TWO TEENAGED GIRLS KILLED ON THE SAME CALIFORNIA BEACH SIX YEARS APART - DNA ON ONE OF THE VICTIMS LEADS TO TWO SUSPECTS - ONE OF THEM WORKED FOR THE POLICE.

"48 HOURS" Investigates in "Blood in the Sand"

Saturday, April 30, 2016

The murder of two teenaged girls on the same California beach, six years apart, shocked residents around San Diego when it happened. The DNA uncovered in the case, decades later, would stun them a second time when it led to someone inside the police department.

Richard Schlesinger and 48 HOURS investigate the unsolved case of the two murders, the incredible similarities in the two killings and the new technology that would lead police to investigate one of their own in "Blood in the Sand," to be broadcast April 30 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. It's a story about families struggling from the painful loss of loved ones, the long-held guilt of those who couldn't help the victims, and the impact on those being investigated.

In August 1978, 15-year-old Barbara Nantais was murdered on Torrey Pines State Beach. She'd gone camping with boyfriend Jim Alt. She was sexually assaulted, beaten, strangled and mutilated. Alt was beaten and was in a coma for days.

"I was knocked unconscious, I couldn't protect her, I couldn't defend myself," Alt tells 48 HOURS.

Then in August 1984, 14-year-old Claire Hough was found murdered on the same beach. She, too, had been sexually assaulted, beaten, strangled and mutilated in a strikingly similar way.

Was there a serial killer targeting teenaged girls or was there a copycat?

Police had few clues to go on but they were convinced the cases were connected. The cases went cold until 2012, when police got hits on DNA they had from Hough's crime scene. What the test revealed, however, was totally unexpected. It indicated one of the suspects was a man who had worked in the crime lab for the San Diego police Department - someone who at one time was nicknamed "Kinky" and was known to frequent strip clubs and participated in risqué photo shoots.

But the man once nicknamed "Kinky" wasn't the only suspect.

"There are multiple suspects, there are a variety of motives," says writer James Vlahos, a 48 HOURS consultant. "As a murder mystery, this has sort of everything you would want."

Could the newfound DNA solve the case that troubled police and residents for decades? Or would it lead to a bigger mystery?

Schlesinger and 48 HOURS tell the story through interviews with friends and family of both young women, criminalists who worked inside the police lab and investigators. 48 HOURS: "Blood in the Sand" is produced by Lourdes Aguiar and Cindy Cesare. Greg Fisher is the development producer. Atticus Brady and Ken Blum are the editors. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.

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