Ep 2. Followed Home

As a veteran journalist and anchor, Paula Zahn delves into some of the most compelling criminal cases in America with the show On The Case. Season 14, episode 2 is titled Followed Home and follows the investigation of a young woman's murder.

The episode begins with the discovery of Karen Widdoss's body in her own home in November 1991. Karen, a 29-year-old mother of two, had been brutally murdered. Her body was discovered by a neighbor, who had noticed her front door open and had gone in to investigate. Karen had been strangled and her body bore signs of sexual assault.

The police immediately launched an investigation into the murder, but the case went cold for over two decades. In 2016, Detective Michael Fischer of the Southern Lee County Sheriff's Office was assigned to take a fresh look at the case. He brought in DNA technology that wasn't available in the 90s and began the painstaking work of reviewing the case files and following up on leads.

Detective Fischer's initial breakthrough in the case came in the form of a boot print that had been found near Karen's body. He was able to match it to a brand of boot that was being sold in the area at the time of the murder. This led him to a man named Antonio Sanchez-Carvajal, who had lived in the area at the time of Karen's murder and had owned a pair of the distinctive boots.

Sanchez-Carvajal had a criminal record, including two rapes, and had been deported to his native Mexico in 2003. Detective Fischer was able to track him down there and obtain a DNA sample, which he sent for testing. The results came back a few weeks later, and they were conclusive - the DNA found on Karen's body was a match for Sanchez-Carvajal's.

Detective Fischer then worked with Mexican authorities to have Sanchez-Carvajal extradited to the United States to face charges for Karen's murder. It was a long and difficult process, but finally, in October 2019, he was brought back to North Carolina to stand trial.

The trial lasted for two weeks and included testimony from witnesses who had known Karen and had seen her with Sanchez-Carvajal on the night of her murder. The prosecution also presented evidence from the crime scene, including DNA samples and the boot print, which matched Sanchez-Carvajal's boots. In addition, the defense called into question the reliability of the DNA evidence, saying that it could have been contaminated or mishandled over the years.

In the end, the jury found Sanchez-Carvajal guilty of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The verdict brought some measure of closure to Karen's family, who had been waiting for justice for nearly three decades.

On The Case With Paula Zahn has been a groundbreaking true crime show since its inception. This episode was a captivating example of the investigative reporting and attention to detail that has defined the series. Followed Home was a moving story of a community's struggle to find justice for one of its own, and the tenacity of Detective Fischer and the Southern Lee County Sheriff's Office proved that even the toughest cases can be solved with hard work and determination.