Maureen Maher
Appearances
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
To help the jury understand why Jodi had trouble remembering, the defense called Dr. Richard Samuels, a clinical psychologist who tested Jodi for PTSD.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Samuels concluded that Jodi suffered amnesia from the trauma of the attack.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
But the prosecution insisted that Samuel's diagnosis was flawed, because when he examined Jody three years ago, she still maintained the intruder story.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
During this three-hour interview, Jodi told us a tale of secret intimacy.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Dr. Stuart Kleinman is a forensic psychiatrist and consultant for 48 hours.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Jodi Arias claims she not only has no memory of stabbing Travis more than two dozen times and slitting his throat, but she also has no memory of altering the scene. It wasn't until after driving hundreds of miles into the desert that her mental fog apparently lifted, and she suddenly realized she had done something horribly wrong.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Martinez hoped that by exposing Jody as a liar, he would discredit her with the jury. And once again presented clips from Jody's 48 Hours interviews. Travis's family deserves to know what happened.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
That's a very creative way of saying it. It found an outlet. The drama of masked intruders.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Am I allowed to tell you what I'm trying to say? And Jodi displayed that same tenacity during her 18 days on the witness stand.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Throughout the heated cross-examination, Martinez vigorously attacked Jodi's story.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
I don't know. But to save their client's life, the defense tried to destroy the only thing left of Travis Alexander, his reputation.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Where the entire time that Jodi Arias' fate hung in the balance in court, her defense was on a mission to save her life. Jodi had to make a choice. By proving Travis left Jodi no choice but to defend herself.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Jodi now claimed there was a dark side to Travis, and that she lied to cover up the truth about domestic abuse and their relationship.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
It was a challenging defense, one that, in addition to her story of intruders, Jodi may have been considering when she spoke with 48 Hours just after her arrest. Was he ever abusive to you in any way?
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
But Jodi testified to several incidents of alleged abuse. And he body slammed me on the floor at the foot of his bed.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Defense attorney Kirk Nurmi even had Jody display her injuries to the jury.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
There is no record of Jody reporting this abuse. And his friends, Chris and Sky Hughes, say that is not the Travis they knew.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
She's making it up as she's going along. And they say Jodi's most appalling lie came next.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
I wish it was a lie. Prosecutor Martinez wasn't buying it either.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Trial attorney Linda Kenney-Bodden says if the defense could not prove Jody's allegations, they would come back to haunt her.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Yes, I do. To convince jurors that Jody was a battered woman, her attorney, Jennifer Wilmot, called domestic violence expert Alice LaViolette, who testified for several days.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
LaViolette testified that Jody and Travis's relationship was abusive both verbally... Does he call her names like bitch? Yes.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
As a defense attorney, how would you use this relationship between the two of them?
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Do you feel a need? The prosecutor was anything but soft during heated cross-examination.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
As it turned out, that incredible story was an incredible lie.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
More layers of Arias' complicated psyche were peeled away when the state called its expert witness, Dr. Janine DiMarte.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
DeMarte also dismissed defense claims that Jody suffered memory loss from post-traumatic stress.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Instead, DeMarte testified that tests she administered suggest Jody may have a borderline personality disorder.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
The prosecutor said Jodi's desire to be with Travis had no bounds, and she would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. Her motivation for this was that she just wanted him. You don't think she could have just snapped?
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
By continuing to have sex with Jody on and off for at least nine months after they broke up, Bodden says Travis may have unknowingly sent Jody mixed signals.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Dr. Stuart Kleinman says obsession can have dangerous consequences.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
For the families of Jodi Arias and Travis Alexander, enduring the trial was a trial in itself. What are we looking at here?
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Trial attorney Linda Kenney-Bodden knows the price both families paid.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
It was an unthinkable crime, as Travis's siblings, Samantha and Steven, told us in 2008.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
The family of Jodi Arias has had to endure their own torment. First, watching as she was cast as a cold-blooded killer.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
and then hearing Jody tell the world that she has been abused her entire life.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Do you think jurors are impacted by family who are in the courtroom, their reaction to, say, crime scene photos or even testimony by the defendant? I think they are.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Jury expert Richard Gabriel, who has worked with the defense teams for Casey Anthony and O.J. Simpson, says jurors are able to separate themselves from courtroom drama.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
And during her 18 days on the stand, Bodden says Jody thought she could win the mercy of the jury.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Travis's friends, Chris and Skye Hughes, believe Jodi relished her months in the spotlight. She enjoyed it.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Jody may have felt there was no question she would be found innocent, but the jurors had some questions of their own, over 200 questions read by the judge.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Arizona is only one of three states that allows jurors to ask questions.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
In the end, both sides agreed. It came down to one question. Do you believe Jodi Arias?
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
I was loyal to him. We go back to the beginning, returning to our first meetings with Jody for insight into the mind of a killer. Is it at all possible, at all possible, that that day that you were together, you had a fight, you had an argument, and you just had enough?
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
But for the family and friends of Travis Alexander, there was no debate, and there never had been. There was only one verdict, one punishment appropriate for Jodi Arias.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Justice and what it would finally look like would depend on just which Jodi Arias the jury in this tense Phoenix courtroom ultimately bought into.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Through 18 days of her testimony, the world had witnessed the many faces of Jodi Arias.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
For Travis Alexander's loved ones, Jodi Arias is nothing but a fake.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
The stories told by the 32-year-old California waitress were consistent with just one thing, a defendant who lied from the start. My mom began to carry a wooden spoon in her purse. To family.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
To the police. Absolutely not. And to 48 Hours. How do you feel about being accused of this crime?
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Then that story evaporated in the Arizona desert. What was left was an admission. And that's when you shot him in the face, right?
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
For those who loved him, the thought that Travis Alexander somehow had it coming to him was the final crime against a murdered man.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Guilty of first degree murder, the highest charge the jury had. The death penalty was now on the table. Jodi Arias seemed shocked, holding back tears of sadness. while Travis's family could not hold back their tears of joy.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
A week after the verdict, The sentencing phase begins with the prosecutor trying to convince the jury Jodi Arias deserves death.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
The first decision comes quickly. The jury rules the murder was especially cruel, clearing the way for the penalty phase. Is this your true verdict, so say you want it all? The jury heard from those who love Travis Alexander, his brother Stephen.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
His sister, Samantha. Travis was not shy. He was full of life. And the jury heard from the defense that Arias would testify one more time.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
That should be next week, when we may also find out whether Jodi Arias lives in this Arizona prison for a minimum of 25 years or dies here. Four years ago, she seemed to sense her fate.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
And after her guilty verdict, Arias seemed almost wistful in talking to a local reporter. I believe death is the ultimate freedom, so I'd rather just have my freedom as soon as I can get it. Freedom wasn't an option for Travis Alexander. He was home in Riverside, California, His image, silent and cold, carved in stone.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
He had a girlfriend who he was having a relationship with. but he was still having you on the side?
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
And soon, we'll see if Jodi Arias gets her wish, joining three other women on Arizona's death row, and perhaps making one final headline, becoming the first woman executed in that state since 1930.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Like Casey Anthony and OJ Simpson before her, Jodi Arias captured the attention of the country. Arias pelted these lies.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Jodi Arias. Jodi Arias. Looking back at these interviews, it would appear that Jodi thought she could fool everyone.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
But in the end, Jodi Arias could not have been more wrong.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
I'm Maureen Maher, tonight on 48 Hours, unraveling the lies of Jodi Arias.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
It all started in 2008. When Travis Alexander was found dead in his bathroom, the first question homicide investigator Esteban Flores had was who. When did you first hear the name Jodi Arias?
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Now, four and a half years after Jody Arias was arrested and charged with first-degree murder... Are we ready for the jury? ...the question that needed to be answered was why.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Prosecutor Juan Martinez wasted no time exposing the jury to the brutal reality of this homicide.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
When I first walked through this crime scene in 2008, I was struck by the echoes of the extraordinary struggle that had taken place here. And it was the evidence of that struggle collected at the scene that spoke volumes to the jury.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
We introduced you to Jodi Arias back in 2009, when she sat down to be interviewed by 48 Hours shortly after being arrested and charged with the murder of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander. Since then, she's become a national sensation, the focus of newspaper and magazine profiles, and the subject of 24-hour cable news coverage.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
One by one, Mesa County Medical Examiner Kevin Horn listed each of Travis Alexander's devastating wounds.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Criminal attorney Linda Kenny-Bodden, who worked on the defense teams of Casey Anthony and Phil Spector, has seen more than her share of murders, but few like this. This showed that she was an incredibly angry young woman.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Since her arrest in Wairika, California, in 2008, Jody has always insisted that she did not viciously murder Travis Alexander. But her details of how he died have changed repeatedly.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
In the 25 years that it's been on the air, this is the first time a 48-hours interview has been used as evidence in a death penalty trial. I was hit on the back of the head.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Couldn't keep my life straight. But Bodden says that her experience with other defendants suggests that the story Jody told 48 hours may contain elements of the truth.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Jody's various stories aside, the prosecution says there are critical pieces of evidence that speak for themselves.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
I met Jodi Arias at the Estrella jail four and a half years ago when she agreed to tell CBS News her story of how Travis Alexander had been murdered, an interview which for the first time in the history of 48 Hours was used as evidence in a death penalty trial. Just give me the gist of what you were doing here in this place today.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
After nine days and 20 witnesses, Martinez believed his case against Jodi Arias was ironclad. The state may call its next witness.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Now, despite all the lies and deceitful behavior that the court has heard.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
He's done so much for me. The defense will have to convince the jury that on the day Travis died, it was actually Jodi Arias who was the victim.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Even in jail awaiting trial, Jodi Arias had little trouble keeping herself in the spotlight and caught the attention of the media when she won a jailhouse Christmas singing competition. Well, I appreciate your vote. Thank you very much.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Serious, please stand to be sworn. And when the defense finally presented its case, Jody took the spotlight again, taking the stand to tell her unbelievable story of self-defense. Among those listening were Jody's mother, her aunt, and Travis's family.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
According to trial lawyer Linda Kenny-Bodden, putting a defendant like Jodi Arias on the stand can be extremely problematic.
48 Hours
Untangling The Lies of Jodi Arias
Jodi's memory of how Travis allegedly attacked her was striking, and yet she was at a loss for words when asked to explain her actions.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Maggie began to understand how strong the bonds were between her mother and her Aunt Jane.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
After the horror, Barbara got on with her life. But there were still unanswered questions. No one has known what happened to Jane that night for 36 years. Jane's case became inactive in 1970, when John Collins was convicted of Karen Bynum's murder. He thinks there was a miscarriage of justice. Ramsland, who's been researching the case, has been corresponding with Collins.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
He's been in a state prison now for the last 35 years. Has he ever denied or admitted to anything?
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
The killer had taken the time to cover up Jane's body and carefully arrange her belongings around her.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Detective Eric Schroeder is one of many investigators who also believe Jane's case stands alone.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Detective Schroeder was convinced that Jane's case should be taken out of cold storage. At the same time Schroeder and his colleagues began to quietly reinvestigate Jane's murder, Maggie was still writing her book. and struggling. It was scary, very, very gruesome.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Michigan State Police Detective Eric Schroeder was deeply touched by the story of Jane Mixer.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
So in 2001, when Schroeder was put in charge of cataloging evidence from old cases, he jumped at the chance to finally do Jane justice.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
The lab also looked for telltale DNA on Jane's clothing, the ligature, and a bloody towel found under her head.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
They called with startling news. The lab did find incriminating DNA, but that DNA did not match John Collins, the man who had been blamed for the murder for more than 30 years. Now, there was a new suspect. I was dumbfounded. It's still an open case.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Maggie Nelson was just finishing her book about Jane. Were you shocked? Oh, yeah. Very shocked.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
The lab found that the DNA on Jane's pantyhose matched this man, 62-year-old Gary Leiterman from Goebbels, Michigan, a husband of nearly 28 years, father of two children now grown, and a retired registered nurse.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
When police came knocking on his door in November 2004, he says he thought nothing of it. You were leading a pretty normal life.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
After questioning Leiterman for more than three hours, the detectives dropped their bombshell. They told him his DNA was found on crime scene evidence that had been sitting in storage since 1969. What was your reaction?
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Back when Jane Mixer was murdered, Leiterman was 26 and single. He had served four years in the Navy and lived in a town about 20 miles from Ann Arbor. Did you know Jane Mixer?
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Although the police kept grilling Leiterman, he stuck to his story. Why didn't you believe him?
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
The police lab could not pinpoint where the DNA came from, but said it was not blood and not semen. It might be something like sweat, saliva, or skin cells. It was enough for police to accuse Leiterman of murder. A 35-year-old murder. What went through your mind?
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
At the time, Leiterman's wife was too distraught to speak with us, so their close friend Rachel Kuby stepped in to talk about the man she has known for three decades.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
But he did have one scrape with the law in 2001, when he was caught writing himself fake prescriptions. He had become addicted to painkillers during a bout with kidney stones. He was ordered to a treatment program, which he successfully completed. But his DNA was put in a database. And that is how he now finds himself accused of murder. Did you kill Jane Mixer? No, I did not.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Did you take her body to the cemetery and dump her there? Were you with anyone who did that?
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Prosecutor Stephen Hiller doesn't buy that and believes Leiterman should pay for this crime. What would be the motive for him to kill a woman?
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
But there was no physical evidence of sexual assault. And that is just one of the many challenges Hiller faces in this old case.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
The state's biggest challenge may be that Gary Leiterman's DNA isn't the only DNA that was found on Jane Mixer. Remember that tiny drop of blood scraped from Jane's left hand back in 1969? Well, the state's own lab says the DNA in that matches another man, a convicted killer named John Ruelas. But the prosecutor insists he is absolutely sure that Ruelas did not murder Jane for one simple reason.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
So how did a four-year-old's blood get on Jay Mixer's hand? The Ruelas and Mixer cases were processed in the lab around the same time, raising the issue of contamination. But Hiller says that didn't happen. All rise, please. As he'll explain in court when he tries Gary Leiderman for murder.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
And in this case, even the victim's family has doubts. I wasn't sure they had the right man.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Michigan prosecutor Stephen Hiller says Gary Leiterman got away with murder for 36 years.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Now in 2005, Leiterman is on trial for the 1969 murder of Jane Mixer.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Jane's sister, Barbara, and her daughter, Maggie, vowed to be here every day and weigh the evidence themselves.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
David Johnson, the man who was acting in a play the night of the murder, testifies he never spoke with Jane.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Hiller believes that Jane got into Leiterman's car and sometime that night he made a sexual advance that ended in murder.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Leiterman, an avid hunter, did own a .22 caliber handgun, but there is no proof that it was the gun that killed Jane.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
But the crucial issue here concerns evidence they didn't even know existed back then.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
the new investigators who took over the case testify about the three distinct spots of dna on jane's pantyhose that clearly match gary leiderman here here and here that is correct and they say dna in other places is a partial match a4 would be right there
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Those places include three additional spots on the pantyhose, spots on the bloody towel found under Jane's head, and spots on the nylon stocking that was tied around her neck.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Hiller says that is a lot of DNA and proof that Leiterman was there when Jane was murdered, perhaps sweating as he moved her body. Leiterman denies that. But you can't think of any physical contact that you had with her?
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Defense attorney Gary Gabry says he can imagine some possibilities.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Or as his expert testifies, DNA could have been transferred in a public place with a chance encounter, like a sneeze.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Hiller dismisses that, saying there is just too much DNA to explain away.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
But he cannot so readily dismiss the crime lab's finding that a spot of blood on Jane Mixer's hand matches the DNA of a convicted felon who was only four years old when Jane was murdered.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
In 1969, young John Ruelas was living in downtown Detroit, about 40 miles away from where Jane's body was found. Investigators could not connect Ruelas to Gary Leiterman or to Jane Mixer. But remember, the Mixer and Ruelas cases were in the lab around the same time, which begs the question, did something go wrong in the lab?
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
If a mistake was made with Ruelas, Gabry says the evidence against Leiterman cannot be trusted.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Michigan state officials would not allow 48 hours or any other outsiders inside the lab. This is their video. But Hiller insists he can show that nothing went wrong there. And he calls witness.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Who describe the great pains taken at the lab to keep all evidence separate to prevent and catch errors.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Lab supervisor Jeffrey Nye says he retraced every step. In this particular case, you don't believe there's any issue of contamination.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
How that happened, the prosecutor says, is lost to history. But he insists the evidence clearly shows that somehow, some way, four-year-old John Ruelas was there. So you honestly believe that John Ruelas was somehow in the vicinity of Jane Mixer back in 1969? That his blood, it's actually John Ruelas' blood?
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
With Hiller's case hinging on DNA, defense attorney Gabri highlights other evidence that points away from Gary Leiterman.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
That's correct. Leiterman's fingerprints do not match any of the prints still unidentified in the case. Nor did Leiterman own a car, anything like the one seen speeding away the night of the crime.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Leiterman does not take the stand. Two weeks after opening arguments, the jurors begin deliberating. Leiterman's close friend Rachel Kuby says the case against him seems weak.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Still, his family is worried, and even the Mixer family feels sympathy towards them.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Even so, Barbara and Maggie have come to believe that the state has proved its case. What do you think, then, is the most incriminating piece of evidence? It's got to be the DNA. But has the state won over the jury? Gary Leiterman's fate is in their hands.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Maggie Nelson ends her book at the place where Jane Mixer's murder investigation began.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Now, five years later, they wait anxiously to hear whether a jury believes Gary Leiderman killed Jane 36 years ago.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Leiterman's family also waits, hoping it will be the end of their ordeal.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
The jury is swift. It has taken only four hours for them to determine Leiterman's fate.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Jane Mixer was murdered in Ann Arbor, Michigan in March 1969. She was 23. About the same age her niece, Maggie Nelson, was when she resolved to learn all she could about the aunt she never knew.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Six weeks later at his sentencing, Leiterman speaks out in court for the first time. He expresses sympathy for the Mixers.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
But he steadfastly denies having anything to do with Jane's murder.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Even with his fate now sealed, Lederman still finds it hard to accept the jury's verdict.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
So have you just accepted it and that's the way it's going to be?
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
It will be an uphill battle. But Leiterman's new attorney, Mark Satawa, feels he has a shot.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
After a long journey, Maggie Nelson may have found some peace. Are you still haunted by any of the questions from that night? I think I'm less haunted now. Her search for answers has finally brought Jane Mixer home.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Maggie's mother, Barbara, Jane's older sister by two years, admits there was a pall of silence. Why do you think that is?
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
But Maggie felt compelled to unravel the mystery surrounding Jane. I was often called her name, but I didn't know much about her. She went to the public library and pored over old newspaper reports, finally learning the details of her aunt's death. Back home, she dug up some of Jane's diaries and began to read. This is from Jane's journal in 1966.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Maggie discovered that Jane was high school valedictorian. Over the objections of school officials, she had given a fiery graduation speech, calling for social justice. She went on to the University of Michigan and was committed to changing the world.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Maggie also tracked down Phil Weitzman, one of the people closest to Jane in 1969, when she was one of just 37 female law students in a class of 420.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
She was most passionate about Phil. And early that spring, they were ready to make a big announcement.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Jane planned to go there first, with Phil following a few days later. So she posted a note on a college ride board looking for a lift from Ann Arbor to her home in Muskegon.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Jane had told her parents she'd be leaving Ann Arbor around 6 p.m. They expected her to arrive home around 9.30. As the time ticked by and Jane didn't show up, her father grew concerned. Finally, around 11 p.m., he simply couldn't wait around anymore.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Sometime that night, Jane was killed. Jane Mixer's body ended up here in an old out-of-the-way cemetery 14 miles from Ann Arbor. Her killer left her out in the open, atop a grave, just steps from the gate. It wasn't until the next morning that a woman in a nearby home noticed the body and called police.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
There was no apparent sexual assaults, but Jane's pantyhose had been pulled down. During the autopsy, Bennett scraped a single drop of blood off Jane's left hand.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Three decades later, that tiny drop of blood would become a controversial piece of evidence. But back in 1969, there was little the police could do with that. So they searched for other clues. On the night of the murder, a green station wagon was seen careening away from the cemetery, but that was never tracked down.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Police searched Jane's dorm room and found a phone book that had a mark next to the name, David Johnson. But that David Johnson, a University of Michigan student, had an ironclad alibi. He was acting on stage the night of the murder and said he never offered Jane a ride. The cops checked out other David Johnsons in the area, as well as Jane's acquaintances, including her fiancé.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Police were stymied and concerned. This crime seemed to fit a disturbing pattern. Jane Mixer was the third young woman in the area to turn up dead in the past two years. And four days later, the pace picked up when a fourth body was found. By the end of July, there were seven victims. Most were brutalized before they were killed.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
This is one of the better maps of where each of the murder victims have been found. Her latest book is about serial killers. Back in 1969, she was living near Ann Arbor.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
As body after body was recovered, the Mixer family retreated. We were buried within our own little worlds of pain and didn't talk about what was really going on. But the community was clamoring for action.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
and being scared. Barbara Nelson says the murder of her little sister Jane left her numb. And it just seemed to me that how could life get any worse?
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Forensics expert Katherine Ramsland says back in 1969, the killer seemed unstoppable.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
It wasn't until the seventh victim was found that police finally got a break in the case. When they made the arrest, it was a real shocker.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
John Collins was an education major at Eastern Michigan University. He was level-headed, smart, on the honor roll.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
A witness claims she had seen Collins with Karen Bynum shortly before her death. And while it was widely assumed that he was responsible for all seven murders, Colin stood trial for just one, the Bynum and homicide. He was convicted of first degree murder.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Although John Collins maintained his innocence in Bynum's murder, he was sentenced to life. And he has never been charged with the murders of any of the other six victims. Still, back in 1969, people here in Michigan breathed a collective sigh of relief.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
The Mixer family came to accept that Collins killed Jane. And the murders stopped.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
Still, Barbara harbored a deep-seated fear from those days, and years later, her daughter Maggie would pick up on it.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
But that fear only fueled Maggie's curiosity about her Aunt Jane's short life. Were you surprised or concerned when Maggie started asking questions?
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
And Maggie, a professor of writing, went for it in a big way. Her research would eventually become a book.
48 Hours
The Mystery of Jane Mixer
It would also deal with the impact Jane had on other people, including Maggie herself. Her grave has no epitaph.