Cold Case Files - REOPENED: The Clue That Stuck

Episode Date: August 29, 2023

In an ocean-side town in California, a woman is strangled to death in her home and her head is wrapped in duct tape. Police are at a loss for evidence, but there is one eye-witness: the victim's four-year-old son. Sponsors:   Angi: Download the free Angi mobile app today or visit Angi.com   Progressive: Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 29 million drivers who trust Progressive.  

Port Hueneme is a quiet, oceanside corner of the city of Oxnard, California. The area is known for its strawberry production. You can hardly get in or out of Oxnard without driving past massive fields of them. And during the summer, the smell of strawberries is constantly hanging in the air. Unfortunately, in early June 1993, the aroma of fresh fruit was probably the last thing on the minds of 11-year-old Andrew and four-year-old Austin. Because that morning, just after Memorial Day weekend, their lives changed forever when their mother, Norma Rodriguez, was found strangled to death, her head wrapped in duct tape. From A&E, this is Cold Case Files, the podcast.

I'm Brooke, and this story, adapted from a classic episode of Cold Case Files, is told by the un after the Memorial Day weekend. On June 1, 1993, a house that was once a home becomes a crime scene. When I got here in front of 135, I was met by the estranged husband of the victim and his brother they were seen to be in a panic and they told me to come in the front door Dennis Fitzgerald is a homicide detective with the Port Hueneme Police Department inside the house Andrew Rodriguez is 11 years old

and watches as they cut duct tape off the body of his mother, 32-year-old Norma Rodriguez. My uncle was checking the pulse. First thing he did was get out his scissors and cut the tape, you know what I mean, if she was still alive. And when he cut the tape, you know what I mean, I just seen her face. She was white like a ghost, so that's when I knew that

she was dead already. Rodriguez has been strangled to death, her head wrapped entirely in tape. Fitzgerald works the homicide with Sergeant Fernie Estrella. It was pretty up close and personal with the strangulation and the duct tape, which I know we had never seen a homicide like that before, where duct tape was ever used in a homicide.

This was his or her way of putting some kind of a blindfold on this person so that they wouldn't have to look at her while they were doing what they were doing. From a forensic standpoint, the crime scene is clean. No sign of rape, no bodily fluids to work with, no unknown prints lifted. There is, however, at least one rather large clue. And it involves Norma Rodriguez's house keys,

which disappeared days before the murder, only to reappear at the crime scene. The keys became very important because then we realized that the keys had been... Missing. Missing, and all of a sudden they're there. And the house was thoroughly searched.

We knew whoever had done this had access. Brought those keys back. And so that told us that whoever did this had access to the keys prior to the homicide. Whoever killed Norma Rodriguez knew her well, apparently moving in and out of her house at will. Detectives believe they have at least one other hot lead to follow, one that involves an eyewitness to the crime. Problem is, he's only four years old.

One of the people I interviewed was the victim's son, Austin, who was age four at the time. On June 4th, Detective Ron Burns and a child psychologist sit down with Norma Rodriguez's second son, four-year-old Austin. The child was home with his mother all weekend, and detectives believe might have actually witnessed the attack. This part of the interview is the part where I talked about what he had seen regarding the tape around his mother's face. Somebody did something bad to your mommy? What did they do to her? Why did they do that? Why?

Was she saying something to them? Do you remember what she said to them when they went that? Why? Was she saying something to them? Do you remember what she said to them before they put the tape on her mouth? Yes. Was she screaming? What was she screaming? You don't know? In this case, I got to the point where

he's going to be able to tell me a name of a person he saw putting the tape on his mother's face. And without throwing any names out there, this was a name that he brought up. Do you know what bad person put this tape on her mouth? Do you know that person? Do you know his name? What is her name?

Warren. Warren? What color is Warren? White. White? Did he put tape on your mommy now? Why did he do that? Because.

Do you know anybody else who put tape on your mommy now? No. Nobody else? Only him. Hmm? Only him. Only worn? We established that as far as he knows, what he's telling us at this time, there's only one person involved.

Police believe that person to be Warren Mackey, a former co-worker and friend of Norma's. Just as the case begins to gel, however, four-year-old Austin produces a second name. This is what he had to say about the second person involved. Did you see him in the house? What's that? One. But you said one was by himself. And what did they do?

They took me away. Which one's that? Both of them. You saw them both? You're not sure? And that threw us a curveball because the first person he identified was a white man. And it was that man alone. And then he indicated there was a black man also involved. Police believe the second man also to be a co-worker of Norma's. Investigators need to locate both men and ask them a few hard questions. How you doing, Warren?

Warren? I'm Detective Byrd, Fort Winnington Police Department. This is Detective Sergeant Estrella. Four days after talking to Austin Rodriguez, detectives sit down with Warren Mackey and ask him about Norma. Being that Warren Mackey was a close friend of the victim, she wanted to interview him and see what he has to say about where he was, what he was doing that particular night.

We went to Santa Barbara Sunday night. We're out to Delos. On the night Norma was killed, Mackie claims he was out on the town and stayed out until early the next morning. I was pretty drunk. I just, I passed out asleep. Mackey's friends substantiate his alibi, providing Mackey, at least for the time being, with some cover. Investigator Darren Schindler runs down the second man mentioned by Austin at the local Kmart.

He was pretty cooperative. We asked him if he was the local Kmart. He was pretty cooperative. We asked him if he was responsible for her death. He told us no. He passed the polygraph test. There was nothing to indicate that he was being untruthful with us at all. With their two best suspects on the back burner, detectives decide they need to take a fresh look at the case.

We right away started looking at her inner circle of friends. Husband, the brother-in-law, ex-boyfriends. I can recall being extremely frustrated because there were a number of potential suspects. However,

no one really surfaced at that time. If it was a horse race, nobody really came out ahead. They were all neck and neck. Potential suspects are asked to take a polygraph. All agree, and each, in turn, passes. Questioning then expands to neighbors and casual friends. I had no idea who it might be. The one thing you want to do is keep your thoughts, ideas,

everything wide open so that you don't miss something. It's very frustrating because the momentum is there at first but then kind of wanes after a while because one dead end after another, and you try and keep that momentum going, and it's very difficult to do. In time, the investigation slows, and it's very difficult to do. In time, the investigation slows, and the case goes cold,

until a scientist turns on the TV and finds a clue that just might stick. What that clue is, after the break. This episode of Cold Case Files is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you can be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance. It's easy, and you could save money by doing it right from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $700 on average.

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which means you can take care of just about any home project in just a few taps. Because when it comes to getting the most out of your home, you can do this when you Angie that. Download the free Angie mobile app today or visit Angie.com. That's A-N-G-I dot com. After Norma Rodriguez was strangled in her home in 1993, police were left with little evidence and only one witness. The problem was that the witness was Norma's four-year-old son, Austin. While investigators certainly viewed Austin's memories as valuable, it was hard to know just how reliable a four-year-old son, Austin. While investigators certainly viewed Austin's memories as valuable, it was hard to know just how reliable a four-year-old could be as a witness to a murder. Austin gave detectives two names of the men he saw murder his mother, but alibis and

polygraphs seemed to tell a different story. That meant if there was any hope of solving this case, it was going to have to be from a forensic breakthrough. Nine years after Norma's murder, that breakthrough came. In the spring of 2002, investigator Dennis Fitzgerald opens up the evidence files on case number 93-1483, the murder of Norma Rodriguez. They are searching for traces of the killer's DNA and begin by looking under the victim's fingernails. Ten years ago, we couldn't have submitted those fingernails for DNA processing. It just wasn't there. So that becomes pretty huge.

These are the fingernail clippings from one of Norma Rodriguez's hands. In May of 2002, forensic scientist Shannon Barrios takes custody of fingernail clippings. Taken from the hands of a corpse almost ten years prior, Barrios tells detectives she's hopeful she will be able to extract DNA. Then she gets to work. What I would do to get the DNA off these fingernail clippings is I take a swab, this is a swab, and I just wet it with water. So I would swab the under surface and then I would turn the clipping over and I would swab the top surface.

And then I'd take that swab, and I'd do a DNA extraction on it. The extraction produces two genetic profiles. It was a mixture of DNA from Norma and a second contributor. Sure enough, there is a profile underneath her right fingernails that is an unknown male. This was a huge break for us. I knew once that happened that the chances of solving this case were really big. The unknown profile is entered into CODIS, a DNA data bank made up mostly of convicted felony offenders, but fails to generate a match. Detectives reach out to Richard Simon, a prosecutor for the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, to help them work the profile.

At that point, Dennis and I put together a list of people that were friends and acquaintances of Norma Rodriguez, and these were people we wanted to get DNA from to see if we could get a match. And the very first person I contacted in the collection of this DNA was Warren Mackey, and I asked him for his DNA, and he said, sure, I'll give it to you. You know his name? What was his name?

Warren. Warren? Warren Mackey was one of two men ID'd by Norma's four-year-old son, Austin, as being in the house on the day Norma was killed. In 1993, both men offered alibis. Now investigators send Mackey's DNA, along with samples from other suspects, back to the lab for comparison testing. On June 1st, I believe, of 2003,

10 years to the day, we get a hit. I was jumping up and down. People in the adjoining offices could hear me. They were wondering what was going on, but yeah, that's when Shannon Barrios called me and told me that we have a match. It's Warren Mackey. Warren Mackey's DNA,

found under the fingernails of a murder victim. Cold case investigators are excited, but cautious. I mean, it was pretty good, but we needed to eliminate any other possible explanations. I know down the line sometime a light would come on and he would say, oh, now I remember. She ran her fingers through my hair, or she did this or that to explain away that DNA.

Investigators would like a second piece of forensic evidence, one that would inextricably bind Warren Mackey to the murder victim. We're looking at the heart and soul of this case. At the request of cold case detectives, forensic scientist Ed Jones pulls out a length of duct tape used to wrap the head of murder victim Norma Rodriguez and prepares it for DNA testing. This piece of tape would have been 20 feet long when it was originally applied to the victim. It would have been wrapped around 14 times around her head. The areas that I start with would be the beginning and the end.

The beginning and the end. Jones has watched enough TV to know that these are the areas most likely to have been handled by the killer. When I was channel surfing one day, I saw somebody in the process of wrapping somebody up with duct tape. Then I saw her go up like this here to tear it and rip it. And that's the obvious thing that you'd be looking for is saliva on there. Saliva is a very rich source of DNA. A single DNA profile is developed from each end of the tape. It is a perfect match to Warren Mackey

and the final piece to a case for murder. So that means on both ends of that duct tape we have his DNA. So he could have told us anything he wanted but I don't know how he could explain his DNA buried 20 feet deep into that roll of duct tape. Whoever finished that roll, wrapped it around her face and then either tore it with her teeth or with their hands left their DNA on that duct tape at the end of the roll. That was the killer. We knew we had the right person. We just wanted to afford him an opportunity to explain.

On August 27th, investigators Dennis Fitzgerald and Danny Thompson escort Warren Mackey into an interview room. Obviously, the main thing we want to do is see if we could get him to admit to what he had done and why he did it. Do you remember last year when I came to talk to you and you voluntarily gave me your DNA sample? Sure. Do you know that your sample showed up on her? No, I don't. How could it?

Well, that's what we want to know. Well, I don't know how it could happen. I have no idea. Well, it's underneath her finger now. I have no idea what you're talking about. You know, I did not kill Norma. And this is turning now into, like you said, all about me. The light bulb goes on, and you can see it go on,

and he says, you're saying that I did this. That's exactly right. So we're just trying to think of anything that would explain that. I don't know how to explain it. I wouldn't even try starting to explain it. I have no idea. You know, I'm getting to the feeling where, you know, the accused is sitting in this chair,

and, you know, I feel very uncomfortable. Well, you know, you probably do feel uncomfortable, and I understand why you would. With their suspect uncomfortable, Fitzgerald moves from fingernails to duct tape, and a report that will put Warren Mackey away for a long time. I asked him then to read the DNA results on the duct tape. All right. Then what about... Read that. Read that. the duct tape. And he read that't have anything to do with this murder.

Not at all. This conclusively tells us, Warren, that you did. I did not murder Norma. I did not do this. This tells us you absolutely did. You know, if you're accusing me, then I'm not going to talk anymore. And, you know, I'll get a lawyer because you're accusing me now. Absolutely. And that ends the interview, and we arrest him on the warrant.

Warren Mackey is charged with killing Norma Rodriguez. Five months later, he pleads guilty to second-degree murder, but never offers an explanation as to why. There's some speculation on that. I think that he had a romantic interest in her. She didn't reciprocate, and I think he felt rejected and angry. It was a rejection thing he couldn't deal with. If he can't have her, nobody can type of thing. The thing I can't get over is why he used the duct tape.

Unless he tells us, I don't think we'll ever know. You can't take somebody's life and expect to keep on breathing without paying some type of serious consequences. Twelve years after Norma Rodriguez was murdered, her son has grown. His life and his family's changed forever by a murder that makes no sense and an anger that

refuses to settle. All I gotta say is all I needed with the guy was about two seconds personally for him to understand that, you know what I mean? The anger that I have towards you because you changed mine, my brother, and the rest of my family's lives forever. It'll never be the same. I would not forgive him. Like I said, I cursed him for the rest of his life. I had so much hate on him. So much hate. I have forgave him. That's who I am. That's another Christian person that I am. That's the only way that I could go on living. They say in time you will heal from your pain. No, it's still there. On March 28, 2005,

Warren Mackey is sentenced to 15 years to life for his crime. Whenever any person is murdered or a violent act is committed, the ripple effect of that one action on all of the people around the victim is immeasurable. That effect is perhaps never more clear than when the victim is the parent of a small child. For Austin and Andrew, losing their mother has altered the course of their lives in every possible way. It's a wound that will never heal. As of this recording, Warren Patrick Mackey is still incarcerated in a California state prison. In July of 2012, he was denied parole for at least another 10 years.

Cold Case Files, the podcast, is hosted by Brooke Giddings. Produced by Scott Brody, McKamey Lynn and Steve Delamater our executive producer is Ted Butler we're distributed by Podcast One the Cold Case Files TV series was produced by Curtis Productions and presented by Bill Curtis check out more Cold Case F files at aetv.com and by downloading the A&E app. We've got a very different kind of sponsor for this episode.

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