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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield
Oregon Mom Dismembered Found in Suitcase; Police Slow in Getting Evidence; A Woman Found Dead In The Street By A Neighbor. Aired 6-8p ET
Aired January 29, 2018 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:01:00] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HLN HOST: Good evening, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. This is Crime and Justice.
And tonight, a friendly traffic stop in Chicago turns into an al-out footrace. One ending where no one saw this coming. Because it all starts
with a seemingly good excuse from a nice looking driver and a nice car with an expired license plate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello. Just so you know, this stop is being recorded. I need to see your license and insurance. We are stopping you because your
plates are expired on the vehicle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My damn, my damn girl left here with the damn plates in the damn trunk. She right up at the cleaners. I was just going to get it
right now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: His story isn`t bad, but his I.D. is. And it`s just as that officer`s partner starts questioning his license that he decides to switch
up the strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Heading down the alley. He might be on the next block over, he cut one of the guards.
All right, put your hands up. I got him in the yard. Put your hands up. Put your hands up, sir. Keep your hands up. Put your hands in the air.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t have (muted)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Put your hands in the air. Come off the steps. Turn around. Turn around and keep your hands up. Keep your hands up, sir.
Sir! I`m going to tase you. Taser, taser! Taser! Taser deployed. Taser deployed!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: And yahtzee, they got him. According to local report, though, 41-year-old Stephen Baldwin, yes, that`s his name, was taken to the
hospital for bleeding on the brain. Now he`s behind bars facing felony charges of forgery and identity theft.
I don`t know about the basis of running from law enforcement. So, you know the whole thing about porch pirates, we are no stranger to them. Those
brazen criminals in communities across the country who walk up to your door or your neighbor`s door and go ahead and steal all your stuff. You
packages.
We`ve seen videos like this before, the car slowly driving through the Washington neighborhood in this case, scanning for goods on the step and
stopping. But here`s what we have not really seen before. A literal twist of fate that happens next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I broke my ankle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You did?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So tonight police are on the hunt for these two. That twisted thief, literally the twisted thief with the Audi and her accomplice, that
accomplice actually came back for the boxes once he got his little friend into the car if you can believe it.
According to local reports they did get away with some pretty important stuff, too. A lot of medication that belonged to the homeowner. Certainly
not medication that`s going to help this injury though. Good luck with that.
Tonight, the woman in one Kentucky courtroom who nearly took the law into her own hands. And you know what, when you see this, it`s hard to blame
her. Because she was sitting directly across from the man who may have killed her own two sons by stabbing them to death and then burning their
bodies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lock me up! Lock me up! Let me get to him. He`s sick!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I flipped out. I couldn`t take it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s a demon. He kills kids. Every Sunday you go to church and you pray and you try to forgive. The anger still builds up in
here.
[18:05:02] I`m not going to sit in court and hold their composure and have a demon turn around and laugh about them killing your kids. It`s not going
to work for anybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: According to the prosecutor, Brice Rhodes may have taken her two son`s lives because they saw him allegedly kill another man and he thought
they might snitch. Now that mother wants him to get the death penalty.
And tonight, a lot more clues in that mysterious death of a stay at home mom in Alabama, the one with that sexy side gig on an adult subscription
web site. Where the women that neighbors know is Kathleen West actually went by the screen name Kitty Kat West.
And according to the pictures that she regularly posted, Kitty kat was no stranger to being half naked, but that is exactly how they report say she
was found on the street, on her own street one Saturday morning over two weeks ago. And this time she was not smiling. She was facedown and she was
dead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cop cars were lined up and they were walking door-to- door. They were walking everywhere. So it seemed like something in a movie. I just pray for the family. Why do you kill a mother? A child doesn`t have
their mother anymore. That`s devastating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Police have been extremely tight lipped about this investigation into Kitty Kat West`s mysterious death. But we do know that there were some
accessories by Kitty Kat`s body. A cell phone and in a very strange twist, perched on top of that cell phone was a green liquor bottle which she may
have just bought herself the night before she died.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Apparently it was a night without kids and it was date night and my understanding is that they did that. But that`s just
people talking. So, yes, she was in here the night before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Tonight thanks to inside edition, we have this. The video that shows what Kitty Kat West was up to just hours before she was found dead
across the street from her house. She was taken to a liquor store in a very cute outfit by an unidentified man who does look like her husband.
He is wearing a sweatshirt, she is smiling and she is chatting and said to have left with a bottle of Jameson and a bottle of absinthe.
Carol Robinson joins me from Birmingham, Alabama. She is a public safety reporter for AL,com. Carol, some new details have emerged in this
extraordinarily strange mystery with equally extraordinary circumstances regarding what police are willing to share which is almost nothing.
Literally almost nothing.
We are now learning that she was in that liquor store and the surveillance video caught her with that man who we don`t know could be her husband,
might not be her husband, he`s not suspect, at least he`s not named in this case. That`s for sure. But the police themselves do not have this video.
Can you explain?
CAROL ROBINSON, PUBLIC SAFETY REPORTER, AL.COM: You know, I think I have not confirmed personally that they don`t have the video. It would surprise
me if they didn`t have it now. Certainly Inside Edition may have gotten it first, but I would be shocked if they didn`t have it now.
BANFIELD: Well, I want to hear the shock of shock to me?
ROBINSON: Absolutely.
BANFIELD: Apparently, Inside Edition aired it on Thursday night and the police showed up the next day at the liquor store asking for the video. And
when the proprietors went to go get it for them, they had already recorded it over. Meaning they were a day late and a dollar short.
And can I just say with the time frame, for our audience`s benefit, it was almost two full weeks since her body was discovered and it was two full
weeks since she was seen on this surveillance tape.
And all I can say is what are the police doing in Calera, Alabama that they took two weeks before they showed up at that liquor store to see who she
was with the night she died?
ROBINSON: I mean, it certainly is a mystery. And Ashleigh, there is a major crimes task force in that county, made up of police officers from
each law enforcement agency, specifically for cases like this and I do know the major crime task force has not been called in to assist with this case.
BANFIELD: Wait, are you kidding me? The major crimes task force is not on this case and we don`t have a named suspect and it`s been two weeks plus
since a mom was found almost naked, face down on the lawn across from her house with a curious clue right beside her? Her cell phone with a liquor
bottle perched on top of it. The major crimes unit has not been called in?
[18:10:01] ROBINSON: So my -- the information that I have is that no outside agency has been called in or had not been called in as of last
week.
BANFIELD: And Carol, correct me if I`m wrong. We are two plus weeks since this horrifying discovery made by a neighbor`s daughter and we don`t have a
suspect named and yet, we don`t have major crimes on the case. What is going on in Calera? Am I pronouncing it right, Calera, Alabama?
ROBINSON: You are -- you are pronouncing it right. You know, I wish I had the answer. As you know, we are not getting information from law
enforcement on this case.
BANFIELD: OK. So, I just want to put up a few other clues that at least we have been able to find. I`m not sure if the police have this either, I`ll
be honest. I don`t mean to be snarky, but I am sorry, two weeks after a woman is found dead with a liquor bottle posed on top of a cell phone, you
are not doing what Inside Edition is doing?
Go to the liquor stores and find out if that woman was there and who she might have been there with. There are two bottles that she bought. A bottle
of Jameson and a bottle of lucid absinthe, which brings me to a whole other aspect of this the story, which I will get to in a moment.
But then there`s also how she was posting on Facebook. Because the day that she dressed up this nicely in her leather jacket and her cute pants and her
striped top, before she went to this liquor store, early in the afternoon she was posting happy frisky Friday.
Tis woman seem to be clearly having a good day and didn`t seem like she was about to meet this kind of awful fate, certainly not be found semi naked in
her own neighborhood. And yet, here we have to put these clues together ourselves because no one in the neighborhood is being told, don`t worry
there`s no monster in your midst.
Instead, the police are showing up nothing and instead the police are showing and collecting video evidence two weeks later. And they are a day
late and a dollar short because the video had been recorded over.
So perhaps now the police have called Inside Edition like we did and asked to see it. And that`s always fun in a court case, isn`t it, when you get
your evidence from a TV station instead of collecting it yourself. But I`m ranting.
Tell me one more thing, tell me one more thing about the web site, the adult web site that she was populating with sexy pictures. And when I say
sexy picture, not pictures that anyone in her family would appreciate, it seems certainly not pictures her child would want to see. We`re talking
full nudity, full on porn by herself 15.99 for a monthly subscription. Is that, Carol, providing any clues to who the killer might be?
ROBINSON: Again, we don`t know what their train of thought is. I mean, I can tell you, you know, there is a lot of concern in the community, but
they are not left with fear.
BANFIELD: OK. I am.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBINSON I think the overall...
BANFIELD: I mean, I would be (Inaudible) if there is no suspect and a woman was found in my neighborhood.
ROBINSON: Well, I mean, I think everybody believes that it wasn`t a random attack, so.
BANFIELD: Whoever did it, whoever did it is still out there.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBINSON: Absolutely.
BANFIELD: Anyone capable of doing that to a woman is still out there which I think in a small community like Calera, I would be concerned to say the
least if the police weren`t talking to us and at least they were not...
(CROSSTALK)
ROBINSON: Absolutely concerned. Absolutely is the talk of the town.
BANFIELD: Let me bring Bobby Chacon in here for a minute. Bobby, first of all, just from a policing perspective. As a retired FBI special agent, how
unbelievable is it that the police showed up at the liquor store two weeks later only to find that Inside Edition had been there and the recording had
been recorded over. How unbelievable is that in terms of police?
BOBBY CHACON, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: It`s completely baffling to me, because one of the things you try to do is you try to reconstruct the
victim`s last 24 to 48 hours, that`s a crucial part of a homicide investigation. And if they had -- if that is in fact her husband they
obviously spoke to the husband. If he said we were at the liquor store, then they would go and talk to the clerk first thing, ask the clerk if they
had video. Because the last 24 to 48 hours of the victim`s life is usually very important to kind of reconstruct.
BANFIELD: OK.
CHACON: And this would be part of that reconstruction.
BANFIELD: That`s what I would think and I`m not an officer but that just sounds like a no brainer. Let me play for you Stacey (Inaudible), she`s the
liquor store employee, and this is what she told Inside Edition when they dutifully did their due diligence and went to the liquor store and got the
video. Here`s Stacey.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They came in and looked like they were on their date night. They bought a bottle of Jameson and a bottle of lucid absinthe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And made their purchase and went on their way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And everything seems normal?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything was normal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: I want to bring Randy Kessler, a trial attorney, so let`s jump ahead...
RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: All right.
BANFIELD: ... to the possibility of someone who is sitting at the defense table...
KESSLER: A trial.
BANFIELD: .. and a trial and a defense.
KESSLER: The defendant.
BANFIELD: Yes. And the police bring out the video of, you know, what happened the night before and the police are questioned about where they
got the video.
[18:14:59] KESSLER: That`s fine. Its video they can also authenticate it. If Inside Edition if there is a chain of custody we got it from the store.
If they can say someone in the store can say that does accurately depict the scene that night, then they`re fine.
BANFIELD: But as a defense attorney you are not going to rip them a new one for saying, I`m sorry, were you tease don`t cop showing up two weeks
later and asking a TV station for evidence?
KESSLER: It`s beyond if that`s all the evidence they have and my guy is working. I mean, they need a lot more than that. That just going to say,
she bought liquor. That doesn`t really prove anything even if they get it in, but, yes.
BANFIELD: And by the way, we don`t know who the man is in this video. He looks like her husband, but they have not named her husband as a suspect.
We`re not naming him at all. We`re not saying that`s him because we cannot tell.
I sure hope that the police in Calera, Alabama now have custody of this video. However they may have gotten it.
Hold that thought, Randy and stick with me, if you will.
KESSLER: OK.
BANFIELD: My thanks to Carol and Bobby as well. Bobby, stand by too. The remains of a beautiful Oregon mom are found in the trunk of a very nice BMW
and the same night, miles away, a hysterical man is found screaming and bleeding in the woods. And police say these two very strange incidents are
connected.
[18:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Parents are used to being awakened by their kids when they have nightmares or maybe just kids want a little extra attention. But not a lot
of parents and not a lot of kids for that matter wake up to the sound that one child reportedly just hurt on a cold and rainy night just outside
Portland, Oregon.
It was the sound of a man yelling for help in the ravine behind their home. A man who reportedly slashed his own throat and slashed his own wrists. A
man that police would soon call a murder suspect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They came right through here, down into the ravine and back up the other side. A lot of people came down and they were just
combing the area. They were in a long line and they just were looking for anything, I think, that they could find.
We couldn`t see him, but we could hear him. He was pretty still, he was leaning against the tree and pointing down where he was I`m telling you
he`s right there. He was very muddy and looked wet.
It was really raining that night too. The few things that he answered. There wasn`t any swearing or anything, he was just -- he spoke well, but it
just sounded like he had given up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Police found the man in the ravine just a few miles away from an even more disturbing scene. That`s where two suitcases were found in a
black BMW and divided up between those two suitcase were the body parts of this young woman.
A 28-year-old beauty named Sara Zghoul. She was adored by everyone she knew. She was an aspiring g model and a mom to a darling little boy. But
now she was discovered dismembered and decapitated.
Tonight we know the police searched a house just three blocks away from that beamer in connection with Sara`s murder. And neighbor say It is the
home of the man in the ravine, although they also say nothing seemed unusual there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has a business or something out of his house and so there were UPS trucks and FedEx trucks going in and out all the time. But
very quiet neighborhood, never had an issue since I`ve been here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Shane Kavanaugh is the staff writer with the Oregonian from Portland. Shane, what is the connection between the man arrested who
apparently tried to slash himself to death and Sara Zghoul?
SHANE KAVANAUGH, STAFF WRITER, THE OREGONIAN: That is the question that we as reporters at the Oregonian are trying to figure out. That connection at
this time is still not known. What I can tell you is that the suspect who we just wrote about and had a story come out a few minutes ago, he was
living at his mother`s home which is about a half mile from a home belonging to Sarah Zghoul`s family. So there was certainly some proximity
between the two.
BANFIELD: Well, I mean, it`s so strange and let`s op up a map of the area here so we can just sort of get a feel for this. Because it seems to me,
Shane, that three miles away from the BMW with Sara in the trunk in pieces is where this man is found screaming for his life and slashing himself.
Three blocks away from Sara in the BMW is a home that`s raided. And we now can confirm this is his home, the man who is in jail at this point facing
charges for this.
KAVANAUGH: So what we can -- what we can -- he is not in jail. He is still hospitalized and has not been booked. Which is why we`ve named the suspect
in our reporting, but the Washington County authorities will not name a suspect until they are booked on formal charges. And at this time given his
physical condition, it`s really not known when he is going to get out of the hospital and be formally booked.
[18:25:03] BANFIELD: Shane, do you have any idea what they found in the home?
KAVANAUGH: I do not know. We are still trying to figure that out as well.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: But it looks as though they were...
KAVANAUGH: But what I can tell you...
BANFIELD: Yes, go ahead.
KAVANAUGH: I was going to say, what I can tell you is, you know, the home that was raided belonged to the suspect`s mother. And based on court
records that we reviewed today, he was recently sentenced to probation in a drug arrest from August in the Portland area. And was listed as living at
his mother`s home at that address.
BANFIELD: So, and I`m going to be, you know, full disclosure here with our audience. We`re not going to name this suspect yet because it`s coming to
light. And we want to do some vetting. We want to do some -- I know that your paper, the Oregonian has named the suspect and you have a photo op as
well.
But just for our purposes CNN and headline news HLN, we have not done that confirmation ourselves. So that`s the only reason I`m keeping it back.
Please forgive me. I always want to be careful before we put that out there.
But real quickly, can you me anything about the scene that they discovered. Whose BMW was? Why was Sara in two suitcases. So they have idea what the
plan was and happened prior to, who was she last seen. I mean, the whole narrative surrounding a luxury vehicle with body parts in the trunk like
that.
KAVANAUGH: Right. Again, we have been asking for days now, three days to get just even nuggets of information from police and we have not received
any information whatsoever officially, you know, on the record.
BANFIELD: And they are not saying anything like this has to do with her modeling, this has to do with her public profile. I mean, you put pictures
like that out there and you know, you get -- you get some strange followers sometimes.
KAVANAUGH: Right. Exactly. But, again, we just -- we just don`t know at this time. And we are slowly trying to put the pieces together here at the
paper and report them as we learn them and when the facts of the case.
So we`re working hard on this and we have a couple of reporters, you know, making calls right now as I`m talking to you and hopefully have more
information within the next couple of hours.
BANFIELD: It`s just developing now literally as we speak on the air. I just want to play, if I can, Gregory Mckelvey and Jessica Winters, a couple
of friends of Sara Zghoul they had this to say about their friend who she is as a mom and how they`re feeling about what transpired. Have a look at
this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You never would expect that to happen to somebody you know. She was a very funny person. Everybody knew her and her family. I
just feel so bad for her family. Nobody knows if it was like a stranger or if it was like somebody close to her. It`s like, so, yes, it`s scary.
JESSICA WINTERS, FRIEND OF SARA ZGOUL: I just want to like pray for their peace. You see now I`m just like comprehending everything. It`s just so
heartless. It`s like an evil, evil, evil person to do something like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Jessica winters is that friend of Sara Zghoul and she joins me from Beaverton, Oregon. Jessica, can you shed any light on the story, on
the mysterious what looks like terrible traumatizing death of Sara and this discovery in a BMW of her dismembered body. What do you know about this?
WINTERS: To be honest, I have no idea who would want to lay one finger on this woman. I mean, you know, when was loved by everybody. So it`s even
being that somebody had hate in their heart to, you know, do something like that is just beyond me, you know...
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: So Jessica, we`re looking at the pictures of her, she is just stung.
WINTERS: Yes.
BANFIELD: A beautiful aspiring model. Did she say anything to you about fearing people? Any fans who is may have been out of the ordinary? Was she
afraid of anybody?
WINTERS: Now, to be honest, she never said anything but fearing anyone, but you know, a few days prior, maybe about five days or so, you know, I`ve
seen a post on her Facebook asking if anyone wanted to join her at the beach to kind of clear her head. And of course, you know, you think you
look at that and you just kind of say, you know, she probably just is stressed with life.
But, I mean, it`s coincidental. And now five days after this happened, so, you know, I can`t help but wonder if that had anything to do with how, you
know, with what happened to her.
BANFIELD: Really quickly, I want to bring in retired FBI special agent Bobby on this one. Bobby, when you have a profile and you got photographs
like that, is that sort of the first place that they`ll start looking?
[18:29:59] I mean, there seems to be a wealth of evidence right there in the BMW in the trunk with those suitcases.
CHACON: Sure.
BANFIELD: But then you`ve got the online activity which may yield additional information.
CHACON: Well, yes. I mean, you`re right. The first thing they do is look at the forensics in that BMW. Who is it registered to? Any fingerprints in
and around the vehicle. Any forensics in the trunk. Any forensics connected to the suitcases.
But then, you`re right. When you start looking at a suspect pool on who to match those forensics to, you start looking at anybody she dated, anybody
she has spent time with recently. And then you go into, you know, in these internet cases where people have an online presence, that exponentially
increases that pool of people now that you may have to look at.
And so, as her friend just said, she invited people to join her in a public forum on the internet, to join her at the beach or something. So, you know,
you have to look at that. You have to see all of the people who may have respond.
BANFIELD: Yes.
CHACON: You may have seen that message. It`s quite an undertaking.
BANFIELD: Well, hopefully it will yield something, some evidence and we will continue to track down this arrest and get his name and his connection
and come out with that tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you for that, Bobby. I appreciate it. Jessica, thank you as well. And (INAUDIBLE), I appreciate
it.
Earlier this month, we told you about Dr. James Kauffman. He was sitting in a New Jersey jail accused of hiring a hit man to kill his radio talk show
wife, her name is April. April wanted a divorce after finding out about her husband`s secret side business, allegedly running an opioid drug ring.
She was threatening to go to the police which is why prosecutors believe she was murdered. Dr. Kaufman apparently could not handle the stress of
jail or potentially his upcoming murder trial because the Atlantic County Prosecutor`s Office has told us that Dr. Kauffman has just been found dead
in his cell.
Apparently, they discovered him that way on Friday. They believe it was suicide. When the investigation began into April`s death, Dr. Kauffman
talked about killing himself during a very strange and intense standoff with the police.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): District Five. We got one at gunpoint. We have one at gunpoint, Dr. James Kauffman. I have one at gunpoint. Dr. James
Kauffman. He has a weapon. Drop the gun! Drop the gun! Hey, drop the gun!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Sir, we have a search warrant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Bullshit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): We have a search warrant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Bullshit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): You`re not under arrest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): You are not under arrest. We can search your office or your house, your car, or your person.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Bullshit. I don`t believe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Yes, we do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): I`m not going to jail for this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Sir, we just have a search warrant. That`s it. Put the weapon down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Drop the weapon. Listen, let`s talk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: And again, prosecutors confirming he did just that in his jail cell.
A Minnesota preacher allegedly living quite a double life. By day, he was counseling couples in their marriage problems, while at night taking what
he learned like the website Ashley Madison and doing a little surfing of his own and not just surfing.
And now his wife is dead. And a jury is trying to decide, did she kill herself the way it looked or did he kill her also the way it looked?
[18:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: It`s a story we have all heard before to the point that it`s almost cliche. A devoted father, a man of God accused of living a double
life. But the double life that Stephen Allwine reportedly led is nothing like being cliche.
Yes, he is accused of cheating on his wife on a site made for people seeking affairs when they are married. Even after leading other couples
through marriage counseling, he was doing this. But that`s before things got actually criminal, according to the cops.
Before Stephen reportedly used bitcoin to hire a hit man to kill his wife, the woman he had been married to for 20 years and the mother of their 9-
year-old son.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE SHERMAN, NEIGHBOR: Very sweet lady. (INAUDIBLE). She was always upbeat. Everybody is pretty much (INAUDIBLE). They have always seemed like
they got along very well and we never heard issues or anything like that. Pretty shocking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Shocking indeed. But what`s even more shocking is to hear police say that Stephen took matters into his own hands after apparently his hit
man fell through. You know, that`s what happens. Because now Stephen is charged with her murder, accused of shooting his wife, Amy, in the head and
then staging it to look like Amy did it herself to make it look like suicide.
"Crime and Justice" producer Kyle Peltz has been working in the story all day. He joins me live now. So, Kyle, the story now finds itself at trial.
And Amy Allwine`s murder is being litigated in a courtroom which means all sorts of new details are coming out.
Help me first to understand the forensics of this case and why police who showed up on the scene and saw Amy with a bullet hole to the right side of
her head started to see that something was fishy.
KYLE PELTZ, CRIME AND JUSTICE PRODUCER (via telephone): Right, Ashleigh. So at first glance, it looks like this could have been a suicide when cops
got there.
[18:40:00] They say they found a gun lying next to Amy, the victim here. Her left arm, however, according to Amy`s parents, she is right-handed.
Also, the gunshot wound that you mentioned was to the right side of her head which is something that may be difficult to do with your left hand.
The court documents note one detail also that many may just brush over which is that there were pumpkins roasting in the oven when they got there.
So, why would you put pumpkins in the oven and then kill yourself?
BANFIELD: And then there was also the gunshot residue, because if you shoot yourself, you are going to have gunshot residue on your own hand
because the gun is in your hand and you are going to have stippling because you can`t get too far away from your own head. So the gun will be very
close to your head. And what did they find when they did the forensic testing?
PELTZ (via telephone): Right. When they conducted her autopsy, they found no gun powder stippling on her skin around the entry wound. If she were
shot at close range, you would likely see stippling there. However, they did find gunshot residue on her husband, Stephen`s hand.
BANFIELD: And they didn`t find it on her hand either, right? Presumably the right hand, she is right-handed, that she would have used to shoot
herself in the right side of her head. No GSR, no gun shot residue on her right hand?
PELTZ (via telephone): Right, that`s what authorities say.
BANFIELD: Well, that`s sounds awfully fishy. OK, then take me now to the dark web part of it all. And this is what started to really come out in
this trial. Is that apparently, all the circumstantial evidence shows him, according to the prosecution, as to researching in the deep dark web and
finding an Albanian gang online that agreed to do a hit. What`s the story there?
PELTZ (via telephone): Right. So months before Amy`s death, a user believed to be Stephen tried to hire a hit on his wife. He allegedly did it
as you mentioned on the dark web, which is basically part of the internet that wouldn`t really show up on Google.
Now, keep in mind Stephen works with computers for a living, so he knows a lot about this stuff. And then back in February of 2016, Stephen allegedly
asked about the cost of a hit on his wife. He was told it would cost $5,000, $6,000 if he wanted it to look like a car accident, which is what
he allegedly chose to do.
BANFIELD: And this is in bitcoin. So let`s just do the math real quickly and everybody out there, if I make a mistake, please don`t e-mail me, just
go with it. But effectively, I am not sure if this is right, but the value of 15 bitcoin was $6,000 back in February of 2016.
And if you would to take those same bitcoin today, 15 of them, basically he threw $165,000, almost $166,000 down the drain, because he got scammed.
Because his Albanian, you know, (INAUDIBLE) group was not carrying out hits for anybody who was apparently reaching out to them on a deep dark web.
Shock. Shock that the Albanian thugs you reached out to kill somebody scammed you and took your bitcoin. Oh, people. Listen, this is all
allegations when it comes to Stephen Allwine, but the truth of the matter is there is a lot of evidence against him.
Joseph Scott Morgan is a professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University. He is also a certified death investigator. You are the perfect
man to ask about this next piece of evidence, Joe. And that is that scopolamine was found in her system, 45 times the prescribed amount, the
legal prescribed amount of scopolamine was found. What is scopolamine and what is it used for?
JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, PROFESSOR OF APPLIED FORENSICS, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR: Yes. Thanks for having me, Ashleigh. Most of the time with
scopolamine, this is something that is utilized and a lot of people at home will know this.
It is used for motion sickness. Use it to go on a boat. Many times, it is used as a patch that is applied behind the ear. If you want to kind of
measure this and get the idea of it, scopolamine kind of has the same effect on you in the same field if you take Benadryl, for instance.
Many times, people take Benadryl, but for motion sickness. But in this case, it was a tremendous drug load in her system and it would be
sufficient to make her if not totally unconscious, it would make her very, very groggy, easy to manipulate and move around.
And when we see cases like this involving what have alleged to have been staged suicides, one of the things that has to happen is that the
individual has to be incapacitated in some manner in order to facilitate this.
BANFIELD: All right. There is so much more that comes into this case that we need to get to and that is about this deep dark web and the kind of
evidence they were able to find.
And then of course what didn`t go right and the kinds of communications that apparently Stephen Allwine was having allegedly with these folks on
the other end of the deep dark web. So, stand by, everybody. Allwine claims that she killed herself,
[18:45:00] that Amy did this to herself. What -- honestly, what can be found in the shadows of the deep dark web? Police say that the forensics
don`t add up. We are going to break down that evidence and go deep into the web and find out just who can get there anyway and can the police catch up
with them.
[18:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: We are still talking about the Minnesota man of God accused of the holy trinity of marital offenses, cheating on his wife, murdering her
when the hit man fell through, and then staging it to look like a suicide.
The couple`s 9-year-old son was the one who reportedly found her body, bleeding out on the bedroom floor from a gunshot wound to the head. That
the gun was found near her left hand and she was right-handed. And as it turns out, so was her husband.
Police found gunshot residue on Stephen Allwine`s right hand and they reportedly found more disturbing details in his apparent digital footprint
like a request on the dark web for a hit on his wife of 20 years. And the moving around of bitcoin to be used for payment for said hit.
And inquiries about a drug that erases your memory and makes you all groggy. When it was clear the hit man plan was falling through. The drug
found in Amy`s system at over 45 times the recommended dose.
I want to bring in Bobby Chacon, retired FBI agent, and trial attorney Randy Kessler. Bobby, first to you. About this deep dark web, not all of us
can get to it, and the fact that Stephen Allwine actually made his living in computers makes us all sort of connect a little more to the possibility
that he could have done that.
But how about the cops? How good are you all at chasing people on the deep dark web and actually making connections to what they are doing?
CHACON: I think pretty good, I guess. It`s a mystery to me as well, but in the reporting I am reading in this case, the FBI actually saw some activity
on the web about somebody hiring a hit man for this type of murder and they alerted the local authorities is my understanding from some of the
reporting I am reading.
So, the FBI was involved in tipping them off that you may have somebody in your community and I don`t know how much more detailed they were able to
provide.
BANFIELD: What`s interesting is they got a user name, dog day god, OK? That`s the user name. And apparently it`s asking for a hit job, right?
Costing $5,000 as Kyle reported, $6,000 if you wanted it to look like a car accident. And the next day, Stephen`s phone is looking at bitcoin because
the message that prior day is he is to pay in bitcoin and apparently this conversations went on and on and on.
But, Randy, you know, a lot of people will say, if you haven`t made the perfect connection, this is like the circumstantial connection with lots of
(INAUDIBLE), but isn`t that really what cases are all about, is building the circumstantial evidence that can be extraordinarily powerful?
KESSLER: (INAUDIBLE) you can never put the entire jigsaw puzzle together. But if you can get enough pieces and you can see the whole picture without
having all the pictures, all the pieces filled in, that`s enough.
The only thing not circumstantial would be a confession or eye witness that actually took a picture of him doing it at that time. So, most cases are
circumstantial.
BANFIELD: And so Bobby, when you collect up all the evidence, there is a deep dark web that may not be perfect and may be confusing to some jurors
but it`s not confusing to see this nausea in that occasion that Joe Scott Morgan was just reporting on, and the fact that she had no prescription for
it but has 45 times the normal dose in her system.
I mean, it becomes a powerful case. The police know that, right? You know that you built enough of this stuff up. P.S., all that forensic stuff like
she is right-handed, that the gun is on the left side, does that sound like a strong case to you?
CHACON: Oh, absolutely. I think it`s strong without the dark web stuff. I mean, this is unfortunately a case that we see quite often. Husband doesn`t
want to get -- spouse doesn`t want to get a divorce, so they think that murdering the spouse is the answer and then they start to stage it as
suicide which rarely works.
But forensically, it is very difficult to do that. She had no fouling or stippling on her. So, I mean, the case really can rise and fall just on the
forensics. I don`t think they need the dark web part of him trying to hire a hit man. It will come in obviously, but I think the strength of this case
is the forensics.
BANFIELD: Yes.
CHACON: I think that it shows that he was very premeditated in dong this for over a number of months and what an animal he is if he staged this, if
in fact he is guilty of what we are thinking he might think.
BANFIELD: (INAUDIBLE). We are still at trial.
CHACON: Yes, so --
BANFIELD: I actually have to cut it there because I`m running out of time, but I do want to say we are going to keep following this because the
defense still has its say. They got an alibi story with cars flying out in the neighborhood, et cetera. We are going to keep looking at this. Thanks
so much, Bobby and Randy. Stand by.
Most of the time, we hear stories about inmates trying to bust out of prison. We don`t usually hear about being caught for breaking back in, but
look at this guy, because you`re not going to believe what he tried to do and why and what he was carrying when they caught him in this field.
[18:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: We have one more thing for you tonight. A Texas man who broke out of prison, only to be caught trying to break back in. This is not a
joke. Twenty-five-year-old Joshua Hansen was nabbed as he sneaked away from the federal prison ground to the ranch next door where apparently he had a
truck waiting that had dropped off a duffle bag.
Things did not go quite as planned though because the U.S. Marshals were right there waiting. And just take a peek at what he was trying to sneak
back into the prison.
[19:00:00] Homecooked sausages, chicken, green beans and all the other sides that go along with that plus, dozens of packages of snacks, tobacco
and some marijuana, you know, for good measure, a couple bottles of booze as well, crown royal and some brandy. After apparently the police heard
about (INAUDIBLE) speaking out on a regular basis pick up the contraband and then sneak back in, don`t ask me why they would do that, they set up
the thing, the surveillance and they shut it all down. That`s awesome.
Next hour of CRIME AND JUSTICE starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD (voice-over): The stay at home mom with the double life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy sinful Sunday. New pics up on site.
BANFIELD: But she was found facedown on the street.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see the stain that was left in the road that is still there.
BANFIELD: And there are so few clues about her activity that night.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is always a night without kids and it was date night.
BANFIELD: But we do know where she went just hours before she was found dead.
A 28-year-old knockout with a modelling career still ahead of her and a little boy she loved back home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was so outgoing. I mean, she just walks in the room and you just have to be happy.
BANFIELD: But she was reportedly just found in a BMW, divided into the two different suitcases.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just so heartless. It`s like an evil, evil, evil person to do something like that.
BANFIELD: And neighbors say she was not alone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We couldn`t see him, but we could hear him. Kept yelling help, help me.
BANFIELD: Now that are man is in custody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just sounded like he had given up.
BANFIELD: But is he the who slaughtered Sarah?
The supposed man of God who added injury to insult.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s the ultimate their last requirements of joy.
BANFIELD: Police say here hired a hit man to kill his wife.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very sweet lady.
BANFIELD: After cheating on her with women he met online.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody is pretty much shocked about it.
BANFIELD: And when all that didn`t work --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was found to have a drug in her system.
BANFIELD: Police say he killed her himself.
And a disturbing update from the jail cell of another man accused of seeking a hit man on his wife, one that he seemed to have predicted
himself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put the weapon down. Drop the weapon. Listen, let`s talk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m going to kill myself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD: Good evening, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. Welcome to the second hour of CRIME AND JUSTICE.
A night without kids is precious. Any parent will tell you. A night to get dressed up, maybe get a drink or three and enjoy each other`s company
uninterrupted. For stay at home mom, Kathleen West`s date night would be the last night of her life. But in surveillance video, we just got from
Inside Edition, she doesn`t seem to know that. She is dolled up at a local liquor store in Alabama smiling and chatting at the counter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They came in. They were look like they were on their date night. They bought a bottle of Jamison and a bottle of lucid absent
and made their purchase and went on their way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And everything seemed normal?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything was normal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Hours later, Kathleen West was found dead on the street, lying facedown next to a green liquor bottle deliberately perched on top of the
cell phone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Female on the roadway, naked. CPR no longer in progress. Female not breathing,
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: A neighbor`s daughter found Kathleen`s lifeless body early the next morning. Reportedly almost naked wearing nothing but a sports bra.
And by her side, that cell phone with a green liquor bottle curiously placed on top of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has got everybody a little bit on edge, a little uneasy right now. We just want answers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Well, that`s all we know about Kathleen`s death. Apparently, the police are investigating it as a homicide. We know that. But we are
learning more about her life or at least her double life on an adult subscription Web site where Kathleen became Kitty Kat and where strangers
paid $15.99 a month to see her naked and posing in very suggestive ways.
With me Steven Fabian, correspondent for Inside Edition.
First and foremost, unbelievable reporting that you went into that liquor store and you got that surveillance video that we just posted and
apparently you are the only people who have this video now. Why is that?
STEVEN FABIAN, CORRESPONDENT, INSIDE EDITION: Yes. I was shocked to learn that when I went to the liquor store, the employee there told me that yes,
the police were there and they only asked what they purchased.
BANFIELD: They did not ask for the video?
FABIAN: They didn`t ask for surveillance video. We learned that they purchased a bottle of whisky, a bottle of the lucid absent which we know is
124 proof, so 64 percent - I`m sorry 62 percent alcohol.
[19:05:11] BANFIELD: Powerful stuff.
FABIAN: Didn`t ask for the surveillance video. They didn`t even know if it was still in the system until I asked them to check. So they checked.
There it was. We recorded it. And two days later is when the police came to ask for the video.
BANFIELD: So two days after you already -- you didn`t take it away. Let`s be really clear. You actually videotaped the videotape, leaving it at the
store. But of course as we all know, tape is not unlimited. It eventually tapes over and two weeks later when the police showed up, is that what
happened? Is that literally why they don`t have the video or didn`t get it?
FABIAN: Well, you know. Listen --
BANFIELD: It taped over.
FABIAN: Yes, it taped over. Taped over, I guess, two days after we were there, our video will live on forever. We recorded the videos --.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have they called you? Have the police called you to say, excuse me, Mr. Fabian, could I get a copy of the evidence that we
should have gotten from the source?
FABIAN: No. Apparently, as we sit here right now, the only video of the original copy belongs to Inside Edition at this point.
BANFIELD: Bizarre. Well, I mean, good for you. It is excellent reporting work. And this is the kind of work that the police should be doing if we
don`t have a suspect yet and we have a dead woman in a neighborhood where that shouldn`t happen anywhere. But it`s very unusual to see it in a
neighborhood like that with a background that she has as well.
Just real quickly, anything the liquor store told you about the purchases? The absent and the whiskey and just her demeanor and the guy she is with?
FABIAN: Well, they said it was date night. The employee there told me that it looked like a date night. They were happy. They were in a good
mood. They apparently went to a sports bar also on this night maybe before they went to the liquor store. Maybe this was the final stop before they
went home.
BANFIELD: The man looks like her husband, but no one knows that to be true.
FABIAN: It`s hard to confirm right now if that is fact the husband, but they sort of have the same build so you can only sort of speculate,
Ashleigh, who that man is for sure.
BANFIELD: Well, then, I want to be real clear. We are, you know, well beyond two weeks now of this unsolved crime. There is no suspect name.
There is no person of interest. There is no - I mean, he just pats her on the butt as though they know each other well. Maybe it is her husband,
maybe it isn`t. And even if it is, we don`t know if that is significant at this point.
Again, the police are not speaking at all. You have an entire small town that knows nothing more than that beautiful woman was facedown dead and
pretty much naked and found by a neighbor`s daughter.
Sandy Kay knew Kitty Kat West from a website called the Cougar Club and she joins me now from Toronto, Canada.
Sandy, thanks for being with me. Can you hear me OK?
SANDY KAY, KNEW KAT WEST FROM THE COUGAR CLUB (on the phone): Yes, fine.
BANFIELD: OK. So this story has become so much bigger than it may have otherwise. And I think the obvious elephant in the room here is that her
adult subscription only website is very, very racy. But now this Cougar Club is being brought into the mix as well.
First of all, tell me what the Cougar Club is and what Kathleen West had to do with it?
KAY: The Cougar Club is just a Facebook page and Instagram and twitter. And it is simply attractive women over the age of 35 from all over the
world just photos. And you can`t even submit a photo. They have to find you. And it`s almost like a privilege to be -- they can post your photo.
And that`s how it is.
BANFIELD: So what we are seeing - we are seeing some of the pictures these pink heels and the racy lingerie, et cetera. These are pictures in which
she was featured on the Cougar Club.
I have two questions for me. I think you can answer one and I don`t know if you can answer the other. Did her husband know about her posts on the
Cougar Club Web site?
KAY: One hundred percent yes.
BANFIELD: How do you know that?
KAY: Because he was tagged in a lot of the pictures on her account. She would tag him and he was on the Cougar Club.
BANFIELD: OK. So then the next question is the one I`m not so sure of because the Cougar Club, they may be racy, but they are not pornographic.
KAY: They are extremely classy and elite. Absolutely the furthest thing on earth from pornographic, but yes.
BANFIELD: Right. But the subscription Web site, 5 $15.99 per month. I cannot air those photos. There is full nudity. There is - I don`t even
know who to described it without, you know, going to kind of X-rated here. But it is safe to say kind of hustler. You know, really kind of dirty.
Racy pictures you are not going to necessarily find easily unless you pay for them. Do you know if her husband knew about that?
[19:10:03] KAY: I will say yes. It was part of their agreement to support the family.
BANFIELD: How do you know that?
KAY: Just in passing conversation. That was her choice to do particular websites like that to make money for the family and once again, she gets
exposure from the cougar club and they are beyond not relate in any way or means.
BANFIELD: I understand, yes. I guess, you know, the way it usually works is when there is a mysterious death especially in such proximity to the
home, the police look immediately to a husband or someone close to the victim.
KAY: Correct. They do.
BANFIELD: So you know, obviously, if you want to surmise any kind of motive as someone found out about this and was angry and perhaps a fight
ensued, that is one potential angle of investigation. And the other potential angle of investigation is she is posting racy pictures which
could draw a clientele that is questionable. And maybe that`s how she died.
Do you have information at all about her clientele? Did she ever mention that she was nervous about any of her clients?
KAY: She never ever stated that she was nervous. And I will be personally very shocked and would love people to say I told you so if it was actually
a fan or a customer or a client. I would be shocked.
BANFIELD: Why is that? We have seen this play out adnauseum (ph). Women who are beautiful and they are up online and get stalkers and die. It`s
not an unusual story.
KAY: Because she was so close with her family. Always with the family. And I feel very protected from an online business with her husband`s line
of employment. And --.
BANFIELD: What are did her husband do?
KAY: As I say, he was not unaware so there would be extra protection and awareness we do not have.
BANFIELD: No. But do you know what his daily job was, the husband?
KAY: He was a university security police.
BANFIELD: So again, he is not been named in this. He was not even mentioned as a person of interest. At this point the police said nothing
about this husband at all.
I do want to bring in Joseph Scott Morgan, if I can. He is a certified death investigator and professor of applied forensic at Jacksonville State
University.
So Joe, the purchase of the bottle of absent immediately tweaked my interest. Because Absent is not like, you know, your variety (INAUDIBLE)
vodka. Absent is a different kind of liquor all together. Tell me why and what does it do?
JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR: Well, keep in mind, Absent was not allowed to be sold in the U.S. until about 2007. It`s got a
long history. It`s made from a plant called Wormwood found over in the far eastern part of France right near the border of Switzerland. It has been
associated with hallucinogenic properties. People that drink it say that it gives you almost a euphoric feel, a bit different than just actually
drinking straight up liquor drink. You make mixed drinks out of it and that sort of thing. It is also referred to and this is interesting
considering the color of the bottle that you just mentioned just moment ago. There is an old term that is referred to that you refer to
(INAUDIBLE) and that is a visit by the green fairy. And that was coined back during the days of the left bank riders in Paris. People like
Hemingway.
BANFIELD: Yes. It`s kind of like a, you know, a tequila high that most people have said.
MORGAN: Yes. And some people talk about it and kind of a warm swimming feeling, but the fact is this is very potent alcohol.
BANFIELD: You are kidding? And by the way, let`s not forget the clue that there is a green bottle of liquor, I don`t know which of these two was
perched on the phone.
Hold one second. Retired FBI special agent Bobby Chacon is also with me.
Just quickly, Bobby, did the fact that the police didn`t go to the liquor store, considering liquor is so important in this story. And the evidence
has a liquor bottle right there. And they don`t go to the store to ask for the video for two weeks. Should we assume as well that perhaps these
police didn`t think to get home surveillance all around this area before it might be recorded over as well?
BOBBY CHACON, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, that`s a great point. That`s exactly what my question was when I first heard about them going to
the liquor store and just asking about what they purchase and not asking if they had video. My question is what else have they missed during the
course of this investigation?
BANFIELD: Yes. And you know what? Honestly, Randy Kessler, trial attorney, what else had they missed. Isn`t that a defense attorney`s
dream? (INAUDIBLE).
RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: They already know there was a murder. I mean, what`s the pathology for with the autopsy. I mean, did she fall and
bust her ahead? You have to first prove it she was killed by someone besides herself then you got to find somebody who did it. I mean, defense,
you know. We are in good shape.
[19:15:03] BANFIELD: Seems like we have a lot of holes there. I have to wrap it here. But there is so much more to this story. I hope you can
come back and every other piece of evidence you able to turn up, let us know.
My thanks to Steven Fabian, Sandy Kay and Randy Kessler, Bobby Chacon and Joseph Scott Morgan.
The remains of a beautiful Oregon mom are found in the trunk of a BMW. The same night three miles away, a hysterical man is found screaming and
bleeding in the woods. And police say yes, these two incidents are related. But how?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:22] BANFIELD: Parents are used to being awakened by their kids when they have nightmares or maybe just when the kids want a little extra
attention. But not a lot of parents and not a lot of kids for that matter wake up to the sound of one child reportedly just hurt.
On a cold and rainy night, just outside Portland, Oregon, it was the sound of a man yelling for help in the ravine behind their home. A man who had
reportedly slashed his own throat and slashed his own wrists and a man that police would soon call a murder suspect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL LARSEN, WITNESS TO ARREST: They came right through here down into the ravine and then back up to the side. A lot of people came down. And
they were just combing the area. They were in a long line. And they just were looking for anything, I think, they could find. We couldn`t see him,
but we could hear it. He was pretty still. He was just leaning against the tree and we were pointing down where he was. And telling him he is
right there. He was very muddy. And he looked wet. Of course, it was really raining that night, too.
A few things that he answered. There was not any swearing or anything. He was just - he spoke well, but it just sounded like he had given up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Police found the man in the ravine just a few miles away from an even more disturbing scene. That`s where two suitcases were found in a
black BMW and divided out between the two were the body parts of this young woman, a 28-year-old beauty named Sara Zghoul. She was adored by everyone
she knew. She was an aspiring model and a mom to a darling little boy. But now she was discovered dismembered and decapitated.
Tonight, we know, the police searched a house just three blocks away from the beamer in connection with Sarah`s murder. And neighbors say it is the
home of the man in the ravine, although they also say nothing seemed unusual there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSS ALLEN, NEIGHBOR: He has a business or something at his house. And so there were UPS trucks and FedEx trucks going in and out all the time. But
very quiet neighborhood. Never had an issue since I have been here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Shane Kavanaugh is a staff writer with the Oregonian and he joins me live from Portland.
Shane, what is the connection between the man arrested who apparently tried to slash himself to death and Sara Zghoul?
KAVANAUGH (on the phone): That`s the question that we, as reporters here at the Oregonian, are still trying to figure out. That connection at this
time is still not known. What I can tell you is the suspect who we just wrote about and had a story come out a few minutes ago, he was living at
his mother`s home which is about a half mile from a home belonging to Sara Zghoul`s (ph) family. So there was certainly some proximity between the
two.
BANFIELD: Well, I mean, it is so strange and let`s pop up a map of the area so we can just sort of get a feel for this. Because it seems to me,
Shane, that three miles away from the BMW with Sarah in the trunk in pieces is where this man is found screaming for his life and slashing himself.
Three blocks away from Sarah in the BMW is a home that is raided. And we now can confirm this is his home. The man who was in jail at this point
facing charges for this.
KAVANAUGH: So what we -- he is not in jail. He is still hospitalized and has not been booked which is why we have named the suspect in our
reporting, but the Washington county authorities will not name a suspect until they are booked on formal charges. And at this time, given his
physical condition it`s really not known when he is going to get out of the hospital and be formally booked.
BANFIELD: Shane, do you have any idea what they found in the home?
KAVANAUGH: I do not know. We are still trying to figure that out as well.
BANFIELD: But it looks as though - yes, go ahead.
KAVANAUGH: I was going to say, what I can tell you is, you know, the home that was raided belonged to the suspect`s mother. And based on court
records that we reviewed today, he was recently sentenced to probation in a drug arrest from August in the Portland area and was listed as living in
his mother`s home at that address.
[19:25:00] BANFIELD: So - and I`m going to be, you know, full disclosure here with out audience, we are not going to name the suspect yet because
it`s just coming to light and we want to do some vetting. We want to do -- I know your paper, the Oregonian, has named the suspect. You got to photo-
op as well. But just for our purposes and CNN and "Headline News," HLN, we have not done that confirmation ourselves. So that is the only reason I`m
keeping it back. Please forgive me. I just want to be careful before we put that out there.
But real quickly, can you tell me anything about the scene that they discovered? Whose BMW was this? Why was Sarah in two suitcase? Do they
have any idea what the plan was? What happened prior to? Who was she last seen? I mean, the whole narrative surrounding a luxury vehicle with body
parts in the drunk like that?
KAVANAUGH: Right. Again, we have been asking for days now. Three days to get just even some nuggets of information from police. And we have not
received any information whatsoever officially.
BANFIELD: And they are not saying anything. Like Shane, they are not saying this has to do with her modelling, it has to do with her public
profile. I mean, you put pictures like that out there and you know, you get some strange followers sometimes.
KAVANAUGH: Right. Exactly. But again, we just don`t know at this time. And we are slowly trying to put the pieces together here at the paper and
report them as we learn them and learn the facts of the case. So we are working hard on this. We have a couple of reporters, you know, making
calls right now as I`m talking to you and hopefully we will have more information within the next couple of hours.
BANFIELD: It`s just developing now literally as we speak on the air. I just want to play if I can, Gregory and Jessica Winters, a couple of
friends of Sara Zghoul. They had this to say about their friend. Who she is as a mom and how they are feeling about what transpired. Have a look at
this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You never would expect that to happen to somebody that you know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was a very funny person. Everybody knew her and her family. I just feel so bad for her family. Nobody know fist it was if
it was a stranger or if it was like somebody close to her. Yes, scary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to like pray for their peace. You see now, I`m just like, comprehending everything. It`s just heartless. Just
like an evil, evil, evil person to do something like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Jessica Winters is that friend of Sara Zghoul and she joins me from Beaverton, Oregon.
Jessica, can you shed any light on this story, on the mysterious what looks like terrible traumatizing death of Sarah and the discovery in a BMW of her
dismembered body. What do you know about this?
WINTERS (on the phone): You know, to be honest, I have no idea who would want to lay one finger on this woman. I mean, you know, she was loved by
everybody. It`s even thinking that somebody has that much hate in their heart to, you know, do something like is just beyond me, you know.
BANFIELD: So Jessica, we are looking at the pictures and she is just stunning. A beautiful aspiring model. Did she ever say anything to you
about fearing people? Any stance who may have been out of the ordinary? Was she afraid of anybody?
WINTERS: You know, to be honest, she never said anything about fearing anyone. But you know, a few days prior, maybe about five days or so, you
know, I had seen a post on her Facebook asking if, you know, if anybody want to join her to beach to kind of clear her head. And of course, you
know, you think you look at that and you just kind of say, you know, she is probably just stressed with, you know, life. But I mean, it is still
questioning now that five days after this happened. So you know, I can`t help but wonder if that had going do with what happened to her.
BANFIELD: Really quickly, I want to bring in retired FBI special agent Bobby Chacon on this one.
Bobby, when you have a profile and you got photographs like that, is that sort of the first place that they will start looking? I mean, there seems
to be a wealth of evidence right there in that BMW in the trunk of those suitcases. But then you have the online activity which may yield
additional information.
CHACON: Well, yes. I mean, you are right. The first thing they do is look at the forensics in that BMW. Who was it registered to? Any
fingerprints in and around the vehicle. Any forensics in the trunk? Any forensics connected to the suitcases. But the, you are right. When you
stalling at a suspect for one, who to match those forensics to, you start looking at anybody she dated, anybody she has spent time with recently.
And then you are going to, you know, in these internet cases where people have an online presence, that exponentially increases the pool of people
now that you may have to look at.
[19:30:30] And so, as her friends have said, she invited people to join her in a public forum on the internet to join her at the beach or something.
So, you know, you have to look at that. You have to see all of the people that may have responded --
BANFIELD: Yes.
CHACON: May have seen that message. It`s quite an undertaking.
BANFIELD: Well, hopefully, it will yield something, some evidence and we`ll continue to track down this arrest, and that his name and his
connection and come out with that tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you for that, Bobby.
CHACON: Thank you.
BANFIELD: Appreciate it. Jessica, thank you as well. And Shane Cavanaugh, I appreciate it.
Earlier this month, we told you about Dr. James Kauffman. He is sitting -- was sitting in a new Jersey jail, accused of hiring a hitman to kill his
radio talk show wife. Her name was April. April wanted a divorce after finding out about her husband`s secret side business, allegedly running an
opioid drug ring. She was threatening to go to police which is why prosecutors believe she was murdered. But Dr. Kauffman, apparently, could
not handle the stress of jail or potentially, his upcoming murder trial, because the Atlanta county prosecutor`s office has told us that Dr.
Kauffman has just been found dead in his cell. Apparently, they discovered him that way on Friday. They believe it was suicide. When the
investigation began into April`s death, Dr. Kauffman talked about killing himself during a very strange and intense standoff with the police.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) we got one at gunpoint. We have one at gunpoint, Dr. James Kauffman. I have one at gunpoint. Dr. James Kauffman.
He has a weapon. Drop the gun! Drop the gun! Hey, drop the gun.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, we only have a search warrant. We have a search warrant.
DR. JAMES KAUFFMAN: Bullshit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are not under arrest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are not under arrest. We can search your office or your house, your car, or your person.
KAUFFMAN: Bullshit, I don`t believe it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we do.
KAUFFMAN: I`m not going to jail for this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, we just have a search warrant. That`s it. Put the weapon down.
KAUFFMAN: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the weapon. Listen, let`s talk.
KAUFFMAN: I`m going to go to my room and I`m going to kill myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: And again, prosecutors confirming he did just that in his jail cell.
A Minnesota preacher allegedly living quite the double life. By day, he was counseling couples in their marriage problems while at night, taking
what he learned like the Web site Ashley Madison and doing a little surfing of his own, and not just surfing. And now, his wife is dead and a jury is
trying to decide, did she kill herself the way it looked or did he kill her also the way it looked?
[19:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: It`s a story we have all heard before to the point that it`s almost cliche. A devoted father, a man of God accused of living a double
life. But the double life that Stephen Allwine reportedly led is nothing like being cliche. Yes, he is accused of cheating on his wife on a site
made for people seeking affairs when they`re married. Even after leading other couples through marriage counseling, he was doing this. But that`s
before things got actually criminal according to the cops. Before Stephen reportedly used Bitcoin to hire a hit man to kill his wife. The woman he`d
been married to for 20 years and the mother of their 9-year-old son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE SHERMAN, NEIGHBOR: Very sweet lady. Whenever you talk to her, she is always upbeat. Everybody`s pretty much shocked about it. They`ve always
seemed like they got along very well and we`ve never heard issues or anything like that. Pretty shocking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Shocking indeed. But what`s even more shocking is to hear police say that Stephen took matters into his own hands after apparently,
his hitman fell through. You know, that stuff happens. Because now Stephen is charged with her murder accused of shooting his wife, Amy, in
the head and then, staging it to look like Amy did it herself, to make it look like suicide. CRIME & JUSTICE Producer, Kyle Peltz has been working
on this story all day. He joins me live now.
So, Kyle, the story now finds itself at trial. And Amy Allwine`s murder is being litigated in a courtroom which means all sorts of new details are
coming out. Help me first to understand the forensics of this case and why police who showed up on the scene and saw Amy with a bullet hole to the
right side of her head started to see that something was fishy.
KYLE PELTZ, CRIME & JUSTICE PRODUCER: Right, Ashleigh. So at first glance, it looks like this could have been a suicide when cops got there.
They say they found a gun lying next to Amy, the victim here, her left arm. However, according to Amy`s parents, she`s right-handed. Also, the gunshot
wound that he mentioned was to the right side of her head which is something that may be difficult to do with your left hand. But court
documents note one detail also that many may just brush over, which is that there were pumpkins roasting in the oven when they got there. So, why
would you put pumpkins in the oven and then kill yourself?
BANFIELD: And then, there was also the gunshot residue. Because if you shoot yourself, you`re going to have gunshot residue on your own hand
because the gun is in your hand and you`re going to have stippling because can`t get too far away from your own head. So, the gun is going to be very
close to your head. And what did they find when they did the forensic testing?
[19:40:11] PELTZ: Right. When they conducted her autopsy, they found no gunpowder stippling on her skin around the entry wound. And if she were
shot at close range, you would likely see stippling there. However, they did find gunshot residue on her husband, Stephen`s hand.
BANFIELD: And they didn`t find it on her hand either, right? Presumably, the right hand, she`s right handed, that she would have used to shoot
herself on the right side of her head. No, GSR, no gunshot residue on her right hand?
PELTZ: Right. That`s what authorities say.
BANFIELD: Well, that sounds awfully fishy. OK, then take me now to the dark web part of it all. And this is what`s starting to really come out in
this trial is that, apparently, all the circumstantial evidence shows him, according to the prosecution, as to researching in the deep dark web and
finding an Albanian gang online that agreed to do a hit. What`s the story there?
PELTZ: Right. So, months before Amy`s death, a user believed to be Stephen tried to hire a hit on his wife. He allegedly did it, as you
mentioned, on the dark web, which is basically a part of the internet that wouldn`t really show up on Google. Now, keep in mind, Stephen works with
computers for a living so he knows a lot about this stuff. And then back in February of 2016, Stephen allegedly asked about the cost of a hit on his
wife. He was told it would cost $5,000, 6,000 if he wanted it to look like a car accident which is what he allegedly chose to do.
BANFIELD: And this is in Bitcoin. So, let`s just do the math real quickly, and everybody out there, if I make a mistake, please don`t e-mail
me. Just go with it. But effectively -- I`m not sure if this is right, but the value of 15 Bitcoins was $6,000 back in February of 2016. And if
you were to take those same Bitcoins today, 15 of them, basically, he threw $165,000 -- almost $166,000 down the drain because he got scammed. Because
this Albanian, you know, thug group wasn`t carrying out hits for anybody, who was, apparently, reaching out to them on the deep dark web. Shock,
shock that the Albanian thugs you reached out to, to kill someone, scammed you and took your Bitcoin. Oh, people. Listen, this is all allegations
when it comes to Stephen Allwine. But the truth of the matter is, is that there`s a lot of evidence against him.
Joseph Scott Morgan is a -- is a professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University. He`s also a certified death investigator. So, you`re
the perfect man to ask about this next piece of evidence, Joe, and that is the scopolamine was found in her system. 45 times the prescribed amount --
the legal prescribed amount of scopolamine was found. What is scopolamine and what is it used for?
JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, PROFESSOR OF APPLIED FORENSICS AND CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR: Yes, thanks for having me, Ashleigh. Most of the time, with
scopolamine, this is something that`s utilized and a lot of people at home will know this. It is used for motion sickness. Use it for -- to go on a
boat. Meantime, it`s used as a patch that is applied behind the ear. And if you want to, kind of, measure this, get the idea of it, scopolamine kind
of has the same effect on you in the same field. If you take Benadryl, for instance, and many times, people take Benadryl, but -- for motion sickness.
But in this case, it was a tremendous drug load in her system and it would be sufficient to make her, if not, totally unconscious. It would make her
very, very groggy, easy to manipulate and move around. And when we see cases like this involving what have alleged to have been staged suicides,
one of the things that has to happen is that the individual has to be incapacitated in some manner in order to facilitate this.
BANFIELD: All right. Well, there is so much more that comes into this case that we need to get to. And that is about this deep dark web and the
kind of evidence they were able to find, and then, of course, what didn`t go right and the kinds of communications that apparently Stephen Allwine
was having allegedly with these folks on the other end of the deep dark web. So, stand by, everybody. Allwine claims that she killed herself.
That Amy did this to herself. But honestly, what could be found in the shadows of the deep dark web? Police say that the forensics don`t add up.
We`re going to break down that evidence and go deep into the web and find out just who can get there anyway. And can the police catch up with them?
[19:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: So, we`re still talking about the Minnesota man of God accused of the holy trinity of marital offenses. Cheating on his wife, murdering
her when the hitman fell through, and then, staging it to look like a suicide. The couple`s 9-year-old son was the one who reportedly found her
body, bleeding out on the bedroom floor from a gunshot wound to the head. But the gun was found near her left hand, and she was right-handed. And as
it turns out, so was her husband.
[19:50:01] Police found gunshot residue on Stephen Allwine`s right hand, and they reportedly found more disturbing details in his apparent digital
foot print, like a request on the dark web for a hit on his wife of 20 years. And the moving around of Bitcoin to be used for payment for the
said hit. Then, inquiries about a drug that erases your memory and makes you all groggy when it was clear the hitman plan was falling through. The
drug found in Amy`s system at over 45 times the recommended dose.
I want to bring in Bobby Chacon, retired FBI agent, and trial attorney, Randy Kessler. Bobby, first to you. About this deep, dark web. Not all
of us can get to it. And the fact that Stephen Allwine actually made his living in computers, makes us all, sort of, connect a little more of the
possibility that he could have done that. But how about the cops? How good are you all at chasing people on the deep, dark web and actually,
making connections to what they`re doing?
BOBBY CHACON, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, I think pretty good, I guess. It`s a mystery to me as well, but in the reporting I`m reading in
this case, the FBI actually saw some activity on the web about somebody hiring a hitman for this type of murder, and they alerted the local
authorities, is my understanding, from some of the reporting I`m reading. So, the FBI was involved in tipping them off that, hey, you may have
somebody in your community, and I don`t know how much more detail they were able to provide --
BANFIELD: So, what`s interesting is they`ve got a user name "dogdaygod."
CHACON: Right,
BANFIELD: OK, that`s the user name. And apparently, it`s asking for a hitjob, right, costing $5,000, as Kyle reported. Six grand if you want it
to look like a car accident. And the next day, Stephen`s phone is looking up Bitcoin because the message the prior day is you could pay in Bitcoin.
And apparently, these conversations went on and on and on.
But Randy, you know, a lot of people will say you haven`t made the perfect connection.
RANDY KESSLER, TRIAL ATTORNEY: Right.
BANFIELD: This is like the circumstantial connection with lots of winkydinks. But isn`t that really what cases are all about? It`s building
the circumstantial evidence that can be extraordinarily powerful?
KESSLER: That`s exactly it. You can never put the entire jigsaw puzzle together. But if you can get enough pieces that you can see the whole
picture without having all the pictures -- all the pieces filled in, that`s enough. I mean, the only thing that`s not circumstantial would be a
confession or an eyewitness that actually took a picture of him doing it at that time. So, most cases are circumstantial.
BANFIELD: And so Bobby, when you collect up all this evidence, there is a deep, dark web that may not be perfect and may be confusing to some jurors,
but it`s not confusing to see this nausea medication that Joe Scott Morgan was just reporting on, and the fact that she had no prescription for it but
had 45 times the normal dose in her system. I mean, it becomes a powerful case. The police know that, right? You know that you`ve built enough of
this stuff up. P.S., all that forensics stuff like she`s right-handed but the gun`s on the left side. Does that sound like a strong case to you?
CHACON: Oh, absolutely. I think it`s strong without the dark web stuff. I mean, this is, unfortunately, a case that we see quite too often. A
husband doesn`t want to get -- a spouse doesn`t want to get a divorce, so they think that murdering the spouse is the -- is the answer. And then,
they try to stage it as a suicide, which rarely works. And just forensically, it`s very difficult to do that. She had no filing or
stippling on her. So, I mean, the case really can rise and fall just on the forensics. I don`t think they need the dark webs part of him trying to
hire a hitman. It will come in, obviously. But I think the strength of this case is the forensics.
BANFIELD: Yes.
CHACON: I think that it shows that he was very premeditated in doing this for over a number of months and what an animal he is. If he staged this --
if in fact, he`s guilty of what we`re thinking he might be, he actually --
BANFIELD: Big if. Big if because we`re still at trial. We`re still at trial.
CHACON: Yes. So --
BANFIELD: And I actually need to cut it there because I`m running out of time. But I do want to say we want to keep following this because the
defense still has its say. And they`ve got an alibi story with cars flying out of the neighborhood, et cetera. So, we`re going to keep looking at
this. Thanks so much, Bobby and Randy. Stand by.
Most of the time, we hear stories about inmates trying to bust out of prison. We don`t usually hear about being caught for breaking back in, but
look at this guy. Because you`re not going to believe what he tried to do and why and what he was carrying when they caught him in this field.
[19:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: We have one more thing for you tonight. The kind of prison escape that you don`t normally hear about because it`s a backwards one.
25-year-old Joshua Hanson got nabbed not when he was sneaking off the federal prison grounds and over to the ranch next door, but he got nabbed
on his way back in. You heard right. The U.S. marshals heard that their prisoners were sneaking off for contraband, so they set up a surveillance
video to capture all those secret missions in action. And they were there waiting for Hanson when he showed up with the duffel bag that a truck had
dropped off for him. What was inside the duffel bag? I knew you`d ask, so we have pictures of it for you. This is not what you`d expect prisoners to
be going for when they sneak out, but home-cooked sausages, fried chicken, green beans, and a whole bunch of other sides as well as some snack food,
packages of tobacco, some weed, and some booze. A bottle of Crown Royal, three bottles of brandy. Yes, so he didn`t make it back in with that
stuff, but he`s back in. You can be assured of that.
Thanks for watching, everybody. We`ll see you right back here tomorrow night, 6:00 Eastern for CRIME & JUSTICE. "FORENSIC FILES" begins right
now.
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