narrator: up next,an apartment complex is the site of a brutal murder. -she was stabbed multiple times. it looked like it wassexually motivated. -how could someone do that? why would someone do that? narrator: police find aclue next to the body. -during that struggleis when the button came off and fell to the ground.
narrator: but who killed her? -it was a sex crime, but thatdidn't limit it just to men. narrator: a jealous lover, anexotic dancer, an ex-husband all had a possible motive--and the button held the key. 35-year-old julie ann braunworked as a consumer loan officer in fresno,california, helping people get carloans and mortgages. but that wasn't the onlyway she assisted others. -if someone washitchhiking down the road
with a can in theirhand for gas, she'd go, mom let's stop and pick them up. and i'd say, julie,are you crazy? and i used to tell her, youknow, to just be careful. -she was always positive. she never yelled at anybody. if you didn't getalong with her, then there was somethingwrong with you, 'cause she was the nicestperson in the whole world.
narrator: julie wasalways punctual. so when she didn't show upfor work one monday morning, it was cause for alarm. julie's boss called andsaid she didn't come to work and didn't call in. and i mean, i juststarted shaking. i knew there was somethingwrong because julie was not that kind of a person. narrator: julie's motherwent over to her daughter's
apartment and found herbody just inside the door. she had been stabbed to death. -when my daughter died,it was like someone took a piece of my heart. julie was my whole life. narrator: the medical examinerestimated that julie was murdered the night beforeher body was discovered. she had been stabbed 37 times. it appeared to be asexually motivated crime,
but oddly, there wasno sexual assault. -she was in her underwear, andthere was just a massive amount of blood under her,and around her. uh, it was obvious that therewas a significant amount of physical damage to her body. narrator: fortunately,julie's two children weren't home whenthe crime occurred. they were withjulie's ex-husband. robbery wasn't a motive.
julie's purse, with money andcredit cards still inside, lay untouched onthe kitchen counter. a possible murder weapon,a four inch steak knife, was in the kitchen sink. but it was clean. there were no signsof forced entry. [knocking] was it possible julieknew her killer? -everything pointed to whoevercame in that apartment,
came in, uh, non-violently,was allowed in. it wasn't somethingwhere they had forced their way inand attacked julie. narrator: police foundsome bloody shoe prints at the scene-- oneon julie's body. -when i saw thatfootprint, that told me an awful lot aboutwho i was looking for. he showed exactly what hethought about what he did by just pushing heraside like she was
nothing more thana piece of meat. narrator: unfortunately,none of the shoe impressions could be used as evidence. -with carpet, you can't tellthe pattern on the shoe, but you could tell the formof a shoe print in the, uh, in the blood itself. narrator: in asearch for suspects, julie's apartment managerstold police an unusual story. three nights before themurder, the manager's wife
was taking her nightly walkaround the apartment grounds. a new tenant, a youngman she barely knew, told her there was abroken window at the end of his hallway, and heasked her to check it out. -ok, where exactly isthe broken glass at? -it's, it's just-- -it's down a dark walkway.he's persistent. over and over heasks her, come over here and take a look at it.come over and take a look at it.
she wants nothing to do with it. the manager's wifetold that person that she would notifyher husband, the manager. narrator: the nextday she checked. there was no broken window. -for whatever reason thatperson had, that person wanted to take theapartment manager's wife into a very dark,very, uh, secluded area of that apartment complex.
and that raised ahuge flag for us. we wanted to talkto that person. narrator: coincidentally,the tenant was julie's next door neighbor. in a haunting irony,julie ann braun chose her apartment complexbecause of its safety features. -she specifically rented thatplace because of the security. they had security gates. you couldn't get inwithout a key to get,
you know, the,like, key to get in. and, uh, it wasreally a nice place. narrator: the apartmentmanager's wife told police to question julie's nextdoor neighbor-- a new tenant, 23-year-old jeremie overstreet. jeremie lived with an exoticdancer named holly doyle. they met at the stripclub where she worked. overstreet wasunemployed, and holly said she found himarticulate and attractive.
-she was kindhearted, you know. felt sorry for him, you know. uh, things of thatnature, you know. she brought him home. narrator: whenquestioned by police, holly said overstreet washome on the night julie was murdered, and she saw no bloodon his shirt when he came in. -there werewitnesses, people that had been over atholly's apartment.
he had gone backto the apartment. instead of doingwhat he normally did, which was sit down, have somedrinks, and continue to talk, straight-- wentstraight to a room, told people not to disturb him. he was tired. narrator: a backgroundcheck revealed overstreet had acriminal record. -jeremie had just been paroled.
he had been incarceratedfor a previous rape. narrator: but overstreetviolated the terms of his parole bymoving to fresno. holly said overstreet tookoff when he saw all the police around the apartment complexinvestigating julie's murder. -that by itself would'vegotten him picked up the-- by the first officerthat found him. narrator: as policesearched for overstreet, another suspect emerged.
-i had no idea whowould hurt my daughter. my first thoughtwas her ex-husband. narrator: investigators learnedthat julie's ex-husband, john braun, did something onthe night of julie's murder that he'd never done before. he didn't bring the childrenhome to julie's apartment as he had always done. he said there'd beena change of plan. -it was strangebecause he always
took the boys home at 6 o'clock. that night, they had gottenback from the lake too late. -i'm sure i was the firstone they wanted to talk to. they were wondering,why were you late? were, were you circling around? did you come in, leavethe boys somewhere? you know, why, why thisnight are you late? narrator: in addition, policelearned that john braun was a few thousand dollars behindin child support payments.
could this have beena motive for murder? with no signs of forcedentry into julie's apartment, john was certainly someonejulie would have allowed in. -when we have ahomicide investigation, we look at everybody. everybody could be, andis a potential suspect. -any time you're having adivorce situation where kids are involved, and onehalf of that equation is getting on withlife and getting
into a new relationship,that gets volatile. and john braun wasmoving forward. he was dating someone. it was getting serious. narrator: in fact, john's newgirlfriend, brenda stanton, was another personpolice wanted to talk to. julie would also have allowedbrenda into her apartment. -there's nothing to saythat it couldn't have been a female suspect thatwent in and did that.
narrator: brenda, a32-year-old school teacher, had no criminal record. but three days beforejulie's murder, brenda and juliegot into a fight. apparently, brenda believedthat julie was trying to get back togetherwith her ex-husband. -we used to call hisgirlfriend "elvira". and she said elvira andher got into an argument, and john and her hadgotten into an argument,
and it was just one big mess. -go question her too. we'll question everyone. i wanted to make sure thatwhoever did this got caught. narrator: then, investigatorsfound an important piece of evidence injulie's apartment. -about 18 inches to 2 feetwest of where her head lay, i noticed a button. and it was justthere, on the carpet,
right close towhere her head is. narrator: the logo on thebutton-- eddie bauer 1920, was clearly visible. strands of thread werehanging from the button, indicating it had beentorn from a shirt. the button did not comefrom julie's clothes, or any of the blousesin her closet. -that didn't justfall from somebody who might have visitedher the day before.
that was something thatthe killer left behind. narrator: according tothe eddie bauer company, the button found at julieann braun's crime scene could have come from a woman'sblouse or a man's shirt. when questioned by police,julie's ex-husband, john braun, and his new girlfriend,brenda stanton, both denied owningan eddie bauer shirt. -we had to findout who it belonged to, where it came from.
we had to find a specific tieto this button-- why it's there. narrator: then, julie'smother remembered something that julie said to her on thephone the night she was killed. -i'll remember that day forever. she says, mom, letme call you back. i'm helping aneighbor right now. narrator: if that neighborwere jeremie overstreet, it could account for thelack of forced entry. so the search for overstreettook on a new significance.
when questioned, overstreet'sgirlfriend, holly doyle, said she bought overstreetfour shirts, and one of them was missing. -she described it as agreen, tan, and a red plaid, uh, short-sleeved shirt. narrator: holly boughtthe shirt at an eddie bauer store justa few miles away. -she immediately wentto the men's department, a particular clothing section.
she looked aroundand said, this is it. she picked it out ofall the other shirts that were-- this isthe one i bought him. this is the one that's missing. and i asked her, areyou sure about this? and she says, yes. i'm sure. narrator: thebuttons on this shirt appeared to beidentical to the button
found at the crime scene. -everything was kindof falling into place. everything was goingin the direction that we need it to go inorder solve, solve this case. narrator: police scoured theinside of julie's apartment for any signs offorensic evidence that would linkoverstreet to the crime. unfortunately, theycouldn't find any. they also couldn't findjeremie overstreet.
-you could tellby looking at ben, and i'm sure he couldtell by looking at me, that our stress levelwas about at 100%. narrator: one week later,because of his credit card activity, policefound overstreet in a san jose hotel 150miles west of fresno. police had nothing concreteto tie him to julie's murder, but were stillable to arrest him. -we had him in custodyfor parole violation,
but nothing else. we had time on our side towork the julie braun case 100%. narrator: in hiswallet, overstreet had one of juliebraun's business cards. -what he had was a trophy. it wasn't a business cardfor business purposes. it was a trophy to stampanother victim in his book. narrator: during hisinterrogation by police, overstreet wouldn't say wherehe put his eddie bauer shirt.
-one of those shirts wasgone, and also a pair of pants were gone. jeremie had no explanationfor where they were, or why they were missing. and that's consistent withsomebody who had slashed julie, stabbed julie, and hadblood on their clothes. and that wasn't gonna washout-- not with that crime scene. he had to get rid of them. narrator: onoverstreet's right hand,
investigators noticeda large, healing scar across his knuckles. -it sure looked anawful lot like a knife had gone down that knuckle. narrator: but investigatorsdidn't find overstreet's blood, or any other forensicevidence at the crime scene. investigators neededmore than a shirt button take charge overstreetwith murder, and feared he could walk free.
the prime suspect injulie ann braun's murder was her next door neighbor,jeremie overstreet, who had a previous convictionfor rape and robbery. investigators didn'tfind overstreet's blood in julie's apartment,despite the fact that he had a recent wound onhis right hand. so investigators decidedto look for evidence in overstreet's apartment. -we did notice someitems of clothing
that belonged to mr. overstreet. those were taken asevidence, but none of them were the clothing thatwe were looking for. narrator: but with so muchblood at the crime scene, investigators paidparticular attention to anything that resembledblood in overstreet's apartment. -we observed these small,brownish-colored specks-- one on the bathroom door, anda couple on the cabinet below the sink, and one crosson a, on the opposite wall.
narrator: a phenolphthaleintest showed it was human blood. -we can work with very,very small amounts of dna. i've always said that ifit's sort of pin-sized, uh, i can see it, thati can get a profile. narrator: but scientists didn'tfind just one dna profile. they found a mixtureof two female donors. one was from hollydoyle, which made sense, because she also livedin the apartment. -which could have been simplyfrom her touching the door.
narrator: the other wascompared to julie braun's dna. -the dna that i extracted andtyped from the bathroom door, in my opinion, camefrom julie braun. i have no doubt aboutthat whatsoever. -it was a home run, ifthere ever was a home run. narrator: in fact, theodds were 1 in 2.3 trillion that it was anyonebut julie braun. -when i was told that thedna belonged to julie, words can't describe thefeeling that came over me, uh,
that came over usin, in the unit. -there's only one way her bloodgot into his, his bathroom, and that was because he wasat the scene at the time. narrator: jeremieoverstreet admitted being inside julie's apartment. he said she was giving himadvice on how to get a car loan since she workedin the finance field. -an unbelievable story. you know, you have nojob, but yet you're
gonna go to, go talkto this person who's in charge of financing toget financing for a car. let's be real, here. narrator: overstreet deniedany involvement in a murder, but he couldn'texplain the blood. in july of 1999,jeremie overstreet was charged with first degreemurder and attempted rape. -he gave her thesame choice that he gave his victim fromsouthern california.
you can either have sexwith me, or you can die. the choice is yours. narrator: prosecutors believeoverstreet was hunting for victims, andthat the apartment manager's wife mayhave been a target. fortunately for her, shedidn't take the bait. -it really won'ttake long at all. you don't have a--just aquick moment to go back and-- -no.no i don't.
but i can-- i can senda maintenance guy, ok? narrator: three nightslater, prosecutors say overstreet conned hisway into julie's apartment with a story aboutfinancing a car. -so, uh, you're lookingat buying a car, huh? narrator: at 7:30 pm, julie'smother called the apartment. and that's whenjulie told her mother that she had company--one of her neighbors. at some point overstreetgrabbed a steak knife
and ordered her to undress. instead, julie tried toget to the front door. there was a fight,and she ripped the button from his shirt. overstreet was much bigger thanjulie, and without a weapon, she had no chance. he stabbed herrepeatedly, spattering himself with her blood. he washed some of itoff in the kitchen,
then grabbed one of herbusiness cards as a trophy. he then went back to hisown apartment to clean up, and some of julie'sblood landed on the door. this cross-transfer of julie'sblood and a button from a shirt like one overstreet ownedled to only one conclusion. jeremie overstreetwas the killer. -jeremie didn't needto rape julie braun. he had an exotic dancer,a beautiful woman, who he could've had sexwith just by asking.
this wasn't aboutwanting to have sex, this was wanting to dominateher, to use force on her. it was a crime of violence. it's disgusting. why would someone want that? why would someonetry to do that? why would anyone wantto have other people go through what theywould go through? narrator: on march 1,2003, jeremie overstreet
was convicted offirst degree murder, attempted rape, and burglary. at his sentencing,julie's family had some words for her killer. -(angrily) i hateyou, but i'm not gonna let thattake control of me. 'cause i'm not thatkind of person. i'm stronger than you. and my mother wasstronger than you.
and you know it. -i felt sick justspeaking to him. i kept looking atjeremie overstreet. then, all i could see washis gli-- glum face smirking. then he'd look down sometimes. narrator: a button and aspeck of blood told the story. a jury heard it, and sentencedjeremie overstreet to two life sentences with nopossibility of parole. -this guy is an--pardon my french,
but an evil bastard,and i'm relieved he's going to go to prisonfor the rest of his life. -you can try as hard as youwant to to cover all your bases. but with forensics, and what isbecoming on a day-to-day basis, you better be awful damn goodto get rid of everything. because that little speckof blood was julie's blood, and i could prove it. -they always say that, thatgod works in mysterious ways. i believe that thebutton was put there,
was left there, for us tofind, and for us to continue our investigation, and ledus in the right direction.