Hanging Wire News Today

>> reporter: but the killer left something of his own behind, something detectives didnt notice. until the coroner moved ellens body. >> it appeared to be a homemade device used to strangle the victim. it was cut off portions of what appeared to be a broom, a mob handle. and a piece of wire. im >> going between the two? >> yes. >> so there was some planning involved? >> a great deal of planning. its a homemade garage. >> ago rots? >> detective gary hilton had not seen one of those since he serve...

>> that weapon, the homemade wire and wood garrote, had been a mute resident in the evidence locker for a long, long time. wallace couldnt stop looking at it. as if it could talk. >> the whole goal of these cases, right, is trying to see whats hiding in plain sight. >> so the killers garr ro gar made with wooden dowels connected by a thin piece of wire. a double strand. wait, double? >> why would you double it? apparently, you recognize this is so thin, it is probably going to break if it is by ...

That gave us the idea. wow, maybe theres available materials or junk thats still lying around. lets take a look and see. >> doug bradford moved out of that house years earlier, but his elderly mother still lived there. >> is it possible that some of the simple building materials you would use to build a garrote might still be tucked away in an old drawer, in the garage? worth a look. >> wallace and his partner ran the idea by. >> could we find the same wire and dowelling? 2007, they served the w...

Wallace now went to his own workshop and started tinkering. made a garrote, then another, and another, to under the mindset of the killer and the materials he used. he examined the wire very closely. then he looked again at the pictures dougs mother painted, and the wire doug used to hang them. and both wires were the same type, something called grade number 1 8-strand braided wire. >> thats the wire used in the garrote, and thats the wire dougs mom was using to hang his paintings. >> exciting d...

I said, lets see if i can find picture hanging wire. i found some, but not that. i called everywhere. i called the manufacturers, do you sell a thinner wire? >> very uncommon? >> very uncommon. >> so uncommon, of all the picture hanging wire sold, this particular wire only accounts for 1% to 6% of sales. >> its that rare. yet, thats what is being used to build the garrote, and that happens to also be what doug had access to because of his moms painting. >> not like dna, of course, but what they ...

>> at least six fingerprints were found. no match to dougs. blood, no match to doug. dna, the holy grail, no match to doug. >> the wire used in the garrote, despite what the prosecution said, they couldnt prove was an exact match with the wire found on the back of his mothers paintings. >> you cant match it. why? because wire cant be matched. >> but above all, said shapiro, doug bradford wasnt there at lynnes apartment the night she was murdered. his alibi was solid. he was sailing that night an...