murder weapons, which meant missing during the shooting. but they never found, it said jimmy. so, he and billy took the handgun they still had to this little lake in mississippi. >> we were out there at the lake, little pond. he claimed them off. he threw them in the water. >> how many? >> he was just one gun. >> what kind? >> the 9 mm. >> and that, insisted jimmy martin, was the gods truth upheld memphis icon, lorenzen wright, was murdered and the crime covered up. all orchestrated by sherra. it was quite a story, but was there any evidence to back it up? well, maybe. the answer was sitting at the bottom of the lake.
the savagery of them, the mind control. ♪ sidner: charles manson and some of his closest followers face seven counts of murder, and one count conspiracy to commit murder. guinn: we now look back at it and think it was a foregone conclusion that they were gonna be convicted. they're guilty as hell. and yet it never was that certain. dr. jordan: you're trying a man for multiple counts of murder, and he wasn't there and he didn't even pick up any of the murder weapons. guinn: vincent bugliosi -- he could always be certain that he would eventually convict tex watson, and patricia krenwinkel, susan atkins, leslie van houten. there was evidence linking them to the crimes that any jury would see. but charles manson, that was the hard one. his defense was, "i had nothing to do with it, they were doing what they wanted to. how can you blame me?"
with which lethal weapons can be obtained and used on our streets. james brindley was murdered with a knife six years ago. his dad, mark, set up a foundation in his name which works to prevent youth violence. it's glamorisation of murder weapons, isn't it? together, we looked at the website which sold the weapons used in ronan kanda's murder. mark ordered similar weapons to see how easy they were to buy. it isn't illegal to sell them to adults. yesterday, we went to see the package after it arrived. how are you feeling now, just opening this? i'm feeling really emotional. yeah. this, if it looks anything like on the internet, is designed to cause serious injury or death. the foundation has set up a number of knife surrender bins, and so we took the ninja swords to get rid of them.
>> nothing appeared tossed or out of place. and the nature of the killings--gary was shot as well as beaten. spoke volumes to the prosecutor assigned to the case, todd myers. >> it seems to be an element of personal anger in this thing, todd? this close quartered killing of somebody with a weapon in your hand. >> yes, it definitely seemed to be personal type killing. just the brutality involved. >> investigators determined jan and gary were likely killed the night before. but search as they might for the murder weapons, the gun, the bludgeoning instrument, officers came up empty handed. but they did discover some unusual evidence. >> around jan's body, there were small white flakes of a substance that were obviously either from the murder weapon, or on the murderous body. there were similar flakes found by the wound to gary's head.
places it around her neck, he then strangles her. >> there were searches on serial killers. there were surges on bondage. >> did dan then, who was big into theater, a straight a student, was he also a serial killer in training? >> i think that is the potential. >> these items. >> prosecutors showed the jury all of the physical evidence. the dna, the tapes, the wipes, the likely murder weapons that tied daniel to jessie's death. through it all, daniel sat quietly at the defense table, looking at no one, showing little emotion. >> even when the evidence that the public had never heard before. dna that the state argued showed that he not only killed jessie, but also raped her. >> daniels dna was found under jessie's fingernails and inside of her.
against a woman in the park. but after police spoke with him, they realize that he could also be guilty of something far worse. >> did you leave that interview having any doubt that dana was the killer? >> none whatsoever. >> daniel told investigators that on the morning that jessie was killed, he was in a park reading a book and when they checked the security cameras,. >> we found video that put him there. >> but that did not mean that daniel was innocent. detectives decided to search the park, combing through more than a dozen garbage pins. hoping to find anything that linked daniel to jessie's murder. >> in one garbage, can this cereal box full of ligature's. >> ropes that were very likely the murder weapons used to strangle jessie, plus a whole lot more. bloody sanitizing wipes, tape, shoelaces. >> i guess he didn't believe
somebody else first, and then at some point, she put herself there. >> it was supposed to be routine, we go in, we find her purse, we take her money, and then we leave that was all that was supposed to happen. >> then, rocky went way off script, said jessica. tied ann to a bed with duct tape, and turned it into murder. >> broke in. >> okay >> who cut ann's throat? >> rocky. >> who stabbed her in the back? >> rocky. >> okay. >> jessica told detective giles, the murder weapons were a kitchen knife and a metal rod for bludgeoning, which they stashed in a hole outside of anns house >> she said they could not find it without her, we drove her out there, and we walked the entire path until we got to the hole. she said, that is it right there. lo and behold, we had some evidence folks with, us and
i stood right there at the door. once i heard something, i got scared, i freaked and i ran. >> robert, sitting here and trying to tell me -- and hard for me -- to accept a place, it's ridiculous. >> snead lies the robert again. this time about one of the murder weapons. >> there's an item that you touched. that had left some particles on it. that did some damage to somebody. what was that object, rod burt? >> i think it was a bat. >> it was a bat. >> a baseball bat. >> all right, some type of -- >> clubbing device. >> need knows the weapon was a metal rod. >> and then i had her two times. because they said, if i didn't -- wait a minute, i have someone
smith family. buster murdaugh was never interviewed by police about the 2015 case. the attorney for stephen smith's mother eric bland says he plans to petition a judge to exhume smith's body and get an independent autopsy conducted. he also said the murdaugh name had high influence in the area and possibly intimidated witnesses. he hopes they'll speak more freely now. back to you. >> c thank you for that. here to discuss, carol lamb, in studio, great to see you in person. i wonder a cold case like this, and the entire tv show dedicated to cold case, and eight years later, what are the challenges for prosecutors? >> as we have all seen on tv, chris, there are obviously challenges both forensic and witness challenges. forensic evidence obviously dissipates over time. it's a little bit harder to find murder weapons, and the body is
to how jessie was killed >> prosecutors say that daniel used as an instructional video >> he pulls out a binding in places it around her neck, h then strangles her >> there were searches o serial killers there were surges on bondage >> did dan then, who was big into theater, a straight a student, was he also a seria killer in training >> i think that is the potential. >> these items >> prosecutors showed the jury all of the physical evidence the dna, the tapes, the wipes, the likely murder weapons that tied daniel to jessie's. through it all, daniel sat quietly at the defense table looking at no one, showing little emotion >> even when the evidence that the public had never heard before dna that the state argue showed that he not only killed jessie, but also raped her >> daniels dna was found under jessie's fingernails and insid of her that would've been must of the toughest pieces of evidence to come back from the jury. >> difficult