emailed a detective.

She worked with
Charlie Vines' mother.

And Charlie Vines
sometimes would show up

to his mother's work.

And this witness reported
that she saw him wearing

a bowling league shirt
of some sort.

She could not recall
what bowling league it was

or any of the name on it.

But she associated that shirt
with a bowling league,

which is, you know, two
separate pieces of information

that at least puts
Charlie Vines knowledgeable

of the bowling alleys
and the pool halls

of Fort Smith, Arkansas.

JAY: So what do we assign
significance--

let's just say
greater or lesser,

greater to where
they were taken from

or where they were dumped?

- Dumped.
JASON: Yeah.

In this case I think dumped,

because it was such
a secluded area and almost--

BRAD:
And there's plenty of woods.

There's no reason to drive
that far out there to dump.

I mean, there's--
ROB: Yeah.

I mean, this is--
that's two counties over

from Sebastian County,
from Crawford County,

to Franklin County.
PERSON: Yeah.

♪ ♪

ROB: There was a work order
that assigned

Charlie Vines to dig a grave--

grave spot out here this way.

And when he was interviewed,

the interviewers brought
to his attention

or asked him about it,
and he denied it.

Interesting. It just--

it seemed more--more of
he was distancing himself

from this cemetery
in the denial,

and this cemetery being
just a seven-minute drive

to where Melissa's body
was found...

JAY:
Yeah.

ROB:
Makes it relevant.

The work order was
to set a headstone

at Campbell Cemetery,

and Campbell Cemetery is just
under 3 miles from where

Melissa's body was found,
just a eight-minute drive

of regular dirt road driving.

He--he just doesn't recall
any of the work order.

He doesn't--he pretends
not to be familiar with

Campbell Cemetery,

although,
looking through his history,

he either worked full-time
or part-time

for Ocker Monument
for a long period of time.

It's believed
he would be very familiar

with most of the cemeteries in
this four- or five-county area.

But, regardless, they--
the PD had a work order

putting him at
Campbell Cemetery

just months prior
to her disappearance,

and he denies that.

♪ ♪

REUBEN:
Make sure nothing's behind ya.

ROB:
Yeah. Yeah.

When you're on your
way out, you stop.

You don't hear a vehicle.
- Mm-hmm.

♪ ♪

- To put a body up behind
that rock would take

less than a minute.
- Right.

- You know.

So you wouldn't need any time
at all to place the body.

But I would think you would be
familiar with the area

to know that
that's a good road.

- Right.
- A good spot.

- If he's distancing himself
from Campbell Cemetery

and we know Melissa Witt
was found in Franklin County

just up the hill from there,

could he be involved

in Melissa Witt's
disappearance or murder?

ROB: I think you'd have
to hustle to get out there.

JAY: It's a good 45-minute
drive to Ozark from Fort--

from--I lived
not far from here,

and I think it was
like 40, 45-minutes

to an exit in Ozark that my dad
always had to meet his dad at.

ROB: We need to map out
an average drive

from here to that dump location
to where we could say, OK,

at least they're--
the suspect and her timelines

intersect
for that period of time,

at least for that drive.

If you have familiarity
with these roads,

and particularly the road
where she was dumped at,

that little road, it goes up,
and it just turns around.

It dead ends, basically.

So if you're looking
to dispose of a body

and you drive up the road
to the turnaround,

then as you come out,
you know nobody's behind you.

Your back is safe
because you know

no one can pull up behind you.

And so you have--

and it being remote
and desolate.

And back then,
it hadn't been logged yet,

so it was really,
really thick woods.

You have what you need
to--to dispose of a body.

I'm gonna get a better angle
on this sign.

But when a child is taken,

there's--there are
different categories.

There's like an infant
that's taken because

a person wants a child.

They're not gonna harm it.
They want the child.

They generally murder
the parents

'cause they want the baby.

And then the next range
is for--

usually for
sexual gratification.

And that range is what
we would put her in.

And that range, it's--

I think the stat is within
the first eight minutes,

they're sexually assaulted
at a most convenient location.

The stat is also that once
the sex act is done,

they're usually murdered
and disposed of.

And then there's
your outlier of someone

who wants to keep 'em
for a period.

And there's the other
extreme outlier

that wants to keep 'em
indefinitely.

And that extreme outlier
is very rare,

and they have all kinds
of mechanisms in place

to cage 'em and keep 'em
and all of that stuff.

I agree with you guys.

I think there's way more
significance

to where she was put,
because we know

she's taken
from the bowling alley.

Then where does she go
between then

and a month later
or however long later

where she's found in the woods?

You know, is she immediately
taken out there

and dumped within
12, 24, 48 hours?

Is she kept somewhere
for a week?

Additionally,
when we were looking into him,

we ended up trying

to interview
all of his neighbors,

and we found a neighbor
who had started

building a cabin up in that
area around '93 or '94.

Charlie showed up one day,
was just introducing himself

as the new neighbor,
talking to him.

And according to this witness,
Charlie talked a lot

about liking to hike
up in the Ozark Mountains,

being very familiar
with the Ozark Mountains.

And that witness said that
he even later brought in

some maps that
he had put together

of trail maps
of the Ozark Mountains,

and then at another point
came back to get those maps.

And when he did that,

he freaked out
this witness's wife.

So we have, he's familiar
with the Ozark Mountains.

He's hiked it.

He's even drawn maps
of the Ozark Mountain area.

And he did a work order,
you know,

within an 8-minute drive
of where her body was found.

That's very significant
when you're trying

to piece together who did it

and whether he had
something to do with it.

And when we initially
looked at all this

for the Morgan Nick case,

we wanted to just
interview him.

And so we looked at setting up
a time to interview him.

He was in Central Arkansas
at a prison.

When we reached out
to that prison,

he had been moved to one
of their medical prisons,

and we were told that
he was terminally ill

and only had a few weeks left.

We still wanted
to interview him.

And their response was, yeah,
he's not even conscious.

He's--they're just waiting
for him to pass.

Just a couple weeks
of trying to get to him

to interview him,
and he passed away.

And so, you know,
we'll never know on that.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

ROB: The flower bed
just really sticks out.

It's really odd.

And the flowers
in it were fake.

They were just plastic flowers.
OFFICER: Yep.

ROB: So we're trying
to relocate that,

'cause we want to get that.

And then inside--there's
a depression inside this shed.

So those are the two places
we are gonna do tomorrow.

If you guys want
to kind of start looking

in the general direction
of that rock pile?

OK. That's--

that's one of the places
we want to identify.

- I immediately thought
it was a pretty secluded area.

I mean, even now it's secluded.

So I can only imagine
20 years ago

what it would be like,
you know, out there

in the middle of nowhere.

- The flower bed would have
started right about here,

and it would have been
somewhere in here.

So we've gone several feet that
way, several feet that way.

There was pictures taken
of the property,

taken when they did
a search of the house.

They had the overall property.

And this was just a yard.

And there was a really odd
flower bed here.

The flower bed was kind of
an odd shaped circle,

and it was those
core sample stones

that are over by the porch.

And it just didn't match
any other landscaping.

You know, he had gardens,
landscaping timbers.

But then to do something here
with the different material.

And then it was plastic flowers
in the mulch, not real flowers.

It just did not match
any of the other stuff.

And knowing that
a lot of serial killers

like to keep mementos
of their victims

or something to remember--

something they use to--
use to trigger

the memory of their victims,

you--you would want to dig
under something that stood out

as odd, as maybe he used
the flower bed as a memory

or maybe there's
something under it.

The typical behavior
of serial killers

is to, you know, relive their
victimization in--you know,

whether it's revisit a site
or a grave site

or to keep a memento.

We've considered this
checked off as well.

We've gone as far, wide,
and deep as we need to.

REUBEN:
We had ERT out there.

We had everybody kind of just
overlooking the property,

seeing if there was any
evidence of anything.

And we ended up going
past the pond.

ROB:
We were wrapping the day up,

and one of our ERT personnel
calls me over

to near the pond, says, "You're
gonna want to see this,"

and then points out
some headstones just piled,

you know, grown over and kind
of in the bank of the pond.

- You know,
it's kind of strange.

And then we're kind of
looking around.

And then there's another one.

♪ ♪

And then there's another one.

ROB:
There's stones right here.

Can you take that thicket
and either push one side

or the other with the thicket?

And then we'll start
pulling the stones over.

PERSON:
That the only one down there?

REUBEN:
With all the rumors going on,

we started thinking, well,

what is--like,
is he digging up bodies

and sleeping with them
or taking things from 'em?

Because he had the access
to all these deceased persons.

♪ ♪

- There you go.

- Are these people
that he's killed?

♪ ♪

- What we had to do was go,

what could be underneath
these headstones?

I mean, could he have marked
other victims?

You don't want to just go,
"Wow, that's bizarre,"

and then walk away.

Well, I'm thinking of is,
from there to here,

maybe just--just--
just dig, like, a trench

and see what we see in it.

And then we move this way
and dig a trench along here,

just to see
what's under the ground,

if there's anything
that indicates

disturbed earth or anything.

OK.

Just because the fact that
he was a serial killer,

maybe these stones meant
something to him,

or maybe he used it to mark
victims that he'd buried.

- I mean,
we really didn't know.

I mean,
your mind starts to wonder.

ROB: And run a trench
a couple feet deep, 2 feet--

2 feet all the way down
to just past Carol here.

We'll see what that--
what it looks like,

see if there's anything
under the ground.

And then we'll run
another trench right here

just to see if there's
anything underground.

Then we'll decide after that.

[machinery rumbling]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[match ignites]

[soft music]

♪ ♪