On January 20, 1998, 12-year-old Stephanie Crowe was found stabbed to death in her California home. Her 14-year-old brother, Michael, and his two friends admitted to killing her, but Defense Attorney Mary Ellen Attridge claimed their confessions were coerced by police. DNA testing revealed Stephanie's blood was on the sweatshirt of a drifter, Richard Tuite, but was he the killer? “48 Hours" correspondent Bill Lagattuta reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 6/11/2005. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who was Stephanie Crowe and what happened to her?
Dozens of young people from all over San Diego came out to collect trash and clean up a canyon often used for drug-related activities.
It gets you to not do stuff like watch TV all the time. It gets you out there.
19.
19. She would be in college as well. Already graduated high school.
It's been more than six years since Stephanie Crow was murdered, but her parents, Stephen and Cheryl, finally have hope that justice is on the horizon. We're back on the record in the Tewitt case. Today, this man, Richard Tewitt, a drifter, a felon, and a diagnosed schizophrenic, is going on trial for her murder.
People will show beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant murdered Stephanie Crow.
Just try to get justice for her. And if we could do that, there'll be a little bit off our shoulders. But it's been a long road, very long.
So is there any doubt in your mind he killed her daughter? No.
After her funeral, we went back to the cemetery to make sure everything was done right and everything. And who do we see walking a couple blocks away from the cemetery towards the cemetery but Richard Tuitt?
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Chapter 3: Who is Richard Tuite and how is he linked to the case?
Mary Ellen Attridge's plan was to dispute the boy's so-called confessions. But she was also planning to revisit the questions about Richard Tuitt and paint him as the likely killer. One thing she had always wondered about was the clothing police took from Tuitt the morning Stephanie's body was discovered. Clothing the police said contained no incriminating evidence.
She wanted to have a closer look.
I was given the impression that all of the clothes were sent to their DNA lab.
She discovered that only Tuitt's white t-shirt had been tested for DNA evidence.
When we went to see the evidence, I looked at Richard Too's clothing and I thought this stuff is a cesspool of biological material.
And then she saw something on the red sweatshirt.
I didn't know what it was. I suspected there had to be some sort of DNA on there somewhere.
Richard Tuitt, a known paranoid schizophrenic, went to... Attridge demanded that prosecutors send all of Tuitt's clothing for DNA testing. Five months later, on the first day of Josh's trial, there was still no word from the lab.
And then... The phone call came in, and I hung up, and I just started to cry.
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