Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - Trace Evidence - Solving Stephanie's Murder

Episode Date: April 23, 2024

Stephanie Isaacson was finishing up her freshman year at El Dorado High School in Las Vegas back on June 1st, 1989. Stephanie never made it to school that day. In the wake of her murder, despite a vigorous investigation, the case soon went cold. It would be nearly 32 years before her family got the answers they deserved.http://sinspod.co/episode21sourcesIf you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence please reach out to the following resourcesDomestic Violence Resourceshttp://sinspod.co/resourcesClick here to become a member of our Patreon!https://sinspod.co/patreonVisit and join our Patreon now and access our ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content & schwag!Apple Podcast Subscriptionshttps://sinspod.co/appleWe're now offering premium membership benefits on Apple Podcast Subscriptions! On your mobile deviceLet us know what you think about the episodehttps://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2248640/open_sms Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sins-survivors-a-las-vegas-true-crime-podcast--6173686/support.

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or Apple subscriptions. Thanks for supporting the show! She often took a shortcut through a desert area, and June 1st was no exception. Stephanie never made it to school that day. In the wake of her murder, despite a vigorous investigation, the case soon went cold. It would be nearly 32 years before her family got the answers they deserve. Hi, and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence. I'm your host, Sean, and with me, as always, is the one and only John. I am the only John in the room. April 25th, 2024 is National DNA Day, which honors the successful completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 and the uncovering of DNA's double helix structure in 1953. As true crime fans, we all recognize the importance of DNA evidence in criminal investigations. DNA evidence has played a critical role in the exonerations of hundreds of individuals who

were wrongly convicted. One of the first episodes we covered on Sins and Survivors was the story of Gary Dodson, who was falsely accused of rape in 1977. Twelve long years later, in 1989, when DNA analysis technology was still in its infancy, Gary was excluded as a possible suspect in that case through DNA testing, making him the first person in history ever exonerated by DNA evidence. DNA evidence has led to the identification of Jane and John Doe's, and as the technology has improved year after year, more and more police departments are turning to DNA analysis and forensic genealogy to close cold cases that have remained unsolved for decades. In recognition of DNA Day this week, we want to bring you the story of Stephanie Isaacson.

Stephanie was born on August 12, 1974, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Her father, John Isaacson, was in the military and was transferred to Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas in 1985. That meant that John, his wife Sharon, Stephanie, and her younger sister Joanne were all headed to Las Vegas. At the time, Stephanie was about 11 years old. Stephanie was very close to her dad. The two of them enjoyed a lot of the same hobbies like hunting, camping, horseback riding, basically anything outdoorsy. They also enjoyed boating and got their scuba diving certification together at Lake Mead. When John and Sharon got a divorce in 1987, Stephanie decided she wanted to

live primarily with her dad, but she still spent plenty of time with her mom and younger sister, who she was very close with. The two of them lived in an apartment in the northeast part of the valley, about a 15-minute drive from Nellis Air Force Base. After four years stationed here in Las Vegas, John got new orders in 1989 and found out that they'd have to relocate to Spain in August. According to her friends, Stephanie was very excited about the move and that new adventure. By all accounts, Stephanie was fun, warm, understanding, and hardworking. She was a freshman at El Dorado High School, and she earned good grades. She loved swimming with friends, going to the mall, talking on the phone, and eating pizza,

just like any other teenager in the 80s and even today, really. Stephanie had a passion for singing, too, and one of her favorite songs was Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler. She was a member of the El Dorado High Choir along with eight of her closest friends. They called themselves the Little Team. In late May of 1989, the choir took a trip to California for a special concert performance and had also gone to Disneyland together. Stephanie's choir director, Jocelyn Jensen, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, She cared so much about her father, and she spoke often about her family. She was close to her classmates. She was a very cooperative person, just a very, very good girl. The choir

had a concert on the evening of May 31st, 1989, here in town, and sadly, that would be the last time her teachers and her little team would ever see Stephanie. In Las Vegas, up until very recently, the school year used to finish up very late in the summer, going well into June, despite that being during the time of year when temperatures are regularly over 100 degrees or 38 degrees Celsius for our metric friends. Back in 1989, school was still in session on June 1st, and Stephanie got up that Thursday, just like any other day, and left for school between 6.30 and 7 a.m. It wasn't a long walk, just one block on Stewart Ave, and then four blocks north on Lynn Lane. El Dorado is what we'd consider to be north Las Vegas today, about five miles south of Nellis, where the famous Thunderbird Squadron is stationed. As we mentioned, Stephanie's father, John, was stationed and worked at Nellis as a staff sergeant,

which is a mid-grade enlisted rank, not an officer, where you have some supervisory responsibilities. Stephanie often took a shortcut through a desert area instead of walking all the way to Lynn Avenue. Back in 1989, there was a lot of desert in that part of the city. Las Vegas has grown a lot since then, and the entire area is completely developed now. The area she would cut through is now a subdivision with sports-related street names like Stanley Cup, Super Bowl, Wheaties, and Heisman, but at the time, it was just open desert. She cut through that area all the time as a freshman in high school who didn't like a good shortcut. After school, Stephanie didn't arrive home on time,

which wasn't like her. Her dad, John, grew worried and called the school. He was surprised when they told him that she'd never made it to school that day, and they assumed that she stayed home for some reason. It seems like it was a case of the school assuming she was at home and John assuming she was at school. It would make sense that no one was particularly concerned until after school when it became obvious no one knew where she was. Her choir teacher Jocelyn had noticed she was absent from school that day and was somewhat concerned because Stephanie and her friends often hung out with her in the choir room at lunchtime, and as we said, it was the day after a concert which she had attended. When John realized that the school had no idea where she was,

he started calling her friends and quickly realized they also had no idea where she was. At that point, he called Metro and explained that his daughter was missing, and she was 14 years old, and emphasized to them that she was a good kid and would never run away, and they immediately opened a missing person case. John headed out with a few friends on horseback to look along the route he knew she always took to school, and Metro, to their credit, really leaped into action, bringing canine units as well as a helicopter to search from above. Shortly after starting to search, John and his friends located Stephanie's books and other belongings, which indicated to them that, as John said, this was no runaway case. Just a little while later, about 25 yards away, a canine unit located Stephanie.

She'd been murdered and her body was hastily covered in a discarded orange carpet. She was only partially dressed, she'd been raped, and had indications of blunt force trauma to her head. The police said that the killer must have pounced on her along the path and dragged her to where she'd been discovered. A medical examiner confirmed that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to her head and strangulation. He also determined that she had put up a fight until the end. The heartbroken family organized two funerals. The first was in Las Vegas and was mostly for Stephanie's friends, and the second was back home in Lincoln, Nebraska, where they were from. She was laid to rest in the Lincoln Memorial Park. After the first funeral, John realized that her friends were also in pain, so he did something a little unusual. He allowed them to go into her bedroom and each take a memento of Stephanie's to remind them of their lost friend.

Initially, the police followed up with the neighbors in the area. They were told that there was a weird car in the area, but it was a dead end. No one seemed to be able to give them any more information about the car, like the make or the model or even the color. The police had essentially nothing to go on. A $2,000 reward, about $5,000 today, was offered for information leading to an arrest in the case, but no one came forward. The FBI developed a personality profile of Stephanie's murderer, which they shared with the press and the public on July 25th, 1989. Metro said at the time they had never released a profile before, but with the case starting to grow cold, they were hopeful that it would lead to a break in the case. Keep in mind that this description is from 1989. The profile suggested that the person responsible for Stephanie's murder was a male of high school age or potentially as old as his early 20s who either lived or worked near the crime scene near Stewart and Lynn.

He was described as having only basic social competencies and limited intellectual abilities. People who knew him would describe him as an isolated loner. He would be weird, impulsive, and would fantasize a lot. They also thought it likely that he had experienced a confrontation with a woman in his life right before the murder, like a wife, a mother, a girlfriend, etc., that might have escalated his anger toward women in general. They also asserted that he would have started acting differently for a day or two after the murder, but would then have gone back to normal. The police followed up on Leeds for years following the murder in several different states, including Washington, Idaho, and Texas. But despite their attempts to keep

the investigation going, the case was just growing cold. Retired Metro Deputy Chief Mike Hawkins expressed his regret about Stephanie's case before his 2001 retirement. He said, what bothers me the most is I know there is someone out there who got away with murder, and I still feel bad about not getting that solved for the family. Right around the same time as Stephanie's murder, on June 9th, 1989, there was another abduction in Las Vegas. A 12-year-old girl who attended Paradise Elementary School was abducted and raped, but then dropped back off at her home. The police said the cases were not likely connected, but the school district did add additional security patrols

and sent home flyers in English and Spanish for families offering safety tips to discuss with their kids. The warnings were the types of tips most of us Gen Xers grew up hearing about stranger danger and telling the police when you see unfamiliar cars or people lurking around. Just as it is in 2024, finding the funding for the additional security at the schools

was brought up by administrators, and it was a concern of everyone involved. Later that summer, there was another incident, a failed kidnapping attempt of an 8-year-old boy on July 20, 1989. You can imagine how on edge the city was by that point. In 1989, when this crime occurred and was being investigated, the use of DNA in criminal investigations was still in its infancy. We talked a while back about the case of Gary Dodson, the first person ever to be exonerated using DNA evidence. If you haven't listened to that one, you really should. In the history of wrongful convictions, his case is where it all began.

It's important to note that eliminating a known suspect or a convicted person from having committed a crime using DNA is different than collecting DNA at a crime scene and searching for an unknown person with nothing to compare that DNA against. Remember that at that time, there was no DNA database, so any DNA that was collected at Stephanie's murder scene couldn't be tested in the way it would be now in 2024. The National Registry of Exonerations reports that since 1989, DNA testing has proven the innocence of 575 individuals who were wrongly convicted, with 196 of these cases being clients of the Innocence Project. Kimberly Merga joined the Las Vegas Metro Police Crime Lab team in 1996. She previously worked at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory and is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, and the Academy Standards Board DNA Consensus Body.

She has earned two bachelor's degrees in biology and criminal justice from Chaminade University and has a master's degree in forensic science from George Washington University. So you can tell that even back then, she was one of the premier experts in the industry, and she's still with the lab today as its director. The lab analyzed the DNA from the crime scene back in 1997, but unfortunately the process failed, according to Merga. Ten years later, though, a semen sample lifted from Stephanie's shirt was successfully sequenced and analyzed. At that point, the profile was uploaded to the FBI DNA database where it could be added to CODIS,

the Combined DNA Indexing System, which allows state and local crime labs to store and compare DNA from crime scenes and compare profiles with known offenders. In May of 2007, CODIS contained about 4.5 million offender profiles and about 175,000 forensic profiles. As of August 2023, the National DNA Index, NDIS, which is part of CODIS, contains over 16.5 million offender profiles, 5.2 million arrestee profiles, and 1.2 million forensic files. Between 2007 and 2020, the DNA from Stephanie's murder was compared with 30 potentially matching DNA samples, but a match was never found. Because of how the DNA analysis process works, each time a sample is sequenced, some of it is consumed and destroyed.

So by 2007, there was very little DNA evidence left, and by 2020, it was very degraded. In 2020, Othram, a Texas DNA lab, reached out to Kimberga and the Metro Lab with a proposal. They told the lab that they had been given an anonymous donation, which was earmarked to have them assist in a Las Vegas-based cold case. It turned out that the donation was made by Justin Wu, who is a local Las Vegas philanthropist who founded Project Justice, the Vegas Justice League, and Vegas Helps. Justin found out about some work that Othram had been doing in the field of forensic genetic genealogy and made that donation to them, asking them to take up a case in Las Vegas. The Metro Crime Lab took them up on it, and they decided to have them analyze the last remaining DNA evidence in Stephanie's case. It wasn't an easy decision, though.

If the lab somehow botched the analysis, or if a match couldn't be found, the DNA sample could have been lost and with it any chance to avoid Stephanie's case going cold forever. The amount of DNA that was left that could be tested was extremely small. It was 120 picograms, which is the equivalent of only 15 human cells. For comparison, the DNA tests that you may have done with 23andMe will collect between 750 and 1,000 nanograms. Authorm would be dealing with only 0.12 nanograms. Think of it like the difference between $1,000 and 12 cents. It's a big difference. Not only that, the sample was 30 years old and quite degraded,

not to mention the fact that it was likely a mix of DNA from the victim and the murderer. This case was a challenging one even for Othram. 120 picograms is the smallest amount of DNA they had ever used to build their forensic genealogy profile. It took over seven months, but they were able to build the profile, and then their genealogists reconstructed the branches of a family tree, not unlike what you might have done on Ancestry.com. Forensic genetic genealogy is incredibly powerful, and it's the same approach that led to the identification and arrest of the Golden State killer, Joseph James D'Angelo, in 2018. The profile Othram was able to produce of Stephanie's killer revealed

an ancestry mix of French-Canadian descent from New England and a more recent profile from Canada. In the end, they provided Metro with two possible family members, and Terry Miller with Metro did the investigation across several states. Finally, after 32 years, on July 21st, 2021, the department announced a match. The murderer was Darren Roy Marchand. Marchand was married in 1987 and divorced in 1990. He had a son born in 1989 and a daughter born in 1987, and at least one other child from a previous relationship. Marchand had an extensive criminal history, and Las Vegas Metro Police had multiple encounters with him over the years. He was definitely known to them. In January of 1989, Marchand was indicted on five counts of open and gross lewdness. He was accused of exposing himself to five different women. In April of 1989, he pled guilty to one of the charges,

but the remaining charges were dropped, and he was sentenced to a maximum of one year of probation. He was discharged from probation after only nine months. We found another interesting piece of information in the Review Journal archives about Darren Marchand and his relationship with the Las Vegas Metro Police Department. In 1991, the RJ published an article about the Board of inquiry that was looking into cases of excessive force used by Metro. Officer Brian Evans was accused of using excessive force on Darren Marchand after a lengthy foot pursuit on March 9th, 1991. The article stated he was wanted for non-support, which based off of the court records we reviewed was either child support or spousal support, which based off of the court records we reviewed, was either child support or spousal support, and also what the paper called several minor charges. A witness to the arrest told the board that Officer Evans beat Marchand with a flashlight. Officer Evans claimed he had tapped

Marchand in the head. Marchand had suffered a head injury, but a doctor told the board that the wound was from a fall, not a flashlight. The board concluded that Evans did not use excessive force in his arrest of Darren Marchand. The revelation that Darren Marchand was the man who had murdered Stephanie was particularly alarming given that he had also been arrested in 1986 for the murder of a woman named Nanette Vanderberg. Nanette was born on June 22, 1960, in Virginia. She moved to Las Vegas in the mid-1980s and was renting an apartment on East Tropicana. On February 27, 1986, her boyfriend hadn't heard from her in a day or two, so he went to check on her in her apartment, and to his shock and horror,

he found her body in the bathtub. She appeared to have been asphyxiated by a towel and strangled. She was only 25 years old. During the investigation, detectives discovered fingerprints at the scene that belonged to Marchand. We tried to find out more information on Annette, but unfortunately, the articles do not have very many details about her. Reporters couldn't even seem to agree on how her last name was supposed to be spelled. On March 10th, 1986, Darren Marchand was arrested and charged with open murder. At the time, he was 20 years old. He told police that he was with Annette on the night before she was murdered. According to the Review Journal, Marchand and Nanette had, quote, spent the night together.

Marchand said they ate breakfast together at 2.30 a.m. at the Nevada Palace Casino. He said he left her there and went home to bed. The Nevada Palace was a casino on Boulder Highway near Samstown. It was demolished in 2008 to make room for the Eastside Cannery. That casino was not far from where Nanette and Marchand were living at the time. Despite the fact that his fingerprints had been found at the scene of the crime, after two days of testimony during the preliminary hearing, the Justice of the Peace, Bill Jansen, dismissed the charges against Darren Marchand.

He said that the fingerprint evidence was insufficient for the case to go forward. Las Vegas Metro has since tested the DNA collected at that crime scene and determined it was also a match to Darren Marchand. It's chilling to think that if Marchand had been convicted of the murder of Nanette, Stephanie's murder would never have happened. Unfortunately, though, Darren Marchand will never be prosecuted for the murders he committed. He died by suicide on July 15, 1995, in Las Vegas. Police are continuing to investigate whether he committed any other sexual assaults or murders. While Stephanie's family finally knew who was

responsible for her murder, the fact that he could never be prosecuted left them feeling hollow. Stephanie's mother Sharon told police in a statement that she was glad the killer had been identified, but she was quoted as saying, It's good to have some closure, but there's no justice for Stephanie at all. Nothing will ever bring my daughter back to us. And for John Isaacson, the pain and anger over Stephanie's death was palpable when he said, that son of a bitch got me twice, once when he killed my daughter and again when I didn't get the opportunity to look him in the eye.

We mentioned the Vegas Justice League and their efforts to get cold cases solved. Justin Wu has said that his goal would be to solve every cold case in Las Vegas where there is DNA evidence to be tested, and he estimates that's around 100 cases. Othram Labs Chief Development Officer Kirsten Middleman has stated, We don't believe that it can be justice unless it's justice given to everyone. We believe that everyone deserves their name back, and every single perpetrator should be caught. When you see how much of an impact you're making, you just want to continue to do it. Here's where we ask for your help because this is something you can help with. If you've ever done a DNA test with a company like 23andMe or Ancestry.com, you can request

your full DNA profile data from that company and then upload it into the Authrum database for comparisons. This will allow Authrum and other companies to more easily build those family trees to locate family members of these criminals. We also encourage everyone to upload their data into the GEDmatch, the G-E-D match database, which is used by the DNA Doe Project to identify unknown murder victims. It's easy to upload your data and you never know if you could be the missing piece that gives a family the answers they've been waiting for. There's potential here to solve every cold case. As the technology has advanced to use such minuscule amounts of DNA and as more people

willingly share their genetic histories, we can connect the dots for families who have been waiting for justice for decades. You can also help to solve one of these cold cases by making a donation to organizations that fund genetic testing and forensic genealogy, such as Authram Labs, Vegas Justice League, and Season of Justice. We will have links to these organizations in our show notes. The cost to perform the analysis is only about $5,000, and it's hard to believe that that's the price to get a family the closure they deserve. In this case, it's so unfortunate that Marchand will never be held responsible for murdering Stephanie or Nanette, but with the use of these emerging high-tech analytical approaches,

at least the families of these two women can potentially have some level of closure. There are so many families out there that are looking for answers. Before we wrap up, we want to share that we received a question from a listener this week. The listener was wondering if we had an update on the case of Dr. Gwen Amsrala. Dr. Amsrala's murder was one of the first cases we covered in 2024, back in episode 11, which we released on January 16th. Dr. Amsrala's husband, Shiva Gumi, has been arrested for her murder, and the trial was scheduled to begin on April 15th, 2024. Unfortunately, the trial has been delayed and the date has now been pushed to August 19th, 2024. We are all hoping that the case gets resolved soon. We know that Dr. Amsral's friends, colleagues, and family members are anxiously awaiting

a resolution, as are we. And if anyone else out there has a question for us, just a reminder, you can contact us at questions at sinsandsurvivors.com. If you're enjoying the podcast, there are a few ways you can support us. One important thing you can do is post a strong review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. You can also become a subscriber to get ad-free and bonus content. If you aren't already subscribed, please visit sinspod.co slash subscribe, and you can join up on Patreon or Apple Podcast subscriptions. And it's your support that enables us to keep bringing you these important stories every week.

We're going to continue the conversation in our Swing Shift episode, so give that a listen too. We appreciate your support, and we remind you that what happens here, happens everywhere. Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod.co slash subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad-free. Remember to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Threads at Sins and Survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at questions at sinsandsurvivors.com. If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

A list of resources is available on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com. Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research written and produced by your hosts, Sean and John. The information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording. If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not constitute legal advice.

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