The Sadistic Trash-Bag Serial Killer Preying on Innocent Women | New Detectives | Real Responders

In 1963, detectives initiated an investigation into a woman's murder in California, but advancements in technology would take nearly three decades to catch the perpetrator, highlighting the limitations in forensic methods of the time. The only trace left by a serial killer was a trash bag, representing a single clue as detectives faced numerous challenges and setbacks in solving the case.

A serial killer targeting women in San Diego began his killing spree in 1985, leading to the brutal murder of a prostitute named Joanne Sweets. The police found her body in a dumpster, wrapped in garbage bags, a disturbing signature that hinted at the killer's modus operandi. Detectives struggled to identify the murderer amidst a series of similar unsolved cases involving vulnerable victims.

Despite having gathered some evidence, including a fingerprint from the dumpster, the investigation yielded no suspects. The killer remained elusive as detectives examined the various unsolved cases, including two other murdered prostitutes whose bodies were similarly discarded. These ongoing mysteries cast a shadow over the task force's efforts to pin down the serial killer responsible for these heinous acts.

After three years of stalled progress, forensic expert Diane Donnelly joined the investigation team in 1989. Previous attempts to extract viable fingerprints from the tape holding the garbage bags were unsuccessful, prompting a renewed effort using the latest technology to identify the crucial print from the dumpster, leading toward connecting a suspect to the crime.

The breakthrough came after adopting a new computerized fingerprint matching system which ultimately matched the fingerprint discovered on the dumpster to Brian Maurice Jones, a man with an alarming criminal history that included rape and robbery. Despite the evidence, doubts persisted about whether a solid case could be built against him, requiring further investigation.

Detective Hatfield speculated that Jones could be linked to multiple murders through his modus operandi, envisaging how Jones could have met his victims. Criminal profiling and investigation into his alibi were essential for corroborating the evidence as they aimed to find the definitive proof to convict him and prevent his release when he became eligible for parole.

In 1992, detectives focused their efforts on the garbage bags used in Joanne Sweets' murder, prompting them to take the evidence to Canada to employ a new technique called vacuum metal deposition. The technique had the potential to recover fingerprints from plastic surfaces, crucial for developing evidence lost to time and lack of innovative forensic methods at the original investigation stages.

The process eventually yielded visible fingerprints, leading to a match with Brian Jones, thereby establishing a definitive connection to the murder. This critical evidence ultimately closed the cold case as the detectives finally had the necessary proof to pursue a conviction against Jones, culminating in his sentencing for the murder of Joanne Sweets.

In a parallel investigation decades later, the unsolved murder of Thora Rose highlighted advancements in fingerprint technology. After her death in 1963, a new system was introduced that sifted through thousands of fingerprint files, leading to the identification of a suspect, Vernon Robinson, who had previously escaped justice before the technological developments in forensic science.