One Deadly Mistake

A college student is found savagely murdered.

- In all the murder cases I have worked

I've never seen anybody do anything like that before.

- There was blood in the bedroom,

around by the bed.

- And we noticed that the tub was full of water.

Police sort through dozens of potential suspects.

- They all came to her apartment

and were harassing her.

She was scared.

- Approximately 40, 50 individuals

had DNA taken from them.

But investigators can't seem to find

the evidence they need.

- We'd been just pouring our hearts into this case

and we're getting no result.

- It was like this person had vanished

off the face of the earth.

What will be the killer's one deadly mistake

that lands him behind bars?

Had he not done that,

I don't know that we would have seen him as a suspect.

- If he hadn't left that signature mark,

he would still be at large.

Vincennes, Indiana.

A quaint, historic town nestled on the Wabash River.

Just 20,000 people call the small city home.

- Residents are hardworking individuals

and most people are proud of Vincennes, Indiana.

It's rural. It's small.

Most people know everybody else's business.

The state's oldest public university

is the pride of the town.

- Vincennes University has about

between 3,000 and 4,000 students.

Vincennes University is like a life all its own.

At 9:30 on the evening

of September 7, 1999,

the peaceful city is stunned by a desperate 911 call.

- Uniformed officers were dispatched to the scene.

The house is rented to 19-year-old

Vincennes University student Brook Baker.

- Once they observed that they had a possible homicide scene,

detectives were dispatched as well.

Detectives carefully make their way inside.

In the bedroom, they find a violent scene.

- Brook was laid on her mattress

which was on the floor.

There were 11 stab wounds in the back.

- Now, she was nude and we couldn't find any clothing

that had stab wounds in them,

so it appears to us that it was a sexual assault.

It seems clear

the murder happened in the bedroom,

but investigators carefully survey

the rest of the apartment for clues.

- There was nothing that really indicated

that there had been a struggle, but the bathroom was unusual.

The bathtub is filled with water

and there are towels in the water, which is unusual

because it didn't appear that Brook had taken a shower

or taken a bath in it.

So, what we began to conclude is

that the killer used the towels to clean themself off.

With around 11 stab wounds to the body,

that's quite a bit of blood.

- He put the towels in the bathtub

and he left the bathwater running to hide

any evidence of his own DNA

on those items that were in the bathtub.

The CSI team takes the towels for evidence

while detectives move into the kitchen.

Something catches their eyes in there as well.

- The sink was filled with water, absolutely filled,

and on top of it were two empty liquid detergent bottles

floating on the water.

As the technicians walk through, I said,

"Hey guys, did you look in here?"

and they said, "What?" and I said,

"Well, look at this. This is odd."

They looked through the water.

At the bottom, I could see there had been

some various utensils thrown in

including some knives.

Could one of these knives be the murder weapon?

There were several knives,

and the one I recalled that was unusual

was almost like a serrated bread knife.

Now, I couldn't see anything on it,

but we would request that there be some analysis done

on that knife.

While the forensics team removes the knives,

investigators try to read the crime scene

for a clue about the killer.

- There's no indication that there's been any type

of burglary or robbery, her purse is there,

her personal effects and the like, things of value.

So, initially detectives were piecing together

that this is probably someone who knows Brook

and she allowed them to come in.

Probably a male,

so we're looking for somebody who she dated

or had some type of relationship with.

Looking for answers, detectives turn to the man

who discovered Brook Baker's body,

her younger brother Braun.

He struggles to recount his horrifying discovery

earlier that evening.

- Braun was going to his sister's house.

He didn't get an answer at the door

but he had a key get in, so he went inside.

He heard water running in the bathroom

and first thought that she was taking a shower.

But he sat down, and after a few minutes

he goes to the bathroom, knocks on the door,

and then peaks in and sees the water running.

Brook's not there.

So Braun thinks,

"Why is the tub running if she isn't there?"

Braun shuts the water off.

On the way back from the bathroom,

he walks past the bedroom

and he sees her laying in the bed

and he walks towards that area, thinking she's sleeping...

And when he walked in,

he noticed that she'd been stabbed.

The traumatized young man tells police

he has no idea who could've killed his sister.

It was a horrific site,

certainly, for her brother to come across that.

By now, a crowd has gathered outside the building

where Brook lived and died.

- Very quickly, the word began to spread

that something had happened at Brook's house.

People were beginning to congregate

so it's becoming quite a hub of activity.

- We've got a couple of fraternities

that are in the area, so there's a lot of people

showing up just standing around.

- Some of the people who knew Brook were curious.

They wanted to know what had happened.

This one of the biggest things that's happened in years.

Brook Baker was well-known

on the Vincennes University campus.

The 19-year-old sophomore seemed to connect

with nearly everyone she met.

- She was outgoing, she was very curious.

To meet Brook for the first time,

you would know that she had this natural ability

to make you feel comfortable

so that you would open up to her, talk to her.

Genuinely a good person.

She was very personable.

She wanted to go places in life.

She had an inner drive

to be an investigative journalist

and she wanted to be successful in her life.

- Her approach to journalism was always surprising to me

because she was working on things that

no one else had even started

digging into yet.

She always strived for more.

Investigators take in

the information about their victim

as they slowly work their way through the crowd.

- There were people present that had information

that we need to start looking into about Brook Baker's death.

There was one friend that she worked with.

After talking to him, he pointed out that

there was another gentleman on the other side of the road.

He had said we probably need to speak with him.

The young man's name is Biff Elliott.

Detectives learn he may have information about Brook.

- I went over and spoke to him.

He was a journalism student

and he was also in most Brook's classes

and they worked a lot together and they were friends.

She confided in him

things about journalism, about life.

Biff admits

that he was with Brook until 9:30 p.m.

on the very last night of her life.

- Biff and Brook attended a concert on campus

at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday night.

- They walked back to the house that she was at

and then he drove her to 2nd Street

to another house where she was going to attend a party there.

That was the last time that Biff saw her.

The next day, investigators ask Biff

to come to the station to learn more

about his whereabouts on the night of the murder.

They ask what he did

after he dropped Brook off at the party.

The answer he gives them is vague.

- I don't know that Biff really had an alibi

other than he was at home.

- We believe she was murdered late Saturday,

early Sunday morning,

so a lot of imprecision on his alibi.

The more detectives question Biff,