00:00:03
this program is about unsolved mysteries
00:00:07
whenever possible the actual family
00:00:09
members and police officials have
00:00:10
participated in recreating the events
00:00:12
what you are about to see is not a news
00:00:14
broadcast a leave of Halloween two
00:00:22
intriguing ghost stories on unsolved
00:00:24
mysteries in its heyday the old st.
00:00:27
James hotel in New Mexico was host to a
00:00:29
long list of legendary gunslingers and
00:00:31
outlaws today employees report different
00:00:34
kinds of guests on earthly visitors that
00:00:37
never check out for years
00:00:40
June Farris dreamed of a strange house
00:00:42
that she had never seen or even been in
00:00:44
later she found herself living in that
00:00:47
same house for years before the previous
00:00:49
owner had been murdered she and her
00:00:51
family believe that his spirit is still
00:00:53
there we also profile the patent case of
00:00:57
Mary Ann Perez who vanished without a
00:00:59
trace in 1976 15 years later an
00:01:03
anonymous caller contacted her family
00:01:05
claiming that not only was Mary Ann
00:01:07
still alive but she was being held
00:01:10
Dave against her will and authorities
00:01:13
need your help to track down a clever
00:01:15
and corpulent conman who masquerades as
00:01:17
a bona fide physician and hoodwinks even
00:01:20
the most sophisticated of victims call
00:01:22
him dr. fraud jointly perhaps you may be
00:01:27
able to help solve a mystery or perhaps
00:01:30
you may encounter one that simply cannot
00:01:32
be explained
00:01:35
[Music]
00:01:49
[Applause]
00:01:56
[Music]
00:02:23
tomorrow brings a one night each year
00:02:26
which seems to bring out the wide-eyed
00:02:27
child in all of us
00:02:28
Halloween as darkness falls our
00:02:31
imaginations take flight houses begin a
00:02:34
whisper and creak shadows come to life
00:02:36
the sky fills with ghosts and goblins
00:02:39
but in Cimarron New Mexico Halloween is
00:02:42
an everyday occurrence at the old st.
00:02:43
James hotel which some say is haunted by
00:02:47
the spirits of the wild West's
00:02:51
[Music]
00:02:53
when I bought the hotel I didn't believe
00:02:55
in ghosts at all now after the
00:02:58
convincing evidence of the last five
00:02:59
years I'm certain that their ghosts here
00:03:02
[Music]
00:03:03
they are indeed real to me there are not
00:03:06
something that I made up they are indeed
00:03:09
in this hotel
00:03:12
the ghosts are here are they haunting it
00:03:15
no I think we're just living here there
00:03:19
are places where the emotions have been
00:03:22
very strong and it's something like the
00:03:25
energy gets captured or caught and this
00:03:28
hotel is certainly one of them in its
00:03:36
heyday the st. James hotel offered good
00:03:38
food attractive dancing girls and
00:03:40
comfortable beds for such wild and wooly
00:03:42
guests as Jesse James Bat Masterson
00:03:46
Annie Oakley Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp
00:03:51
but as the glory days of the Old West
00:03:54
faded the hotel fell into disrepair
00:03:57
[Music]
00:04:02
in 1985 headsets Berger and his wife Pat
00:04:06
purchased the st. James they plan to
00:04:09
bring the old hotel back to life
00:04:17
thus its burgers soon discovered that
00:04:20
the st. James had a life of its own I
00:04:25
wanted to see how many leaks were in the
00:04:28
old hotel in so I got my friend to come
00:04:31
with me and to go through the hotel with
00:04:34
our flashlight we finished doing all the
00:04:38
checking and put out some buckets here
00:04:40
and there because we did have some leaks
00:04:41
and then we turn the chandelier off and
00:04:44
then went downstairs and out the hotel
00:04:47
and for some reason I turned back up and
00:04:49
looked back up to the second story and
00:04:52
that chandelier was on
00:05:01
sure I took this
00:05:06
when we got out and it locked the door
00:05:08
and looked back up again and the light
00:05:10
was again on
00:05:12
so we went through the hotel again
00:05:16
turn the chandelier off and came back
00:05:18
down the stairs and out again lock the
00:05:20
door looked back up
00:05:24
the last time we went up we went down
00:05:30
the hall and I turned back to John and I
00:05:32
said well the farmer owners had told us
00:05:33
about some things that had happened
00:05:35
previously in the hotel let me just try
00:05:37
something and so before I turn the
00:05:40
chandelier off this time I said I don't
00:05:43
know who you are or why you're here but
00:05:46
I'm tired and I really don't want to
00:05:49
play tonight I'm glad you're here but
00:05:50
could we please play another day and at
00:05:53
that point I pulled the cord on the
00:05:55
chandelier and heard a click
00:05:57
and we turned around and went back down
00:05:59
the stairs and I looked up and indeed
00:06:01
the lighted stage awesome first I
00:06:07
thought maybe it was an electrical
00:06:08
problem because it's an old hotel but
00:06:10
after doing it three or four times it
00:06:13
couldn't have been and I could hear it
00:06:16
shut off and the three times that I shut
00:06:18
off the click of the switch and so there
00:06:22
was no reason for it coming back on
00:06:27
according to the system buggers the
00:06:29
hotel is haunted top to bottom
00:06:31
[Music]
00:06:35
guests in room 17 have reported a
00:06:37
persistent eerie tapping noise whenever
00:06:39
the window is open in the kitchen the
00:06:54
Cook has witnessed several bizarre
00:06:56
occurrences and in May of 1988
00:07:03
Charlie Varela a local high school
00:07:05
student was cleaning the bar at 5:00
00:07:06
a.m.
00:07:08
Charlie thought he was alone
00:07:12
it was kind of dark in there and I was
00:07:14
going to back to get some liners for the
00:07:16
trash and I was cause I was going back
00:07:19
to I just glanced over to the bar and I
00:07:22
just I see my little boy sitting on the
00:07:24
bar and spinning the glass you can hear
00:07:26
it on the table just perfectly spinning
00:07:31
at first - no I thought his little
00:07:33
boyfriend come on up and upstairs and he
00:07:36
was just down messing around you know I
00:07:37
was gonna tell him you know excuse me
00:07:39
you're not supposed to be in here but
00:07:40
when when I went to make the move to
00:07:43
tell him he turned around
00:07:47
his face was hideous and Jesus jumped
00:07:51
off the scariest I quit that morning I
00:07:57
just don't see that I scare me and
00:08:00
anyone work anymore dr. Kenneth Wright a
00:08:06
surgeon and amateur ghost hunter heard
00:08:08
about the spirits at the st. James and
00:08:10
came to investigate let's go inside
00:08:14
when dr. Wright asked me to go into room
00:08:19
18 I was a little skeptical because I
00:08:22
had been in there many times before and
00:08:24
it felt the chonus and the negative mess
00:08:27
in there the room was cold and when I
00:08:31
lived up in the upper left-hand corner
00:08:32
there was a quarreling that was going on
00:08:36
the corner you couldn't see the corner
00:08:38
of the room it was
00:08:39
like a white swirl
00:08:42
there was this anger and hatred and
00:08:45
instantly I was filled with terror I was
00:08:48
gasping for breath because I had not
00:08:50
expected it did not encounter I've never
00:08:53
been that terrified in my life and as
00:08:55
this was happening to me I heard Pat
00:08:58
saying you can go you're free to go you
00:09:01
can go
00:09:04
I couldn't believe what was happening to
00:09:08
me
00:09:10
I don't know what the swirling presence
00:09:12
was it was negative it was cold it felt
00:09:16
like it was from the past it didn't want
00:09:20
me there that was very obvious he was
00:09:23
angry at her because it was his place
00:09:25
and she was telling him that he was free
00:09:27
to leave and he was telling her you
00:09:31
don't tell me I am free this is you
00:09:34
leave
00:09:39
next headsets Burger contact - Jackie
00:09:42
Littlejohn a psychic from Albuquerque
00:09:44
Jackie claims to be able to communicate
00:09:46
with a spirit world I was able to sense
00:09:51
physical violence our gunshot it was so
00:09:55
strong I stepped backwards I could see
00:09:59
and feel and smell and uh you know they
00:10:02
the evidence of violence was so intense
00:10:07
during her tour of the hotel
00:10:09
Jackie claims she had a vision of a
00:10:12
deadly poker game the poker game had
00:10:16
been going on for a long time and it was
00:10:19
feeling that either the hotel was a
00:10:21
steak are a very large herd according to
00:10:26
Jackie one of the current players was a
00:10:28
man whose ghost now inhabits room 18
00:10:36
[Music]
00:10:42
he died of blood poisoning very slow
00:10:45
very painful very dreadful desperate
00:10:48
desperate man very fearful
00:10:53
Jackie says the dead man's name was TJ
00:10:55
right and that he probably won the hotel
00:10:58
in the poker game just before he was
00:11:00
killed we wanted to look back in the
00:11:03
records and corroborate the story so we
00:11:07
went back and looked at there at the
00:11:09
hotel register in 1881 and found TJ
00:11:12
Wright registered three different bays
00:11:14
in 1881 it just is reasonable to me that
00:11:18
that he believes he owns a hotel still
00:11:22
and wants to maintain possession or at
00:11:24
least live here edge this burger keeps
00:11:29
the old registry locked in a glass case
00:11:31
and he is certain that Jackie Little
00:11:33
John never had access to it
00:11:35
there is ofcourse no way to prove that
00:11:38
the ghost of TJ Wright is now haunting
00:11:40
room 18 but ed sis burger is not taking
00:11:43
any chances
00:11:45
there's no construction activity in that
00:11:47
room or renovation work that's going to
00:11:50
be done that's his room as far as I'm
00:11:51
concerned as a permanent resident for as
00:11:54
long as I have the hotel
00:11:58
is it truly possible that the st. James
00:12:01
hotel is haunted by the spirits of the
00:12:03
Old West
00:12:07
the first-hand accounts you've just
00:12:09
heard are definitely difficult to
00:12:11
believe
00:12:12
but if you can offer a better
00:12:14
explanation for what goes on in the old
00:12:16
hotel the folks at the st. James would
00:12:18
certainly like to hear it
00:12:22
[Music]
00:12:30
when we return a family in Florida
00:12:34
claims that the ghost of a murder victim
00:12:36
has returned our heart the scene of the
00:12:38
crime nagas 1968 in Richmond Virginia a
00:12:55
woman named June Farris is having a
00:12:57
disturbing dream about a strange house
00:12:59
she has never set foot in or even seen
00:13:02
the dream has plagued her for months in
00:13:11
the dream I was in an upstairs bedroom
00:13:14
and I would come out of the bedroom go
00:13:18
out into the hallway
00:13:20
[Music]
00:13:26
I would turn to the right and go down
00:13:29
the narrow staircase
00:13:32
[Music]
00:13:35
I knew the house had a front staircase
00:13:37
but I never used the front staircase in
00:13:39
the dream it was always the back
00:13:44
I would turn to the left and go through
00:13:46
the kitchen around a refrigerator and
00:13:49
stove that were on the one wall
00:13:51
I had a feeling of anxiety an anxious
00:13:59
feeling that something was going to
00:14:02
happen that I should know about and I
00:14:05
would go out the kitchen door onto the
00:14:07
porch and that's where I would wake up
00:14:13
and I suppose that this dream continued
00:14:18
maybe once a month until we moved to
00:14:21
Orlando four years later June and her
00:14:27
family moved to Florida in 1972 two
00:14:31
years later she was driving through the
00:14:33
small town of Clermont Florida when she
00:14:35
came upon a house that enchanted her
00:14:39
I've always liked old Victorian houses
00:14:42
it was such a lovely home so I called
00:14:45
the realtor and asked if I could go
00:14:46
through it June returned with a friend
00:14:53
for a closer look
00:14:55
once inside June began to experience an
00:14:58
eerie sensation we went through the
00:15:01
downstairs first and went up the front
00:15:05
staircase and I had a feeling of I guess
00:15:10
you would say deja vu I had definitely
00:15:12
been here before look more stairs
00:15:17
I know where they go they go down
00:15:20
through the kitchen pass the stove and
00:15:23
onto the back porch how do you know
00:15:27
I've dreamed about this house
00:15:30
so as we walk through the house it
00:15:33
definitely was the same house of the
00:15:35
dream and I knew every room in the house
00:15:38
every closet every where everything was
00:15:40
if it was it was just a real unusual
00:15:42
experience
00:15:45
not scary not I didn't feel spooked it
00:15:50
was just there was a good feeling it was
00:15:52
a feeling like I had come home in March
00:15:57
of 1978 June and her husband and three
00:15:59
of their children moved into the old
00:16:01
house
00:16:02
almost immediately odd things began to
00:16:05
happen
00:16:06
my father had brought the boat out on
00:16:10
the trailer and the trailer hitch was on
00:16:13
a sawhorse type stand and it looked as
00:16:17
if someone had reached over pick the
00:16:20
trailer hitch up and just dropped it on
00:16:22
the ground there was nobody there I mean
00:16:29
it was blank space it wasn't like it
00:16:32
jumped off it was like someone had
00:16:34
actually lifted it off of the stand and
00:16:36
dropped it but it happened several times
00:16:38
again afterwards
00:16:40
[Music]
00:16:43
so fast that you really wanted to think
00:16:46
to yourself did I really see that did
00:16:48
that really happen that it was just
00:16:51
shocked absolutely shocked over the next
00:16:58
few years the Pharisees were to witness
00:17:00
more and ever stranger occurrences the
00:17:10
extraordinary became the ordinary and
00:17:12
the family began to suspect that they
00:17:15
were not the only ones living in the
00:17:16
house I was about 20 or 21 it was what
00:17:24
my husband David and I were married and
00:17:25
we were living in my mother's house he
00:17:28
woke me up in the middle of the night
00:17:29
one night Robert said listen
00:17:39
sounds like the music boxes he knew that
00:17:42
the house was haunted and he was just
00:17:43
terrified that switches were not on they
00:17:57
were just wound up and they were playing
00:18:00
all of them were playing the music bus
00:18:04
is coming on really assured me that we
00:18:07
definitely had a guest in that house and
00:18:09
I felt like we did before then but it
00:18:12
just got it where it wasn't scary to me
00:18:14
anymore it was kind of fascinating in
00:18:18
1985 Bob Vitter began dating June's
00:18:21
younger daughter Laurie that was a firm
00:18:24
disbeliever in ghosts but after
00:18:26
everything that's happened to me in that
00:18:28
house there is such a thing as ghosts
00:18:30
and there is a ghost in that house
00:18:33
couple of nights before Halloween Laura
00:18:36
and I were in the parlor on the couch
00:18:38
and we heard the back screen door slam
00:18:41
Jeff just my mom
00:18:47
I heard something with boots come
00:18:49
through the kitchens and walk down the
00:18:51
hallway and stop in the opening going
00:18:53
into the parlor and I had a feeling that
00:18:56
whatever it was was standing right there
00:18:58
watching us
00:19:00
[Music]
00:19:02
and the sound of its boots continued
00:19:05
down the hallway and I followed it at
00:19:07
that point I was really very very scared
00:19:10
I never encountered anything like that
00:19:20
I was just so terrified I couldn't even
00:19:22
move
00:19:26
[Music]
00:19:29
by now everyone was convinced that the
00:19:31
house was haunted but no one had
00:19:34
actually seen a ghost
00:19:35
yet I was walking up the stairway in the
00:19:42
foyer as a house I felt a cold chill so
00:19:45
I'm this like when you open your freezer
00:19:46
in the hot summer time
00:19:48
[Music]
00:19:54
it was very definitely in person and he
00:19:57
was a very early middle age or late
00:20:01
thirties and it was just like a vapor
00:20:04
just like a cloud of smoke kind of you
00:20:06
know it's there and then it's gone but
00:20:09
it was very definite it was very
00:20:11
definitely a person three months later
00:20:16
Bob bitter had his own ghostly encounter
00:20:19
I was upstairs preparing to paint
00:20:22
I opened the attic door and there in
00:20:26
front of me was a white vapor almost in
00:20:30
the shape of the human
00:20:31
[Music]
00:20:33
I took another step forward this vapor
00:20:35
came at me and I went right through me
00:20:37
and I felt a cold blast of air and the
00:20:43
musty smell that always accompanied the
00:20:45
ghost and as just as quickly as it went
00:20:50
through me it was over in October 1985
00:20:56
Bob Vitter began looking into the
00:20:58
history of the old mansion in a local
00:21:01
library he found volumes of old
00:21:02
newspapers and was startled to discover
00:21:05
an account of a brutal murder in which
00:21:07
the owner of the house was gunned down
00:21:09
in his own backyard the victim's name
00:21:12
was John harden Bob began to believe
00:21:15
that if there were a ghost to house
00:21:17
perhaps it was the ghost of John Hardin
00:21:21
[Music]
00:21:23
Hardin grew up in South Florida and at
00:21:26
18 married his high school sweetheart
00:21:28
Rita together they raised four children
00:21:32
in Jacksonville Florida every moment
00:21:35
with him was wonderful he was a good
00:21:37
person
00:21:38
it was always caring not only about his
00:21:41
family but his friends you know
00:21:43
everybody he was always a concerned
00:21:46
about everyone around him everyone that
00:21:47
touched his life but after 14 years of
00:21:52
marriage John Hardin dropped a bombshell
00:21:54
on his wife
00:21:56
he came in from work one afternoon I
00:21:59
love you you know his arms around me she
00:22:02
said I love you I have to go away what
00:22:08
do you mean I have to leave for a while
00:22:11
he said I have some problems I'm gonna
00:22:14
get myself together I'll be home he
00:22:17
never came oh yes I am about a year and
00:22:26
a half later Hardin remarried he and his
00:22:28
second wife moved to Clermont where they
00:22:31
purchased the old Victorian mansion
00:22:36
nine months later John Hardin awoke to a
00:22:38
disturbance outside of his bedroom
00:22:40
window hardens pickup truck was engulfed
00:22:44
in flames
00:22:45
[Music]
00:22:53
[Music]
00:22:56
it was later determined that the fire
00:22:59
had been deliberately set
00:23:05
[Music]
00:23:15
hardened lay mortally wounded shot once
00:23:18
in the chest with a single barrel
00:23:19
shotgun he died less than an hour later
00:23:22
no one was ever arrested in connection
00:23:25
with a shooting had they been motive you
00:23:28
know we could have proceeded with the
00:23:31
case investigation a lot better there
00:23:34
was several things it was brought to our
00:23:36
attention but they was never a firm
00:23:39
motif established we had absolutely
00:23:44
nothing after three and a half months of
00:23:46
the great deal of travel and and
00:23:47
interviewing literally hundreds of
00:23:48
witnesses we didn't have anymore
00:23:50
at the end of the three and a half
00:23:51
months we had when we started on a scale
00:23:54
of one to ten a difficulty of solving a
00:23:58
crime this is probably about as close to
00:24:00
a 10 as I've ever seen could John
00:24:04
hardens spirit possibly be haunting his
00:24:06
former residence there do seem to be
00:24:09
amazing similarities between the ghost
00:24:11
and the man himself according to his
00:24:15
first wife Hardin was a loving and
00:24:17
overly protective parent when our
00:24:20
children were little Johnny would be
00:24:22
very concerned about him always going to
00:24:25
the other room to check them just to be
00:24:27
sure they were okay to be sure they
00:24:29
weren't you know wrapped up in the
00:24:31
covers or you know always wanted to be
00:24:33
sure that they were alright very
00:24:36
concerned about him always even as they
00:24:38
got older it was always concerned
00:24:42
[Music]
00:24:44
the first is believed that the spirit in
00:24:47
their house has this same nurturing
00:24:49
attitude apparently he was very fond of
00:24:52
children and babies because my grandson
00:24:56
had an experience with him he would wake
00:25:00
up and see this man standing over his
00:25:01
bed and of course that would scare the
00:25:03
bejeebers out of me and I'm sure it did
00:25:05
him and it happened several times until
00:25:12
Robin went into the room one night
00:25:13
before Raymond went to sleep and she
00:25:17
spoke to the ghost and she said please
00:25:20
do not come back in this room anymore
00:25:21
and please leave Raymond alone and after
00:25:25
that he didn't come back or at least if
00:25:27
he did Raymond didn't wake up when Joon
00:25:32
Farris learned the details of John
00:25:34
hardens life and death she recognized a
00:25:36
startling connection with a dream which
00:25:39
had plagued her for years
00:25:42
when I first learned that John Hardin
00:25:46
came down the back stairs into the
00:25:48
kitchen and out the back door which was
00:25:50
the same path that I took in my dreams I
00:25:54
felt like there was something there that
00:25:56
I should know maybe if the dream had
00:25:58
continued I would have learned something
00:26:00
that there was a link and in some way
00:26:03
he's trying to tell us what happened to
00:26:05
him and even help us find the killer I
00:26:09
think that he haunts to try to make a
00:26:13
point to people that hey I'm here and I
00:26:17
can't go anywhere until this is taken
00:26:19
care of
00:26:24
in 1990 that Ferris has moved out of the
00:26:27
old mansion
00:26:29
the new owners also tell haunting tales
00:26:32
of a restless spirit roaming the
00:26:34
hallways each night
00:26:40
curiously when we filmed if the old
00:26:42
Victorian house in Clermont our
00:26:44
production crew encountered a number of
00:26:46
unusual difficulties lights flickered on
00:26:49
and off for no apparent reason
00:26:51
equipment failed door is opened on their
00:26:53
own in a window in the Attic shattered
00:26:56
the cause unknown
00:26:59
perhaps it was just coincidence perhaps
00:27:02
it was a spirit of John Hardin unable to
00:27:04
rest until justice is served and the
00:27:07
final footnote to this story is apt to
00:27:09
give anyone pause the investigation into
00:27:11
the murder of John Hardin has now been
00:27:14
reopened next an anonymous phone call
00:27:20
rekindles a case of a woman who
00:27:22
disappeared in 1976 Donna I gotta get
00:27:37
going - on on March 25th 1976 Mary Ann
00:27:42
Perez of Chalmette Louisiana said
00:27:45
goodbye to her teenage daughter Donna
00:27:50
Donna had agreed to babysit her younger
00:27:53
brothers and sisters so Marianne could
00:27:55
go out with one of her girlfriends that
00:28:01
should be calling to check on us about
00:28:05
10 11 o'clock and Donna said she got a
00:28:08
phone call from mama first state mama
00:28:12
said that she was okay she'd be home
00:28:14
shortly and then about 1:30 in the
00:28:18
morning Donna said she got a phone call
00:28:20
from a woman by the name of Dorothy
00:28:36
hello hello
00:28:44
when I heard about the call and heard
00:28:47
the name Dorothy I couldn't imagine who
00:28:49
in the world I could have been I knew
00:28:52
there was something wrong somewhere the
00:28:54
car being practically new and no reason
00:28:57
for car trouble
00:29:00
maryanne Perez never called and never
00:29:03
came home her family soon discovered
00:29:06
that she had gone to meet her friend at
00:29:08
a country-western club on the outskirts
00:29:09
of New Orleans
00:29:12
the next morning Marianne's car was
00:29:15
found parked in front of the club New
00:29:18
Orleans police inspected the vehicle
00:29:20
they saw no evidence of car trouble the
00:29:22
automobile was in perfect running
00:29:24
condition
00:29:28
three days later Mary Ann's purse
00:29:31
weighted down with a brick was found on
00:29:33
Lake Pontchartrain ten miles away there
00:29:36
was no trace of Marianne Perez nine
00:29:42
years passed and Marianne's family
00:29:44
waited not knowing whether she was dead
00:29:45
or alive then in 1985 the New Orleans
00:29:49
Police Department dispatched a detective
00:29:51
to Wichita Kansas to question a man
00:29:53
named David Courtney Courtney along with
00:29:56
his wife had confessed to a multi-state
00:29:57
killing spree one of their victims
00:30:00
seemed to have a lot in common with
00:30:02
Marianne Perez I was buying this bar for
00:30:07
a drink and I saw this woman and she was
00:30:10
heading for her car in the parking lot
00:30:12
she look a little tipsy when I went up
00:30:14
to Kansas to interview David Courtenay
00:30:16
he told me about the female yeah Doug
00:30:18
didn't Wallace he stated that he was
00:30:20
driving down the highway and pulling a
00:30:22
parking lot of a country-western bar
00:30:28
oh oh are you okay yeah now drive that
00:30:38
car oh yeah my god I gotta get home to
00:30:41
my kids look why don't you let my wife
00:30:43
and I take you home
00:30:44
she's right up the road here and pick it
00:30:46
out for it I can't I can't ask you to do
00:30:48
that I'll have all wouldn't show Matt I
00:30:49
saw miss no problem for us we live in
00:30:51
Shawna it's on the way there no problem
00:30:55
at all you know I feel guilty if I left
00:30:56
you here in the shape you're in
00:31:01
so what's your name I'm David did you
00:31:07
pick your wife up yeah and and we took
00:31:10
it straight to our trailer after you got
00:31:14
to the trailer did y'all have sexual
00:31:15
advances toward just when he stated that
00:31:17
this female fell asleep on a chair in
00:31:20
the trailer and there were some sexual
00:31:22
advancements by David Courtney's wife
00:31:25
which woke this female up and she became
00:31:28
disturbed and irate and upset about what
00:31:30
was going on then they agreed to give
00:31:32
her a ride home at that time
00:31:37
David Courtney stated that his wife
00:31:40
drove and he sat in the back seat with
00:31:42
her intended victim
00:31:44
taking you back as always
00:31:50
is this a road right you can see
00:31:54
Courtney said he had already killed once
00:31:56
and he and his wife were afraid that
00:31:58
this woman would go to the police if
00:32:00
they let her live
00:32:13
[Music]
00:32:20
according to David Courtney he and his
00:32:23
wife dumped their victim near the
00:32:24
Louisiana Mississippi state line
00:32:26
they made absolutely no attempt to hide
00:32:29
the body detective Lambert was becoming
00:32:34
more and more certain that the
00:32:36
Courtney's victim had indeed been Mary
00:32:38
Ann Perez
00:32:41
let me show you a photograph now I want
00:32:43
you to take a look at it and see whether
00:32:46
or not you can identify this person
00:32:48
could be yeah I kind of looks like her a
00:32:51
little bit heavy but I can't be 100%
00:32:53
sure of it
00:32:54
yeah I think so I'm gonna show you a
00:32:57
small photograph and once you look at it
00:32:59
see if you recognize anything and it
00:33:00
photograph well yeah that's a car it's
00:33:02
green
00:33:03
definitely detective Lambert next
00:33:14
question Courtney's wife specifically
00:33:17
about Mary Ann's purse I asked her if
00:33:23
the female had Duncan had a purse and
00:33:25
she said yes that she threw it over the
00:33:29
side of a bridge that they were crossing
00:33:30
at the time my daddy came into the room
00:33:34
and he got us all together and he said
00:33:36
um he said to us he said mama is dead he
00:33:42
said they found the people that did it
00:33:44
and she's dead she's gone
00:33:47
and it just it tore us up because we had
00:33:52
a lot of hope until that
00:33:59
based on Courtenay statement an
00:34:02
extensive search was conducted a body
00:34:05
was not recovered even though all of
00:34:07
Courtney's other victims have been found
00:34:08
or he said they would be Courtney's were
00:34:15
never charged with Mary Ann's murder
00:34:16
slim hope that she was alive continued
00:34:19
to flicker then in 1990 the case of Mary
00:34:25
Ann Perez was resurrected once more
00:34:30
fifteen years after Mary as
00:34:32
disappearance the wife of her oldest son
00:34:34
Elwood received a phone call from a
00:34:36
woman who claimed to be Mary Ann's best
00:34:38
friend she asked to speak with Elway and
00:34:43
I didn't want to tell the stranger that
00:34:45
my husband was at home she asked to
00:34:48
speak without what again and I said well
00:34:49
if you're not gonna tell me who you owe
00:34:50
I'm not gonna let you speak with them
00:34:52
and she said well it's about Mary Ann
00:34:55
and I said what about Miss Mary Ann and
00:34:57
she said well miss Marianne still alive
00:35:07
no I don't know down is now the caller
00:35:09
was emphatic she would not be able to
00:35:11
telephone again like Mary Ann she was
00:35:14
not allowed that caused me to think you
00:35:25
know more positive that she was alive
00:35:27
and of course there was statements made
00:35:29
that it's possibly a prank call I don't
00:35:31
know but I do know that if she is alive
00:35:34
I'd like to see her you know and I'd
00:35:36
like to find her
00:35:37
and I feel that I'm speaking for my
00:35:39
family and her family her children her
00:35:41
husband we'd all like to have her come
00:35:43
home
00:35:47
the authorities believe it is almost
00:35:49
impossible that Maryann Perez might
00:35:51
still be alive however Mary Ann's family
00:35:55
clings to the fragile hope that David
00:35:57
Courtney who admits he was drunk at the
00:35:59
time did not succeed in his attempt to
00:36:01
strangler
00:36:06
he murdered several other people and
00:36:09
their bodies were found so that gives us
00:36:14
some hope that maybe he might have
00:36:18
strangled her unconscious thinking that
00:36:21
she was dead and threw her out maybe she
00:36:24
had amnesia or something like that or
00:36:27
maybe some of the brain cells were you
00:36:30
know destroyed and she can't remember
00:36:32
who she is or what she was and coming to
00:36:35
some time after the Courtney's left and
00:36:37
just wondered out maybe she got up
00:36:41
several hours later maybe there's a
00:36:44
possibility a slight possibility that
00:36:47
she is somewhere out there
00:36:54
did Maryann Perez miraculously survive
00:36:57
the victim of amnesia or did David
00:37:00
Courtney kill her
00:37:01
Courtney is currently serving a life
00:37:03
sentence for the confessed murder of one
00:37:05
of his other victims
00:37:09
one day I think that he did do it
00:37:11
another day I think I don't know what
00:37:13
happened to her the fact is she's gone
00:37:16
and has been gone for 15 years whether
00:37:18
she's dead or alive I don't know we love
00:37:22
her we miss her and we want her back
00:37:26
that's all we want and if if if she's
00:37:31
gone we still want a graveside to go put
00:37:35
flowers on for 15 long years Mary Ann
00:37:40
Perez's family is watched and waited
00:37:42
they are anxious for any news of Mary
00:37:44
Ann but they especially hope the woman
00:37:46
who telephoned Shawn Perez will call
00:37:48
again Mary Ann's family members want the
00:37:51
caller to know how eager they are to
00:37:53
cooperate each of them holds on to the
00:37:56
hope however illusory that one day
00:37:59
Mary Ann will come home
00:38:02
maryanne Perez has reddish brown hair
00:38:05
and blue eyes she's five feet four
00:38:08
inches tall and at the time of her
00:38:09
disappearance weighed 108 pounds this is
00:38:13
a computer age photograph to show her
00:38:15
Marianne might look today at the age of
00:38:17
48
00:38:19
[Music]
00:38:27
when we return authorities need your
00:38:30
help to track down a clever conman who
00:38:33
operates as a doctor Cincinnati Ohio
00:38:47
November 1986 a smooth talking con
00:38:52
artist lays the intricate groundwork for
00:38:54
his latest scam Mike wills yes
00:38:58
dr. John Anderson how you doing target
00:39:02
is Mike wills a veteran coin dealer like
00:39:05
most of us Mike thinks he would never
00:39:08
fall prey to a conman he came across as
00:39:13
a very polite articulate man and I had
00:39:16
no reason at that time to doubt that he
00:39:18
was anything other than what he told me
00:39:19
he was indeed a doctor the corporate
00:39:23
conman who called himself dr. John
00:39:25
Anderson was interested in buying gold
00:39:26
coins he suggested that wills visit him
00:39:30
at Children's Hospital I speak to his
00:39:32
physicians investment group I gotta be
00:39:34
rushing on over the hospital I'm all
00:39:36
trapped was now in place
00:39:41
points plus two days later dr. Anderson
00:39:46
ordered $30,000 worth of gold coins Mike
00:39:49
Grylls agreed to bring the coins to the
00:39:51
hospital when he addressed Anderson's
00:39:53
investment group at 8:00 a.m. on
00:39:57
November 26 1986 Mike wills arrived at
00:40:01
Children's Hospital dr. Anderson had
00:40:05
arranged to meet with Mike privately
00:40:07
before Mike spoke to the physicians
00:40:09
group the elevator door opens up and
00:40:15
[Music]
00:40:23
[Music]
00:40:25
that's fine there were two other doctors
00:40:28
on the elevator that he was not having
00:40:30
conversation with the gentlemen you
00:40:31
later but as we got off he acknowledged
00:40:34
them there was nobody at all in the hall
00:40:37
which didn't strike me as being odd
00:40:40
because it was so early in the morning
00:40:42
okay let's see what we have
00:40:51
durant erson told Mike wills he had
00:40:53
access to a safe upstairs where he
00:40:56
wanted to store the gold he would return
00:40:58
momentarily you might want to have a
00:41:02
seat and I'll be back with a check okay
00:41:16
[Music]
00:41:18
I set their thinking back on what seems
00:41:22
to be an eternity but as most probably
00:41:23
more like five six minutes and my gold
00:41:26
is gone and dr. Anderson is gone and I
00:41:29
have nothing to show for it that was
00:41:31
about all I could take I guess at that
00:41:33
moment I got up and I walked out of this
00:41:35
blind door and now everybody is there
00:41:38
there's five or six parents in the
00:41:40
waiting room now there's a nurse at the
00:41:42
nurse's station can I help you yes I'm
00:41:49
Mike wells from a coin store here in
00:41:51
Cincinnati I need you to page a dr. John
00:41:53
Anderson for me I just gave him a large
00:41:55
amount of gold
00:41:56
there's no dr. Anderson at this hospital
00:41:58
there was a dr. Anderson and rank down
00:42:00
in the room don't I'm sorry I don't know
00:42:02
of any dr. Anderson on staff here you
00:42:04
may want to try upstairs
00:42:05
you can't page it made me feel extremely
00:42:09
gullible that I could be duped so easily
00:42:12
out of 30,000 dollars like I trusted a
00:42:15
nametag I trusted what this man told me
00:42:17
when he mentioned dr. maybe checks that
00:42:20
I could have made I didn't make because
00:42:22
this made everything seem right here you
00:42:24
go ten gold maple leaves three years
00:42:27
later a dr. Alfred Evans notable for his
00:42:30
girth showed up at a coin shop in Albany
00:42:32
New York the doctor made several small
00:42:35
purchases from coin dealer Wendell
00:42:37
Williams then a new twist Williams
00:42:41
received a forty five thousand dollar
00:42:43
gold coin order from dr. Evans via
00:42:45
Federal Express I decided that I
00:42:48
wouldn't buy any goal but I would see
00:42:50
what he did when he came in that
00:42:53
Saturday which was November the fourth
00:42:55
when I was waiting on other customers he
00:42:57
came in and his jovial way and said
00:42:59
hello to me first words out of his mouth
00:43:01
was did you get my gold I told him no
00:43:03
seemed a little alarm but turned around
00:43:06
and said well then what do you have for
00:43:07
me and he's what about that Rolex
00:43:09
wristwatch that you had and as well I've
00:43:11
got that for somebody else but I'll get
00:43:13
you some gold okay here you go doc 80
00:43:16
ounces of gold may police how much is
00:43:18
this
00:43:19
there'll be three eighty five
00:43:20
seventy-five each all right I'll make
00:43:22
you a check for it you know I'm gonna
00:43:24
have to hold the gold of that check
00:43:25
please
00:43:26
you know my checks are good might be
00:43:29
when plan a didn't work
00:43:31
the bogus MD switch strategies just so
00:43:34
this doesn't happen again
00:43:36
I'm gonna go ahead and make out a blank
00:43:37
check you hold on to this and that way
00:43:40
next time to go through this sounds good
00:43:48
after Evans wrote the check he started
00:43:50
to chat with another customer and waited
00:43:52
patiently for a new opportunity with
00:44:01
Wendell Williams occupied the coast was
00:44:03
clear
00:44:03
Plan B went off without a hitch all
00:44:06
right give me a favor
00:44:09
I gotta get running off to the hospital
00:44:11
so I'm gonna leave these checks here and
00:44:16
if you can just do me a favor make sure
00:44:17
that he gets them take care of those
00:44:23
thank you very much
00:44:25
as one might expect dr. Evans skipped
00:44:28
town his check for more than $30,000 was
00:44:31
of course no good
00:44:35
in trying to track the activities of dr.
00:44:37
Evans we've noticed that he'll be in
00:44:39
town for a couple of months to pull his
00:44:41
scam and then he'll be disappeared for a
00:44:43
couple months we can't seem to find out
00:44:45
what he's been doing during that period
00:44:46
of time
00:44:47
there'll be gaps of anywhere from two to
00:44:49
five months between cities he could be
00:44:52
doing anything from having a legitimate
00:44:53
business pulling another scam or just
00:44:56
plain vacationing somewhere authorities
00:44:59
have uncovered these photographs of the
00:45:01
elusive sudo doctor
00:45:02
they were taken in 1990 at a bank in
00:45:05
Massachusetts the authorities do not
00:45:08
know the conman doctors real name but in
00:45:10
addition to Anderson and Evans he has
00:45:12
also used the aliases dr. John Miller
00:45:14
dr. Michael Baker and dr. Brown
00:45:21
[Music]
00:45:36
[Music]
00:45:49
join me next time for another edition
00:45:52
unsolved mysteries
00:45:54
[Music]
00:46:21
[Applause]
00:46:24
[Music]
