Page 4 - Dylan Spellman News Today

Raised more suspicion. >> chavez then told spellman police found his dna just 30 feet from where the girls were shot. thats when he says spellmans demeanor changed. >> he asked me, you know, what are the consequences? and i said, well in texas, you know, this is a death penalty kind of case. >> and then dylan spellman asked about a deal. >> normally, any person thats innocent isnt going to ask for a deal. youre going to profess your innocence. and he wasnt. now im thinking, this is my guy. >> so...

>> remember, kristene had said the shooter referred to her and mollie as girl one and girl two. >> he used numbers in that other crime? >> yes. they referred to each other by number in that particular crime. >> the similarities between the two crimes didnt end there. >> in the nevada home invasion, where the victims bound? >> yes, they were. >> hes got to be number one on the list at this point. >> he definitely jumped to the top. >> by that time, dylan spellman had had already returned to nevad...

>> some quick computer searches revealed spellman had a criminal past. >> dylan spellman had just been convicted of a violent crime. >> yes. >> an armed robbery in nevada. >> yeah. >> that nevada armed robbery occurred in 2010, a year and a half before the shootings. spellman and some accomplices broke into a home in a las vegas suburb and held a family hostage before robbing them and taking off. >> anybody get killed? >> no. >> and at the time of the shootings in 2012, dylan spellman was in the...

While detective aaron volaman continued trying to strengthen his case against dylan spellman, investigators in neighboring sinton, texas, received a mysterious letter addressed to kristene chapas dad. >> immediately i knew this was something very, very big and very important. >> the letter-writer described himself as a hit man hired by the person who shot mollie and kristene. he wrote, the gunman had sought his services to finish the job and make the only witness to mollies murder disappear. >> ...

Cigarette butts, a monster can, and suspicion. >> it didnt help that chavezs one eyewitness to the shootings could not identify spellman from a photo lineup. >> it was very hard because the suspects all looked the same. >> and then there was the matter of mr. spellmans height. >> hes big. >> hes what, 68"? >> 68". >> remember, kristene said the shooter was quite a bit shorter than that, 58", maybe 59". >> for me, it was always the difficulty of getting over the size. >> so chavez and his team re...

With "a texas twist." >> day by day, inch by inch, kristene chapa walked a steady, if uneven, road to recovery. >> i couldnt move my left side. i couldnt move my hand or my arm, my legs. i had to relearn to swallow. >> you dont give up, do you? >> i dont. i try to stay motivated. >> so did detective roland chavez. he, too, was making progress. the cigarette butts and drink can collected from the crime scene had just given him his first major break in the case. >> what did the dna show? >> the dn...

As for the confidential details in the letter. >> this is small town texas, theres any number of places this information could have come from. >> what about the lab report showing stricklands gun matching the shell casings found at the scene. >> we had our expert that said it is inconclusive. i mean theres no way that you can say for sure. >> police, they said, should never have taken their sights off the real shooting. >> well, they had the right guy. >> dylan spellman, you think thats the kill...

The missing pieces. detective aaron veuleman had been working the case. and now he took the lead. >> what we first wanted to do was expand the scope of the crime scene search because we -- there was one crucial piece of evidence that we didnt have at that point, which was a murder weapon. >> reporter: veulman hoped the murder weapon might definitively link spellman to the shootings. >> whatd that turn up? >> we didnt find anything. nothing of value. >> so youre back to kinda nowhere. >> thats ri...

That this kind of information could have come from. >> but what about the lab report showing stricklands gun matching the shell casings found at the scene? >> we had our expert, who said that its inconclusive. theres no way you could say for sure. >> police, they said, should never have taken their sights off the real shooter. >> well, they had the right guy. >> dylan spellman? you think thats the killer? >> hes a better match than my boy. >> he had just failed a polygraph exam and then started ...

Her and mollie as "girl one" and "girl two." >> he used numbers in that other crime? >> yes. >> they referred to each other by number in that particular crime. >> reporter: the similarities between the two crimes didnt end there. >> in the nevada home invasion, were the victims bound? >> yes, they were. >> hes gotta be number one on the list at this point. >> he -- he definitely jumped to the -- to the top. >> reporter: by that time, dylan spellman had already returned to nevada to begin serving...