[penguin cooing] perfect for people who really love tv. shannon touchet, reggie basile, and ronald benson were all arrested for the murder of ron shaw. it was decided the only way was to arrest all three suspects simultaneously and interview them in the same building at the same time, going from room to room until we got the confessions from all of them. shannon touchet, the individual that was the ringleader, the one that had the information about the location of the safe, he ultimately turned on his two associates. shannon admitted that benson and basile both participated in the murder. reginald and ronald was going to go in the house when she opened the door.
scientists found dna from three different individuals inside the mask, but investigators needed to know who was wearing the mask before it was discarded. to find out, they analyzed the swab from the ski mask to determine who left most of the saliva behind, and the results of this test were clear. in this case, the major contributor of dna matched that of ronald benson. the red ski mask was very important because it corroborated the story that we were able to receive from mrs. shaw. mrs. shaw indicated that the person with the red mask was the most aggressive in the robbery. the identity of the other two dna profiles in the mask was inconclusive. the ski mask implicated ronald benson. the shoe impression outside the
matching the fatal bullets in his gym bag. the murder weapons have never been found, nor the shoes that left the impressions inside the shaws home. shannon touchet and reggie basile both pled guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated robbery and were sentenced to life in prison. ronald benson chose to go to trial. the jury found him guilty. he got the same sentence life in prison. the forensic efforts on the part of our crime lab were invaluable to the final conclusion in this case. without them, there would have been no conviction for any of the three defendants. it was amazing to me the about the dna, the shoe prints, all the evidence they can gather from the crime place, you know,
girlfriend that night. she did verify his alibi and stated that shannon touchet was, in fact, with her in lake charles. but looking at shannon s shoes, investigators noticed he was wearing nike air jordan basketball shoes, similar to the shoe impressions at the crime scene. scientists took casts of shannon s shoes and compared them to the cast from the impression in the sand outside ron shaw s home. we concluded that the shoe impressions at the crime scene were basically indistinguishable from those of shannon touchet s shoes. they had the same wear, the same physical characteristics, they were nike air jordans, same size. shannon s own mother disputed his alibi. she told investigators that shannon was out with two friends on the night of the murder, reggie basile and ronald benson, and they were driving a burgundy
i was going to stand outside and wait for them. shannon said that the motive was robbery. this was how shannon repaid ron shaw for giving him a job at his grandfather s request. i was talking about my job, which mr. shaw, he was paying me good. i was telling them about that and how he had money and stuff. we started planning for, like, two weeks before, and then we finally went and did it. prosecutors say the three men drove to ron shaw s neighborhood and waited for the shaws to come home. witnesses saw the three men loitering in the area. when the shaws arrived, they were ambushed. ronald benson fired twice. [ gunshots ]