The Murder of Roger ‘Scott’ Dunn
For this case, I watched an episode of Forensic Files. It’s season 4 episode 2, titled ‘The Killing Room.’
A 24-year-old man disappears from his Lubbock, Texas apartment.
Background
Roger ‘Scott’ Dunn, or Scott, as I will be referring to him as, was a 24-year-old military veteran. After he left the military, he settled in Lubbock, Texas, and seemed to enjoy it there. He worked at MGM Electronics, and installed custom sound systems in vehicles.
Scott was described as a jokester, fun loving, and as a ladies man.
Scott Dunn
The Disappearance
On the evening of May 13, 1991, Scott attended a party at one of his friend’s homes. Scott became very ill, and had to crash at his friend’s, as he couldn’t even walk or drive home.
On May 14, Scott’s girlfriend, Leisha Hamilton, came to pick Scott up. She said that he looked awful, and could barely walk or stand up.
On May 15, Scott was finally feeling well enough to go to work. He didn’t have his car back from the previous night, so he told Leisha that his friends were going to take him to work. But, when Scott’s friends arrived to pick him up, but Scott didn’t answer. Leisha said Scott wasn’t home when she came home from work.
Two days later, Leisha contacted Jim Dunn, Scott’s dad, who lived in Pennsylvania. Leisha told Jim that she was Scott’s live in girlfriend, which surprised Jim. Jim was told that Scott disappeared, so he contacted the Lubbock police to file a missing persons report.
A Disturbing Scene
When the police arrived at Leisha and Scott’s apartment, Leisha immediately told the police that a piece of carpet was missing from underneath the couch.
In Scott’s bedroom, the police found that missing piece of carpet. It had been duct taped together with the carpet in the bedroom. A piece of carpet had been removed from the bedroom. Along the seem, the police noticed a rusty colored stain. It was clear that it was blood.
There was another large stain on the padding underneath the carpet. In one section, the blood on the padding had seeped down to the concrete below. It also looked like someone had cleaned blood off of the base board of the wall.
The investigators used luminol to test the room. The room lit up like a Christmas tree. It was obvious that Scott had suffered from a violent attack.
Scott had a previous arrest for possession of cocaine. But, the police were able to rule out that his disappearance was a drug hit or drug related. It seemed way more personal.
The Live-In Girlfriend
It seemed like Scott wasn’t able to commit to Leisha as much as she would’ve liked. One month before Scott’s disappearance, Leisha had learned that Scott was engaged to another woman.
Leisha continued to contact Jim to talk about the case, and about Scott’s sports car. Jim taped all of their phone calls. In this episode, Jim can be heard telling Leisha that she would get the car when this was all over. Leisha told Jim that she didn’t want the car, but needed it. Leisha was clearly getting impatient about having to wait for the car.
The police learned that Leisha had a record. She had been arrested in New Mexico for embezzlement.
Leisha told Jim that she believed a man named Tim Smith was involved in Scott’s disappearance. Tim lived near Scott and Leisha, and became infatuated with Leisha.
The Neighbor
The police went to speak to Tim at his apartment, and saw that he was packing up to move.
Tim willingly let the police search his apartment. When the police walked back out to the room where Tim was standing, they discovered that Tim had moved a roll of duct tape that was on his book shelf. Tim claimed he didn’t move anything, but the police found it hidden behind some books.
The tape was sent in for testing. Using infrared lights to look at different wave lengths and components of the tape, the results were that the tape from Tim’s apartment and from Scott’s bedroom were consistent. On the side of the tape, triangular green carpet fibers were found, which was the same color as the carpet in Scott’s bedroom.
It seemed like Tim or Leisha, or both had killed Scott. However, they didn’t have a body.
The Search for Answers
A year passed since Scott disappeared. Jim met with a group called the VIDOCQ Society, a group of 82 international forensic experts. The group is a members only group that meet in Philadelphia to try to solve unsolved crimes.
Jim met with Richard Walter, a co-founder of the group, to go over the case of his son. Richard immediately knew that Scott had been murdered.
Richard was convinced that Leisha held the answers. Richard sent the information to Dr. Richard Shepard of New Scotland Yard. Dr. Shepard concluded that Scott had been murdered in his bedroom, and had been struck multiple times with a blunt object.
Richard Walter begged the district attorney to take this case to trial. Richard said that they didn’t have a body, but had a body part, the blood’s connective tissue.
Tim Bevel, a blood spatter analyst, did his own experiments to determine how much blood Scott had actually lost. He used human blood and carpet to determine that Scott had lost about 2 units of blood, which was too much blood to still be alive. He also looked at the blood castoff patterns on the wall, and determined that Scott had at least been struck about 4 times.
Richard Walter noticed that there were unidentified hairs in the duct tape found in Scott’s bedroom. It was sent in for testing, and was determined to be hair from both Tim and Leisha.
The Convictions
Tim and Leisha were finally arrested 5 1/2 years after Scott disappeared.
It’s believed that Scott was killed in the early morning hours of May 16, 1991, while he was asleep. Scott was struck 4 times with a blunt object. Leisha and Tim tried to clean up the scene, but obviously left behind too much evidence.
It’s believed that Leisha wanted revenge after finding out that Scott had been seeing other women and was engaged. Tim probably helped Leisha because she manipulated him, and he was obsessed with her.
They were tried separately, and both convicted. Leisha was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and Tim was sentenced to 10 years of probation.
The jury believed that Tim was involved in helping Leisha clean up, and get rid of evidence, but weren’t convinced that he was in the room when Scott was murdered.
Leisha Hamilton
Tim Smith
Other
In May 2012, Scott’s remains were eventually found. The remains were found in a 4 by 8 feet grave behind some the Chaparral Terrace apartment community in Lubbock. The remains were well preserved due to being wrapped in a blue vinyl material, and some kind of bed sheet or blanket. Scott’s dental records were used to confirm that these belonged to him.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Dunn family can finally lay Scott to rest. It’s horrible that they had to wait so long to do so. Tim and Leisha are both horrible people, and I 100% agree that Tim was in the room when Scott was killed. Leisha had more of a motive, but Tim was clearly going to do anything Leisha asked him to do. Scott was so young, and was killed because Leisha was jealous and obsessive. The fact that she would call Jim constantly pretending like she didn’t know what happened to Scott makes me so angry. Jim was grieving, and had to deal with this woman that he had never met, or even knew about.
Sources
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8278927/roger-scott-dunn
https://www.nj.com/mercer/2012/10/former_yardley_pa_man_is_final.html
https://www.kcbd.com/story/18604205/medical-examiner-concludes-humain-remains-are-scott-dunn/
