she had been beaten, stabbed and strangled to death with an electrical cord. the crime was one of the most brutal crimes that i ve seen as a prosecutor. next to heather s body investigators found broken pieces of plastic. there was a small black plastic pieces, particles found. some on her body, some scattered around the room and laying next to her body which we could not identify. there were no signs of forced entry, but the motive appeared to be robbery. heather s wallet, her 35 millimeter camera, television and automobile were missing. we didn t understand at that time how he got in the house or anything else. so yeah, we were very concerned about it. and we wanted to try to find him or her before another crime could take place. police issued a be on the lookout call for heather s car,
electrical cord. the crime was one of the most brutal crimes that i ve seen as a prosecutor. next to heather s body investigators found broken pieces of plastic. there was a small black plastic pieces, particles found. some on her body, some scattered around the room and laying next to her body which we could not identify. there were no signs of forced entry, but the motive appeared to be robbery. heather s wallet, her 35 millimeter camera, television and automobile were missing. we didn t understand at that time how he got in the house or anything else. so yeah, we were very concerned about it. and we wanted to try to find him or her before another crime could take place. police issued a be on the lookout call for heather s car,
planned to pursue her dreams but put them on hold for a year as a favor to her mother. i had just gone through a divorce. and she promised to stay with me for a year until i got my legs. and when that year was up she made her plans and she moved. her destination was myrtle beach, south carolina where she had some friends. she wanted to be in the entertainment industry. i knew she loved singing. and i think that s one of the reasons she moved down to the myrtle beach area, because their area has a lot of entertainment. heather rented an apartment in this house near the beach and took a job as a waitress. but heather found it difficult to get work as a sing irand she told her mother she was discouraged. she wanted me to come down. she was feeling homesick and things were not going as well as she wanted them to go down there. it would be the last time she heard her daughter s voice. a week later friends found her daughter s body in her apartment. she had been beaten, stabbed a
his family indicated that he had had some real problems with drugs and that he had an anger problem. that he had lost his wife, his marriage, his kids and everything, because of the drugs. and they said it was something that he could not control at all. whipple knew heather stigliano, and knew she worked as a waitress and would have cash in her apartment. he knew that she worked at a restaurant, had good tip money, usually on most nights. prosecutors believe whipple went to heather s apartment for one reason and one reason only. money. he asked heather if his friend chris was there, which was probably a ruse to see if she was alone. heather said she had his telephone number and allowed him inside. desperate for money and high on
week of heather s murder. then investigators got an unexpected call from an antique dealer 26 miles away in south carolina. he and his wife read about the murder in the newspaper and had some information they thought might help. they told us of a gentleman who had come down there. he looked like he had been in some type of a scrap or a fight. and he was trying to sell a camera. the cameras was the same make and model as the one missing from heather s apartment. just real suspicious acting the whole time. he even got a little aggravated when they told him they didn t want it. and he had a look that scared them. he described the man as white, mid-30s with dark hair. and he had the presence of mind to write down his license plate number on his coffee cup.