Cold Case Files - REOPENED: A Detective's Promise

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

When an 18-year-old hitchhiker is found in a ravine, the autopsy reveals her killing is perhaps the most brutal the examiner has ever seen. Detective McManus is struck by this case, and so he makes a promise. He's going to find the person who committed this crime, no matter how long it takes. Sponsors: Hydrow: Join the growing, rowing community at Hydrow. Head over to Hydrow.com and use code COLDCASE to save up to five hundred dollars off your Hydrow. Thrive: Join in on the savings with Thrive Market today and get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift! Go to Thrivemarket.com/coldcase for 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift! Progressive: Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.  

This episode discusses stories of intense sexual violence, which may be disturbing to some listeners. Please, listen with caution. Camelia Randall was only 18 when the police found her body dumped in a ravine, beaten and mutilated. She was identified when her backpack with her ID and journal were found nearby. Camelia was a free spirit. She planned to hitchhike to California. She called her family a few days earlier and they didn't know it would be the last time. When Deputy McManus shared the tragic news with her mother, he made her a promise he didn't know if he could keep. I'll find whoever did this. From A&E, this is Cold Case Files, the podcast. I'm Brooke, and here's Bill Curtis with

the classic case, A Detective's Promise. We're going up Howlin' Hill Road, heading up into the Jedediah Smith State Park. Things are quiet in Crescent City on a Sunday morning. That is, until a call comes in. A woman's body found lying in a ravine. Deputy Gene McManus responds. Well, I saw what appeared to be some kind of a blanket, but I saw the appeared to be some kind of a blanket,

but I saw the head of a young woman with pretty bright red hair and a lot of exposed cut tissue. She'd been brutally beat. There was a lot of trauma. The victim has a rope tied around her neck, severe lacerations on her face, and her left arm is almost completely stripped of flesh. It's a scene that hits the deputy hard.

And I realized that, you know, this could have been my daughter. The tragedy of it struck me, and I actually made her a promise that I would find whoever did this. McManus gets on with the business of investigating the girl's murder. He calls for backup. Detective Bill Stephen arrives.

I think everybody agreed that evening that it was a dump site, that more than likely the crime had not occurred here. It was her backpack and her shoes and some other items that were kind of strewn along the hillside here. Inside the backpack, detectives find a diary and an ID. Their victim is 18-year-old Camilia Randall. As the body is transported to the morgue,

detectives track down Camilia's family in Washington and prepare to break the news. I had two police officers come to my door. Marjorie Reynolds is Camilia's mother. On October 31st, she gets a knock on her door, and the visit every parent dreads. All I could say was, many times, was, please, please don't tell me my daughter's dead. And then my body just shook. Reynolds tells police her daughter was a free spirit, hitchhiking her way to California.

The family last heard from her on October 26th when Camelia arrived in Crescent City. She said, Aunt Wen, I just wanted to call and tell you I made it here all right. And she said she was going to sleep on the beach that night. She said she'd call me. That phone call gives detectives a starting point. Camelia may have run into foul play sometime that evening. Detective Stephen checks Camelia's last diary entry.

Her diary referenced a ride that she had gotten from a couple of guys that live in Brookings, Oregon, which is just north here by about 30 minutes. And so we contacted them. Detective Stephen brings the men in for questioning. They deny any wrongdoing and are eventually alibied out. Meanwhile, a team of detectives reaches out to residents, trying to find the killer in their midst. We had a person that was basically passing through town, through a town that they didn't know anybody in, and there was little or nothing to grab hold of as far as an investigation.

With leads quickly drying up, investigators turned to the body of the victim, hoping it might hold a clue as to the killer's identity. There were all these little pocket knife-like shallow incisions over her arms and her face. On October 31st, Dr. Ken Falconer begins an autopsy on the body of Camillia Randall. So I decided that she probably was being tortured while she was being sexually molested.

To torture and rape, a third defilement is added, as the ME discovers that Camelia's heart and lungs are missing. There was a big hole in the left side of her chest with a lot of jagged, broken ribs there. I don't know whether it was ritualistic. Even the nasty thought of cannibalism came to mind. But this is the most brutal thing that I'd ever encountered. Falconer performs a rape kit and sends samples to the crime lab for analysis.

This is the main examination area of our laboratory. On November 4, criminalist Kay Belchner opens the kit. What I did find was semen present in the vaginal swabs taken from her, and more significantly, semen taken in the oral swabs. And that there was a large number

of sperm there meant that she was not swallowing, that saliva was not being washed through the mouth, and that therefore she was most likely dead. None of the incisions were bite marks, either human or animal. It was a edged weapon that did that trauma to her.

Detectives review the forensic reports and try to get a handle on what appears to be the work of a sexual sadist. A genetic profile is developed from the semen left at the scene, but no genetic match is forthcoming. It was frustrating in that there was nothing much to grab a hold of locally, so as time went on, things just kind of got colder and colder. Weeks turn into months, and Camelia Randall's case slips into the cold files, where it will stay for almost seven years, until Detective McManus IDs a suspect and decides to sweat him.

Why are you showing me s*** like that? I want you aware of what the crime is. Let me take you back to the jail. You're saying I did that? Yes, I am. I'm telling you I'm going to prosecute you for it. 18-year-old Camelia Randall had been raped, beaten, and mutilated. Then her body was thrown into a ravine.

The detective on the case promised he would find the perpetrator of this horrible crime. After ruling out their original two suspects, and with no other leads, the case goes cold. Deputy McManus doesn't give up, though. After all, he made a promise. It takes seven years, but he finally discovers a new lead, and he intends to fulfill his promise. I think a lot of us set New Year's resolutions about being healthier. But what does healthy actually mean to me? Well, for me, it's being smarter about what you buy or eating out less. And Thrive has been a big part of keeping me successful. It's my go-to for all of my grocery and household essentials, and the convenience of getting everything online and then having it quickly shipped to my door is a huge time saver. I love that Thrive Market carries brands with the highest quality ingredients

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there is one file Detective Jean McManus returns to, the 1994 murder of Camelia Rendell. She was so gentle and so innocent, and she was so brutally murdered. It was absolutely necessary to find out who did this and to keep them from doing it again. Over the past seven years, McManus has kept the case alive, but has never been able to engineer a break.

Then on August 16th, the detective takes a phone call. There was a hit on the DNA evidence. I mean, I felt the blood rush to my head. I had a very emotional response. CODIS, California's DNA data bank, has returned a match from semen found at the scene a very emotional response. CODIS, California's DNA databank, has returned a match from semen found at the scene to Robert Wigley, a convicted sex offender. First of all, I needed to find him.

I needed to get him into custody before he found out that we knew who he was. McManus runs a background check and finds Wigley living in Oregon. The suspect is picked up on probation violations and transported to Crescent City for questioning. Do you have the right to your name and sign up? Do you understand that? No.

Okay. Anything you say you can and will be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand that? On November 6th, Detective McManus sits across from the man he believes killed Camelia Rendell. He's a very calm individual. He tries to be very casual. And he attempts to be pretty personable when he's talking to you. McManus asks Wigley if he ever met Camelia Rendell. I'm going to come back to that red-haired girl.

Do you know anything about that girl? No. Have you ever met her or seen her out? The picture is in the paper quite a bit. No. You sure about that? Pretty sure. And he denied it.

He said no. And I was trying to give him more than enough rope to hang himself with as far as catching him in a lie. For 30 minutes, Wigley sticks to his denials. Then McManus cuts to the chase. Bob, I have DNA evidence on you, all right, on this murder girl. And it shows that you did it.

He was calm. I said, no. How could that be? And he was exceptionally calm. McManus needs to shake up his suspect. The detective pulls out a crime scene photo and slides it across the table. This red hair girl,

I am telling you that that's what the evidence shows. Why are you showing me s*** like that? Wigley's statement locks him into a lie, and the crime scene photo gets him thinking. It's a good start, but McManus needs more. You need to get a timeline on his actions, his movements, and his associates, and there's no one better than a spouse. Marie Biggers is Robert Wigley's ex-wife. At the time of the murder, the couple was still married

and managing a local motel in town. On November 27th, McManus tells Biggers he suspects her ex is a killer. Her initial reaction was shock and fear, and you could see it on her face. I remember his first question is, do you think he's capable? And I said, oh, yeah.

I said, yeah, no doubt in my mind. Biggers has not seen Robert Wigley in more than two years. Still, she's scared her ex-husband might decide to pay her a visit if she talks to police. When I assured her that he was not going to be getting out of custody, that he was in custody at that time, and that she would be safe, that he was not going to be getting out of custody, that he was in custody at that time, and that she would be safe,

then she started talking to me about what they were doing back at that time in their lives. Hitting me, pushing me across the room, throwing me across the room. He choked me until I passed out. He held a gun to my head. It shows his violent background. It showed his need to dominate, and it showed a progressing to my head. It shows his violent background. It showed his need to dominate, and it showed a progressing amount of violence.

For Detective McManus, Marie Biggers is the voice he has been looking for, the voice of a victim. On November 30th, the detective arrests Robert Wigley and charges him with the murder of Camilia Rendell. This is basically a map of southern Crescent City. A.C. Field is an investigator with the D.A.'s office. His job? Develop a timeline that provides Robert Wigley with a window for murder.

The purpose of this was to show the jury that Wigley had opportunity that night by his own admissions of working at the Super 8 Motel. Camillia Randall was last seen alive at a mini-mart less than a mile from where Wigley worked. Field plots Camillia's movements based on eyewitness accounts. We know she was seen at the Redwood Mini Mart by the clerk there. We believe she continued traveling southbound on Highway 101 toward Crescent Beach.

About a quarter of a mile from where she was last seen is the Super 8 Motel at 685 Highway 101. And so we believe at that point Wigley saw her and came out and made contact with her. The map and timeline place a murdered girl just steps from a convicted sex offender. It appears to be the final piece in the state's case. That is, until Wigley fires his lawyer

and decides to represent himself. Once he decided to represent himself, he started getting our evidence as we were producing it. And so he had a good year of collecting evidence by the time he decided to give us an actual statement. So what we found was, when we spoke with him, it was a story crafted to the evidence that he had received up to that point.

Wigley now admits he knew Camilla Randall, that he met her on the night she died and had threesome sex with her and his wife at the time, Marie Biggers. It basically becomes a sexual escapade that gets out of hand, and Marie ends up strangling Camelia. I was pretty horrified, but I was also, you know, I knew I was innocent. Robert Wigley's story is interesting. Unfortunately for the suspect, it has a rather large hole. Camelia Randall showed up in Crescent City on October 26, 1994,

and Marie Biggers went into the hospital for severe abdominal pains October 25, 1994. So that put a big hole in Wigley's entire statement at the time. On the eve of his trial, Robert Wigley is left with no credible alibi, and no way to explain a DNA match that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life. When we pitched it to the jury at the beginning,

on our opening statement, we told them, expect a conclusive proof, but expect to sit here and hear one of the most horrifying deaths of a young lady that you could ever imagine. District Attorney Michael Reese presents the state's case against Robert Wigley. After ten weeks of testimony, the jury returns its verdict. Guilty of murder in the first degree, Wigley is sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.

I remember the family looking at him, waiting, waiting to see any response. Mr. Wigley was standing up, staring at the jury as if to taunt them. And then as the verdicts were read, he turned over his left shoulder, staring at the family as if to say it didn't matter. With the help of DNA and other law enforcement personnel,

the officer was able to keep his promise to Camelia. He found the killer. Thanks to Deputy McManus, Robert Wigley will be spending the rest of his life in prison where he no longer poses a threat to the women around him. Thanks to Deputy McManus, Robert Wigley will be spending the rest of his life in prison, where he no longer poses a threat to the women around him. Look at her face here. She was always so full of life.

Marjorie Reynolds is present when the guilty verdict is read. Afterwards, she leaves the courtroom just as she came in, very much alone. When I walked out of the courtroom, I didn't walk out with my daughter. She was still gone, and he'll never suffer, never suffer like he made her suffer. Cold Case Files is hosted by Brooke Giddings, produced by Scott Brody, McCamey Lynn, and Steve Delamater. Our executive producer is Ted Butler.

Music by Blake Maples. We're distributed by Podcast One. Cold Case Files, the TV series, was produced by Curtis Productions and hosted by the one and only Bill Curtis. Check out more Cold Case Files at AETV.com. Sometime in the early 80s, REO Speedwagon's airplane made an unannounced middle-of-the-night landing. This is my friend Kyle McLaughlin, the star of Twin Peaks.

And he's telling me about how he discovered a real-life Twin Peaks in rural North Carolina, not far from where he filmed Blue Velvet. What was on the plane was copious amounts of drugs coming in from South America. Supposedly Pablo Escobar went looking for other spots, quiet, out-of-the-way places to bring in his cocaine. My name is Joshua Davis and I'm an investigative reporter. Kyle and I talk all the time about the strange things we come across. But nothing was quite as strange as what we found in Varnumtown, North Carolina.

There's crooked cops, brother against brother, everyone's got a story to tell, but does the truth even exist? Welcome to Varnumtown. Varnumtown is available wherever you listen to podcasts.