Lawless murder case to be subject of '48 Hours Mystery' episode

A murder case more than 17 years old, a man wrongfully convicted of the crime and a sheriff determined to find the real killer are the essence of Saturday's "48 Hours Mystery" hosted by Erin Moriarty.

Moriarty and "48 Hours Mystery" producers began pursuing the Angela Mischelle Lawless murder case more than a year ago after Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter, who reopened the case in January 2006, asked the show's producers how he could reach Dutch forensic specialists that were on a previous episode.

1992 murder victim Mischelle Lawless (Submitted by Scott County Sheriff Department)

In 1992, Lawless, 19, was shot three times in her vehicle on the Interstate 55 offramp near Benton, Mo.

Walter and Lawless' family hope the 60-minute segment, set to air at 9 p.m., will prompt people with information to come forward.

"That's what you hope for every day, especially when we're closer than we've ever been in solving the case," Walter said Wednesday.

Moriarty, who has been a correspondent for the show for 20 years and reported on the JonBenet Ramsey investigation and the defense of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, said Saturday's broadcast is special to her.

It's unusual, she said, for a sheriff to reopen a closed case because he was hearing the wrong person had been convicted.

Walter "is a very impressive individual who really does seem to put the whole issue of justice ahead of his own personal interest," Moriarty said. "I've never run into this. A sheriff bucked the system to do what's right."

Despite death threats against him and his wife, Walter, who was the first to respond to the scene of Lawless' murder in 1992, said he'll never quit pursuing the killer or killers. It's not an option, he said, to tell members of Lawless' family that the search for her killer is over.

"We don't have tunnel vision on this case. We still are looking at six to eight suspects," Walter said. "I have faith that we will solve this; it's just going to take a lot of work."

Although the broadcast is about Lawless, Moriarty said the case is important because it illustrates the failure of the judicial system.

Joshua Kezer, a teenager at the time of the murder, was pegged for the crime by inmates who said Kezer confessed while being held briefly in jail on an assault charge. In addition, a woman identified Kezer as a man she saw at a party arguing with Lawless.

Despite no fingerprints or murder weapon to link Kezer to the murder, he was convicted and sentenced to 60 years in prison.

When Walter reopened the case, evidence that helped to convict Kezer started to be questioned, and in 2009 Kezer was exonerated by a Cole County judge based on the fact that key evidence was illegally kept from Kezer's original defense attorneys.

"It's human error, but a young man lost nearly 17 years of his life, and that shouldn't happen anywhere," Moriarty said. "Every prosecutor, every investigator, whether it's a sheriff or a police chief, need to look at this case and learn from it."

The segment is also important for reporters to watch, she added, because some tend to trust investigators when often they should question evidence more.

Moriarty said she wrote half the show, which, with the help of two producers and numerous editors, was cut down to one hour. While she's happy with its outcome, she said it doesn't include one individual she wanted in the show -- Dallas Butler, who came forward and said he may have seen the killer.

Around 1 a.m. Nov. 8, 1992, Butler has said, he saw two vehicles parked near the northbound exit of I-55, and pulled up to ask if they needed help. He saw a woman in the driver's seat of the car, head bowed, hands on the wheel in one of the cars.

The next day, after hearing a girl had been killed at that same exit ramp, he told police officers details of his story. Butler was told he'd be contacted by sheriff's deputies but never heard from anyone.

Although he's left out of Saturday's broadcast, Moriarty said his interview may be posted in an extra segments portion of the broadcast online after the entire piece airs.

"I never do an hour without reminding people who the victim is," Moriarty said. "It's a tribute to Mischelle Lawless. No one is going to come forward with information if they don't care about the person who lost their life or their family."

ehevern@semissourian.com

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