"Wichita Massacre" murder trial "Ping List"
Posted on 10/27/2002 9:30:45 AM PST by KS Flyover
DNA lets the dead speak in Carr trial
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Carr brothers' capital murder trial is offering, for the first time, a clearer picture of events surrounding a quadruple homicide Dec 15, 2000. In this account, drawn from testimony for the prosecution last week, forensic investigators piece together evidence. Some content is graphic, and reader discretion is advised.
Heather Muller can't tell about the horrible last moments of her life. Still, she has become one of the most important witnesses against the men police suspected of raping, robbing and killing her.
Muller would give the kind of testimony difficult for suspects to refute and lawyers to rip apart, the kind found under the bright lights of the forensic laboratory by detectives who dress in white coats and surgical scrubs.
A woman who survived the shooting that killed Muller and three other friends had already done more than anyone could ask. But police needed more. While her actions were heroic, the 25-year-old eyewitness initially provided ambiguous descriptions and couldn't pick out both suspects, Jonathan and Reginald Carr, in photo lineups.
Police knew lawyers could attack any iffy identifications. They needed something more concrete, and there would be no confession. In the interrogation room on the sixth floor of City Hall, the suspects weren't saying much.
Heather Muller, however, spoke volumes without saying a word. Her silent testimony started at the county's forensic science center.
Sedgwick County coroner Mary Dudley had seen the four homicide victims before dawn Dec 15, 2000, lying in a soccer field near 29th Street North and Greenwich Road.
By 2 p.m. that day, she and others began conducting their examinations at the forensic science center, 1109 N. Minneapolis Ave.
All homicide victims arrive at the center under lock and key. No one can unlock them without police supervision.
Diana Schunn, a registered nurse trained in the science of taking evidence from rape victims, examined Muller first. She used cotton swabs to gather samples of possible biological clues, drying the swabs to protect any evidence. She then noted injuries, which documented brutal force.
Schunn, who works at Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Joseph Campus, was the first nurse in Kansas to specialize in taking rape evidence. She's still considered the best.
When Schunn was finished, Dudley took the samples, sealed them and placed them on a gurney before proceeding with a head-to-toe examination of each victim.
Autopsies can reveal a wealth of information. They can determine the trajectory of bullets. Dudley followed the paths of the shots that killed Muller and her friends. The angles confirmed the survivor's story that all had been shot in the head as they knelt in the snow.
The examinations can recover important evidence, such as the bullet found in Muller's close friend, Aaron Sander. That would help firearms expert Gary Miller match all the deaths to the same gun used in two crimes the previous week.
Dudley had no problem determining the cause of death: the gunshots to the head. Despite reports that some of the victims had been found breathing, and one had been belatedly taken by ambulance to the hospital, Dudley found wounds so extensive that even immediate medical attention wouldn't have saved them.
Studying all four victims would take the better part of two days. In each exam, Dudley took blood and other samples, including the one bullet, and gingerly placed them in separate paper envelopes. She sealed them, dated them, and signed them, passing them to crime scene investigators who walked the evidence through a carefully documented chain of custody.
Usually the evidence would have stayed at the Forensic Science Center, but lab workers there were overwhelmed after two quadruple homicides in eight days.
When the director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation called offering help, homicide chief Ken Landwehr said he had plenty of work for Topeka.
Joe House, a KBI forensic biologist in Topeka, received 106 items from Wichita, including carpet cuttings from the crime scene at 12727 E. Birchwood Drive, clothing from victims and suspects, hairs found in various stages of the investigation, and the autopsy samples marked by Dudley.
Before scientists begin analyzing evidence for traces of DNA, which can identify individuals by their genetic characteristics, they must first find substances to test. Blood, sweat and saliva will work. Hair or semen will, too. Stains can just as easily turn out to be ice cream or catsup.
House's job was to find and name the stains. He began by placing each item separately on white butcher-block paper in the "shakedown room." He unfolded clothes and laid out objects, allowing the white paper to catch any little pieces so they could be tested.
As House searched the pockets of pants taken from one of the Carr brothers, he found something police missed. It looked like a gold ring. No, it was silver. House tagged it and sealed it in an envelope. A picture would later show the ring on the finger of Heather Muller.
House continued to look for stains and found plenty. He has all sorts of ways to find out what made a spot. He can shine it under an ultraviolet light, where human residue glows. He can dot a minuscule sample with a chemical that turns red if it's semen.
When House finds stains that turn up biological material, he cuts them out and marks them.
Those go to Sindey Schueler, a molecular surgeon who can tell more about someone by a cell they slough off than they know about themselves. She uses chemicals to break open the head of a sperm cell and go into the nucleus. She can pull out a tiny bit of a twisted ladder -- a fragment of DNA, holding the secret of life.
Schueler knows it by its full name, deoxyribonucleic acid. It contains both sets of chromosomes, from mother and father, that give people brown eyes or blue and determine who will go bald. Because everyone is different, down to the little lines on their fingertips, everyone has different DNA.
Within that small piece, Schueler can break out an even tinier fragment of 13 parts. With a piece of equipment called the 310 Genetic Analyzer, she puts a florescent tag on each part and counts the number of times they repeat from the mother and father. Individuality can then be reduced to a numbers graph.
Schueler examined the codes from the stains found by police and compared them with the blood and hair and saliva samples of Heather Muller, her friends and the Carr brothers.
The most stunning results came from Muller.
Unlike her friends, Muller never was taken to an ATM the night of Dec 14 and morning of Dec 15. She stayed behind in the triplex while the rest were forced to withdraw more than $1,800 from their bank accounts.
She was treated brutally. At one point, the survivor described Muller -- known for her beautiful singing voice and commitment to her Catholic parish -- sitting on the floor, staring as if in shock.
Her blood would show up on both brothers.
In numerous, time-consuming DNA tests Schueler would run over the next two years, she would find many partial DNA profiles and some mixtures of several people. She can pick out the individuals, even in the mixed genetic pool of a stain.
Most of the clear profiles belonged to Jonathan Carr. He left his genetic mark on the carpet in the triplex and on both women. Only a tiny slice of Reginald Carr could be identified in one sample.
But several single profiles -- no mixtures -- exactly matched Muller's DNA. And it was on both brothers.
Muller's blood turned up on the plaid boxer shorts of Jonathan Carr. Her blood also showed up in splatters on the red shorts, gray shirt and white T-shirt Reginald Carr's girlfriend said he wore the morning of the killings.
As is her practice, Schueler figured out the odds of someone else with Muller's same DNA profile randomly showing up on the Carrs' clothing. Her answer was staggering: one in 6 quadrillion.
A quadrillion, with 15 zeroes, is far more people than have ever lived and more than the number of stars man can count in the heavens.
Heather Muller would offer an identification more powerful than any eyewitness could ever provide.
Testimony in the capital murder trial of Jonathan and Reginald Carr continues Tuesday.
For detais about the murders see: The Wichita Massacre
Wichita Massacre Trial Threads:
Wichita to revisit brutal slayings as testimony begins - 10/07/2002
Deputy recalls moment of discovering bodies [Wichita Murders] Day 1 - 10/07/2002
WICHITA MASSACRE TRIAL UNDERWAY Day 1 - 10/08/2002
Legal wrangling opens Carr trial [Wichita Murders] Day 1 - 10/08/2002
Carr trial: Survivor describes sexual attacks by armed intruders [Wichita Massacre] Day 2 - 10/09/2002
Witchita Case of Black Racist Crime Survivor's testimony horrifies courtroom Day 2 - 10/10/2002
Woman testifies that Carrs killed her friends in a soccer field [Wichita Massacre Day 3] - 10/10/2002
Prosecutors Downplay Racial Element in Kansas Murder Trial - 10/11/2002
Reginald Carr had $996, victims' credit card, watch [Wichita Massacre Day 4] - 10/11/2002
Wichita Massacre Audio of 911 Call by Female Survivor with Court Room Video Footage From Day 1- 10/11/2002
Victims' belongings linked to defendant [Wichita Massacre Day 5] - 10/12/2002
Trial opens window into night of fear - 10/13/2002
Media Ignore Kansas Interracial Mass Murder - 10/14/2002
AP Finally Reports Wichita Trial... But Mentions "White Supremacist" Support - 10/14/2002
Nosey mom tips off cops (Wichita Massacre) Day 6 - 10/15/2002
'I was afraid,' witness says [Wichita Massacre Day 6] - 10/15/2002
ATM photos shown in Carr trial [Wichita Massacre Day 7] - 10/16/2002
Testimony on cellist slaying fills Carr trial [Wichita Massacre Day 8] - 10/17/2002
Survivor says she caught STD [Wichita Massacre Day 9] - 10/18/2002
Carr trial to focus on guns and DNA [Wichita Massacre Day 10] - 10/19/2002
Luck, vivid memories helped cops [Wichita Massacre] - 10/20/2002
Wichita Massacre -- The Latest in the Black Racist Hate Crime Trial - Carrs linked to crime scene - Day 11 - 10/22/2002
Hate crime reversed - By Armstrong Williams - 10/23/2002
Evidence in Carr trial gruesome, unavoidable [Wichita Massacre Day 12] - 10/23/2002
Jurors view Wichita crime scenes / DNA ties Carrs to victims [Wichita Massacre day 13] - 10/24/2002
State to rest case against the Carrs [Wichita Massacre Day 14] - 10/25/2002
State rests; Carrs begin their side [Wichita Massacre Day 15] - 10/26/2002
"Wichita Massacre" murder trial "Ping List"
Heather Muller's life was filled with music
By RON SYLVESTER - The Wichita Eagle - Posted on Fri, Oct. 04, 2002
This article ran December 16, 2000
Heather Suzanne Muller lived with the enthusiasm of a voice lifted in song. But the beautiful alto whom friends remember singing from her soul fell silent Friday morning to gunshots that left the 25-year-old woman and three other people dead.
The violent end contradicted Muller's life, described as vivacious and charitable by those who knew her through her talent for music, her dedication to church and a desire to help children.
While a graduate student of special education at Wichita State University, Muller worked for the preschool at St. Thomas Aquinas Church. She served on the Youth and Young Adult Ministries board for the Catholic Diocese and volunteered as night secretary for the St. Paul Parish-Newman Center at WSU. She also gave piano lessons.
"I know when someone dies like this, there's a tendency for people to talk about how saintly the person was, but Heather really was a wonderful, wonderfu l person," said the Rev. Matthew McGinness of St. Paul.
Muller spent the last night of her life at a meeting planning the Catholic student center's 50th anniversary before leaving around 8 p.m. to visit Aaron Sander, whom she had dated. Sander also died in Friday's nightmarish scenario.
As names of the victims trickled out throughout the day Friday, the news triggered an outpouring of feelings in those touched by Muller.
"I was telling my wife that I can't remember enjoying another student more than Heather, and I taught for 43 years," said Harrison Boughton, a recently retired vocal music professor at WSU. "Everyone loved Heather."
Muller performed in the WSU Concert Chorale in 1998-99 and continued to sing in the choir at St. Paul.
That singing voice impressed others throughout Muller's life, leaving an indelible memory for counselors Thomas Lahan and Liana Torkelson at Kapaun Mount Carmel High School. Both Heather and her younger sister Tania shared a musical talent they displayed in Kapaun's choirs and theatrical productions.
"Both girls were highly visible in the fine arts," Lahan said. "They were vivacious and quite gregarious."
Heather Muller, who graduated three years ahead of her sister in 1993, belonged to the French Club and made the school's Madrigal Choir as a junior and senior.
"Most people only spend their senior year in Madrigal," Lahan said.
Muller sang the lead role of Kim in the school's production of "Miss Saigon" her senior year and qualified for the State Festival Choir. She participated in the school's Mission Club, which raised money to aid an orphanage in Venezuela, and sang and acted in the local theater troupes.
In the wake of the shootings, McGinness said he drew comfort from knowing how prayerful Muller was and the strength of her relationship with God.
"That's what gives me peace," he said, "about where she is now."
Contributing: Stan Finger of The Eagle
http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/news/special_packages/carr_trial/4213401.htm
What the media are doing to us and to our freedoms must not be taken lightly. They distort the news (John Williams instead of John Mohammed, etc.) or omit it (as with this story) to further their own objectives. They have imposed a standard of censorship over us and bombarded us with their leftist creed using political correctness as their tool.
They are steering our government on a daily basis further to the left. They cunningly and unrelentingly report the news from a radical leftist's point of view.
These editors who would control our thoughts are hidden and protected from view. Once in a great while their actions stand out exposing them for what they are like their censored treatment of this story. Be ware of the media. They have everything to do with the destruction of America. They are against our second Amendment rights, Christianity, the right to life and our Constitution in general.
If you don't believe me think back about how many times you saw the edited Rodney King beating film and compare that frequency to the number of times and sources where you heard about this story.
God is sovereign.
I have a friend who has MS......developed it in his late teens, and is confined to a wheelchair.
Every time the church door is open, he is there.....and he is there joyfully, and singing to the best of his ability.
His testimony is he would rather be in his wheelchair and knowing the Lord.......then walking tall & straight & not knowing Him.
Does he blame God for allowing this to happen?
No, he doesn't.
Does he think God could bring him out of that wheelchair if God so chooses.
Yes, he does.
Does this knowledge make him bitter.
No, because he accepts God's sovereignty.
Will he walk tall & straight when he reaches heaven.
You bet!
We know there were Christians on that plane that crashed in Pennsylvania........ ....there were Christians in the World Trade Center.
Could God have saved them.
Yes.
Because He chooses not too....(at least in the manner we expect)....does not negate His authority.
Does Lisa Beamer (Todd's wife) accept this.
Yes, she does.
Will she miss her husband.....and mourn his passing?
Of course!
During World War II.....Corrie Ten Boom, a middle age Christan spinster, lived with her aging father & sister in Holland.
They were successful in rescuing many Jews and smuggling them to freedom.
When, eventually, the Ten Booms were caught by the Gestapo, they were taken to headquarters and interrogated.....inevitably taken on to concentration camps.
At one point, trying to shake Corrie into confessing, the Gestapo leader taunted her with the sure knowledge that her dear father was dead and beyond her help.
Her response was..."I KNOW where my father is"....
..giving assurance that she knew her father was beyond hurt, pain or misery but in a far better life.
Don't you think Corrie, her sister and father would rather have lived a simple, respectable, cozy life in their little home........but they chose something higher, purer.
I know you must be absolutely beyond anger at what was done to this young lady.
I know I am.
But truly, we ALL are vulnerable of what tomorrow brings into our life.
Being prepared spiritually is what we need to do today!
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