[bright music]
[Narrator] A vibrant young woman with a bright future.
She just was like a magnet.
She was very, very pretty,
but also very smart.
[Narrator] Is the victim of a truly disturbing murder.
He'd been struck on the head many times.
It's kind of the horror story.
The body itself appeared to have been washed.
Jewelry had been put on her after the fact.
She had been staged for this suspect's desires.
Who could have done this?
Could it be somebody who likes her,
somebody who has a fantasy over her?
[Narrator] Detectives hunt for a deranged killer.
We noticed bloodied palm print.
Police had collected
about 100 different print impressions.
We could be looking for a serial killer.
[Narrator] Just when it looks like justice
may never be served.
It was extremely frustrating.
[Narrator] A stunning discovery points
to a murderer in their midst.
When we found out who it was,
it was like, are you kidding?
Nobody could believe it.
[tense energetic music]
[bright music]
[Narrator] Less than an hour outside Los Angeles,
Irvine, California is a peaceful community
with a coastal vibe.
Irvine is very, very pretty.
It is pretty much the hub of Orange County.
The ocean's only 10 minutes away.
And this is where everybody wanted to be.
Irvine has always been considered
to be a very safe city and
has not been known for violence.
[Narrator] On May 14th, 1979,
Irvine's sense of safety is shattered
when a man calls 9-1-1 to say
he can't get a hold of his 22-year-old girlfriend,
Savannah Anderson.
Earlier that day, her boyfriend
went over to her residence to meet her
at about six o'clock.
He couldn't get any response at the door.
He went back home for a while.
Couldn't get a hold of her still.
He called the police department about 7:25 p.m.
It was a welfare check.
Her boyfriend indicated that she had not been feeling well,
and so there was a concern that it could be a health issue.
When the officer arrived,
he met her boyfriend, Bill Mills,
and another man, Ken Bergerson,
who identified himself as her boss.
They explained they'd both come to the apartment
to try to find out if she was okay,
'cause nobody'd been able to get a hold of her that day.
I was very fortunate to work with Savannah.
Savannah was always prompt and she didn't come that day.
All day long, it was like trying to get a hold of her.
No answers.
By the end of the day, we were very concerned
something might have happened because that wasn't like her.
The officer found the apartment
was, in fact, locked up tight.
There was no key available from the apartment office.
The officer found out that a bedroom window nearby
was unlocked from the inside.
He was able to open that bedroom window.
When the officer made entry,
he was able to see a woman
with a lot of blood around her,
lying in bed, towels wrapped around her face and head.
She was cold to the touch.
[Narrator] Both Savannah's boyfriend and boss
are taken to the station for questioning,
while homicide investigators are called to the scene.
When I walked in, it appeared to me
that there was a struggle, a fight,
and it was very clear that she was attacked on the bed,
and she laid on the bed for some time
due to the amount of blood that had pooled in that area.
A lot of blood spattering against
the back of the wall and the headboard.
She also had towels over her face.
After the towels were taken off,
her face was found out to be beaten
very severely, excessively.
The towels were significant.
It tells you that the killer may have known her
and didn't want to look at what they have done.
It appeared that the body of the victim
had been beaten with something hard.
She had multiple defensive marks on her arms,
her hands, nail marks around the neck area,
which would indicate that she also had a ligature
that had been placed around her neck.
[Gary] The legs were slightly raised
as if some sexual activity may have occurred there.
Perhaps she was a victim of a sexual assault.
[taut music]
The degree of violence to Savannah's body was unusual.
Did somebody do it because they were angry at her?
If they were angry at her, is that because they knew her,
they loved her, they hated her?
[Narrator] Based on the state of the body,
police believe Savannah was likely killed
in the early hours of the morning.
Looking closer, several details
strike investigators as highly unusual.
Savannah had some jewelry on her.
There was a necklace around her neck
and the clasp was at the front.
There's also a watch on her arm that looked like
it had just been put on there loosely.
We were surprised to see
that those items were still intact on her
based upon the brutality of her attacker.
So it appeared that he may have
just put those items back on her.
The body itself appeared to have been washed
as there's very little blood
on the skin surface of the victim.
We noticed drag marks from the bed onto the carpet,
leading into the bathroom.
Inside the bathroom, there was diluted blood
with water around the sink area
and also the bathtub.
[taut mellow music]
She looked like she had been cleaned up
and set in a particular position on the bed.
It was staged for this suspect's desires.
And I think that was important
to get an idea of what this type of person
was willing to do to Savannah's body,
put things on her, put clothes on her, whatever.
It was very unusual for any type of murder,
in my opinion.
It looks like somebody wanted to make it look like
she was fine and nothing was wrong.
[Narrator] Police find some important clues
the killer left behind.
We noticed bloodied palm print
leading from the bedroom into the bathroom.
Palm prints are identifiable, just like fingerprints.
There were smudged, bloodied fingerprints
on the toilet seat.
They were basically the only way
that we'd be able to find out
who the killer might have been.
There was no DNA at the time.
[Narrator] Detectives find no murder weapon,
or any sign of forced entry.
We made the determination that the killer
may have been known by Savannah
and let him in through the front door.
Another theory was through an unlocked open window.
[Narrator] After finishing up at the scene,
detectives break the news of Savanna's death
to her loved ones.
The parents lived in Utah.
When I spoke to Savannah's mother on the phone,
she was devastated by this.
It was her only child.
It's probably hard for most people to realize,
first of all, what it's like to lose a child,
let alone the only child you have.
Savanna's mother said Savannah had made
a collect call to her about 10 o'clock
the previous day, on Mother's Day evening.
They had talked on the phone for about two hours.
Savannah was very happy, good mood.
That must have made it even more so difficult.
When I found out what had happened to Savannah,
we were all totally shocked.
My heart just hurt so much.
How very sad this beautiful young lady,
her life was gone.
It's very senseless, very, very hard to understand.
[taut mellow music]
[Narrator] Born in 1956,
Savannah Anderson grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah,
and had big dreams.
She was 22 when she moved to Irvine.
She came here looking for a better opportunity.
She was very independent and she wanted to do it on her own.
I met Savannah when she was working here
for Commercial Credit.
Savannah was a secretary for the operations manager.
She just was like a magnet.
She was very, very pretty.
I remember when people did come in the office,
especially the men, she did attract attention.
[Narrator] Savannah was flattered,
but she did have a boyfriend, Bill Mills,
whom she met three months after moving to California.
She was more of a private person,
and to herself as far as not wanting to just open up
and tell everybody what she was doing.
She was definitely on the shy side.
When I found out what had happened to Savannah,
I felt angry, and just crushed and so hurt.
My first thought was just how tragic this was.
I just can't imagine.
It's kind of the horror story.
Who could have done this?
Could it be somebody close to her,
somebody who knows her,
somebody who likes her,
somebody who has a fantasy over her?
When you have a brutal killing like Savannah's case,
detectives immediately looked for the people
that are close to her, her boyfriend.
The fact that Bill, the boyfriend,
was the one that called the police,
is he innocently calling the police here
'cause he doesn't know that something had happened to her?
Or is he the one who may have done it,
so he contacted the police to say,
"Gee, something might be wrong,"
with the hopes that the police will go ahead
and discover the crime and then say,
"Well, it can't be the boyfriend because he called us here."
Could it be almost a way out
to try to point the finger away from you?
It's just something you have to look into.
[tense music]
[Narrator] Coming up:
Police question the grieving boyfriend
to see if he has something to hide.
His attorney advised him not to take a polygraph.
[Narrator] And detectives uncover more suspects.
Why is he here now at this time?
That was suspicious.
Somebody was lying.
[Narrator] Another crime turns
the investigation on its head.
This individual was responsible for five murders.
Perhaps she was the victim of this killer.
[Narrator] And the perpetrator's identity
leaves everyone in shock.
It was absolutely devastating
when we found out who it was.
[tense mellow music]
[Narrator] Police investigating the gruesome murder
of 22-year-old Savannah Anderson have their first suspect,
her boyfriend, Bill Mills.
When you have a crime of passion
where somebody is murdered,
there are definitely times when a boyfriend
who just got angry and upset,
did the crime.
The first thing we did was began meeting with Bill Mills
so we could understand better about Savannah,
his relationship.
[Narrator] Bill tells police he and Savannah
started dating six months ago, and he was in love.
They had met each other in another apartment community.
They had gotten along well.
He was about nine years older than Savannah.
In talking with him, had learned that
he had just asked her to marry him.
[Narrator] Police are curious if something came up
to disrupt the couple's plans for the future.
It was a large violent crime scene.
Did he do it because he was angry at her?
[Narrator] Bill tells investigators
he last saw Savannah a day earlier, on May 13th.
They had brunch together,
and then he spent the day over at her apartment.
During the interview with Bill Mills,
we found out that Savannah and he did have sex that day.
So that would be important later on
in case there was semen found inside of her.
Bill told me on the 13th,
he left her apartment at about 10:00 p.m.
Once he did leave, what happened to him?
Could anybody account for his activity
after he apparently left her apartment?
He said he went home.
He went to bed and then to work the following day.
[Narrator] Bill says he and Savannah
had plans on the 14th after they both got off work.
He went to her apartment about six,
knocked, couldn't raise her.
He went back home for a while.
Then Bill Mills went ahead
and contacted the police department.
[tense music]
[Narrator] Bill denies having anything to do
with Savannah's death.
It appeared that Bill Mills was really in love with her.
Thought it was a very serious relationship.
He was very happy with her.
Bill was cooperative.
He tried to assist us as much as he could.
[Narrator] But there is one request
Bill won't comply with.
There is a red flag.
He was asked if he would be willing to take a polygraph.
He contacted an attorney and his attorney
advised him not to take one.
We did ask if we could see his body,
his hands, his arms, see if there's any indications
of a struggle with anybody, but his body was clean.
We asked him if we could go ahead
and take his finger and palm prints.
He agreed to let us do that.
[Narrator] It will be weeks before the results come in.
In the meantime, detectives are forced to let Bill go.
Next, they move on to another man in Savannah's life.
Part of the investigation and process
was to meet with her boss, Ken Bergerson,
who had been at the crime scene.
In speaking with him, he said he had known her
in Salt Lake and had offered her a job locally here.
Ken Bergerson also said that he
kind of considered himself
a father figure to her.
He helped her move.
They had talked many times, been out for drinks,
been out for lunch and different things.
[Narrator] Could Ken have wanted more
than a professional relationship with Savannah?
Was anything going on romantically in the present day?
I asked Ken where he was the night of May 13th,
and he indicated that he was with his wife
that whole evening.
We did contact the wife to verify that,
and there's no reason to believe
that he was anywhere but at his home that night.
After the interview, we asked Ken to submit his prints
so they could be compared against the crime scene.
We just let him go home that night
after the interview.
[taut mellow music]
The police questioned each one of us in the office.
I worked for Ken Bergerson at the time.
He was just such a nice guy and so concerned about her.
She was living by herself and she was just so beautiful.
I just thought, you know, somebody saw her,
somebody was either stalking her or something happened,
but I was just so angry that somebody
could possibly do something like this.
It had to have been somebody I thought who was very sick.
There was nothing really that drew anyone's attention
to any issues that Savannah had at work
and nothing came of it.
[Narrator] Police canvass the apartment complex
the next day, searching for witnesses.
We didn't find anyone that said
that they'd heard any struggle or screams
to corroborate when that attack may have occurred.
There were two security guards
that were assigned to the complex.
It was a multi-unit under construction.
So after I got the names of the security personnel
who worked that night, which is about a week
after we originally responded out there,
I talked to the security guard first
who worked the midnight to 6:30 shift.
His name is Chuck Doyle.
According to Doyle, security was hired
to ensure the residents were safe
and to overlook any construction sites
and that sort of thing for theft.
[Narrator] Chuck tells investigators on a usual shift,
he would drive through the complex and also patrol by foot.
I asked him how he found out
about the murder of the woman,
and he said he found out through the company.
I asked him if he knew the lady who lived there,
showed him two pictures and he picked out
the picture of Savannah Anderson.
[Narrator] When asked about his dealings with Savannah,
Chuck's answer gives investigators cause for concern.
He indicated about a month prior
that he'd helped Savannah gain entry
into her apartment and slid a window open for her.
[tense music]
It was notable that Mr. Doyle had said
he was aware that at least at that time,
one of the windows was unlocked.
Doyle said, "You'll find my fingerprints
on Savannah's window," and this is the reason why
immediately we printed him.
It really made me zero in on him
as a potential suspect.
[tense energetic music]
[Narrator] A week after Savannah Anderson
was found bludgeoned to death in her bed,
security guard Chuck Doyle has drawn suspicion
after admitting that his fingerprints
are likely on her unlocked window.
She had locked herself out of her apartment before,
contacted him while he was on the site
to see if he could help her get into the apartment.
The security did not have any pass keys.
He found that a window was unlocked.
He was able to slide the window open.
He also said that he didn't go inside.
It could be for a couple of reasons,
could be perfectly innocent that he didn't go inside.
It could also be to say, "Well, I didn't go inside,"
if he may have somehow be involved in the death.
[Narrator] Had Chuck slipped in
through the same unlocked window to kill Savannah?
Police press him for his movements that night.
Chuck Doyle said that he reported for duty
on the 14th at midnight, or was supposed to,
indicated that he was about 10 minutes,
15 minutes late.
He was supposed to replace
a security guard named Bob Sellers.
He drove by Savannah's and saw her talking on the phone.
He thought maybe that was around 12:15 or so,
12:20, but was not certain.
He went and parked next to Bob Seller's car.
About 12:30, he estimated, Sellers approached.
He got the daily reports from Sellers,
and then Sellers went ahead
and got in his car and drove off.
[Narrator] When detectives ask what happened next,
Chuck's answer raises even more suspicion.
He said he drove around a while,
went back to the carport and went to sleep,
which would seem very odd.
He thought he probably nodded off for a while.
Doyle says that he was awoken by a car door slam.
It was Sellers who had returned
and invited him to breakfast.
Doyle says it was maybe one or two in the morning.
They went to breakfast at Spires Restaurant, a 24-hour cafe.
[Narrator] The cafe is just 10 minutes from the complex.
Doyle said that he was dropped off by Sellers
at about 2:30 in the morning.
[Narrator] Chuck says the rest of his shift
was uneventful, and he clocked out at 6:30 a.m.
There's just something really unusual
about the sequence of events
that's being described by Doyle.
[Narrator] Investigators are left
with more questions than answers.
Did Savannah die on Chuck's watch?
Or was he the one who killed her?
Hoping for clarity, and to corroborate Chuck's story,
they turn to the other security guard, Robert Sellers.
Robert Sellers enlisted
into the Marine Corps at age 17.
He's 22 now.
He was assigned that day to work
from about four in the afternoon,
and he was supposed to get off
at about midnight that night.
I asked him if he knew who Savannah Anderson was.
He said he had talked to both her
and her boyfriend that evening.
Sellers told me that he thought he saw Savannah
around 10:00 p.m. on the phone.
[Narrator] Robert confirms that Chuck was late for work,
so he didn't leave the apartment complex
until around 12:30 a.m.
After leaving Doyle, he then went home, showered.
As a US Marine, he was supposed to go
to a Marine base at six o'clock the morning.
He decided it wasn't worth trying to go to sleep.
So he thought, "Well, I'll just go out
to breakfast with Doyle."
So, that's when he returned.
Sellers told me that he came back to the complex
about 3:30, which is an hour and a half or two hours
after what Doyle recalled as happening.
So there was this inconsistency between the both of them
about what time they must have gone to the restaurant.
Sellers said there is a waitress named Gail
who waited on them.
I took note of that.
At the end of the Sellers interview,
we asked if he would go ahead and give
his finger and palm prints, which he agreed to.
[soft mellow music]
[Narrator] Investigators hope the autopsy report
can help them pinpoint Savannah's time of death.
According to the coroner's report,
Savannah Anderson died
at approximately 2:00 a.m. on May 14th.
The cause of death was strangulation.
She'd been struck on the head many times,
found multiple contusions on her face.
There is broken fingernails, a broken jaw, cracked teeth.
We did have biological fluids, semen that was found,
but DNA was not in existence at the time,
so we didn't have that tool.
[ominous music]
My first thought was just
how horrible to die like that.
I cried and I was just very upset.
Just thinking that something like that had happened
to a person that was just so lovely
is just terrible.
[taut music]
[Narrator] If Savannah was killed at 2:00 a.m.,
which security guard is telling the truth?
Was Chuck really off site like he claimed?
Or was Robert right,
meaning Chuck was at the apartment complex
when the murder took place?
There was a wide gap and discrepancy
between their two stories and timing.
So, the two were brought in together to try
and determine if someone was mistaken about times.
They both basically stuck to their stories.
I wasn't sure which either timeline might have been correct,
whether it might have been Doyle's or Sellers'
because they were just too far apart.
So we thought at that time, somebody was lying.
[tense energetic music]
[Narrator] Detectives are investigating
the disturbing murder of Savannah Anderson.
The two security guards from her apartment complex
are unable to agree where they were at 2:00 a.m.
when Savannah was killed.
The timing is very sketchy
between what Doyle says
and what we learned from Sellers.
This is raising a lot of flags to me
because why don't they know where they were
and what time they were?
Going over time discrepancies,
Doyle said, "Well, I slept.
I could be mistaken.
I'm not sure."
So Sellers seemed to be more credible, time-wise.
[Narrator] According to Robert Sellers,
Chuck was on duty at 2:00 a.m. and the pair
only went to Spires Restaurant around 3:30 a.m.
I asked one of the patrol guys,
go ahead and try to contact any waitress there
that might have been named Gail
to see if she recalled the security guys
coming in there at all.
They weren't able to find a Gail
that worked at the Spires Restaurant
so we could not identify that particular part of the story.
It looked like the best chance of us
determining who the suspect was,
was gonna be through the fingerprint
and palm print evidence left behind.
At this time, we already had fingerprints
and palm prints from the boyfriend, Bill Mills,
the boss, Ken Bergerson,
and from the two security guards,
Chuck Doyle and Bob Sellers.
And I felt that if we can find out
if any of those were the palm prints,
that's gonna be the resolution of our case.
We'd be able to determine who had done it.
So, we sent them away with high hopes
that we're gonna be able to resolve the case
once we get the results back.
[Narrator] While waiting for the results,
investigators dig deeper into Savannah's life,
hoping something will point to her killer.
Savannah seemed to be a very likable person
who had, from all reports,
good mind, good IQ, personable, funny,
one that you would be very happy to have as a daughter.
She was very sweet, very sophisticated, quiet.
She had very strong values and morals.
You know, she was just not one of those
that was gonna be out looking for trouble.
Just how she went and how young she went is so tragic.
Our world is, it's, it's cruel.
[mellow music]
We interviewed neighbors.
Savannah had been at the apartment complex about six weeks.
Her contacts, friends, were very limited.
What I learned through investigation was
Savannah had moved deliberately for the safety
of having security on the premises.
She really wanted a place that felt safe,
and the fact that they had security,
she loved that aspect of it.
She felt really good about where she was going.
[Narrator] Two months after Savanna's death,
police receive the results of the finger
and palm print analysis from the scene.
I was really hoping we heard back from the crime lab
that it's gonna be one of the guys we'd already talked to.
In terms of identification and finding
and identifying that individual, it was everything.
None of the prints that came back
were any of the fingerprints submitted
from the bloody finger and palm prints.
Really disappointing.
Couldn't figure out why.
It seemed like there should have been
somebody in there that was responsible for it.
Yet the crime lab is telling us
that these weren't the responsible parties at all.
We thought we had some viable suspect,
but we're told, "Nope, it's not them."
Well, now what?
Wow.
[Narrator] The results mean Savannah's boyfriend,
her boss, and the two security guards are all cleared.
I was very discouraged, but thought, okay,
we just haven't come across the perpetrator.
He's out there.
We'll find him.
We'll identify him.
I feel comfortable with that
based on the palm print.
[tense music]
Detectives immediately looked for people in the area
that maybe had criminal histories.
They looked at people that had been arrested after that
for similar type of break-in crimes.
And if they had any suspicions whatsoever,
they would get their palm print and their fingerprints,
and they'd compare them to the crime scene prints
and then rule them out if they didn't match.
Three months after the crime,
police had collected about 100 different print impressions.
The palm prints didn't match.
It was extremely frustrating to work through this.
[Narrator] With the case threatening to turn cold,
detectives refused to quit and take the case
in a chilling new direction.
After going through potential suspects
that were eliminated through the palm print,
we began to examine that Savannah Anderson may be the victim
of a serial killer known as the bedroom basher.
This individual was responsible for five murders
in the Orange County area at the time.
[Narrator] With a population under two million people,
the number of attacks in a matter of months is troubling,
and the similarities, striking.
He would target
young lone females between 17 and 35.
Ground floor apartments, open windows, open doors.
Once inside, he would bludgeon, strangle,
and sexually assault the females.
So, Savannah certainly fit that M.O.
and so we had to take a real strong look at
perhaps she was the victim of this individual
who had not been identified.
We could be looking for a serial killer.
[tense energetic music]
[Narrator] Detectives investigating the brutal murder
of Savannah Anderson now believe
she may have fallen victim to a serial killer.
The bedroom basher went after females
in homes or apartments in the Orange County area,
raped them in at least one case,
killed somebody by bludgeoning them,
which is what happened to Savannah.
Based upon the number of bludgeonings in Orange county,
which were five, we felt that there would be another
that would take place.
[suspenseful music]
[Narrator] Five months after Savannah's murder,
investigators' worst fears are confirmed
when the serial killer strikes again.
During this time, there was a woman
in Orange County that had been attacked,
believed by the bedroom basher, who survived
and was able to give a description to the police.
A composite drawing was made.
She described the perpetrator as a male,
olive skin, pockmarked face, long hair, mustache,
dark eyes, in his late 20, early 30s.
[bright music]
A task force was created in Orange County.
Flyers were disseminated to the public and to patrol units.
It resulted in multiple contacts of people
who believed they knew who this individual was.
Unfortunately, none of those resulted
in the apprehension of the individual.
[Narrator] A year after the murder,
with no arrests and a killer on the loose,
women in the area live in a constant state of terror.
The community was definitely impacted
by this terrible murder.
The news was full of these kind of things.
And it did create fear among people.
The fact that I was living so close by,
it's a little scary.
Any female who resided by themselves,
took extra precautions to ensure
that their windows, doors were in fact locked.
Every possibility we looked at,
we were unable to make any headway
in determining what happened to Savannah Anderson.
It was extremely frustrating.
There was no one else that we were aware of
that could provide any insight and,
or potentially could be a suspect.
[Narrator] Three years after Savannah's murder,
her case remains unsolved.
After you go through tips, leads,
you step back, you reexamine.
You say, "What did I miss?
It's gotta be there.
What did I miss?"
I've started to believe that they
just weren't going to find out.
And that's terrible to think
that something like that could happen,
and that this person is out there,
roaming around still.
[taut music]
[Narrator] Two more years pass
until a rookie homicide detective
takes a renewed interest in the case.
Savannah's case was the first cold case
that I ever worked.
And I was familiar with it because
I was in patrol when it happened.
And I thought, "Well, nobody's looked at it for a while.
Maybe I should look at it."
A friend of mine who knows Larry Montgomery very well
calls him the evidence whisperer.
I was aware he was looking at the Savannah Anderson case.
And at one point, he came to me
and we compared notes on it.
[Narrator] After combing through all the evidence,
detectives revisit, whether Savannah was a victim
of the still unidentified bedroom basher.
The possibility that she was killed
by a serial killer was definitely looked at.
I was looking at anything that I could use
to direct me to a possible suspect.
I'm looking at what was done at the crime scene.
What did the suspect do with the body?
What was maybe in his mind because of what he did?
[Narrator] In comparing Savannah's murder
to those committed by the bedroom basher,
something just doesn't add up.
The one thing that stood out that was not similar
was the cleaning up of the victim.
When I look at a crime scene like this,
it's somebody who has a desire for Savannah.
She appeared uninjured,
other than towels on top of her face.
It wasn't the gore that he liked.
He had to kill her in order to get her
into a position where he could fantasize
about having an actual relationship with her.
This is a real girl now, as opposed to a dead body.
The question in this case is who did it?
All the people we've looked at and that looked good
were not matching the prints.
There was one point where I started looking
at the security guards to see what they were doing,
'cause they were certainly involved
in being there at the time.
There were very big differences
between what Doyle said happened
and what Sellers said happened that night.
And I thought that was very odd.
I thought at the time that I interviewed Doyle
that one of the problems was
he may have gone asleep for a while.
That would certainly account
for the timeline being different,
or his uneasiness in talking to us
about that particular time period.
[Narrator] Police quickly locate Chuck
and bring him in for another interview.
His story about what happened the night of the murder
is the same, but a few details stand out.
Doyle said that he got to the site
probably 10 minutes late.
He had not been able to find the person
he was supposed to replace yet, Bob Sellers.
About 12:30, Doyle saw Sellers come with a shirt in his hand
and I asked Doyle, "Did you ever ask him why he was late,
or why he didn't have his uniform shirt on?"
He said, "No, I never asked him that."
He just figures he's on his own time,
so he could probably wear whatever he wants.
That's unusual.
That right there's a big red flag.
[Narrator] That's not the only thing
that raises alarm bells.
Doyle said that Sellers had commented
about wanting to have a drink with Savannah.
He thought she was very attractive.
[Narrator] Detectives ask Chuck Doyle if Robert Sellers
ever confided anything else to him.
Regarding the relationship between Doyle and Sellers,
they weren't buddies.
They didn't do things together.
They weren't really close friends.
[Narrator] Following this lead,
investigators ask Chuck if it was common for them
to go for breakfast during his shift,
like they did the night of the murder.
They never did that before,
so why is Sellers there on a night
when he's supposed to leave soon
to go to work at a Marine base, saying,
"Hey, you want to go get something to eat?"
It didn't seem to fit.
But I had the paperwork that shows
that he had been exonerated.
It wasn't his print, but I saw
all kinds of things that Sellers did
that was suspicious.
Why is he here now at this time?
It all fits if he came back
and did something with the body at that time.
It all made sense time-wise.
And that's when I decided
we need to find those prints again
and see if we matched them properly.
[tense energetic music]
[taafter Savannah Andersonive years
was found murdered in her apartment,
cold case investigators suspect her killer
has been hiding in plain sight the entire time.
I've got a suspicion that this guy, Robert Sellers,
might be the guy 'cause there's too many lies or mistakes.
He's already been exonerated,
and I didn't believe the exoneration.
We need to find somebody who's better
than our Sheriff's department,
who's best in the world that we can get.
[Narrator] Robert's prints
and the ones found at the crime scene
are rushed to FBI headquarters.
The FBI discovered that some parts of the palm print
were so thick with blood that it became a negative.
It was the opposite of what it should be
because of the thick blood.
The thick blood looked like the ridges
when really, they were the valleys of the print.
[Narrator] The FBI re-analyze the palm print
and compare it to prints obtained from Robert.
The next day, the fingerprint lab at the FBI
was able to identify about 24 points of identification,
a positive identification of security guard Bob Sellers.
[suspenseful music]
We have to arrest him now.
Sellers, at the time that he was arrested,
was living in a mobile home up in Brea.
At the police department,
he was presented with evidence
that his prints are, in fact, in the blood there.
He didn't come forward right away,
but very quickly, after he had some lies,
he did admit that he did everything that we thought he did.
[suspenseful music]
He was obsessed with her.
He found her very attractive.
He thought perhaps by going into her apartment
that he might convince her of some romantic get-together.
He gained entry into her apartment
through an unlocked window where he could hear her
on the telephone talking with her mother.
He stayed in the bedroom, hid as best possible
while she talked in the kitchen living room area.
Once she got off the phone at about a little after 12,
she came into the bedroom.
When she saw him, she was thinking,
"I have an intruder, a man in here and I'm frightened."
And he became frightened and realized
that he had to silence her.
He pulled out his baton and began striking her.
He then went to strangulation.
During the struggle with Savannah,
he said that his shirt got bloody,
so he had to take it off.
So when he went to see Doyle,
he had a shirt in his hand so that his replacement
would not see the blood on it.
And then he goes home, gets cleaned up,
sneaks back in and then goes into Savannah's apartment.
Sellers wanted her sexually.
He had to kill her to get that.
He did talk about, he wanted her to be clean.
And so that's why he dragged her into the shower
and washed the blood off of her
and took her back into the bedroom
and wrapped her head in towels
'cause she was so badly beaten.
So then he just had a body that was clean
and he could have his fantasy.
At three o'clock in the morning,
he's trying to sneak out.
And that's when Doyle sees him.
And that's when, at the spur of the moment,
he has to all of a sudden pretend like,
"Oh, I'm here to go to breakfast with you, okay?"
He almost seemed relieved when he finally
was able to confess that he actually did kill Savannah.
[Narrator] On March 29th, 1984,
Robert Sellers is charged with murder,
rape, attempted rape, and burglary.
I think after five years,
he thought he probably did get away with it.
In that time, he got married, started a family.
The anguish that he caused with Savannah Anderson's death,
he didn't deserve having that extra five years.
[Narrator] On November 4th, 1986,
Robert Sellers is found guilty of first degree murder
and a special circumstance of rape.
But his lawyers win his appeal.
His conviction was overturned on a technicality.
[taut music]
The fact that the prosecution could not prove
that she was alive during the rape,
changed the verdict for a life
without possibility of parole.
[Narrator] Instead of a retrial,
prosecutors offer Robert a deal.
He accepts to avoid the death penalty
and pleads guilty to first degree murder.
He is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
Here, you have a guard, a man, a Marine,
placed there to protect the residents,
and it turned out he is the one committing the crime.
One would not expect
the one who is protecting you
to be your killer.
[taut mellow music]
It was absolutely devastating
when we found out who it was.
The irony of it all was the fact that
she moved to this beautiful apartment complex,
thinking she was going to be safe and secure.
And it was the security guard that actually did it.
It was like, are you kidding?
Nobody could believe it.
[somber music]
[Narrator] Authorities don't find anything
to link Robert Sellers to the bedroom basher killings.
In 1996, Gerald Parker was identified
and convicted of those crimes.
In 1999, Robert Sellers died in prison.
I do feel there was justice,
especially when I found out that he died
after he had been in prison.
That was justice right there.
[mellow music]
When I remember Savannah,
I think of this beautiful young woman,
just the prettiest smile.
She was very, very poised.
I think she would've definitely had a bright future,
had her life not been taken, in any sense of the manner
of whether she had married and had a family,
or gone on in the business world.
She just was a very lovely person.
[mellow music]