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[Music]
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this program is about
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unsolved mysteries whenever possible the
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actual family members and police
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officials
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have participated in recreating the
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events what you're about to see is not a
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news broadcast
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it's known as the girden light for more
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than 60 years the same eerie luminous
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apparition has been described by
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hundreds of
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is eyewitnesses summer's yet unexplained
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natural phenomenon
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or is it as many say the restless ghost
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of a long-dead railroad man
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doomed to wander the tracks for eternity
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[Music]
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this man stuart heaton was convicted of
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murdering a 16 year old girl
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largely on the strength of dna test
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results
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but all along heaton has claimed that he
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is innocent that the dna tests were
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flawed
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and some prominent scientific experts
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agree with him
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call them the real-life thelma and
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louise on the road and on the run
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a middle-class wife and mother and her
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best friend who allegedly thrilled in
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seducing terrorizing and then robbing
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men they met through the personals
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also tonight a heartwarming reunion
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brought about by your calls
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join me for another edition of unsolved
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mysteries
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so
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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welcome to girden arkansas population
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2700
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a typical small town apparently no
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different from hundreds of other
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communities that dot the railroad
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between st
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louis and dallas
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but as darkness descends an air of
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expectancy settles over gertie
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most nights the locals anticipate the
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arrival of their very own
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unsolved mystery
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for decades on the tracks just outside
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of town
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an eerie unexplained light of unknown
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origin has been magically appearing
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this time lapse photograph was taken in
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november by an unsolved mystery's
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photographer
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it is apparently the first time with the
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strange phenomenon
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known locally as the girden light has
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been captured on film
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a few days later the photographer
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returned to the railroad tracks
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he waited until nightfall and recorded
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this mysterious light on videotape
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this is an enlargement of the image the
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same image seen by hundreds of
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eyewitnesses over the years
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i'd say that i've seen it where i
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couldn't write it off as being anything
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else
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probably 20 25 times at least
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and i'm a very skeptical person over the
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years i have
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personally seen it hundreds of times
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with my father and my family i've seen a
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lot at least 60 or 70 times
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and of course usually when you see it
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one time
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in that evening you can see it several
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times in succession
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what is the good and light a natural
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phenomenon
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a long-running prank or perhaps
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something that cannot be explained
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not surprisingly that possibility
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inevitably prompts a retelling of the
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legend
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that goes along with a girden light
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[Music]
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it all began on a chilly december
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evening in 1931
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around midnight will mclean a section
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foreman for the railroad
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confronted one of his workers louis
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mcbride something i need to tell you
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don't you
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it's not concerning you boys now go on
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clock out the day before
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a freight trainer derailed just outside
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girden
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mclean suspected that mcbride had
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sabotaged a section of the track
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it's your last night mcbride you just
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pay get on out of here
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why i think you know why i need this job
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well you should have thought about that
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before you pull that crazy little stunt
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but i haven't i don't want to hear
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anymore about just pick up your pay and
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get off the yard
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i need this job
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stay in the matter
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[Music]
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when mclean failed to return home a
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search party was hastily assembled
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they came upon a trail of blood and
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followed it along the tracks to the edge
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of town
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what is that
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it's mclean
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let's look off down yonder
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at the end of the blood trail lay the
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body of will mclean
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[Music]
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by dawn lewis mcbride had confessed to
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the murder
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in february of 1932 he was executed at
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the state penitentiary
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[Music]
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it wasn't long before people began
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seeing the gerdan light on a regular
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basis
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local lore said it was the ghost of will
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maclean
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doomed to spend eternity walking the
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tracks with his lantern
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[Applause]
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one of the earliest sightings is one of
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the most memorable
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as a train approached town an elderly
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conductor named john
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stepped onto the back of the caboose and
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was startled by what he saw
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they say that uh john went out on the
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back platform
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to investigate and the light was
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real far off and kind of faint that it
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seemed to be traveling the same
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speed they were and then
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all of a sudden it just shot up and he's
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just like
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paralyzed and just hanging on to the
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grab barn
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and just transfix staring right into the
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light
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according to john the light followed the
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train for more than a mile
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finally it veered off in the direction
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of the cemetery
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ever since looking for the girden light
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has become something of a local pastime
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if you go down there with some
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regularity
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you're definitely going to see it after
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a while you may go a few days
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you know where you get frustrated and
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you don't see it but with a little time
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and a little concentration you most
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definitely will see the light
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[Music]
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my friends and i always went down there
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with the hopes of seeing the light and
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walking down the tracks just
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in the total darkness always left you
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with a little eerie feeling
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[Music]
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i've seen it come on in a quick flash
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and seen it fade in and then fade back
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out
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sometimes we've gotten pretty scared
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down there
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seeing the light together with maybe
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some
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noises in the woods have sent us
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running out of there quite often
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the descriptions of the lighter for the
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most part consistent
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it seems to float one to three feet
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above the tracks and often changes
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colors
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the light is rarely visible for more
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than 10 seconds at a time
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[Music]
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there are many times when i walk down
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the tracks by myself
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and and spent several hours out there
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and during the course of that time
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you can be observing the light and move
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toward it
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and it'll disappear and you'll turn
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around it'll be behind you
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almost everybody has had that kind of
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experience from time to time with the
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local legend is if it gets behind you
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you can't get back to your car
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the whole town has seen it at some point
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in time
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and it's it's not a figment of anybody's
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imagination
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it does exist it is there
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what is it that's the question
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that is indeed the question is the gerd
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and light as some believe
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the ghost of will maclean or is there a
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rational scientific explanation
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for years dr charles lemming a physics
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professor at henderson state university
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took his classes to girden
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in search of an answer
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when i first went out to see the garden
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light and studied the area maps
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i was pretty confident that the light
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always originated from car headlights on
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an
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interstate bridge a few miles away
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the light is usually seen in this area
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just outside girden
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the highway lies to the southwest four
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miles away
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the problem with the headlight theory is
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that we're sure people were going out
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before the interstate opened in 1970 we
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could find
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reliable accounts of people that went
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out to see the garden light and reported
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the garden light
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well before the interstate bridge that
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we thought was the origin of the
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headlights was opened
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the second theory is that the light is
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in fact swamp gas
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a spontaneous combustion of the gases
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produced when dense vegetation
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decomposes
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down that way too the theory of it being
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swamp gas that doesn't hold up to me
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just because i've seen it on a windy
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night
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so that would eliminate any sort of
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swamp gas out there
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the closest theory that i've come to for
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explaining the gerding light is the
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piezoelectric effect
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and piezoelectricity is a simple
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phenomena where if you squeeze
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crystals such as quartz or rochelle salt
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you get an electric current out of them
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gurdon sits atop an abundant deposit of
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quartz crystals
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and an active fault line known as the
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new madrid fault
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michael klingon believes that when the
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plates shift an electric charge is
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released from the crystals and seen
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above ground as the girden light
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people tend to to say that the light
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appeared
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after the murder of will mclean and
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looking back that also coincides with a
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major earthquake on the
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new madrid fault line so that tends to
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support my piezoelectric theory
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klingon acknowledges that there is one
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large hole in his theory
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he cannot explain how the charge
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migrates to the surface
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or why it is concentrated in a ball like
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shape
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i don't think if they came forth with a
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logical explanation i would
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truly believe it it is too mysterious
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and
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i don't think it can be explained do we
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really want to know
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that it what it is because that would
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take all the
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mystery out of it and all the fun and
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and
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and i would like to see my children's
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children take their children
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down there just like our parents took us
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down there
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it's a perfect setting for a ghost story
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what is the secret of the girden light
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if there is a scientific explanation
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it has certainly eluded everyone for the
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past 60 years
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until something better comes along we're
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left with a legend of pearl will
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mclean's ghost
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wandering the railroad tracks
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forevermore perhaps in search of the man
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who killed him
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when we return a controversial case of
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stuart heaton
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did 40 dna evidence put the wrong man in
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prison for murder
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in recent months most of us have at
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least heard of the legal debate over the
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use of dna evidence and criminal cases
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many experts believe dna can identify a
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suspect as reliably as a fingerprint
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others strongly disagree tonight that
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debate has a special resonance for a
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young man named stuart heaton
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he is serving a life sentence for murder
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even though many believe there is
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compelling evidence
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that another man committed the crime
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stuart insists that he is innocent
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and the crucial dna evidence which some
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say is deeply flawed
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helped put him behind bars
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ramzi illinois in the south central part
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of the state is a peaceful rural
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community
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but on july 23 1991 a brutal murder
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shocked its citizens
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sixteen-year-old crystal nab a high
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school sophomore
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had been stabbed 81 times in the living
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room of her family's trailer
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[Music]
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hey brian what do you got there well i
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think i have your murder weapon
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looks like a pair of uh sewing scissors
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and i'll tell you the person who did
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this can't stab somebody that many times
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without getting cuts on your hands
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look for somebody with cuts either on
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the outside of their fingers or on their
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palm
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i wonder if you uh happen to see
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anything uh suspicious
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several neighbors told police they had
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noticed a white pickup truck
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most probably a dodge parked outside the
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nab's trailer earlier that day
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from around 10 a.m to 3 p.m
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like a dodge pickup truck do you know
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anybody that has a truck like that
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next the police talked with crystal's
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brother curtis knapp
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a friend of mine i haven't seen him for
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like two or three years though
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stuart heaton stuart hayden do you uh
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happen to know where the stewart heaton
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lives
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he used to live about three miles up the
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road uh-huh is he married
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i don't know okay you haven't seen him
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in that long though two or three years
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it's been at least two three years
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okay
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[Music]
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police located stuart heaton in nearby
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bluff city illinois where he worked as a
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carpenter and roofer
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he did in fact own a white dodge pickup
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and had married two years earlier
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several months after he lost touch with
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curtis nam mr heaton if you'd step out
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on the porch just for a second what do
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you want to ask me
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mr hayden would you put your hands
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behind your back what for
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what are you doing i just want to ask
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you a couple of questions what about i
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haven't done anything wrong
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we're just going to take you down to the
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station and ask you a few questions
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that's all
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yeah karen karen call my mom where are
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they taking you
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the police station
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where'd you get these cuts on your hands
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and flashing i'm laying a roof you
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sometimes bang your hands when you're
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working construction it's real still for
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me okay both on the uh
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outer and on the palms too what about
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this one on your forehead did you
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uh it's not a girl it's a pimple yeah
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take a shot of that tom
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can i put my hands down now just to set
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him down nose dude just hold him still
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still
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we got to know a little bit about what
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you did today what was your day like
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when did you wake up where'd you go
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i left my house at nine i am i gave an
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estimate for a roofing job
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where did you give the estimate stewart
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stu look why am i answering these
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questions i haven't done anything wrong
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what are you really
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two crime scene technicians came back
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and told me this guy has the cuts
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this is our man from the beginning
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and for a while though that was all we
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had
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connecting him to the crime scene were
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the cuts it was just
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too big of a coincidence for them to say
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that the guy we're looking for is going
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to have this and the suspect they picked
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up immediately had exactly what they
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said we'd find
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i know for a fact that i'm innocent
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nobody else may know for a fact but i
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know for a fact
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if they were half the investigator
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that he would lead the public to believe
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then he would have checked and found out
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that i'll always have cuts on my hand
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you know there wasn't nothing abnormal a
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carpenter without cuts on his hands
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is not a carpenter he's an observer
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and i'm a carpenter we were told that he
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had been picked up
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stuart heaton had been picked up
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for her murder and afterwards we learned
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that
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there was a possibility because he had
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cuts on his hands his forehead
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he had a mark on his leg and they
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started doing some investigation and
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people had seen his truck
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step inside stuart heaton was indicted
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on september 11
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1991. he voluntarily waived his right to
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a speedy trial
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after a search warrant was obtained
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police took a blood sample from stewart
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for dna testing
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an autopsy had been performed on crystal
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nab
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she was three months pregnant and a
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trace of dried yellow material which
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contained semen was found on her pubic
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hair
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crystal's boyfriend had been eliminated
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as a suspect
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the authorities wanted to find out if
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the seamen matched stuart heaton's dna
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for more than four months stewart
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languished in jail awaiting the dna test
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results
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which he felt would exonerate him once
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and for all eaton
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yes sir you got a delivery thank you
00:18:46
however when his lawyer forwarded the
00:18:47
test results they were not what stewart
00:18:49
heaton had hoped for
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there was a chance the stewart's dna did
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match the semen sample found on
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crystal's body
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in spite of this stewart remained
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optimistic
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i didn't know as much about dna and
00:19:03
kinetic testing then as i do now
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but when i read that i looked at that
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and i hung under that and i said uh
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there's only a chance
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you know this this test isn't exact they
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can't say
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oh it matches i mean they said there was
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a chance
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in my mind reasonable doubt
00:19:20
i had read all that i knew there was no
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way and when i looked at it i thought
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it's not him besides all the other
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forensic
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evidence that 25 pages of
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hair skin tissue blood fingerprints and
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not a one with stewards
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you couldn't be it's an impossibility to
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be in a place
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from 10 in the morning to three in the
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afternoon and not leave something
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and there's nobody smart enough to clean
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up theirs
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just theirs and leave everybody else's
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uh it's it's impossible it can't be done
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the dodge pickup and the cuts on
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stewart's hands notwithstanding
00:19:59
he and his family were confident going
00:20:01
into the trial
00:20:02
but they would be sorely disappointed
00:20:06
curtis knabb crystal's brother gave
00:20:08
damaging testimony
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he claimed that one night between two
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and three years earlier he had found
00:20:13
stewart in the nab's trailer with his
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older sister melody
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now when you say he was talking to your
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sister where was he
00:20:20
located in the trailer at that time in
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the bedroom and where was your sister
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in the bedroom of course his testimony
00:20:27
was completely different from his mom's
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on that
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he said he answered the door and uh
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that i came in he asked me to leave and
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uh
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all this and that uh i think even at one
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point he uh
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said that he woke up and i was there but
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that night when i uh
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stopped by his mom answered the door i
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asked for curtis she went and got curtis
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and we sat down at the kitchen table and
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uh i drank a couple of beers and talked
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they asked me three times stuart's wife
00:21:00
was called by the prosecution as a
00:21:02
hostile witness as was his mother
00:21:04
their testimony indicated the steward
00:21:07
might have changed clothes on the day of
00:21:08
the murder
00:21:09
i can tell you that in the morning get a
00:21:11
t-shirt on but as far as
00:21:13
you know pants and stuff i'd have to say
00:21:15
sweatpants because he couldn't fit in
00:21:16
his jeans
00:21:18
why all of a sudden now do you just say
00:21:19
sweatpants because i
00:21:22
the prosecution theorized that stewart
00:21:24
had hidden a pair of blue jeans
00:21:25
bloody during the murder of crystal nab
00:21:28
no further questions your honor
00:21:31
[Music]
00:21:32
two witnesses one woman and one man took
00:21:35
the stand to establish an alibi for
00:21:37
stewart between 10 a.m and 3 p.m on the
00:21:39
day of the murder
00:21:41
but the prosecutors shot holes in their
00:21:43
testimony
00:21:46
against his family's advice steward
00:21:48
decided not to testify on his own behalf
00:21:51
he says his court-appointed lawyer had
00:21:53
not prepared him to take the stand
00:21:55
stewart also says his religion teaches
00:21:58
that faith must be put in god
00:21:59
rather than any individual including
00:22:02
oneself
00:22:03
with regard to the semen samples as the
00:22:05
capstone of the prosecution's case
00:22:08
an expert witness testified that there
00:22:10
was a probability that stuart heaton's
00:22:12
dna matched the semen sample
00:22:14
the dna profile found in this case
00:22:17
that matches the dna profile of mr
00:22:20
heaton
00:22:21
would be expected to be found once
00:22:24
out of every 52 600
00:22:29
non-related caucasians tested
00:22:32
those odds relative to other cases where
00:22:35
dna has been used as evidence
00:22:37
are not in fact very impressive the odds
00:22:40
needed before many experts feel
00:22:41
comfortable
00:22:42
or more in the neighborhood of a million
00:22:44
to one nevertheless
00:22:46
the jury found the prosecution's expert
00:22:48
convincing
00:22:49
the jury has returned two signed
00:22:52
verdicts
00:22:53
first signed verdict we the jury find
00:22:56
the defendant stuart heaton
00:22:58
guilty of first-degree murder count one
00:23:00
[Music]
00:23:02
i was expecting a not guilty verdict we
00:23:04
the jury and after i left the courtroom
00:23:06
i got across to the county jail
00:23:08
in there with a family and friends and
00:23:11
at that point i cried held on to my wife
00:23:14
and i cried
00:23:16
and we decided we'd go on and keep
00:23:19
fighting it
00:23:20
i don't quit i feel for the family that
00:23:24
lost their child i you know
00:23:25
i i am not that kind of person
00:23:30
i know i know what it is to lose a child
00:23:33
and and they had to hurt bad
00:23:38
but the worst thing that could have
00:23:39
happened was put the wrong man in prison
00:23:41
for it
00:23:44
stuart heaton was sentenced to life in
00:23:46
prison at the menard correctional center
00:23:48
in chester illinois
00:23:49
the judge ruled that stewart would never
00:23:51
be eligible for parole
00:23:53
[Music]
00:23:55
i am convinced that the dna evidence in
00:23:58
this case
00:23:59
was the linchpin of the prosecution's
00:24:01
case
00:24:02
that without it the prosecution had a
00:24:04
weak circumstantial case
00:24:06
jurors were wowed by the scientific
00:24:09
evidence
00:24:10
of fifty two thousand to one odds
00:24:12
against stuart heaton
00:24:14
and that did it in the end of the day a
00:24:16
weak case was made a strong
00:24:18
one based on this evidence that i
00:24:20
believe is phony evidence
00:24:23
david protess is an investigative
00:24:25
journalist and professor at northwestern
00:24:27
university in evanston illinois
00:24:30
his research has led him to conclude
00:24:31
that the real criminal is still at large
00:24:34
and the stewart heaton was railroaded
00:24:37
if he hadn't owned a white truck he
00:24:39
wouldn't have even been a suspect in
00:24:41
this case
00:24:42
i did a search through department of
00:24:43
motor vehicle records for the state of
00:24:45
illinois
00:24:46
that found that in fayette county alone
00:24:48
there were more than a hundred white
00:24:49
trucks that were similar to the kind
00:24:51
that stewart heaton drove
00:24:53
and in fact narrowing that search down i
00:24:55
identified 12
00:24:56
white dodge dakotas including stuart
00:24:58
heaton's one of those dodge dakotas
00:25:01
belonged to a man with a lengthy
00:25:02
criminal history
00:25:03
who knew the murder victim crystal knapp
00:25:07
could the dna sample found on
00:25:09
krystalnab's body it belonged to someone
00:25:11
other than stuart heaton
00:25:13
according to the statistical method used
00:25:15
in stewart's trial
00:25:16
there are more than 4 800 people in the
00:25:18
united states whose dna would have
00:25:20
matched the sample
00:25:21
and when a new statistical method widely
00:25:24
used today is applied
00:25:25
that number rises from 4 800 to around
00:25:28
48 thousand
00:25:31
there's no dispute that dna evidence to
00:25:33
exclude somebody
00:25:35
is generally accepted if we look just at
00:25:38
one place on a gene
00:25:39
and they don't match then we know that
00:25:42
those people don't match
00:25:43
the problem is when you try to include
00:25:45
people we can prove for example that
00:25:47
somebody isn't the father of a child by
00:25:49
dna tests and we can prove that to a
00:25:51
hundred percent
00:25:53
scientific acceptability but when we try
00:25:55
to prove who is the father who is the
00:25:57
murderer
00:25:58
that's where we run into difficulties
00:26:00
bob byron
00:26:01
and his associate shelly malinowski have
00:26:04
taken on the stuart heaton case pro bono
00:26:06
for no fee they believe not only the
00:26:09
steward is innocent
00:26:10
but the dr robert allen the dna expert
00:26:13
for the prosecution
00:26:15
used a controversial method of
00:26:16
calculating the odds against stewart
00:26:19
two years after he testified in the
00:26:21
stewart heaton case
00:26:23
robert allen published an article with
00:26:25
several other renowned scientists
00:26:27
that rejected the statistical
00:26:29
assumptions that he himself
00:26:30
had used in the stuart heaton evidence
00:26:33
and i think that the main reason that he
00:26:35
was convicted was that
00:26:36
the jurors were completely overwhelmed
00:26:38
by the complexity of the dna evidence
00:26:41
and they they saw it as as infallible
00:26:44
when in fact it's
00:26:45
it's not do across the board deny the
00:26:48
use of dna evidence because it's low
00:26:51
i i believe it is not fair i think that
00:26:53
it should in fact be admissible and here
00:26:55
that's what a jury is for as the try or
00:26:57
the fact
00:26:58
let them determine whether the odds are
00:27:00
low in relation to everything else
00:27:02
and all the other evidence in the case
00:27:04
or whether they're significant
00:27:06
this probe here represents the the
00:27:09
single most important
00:27:10
issue in the dna testimony of stuart
00:27:12
heaton's trial
00:27:13
was interpretation of the evidence
00:27:17
this is an autoradiogram or autorad of
00:27:19
dna taken from the murder victim
00:27:21
crystal nail the two distinct bands
00:27:25
represent dna from a region in which
00:27:27
individuals are very likely to be
00:27:29
different genetically
00:27:31
juxtapose another dna sample taken from
00:27:34
a different area on kristalnab's body
00:27:36
and the two bands also show up clearly a
00:27:39
perfect match
00:27:40
because both samples come from the same
00:27:42
person
00:27:43
[Music]
00:27:46
the trial boiled down to a debate
00:27:47
between two expert witnesses over
00:27:49
whether bands were present in the semen
00:27:51
sample found on krystalnab's body
00:27:54
and if they were did they match the
00:27:56
bands in stuart heaton's dna profile
00:28:00
this autorad compares stuart heaton's
00:28:02
dna with dna from the semen sample
00:28:05
the small pen point dots on the left
00:28:07
borders marked the places where dr allen
00:28:10
said he saw bands which link stuart
00:28:12
heaton to the semen
00:28:15
based upon your examination of the auto
00:28:17
radiographs
00:28:18
the defense expert dr gary litman said
00:28:21
he was unable to detect those critical
00:28:23
bands as i said there's no band
00:28:24
there simply is no band there the sample
00:28:28
itself
00:28:29
was old crusty material that was minute
00:28:31
in quantity it probably did not provide
00:28:34
an adequate basis for even conducting a
00:28:36
dna test and certainly not
00:28:38
the type of dna test that was done here
00:28:41
we unearthed a letter in which prior to
00:28:45
his reaching conclusions
00:28:46
dr robert allen said that he hoped
00:28:50
he hoped that the dna test would end up
00:28:53
implicating stuart heaton now that is
00:28:56
scientific subjectivity that should
00:28:58
disqualify him as an expert in this case
00:29:02
i'm certain that dr alan did the best
00:29:03
that he could with what was available to
00:29:06
him but that material simply wasn't in
00:29:07
the best condition
00:29:09
and it didn't lead then to very
00:29:11
clear-cut results there was a lot of
00:29:13
smudges
00:29:14
it's it's difficult to say unambiguously
00:29:17
that a band is present and a band is not
00:29:20
present dr dan crane has co-authored
00:29:23
articles on dna testing with dr robert
00:29:26
allen yet in the case of stewart heaton
00:29:28
dr crane disputes the conclusions of his
00:29:31
colleague
00:29:33
based on the dna evidence alone i would
00:29:35
feel very uncomfortable
00:29:37
sending a man to prison on that evidence
00:29:40
alone now there may well have been other
00:29:41
compelling evidence of which i'm not
00:29:43
aware but the dna evidence
00:29:45
by itself certainly would leave a large
00:29:49
area of doubt in my mind as to whether
00:29:51
or not that he was in fact the person
00:29:53
who was at that crime scene
00:29:55
i mean it wasn't just dna that convicted
00:29:57
him it was people that saw him saw the
00:30:00
truck
00:30:01
and people had testified to you know
00:30:03
where they saw him
00:30:04
at the times and i mean people that saw
00:30:06
the truck at the
00:30:08
home that's what i think helped convict
00:30:11
him that plus the dna
00:30:13
there's no doubt in my mind no doubt
00:30:15
whatsoever that he killed her
00:30:16
he killed her an extremely vicious sick
00:30:19
manner
00:30:20
he's extremely dangerous he has to be
00:30:23
locked up
00:30:24
if he is released i do believe that he
00:30:26
will kill again
00:30:28
he has to be locked up and the court
00:30:30
system worked and it worked right
00:30:32
i did not kill crystal net
00:30:36
i don't know the girl i don't have any
00:30:40
reason to have any grudge against her
00:30:44
or her family or anything
00:30:49
i didn't know her
00:30:50
[Music]
00:30:55
when we return two sisters are joyfully
00:30:58
reunited after more than 20 years apart
00:31:03
[Music]
00:31:12
in june of 1994 we brought you the
00:31:14
poignant story of diane handline of la
00:31:16
crescenta california
00:31:18
since 1986 diana's battled a rare and
00:31:22
often fatal blood disease
00:31:26
diane has a relatively unusual blood
00:31:29
disorder
00:31:30
normally considered to be an incurable
00:31:32
illness
00:31:33
now potentially could be cured
00:31:37
by the utilization of a bone marrow
00:31:39
transplantation
00:31:41
fraught with a lot of dangers though a
00:31:42
lot of potential complications
00:31:44
not not something to be taken lightly
00:31:48
[Music]
00:31:49
only one person diane's younger sister
00:31:51
marilyn was a potential bone marrow
00:31:53
donor
00:31:54
but diane had no idea where to find
00:31:58
marilyn
00:32:00
bye bye the sisters have been split up
00:32:04
in 1954 when their parents separated
00:32:09
marilyn went to live with her father
00:32:11
diane stayed with her mother
00:32:13
over the next few years contact was
00:32:15
sporadic and for reasons long since
00:32:17
forgotten the sisters became estranged
00:32:22
i feel i'm asking a lot of my sister to
00:32:24
do this bone marrow for me
00:32:26
but even if she doesn't agree to a
00:32:28
transplant
00:32:29
if she doesn't says i don't want to do
00:32:31
this i would still like to make peace
00:32:33
with her
00:32:35
she's my sister
00:32:39
when we broadcast diane's story a
00:32:41
private investigator from denver
00:32:43
colorado robin lee was watching
00:32:46
she was touched by diane's plight but
00:32:47
assumed we would get the clues we needed
00:32:50
we didn't as luck would have it robin
00:32:52
was also watching when the segment
00:32:54
re-ran in june this time she decided to
00:32:57
volunteer her help in tracking maryland
00:32:59
down
00:33:00
the result was one of our most unusual
00:33:02
solves ever
00:33:04
i contacted the show got a little more
00:33:06
information
00:33:08
started out with the sister's name
00:33:11
marilyn
00:33:11
jones was her maiden name started with
00:33:13
that and a date of birth
00:33:15
and went on from there and it took me
00:33:17
about
00:33:18
three days to find her three working
00:33:20
days if you don't count the fourth of
00:33:21
july holiday
00:33:22
in between and i think it's great that
00:33:26
they're back together
00:33:26
[Music]
00:33:29
on august 13 1994 marilyn and diane met
00:33:32
face to face for the first time in 30
00:33:36
years
00:33:39
it's so good to see you once we
00:33:42
hugged it was like it hadn't been 30
00:33:45
years it had been
00:33:47
you know just a short time i
00:33:51
yes maybe that's why i feel comfortable
00:33:53
is because i can feel the love
00:33:56
and when you feel that love you feel
00:33:58
comfortable you haven't changed a bit oh
00:34:00
no
00:34:00
[Laughter]
00:34:03
no i'm just i get cuter with ages yes
00:34:06
you do
00:34:07
i think i'm still in shock you know it's
00:34:08
still like i you know i'm not here yet
00:34:10
it's just
00:34:11
it's just a dream you know but it's it's
00:34:13
a great dream and
00:34:15
we have a lot of catching up to do and i
00:34:18
will be together forever now
00:34:20
we're going to have a lot of fun
00:34:21
together enjoy the time we have
00:34:25
isn't that beautiful coincidentally the
00:34:28
day of the reunion was diane's 53rd
00:34:30
birthday
00:34:31
and maryland had not forgotten
00:34:35
is my name
00:34:37
[Laughter]
00:34:42
this is the best gift i've ever had in
00:34:44
my whole life this is the best gift
00:34:46
ever is to have my sister and to have my
00:34:50
family
00:34:51
for my birthday it'll be the best
00:34:53
birthday i've ever had my whole life
00:34:57
we drive 60 miles to go on the day of
00:34:59
the reunion
00:35:00
maryland's fondest wish was to prove a
00:35:02
compatible bone marrow donor for her
00:35:04
sister
00:35:05
drive to go to the movies out to the
00:35:08
movies we have to go all the way to
00:35:09
canada
00:35:09
[Laughter]
00:35:12
i want more than anything to have this
00:35:14
work with diane
00:35:17
but even if it doesn't we're going to
00:35:20
take full advantage of however long
00:35:24
we do have together we can make a week
00:35:28
seem like an eternity
00:35:30
[Music]
00:35:53
you would think they were just out for a
00:35:54
joyride best friends without a care in
00:35:56
the world but like everything else about
00:35:59
rose turfer
00:36:00
and carolyn stevens looks can be
00:36:02
deceiving
00:36:03
[Music]
00:36:05
to the police these two women are
00:36:06
nothing less than the real life
00:36:08
thelma and louise today turfford and
00:36:11
stevens are armed dangerous and on the
00:36:13
run
00:36:14
wanted on multiple charges of aggravated
00:36:16
robbery
00:36:17
[Music]
00:36:20
carolyn yeah okay we're running a little
00:36:23
late
00:36:25
they met in 1992 both were nurses at a
00:36:28
psychiatric hospital in houston texas
00:36:31
eventually rose invited carolyn to move
00:36:33
in with her and her family
00:36:35
by january of 1995 the two women had
00:36:38
embarked on a vicious game
00:36:42
rose turfer was by all accounts a loving
00:36:45
wife devoted mother and dedicated
00:36:47
professional
00:36:48
but at night she took on a whole new
00:36:50
persona
00:36:52
here we are got the wine the key great
00:36:54
the room's right here
00:36:55
oh good rose began soliciting men
00:36:59
through the personals
00:37:00
thank you then she would lure her dates
00:37:02
to out of the way motel rooms
00:37:08
a little soft music a good bottle of
00:37:10
wine
00:37:11
and the stage was set for carolyn's
00:37:13
entrance
00:37:17
sit down on the bed the feldman louise
00:37:20
bandits move
00:37:22
[Music]
00:37:29
[Music]
00:37:35
while rose ran out to use a victim's
00:37:37
bank and credit cards
00:37:40
rose and carolyn from the onset
00:37:43
wanted to be the real life thelma louise
00:37:46
they wanted to experience that thrill
00:37:49
and the
00:37:50
spontaneity and the only thing is i
00:37:52
don't believe they ever considered what
00:37:54
they were going to do to their families
00:37:58
over a three-month period rose and
00:38:00
carolyn reportedly robbed at least 10
00:38:02
men
00:38:02
of more than a quarter of a million
00:38:04
dollars but eventually
00:38:06
their luck ran out
00:38:09
in march of 1995 rose and carolyn were
00:38:12
arrested
00:38:14
bail was set at 250 000 each
00:38:19
it seems as though prior to both rose
00:38:22
and carolyn going to jail and being
00:38:23
arrested
00:38:25
they had this pack that if one got out
00:38:28
they both got out
00:38:30
or they both stayed in and
00:38:34
uh rose's parents were just going to get
00:38:37
rose out of jail look i'm sorry i have
00:38:40
to keep calling you
00:38:42
but avery is putting pressure on me
00:38:45
in an attempt to cajole rose's family
00:38:47
into posting bail for both of them
00:38:49
carolyn phoned rosa's parents repeatedly
00:38:52
to hurt the kids
00:38:53
she claimed that a mysterious
00:38:54
international private investigator named
00:38:56
avery
00:38:57
was threatening rosa's children but rose
00:39:00
and i know what he's capable of
00:39:02
and we should all take him seriously
00:39:04
probably the weirdest part of this whole
00:39:07
scenario was
00:39:09
the man named avery i never
00:39:13
bought that he was real
00:39:18
it was just too far-fetched
00:39:23
rosa's family however believed avery was
00:39:25
real
00:39:26
even her in-laws were moved to act they
00:39:29
put up their house and restaurant as
00:39:31
partial collateral
00:39:33
i tried to convince the parents don't
00:39:36
make both bonds
00:39:38
and it's not often that you sit and
00:39:42
try to speak to someone about not giving
00:39:44
you 25 000
00:39:46
but i just knew it was a problem and i
00:39:48
knew it wasn't going to work
00:39:50
and it didn't
00:39:53
sure enough on may 22nd 1995
00:39:56
rose turford and carolyn stevens took
00:39:58
flight
00:39:59
left behind was a letter which alleged
00:40:01
that they had been kidnapped by the
00:40:03
mysterious avery
00:40:05
[Music]
00:40:07
in reality the thelma and louise bandus
00:40:10
were on the run
00:40:11
leaving rosa's involves in danger of
00:40:13
losing their home
00:40:14
and business we wanted to help
00:40:18
in any way we could i never once
00:40:22
once entered my mind
00:40:25
that they would disappear
00:40:29
never i really hope that
00:40:33
and rose and carolyn to stop and think
00:40:37
they're going to basically throw really
00:40:40
really good honest hard-working people
00:40:43
out in the streets and if they have to
00:40:46
go to jail
00:40:47
well that's just kind of the price you
00:40:49
pay for making a mistake
00:40:51
but it's a lot better to pay price once
00:40:53
than to pay it all your life
00:40:54
and take your and make your kids and
00:40:56
your family suffer
00:40:58
for a lifetime
00:41:08
[Music]
00:41:16
[Music]
00:41:23
[Music]
00:41:35
join me next time for another intriguing
00:41:38
edition
00:41:39
of unsolved mysteries
00:41:49
[Music]
00:42:07
[Applause]
00:42:10
[Music]
00:42:29
you
