Cold Case Files - REOPENED: Caught By The Past

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

Clydine Dallas is murdered in her own home, and despite fingerprint evidence her case goes cold until a special squad tasked with re-opening tough cases picks up the investigation.Homes.com: We’ve done your homework.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode contains descriptions of violence and sexual assault. Use your best judgment. In 1986, Clydean Dallas was 37 years old. She'd lived in Atlanta for most of her life. She had raised her daughter there, and her parents and other members of her extended family, were always nearby. When I look for information about a victim,

I rarely find an obituary. Instead, it feels like the awful. news about their death, overshadows the need to relay the details of their life. Clidium was the exception. Her family took the time to write about her life and to share the connections they had with her. Clidium was the receptionist in the W.S.B. TV newsroom in Atlanta. She was organized and punctual, but on October 3rd, she was uncharacteristically late for work. Cladion didn't show up at the office that day. Claydine didn't show up at the office ever again

because Clydeen had been murdered from A&E this is cold case files I'm Brooke and here's the talented Bill Curtis with a classic case caught in the past Let's shoot for Javita doing two different election stories

because I think there's plenty out there This is the newsroom of WSB TV in Atlanta Of all the political stuff today, if you weren't doing this, which is the big one? Is it air? Is it early voting? Each morning starts out like this. The other thing is, you know, the campaign manager, I don't think we should let him off the hook. As reporters and producers determine what events to cover in the city of Atlanta.

We got the Davis tribal. Eric Phillips is just going to go straight down there and cover that for today. Of course, the opening statements were at 3 o'clock on Friday, so that continues. Carol Spard. On an October morning, 20 years ago, however, things were very different. When these newsmakers actually became the news after one of their own was murdered. I got a phone call from one of her coworkers. She called me and said, well, Tasha, your mom hasn't made it in to work yet.

On October 3rd, Tasha Dallas takes a phone call from WSBTV. Her mother, Clydeen Dallas, is a no-show. She had been there for 10 years. She was the head receptionist. She was a very liable employee. She never missed a date. Suspecting something is wrong, Fosha drives over to her mom's house.

When I walked in, I was like, this is not right. Like, stuff turned over, paper everywhere, things on the floor. The house has been ransacked. I called for my mother. Instead, didn't get any response. I kept walking through the house,

went in her bedroom, And that's why I found her she was on the floor. 37-year-old Clydean Dallas hangs over her bed, naked, hands bound behind her back, and her own bedsheets cinched around her neck. At first, it didn't seem real. I was just in shock. Just couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was called to this location.

A body had been found. Atlanta police detective Gary Lovett catches the call. You start naturally at the victim's body. That's how you work a homicide. You started at ground zero and you work out from there. Family, friends, first.

The body is transferred to the morgue where seaman is recovered, confirming Clydeen was sexually assaulted. Meanwhile, Lovett isolates the killer's point of entry. That was a stereo. a huge piece of furniture up under the window with a visible footprint on top of it. The window was slightly a jar.

And all that suggested that that's where entry was made. Everything else was locked up. Crime scene technicians dust the window and recover several unknown fingerprints. Police took fingerprints from a front window. We are told she had lived there about eight years. Meanwhile, the local news catches wind of the story,

and WSB reporter Mark Winnie arrives on scene. My overwhelming memory of that day is arriving at the scene, and it arrayed on her living room wall, kind of the centerpiece of her apartment, were these photographs of a handful of the on-air people she worked with. But I was startled to see my own face, staring back at me. And, you know, when you see something like that after somebody has died, you're flooded with a lot of emotions. Authorities may know more about her death after an autopsy tomorrow.

Winnie puts his emotions aside and covers the story. Meanwhile, Detective Lovett determines Clydeen stereo, TVs, and car are missing. Well, with the car, the first thing I did was put a lookout for that car. I gave them the description of the car, the tag number, and that sort of thing. And that was put out citywide. We're told she may have been robbed in her apartment and her car was missing. It is a 1978 Chevrolet Montacarlo. Anyone who sees it is asked to call Atlanta police homicide.

I'm Mark Winnie, Channel 2 Action News. As the story hits the airwaves, detectives work the streets in search of information. And 24 hours later, catch a break. Homes.com knows that when it comes to home shopping, it's never just about the house or condo. It's about the home. And what makes a home is more than just the house or property. It's a location and neighborhood. If you have kids, it's also schools, nearby parks, and transportation options.

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The car is processed and prints recovered. So that was some glimmer of hope. Over the next five weeks, Lovett compares the prince to four different suspects, but each is eliminated. We kept eliminating people, in fact, over a period of months. We continued to locate people, but they were all eliminated. After two months, Lovett is out of Leeds. When you walk on a crime scene and you see a victim laying there, in this case, Mrs. Dallas, she's been brutally murdered.

at this point she can no longer speak for herself now it becomes my job to walk for her to talk for her to speak for her so when I cannot walk that last mile to a conclusion for her it becomes frustrating

as Clydeen Dallas's case grows cold a family is left without answers It was very hard from day to day Would they ever find out Who murdered my sister? You know Was somebody just tell us something It just got to the point

You said Will it ever happen This is the Atlanta police Property section We're on the seventh floor Which is the archived evidence And all of our part one crimes Rape, robbery, murder

Vince Velazquez is a cold case detective for Fulton County. In February of 2004, a squad is formed to tackle the oldest and toughest cases on the books, cold cases. Well, we identified upwards of 1,200 cases. You know, if you look at this shelf, these are just, you know, these are just tens and 20s

of boxes just on this bin, but these are 10 or 20 families that are looking for closure. And, you know, if we can help a family and take this box and put it on another shelf, that would be wonderful. The squad goes through the files and handpicks 59 cases with the best potential for DNA. We focused early on just the female murders

dealing with some type of sexual component where there may be some DNA. Detectives pulled the file for the 1986 murder of Clydeen Dallas and find a rape kit. And the first one that I reviewed was Clydeen Dallas' case. On December 1st, 2004, Lisa Hobgood takes the DNA profile and uploads it into CODIS. I put it into the database. It only takes two or three minutes to get the results back.

And when I look back, I saw the information that I put in from her profile and then a convicted offender profile beside it. So I was pretty shocked. The search results in a hit to a man named Richard Hembrick. It's a pretty good match. The frequency of someone having the exact same information. to all 13 areas is well over 1 in 10 billion. You know, it's like, you know, you're fishing and you're waiting for a bite, and that was it.

That was our bite. You know, we got, and, you know, we kind of all got in the gear and said, okay, let's get this. So we actually had a live person to look at now, and he gave us the name of Richard Hambry. The squad has a name. Now they need to build their case. He had recently been released in prison after serving 12 years for armed robbery and burglary. His animals normally coming through a window is exactly what happened in this case. looking at that as an investigator, you start seeing patterns and you start seeing, you know,

the motive being burglary, robbery, theft, you know, it really started fitting into play with this. Cold case detectives track Hamburg's movements and find some suspicious connections. After the murder occurred, a car was taken, and her vehicle was found on a street directly across from where he actually lived at that time of the murder. Also looking at his family, we found a brother that lived across the street from what the victim lived. That would give him an opportunity to surveil the victim. My gut instinct told me this guy's good for the murder, no doubt, in my mind. 18 years after Clydeen Dallas was murdered, Detective Velazquez is about to come face-to-face with her killer.

Rich, you know what today is? Today is your past catching up with you. This is actually Herndon Holmes, 502 Kennedy Street, and Apartment 103, is where Hambrick lived at the time that we arrested him. On December 6th, 2004, cold case detectives head to the northwest side of Atlanta. For a word with Richard Hambrick, the man suspected in the 1986 rape and murder of Clydeen Dallas. On that day, we, myself and the investigator McVee came over. here and he was actually standing in the doorway and as we approached i could see his face through the screen his eyes this became huge his eyes became just very transfixed on are they

coming to see me and honestly it was as if cladine dallas herself was walking up to his door from his past to say here i am you know you didn't get away with this belasquez introduces himself as a homicide detective in return the man says he is leon richard's brother i played along with him And he invited us in his home. He then gets on the phone and calls his mother and continues with the charade and says, Mom, you know, the police are here looking for Richard. Do you know where he's at? So I looked at McBee, like, okay, this is, okay, let's just continue to play along with his game for a minute.

And I said, well, before I leave, one thing, I need to see your ID. And at that point, it just, you know, froze for seconds. Well, you know, I got to be honest with you, I lied to you. You know, I am Richard, you know, and I said, of course, you know, we know that, Richard. Balesquez cuts to the chase The first question I asked him Does he know who Clydeen Dallas is His answer was immediately, no, I don't

At that point I had a photograph of Clydeen with me I showed him the photograph And I asked him, do you know who this person is? And he looked at the photograph, and he said no Hembrick denies any involvement But his DNA proves otherwise I said Richard Hamrick, you're under arrest for murder and no shock, no, I mean, just put his head down, like, here it is.

And that's when he was handcuffed. I'm Detective Jim Rose. This is Detective Valenzuela. Today is the December 6th of 2004. Less than an hour after his arrest, Richard Hembrick, sits down with cold case detectives. Did you know a woman by the name of Clydeen Dallas? The name is Ambrick.

Have you ever in your entire life been in those apartments at 336 Holly Street? Kansas Hammock. For 45 minutes, Hambrick continues the denials, until detectives turn up the heat. Rich, you know what today is? Today's your past catching up with you. My past catching up. I'm thinking about all I'm going.

If you look at his nonverbal language, his hands are in his lap, and he's constantly looking down, you know, and it's just not indicative of someone who's trying to profess their innocence. You mentioned something earlier. You watch cold case files. Right, well, we were cold case files.

That's what we do. And I'm not sitting it on your car. Right. Do you understand what DNA is? I mean, do you... Yeah. How would you explain? me how that DNA got there. How could you explain it to me?

That's a lie, Richard. You got to go in there with a strategy, and the strategy is to let them lie to you. Look at that photo, let you. You ever had sex with her? Great possible to the guy. I mean. You know the facts and you can prove the facts. and you can prove the facts, all right,

and you use those lies against them later, and that's exactly what we did. Yeah, we even remember this. Hebrick says he recognizes Clydeen Dallas as the Candy Lady. She was a candy lady? She would sell candy out of her house, what you're saying? Richard, did you ever have sex with the Candy Lady? He said, okay, well, tell me your story, and you just let them do it, you know,

and if they want to dig a hole, you just hand them a bigger shovel. That's my theory. The last time you saw the Candy Lady, did you have sex with her? The last time I saw him, you know. Hembrick says he dated the Candy Lady for several weeks. It's acclaimed detectives don't buy. What do you know about her family? What you know about her?

I never really never met her. What did she like to do? What were her likes or dislikes? Tell you about her. I want you to tell me about her. What he couldn't get past is the fact that he knew absolutely nothing about this woman, nothing, but wanted us to believe that he was in a relationship with her.

And that would explain why his DNA is there. What do y'all want me to say? I want the truth, Richard. I don't want you to tell me anything but the truth. Only you know the truth. Only you know the truth. after three hours the interview is over we have breaking news about a major development in a murder case that is more than 20 years old

just maybe an hour ago maybe less suspect left in a very unusual manner we're told he was on a gurney leaving atlanta police homicide because he complained of chest pains hembrick is charged with the murder of clydean dallas and sent to a jail cell to await his trial. From the waters of Lake Erie. It was raising flags. He said, there's no way that that fish should weigh

7.9 pounds. It's just not big enough. To a nondescript office building in Richmond, Virginia, home to a $700 million fund for children with special needs. If there was a cliche list of how to blow money that you just stole very quickly, this guy

did all of them. To the ski slopes of Salt Lake City, or a former Olympic snowboarder landed on the FBI's most wanted list. Ryan Jim's wedding is one of those interesting narcos who have had two very successful careers, one legal and one illegal. We're pulling back the curtain on a fresh lineup of opportunists who stopped at nothing to get ahead. These are the stories of people who saw a loophole, a moment of weakness, a chance to get ahead, and took it.

I'm host Sarah James McLaughlin. Join me for a new season of The Opportunist on May 19th. Follow now, wherever you get your podcasts. This guy had gotten away with murder for 19 years. We gave opening statements 19 years to the day of Clydeen's murder. Sheila Ross prosecutes the case

for Fulton County. There are no questions anymore. The mystery has been solved and the evidence overwhelmingly shows that this defendant

right here, Richard Hambert, is responsible for raping, verbalizing, and murdering Claudine Dallas on October 3rd

of 1986. Central to Ross's case, the DNA evidence. The DNA for 18 years that everybody was looking for was contained in this little packet and was contained on the tip of the treat tip. The DNA was overwhelming. If you add to that, the medical examiner, Dr. Randy Hanslick's findings that the sex and the death were what they call perimortem, which is almost contiguous or near at the time of her death, and that's really difficult for them to overcome.

Hambrick sticks to his defense that he had a consensual relationship with Clydeen Dallas And you can't say Based on the way she was found that you had consensual sex with her Nothing about being bound and gagged after you have entered in through the window Speaks of consensual sexual intercourse After seven days of trial The jury comes back with the verdict

That's always a scary moment It was tense, it was quiet, you could have heard a mouse scurry along the floor. We did you find a defendant guilty on count one, the offensive murder. It helps me, but it doesn't bring her back, but it makes it a little easier to get a lot. with your life a little better knowing that someone's called but he gets to live every day he gets to eat every day and my mother don't richard hambrick is sentenced to life in prison for the cold case squad it's one case down hundreds more to go you know it's non-stop you know we just hit the rewind button and we just started over again you know we like

identified over 1,000 cases, going back to, I believe, pre-1970. So, you know, we've got a lot of work to do. But for one family, justice is finally served. Came to put some new flowers, but we brought somebody. Yeah, we love you. Always thinking of you. I have to say something, you know, we're here, we love you, and we never, we always miss you and we never forget you.

Dear Heavenly Father, we once here again, visiting our sister on a good, sunshiny day. It's all for a good cause. She'll never leave us, you know. She's always in our hearts. On October 7, 2010, the Atlanta Journal Constitution published two sentences in the death and funeral section. of their newspaper.

Richard Hamburg, Jr. 55. Died September 29th. Funeral. Noon Friday. Woods Memorial Baptist Church. Cold Case Files the podcast is hosted by Brooke Giddings, produced by McCamey Lynn and Steve Delamator. Our associate producer is Julie McGruder.

Our executive producer is Ted Boller. Our music was created by Blake Maples. This podcast is distributed by Podcast 1. The Cold Case Files TV series, was produced by Curtis Productions and is hosted by Bill Curtis. You can find me at Brooke Giddings on Twitter and at Brooke the podcaster on Instagram. I'm also active in the Facebook group, Podcast for Justice. Check out more cold case files at AETV.com or learn more about cases like this one

by visiting the A&E Real Crime blog at AETV.com slash real crime. This summer, Pluto TV is exploding with thousands of free movies. Summer of Cinema is here. Feel the explosive action all summer long with movies like Gladiator, Mission Impossible, Beverly Hills Cop, Good Burger, and Transformers Dark of the Moon. Awesome!

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