Essay Sample on The FBI Files Special: Deadly Dentist Episode 1 and 2

Introduction

In St. Luis a serial killer strikes and vanishes leaving little evidence in the pathway. On the evening of the 3rd November 1977, two men drove in a farmhouse. One man goes to introduce himself to Mr Graham as a representative of the farmers' union while the other remained in the car. Graham allows the man into the house. A minute after the man enters the house, he shoots at Graham and his wife. Graham is confirmed to have died on the scene by paramedics while Allan died later. Detectives for the crime arrive as the ambulance is leaving, search the whole house but find no clues that could lead them to the killer. The murder of the Grahams left their son Russel and his wife. Detectives attended the funeral and were on the lookout for anyone suspicious, but they found nothing, (Resnikoff, 2015). The police never expected the murderer could be hiding in dental professionalism like Dr. Engelman who worked in a healthcare unit in a nearby St. Luis. Engelman lacked the skills of a dentist but made up for them by being a killer. He had grown up in St. Luis and still kept a circle of old friends. One of his friends being Barbara Graham. As a result of her in-laws' murder, Barbara's husband would soon be a rich man. Everything seemed to work as Engelman had planned and it was now time for Barbara to now work closer to Engelman. While relating with Barbara, his relationship with his third wife Rita became rocky. His profession seemed not to earn them enough money since they were always short of cash. Ellen Noel continued to investigate Graham's murder and it seemed what they had was not much. The police lacked real leads to the people who benefitted from Grahams' murder. They suspected the sons, but nothing linked them to the incident. A few months after Russel and Barbara had married, Barbara started getting insurances through the mail without her husband's knowledge and even had to forge signatures of her husband in all the applications.

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On the evening of March 31st, 1979, Russel Graham left his job at an oil refinery. For Barbara and Engelman, this was the night they had been plotting to kill Russel. For killing Russel, Barbara agreed to pay Engelman $50,000, and on the other hand, she will gain $250,000 on Russel's death. Hiding in the garage, Engelman and his friend Bill Carpenter waited for Russel to come home. Russel reaches home, opens the garage to park his car but is ambushed in front of his wife. He looks at her expecting some explanation. Russel is struck and lays on the ground struggling for breath. Engelman continues striking him two or three times. He removes Russel's wallet from the pocket and puts it in a rubbish bag, and covers the body with a second bag. Barbara mops the blood on the floor. According to their plan, Barbara was to wait for some time and call Russel's workstation to inquire if he was going to work till late, then the hospitals after which the next morning he was to call the police. Russel is dragged in the back seat of his car, then Engelman drops carpenter at their workshop where he picks up his car and follows Engelman. They drove to a city motel in east St. Luis that was known for prostitution, and the dentist puts condoms in Russel's pocket so it would seem that he was killed due to sexual disagreements. He also kept his wallet and his watch to appear like he was robbed. The men then drove home.

The next day Barbara reports her missing husband to the police, and when they came, she plays her part perfectly so that no one knew that she had been involved in the murder. Three days after the murder, the motel manager finds a body in an isolated car, and the police find that the number plate of the car belonged to Russel. Checking to see if it was stolen, they find that a missing person report had been issued in Graham. Graham's head has been raped in towels. Forensic technologists check the car but no fingerprints besides those of Graham's family. Investigators find a condom in the pocket of Graham's jeans which Engelmann had planted there. Donald finds out that there is some information which was not adding up, (Geberth, 2016). Russel's character does not relate him to being even near searching for prostitutes. Donald sees a link between Russel's murder and that of his parents. A prisoner Allan Jackson confesses to the murder of Graham. Susan sues Engelman for not paying her debt. Engelman devises a way to kill Susan by using a bomb. Investigators interrogate the residents, but no one reports something suspicious. Previously, there was an intended bombing at Susan's house which did not succeed. Engelman had been linked to the case, but due to lack of evidence, he was cleared.

The two cases were likely and the bombs matched, and the dentist was put back on the incidences suspects. Engelman refused to be examined for the use of explosives and was let go. Engelman is linked to other murder cases including the death of Becker who had married his ex-wife. Investigators led by Mughal suspect that Rita could have some useful information and they go to investigate her and tells her that they would keep the conversation secret. Rita tells investigators that Engel had threatened her life and that she had divorced him for suspecting that he was a murderer. Rita says that at one point, Engelman had confessed of killing a man. The agents started trailing Engelman. Rita tells the investigators more information which elucidates how Engelman had acquired knowledge to use explosives. Rita exposes the information of how Barbara and Engelman were related and even recalls him telling her that he and Barbara were going to murder Russel Graham. Mughal suspected that Engelman was suspicious of killing seven people but still needs evidence to apprehend Engelman. They decided to use Rita to convince Engelman to talk about her murders. They would record the conversation using secretly launched microphones. They assured Rita that they would provide her with security. Surveillance was set outside Rita's apartment. Engelman did not get out the information that could be useful to arrest him. Reporters write in a magazine that Engelman is a suspected benefactor of three murders. Rita uses this chance to ask Engelman how he was associated with this cases but he also gave no information worth arraigning him in court. Mughal leaked some more information to the journalist about Henderson's murder which they published, and Rita decided to question Engelman if he had benefitted from the murder which he confirmed to have benefited. Due to security matters, Rita was relocated together with her son.

The police decided to arrest Engelman and his co-killers including Carpenter, Jose, and Maria simultaneously. The interrogators decided to give an incentive to Jose to make him testify against Engelman. Jose claimed to have known Engelman most of his life and that he had engaged in several illegal businesses and again suspected to have killed several people. The agents then decided to collaborate Jose's story with that of her sister. Maria told them that she had known Engelman the rest of her life and knew that he had capital challenges. Maria confesses that Engelman and Carpenter had killed her husband while on a picnic. Engelman was tried in court with his wife was the witness, was found guilty after the trial and sentenced for life imprisonment, Carpenter was sentenced for 17 years. Engelman was again convicted on the murder of Susan and the murder of Russel Graham and his parents and sentenced to life in prison. Carpenter was provided with an offer from Webber and gave out information that related Barbara to Russel's murder. The investigator's examined the garage in which Russel was killed and found some traces of blood. Barbara was arrested while trying to the country and convicted her. She was found guilty and sentenced for 50 years. Engelman died in prison in 1999 at the age of 71, (Morris, 2017).

Conclusion

From the show, we learn that at times there are no traces at the crime scene that can lead the police to arrest a suspect. Moreover, we learned of the need to link the information acquired from different crimes to see if they match and this can help trace the exact criminal. Furthermore, we learn of how we can get to provoke the different suspects so that they say the truth they know about a particular crime.