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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 are about to see is not a news
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broadcast tonight on unsolved mysteries
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in honor of Veterans Day the compelling
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saga of America's last POWs April 20th
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1965 American involvement in Southeast
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Asia was on the rise Colonel Charles
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Shawn an Air Force pilot stationed in
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Okinawa said goodbye to his wife and
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children for the last time nine days
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later Shelton was shot down and captured
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while on a top-secret reconnaissance
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flight over Laos for the next 25 years
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Shelton's wife Mary and waged a valiant
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crusade to prove that her husband was
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still alive long after the war and
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Vietnam was over in 1991 a young woman
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was driven to a remote area and Florida
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brutally murdered by two men who thought
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they had committed the perfect crime but
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they didn't know that another man hiding
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nearby had seen everything also tonight
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another edition of special alert
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authorities need your help to capture a
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convicted killer who recently escaped
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from prison jointly perhaps you may be
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able to help solve a mystery
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[Music]
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[Music]
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on a chilly morning in October of 1990
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the family of air force pilot Charles E
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Shelton was joined by friends and
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dignitaries at Arlington National
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Cemetery in Washington DC they were
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gathered to mourn the death of an
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American Hero
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but it was not Colonel Shelton who was
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laid to rest that day it was his wife
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Marion Marion Shelton spent the last 25
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years of her life fighting what may be
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the final battle of the Vietnam War a
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battle for the truth about her husband
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and more than 2,000 other American
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servicemen missing and unaccounted for
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since the war's end Colonel Charles shot
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me was shut down in the spring of 1965
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long before Vietnam had become a
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household word today Colonel Shelton has
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earned a unique but tragic honor he is
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the only missing serviceman still
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officially listed as a prisoner of war
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representatives of the Armed Services
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declined to participate in this
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broadcast
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the more than a quarter century has
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passed the story of Colonel Shelton is
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still the subject of intense controversy
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according a Charles shot this family
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precious little diplomatic or military
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effort was ever expended by the US
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government to actually find Colonel
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Shelton and bring him home
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some believe that his prisoner of war
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status is simply a concession to powa
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penis and a commemoration of his
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legendary resistance as a captain but
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strong evidence suggests that Colonel
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Shelton and perhaps other servicemen
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missing in Southeast Asia they'd still
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be alive
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the Shelton's family the possibility
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seems very real that one day they will
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celebrate the return of America's last
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POWs Charles Shelton and Marian Pullman
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were high school sweethearts they
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married in 1951 and their family quickly
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grew to include five children
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but Charles and Marian always acted as
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though they were still on their
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honeymoon is everybody ready
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[Music]
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now look at the camera my father in my
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mother's relationship they were very
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much in love with each other they were
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each other's first loss even after 10
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years of marriage it was just real
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intense and and he all often said that
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he that she was his first love and only
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love and last love Charles joined the
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Air Force in 1954 and move rapidly
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through the ranks at the time American
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involvement in Vietnam was quietly and
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steadily on the rise
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Charles Shelton was swept up in the tide
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in 1962 Shelton was sent to Saigon to
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Train Vietnamese pilots three years
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later he began flying top-secret photo
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reconnaissance flights over Laos in 1965
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dad was definitely at the peak of his
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career he was just about finished with
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his tour of duty in the secret part of
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the war in Indochina he had been at that
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time the senior tactical reconnaissance
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United States Air Force pilot involved
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in the war in Laos Laos borders Vietnam
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on the west although officially neutral
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during the war Ocean Territory was used
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by North Vietnam as a staging area the
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United States bombed targets air
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frequently and covertly now you kids go
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wait in the car for your mother Colonel
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Shelton was stationed in Okinawa Japan
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or his wife and children join him but he
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was often gone for weeks at a time and
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enduring the pain of separation became a
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familiar duty for Marion and Charles
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I
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[Music]
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I'll wait right here till you get back
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we better
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on April 20th 1965 they had no idea they
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were saying goodbye for the last time
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dad's 33rd birthday April 29th 1965
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although he wasn't home the family
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decided to celebrate the birthday anyway
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on that day mom invited some friends of
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hers and their children other officer
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wives and their families over to the
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home to celebrate his birthday
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[Music]
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I done all right I thought you were
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flying today
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Am I
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man I need to talk to you
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what is it
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Maryanne Charles plane was shot down a
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couple of hours ago he's alright they've
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been in radio contact with him there's a
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search-and-rescue mission underway even
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as we speak where is it he went into the
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area called The Plain of Jars in
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northern Laos near the Pathet Lao
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headquarters in salmon away
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this is grasshopper 32 come in whiskey
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angel American planes made visual and
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radio contact was Shelton
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but before rescue helicopters could
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reach him a sudden change in the weather
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sealed his fate there was a low cloud
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coverage which made it impossible for
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anybody to get in really close and
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maneuver without a tremendous amount of
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danger so dad was left sitting on that
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hill for three days waiting and nobody
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ever came there was just no organized
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rescue in those days that was 1965 he
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was shot down if he was shot down in
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1968 at the place he was shot down at I
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think he'd been out of there and an hour
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and a half for three days Shelton eluded
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capture by the Pathet Lao the communist
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forces operating in the area
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[Music]
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a platoon of Pathet Lao surrounded dad
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one of the Pathet Lao present actually
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was an informer for our government and
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reported the story he said that they
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apprehended him and the story ends that
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particular intelligence report saying
00:09:08
that dad's body went limp forcing his
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captors to have to carry him
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[Music]
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Charles shuttles defiant resistance will
00:09:20
become legendary among American
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servicemen and even when the grudging
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respect of his captors he was tough and
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he was tenacious and he just didn't let
00:09:29
go I think that if anyone could survive
00:09:32
over there it'd be Charlie Shelton no
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doubt in my mind
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Marian Shelton was officially informed
00:09:42
that her husband was a prisoner of war
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his personal effects returned by Air
00:09:47
Force officials were a somber reminder
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of his predicament but they also raised
00:09:52
deeply troubling questions inside the
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footlocker Marian found her husband's
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dog tags in his military ID which are
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normally carried by Air Force personnel
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at all times
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[Music]
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Marian also found her husband's camera
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when developed the roll of film inside
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included this picture shot just before
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Shelton's ill-fated flight he was
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wearing what is known as a sanitized
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uniform devoid of any official insignia
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many years passed before the Shelton
00:10:24
family would fully understand its tragic
00:10:26
implications if he were captured and
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lost you were never going to come out
00:10:30
the war in Laos was that sensitive that
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the government was not going to bother
00:10:36
with politicizing our presence there by
00:10:39
looking for the return of POWs or
00:10:41
hostages and to this date I don't
00:10:43
believe our our government is ever
00:10:45
admitted to having troops present in
00:10:47
Laos officially when and we've never
00:10:50
negotiated for the men and Laos
00:10:52
officially
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three months after Charles was shot down
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Marion and the children returned to
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Kentucky while the war in Vietnam
00:11:06
dragged on for eight more years rumors
00:11:08
and unofficial accounts of Charles
00:11:10
Shelton filtered through the military
00:11:12
grapevine and back to the United States
00:11:17
from time to time pilots would come
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through from Indochina and they would
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come with some news by word-of-mouth
00:11:23
about dad's situation they'd come
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through tell mom that dad was sick or
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healthy if he'd been wounded or if he'd
00:11:32
escaped again or this type of thing mama
00:11:35
kept a lot of that information away from
00:11:39
us because again she was afraid that
00:11:42
that would hurt us and I didn't want to
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hear it I loved my father I loved him
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very much and when mama started telling
00:11:51
me stories about what had happened to
00:11:53
dad I heard about him being kept in a
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shallow grave with bars and and they
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poked him trying to keep him awake I
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couldn't stand to hear about stuff about
00:12:07
torture
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I have asked for this radio and
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television time tonight
00:12:17
for the purpose of announcing that we
00:12:20
today have concluded an agreement to end
00:12:24
the war and bring peace with honor in
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Vietnam finally on January 27th 1973
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President Richard Nixon appeared on
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national television with a message that
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Americans had been so desperate to hear
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throughout Indochina will be released
00:12:45
there will be the fullest possible
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accounting for all of those who are
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missing in action the family was told
00:12:52
that all POWs would be included on one
00:12:54
of two lists those who are coming home
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those who had perished in captivity
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those lists were scheduled to be turned
00:13:03
over to our government and we understood
00:13:05
that the Defense Department would be
00:13:07
calling the families all day long
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letting them know whether or not their
00:13:13
husband or father's name was on which
00:13:15
list finally the phone rang way late
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into the night
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[Music]
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hello yes I am
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I see
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thank you
00:13:57
[Music]
00:13:59
she began to cry and of course I knew
00:14:02
what that meant dad's name wasn't on the
00:14:04
list we naturally concluded that
00:14:07
therefore you know we would be told soon
00:14:09
just how he died in captivity and his
00:14:11
body returned and that was the end of
00:14:13
the story and I think we all felt
00:14:16
although a sense of loss at the time
00:14:19
there was also an even greater sense of
00:14:22
relief that the waiting was over
00:14:30
January 1973 operation homecoming for
00:14:35
most Americans who returned a591 POWs
00:14:38
seem to signal at last the end of the
00:14:41
war
00:14:46
soon after in April of 1973 the Pentagon
00:14:50
issued a statement that stunned the
00:14:51
families of those servicemen still
00:14:53
missing in Southeast Asia there was no
00:14:56
indication that American POWs were alive
00:14:59
anywhere mom realized I think more and
00:15:03
more that if dad would ever come home or
00:15:06
if any of the prisoners would come home
00:15:07
that it really depended on the efforts
00:15:09
of the families and she seemed convinced
00:15:12
too that early on you know so much so
00:15:14
that she ventured into Southeast Asia
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[Music]
00:15:20
August 1973 only a few months after the
00:15:24
end of the Vietnam War
00:15:25
Marian left the safety of Kentucky and
00:15:28
traveled halfway around the world
00:15:30
accompanied by reporter Leah Larkin she
00:15:33
visited the jungles and Liao's that had
00:15:35
claimed her husband variants piratin
00:15:39
guide was an American operative fluent
00:15:41
in local dialects we met with villagers
00:15:52
where he was supposed to have been or
00:15:53
was held alive in a cave there were
00:15:56
sightings of Minda cave and some of the
00:15:58
villagers had actually visited some of
00:16:00
these caves and had seen prisoners she'd
00:16:10
hoped that she would get some positive
00:16:11
proof her husband was still alive she
00:16:15
got no positive proof people said yes
00:16:20
there must be men alive but nothing
00:16:22
really no no concrete evidence
00:16:25
one day she'd convinced herself he must
00:16:29
be dead there's no way he could still be
00:16:30
alive then the next day something would
00:16:32
happen to give her a glimmer of hope it
00:16:34
was this constant going back from one to
00:16:37
the other he's dead no he's not dead and
00:16:39
I think I mean that's a torment that's
00:16:42
very difficult to live with and it's
00:16:44
obviously torment that plagued her the
00:16:46
rest of her life
00:16:48
Marian Shelton returned home
00:16:50
empty-handed and disheartened but two
00:16:53
years later events in Southeast Asia
00:16:55
provided a windfall of new information
00:16:57
and new hope
00:16:59
[Music]
00:17:01
on April 29th 1975 Saigon fell to
00:17:05
communist forces it was ten years to the
00:17:08
day after Charles Shelton was shot down
00:17:12
thousands of refugees fled Vietnam
00:17:14
crowded into vessels that were barely
00:17:16
seaworthy these so-called boat people
00:17:19
brought stories about American service
00:17:21
to sent shock waves with a Pio wmia
00:17:24
movement they came out all over
00:17:28
Southeast Asia Hong Kong Malaysia the
00:17:31
Philippines Thailand and hundreds and
00:17:34
then thousands told of seeing American
00:17:38
pilots American prisoners still in
00:17:40
Chains gaunt starving begging for food
00:17:43
in prison in captivity on work gangs
00:17:47
this is how we knew for sure that our
00:17:52
men were left behind this propaganda
00:17:56
film shot in North Vietnam shows
00:17:58
American POWs held during the war
00:18:01
according to the refugees many were
00:18:03
still alive two years after the war had
00:18:06
ended for reasons that remains a subject
00:18:10
of controversy the US government
00:18:12
withheld the refugees accounts in
00:18:14
classified files the stories are
00:18:18
overwhelming in their specificity in
00:18:21
their clarity and in their numbers but
00:18:24
if you mark it secret and you keep it
00:18:27
locked up in the safes behind locked
00:18:28
doors behind guarded doors then we don't
00:18:32
know it's there eventually through the
00:18:35
Freedom of Information Act marryin
00:18:37
obtained hundreds of classified
00:18:39
documents pertaining to her husband
00:18:41
credible sources many of them CIA
00:18:44
operatives reported that Charles was
00:18:46
alive even as late as 1983 18 years
00:18:50
after he parachuted into Laos there were
00:18:54
so many documents that said Colonel
00:18:57
Shelton and other men were alive it was
00:19:00
apparent that there was just such a
00:19:01
gigantic amount of evidence there are
00:19:03
reports in his file that he was shot in
00:19:05
the legs because they were so tired of
00:19:07
him escaping and more reports that he
00:19:09
just kept trying to escape afterwards
00:19:13
a particular report that was picked up
00:19:15
off of the radio between Pathet Lao
00:19:17
headquarters and Hanoi indicated that in
00:19:21
1968 the path that Lao turned out over
00:19:24
to the North Vietnamese and they decided
00:19:26
to interrogate
00:19:28
[Music]
00:19:32
Charles Sheldon
00:19:42
I have heard about you know pathology Oh
00:19:47
methodology
00:19:50
[Music]
00:20:08
when the North Vietnamese returned with
00:20:12
more personnel to apprehend and control
00:20:15
dad they found that he had already
00:20:17
killed the other guards that were
00:20:19
present during the interrogation the
00:20:21
report finished with the recommendation
00:20:23
that this prisoner be moved north on
00:20:27
whether that meant to China or Vietnam
00:20:29
we can't be sure but it commented that
00:20:32
he was incorrigible the more Marion dug
00:20:37
through official records the more she
00:20:39
believed her husband was still alive
00:20:40
these often vivid accounts became her
00:20:43
ammunition for a bureaucratic showdown
00:20:46
on October 7th 1980 priority hearings in
00:20:51
San Antonio Texas 793 Air Force
00:20:54
servicemen already had the
00:20:56
classification changed to presume dead
00:20:59
Marion was determined to convince the
00:21:01
government that her husband was still
00:21:03
alive when I was in Vietnam in Laos in
00:21:13
1973 I met with a delegation of the
00:21:16
North Vietnamese I was seeking any
00:21:19
information I could find regarding the
00:21:22
fate of my husband when I asked
00:21:25
specifically about my husband I was told
00:21:29
by the North Vietnamese why are you
00:21:32
asking us when your own government says
00:21:35
they are all dead I am terribly
00:21:39
disappointed that our government has
00:21:41
made it so easy for them to evade and
00:21:44
accounting I feel that presuming people
00:21:48
when they set up and decided to hold
00:21:49
these status review hearings I don't
00:21:51
think they had any idea about burden of
00:21:54
proof burden of proof is a legal concept
00:21:56
what they were going to do was make the
00:21:59
Servicemembers family come in and prove
00:22:02
he was still alive when the only
00:22:04
information about whether he was really
00:22:06
alive was in the hands of the government
00:22:08
that seemed quite unfair we argued that
00:22:15
instead it should be the service's duty
00:22:17
to approve
00:22:18
he should be changed to kilt an action
00:22:20
in other words what evidence do they
00:22:22
have that he was dead they do have
00:22:24
evidence he was alive now what evidence
00:22:26
do they have to change that the Board
00:22:29
finds that by a preponderance of the
00:22:32
evidence Colonel Charles E Shelton can
00:22:36
reasonably be presumed dead these
00:22:41
findings were reached by a majority
00:22:44
decision in the board four years later
00:22:50
Secretary of the Air Force Vernon R
00:22:52
refused to accept the board's
00:22:54
recommendation in 1984 he upheld Charles
00:22:59
Shelton status as a prisoner of war
00:23:01
making him the only one of more than
00:23:03
2,000 missing servicemen not listed as
00:23:06
presumed dead do you think your
00:23:09
husband's alive I think he very well can
00:23:12
be and probably is it was a weary Marion
00:23:16
Shelton who took to the airwaves in late
00:23:18
1980s before national audiences at
00:23:21
numbered in the millions she continued
00:23:23
to press for a vigorous follow-up to the
00:23:25
reports of surviving POWs they know
00:23:28
there's prisoners over there and I think
00:23:32
they know that my husband's over there
00:23:33
my mom was so busy doing a lot of the
00:23:37
POWs things and going all over the
00:23:39
country and speaking and and on
00:23:41
television and she didn't know how to
00:23:43
cope with it and when she would come
00:23:46
home she would drink in private and
00:23:49
sleep she couldn't take it any longer
00:23:52
she knew that Colonel Shelton was alive
00:23:55
she knew many other men were alive and
00:23:57
she could not stand to hear the US
00:24:00
government continually lie about it
00:24:02
slowly her heart started to break that
00:24:05
that are the United States government
00:24:07
what my dad fought for was not gonna
00:24:11
bring him home or was not trying hard
00:24:13
enough so it devastated her her her you
00:24:19
know her American dream that we're all
00:24:23
supposed to have was broken this
00:24:28
finally over well Marian Shelton on
00:24:31
several occasions in 1987 and 88 she was
00:24:34
hospitalized for alcohol abuse Marian's
00:24:39
25 years struggle for her husband's
00:24:41
freedom finally came to an end on
00:24:43
October 4th 1990 her body was discovered
00:24:46
by friends on the patio of her home
00:24:49
Marian Shelton had shot herself in the
00:24:52
head
00:24:53
Marian Shelton was the powa
00:24:56
she's done more did more while she was
00:24:59
alive than just about any other person
00:25:01
to try to bring those men home Charles
00:25:06
was my childhood sweetheart
00:25:09
my best friend my protector
00:25:16
I prepared myself as did my husband for
00:25:19
him to be wounded captured or killed but
00:25:26
we were never prepared for him to be
00:25:28
abandoned by his own country I do know
00:25:33
that there are men still there and I'm
00:25:35
pretty sure my dad's one of them and
00:25:37
even if he died 10 years ago
00:25:40
I blame our government for not bringing
00:25:41
him home and leaving him behind to those
00:25:44
people who would listen to our story and
00:25:48
just conclude that we're living in a
00:25:49
kind of fantasy land I would remind them
00:25:52
that two years ago the government of the
00:25:55
Soviet Union repatriated to Japan 70
00:25:59
prisoners of war taken from Japan in
00:26:02
World War two and that the French were
00:26:06
still being released by the Vietnamese
00:26:08
as late as the 70s and early 80s who
00:26:11
were captured at Dien Bien Phu in 1954
00:26:14
so it's not unusual for as we see
00:26:17
communist governments keeping citizens
00:26:21
as long as they want to and sometimes
00:26:25
prisoners can live obviously for decades
00:26:28
in captivity
00:26:30
[Music]
00:27:02
Albuquerque New Mexico
00:27:03
August 18th 1984 10:25 p.m. 10:28 p.m.
00:27:30
police units respond to that most urgent
00:27:33
and personal of emergency calls officer
00:27:36
is down I knew I was losing a lot of
00:27:40
blood I was worried about that and it
00:27:42
was getting hard to breathe because of
00:27:44
the wound in my side in my left lung
00:27:46
area but I had an attitude that I that I
00:27:50
was not gonna die that I was gonna make
00:27:53
it through I think that helped a lot
00:27:57
pretty good he's doing all right got two
00:27:59
dips here
00:28:01
Vick web had been on the Albuquerque
00:28:04
police force for five years and this
00:28:06
incident was the first time he had ever
00:28:08
fired his gun on duty during the
00:28:12
shootout web was struck twice without
00:28:15
the rapid response of his fellow
00:28:17
officers he would almost certainly have
00:28:19
died at any moment on any patrol police
00:28:27
officers must expect the unexpected
00:28:29
the night he was nearly killed Vick web
00:28:33
and another officer entered a local pool
00:28:35
hall with an arrest warrant for a female
00:28:37
suspect in a fraud case instead they
00:28:40
found themselves face-to-face with a
00:28:42
trigger-happy Xcode the evening began
00:28:48
when Officer Rick Foley sat down at the
00:28:50
police crime computer he discovered an
00:28:55
outstanding arrest warrant for a woman
00:28:56
he wanted to question on another case an
00:28:59
outstanding bench warrant please an
00:29:01
informant told Foley's of the suspect
00:29:03
frequented in Albuquerque tavern called
00:29:05
Gary's game room Foley and Vick Webb
00:29:13
arrived at around 10:00 p.m. another
00:29:15
benchmark yeah although they were not
00:29:19
ordinarily partners webbot volunteered
00:29:22
to assist in serving the warrant
00:29:26
luboc 10 we noticed some people sitting
00:29:28
at a bar off to the left and a couple of
00:29:32
people playing pool towards the back of
00:29:37
the room there was a dark hallway so we
00:29:39
decided to move back towards the back
00:29:41
and take a look glucose
00:29:55
to me now this was a situation where we
00:30:00
work hot cold and here was a guy
00:30:03
pointing a gun at us demanding our
00:30:05
weapons I'd been out of the Academy for
00:30:07
approximately a year and a half two
00:30:10
years a fairly new on the department and
00:30:14
my first thoughts were I couldn't
00:30:17
believe this was happening to me I
00:30:18
[Music]
00:30:22
snapped back into reality and knew that
00:30:25
if in fact he was gonna shoot me or kill
00:30:29
me I didn't want it to be inside the
00:30:31
game room his first round hit me in the
00:30:38
side and I was wearing a bulletproof
00:30:41
vest at the time but this round went in
00:30:44
between the two panels on my side and
00:30:46
entered the rib area although the first
00:30:50
shot had broken two ribs officer went
00:30:52
managed to pull his own weapon and
00:30:54
return fire
00:30:58
we were probably about three feet apart
00:31:00
at this time but he was on one side of
00:31:03
the wall and I was on the other side I
00:31:06
had fired five to six rounds by this
00:31:08
time and he was continuing to fire back
00:31:11
through the sheetrock
00:31:13
a bullet ripped through webs right arm
00:31:17
severing an artery and destroying nerves
00:31:20
his shooting hand was rendered useless
00:31:24
web made his way to the exit and
00:31:27
struggled to his feet only later did
00:31:30
authorities realize that the suspect had
00:31:32
picked up Webb's gun and used it to make
00:31:35
his escape
00:31:41
the alleged assailant was subsequently
00:31:44
identified as Lyle moody a paroled armed
00:31:46
robber with a criminal record stretching
00:31:49
back 17 years the great irony in this
00:31:55
case is that the fraud suspect web and
00:31:57
Foley were initially seeking had been
00:31:59
arrested 18 months before but her name
00:32:02
had never been removed from the police
00:32:04
computer
00:32:10
since the night of the shootout Lyle
00:32:12
Moody has been spotted Los Lunas New
00:32:14
Mexico Oxnard California and Montebello
00:32:17
Colorado Bree was last seen in March of
00:32:20
1985
00:32:25
I would hope that the police officers
00:32:28
who run across him the next time know
00:32:31
who he is and know how dedicated he is
00:32:33
to not going back to prison
00:32:40
my fear is that he's going to be haunted
00:32:42
by some other officers who may not know
00:32:44
who he is and more police officers are
00:32:48
going to get hurt
00:33:01
[Music]
00:33:18
recently we were contacted by the FBI
00:33:20
with an urgent request they hope that
00:33:23
our viewers might assist in locating a
00:33:25
convicted murderer who had just escaped
00:33:27
from the State Penitentiary in Bismarck
00:33:29
North Dakota
00:33:29
please watch closely perhaps you
00:33:32
recognize Richard Lee McNair while in
00:33:50
prison
00:33:50
Richard McNair eagerly assisted
00:33:52
authorities and presenting crime
00:33:54
prevention programs to local teenagers
00:33:57
Richard McNair was a was a really a
00:34:00
model prisoner here at the state pen he
00:34:02
was the editor of the inmate newspaper
00:34:04
very polite to staff and most people
00:34:07
seem to like him behind his facade of
00:34:11
cooperation McNair was dedicated to
00:34:13
breaking out of prison
00:34:14
his first attempt in April of 1991 was a
00:34:18
failure but McNair persisted on the
00:34:22
evening of October 9th 1992 McNair and
00:34:25
two other inmates finally discovered a
00:34:27
weak link in the prison security mr.
00:34:31
McNair and and the other two individuals
00:34:33
who escaped with him at the time were in
00:34:35
a education room they worked their way
00:34:39
through the air vent coming into that
00:34:40
room and crawled up into a mechanical
00:34:43
space where the vents for the
00:34:45
institution are they then entered a
00:34:47
second vent which leads to the roof area
00:34:50
of the institution the three inmates
00:34:55
made their way over a series of rooftops
00:34:57
and through several coils of razor wire
00:34:59
finally after dropping fifteen feet to
00:35:01
the ground
00:35:02
or out of the prison as soon as they hit
00:35:06
the second rough from they were heard by
00:35:08
the officer who immediately reported it
00:35:09
to the captain our captain ran out of
00:35:12
the institution as the three individuals
00:35:14
were running about fifty feet in front
00:35:16
of her to the south of the penitentiary
00:35:18
she then radioed for help within 48
00:35:23
hours two of the convicts were
00:35:25
recaptured however Richard McNair is
00:35:27
still on the run authorities believe
00:35:32
McNair may have stolen a light blue 1990
00:35:35
Chevrolet pickup truck like this one
00:35:37
missing from AJ Thompson and sons
00:35:39
plumbing company two miles west of the
00:35:41
prison McNair may be headed to Oklahoma
00:35:45
where his family lives but a Washington
00:35:47
state or he has a girlfriend we consider
00:35:51
McNair extremely dangerous very volatile
00:35:53
very violent the original crime he was
00:35:56
charged with in November of 1987 was a
00:35:58
shooting death his said he will not come
00:36:01
back he'll not be taken with Nair is
00:36:03
extremely dangerous
00:36:15
next a mysterious witness reports a
00:36:18
brutal murder in Florida or the police
00:36:30
nothing is more frustrating than a case
00:36:32
where they're virtually positive they
00:36:33
know who committed a murder but have no
00:36:36
way of proving it Florida authorities
00:36:38
are caught in just such a dilemma their
00:36:41
only hope of closing the case is to
00:36:43
locate an unknown eyewitness a man who
00:36:45
called the Miami Police Department on
00:36:47
May 1st 1991
00:36:53
then we will do some fire the caller
00:36:56
told a police operator that he had
00:36:58
witnessed a horrible crime in Belle
00:37:00
Glade 80 miles north of Miami the
00:37:06
[Applause]
00:37:07
[Music]
00:37:14
operator could not fully understand the
00:37:17
caller so she connected him to Detective
00:37:19
Burt Blanco in a rush nervous voice the
00:37:24
caller began to describe a grisly scene
00:37:26
which she had witnessed several days
00:37:28
earlier he said he was hunting illegally
00:37:32
in a sugarcane field when he heard a
00:37:34
vehicle in the distance the man stated
00:37:39
that as he ran to hide a blue Ford
00:37:41
Bronco pulled up nearby a man and a
00:37:44
woman got out she called him ricardito
00:37:47
what you're about to hear is a
00:37:49
translation of the eyewitnesses phone
00:37:51
call to the police they started to argue
00:37:56
the girl in him it appeared to be a drug
00:38:02
problem he was telling her to give him
00:38:06
the money she told she could not give
00:38:09
him the money yet
00:38:12
there were two of them
00:38:14
the young man appeared to be Cuban and
00:38:16
the other Mexican by the way he spoke
00:38:19
she was shining ricardito don't kill me
00:38:22
ricardito after he killed her he dragged
00:38:31
her away so I got down on my knees
00:38:34
because I thought if this person sees me
00:38:36
they're going to kill me too then the
00:38:39
Bronco pulled away I saw a seven and a
00:38:42
two on the license plate then I left
00:38:45
because I was scared but later I thought
00:38:48
it's a crime
00:38:52
the mysterious caller had said that the
00:38:54
sugarcane field was behind a building
00:38:56
shaped like an ice-cream cone detective
00:38:59
Frank Mayo the Palm Beach County
00:39:00
Sheriff's Department and Belle Glade was
00:39:03
assigned to investigate I left the
00:39:07
station and went down to the area to
00:39:11
twisty tree and once I was there I'd
00:39:13
looked around and I saw a set of tree
00:39:15
line - about a mile south of twisty tree
00:39:18
I decided to drive to that arrogant
00:39:20
start searching the tree line as I was
00:39:25
passing along the tree line in my
00:39:27
vehicle I saw like a small brown object
00:39:30
over in the tall grass area not only at
00:39:34
that time when it was stopped the car
00:39:37
and I got out and I walked over to the
00:39:39
bushes and after I got there I realized
00:39:42
it will say yellow the body of a female
00:39:44
at that time but the body was in a state
00:39:47
at which at that time I couldn't
00:39:49
determine what race it was detective
00:39:52
Mayo notified headquarters a team of
00:39:55
homicide investigators was immediately
00:39:57
dispatched to the scene there's a very
00:40:00
heinous crime it was very violent that I
00:40:04
believed that the suspect had a lot of
00:40:05
disregard for a human life a lot of
00:40:08
disregard she had been laying there for
00:40:11
approximately a week maybe a few days
00:40:13
longer she had passed the decomposition
00:40:15
stage and she started to get into
00:40:17
mummification how we identified her was
00:40:21
her right thumbprint was the only print
00:40:25
left the majority of her fingers had
00:40:27
already turned to skeleton and with that
00:40:30
right thumbprint we were able to to make
00:40:32
an identification and prove that she was
00:40:34
in fact Rebecca Young Rebecca Young was
00:40:38
a 21 year old resident of Belle Glade in
00:40:41
a terrible irony Rebecca's mother had
00:40:43
also been murdered
00:40:45
Rebecca was 12 years old at the time and
00:40:47
went to live with her aunt Lucille we
00:40:51
had a very close relationship we was
00:40:54
friends we were sisters we was mother
00:40:58
than daughter we was grandparents too
00:41:00
you know and you know and it's the way I
00:41:01
raised her and her brother Rebecca was a
00:41:05
very quiet shy girl and she was the type
00:41:10
she would do anything she possibly could
00:41:12
for anybody she was the type of child I
00:41:16
would give anything to have Oh Virginia
00:41:21
police began to dig into Rebecca Young's
00:41:23
background looking for a murder suspect
00:41:26
they soon discovered that after high
00:41:28
school Rebecca had become involved with
00:41:30
a man known to be a petty criminal she
00:41:34
had gotten hooked up with the person
00:41:37
locally who had gotten her into a
00:41:41
different type of life than she was the
00:41:43
custom - he started introducing her to
00:41:46
the drug scene in prostitution and
00:41:49
things of this nature he had beat her up
00:41:53
on more than one occasion and had
00:41:55
intimidated her and threatened her into
00:41:58
this type of lifestyle
00:42:01
while police have determined that the
00:42:03
man is not a suspect in Rebecca's murder
00:42:06
they do believe that his petty thievery
00:42:08
may have led to her death this person
00:42:13
may have robbed the client and without
00:42:15
Rebecca's knowledge that he was going to
00:42:17
do this Rebecca may have suffered the
00:42:20
consequences as a result of his actions
00:42:25
on May 14th 1991 three weeks after
00:42:29
Rebecca Young's murder the Palm Beach
00:42:31
County Sheriff's Department detained a
00:42:33
possible suspect he was a local man who
00:42:36
had reportedly told a prostitute that he
00:42:38
killed a black woman when the man has
00:42:41
pulled over police suspected that he was
00:42:43
drunk before I could interview when he
00:42:58
told me that I wanted to talk to him
00:43:00
about a murder and when I told him no I
00:43:04
want to talk to him about the prostitute
00:43:05
he would Ben out what he said I don't
00:43:07
want to talk to you I want an attorney
00:43:08
and at that point where we didn't have
00:43:10
any further evidence that he was
00:43:13
involved in this had to release him even
00:43:17
though the suspect would eventually be
00:43:18
released police feel certain that he was
00:43:20
involved in Rebecca Young's murder they
00:43:25
are now engaged in an all-out search for
00:43:27
the elusive eyewitness would originally
00:43:29
telephone them to report the crime
00:43:32
little is known about the man except
00:43:35
that his first name is Antonio he said
00:43:38
he called from a pay phone because he
00:43:39
did not have a telephone at home judging
00:43:43
from Antonio's accent police believe he
00:43:45
was born in Cuba this is a portion of
00:43:49
the actual tape recording of Antonio's
00:43:51
telephone call
00:43:55
[Music]
00:43:59
[Applause]
00:44:12
police in Florida as well as a friends
00:44:14
and family of Rebecca young water were
00:44:16
Jan Tonio to come forward it should be
00:44:20
emphasized that he is not wanted for any
00:44:22
crime
00:44:34
but our next unsolved mysteries
00:44:36
you'll meet George Anderson whose
00:44:38
apparent psychic abilities of amazed
00:44:40
believers of baffle skeptics he says he
00:44:43
can help grieving families by
00:44:45
communicating with their lost loved ones
00:44:47
from beyond the grave it sounds
00:44:49
unbelievable but you can judge for
00:44:51
yourselves as we take you to an actual
00:44:53
session with this intriguing man join me
00:44:57
next time for another edition unsolved
00:45:01
mysteries
00:45:03
[Music]
00:45:39
you
00:45:39
[Music]
