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this program is about unsolved mysteries
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whenever possible the actual family
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members and police officials have
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participated in recreating the events
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what you're about to see is not a news
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broadcast
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an unknown killer stalks a family in
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denver colorado in 1985 roger dean was
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gunned down in cold blood in his own
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house
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five years later the killer contacted
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dean's widow and threatened to kill her
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daughter unless he was paid extortion
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money
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december 7 1941 a japanese sneak attack
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devastates pearl harbor
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nearly 40 years later a woman under
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hypnosis provided a detailed first-hand
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account of that infamous day which
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occurred a full 10 years before she was
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born
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in las vegas an eccentric beautiful con
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artist named liza montgomery went on a
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wild two-day christmas shopping spree
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and gobbled up 150 000 worth of jewelry
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furs and other luxury items
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join me perhaps you may be able to help
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solve a mystery
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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december 7th 1941 7 38 a.m pearl harbor
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hawaii
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for those who were there and survived it
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was indeed a day that will live in
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infamy
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their memories are as vivid today as
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they were 50 years ago
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smoke
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[Music]
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those aren't
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[Music]
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i gotta get it done
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the narrative you have just heard was
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related by a woman under hypnosis
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she was born in 1952
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11 years after the attack on pearl
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harbor
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the woman claims no more than a passing
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knowledge of the events of that fateful
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sunday morning
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yet much of her account is filled with
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specific names and details which lead
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some to believe that she was actually
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present during the attack
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in a past life
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others however are convinced that her
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memories are no more than a byproduct of
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hypnotic suggestion
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in either case the details of the story
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define logical explanation
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the woman at the center of this baffling
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mystery of the mind is asked to remain
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anonymous
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we shall call her sharon johnson
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in 1979 sharon johnson first visited
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hypnotherapist frank baranowski because
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she wanted help losing weight
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in 20 years of practice baronowski has
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placed thousands of patients under
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hypnosis
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everyone hypnotized before
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no you know when sharon was hypnotized
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she began to experience a recurring
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nightmare of smoke and fire which had
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plagued her since childhood
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[Music]
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water's on fire
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no water's burning
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all right sharon all right all right
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relax relax deeply relax now i don't
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have dreams like that as much as i used
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to you know just periodically
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uh the dream started when i was very
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small i always remember having the
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dreams about fires and explosions
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[Music]
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sharon lost 30 pounds but the dream
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remained unexplained
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[Music]
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six months later she visited hawaii for
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the first time on a group tour with
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frank baranowski and some of his friends
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[Music]
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it was strange when i was there because
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there were places that i i went to when
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i was there that it was like i've been
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here before i've seen this i knew where
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things were
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that i
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couldn't have known about
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[Music]
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sharon's visit to the battleship arizona
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memorial at pearl harbor triggered the
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same anxiety as her recurring nightmare
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she returned to her hotel room and asked
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frank to hypnotize her
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during this session sharon began to
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speak as never before and a new persona
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emerged
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his name was john gillespie
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so we take her to the time when she
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she's sharon johnson we go back to age
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12 age 10 age 5 down to birth and then i
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i asked her to start recalling something
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that happened i said when i reached the
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count of 12 you'll be in the 12th
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season of your life okay and suddenly
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when she's there uh she's talking like a
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12 year old what's your name john
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john glaspie i'm a junior
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oh we're yet on the farm
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at what farm i said where are you about
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she's what this is omaha
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omaha yeah well
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omaha nebraska
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as the session continued a chilling
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account of the surprise japanese attack
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began to emerge
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bombs dropping everywhere they're
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everywhere
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let's play super well in farmers with it
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in the account several men were named
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were on board the nevada at the time of
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the attack
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among them a captain stanley a paymaster
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cooper and then some tossing don't worry
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about me
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take them forward take a fork and scare
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the main guns in sharon's memory tossing
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was particularly prominent
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he was apparently the son of an admiral
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and was badly injured
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[Music]
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a few minutes later the story came to an
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abrupt end
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[Music]
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with great pain sharon realized that
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john gillespie had been killed very good
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deeper relaxed
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up to that point i had not had a past
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life regression
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i wanted to know more about what had
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happened and and who the person was that
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i felt i was in this
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traumatic experience i just had
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how about your grandfather what's his
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name
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they call him red
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over the next few months sharon
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underwent regressive hypnosis 20 more
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times
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frank recorded the details of these
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sessions and then set out to see if the
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story of john gillespie could be
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documented
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in one hypnosis session sharon speaking
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as john gillespie listed the names of
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nine men serving in the uss nevada
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she also gave john gillespie's serial
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number
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[Music]
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frank baranowski turned to the office of
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congressman john rhodes for help good
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morning frank bob scanlon senior aide to
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the congressman was assigned the case
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thank you
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when he first asked for our help and
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briefed me on the problem
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i was pretty skeptical i thought you
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know we get a lot of strange requests
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and this has to be one of the strangest
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i know it's rather incredible but she
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gives me names dates and places of
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people
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i have no way of checking here when i
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heard the story and listen to the tapes
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i figured that our office in washington
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certainly should be able to get into
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naval archives and either prove or
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disprove what this young lady had said
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using congressional privileges scanlon
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obtained the nevada's roster of officers
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from the national archives in washington
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dc
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amazingly eight of the nine men sharon
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mentioned were listed
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[Music]
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i remember when i received that and
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first read it i told my secretary that i
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don't know whether to point with pride
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or view with alarm this was a strange
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result that i really didn't expect
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however the ensign tossing who would
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play such a prominent part in cher's
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past life memory was not included on the
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list
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[Music]
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ensentosig was originally shown in all
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naval records to have been in long beach
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california the morning of the attack on
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pearl harbor
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when in fact he was on board the nevada
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and was
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was tragically injured that morning in
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fact i think as we found later he lost a
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leg due to the attack on pearl harbor
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unsolved mysteries contacted robert
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tosic a former ensign in the united
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states navy
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tossing declined to be interviewed on
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camera but incredibly confirmed many
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details of sharon's account
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he was on board the nevada that day and
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in fact had to have his leg amputated
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[Music]
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the name john gillespie does not appear
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on any of the ship's rosters
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the navy admits the only records that
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they carried were the pay masters
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records on board that ship the fires
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raged incessantly for two days
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all of that was destroyed
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fire would also frustrate any attempt to
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verify the serial number of john
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gillespie
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in 1973 flames ravaged a naval warehouse
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in saint louis destroying the service
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records of thousands of seamen from
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world war ii
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uh how about your grandmother
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sharon's past life memory also included
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information about john gillespie's
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personal life
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under hypnosis she stated that he was
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born in 1921 in omaha nebraska
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the son of john gillespie senior and
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grandson of harry gillespie
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in census records from 1899 frank found
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what he believes is proof that john
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gillespie did exist
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when we came across this frame we
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founded harry gillespie
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wife item a son benjamin son john and
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that john was john gillespie's father
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and he would have been 24 years old when
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john was born exactly the right age
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yes you can read about nebraska you can
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read about the farmlands you can read
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about omaha and lincoln and all of those
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places but
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unless you have experienced something
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then where do you get specific names
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specific places
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i mean your history how valid are
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sharon's so-called past life experiences
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at least one expert feels that sharon
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may have absorbed details from books
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from the power of hypnotic suggestion
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well the information about tossing is
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easily available
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to
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anyone who looks for it in a book that
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tells a story
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the events at pearl harbor
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have probably
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been as written about
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as any incident in this century no she
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never did any reading about pearl harbor
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it was one of those things that she
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just didn't care for when somebody would
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mention she would just shut her up and
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just walk away he
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asks leading questions of his subjects
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he seems to
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take
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control of the regression rather than
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allowing
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the person
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involved to be in control and to
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volunteer
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information
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in an attempt to refute the critics both
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frank and sharon agreed to undergo
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polygraph tests with glenn whiteside a
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polygraph examiner for 20 years who has
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been board certified in four states
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in my opinion sharon and frank
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absolutely are not
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conducting a hoax they did not get their
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information out of records books
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they
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are not
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using
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mind conditioning or hypnotic suggestion
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they are not perpetrating a hoax in any
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way
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any place else
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under hypnosis sharon revealed that john
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gillespie had a hawaiian girlfriend
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named sugar
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this composite was made from cher's
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description
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john met sugar while he was stationed at
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pearl harbor
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if she exists sugar would today be 70
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years old
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for most of us the incredible facts of
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this story seem hard to accept
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how could a woman living today have such
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vivid memories of someone else's life
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and death at pearl harbor 50 years ago
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is there any way to prove the details of
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sharon's account beyond a shadow of a
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doubt
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probably not
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but for believers there is no need to
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next a killer has returned to torment
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the family of the man he murdered
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[Music]
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littleton colorado is an affluent suburb
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15 miles from denver its residents are
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for the most part business and
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professional people
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roger dean was typical he and his wife
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dj had lived in littleton for 15 years
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november 21 1985 seemed like an ordinary
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wednesday morning
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except for the car nobody recognized
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parked outside the dean home
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some remembered it as a 68 pontiac
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others as a 76 oldsmobile but all agreed
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on one thing
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they had never before seen the lone man
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who sat inside
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at the time they thought nothing of it
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but at the time roger dean was still
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alive
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dj come out here
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at approximately 7 a.m roger dean called
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his wife dj into the bedroom jay come
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out here
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what is it roger all right lady shut up
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and get on the bench oh shut up and get
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on the bed shut up
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tie your hands
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the masked intruder forced roger to tie
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a blindfold dj
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then he took roger into another room
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as dj lay bound helplessly on her bed
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she could hear roger and the gunman
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talking but she could not tell what they
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were saying
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you had enough time to think about it
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how much money have you got in your
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savings account i don't know how much
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money have you got in your savings
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account i don't know
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dj heard the gunman rifling through
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drawers
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going to the bank let's go all right
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i'll give you go
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suddenly the gunman fired
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the bullet ricocheted striking roger
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dean in the arm
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at the front door he fired again five
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times at point-blank range
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[Music]
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roger dean died before paramedics could
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be summoned
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after i started hearing the gunshots i
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made my
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way down the steps
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and i did get outside
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and from there things are a little blur
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i think someone
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that was driving by must have come by
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and taken
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my blindfold off i'm really not even
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sure of that
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i just
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knew that raj i saw raj went over to him
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and he was lying in the street
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and then
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he was taken away and i was taken to the
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neighbors
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from the start authorities were struck
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by several oddities in the case
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roger had twine fiber embedded in only
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one wrist
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it appeared that roger had never
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actually been tied up by the gunman went
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on up the street there
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also roger was wearing contact lenses
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when he was shot look at these glasses
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here yet strangely in an upstairs
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bedroom his eyeglasses were found
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covered with duct tape
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police began to theorize that the twine
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and the glasses were both red herrings
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planted to give the impression that
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roger had been blindfolded and bound
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whoever wore them we believe that roger
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hired an individual to come over to
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basically kidnap him
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take him to his bank
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withdrawal thirty thousand dollars from
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their account
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and then obviously drop roger off
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someplace
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so roger could report a robbery and he
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would have that thirty thousand dollars
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to himself
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the investigation two other unusual
00:18:30
facts emerged
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in the year prior to his death roger
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dean had taken nearly thirty thousand
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dollars from his business and deposited
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the money in a private account
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unbeknownst to his wife
00:18:44
also on the day of his murder roger was
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seen sipping coffee in his garage at 7am
00:18:50
on most weekdays roger left the house no
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later than 6
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15. what we make of that timing is that
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he was waiting for
00:19:00
this individual to come and meet him at
00:19:02
his house
00:19:03
we also believe that the individual was
00:19:05
probably sitting in his car
00:19:07
when roger lifted the garage door which
00:19:09
was a signal for this individual to get
00:19:11
out of his car and walk over to roger's
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home
00:19:15
this is the man that i
00:19:17
was married to for 26 years and
00:19:20
yes there had been
00:19:22
personal problems
00:19:24
in the last few years
00:19:27
especially since the death of our son
00:19:31
but i knew the man too well
00:19:32
[Music]
00:19:34
in my heart i cannot believe that roger
00:19:36
had anything to do with this
00:19:39
[Music]
00:19:42
tragedy was not new to dj dean
00:19:46
two years earlier her son had been
00:19:47
killed in an automobile accident
00:19:50
within a few months another accident
00:19:52
took the lives of her parents
00:19:54
dj and her daughter tammy tried
00:19:56
desperately to rebuild their lives
00:19:59
then five years after roger dean's
00:20:01
murder dj received a chilling anonymous
00:20:03
letter
00:20:05
its author claimed to be the man who had
00:20:07
killed her husband
00:20:12
the letter arrived on july 21 1990
00:20:15
[Music]
00:20:16
it demanded 100 thousand dollars
00:20:19
if roger's murder did not get the money
00:20:21
he planned to kill again
00:20:23
[Music]
00:20:24
do you know that i've met your daughter
00:20:26
tammy on a few occasions
00:20:28
she is a very attractive blonde and a
00:20:31
very good model
00:20:32
do not make me kill her
00:20:35
your son is dead your husband is dead
00:20:38
do not risk your daughter she is the
00:20:41
last one left
00:20:44
i was in
00:20:46
total shock
00:20:48
i mean this was like something that
00:20:50
doesn't happen to you this only happens
00:20:53
in the movies it makes me angry that we
00:20:55
had just started to get on with our
00:20:56
lives and put the past in the past
00:20:59
and it's all brought up to you again you
00:21:01
know this person isn't letting us
00:21:02
continue and we never did anything
00:21:05
to deserve this
00:21:08
dj and tammy notified the local
00:21:10
authorities in the fbi
00:21:12
the fbi had no doubt that the
00:21:14
extortionist was who he claimed to be
00:21:16
roger dean's killer
00:21:18
dj and tammy were given round-the-clock
00:21:20
protection
00:21:25
the killer had told dj that he would
00:21:26
telephone her on july 27 1990
00:21:30
fbi agents moved into dj's home and set
00:21:33
up a wiretap operation
00:21:37
wait for the second ring now
00:21:42
okay dj pick it up
00:21:46
hello
00:21:47
listen your husband owe me money and i
00:21:50
want my money
00:21:52
if my husband owed you money i'll pay
00:21:53
you what he owed you i want my money
00:21:56
i'll give it to you the fbi traced the
00:21:58
call to a phone booth in denver all
00:22:00
right i'll call you tomorrow
00:22:03
but before they could get there the
00:22:05
killer had disappeared
00:22:09
i don't believe my husband owed anyone
00:22:12
this money but that was what he said
00:22:15
and the phone calls continued and
00:22:17
continued and continued
00:22:22
after nearly a dozen phone calls the
00:22:24
extortionist told dj to drive to a
00:22:26
supermarket 20 miles north of her home
00:22:28
and wait for further instructions
00:22:32
okay dj be calm
00:22:36
with an fbi agent hidden in her car and
00:22:38
surveillance trucks and a swat team for
00:22:40
backup dj attempted to lure the killer
00:22:43
into a trap
00:22:44
okay she's out of the car
00:22:49
and she's headed across the parking lot
00:22:51
now she's headed towards the
00:22:59
i waited and i waited and i waited
00:23:03
i could not believe i was really having
00:23:06
to go through this chair
00:23:11
and then finally when i did get hello
00:23:14
a call
00:23:15
yes i was given instructions as to
00:23:20
which streets to take and where to make
00:23:22
the drop
00:23:26
the extortionist told dj to leave one
00:23:28
hundred thousand dollars in an alley
00:23:30
behind an apartment complex in downtown
00:23:32
denver
00:23:34
at 10 p.m on august 19 1990 dj left the
00:23:38
money once again shadowed by the fbi
00:23:45
[Music]
00:23:53
hello you haven't followed instructions
00:23:56
yes we have no you haven't you haven't
00:23:58
followed instructions and now i'm gonna
00:24:00
hurt you
00:24:01
he called about
00:24:02
it seemed like forever but a couple of
00:24:04
hours later
00:24:06
and was using a lot of profanity and
00:24:08
said that she had basically
00:24:11
not followed his instructions had not
00:24:12
done what he had told her to do
00:24:15
and that now he was going to
00:24:19
do what he had said that he would do to
00:24:20
me because of that he would hurt me
00:24:23
[Music]
00:24:25
the fbi kept the bundle of cash under
00:24:27
surveillance until dawn
00:24:29
it was never picked up whether or not he
00:24:33
spotted something
00:24:35
whether or not he just took for
00:24:37
granted that the law enforcement was
00:24:39
involved or whether or not he got cold
00:24:42
feet and although he didn't detect any
00:24:45
type of law enforcement he just
00:24:47
was too
00:24:48
scared
00:24:49
to actually make the pickup i think all
00:24:52
those are possibilities when he didn't
00:24:53
pick it up i was devastated because i
00:24:56
thought this is not over
00:24:59
i was totally devastated
00:25:01
there's nothing more that either one of
00:25:03
us want than
00:25:05
for this to be solved and for whoever
00:25:07
murdered my dad to be caught
00:25:10
and at the same time
00:25:12
for him to be
00:25:14
also caught for the fact that he's still
00:25:16
terrorizing us
00:25:17
he is still making us live a nightmare
00:25:20
that continues on and on all the time
00:25:26
in his last call the extortionist told
00:25:28
tammy he still planned to kill her and
00:25:29
that he would strike when she least
00:25:31
expected it
00:25:33
authorities know only the suspect is
00:25:35
about six feet tall and uses an
00:25:36
extensive vocabulary
00:25:39
interestingly they feel that the
00:25:40
extortion letters are written by a man
00:25:42
and a woman working in conjunction
00:25:46
[Music]
00:26:06
in the past four years 68 wanted
00:26:08
fugitives profile and unsolved mysteries
00:26:11
have been captured thanks to vital
00:26:13
information provided by you our viewers
00:26:16
one recent case is out of a convicted
00:26:18
con man wanted by nevada police for
00:26:20
murder
00:26:24
on october 6 1990 henderson nevada
00:26:27
police entered the home of 50 year old
00:26:29
joe weldon smith
00:26:30
inside the house they found the bodies
00:26:32
of smith's wife judith and his two
00:26:34
stepdaughters
00:26:37
all three victims had been strangled and
00:26:39
bludgeoned to death
00:26:44
hello two hours after the bodies were
00:26:47
discovered joe smith telephoned his
00:26:49
wife's daughter-in-law he denied any
00:26:51
involvement in the murders
00:26:53
joe
00:26:54
what's going on she called her on the
00:26:55
phone told her that
00:26:57
he had killed one of the people that did
00:26:59
the killing and knew who the other ones
00:27:01
were i'm gonna find the guys who did it
00:27:03
i know who they are
00:27:05
and i'm gonna kill them
00:27:07
in my opinion it was a ruse by mr smith
00:27:10
to
00:27:12
get support from judah smith's family
00:27:14
members and make them believe that he
00:27:15
was not involved in the killings
00:27:19
joe weldon smith was charged with three
00:27:21
counts of first-degree murder his
00:27:23
whereabouts remained a mystery until the
00:27:26
night of our broadcast
00:27:29
[Music]
00:27:31
just minutes after we profiled smith's
00:27:33
case an anonymous viewer called our
00:27:35
telecenter to report that the fugitive
00:27:37
was living near los angeles california
00:27:41
smith was hiding out at this motel but
00:27:43
managed to escape before he could be
00:27:45
apprehended
00:27:48
once we established that joe willand
00:27:49
smith was in the los angeles area we
00:27:51
focused our attention to his brother who
00:27:54
we knew that he had close contact with
00:27:56
after five days of surveilling this
00:27:58
brother we established where the suspect
00:28:00
was residing
00:28:04
20 minutes later joe weldon smith was
00:28:06
arrested at another local motel where he
00:28:08
was registered under an assumed name
00:28:13
inside smith's room detectives recovered
00:28:15
several credit and identification cards
00:28:18
smith told police that he was in the
00:28:20
process of creating a new identity
00:28:24
at the time of his arrest joe smith
00:28:25
indicated to me that he had seen the
00:28:27
last airing of the unsolved mystery
00:28:28
program he also told me
00:28:31
that it was very tough being a fugitive
00:28:33
and he always knew that someone would be
00:28:35
knocking at the door one day is kind of
00:28:37
glad it's all over at this point
00:28:41
[Music]
00:28:48
next a beautiful young con artist
00:28:50
embarks on a wild shopping spree
00:28:57
[Music]
00:29:06
las vegas nevada the city of light in
00:29:09
the desert
00:29:10
a seductive town of high rollers and big
00:29:12
spenders where money flows quickly and
00:29:14
easily
00:29:15
[Music]
00:29:17
on the weekend shortly before christmas
00:29:19
1990 an eccentric young woman named liza
00:29:22
montgomery began a bizarre and most
00:29:24
unusual shopping spree
00:29:26
remarkable even and free-wheeling las
00:29:29
vegas
00:29:34
on friday afternoon december 21st liza
00:29:37
dressed to the nines visited local
00:29:39
businessman mark husby
00:29:42
she was responding to his newspaper ad
00:29:44
offering to sell a full-length mink coat
00:29:46
and a two-carat diamond ring
00:29:52
hi eliza how are you come on in oh thank
00:29:54
you
00:29:55
the license personality was like uh
00:29:58
that of us excited school director here
00:30:00
is your cashier's check oh my god there
00:30:02
it is and there's the ring eliza i told
00:30:04
you to bring cash
00:30:05
i know but the bank was closing enough
00:30:08
anyway that's just as good i mean don't
00:30:09
worry about it i mean it's a good check
00:30:11
well can i see your id please oh sure i
00:30:14
asked to see her identification because
00:30:16
i had told her when she came to the home
00:30:18
here that i did want cash but uh i
00:30:21
settled for the cashier's check thank
00:30:22
you well let me walk you to the car oh
00:30:24
all right thank you
00:30:27
as i was saying goodbye
00:30:28
to liza uh and i walked her out to her
00:30:30
car
00:30:32
uh it seemed very unusual to me that she
00:30:34
how she treated the main coat uh
00:30:37
she just uh
00:30:38
literally shoved it in the car as if it
00:30:41
meant nothing to her have a nice
00:30:42
christmas
00:30:43
oh you too
00:30:46
liza's shopping marathon was just
00:30:47
beginning
00:30:50
that same evening she purchased two
00:30:51
rings which she had selected the
00:30:53
previous week she paid with a cashier's
00:30:55
check in excess of 39 000.
00:30:59
and here are your rings oh
00:31:01
thank you they're just beautiful liza
00:31:03
had been coming to us for about three
00:31:05
months she was always well dressed so we
00:31:08
never had a problem believing whether or
00:31:09
not she could actually afford anything
00:31:11
she wanted to that's good you know
00:31:13
you're very fortunate to get both of
00:31:15
these diamonds at this price
00:31:17
well that's why they call me lucky
00:31:19
here's your cashier's check oh great
00:31:21
this looks fine the next day liza
00:31:24
continued her rounds clad in the mink
00:31:25
coach she had bought from mark husby and
00:31:27
driving an old battered moving van honey
00:31:30
if you could just write down that number
00:31:31
she purchased what she called a surprise
00:31:33
gift for her husband 23 000 worth of
00:31:37
furniture
00:31:41
throughout the weekend liza continued
00:31:43
her seemingly endless christmas shopping
00:31:46
always paying with cashiers checks
00:31:48
at nine different stores she picked up
00:31:50
an additional one hundred thousand
00:31:52
dollars worth of jewelry furs and luxury
00:31:54
items
00:31:55
all along the way liza made a big
00:31:57
impression and raised quite a few
00:31:59
eyebrows
00:32:00
people were becoming suspicious
00:32:02
starting with businessman mark husby
00:32:09
[Music]
00:32:10
shortly after selling lies of the mink
00:32:12
code and ring usb began to question
00:32:14
where the liza's check was good
00:32:18
he drove to an exclusive gated community
00:32:20
looking for the address printed on
00:32:22
liza's identification card
00:32:24
hi do you have a lives montgomery living
00:32:26
here at 2901 wrenching will air dry
00:32:29
no sir
00:32:30
are you sure i'm positive that address
00:32:32
doesn't even exist
00:32:35
hughesby immediately returned home and
00:32:37
called the police
00:32:40
i explained to him that unless or until
00:32:42
the bank received that check
00:32:45
and officially notified him that it was
00:32:46
counterfeit or somehow forged there was
00:32:49
really nothing we could do at that point
00:32:51
even if we were able to find her we'd
00:32:52
have no authority to detain her simply
00:32:54
because the address on a cashier's check
00:32:57
was somehow an error and that we
00:32:58
couldn't detain her just based on that
00:33:01
be careful with that meanwhile back at
00:33:03
the furniture store liza was having
00:33:05
difficulty squeezing everything she had
00:33:07
bought into the van
00:33:08
if you want you can borrow one of our
00:33:10
trucks and we can follow you over there
00:33:11
no thank you are you sure i mean after
00:33:13
you surprised your husband i'd be glad
00:33:14
to help you set up some of the furniture
00:33:16
i don't care what you have to do just
00:33:17
get it in there just just get it in
00:33:20
okay
00:33:22
the store owner was troubled by her
00:33:23
belligerent attitude
00:33:25
once a van was loaded he decided to
00:33:27
follow in his own car just to see where
00:33:29
liza would go
00:33:31
[Music]
00:33:35
before leaving the amateur sleuth gave
00:33:37
his wife a walkie-talkie and took one
00:33:39
for himself
00:33:41
[Music]
00:33:42
she's turning away from rachel bel-air i
00:33:45
knew she was lying
00:33:46
i call the police
00:33:49
okay
00:33:52
we learned from dispatch that the check
00:33:54
had already been passed at
00:33:56
the furniture store and that it was in
00:33:57
the name of liza montgomery which was
00:33:59
the exact same name that mark usb had
00:34:01
given us
00:34:02
based on that information we felt that
00:34:04
there was enough corroboration now
00:34:06
since there were two checks floating
00:34:07
around that
00:34:09
she needed to at least be stopped and
00:34:10
identified
00:34:12
sounds of it only 10 minutes away maybe
00:34:14
six if we hurry
00:34:17
the furniture store owner followed
00:34:18
liza's van to a residential neighborhood
00:34:21
five miles away
00:34:22
he described each event as it unfolded
00:34:26
she just pulled over into a residential
00:34:27
street and met up with a man standing
00:34:29
next to a red convertible
00:34:31
[Music]
00:34:33
now he's getting into the truck she's
00:34:35
getting into the car
00:34:37
[Music]
00:34:39
they're leaving together and heading
00:34:40
north on jones
00:34:42
okay
00:34:44
my husband says that the woman made
00:34:45
contact with the man the store owner's
00:34:47
wife attempted to keep authorities
00:34:48
abreast of her husband's wearable buys
00:34:50
the store owner to try and keep up with
00:34:52
the vehicle if he can and we'll be there
00:34:54
momentarily within two or three minutes
00:34:59
the van and the red convertible head is
00:35:01
south the store owner remained on their
00:35:03
heels
00:35:05
[Music]
00:35:07
when the vehicles reached an
00:35:08
intersection on the outskirts of town
00:35:10
the van made an illegal right turn and
00:35:12
sped away
00:35:14
she stopped her car well i better get
00:35:16
out of here
00:35:22
the store owner was fearful that this
00:35:23
angry woman in a white mink coat might
00:35:25
be carrying a weapon he sped off with a
00:35:28
convertible and hot pursuit
00:35:30
[Music]
00:35:34
after nearly a three mile chase the
00:35:35
store owner pulled to the side of the
00:35:37
road liza whizzed by and disappeared
00:35:43
the police were just minutes away but it
00:35:45
was too late
00:35:46
they combed a five-mile area searching
00:35:48
for eliza and her accomplice they ran
00:35:51
checks on various garages and warehouses
00:35:53
hoping to recover the stolen goods but
00:35:55
the perpetrators on the property were
00:35:57
gone
00:36:01
in summary she hit at least 12 places
00:36:03
that were aware of
00:36:05
and the
00:36:06
amount of loss to all of those in
00:36:09
in total was over 150 000
00:36:12
the last of the places she hit
00:36:14
was a
00:36:16
gaming supply store
00:36:17
at which time she bought three slot
00:36:20
machines almost as if she wanted to take
00:36:21
a souvenir of las vegas with her out of
00:36:23
town
00:36:26
eventually the van and the convertible
00:36:27
were recovered liza had rented both
00:36:30
vehicles at local agencies in each case
00:36:32
she persuaded the rental clerk to accept
00:36:34
a 500 cash deposit in lieu of a credit
00:36:37
card the cash was never reclaimed
00:36:41
[Music]
00:36:44
usually we only find this type of skill
00:36:47
amongst people who are going to
00:36:49
get involved in a scam that's worth
00:36:50
thousands upon thousands of dollars for
00:36:52
the most part some of these nickel and
00:36:55
dime
00:36:56
con games fall through when the victim
00:36:58
looks straight through the suspect and
00:37:00
is able to see that it is a con game but
00:37:03
when we talk about big money like this
00:37:04
if they're going to get away with it
00:37:06
they're going to have to be very good
00:37:07
and liza was one of the best
00:37:10
liza montgomery did leave behind one
00:37:12
significant piece of evidence when she
00:37:14
rented the van the clerk made this copy
00:37:16
of her state id card
00:37:32
[Music]
00:37:40
when we return an intriguing eyewitness
00:37:43
account may help solve a string of
00:37:45
bizarre disappearances
00:37:50
[Music]
00:38:00
february 4th 1990 4 30 a.m
00:38:05
sheriff's deputies responded to a call
00:38:07
at a convenience store in orlando
00:38:09
florida
00:38:12
two customers had found the all-night
00:38:14
market open but curiously
00:38:16
unattended no one was minding the store
00:38:19
and a friend of mine works here and i
00:38:21
stopped in to say hello and she wasn't
00:38:23
here i don't know where she is she just
00:38:25
kind of disappeared
00:38:28
deputies immediately search for any
00:38:30
signs of the missing clerk
00:38:33
behind the counter they found a work
00:38:35
smug neatly folded
00:38:37
[Music]
00:38:39
the cash register was locked and there
00:38:41
was no evidence of a robbery
00:38:45
the store appeared to be just abandoned
00:38:51
there was absolutely no signs of any
00:38:52
struggle
00:38:53
nothing appeared to be missing from the
00:38:55
store with the exception of the store
00:38:56
clerk
00:38:59
the missing clerk was 26 year old
00:39:01
deborah diane poe who worked days at a
00:39:03
local newspaper and nights at the store
00:39:08
deborah had moved to orlando just four
00:39:10
months earlier with her friend and
00:39:12
roommate lori tillman
00:39:15
debbie and i
00:39:17
were more like sisters than i am with my
00:39:19
own sister
00:39:21
we had a very unusual friendship we
00:39:23
could fight like sisters do we could
00:39:25
ignore each other like sisters do but we
00:39:27
were there for each other if we ever
00:39:29
needed anything we could count on one
00:39:30
another good evening sir
00:39:33
the most dangerous time for convenience
00:39:35
store employees is the graveyard shift
00:39:38
this was deborah's shift
00:39:43
five nights a week from 11 p.m to 7 a.m
00:39:46
she was behind the counter alone
00:39:51
how you all doing treat me ladies nice
00:39:53
on a saturday night
00:39:55
there you go she needed to work and get
00:39:57
the money she had a brand new car to pay
00:39:59
for she wanted to buy a house and she
00:40:02
wanted to start a business
00:40:03
so if it meant working two full-time
00:40:05
jobs that she really didn't like that's
00:40:06
what she'd
00:40:08
do just after eleven o'clock on the
00:40:11
night she disappeared a friend of
00:40:12
deborah's dropped by to discuss some
00:40:14
house plans with her
00:40:17
it's cool that's what i want i don't
00:40:18
know if i can afford it police verified
00:40:20
that debra waited on customers from the
00:40:22
time her friend left until 305 a.m i
00:40:25
gotta take care of her i'm sorry okay
00:40:28
when her friend returned at 3 50 a.m
00:40:31
debra was nowhere to be
00:40:36
found her vehicle
00:40:39
was parked where she parked it that
00:40:41
night when she came to work
00:40:44
it had not been disturbed it was
00:40:46
locked and her purse was sitting on the
00:40:49
backseat
00:40:52
investigators concluded that deborah po
00:40:54
had probably been abducted it looks to
00:40:56
be about 25 cash in here
00:40:58
they soon discovered that debra was not
00:41:00
the first store clerk in florida to
00:41:02
disappear on the graveyard shift
00:41:07
six months earlier on august 6 1989 29
00:41:11
year old donna callahan disappeared from
00:41:13
a convenience store in gulf breeze
00:41:15
florida
00:41:16
as in deborah's case there were no signs
00:41:18
of struggle at the scene
00:41:20
donna was three months pregnant and left
00:41:22
behind a two-year-old daughter
00:41:24
[Music]
00:41:27
five weeks later on september 18th 36
00:41:30
year old darlene messer was abducted
00:41:31
from a lake city convenience store
00:41:34
two days later darlene's body was found
00:41:37
in a nearby creek she had been
00:41:39
bludgeoned to death
00:41:42
three victims all single females in
00:41:45
their 20s or 30s all had vanished while
00:41:47
working the graveyard shift alone
00:41:50
investigators believe that the cases
00:41:51
were linked but had no suspect
00:41:54
then three days after deborah poe's
00:41:55
disappearance authorities were contacted
00:41:57
by a young woman who read about the case
00:42:00
in a local paper
00:42:01
she came forward after realizing that
00:42:03
she may have stood face to face with
00:42:05
deborah po's abductor
00:42:10
i stopped by a convenience store about 3
00:42:13
30 to pick up a pack of cigarettes and
00:42:16
there was only one person in the store
00:42:18
and it appeared to be the clerk
00:42:22
looking back on it he didn't know where
00:42:24
the cigarettes were which isn't that
00:42:26
uncommon if it's a new clerk
00:42:30
and i had to point out which ones i
00:42:32
wanted
00:42:33
no the regular ones up top over there he
00:42:35
had long stringy hair he was wearing an
00:42:38
earring of a cross
00:42:40
smoking
00:42:42
and a skull's ring
00:42:45
and he had a rock t-shirt and the name
00:42:49
megadeth across the top
00:42:53
we cannot locate anyone else that has
00:42:56
been able to tell us whether or not this
00:42:59
individual was in the store when they
00:43:00
were in the store
00:43:03
he might have been a customer that
00:43:04
walked in and was walking around looking
00:43:06
for the clerk he might have been an
00:43:08
individual who is
00:43:10
taking an opportunity to shoplift or
00:43:13
steal some things
00:43:14
or he might be responsible or in part
00:43:16
responsible for the abduction of deborah
00:43:18
pope
00:43:20
there's a of good possibility that we're
00:43:23
dealing with an individual who is a
00:43:25
serial type of
00:43:27
person who abducts these people
00:43:30
debra poe is officially listed as
00:43:32
missing
00:43:33
she is 26 years old 5 feet 2 inches tall
00:43:37
and weighs approximately 105 pounds
00:43:42
if we don't find her alive
00:43:44
then we can at least put her to rest
00:43:47
give her give her a decent service
00:43:49
go after her killer
00:44:01
do
00:44:03
[Music]
00:44:12
[Music]
00:44:19
join me next time for an all-new edition
00:44:22
of unsolved mystery
00:44:24
[Music]
00:44:52
[Applause]
00:44:56
[Music]
00:45:16
you
