Cold Case Files - Traces Of Murder

Episode Date: June 18, 2024

In 1985, Enrique Elizarbe, a recent immigrant from Peru trying to find a better life, was robbed and beaten by a co-worker in the warehouse where he worked in northern Virginia before eventually succumbing to his injuries in the hospital. 15 years later investigators finally have the forensic technology they need for a conviction. Murder: True Crime Stories - New episodes of Murder: True Crime Stories release every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. ZocDoc - Check out Zocdoc.com/CCF and download the Zocdoc app for free! 

From A&E, this is Cold Case Files, the podcast. On February 26, 1985, a man crumples to the floor of the warehouse of the Newland Transfer Building in suburban Washington, D.C. in Prince William County, Virginia. He is bleeding heavily from the head and close to death. His name is Enrique Elizabe. Five years earlier, he immigrated from the slums of Lima, Peru, looking for a better life. It was a search that took him to this warehouse and a job building crates for $5 an hour. As Elazarbe lies barely conscious, a fellow worker named Roland Wheeler comes out of the warehouse and across the parking lot. He returns a few moments later with the dispatcher, Harry Newlin.

Enrique is still bleeding, but talking. I said, are you hurt? And instead of saying yes or anything like that, he would repeat back to me, are you hurt? And instead of saying yes or anything like that there, he would repeat back to me, are you hurt? An ambulance arrives, but Enrique Ilazarbe is fading. Before slipping into a coma, he manages to provide one fact about his attacker. Sergeant Bob Zinn of the Prince William County Police Department was on the scene. The rescue member indicated that the victim made some sort of statement that a co-worker had done this to him. Warehouse records indicate that one person

was assigned to work with Elizabe that day, the man who first called for help, Roland Wheeler. Police are anxious to get his account of what happened to Elizabe. Detectives Dave Watson and Dennis Mangan question Wheeler. This is Detective Dave Watson. Mr. Wheeler says that he was working for a few minutes when he hears a knocking on the back door.

He pushed the back door open and saw Mr. El Azarbe out there covered in blood, looked like he was in shock. He said he reached over to his right and retrieved a piece of cardboard, laid it on the ground, and laid Mr. Elzarbe on the cardboard. According to Wheeler, Elzarbe did not stay put. Instead, he got up and walked inside the warehouse, still bleeding from the head. Wheeler tells police he finally set Elizabe down on a stacking crate and then ran to get help. If the story is true, Elizabe was attacked in the yard behind the warehouse, and Roland Wheeler is

a hero. If the story is false, Wheeler is transformed from hero to prime suspect. In the ER of Washington's largest hospital, Enrique Elazarbe is barely alive. His brain waves have gone flat. Doctors ask his sister Sylvia for permission to pull the plug. When I saw my brother, he was covered in blood, but you know, his eyes are open. His body is still warm, but he's not moving. Elazarbe's family gives permission to discontinue life support. At 3 p.m. on February 27th, Enrique Elazarbe dies, and an assault case becomes a full-fledged murder investigation.

The next day, the Washington, D.C. medical examiner conducts an official autopsy. Enrique Elizabe died from blunt force trauma, three separate blows that crushed his skull. Detectives Bob Zinn and Dave Watson examine the minute creases of each fracture and uncover a clue. We observed within fractures that were across the rear of the skull was a minute particle of what appeared to be a green matter, green material. It was the color which jumped out at us, and it was green, which was obviously alien to what should be in a person's skull. The fleck of green looks like paint embedded in bone.

The detectives wonder, could this be a transfer mark left by the murder weapon? To answer that question, detectives must return to the crime scene. Inside the warehouse where Enrique Elizabe was found, a team of detectives comb more than 8,000 square feet of floor space. Sitting on top of a crate on the shop floor,

they find a 20-inch crowbar painted green. Forensic testing indicates trace amounts of human blood. Jay Van Gelder is a sergeant with the Prince William County Police Department. There's no question about it that it was rinsed off. The blood that was located on it was very minute and very dilute. Detectives believe they have found the murder weapon. Now they must find the killing ground. In the area where Elazarbe's body was found, forensics turn up traces of blood spatter on the walls.

We took a forklift and started lifting the pallets and the crates up just to see what was under, what was around it. And we discovered that there was blood spots directly underneath some of the crates. Outside the warehouse, detectives find footprints in the thick mud, a green trash can with blood stains inside it, and a three by five foot piece of cardboard covered in blood.

Detectives take the cardboard inside and piece it together with the pattern of stains found on the shop room floor. The two match perfectly. There was certain voids that we uncovered inside the warehouse. One of the voids, or the major void, appeared to be in the exact configuration

of the cardboard itself. Blood patterns tell Van Gelder that the cardboard was actually on the concrete floor inside the warehouse when it was spattered with blood. Van Gelder jumps back on the forklift and moves a few more crates off the warehouse floor. We searched a little bit further and found a blood trail that led from the crate area across the warehouse floor and out to the back door. Enrique Elizabe, it appears, was attacked inside the warehouse. A piece of cardboard slipped under his head and the body dragged outside. The evolving theory of murder makes a

liar of Roland Wheeler and places him at the top of a very short suspect list. Prince William County police meet with Rick Conway, the assistant prosecutor and a former cop. Conway believes the case against Wheeler to be too circumstantial, with no physical evidence linking Wheeler to the case and no witness to the crime. We get one shot. We get one try to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt of a defendant's guilt. And if you don't succeed that first time, he can walk out of the courtroom and say, look at me, I got away with murder, and now there's nothing you can do about it.

The state decides to take a pass on the Enrique Ilazarbe case. The murder goes cold and remains that way for 15 years. Making choices can be hard. Do I let my three-year-old keep napping and enjoy the peace and quiet, but run the risk of bedtime being difficult later? Or do I deal with the grumpy kid now and hope that bedtime is smooth? There's no easy answer there, but when it comes to finding your doctor, the choice is simple. Enter ZocDoc, the place where you can find and book tens of thousands of top-tier doctors, all with verified patient reviews. With ZocDoc, you've got more options than you know. ZocDoc is a free app and website where you can search and compare highly rated in-network doctors near you and instantly book appointments with them online. Once you find a

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In 1985, the 27-year-old immigrant from Peru was found dead in the warehouse where he worked. His co-worker, Roland Wheeler, claimed Elizabe came to the back door of the plant, already beaten and bleeding from the head. Blood patterns on the floor and walls of the warehouse told police that Wheeler was lying, that Elizabe was actually killed inside the warehouse, then dragged outside. Although detectives felt strongly that Wheeler was their killer, hard evidence was lacking and the case went cold. Detective Dave Watson of the Prince William County Police Department worked the original case. Fifteen years later, he's the county's only detective devoted to cold case crimes. I got a hold of Bob Zinn, who had since 1986,

had been promoted and put in charge of our identification bureau, and he agreed, yeah, we ought to look at this again. The two detectives begin with a discovery made at El Azarbe's autopsy 15 years earlier. A small fleck of green paint embedded in the skull and barely visible to the naked eye. In 1985, forensics linked the paint to this crowbar found just a few yards from the body, but stopped short of determining it to be a match. Cold case detectives now hoped science can provide them with a conclusive ID. Eileen Davis is a trace evidence examiner for the Virginia State Crime Lab in Richmond. I got the actual crowbar and I got the actual piece of skull.

And it was covered in what appeared to be mold, or what I would term to be mold, and I had to pick through that to find the green paint. There was plenty still left embedded in that piece of skull. Davis puts the evidence inside a scanning electron microscope, or SEM. Unlike most microscopes, which use visible light, the SEM. Unlike most microscopes which use visible light, the SEM fires a beam of electrons at the object,

reducing the paint to its elemental composition for comparison and analysis. What's really most important about that equipment though, is that we use the X-ray detector to give us the elemental composition of the paint. The known elemental composition of the crowbar paint, as well as the questioned paint from the skull. Davis concludes that the paint chip found in Elazarbe's skull

matches the paint on the crowbar, placing Enrique Elazarbe inside the warehouse when he was attacked. By itself, that fact makes Roland Wheeler a liar, but not necessarily Elazarbe's killer. Cold case detectives need more. Any prosecutor's office will tell you, we want more, we want more, we want more. Watson returns to the case file and crime scene photos. Specifically, pictures of muddy boot prints found outside the warehouse.

In 1985, Watson had asked Wheeler whether the boot prints were his. I asked Mr. Wheeler if he had gone outside to help Mr. Elizabre, and he said no. And when I asked him why, he said, because if you go outside, that door, it closes, and you can't get back in. So he said, I couldn't go outside. In 1985, detectives made plaster casts of the prints found in the mud outside the warehouse and checked them against Roland Wheeler with no luck. Fifteen years later, that evidence is about to get a closer look. In the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains is the western branch of the Virginia State Crime Lab, home to Andy Johnson, an expert in fingerprints and footprints.

We take a known impression of the outsole. This is very similar to taking inked fingerprints. And then the next step would be to make a transparency of the known inked impression to use as an overlay to place over your question impressions that are found at the crime scene to see if you can associate the known impressions from the shoes collected by the police department.

Johnson notes that the footprints behind the warehouse are the same size and tread as Roland Wheeler's boots, as well as the boots of hundreds of thousands of men in the United States. Then Johnson spots something overlooked before, a nail embedded in Wheeler's left shoe, a nail embedded in Wheeler's left shoe. A nail that turns Wheeler's boot print into the equivalent of a fingerprint. I was able to associate the nail in the outsole with one of the impressions photographed in the mud

and the presence of that round nail in a specific location. It was a highly likely probability that that boot and no other made that impression. But now we can say it was the same shoe, because that nail was unique to that shoe, which was unique to the print and the casting. So now we know that he walked around the building and we caught him in a major lie. Through a careful re-examination of the evidence cold case detectives are beginning to get a handle on their case

they believe wheeler beat el azarbe with a crowbar dragged him across the floor of the warehouse and dumped him outside when the outside door closed on wheeler he was locked out of the warehouse and had to walk around to the front to get back in. One part of Wheeler's story they believe is true. Elazarbe most likely came to and started banging on the back door, which presented a problem for Wheeler. This is Sergeant J. Van Gelder with the Prince William County Police Department. Mr. Wheeler needed to find some way to exonerate himself. He didn't need to have Mr. Elizar be banging on the door and have somebody else find him. So by playing the Good Samaritan, he brought him back inside

and tried to secure help and thereby help establish his alibi that he wasn't here at the time, he just happened to hear him. The detective's theory has just one hole. If Roland Wheeler dragged the bleeding Enrique Elizabe through the mud, why were his clothes, hands, and shoes apparently free of blood? If you're on the lookout for true crime stories told from a fresh perspective, with nuance, depth, and detail, I have a new show for you. Check out Murder, True Crime Stories, a Crime House original podcast. From the shocking Chandra

Levy case and infamous Tylenol murders to the tragic deaths of the Clutter family, each episode focuses on a famous solved or unsolved murder case. Listen in every Tuesday as the show dives into the darkest corners of true crime, unraveling chilling narratives, examining compelling clues, and most importantly, seeking the truth. What sets murder true crime stories apart is the focus on humanizing the victims and the effect their deaths had on their families, friends, and community. We'll always leave with the knowledge of why their stories need to be heard. There's a story behind every murder, but is there an ending? New episodes of Murder True Crime Stories release

every Tuesday. Just search for Murder True Crime Stories on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Cold case detectives believe Roland Wheeler is a killer. Blood pattern evidence indicates Wheeler beat co-worker Enrique Elizabe with a crowbar and then dragged the bleeding man across a warehouse floor and into a back lot. Wheeler's boots were impounded immediately after the beating, but showed no trace of blood. Fifteen years after the fact, cold case detectives hoped advances in technology can shed new light on this old evidence.

Carol Palmer is a DNA analyst at Virginia State Crime Lab. Cold case detectives ask her to examine boots seized from Roland Wheeler 15 years earlier. To the naked eye, the boots show no traces of blood. I didn't really see an obvious red-blown blood stain. So what happens in those situations is you just go inch by inch, covering all surfaces of the shoe, seeing if there's trace amounts of blood left over.

Palmer swabs the boots with chemical reagents. When the swabs change from pink to green, it indicates the presence of blood. Ten minutes into the test, Palmer gets her first reading. On the right shoe, on the outside top toe region, I had the indication of blood there. And then in addition, on the left shoe, that little crevice where your shoe meets the sole, inside there, I also had a positive for the presence of blood. Minute traces of blood layered into the stitching of Roland Wheeler's boot. The question for detectives, why here and nowhere else?

He got blood on his shoe. What's the big deal? That can be explained away. Not where the blood was found on his shoe. That That can be explained away. Not where the blood was found on the shoe. That couldn't be explained away. The only explanation for that was that the shoe was wiped clean. The blood traces are too minute for DNA analysis, but large enough to raise a flag for Assistant State Prosecutor Rick Conway. Why would someone wipe off human blood found on their shoe in a situation like that? As Watson works the case, he debates whether to confront Roland Wheeler about the cold murder.

That issue is short-circuited when the suspect finds his own way to police headquarters. On October 28, 1999, Roland Wheeler shows up unannounced and uninvited at the Prince William County Police Department. He wants to talk about the murder of Enrique Elizabe. Detectives are only too happy to accommodate him. Mr. Wheeler showed up at the station here unexpectedly this morning. You're here voluntarily, is that correct? Yeah. The story Wheeler tells police is essentially the same one he told in 1985.

He claims he opened the back door of the warehouse to find Elizarbe, nicknamed Julio, standing outside. I heard three more knocks on the door. Boom, boom, boom. So when I opened the door, Julio was standing there. He had blood coming down his face and running down the back of his neck. All right. Okay. Then I tried to calm him down. Fifteen years earlier, Wheeler told police he set down a piece of cardboard for Elazarbe to sit on outside the warehouse.

Cold case detectives believe that the cardboard was actually under Elazarbe's head as he lay bleeding to death inside the warehouse. Blood patterns on the cardboard and warehouse floor fit together precisely and confirm those suspicions. Perhaps wary of a trap, Wheeler is now hesitant and unsure of exactly what he might have done to comfort Elazarbe. Detectives believe Wheeler is trying to finesse his story to fit the facts, at the same time testing the strength of the case against him. Let me ask you this. Okay. Do you think that I think you did this?

Well, it's not for me to recollect whether you think so or not. By you being an officer, I would. If you were me, would you think that... Me being the one that found him, I would think I would be a suspect. For two hours, Wheeler denies any responsibility for Elazarbe's death. Cold case detectives remain unconvinced. I want you to understand that I think that you did it. And I have the evidence to prove that you did do it.

Probably the next time you and I talk, you're going to have a warrant for your arrest. I'll be ready. We'll be there. Okay. Ten months later, Roland Wheeler has found a new home in Detroit, Michigan. He works the night shift, cleaning planes for Northwest Airlines. On August 10, 2000, cold case detectives arrange for Wheeler to be working alone and arrest him for the murder of Elazarbe.

Wheeler is returned to Prince William County, Virginia, but refuses to speak with police. Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Rick Conway reviews the case. It's unusual for someone to keep their mouth shut completely about an offense they've committed. It happens, but it's unusual. Despite a wealth of physical evidence, Conway wants more. He wants an admission from the mouth of the suspect. We were getting ready to try this case.

It was within a couple of weeks of the suspect. We were getting ready to try this case. It was within a couple of weeks of the trial beginning when I received information that there was an inmate at the jail who wanted to speak with us. Actually, it turned out being two inmates. The two informants told police Wheeler admitted to killing Elazarbe. They are explicit about the number of times Wheeler claims he hit the victim and indicate that Elazarbe was dumped into a trash can after being beaten. The details are consistent with crime scene evidence, evidence that had never been made public before. When you have him coming out with a confession to two other inmates, not one but two, both consistent

with one another and both totally consistent with the physical evidence in the case, it really would serve to dispel any lingering doubts that may not be reasonable. You know, the burden is beyond a reasonable doubt, not beyond all doubt. In January of 2001, a jury agrees, returning a verdict of guilty in the first degree. Roland Wheeler is sentenced to a term of life in prison. Roland Wheeler does his time in a maximum security prison in rural western Virginia. The Commonwealth doesn't allow face-to-face interviews with inmates, but in a phone interview, Wheeler insists he is innocent and that no piece of evidence proves otherwise. I would have never told nobody in that jail that I did a crime that I didn't do.

Who's going to tell somebody they did a vicious crime like that after one week before the trial started? There's not one piece of evidence that says I did this crime. Perhaps no single piece of evidence, but a lot of little pieces, patiently cobbled together over 15 years by a team of cold case detectives who realize that each case represents a life, and each life remains as important as any other. The question that was posed to me by a waitress was, who was this guy? This dead guy, who was he?

Was he somebody important? Was he famous? No. Well, then why do you care? Why are you going through all this trouble to find out who killed him? Well, the person was somebody. The person was somebody to his family in Peru. He was somebody to his sister here.

And it was a murder. And it was something that we have taken an oath to go ahead and see through. I'm so happy. I'm so happy and cry a lot. I say it's justice. Finally, it's justice. After 16 years, my brother, he's raised in peace.

Cold Case Files is hosted by Marissa Pinson, produced by Jeff DeRay, and distributed by Podcast One. The Cold Case Files TV series was produced by Curtis Productions and hosted by Bill Curtis. Check out more Cold Case Files at anetv.com. It's summertime and with Pluto TV's Summer of Cinema, the streaming is easy. Stream hundreds of free movies on all your favorite devices all summer long. Chill out poolside with Mission Impossible and Transformers.

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