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the next episode right now [Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at
00:02:30
anytime you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
00:02:36
please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website [Music]
00:02:44
on the morning of Saturday May 3rd 1997 33 year-old single father Gary Patterson
00:02:50
woke up before dawn in his home in Waco Texas he got dressed in black jeans and a white shirt and boots he didn't need
00:02:59
to wear a suit to his final job interview he had already met with one of the business partners and today had got
00:03:04
to know each other pretty well over the previous three weeks that morning the 7:30 a.m. flight from Waco to El Paso
00:03:11
was the last step in the process he would meet the company's CEO and would hopefully return home that night the new
00:03:18
head of a large housing development project after a tough few years things were starting to look up
00:03:31
[Music] the majority of the Chihuahuan deserts 200 million acres lost south of the
00:03:58
United States border in the central Mexican highlands azus Perls north into the US the crosses the far western
00:04:05
corner of Texas into the south of New Mexico and Arizona it is vast and it's landscape
00:04:12
ever-changing one of the most biologically diverse deserts in the world long sweeping valleys of Sandy
00:04:19
scrub agave in the yucca trees morph into huge experiences of flat part and dry land dotted with desert grass and
00:04:26
cacti virtually no rain falls until the summer monsoon season between July and October the habitat is resistant to
00:04:34
extreme conditions only the strongest survive the Chihuahuan is well known for its
00:04:41
rocky mountain ranges which form long and sometimes overlapping silhouettes searing daytime temperatures drop away
00:04:48
to freezing nights due to the lack of humidity and cloud cover and it can be a hot day in the lowland regions while the
00:04:54
surrounding mountains are capped in snow add in the desert you would have more luck coming across a
00:05:01
native wild animal then you would another human being people don't stay out in the desert at night there is
00:05:08
nothing out there except for the biting temperatures and the animals who use the
00:05:11
cover of darkness to cross the desert plains and valleys in order to stay hidden from predators
00:05:18
the Chihuahuan Desert contains over 250 species of butterflies 20 and phibian species 100 mammals 250 birds and 100
00:05:28
reptiles snakes sliver that way in the low-lying desert scrub wizards and scorpions hide around the rocks and
00:05:36
crevices it's a mix of extremes it's harsh it's not a place you can survive on your own hundreds of miles east of
00:05:49
the West Texan desert in Waco Gary Patterson was starting to feel like life was getting back to normal
00:05:55
he'd only recently gained full custody of his daughter after a long and stressful divorce and custody battle
00:06:01
with the support of his family and friends he was through the worst of it he and Lisa Urich had married back in
00:06:10
1984 when Gary was 21 having their daughter five years later for most of their marriage Gary and Lisa worked for
00:06:18
Lisa's father Sam Urick sam opened a few different businesses including a marina and an insurance
00:06:24
agency every now and then Sam would appear take the profits and disappear again often for weeks or months at a
00:06:34
time leaving Gary and Lisa to deal with the customers they never seemed to be a clear business model and things weren't
00:06:41
sitting right with Gary it was after an incident at the insurance agency in the early 90s that
00:06:48
Gary got fed up with the lifestyle and told Lisa he wanted out he was sick of Sam's get-rich-quick
00:06:54
schemes Lisa was working in the reception desk holding their baby when two men stormed in and demanded to know
00:07:03
where Sam Urick was they were angry and threatening and like always Sam was nowhere to be found following
00:07:13
that incident Sam Urick returned and abruptly closed the business only to open a completely new company a trucking
00:07:20
business called southern sales in Conroe two and a half hours southeast of Waco Gary told Lisa he didn't want to work
00:07:28
for her father anymore he wanted to make his own way in the world he suggests that they should distance themselves
00:07:33
from her family and get on with things alone away from the wheeling and dealing of Sam
00:07:39
[Music] Gary took a job as a draftsman with Brazos environmental engineering and
00:07:45
soon after his marriage with Lisa broke down Sam Urick had grown critical of his
00:07:52
son-in-law and a rift was created in the family Sam began suggesting to his daughter that she should file for
00:07:59
divorce Lisa sided with her father and in 1992 after eight years of marriage and when
00:08:06
their daughter was two years old the divorce was settled Lisa was granted custody with Gary granted liberal
00:08:12
visitation rights by this time Sam and Gary had completely fallen out and Sam was not happy that his son-in-law was
00:08:21
granted any visitation rights at all he didn't want Gary to have anything to do with these family
00:08:31
in the autumn of 94 Lisa disappeared with their daughter she just got up and took off her father Sam had been in
00:08:41
hurry he'd got it into Lisa's head that if she and his granddaughter weren't around then Gary wouldn't be able to see
00:08:47
them Sam wanted to get at Gary and have this seems like a strong message and good payback for the next two years Lisa
00:08:55
and their daughter moved from Texas to Nevada to Alaska and on to California along the way Lisa would tell different
00:09:03
stories as to why she had to escape Texas to some she told stories of abuse and to others she said Gary was dead
00:09:11
people bought the stories but Lisa never stayed long enough for any real questions to be asked Gary and his
00:09:19
family hired a private investigator in California to track Lisa down and after being on the run for almost two years
00:09:25
she was found living in Oregon she was arrested in August 96 and returned to Waco where she was charged with parental
00:09:33
kidnapping after three court appearances Gary was granted sole custody with Lisa being
00:09:39
allowed supervised visits Gary focused hard on getting his life on track as a single father and helping his
00:09:47
daughter settle back into a normal routine and a normal life eight months later in early April 97 the month before
00:09:55
Gary Patterson's life-changing interview Lisa was sentenced to five years probation for her parental kidnapping
00:10:01
charge and she was ordered to pay child support it was an amicable but when Lisa called
00:10:08
Gary's parents and asked if they could give her a photo of Gary so she could put it in a locket for their daughter it
00:10:13
seemed like things were going to be okay with the stress of the court proceedings
00:10:20
and custody battles over Gary could finally focus on building a life he had a new girlfriend and he was happy to be
00:10:27
finally moving on just days later the opportunity of a lifetime came Gary's way there was a normal day
00:10:36
at the Brazos office the environmental engineering company had a strong team and a respected presence in Waco that
00:10:44
morning a man arrived at the front reception desk he'd arrived by taxi said the receptionist knew he must have been from
00:10:50
out of town he was tanned grain and smartly dressed the man introduced himself as Ned Roy he
00:11:00
was a real-estate developer from Florida and he was in Waco to look for engineers
00:11:04
to partner up on a multi-million dollar project they were starting a large development of modular homes in Waco he
00:11:11
said he and his partner had heard great things about browsers and seeing as he was in the area he thought it would drop
00:11:17
in and introduce himself Ned met with the engineers and explained a little more about himself in the
00:11:23
project he was from one of Florida's fortune 500 companies so joining forces with his caliber of property developer
00:11:30
would be an extremely lucrative partnership for Brazos Ned Wright thought Brazos seemed like a perfect fit
00:11:38
he asked if he could review the team's resumes and to meet everyone in the office saying I liked the shake a man's
00:11:45
hand and look him in the eye before a hi him there was a buzz in the office that
00:11:50
something big and exciting was about to happen but it was followed by disappointment a
00:11:56
few days later Ned found Brazos and said the bank wanted them to partner with a bigger firm so he wouldn't be able to
00:12:03
follow through with their negotiations later that week a man phoned Brazos and asked to speak to Gary Patterson
00:12:12
when Gary answered the call he found that it was actually Ned right on the other end Ned had given the receptionist
00:12:19
the false name as he didn't want anyone to know it was him calling Ned explained
00:12:24
that although they wouldn't be able to partner with Brazos they were in a position to hire someone to head up part
00:12:29
of the operation and do they wanted to speak to Gary about coming on board Ned had been impressed with him but didn't
00:12:36
want other staff at Brazos to know until they could negotiate something over the
00:12:46
next three weeks Gary took several calls from Ned at his desk and became a bit of
00:12:50
a joke with a receptionist she knew it was the same person but she couldn't work out why he was giving a different
00:12:56
name each time he called she'd buzz through to gary saying Gary it's that strange man from Florida on
00:13:02
the phone who doesn't want me to know who he is Ned rod explained to Gary that they were
00:13:09
willing to offer him a higher position with a better salary if he joined them it was a great opportunity and Gary was
00:13:15
excited but he kept his cool he had kept the offer on the down-low only telling his girlfriend his parents
00:13:22
and a few of his trusted workmates Ned had returned to Florida and he wanted to know if Gary would consider flying out
00:13:28
there for a few days to meet Ned's partner the CEO of the company Gary said he'd think about it when they next spoke
00:13:38
Gary agreed to go to Florida and he was thinking he would take his girlfriend and they'd make a trip of it
00:13:43
a getaway after all the stress of the last couple of years Ned explained that they only had a quick back and forth
00:13:50
trip in might and were hoping it would just be Gary as things were so busy with the company but he said he would try and
00:13:56
work something out and get back to Gary when he did when Ned called back he said those a
00:14:03
change of plans and he could now make Geary at Waco Airport Ned had to fly out unexpectedly for the development project
00:14:10
and he was actually there right now but Gary couldn't make it and the plan fell through
00:14:19
but Ned found another opportunity he explained to Gary that the CEO was going to be in El Paso in early May to survey
00:14:26
a new development site over there and it would be the perfect opportunity for the
00:14:30
three of them to finally meet Ned offered to fly Gary to the Far West Texas City where they would finalize his
00:14:37
employment contract and get acquainted if the CEO was happy and Gary was still interested they were planning to make
00:14:43
him the head of the new operation if Gary agreed to take the job they could even arrange his new company car
00:14:50
straight away the Chevrolet Suburban and he could drive it back home to Waco if he decided
00:14:56
not to take the job there would be no hard feelings and they would fly him home on their company jet they would
00:15:02
even make the meeting on a Saturday so as not to disrupt his current position Gary felt he had absolutely nothing to
00:15:09
lose it was the type of opportunity that didn't come around every day and he was
00:15:14
prepared to see what came of it if he didn't go he would always wonder what if Gary's family and the few who
00:15:24
knew about the job I thought were happy for him his dad was a little skeptical but he knew that Gary was right if he
00:15:30
didn't go and see what it was all about he would always wonder his only advice to Gary was don't give them any money on
00:15:42
the morning of Saturday May 3rd 1997 Gary left his daughter with his parents and took a 7:30 a.m. American Eagle
00:15:50
flight from Waco to El Paso the flight took him right over the Chihuahuan Desert touching down into the fourth
00:15:57
largest city in Texas just before noon no peso is located in the far western corner of Texas in a region of the
00:16:07
desert known as the trans-pecos El Paso borders New Mexico to the north and west and to Mexico to the south
00:16:14
that's close proximity to Mexico brings a Mexican flavor to everything from cuisine to the landscape and the
00:16:21
architecture compared to many other parts of the state the El Paso region is arid and mountainous the Franklin
00:16:29
Mountains loom over the city like a wave the Rio Grande River runs smoothly down
00:16:34
towards Mexico where it forms part of the border between the two countries outside El Paso the Chihuahuan Desert is
00:16:41
sparsely populated the mix of dry desert conditions and mountains make for some of the harshest weather extremes
00:16:48
imaginable and may is usually the beginning of the most severe weather of the year
00:16:55
El Paso has always been associated with its higher levels of poverty and low median income level a factor which
00:17:02
statistically can contribute to high crime rates but El Paso has defied the odds and remained one of the safest
00:17:09
cities in America El Paso has been ranked in the top 3 safest large cities in the US since 1997 and it has gone on
00:17:18
to win the safest city four years in a row in more recent times after reaching El Paso Gary called his father to let
00:17:27
him know he had arrived safely he got his dad's answering machine so he left a message the following day was when Gary
00:17:37
was either due to fly back to Waco or if he had accepted the job drive back in his new work car and no one had heard
00:17:45
from him as night fell on that Sunday evening Gary's parents were worried Gary wasn't the sort of person to not stay in
00:17:53
touch especially given everyone back home was waiting for the big news on whether he
00:17:57
had the new job or not after everything Gary had been through to get his daughter back they knew that it was
00:18:03
totally out of character for him not to contact them and let them know what was going on he was due back at work on
00:18:09
Monday morning and he wasn't the type to not show up without calling in when Monday came around and Gary still hadn't
00:18:18
been in touch his father filed a missing person report with the Waco Police Department he knew something was wrong
00:18:25
he told the officer on duty that he was sure son had happened to his son at first it was
00:18:36
locked most other adult missing-person reports they were concerned loved ones adamant that something must have
00:18:42
happened to Garrity and there were the police officers who were looking for more logical explanations after their
00:18:48
cursory checks on Gary he came up with nothing Waco investigators detective Steve January and detective Christina
00:18:55
Woodruff went to browsers to find out more about the job Gary was going for and the fortune 500 company who was
00:19:01
poaching him when staff at Brazos put together all of the information they had on the mysterious Ned right and became
00:19:09
clear that they didn't know very much they had his description some brief info on his company's intentions and they
00:19:16
knew he was from Florida that was about it back at the station the detectives put together what they
00:19:24
had and began to look for Ned Wright he was described as suntanned white male approximately 50 years of age 5 feet 8
00:19:33
inches tall 180 to 200 pounds the receptionist had seen Ned Wright come and go in a taxi and detective
00:19:42
Christina Woodruff knew there was only one taxi company in the area yellow cab Waco Texas and they only had 7 cars of
00:19:50
the most operating by law taxi drivers had to keep a log book detailing where they picked each
00:19:56
passenger up and where they dropped them off down at the yellow cab office a log
00:20:02
book showed that arrived that when to Gary's work the day Ned Wright arrived had come from a hotel in downtown Waco
00:20:08
called the Fairfield Inn when they spoke to the driver he remembered picking up the fare but he
00:20:14
couldn't really give them any further info about Ned Wright so the detectives went to the hotel they asked to see the
00:20:21
records of people staying there in the day surrounding Ned's arrival at Brazos there were plenty of checking records
00:20:27
but no one registered under the name Ned Wright the next thing they checked was the hotel's phone records looking for
00:20:36
outgoing calls to either Gary's home or work after searching pages and pages of records they finally got a hit
00:20:43
room one to five showed a series of calls to Brazos environmental and engineering room one to five was paid
00:20:51
for in cash the room was registered to a man from Florida named Ted young Ted young had to live a photocopy of his
00:21:01
passport with the hotel staff and detectives realized the similarities between the description of Ned gray and
00:21:07
the passport photo of Ted young detective January took a copy of the passport photo and made a photo lineup
00:21:16
to take to the Brazos office one of Gary's co-workers immediately identified the photograph of Ted young as being Ned
00:21:23
Wright with the mystery businessman identified they got to work tracking Ted Young down there was no surprise when
00:21:34
they found out that he had no ties to any fortune 500 development companies in Florida for the past two and a half
00:21:42
years Ted young had actually been a federal fugitive he had been convicted in South Carolina in the twenty six
00:21:50
million dollar fraud case and he was sentenced to 52 months in a federal prison only Ted never showed up to serve
00:21:56
his sentence and he had been on the run ever since Waco police had no idea why Ted young would target a single father
00:22:04
with no particular wealth there was nothing to extort what did he have to gain it didn't make any sense
00:22:13
they began contacting everyone close to Gary hoping for some answers they found Gary's ex-wife Lisa Urich but
00:22:23
she wouldn't return their calls they looked into Lisa further and learnt about the complex custody battle she had
00:22:29
with Gary they also learned that just a few days after Gary went missing Lisa hired an attorney and filed for
00:22:36
full custody of their daughter it was clear she was trying to use Gary's disappearance to her advantage next on
00:22:44
the list was Sam Urick Lisa's father the detectives were aware of his falling-out with Gary and also of
00:22:50
his possible shady business deals they gave him a call of his trucking company two and a half hours southeast of Waco
00:22:57
to see if he could shed some light on any shady deals his ex son-in-law may have been involved in detective January
00:23:04
picked up the phone and set up a tape recorder to tape the conversation detective Steve January has quoted on
00:23:12
the investigators TV show I placed a call to him at his trucking company in Conroe in hopes of setting up an
00:23:19
interview I tried to persuade him to come to Waco to talk to us but he insisted I come there he made it clear
00:23:26
he wanted me on his turf and then toward the end of the conversation he began to
00:23:31
say some really strange things he started talking about my kids my boys even knew their names I've had you
00:23:39
checked out he said and I know how much you love your kids and then he hung up detective January had no doubt that Sam
00:23:52
Urick was trying to intimidate him January hung up the receiver and rewound the tape in his recorder to playback the
00:23:58
threat but when he pressed play he realized the tape hadn't recorded he kicked the rubbish bin across the room
00:24:05
in disgust something wasn't right it was obvious that Sam Urick wanted the police
00:24:12
to back off but they didn't know boy detective January sought the advice of local Texas Ranger sergeant Matt Cawthon
00:24:21
Texas Rangers are a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction they fulfill the role of the State Bureau of
00:24:27
Investigation and can assist the local law enforcement agencies especially when there are jurisdictional issues or the
00:24:33
investigation is complicated they have certain pool and power that local law enforcement don't have together
00:24:41
Ranger Cawthon and detective January decided that the best thing to do would be to make a surprise visit to Sam Urick
00:24:47
at his trucking company in Conroe but they drove three hours to find the warehouse empty Sam Urick had cleared
00:24:55
out and disappeared the trucking company showed little evidence that it was a legitimate
00:25:00
business at all the business name southern sales had operated under six different names and company bosses there
00:25:09
were no tax listings and two the only activity on the phone records were thousands of long-distance phone calls
00:25:14
Terrell Paso Mexico and Honduras in Central America as well as numerous other locations
00:25:23
the investigation with the help of the Texas Rangers now focused on Sam Urick they had absolutely no idea how he could
00:25:31
possibly be linked to Ted young or even their disappearance of Gary Patterson but it seems like the right direction to
00:25:37
go Gary's father told investigators the rumors and stories he had heard about Sam Urick how he would sometimes brag
00:25:47
about the old days when he was a CIA he'd been there was the time Sam went to a Waco bank with $100,000 in cash
00:25:54
wanting to open an account the bank requested a disclosure agreement signing where the money had come from but rather
00:26:01
than tell them Sam left the bank furious [Music] Lysa Urich was eventually called in for
00:26:12
questioning she had no idea where her father was and she had no idea where Gary was either she didn't look worried
00:26:20
at all about Gary but the detectives didn't know if that was because they weren't on speaking terms or she knew
00:26:26
something they didn't detective January do you have any suggestions of thoughts on why he might have disappeared Lisa I
00:26:37
really don't I can't imagine what has happened to him what do you think happened to him like I
00:26:44
said before I don't know I mean it's just totally out of character do you think your father could be involved
00:26:51
no why not because my dad is not like that that's why Gary's father passed over there details of the private
00:27:03
investigator they had hired to tackle a sit-down hoping that he might have some information for the police and he was
00:27:09
right he did the san diego private investigator told detective january that while trailing lisa he had a hunch that
00:27:17
her father Sam was involved and it turned out that Sam had actually been funding Lisa to stay hidden for the two
00:27:23
years she was on the run it was clear to the PR that Urich hated his former son-in-law because of the custody battle
00:27:30
and it was not a man to forgive or forget very easily the pay I confirmed that Urich was involved in money
00:27:38
laundering schemes and different business scams any sniffing around his business by the cops was a sure way to
00:27:44
get him to run because he wouldn't want to jeopardize his money over an investigation into the disappearance of
00:27:49
his ex son-in-law the PI also disclosed that he had managed to get his hands on a leather-bound a day planner owned by
00:27:57
Urich it was sitting on the front seat of Eurex Lincoln and it just happened to fall into his hands and get photocopied
00:28:03
the P I gave detective January a copy when January received the pages he saw it was a large list of contacts they
00:28:14
weren't in alphabetical order like a phone book it was just the list of around a thousand names and phone
00:28:19
numbers written randomly January got to work going through the list and after getting through around 500 names he
00:28:27
finally found the one he was looking for Ted young the both Sam Urick and Ted young had vanished and detectives from
00:28:39
the Waco Police Department didn't have the capabilities to track them down they were faced with major jurisdiction
00:28:45
issues Gary Patterson was from Waco in McLennan County but he disappeared in El Paso
00:28:51
which is in El Paso County Ted young was a federal fugitive who could be anywhere
00:28:57
and Sam Urick got around further background checks on him revealed he had been either charged indicted or served
00:29:04
time in 22 different states Texas Ranger Cawthon went to the Waco Police Department and went over the entire case
00:29:12
with detectives January and Woodruff they spent a whole afternoon outlining everything they knew before Cawthon
00:29:18
suggested that the only way to help with the jurisdiction issues was to get everyone in the same room he organized
00:29:24
the meeting of local state and federal agencies believing they might be able to put together some sort of strategy the
00:29:33
meeting was attended by the McLennan County District Attorney the assistant US attorney for the Western District of
00:29:39
Texas representatives from the FBI and members of the US Marshals office they went over all the details of the case
00:29:46
and decided that the only chance they had of finding out what happened to Gary Patterson was to locate the last known
00:29:52
person to have seen him alive Ted young what the Waco detectives didn't know was
00:29:59
that the US Marshals had been following Ted young already the u.s. marshal deputy who was present at the meeting
00:30:04
excused herself to make a phone call when she returned she sat down and said we've got him we know all about him and
00:30:12
where he is she reeled off an enormous catalogue of details of the surveillance of Ted young
00:30:19
finishing with he just crossed over the border from El Paso to Juarez pulling a trailer the u.s. marshals made it clear
00:30:28
that Ted young was a federal fugitives and they had sole jurisdiction over him but they said that would keep local law
00:30:35
enforcement in the loop the Waco detectives had trouble reconciling that the u.s. marshals knew where Ted young
00:30:46
was that hadn't made the arrest yet they kept quiet but they were troubled and as
00:30:52
the week's went on and still no arrest was made they became restless and decided to continue on with their own
00:30:58
investigation getting everyone in the same room hadn't helped their jurisdiction issues they
00:31:04
weren't getting any cooperation from El Paso boys they had no idea what the u.s.
00:31:09
marshals plans for Ted young were and they were no closer to finding either Sam Urick or Gary Patterson with the
00:31:17
help of Waco based assistant US attorney Bill Johnston they realized that if they
00:31:21
could somehow have Gary's disappearance viewed as a federal crime in a federal case they would gain power to subpoena
00:31:27
witnesses as well as seek the cooperation of the El Paso authorities and the FBI but the problem they heard
00:31:35
was that Gary Patterson didn't cross over state lines El Paso was still in Texas Texas Ranger Cawthon recalled in
00:31:43
an interview with Carlton stylus from the Dallas Observer for his article and book death in a Texas desert quote
00:31:51
finally after doing some research assistant US attorney Bill Johnston came up with a statute referring to
00:31:57
interstate flights that worked to our advantage the commercial flight that Gary had taken to El Paso had been
00:32:03
scheduled to travel on to San Francisco that same day they had found a loophole to get their federal link and soon after
00:32:12
the FBI officially joined the missing person investigation they were now ready to utilize all the resources they had
00:32:19
available to them since the marshals insisted on bringing Ted Jung in assistant US attorney Johnston called
00:32:25
them and request that they help locate Sam Urick as well but it was given a stern warning by the marshals you don't
00:32:32
know who you were dealing with the Texan grandfather Sam Urich's history went far
00:32:39
beyond what local law enforcement knew there was a highly classified FBI investigation called Operation circus
00:32:46
which named Urich as a known associate of two rogue CIA agents in the 1980s frank terpil
00:32:53
into Edmund Wilson the rogue agents had been accused of selling stolen items to terrorist countries
00:33:00
the FBI believed Senior ik helped hide the rogue agents when they were on the run and that he was also involved in the
00:33:06
purchase and delivery of arms and 20 tons of plastic explosives these explosives were sold to Libyan
00:33:13
terrorists who would ultimately claim credit for the 1986 bombing of a Berlin nightclub frequented by American
00:33:19
soldiers the bombing killed two US servicemen and wounded over 200 others in retaliation to the bombing President
00:33:28
Reagan ordered airstrikes on Libya at the time of the investigation into Garry Patterson's disappearance at least three
00:33:36
US intelligence agencies had his ex-father-in-law Sam Urick listed as someone who assisted
00:33:41
in facilitating the shipment of explosives to Libya so near local law enforcement knew Sam Urick
00:33:49
wasn't just a small-time money-launderer with shady businesses he was a serious criminal and there was every chance that
00:33:56
he was involved in his ex Sonny lures disappearance with the threat Sam Urick had made still fresh in his mind
00:34:02
detective January stepped up his own personal protection he checked his home and vehicle for explosives and he kept
00:34:09
several guns close by in case he needed one at a moment's notice when detective Christina Woodruff found out about the
00:34:16
dark past of Sam Urick she feared for her life they believed was a person capable of anything the
00:34:28
next stage of the investigation involved Texas Ranger Cawthon and Waco detectives
00:34:32
January and Woodruff going over every name in Sam Urick state planner they constantly flew between Waco and El Paso
00:34:40
creating a road map between different people on the list everyone in the day planner seemed to be involved with the
00:34:46
underside of the law in some way fugitives conmen and lawbreakers dotted across the desert plains of Texas some
00:34:55
people got wind that police were sniffing around and fled before they could be questioned other Associates of
00:35:01
Sam's sometimes two or three times removed gave tidbits of information one person told detectives the Sam Urick
00:35:09
was actually with Ted young in El Paso the day Gary Patterson flew there on a dusty rocky road on the outskirts
00:35:17
of El Paso detectives approached the house of a man known to both Sam Urick and Ted young Holli Martinez all he told
00:35:26
them that Ted was living in Honduras in Central America and he offered to take them there personally Ted young might
00:35:34
have been in Honduras that would explain the long distance calls from Sam Urick striking company to the country but it
00:35:41
also might have been a ruse by Ollie Martinez to get back over the border himself
00:35:46
when Waco investigators caught through the info to the US Marshals in El Paso they were warned there Martinez was a
00:35:53
known hustler and con men and he was likely just playing them as the one-year mark of Gary Patterson's disappearance
00:36:02
came round the leads finally started heating up they interviewed dozens of Eurex associates and worked through
00:36:10
every name in his day planner which led them to a man named Clark Paulsen Clark confirmed that he knew both Sam Urick
00:36:18
and Ted young and after some prodding he admitted that Ted had contacted him a while ago and asked to borrow his pickup
00:36:24
truck on May 3rd 1997 the day Gary Patterson disappeared Clark Paulsen delivered his pickup truck
00:36:33
to Ted young at the Red Roof Inn El Paso Paulsen picked his truck up the following day in the same motels parking
00:36:41
lot but he wasn't sure what Ted had used it for detectives then made a plan to go
00:36:49
to an address that had come up in their extensive investigation of Sam Urick and
00:36:53
his associates it was a wrench in the Chihuahuan Desert east of El Paso owned by a longtime associate of Urich's
00:37:00
the ranch was on 600 isolated acres of desert they believed that Urich often visited the ranch sometimes staying
00:37:08
there for weeks at a time he would use the ranch to meet Ted young and others on unknown business according to Texas
00:37:18
Ranger Cawthon when interviewed for the Dallas Observer for the book of death in
00:37:22
a Texas desert quote when we arrived out there this old Dodge Charger comes racing down a hill spewing dust 20 feet
00:37:31
into the air the driver was head of security for the ranch ex-military and it turns out a
00:37:37
real police buff when we gave him a general idea of what we were up to he said he was glad someone was looking at
00:37:44
the place because he was pretty sure whatever was going on there wasn't legal to my surprise he agreed to meet with us
00:37:51
when he got off work the security guard told Cawthon and detective January that he had walked
00:37:59
every inch of the 600 acre ranch they asked him if he had ever found any bones here there and he said yes
00:38:06
many they were on his workbench he collected the bones and bleached them he showed Cawthon in January his collection
00:38:16
many of looked like animal bones but then he pulled one from the box that made the officers stare at each other it
00:38:24
looked human Cawthon explained that they would like to have a forensic anthropologist examiner be my guest
00:38:32
the security guard required dr. Susan Mackay Wallace only needed one quick look at the bone as it was pulled from
00:38:39
coffins briefcase it's a human arm she said after a few quick measurements she confirmed that could very well be the
00:38:47
bone of a male in his early 30s while they waited for a search warrant for the ranch had seemed to the perfect time to
00:39:00
get Lisa Urich back in for questioning and as luck would have it Lisa had failed to pay ordered court
00:39:06
costs and fees in the aftermath of her sentencing so she found herself arrested for parole violation
00:39:13
when detectives January and Woodruff the raw data has to arrest her she didn't argue as laces sat in the
00:39:20
back of the police car Woodruff returned to her and said he won't believe would have been uncovered
00:39:25
in the desert outside El Paso Lisa looked at her with no idea a human arm bone leisa sank down in her sea and according
00:39:38
to the detectives she doubled over as if she had stomach cramps at the county jail house places has
00:39:46
silently when questioned detective January explained to her in very simple terms that the window of opportunity was
00:39:53
closing fast at that police are appeared defeated and quiet and within 24 hours she started talking her father Sam Urick
00:40:07
had made a plan to lure Gary to El Paso but according to Lisa it was only to beat him up not to kill him
00:40:14
he used an associate that in u-turn young to entice Gary away from Waco in order to carry out the plan Lisa
00:40:22
admitted that she knew Gary would go as soon as they offered him the new worker the Chevrolet Suburban her father had
00:40:29
asked her to help Ted young identify Gary just before her sentencing which had occurred the day before the
00:40:35
mysterious Ned Wright walked into Gary's office Lisa called Gary's parents to ask
00:40:40
them for a photo of Gary to put in a locket for their daughter Gary's parents obliged although they were confused why
00:40:47
she was been caring enough to do so the photo wasn't for their daughters locket the photo was to give to Ted young so
00:40:55
that when he was taken around Brazos to meet the staff he would be able to recognize Gary immediately
00:41:03
the Waco investigators approached US Attorney Bill Johnston with what they had arrest warrants were approved for
00:41:10
Sam Urick and Ted young and the search warrant for the ranch outside El Paso where the arm bone was found was also
00:41:16
approved that day an army of volunteers from the military base the prison and the fire department joined to the team
00:41:24
of police and police dogs as they searched the 600 acres of desert on the ranch to look for Gary's body the huge
00:41:33
team fought the harsh Sun and tough ground over three days every disturbed piece of ground and every unusual
00:41:39
gathering of rocks would prick the senses of those searching one of the officers came upon a neat pile of rocks
00:41:46
and beneath them just under the surface was a skull after a little more digging they found more bones even though the
00:41:57
reality of what they had found hung heavy they were relieved to have located Gary's body bringing some closure to the
00:42:04
case the search team rejoiced there was a massive breakthrough the body was sent
00:42:12
to the El Paso coroner's office and detective Christina Woodruff waited for the medical and dental records to arrive
00:42:18
when the records came through she walked through the front doors of the coroner's
00:42:23
office and sat waiting with a coffee the coroner looked at the dental records for just a few seconds then turned to
00:42:30
Detective Woodruff it's not him woodruff felt herself slipped to the floor how could it not be Gary Patterson
00:42:41
[Music] further investigation revealed the body belonged to someone else a homeless man from El Paso a homicide
00:42:53
victim but not related to the Gary Patterson case at all with the search coming up with nothing on Gary the
00:43:02
investigation focused back on locating Sam Urick and Ted young regardless of the u.s. marshals jurisdiction over the
00:43:10
arrest of Ted young for the fraud sentence he faced with Gary Patterson's case now being a federal investigation
00:43:16
the Waco investigation team could go after him as well and it was in their best interest to find him first they
00:43:24
believed that they could get Ted to spill the beans on Sam Urick and maybe even lead them to Gary's body
00:43:29
but without Ted their case was weak three weeks later word came through that Sam Urick had been apprehended by US
00:43:40
Marshals in Las Vegas apparently the US Marshals have known of Eurex whereabouts
00:43:44
for three days prior to his arrest but didn't inform the investigation team back in Waco
00:43:51
Eirik was holding jail awaiting extradition back to texas detectives knew that they had to find firm evidence
00:43:58
on Urich by the time he was brought back to Waco if they didn't they risk them being released without charge
00:44:06
they realized to get that firm evidence they had the track down Ted young their investigation had revealed that Ted was
00:44:14
in Honduras as they had been told previously and the decision was made to go there and get him Texas Ranger Matt
00:44:24
Cawthon and his lieutenant boarded a plane with members of the Secret Service who had agreed to run interference with
00:44:30
the Honduran government in Central America they were the liaised with local police to if necessary when they arrived
00:44:39
in the capital city of Tegucigalpa representatives of the US Embassy were waiting for them never before had the
00:44:46
Texas Rangers being involved in an arrest of this magnitude they had never traveled so far been involved with so
00:44:53
many different agencies will being this deep into an investigation it was uncharted waters Honduras is nestled
00:45:08
between Nicaragua El Salvador and Guatemala and remains one of the poorest and least developed countries in Latin
00:45:15
America the economy is based mostly on agriculture and in 1997 coffee and bananas accounted for 37% of the total
00:45:24
legal export revenue during the 1990s drug trafficking and kidnapping were an enormous problem for Honduras the rise
00:45:33
in violent crime had intensified with government unrest and the murders we're at an all-time high
00:45:38
between the years 94 and to 98 88 percent of the cocaine headed for the US is believed to pass through Central
00:45:47
America so Honduras was exposed to the problems that came with that organized crime violence and corruption senior
00:45:55
military members were alleged to be involved in drug trafficking like elsewhere in Central America
00:46:01
private security outnumbered police corruption was rife and people protected themselves with people they knew they
00:46:07
could trust when the team pursuing Ted Jung arrived in Honduras at the end of July 98 they
00:46:16
had no idea that within just two months the country and the entire region would be unrecognizable it would be hit by the
00:46:23
second deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record and the deadliest recorded hurricane in the satellite era hurricane
00:46:30
Mitch when the Texas Rangers arrived to their hotel in Tegucigalpa the hit the fan one of the Secret Service guys
00:46:41
came in and told them that the u.s. marshals were furious that they were there the same US Marshal that had
00:46:48
attended the meeting in Waco the one who had taken the phone call and told them to back off Ted young as he was the sole
00:46:54
jurisdiction of the u.s. marshals had just found Washington to get the Waco investigators kicked out of Honduras but
00:47:01
while officials were disagreeing back in the u.s. over who had jurisdiction over
00:47:05
ted young's arrest the waco team in honduras continued tracking him they got into a van outside their hotel and drove
00:47:15
four hours north to San Pedro Sula they had word that Ted Jung was there the road between Tegucigalpa in san pedro
00:47:24
sula can be dangerous rock slides are common especially in the wet season which they were in traffic signs are
00:47:31
often unmarked or inadequate and the traffic is heavy with trucks and buses because of the high incidence of
00:47:39
carjackings international tourists are advised the drive with locked doors and to be wary at traffic stops it's advised
00:47:45
not to drive at night after driving over four hours through the mountains and the
00:47:53
dense pine trees which grow along the central part of the country the Waco team arrived in san pedro sula Cawthon
00:48:01
showed a photo of Ted young to some locals they told him the American man in the picture worked at a local junkyard
00:48:07
and pointed in the direction when they pulled their van up to the rundown junkyard they all watched as the
00:48:15
gray-haired Ted young walked through a gate into the yard Texas Ranger Cawthon recalled in an interview with Carleton
00:48:22
Stowers for the Dallas observer and for the book death in a Texas desert quote I
00:48:28
can't describe how I felt at the moment when I finally saw the men we'd been chasing after for 15 months I wanted to
00:48:35
run across the road and hug him but they held back they watched him overnight and
00:48:42
first thing the next morning Ted young was arrested and taken to the local police station before being transferred
00:48:48
to the San Pedro Sula jail Cawthon told Ted he was from the Texas Rangers and he
00:48:55
wasn't there about the fraud case who was wanted for he was there to talk about Gary Patterson at that point Ted's
00:49:03
face dropped Cawthon reeled off all the evidence they had on him they knew he had stayed at the Fairfield Inn in Waco
00:49:11
they knew he had posed this Ned right they knew he had stayed at the Red Roof Inn in El Paso they knew he borrowed the
00:49:19
pickup truck from Clark Paulson the day Gary disappeared they knew he had spent time in El Paso with Sam Urick Cawthon
00:49:28
told Ted that if he didn't fill in their gaps and cooperate then he would spend the rest of his life in jail protecting
00:49:33
a man who would never protect him after sitting silently and staring back at the
00:49:38
Texas Rangers Ted young required okay I'll give you what you want Ted young told them the entire story
00:49:54
Ted fled his conviction in South Carolina and made his way to Honduras he had been traveling back and forth to the
00:50:01
US on his twin brother Fred's Passport Sam Urick contacted him in Honduras and asked him to come back to the u.s. to
00:50:08
carry out a job he Yurika been shipping Ted old trucks to Seoul it was the only way he was able to make a living at the
00:50:15
time so he felt he owed Eureka favor Ted went on to explain the failed attempt that luring Gary to Florida then he
00:50:23
tried to meet him at the airport in Waco with the intention of driving him out near China Springs to arrange his murder
00:50:29
when that also failed Ted and Urich came up with the plan to lure Gary to El Paso
00:50:35
that day Ted met Gary at the old Paso Airport Gary was under the impression he was
00:50:42
there to meet the CEO of the company so Ted had to make excuses for the delay he
00:50:47
took Gary to lunch and they visited a few bars for drinks by the time dusk came which was the arranged time they
00:50:54
were meeting the CEO Gary was a little tipsy they jumped in the pickup truck and Ted
00:51:00
tell Gary that he had to swing by the desert development location to pick up a soil sample as they drove out into the
00:51:08
desert the Sun was fading and Gary began dosing off when they approached the location a figure stood out on the road
00:51:16
in front of the pickup truck as Gary's eyes adjusted he focused on the man he assumed was his new boss the CEO but as
00:51:25
he looked closer he saw his ex father-in-law Sam Urick walking to the passenger side door he turned Patel who
00:51:33
was by then holding a 22 caliber pistol in his face senior Akopian mcGarry's door wrapped
00:51:41
duct tape around his arms and legs and dragged him out of the car seeing then turned to ted and told him
00:51:48
to go back to town and to pick him up the next day because this is going to take all night Ted went back to the Red
00:51:57
Roof Inn and retired for the night the next day he collected Urich and returned to the pickup truck to the
00:52:04
parking world of the motel where it was later collected by its owner clark paulson Urich then drove ted out of town
00:52:11
to a safe place where he could travel back over the border when Ted asked Uruguay Kerry was he said he's in the
00:52:19
desert here it pulled a hundred and eighty dollars from his pocket apparently taken from Gary and gave it
00:52:27
to Ted for his troubles using his twin brother Fred's passport Ted young crossed the border into Mexico
00:52:34
and disappeared back to Honduras after hearing his story Ranger Cawthon had one more thing he needed Ted young to do he
00:52:48
slid a notepad in his direction across the table and asked him to draw a map of where he and Gary had met Sam Urick
00:52:56
Ted explained that originally he was supposed to take Gary to a ranch they knew which sat on 608 is east of El Paso
00:53:03
but security were walking around so they moved to an area adjacent to that property Cawthon knew exactly what ranch
00:53:11
he was referring to there was the ranch where they had found the remains of an unrelated murder victim during their
00:53:17
search for Gary Ted drew a map to the spot Eureka dragged Gary from the pickup truck from
00:53:27
San Pedro Sula the Texas Rangers got in touch with detective January who was in El Paso that day January had arrested
00:53:35
Clark Paulson for misprision of felony which is the knowledge and concealment of a felony Paulson was the man made
00:53:43
questioned earlier the man who had lent Ted young his pickup truck January couldn't believe what he was hearing on
00:53:50
the phone Corson said get a search party together I'm faxing your map and with it
00:53:57
you're going to find Gary Patterson's body on the 3rd of august 1998 a search team
00:54:09
driving convoy down the same long road east of El Paso their Gary Patterson traveled on his final day 15 months
00:54:17
before Gary thought he was going out into the desert evening to collect the soil sample instead his ex father-in-law
00:54:24
stood over him bound him and beat him with a metal pipe until he was almost dead but killing him wasn't enough he
00:54:33
want to Gary to suffer until his very last breath Urich dug a shallow grave and rolled his
00:54:39
ex son-in-law in gary was still gasping his last breaths of air as Urich shoveled desert sand over him following
00:54:50
ted young's map the search party warp into the desert the search dog led them to a spot of unsettled ground and a
00:54:57
small amount of digging was all it took to know there was something there detective January ordered the area be
00:55:04
cordoned off and the medical examiner was called in a helicopter hovered above taking aerial photos of the soil a
00:55:12
hydraulic mule was brought in and every moment of the excavation was filmed January wasn't leaving any stone
00:55:18
unturned and he wanted the scene treated with the utmost care [Music] Gary Patterson's body was lifted from
00:55:27
his shallow grave still dressed in the black jeans white shirt and boots he had been wearing the day he went to El Paso
00:55:35
it had taken 15 months and an excessively complicated investigation involving Waco police the Texas Rangers
00:55:43
the FBI a California private investigator the US Marshals office the Secret Service the State Department
00:55:50
Border Patrol the government of Honduras and even Interpol but they had finally got there
00:55:57
they had found Gary Patterson that day detective Steve January cried for the first time in his career in September
00:56:11
1999 Clark Paulsen the owner of the pickup truck faced a misprision of felony charge for his role in the murder
00:56:18
but paulsen adamantly denied he knew anything about the plan to murder Gary Patterson he said he had no idea what
00:56:25
ted young was using his truck for he was acquitted lisa Urich pleaded guilty to miss prison of felony and received a
00:56:35
three year prison sentence plus the two-year sentence she was already serving for violating the terms of her
00:56:40
parole she lost all custody rights to her daughter who by that time at nine years old was cared for solely by Gary's
00:56:48
parents when Sam Urick and Ted Young's cases came to court assistant US attorney Bill Johnston made no secret
00:56:56
that if the cases went to trial he would be seeking the death penalty they both pleaded guilty
00:57:05
federal judge Walter Smith without pointing the finger at any agencies or persons in particular made mention that
00:57:12
he was troubled by the lack of federal participation in the investigation Ted young pleaded guilty to being an
00:57:19
accessory to murder and for carrying a firearm during a crime of violence he received a 20-year sentence plus the
00:57:26
four years and three months he still owed in South Carolina for his fraud conviction Sam Urick pleaded guilty to
00:57:33
the murder of Gary Patterson and was sentenced to life in prison despite the coroner confirming the scene
00:57:40
was inhaled into his thorax Sam Urick denies any knowledge that Gary was still alive when he buried him in the desert
00:57:49
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