'This is an evil monster who needs to be caught'

It was just a short segment on "America's Most Wanted" airing Saturday night, but the reaction caused a long workday Sunday for investigators looking into a local quadruple homicide.

"We got more than 100 tips from the show so we decided we better come on in today," said Chief Deputy Coy Reid of the Catawba County Sheriff's Office.

The murders happened around 7:30 a.m. Thursday. Lisa Saephan and her three children, 20-year-old Melanie, 18-year-old Pauline and 3-year-old Cody, were found dead in their home on Gristmill Drive in the Bunker Hill area. Pauline Chao was a student at Bunker Hill High School. Melanie Saephan was a student at Catawba Valley Community College.

A friend of Pauline's saw an unidentified male when she picked her up for school Thursday morning. When the friend told Pauline about seeing the man outside the house, Pauline made the friend go back where the suspect pulled her into the house.

The friend drove away from the home and called 911 to report the incident.

About 40 investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation and the sheriff's office gave up their Sunday to follow up on leads from the tips generated from "America's Most Wanted." Reid said they had conducted more than 100 interviews.

"We feel like we're making progress and we really appreciate the help from the Asian American community during this investigation," Reid said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms also are involved in the investigation, Reid said.

In addition to the short segment on the national television show, created by host Adam Walsh, who lost his own son to violence in the early 1980s, the case was posted on the Web site. In usual Walsh style, the headline bars no punches — "Mom, Three Kids Slaughtered in N.C. Bloodbath."

Angeline Hartmann, with "America's Most Wanted," said the combination of the notice on the show and the posting on the Web site was a one-two punch.

"It's more than just having it on our show, it's also our Web site. People are on our Web site 24/7," Hartmann said. "We have had a good response and think the investigators have a lot to work with."

Hartmann said when Special Agent David Call of the Hickory office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation called her, asking her if there was any way to get the information on the show Saturday, she knew time was tight.

"Our shows are normally planned out weeks or months ahead of time," she said of the call, which gave the producers less than 24 hours to create the segment. "Once we talked about it, I went to my bosses and said, 'I know it's late notice, but is there any way to get this on Saturday's show?'"

While not a full-length segment, the notice evidently worked with the number of calls into the show giving law enforcement officials leads.

Hartmann and Call had worked together on a previous segment on the show concerning murdered police officer Greg White, a case that remains unsolved.

She said the case stood out to her due to the nature of the crime, which involved both stabbing and shooting, the ages of the victims, the youngest of which — Cody Saechao — was only 3 1/2, and the fact the victims were in their own house, going about their normal daily routines.

"It seems like a bizarre situation. Authorities say it doesn't seem to be random, that someone was watching the family and knew their routine," Hartmann said. "This is an evil monster who needs to be caught."

Airing cases on "America's Most Wanted" has resulted in more than 1,000 suspects being captured.

The show receives hundreds of requests every month of cases to be aired.

Information about the case is available at the show's Web site, www.amw.com. Any information about the case can be e-mailed to the show's Web site or called into (800) CRIME-TV. Callers can remain anonymous.

Tips also can be called in to the sheriff's office at 464-5241 or to the sheriff's office tip line through the department's Web site, www.catawbacountync.gov/depts./shf.