Murder by Numbers

Woman: hi. We can't come to the phone right now,

but leave a message, and we'll call you back.

Have a blessed day.

Man: hey, mom, it's me.

Just wanted to say happy mother's day.

It was very scary not knowing why and what happened.

Pattison: is this just the tip of the iceberg?

Are we gonna have more phone calls from around the neighborhood

that someone else can't reach their mom

or someone else didn't show up to work?

This person or people are on the loose.

Why are they killing people? Are they gonna stop?

It was really devastating, and it still is.

It never goes away.

It always hurts.

I wanted to kill that son of a bitch.

Man: okay. Um, I love you, mom. Bye.

Captions paid for by discovery communications

narrator: the day starts out like any other.

In this peaceful town outside of Reno.

But then a call comes in to 911.

There's been a fire.

And damage to a truck gives investigators

reason to believe this isn't an accident.

There was indications... The way the fire burned...

That there was intense heat around the vehicle.

And didn't really find any ignition sources

that would have caused that.

You smell that?

I had some gut feelings

that something was really wrong with this situation.

When it comes to an arson, when you suspect it,

what would drive somebody to do something so destructive?

Why?

Narrator: with the fire in the garage under control,

chief Huntley searches the seemingly deserted home.

Huntley: i found the home in disarray.

It just looked like somebody left in a hurry.

It was definitely suspicious.

Dickson: when you find a dead body.

That has unusual circumstances,

you don't know what trauma caused their death.

If there's a structure fire,

you automatically believe that this is all related

and this is one incident, part of a chain.

Pattison: when the phone call came in.

That we have a house on fire and a homicide scene,

we immediately responded.

We don't average very many homicides in Lyon county.

Looks like two shots each,

one to the head, one to the chest.

We just have to kind of let the evidence tell us the story.

There's usually three motives for homicide...

Sex, money, or revenge.

Narrator: the victims are Robert and Dorothy pape,

and even early in the investigation,

detectives have a theory.

Pattison: someone was obviously looking for something.

Dues: a very large jewelry chest was pushed away from the wall,

which probably weighed in excess of 100 pounds.

Okay. jewelry box, money.

Now you start thinking burglary gone bad.

Narrator: while detectives piece together.

What happened at the papes' house,

Robert and Dorothy's loved ones get the devastating news.

Terry: I come screaming up this driveway,

and this cop comes running out to me,

and he says, "this is a crime scene.

You need to move this car."

And I... we stood there and argued for about...

I don't know... Three or four minutes.

And finally he says, "we have two victims inside."

We believe them to be Robert and Dorothy pape.

At first, I didn't believe it, and then it dawned on me,

and then I just... My knees buckled.

I just fell apart.

Narrator: Dorothy and Robert pape.

Met 64 years earlier

when they both worked in a factory.

Robert: my dad was there on his forklift,

and she came up to him and goes,

"can I have a ride on that thing?"

And he goes, "yeah, jump on."

So they went around the factory with it.

And then that night, they went out to dinner,

and ever since then, they've been together.

Terry: unwavering devotion,

each to the other.

It was unspoken.

It didn't need to be demonstrated.

But if you were to watch them together,

um, she would have...

Given her life for her son or her husband.

64 years.

Everywhere they went, they were always together.

Never failed.

And some son of a bitch takes it away?

Narrator: the papes were gunned down in their own home.

Within a tight-knit neighborhood.

We enact a neighborhood canvass.

We pool resources from the entire county.

I don't think there was a cop on that morning

that didn't respond to fernley from anywhere in the county.

Basically, the houses there are so close together,

they figured that someone had to see or hear something

that would lead them to the killer,

so they just started going door to door.

Did you see anyone coming or going from the papes

that didn't belong,

anything that didn't seem right to you?

I saw smoke coming from the papes' garage.

I ran back inside my place and dialed 911.

Okay, but no people,

not even one person that looked out of place?

No, nothing.

Farley: they just kind of struck out here.

They went door to door.

They were asking neighbors if they had seen anything.

People said they didn't see or hear

anything out of the ordinary,

just the smoke, so really this was just a bust.

Man: I'm coming back.

Narrator: with no known witness,

investigators turn their focus back to the burned-out truck.

It was odd to have a cab full of newspapers.

Dues: you know, does it belong here?

Does it not belong here? Is it a clue?

Is it something we need to collect?

But this vehicle's been burned so badly,

I don't have a v.I.N.

Can you run a plate for me?

It's Nevada. Csu-6679.

You sure?

Farley: the truck did not belong to the papes.

It belonged to elliezear Graham,

and Graham is someone that police know all too well.

What was the charge?

Narrator: elliezear Graham has a long criminal history,

and he spent the past several years behind bars.

Now we realize that we may have somebody on the loose.

We knew we needed to find this person

before we had more bodies.

How many more are out there?

We've got a suspect on the run.

What is it?

Ma'am, I need you to get back in your car right now!

Narrator: in fernley, Nevada, Robert and Dorothy pape.

Are gunned down in what looks like a botched burglary...

Leaving everyone in their tight-knit neighborhood

in shock.

Super-nice neighbors. Just the quietest people in the world.

He owned several acres, so he was out there

every day working on his property.

He lived to work on his property every day.

Every single day, he was up with the birds.

Super-nice guy. He always waved, "hi, hello."

Brought me watermelons that he grew in the fall

and that, you know?

It's just hard to grasp right now that someone murdered them.

Farley: this is something that, in a small town,

you look at and you believe will never happen to you.

And here they were dealing with the fact

that there was this violent killer on the loose.

And obviously everyone was just completely frightened.

Narrator: and now there's a new and strange piece.

Of the puzzle... The truck found torched

in the papes' garage isn't theirs.

It belongs to a man named elliezear Graham.

One of the initial things that we learned about elliezear

is that he's a convicted person in the state of Nevada.

Narrator: and Graham's job piques the detectives' interest.

As it progressed, we started to really see

the depth of the situation

and find out that he did a paper route.

I remember hearing that and saying,

"it is related. It's all part of this."

Immediately, i suspected foul play.

It looked like somebody had stuffed paper everywhere,

newspapers in the truck itself.

Man: hey. It's me.

I'm on my way back from Reno.

Caldwell: we do have a regional offender notification unit.

That goes out and does face-to-face checks

with their clients just to make sure

they're abiding by all the conditions

that they might be subject to when they're released.

Mr. Graham, come to the door, please!

Mr. Graham!

Farley: so, now they have a person.

Who could be key in solving this... Eli Graham.

But Eli Graham is missing, and at the time,

I don't think anyone thought this was just a coincidence.

Female operator: 911. Where is your emergency?

I'm at the i-80 mustang exit.

The mustang exit... It's a pretty popular exit,

as far as being known

because you can say to anybody in town,

"mustang ranch,"

and that's a brothel that's out in that area.

So that's what it's kind of known for.