paranoid schizophrenic. clark was basically homeless, often sleeping in the back of his truck, which he parked in a church parking lot not far from the woods where the bloody pillow had been found. clark got into an argument with penny houghteling just one week before laura disappeared over some tools penny said were missing from her tool shed. the houghtelings also kept a spare house key in the shed. when the police researched clark s financial records, they learned that he had purchased duct tape, braided rope, and nylon cord several days before laura s disappearance and paid for the items with a personal check. investigators were alarmed with what they saw written in the memo section. one word, laura. on the day laura disappeared,
next, forensic scientists examined the hair brush found on laura s dresser. they examined over 30 hairs, presumably laura s hairs. they were all microscopically similar. except one. as i was scanning through several of the hairs i recovered from the brush, and all of a sudden one that i looked at, i realized was not a human hair. it was in fact a synthetic fiber. the fiber was identified as a strand of artificial hair from a wig. penny told police that her daughter never wore a wig and had never owned one. so now that put greater value on this particular piece of evidence. why was a wig fiber in that hair brush sitting on the dresser from her bedroom? forensic examiner susan balou also examined bloody pillowcase that was found in the woods. she noticed bloodstains that looked like the impression of a knife, which had been wiped on
morning of laura s disappearance wasn t laura at all, but was, in fact, hadden clark dressed as laura? penny houghteling told police something about laura s attire that they hadn t heard before. laura never, ever wore slacks. she was a tall girl. she would wear skirts or a dress. she didn t want to accentuate her height by wearing slacks, so never wore slacks. didn t own a pair of slacks. fibers from all of the wigs in clark s storage locker were compared to the wig fiber found on laura s hair brush. blond was not a possibility since we were dealing with a brown tone as far as the dye goes for this wig fiber. then doing microscopic exam narrowed it down to one particular wig that was
hours of october 19, 1992. hadden clark knew penny houghteling was away when he entered the home through the back door sometime after midnight. he picked up a knife from the kitchen and went to laura s bedroom. he suffocated her with a pillow. and then he stabbed her. clark used the scissors to remove her earrings which left the blood impression on the pillowcase. and in that blood, the partial thumbprint uncovered by the black stain. there was no blood trail in the house since clark wrapped the body in bed linens and plastic. while transporting the body to
presumably laura s hairs. they were all microscopically similar. except one. as i was scanning through several of the hairs i recovered from the brush, and all of a sudden one that i looked at, i realized was not a human hair. it was in fact a synthetic fiber. the fiber was identified as a strand of artificial hair from a wig. penny told police that her daughter never wore a wig and had never owned one. so now that put greater value on this particular piece of evidence. why was a wig fiber in that hair brush sitting on the dresser from her bedroom? forensic examiner susan balou also examined bloody pillowcase that was found in the woods. she noticed bloodstains that looked like the impression of a knife, which had been wiped off the pillow case, and another bloodstain on the pillow case was different than the rest.