00:00:04
this program is about unsolved mysteries
00:00:07
whenever possible the actual family
00:00:09
members and police officials have
00:00:10
participated in recreating the events
00:00:12
what you're about to see is not a news
00:00:14
broadcast
00:00:20
tonight in unsolved mysteries tim
00:00:22
mcclure and his mother were inseparable
00:00:24
until terry mcclure was found shot to
00:00:26
death in a casino parking lot and her
00:00:28
son became the number one
00:00:30
suspect tonight tim mcclure wants to
00:00:32
tell his side of the story
00:00:35
in 1973 america was crippled by the gas
00:00:38
shortage
00:00:38
liz carmichael raised three million
00:00:40
dollars for her revolutionary
00:00:42
three-wheeled car which she claimed
00:00:43
would get 70 miles to the gallon
00:00:45
the government claimed fraud and liz has
00:00:48
disappeared
00:00:50
in georgia a feud between two rival
00:00:52
restaurant owners competing for the same
00:00:54
customers ended in the contract killing
00:00:57
one of the murderers is still at large
00:01:00
four mysteries with no endings but they
00:01:02
can be solved
00:01:04
last november we presented the story of
00:01:05
the kidnapping of a wealthy mississippi
00:01:07
woman
00:01:08
whose husband was told to send one
00:01:09
million dollars to 12 people named in a
00:01:11
bizarre ransom note
00:01:13
he paid out but his wife was not
00:01:14
released tonight an update on this
00:01:17
extraordinary case
00:01:19
join me you may be able to help solve a
00:01:24
mystery
00:01:31
[Music]
00:02:14
in 1977 tk hardy's saloon was a popular
00:02:17
barn restaurant catering to the student
00:02:19
crowd in the university town of athens
00:02:20
georgia
00:02:22
the saloon's owner was ted k hardy
00:02:24
nicknamed tk
00:02:26
he rented space from a group of
00:02:27
businessmen who were converting an
00:02:29
abandoned train depot into a complex of
00:02:31
restaurants and trendy shops
00:02:33
excuse me t.k hardy was an obnoxious
00:02:37
yankee when you first met him he came on
00:02:39
really strong and when he came to town
00:02:42
it took me a little while to get used to
00:02:44
him so that i would even want to
00:02:46
have him as a tenant pretty good how are
00:02:48
you doing pretty good when you got to
00:02:49
know tk
00:02:50
he was just a real teddy bear just a
00:02:53
really nice guy
00:02:54
he was enthusiastic about the complex
00:02:57
and doing it right
00:02:59
this week hardy's arch rival was a man
00:03:01
named john mooney who also leaves space
00:03:03
in the remodel train station for his
00:03:05
restaurant called
00:03:06
somebody's pizza mooney and tk hardy had
00:03:10
a long history of animosity
00:03:12
because both their restaurants were
00:03:13
going after the same student clientele
00:03:18
john mooney came to town he was the um
00:03:22
out of college cool guy was full of
00:03:25
vigor and
00:03:26
enthusiasm about what he was going to do
00:03:28
down there and how he was going to make
00:03:29
his millions of dollars and what all he
00:03:30
had to offer
00:03:32
and that uh lasted until he got the
00:03:35
lease sign and got the place and then he
00:03:37
started uh well i just need this
00:03:38
i just need that and i can't pay the
00:03:40
rent and then john kind of got greedy
00:03:43
hey come see us next door nickel beer
00:03:45
somebody's pizza
00:03:47
come to somebody's pizza right next door
00:03:48
good deal on beer
00:03:50
john started wanting to infringe on
00:03:52
everybody else's business
00:03:54
his idea was to go up to tk's pass out
00:03:57
flyers on the deck for nickel beer
00:04:00
and draw tk's crowd down his place
00:04:04
what do you think you're doing here hey
00:04:05
what does it look like that just
00:04:07
went all over tk i mean he couldn't
00:04:09
stand that that was the last straw
00:04:12
i'll tell you what this is this is
00:04:14
private property
00:04:15
i want you out of here right now right
00:04:17
john mooney and t.k hardy
00:04:19
despised each other they really had
00:04:21
gotten to the point that there was no
00:04:23
reconciliation between the two people
00:04:27
the feud between tk hardy and john
00:04:29
mooney started out as a dispute between
00:04:31
restaurateurs going after the same
00:04:33
customers
00:04:34
but after three years when the original
00:04:36
lease on the train station expired
00:04:38
tk hardy took over the entire complex it
00:04:41
was then that his feud with john mooney
00:04:43
escalated into a full-scale war
00:04:45
the end result was murder when we
00:04:48
decided
00:04:49
to not pick up the lease we had to sell
00:04:53
the place
00:04:54
ted came up with the money and ted
00:04:56
bought the station complex the shops
00:04:58
everything
00:04:59
which included john mooney's place
00:05:04
he said he was going to evict john as
00:05:06
soon as we signed the paper
00:05:07
and he did that on a friday afternoon
00:05:11
this is your eviction notice eviction
00:05:14
notice
00:05:14
this is your eviction notice you're out
00:05:16
of here wait a minute
00:05:18
tk hardy had made mention to several
00:05:20
members of his family to his girlfriend
00:05:22
that he was concerned not to the extent
00:05:24
that he would harm him physically
00:05:26
perhaps but that he was really concerned
00:05:28
about the attitude of john henry mooney
00:05:30
against him
00:05:31
concerning the eviction
00:05:38
ten days later in the early morning
00:05:39
hours of august the 30th 1977
00:05:42
tk hardy arrived home as usual after
00:05:45
closing up his saloon for the night
00:05:50
a man lurked in the shadows of tk's
00:05:53
kitchen watching him
00:05:56
when hardy left to walk into his study
00:05:59
the man
00:06:00
followed him
00:06:11
[Music]
00:06:14
tk hardy was shot one time in the head
00:06:17
he died instantly
00:06:22
four hours after hardy's body was found
00:06:24
police picked up john mooney for
00:06:26
interrogation
00:06:28
at first mooney was very cooperative
00:06:30
john duke you know why you're here
00:06:32
tonight
00:06:34
well i i guess it's about the shooting
00:06:36
of t.k hardy
00:06:38
yeah how did you know about the shooting
00:06:42
news of hardy's murder had not been
00:06:44
released to anyone yet mooney seemed to
00:06:46
know exactly why he was being questioned
00:06:49
on the shooting and how i felt about it
00:06:51
when john mooney told me
00:06:53
that he was aware that t.k hardy had
00:06:55
been shot
00:06:56
i told him that we had not released that
00:07:00
information and that nobody knew that
00:07:02
except
00:07:03
the police department and the people
00:07:05
that were investigating this murder
00:07:07
that he had been killed or how he had
00:07:10
been killed
00:07:11
at that time he did become nervous he
00:07:14
said i think i need to talk to my lawyer
00:07:17
all righty thanks bye
00:07:20
hold on just a second sit down when he
00:07:23
hung up the phone he said
00:07:25
my lawyer said for me to get up and walk
00:07:27
out if i wasn't under arrest
00:07:29
i'm going to allow you to leave i want
00:07:31
to tell you something before you go
00:07:32
though you're not under arrest right now
00:07:35
but i will police did not have
00:07:36
sufficient evidence to arrest mooney
00:07:39
go ahead no other lead surfaced and
00:07:42
three weeks after the murder the
00:07:44
authorities were still at a dead end
00:07:48
on the fourth week another local
00:07:50
restaurant manager who had known both tk
00:07:52
hardy and john mooney
00:07:54
called the police with a bizarre story
00:07:57
he said he was cleaning up behind the
00:07:59
bar one night when an atlanta
00:08:01
electrician named elmo florence began to
00:08:03
drop hints that he was willing to kill
00:08:05
people for money
00:08:07
you're a what i'm a head man you don't
00:08:09
need to call new jersey if you want
00:08:11
somebody good
00:08:12
give me a call yeah elmo was was
00:08:15
bragging to me
00:08:16
about the fact that he was a hitman and
00:08:18
his services were for hire
00:08:20
at first i thought he was kidding me
00:08:22
murder t.k hardy
00:08:24
your buddy you have to understand elmo i
00:08:27
just thought he was kidding around with
00:08:28
me some sort of warp sense of humor
00:08:31
and then we started to go on and you
00:08:34
know
00:08:34
i just said to him i said all right
00:08:37
how'd you get in the house
00:08:38
piece of cake busted out the glass
00:08:45
went in swept the glass up in the pot
00:08:50
waited around for it
00:08:56
telephone signal two rings
00:09:03
i know he's on his way
00:09:05
[Music]
00:09:07
i waited
00:09:09
[Applause]
00:09:11
saw the car lights heard the car
00:09:16
and waited for him
00:09:20
elmo flarks began to describe the inside
00:09:23
of the house
00:09:25
where the murder took place he began to
00:09:27
tell the point of entry
00:09:30
he told what type of weapon was used to
00:09:33
kill
00:09:34
ted hardy he told where the bullet
00:09:36
entered
00:09:37
the head and where it exited there was
00:09:40
basically in the statement that we
00:09:42
received from
00:09:44
the manager of the restaurant there were
00:09:47
21 different points
00:09:49
that we had not released to the public
00:09:54
we knew at that time that we
00:09:57
had a very hot suspect here
00:10:01
mr flock yeah elmo florence that's right
00:10:05
if you're under arrest for murder don't
00:10:07
move don't move
00:10:08
all right get out of here okay get them
00:10:11
on
00:10:12
yeah elmo florence had told the
00:10:14
restaurant manager that john mooney
00:10:16
hired him to kill
00:10:17
t.k hardy but when the police tried to
00:10:20
arrest mooney
00:10:21
they found that he had left the country
00:10:24
if elmo florence had
00:10:26
not walked into the bar and started
00:10:28
telling the different things that we
00:10:30
later determined to be true
00:10:32
possibly the investigation into this
00:10:34
border would have never been solved
00:10:37
john mooney had already been established
00:10:39
as a suspect but there was no connection
00:10:41
at that time between mooney and florence
00:10:43
i don't know how long that would have
00:10:44
taken if it were ever uncovered
00:10:48
this was a terrific break it was lucky
00:10:52
and and we took advantage of it
00:10:56
[Music]
00:10:57
two weeks later police were tipped off
00:10:59
that mooney had returned to the united
00:11:01
states and was staying at a friend's
00:11:02
apartment
00:11:04
cobb county police lieutenant lee moss
00:11:06
went to the apartment building and
00:11:07
approached two men who were drinking in
00:11:09
the parking lot
00:11:12
the time i arrested john mooney all i
00:11:15
knew was
00:11:16
his name and uh
00:11:19
general description and i knew the war
00:11:21
was for murder
00:11:23
so when i saw the two individuals
00:11:25
drinking beer
00:11:26
this gave me a perfect out i figured to
00:11:30
approach him from this angle because i
00:11:33
knew
00:11:34
if he knew he was wanted uh he would
00:11:36
probably flee from us or else
00:11:39
he'd pull a gun on us i tell you all
00:11:42
these cans here
00:11:43
kind of upsets me all this litter and
00:11:44
y'all sitting out here drinking officer
00:11:46
moss ascertained that one of the men was
00:11:48
indeed john mooney i'll tell you what
00:11:50
put your hand on the car he arrested
00:11:53
mooney and charged him with murder
00:11:56
when the police inventoried mooney's
00:11:58
belongings they found several
00:12:00
incriminating notes he adjoted to
00:12:02
himself
00:12:03
incredibly mooney had written see elmo
00:12:06
offered to him if worse comes to worst
00:12:08
to take the whole rap and say robbery
00:12:10
was the motive
00:12:11
we have agreement for me to take care of
00:12:13
his wife and family
00:12:16
elmo florence's trial lasted only one
00:12:18
week
00:12:19
he was sentenced to life at a maximum
00:12:21
security prison in georgia
00:12:24
john mooney was also sentenced to life
00:12:26
in a maximum security prison
00:12:28
but three months later he was moved to a
00:12:30
minimum security facility
00:12:33
after six months of observation there
00:12:35
prison officials gave mooney the job of
00:12:37
kitchen
00:12:38
clerk now he had access to areas that
00:12:41
were not available to most prisoners
00:12:44
how's the count today pretty good 245
00:12:46
245. john moody was
00:12:48
a uh what you call an ideal inmate
00:12:51
he fit in well with the inmate and staff
00:12:55
he didn't complain about the rules and
00:12:56
regulations he just worked hard
00:13:00
and he gained the confidence of the
00:13:02
staff
00:13:03
and myself so he had proven himself
00:13:07
but he uh now we see he was a con artist
00:13:11
and he was kind of assault
00:13:15
on march 16 1980 after serving only 19
00:13:19
months of his life sentence
00:13:21
john mooney engineered his escape
00:13:24
[Music]
00:13:28
when the prisoners went back inside and
00:13:30
the guard locked the gate and walked
00:13:32
away
00:13:33
mooney made his break
00:13:36
[Music]
00:13:40
an accomplice was waiting in a car park
00:13:42
nearby
00:13:43
as mooney ran toward the car he
00:13:45
discarded his prison wardrobe
00:13:47
piece by piece
00:13:50
two hours went by before prison
00:13:52
officials noticed mooney was missing
00:13:54
by then it was too late john mooney had
00:13:57
made his getaway
00:14:02
he has not been seen for over nine years
00:14:09
without the actions of mooney and
00:14:11
actually hiring somebody to take another
00:14:13
person's life
00:14:14
t.k hardy would be here today unless
00:14:17
john henry mooney is captured
00:14:19
he got away with murder
00:14:22
these photographs were taken in 1979.
00:14:26
today john mooney would be 40 years old
00:14:28
he is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs
00:14:30
about 170 pounds
00:14:32
mooney has a fair complexion green eyes
00:14:34
and sandy blond hair
00:14:36
he may be living in the dayton ohio area
00:14:38
[Music]
00:14:42
update scottsdale arizona within minutes
00:14:45
of our broadcast
00:14:46
two viewers called our telecenter to
00:14:47
report that john mooney
00:14:49
was living in this house under the
00:14:51
assumed name robert j
00:14:52
kelly on august 8th john movie alias
00:14:57
robert
00:14:58
kelly was arrested at his home by the
00:14:59
mesa police
00:15:01
mooney had been living in arizona since
00:15:03
1982
00:15:04
he was enrolled at arizona state
00:15:06
university for the past several years
00:15:08
he's been working as an accountant for
00:15:10
various companies in the scottsdale area
00:15:12
mooney married six years ago and has a
00:15:14
one-year-old child
00:15:18
on september 16 1989 over nine years
00:15:21
after he escaped
00:15:23
john mooney was returned to georgia
00:15:27
[Music]
00:15:29
[Applause]
00:15:32
in a moment the story of liz carmichael
00:15:35
visionary
00:15:35
automotive genius and wanted fugitive
00:15:42
[Music]
00:15:48
in 1973 america was faced with an oil
00:15:51
crisis that nearly crippled the country
00:15:54
it created a gas shortage and motorists
00:15:56
had to wait hours to fill up their tanks
00:15:59
consumers wanted a solution cheaper gas
00:16:02
or more economical cars
00:16:04
one visionary claimed she had just such
00:16:07
a car
00:16:08
a startling new three-wheeled vehicle
00:16:10
called the dale
00:16:12
it was claimed that this revolutionary
00:16:14
car would get 70 miles to the gallon and
00:16:16
cost less than two thousand dollars
00:16:18
made of a special aerospace plastic its
00:16:21
creator claimed it could withstand an
00:16:23
impact against a brick wall at 50 miles
00:16:25
an hour
00:16:26
and was impossible to tip over
00:16:29
it seemed the perfect answer to the gas
00:16:31
crunch it was a new idea
00:16:33
something we all heard of the gas
00:16:35
guzzlers coming from detroit
00:16:37
and here somebody could put out an
00:16:38
automobile that could get 60 miles to a
00:16:41
gallon of gas
00:16:42
and travel all over the city without a
00:16:44
problem would have been
00:16:46
the ideal automobile the entrepreneur
00:16:49
who unveiled
00:16:50
the dale was a remarkable and forceful
00:16:52
woman named liz carmichael
00:16:53
who saw herself as a cross between
00:16:55
howard hughes and henry ford
00:16:58
we have pledges from private individuals
00:17:01
for private stock elizabeth carmichael
00:17:04
was very
00:17:05
positive a very command presence
00:17:09
a very powerful appearing person a big
00:17:12
woman
00:17:12
a massive woman but that was part of her
00:17:14
appeal she wanted to be a man she wanted
00:17:17
to wear a man's
00:17:18
pants she acted like a man she was
00:17:19
strong she was determined
00:17:21
she had the ability to incite this fire
00:17:24
in you
00:17:25
not whimfish in any way she's a very
00:17:28
dynamic strong
00:17:29
person and she did things that that
00:17:33
impressed us liz achieved celebrity
00:17:35
status while raising over three million
00:17:37
dollars through advanced purchases of
00:17:39
her car
00:17:40
then on may 29 1975 geraldine elizabeth
00:17:44
carmichael was indicted by the los
00:17:45
angeles
00:17:46
county grand jury for grand theft and
00:17:48
fraud
00:17:49
she was later found guilty on 34 counts
00:17:52
liz carmichael's car the dale
00:17:53
turned out to be a sham was this a case
00:17:56
of someone simply failing to live up to
00:17:58
their dreams
00:17:59
or did liz carmichael deliberately set
00:18:01
out to swindle millions from naive
00:18:03
investors
00:18:06
in 1973 liz was a housewife living in
00:18:09
los angeles with her five children
00:18:12
she claimed she had a degree in
00:18:13
mechanical engineering and a 1974 formed
00:18:16
20th century motor car
00:18:17
corporation to produce her three-wheeled
00:18:19
car the dale
00:18:22
i've called you all together to try and
00:18:24
give you some update information on what
00:18:26
we're doing here at 20th century motors
00:18:28
and with the dale liz carmichael told
00:18:31
investors in the press
00:18:32
that her company was riding three large
00:18:34
aircraft hangars where they would soon
00:18:36
start production
00:18:37
in our first year and what about the
00:18:39
cost cost factor
00:18:40
any american can afford our car and the
00:18:43
questions that were asked
00:18:44
were not well if you've got a
00:18:46
manufacturing facility where is it
00:18:48
and how long you've been making cars and
00:18:50
who are your engineers and well not the
00:18:51
tough questions the questions were
00:18:53
basically
00:18:54
well liz where behind you and where can
00:18:56
i send my money
00:18:57
it was just so exciting and it was
00:18:59
unbelievable we used to get
00:19:00
uh mail sacks full of mail dragged into
00:19:03
that office almost every day
00:19:06
news of liz and her infamous car spread
00:19:08
across the country
00:19:09
and soon she was being interviewed by
00:19:11
newsweek and people magazine
00:19:14
back at liz's headquarters in encino
00:19:16
california the authorities began to
00:19:18
question her claims
00:19:20
i'd like to see liz carmichael okay
00:19:24
the california department of
00:19:25
corporations accused liz of illegally
00:19:27
selling both dealer franchises
00:19:29
and cars that did not yet exist
00:19:32
corporations oh you do
00:19:34
a heavy desist and refrain order issued
00:19:36
against 20th century motorcar
00:19:37
corporation
00:19:39
it orders 20th century to desist and
00:19:41
refrain from the further offer in cyber
00:19:43
securities
00:19:45
thank you the department of motor
00:19:49
vehicles discovered the company had no
00:19:51
state permit to manufacture cars
00:19:53
and even questioned whether the lab was
00:19:55
developing a vehicle at all
00:19:57
we went to the research and development
00:19:58
lab and observed what appeared to be
00:20:00
people appearing to be busy but
00:20:02
in wandering through the lab uh i saw no
00:20:05
evidence that they were designing a
00:20:06
vehicle or in the process of making a
00:20:08
vehicle
00:20:09
everyone in the research and development
00:20:11
lab without a doubt was sincere
00:20:13
believed in the car and there was even
00:20:15
talk if the company should
00:20:17
fold there was a group of us that wanted
00:20:20
to get together and continue with the
00:20:21
car we believe that much in the car
00:20:28
bill hall went to check out the three
00:20:30
hangars where liz claimed she was
00:20:31
gearing up to make the cars
00:20:38
i went to this airport upon entering i
00:20:40
discovered the factory were nothing
00:20:42
the hangers were absolutely empty no
00:20:45
tools
00:20:46
no machinery nothing but a little dirt
00:20:48
on the floor
00:20:49
they had rented this for only one month
00:20:51
and the rent had now expired
00:20:53
so they actually did not have a factory
00:20:55
that they were representing they had
00:21:00
with the authorities closing in liz
00:21:02
decided it was time to move her
00:21:04
headquarters to dallas
00:21:09
but there two and a half weeks later the
00:21:12
district attorney filed criminal charges
00:21:14
against elizabeth carmichael
00:21:16
for grand theft one week later bill hall
00:21:19
went to the research and development lab
00:21:21
with a search warrant
00:21:23
upon inspection of this vehicle it was
00:21:26
not of a viable vehicle at all it had no
00:21:28
engine two by fours were holding up the
00:21:31
rear wheel
00:21:33
the accelerator was just sitting on the
00:21:35
floor it wasn't even attached
00:21:37
the windows were not safety glass they
00:21:40
would bend back and forth
00:21:42
the doors are put on by regular
00:21:45
door hinges like one might find on a
00:21:47
house door
00:21:48
the vehicle just absolutely did not
00:21:50
exist
00:21:54
armed with a search warrant the dallas
00:21:56
police arrived at liz's home
00:21:58
mrs carmichael police officers
00:22:02
we have a warrant
00:22:07
police officers man mrs carmichael
00:22:13
police officers
00:22:15
[Music]
00:22:19
what are you making this
00:22:22
is carmichael we have
00:22:26
the police searched the house it
00:22:28
appeared liz and her five children had
00:22:30
left in a hurry
00:22:33
god you look at this stuff
00:22:36
looking through liz's belongings the
00:22:38
police found evidence that liz
00:22:40
carmichael
00:22:41
was not what she seemed what do you got
00:22:43
there
00:22:45
looks like some kind of padded girdle is
00:22:47
incredible
00:22:48
this is carmichael i don't know
00:22:53
you know we better call this stuff in
00:22:56
okay
00:23:00
nine weeks later liz carmichael was
00:23:02
discovered living in miami with her five
00:23:04
children
00:23:06
a neighbor recognized her from a news
00:23:07
photo and called the authorities
00:23:10
[Music]
00:23:12
she was working for a dating service and
00:23:13
going by the name of susan raines
00:23:15
[Music]
00:23:17
they also learned that liz carmichael
00:23:18
had another identity
00:23:24
she was really a man jerry
00:23:27
dean michael michael claimed he had
00:23:30
begun hormone treatments in preparation
00:23:32
for a sex change operation
00:23:34
it was later learned that michael was
00:23:36
wanted by the federal authorities for
00:23:37
counterfeiting in 1961
00:23:39
and jumping bail in 1962.
00:23:43
we had no doubt that
00:23:46
this was a woman you just didn't
00:23:48
question it
00:23:49
you just didn't question it i never
00:23:51
thought that liz was a man
00:23:53
i always thought that and she is today
00:23:55
she still lives to me
00:23:57
still a female
00:24:01
miss carmichael we have a warrant for
00:24:04
your arrest
00:24:06
on april 12 1975 jerry dean michael
00:24:10
alias geraldine elizabeth carmichael was
00:24:12
arrested
00:24:14
she was extradited to los angeles where
00:24:16
she went on trial
00:24:19
liz you know arrived in court every day
00:24:22
in the mini skirts now here is somebody
00:24:25
who's over 200 pounds and over six feet
00:24:28
tall
00:24:29
and has a demeanor of
00:24:32
i am a new henry ford
00:24:35
it was rather bizarre
00:24:39
you can see that that liz did not give
00:24:42
one quarter in the course of the trial
00:24:44
there was never once when liz
00:24:47
gave up her position that the people
00:24:50
who supported her uh would vindicate her
00:24:54
why did you tell the public that that
00:24:55
car could go 70 miles
00:24:57
an hour and still get 70 miles per
00:24:59
gallon
00:25:00
because it can sir this car
00:25:03
is the car of the future sir without
00:25:07
all these trial proceedings this car
00:25:09
would now be in production
00:25:12
well then why did you collect 1995 from
00:25:14
over 5 000 people when there was no car
00:25:17
existing the car has yet to roll off the
00:25:19
line
00:25:20
as soon as the car rolls off the line
00:25:22
the cars will be delivered
00:25:24
as soon as this thing is over we will be
00:25:25
rolling
00:25:27
the idea was valid it was sound it could
00:25:29
be done today
00:25:30
it could still go back in production and
00:25:32
still would be a great car
00:25:33
there's no doubt about it if she were to
00:25:35
walk in this room and say let's go again
00:25:37
i'd go right with her
00:25:40
has the jury reached its verdict
00:25:43
yes we have your honor what is your
00:25:46
verdict
00:25:48
we find a defendant guilty
00:25:51
on january 24 1977 carmichael was
00:25:54
convicted of conspiracy
00:25:56
grand theft and fraud she was released
00:25:58
on 50
00:25:59
000 bail which was paid by a prominent
00:26:01
television production company in
00:26:03
exchange for the rights to her story
00:26:05
for four years liz appealed her
00:26:06
conviction
00:26:08
finally in 1980 she failed to show up in
00:26:11
court for sentencing
00:26:12
and liz carmichael and her five children
00:26:14
vanished again
00:26:16
they have not been seen for over eight
00:26:17
years
00:26:19
if i were liz i would be living as a man
00:26:22
because all of this publicity
00:26:24
and all of these victims know liz as a
00:26:27
woman
00:26:28
so i can't see how anybody could now
00:26:31
imagine
00:26:32
with the passage of the years what liz
00:26:33
would look like
00:26:35
and if i were liz i think i'd be a man
00:26:39
this is what liz carmichael looked like
00:26:42
as a man in 1960
00:26:44
and using the fbi computers to age his
00:26:46
appearance how he may look today
00:26:49
this is liz carmichael dressed as a
00:26:52
woman in 1975
00:26:54
and how she may look today
00:26:59
update within minutes of our broadcast
00:27:01
our telus center received a tip from a
00:27:03
viewer who recognized liz carmichael as
00:27:06
a flower vendor named katherine johnson
00:27:09
curiously she had chosen the small
00:27:10
community of dale texas as her new home
00:27:13
shortly thereafter elizabeth carmichael
00:27:16
aka jerry dean michael was arrested at
00:27:19
her home
00:27:20
eight years after she jumped bail
00:27:22
carmichael was returned to california to
00:27:24
face sentencing for her prior
00:27:26
convictions
00:27:27
a judge reimposed a sentence of one to
00:27:29
ten years
00:27:30
carmichael served two and a half years
00:27:32
and was released from prison
00:27:34
she is currently living as a private
00:27:36
citizen in an undisclosed location
00:27:55
on a previous broadcast we examined the
00:27:57
case of 72 year old annie laurie herron
00:28:00
wife of robert herron senior one of the
00:28:02
wealthiest men in mississippi
00:28:04
on the afternoon of july the 26th 1988
00:28:07
mrs herron was abducted from her home in
00:28:09
jackson mississippi
00:28:11
the kidnapper left behind a bizarre
00:28:13
ransom note
00:28:14
demanding that robert herron pay money
00:28:16
to 12 people
00:28:17
who had all been sued by a company he
00:28:19
controlled
00:28:21
[Music]
00:28:23
neighbors reported seeing a suspicious
00:28:25
white van with florida license plates
00:28:27
driving by the heron home just before
00:28:30
annie laurie was kidnapped
00:28:33
robert herron held a press conference on
00:28:35
the steps of his home
00:28:36
to make a personal plea to the kidnapper
00:28:38
for his wife's safety
00:28:41
my children i appeal up to whomever has
00:28:45
my wife
00:28:46
that they may say that she may be safely
00:28:48
returned to us
00:28:53
eight days after the press conference
00:28:55
robert herron received a letter
00:28:56
postmarked atlanta georgia
00:28:58
he recognized the handwriting as his
00:29:00
wife's
00:29:01
bob if you don't do what these people
00:29:03
want you to do
00:29:04
they are going to seal me up in the
00:29:06
cellar of this house with only a few
00:29:08
jugs of water
00:29:09
please save me
00:29:12
[Music]
00:29:14
robert heron sent out checks totaling
00:29:15
nearly 1 million dollars to the people
00:29:17
named on the kidnappers list
00:29:19
he never again heard from the kidnapper
00:29:22
or from annie laurie
00:29:26
update last month newton alfred nguyen
00:29:29
a 65 year old lawyer was arrested by the
00:29:31
fbi in florida
00:29:33
on charges relating to the abduction of
00:29:34
annie laurie herron
00:29:36
wynn was one of the 12 men named in the
00:29:38
ransom note left at the heron home
00:29:41
also less than one month before the
00:29:42
kidnapping he allegedly purchased the
00:29:44
van which matched the description
00:29:46
of the vehicle seen in the heron
00:29:48
neighborhood
00:29:50
a woman told the fbi that wyndham
00:29:52
promised her dollars to travel from
00:29:54
florida to atlanta georgia and mail a
00:29:56
letter for him
00:29:57
just 16 days after annie laurie herron
00:29:59
was kidnapped
00:30:00
he handed her a manila envelope inside
00:30:03
was the letter wrapped in a gray linen
00:30:05
napkin
00:30:06
when instructed her not to look at her
00:30:07
touch the letter but to deposit the
00:30:10
letter in a mail slot she had to ease
00:30:11
the napkin off and she was able to
00:30:13
observe the writing on the envelope
00:30:15
later she identified a photograph of the
00:30:17
envelope robert herron had received from
00:30:19
his wife
00:30:20
as a one she had mailed in atlanta
00:30:48
i think about mom all the time and uh
00:30:51
i'm sure my daddy does too
00:30:53
there's there's no real way to quantify
00:30:55
what this uh
00:30:57
how enormous a tragedy and ordeal this
00:30:59
has been to him and
00:31:00
to the rest of the family
00:31:04
[Music]
00:31:10
in 1983 terry mcclure was discovered
00:31:12
murdered
00:31:13
her son tim was a key suspect and when
00:31:15
he took a polygraph test and flocked
00:31:18
tonight he tells why
00:31:20
[Music]
00:31:29
this is the unsought mystery's telephone
00:31:31
center where viewers call with
00:31:32
information
00:31:33
they also call with suggestions for
00:31:35
stories
00:31:36
six months ago we received a highly
00:31:38
unusual call
00:31:40
it came from a man who was a leading
00:31:41
suspect in the murder of his own mother
00:31:47
38 year old tim mcclure lived with his
00:31:49
mother terry off and on throughout his
00:31:51
20s
00:31:53
tim and his mother were often seen
00:31:54
together around town gambling at the
00:31:56
slot machines or dining out
00:31:58
even after tim moved away from reno he
00:32:00
remained close to terry
00:32:03
she'd do anything for anybody uh she'd
00:32:06
you know give the shirt off her back or
00:32:08
last nickel anybody
00:32:09
she was just she was just real
00:32:11
kind-hearted woman
00:32:13
very gentle she was just a very calm
00:32:16
person
00:32:18
in 1983 terry mcclure was 62 years old
00:32:21
and living alone
00:32:22
she was thrilled when tim called to tell
00:32:24
her he was getting married
00:32:26
his wedding took place on friday january
00:32:28
the 14th 1983
00:32:30
at lake tahoe nevada and to cherish to
00:32:32
love and to cherish
00:32:33
i was totally ecstatic um you know i
00:32:36
mean a person waits all their life to
00:32:38
get married
00:32:38
and it's you know the big moment in
00:32:39
their life um you know it wasn't
00:32:42
you know um an elaborate wedding but uh
00:32:45
you know to me it was the the big moment
00:32:47
and uh
00:32:49
it was great the newlyweds and their
00:32:53
parents celebrated by doing a little
00:32:54
gambling
00:32:56
then around 10 o'clock in the evening
00:32:58
tim left to walk his mother to her car
00:33:00
[Music]
00:33:02
terry planned to drive straight home to
00:33:04
reno about an hour's drive from lake
00:33:05
tahoe
00:33:07
tim told her that he and his wife would
00:33:09
stop by to visit the next day
00:33:12
[Music]
00:33:15
when the newlyweds went to visit terry
00:33:17
at 6 pm the next evening
00:33:19
they noticed signs that she was not at
00:33:22
home
00:33:30
[Music]
00:33:33
it just appeared as though she hadn't
00:33:35
been home
00:33:37
and it was at that point i just had the
00:33:39
strangest feeling that
00:33:40
something was wrong i i didn't know but
00:33:42
it just i knew she hadn't been home
00:33:45
and to me that was just real odd strange
00:33:48
because uh
00:33:50
there was a you know on my honeymoon up
00:33:53
there to get married and
00:33:54
she'd taken time off of work and uh
00:33:57
did not find her at home i just i
00:34:00
couldn't understand it
00:34:03
tim called various family members and
00:34:05
friends of his mother
00:34:06
no one has seen or heard from terry so
00:34:09
he called the police
00:34:11
yes i'd i'd like to report a missing
00:34:13
person
00:34:16
three days later on monday january the
00:34:18
17th
00:34:19
terry mcclure's car was found in the
00:34:21
parking lot of a carson city nevada
00:34:23
casino
00:34:24
only a half hour's drive outside lake
00:34:26
tahoe
00:34:27
the keys were in the ignition the doors
00:34:30
were locked
00:34:30
and terry mcclure was sitting in the
00:34:32
front seat dead
00:34:34
she had been shot twice in the head
00:34:37
tim the day after they found the body
00:34:40
carson city detectives questioned tim
00:34:43
he was shocked when he asked him if he
00:34:44
wanted to have an attorney present
00:34:46
but slowly it dawned on him that he was
00:34:48
considered a suspect
00:34:51
i started to feel like a victim and i
00:34:53
thought why should i have an attorney
00:34:54
you know i mean this is this is my
00:34:56
mother's death you should be
00:34:57
investigating it
00:34:58
on another level rather than thinking of
00:35:00
me as doing it which which i found out
00:35:02
they were looking
00:35:03
towards me and i couldn't understand why
00:35:05
i started to feel like the victim
00:35:08
and it just it didn't make sense
00:35:11
[Music]
00:35:12
tim told the police that after he'd
00:35:14
walked his mother to her car at 10 pm on
00:35:16
the night of his wedding
00:35:17
he'd returned immediately to the casino
00:35:24
tim said his wife was still gambling
00:35:26
with her parents so he gambled alone for
00:35:28
two hours
00:35:28
then rejoined his wife they went out
00:35:31
dancing till dawn
00:35:34
police have not been able to
00:35:35
substantiate tim's or his wife's
00:35:37
whereabouts
00:35:38
that night although they couldn't
00:35:41
provide
00:35:42
you know specific locations where they
00:35:44
went we we made every attempt to
00:35:46
determine
00:35:47
which bar or which dance hall they had
00:35:49
gone to that night and we were
00:35:51
unsuccessful
00:35:52
they indicated that they partied from
00:35:54
approximately midnight
00:35:55
until six am the following morning
00:35:58
none of which we were able to
00:36:00
substantiate one way or another
00:36:03
so we kind of went on what he said
00:36:08
tim also told the police that two days
00:36:10
before his mother's body was discovered
00:36:12
he'd searched the main highway between
00:36:14
lake tahoe and reno
00:36:16
the police became suspicious when tim
00:36:18
said he was looking for his mother's
00:36:19
purse
00:36:22
you know we again found this odd that he
00:36:24
would he would attempt to retrace his
00:36:26
mother's steps
00:36:28
for the purpose of finding something
00:36:30
that nobody knew was missing
00:36:32
on the 16th nobody had any idea her
00:36:34
purse was missing
00:36:36
but he felt a specific need to go out
00:36:39
and look for that
00:36:40
purse yeah oddly enough she was found
00:36:43
with only her purse missing she was
00:36:46
fully clothed had all her jewelry
00:36:48
the only thing missing was her purse
00:36:50
they put together the fact that i said i
00:36:52
was looking for her
00:36:53
some evidence of her purse along the
00:36:54
side of the highway and
00:36:57
the only reason i said that was because
00:36:59
my older sister had put the idea that
00:37:01
maybe somebody had commandeered her
00:37:03
vehicle and stolen her purse
00:37:06
tim also drove through the parking lots
00:37:08
of the casinos along his mother's route
00:37:11
he proceeded at a slow crawl through the
00:37:13
lots of every casino
00:37:15
except one
00:37:18
sometimes you get a gut feeling uh you
00:37:21
could um
00:37:22
maybe think of the holy spirit if you
00:37:24
will just you know kind of
00:37:26
guiding you louis uh perhaps uh a
00:37:29
feeling of keeping me away from there
00:37:31
to to save me from finding her i just i
00:37:33
thank god i didn't find her
00:37:35
that that would have destroyed me to
00:37:38
find her
00:37:41
that casino parking lot was the very
00:37:43
spot where terry mcclure's body would be
00:37:45
found two days later
00:37:46
on monday january the 17th police
00:37:50
estimated that terry had been dead since
00:37:51
friday the night of tim's wedding
00:37:54
[Music]
00:37:56
police are also puzzled by a call tim
00:37:58
may to cancel one of his mother's credit
00:38:00
cards
00:38:02
tim claimed he made the call on monday
00:38:04
january the 17th
00:38:05
the day his mother's body was found but
00:38:08
the credit card company says he called
00:38:10
on friday
00:38:11
before his mother had disappeared i had
00:38:14
um
00:38:15
reported her credit cards missing
00:38:17
thinking maybe that somebody had come
00:38:18
and commandeered the vehicle
00:38:20
and that her purse might have possibly
00:38:21
been missing i called on monday
00:38:24
the woman had written down that i called
00:38:25
on friday
00:38:27
uh which i couldn't understand it just
00:38:29
didn't make any sense to me why she
00:38:30
would mix up
00:38:30
from a monday to a friday the credit
00:38:33
memo for that particular company is now
00:38:35
in the possession of the sheriff's
00:38:37
office
00:38:38
and it clearly shows according to their
00:38:40
file
00:38:41
that tim called indicated
00:38:45
to the uh recipient that his mother was
00:38:47
dead
00:38:49
and the fact that his father was dead
00:38:51
and to please cancel the account
00:38:54
it's just it's one of the strangest
00:38:56
things i i've ever heard about because i
00:38:58
called on monday and how she could have
00:38:59
mistaken that for a friday and then
00:39:02
mixed up my words like that saying she
00:39:04
had been murdered i had no idea she'd
00:39:06
been murdered all i knew she was missing
00:39:07
and that's what i told him
00:39:09
we have a credit memo dated january 14th
00:39:13
the lady that wrote that credit memo
00:39:16
in her own mind is absolutely sure
00:39:19
that's the date she received the phone
00:39:21
call from a person identifying himself
00:39:24
as tim mcclure
00:39:27
six months before terry mcclure was
00:39:28
murdered she'd taken out a 10 000
00:39:31
insurance policy on her life tim and one
00:39:34
of his sisters were named as
00:39:36
co-beneficiaries
00:39:38
i didn't think my mother would take out
00:39:39
an insurance policy
00:39:42
just wasn't like her i mean they're
00:39:44
thinking that i you know did this for
00:39:46
for a reason i mean which my share is
00:39:48
only five thousand dollars i mean that's
00:39:50
ridiculous
00:39:52
well i can't say that that is the
00:39:54
absolute motive in this case but
00:39:56
you know i'm here to tell you that that
00:39:58
people have been killed for a lot less
00:40:02
on february the 14th 1983 the carson
00:40:05
city police asked him and his wife to
00:40:07
take a polygraph test
00:40:11
i was completely cooperative i you know
00:40:12
i had nothing to hide uh no reason not
00:40:14
to take one so uh
00:40:16
naturally i said sure i'll take a
00:40:17
polygraph my wife agreed to
00:40:19
so it was um a strange situation
00:40:23
when they were asking the questions uh
00:40:25
they made me close my eyes
00:40:27
uh being all wired up i felt like i was
00:40:30
an electric chair
00:40:31
very hardwood-armed chair sitting there
00:40:34
and as they asked the question there was
00:40:37
oh it seemed
00:40:38
like maybe a minute between each
00:40:39
question with my eyes closed
00:40:41
uh just a number of things are just
00:40:43
going around through my mind at that
00:40:45
point that's when i
00:40:46
started thinking well geez what if they
00:40:48
think i did it
00:40:51
i'd never taken a polygraph before i
00:40:52
didn't know how to react uh
00:40:54
and it was just a very uh awkward and
00:40:57
uncomfortable situation for me
00:41:02
the results of those polygraph
00:41:03
examinations
00:41:05
would strongly suggest deception on both
00:41:07
the part of timothy mcclure and his wife
00:41:11
they were both adamantly confronted
00:41:14
about those deceptions and
00:41:18
in the interviews they they had no
00:41:20
response they could not respond
00:41:23
to why the machine was telling them they
00:41:25
were being deceptive
00:41:26
they had no answers i don't know why but
00:41:28
i flunked the test
00:41:30
and uh my wife uh had flunked only one
00:41:33
question
00:41:34
which didn't make any sense uh do you
00:41:35
know who murdered terry mcclure was a
00:41:37
question she was asked and
00:41:39
it appeared to be a a lie when she said
00:41:41
no
00:41:42
so it looked like she was trying to
00:41:44
cover up which uh
00:41:45
is unexplainable to me
00:41:49
all the circumstantial evidence was
00:41:51
submitted to the nevada d.a
00:41:52
but he deemed it insufficient to arrest
00:41:54
tim mcclure
00:41:56
police questioned friends family and
00:41:58
acquaintances of tim and terry
00:42:01
their testimony indicated that tim had
00:42:02
been genuinely devoted to his mother
00:42:05
and they believed he would never have
00:42:06
done anything to harm her
00:42:09
my mother was my best friend i mean uh
00:42:12
all i could think of was
00:42:13
taking care of my mother you know for
00:42:14
the rest of her life after she'd taken
00:42:16
care of me all my life
00:42:17
that's the one thing i wanted to do was
00:42:19
take care of my mother and i can't
00:42:24
this picture of tim and his mother was
00:42:26
taken at his wedding on january the 14th
00:42:28
1983 the night she disappeared tim is
00:42:31
hoping that someone who was in the
00:42:32
casino or the dance hall in lake tahoe
00:42:35
that night
00:42:36
will remember him because of his long
00:42:37
hair and his unusual height of six feet
00:42:39
five
00:42:40
inches he wants his alibi for the night
00:42:42
of his mother's murder
00:42:44
to be substantiated perhaps somebody
00:42:47
will
00:42:47
come forward maybe they were afraid in
00:42:49
the past maybe somebody
00:42:51
saw something there had has to be
00:42:53
somebody out there that had seen
00:42:54
something
00:42:55
that happened to my mother you know now
00:42:57
would be a good time
00:42:59
to come out with it
00:43:17
join me next week for another edition of
00:43:20
unsolved mysteries
00:43:25
[Music]
00:43:48
[Applause]
00:43:51
[Music]
00:44:12
you
