Doug Herout & Laura Casey
This 2012 case has the drama and flair you'd anticipate from a murder in a book or movie. Carroll Bonnet of Omaha, Nebraska, was discovered dead in his apartment on October 17, 1978, after missing work. He had been stabbed and left naked, and there were obvious traces of a battle in his apartment. The murderer left a taunting letter for the police next to the body that said, "I am leaving this crime with only one clue. Find it on your own, Pig! Helter. Die Pig.
What was it then? There were two prints in the bathroom, cigarette butts in the garbage, bloody towels on the floor, and an open beer can in the kitchen, among other evidence that the killer had been there. None of these, though, appeared to be a deliberate hint left there to alarm the police. The murderer drove off in the victim's 1964 Buick. More prints were eventually discovered inside the car after it was recovered, but nothing pointed to the identify of the culprit.
In 2008, Omaha Police Department established a cold case team under the direction of Detective Doug Herout. Laura Casey, a forensic technician, processed the prints through IAFIS and discovered Jerry Watson as a hit. However, the printouts alone weren't sufficient. He might have had a valid excuse for going to Bonnet's place. They were the beginning point for the team's Watson inquiry instead. After an interview, they obtained a DNA sample, and that is when all the other pieces of evidence began to come together. The butts of the cigarettes matched Jerry Watson. Jerry Watson and the beer can were matched. A hair that was discovered at the scene was Jerry Watson's. Almost everything led to Watson, and as a result, he was accused of the murder and found guilty.
But what was the murderer's leave behind as a clue? After all, it was 1978, and Watson couldn't have known that decades later, DNA would play a part in his incarceration. Instead, he practically signed his own work by leaving a newspaper next to the body with the signature "Jerry W." scrawled in cursive and then scribbled out.
