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find any trace evidence in the hairs and fibers. >> ten minutes later the abductor called again. >> do you believe me now? >> i'm not really sure i believe you because i haven't had any word from shari and i need to know that shari is well. >> you will know in two or three days. >> why two or three days. >> call the search off. >> later that same evening, he called once more saying that shari was alive and implied he would release her soon. >> i want to tell you one other thing. shari is now part of me. physically, mentally, spiritually, our souls are one now. >> the call was traced to a public pay phone at that drugstore in downtown lexington. but in 1995 trap and trace required 15 minutes for authorities to trace the call and reach its location. the abductor remained on the phone for a very short time. five days after shari's abduction, the kidnapper called again and spoke to both shari's
the fbi engineering section told investigators that the voice distortion of the abductors voice was accomplished by something called a variable speed controlled device. >> we believed either through employment or through his technical education had some background or experience in electronics. >> investigators believed the killer had everything planned out and was reading from a script clearly evident when he corrected himself about the time of shari's letter. >> 4:58 a.m. -- no i'm sorry. hold on. >> as a final assault to the family, the killer called them on the night of shari's funeral. it was a collect call. >> he wanted to tell us just how he had murdered shari. and he said well can you take it? who could take it? but we didn't have a choice. we had to try to keep him on the line to find out where he was. >> a few weeks later the killer called again. this time he no longer wanted to talk about shari. after the funeral of 17-year-old shari smith, her killer continued to taunt the family by phone. but he no longer had any interest in shari.
family by phone. but he no longer had any interest in shari. >> have you heard about debra may hilick. >> no. >> the 10-year-old? >> richland county? >> yeah. >> uh-huh. >> listen carefully. >> two weeks after shari smith was kidnapped debra may hilnick was abducted in front of her family's trailer 24 miles from the smith's home. her father was inside just 20 feet away. neighbors saw someone pull up in a car, get out and grab her before speeding off. just like shari debra was a pretty blue-eyed blond. unlike shari, debra as only a child. >> turn right. last dirt road before you come to the stop sign at two notch road. go through chains and no trespassing signs.
bell has lost weight, was unshaven and seemed highly agitated. this is the police video taken inside the sheppard's home. investigators found six blond hairs in the bathroom that were microscopically similar to shari's hair. the commemorative duck stamp used to mail her last will and testament matched a sheet of stamps in ellis sheppard's desk drawer. bell was arrested the following morning. >> he just seemed to be shocked that law enforcement now had centered in on him. >> as the fbi had predicted, bell had been involved in various sexual incidents since childhood. >> he had been in trouble for making obscene telephone calls and at one point attempting to kidnap a coed from the university of south carolina. >> when questioned bell denied any involvement in the murders of shari smith and debra
circle. take prosperity exit. go 1 and a half miles. turn right at sign. number 103. go one quarter mile, turn left and white frame building. go to backyard, six feet beyond, we're waiting. god chose us. >> shari's body was found in the backyard. on the body were the yellow top and white shorts she'd last been seen in. the autopsy revealed shari had been dead for several days. investigators believe that shari's abductor inadvertently revealed when he killed her when he corrected himself about the time she wrote the letter. they believe shari died at 4:58 on the morning of june 1st, two hours after she wrote the letter. if that were the case, shari remained alive for only 12 hours
knocked me back and i was totally helpless. i did not know what to do or say and the tough part was i had to show the letter to my wife. >> please don't ever let this ruin your lives shari's letter read. just keep living one day at a time for jesus. some good will come out of this. my thoughts will always be with and in you. in parentheses were the words "casket closed". >> sheriff mets immediately sent the letter to the crime lab hoping forensic document examiner could find some clues. >> i was looking for hand printing or handwriting. i was looking to see if i could
shari" to honor their daughter's memory. both are convinced, as shari predicted in her last will and testament, some good has come out of their monumental loss. >> that letter has been more closure to me than any kind of closure that the courts could do for me. just the fact she knew where she was going and she had that kind of faith. homicide investigators faced a difficult question -- was the death of a young woman in a deserted park suicide, or was it murder? an alert homicide detective found a tiny clue in a suspect's trash can, and it was a discarded bandage, a dental expert and the colossal blunder that revealed a loved quadrangle with enough intrigue to go around. 19-year-old devon guzman
shirt. >> he said he would release her. he said that she was fine, they were watching tv. >> he made no ransom demand, but he told the smiths that they would be receiving a letter in the morning. >> my reaction was that individual whose got some sophistication in the crime he's committing, this is not the first time he's engaged in a crime of some sort, probably has been thinking about a crime like this for quite some time. >> agent walker agreed that the best hope of finding shari could come from the letter her abductor promise was coming. >> we woke up the postmaster in lexington on the weekend and started looking through the mail. >> and everybody put on plastic gloves and we all sorted through the mail until we found the letter addressed to the smiths. >> inside was a letter in shari's handwriting. at the top of the first page was the heading "last will and testament." who drove to the control room [ woman ] driverless mode engaged. find parking space. [ woman ] parking space found. [ male announcer ] ...that secured the data that directed the turbines that powered the farm that made the milk that went to the store
hours after she wrote the letter. if that were the case, shari remained alive for only 12 hours after her abduction. >> one line i'll never forget, when she says, "casket closed." can you imagine what was going through her mind knowing what she was going to face? she knew at that point that her body would be in a condition that the casket had to be closed. >> the medical examiner found residue of duct tape on her face, suggesting that the cause of death was suffocation. >> her hair was substantially shorter. he had to cut the duct tape out of her hair to keep from leaving it behind. and that told me that he had some experience, at least, or some level of criminal sophistication. the profile that we developed of him described a white male, unsuccessfully married, probably
not currently married, mid to late 20s to maybe even as old as early 30s, who had a history of sex crimes. >> the signal analysis unit of the fbi engineering section told investigators that the voice distortion of the abductor's voice was accomplished by something called a variable speed control device. >> we believed either through employment or through his technical education had some sort of background or experience in electronics. >> investigators believed the killer had everything planned out and was reading from a script, clearly evident when he corrected himself about the time of shari's letter. >> 4:58 a.m. -- no, i'm sorry. hold on that. >> as a final assault to the family, the killer called them on the night of shari's funeral. it was a collect call. >> he wanted to tell us just how he had murdered shari. and he said, "well, can you take it?" who could take it?