(eerie music)
- [narrator] an elderly woman killed in her own home.
(ominous music) (camera shutter clicking)
The case, unsolved for decades
Until new evidence points to a suspect.
- [narrator] but first,
A woman beloved in her community
Is found murdered in her living room.
(ominous music)
- [officer] step out now!
- [narrator] investigators searching for answers.
- Homicide? Like someone died in it?
- [narrator] in the interrogation room.
- Murder!
- (beep) you!
(ominous music)
- [narrator] every suspect accused of a crime
Has the right to remain silent.
Many agree to be interrogated anyway.
But they can stop the interview at any moment,
Making it a race against time.
Justice hangs in the balance. (suspenseful music)
(phone ringing)
(siren wailing) (suspenseful music)
(ominous music)
- We located the victim in her living room.
She was lying on her couch, face up,
And appeared to be wearing a night robe.
She was laying in an odd position.
It appeared that a struggle had taken place.
- There were several things at the scene
That weren't adding up.
Most of the house was neat and in order,
Except for the room where the victim was found.
The robe sash did appear to be in an odd place.
It was lying on the floor near patricia's hand.
Not around the robe,
Like you would typically see a robe worn.
The victim's vehicle was missing.
According to the neighbors,
Nobody would've had permission to take the vehicle.
Another thing missing from the house
Was a television set from the second floor.
The fact that there were no signs of forced entry,
We did have a theory that this might be somebody
The victim would've had known
And had access to the house.
We're photographing.
We're looking for physical evidence.
(ominous music)
Every little detail can make a difference
In a case like this.
- Patty was a adventurer.
She had a thirst for knowledge.
She loved travel.
And she had a wicked sense of humor.
She enjoyed outdoors, gardening, her flowers,
And really just being there for other people.
She was divorced and she had two sons.
She loved her boys and she was very close to them.
She had done a lot of philanthropy type work.
If you were in need of anything,
She would be there to help you.
A friend called me and told me she's gone.
She's dead.
And I just, I broke down.
It was gut wrenching.
(ominous music)
- When I spoke to daniel dresser,
He told us that there had been a break in
And the person that patricia suspected committed
The break in was spencer spielman.
Spencer had been a friend of patricia's other son,
Nick dresser, for quite a while.
And daniel dresser told us that spencer
Had approached patricia asking for money.
So patricia would give spencer money
For helping out around the house,
Helping with the yard work.
And patricia had given him the garage code
To get in the house.
(ominous music)
- She started noticing things missing
And she started getting a really weird feeling.
(ominous music)
- Wednesday prior to her death,
She said, you know, spencer keeps bugging me
About wanting nick's really nice watch.
She said, I've really hid it in a great place.
He'll never find it.
Patty told me about spencer stealing a few things
When she wasn't home. (ominous music)
And she thought he was looking for that watch.
So she started texting him
And she was pretty mad about it.
She also was texting her son, daniel,
About what was going on.
And one of her texts was I'm feeling a little scared.
(ominous music)
- The autopsy showed
That the cause of death was strangulation.
(ominous music)
- The item used for the strangulation was, in fact,
The robe sash that was laying by patricia's hand.
So it was confirmed that this was a homicide.
We were keeping all options open
To any possibility of involvement with anybody.
But at this point in the investigation,
We were looking pretty hard for spencer spielman.
(ominous music)
(phone ringing)
(suspenseful music) (sirens wailing)
- Ultimately, spencer spielman
Was identified as the driver of the vehicle.
The second occupant was identified as brandon humphries.
(ominous music)
- Anytime we have more than one person,
We separate 'em so they can't talk
And work their stories out.
- I decided to interview brandon humphries first
To see what he knew about spencer in the past 48 hours.
- Mm hmm.
- When he gave the information
About the car belonging to spencer's mom,
That was a red flag.
We obviously knew this wasn't true.
- He's starting to get nervous.
His right knee is starting to bounce a little bit.
He's not sure what's coming next.
(clock ticking) (suspenseful music)
- Mm hmm.
(ominous music)
- [officer] I'm gonna have you stand against this wall.
(tense music)
- Just sit (indistinct). - Yeah, you can sit down, man.
(indistinct)
(tense music)
And all that.
- First impression of spencer is he's just nonchalant.
No respect for anybody.
He didn't have a care in the world.
(tense music)
- We had already talked to the neighbors
And looked at the surveillance video.
- We knew there was no other cars there.
There was no john.
No white expedition.
No nothing.
(ominous music)
- Spencer told us that he wasn't able
To get ahold of patricia.
So he decided to go ahead
And keep the vehicle at that point.
- At this point, we already had video of spencer
And brandon pawning a tv.
(ominous music)
So we knew that he was lying about that.
(ominous music)
- We wanted spencer to know
That we know what happened.
And sometimes a suspect
Will feel the inclination to confess.
- The moment that he admitted that he took the tv
From the house definitely felt like that was progress.
(ominous music)
- The more that we start to challenge him,
We call out his lies.
The more closed postured,
The more kinda standoffish he gets with us,
The more argumentative he gets with us.
(clock ticking) (suspenseful music)
- I was trying to get him agitated.
Sometimes when you get somebody mad,
You know, you get a different reaction.
Go here, go there, go for the throat.
(ominous music)
- Everybody was frustrated at that point.
And so sometimes you have to do an attention getter.
Time to do it or...
The hail mary, you know?
Let's throw the ball or go home.
(ominous music)
(suspenseful music)
- We were getting nowhere.
So we gotta try something different here.
So with spencer, I said, okay, let's just go back.
Walk me through it one more time
And just see where it goes.
- So now he's put himself in the house.
He's put himself in contact with her.
He's slowly surrendering to us.
We just got that little bit more to go.
Mm hmm.
- We know he's not being truthful.
That's when we start throwing little bits of information
To get his mind thinking,
Okay, they know a little bit.
How much do they know?
Everybody's just exhausted.
So we were getting ready to have a little break.
- I took spencer outside
To go smoke a cigarette.
It was all video recorded
On body-worn camera
To make sure there
Was nothing said
Or no promises made or no coercion or anything like that.
Got him outta the room
For a minute for a reset.
And once we walked out the door,
We did not talk about this case at all.
(ominous music)
He was kind of looking out into the darkness.
(ominous music)
And I don't know if that
Gave him an opportunity
To see that we were
Actually human.
After the smoke break,
We walk back in.
I put him in the chair and he looks at me and he says.
(ominous music)
- I'm not sure why the smoke break had such an impact.
Maybe he just realized that it's done.
There ain't no way outta this.
So I get mike and I'm like, hey, come on.
He said he's ready to give it to us.
And everybody's mouth just was open in awe.
(ominous music)
- I was shocked.
But after he ended up confessing,
It was that relief
That we did get the truth.
(ominous music)
- The autopsy showed that it had been around twice
Before it was tightened.
So we wanted him to say that he did do that,
Because only the person who put it there would know.
(ominous music)
- When he made the motion, he went,
Which would be twice.
And then he pulled it.
And he said he recalled pulling it tight.
And he said, after he did that,
She fell on the couch and he left.
(ominous music)
He said he came back the next morning,
About 7:00 o'clock to feed the dog
And noticed she was still on the couch.
She was gray.
And he knew at that time it was too late.
And instead of calling 911, he just left.
(ominous music)
This was the longest interview that I've ever sit on.
So to get it was great.
To get a confession.
- 20-year-old spencer spielman
Is accused of strangling patricia dresser.
He faces charges of murder, robbery,
And driving while suspended.
(ominous music)
(clock ticking)
(ominous music)
- We were very satisfied with the way the outcome was.
At the end of the day, we're speaking for patricia.
- You have to stay resilient
And determined to find the truth.
And in this case,
We were able to provide justice to patricia
And give her family answers.
- Patty dresser was 52 when her life was taken away.
I think about her every day.
And I miss her every day.
(ominous music)
- Flora rundle was a widow.
She was 71 years of age.
She had no children and she was very self-reliant.
Her sisters tried to contact her,
But weren't able to reach her.
So the two of them actually drove over to her place.
As they approached the front door,
They happened to notice that the front door was ajar,
About three inches wide.
They knew that was very unusual for flora
Because she always would keep her door closed and locked.
As they entered into the residence,
One of the sisters went into the bathroom.
Flora was lying on the bathroom floor, unclothed,
With a pool of blood around her.
One of her sisters actually picked up the telephone
To try to contact 911, but the line was dead.
(ominous music)
(siren wailing)
A deputy sheriff verified that she was deceased.
He also noticed the residence had been ransacked.
Some type of a struggle had occurred.
There was damage to the door
Indicating that there was some type of forced entry.
Her telephone line,
Which was connected into her residence,
Was cut just above the eave of her home.
The deputy believed that this was some type
Of a suspicious death and contacted the homicide unit.
(ominous music)
Later on in the investigation,
The autopsy revealed that flora had been stabbed 11 times,
Probably with a knife, six to seven inches in length.
We're back in the late 80s.
Back then there wasn't dna.
So as far as fingernails and swabs being collected,
They really couldn't determine much.
(ominous music)
- Flora routinely would talk to other family members
About having these 20 $100 bills
In this prescribed medication bottle
That she would carry around with her.
She made that known to her family
So that at some point, if she passed away,
She's not gonna be a burden on her other siblings.
The detectives went and canvassed the neighborhood.
They were not able to locate that medication bottle
With the money inside.
(ominous music)
(suspenseful music)
- Some of the information that we received
From the sisters was that flora didn't drive
And would occasionally use taxi services
To get to doctor's appointments and to the grocery store.
So detectives contacted the taxi companies
And they actually were able to identify
A couple of different taxi companies
That had picked up flora.
After making contacts with the taxi drivers,
Detectives didn't believe
They had any information regarding the death of flora.
I really believe that detectives did everything
They possibly could back in the 80s.
And it just kinda came to a point where
They didn't have anything else to go on.
They're just kind of at a dead end.
(suspenseful music)
(clock ticking)
(suspenseful music)
Today, technology is greatly advanced.
After reviewing the case,
I realized there were fingernail clippings
And there was a pair of slacks found on flora's bed
At the time of the crime
That potentially could yield dna.
I submitted those two items to a private lab for testing.
They were able to determine that there was dna
From an unknown male on flora's fingernails
And also on her slacks.
(suspenseful music)
There was a match on the dna.
And the match came back to an individual
By the name of gary dean hilfiker.
So I started doing research on gary
And realized that he was already in the utah state prison
For another murder that actually occurred in 1992.
So it would've occurred after flora rundle's murder.
His parole date for the 1992 homicide was April
Of this year, 2022. (suspenseful music)
So the next step would be to go and try to interview gary.
I did as much research as I possibly could do,
But in these cases, it's always a gamble.
I never know whether they will talk or won't talk.
(suspenseful music)
(clock ticking)
(suspenseful music)
(cuffs clicking)
Right, take a seat.
Thank you.
- Gary was very well versed
With the criminal justice system.
I wasn't going to be surprised
If he would've just asked for an attorney
And that would've been the end of the interview.
(ominous music)
- He was so stoic
And not really volunteering any information,
Which made it an extreme challenge.
We were concerned that he might not give us answers.
So I'm looking for things
That really mean something to get him to trust us.
- When I started leaning into the faith with gary,
I could tell that he was conflicted.
I could tell that he was either on the verge of saying,
I'm done. Take me back.
Or he's going to talk to us.
(suspenseful music)
(clock ticking)
When he's talking about dreams,
I think he's stalling for time
For him to make a decision on which way he was gonna go
In this interview.
- He's still trying to keep some distance
With the dream aspect of it.
Dreams are fine,
But we want him to admit that he was actually at the scene.
Having a confession makes it a lot easier to convict him.
(suspenseful music)
- We were extremely happy that gary admitted
To murdering flora rundle.
In this case, we just talked to gary
And we treated him as a human.
And I truly believe that's why we got
The results we got from gary.
(melancholy music)
(suspenseful music)
These types of cases really emotionally take it out of you
Because one wrong move or one wrong word said
Could shut down the interview.
Fortunately for us,
Gary continued to talk and did the right thing
For the family and everyone else involved.
(suspenseful music)
He pled straight up guilty to the charge
And he was sentenced to life without parole.
And, of course, the parole date for April of 2022
For the other murder was revoked as well.
(melancholy music)
I was able to meet with flora's relatives
And give them gary's apology letter.
They appreciated the fact
That he would write something to them.
It makes it a lot easier for everybody involved
When somebody's willing to take responsibility
For what they've done.
I've since learned from gary
That, as they were driving over for the interview,
A christian song came on the radio.
For gary, I think the stars aligned.
And I think he really believed it was time to confess
To what he had done.
He wanted to take responsibility
And he wanted to give the family some answers.