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[Music]
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next on Unsolved
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Mysteries an old freighter set sail for
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Haiti with a beautiful young journalist
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on board she's never seen
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again history books state that Abraham
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Lincoln's assassin was killed but some
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experts believe John wils Booth cheated
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death and lived until
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1903 a hitch haacker gets a ride from a
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kind stranger and then later murders the
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man's
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mother and a mysterious substance was
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falling from the sky bringing sickness
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to a small
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town join us these cases have twists and
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turns that you will hardly believe I'm
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Dennis finina and this is Unsolved
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Mysteries
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[Music]
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Oakville
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Washington population
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723 clouds fill the sky here daily
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bringing rain on an average of 149 days
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a
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year so when it began pouring on the
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morning of August 7th
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1994 no one was really concerned until
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they realized that it wasn't raining
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rain it was raining tiny blobs of
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gelatinous Goo it came down in Torrance
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covering 20 square miles and it made
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people
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sick I got sick my wife got sick my
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daughter uh everybody that lived here
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got
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sick everybody in the whole town came
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down with like a flu only it was a
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really hard flu it didn't last like 7
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days it lasted like 7 weeks to two or 3
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months officer David Lacy was on patrol
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with a civilian friend
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at 3:00 a.m. when the downpour
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began what on the window there I don't
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know it's kind of building up is that
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inside the car we turned our windshield
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wipers on and it just started smearing
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to the point where we could almost not
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see and we both looked at each other we
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said you know geez this isn't right I
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mean we're out in the middle of nowhere
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basically and and where did this come
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from officer Lacy pulled into a gas
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station to deoo his windshield as an
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added precaution he put on a pair of
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latex
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gloves the substance was very mushy uh
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it's almost like if you'd had Jell-O in
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your hand and you know you could pretty
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much squish it through your
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fingers so we did have some Bells go off
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in our heads that basically said that
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this isn't right this isn't
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normal resident Donnie Hearn was equally
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puzzled by the time she stepped outside
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that morning the storm had ended but the
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blobs were everywhere it looked like
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hail laying on top of the wood box and
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everywhere else so I just went over and
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I touched it and it wasn't hail it was a
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gelatinous like
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material I have an appointment to see
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the doctor that afternoon officer Lacy
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suddenly became ill
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I was to the point where I could hardly
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breathe I started to put together that
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possibly whatever the substance was it
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it made me violently sick you know and
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Ill like I never had been before to the
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point where you know just totally shut
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me
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down across town Dy Hearn was also sick
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I started feeling dizzy everything
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started moving around and around and uh
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it got worse and as it did I became
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increasing Rec L
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nauseated Mom an hour later dad's
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daughter and son found her sprawled on
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the bathroom floor have you been thr
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that yes Donnie she was cold drenched
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with perspiration pale my mom had been
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vomiting she had extreme vertigo she
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complained that she had difficulty with
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her vision her vision was
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blurring daddy would spend the next 3
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days in the hospital the diagnosis a
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severe inner ear
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infection for some reason as we were
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going out the door I remembered the
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substance and I wondered if perhaps it
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might have had some sort of an effect on
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her if it might have made her
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sick so I opted at that moment to take a
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sample of this gelatinous material to
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the
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hospital A lab technician found a start
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clue the substance contained human white
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blood cells but exactly what it was or
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why it fell from the sky could not be
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determined the goo was immediately sent
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to the Washington State Department of
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Health it was very uniform there was no
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structure that we could see visibly or
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or with a
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microscope I set it up on various
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microbiological media and attempted to
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isolate bacteria
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Mike mcdal discovered that the sample
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was full of two species of bacteria one
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of which makes its home in a human
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digestive system the initial speculation
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was that it might have been human waste
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from an airliner however the FAA ruled
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that out because under the regulations
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human waste is died blue the substance
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was not blue it was crystal clear in
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color
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the blobs rained down on Oakville six
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times over a 3- week period dozens of
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people got sick several dogs and cats
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died after coming in contact with the
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drops of
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Goo here we have sample number
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12876 nearly a year after daddy hearn's
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illness she took a sample of the
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material that she had stored in her
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freezer to a private research lab I saw
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what I think was a eukaryotic cell which
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was is basically a cell that has a
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definable nucleus and is found present
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in in biolog most
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animals translation the goo was alive
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but where did it come
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from someone uh theorized that since the
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Navy had been conducting live bombing
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runs at Sea they might have blown up a
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school of
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jellyfish and of course this jellyfish
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would have been thrown up into the
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air um and floated 50 Mi
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Inland and over a period of 3 weeks
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Fallen six
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times I find that somewhat
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Preposterous now if that were
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jellyfish floating around up there for
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that long they would have smelled a high
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heaven the Air Force confirmed that
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practice bombing runs were being
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conducted over the Pacific however they
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denied any knowledge of the unknown
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substance or any involvement in creating
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or dispersing it but some of the locals
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were not
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reassured we had a significant amount of
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military aircraft flying over the home
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uh prior to this
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happening every day almost of slow
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flying bombers helicopters all black in
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color and we kind of thought maybe it
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might have come from
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them they let off things in the air all
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the time here testing you know there's
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testing done all over the place there's
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a lot of places you can't go
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into maybe we were a biological
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experiment of some kind a small one
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maybe just get people a little bit sick
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to find out say if an enemy did come
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over here with a biological bomb or
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something and dropped it um um maybe
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just a test run to see how to how it
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would what would
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happen today it's impossible to say what
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the goo was or where the goo came from
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simply because all of the goo evidence
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has disappeared the Washington
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Department of Health says that it can
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find no record of what happened to the
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samples that it
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received next a ship carrying a young
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woman mysteriously vanishes on a voyage
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to
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Haiti the old Bahama
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Channel Falcon Jets from the United
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States Coast Guard searched the
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Caribbean for an 82t freighter called
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the
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freedon the ship was on its way to Haiti
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but it was reported
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missing on board were seven Haitian crew
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members a young sea captain and a
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23-year-old American journalism student
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named Lisa
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Bishop on the morning of her departure
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Lisa called her parents to say
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goodbye I could feel something was wrong
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mother's intuition I guess you could
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call
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it Lisa was to call me when she
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arrived and it call Ne
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K Lisa wanted to write an article about
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the contrast between the wealth of
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America and the economic Devastation of
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Haiti her Voyage on the fredon was the
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chance of a lifetime even though it
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meant leaving behind her boyfriend of 3
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years we had a long discussion the night
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before she
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left that uh she had to make her own
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decision that in life that I couldn't
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follow her and take care of her where
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whever she
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went somewhere between Miami and Haiti
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the freedon simply vanished no one has
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any idea what happened or why people
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have suggested everything from Pirates
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to Smugglers and even the mysterious
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Bermuda Triangle Lisa's Voyage began
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when she met a foreign sea captain in
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Atlanta
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at a nightclub owned by her boyfriend
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Paul Cornwell Lisa met a 28-year-old
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German National named floran Meer
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bourch Florian was a marine mechanic and
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sea captain who had sailed throughout
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the
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Caribbean Floren from what I've learned
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about him is a Drifter and he sponges
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off the people free loads Lisa Christmas
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in the Caribbean think about it I know
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it sounds Wonder a year after their
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first first meeting Florian told Lisa of
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an upcoming Voyage from Miami to Haiti
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he invited her to join him Lisa is right
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at
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Europe Lisa's three-year relationship
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with Paul Cornwell had been a rocky one
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however Paul was upset when Lisa told
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him that she planned to sail to Haiti
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with
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Florian I didn't trust him with Lisa of
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course I was concerned about Florian you
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know being a young guy and she tried to
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tell me there was nothing to worry about
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there was nothing
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romantic I tried to discourage her as
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her parents tried to discourage her from
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going because they were concerned about
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it I expressed my feelings about it that
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I didn't want her to go or anything and
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uh Lisa was a very headstrong girl when
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she made up her mind to do
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something at 2:30 in the afternoon
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tugboats eased the freed Dawn through
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the Miami River as it headed out towards
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Open
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Sea the freed Dawn's planned route would
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take the ship 600 Mi past the coast of
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Cuba to go naive a small port on the
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western coast of Haiti there were no
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storms and no distress calls but the
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freed Dawn never arrived when Lisa
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didn't call on Christmas Day her family
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became
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concerned relatives of the people on
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board uh kept calling us asking us for
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information we kept in touch with the
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Port Authorities in the various ports in
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that mid Caribbean area and likewise
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down in
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Haiti we sent several uh search and
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rescue flights by Falcon jet aircraft in
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the most commonly traveled area the old
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Bahama Channel which is the area between
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the United States and Haiti still it was
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unsuccessful we came to Miami hoping to
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maybe get some answers from some of
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foran from friends or just find you know
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anything we could we're
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desperate finally Lisa's parents
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received a promising lead an underwater
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salvager named Bob nberg said that he
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had seen the ship 2 weeks after it was
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supposed to have
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disappeared I remembered that while I
00:14:22
was working in Grand C in January of
00:14:24
that year there had been a boat came in
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we were working underwater to directly
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in the harbor area where the ship's
00:14:31
pulled up and tied up when I heard the
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ship coming in we came up and as I was
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coming out of the water we looked back
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and noticed the name was fredon f r e e
00:14:41
d o
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n and I made a statement to my friend
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that those guys need their freedom they
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can't even spell the
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word look like they need they were there
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for some time that afternoon next
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morning the boat was
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gone nberg saw the freed Dawn in
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Georgetown Harbor on Grand Cayman Island
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over 500 mil from Haiti the fact that
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the ship was spotted and I feel like it
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did not go down that it brought me hope
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that Lisa was alive and had to be held
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against her will in order for her not to
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contact
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us Lisa's boyfriend Paul Cornwell and
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Bob nyberg went to gr Cayman to pursue
00:15:27
the lead looking for a German captain
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here they met a number of witnesses who
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claimed to have seen Florian around the
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same time that neber spotted the freedon
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yeah sure I've seen him around here what
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about this girl no honestly I can't for
00:15:44
seeing her but definitely still
00:15:46
apparently floran was not alone during
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his mysterious visit to gr Cayman yeah
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he come with a another fellow short
00:15:54
fellow with black hair with another guy
00:15:58
hi Paul how you doing
00:15:59
hey Paul returned to Atlanta and
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questioned a woman who had been storing
00:16:04
Florian's personal belongings in this
00:16:07
one bag there's some letters and
00:16:08
pictures that I thought you might want
00:16:10
to look through there he found a picture
00:16:12
of the man seen with Florian in Grand C
00:16:15
the woman said his name was Philip last
00:16:18
time I spoke to him Paul later found out
00:16:21
that it was actually Philip who had
00:16:24
chartered the
00:16:26
freedon the girl told me that he
00:16:28
mentioned that he was involved in a
00:16:30
large scale smuggling thing which really
00:16:32
got me going thinking it was a smuggling
00:16:35
thing and something had gone wrong and
00:16:38
you know that they were had gotten
00:16:39
involved in something too deep that Lisa
00:16:41
didn't know about and that she couldn't
00:16:45
handle I feel that if floran is out
00:16:47
there eventually I'll find out about it
00:16:51
and I'll locate
00:16:54
him authorities believe that Florian
00:16:57
Meer bourch is the key to the freed
00:16:59
Dawn's disappearance borch is 6'2 in
00:17:03
with blonde hair and blue eyes he may be
00:17:06
working as a
00:17:08
mechanic Lisa Bishop is 5' 2 in in
00:17:11
height with brown hair and brown eyes
00:17:15
Lisa's family heard rumors that the
00:17:17
freedon with its distinctive leaning
00:17:19
Mast continued to roam the Caribbean
00:17:22
under a different name these are the
00:17:25
only known pictures of how the freedon
00:17:27
looked before it
00:17:30
disappeared if you have any information
00:17:33
about The Disappearance of Lisa bishop
00:17:35
or the freedon please log on to our
00:17:38
website at
00:17:39
unsolved.com
00:17:45
next stunning evidence suggests that
00:17:48
Union Soldiers hunting Lincoln's
00:17:50
assassin may have killed the wrong man
00:17:54
and let John wil's Booth escape to
00:17:57
Freedom
00:18:06
Port Royal
00:18:10
Virginia April
00:18:13
1865 President Abraham Lincoln has been
00:18:16
assassinated and 2,000 Union troops
00:18:20
search for the killer an actor named
00:18:22
John wils
00:18:24
[Music]
00:18:26
Booth on April the 26th at 400 a.m.
00:18:30
soldiers surround a Tobacco Barn on
00:18:33
Garrett farm near Port Royal in Virginia
00:18:36
they had information that Lincoln's
00:18:38
assassin was inside the
00:18:40
barn John wil who you are
00:18:44
surrounded you and all with you come out
00:18:49
with Your Hands Held
00:18:52
High
00:18:54
shoot the man who surrenders is not John
00:18:57
wils Booth but 21-year-old David Harold
00:19:01
known to be one of Booth's
00:19:05
co-conspirators Lieutenant Edward dhy
00:19:08
decides to smoke Booth
00:19:12
out the soldiers are under strict orders
00:19:15
to take Ruth alive but one Sergeant has
00:19:19
another
00:19:25
idea Two Soldiers dragged the body from
00:19:28
the barn
00:19:29
but is it really John wils
00:19:33
boof there is tremendous physical
00:19:36
evidence which proves Beyond a doubt
00:19:39
John wils Booth in reality was not
00:19:41
killed by the federal government
00:19:42
officers as they claimed in fact lived
00:19:46
until January 13th 1903 when he died in
00:19:49
Enid Oklahoma
00:19:52
territory those who challenged the
00:19:54
official account believe that in the
00:19:56
confusion following the Civil War at
00:19:58
evidence may have been recorded
00:20:00
incorrectly or maybe even covered up
00:20:03
even some high-ranking Military Officers
00:20:06
question the official story of Booth's
00:20:09
death the compy let's move out in the
00:20:12
early 1900s John schacher the Army's
00:20:16
general counsel
00:20:17
wrote the evidence put forth by the
00:20:20
government to support the conclusion
00:20:22
that the body was that of John wil's
00:20:24
Booth was so insubstantial that it would
00:20:26
not stand up in a court of law
00:20:30
Nate Orek and Dr Arthur chitty spent
00:20:34
years independently studying the Lincoln
00:20:37
assassination they arrived at the same
00:20:40
conclusion the most persuasive evidence
00:20:43
to me at Garrett's Barn that uh that the
00:20:47
man in the barn was not Booth is the
00:20:49
fact that his friend David E heral came
00:20:52
out of the barn and the first thing he
00:20:54
said was the man in there is not
00:20:56
boo historian James Hall disagrees and
00:21:00
cites a 40-page statement made by David
00:21:03
Herold to the government investigators
00:21:05
just 36 hours after his
00:21:08
arrest Harold referred to Booth 10 times
00:21:13
by name when he was discussing what went
00:21:15
on in the barn while it was being
00:21:18
surrounded by the soldiers to me that's
00:21:20
conclusive I I I can't see where they
00:21:23
get the idea that he'd come running out
00:21:25
and say it's not Booth by the time David
00:21:27
E Herald changed his testimony uh he was
00:21:30
under such enormous uh pressure he was
00:21:33
in fear of his life he had been uh
00:21:36
incarcerated with a canvas bag over his
00:21:38
head and just a little hole to be fed
00:21:41
through he was under terrible emotional
00:21:44
strain and was trying to save his neck
00:21:47
and and so therefore when when he
00:21:49
thought that he would survive by
00:21:52
changing his story he changed his
00:21:56
story are eyewitnesses also refuted the
00:21:59
government's identification of the man
00:22:01
killed at Garrett's
00:22:03
Farm
00:22:05
Colonel this man is not Booth what's
00:22:08
that Lieutenant this man is not Booth
00:22:10
this man has red hair Lieutenant
00:22:13
Lieutenant William C Allen worked for
00:22:14
the United States Secret Service in 1865
00:22:17
and in August of
00:22:18
1937 his widow Mrs Hannah Allen told a
00:22:22
journalist that her husband had told her
00:22:26
that he saw the man at Garrett's Farm
00:22:28
who had been killed and that the man had
00:22:31
red hair and that the government knew
00:22:34
that that man was not Booth but they
00:22:35
were determined to for this man on the
00:22:38
the nation as
00:22:42
Booth every historical account says that
00:22:45
Boo's hair was jet black eyewitness
00:22:48
testimony about the red-haired man was
00:22:51
supported by two other Union Soldiers
00:22:54
Joseph zgen and Wilson Kenzie the 16
00:22:58
they surrounded Garrett's Barn they
00:22:59
burned the barn down they shot John
00:23:01
wil's Booth only it's not Booth how do
00:23:03
you know it doesn't look like him no one
00:23:05
will believe me come back Kenzie and his
00:23:07
buddy Joseph zyan were friends of booth
00:23:10
in 1862 and 63 in New
00:23:13
Orleans keny was a quartermaster and was
00:23:16
free to go wherever he wanted basically
00:23:18
you know within the military lines and
00:23:20
so he went with zyan to Garrett's Farm
00:23:23
because he had an interest in what was
00:23:24
going to happen to
00:23:26
booth in 1922
00:23:28
when he was 77 years old Kenzie detailed
00:23:32
what he saw at Garrett's Farm in a sworn
00:23:36
affidavit as I wrote up jisin called me
00:23:40
here come here Sergeant this ain't John
00:23:42
W's booth at all I could see the color
00:23:45
of his hair I knew at once it wasn't he
00:23:47
his body was exposed he had no injured
00:23:50
leg you men move away from that
00:23:53
body you two are under direct orders to
00:23:55
speak to no one of what you've seen here
00:23:57
today do you understand me
00:23:59
and he said that the officers there told
00:24:01
him everyone has to keep this secret
00:24:04
there'll be dire consequences for anyone
00:24:06
who tells the
00:24:08
truth the military really meant business
00:24:10
and they were not going to risk their
00:24:12
lives just to tell the
00:24:16
truth the government autopsy was
00:24:18
performed by a physician who was
00:24:20
acquainted with
00:24:22
Booth Dr John F May was a Washington
00:24:25
surgeon Who removed a tumor from the
00:24:27
back of Booth's neck a few months before
00:24:29
the assassination in
00:24:31
1865 his
00:24:34
statement is now in the National
00:24:36
Archives like all the other government
00:24:38
records on the case it was held secret
00:24:39
for 70
00:24:41
years the corpse Bears no resemblance to
00:24:44
the actor John WIS
00:24:47
Booth John Frederick May wanted to tell
00:24:50
the truth and he recognized that this
00:24:52
was not Booth but it was made pretty
00:24:55
clear to him very early on that this
00:24:57
better be booth
00:24:59
it's freckled I do not remember Booth as
00:25:02
being freckled and so we have the
00:25:04
Curious affidavit which starts off
00:25:06
saying I'm sure this is booth and then
00:25:10
goes on to say but it doesn't look like
00:25:11
Booth but this is certainly Booth signed
00:25:15
John Frederick
00:25:16
may now had the government really
00:25:19
believed that that body was
00:25:21
booths they would have taken pictures of
00:25:24
it they would have had many many
00:25:26
hundreds of people to identify it it but
00:25:29
the war department didn't do that the
00:25:31
government knew that that man was not
00:25:33
[Music]
00:25:36
Booth the body was secretly buried in
00:25:39
the basement of the old Naval prison in
00:25:43
Washington it seems almost incredible
00:25:47
that Union authorities would have
00:25:49
misidentified the Assassin of President
00:25:52
Abraham
00:25:53
Lincoln but if John wils Booth would not
00:25:56
kill that Garrett barn and
00:25:59
1865 then what happened to
00:26:04
him next a deathbed confession has some
00:26:08
historians wondering if John wil's Booth
00:26:11
might have literally dodged a
00:26:20
board in
00:26:21
1865 the government moved quickly to
00:26:24
close the books on the Lincoln
00:26:27
assassination the trial of John wils
00:26:29
Boo's co-conspirators resulted in four
00:26:32
hangings and three life sentences the
00:26:35
details of the conspiracy were
00:26:37
classified as secret and hidden away
00:26:41
today some experts believe that Booth
00:26:44
actually escaped and that he lived in
00:26:46
the South under assumed nams for another
00:26:50
38
00:26:52
years in 1907 an attorney from Texas
00:26:55
named finus Bates published a book
00:26:58
called The Escape and suicide of John
00:27:00
wilk's Booth in these Pages Bates
00:27:03
claimed that he learned the true story
00:27:05
of Booth from a man named John St Helen
00:27:08
of granberry
00:27:16
Texas in
00:27:18
1877 when John St Helen was seriously
00:27:21
ill and afraid he was about to die he
00:27:23
made a startling confession to finest
00:27:26
bait my name is it's not John St
00:27:30
Helen it's really John wils
00:27:34
Booth assassin President
00:27:36
[Music]
00:27:38
Lincoln if I
00:27:40
die tell my brother Edwin I'm
00:27:44
dead well Bates of course thought this
00:27:47
guy was crazy he had been told as
00:27:49
everyone else had that Booth had been
00:27:50
killed in
00:27:51
1865 so he thought he was just
00:27:54
hallucinating wrot and boo said to him
00:27:57
no I really John wils Booth and now that
00:27:59
I've told you my secret I want to give
00:28:01
you the whole
00:28:02
story so he poured out for Bates a very
00:28:05
long confession detailing in great
00:28:07
detail the kidnap conspiracy the murder
00:28:10
conspiracy how he got out of Washington
00:28:13
how he escaped all
00:28:15
together escaped Washington DC using a
00:28:20
password TB
00:28:24
rope St Helen explained that all of the
00:28:27
bridges out of Washington
00:28:28
were closed after Nightfall and all were
00:28:31
heavily guarded
00:28:33
H but I must cross I'm sorry the bridge
00:28:36
is
00:28:37
closed I have a password password TB TB
00:28:44
Road all right you may pass one of the
00:28:48
guards on duty that night Frederick Deon
00:28:51
wrote a letter that supports this
00:28:55
account in that letter deand says at
00:28:58
about 10: p.m. that night a captain rode
00:29:01
up to the bridge and said if anyone
00:29:04
comes up using a certain password let
00:29:07
him through and that password was TB TB
00:29:12
Road Deon says that was very peculiar
00:29:15
because never before had anyone been
00:29:17
allowed to cross the bridge using a
00:29:19
password bridge out of Washington is
00:29:21
closed up the dark not everyone who was
00:29:24
on the bridge that night
00:29:26
agreed sergeant Silas Cobb who was in
00:29:29
charge of the squad at the bridge he
00:29:32
didn't say anything about
00:29:35
passwords all he said was that I thought
00:29:37
these people were proper people to go
00:29:39
across the bridge and I let him
00:29:41
cross John wils Booth had broken his leg
00:29:44
while fleeing I'm going to have to take
00:29:46
your boot off so I can see your all
00:29:47
right after secretly seeing the doctor
00:29:50
he continued his Escape hidden in the
00:29:53
back of a wagon though he was a fugitive
00:29:56
booth made the dangerous de decision to
00:29:59
take personal papers that could identify
00:30:02
him as Lincoln's assassin you down to
00:30:04
the river now and at one point he heard
00:30:07
someone shout dar's them soldiers now he
00:30:11
thought they were Northern soldiers so
00:30:13
hurriedly he was yanked out of the back
00:30:14
of the wagon and hustled into the woods
00:30:17
when that happened his papers and and
00:30:19
other personal effects fell
00:30:23
out Booth sent a messenger back for the
00:30:26
papers but then another messenger
00:30:29
arrived with bad news Mr boo Union
00:30:32
soldiers are riding in for Bowling Green
00:30:34
you do you be getting out of here how
00:30:36
far behind you are they about 2 hours
00:30:38
thank you thank you gent Booth could no
00:30:41
longer wait for his papers and left
00:30:44
immediately
00:30:47
yeah it was the man who was sent back to
00:30:50
retrieve Bo's papers who was in the
00:30:52
Garrett Barn when it was surrounded by
00:30:54
Union troops this man carried booths
00:30:57
papers so he was identified as the
00:31:01
Assassin I believe you John I want you
00:31:03
to rest all
00:31:06
right rest as it turned out St Helen
00:31:10
didn't die after his deathbed confession
00:31:13
he left town as soon as he recovered
00:31:15
finest Bates was convinced however that
00:31:18
the story was
00:31:21
true and later on Bates that was the
00:31:24
name of the this young lawyer
00:31:25
embroidered the story nicely
00:31:29
and wrote a book about
00:31:31
it could it be possible that John St
00:31:34
Helen was really John wilk's Booth a
00:31:38
comparison of photographs shows a
00:31:40
striking
00:31:42
resemblance in 1903 while staying at a
00:31:45
boarding house in Enid Oklahoma John St
00:31:49
Helen committed suicide by drinking a
00:31:52
glass of wine laced with strick
00:31:56
nine B
00:31:59
had the body preserved he took many
00:32:01
pictures of the body and eventually he
00:32:05
had the body mummified to preserve it
00:32:07
for posterity to prove once and for all
00:32:09
that the government had fooled us all
00:32:13
and he was going to not allow that cover
00:32:15
up to
00:32:17
stand in
00:32:19
1931 six Chicago Physicians examined the
00:32:23
mummified body of John St Helen and
00:32:26
recorded their findings in this
00:32:28
affidavit they specifically noted a
00:32:31
scarred right eyebrow a crushed right
00:32:33
thumb and a broken left leg John wils
00:32:38
Booth is known to have had all three of
00:32:41
these unusual
00:32:46
characteristics did John wils booth
00:32:48
actually Escape Union troops only to
00:32:51
kill himself 38 years later in an
00:32:54
Oklahoma boarding house those who would
00:32:57
know took that secret to their
00:33:03
graves
00:33:06
update though the story of John wils
00:33:08
Booth's Escape may seem hard to believe
00:33:11
the Smithsonian Institute concluded that
00:33:14
it was worth a closer look the
00:33:16
Smithsonian even proposed exhuming the
00:33:19
body of the man killed that Garrett's
00:33:21
Farm the man officially named as John
00:33:25
wils Booth the booth family
00:33:28
agreed however a state court refused
00:33:32
permission the mystery surrounding
00:33:34
Abraham Lincoln's
00:33:36
assassination Still
00:33:41
Remains coming up murder shocks a small
00:33:44
town when an unknown hitchhiker turns
00:33:56
violent November
00:33:59
1945 a young woman named Dorothy Johnson
00:34:02
and her 11-month-old daughter are on a
00:34:05
CrossCountry train heading to udica New
00:34:08
York hey beautiful Dorothy is just 17
00:34:13
single and struggling to make ends meet
00:34:16
on the train she meets a sailor named
00:34:19
Donald Caffrey Donald is married and
00:34:22
he's returning to his wife in
00:34:25
Omaha when we get to UDA I'm going to
00:34:28
have to put her in a foster home Dorothy
00:34:30
revealed that she was desperate and she
00:34:32
was out of money she was also being
00:34:34
forced to surrender her child to a
00:34:37
foster home I'm sorry I as we started
00:34:41
getting closer to Omaha I I asked her if
00:34:44
she'd like to have me take the baby home
00:34:47
with me till she got settled and could
00:34:50
send for the baby or maybe I could bring
00:34:52
it to her and she agreed on
00:34:56
that but Dorothy was never heard from
00:34:59
again Donald and his wife adopted the
00:35:02
baby and named her Sandra when Sandra
00:35:05
was a teenager she learned the truth
00:35:07
about her background and she began to
00:35:10
search for her birth mother I think she
00:35:13
got scared I think she wanted me but
00:35:19
she I don't think she had any help maybe
00:35:22
from her family to help her try to get
00:35:26
back to me
00:35:28
[Music]
00:35:29
[Applause]
00:35:32
update on the night of our broadcast
00:35:35
Sandra search came to an end a viewer
00:35:38
called with the news that Sandra's
00:35:39
mother Dorothy had passed away but
00:35:43
Sandra also learned that she had an
00:35:44
uncle and two aunts who were anxious to
00:35:47
meet
00:35:49
her a month later Sandra and her husband
00:35:52
arrived in Syracuse New York to meet a
00:35:55
house full of relatives for the very
00:35:57
first
00:36:06
time I didn't think I'd ever find
00:36:10
anyone it just gave me chills it just it
00:36:14
just made me feel real warm like oh gee
00:36:17
what a nice family this is D Herold
00:36:21
that's Wayne that's Wayne that's it now
00:36:23
this is the only picture I have of me
00:36:27
I'm getting little bits and pieces from
00:36:30
friends and relatives telling me a
00:36:33
little bit about her and which you know
00:36:36
these little things mean a great deal to
00:36:38
me I have found a family a wonderful
00:36:42
family that I never thought I'd ever
00:36:44
have one more H
00:36:47
okay it's best time in my
00:36:53
life Sandra learned that her mother
00:36:56
eventually married a man named Rogers
00:36:58
Sandra would now like to find her
00:37:00
stepfather with a hope of learning more
00:37:03
about her mother and perhaps her
00:37:11
father Harrington Delaware C coffee
00:37:15
black around midnight a factory worker
00:37:18
named Charles Holden stops by a fast
00:37:21
food restaurant at the end of his shift
00:37:23
it's a typical night for Charles until
00:37:27
he walks back to his
00:37:28
truck and got in my truck and as I
00:37:32
proceed to get ready to back up I
00:37:34
noticed that was man right right at my
00:37:37
uh pass on the
00:37:38
window man I wonder if I could get a
00:37:41
ride uh I don't know it's pretty late
00:37:44
hey but I'm like in a big time bind man
00:37:46
my sister she's had a baby she's up in
00:37:47
Georgetown I got to get there I I live
00:37:51
pretty close by you in the end Charles
00:37:56
agrees
00:37:58
3 mil down Highway 14 Charles reaches
00:38:01
the intersection where he normally turns
00:38:03
to go
00:38:05
home yeah I pulled off off to the side
00:38:08
and uh I said this is as far as as far
00:38:10
as we go right here listen I got a
00:38:13
problem and I ain't getting out of this
00:38:14
truck I can't help you I I can't you
00:38:17
going have to leave I'm sorry no then
00:38:19
I'm going to have to take this truck
00:38:23
hey he come after me with a a knife or
00:38:27
screwdriver what I'm going to kill you
00:38:30
I'm going kill you right here just calm
00:38:31
down I want that truck all right all
00:38:33
right I'll take you wherever you want to
00:38:34
go man just calm down all right a't
00:38:35
playing with you I want that truck come
00:38:37
come on we'll go I'll take you over come
00:38:46
on Charles speeds off in the opposite
00:38:49
direction of his house so that the man
00:38:52
cannot follow him home I turned around
00:38:56
didn't say out no words site so I VCH
00:38:58
down Road and when I come back to my
00:39:00
driveway he was at my
00:39:04
trailer somehow The Stranger had found
00:39:07
his way to Charles trailer next door was
00:39:10
a farmhouse where Charles 70-year-old
00:39:12
mother lived Charles rushed to a pay
00:39:15
phone to call the
00:39:20
police how you doing I'm Trooper
00:39:22
Williams with the Delaware State Police
00:39:24
are you Mr Holden Mr Holden just
00:39:26
explained to me that he had been home by
00:39:29
his residents that he needed somebody to
00:39:30
go back with him um because this person
00:39:33
was hanging around his mom's residence
00:39:34
and his residents well Mr Holden it it
00:39:37
looks like your house is secure here all
00:39:41
right could you come take a look at my
00:39:43
mom's
00:39:45
house we walked across the grass and uh
00:39:48
around to the back door of the residence
00:39:50
and that's when uh the two of us
00:39:51
discovered that the back window to the
00:39:53
back door was
00:39:56
broken
00:39:59
Mom I thought something wrong because
00:40:02
Mom she was the type of mother that she
00:40:04
would she would be awake until I got
00:40:07
in that that night then she go to
00:40:10
sleep
00:40:13
Mom in an upstairs bedroom Charles found
00:40:17
his mother's body Dorothy Donovan had
00:40:20
been stabbed repeatedly in the chest
00:40:23
arms and Face 14 following the road
00:40:27
around when investigators heard
00:40:28
Charles's story they didn't believe him
00:40:32
okay Charles you're going to need to
00:40:33
come down the troop with us we're going
00:40:34
to have to talk about this a little
00:40:36
further okay just the mere coincidence
00:40:40
of what he said happened was difficult
00:40:42
for the investigators to believe that he
00:40:45
picks this guy up takes him couple miles
00:40:48
drops him off and next thing you know
00:40:49
he's at his mom's house killing Dorothy
00:40:51
Donovan it just was uh very hard to
00:40:53
believe and it wasn't until we were able
00:40:55
to go back and interview the people at
00:40:58
the fast food restaurant were we able to
00:41:00
you know see that yes this guy did exist
00:41:03
if I could ask you ladies to do me like
00:41:04
a really big favor I'm trying to
00:41:07
get we were able to obtain a bloody palm
00:41:10
print and we also have found two sources
00:41:13
of DNA inside the residence neither of
00:41:17
this phys physical evidence comes back
00:41:19
to Charles Holden so therefore because
00:41:21
of these things we were able to
00:41:22
eliminate Charles as a
00:41:24
suspect it's it whole story seems like a
00:41:28
big nightmare to me you know it's just
00:41:30
like you're in some kind of a dream that
00:41:32
don't don't don't think it really really
00:41:38
happened
00:41:40
update for 15 years detectives were
00:41:43
baffled by this case but finally
00:41:46
convicted felon Gilbert Cannon was
00:41:49
arrested for the
00:41:51
murder the bloody Hanton on the banister
00:41:54
along with DNA evidence link Cannon to
00:41:57
the crime he was convicted and sentenced
00:42:00
to life without
00:42:02
[Music]
00:42:04
parole if you have any information about
00:42:07
any of the other cases that we profiled
00:42:09
in this program please log on to our
00:42:11
website at unsolved.com
00:42:28
[Music]
00:42:34
[Music]
00:42:43
[Music]
