A vibrant and loving young mother.
She was just an awesome person.
She had a little feisty side to her 'cause of the redhead,
but she was always looking out for everybody else.
Is found savagely murdered
inside an office building washroom.
There was insulated electrical wire used to strangle her.
It appeared that there had been a sexual assault.
Detectives pursue multiple suspects.
There were problems with the marriage.
They had had issues. They had been arguing.
He was in the building the night she was killed.
His prints matched the prints inside the bathroom stall.
And hunt down an elusive killer.
We talked to the attorney who states that
he is probably somewhere in South America.
And I said, "Okay, where is he at? Can we get him?"
That no one could have imagined.
I was in shock. I couldn't believe it.
It was very unexpected to see him as an actual killer.
Known for its live music scene,
Austin, Texas is also
one of the safest big cities in the country.
Austin's kind of one of those cool vibe cities,
and it's just a very good mix of people.
There's a lot of green belts
and parks and creeks and trails.
It's a really, a really neat place to live.
Austin has not had the kind of crime and
the volume of crime as other large cities.
People do typically feel safe.
But, in 1983, the town is rocked
when a local businessman makes a gruesome discovery.
In the early morning hours of September 20th, 1983,
the Austin Police Department received a 911 call.
One of the tenants of an office complex
had come in in the morning
and discovered things were out of place.
There was a cleaning cart out in the hallway,
so he went to try to find out
if anyone else was still in the building.
He did discover a deceased female
in the upstairs men's restroom.
The 911 caller did not know her name,
but he recognized her
as the woman who did clean the building.
Police are dispatched to the scene.
When we located the female victim in the men's restroom,
she was positioned inside of the stall.
She was undressed and there was insulated electrical wire
that had small loops tied on the ends of them.
Detectives believed that electrical wire
was used to strangle her and be the cause of her death.
It appeared because she had no defensive wounds at all
that the killer came up from behind and surprised her.
Everything in the crime scene suggested that
this was a violent attack.
There was wet toilet paper
inside of her nose and her mouth.
It stands to reason
the killer put that in her mouth and her nose
after he strangled her
to ensure that she was good and dead.
There was bodily fluid and clothing
that made it appear as if she was drug across the floor.
Her clothes were scattered amongst the restroom
and it appeared that there had been a sexual assault.
The victim was identified by an ID
that was found inside of her purse.
She was Laurie Stout, a 22-year-old female from Austin.
While forensics collect samples,
investigators look for other evidence
left behind by the killer.
A significant fingerprint
was located in the men's stall of the restroom.
When dragging her in there,
the person would almost have to
brace themselves on the wall of the inside of the stall.
The print inside the bathroom stall
matched a print on the second-floor fire escape,
so the two of those were pretty significant.
Had the killer fled through the fire escape
after committing the murder?
Detectives head down to the parking lot,
looking for more clues.
They found that there was a spool
that was used for insulated
electrical wiring, inside the dumpster,
they also found some looser pieces
of the same type of wiring that was used to kill the victim.
Detectives bag the items for analysis.
Back inside, police start piecing together
a theory of who could have committed this horrible act.
The fact that the victim was killed inside the building
in the middle of the night suggested that whoever did this
had access or a key to get in it.
Detectives canvass the building
and talk to employees,
but determine that no one had seen anything suspicious.
We were able to talk with two witnesses
that saw Laurie at about 13:30 a.m. as they locked up
and secured the building and left.
We know that she was last seen alive
around 12:30 in the morning,
and the employee at the building
discovered her body around 8 a.m.,
so she died some time during that time frame.
Just as investigators are finishing up,
a frantic man arrives at the scene.
He identifies himself as Gary Stout
and demands to know where his wife Laurie is.
Gary Stout told detectives he woke up that morning
and discovered that his wife was not home yet from work.
He got worried and he drove up to the building,
which was a short distance away,
and discovered her car still in the parking lot,
but it was surrounded by numerous police cars.
It was at that point that the police spoke with him
and broke the news that his wife was found dead.
He was obviously traumatized by what had happened.
As police take Gary
down to the station for questioning,
the devastating news soon spreads
to the rest of Laurie's family.
I was in shock. I couldn't believe it.
My whole world changed.
I no longer had my confidante.
I no longer had my best friend. It was horrible, horrible.
When we found out that Laurie had been killed,
it was a big impact.
It was overwhelming.
Born in Arlington, Virginia in 1960,
Laurie Coffey was a naturally warm and caring soul.
Laurie was the oldest of Laurie, myself, and T.J.
She was kind of the mother hen of us all.
She had a little feisty side to her
and I think maybe because of the redhead,
but she was always looking out for everybody else.
She was just an awesome person. She really, truly was.
Laurie was the leader of us three musketeers,
me, Beverly and Laurie,
and she kept us going.
After moving to Austin
with her mother and siblings,
in 1977, Laurie met Gary Stout,
who worked logistics for the military.
It all flourished very fast.
She was so giddy about Gary and they fell in love.
All in all, he just seemed like a good guy,
so we were all, you know, okay, so this is it.
After a whirlwind courtship,
Laurie and Gary married the following year.
Three years later, Laurie became pregnant.
She was over the moon. Very, very happy.
I mean, that's what she wanted.
She wanted to be married, start having a family,
and she was on her way.
But Laurie is soon forced to face
the harsh realities of military family life.
Gary got orders to go to Belgium. She was very sad.
Laurie was sad that Gary was gone overseas,
and here she was, facing having a baby on her own at home.
On January 26th, 1982, while Gary is away,
Laurie gives birth to a baby girl.
Laurie had a really easy labor,
and, you know, now we have this little baby.
And, of course, she was ecstatic.
I think that she very much enjoyed being a mother.
I think that she experienced
probably the happiest months of her life after I was born.
In order to spend more time with his family,
Gary left the military
and took a job as a maintenance worker in the same building
where Laurie worked nights as a cleaner.
She was very excited that he was coming home.
That's all she wanted, just to be a mom and wife, homemaker.
With her life finally on track,
how did this loving young mother
become the victim of a cold-blooded killer?
As with any investigation,
we have to look at those that are closest to the victim
and those that have motive.
As an employee of the building,
a maintenance worker there, Gary had access.
Down at the station,
police question Gary about his marriage to Laurie.
When we asked him about any problems in the relationship,
he quickly admitted that they had had issues.
They had been arguing and were unhappy.
Detectives discovered that
Laurie actually went and stayed with her sister Beverly
shortly before the murder happened
because of a really big argument that she had with Gary.
Things were not going all that well for her and Gary,
and she was miserable.
This definitely created a concern
that there were problems with the marriage.
So, knowing that he has access and motive,
it raises the level of suspicion
that he could have been involved in this crime.
Coming up,
detectives uncover disturbing secrets.
He wasn't happy in his relationship
and he admitted that he was looking at leaving her.
Laurie's family felt very strongly that he was the killer.
Before a shocking tip
takes police in a whole new direction.
We received information from a female victim
of a man that committed a similar attack against her.
This is a big turning point in the investigation.
Could this be a serial rapist?
Could it be a serial murderer?
And has detectives
risking it all to catch a killer.
We knew it was going to have to be
something big for us to find him.
We were holding our breath.
We weren't sure it was going to happen.
Police investigating
the murder of 22-year-old mother Laurie Stout
are questioning their first suspect, her husband, Gary.
When Gary was being interviewed,
he was very forthcoming
about the poor state of his marriage with Laurie,
so it was a little bit of a red flag.
At this point in the investigation,
we need additional information about problems that
may be in their relationship.
Laurie and Gary were happy when they first got married.
She was proud to be a wife. That's all she wanted.
But things changed
when Gary returned from overseas.
Laurie wanted it to just be like it was before he left,
and, unfortunately, that was not the case.
So, knowing the family's account
of their relationship as well,
knowing that it was a volatile relationship,
created concern that he could have been
frustrated with Laurie and committed this type of act.
When detectives press Gary
for details about why his marriage was falling apart,
he makes an alarming confession.
He admitted that he had actually had an affair
and was looking at leaving Laurie.
Gary tells detectives
that he met a woman while overseas,
and that she had since come to visit him in Austin.
At this point, the detectives are wondering,
does Gary want Laurie out of the picture,
given the very bad state of their marriage
and the fact that he wants to be with
this woman he's having an affair with?
Gary explains that
he ultimately chose to stay with Laurie,
but detective's become even more suspicious
after they ask him for an alibi.
He stated that, the night before,
he and Laurie had had an argument,
so she went and slept on the couch.
At one point, she finally just got up
in the early morning hours, went to work.
Gary did not have an alibi that we could confirm.
He was at home with a young child asleep.
He could have left his house,
gone up to the building, and come back.
That would not be something we could verify.
So the marital difficulties and now we've got a big fight,
and Gary having access to the building.
He's somebody that they're looking at pretty hard.
Detectives ask Gary
to provide samples of his blood and fingerprints
to be compared with evidence found at the crime scene.
He was cooperative with us.
He provided the samples that were requested.
Looking further into Gary's movements
leading up to the murder,
investigators reach out to his boss at the office building.
The manager of the building informed the detectives that
Gary had fixed a water heater
the day before Laurie was killed,
and he used the same type of electrical wiring
that was used to kill Laurie.
This was another extremely big flag in the case.
All these things together
really raised the suspicion that this is the guy.
As police wait for forensic testing results,
Laurie's autopsy report comes in.
Laurie's cause of death was, in fact, strangulation,
and that seemed to match the ligature found at the scene.
What was determined is that
a sexual assault had taken place.
They were able to get a sample of semen.
However, this is 1983,
so there was no DNA testing available.
In order to do any comparison, we use blood type antigens.
This kind of evidence is helpful in
narrowing down the field of suspects.
When we found out how Laurie was actually killed,
it was disturbing.
First thought to my mind, one sick individual.
One very sick individual that did it.
Pure evil.
Absolute pure evil.
Detectives eagerly receive
the results of Gary's fingerprints and blood tests,
but they are far from conclusive.
Gary's fingerprints did not match
the one inside the stall,
but did match prints in the building,
but he has access to the building and he is working there.
His blood type, it matches the type found in the semen,
but, of course, Gary is married to Laurie,
so it's another piece of evidence that can go both ways.
Ultimately, we couldn't use fingerprints
or any blood work to exclude him.
Running out of options,
detectives try one last method to get to the truth.
Gary Stout was provided
an opportunity to take a polygraph.
During that interview, he was asked
if he was responsible for the murder of Laurie
and he advised he wasn't.
The results of that polygraph
indicated that he was being truthful
and there was no deception.
Detectives were surprised that Gary passed a polygraph.
Now, detectives have motive, they have access,
but no evidence conclusively to show that
Gary is, in fact, the killer.
With nothing to hold him on,
Gary is free to go.
At this point, Gary is not ruled out as a suspect,
but he takes a little bit more of a back seat.
Looking for new leads,
investigators turn their focus
back to the numerous employees
who work at the building where Laurie was killed.
What's difficult,
particularly about a public space like this,
is so many people have access.
We talked to everybody that was a tenant in that building,
and started working our way through that process.
Many of those folks were excluded
based on fingerprints, evidence,
everything else that could really put them to the side.
But police learn that the building's tenants
weren't the only ones who had access that night.
We discovered that registration
was being conducted from the University of Texas,
a satellite location at this office complex,
and they stayed late after hours
so that folks could come after work
to sign up late into the evening.
So this was definitely something of interest for us.
Detectives were able to get the names of the male students
who had gone in that night,
and they had them come down to the police department,
and they got fingerprints of these individuals.
Police process the fingerprints
of over a dozen students, and receive an alarming result.
We were able to rule everyone out on the list,
with the exception of one.
We had a match of the fingerprint inside the men's restroom,
as well as a fire escape door,
so this person is somebody we want to talk to and interview.
Detectives
the brutal murder of Laurie Stout
have just matched a set of crime scene fingerprints
with someone who was in the building that night.
The University of Texas
was having a sign-up registration at the satellite campus,
which allowed people to come after hours
in the evenings after work
in order to get signed up for classes,
so we start going through the list of registrants.
Detectives were able to determine that
there was one student whose prints matched the prints
inside the bathroom stall where Laurie was found,
and also on the fire escape door on that second floor.
That individual was identified as Robert Van Wisse
and he was 18 years old.
Investigators interview Robert
about his movements on the night Laurie was killed.
He told us that he had been there for registration
and on his way out he used the men's restroom upstairs.
Once he was done in the restroom, he exited the fire escape
because it was closer to where his vehicle was parked,
which would explain why his fingerprints were found
in the men's stall and the fire escape door.
Robert Van Wisse did acknowledge that
he saw the cleaning lady, which was our victim, Laurie,
after using the bathroom on the second floor,
before he exited the building.
Robert tells detectives
that he left the building at around 12:15 a.m.
Before investigators look to verify his story,
they ask Robert for a blood sample
to compare to the semen found at the crime scene.
Robert Van Wisse was cooperative.
He gave the blood sample at the time
and the detectives submitted it for testing.
There is nothing that we discover
on Robert Van Wisse's criminal history
or anything else that causes concern.
It appears he's had no contact with law enforcement
and no violent offenses in the past.
He came from a family that is very well-respected.
His parents are pretty well-known surgeons
in the Austin area.
There didn't seem to be anything that would suggest him
to behave in this kind of violent way.
While they wait for the results,
detectives look for anyone
who can corroborate Robert's story.
Detectives interviewed
two employees of the education office,
and they confirmed that
they saw Robert Van Wisse leave the building at 12:15.
We know Laurie was still alive, because there were witnesses
that confirmed she was alive at 12:30.
With Robert looking
less and less like a viable suspect,
his blood test results come in.
The analysis of the blood sample told us that
Robert was not a match
to the bodily fluids found at the crime scene.
The discovery means
there is no hard evidence against Robert,
and they are forced to let him go.
Robert Van Wisse was ruled out
and eliminated as a suspect.
With no new leads, the investigation falters.
As weeks pass with no arrests, fear in the community grows.
The nature of the crime had created a lot of panic
for residents, particularly females.
It was difficult because there was no resolution.
It left a lot of fear in the community.
The police felt pressure to find out
who was responsible for Laurie's death.
I mean, this was a totally
innocent mother, 22 years old,
taken from her family in a very violent attack.
The people in and around that area where she was killed,
they were interested in knowing what was going on.
It was tough on our family. It is very frustrating.
There's somebody out there that has taken a life and
you want that person to be held accountable.
Any time there's a crime committed like this,
there's an inherent pressure to solve it
to try to bring some closure and some comfort
to the family and to the community.
A person that could do something like this,
that's not somebody that's gonna stop at that one act.
Typically speaking, that person is gonna
continue to hurt other people.
We're always worried that
he could continue to commit these kinds of acts
until he's brought to justice.
One month after Laurie's murder,
police receive a promising new lead.
We received information from a female victim
of a man that committed a similar attack against her.
The victim was sexually assaulted and strangled,
but she was able to get away.
He mistakenly thought she was dead
and she was able to identify him.
That person's name was Darryl Kemp.
Darryl Kemp, at that point, was in prison,
but he was not in prison at the time that Laurie was killed.
And so we started looking into this.
We evaluated the information and started to determine
if this could potentially be a suspect in this case.
Police dig into Darryl Kemp's background
and discover a disturbing pattern.
It's determined that Darryl Kemp
committed an attack in 1960, similar,
where the victim was sexually assaulted and strangled.
He was convicted for the rape and murder
of a woman named Marjorie Hipperson in California.
He did receive the death penalty for that,
but, later on, the death penalty got overturned.
Ultimately, he was released and paroled in 1978.
That's when Darryl Kemp moved to Austin.
His M.O. matched, he's killed in this fashion before,
and he was in Austin at the time,
so this is going to be somebody
that detectives look at pretty intently.
Could this be a serial rapist?
Could it be a serial murderer?
We had questions that we needed to get answers to.
One month after young mother Laurie Stout
was found raped and murdered in a bathroom stall,
police are investigating a tip that she was the victim of
convicted serial killer Darryl Kemp.
Detectives at this time were thinking that
Darryl Kemp was a strong possibility as a suspect
because of the similar M.O,
which was sexual assault and strangulation.
Investigators learn that,
although Darryl is currently in jail for an unrelated crime,
he was a free man at the time Laurie was killed.
Detectives head to prison to question him.
The difficult part about
interviewing somebody like Darryl Kemp is
he's obviously been down this road before.
He's got knowledge of how investigations work,
and so information may be withheld
or may not be genuine in his responses
based on where he thinks or feels like
your questions are leading him.
Detectives start by questioning Darryl
about where he was around the time of Laurie's murder.
They're asking him questions that would help tie him
or connect him to the area that the building was located in.
They asked if he knew
where this building was, where he lived,
basically to try to put him in a geographical area,
figure out where he frequented.
Darryl tells investigators
he wasn't near the office building where Laurie was killed
and has no ties to the area.
Darryl Kemp was asked
if he was familiar with Laurie Stout.
He said he wasn't.
Things that we're trying to pay attention to is
whether his statements are truthful.
Does his body language support his statement?
Does it appear he's being deceptive,
and is he forthcoming with his answers?
Not trusting the word of a convicted killer,
detectives shift gears.
He was asked if he would take a polygraph.
He hesitated with that because he didn't trust polygraphs.
He is not cooperative at all.
It's the same story when investigators ask him
for his fingerprints and a blood sample.
Again, he was very uncooperative.
Based on all the evidence collected,
we had enough information to obtain a warrant.
Police collect Darryl's samples
and eagerly wait for the results.
When the results of the analysis were returned,
it was determined that
he was not the suspect in this murder.
It's very difficult and frustrating,
because we're at a stalling point again.
With no other leads,
the case once again hits a wall.
As the months turn into years,
Laurie's loved ones struggle with the lack of closure.
Why are we not getting any answers?
You know, give us something.
I myself have been lost without her.
Every time October 1st rolls around,
the first thing I think is, "Ah, it's Laurie's birthday."
Any time when September comes around,
when she was taken from us,
it's not good.
The suspicion that
Laurie's husband Gary was the killer
continues to linger and causes a deep divide.
My mother's family, even members of his own family,
believed that my dad was involved.
We all still had that suspicion
that Gary had something to do with it.
Eventually, Gary takes Daile
and moves out of state.
Gary, he didn't want to have anything else to do with us.
So it was like, oh my God, now we can't see Daile.
I lost my sister,
but I also lost that connection with my niece.
Being so young, she didn't really remember her mom,
so it was probably quite hard on Daile.
When I was growing up,
there weren't a whole lot of conversations about my mother.
It was just the understanding of she wasn't there anymore.
As Daile grows older,
she begins to ask questions.
My dad did not like talking about it.
I did not have a family member sit me down and explain to me
that this is what had happened to her.
It wasn't until I got older, got access to the internet,
that's when I learned that she was attacked,
that she had been strangled,
that she had been raped, and then she had been murdered.
It was very overwhelming, finding out about it in that way.
Laurie's family continues to push for
her killer to be brought to justice.
We never gave up hope.
We tried to keep it fresh and focused on it.
We were constantly checking in.
We had to get this case closed
to help give our family a little peace.
It just was overwhelming.
The pressure finally pays off, and in 1992,
nearly 10 years after Laurie's murder,
a new team of detectives reopen her case.
Now we have new eyes looking at everything.
They look at the crime scene photos.
They read all the police reports.
They look at the various people that were interviewed.
Part of that process is
to go back and look at old evidence.
Are there things now that are available to law enforcement
that weren't previously available?
Is there testing that can be done?
Now, we're in 1992, so we have DNA testing,
which is much more powerful.
With that in mind,
investigators revisit their prime suspect,
Laurie's husband Gary Stout.
So, Gary was contacted again and provided a DNA sample,
which was compared to that obtained at the crime scene.
Police are hopeful that they'll finally have
the evidence they need to make an arrest,
but when the results come back,
they are shocked at what they reveal.
It was determined that Gary was not a match.
So, officially, he could be ruled out as a suspect
and remove the cloud of doubt
that had been hanging over his head for some period of time.
I do believe that my father felt relief,
but it was very difficult for him to talk about.
With Gary cleared, cold case detectives
go back over the old files, line by line.
With any review of a case,
you look at who's been interviewed, who's been eliminated,
and what was discovered is that
one of the reports that was provided
as far as the blood typing seemed to have an error.
The documentation that was used
to finalize the forensic report
that excluded a suspect
actually showed that
there was a clerical error in that lab report,
and that particular suspect
should have been included as a suspect, not excluded.
This is a big turning point in the investigation.
wife and mother Laurie Stoutafter
was savagely murdered, cold case detectives have unearthed
a stunning error in the results of a blood test
that means a previously cleared suspect
might not be innocent after all.
What was discovered is that
the report said the subject could be eliminated,
but there was a clerical error in the document
and it should have read that he could not be eliminated.
This suspect is Robert Van Wisse,
the 18-year-old University of Texas student.
He was in the building the night Laurie was killed,
registering for a class, and he's the same person
whose prints were found inside the bathroom stall
and also on the second-floor fire escape door.
Detectives look into
what Robert Van Wisse had been doing the last 10 years.
Robert Van Wisse had no criminal history.
Here we have this 18-year-old college student
coming from a well-to-do family,
parents who are professionals.
Seemed to have a very normal, happy upbringing.
He was cooperative.
So, that all combined with the report that we received
naturally excluded him as a suspect.
Could 18-year-old Robert
really have committed such a brutal crime?
In talking with witnesses,
Robert Van Wisse is seen about 12:15 a.m and leaving,
and at about 12:30,
they see Laurie in the building by herself.
Detectives reexamine the fingerprints
he left at the crime scene, and notice something troubling.
What they discover is that
his story of exiting the building
through that second-floor fire escape door
would naturally support fingerprints
being left on the inside of that door
as if you're pushing it open to leave,
but some prints of his are found on the door handle
on the exterior of the door,
as if you're opening it to enter the building.
What this told us is that
he had obviously left the building,
but he had also come back in.
He would have been able to re-enter through that same door
if he had propped it open with something.
The discoveries mean
investigators need to talk to Robert, but there's a problem.
We try to locate Robert Van Wisse, but we're not able to.
We reach out to family members, who are not cooperative.
They provide an attorney's contact.
We talk to the attorney, who states that
Robert Van Wisse is probably somewhere in South America.
All evidence up to that point
showed he was in the Austin area,
and then he likely finds out that
he once again is a suspect,
and now we have DNA testing capability, so he flees.
Fearing Robert has left the country,
detectives scramble to find him.
They interview dozens of his friends and family members,
but no one is willing to cooperate.
Before they can launch an all-out search,
detectives still need more proof that Robert's the killer,
so they come up with a plan to obtain his DNA.
With Robert Van Wisse having fled,
we cannot get a sample from him,
but what we are able to do is
get what's called Y-STR testing accomplished,
and that's familial DNA,
and it's specific to the Y chromosome
that all brothers and fathers would share.
So, since Robert Van Wisse has brothers in the Austin area,
that's something we can actually test.
In order to obtain the sample,
detectives conducted surveillance with family members,
and, at one point, they observe
one of the brothers discarded trash, and retrieve it.
Trash is not something
you need to get a search warrant for,
because it's what's deemed abandoned.
So, detectives take specific items
that would gather DNA evidence
like razor blades and toothpicks,
and they conduct Y-STR testing.
When the DNA tests come back,
the results are conclusive.
And, lo and behold, it's a match.
Finally, we're able to make a direct connection
with Robert Van Wisse to the DNA found at the crime scene.
It was surprising to know that a young male
coming from the background that he did
had the ability to do this at such a young age.
There were no red flags with him,
and so it was very unexpected
to see him as the actual killer.
We finally had a name.
I just totally broke down,
and so you're trying to wrap your head around,
how can an 18-year-old do something like this?
It was shocking because I was 18 myself at the time.
I would have never have had that cross my mind.
I said, "Okay, where is he at? Can we get him?"
And then that's when we learned that
he was gone.
Robert Van Wisse is charged with murder
and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution,
and a warrant is issued for his arrest.
Investigators team up with the FBI
and launch an international manhunt.
The Van Wisse family
owned a lot of properties throughout Mexico.
We conducted telephone toll analysis.
We looked at financial records.
We monitored travel of Van Wisse's family.
We did a tremendous amount of ground surveillance
on locations where we thought he might be.
There were some tips that the FBI received,
or sightings of Van Wisse in Mexico and certain locations,
but we weren't successful in locating him.
Years pass with no sign of Robert,
but detectives refuse to quit.
All you want to do is bring the guy back
so he can face justice
and get some kind of closure for the victims,
but even the FBI, we have limited access, limited resources,
and Mexico is a big country.
There's plenty of places for him to hide.
It is very frustrating, because, for me,
I've lived my entire life waiting for justice,
but also very cognizant of the fact that
it may never happen.
Then, in 2016, the hunt for Robert Van Wisse
takes a promising turn.
Van Wisse had been on the run for 20 years,
so I knew it was going to have to be
something big for us to find him,
and so we discussed it and we said, "Look, let's do it.
Let's go for it."
On December 13th, 2016,
the FBI places Robert Van Wisse
on their Top Ten Most Wanted list.
This was huge for our case because it brings awareness,
but also that comes with a $100,000 reward,
so it was exciting to know that we're making traction.
Once we announced his addition
to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list,
we again interviewed people that knew him
and possibly knew where he was.
Probably the most important interview
was with Van Wisse's mother.
We said Robert is going to be arrested. He is coming home.
The safest way is to turn himself in.
I think the mother realized, with a $100,000 reward,
his name on the Ten Most Wanted list,
that it was going to be insurmountable,
that he was going to get arrested.
The pressure pays off
and a phone call comes in that changes everything.
Robert Van Wisse's attorney
contacted the district attorney's office
to let them know that he wants to turn himself in.
33 years after the murder of Laurie Stout,
her elusive killer, Robert Van Wisse,
is ready to return to the US to face justice.
Robert Van Wisse's lawyer
contacted the district attorney's office
and started to inquire about possible surrender
with a plea bargain agreement.
Typically speaking, when someone is a fugitive,
we do not negotiate,
but circumstances in this situation are quite unique.
Mexico will not agree to extradite to Texas
if the death penalty is on the table,
so we will not get him in our hands
if he's arrested in Mexico
unless we agree to not have death penalty on the table.
Wanting a swift resolution,
the district attorney negotiates a deal.
Van Wisse would agree to turn himself in
and they agreed to 30 years in prison.
On January 26th, 2017,
police head to the Mexican border to meet Robert.
The plan was for him to surrender,
but we were holding our breath.
We weren't sure it was going to happen.
We're anxious that this is finally going to take place,
but until we have Robert Van Wisse in physical custody,
we can't let our guard down.
The arrangement was that he would meet us
at the halfway point on the pedestrian bridge.
There's a line in the middle.
On one side, it says Mexico.
On the other side, it says United States.
He was to meet us there at one o'clock. He didn't show up.
As the minutes tick by,
investigators start to worry they've been duped.
We had assurances from the attorney that he would show up,
but, at any point during that time,
he could have turned around and changed his mind,
and there was nothing we could have done.
At 1:36 p.m.,
a lone figure approaches the border.
He walked up very slowly and stopped at the line.
He introduced himself as Robert Van Wisse,
and I said to him, "Are you ready to turn yourself in?"
He took a deep breath. He closed his eyes.
He said, "Yes." I said, "Step on across."
He took one step over and he was arrested.
Seeing him walk across that bridge,
and seeing law enforcement put handcuffs on him,
it was extremely satisfying.
There had been so much work from so many different people
over the years from 1983 up until 2017.
Now we have somebody that's accountable
and be brought to justice.
It was one of the most rewarding experiences in my career.
I sent a picture to Daile and let her know we got him,
and I get a text back
that it apparently was Daile's birthday,
so it was pretty emotional.
She showed me a photo of Van Wisse
being escorted into custody.
It's kind of hard to believe that, after all of these years,
that it would be that day of all days
that he would turn himself in.
It was and it still is surreal that it finally did happen.
I mean, just emotions everywhere.
It's finally over. It's finally over.
Finally over.
The plea deal means
Robert does not have to speak to investigators,
leaving them to piece together
how they believe the murder unfolded.
He showed up that night to register for classes.
He sees Laurie as she's cleaning.
It's possible that Robert Van Wisse and Laurie Stout
had an interaction as he passed her.
Maybe she spoke to him.
He goes to the bathroom,
and develops his plan on coming back in.
He's opportunistic, and the opportunity arose,
and he left through that fire escape door
on the second floor, propped it open.
And once the other workers had all left,
I think he came back in.
When he came back in,
he would have passed, in the parking lot,
the dumpster that had some leftover electrical wiring
that Gary Stout had used that day for the hot water heater,
and grabbed it and went upstairs
and then attacked her, raped her, and killed her.
Laurie was killed in probably
one of the most personal, violent ways
that someone can be killed.
Robert Van Wisse is
an extremely cold and calculating person.
On March 28th, 2017,
Robert pleads guilty to Laurie's murder
and is sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Laurie's sister, Beverly, is there
to deliver an emotional impact statement.
I looked him right in the eye
and told him what he had taken from our family
and what he had done, and, you know, I just told him
I hope he rots in hell and gets to feel some of that terror
that my sister felt that night.
I know in my heart he is where he needs to be.
I think Laurie's family felt a sense of relief,
a sense of closure that maybe now,
at least my hope for them now with that,
is that they could at least start to heal.
Him being arrested and incarcerated does bring closure.
I think that that's what everybody dreams about
when a crime like this
happens to one of their family members.
I still see Laurie's face.
Quite often.
She was a hoot. Laurie was a hoot.
I miss her dearly.
I do believe that my life would have been very different
if she would have lived,
and I know that she would have done anything
to make sure that I had what I needed.
I still think of Laurie every day. Every single day.
There were
a lot of good times, good memories with Laurie,
and I just wish we would have had more.