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this program is about unsolved mysteries
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whenever possible the actual family
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members and police officials have
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participated in recreating the events
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what you're about to see is not a news
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broadcast
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seventeen-year-old tracy kirkpatrick was
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an honors student with a passion for
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poetry
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in 1989 tracy was stabbed in death from
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the clothing store where she worked
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three months later a man claiming to be
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the killer made this bizarre telephone
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call
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i know this is gonna sound surprising
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but three months ago
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perhaps you can help catch him
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folsom prison california for years he
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was thought to be virtually escape-proof
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but in 1984 a convicted killer steve
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wilson
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pulled off an ingenious jailbreak and
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became the first man to escape from
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folsom in
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15 years in 1943
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22 year old frankie bloomer was reported
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missing in action when the destroyer uss
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rowan was sunk in battle
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a few days later frankie's picture taken
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on a hospital ship appeared in the
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newspaper
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for almost 50 years his family has been
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asking what happened to frankie bloomer
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in 1965 22 year old judith hiams
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vanished without a trace from coral
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gables florida
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25 years later in a bizarre turn of
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events a series of anonymous phone calls
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claim that judith is still alive
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also we'll bring you an intriguing
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update on our story of amelia earhart
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the legendary aviator who disappeared
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while flying around the world in 1937
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recently an expedition found a piece of
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equipment which may have been on her
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plane
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join me for this fascinating edition of
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unsolved mysteries
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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tracy kirkpatrick was an introspective
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pretty teenager from a small town near
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frederick maryland
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the third of four children tracy was an
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honor student who loved reading and
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writing poetry
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in early 1989 tracy read her family a
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haunting poem written by christina
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rossetti
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tracy seemed to be asking them not to
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grieve for her when she was gone
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remember me when i am gone away gone
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far away into the silent land when you
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can no more hold me by the hand
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[Music]
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her and her boyfriend had just recently
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broke up
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and i guess she expressed her feelings
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through her
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her writing she wrote a lot of uh
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lonely poems she's very intelligent
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she's a hard worker and she loved people
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and she loved to be around people and
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she loved to have a lot of friends and
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everything
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now this is our new spring line we have
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it in blue during tracy's senior year in
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high school she held down two part-time
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jobs
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one of them a sales clerk in a woman's
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clothing store
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on the night of march 15 1989 tracy was
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assigned to close the store
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and tally up the day's receipts 15
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minutes before closing time
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tracy was alone it was 8 45 pm
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two hours later a shopping mall security
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guard noticed that the lights
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inside the women's clothing store were
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still on
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the front door was unlocked the guard
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called out but received no response
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he walked toward the back of the store
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in a storage room he found tracy
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kirkpatrick's lifeless body
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the guard immediately notified the
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police
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you better send someone down right away
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all right
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at almost the same moment billy and
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diane kirkpatrick tracy's parents were
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on route to the shopping mall
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it was nearly 11 p.m more than an hour
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after tracy usually returned home
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i'm worried for nothing okay i know
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everything's gonna be fine
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what the hell is this what is look
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there's police cars bill
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yeah okay
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[Music]
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as soon as i seen it was at the store i
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jumped out of the car
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and uh i went up to the door and they
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wasn't they didn't want to let us in at
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first because they really didn't know
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who we were
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tracy works here all right hold on chief
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your parents she's okay
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thank you tracy
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i said is she all right can i see her
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and when he shook his head no i just
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blocked out everything i didn't want to
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hear the rest of what was going to be
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said to me
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no all right bill oh okay diane
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sit down what did someone have it
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against her that they would do something
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like that to her
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she never did anything to hurt anybody
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police could find no apparent motive for
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tracy kirkpatrick's brutal murder
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there was no sign of sexual assault the
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day's cash receipts have been left
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untouched on the counter
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since there were no indications of a
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struggle police believe the murder must
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have been someone tracy knew
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a thorough analysis of the crime scene
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turned up late in fingerprints but no
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other physical evidence
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the case was stalled then three months
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later police got their first real lead
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when a mysterious telephone call was
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recorded by a nationwide confession
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hotline in las vegas
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hello my name is
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this is a tape recording of the actual
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phone call
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i know this is going to sound surprising
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but three months ago
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and you might think that in making
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mistakes
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the hotline immediately notified the
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frederick police
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the sincerity that i heard in that voice
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and the knowledge that the person was
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displaying
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talking about what he had done
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at that point convinced me that i
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probably was listening to the killer
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detective horner thought the caller's
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knowledge of the case was convincing
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he took the tape to his chief yes sir
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let's listen to it then
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our conversation turned into an argument
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and so i took out a knife that i have
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with me at all times
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and i killed her and
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a few days later i realized that i had
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created a lot of sadness
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and i thought about turning myself into
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the police
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or whatever they do to me that won't
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bring tracy back
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so i've decided that i
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better keep free because
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we have the death penalty in maryland uh
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thanks for listening i'm sorry about
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what i did
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but nothing can change it's fine
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just sounds like we have our killer
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doesn't it sounds very authentic they
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traced the call back to a supermarket in
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walkersville
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maryland which is uh seven or eight
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miles just north of frederick city
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if it was the killer he wanted to be
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caught
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and he was seeking help through this
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hotline
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and it was a decision made by my chief
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of police and
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and members of my division to compose a
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letter
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to this individual and address it to
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dawn
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and asked dawn to please come forward if
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he needed someone to talk to
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i was available the letter was published
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in a local newspaper on october 10
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1989 police received no response
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but two weeks later another unlikely
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phone call provided them with a new lead
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hello my name is john and i have
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rather an unusual request how can i help
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you sean
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on october 24th martha woodworth a
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massachusetts woman with a reputation as
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a psychic
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began to receive calls from a young man
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who identified himself as sean
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well i don't usually take cases sean
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seemed obsessed with finding the person
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who had murdered tracy kirkpatrick
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martha told shawn she needed more
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information before she could help
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eventually he agreed to send martha
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newspaper clippings
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and when i received the envelope with
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his handwriting on the outside
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i thought this person has a much
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stronger involvement
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than just being a friend who's
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interested i found the handwriting
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extremely disturbed so i felt it was my
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responsibility to alert the police that
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i had a potential suspect for them
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martha do you think you've talked to
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sean enough that you could recognize his
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voice from a tape
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yes i i'm pretty sure okay let me play a
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little
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tape for you on telephone
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chief ashton played the confession tape
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for martha woodworth
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she believed the voice was shawn's
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[Music]
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i knew it was sean in fact my heart
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dropped it was
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very chilling to hear the voice of the
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person i'd been speaking to for months
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actually confessing to the crime you
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know i certainly
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didn't encourage uh her to maintain
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contact with him
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because i mean at that time we thought
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it was a viable lead
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and it's the best lead that we had and
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she was the you know conduit between
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sean dawn and the police department what
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if the killer commits
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suicide police checked out the return
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address on sean's envelope
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it was in walkersville maryland the same
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town where the call in confession had
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been made
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however the young man living at the
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address was not named
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sean or don he was obsessed with that
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good morning as requested by frederick
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said another dead end
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the frederick police turned a local
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radio stations for help
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the caller claims to have killed tracy
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lynn kirkpatrick
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who was brutally murdered in frederick
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one year ago today
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authorities encourage you to listen
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carefully there's a chance someone may
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recognize the caller's voice
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[Applause]
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after the tape aired three people
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claimed they thought they recognized the
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voice
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again the man was not named sean or don
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but he was the young man who lived at
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the return address on the psychics
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letter
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police searched his home the next day
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our hopes in serving the search and
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seizure warrant on his person obtaining
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physical
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evidence from that suspect was to send
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that material to
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our forensic lab and the state lab and
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confirm our suspicions that he was in
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fact the
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person who committed this crime
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unfortunately
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the evidence was examined and
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re-examined
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and we were unable to confirm
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that he was either at the crime scene
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that night
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or had any any particular part
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in this criminal act
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okay i guess in the search police found
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many newspaper clippings about tracy's
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murder but could find no evidence that
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the young man knew
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tracy kirkpatrick personally he plead
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the fifth amendment
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and refused to answer any questions
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there has to be someone that's seeing
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something someone
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coming from that store running from the
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store or leaving that store
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or heard something i just can't imagine
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something happening like that no one
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knowing nothing about it the frustrating
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part is
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you know we obviously know somebody
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killed her and we've never been able to
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nail it down to
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the suspect that definitely did it but i
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mean that's
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has been our pledge to the community to
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the family that
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you know we're not going to give up
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until we do identify that person
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on march 20th 1989 tracy kirkpatrick was
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buried in oak grove cemetery near
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pittsburgh pennsylvania
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the poem she had once recited for her
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family was inscribed on her tombstone
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[Music]
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remember me when i am gone away gone
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far away into the silent land
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when you can no more hold me by the hand
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yet if you should forget me for a while
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and afterward remember do not grieve
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for if the darkness and corruption leave
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a vestige of the thoughts that once i
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had
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better by far that you should forget and
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smile
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and that you should remember and be sad
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six decades ago famed aviator amelia
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earhart
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captured the heart and spirit of an
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entire generation with their courageous
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record-breaking flights
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but in 1937 erhart became the subject of
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one of the most enduring and fascinating
00:15:04
unsolved mysteries
00:15:07
on may 20th 1937 emilia enter navigator
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fred noodle began their attempt to
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circumnavigate the world in a
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twin-engine lockheed electra
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they never returned
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on july 2nd they disappeared on route to
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the small south pacific island of
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holland
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[Music]
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a massive search turned up no trace of
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amelia fred
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or their airplane
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years later rumors surfaced that earhart
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and noonan were taken prisoner by the
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japanese
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and held on the island of saipan
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this woman was brought ashore by the
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japanese
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neva blas has lived on saipan her entire
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life
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she claims that she witnessed amelia
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earhart's execution
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[Music]
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amelia earhart and fred newman taken
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prisoner and executed on the island of
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saipan
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or did their plane in fact go down in
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the vast and unforgiving waters of the
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south pacific
00:16:16
shortly after our broadcast we learned
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of an intriguing discovery that may
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finally solve the mystery of amelia
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earhart's disappearance in october of
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1989
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a 17-member expedition spent three weeks
00:16:29
on a tiny uninhabited island called
00:16:31
nikumaroro
00:16:33
nikumaroro is 420 miles from amelia's
00:16:36
destination howland island
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the operation was headed by aviation
00:16:42
archaeologist
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rick gillespie no one ever really
00:16:46
searched on that island for amelia
00:16:48
earhart
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although the u.s navy flew over it one
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week after she disappeared
00:16:53
the pilot in charge of the flight saw
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what he later described in his official
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report
00:16:58
as clear signs of recent human
00:17:01
habitation
00:17:02
what he could not have known at that
00:17:03
time is there should have been no one on
00:17:06
that island
00:17:07
no sign of any human activity on that
00:17:09
island
00:17:11
the expedition found this aluminum
00:17:13
aircraft part
00:17:14
which may have been installed in the
00:17:16
lockheed elector by navigator fred
00:17:18
noonan
00:17:20
the number on the box positively
00:17:23
identifies it
00:17:24
as a navigator's bookcase we know
00:17:27
there was a structure of this
00:17:31
box's size and shape
00:17:35
installed aboard the earhart aircraft
00:17:37
tests performed by the fbi laboratory in
00:17:39
washington d.c
00:17:40
conclude that the bookcase came from a
00:17:42
civilian aircraft and was manufactured
00:17:44
in the years just prior to earhart's
00:17:46
disappearance
00:17:49
what the fbi has told us doesn't
00:17:51
constitute proof
00:17:53
what it does is constitute sufficient
00:17:56
evidence
00:17:57
to merit a return to mararo
00:18:00
to find and photograph the ultimate
00:18:02
proof
00:18:03
the airplane itself
00:18:06
rick gillespie and the archaeological
00:18:08
team plan to return the nikumaroro
00:18:11
using sonar and computer tracking
00:18:13
devices they will try to locate amelia
00:18:15
hearts plane in the waters just off the
00:18:16
island
00:18:18
perhaps just perhaps the mystery of the
00:18:20
legendary amelia earhart will finally be
00:18:26
solved
00:18:30
[Music]
00:18:33
in 1976 a 30 year old jack of all trades
00:18:36
named steve wilson
00:18:38
showed up in atlanta california
00:18:41
he was a licensed pilot and a certified
00:18:43
electrician
00:18:44
he said he had come from san diego but
00:18:46
never revealed much else about his past
00:18:49
with his rugged good looks and
00:18:51
smooth-talking charm wilson soon made
00:18:53
friends with the local residents
00:18:56
people liked steve wilson he could tell
00:19:00
you anything you wanted to hear
00:19:02
and make you believe it he was very much
00:19:04
involved with the college he liked to
00:19:06
lift weights
00:19:07
he liked to weld and when he was around
00:19:10
a group of people that he enjoyed
00:19:12
he was very friendly and very
00:19:15
uh fun to be around wilson did
00:19:18
occasional odd jobs on the cabin bar
00:19:21
ranch
00:19:21
a 900 000 acre spread 100 miles west of
00:19:24
death valley
00:19:28
the ranch was owned by bill thornberg a
00:19:30
prominent horseman
00:19:32
22 year old cali thornberg lived at home
00:19:35
and worked right alongside her father
00:19:37
when steve wilson met cali he took an
00:19:39
immediate interest in her
00:19:41
they courted for nine months and bill
00:19:44
thornburg's blessings ran off to reno to
00:19:46
get married
00:19:48
dad wanted me to get married because
00:19:52
he felt that i needed to have something
00:19:55
other than him in the ranch
00:19:58
as we were driving to reno or even the
00:20:00
day before we left
00:20:02
i was wishing there was some
00:20:06
way that i could get out of it or not
00:20:08
get married but
00:20:11
i felt as though i had made that
00:20:13
commitment and there was no way
00:20:15
to get out of that
00:20:19
the marriage was an immediate disaster
00:20:22
wilson was abusive and threatened callie
00:20:24
just two months after the wedding callie
00:20:26
left her husband and moved back in with
00:20:28
her father
00:20:29
wilson was no longer welcome on the
00:20:32
cabin bar ranch
00:20:34
hi john a few days later
00:20:38
cali told her father that wilson had
00:20:39
been making threatening phone calls
00:20:42
i didn't realize that guy was so crazy
00:20:45
i'm really afraid i don't know what to
00:20:47
do
00:20:48
the threats sparked a feud between bill
00:20:50
thornburg and steve wilson
00:20:52
well i don't like to say this at all
00:20:54
callie
00:20:56
but i really fear for your life the
00:20:57
guy's a nut i know
00:20:59
wilson would call on the phone and
00:21:02
harass
00:21:02
us and he would say things like i will
00:21:05
hurt you worse than you've ever been
00:21:07
hurt before
00:21:09
i will take everything you love away
00:21:11
from you you will pay
00:21:12
you will learn to love me you will learn
00:21:14
that loving me is
00:21:15
easier than being away from me
00:21:20
about three weeks after the breakup
00:21:22
steve wilson showed up at the ranch to
00:21:24
get callie back
00:21:26
kelly kelly come out here
00:21:29
telling want to talk to you right now
00:21:30
come out here what do you want wilson
00:21:33
i want to talk to kelly she'd want to
00:21:35
talk to you
00:21:36
kelly i love you but she don't love you
00:21:38
it's over with
00:21:40
that's between me and kelly get off my
00:21:42
ranch why are you doing
00:21:44
this to me just go away i love you
00:21:47
callie
00:21:48
i'm telling you you hear what i'm saying
00:22:00
i grabbed my dad and grabbed the gun and
00:22:04
said no
00:22:05
don't shoot him it's not worth it you
00:22:07
know i didn't want my father
00:22:08
and wilson to get into any kind of a
00:22:11
confrontation
00:22:12
with each other because i was afraid
00:22:14
that wilson would hurt my dad
00:22:18
may 29 1979 at 6 a.m
00:22:21
bill thornburg left the ranch house to
00:22:23
do his morning chores
00:22:24
and never returned
00:22:28
when i got there he wasn't there and so
00:22:30
i waited for about
00:22:32
oh 15 to 20 minutes and he never showed
00:22:35
i thought something was wrong because he
00:22:38
was always on time
00:22:39
dad and so i walked out to the
00:22:42
water lines and i found his truck
00:22:45
with his every morning cup of coffee
00:22:48
sitting on the dashboard and it was
00:22:50
still hot
00:22:52
dad
00:22:56
bill thornberg was never seen again
00:22:59
steve wilson had also disappeared
00:23:04
seven months passed then on christmas
00:23:06
eve 1979
00:23:08
a teenager riding his dirt bike through
00:23:10
the desert 45 miles south of the ranch
00:23:13
house
00:23:14
made a grisly discovery
00:23:19
a teenage boy on a dirt bike had been
00:23:21
over in the sand canyon area
00:23:23
and had come across the skeletal remains
00:23:25
of a body
00:23:27
the boy knew his parents wouldn't
00:23:29
believe him if he told him so he
00:23:31
actually took the head and rode back to
00:23:32
his house
00:23:34
and at that time his parents called the
00:23:35
sheriff's office and they went out and
00:23:37
investigated
00:23:38
with the evidence at the scene the
00:23:40
clothing and different articles it was
00:23:42
immediately known that it was bill
00:23:44
thornberg's body
00:23:45
and all the evidence led to steve wilson
00:23:48
i believe he vented a lot of his rage at
00:23:50
bill
00:23:51
up unto the point where he took him out
00:23:53
and murdered him
00:23:56
another year and a half passed and steve
00:23:58
wilson was still on the run
00:24:00
then in 1981 he was spotted by a game
00:24:02
warden in kodiak alaska
00:24:04
and was subsequently arrested in las
00:24:06
vegas he pled guilty to first degree
00:24:08
murder and received a sentence of 25
00:24:10
years to life at folsom prison in
00:24:12
california
00:24:15
folsom prison is a maximum security
00:24:17
facility housing many violent killers
00:24:20
when steve wilson arrived there had not
00:24:22
been an escape in 15 years
00:24:26
wilson immediately went to work
00:24:27
ingratiating himself to the officers
00:24:29
and administrators mr martin good
00:24:32
morning to you sir
00:24:33
i go steve listen a little favor i'd
00:24:37
like to ask if you could help me out
00:24:39
he joined the in-house work program and
00:24:42
used his charm on those who could help
00:24:44
him
00:24:48
steve was a model prisoner i have 30
00:24:51
years
00:24:52
in his career of mine and i would have
00:24:55
to say that this guy is the greatest
00:24:56
clerk i've ever had
00:25:00
before long wilson became the clerk in
00:25:02
charge of shipping
00:25:03
it is one of the most coveted inmate
00:25:04
jobs in the prison with a lease
00:25:06
supervision and the most freedom of
00:25:08
movement
00:25:09
hey larry hey steve how you doing good
00:25:11
hey look at invoice 1403
00:25:14
you only see when he became a clerk in
00:25:16
in the warehouse up uh
00:25:18
adjacent to the metal factory in the
00:25:19
license plate factory
00:25:21
but his job would entail him being in
00:25:24
all different
00:25:24
areas of the uh of the warehouse picking
00:25:27
up inventories picking up invoices
00:25:29
work orders so for him to be in a
00:25:32
certain area at any time would not be
00:25:34
unusual would not be significant
00:25:36
and if he wasn't there would not be
00:25:38
significant either
00:25:42
two years passed prison officials had no
00:25:45
idea that during that entire time
00:25:47
wilson was plotting a way out at 8 30
00:25:50
a.m on august 3
00:25:51
1984 while wilson was working near the
00:25:54
loading dock
00:25:55
he put his escape plan into effect
00:25:57
[Music]
00:26:04
what is your problem he ran into me
00:26:07
listen i told you about this safety last
00:26:08
week
00:26:14
[Music]
00:26:18
when the truck was fully loaded the
00:26:20
officers sealed the door shut
00:26:22
unaware that wilson had enlisted other
00:26:24
inmates to create a diversion
00:26:26
and help him make his escape
00:26:30
[Music]
00:26:34
wilson's meticulous planning had worked
00:26:36
nobody noticed that he left
00:26:38
the loading dock it's my opinion
00:26:41
that steve wilson was looking for the
00:26:44
weakest link
00:26:45
in our security to get out i think he
00:26:48
was planning this
00:26:49
at least well over a year ahead of time
00:26:53
he was an intelligent individual and
00:26:56
when you have vehicles
00:26:58
going in and out of a secure area
00:27:01
that's your weakest link
00:27:06
escape plan was modeled almost exactly
00:27:08
after the last successful escape from
00:27:10
folsom in 1969
00:27:12
15 years period
00:27:18
authorities believe that as soon as a
00:27:19
truck left the prison grounds
00:27:21
wilson cut a hole in the roof using tin
00:27:23
snipes he had stolen from the prison
00:27:25
metal shop
00:27:28
just minutes later the truck pulled into
00:27:30
the local building
00:27:34
when the truck's driver went inside for
00:27:36
a cup of coffee wilson squeezed through
00:27:38
the hole he'd cut
00:27:39
and disappeared having wilson on the
00:27:43
loose
00:27:44
is very hard for me because i can never
00:27:48
really relax
00:27:49
i don't like being alone and i'm always
00:27:52
looking around all the corners i
00:27:55
i'm constantly in fear
00:28:00
before steve wilson was sent to folsom
00:28:02
prison he was interviewed on videotape
00:28:04
by a psychiatrist i was thinking
00:28:05
anything i can't say that i was planning
00:28:07
to kill him that i wasn't planning to
00:28:08
kill him or anything i just turned in
00:28:11
and drove straight to the grave who was
00:28:14
driving
00:28:21
[Music]
00:28:30
[Music]
00:28:34
next the poignant mystery of an american
00:28:36
sailor whose ship was sunk by the nazis
00:28:38
he was later photographed on a hospital
00:28:40
ship and never seen again
00:28:52
most of us are familiar with the
00:28:53
heartbreaking stories of american
00:28:54
soldiers still missing in action in
00:28:56
vietnam and the anguish and uncertainty
00:28:59
their families face
00:29:01
it's astonishing to think that their
00:29:02
other families have been carrying that
00:29:04
same terrible burden ever since world
00:29:06
war
00:29:06
ii yet along with that burden of despair
00:29:09
comes a miracle of hope
00:29:11
this is a story of one american sailor's
00:29:13
family and their steadfast
00:29:15
dream of reunion
00:29:19
frank joseph bloomer was born on october
00:29:21
12 1921
00:29:22
in ziegler illinois the younger of two
00:29:25
sons he loved the outdoors
00:29:27
especially swimming and fishing
00:29:30
when world war ii broke out frankie
00:29:32
enlisted in the navy
00:29:33
against his parents wishes frankie
00:29:40
bloomer served as a radio technician
00:29:42
aboard the uss rowan
00:29:43
a destroyer operating in the
00:29:45
mediterranean sea
00:29:47
on september 11 1943 just off the coast
00:29:50
of italy
00:29:51
a german u-boat targeted the roan his
00:29:53
torpedo hit home
00:29:55
going sank in less than a minute
00:30:02
202 american sailors were killed
00:30:06
reported missing in action was 22 year
00:30:08
old radio man third
00:30:10
class frankie bloomer
00:30:16
his parents heard that the roland was
00:30:18
sunk
00:30:19
on their car radio in a short time they
00:30:22
were notified that it was missing in
00:30:24
action
00:30:26
incredibly less than a week later mrs
00:30:28
jane bloomer saw a newspaper article
00:30:30
with this photograph of three survivors
00:30:32
of the uss rowan
00:30:34
she recognized the man in the middle as
00:30:36
her son frankie
00:30:39
i know this is him look
00:30:42
at this she immediately contacted her
00:30:44
other son's wife dorothy
00:30:46
the two women compared the newspaper
00:30:48
photograph with pictures of frankie yes
00:30:50
see
00:30:51
i noticed that too how it is
00:30:55
when i first saw the newspaper picture
00:30:57
of the three survivors
00:30:58
i was positive the one was frankie it
00:31:04
had
00:31:05
characteristics that he had features
00:31:08
and um i knew it was frankie
00:31:14
jane bloomer took the photographs to a
00:31:16
local mortician who was an expert at
00:31:18
photo identification
00:31:20
see how he's holding his arm there did
00:31:23
he ever
00:31:23
break his arm maybe as a child yes he
00:31:27
did
00:31:28
i would say that these two men are
00:31:31
absolutely the same are you sure
00:31:34
from my observation of this evidence
00:31:38
i definitely would conclude they're one
00:31:39
and the same
00:31:41
thank you when the mortician told my
00:31:44
mother-in-law that
00:31:47
he felt this picture was a frankie
00:31:52
it gave her a lot more hope
00:31:55
she wrote to the american red cross to
00:31:57
see if they could help her
00:31:58
and they said they got all of their
00:32:00
information from the war department
00:32:03
and that they could not find any
00:32:05
information that she did not already
00:32:07
have
00:32:09
frankie's mother never stopped believing
00:32:11
that her son was alive
00:32:13
when mrs bloomer died in 1971
00:32:16
she passed her hope to a new generation
00:32:18
her granddaughter
00:32:19
janie as a very small girl the first
00:32:23
time i can remember
00:32:25
hearing or finding out about my uncle
00:32:27
frankie was at my grandma's house
00:32:32
i noticed the picture sitting on the
00:32:35
mantel
00:32:35
i went over and i asked my grandma i
00:32:37
said well who is this
00:32:39
and she said this is your uncle frankie
00:32:43
why haven't i ever met him well
00:32:46
he went into the navy a long time ago
00:32:49
he just hasn't come back yet but i'm
00:32:52
sure he will
00:32:53
i would say that my grandmother and
00:32:55
grandfather lived with
00:32:58
this haunting feeling of never knowing
00:33:00
if he was alive or dead until the day
00:33:02
they died
00:33:03
awesome i think my grandparents would
00:33:07
commemorate
00:33:08
frankie's birthday in different ways
00:33:10
from year to year
00:33:11
it never went forgotten
00:33:16
i can recall a time when we were over at
00:33:20
my grandmother's house to eat dinner
00:33:22
and there happened to be a cake on the
00:33:24
table and
00:33:25
and i asked why there was a cake there
00:33:28
and she told me that
00:33:29
it was because it was frankie's birthday
00:33:32
where is he he's away just now
00:33:38
when is he gonna be back
00:33:43
i don't know janie i don't know
00:33:49
i'm searching to find the answer whether
00:33:52
he is alive or dead
00:33:54
so that i don't end up the same way that
00:33:55
my grandparents did
00:33:57
because they both died not knowing the
00:33:59
real truth of whether he was alive or
00:34:01
dead
00:34:04
twelve years ago janie's parents erected
00:34:07
a memorial headstone for frankie
00:34:11
i do go to the grave occasionally and
00:34:14
our family is all buried in the same
00:34:16
proximity
00:34:18
it's kind of strange though when when i
00:34:20
look at my uncle frankie's
00:34:21
grave marker and know that he's not in
00:34:23
there
00:34:24
and think of the possibility that he
00:34:27
could be
00:34:27
walking a street somewhere yet there's a
00:34:30
marker here with his name on it
00:34:46
[Music]
00:34:56
for a young woman to be pregnant and
00:34:57
unmarried is nearly always a disturbing
00:34:59
and unsettling prospect in 1965 judith
00:35:03
hines a 22 year old medical technician
00:35:05
from coral gables florida found herself
00:35:07
in that difficult predicament
00:35:09
with nowhere else to turn judith hyams
00:35:11
apparently decided to have an illegal
00:35:13
abortion
00:35:14
it was a decision that probably led to
00:35:16
her disappearance and quite possibly
00:35:19
her death
00:35:23
judith hines learned she was pregnant in
00:35:25
august of 1965
00:35:33
the name she gave her pregnancy test was
00:35:35
b kenny
00:35:37
evidence that she may have been trying
00:35:38
to keep her condition a secret
00:35:45
judy never said anything to me about the
00:35:48
fact that she might have been pregnant
00:35:50
she never even told me that she went to
00:35:54
have a test
00:35:55
a pregnancy test she called me
00:36:00
i guess the day that she was going to
00:36:01
have the abortion if that is what
00:36:03
happened
00:36:05
to tell me that she was going shopping
00:36:07
she was leaving work early
00:36:09
and going shopping
00:36:12
the day she disappeared judith went to
00:36:14
her bank and withdrew three hundred
00:36:16
dollars
00:36:21
she told her friends that she was going
00:36:22
to buy a watch
00:36:24
police believe that instead judith used
00:36:26
the money for an illegal abortion
00:36:31
we were able to determine that she
00:36:33
contacted a close friend of hers
00:36:35
who uh helped arrange an abortion
00:36:38
through the suspect dr george hodgin
00:36:42
and uh through that a date and time and
00:36:44
a price were set for it
00:36:46
judith made the arrangements to get the
00:36:48
money and
00:36:49
uh the last time she was seen we feel
00:36:51
that she was on her way to get this
00:36:52
abortion
00:36:54
get plenty of rest you'll be fine in no
00:36:57
time huh george haju was a hungarian
00:36:59
immigrant who poses an accredited
00:37:01
physician
00:37:02
according to police haju operated an
00:37:04
illegal abortion clinic in coral gables
00:37:08
judy
00:37:14
having an abortion i don't think she
00:37:17
really had any other choice because
00:37:19
nobody in those days would have a child
00:37:22
and keep it it just wasn't done
00:37:25
not not in in the group that she was
00:37:28
friendly with
00:37:31
julie judy judy
00:37:35
right through here huh a lot of people
00:37:38
have said
00:37:39
that what happened to her was that she
00:37:42
died having an abortion
00:37:46
judy was a medical a lab technician
00:37:50
she had a lot of medical knowledge i
00:37:52
find it hard to believe that she could
00:37:54
have died having an abortion
00:37:56
i mean surely she would have known she
00:37:58
was intelligent enough to know to go for
00:38:00
help someplace
00:38:03
judith heims disappeared on september 14
00:38:06
1965.
00:38:08
three weeks later a rattle car
00:38:10
registered in her name was found 650
00:38:12
miles away in atlanta georgia
00:38:14
on the back seat were traces of blood
00:38:19
unfortunately the car had sat there for
00:38:21
two or three days before it was found
00:38:24
and then by the time we were able to
00:38:25
conduct any crime scene on it
00:38:27
the car had been handled by other people
00:38:28
of the police agencies
00:38:30
and by the time it got back to dade
00:38:32
county to be processed whatever crime
00:38:33
scene existed was totally ruined
00:38:37
a local resident had spotted a man in
00:38:39
his 30s parking the vehicle
00:38:41
he removed what appeared to be a duffel
00:38:43
bag from the trunk
00:38:44
and then left the area this man has
00:38:46
never been identified
00:38:52
three months later george [ __ ] was
00:38:54
arrested for impersonating a
00:38:59
he physician bail and has not been seen
00:39:01
since
00:39:02
perjury charges against him are still in
00:39:04
the books and police speculate he may
00:39:06
know what happened at judith heims
00:39:11
shortly after hajju's escape police
00:39:13
ended their investigation into judas
00:39:16
disappearance
00:39:18
the judith heim's case soon faded from
00:39:20
local memory
00:39:22
but 25 years later the investigation
00:39:24
will be reopened
00:39:25
thanks to a bizarre series of events
00:39:27
that began with a police narcotics
00:39:29
lecture in nebraska
00:39:31
captain chuck scheer of the coral gables
00:39:33
police department was unfamiliar with
00:39:35
ohium's case
00:39:36
in 1990 shearer had a speaking
00:39:38
engagement at a police academy 200 miles
00:39:40
west of omaha nebraska
00:39:42
the lecture itself was uneventful and
00:39:44
sheer returned home
00:39:46
it was then that he received a phone
00:39:48
call from the past
00:39:52
two days after the nebraska lecture
00:39:54
captain shear received a long-distance
00:39:56
phone call at his office in coral gables
00:40:05
hello hello yes it is
00:40:09
what can i do for you the caller
00:40:11
identified himself as steve brown
00:40:13
the host of a popular radio talk show in
00:40:15
omaha
00:40:16
he said an anonymous caller had given
00:40:18
him information on the disappearance of
00:40:20
judith heims
00:40:22
i told the mr brown that i didn't wasn't
00:40:25
familiar with the case and i'd have to
00:40:27
research and
00:40:27
get back to him i asked him for for his
00:40:30
phone number and if he knew how to get
00:40:31
back in touch with this person that had
00:40:32
called the radio talk show
00:40:34
he said yes he did know how to get back
00:40:36
to him and he gave me two phone numbers
00:40:39
a day later captain shearer called steve
00:40:42
brown in nebraska
00:40:43
steve brown he said well regarding your
00:40:46
call
00:40:47
to me i have dug up the information that
00:40:49
you needed
00:40:50
and i have it for you and i said excuse
00:40:53
me i
00:40:54
because this is a call out of the blue i
00:40:56
didn't know who the man was or
00:40:58
could not imagine what he was talking
00:41:00
about he
00:41:01
was totally surprised never heard of me
00:41:03
never knew anything about it and denied
00:41:06
adamantly that he was the one that made
00:41:07
the phone calls
00:41:09
no no
00:41:13
that's right that's my home number it's
00:41:14
my private unlisted number
00:41:16
who gave you that when he gave me my own
00:41:19
unlisted home phone number
00:41:22
i began to think through the people that
00:41:25
come to mind who have that telephone
00:41:27
number
00:41:27
thinking they could have called and no
00:41:30
one has yet come to mind who would
00:41:32
make such a phone call without telling
00:41:34
me about it
00:41:35
claiming to be me well now i'm confused
00:41:39
i don't know what
00:41:39
uh what to think why would uh why would
00:41:42
a 25 year old case
00:41:43
surface all of a sudden out of omaha
00:41:45
nebraska when in fact i've never been to
00:41:47
omaha
00:41:48
nebraska in my life prior to this time
00:41:50
uh
00:41:51
and had no knowledge or anything about
00:41:53
the case i never mentioned the case
00:41:54
whatsoever the whole time we were out
00:41:56
there
00:41:57
for the simple reason i really didn't
00:41:58
even know about the case uh to
00:42:00
to give anybody any information or
00:42:01
anything
00:42:04
good evening corgavs police department
00:42:07
captain shear one moment
00:42:08
two days later captain shear received
00:42:11
another unusual phone call
00:42:14
hello
00:42:24
hello who is this
00:42:37
my gut feeling is that something is
00:42:39
going on to bring this case back up 25
00:42:41
years later
00:42:42
and it it very possibly is that judy is
00:42:45
in fact living in in the omaha area
00:42:49
in the fall of 1989 an article on the
00:42:52
heim's case appeared in a local
00:42:53
newspaper
00:42:56
captain shearer then received yet
00:42:57
another anonymous phone call
00:43:02
hello the third phone call that i
00:43:06
received was from a man that identified
00:43:08
himself as an informant for the fbi
00:43:12
he refused to give me his name at that
00:43:14
time but
00:43:15
he said that he had just spent several
00:43:17
weeks with
00:43:18
hajju over in budapest hungary and he
00:43:22
gave me the phone number
00:43:23
i contacted uh interpol
00:43:27
an interpol our interpol through their
00:43:29
budapest
00:43:30
interpol determined that the phone
00:43:32
number that he gave me indeed comes back
00:43:34
to the same name
00:43:34
of the suspect at that time the doctor
00:43:36
that supposedly performed the abortion
00:43:39
police have yet to locate george hajju
00:43:42
in hungary but they feel it is highly
00:43:44
unlikely that he was responsible for the
00:43:46
phone calls
00:43:52
the only real evidence that judith is
00:43:54
still alive has come from the mysterious
00:43:56
phone calls
00:44:00
police have searched the omaha area but
00:44:02
have found no trace of her whereabouts
00:44:06
who placed the anonymous phone calls if
00:44:09
they are telling the truth where is
00:44:10
judith hymes today
00:44:12
did she have an abortion and die as a
00:44:14
result or did she just
00:44:16
disappear
00:44:19
the only possible scenario that i could
00:44:21
see is that
00:44:23
if in fact she is she didn't want the
00:44:26
family to know about
00:44:28
the supposed abortion at the time and
00:44:30
she just disappeared and in fact has
00:44:32
been missing for 25 years not wanting
00:44:33
her family to know about it
00:44:36
i'd like to believe that she's someplace
00:44:40
and that she could be found or that she
00:44:42
can back or that we know that she's all
00:44:44
right
00:44:45
i guess my personal theory is is it's
00:44:48
hard to believe that she
00:44:49
that she would be dead um
00:44:53
but i can't understand if she's alive
00:44:56
why she wouldn't contact somebody after
00:44:59
all this time
00:45:00
after all there's no more stigmas left
00:45:02
why wouldn't she come back
00:45:15
[Music]
00:45:23
[Music]
00:45:31
[Music]
00:45:38
in 1980 two women in texas had a strange
00:45:40
encounter with an unidentified object on
00:45:43
a desolate highway outside of houston
00:45:45
within hours he was stricken with
00:45:46
mysterious illnesses which continue to
00:45:49
plague them today
00:45:50
a genuine ufo a military operation
00:45:53
or something new and unexplained
00:45:57
[Music]
00:45:59
join me next time for another edition of
00:46:01
unsolved mysteries
00:46:14
[Music]
00:46:31
[Applause]
00:46:35
[Music]
00:46:52
you
