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one. Listener. Discretion is advised.

0:18

Agarwal Massachusetts a quiet town near

0:20

the Connecticut border in the early

0:22

nineties are go on. was home

0:25

to just over twenty thousand people

0:27

or wherever one knew everyone, especially

0:29

least as eager to an aspiring

0:31

teacher who worked at a small

0:33

card and gift shop in town.

0:37

One evening while Lisa was working at

0:39

the shop, someone walked in and attacked

0:41

her, taking Lisa with them. and for

0:44

the next several days, her loved ones

0:46

and the police frantically searched for her.

0:49

Who could have been behind the

0:51

small town crime and why? This

0:54

is Forensic Tales Episode Number

0:57

Two fifteen: The Murder of

0:59

Lisa Siegert. M

1:02

M. M

1:05

M M M. M

1:09

M M M. M

1:14

M. M.

1:19

M. Welcome

1:29

to Forensic Tells I'm your Host Courtney

1:32

Fretwell Aerial their. Forensic.

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Tells as a weekly true crime

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podcast covering real. Spine.

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Tingling stories with a forensic

1:40

science twist. Some.

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Cases have been solved with

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forensic science. While others

1:46

have turned cold. Every.

1:49

Remarkable Story sons as a chilling

1:51

reminder that not all stories have

1:54

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we get to the episode, we've got two

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you so much to James W.

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and Denia J. for becoming the

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show's newest patrons. Now

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let's get to this week's episode. Agawam,

2:32

Massachusetts is a small town near

2:34

the Western Connecticut border. In

2:37

the early 1990s, only about 20,000 people called Agawam home,

2:42

a place where everyone

2:44

knew everyone, and the Ziegert

2:46

family were among them. George

2:49

and Dee Ziegert lived in Agawam

2:51

with their three daughters and one

2:53

boy. Lisa Ziegert was the second

2:55

oldest and had a brother David and

2:58

two sisters, Lynn and Sharon. Lisa

3:01

and her siblings grew up incredibly close

3:03

with their parents and siblings. In

3:06

fact, the entire Ziegert family was

3:08

described as being a very close-knit

3:10

family who always stuck together. Growing

3:14

up, Lisa had always been into

3:16

education. She knew from a

3:18

very young age that she wanted to grow up

3:20

and become a teacher someday. In

3:23

high school, she was extremely involved in

3:25

the school's newspaper and played

3:27

both the flute and saxophone in

3:29

the concert band. After

3:32

graduating from high school, she went on

3:35

to college to get a degree in

3:37

elementary education in 1990. Everything she had

3:39

done so far was getting

3:42

her ready for her ultimate goal, to

3:44

become a teacher. In 1992, Lisa

3:47

was 24

3:50

years old and working as a teacher's

3:52

aide in special education at a local

3:54

middle school in Agawam. But

3:56

she also had a second job, working at a

3:58

small card and gift shop. shop in town, Brittany's

4:01

card and gift shop on Walnut

4:03

Street in Oglam. Since

4:06

she wasn't making much money working as a

4:08

teacher's aid, she went to work

4:10

at a gift shop from 5 to 9 p.m.

4:12

during the week. So

4:14

after Lisa finished her day at the middle

4:17

school, she drove over to the gift shop

4:19

to start her four-hour night shift there. This

4:22

was sort of her daily routine Monday through

4:24

Friday. It was a

4:26

pretty long day but it worked out just fine for

4:28

Lisa, at least in the short

4:30

term until she got a full-time position as

4:32

a teacher. April

4:34

15th 1992 started like any other

4:37

day for Lisa. She started

4:39

her day by working at the middle school and

4:42

then around 4.30 p.m. she drove

4:44

to the card and gift shop to

4:46

start her shift. She was

4:48

scheduled to work that night her typical shift

4:50

5 to 9 p.m. Around 5.30 p.m. Lisa's

4:55

sister Lynn said that she went to

4:57

visit Lisa at the shop and chatted

4:59

with her for about 30 minutes, something

5:02

that Lynn said they did all the time. She

5:05

would go to the card and gift shop and

5:07

just hang out with her sister when she had

5:09

no customers. According

5:11

to Lynn, nothing seemed unusual that

5:13

night and the shop was empty.

5:17

So when Lynn left around 6 o'clock

5:19

p.m. she said good night to

5:21

her sister and drove home. But

5:24

when the morning came around on

5:26

April 16th something wasn't right. Around

5:29

845 a.m. on April 16th one of

5:33

Lisa's co-workers Sophia Maynard arrived

5:36

at the gift shop ready to open for the

5:38

day. But when she got

5:40

there she noticed Lisa's car was still

5:42

parked in the parking lot. This

5:45

was a little strange because she should

5:47

have been long gone by then and

5:50

she would never see Lisa's car in

5:52

the lot overnight after she finished her

5:54

shift. But she thought

5:56

maybe Lisa had come back early that day to

5:58

pick up a few extra You're hours.

6:02

But once Sofia.inside the gifts

6:04

or things got even. Stranger.

6:07

She immediately noticed that none of the

6:09

closing procedures had been done. The

6:12

lights were still on, the radio was

6:14

playing music, and she saw leases wallet

6:16

still sitting on the counter. She

6:20

then started calling out Li says name over

6:22

and over again. thinking. That she

6:24

was still somewhere. In the shop. But

6:27

no matter how many times she called

6:29

out her name, Lisa never responded. When.

6:32

The coworker got to the back room. She

6:35

still didn't see Lisa. There was no sign

6:37

of her. But she noticed

6:39

several boxes had been turned over and

6:41

there appear to be some scuff marks

6:43

on the ground and walls like someone

6:46

had been in some type of feet.

6:48

But. Again, no sign of least. That's.

6:52

When the coworker decided to run across

6:54

the street to a nearby business to

6:56

call the police. She

6:58

also called at least a sister Lynn

7:00

to say that her sisters car and

7:02

personal belongings were all inside the shop,

7:04

but she wasn't there. At

7:07

almost the same time the coworker called

7:09

at least as middle school She also

7:11

called Li Says Family. They

7:14

were concerned because Lisa hadn't shown

7:16

up to work that morning, which

7:18

was extremely unusual. And

7:20

all the time that Lisa had worked at

7:23

the middle school, she never missed a single

7:25

day. And. If she was planning

7:27

on being out, she always called. But.

7:29

No one heard from her that morning. At

7:33

this point Lisa, mom and sisters are

7:35

really worried so they decided to drive

7:37

down to the gift shop and meet

7:39

with the police. And that's

7:41

when everyone started to come up with different

7:44

ideas about what could have happened. Since

7:47

Lisa car and all of her personal

7:49

belongings were still inside the shop, the

7:51

only theory that made sense was that

7:53

someone had kidnapped her. But.

7:56

The. Motive didn't appear to. Be. A robbery.

7:59

That's. because of Lisa's money and

8:01

cards were still inside her purse. And

8:04

the shop's cash registers still had all the

8:06

money inside of it. So

8:09

it wasn't money that they were after. They

8:11

only seemed to care

8:14

about Lisa. Then there was

8:16

the evidence found in the store's backroom. The

8:18

fallen boxes and scuff and drag marks on

8:21

the ground, like Lisa may have gotten into

8:23

a struggle with someone. It

8:26

looked like someone was dragged from the store and

8:28

out the back door. There were

8:30

also traces of blood on some of the

8:32

cards and balloons. So

8:34

all of this pointed in one single direction,

8:37

a kidnapping. Someone

8:39

kidnapped Lisa from the card and gift shop

8:41

that night, and now she was missing. The

8:45

police immediately turned to the public for

8:47

help. And almost instantly, they got some

8:50

promising tips from the public. One

8:53

person called in, saying that they went

8:55

into the card shop around 8.20pm

8:57

and made a purchase. There

8:59

was even a time stamped receipt confirming

9:02

this person's story. But

9:04

the customer said everything seemed fine inside

9:06

the shop. Lisa was the only

9:08

one in there and she was the one who

9:11

rang her up and she didn't mention anything. But

9:14

then a second customer came in around 9.00pm

9:17

and didn't see anyone working.

9:20

They waited around for a few minutes, but when

9:23

no one came out to help, they walked out.

9:26

According to this customer, she heard some

9:28

loud banging noises coming from the backroom

9:31

and just figured it was one of the workers. But

9:34

she did find it a little strange that no

9:37

one came out to help her. So

9:40

based on these tips, the police put

9:42

together a rough timeline of when Lisa

9:44

may have been kidnapped. They

9:47

knew her sister was there until 6.00pm and said

9:50

that everything was fine. They

9:53

also knew a customer made a purchase

9:55

at 8.20pm and also

9:57

said everything was okay. Lisa

10:00

wasn't there when someone went to the

10:02

shop about 40 minutes later. This is

10:04

now around 9pm. And

10:07

this customer said she heard loud banging

10:09

noises. Another

10:12

witness called into the police saying that

10:14

she saw a man and a woman

10:17

struggling in the backseat of a car in the

10:19

parking lot in front of the gift shop around

10:21

9.15. But

10:24

she just thought it was two young people

10:26

messing around. So she didn't report the incident.

10:29

She described the car as a dark

10:32

maroon color blazer or bronco, but

10:34

couldn't get a good look at either the

10:36

male or female inside the backseat. So

10:39

at this point, it wasn't much help

10:41

to investigators. Now

10:44

this was right around the same time the customer

10:46

left the gift shop. And

10:48

the same time that Lisa was supposed to

10:50

be ending her shift and closing the

10:52

shop. From

10:55

inside the shop, the police collected

10:57

several DNA samples. But

11:00

back in 1992, there wasn't much they could

11:02

do with it. There

11:04

weren't any widely used DNA

11:06

databases and DNA testing itself

11:08

was pretty limited. The

11:11

only thing they could tell was that

11:13

the unknown DNA all came from the

11:15

same male. So they

11:17

knew they were only looking for one suspect.

11:21

Over the next few days, Lisa's friends

11:23

and family were worried sick about her.

11:26

All the evidence pointed towards a kidnapping.

11:29

And each day that past meant their

11:31

chances of finding her okay, we're

11:34

getting smaller and smaller. There

11:36

was even speculation about whether Lisa

11:38

thought someone had been following her

11:40

in the days before her disappearance.

11:44

According to some of her friends, Lisa

11:46

mentioned that she thought someone had been

11:49

watching and following her, but didn't know

11:51

who it was. And

11:53

now she's missing. But

11:55

all of her family and friends worrying was

11:58

about to end. Their worst

12:00

fears were realized. After

12:04

four grueling days of searching, a walker

12:07

found her body in a wooded area

12:09

off Route 75

12:12

about four miles away from the

12:14

shop on April 19th, Easter Sunday.

12:17

She was partially clothed with her skirt down

12:19

around her ankles and her shirt pulled up

12:22

to her neck. She

12:24

had been stabbed a total of seven times,

12:27

including stab wounds that were several

12:29

inches long and several inches deep.

12:32

One of them had even gone through her neck. At

12:37

the autopsy, the medical examiner confirmed

12:39

even more chilling details. On

12:42

top of being kidnapped and stabbed, Lisa

12:45

had also been sexually assaulted, and whoever

12:48

had done this had ripped part of her

12:51

skirt off. But

12:53

she didn't go down without a fight. The

12:56

autopsy also revealed she had massive

12:58

defensive wounds on her arms and hands. Lisa

13:01

fought to the bitter end. Lisa's

13:06

funeral was held three days later on

13:08

April 21st, and

13:10

even though the weather was terrible that morning

13:12

and was pouring rain, over 1,000 people showed

13:14

up to the church. Everyone

13:18

in this small town wanted to pay their

13:20

respects to both Lisa and her family, but

13:24

they also wanted to find out who did this.

13:29

Almost instantly, people who lived

13:31

in Agawam suspected whoever was

13:33

responsible was a local. The

13:35

wooded area where they found her body

13:38

was so well hidden that whoever dumped

13:40

her body there must have known that

13:42

it was a good spot. It

13:44

wasn't somewhere easily seen or found. Her

13:47

body was found about 250 feet off the main road. No,

13:53

it had to be someone who was familiar with

13:55

the area, but who was that

13:57

person? On

13:59

October? On March 27, 1993,

14:01

the TV show Unsolved Mysteries

14:04

aired an episode on Lisa's murder trying

14:07

to generate some fresh new tips. But

14:10

the show didn't really bring anything in and

14:12

neither did the police. Even

14:15

though they had a pretty long suspect list in

14:17

the beginning, no arrests were being

14:19

made, and Lisa's case eventually

14:21

turned cold. The

14:24

lack of progress was shocking for the

14:26

people of Agawam and the entire state

14:28

of Massachusetts. Many

14:31

people thought that this would be an easy case

14:33

to solve. Whoever did

14:35

this should have been arrested within the

14:37

first couple weeks of the investigation. But

14:40

that's the exact opposite of what happened. This

14:44

case was anything but an open and

14:46

shut murder case. Others

14:49

went by with no solid answers, and

14:52

during this time, Lisa's family fought to

14:54

keep her story in the news. They

14:57

knew the more people who kept hearing

14:59

about it, the more tips they would

15:02

receive. But it

15:04

wouldn't be until many years later, in 2016, before

15:08

there was any real movement. In

15:11

September 2016, the District Attorney's

15:14

Office released two composite sketches

15:16

of the suspect. This

15:19

was the first time the DA

15:21

or the police had ever released

15:23

any sketches. So it

15:26

was a huge deal when these two images

15:28

were finally released. And

15:31

they weren't your typical photos. The

15:35

two pictures were created by

15:37

Parabon NanoLab, a

15:39

private Virginia-based company that

15:41

specialized in DNA phenotyping

15:43

and genetic genealogy. Using

15:47

the unknown male DNA collected at Lisa's

15:49

crime scene, Parabon NanoLabs

15:51

used the DNA to

15:53

create a composite sketch of how

15:55

the suspect might look. The

15:58

first photo was of how a person was treated. he looked

16:00

back in 1992. And the

16:03

second was an age-progressed photo to show

16:05

how he might look in 2016

16:09

over 20 years later. Remember,

16:12

back in 1992, the

16:14

only thing the police could do was

16:16

say that all the DNA collected at

16:18

the crime scene belonged to one person.

16:21

So the only thing they knew for

16:24

sure was that one person, presumably, was

16:26

responsible for Lisa's kidnapping and murder.

16:30

But now, by 2016, Parabon

16:32

Nanolabs was able to use

16:35

those same samples of DNA

16:37

to conduct DNA phenotyping.

16:41

In other words, use the

16:43

DNA to predict how the

16:45

person might look from characteristics

16:47

like eye, hair, and skin

16:49

color. So

16:51

using the DNA, they figured out

16:54

the suspect was most likely from

16:56

European descent and had fair to

16:58

very fair skin. He

17:00

most likely had brown or hazel

17:03

eyes and brown or black hair.

17:06

They could even say that he didn't have

17:08

many freckles. So

17:10

with all this genetic information,

17:13

Parabon Nanolabs created two separate

17:15

sketches of how Lisa's

17:17

killer might look based on his

17:19

DNA. And in

17:21

2016, the district attorney took

17:24

those images and circulated them out

17:26

to the public to see if

17:28

they could get any fresh leads.

17:31

Not only did they get new tips, but

17:34

the police also created a list of 11

17:37

possible suspects from these sketches.

17:41

Now here's how they identified these 11

17:43

men. One big

17:45

factor was age. Lisa's

17:48

killer couldn't be too old or

17:50

too young to have committed the

17:52

murder back in 1992. They

17:55

also had to be alive at the time. Second,

17:59

the police looked at who refused

18:01

to submit DNA samples back in 1992.

18:03

Now right after Lisa

18:07

was killed, the police asked everyone

18:09

from Agawam to submit a DNA

18:11

sample so that they could be

18:13

ruled out. They

18:15

didn't have search warrants to get the

18:18

DNA, they just relied

18:20

on people coming forward to provide

18:22

their DNA so that they could help move

18:24

the case forward. And

18:26

this seemed to work. A lot

18:28

of men in town voluntarily went down

18:30

to the police station and provided their

18:32

DNA. But not everyone.

18:35

Some people refused to give their

18:37

DNA to the cops. So

18:40

in 2016 and

18:42

2017, the police

18:45

looked at who refused to provide

18:47

their DNA and considered that when

18:49

creating their list of 11 suspects.

18:52

After that, they looked to

18:54

see who matched the physical description

18:57

of the two composite sketches created

18:59

by Parabon Nano Labs. So

19:02

if they matched all three factors, age,

19:05

refusal to give DNA, and

19:07

close resemblance to the sketches,

19:10

the cops put them on the list. And

19:13

in the end, they ended up with

19:15

11 possible suspects. By

19:18

2017, investigators opened the

19:21

case file again. This time

19:23

around, they had two sketches and a

19:26

suspect list. So

19:28

the first move was to get

19:30

DNA samples from all 11 men

19:33

on this list. They started

19:35

by contacting each one of them

19:37

and simply asking them for a sample

19:39

of their DNA. But

19:42

not surprisingly, most of

19:44

them gave the police a big fat no.

19:46

They didn't want to provide

19:48

their DNA back in 1992 and

19:51

they sure as heck wouldn't do it in 2017. But

19:56

just because they said no didn't mean

19:58

they didn't have to. If

20:01

one of these men refused, the

20:03

police just went back to the district

20:05

attorney, the DA went to

20:07

a grand jury to get a search

20:10

warrant requiring the men to provide their

20:12

DNA because they were considered possible suspects

20:14

in Lisa's murder. After

20:17

testing 10 of the suspects'

20:20

DNA, the police found themselves

20:22

looking at one particular person,

20:25

Gary Shara, the second

20:27

name on their list who checked all

20:29

the boxes. In

20:32

1992, he was around 23 years old. When

20:37

he was asked to provide a DNA

20:39

sample shortly after the murder, he refused.

20:43

He said he didn't want to do it

20:45

because he was worried about

20:47

the cops being able to quote, clone

20:49

him. And

20:52

third, he looked almost

20:54

identical to the age-progressed image

20:56

created by Parabon Nano Labs.

20:59

Check. Prime suspect number

21:01

one identified. On

21:05

September 17, 2017, 25 years after Lisa's murder, the police

21:07

knocked on 48-year-old Gary

21:13

Shara's front door in West Springfield.

21:17

Just like the other 10 men on the list,

21:19

they needed to get a sample of his DNA

21:22

so that he could either be ruled in or

21:24

ruled out. But

21:26

when they got to his place, Gary

21:28

wasn't home. Instead, the

21:30

cops talked to his roommate, who

21:33

said Gary wasn't there and that he would

21:35

let him know that they stopped by and

21:37

needed to talk to him. So

21:40

after they left, the roommate called Gary

21:42

and told him what just happened. But

21:46

instead of turning himself over to the

21:48

police to provide his DNA, he

21:50

did something that shocked everyone. For

21:55

a lot of people, this was the first time

21:57

they heard the name Gary Shara. But

22:00

his name wasn't new to investigators.

22:04

In fact, they had interviewed him a

22:06

few times over the years while investigating

22:08

Lisa's murder. It

22:11

all began in 1993 when

22:13

his estranged ex-wife Joyce called

22:16

in a tip saying that she thought

22:19

her ex-husband might have had something to

22:21

do with Lisa's murder and kidnapping. She

22:25

said he was an extremely violent man and

22:27

she just felt in her gut that he

22:29

was somehow involved. According

22:32

to her, any time Lisa's name was

22:34

mentioned on the TV or on the

22:36

news, he would run to

22:38

the TV and watch it. He

22:41

seemed like he needed to know everything

22:43

the cops knew. But

22:46

the police had their reasons to be

22:48

suspicious of this woman's claims. For

22:51

starters, this woman, Joyce and Gary,

22:53

were completely estranged at the time.

22:57

After Gary graduated high school, he and

22:59

Joyce quickly married and had a son.

23:02

When Lisa was murdered in 1992,

23:05

he, Joyce and their son all

23:08

lived together in Massachusetts, not

23:10

far from where Lisa and her family lived. But

23:14

sometime during their marriage, their relationship

23:17

turned sour and

23:19

they found themselves in a really complicated

23:21

and messy custody battle over their son. Gary

23:25

wanted full custody and so did Joyce.

23:28

So over the next seven years,

23:30

Joyce and Gary were not only

23:32

estranged, but also deeply entrenched

23:35

in this legal custody battle. So

23:38

when Joyce called in the tip saying that

23:41

she thought Gary might have killed Lisa, the

23:44

police had to wonder if there was any truth

23:46

to what she was saying or

23:49

if this was just a scorned woman trying

23:51

to take custody of their son. They

23:54

had no idea whether her trip was actually

23:56

credible or not. Either

23:59

way, the police... police decided to bring

24:01

Gary in for questioning. They

24:03

had investigated all the other tips, so this

24:05

was no different. But

24:08

when the cops sat down and spoke

24:10

with Gary, he denied even knowing who

24:12

Lisa was. He

24:15

said he had never met her before and didn't

24:17

know anything about her murder. So

24:19

the police asked him for a DNA sample,

24:22

but Gary said no. His

24:25

excuse? He was worried

24:27

about the police being able to clone

24:29

him if they got a sample of his DNA,

24:31

so he wouldn't do it. This

24:34

is where the cops' hands were tied. They

24:37

didn't have a search warrant to get his DNA,

24:40

and if Gary said he didn't wanna do

24:42

it, he didn't have to. So

24:45

after his first interview, with no

24:47

physical evidence linking him to any crime,

24:50

Gary was free to go. He

24:53

was once again interviewed by the police in 2002.

24:57

He was nice and seemed to be

24:59

cooperative, but when he was

25:01

asked again for the DNA sample, he

25:04

said the same thing he did back in 1991. He

25:07

didn't wanna be cloned. But

25:10

what was even stranger than that

25:12

comment, which is certainly strange, was

25:15

how Gary showed up to the interview

25:17

and what he wore. According

25:20

to detectives, Gary showed up wearing

25:23

gloves and a long coat. He

25:26

didn't even touch the water bottle given to

25:28

him during the interview. So

25:31

if a person didn't want the police to

25:33

have his DNA, it was

25:35

him. But once

25:38

again, Gary was free to go. 12

25:43

years later in 2014, Gary's

25:45

ex-wife Joyce passed away, so

25:48

the police couldn't go back and speak with her

25:50

again. But Gary still

25:52

remained on their suspect list, and

25:55

by 2017, he became the prime suspect. When

26:00

the police went to Gary's place to issue

26:03

the arrest warrant for his DNA in 2017,

26:07

his roommate said he wasn't home. But

26:09

later on, they found out as soon

26:12

as his roommate told him the cops

26:14

stopped by and wanted his DNA, Gary

26:17

called up his current girlfriend. After

26:21

separating from Joyce, Gary started dating

26:23

one of his old high school

26:25

girlfriends. The two

26:27

had recently rekindled their relationship and started

26:29

dating after seeing each other at a

26:31

high school reunion party. So

26:34

after he found out about the cops showing

26:37

up at his front doorstep, he

26:39

called his girlfriend and asked her if he

26:41

could come over and spend the night. At

26:44

first, she thought this was a little weird.

26:47

Gary had never asked to come over and spend

26:49

the night at her place during the work week.

26:53

He sometimes stayed over on the weekends,

26:55

but never during the work week. So

26:58

she thought this sounded odd, but of

27:00

course she said yes anyway. So

27:04

that night, Gary stayed at his girlfriend's

27:06

house avoiding the police. The

27:09

next day, his girlfriend got up early

27:11

to go to work while she said Gary

27:13

stayed in bed. Around

27:16

4.30 p.m., she returned home,

27:19

but Gary wasn't there, but his

27:21

watch and wallet were still sitting on the

27:23

kitchen counter. She

27:25

decided to wait around a little bit to see

27:27

if Gary would come back. Maybe he just went

27:29

out for a few minutes to run an errand.

27:33

She even went upstairs to take a shower,

27:36

but when she came back downstairs,

27:38

she noticed something on her coffee

27:40

table. On

27:42

the table was one of Gary's clipboards

27:45

with three handwritten letters. The

27:49

first one was addressed to her. Part

27:51

of it read, quote, I've

27:54

been dreading the day I'd need to write this

27:56

letter for almost as long as I can remember.

28:00

First off, I love you. I hope

28:02

you never doubt that. Now

28:04

the hard part. You are

28:06

going to find out some awful things

28:09

about me today. They will tell you

28:11

I abducted and murdered a young woman 25

28:14

years ago. It's true. All

28:17

of it. I had

28:19

no intention of killing her when I

28:21

grabbed her, but events spun out of

28:23

my control. And in the eyes of the law,

28:26

it's all the same. I have

28:28

never regretted anything so much. I

28:31

was young and headstrong and foolish. Emphasis

28:34

on the last part." He

28:38

also said later on in the letter, I've

28:41

never really been or felt normal. From

28:45

a very young age, I was fascinated

28:47

by abduction and bondage. I

28:49

could never keep it too far from my mind

28:51

for too long. On

28:54

that fateful day, I let myself do something

28:56

terrible. I hated what

28:58

happened. I despised myself. I

29:02

thought of turning myself in hundreds of times

29:04

over the years, but I

29:06

truly am a coward." The

29:10

second letter on the table was a

29:12

copy of Gary's last will and testament.

29:16

In the will, he gave 30% of

29:18

his assets to his mom, girlfriend,

29:20

and brother. Then the

29:22

final 10% was supposed to go to

29:24

his roommate. Then

29:26

finally, the third letter

29:28

was addressed to Lisa's family directly.

29:32

That letter was the shortest of all

29:34

three and only had four sentences. One

29:38

of them being, I

29:40

hope knowing who and knowing I am

29:43

gone will bring you closure and

29:45

peace. I am truly sorry."

29:50

Not only did Gary himself write this

29:52

letter directly to Lisa's family, but

29:54

it also seemed like a suicide note.

29:57

When he said, knowing I am gone, can

30:01

only mean one thing. After

30:03

he finished writing those letters, he

30:05

was planning on committing suicide. But

30:08

that's not what happened. Yes,

30:11

Gary did try to kill himself

30:13

by taking too many over-the-counter pain

30:16

pills, but he

30:18

chickened out. He was too

30:20

scared to take his own life, but

30:23

not scared enough to take Lisa's. After

30:27

the girlfriend found the letters, she immediately

30:29

went to the police department. One,

30:32

she was worried Gary might try to kill

30:34

himself like he insinuated in the letters. But

30:37

two, she needed to report what was in

30:40

the letters. He admitted

30:42

to murdering Lisa Ziegert. But

30:45

when she got to the police station, there wasn't

30:47

much that she could tell them. She

30:50

said she didn't know where Gary was or how

30:52

they could find him. It wasn't

30:55

until around 9.30 p.m. that night that

30:57

they received a tip that his car was

31:00

parked at the hospital. And that's

31:02

when they found out about the suicide attempt.

31:06

On his car's dashboard, they found

31:08

another note that read in part,

31:10

quote, to whomever finds

31:13

my body, I apologize

31:15

for any psychological trauma. Call

31:18

Mass State Police. Thank

31:20

you, end quote. After

31:23

Gary was arrested in 2017, he

31:26

spent the next two years behind

31:28

bars. He wasn't allowed

31:30

out because the judge granted no bail

31:32

in his case. And

31:35

it's almost a mystery why it

31:37

took so long because it seems

31:39

like the police and prosecutors had everything

31:41

they needed. They had

31:43

Gary's DNA that matched the DNA

31:45

collected from the crime scene. He

31:48

matched the composite sketch created by

31:51

Parabon Nano Labs. He

31:53

had been interviewed twice by the

31:55

police and considered a suspect right

31:57

from the beginning. And now they

31:59

have a confession letter he wrote to

32:02

his girlfriend and Lisa's family. It was

32:04

a virtual slam dunk. By

32:08

2019, Gary had been in custody for

32:10

a little over two years, but

32:13

instead of taking his case to trial, he

32:16

decided to plead guilty. In

32:19

exchange for the two charges of

32:21

sexual assault and kidnapping being dropped,

32:24

Gary agreed to plead guilty to

32:26

only one count of first-degree murder, and

32:29

in September 2019, he

32:32

was sentenced to life in prison without

32:34

the possibility of parole. Gary

32:37

Shara will never see the light of day

32:40

again for what he did to Lisa Ziegert

32:42

back in 1992. After

32:46

Gary's sentencing hearing, Lisa's father

32:49

George released a statement, quote,

32:52

today Lisa got the justice

32:54

she deserved. Emotional

32:57

closure will never be achieved.

33:00

Every family function will always be

33:02

one short. Every get

33:04

together with friends will be one short,

33:07

end quote. There's

33:10

no way of knowing what Gary's exact

33:12

motive was that day without asking him

33:14

directly, but some people

33:17

speculate whether he may have become obsessed

33:19

with her after seeing her at the

33:21

card shop one day. Inside

33:24

Gary's possessions, the police found a

33:26

music box that he had purchased

33:28

from the same exact card and

33:31

gift shop where Lisa worked. So

33:34

many people wonder if he had become obsessed

33:36

with her and decided to

33:38

make her his target. Even

33:41

after 20 years, he kept

33:43

that music box. One

33:47

of the many strange details about this

33:49

case is that this is

33:51

the only crime Gary is believed to have

33:53

committed. The police don't

33:55

think he did anything before Lisa

33:58

and they don't think that he did anything. afterward.

34:01

In fact, after murdering Lisa,

34:04

Gary went on to live a completely normal life.

34:08

He had regular jobs working in

34:10

customer service. He

34:12

had long-term girlfriends. He

34:14

had friends who all described him as being

34:16

one of the nicest guys in the entire

34:18

world. He just seemed

34:20

like an ordinary guy. He certainly

34:23

didn't come across as this

34:25

murderous sex offender. Gary

34:29

likely prayed on Lisa that night because

34:31

she was alone. He

34:33

went into the card and gift shop and knew that

34:36

she was the only one working.

34:38

He tried to kidnap her by leading

34:40

her to the back room, but she fought

34:42

back. And the two struggled

34:44

in the back room, knocking boxes

34:46

over and leaving scuff marks on the

34:49

door and walls. Lisa

34:51

even tried to fight back by punching

34:53

and scratching Gary as evidence

34:55

by the defensive wounds on her arms and

34:58

hands, but he was too strong for

35:00

her. Once

35:02

he got her out of the shop, the two

35:04

continued to struggle inside his car. This

35:07

lines up perfectly with what the

35:09

witnesses said, who saw a man

35:12

and woman fighting in the backseat of the car in

35:14

the parking lot around 915. Even after he dragged

35:19

her outside, she continued to

35:21

fight. After

35:23

he sexually assaulted her and stabbed her

35:26

seven times, he drove to

35:28

that remote spot and dumped her body, a spot

35:31

only four miles away from the card

35:33

shop. Then a

35:35

few days later, her body was discovered

35:38

on Easter Sunday morning. Clearly

35:41

Gary felt remorse about what he

35:43

did, but not enough remorse

35:46

to ever turn himself in. Although

35:49

he claimed in his letters that he

35:51

didn't intend to murder Lisa and he

35:53

regretted it, he never had

35:56

the courage to come forward and confess to

35:58

what he did. He

36:00

didn't even have the courage to follow through

36:02

on his suicide attempt. Instead

36:05

of taking his own life, like he did

36:07

with Lisa, he backed

36:09

out and drove straight to the emergency room

36:11

so that doctors could save him. But

36:15

he never showed Lisa that kind of mercy. Lisa

36:19

Ziegert was a young 24 year old

36:21

woman doing everything she could to make

36:24

her dream come true, to become

36:26

a teacher. And to

36:28

make that happen, she took a second job

36:30

working at a card and gift shop to

36:33

make a little extra money. But

36:35

that decision ultimately cost her

36:38

everything. Fortunately,

36:40

new DNA advancements

36:43

and DNA phenotyping led

36:46

investigators to catch a killer over

36:48

20 years later. Justice

36:51

may have been delayed because of a

36:53

lack of forensic tools available to law

36:55

enforcement in 1992. But

36:58

all of that changed years later. Today,

37:02

Lisa's mom Dee hopes

37:04

that this same type of DNA

37:06

testing can be used to help

37:08

solve other cold cases just

37:11

like her daughter's and help

37:14

catch more killers, especially

37:17

the cowards. To

37:20

share your thoughts on the story, be sure

37:22

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