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Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 8, Episode 21 - Full Episode

May 23, 2019 / 44:31

This episode of Unsolved Mysteries covers the tragic murder of Joe Cole, the disappearance of Milly McGregor, and the bizarre case of Tim Harrell's search for his birth mother. Key guests include actor Dennis Cole and musician Henry Rollins.

The episode begins with the story of Joe Cole, son of actor Dennis Cole, who was shot and killed during a robbery in Venice, California. Dennis reflects on the loss of his son and the impact it has had on his life. Joe was known for his work documenting the struggles of homeless Vietnam veterans.

Next, the episode recounts the harrowing tale of Milly McGregor, who got lost in the Sierra Nevadas during a hike. After two days of searching with no results, a cowboy named Randy Spears, guided by a vision, found her and brought her back to safety.

Tim Harrell's story follows, detailing his search for his birth mother after discovering that his adoptive mother had lied about his origins. Tim's emotional journey reveals the complexities of his feelings toward his birth mother and the longing for family.

The episode concludes with a teaser for the next season, hinting at more intriguing cases from the past.

TL;DR

This episode features Joe Cole's murder, Milly McGregor's rescue, and Tim Harrell's search for his birth mother.

Episode

44:31
00:00:05
tonight on unsolved mysteries in Venice
00:00:10
California a late-night trip to the
00:00:12
corner store becomes a terrifying
00:00:14
descent into an urban hell which ends in
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a brutal death for the son of a
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prominent television actor
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when Milly McGregor got hopelessly lost
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in the wilderness an army of highly
00:00:25
trained searches was mobilized for the
00:00:26
rescue effort but they had no luck until
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a soft-spoken cowboy guided by a
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mysterious vision came riding along four
00:00:36
years
00:00:37
Tim Harrell was totally been abandoned
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by his birth mother left as an infant in
00:00:40
a garbage can
00:00:41
too late Harrell learned that the tale
00:00:44
have been a tragic misguided deception
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concocted by his adoptive mother and in
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one of our most bizarre cases a
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self-styled preacher allegedly
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brainwashes a young farmer and turns him
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into a virtual prisoner in his own home
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join me perhaps you hold the key perhaps
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you may be able to solve one of
00:01:05
tonight's unsolved mysteries
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[Music]
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[Music]
00:02:02
actor Dennis Cole has appeared in dozens
00:02:04
of television shows like The Young and
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the Restless Fantasy Island and the fall
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guy if life was scripted like a
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Hollywood movie Dennis his only son Joe
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might have followed in his footsteps but
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Joe Cole died unexpectedly barely out of
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his twenties I have like 29 years of
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remembering of doing all of these things
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I mean I was a kid I was a teenager when
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he was born there's not a day that goes
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by that I don't think about him and you
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know we've always shared things it's
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like I I've done a lot of new things and
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it's like I have no one to call up say
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hey hey Joe guess what happened here and
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he would do the same thing with me I'm
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it's like a part of your heart we just
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taken and pulled out
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[Music]
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there is no good way to lose a child
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sudden random violence is one of the
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worst al unknown gunmen shot Joe Cole
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during a holdup that netted less than 50
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dollars he was murdered in front of his
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home in Venice California near one of
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the most violent sections of Los Angeles
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[Music]
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but Venice Heights is troubles well
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indeed this beachfront suburb is a scene
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of a year-round street party for decades
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the area has been home to writers
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artists and musicians Joe Cole
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an actor and a photographer fit right in
00:03:32
in Venice
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Joe Cole set himself the task of
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documenting the plight of homeless
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Vietnam veterans Cole was helped by his
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longtime friend Henry Rollins a writer
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and lead singer of the Rollins band
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those men you see talking to themselves
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standing next to payphones on streets he
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would bond with these people where they
00:03:57
wouldn't give you the time of day they
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would tell the story of their lives to
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Joe
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Joe Cole was murdered before he could
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complete the work at the time he and
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Rollins were running a house just
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outside Oakwood the toughest part of
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Venice looking back
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Rollins has a lesson innocent view of
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life on the edge you get in your little
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rituals when you live in a community you
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go you know wash days fried a chicken on
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Sunday all that and for a predator for a
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robber this is what they go on they need
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habit it was Rollins and Cole's heavy to
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shop at an all-night grocery store a
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block from their house their visit on
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December 19th 1991 was forget ibly
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ordinary until they got to within 50
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feet of their front door within one
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second you are going from the 90 million
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thrip to the grocery store home to two
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guns in your face and you know your
00:05:10
reality change is very appropriately
00:05:14
everything seemed to go very slowly and
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time seemed to kind of hover
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one robber shoved Rollins to his knees
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the other forced joke called face down
00:05:27
on the ground a guy who is on me said if
00:05:32
you yell or if you scream I'm gonna blow
00:05:35
your head off and I said okay
00:05:40
what zoom through my mind was if I speak
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loud the gun will go off and if I
00:05:46
whisper maybe it won't
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and the gun is very delicate and has a
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life of its own and if I'm cool maybe it
00:05:56
won't jump out and bite me get up get up
00:06:08
anybody home my roommates home he's
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watching TV
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I lied hoping they would go Oh people in
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the house you better get out of here but
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that didn't bother him at all I'm trying
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to come up with some kind of way to get
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us out of this because it's not as if
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you're gonna go for some movie stunt
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like grabbing the gun and wrestling
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around that's you know that's fiction
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I'm at that moment what I thought was
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going to happen was we were going to be
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marched into the house and executed
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while they robbed the place at their
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leisure
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I heard feet scuffling on the front
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porch and then I heard gunshots and I
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remember standing there very you know
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perfectly still with my hands up for a
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couple of seconds afterwards thinking
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how strange gunshots sounded inside this
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room as they the sound ricocheted around
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the walls and then my legs took off but
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I did not know the state that Joe was in
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I had I didn't even hardly remember
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leaving the house all of a sudden I was
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at a phone and I didn't called the
00:07:39
police and told them what I thought had
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happened though the police arrived
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within minutes Joe Cole was already dead
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and the killers had melted into the
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night my partner and myself had put in
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thousands of hours interviewing hundreds
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and hundreds of people our investigation
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has led us to believe that the suspects
00:08:10
probably live in the Oakwood community
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criminals always talk and they talk to
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other people somebody knows something
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out there that happened to Joe Cole
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when someone dies in this way it's not
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just the loss of a life there's a mother
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there's a father you know and then all
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of us the friends who lost this
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fantastic person and you never recover
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from it all the way he always carries
00:08:45
some of it and unit it wrecks you year
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after year as mutilated a concept as
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justice is in this country and how it
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only seems to benefit a certain skin
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color in a certain economic place in
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America real justice is a pretty
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righteous thing and I'd like to see it
00:09:11
done and exact it on these individuals
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the only justice that can be done here
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is to get those guys or guy off the
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street so they don't do it to your
00:09:21
friend or your sister or your parent or
00:09:25
your child
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[Music]
00:09:40
in a moment Gilly che Smith joins us
00:09:44
with the latest news from the phone
00:09:45
center also a veteran journalist needs
00:09:48
your help to unlock the secrets of his
00:09:50
past
00:09:53
[Music]
00:10:02
tonight we have a heartwarming update to
00:10:04
one of our most poignant lost love cases
00:10:06
perhaps you remember the story
00:10:13
a few days after Christmas in 1961 a
00:10:16
diesel engine rumbles out of Dallas
00:10:18
Texas and headed west nearly 200 miles
00:10:22
down the line in Abilene Texas
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Darlene out found oh and a friend
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gathered up their children for a trip
00:10:28
into town the train reached Abilene at
00:10:32
the same time as the two mothers and
00:10:34
their children inexplicably
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their car came to a sudden dead stop at
00:10:38
the railroad crossing
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[Music]
00:10:42
[Applause]
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the accident killed three children and
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one of the mothers that anyone at all
00:10:59
came out of the wreckage alive seemed a
00:11:01
miracle Fred I'll follow a US Army
00:11:05
sergeant lost his wife and two of his
00:11:07
daughters in the crash his third child
00:11:10
LaDonna suffered massive head injuries
00:11:19
mommy's an angel
00:11:22
[Music]
00:11:24
sure
00:11:26
[Music]
00:11:30
over the years LaDonna endured a
00:11:33
succession of operations that gradually
00:11:35
rebuilt her face but of course nothing
00:11:37
could restore her sisters or her mother
00:11:40
Darlene I have no memories of my mother
00:11:44
at all I look at pictures of her and I
00:11:47
try to remember something it's like
00:11:49
looking at a magazine article of a woman
00:11:52
my father has told me stories about us
00:11:54
as children with my mom and it doesn't
00:11:57
bring back any memories whatsoever none
00:12:00
whatsoever
00:12:02
LaDonna is only hope of finding her
00:12:04
mother's family rested with his 28
00:12:06
year-old snapshot of her mother's sister
00:12:08
Patricia hits key Lee was at the phone
00:12:11
centers a dramatic story unfolded Bob
00:12:17
the night of our broadcast Madonna's
00:12:19
search came to a glorious end in fact it
00:12:21
was more successful than she ever dared
00:12:23
hope for not only did she find her aunt
00:12:26
Patricia but she located her maternal
00:12:28
grandparents as well before the evening
00:12:31
was out plans were underway for a long
00:12:33
overdue family reunion
00:12:38
a few weeks later LaDonna was pulling up
00:12:40
to her aunt Pat's house in Sioux Falls
00:12:42
South Dakota totally changed my life you
00:13:00
believe yeah it's just finding them then
00:13:03
they're great people and they're
00:13:06
beautiful I just um I just feel totally
00:13:09
might that hole that empty hole is
00:13:10
totally filled she lost her mother I
00:13:14
lost my sister and it's just like she
00:13:18
found us another mother and I found a
00:13:21
new sister and I just feel like I just
00:13:23
feel like we're just connected I really
00:13:25
do ladonna x' first visit with her
00:13:29
grandparents in more than three decades
00:13:31
made the reunion complete I can't even
00:13:37
express it
00:13:37
I just really cannot express how I feel
00:13:39
there's just too many emotions going on
00:13:41
here and it's just a wonderful wonderful
00:13:43
feeling it's just it's great I just feel
00:13:46
like I'm I just feel really like I'm at
00:13:48
home it's really great
00:13:51
Madonna's joyous rediscovery of her
00:13:54
mother's family was tempered by an
00:13:56
unexpected loss two days after the
00:13:58
reunion
00:13:59
Madonna's grandfather Stanley hints
00:14:01
passed away he was 86 years old
00:14:06
[Music]
00:14:24
Tim Harrell a news producer at Los
00:14:27
Angeles television station is a veteran
00:14:29
journalist a man whose 30-year career is
00:14:31
earned him numerous awards and
00:14:33
commendations tim has covered thousands
00:14:36
of stories but for the last six years
00:14:37
one story has been a priority
00:14:40
now Tim Harrell needs your help yeah I
00:14:43
built Tim heroine our Channel 13 News
00:14:44
it's so frustrating to know that Here I
00:14:48
am I can go out and get good stories I
00:14:51
can break stories I can do great
00:14:53
interviews I can get nominated for Emmys
00:14:57
I can win awards but I can't find my
00:15:00
mother
00:15:04
tim was raised by a woman named Helen
00:15:06
Harold she never made a secret of the
00:15:09
fact that Tim was adopted and she never
00:15:12
shielded him from the near tragic
00:15:13
circumstances but she said brought him
00:15:16
to her in 1947
00:15:21
[Music]
00:15:32
she told me that she had found me
00:15:34
abandoned in a garbage can behind Barnes
00:15:37
Hospital in st. Louis before she worked
00:15:39
as a nurse and that when she found me I
00:15:43
was very sick I had a birth defect known
00:15:46
as a cleft palate and a harelip and she
00:15:50
took me in and had a plastic surgeon
00:15:53
repair that I also had rheumatic fever
00:15:58
which was a heart problem where I had a
00:16:02
heart murmur as well and she took care
00:16:05
of that Helen managed to adopt the baby
00:16:10
at a time when single parenthood was
00:16:12
almost unheard of somehow she was able
00:16:15
to cut through the red tape she always
00:16:19
was concerned that there was never a
00:16:20
male force in my life so she made sure I
00:16:23
was in military school she made sure I
00:16:25
was in the YMCA she made sure I was in
00:16:27
Little League and she went to these
00:16:28
things with me I mean she went to the
00:16:30
Little League games with me she went to
00:16:31
the YMCA with me she took the role of
00:16:34
being father and mother inevitably
00:16:41
however the day came when Tim wanted to
00:16:43
know more about his past
00:16:46
yes what happened to my mother
00:16:52
what on earth are you talking about I'm
00:16:54
your mother
00:16:55
I mean what happened to my real mother
00:16:59
Timmy your mother was not a good mother
00:17:01
she and your father were low-class
00:17:05
trashy her favorite term for those
00:17:07
white-trash taking care of you I just
00:17:10
hated my birth mother I thought my god
00:17:12
how could a human being just throw away
00:17:14
a baby particularly one who had a
00:17:16
physical defect and just throw him in
00:17:19
the garbage like it was a piece of
00:17:20
garbage I mean that just not away at me
00:17:23
and as I got into journalism as I did
00:17:25
stories about mothers who abandon their
00:17:27
children you know I always swapped my
00:17:29
birth mother in with them and they were
00:17:31
always usually people that were
00:17:33
low-class that that had no caring for
00:17:37
their children and I would always
00:17:38
identify my birth mother with us those
00:17:40
people by 1976 Tim was on staff at the
00:17:47
Los Angeles herald-examiner he was
00:17:49
married and had a son of his own
00:17:52
that summer Tim received a phone call
00:17:55
that haunts him to this desk speaking
00:18:00
who's calling
00:18:02
excuse me what are you talking about my
00:18:05
mother's at home it came right out of
00:18:11
the blue like a bolt of lightning I mean
00:18:13
I've been to riots that covered things
00:18:14
in Vietnam but that just was the most
00:18:18
emotional thing that I've ever had in my
00:18:19
life to get that phone call don't you
00:18:22
think it's a little late to suddenly be
00:18:24
taking an interest in my life what I do
00:18:30
understand is you left me to die in a
00:18:32
trash can
00:18:32
all of a sudden woman all the hatred
00:18:34
baby and a chest exploded
00:18:36
I said how could you how could you throw
00:18:39
me away like that was a piece of garbage
00:18:42
how could you do that and she said well
00:18:46
you don't understand I said I don't want
00:18:49
to understand there's no way you're ever
00:18:54
gonna see my son you ever try to contact
00:18:58
me or my son I'll get a restraining
00:18:59
order against you I don't know you would
00:19:02
think all the emotions just flowed out
00:19:05
of me the city editor who was working
00:19:07
there looked at me and he says my god
00:19:09
what's wrong you look like you've seen a
00:19:10
ghost and I told him I have
00:19:13
she said she was living near San Jose
00:19:15
and she wanted to meet Adam later that
00:19:18
day I told him about the phone call and
00:19:21
she got hysterical of course not
00:19:25
I've no interest in seeing her or my
00:19:26
father I told him to stay away from my
00:19:28
family she promised me well not try to
00:19:31
find her she abandoned you when you were
00:19:33
a baby nothing good could come out of
00:19:34
you meeting her Helen's reaction
00:19:36
solidified Tim's decision not to allow
00:19:38
his birth mother into his life six years
00:19:42
later in 1983 Helen passed away by then
00:19:46
Tim had divorced and his son had gone to
00:19:48
live with Tim's ex-wife it was a lonely
00:19:51
time a moment when Tim became acutely
00:19:54
aware of how much family meant to him in
00:19:58
1986 Tim married his second wife Denise
00:20:00
but he couldn't shake the feeling that
00:20:02
something was missing on a trip back to
00:20:09
st. Louis in 1990 Tim and Denise tried
00:20:12
to locate his birth mother through
00:20:14
adoption records you realize mr. Herold
00:20:18
I'm not at liberty to divulge any
00:20:20
information regarding your adoption I
00:20:22
don't know where else to go I'm sorry
00:20:24
but it's the law
00:20:26
and she said adoptions in Missouri are
00:20:29
confidential we played sort of a game of
00:20:32
20 questions
00:20:35
she's just think Bay Area
00:20:37
I said San Francisco she says no a
00:20:39
little further south and I said San Jose
00:20:42
she said yes
00:20:44
she says think relative of your mother
00:20:49
your adoptive mother couldn't think of
00:20:51
who that would be your mother have a
00:20:53
sister
00:20:56
are you saying that my real mother was
00:20:58
Helens sister I'm not saying anything
00:21:03
listen I'm gonna go get a cup of coffee
00:21:07
seems silly to put this away just to get
00:21:10
it out again later
00:21:12
I'm gonna be gone for about five minutes
00:21:17
[Music]
00:21:23
in those five minutes
00:21:26
Tim learned Helen had lied about every
00:21:27
detail of his birth his birth mother was
00:21:31
not some cold-hearted stranger who would
00:21:33
abandon him in a garbage can aim as
00:21:35
Muriel Carol she was apparently Helens
00:21:38
old niece and she had given Tim up only
00:21:41
because she had to let through me like a
00:21:44
jolt of electricity they only thought my
00:21:47
mind was is I really wanted to find her
00:21:49
now I really wanted to say look I didn't
00:21:53
know and I am so sorry
00:21:55
I am so sorry for what I said to you and
00:21:58
in how I acted to you
00:22:01
tim was deeply moved to learn that
00:22:03
Helen's niece was only 18 when he was
00:22:05
born
00:22:06
still almost a child herself Tim's
00:22:09
father had just gotten out of the Army
00:22:11
and was in no position to be both a
00:22:12
husband and father
00:22:14
they gave Tim to Helen and bowed out of
00:22:16
his life
00:22:18
it aches at my heart to know that I have
00:22:22
a family out there and I don't know who
00:22:24
they are may have lived in the st. Louis
00:22:30
area back in 1947 I have to find this
00:22:33
woman even if it turns out that she has
00:22:36
died I want to go to the grave I don't
00:22:39
want to talk to her I didn't give her an
00:22:42
opportunity to explain here I am a
00:22:45
journalist I'm supposed to be fair I'm
00:22:46
supposed to be even-handed I'm supposed
00:22:47
to listen to both sides and I would even
00:22:49
get my real mother the opportunity to
00:22:51
explain what happened I to this day I'm
00:22:58
very worried that I don't have that
00:23:00
opportunity
00:23:03
[Music]
00:23:24
coming up when an elderly woman gets
00:23:27
lost in the Sierra Nevadas it seems that
00:23:29
only a miracle concealer but first day
00:23:34
Freeman posed as a hard-working man of
00:23:36
God but when his employer turned up dead
00:23:39
Freeman emerged as a prime suspect
00:23:44
[Music]
00:23:56
November 14th 1994 Folsom West Virginia
00:24:01
acting on an anonymous tip police
00:24:04
arrived at the house of a well-to-do
00:24:05
farmer named Tim good the tip had come
00:24:09
from an unlikely source a would-be thief
00:24:11
had broken in and found more than he
00:24:14
bargained for the caller had said look
00:24:21
in the basement police came across what
00:24:24
appeared to be sparse living quarters on
00:24:32
the bed a grisly discovery the
00:24:35
decomposed body of 37 year old Tim good
00:24:38
good had been strangled and left
00:24:40
undisturbed for over a year where the
00:24:45
body was located it was basically a
00:24:47
dungeon or a cell bare walls concrete
00:24:51
floor upstairs of the the residence it
00:24:55
was lavishly furnished hot tub Jacuzzi
00:24:58
three large screen TVs a wet bar it was
00:25:03
very nice upstairs and was a dungeon in
00:25:05
the basement strange the investigation
00:25:11
quickly revealed that someone had been
00:25:12
living in the house almost the entire
00:25:14
time the Tim Goods dead body had been in
00:25:16
the basement all of the air vents were
00:25:19
sealed no doubt to prevent odors from
00:25:22
wafting upstairs then police uncovered
00:25:27
volumes of diaries written by this man
00:25:29
who was known as Dave Freeman
00:25:31
it was Freeman's cryptic writings that
00:25:34
would help authorities piece together
00:25:35
the tragic demise of Tim good
00:25:41
Tim good owned-and-operated a 350 Acre
00:25:45
dairy farm in Connersville Pennsylvania
00:25:47
one of his workers was a young man named
00:25:50
Jean Kennedy Kennedy had come from a
00:25:53
broken home
00:25:54
and Tim was his unofficial guardian when
00:25:58
I first come and live with him instead
00:26:00
of making it feel like he was just
00:26:02
giving it to me it was like I was
00:26:04
learning salt you know 13 years old
00:26:06
fifty bucks a week and being on your own
00:26:08
and a place to live I was free neat for
00:26:10
me the author of the Diaries Dave
00:26:14
Freeman hired on in 1987 at the time he
00:26:17
went by the name Ben here I found some
00:26:20
cooling in the oil pan I'm gonna rethink
00:26:22
this filter off and see if it's
00:26:23
contaminated but within months Freeman
00:26:26
and his wife Eliza had moved into the
00:26:28
main house with Tim and Gina before you
00:26:32
know it it's he was there it's just how
00:26:36
it was yeah Tim never even hinted that
00:26:38
he knew even like Ben I think in the
00:26:41
beginning he didn't
00:26:47
we're gonna be leading a Bible study up
00:26:48
at the house leaders evening thought you
00:26:50
might like to come up and check it out
00:26:52
by what time Freeman was something of a
00:26:54
self-styled preacher Tim God was
00:26:57
estranged from his family and apparently
00:26:59
turned to Freeman for spiritual guidance
00:27:01
things to help you out with other people
00:27:03
Ben would have an unusual twist to the
00:27:08
way he spoke with Tim implying that he
00:27:12
knew more than what most people did and
00:27:15
therefore Tim looked at him as being a
00:27:17
very wise man I think it started off
00:27:20
that Tim thought he found somebody he
00:27:22
could trust you know somebody that was
00:27:24
pretty well educated that would more or
00:27:26
less stick with him instead of everybody
00:27:29
else turning him away and I think that's
00:27:31
what Tim wanted and needed
00:27:34
but Freeman seemed to have his own
00:27:37
agenda Jean Kennedy claims that Freeman
00:27:42
began acting as if he owned the farm
00:27:44
what are you doing I told you don't come
00:27:47
here until you call I live here too yeah
00:27:49
well you can't come in right now I'll be
00:27:50
in and out all right look my wife's
00:27:51
asleep upstairs you can't come in quiet
00:27:58
my wife's asleep upstairs I understand
00:28:00
that but he lives here too okay let's
00:28:06
just forget about him all right come on
00:28:08
let's go inside sure it's all right it's
00:28:10
okay trust me cool when Ben showed up it
00:28:14
wasn't I'd say about a year after that
00:28:16
Tim stop dairy farm you know you'd come
00:28:18
down on the farmers no cows there's no
00:28:21
calves there was no dry stock everything
00:28:24
was empty Tim looked at me one day and
00:28:26
he said you're gonna hate me he says I
00:28:29
sold the farm he says I got a million
00:28:34
dollars for the farm maybe a little more
00:28:38
and he'd laugh he thought that was
00:28:41
really funny it was real proud of
00:28:42
himself Tim turned around and bought
00:28:46
another much smaller farm in West
00:28:48
Virginia Jean Kennedy stayed in
00:28:51
Pennsylvania
00:28:52
but Freeman and his family made the move
00:28:54
with Tim oddly Freeman was now calling
00:28:58
himself Dave over by the fence by that
00:29:08
big tree yeah you know what come to
00:29:10
think of it you don't have clearing that
00:29:12
why don't you get somebody would over
00:29:13
there for kindling how much you think we
00:29:15
need Tim would be always out there doing
00:29:17
the work and Dave would always be at the
00:29:19
house oh it says the man it doesn't work
00:29:21
doesn't eat it seemed more like dave was
00:29:23
the boss
00:29:24
instead of Tim I've been the one that
00:29:26
owned it it seemed more like dave was
00:29:32
the living arrangements reflected this
00:29:35
strange role reversal Freeman's Diaries
00:29:38
revealed that while he and his family
00:29:39
lived comfortably upstairs Tim good
00:29:42
became a virtual prisoner in the
00:29:44
basement please bless this food and
00:29:46
please watch over me the diaries were
00:29:52
very detailed he indicated in the
00:29:54
Diaries what chores Timothy good was to
00:29:56
perform that day he even indicated what
00:29:58
Timothy good was to eat that day if he
00:30:00
was allowed to eat that day every aspect
00:30:04
of Timothy Goods life was controlled by
00:30:06
Dave Friedman that's right I told you to
00:30:15
clean the basement get up here whenever
00:30:18
you clean up yesterday yesterday every
00:30:22
single day Tim did something that would
00:30:25
irritate or disgust Dave freedom you see
00:30:29
it's just my shoes that's just your
00:30:31
shoes basically Timothy good couldn't do
00:30:33
anything that's correct and everything
00:30:35
that he did was a mistake or it wasn't a
00:30:38
God's way to do it God requires that you
00:30:44
when I first met Tim he used to come to
00:30:47
my house all time we were every day
00:30:50
seeing each other and talked every day
00:30:51
we talked a lot about farming and stuff
00:30:53
and he was gonna get his firm cleaned up
00:30:56
and do a lot of work to it and
00:30:58
everything
00:30:58
but then in Tim to start to stand away
00:31:02
from in fact George Anderson did not see
00:31:07
Tim good or Dave Freeman for about a
00:31:09
year he assumed they had left the area
00:31:12
then one afternoon in October of 1994 a
00:31:16
taxicab came up the road headed for Tim
00:31:19
goods farm my grandkid was out in the
00:31:23
yard and they'd seen him and they
00:31:24
started hollering at me time McDavid
00:31:26
lies it was back and so I told me I was
00:31:30
going up and talked to Dave and find out
00:31:31
about Tim my god Tim had been going for
00:31:34
about a year the road to the farmhouse
00:31:40
is blocked by a fallen tree so Freeman
00:31:42
and got up on foot hey George how's it
00:31:45
going buddy where are you man oh I was
00:31:48
just up the house looked like somebody
00:31:50
broke in the back window I asked him
00:31:54
where Tim was at and he said he hadn't
00:31:55
seen him for a long time and he had no
00:31:59
idea but he said he had walked up to the
00:32:01
house and somebody had broken the
00:32:03
kitchen door and he said he opened the
00:32:06
door and looked in and he said that's as
00:32:08
far as he went
00:32:09
I believe that Dave Freeman came back to
00:32:12
the good farm to remove the diary's and
00:32:15
I believe that they were surprised by
00:32:18
the neighbors and there's no way that he
00:32:20
could have removed anything from the
00:32:22
home without the neighbors observing
00:32:24
that
00:32:27
later that day George Anderson's son in
00:32:30
law gave Freeman and his family a ride
00:32:32
to Washington DC he dropped them off at
00:32:35
a service station along the Beltway they
00:32:37
have not been seen since two weeks later
00:32:43
police discovered the decomposed remains
00:32:45
of Tim good grocery receipts indicated
00:32:49
that Freeman and his family had lived in
00:32:51
the house for approximately seven months
00:32:53
after Goods death they apparently left
00:32:56
when they ran out of money goods bank
00:32:59
account which had previously held almost
00:33:00
a million dollars now contain less than
00:33:03
two dollars Dave Friedman indicated in
00:33:08
his diaries the Timothy good question
00:33:10
him about the money and Dave Freeman was
00:33:13
starting to realize that he didn't quite
00:33:15
have the control on Timothy good that he
00:33:18
had once had and I believe that that
00:33:20
quite possibly led to his demise
00:33:24
[Music]
00:33:32
[Music]
00:33:38
[Music]
00:33:41
next tragedy seemed inevitable when a
00:33:45
massive search for a lost hiker yielded
00:33:47
nothing then a quiet cowboy rode to the
00:33:50
rescue
00:33:50
apparently spurred on by a divine vision
00:33:54
[Music]
00:34:08
the Sierra Nevadas in Northern
00:34:10
California had changed little since the
00:34:12
first pioneers came through a hundred
00:34:14
and fifty years ago today the steep
00:34:18
trails are the province of weakened
00:34:19
explorers like 63 year-old Millie
00:34:22
McGregor despite a mild heart condition
00:34:25
Millie thinks no more of an all-day ten
00:34:27
mile trek and she would have strolled to
00:34:29
the corner grocery store but when she
00:34:33
set out on Labor Day in 1995 Millie
00:34:36
never expected she would take a wrong
00:34:38
turn into a life-and-death ordeal and
00:34:41
she certainly never expected a near
00:34:43
magical rescue it seemed like it started
00:34:48
off good had a good trail and a ways
00:34:50
back that trail split off to two places
00:34:53
and I'd picked out the one I thought I
00:34:55
should go on I was probably several
00:34:58
hours maybe more like three hours
00:35:01
beginning to climb and I got chest pain
00:35:05
[Music]
00:35:09
perhaps it was the altitude perhaps the
00:35:11
exertion for some reason Millie's heart
00:35:14
medication made her queasy and
00:35:15
disoriented before she knew it
00:35:19
Mele was lost the beautiful scenery now
00:35:24
became a terrifying maze as the Sun went
00:35:27
down Willy began to realize she would be
00:35:29
spending that night alone in the wild I
00:35:33
was kind of relieved knowing that I
00:35:35
didn't have to hike anymore I was
00:35:38
worried that my husband would be worried
00:35:41
but other than that it felt like I would
00:35:43
be okay that first night it was terrible
00:35:47
I didn't get another Guinness sleep at
00:35:49
all that first night I walked it floored
00:35:50
and what trying to watch the TV and I
00:35:52
couldn't do that search and rescue team
00:35:55
sprang into action the next morning but
00:35:58
an entire day in the wilderness yielded
00:36:00
nothing not a single clue Milly faced
00:36:04
another night in the bitter cold I know
00:36:07
the first night I spend a lot of time
00:36:10
praying that my husband wouldn't worry
00:36:13
the next night when I was still there
00:36:16
and I was cold and I was thirsty and I
00:36:22
sort of said well at least at least he's
00:36:26
warm he's got a goat at least he has
00:36:29
water and I sort of started praying for
00:36:31
myself that I would get you know get out
00:36:33
of there
00:36:36
day 2 concern was mounting how many
00:36:40
30-degree nights could Milly survive
00:36:43
authorities pulled out all the stops
00:36:48
additional search teams and mounted
00:36:50
patrols were recruited from neighboring
00:36:51
counties helicopters equipped with
00:36:54
infrared sensors took to the skies but
00:36:58
it was as if the earth had opened up and
00:36:59
swallowed Millie McGregor by the end of
00:37:04
the second day we still have no clue no
00:37:07
footprints no drop clothing no hits from
00:37:10
the dog there was no sign of Mildred
00:37:16
with an army of searchers unable to find
00:37:19
Millie McGregor it seemed a tragedy in
00:37:21
the making but no one counted on a
00:37:24
soft-spoken cowboy named Randy Spears
00:37:26
riding to the rescue Randy lives in the
00:37:30
area however he says that he was so busy
00:37:32
that week he wasn't aware that Millie
00:37:34
was lost until the evening of the second
00:37:36
day of searching what's the use that for
00:37:38
well there's a lady that's lost up in
00:37:41
Sisco Grove she's been up there lost I
00:37:43
think for a couple two or three days and
00:37:45
he's a brother search and rescue I know
00:37:50
where she's at Brandi says it in his
00:37:53
mind's eye he envisioned the silhouette
00:37:55
of a Sierra peak located around 50 miles
00:37:57
from his ranch though he had never had
00:38:00
any kind of psychic experience randy
00:38:02
somehow knew with absolute certainty
00:38:04
that he would find millie on the
00:38:07
mountains southern slope just flashed
00:38:10
what big-screen TV is like i got this
00:38:14
picture of a mountain with my hand in
00:38:16
front of it and i said i know right
00:38:19
where she's at it was something you
00:38:22
didn't mess with you know you didn't
00:38:24
doubt him there was a real strong
00:38:25
feeling around him even though it was
00:38:29
well past midnight randy collected his
00:38:31
friend frank smith and headed for the
00:38:33
mountains
00:38:36
randy just looks up there and he goes
00:38:38
she's right up there put his hand up
00:38:41
there and just just pointed to her like
00:38:43
exactly in a certain area on the side of
00:38:46
that mountain he goes she's right there
00:38:50
she's right there
00:38:55
meanwhile milli hunkered down for a
00:38:57
third night of withering cold that night
00:39:01
I gathered up pine needles and just kind
00:39:05
of put them all around when I couldn't
00:39:08
even put some in my hat help keep my
00:39:10
head warm but I had an extra pair of
00:39:12
socks so I put those on my hands like
00:39:17
what's at night was very very long with
00:39:19
like minute by minute you know the moon
00:39:22
come up and you're watching watched and
00:39:24
pretty soon the moon goes down and then
00:39:26
it gets colder when the moon goes down I
00:39:27
got damn fish and it was cold real cold
00:39:34
that night Randy and Frank also slept
00:39:37
under the stars they were up at the
00:39:39
crack of dawn first up the search
00:39:41
command center there was a little
00:39:44
strange because they all kind of looked
00:39:46
at us like who are these guys because we
00:39:49
didn't have the orange vests and all
00:39:51
that fancy searcher gear and that they
00:39:53
had these companies scruffy-looking
00:39:55
Cowboys with long-haired mules it was a
00:39:59
job and it was just something that we
00:40:02
were gonna do there was absolutely no no
00:40:06
guessing or anything he he knew where
00:40:07
she was at and we're gonna go get her I
00:40:11
[Music]
00:40:12
know Billy hadn't seen food or water for
00:40:16
three days I was not real strong at that
00:40:20
time I was shaky and it was like every
00:40:23
step I prayed and I kept picturing in my
00:40:25
mind a glass of cold water and a bathtub
00:40:30
[Music]
00:40:32
forty-five minutes of riding took the
00:40:35
Cowboys three miles from the command
00:40:36
center randy says he sensed they were
00:40:39
getting close to Milly he and Frank
00:40:41
separated to cover a wider area Randy
00:40:45
just kept going
00:40:46
and I watched him go up I mean he was
00:40:49
just on a light beam dude straight I was
00:40:53
kind of thinking now what do I do and I
00:40:57
saw Randy coming up on the mule and it
00:41:05
was spectacular it was just a light he
00:41:09
appeared there like magic just
00:41:11
unbelievable I was amazed that she was
00:41:19
after three days up there in that cold
00:41:22
weather to see her standing up I know
00:41:25
three days out of myself out there with
00:41:27
a dark shirt been tough and for a lady
00:41:31
[ __ ] she has a lot of spirit
00:41:36
thanks to Randy's vision millie's
00:41:39
hammering brush with death and hidden a
00:41:41
triumphant ride down the mama at the
00:41:47
command center the sight of million to
00:41:49
rescuers created quite a strain most of
00:41:53
the guys kinda stood around speechless
00:41:55
thinking that that can't be Mildred
00:41:56
we're still looking for her we have a
00:41:57
million dollars with her equipment out
00:41:59
there and resources and she's coming
00:42:00
back to camp on her back of a mule I
00:42:05
probably looked like I was a hundred
00:42:07
years old but it felt great I don't know
00:42:13
why it happened and why the brandy was
00:42:17
picked her and Frank too and I pray for
00:42:20
them because I think God used him I
00:42:24
don't know any other way of exploiting
00:42:26
it I'm not even gonna try because that's
00:42:28
that to me feels right
00:42:33
Brandee Spears quiet unassuming cavalier
00:42:36
perhaps blessed with a vision that
00:42:38
guided him through the wilderness
00:42:39
straight to Milly McGregor some may call
00:42:43
it luck but to Randy and Milly
00:42:45
there was nothing less than a divinely
00:42:46
inspired revelation
00:42:49
[Music]
00:43:00
next friday marks the start of an
00:43:03
all-new season here at unsolved
00:43:05
mysteries tune in these intriguing cases
00:43:10
in the 1960s and 70s an unknown killer
00:43:13
called a Zodiac terrorized Northern
00:43:15
California in the 1980s and 90s the
00:43:18
infamous Unabomber terrorized the nation
00:43:21
now a startling scenario could the
00:43:24
Unabomber and the Zodiac be the same man
00:43:28
when Yantra cember was struck by a
00:43:30
debilitating nerve disorder doctor said
00:43:33
only a miracle could save her from a
00:43:34
lifetime of pain and Trish believes one
00:43:37
did join me next Friday for all this
00:43:42
much more on the exciting season
00:43:44
premiere of unsolved mysteries
00:43:48
[Music]
00:44:23
you
00:44:24
[Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most heartbreaking
  • 85
    Most heartwarming
  • 80
    Most emotional
  • 80
    Best performance

Episode Highlights

  • Tragic Loss of Joe Cole
    Dennis Cole shares the heart-wrenching story of his son Joe's murder.
    “There is no good way to lose a child”
    @ 02m 56s
    May 23, 2019
  • LaDonna's Family Reunion
    LaDonna finds her mother's family after decades, filling a void in her life.
    “I just feel like I'm at home, it's really great”
    @ 13m 48s
    May 23, 2019
  • Tim Harrell's Search for Truth
    Tim Harrell uncovers shocking truths about his birth mother and his past.
    “It aches at my heart to know that I have a family out there”
    @ 22m 22s
    May 23, 2019
  • Tim's Farm Sale
    Tim reveals he sold the farm for a million dollars, much to everyone's shock.
    “You're gonna hate me, I sold the farm!”
    @ 28m 26s
    May 23, 2019
  • A Role Reversal
    Tim becomes a virtual prisoner in his own home as Dave takes control.
    “It seemed more like Dave was the boss instead of Tim.”
    @ 29m 24s
    May 23, 2019
  • Millie's Ordeal
    Millie McGregor gets lost in the Sierra Nevadas, facing life-and-death challenges.
    “I was kind of relieved knowing that I didn't have to hike anymore.”
    @ 35m 33s
    May 23, 2019
  • Miraculous Rescue
    Randy Spears finds Millie after three days in the wilderness, guided by a vision.
    “It was spectacular... he appeared there like magic!”
    @ 41m 05s
    May 23, 2019

Episode Quotes

  • There is no good way to lose a child.
    Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 8, Episode 21 - Full Episode
  • I just feel like I'm at home, it's really great.
    Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 8, Episode 21 - Full Episode
  • It aches at my heart to know that I have a family out there.
    Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 8, Episode 21 - Full Episode
  • You're gonna hate me, I sold the farm!
    Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 8, Episode 21 - Full Episode
  • I was kind of relieved knowing that I didn't have to hike anymore.
    Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 8, Episode 21 - Full Episode
  • It was spectacular... he appeared there like magic!
    Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 8, Episode 21 - Full Episode

Key Moments

  • Urban Hell00:14
  • Abandoned Baby00:37
  • Family Reunion12:38
  • Search for Birth Mother14:40
  • Farm Sale28:34
  • Millie's Struggle35:33
  • Randy's Vision38:02
  • Miraculous Rescue41:36

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 5, Episode 16 - Full Episode
May 23, 2019
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49:14
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 5, Episode 16 - Full Episode