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list of content Warnings: Police say

1:01

the show night for this episode

1:03

on your app or on our

1:05

website. Today's. Episode

1:07

involves crimes against children.

1:10

And why be suitable for all

1:12

listeners? Over.

1:19

The Memorial Day weekend in late

1:21

March, two thousand and four seven

1:24

year old Emily Higgs left her

1:26

bright pink bicycle outside her home

1:28

in Grable, Indiana. When.

1:30

She went to retrieve it. She noticed

1:32

someone had left a zip lock plastic

1:35

bag in the box front basket. Inside

1:38

the bag was an anonymous note

1:40

written in pencil online to yellow

1:42

paper. It. Read. Hi.

1:46

Honey. I've. Been watching you.

1:48

I. Am the same person that kidnapped

1:51

and raped and killed a protein.

1:54

You. On my next victim. If.

1:57

You don't report this to police or.

2:00

I don't see this in the paper tomorrow

2:02

or on the local news. I

2:04

will blow up your house, killing everyone

2:06

but you. You will

2:09

be mine." The

2:12

plastic bag also contained a used

2:14

condom. Emily

2:17

took the items to her mother, Crystal. While

2:20

Crystal was unsettled, she was convinced it

2:22

was a sick joke, possibly

2:24

the handiwork of one of her teenage

2:27

son's friends. The

2:29

author's handwriting was messy and

2:31

childlike. It was

2:33

also riddled with grammatical punctuation

2:35

and spelling errors, with simple

2:37

words like will misspelled as

2:39

W-E-L-L. The

2:43

name April Tinsley didn't ring any bells

2:45

for Crystal Higgs, whose family had only

2:47

been living in the area for a

2:49

couple of years. But

2:52

when she told a long-time community member

2:54

about the disturbing message, they

2:56

were visibly shaken. They

2:59

told Crystal, You

3:01

need to call the sheriff and have him come

3:03

out. Schools

3:12

across

3:23

Indiana

3:29

closed early on April 1, 1988, on account of it being Good

3:31

Friday. April Tinsley, who had recently celebrated her eighth birthday and was

3:33

in the first grade, left

3:45

Fairfield Elementary at 11.30am. She

3:49

returned to her family's home on West

3:51

Williams Street in the city of Fort

3:53

Wayne. It Had

3:56

been a cold and dreary morning, so when a

3:58

break in the weather arrived, her mother. The only

4:00

that afternoon, April sought to make the most

4:02

of it. She. Asked her

4:04

mother Janet, if she could go out and

4:07

play with her friend Nicole who lived to

4:09

just a few blocks away on West Sutton

4:11

Field straight. April had

4:13

walked to and from Nicole's house

4:15

many times before. Janet

4:18

said yes, but told April to call

4:20

home as soon as she got to

4:22

Nicole's to confirm she'd arrived safely. After

4:25

lunch, Janet handed April an umbrella

4:28

and sent her on her way.

4:32

A short while later, the Tinsley

4:34

phone rang. It was

4:36

April calling to checked him as promised.

4:39

Before. Hanging up internet reminded April

4:41

to be home by four pm to

4:44

avoid the rain that had been forecast.

4:47

I got my umbrella. April

4:49

playfully replied. When

4:52

April failed to return home on

4:55

time, Janet Tinsley called Nickels house

4:57

sitting an explanation. See.

5:00

Learned that April and in a coal

5:02

had spent most of the afternoon playing

5:04

with dolls and excitedly discussing all the

5:06

chocolate they planned to collect over a

5:08

star. The girls then

5:10

walked to a playground halfway between their

5:12

homes where they met up with another

5:14

friend. Nicole. Said

5:17

they'd left the playground a little after

5:19

three pm to go to the third

5:21

friend's house, which was close by. As

5:25

the girls walked together, it began

5:27

to drizzle. realizing.

5:29

She had left her umbrella knuckles house.

5:31

April decided to quickly go back there

5:34

and get out. The.

5:36

Others continued on to their destination,

5:38

and when April didn't join them

5:40

nicola seem to, she decided to

5:43

go home instead. When.

5:45

Nicole's mother told agenda Tinsley.

5:48

April never did come back here to

5:50

get her umbrella. Janet sell

5:52

the blood rush from her body. See.

5:56

Was overcome with the feeling that

5:58

something was very wrong. John

6:04

had alerted her husband Michael and

6:06

they immediately began walking the streets

6:08

looking for April. See

6:10

was a carefree child and they knew that

6:13

to be a little silly with her favorite

6:15

game being Hide and Seek. They.

6:18

Were also mindful that it was April

6:20

Fool's Day. May. Be April was

6:22

playing some kind of prank on them. Yet.

6:25

As time wore on with no

6:27

sign of April, Janet and Michael

6:30

grew increasingly anxious. At

6:32

six pm, Janet tearfully reported

6:35

her daughter's disappearance to police.

6:38

Officers. Arrived at the Tinsel, a

6:40

home where April lived with her mother,

6:42

father, and infant brother. For.

6:46

As long as Janet could remember, she had

6:48

always wanted to be a mother. In

6:51

her teens, she often told people that

6:53

her first child was going to be

6:55

a go with blue eyes and curly

6:57

blond hair and her name would be

6:59

April Moray. Janet's

7:01

dreams came true on March eighteen,

7:03

Nineteen eighty, when April was born.

7:07

A cheerful child, April always had a

7:09

smile on her face and to loved

7:11

to make others love. But. She

7:13

was also saw and typically stayed close

7:16

to a mother. Her

7:18

parents adored and doted on her.

7:21

Losing. Her was devastating. The

7:25

police were sympathetic towards the

7:27

Tinsley since took their concerns

7:29

seriously. They. Immediately

7:31

started retracing April's last nine movements,

7:34

carrying a photo of her to

7:36

Wade in their search. They

7:39

were also given a description of what

7:41

April was wearing that day. Or

7:43

blue turtleneck sweater with a pink and

7:45

red jacket over the top. a pair

7:47

of a lot blue pants with three

7:49

love hard down one leg and pink.

7:51

the gym shoes. The

7:54

area April had been walking covered only

7:56

a few blocks which seat and navigated

7:59

many times before. Houses.

8:01

Were door knocks and residents questioned.

8:05

Every. Garage alley and abandoned

8:07

building was checked. But.

8:09

April was nowhere to be sound.

8:13

The. Search Radius expanded into the

8:15

city's rural outskirts. Soon.

8:18

Many volunteers were assisting police

8:20

in their search. As

8:24

news of April's disappearance spread, a

8:26

local wrestlers came forward to report

8:28

an incident they'd seen earlier that

8:30

day. At around

8:32

the time April went missing, they

8:34

saw a little go walking along

8:37

the Hoagland Avenue or long suburban

8:39

street that led to April's home.

8:42

As the little girl crossed the

8:44

street, a shabby blue pickup truck

8:46

pulled up alongside her. The

8:49

witness glimpse to the man behind the

8:51

wheel. He appeared and

8:53

nonchalant, and the girls same day

8:55

equally unfazed. When. The

8:58

pick up a drive off. The girl was

9:00

gone. The. Witness

9:02

didn't see or hear a struggle

9:04

so they assumed the driver was

9:06

the girl's father. They

9:09

described what they remembered about The

9:11

Go, specifically the light blue pants

9:13

she'd been wearing that featured several

9:15

distinctive a love hard trailing down

9:17

one leg. Investigators

9:20

were certain the witness said

9:22

seen April Tinsley at the

9:24

exact moment she was taken.

9:27

The. Pick up. A driver was described

9:29

as a one man in his thirties.

9:32

He had wavy sandy colored hair with

9:34

the darker roots and a few days

9:36

worth of be gross. Seemingly.

9:39

No one knew him. Low.

9:42

Crime was an unheard of in

9:45

Fort Wayne. Child abduction was. It.

9:48

Had been over a decade since the

9:50

last case of that nature. the

9:52

thought that a child could be snatched

9:55

off the street in broad daylight lead

9:57

to local parents experiencing anxieties they did

9:59

never fell before. As

10:02

night fell and April remained missing,

10:05

police settled on a worst-case scenario.

10:09

They put out an all-points bulletin for

10:11

April, certain she had indeed been taken.

10:14

The frantic search continued and

10:16

the community remained vigilant, fearful

10:19

the perpetrator would strike again.

10:22

Over that weekend, a dozen police

10:24

officers worked a collective 200 hours

10:27

on the investigation, but

10:29

Easter passed with no breakthroughs.

10:37

On the afternoon of Monday, April 4, a

10:40

male jogger was running along County Road 68

10:42

in Spenserville, a

10:44

small, unincorporated rural community 20

10:46

miles northeast of Fort Wayne.

10:50

As he passed by remote farming

10:52

fields and dense woodland, he spotted

10:55

something in a rain-swollen drainage ditch

10:57

40 feet from the roadside. It

11:00

was the body of April Tinsley. April

11:04

had been suffocated and strangled to

11:06

death. Although she

11:08

was fully clothed in the outfit she

11:11

had had on when she went missing,

11:13

it was clear she'd been re-dressed after

11:15

being sexually assaulted. Her

11:17

pants were on backwards and she was missing

11:20

a shoe. No

11:23

foreign genetic matter was found on

11:25

April's body, but testing of her

11:27

underwear revealed traces of semen. In

11:32

1988, the role of DNA

11:34

in criminal investigations was a

11:36

relatively new and unknown concept.

11:39

But by chance, in the days

11:41

before April was murdered, Fort Wayne

11:44

detectives had completed a workshop on

11:46

DNA evidence. It

11:48

taught them how to correctly collect

11:50

and store April's killers' DNA to

11:53

ensure its integrity and longevity. DNA

11:57

Testing at the time required a lot.

12:00

Large sample to obtain the

12:02

subjects profile. The miniscule

12:04

amount recovered from April's underwear,

12:06

coupled with limitations in forensic

12:09

technology presented authorities from gleaming

12:11

much. Still,

12:13

They respected it's significance as a

12:16

means of positively concerning April's killer

12:18

once they had him interested in.

12:21

It. Would remain that one crucial

12:23

piece of evidence as a thorough

12:25

search of the crime scene and

12:27

it's surroundings failed to uncover anything

12:30

that immediately identified April's killer. Because

12:34

no less it was made to

12:36

conceal April's remains. Detectives knew they

12:38

were dealing with an attention seeker

12:40

who wanted his crime to be

12:42

discovered. They kill

12:44

all seemed to have an inflated sense

12:46

of confidence that he wouldn't be sound.

12:49

yet he wasn't entirely devoid of fear.

12:52

April's missing to was eventually sound around

12:54

one thousand feet west of her body

12:57

on the other side of the road.

13:00

Police. Suspected a prose kill. I had

13:02

dumped her in that ditch, then realized that

13:04

he drive off that one of those shoes

13:06

was still in his vehicle. Scared.

13:09

Of being seen if he returns to the

13:11

downside to toss to the shoe out a

13:13

window as he sped away. A

13:17

medical examiner concluded that April had been

13:19

killed one or two days prior to

13:21

the discovery of her body. County

13:24

Road Sixty Eight was not the kind of

13:26

place someone from out of town would be

13:29

aware of, have a reason to visit or

13:31

happened to come across. The

13:34

killer must have banks and know your with

13:36

it and knew that his chances of being

13:38

spotted there were slim. This

13:40

meant he was likely from For Line

13:42

or one of it's surrounding towns Hits.

13:46

No. One sprang to mind as a

13:49

suspect. That. Tinsley had no

13:51

enemies and couldn't imagine who would want

13:53

to harm their daughter. Known.

13:56

sex offenders who lived in the crimes

13:58

of vicinity were questioned by police police,

14:00

but were gradually ruled out as

14:02

having any involvement. When

14:08

word reached to detectives that there was

14:10

an alleged sighting of a blue pickup

14:12

truck near where April's body was found,

14:15

they took notice. That

14:17

was the same type of vehicle April's

14:19

abductor had apparently been driving. Police

14:23

examined thousands of blue pickup trucks

14:25

across Indiana, but nothing of value

14:27

was uncovered. A

14:30

suspect sketch of the driver depicted

14:32

a generic-looking white man, but

14:34

Crimestoppers was inundated with calls from people

14:36

who thought they knew him. One

14:40

hundred and forty of these calls

14:42

implicated a 34-year-old named Everett Shull,

14:44

Jr. Shull

14:48

was a local gang member known as

14:50

Moose. When shown

14:52

a photographic lineup featuring Shull,

14:54

the eyewitness from Oakland Avenue

14:56

identified him as April's abductor.

15:00

Upon speaking with Shull's neighbor, detectives

15:02

learnt that for several weeks there

15:05

had been a blue pickup truck

15:07

parked outside of Shull's home. While

15:10

Shull didn't own such a vehicle, he had

15:12

access to one through a friend. Shull

15:16

was also known to loiter around

15:18

parks and make crude remarks about

15:20

children. He had

15:23

been accused of molesting an 11-year-old

15:25

girl, though the case was ultimately

15:27

dropped. Days

15:29

before April Tinsley was taken, Shull was

15:31

allegedly overheard telling another person that he'd

15:34

seen two girls playing and that he

15:36

wanted to grab one of them. The

15:41

gang Everett Shull, Jr. belonged to

15:43

had an interest in the occult,

15:45

prompting rumors that April's murder was

15:47

some type of ritualistic sacrifice. While

15:51

this theory became a hot topic

15:53

amongst gossiping locals, police concluded that

15:55

it had no merit. Shull

15:59

denied knowing anything. about April

16:01

Tinsley. He passed

16:03

several polygraph tests and when

16:05

his DNA didn't match the

16:07

sample from April's assailant he

16:09

was released. DNA

16:12

samples from four additional suspects were

16:14

tested only to be ruled out.

16:18

Detectives continued to investigate the hundreds

16:20

of tips that came in from

16:22

suspicious men seen around the neighborhood

16:24

to others who had recently changed

16:26

their appearance. Whenever

16:29

a new lead emerged police

16:31

dropped everything to pursue it.

16:33

Each time they reached a

16:35

dead end. In

16:38

the immediate aftermath of April's murder the

16:41

community struggled to return to any sense

16:43

of normalcy. Children

16:45

now walked in groups and police

16:47

patrolled streets near schools. 90 locals

16:51

formed a group called April

16:54

which stood for Abduction Prevention

16:56

Reconnaissance and Information League. Members

16:59

ranged in age from 14 to 52 and their

17:01

aims were to

17:04

keep children safe, raise money for

17:06

victims of crime and educate young

17:08

people on the importance of avoiding

17:11

strangers. The

17:13

group's president insisted that they

17:15

weren't vigilantes they were just

17:17

ensuring another tragedy didn't occur

17:20

and it seemed like their efforts paid off.

17:24

Two years passed without any

17:26

further attacks. In

17:34

late May 1990 a teenage

17:36

boy who lived on the

17:38

northeastern rural outskirts of Fort

17:40

Wayne noticed something peculiar going

17:42

on. Someone

17:44

had been lingering around his family's

17:46

barn. The

17:49

barn was just a few feet

17:51

from a thoroughfare named Schwartz Road

17:53

and backed onto a large secluded

17:55

field. The

17:57

teen had gone to the barn and noticed a

17:59

huge The handwritten message scrawled across

18:01

the white weather-beaten planks of its

18:04

exterior doors, which faced the road.

18:08

The message had been written in pencil,

18:10

so it wasn't very clear. On

18:14

several occasions over the following days,

18:16

the teenager returned to the barn.

18:19

With each visit, the writing on

18:22

the door grew progressively darker and

18:24

more legible. It

18:26

seemed the author was returning periodically

18:28

to write over their message. At

18:32

first, they used a white crayon which

18:34

still wasn't visible enough to read. The

18:37

next time, the message had been scribbled

18:40

over with a black marker. Now

18:43

the writing was clear. I

18:47

kill April Marie Tisley, the message

18:49

read. I kill

18:51

again. Unnerved,

18:54

the teenager phoned the police.

18:57

It appeared as though the message was left

19:00

by a child or someone with the mentality

19:02

of one. Their handwriting,

19:04

grammar and punctuation were poor.

19:07

They'd also incorrectly spelled April's

19:09

surname by forgetting the yen

19:12

and ended their message with the juvenile

19:14

words, Ha Ha. It

19:18

seemed anybody could have written it as a

19:20

prank or to stir up a drama. But

19:24

there was one aspect to the

19:26

message that gave investigators pause. Above

19:30

the mocking laughter, the author had

19:32

written, Did

19:34

you find the other shoe? Case

19:44

file will be back shortly. Thank

19:47

you for supporting us by listening to

19:49

this episode's sponsors. careheatingandcooling.com.

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20:41

By this time, all of the detectives

20:43

originally assigned to the Tinsley case had

20:45

been taken off to focus on other

20:47

work. While the

20:50

case remained open and new tips

20:52

were explored, the investigation had definitely

20:54

stagnated. April's

20:57

killer had seemingly fallen off the

20:59

face of the earth, leaving authorities

21:01

to assume that he'd fled elsewhere,

21:03

died, or was somehow incapacitated and

21:05

prevented from being a threat. The

21:09

barn message completely shattered this theory

21:11

and left detectives rattled. The

21:15

Schwartz Road barn was located roughly

21:17

ten miles from where April's body

21:19

was discovered. The fact

21:21

that she was found without one of her

21:24

shoes, which was discarded further down the road,

21:26

was a detail investigators had kept

21:29

close to their chest. They

21:32

had never shared it with the media

21:34

or the public, and so it was

21:36

never reported on or widely known. This

21:40

meant that the barn message must

21:42

have been written by April's killer.

21:46

After two quiet years, he had

21:48

returned with the intention to kill

21:50

again. A search

21:54

of the barn and its surrounds came

21:56

up dry, save for a few crayons

21:58

strewn across the ground. below the message.

22:01

These were tested for fingerprints, but

22:04

none were recovered. And

22:06

the teenager who reported the message never

22:08

saw the person who wrote it. Yet

22:12

it had given detectives greater

22:14

insight into the perpetrator's psyche.

22:18

His message was intended to mock,

22:20

torment, and provoke them. In

22:23

the words of one case detective, it

22:26

was a slap in the face to

22:28

all the investigators and to the Tinsley

22:30

family and to April. It

22:33

made me mad. It made

22:35

us all very upset. It

22:39

was clear to investigators that the

22:41

killer relished in spreading fear and

22:43

gaining notoriety. He

22:45

avoided leaving any clues as to his

22:47

identity and made sure he stayed out

22:49

of sight. This

22:52

was someone who spent a lot of

22:54

time strategizing. Even

22:56

his terrible writing was deemed to

22:58

be deliberate. Detective

23:01

Samiz said the killer intentionally wrote

23:03

poorly so they couldn't identify him

23:05

and would instead think he was

23:08

young or had a developmental delay.

23:12

But his carefully plotted

23:14

actions indicated otherwise. Investigators

23:18

had no choice but to go public

23:20

with a sample of the bond message

23:22

to generate leads. They

23:24

knew that by doing so, they were

23:26

playing right into the killer's hands by

23:28

giving him the publicity he craved. But

23:32

detectives were more concerned that if

23:34

he wasn't caught, he could make

23:37

good on his threat to kill

23:39

again. The writing sample elicited a

23:41

few tip-offs. They

23:43

didn't lead anywhere. A

23:50

few weeks later, on Wednesday June 13, 1990, 7-year-old

23:54

Sarah Bowker was enjoying the pool

23:56

at her family's apartment complex at

23:58

Stonepoint Village in 14. At

24:02

around 3.30pm after playing

24:04

in the water with her stepsister, Sarah

24:06

headed off alone to visit a friend

24:09

who also lived in the complex. When

24:13

Sarah didn't return home for dinner

24:15

that night, her parents contacted the

24:17

police. It emerged

24:19

that Sarah had never reached her

24:21

friend's apartment, having seemingly vanished somewhere

24:24

along the short and simple journey.

24:27

The Bowker family were certain Sarah

24:30

had been forcibly taken, as

24:32

she had been afraid of strangers ever

24:34

since the abduction and murder of April

24:36

Tinsley two years earlier. If

24:39

a car ever drove slowly towards her,

24:41

Sarah would run to safety and say,

24:44

there's a kidnapper out there. Sarah

24:48

was only one year younger than April

24:51

and bore a striking resemblance to her.

24:54

Given the threat April's killer had scribbled on

24:56

the barn three weeks earlier, police

24:59

feared the worst. Multiple

25:02

squads were called in to search

25:04

for Sarah. When they failed to find

25:06

any sign of her, a police dog was

25:08

brought to the scene. The

25:11

dog picked up Sarah's scent and

25:13

followed it south of her apartment

25:15

complex towards Coldwater Road, leading

25:18

police to a stuffed toy kitten.

25:21

The toy belonged to Sarah. In

25:24

a drainage ditch on the side of the road, searches

25:27

found Sarah's body. Sarah's

25:32

clothing was in disarray and it was

25:34

clear she had been sexually assaulted. Her

25:37

cause of death was suffocation as a result

25:39

of having her face shoved down in the

25:42

mud. This appeared to

25:44

have been done in an effort to keep her

25:46

quiet. It

25:48

had taken 16 hours to find

25:51

Sarah and in the hour before

25:53

discovery, the area had been pelted

25:55

with heavy rain. If

25:58

there had been any foreign hairs following fibers

26:00

or DNA on or around her body,

26:03

they'd washed away by now. Witness

26:07

accounts weren't any more helpful. There

26:10

were reports of an elderly man near the

26:12

pool where Sarah had been prior to her

26:14

disappearance. An elderly

26:16

man was also seen emerging from the

26:19

weeds near where her body was ultimately

26:21

found. Neither

26:23

of these men were identified and

26:25

descriptions of them were too limited

26:27

to zero in on anyone in

26:29

particular. Sarah

26:32

Bowker's murder bore obvious similarities

26:34

to that of April Tinsley. Investigators

26:38

fronting the Tinsley case took on the

26:41

file considering the possibility that they were

26:43

dealing with a serial child killer, one

26:46

who took pleasure in taunting them. Just

26:50

like in the Tinsley case, appeals

26:52

for information failed to generate any

26:54

significant leads. The

26:57

Bowker and Tinsley cases languished together

27:00

for two years until

27:02

police received a much-needed

27:04

breakthrough. To

27:11

Sarah Bowker, Ron Hensley was Grandpa

27:13

even though they weren't related. Hensley

27:17

was the grandfather of a close

27:19

family friend and Sarah often encountered

27:21

him at various events such as

27:24

sleepovers, dinners and on vacation. Hensley

27:28

was such a presence in Sarah's life

27:30

that he brought her presence in the

27:32

form of toys and clothes and encouraged

27:34

her to quote, just call

27:36

me Grandpa. Hensley

27:39

had fought in World War II and his

27:41

neck was badly injured when a shell landed

27:43

in his machine gun nest. He

27:46

suffered post-traumatic stress disorder as a

27:48

result. Whether

27:50

he heard anything akin to gunfire,

27:53

explosive blasts or air raid sirens,

27:55

he would cry and shake. For

27:58

a time, Hensley was a very strong man. He was hospitalised

28:01

in a psychiatric unit for depression

28:03

and suicidal thoughts. Outside

28:06

of this trauma he maintained a

28:08

charismatic and jovial facade. But

28:11

he was also known as someone who

28:13

made women uncomfortable by being overly touchy.

28:17

He was asked to stop attending church

28:19

because of the way he interacted with

28:21

young girls. In

28:24

December 1992, Hensley left

28:26

Fort Wayne after a woman accused him

28:28

of molesting her daughter. He

28:31

relocated to South Carolina where he

28:33

lived amongst friends and family until

28:36

December 1994

28:38

when he died of lung problems at age 75. After

28:44

Ron Hensley's death, those who knew him

28:46

began sorting out his affairs. His

28:49

belongings were rifled through and a

28:51

shoebox was discovered. It

28:54

was full of small notepads covered

28:56

in Hensley's handwriting. His

28:59

expansive written works turned out to

29:01

be detailed accounts of crimes he

29:04

had committed against countless juveniles. One

29:08

tiny notebook detailed the murder of

29:10

Sarah Baucher. It

29:13

featured details that only her killer could

29:15

have known. The

29:17

notebooks were surrendered to police and

29:19

given to the detectives overseeing the

29:22

Baucher case. They

29:24

compared Hensley's writings to the facts of

29:26

the crime and had no doubt. It

29:29

was clear he had done it. Ron

29:33

Hensley was publicly named as Sarah

29:36

Baucher's killer. There

29:38

would be no justice as he had died 14

29:40

months prior. Police

29:45

nevertheless officially closed the Baucher

29:47

case file. However,

29:49

April Tinsley's remained open.

29:53

While police weren't confirming any connections

29:56

between the cases, the public couldn't

29:58

help but wonder. Ron

30:01

Hensley had lived about three miles from

30:03

the Tinsley home at the time of

30:05

April's murder. According

30:08

to Hensley's son and a woman who had

30:10

lived with Hensley for several years, he

30:12

donated money to help fund both

30:14

girls' funerals. He

30:17

also allegedly carried pictures of the

30:19

two girls in a keychain and

30:21

visited their graves often. Janet

30:26

Tinsley didn't believe Ron Hensley, a

30:28

stranger to her family, was responsible

30:30

for her daughter's murder. Detectives

30:34

working the case shared her skepticism and

30:36

kept looking into it. But

30:39

as time wore on without any

30:41

further actions or words from April's

30:43

killer, speculation ran rife. For

30:47

those willing to believe in

30:49

Ron Hensley's guilt, it seemed

30:51

awfully suspicious that April's communicative

30:53

killer had fallen completely silent

30:55

after Hensley died. Over

31:02

a decade later, in May 2004, seven-year-old

31:06

Emily Higgs found a plastic bag

31:08

in the basket of her pink

31:10

bicycle. It contained

31:12

a used condom and a letter claiming

31:14

to be from April Tinsley's killer, threatening

31:16

that Emily would be his next victim.

31:21

The Higgs family lived in Grable, a

31:23

small town 16 miles north

31:25

of Fort Wayne. They

31:27

weren't around in 1988 when

31:29

April was murdered, but after learning

31:32

of the case, they contacted authorities.

31:36

The police were immediately struck by

31:38

the similarities between the letter Emily

31:41

received and the writing April's killer

31:43

scribbled on the Schwartz Road barn

31:45

14 years earlier. Not

31:48

only was the handwriting the same,

31:50

but they featured the same misspellings,

31:52

poor grammar and punctuation errors. Worse

31:56

still, Emily Higgs wasn't the only

31:59

local girl. who'd received a troubling

32:01

letter that week. Two

32:04

other girls aged five and

32:06

nine found disturbing handwritten letters

32:08

on lined yellow paper. One

32:11

was placed in a basket used as a

32:13

flower pot, the other had been

32:15

taped to the girls bicycle. Each

32:18

began with the greeting, hi honey,

32:21

and featured death threats in the

32:23

same mistake-riddled handwriting. In

32:26

one, April's name was

32:29

spelled A-P-R-O-I-L and in

32:31

another, the first D

32:33

in kidnapped was missing.

32:36

They all also contained the

32:38

words Ha-Ha. The

32:42

three girls were given what the author

32:44

referred to in his letters as a

32:47

present, a used condom. The

32:50

biological material these contained was tested and

32:52

was found to be a 100% match

32:54

to the semen

32:57

sample collected from April Tinsley's underwear

33:00

16 years earlier. There

33:03

was no doubt Ron

33:06

Hensley could not have been responsible

33:08

for April's murder. The

33:10

killer was still alive and

33:13

had resurfaced again. His

33:16

DNA was run through state and

33:19

national police databases to no result.

33:24

Just as investigators were examining the letters,

33:26

a fourth was sent. It

33:29

was found in a letterbox outside the home

33:31

of a young girl and was the most

33:34

personal note of all. It

33:36

detailed the horrible assault the author

33:38

intended to commit against his victim.

33:42

This letter didn't include a condom. Instead,

33:45

its present was a Polaroid photograph

33:47

which depicted the naked lower torso

33:50

of a white man as he

33:52

lay on a bed masturbating. A

33:56

bedspread with a unique green

33:58

paisley-type pattern was in

34:00

the image, but little else. Investigators

34:04

checked local hotels and lodgings, but

34:06

none had the betting from the

34:09

photo. This led

34:11

police to assume the picture was taken

34:13

inside the man's own home. Investigators

34:18

were again at a crossroads. If

34:21

they published the letters to request the

34:23

public's help, then they'd be giving the

34:25

killer what he wanted, more fear

34:27

and notoriety. As

34:30

far as the police were aware, the

34:32

killer had failed to act on his

34:35

previous threat made on the barn in

34:37

1990. But that

34:39

didn't necessarily mean he was

34:41

sitting idly by. This time,

34:44

he could be ready to strike. After

34:47

all, he had seemingly chosen

34:49

new victims. By

34:52

giving in and granting him infamy, would

34:55

they embolden him to act? Detectives

34:59

sat on the letters for two years.

35:03

During that time, the killer didn't

35:05

appear to strike again. In

35:08

2006, at yet another

35:10

standstill, police released samples from the

35:13

killer's letters as well as cropped

35:15

images of his bedspread, hoping to

35:18

kickstart a manhunt. These

35:21

updates led to a wave of fear

35:23

washing over Fort Wayne. Not

35:26

only was April Tinsley's killer still out

35:28

there, but he'd been

35:30

actively stalking local girls, honing

35:33

in on his next victim. When

35:40

Gareth Evans, not his real name,

35:42

saw the notes being circulated by the

35:45

media, he back

35:48

in 1988, Gareth's father David, also

35:51

not his real name, had driven

35:53

a blue pickup truck and lived

35:55

within blocks of Houghland Avenue. Curiously,

35:59

in the day, days after April's murder

36:01

he had spray painted his truck a

36:03

different colour. Since

36:05

then he had become a registered sex

36:07

offender for crimes against children. He

36:10

often greeted women and girls by saying

36:12

hi honey and was prone to saying

36:14

ha ha. He

36:17

also took lewd photos of himself with

36:19

a Polaroid camera. Gareth

36:23

contacted police to implicate his father David

36:25

in the murder of April Tinsley. In

36:29

questioning, David denied knowing April personally

36:31

but recalled that his daughter used

36:33

to play with her. Although

36:36

he admitted to having owned a

36:38

blue pickup truck, David said he'd

36:40

sold it to a neighbour shortly

36:42

before April's murder and the neighbour

36:44

was responsible for painting it. When

36:48

asked to provide the neighbour's details, David

36:50

only gave a first name. He

36:53

said he didn't know the last. David

36:57

claimed that he'd been working on Friday April 1 1988,

36:59

the day April was abducted. His

37:05

confident assertion immediately stood out

37:07

to investigators. How

37:09

could David immediately remember what he was doing

37:11

16 years earlier on a

37:14

specific day? They

37:16

spoke to his employer and discovered David

37:18

had not worked on April 1. He

37:22

also wasn't working on Monday April 4,

37:25

the day April's body was found. Investigators

37:30

obtained a search warrant for David's home

37:32

where they discovered a notepad with lined

37:34

yellow paper and a Polaroid camera. Investigators

37:39

were certain they had finally found their

37:41

man. All they needed

37:43

was David's DNA to confirm it.

37:47

They collected a sample from David. To

37:50

their shock, it wasn't a match for

37:52

April's killer. With

37:55

that, they were back at square one.

38:00

publicity about the killer's recent activities

38:02

had failed to generate the leads

38:04

investigators were hoping for. Detectives

38:07

who had been working the case for

38:09

years were starting to suffer. They

38:12

struggled to sleep and became obsessed

38:15

by the desire for justice. April's

38:18

case was always at the forefront of

38:20

their minds. Three

38:23

kept a picture of the eight-year-old on

38:25

them at all times while another had

38:27

her photo on his desk at home.

38:30

Whenever they weren't working on regular duties

38:32

they pulled out the tinsley case file.

38:36

It was maddening. They

38:38

felt they had what they needed to

38:41

catch the guy. He had even willingly

38:43

provided them with significant evidence. They

38:45

just couldn't link it to anyone. Many

38:49

detectives ultimately left the unit

38:51

or retired without closure. But

38:54

the case was never given up on. There

38:58

always remained hope that a

39:00

breakthrough would eventually materialize. Even

39:03

as the years started to once

39:05

again wear on without any further

39:07

action from April tinsley's killer. By

39:13

2009 believing the

39:15

case was highly solvable the

39:18

Federal Bureau of Investigation officially

39:20

stepped in. Their

39:22

behavioral analysis unit created a comprehensive profile

39:24

of the suspect whom they believed was

39:27

now aged in his 40s or 50s.

39:29

They referred

39:32

to him as a preferential child

39:34

sex offender. This

39:36

meant he had a long-term and

39:38

persistent sexual desire for children, specifically

39:41

little girls, and that interest would

39:43

not go away. He could

39:46

be married but the vast majority

39:49

of preferential child sex offenders were

39:51

not. If he

39:53

was married his partner might be aware

39:55

of his interest in girls but

39:57

in denial about the extent interest,

40:00

or his willingness to act on it.

40:04

Although the killer was probably socially

40:06

awkward, he would endeavour to build

40:08

relationships that gave him access to

40:11

girls, or he might

40:13

seek out employment or volunteer activities

40:15

that provided proximity to them. He

40:19

was drawn to places where children

40:21

gathered, such as playgrounds, swimming pools,

40:23

and parks. Quote, wherever

40:27

he goes, if a little girl

40:29

is nearby, his eyes will

40:31

follow her. The

40:35

FBI profile warned, This

40:38

offender has demonstrated that he has strong

40:40

ties to northeast Fort Wayne and to

40:42

Allen County. This

40:45

is where he likely lives, works,

40:47

and or shops. You

40:50

may be sitting beside him in the

40:52

pure church, working beside him

40:54

on the production line or

40:56

standing next to him in line at

40:59

the grocery store. Case

41:07

file will be back shortly. Thank

41:10

you for supporting us by listening to

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support Casefile to continue to

41:55

deliver quality content. That

42:05

same year of 2009, a deck

42:08

of cards was distributed to prisons

42:10

across the United States. Each

42:13

card highlighted a cold case, with

42:15

April Tinsley appearing on the Seven

42:17

of Hearts. It

42:19

was hoped that an inmate somewhere might

42:22

hold key information about the crime, but

42:24

no leads were generated. Meanwhile,

42:28

the case was covered on a

42:30

segment of the weekly television program

42:32

America's Most Wanted. While

42:34

this exposure attracted more tips than any other

42:37

story on the show that night, it didn't

42:40

relaunch the investigation. The

42:43

show re-examined the case again three

42:45

years later, at which point they

42:47

revealed a piece of information that

42:49

the police had kept secret from

42:51

the public. Around

42:55

a few feet from April Tinsley's body

42:57

was a bag from the department store

42:59

Sears. Inside

43:02

was an adult toy made of wood

43:04

that worked manually via a hand crank.

43:08

Detectives withheld this discovery, believing it

43:10

to be incriminating information that would

43:13

help them identify April's killer. But

43:16

they were desperate, and decided to

43:18

publicise the obscure object now in

43:20

the hopes someone might recognise it.

43:24

Show host John Walsh held up a

43:26

photo of April and told viewers, "'Look

43:30

at this picture. Just look at

43:32

this girl. Now think about

43:34

this. Somebody

43:36

kidnapped her, raped her and murdered her.

43:39

There's no telling how many other children this

43:42

killer may have taken from this world. This

43:45

guy is a monster. He's a coward.

43:48

He's out there. More

43:50

than likely he's in this area. He's

43:53

got to have the courage to come forward and

43:55

say, "'I can't look at

43:57

this face and not do the right thing.'" by

44:00

leaving a tip. But

44:03

the breakthrough detectives were desperate for

44:06

didn't arrive. In

44:11

2015, the Fort Wayne community rallied

44:13

together to create a memorial park

44:15

in April's honour called April's Garden.

44:19

Over the years that followed, events were

44:21

periodically held at the park to revive

44:23

awareness about the case. April's

44:27

mother, Janet, was often in attendance,

44:29

haunted by the lack of answers.

44:33

During one event, she told the crowd, I

44:36

never thought it would go this long. Investigators

44:41

revealed that at this stage they were

44:43

still receiving roughly five to seven tips

44:45

about the case each week, but

44:48

the leads gradually fizzled out, with

44:50

one FBI agent remarking, things

44:54

breaking, there's nothing new. The

44:57

media routinely ran stories about the

44:59

crime, making it the highest profile

45:01

unsolved case in Indiana. By

45:06

the late 2010s, more than 700 suspects had had their DNA

45:08

tested. This

45:12

was a massive undertaking, with police

45:14

required to prove probable cause for

45:17

every individual who refused to provide

45:19

a sample willingly. Investigators

45:22

were often raised only for a

45:24

seemingly likely suspect to be ruled

45:26

out by DNA. Investigators

45:30

couldn't help but wonder if the killer

45:32

had passed away and they were literally

45:34

chasing a ghost. When

45:37

asked if they would ever know for

45:39

sure who killed April Tinsley, a detective

45:41

replied, eventually, I

45:44

believe so. We'll get

45:46

to the bottom of it. By

45:53

now, the killer's original DNA sample from the

45:55

crime scene in 1988 had been used Up

45:59

and there was no evidence of the crime. Rest: a degraded.

46:02

But because he had provided more samples

46:04

in the used condoms he sent in

46:06

two thousand and four, There was more

46:09

than enough a day in a in

46:11

pristine condition for investigators to work with.

46:13

Says forensic technology evolved. Fort

46:17

Wayne Detective sent the samples from

46:19

April Tinsley kill our today in

46:21

a technology company Parabens. None are

46:23

labs who specialized in using genetic

46:26

a genealogy to investigate cold cases.

46:30

Through. The use of Dna scenery

46:32

typing which predicts a person's appearance

46:34

based on their Dna, they were

46:36

able to ascertain several of the

46:38

killers observable trades. Days.

46:40

Included his I hair and skin color

46:43

and Dave how many freckles he'd have

46:45

on his face. The

46:48

results were not absolute,

46:50

but established the highest

46:52

probability of his specific

46:54

characteristics. It. Enabled

46:56

the creation of to digital composite

46:58

sketch is that where as accurate

47:00

as possible. One. Of what

47:02

the suspect would have looked like in

47:04

Nineteen Eighty Eight and two the other

47:06

aged to demonstrate his car an appearance.

47:10

In both depicted a fair skinned

47:12

man with brown hair and hazel

47:14

law green colored eyes. Both

47:17

the match to the original Nineteen Eighty

47:19

Eight sketch of the man driving the

47:21

Blue Pick Truck that was seen approaching

47:23

April. Still,

47:26

He remained unrecognizable to the tinsel.

47:28

a sense of the great Our

47:30

fault line community. That.

47:33

Appeared investigators said are aged yet

47:35

another dead and. Then,

47:38

as covered in Episode Fifty Three

47:40

of Case File, the trajectory of

47:42

decades long cold cases drastically altered

47:44

in two thousand and eighteen when

47:46

the Golden State till I was

47:48

finally apprehended after forty four years.

47:52

The breakthrough came via Republic

47:54

a genealogy website called Jed

47:56

Match. Jed.

47:58

Emerged custom as well. Hurley submitted

48:00

saliva swab, cynic strange for

48:02

and ancestry report based on

48:05

their genetic profile. They

48:07

could then connect with family

48:09

members and distant relatives viral

48:11

online databases. Similar.

48:14

Way investigators fronting the Golden State

48:16

Killer case uploaded his Dna to

48:19

the same data bases with the

48:21

intention of identifying him through his

48:23

familiar lineage. And.

48:26

It worked. This.

48:31

New Investigative Tool was a game

48:33

changer for law enforcement. It.

48:35

Opened a new line of

48:37

inquiry for many old cold

48:39

cases, including the unsolved murder

48:41

as April Tinsley. Two

48:44

weeks after the major breakthrough in

48:46

the Golden State Killer case, Detective

48:48

said parable, none our lives, upload

48:50

April's kill His Dna on the

48:52

Jedi match dotcom. The.

48:55

Work was overseen by say see

48:57

more the head of Parable. None

48:59

are labs genetic, a genealogy unit,

49:02

In. Her television series The Genetics

49:04

Detective See Say explained to that

49:07

at the start of an investigation.

49:09

See performed a personal assessment as

49:11

to how likely it was that

49:13

genetic genealogy would lead to the

49:15

suspects identity. She.

49:18

Rang to the difficulty between

49:20

one being extremely promising and

49:22

five being pretty much impossible.

49:26

For. Say say that seems like

49:28

case ranked for plus. Within.

49:33

Eight hours the website had found

49:35

the man's relatives switch were mostly

49:37

third cousins and beyond. Cc.

49:40

Determined to of the relatives was

49:42

siblings and today formed the starting

49:44

point. Scale.

49:47

With the public records of obituaries,

49:49

marriage licenses, and birth announcement to

49:51

fill in the blanks and facilitate

49:53

a family tree. The.

49:56

Top of the family tree was filled

49:58

in first which encompassed the subs. It's

50:00

ancestors from the eighteen hundreds.

50:03

The tray expanded from they're moving

50:06

forward in time and identifying h

50:08

descendant along the way. At

50:11

one point say say raged a couple that

50:14

it had a lab and children. Not.

50:17

Only did she have to identify them,

50:19

but all of their descendants to save

50:21

the suspect was among them. It

50:24

was a long and painstaking process,

50:26

but Cc was determined to and

50:28

wasn't going to give up. Eventual

50:33

a see on target. A couple

50:35

who had three sons by nineteen

50:37

sixty one. At that

50:39

point they moved from their home

50:41

in Florida to for pointing Indiana.

50:45

By two thousand and four in April,

50:47

Tinsley Killah left to the threatening letters

50:50

one of their son said passed away.

50:54

See. See more. Zeroed in on

50:56

the to surviving someone's. Fifty.

51:02

Nine year old John Miller lived alone

51:04

at a trailer park in the small

51:06

town of Tribal, sixty miles northeast of

51:08

For lying. Miller. Was

51:11

a loner who to lived in the same

51:13

trailer since he was nineteen. He.

51:15

Kept to himself and never said hello

51:18

to when he won. He

51:20

never had a girlfriend, and during

51:22

his few fleeting encounters with neighbors,

51:24

his expression was mean and his

51:27

comments were laced with profanities. Had

51:30

a father glass factory where Miller had

51:32

once worked. He was known for his

51:35

bad hygiene, lack of friendships and he

51:37

short tampa. In

51:39

fact, he had been fired for punching

51:42

and breaking the time clock. At

51:45

home Miller's a neighbor had seen him throw

51:47

his lawn mower in a fit. Miller's.

51:51

Family believed his anger stemmed from

51:53

being bullied during his youth. It

51:56

impacted him so drastically that he ended up

51:58

in a reform school. His

52:00

family also suspected he was

52:03

sexually abused. After

52:06

losing his factory job, Milla began working

52:08

at a Wal Mart Us thirty minute

52:10

drive away in the city of Tend

52:12

to Will where he was rusted on

52:14

the as a night shift stacking the

52:16

electronics department. His.

52:18

Colleagues who nicknamed him john John

52:21

knew little about him. He.

52:23

Walks around the store hunched over,

52:26

saving with rage and hardly spacing.

52:29

Once. Miller was overheard beating on

52:31

equipment because it wasn't working right?

52:34

whenever. Other stars for customers asked

52:37

him that help. He'd complain about

52:39

it. The.

52:41

Only time people saw Miller outdoors was

52:44

at a softball field down the street

52:46

where he would watch children play. He

52:49

was relatively unknown to police, except

52:52

for two separate incidents in Two

52:54

Thousand and Two and Two Thousand

52:56

and Three when he was reported

52:58

for exhibiting a lewd behavior towards

53:00

women and girls. On

53:07

Sunday July fifteen two thousand

53:09

and eighteen two detectives servicing

53:11

the April Tinsley Homicide investigation

53:13

stood outside of faded yellow

53:15

trailer a lot number for

53:17

at the Grable Mobile Home

53:19

Park. It was

53:21

a short distance from where a proteins

53:23

least body was discovered and the barn

53:26

were an ominous message from her till

53:28

I was found. It

53:30

was also the home as with John Miller.

53:34

The genetic a junior colleges said trace

53:36

tamil author he's a lineage and concluded

53:39

that a that he or his brother

53:41

was April's kill all. For.

53:44

The past two weeks, police had

53:46

covertly observed the Miller Brothers at

53:48

their respective homes. They

53:51

rarely saw John Miller when he was home

53:53

except for when he dragged is rubbish. Be

53:55

an out to the curb. Indiana.

53:59

Law or allow. The police to legally take

54:01

that rubbish for evidence as long as

54:03

they had the probable cause to do

54:05

so. Which. They did.

54:09

Officers. Approached the been on foot,

54:11

being as quiet as they could so

54:14

Miller wouldn't be alerted to their presence.

54:17

They. Dug through his rubbish and found

54:19

a used condom. In

54:22

the search for Dna evidence, this

54:24

was considered a jackpot. The

54:27

condoms contents were compared to the

54:29

samples from a Proteins Ways Killer.

54:33

After thirty years, they finally

54:35

found a match. This

54:38

resulted in a jubilant celebration not

54:40

only for detectives, but all the

54:42

analysts and experts who had assisted

54:44

in the case. Milla.

54:48

Returned home after a brief outings who

54:50

a grocery store to discover two detectives

54:52

waiting for him. Upon

54:55

seeing him up close, the detectives

54:57

fully appreciated the accuracy of the

55:00

composite sketch by Parable None Are

55:02

Labs. They

55:04

introduced themselves and suggests and Miller

55:07

take his groceries inside, but he

55:09

said no. The

55:12

detectives then requested Miller's assistance with

55:14

something that we're working on and

55:16

asked him to accompany them so

55:18

Fort Wayne for questioning. A

55:20

A Great. In

55:23

the twenty minute car ride, Milla seemed

55:25

to enjoy chatting about his interesting crossword

55:27

puzzles and spoke of how much he

55:30

liked to live pay day. A

55:32

television show where analysts examined the

55:34

workings of Us. Police. Miller.

55:37

Said he never missed an episode.

55:41

Once they reached the station, Milla was

55:43

ushered into an interview room and to

55:46

read his rights. He. Was

55:48

then told. We.

55:50

Want to talk to you a little bit about a

55:52

case that we've been working on for a while. Somebody.

55:55

Brought your name up into this and we wanted

55:58

to see what you had to say about. that.

56:01

Do you have any idea what we need to talk

56:03

to you about?" After

56:06

a moment of silence, Miller

56:08

responded, "'I

56:10

think probably the Tinsley case.'"

56:16

The detectives were stunned, but maintained

56:19

a calm and collected front. They

56:22

hadn't once mentioned or alluded to

56:24

April Tinsley while Miller was in

56:27

their company. Him

56:29

volunteering her name of his own

56:31

volition was massive. One

56:34

of the detectives asked, "'What

56:37

made you say the Tinsley case?'" Miller

56:41

thought for a moment before replying,

56:45

"'DNA.'" The

56:48

detectives asked him to take them back

56:50

to 1988. Miller

56:53

drank some water before saying, "'I

56:56

can't.'" Sensing

56:59

he wanted to speak further, the

57:01

detectives encouraged him, "'John,

57:04

it's time to get this out. You've

57:07

had to have known that this day was coming.'"

57:11

With that, Miller started

57:13

talking and the floodgates opened.

57:17

On the afternoon of Friday, April 1, 1988,

57:21

Miller was in Fort Wayne looking for

57:23

a child to abduct. It

57:26

was a desire he'd felt for a while. He

57:29

was trawling the streets in his

57:31

car when he saw April Tinsley walking

57:34

alone down Hoagland Avenue. Miller

57:37

had never met or seen April prior

57:39

to this encounter. There

57:42

was no one else around, so he

57:44

drove a little further down the road

57:46

and waited outside his vehicle as she

57:48

approached. Wielding

57:50

a sharp letter opener, he then

57:53

confronted April, who said, "'Don't

57:56

hurt me. I'll do whatever you

57:58

say.'" He

58:00

ordered her to get in his car. Unfortunately,

58:04

the witness who happened upon the

58:06

abduction as it was unfolding had

58:08

made a mistake. They

58:11

thought Miller had been in a blue

58:13

pickup truck, when in fact he drove

58:15

a blue Mercury Lynx which was a

58:17

sedan. Miller

58:21

drove April straight to his trailer in

58:23

Grable where he sexually assaulted her. During

58:27

his police interview, Miller was asked why

58:29

he couldn't have just released April somewhere

58:32

after the attack. Miller

58:34

casually replied, I

58:37

thought about it. I was

58:39

afraid she'd tell. The

58:42

detective pressed on, saying, But

58:45

April didn't even know you. Miller

58:49

didn't reply and just silently

58:51

stared blankly ahead, his mouth

58:54

agape. Miller

58:57

had choked April to death to prevent

59:00

her from speaking out about the assault.

59:03

The process took ten minutes. He

59:06

molested her once more, then drove to

59:08

County Road 68 in the early hours

59:10

of the morning and left April's body

59:13

in the ditch. The

59:16

next day, Sunday, he realized that one

59:18

of April's shoes was in his car.

59:22

He drove past where he'd left her body

59:24

and tossed the shoe out the window as

59:26

he sped away. April

59:29

wouldn't be discovered until the Monday, three

59:32

days after she was taken. From

59:36

then on, Miller kept a low

59:38

profile. He remained

59:40

living in the same trailer park, but

59:42

stayed a very private person. He

59:46

did the same thing day in, day

59:48

out, went to work during

59:50

the quiet midnight shift, and returned

59:52

straight home. Occasionally,

59:55

he'd go out for breakfast at the

59:57

local inn, where he was in the

59:59

presence of many people. including Grable's town

1:00:02

council president. Yet

1:00:04

he offered a little else to others aside

1:00:06

from a grunt when they said hello. No

1:00:10

one in the community came close to

1:00:12

knowing or suspecting him at all. In

1:00:18

the years after killing April Miller

1:00:21

thought about abducting another child. He

1:00:24

scrawled the confession on the barn in 1990

1:00:27

and deposited threatening letters in his local area

1:00:29

during 2004. He loitered in

1:00:33

neighborhoods and parking lots waiting to

1:00:36

cross paths with another lone girl

1:00:39

but the opportunity never arose. Miller

1:00:43

was questioned in relation to other

1:00:45

unsolved missing or murdered children cases.

1:00:48

He maintained he had no involvement

1:00:50

in any and his DNA didn't

1:00:53

match evidence obtained from other crime

1:00:55

scenes. After

1:00:58

Miller's confession to the murder of

1:01:00

April Tinsley he was immediately taken

1:01:02

into custody and work began in

1:01:04

preparation for his trial. It was

1:01:08

a laborious process. Over

1:01:11

the years the many investigators who

1:01:13

worked on the case had produced

1:01:15

boxes and boxes of information. The

1:01:19

first month alone was spent scanning

1:01:21

old VHS and cassette tapes to

1:01:23

update them for digital storage. Speaking

1:01:27

of the chance encounter April had

1:01:29

with her killer a case detective

1:01:32

remarked, it's

1:01:34

scary to think there are people in

1:01:36

our society capable of doing this. Had

1:01:39

she been five minutes earlier or five

1:01:41

minutes later we probably wouldn't

1:01:43

be here today. It could

1:01:46

have been anybody any little kid

1:01:48

in that area that day and

1:01:51

that was probably not the first time

1:01:53

Miller had gone looking. His

1:01:57

arrest was a huge relief to the residents

1:01:59

of Fort Wayne who had felt

1:02:01

haunted by April Tinsley's killer for

1:02:04

decades. One

1:02:06

FBI agent praised the

1:02:08

dedication of the case

1:02:10

detectives stating, ''This investigation

1:02:12

illustrates the dogged determination of

1:02:14

the investigators who never wavered,

1:02:17

never gave up, and kept moving

1:02:20

forward for the last 30 years.''

1:02:25

In the lead up to his trial,

1:02:27

John Miller began walking unsteadily and started

1:02:29

using a wheelchair. He

1:02:32

appeared too feeble to handle court

1:02:34

proceedings. Detectives

1:02:37

were dubious however, pointing

1:02:39

out that no matter how frail his

1:02:41

physical condition, Miller was

1:02:43

mentally sound. He

1:02:45

knew right from wrong and was fully aware

1:02:48

of what he'd done. In

1:02:51

the end, Miller opted to forego a

1:02:53

trial and accepted a plea deal instead.

1:02:57

Detectives believed he'd realized the strength of

1:02:59

the DNA evidence was impossible to argue

1:03:01

against. During

1:03:05

Miller's sentencing, Janet Tinsley purposefully sat at

1:03:07

the front of the public gallery

1:03:10

so her daughter's killer could see her.

1:03:14

She wanted him to see what he had destroyed. When

1:03:18

Janet spoke, she described the tremendous impact

1:03:20

that April's abduction and murder and the

1:03:24

ensuing decades of uncertainty had made

1:03:26

on her family. She

1:03:29

spoke of the health problems they

1:03:32

all faced due to stress and

1:03:34

turmoil and how April's brother and

1:03:36

cousins grew up sheltered and over-protected.

1:03:39

They all developed trust issues,

1:03:42

especially towards men. Whenever

1:03:45

Janet went out, she found herself

1:03:47

wondering every time she passed a

1:03:50

man, are you him? Looking

1:03:53

directly at Miller, she said, I'll

1:03:57

never forgive and never forget what-

1:04:00

what you took from us." For

1:04:04

pleading guilty to criminal confinement,

1:04:07

child molestation and felony murder,

1:04:09

John Miller was sentenced to 80 years

1:04:12

in prison with no chance for appeal.

1:04:16

The deal enabled him to avoid the death

1:04:18

penalty. Miller

1:04:20

is due for release in July 2058,

1:04:22

six days after his 99th birthday. For

1:04:30

Emily Higgs, one of the children who received

1:04:32

a threatening letter from Miller in 2004, the

1:04:36

terror never abated. Miller

1:04:38

lived close to her the entire time.

1:04:42

Emily had slathered down a hill and played

1:04:44

in a park near his home. She

1:04:47

visited the softball fields he was known

1:04:50

to loiter at. Her

1:04:52

mother, Crystal, was grateful the torment

1:04:54

was over. It

1:04:57

was like, this is over

1:04:59

with. This is over

1:05:01

with, she said. Finally.

1:05:06

The detectives who solved the tinsley

1:05:08

case received an award from the

1:05:10

National Association of Police Organizations, which

1:05:12

paid tribute to law enforcement officers

1:05:14

who went above and beyond the

1:05:16

call of duty. While

1:05:20

investigators were glad the case was

1:05:22

finally closed, they were puzzled

1:05:24

by the fact that no one had ever

1:05:26

named John Miller as a suspect. He

1:05:30

fit the description of April's

1:05:32

killer in every way possible,

1:05:34

his appearance, age, location, history,

1:05:37

behavior and personality. Detectives

1:05:41

were stunned that no one recognized

1:05:43

his highly unusual handwriting or the

1:05:45

unique bedspread he'd taken lewd polaroids

1:05:47

against in 2004. It

1:05:51

was ultimately settled on that. This must

1:05:53

have been due to his extremely reclusive

1:05:56

lifestyle. That

1:06:00

was the fifth case solved

1:06:02

using genetic genealogy. that certainly

1:06:04

not the last. In

1:06:07

the words of one county prosecutor.

1:06:10

Today were at a point where if

1:06:12

you're a criminal and you've left your

1:06:14

dna at the same, you may as

1:06:16

well turn yourself in. Now. The

1:06:21

previous decades had been tortured for the teams

1:06:23

will a family. whenever.

1:06:25

They believed in and was inside. Their

1:06:28

hopes were dashed and they were left

1:06:30

with the agonizing realization that the case

1:06:32

might never be solved. After

1:06:35

thirty years, they finally had the

1:06:38

answers they needed. Those

1:06:40

said: Janet Tinsley true resolution

1:06:42

would only arise after John

1:06:44

Miller's death. Now

1:06:46

she finds peace by spending hours

1:06:49

in the public garden planted on

1:06:51

behalf of her daughter. On

1:06:55

Sunday July Fifteen two thousand

1:06:57

and eighteen the television series

1:06:59

on the case with Polis

1:07:01

On add episode on April

1:07:03

Tinsley said then unsolved murder.

1:07:06

Janet seems like featured in the

1:07:08

program on aware that the case

1:07:11

was about to be solved. That

1:07:14

same day, John Miller was confronted

1:07:16

outside his home by detectives who

1:07:19

concretely linked him to Way Prose.

1:07:23

When. Journalists pull as on us

1:07:25

to Janet, what's she missed the

1:07:28

most about April? Janet answered. I

1:07:31

miss her growing up. What

1:07:33

would she look like? Backlogs: Would.

1:07:36

She be married. It would

1:07:38

have been nice to see that. He

1:07:41

thought my memory of her is when she

1:07:43

was just a little girl. That's

1:07:46

when it ends. For

1:08:22

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