everything in plastic bags to containers. if that turned up in the foam on marshall s boots but not in the foam at the crime scene, wouldn t that exclude marshall as a suspect? the detective protested phthalates must have gotten in the boots because they were stored in a plastic container all those years. but to the scientists, facts are facts, those two pieces of foams did not share the same chemical signature. to hear her say one has phthalates and one doesn t, i have to tell you, it was devastating. not your best day. not the best day. because it was the piece we needed to do something more than we had from 1984. without that connection to the boot, i don t think we have a case. coming up, investigators make one last-ditch efforts to talk to their suspect. they track him down here leading a surprising life when dateline continues. dateline continues
then we took it to the fbi. the fbi crime lab in virginia, where the foam from marshall s boot and the foam from the kfc would be compared to confirm they matched. it was obvious to the detective that they did. the test really was just a legal routine. no problem. i can remember getting the call from the fbi analyst, because my expectation was she s going to tell us i have a match. and? it was like a needle going through a balloon. there was a problem. she was not willing to say i can t say with any certainty this is from the same shoe because one has phalates and one doesn t. phalates? what are those? substances used in plastic to make them more flexible from everything in plastic bags to containers f. that turned up in the foam on marshall s boots but not in the foam at the crime scene, wouldn t that exclude