involved. the sweatshirt was given to forensic analyst mary wong. since the killer used a .38-caliber handgun, there was the potential of gunshot residue on the sleeves. when a weapon is discharged, a cloud of gas is formed and then these particles are then deposited on any surface in the vicinity of the discharge. wong processed the sleeves and cuffs with a stub sampler, an aluminum disk with a carbon tape adhesive surface. the sample was bombarded with electrons, and the x-rays revealed three chemical elements lead, antimony and barium. if those three elements are present, then that leads me to believe that that particle is actually a primal gunshot residue particle. this meant kevin rice s killer was wearing this sweatshirt.
these fibers contained seven. and the colors and the composition were identical in both samples. this meant the blue acrylic fibers on william buck s shirt came from the killer s hooded sweatshirt. he was wearing either that shirt, or just by pure dumb luck, he was wearing an absolutely identical shirt to that one. finally, investigators swabbed around the neck of the sweatshirt and found microscopic skin cells, possibly from sweat. the dna profile of those cells matched buck s genetic profile. william buck was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. and it was william buck s accomplice, vincent holmes, who revealed why kevin rice stopped his car on that fatal night. hey. i m ted and this is rudy. say hi rudy. [ barks ] [ chuckles ] i d do anything to keep this guy happy and healthy. that s why i m so excited about these new milk-bone brushing chews. whoa, i m not the only one.
in the following morning. the carpet was being laid that night. and there was a problem. he got a call at home shortly after 1:00 in the morning from a friend of his who was finishing carpeting the house and informed that there was a problem with the measurements. so he just threw on some casual clothes, jumped in his car and went to see what the problem was. kevin went to his new house, helped fix the problem, then headed home. according to vincent holmes, he and william buck were breaking into a car when kevin rice saw them. even though rice was unarmed, he confronted them. william buck was fresh out of prison and had no intention of going back. [ shots ] buck fired six shots. five hit kevin rice. gunshot residue contaminated buck s sweatshirt. as he ran from the scene, buck dropped his keys and his asthma inhaler, then discarded his sweatshirt, but the unusual
sent to forensic analyst mary wong. she conducted the same tests she used on the hooded sweatshirt. no gunshot residue was found on either man s clothing. so, the hooded sweatshirt and the shirts from both men were sent to skip palenik, one of the country s premier experts in trace evidence analysis. in terms of physical evidence, microscopic evidence, this was the only evidence available. and so, it assumed great importance in the case as the investigation proceeded. his job was to determine which man was wearing the sweatshirt. whenever two objects come into contact, there is always a transfer of material. anybody who s ever worn a new sweatshirt knows, especially if you take a dark sweatshirt on a white shirt, it sheds horribly. you get fibers all over the place.
acrylic fibers from the sweatshirt still clung to buck s shirt. the gunshot residue on the sweatshirt, the dna from the sweat, the fiber transfer onto his shirt were clear proof william buck fired the gun. that was a blessing from god that he was running and he happened to drop something out of his pocket that he didn t realize he had dropped. we felt very strongly about the evidence, just how they were able to tie everything together. something simple as a hair fiber or a drop of sweat on a tag on a sweatshirt, being able to extract dna evidence from that. it was a very important part of the entire case. william buck was convicted of killing a police officer and sentenced to 68 years in prison.