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Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 6, Episode 3

March 09, 2017 / 42:52

This episode of Unsolved Mysteries covers the mysterious death of Kurt McFall, the disappearance of Christi Joe Nichols, sightings of the Chupacabra in Puerto Rico, and the peculiar life of Howard Drummond.

The segment on Kurt McFall reveals that the 17-year-old from Concord, California, was found dead at the bottom of a cliff in San Francisco. His father, Tom McFall, believes Kurt was involved in a satanic cult and feared for his life. Kurt's body showed signs of multiple traumatic injuries, but the cause of death remains undetermined.

Christi Joe Nichols, a young mother from Gothenburg, Nebraska, vanished without a trace. Her husband, Mark Nichols, was the last person to see her. Despite rumors and suspicions surrounding Mark, no charges have been filed, and Christi's case remains open.

The episode also investigates the Chupacabra, a creature reported to attack livestock in Puerto Rico. Eyewitness accounts describe a beast with red eyes and sharp claws, but skeptics attribute the attacks to wild dogs or other animals.

Lastly, Howard Drummond lived a frugal life at a YMCA in Lansing, Michigan, leaving behind a significant inheritance of a quarter of a million dollars. After his death, it was discovered that he had numerous bank accounts and an extensive collection of personal items.

TL;DR

This episode covers Kurt McFall's mysterious death, Christi Joe Nichols' disappearance, Chupacabra sightings, and Howard Drummond's unclaimed inheritance.

Episode

42:52
00:00:04
DENNIS FARINA: Next on unsolved mysteries.
00:00:07
After a San Francisco teenager strays into a world of magic,
00:00:11
witchcraft, and mysticism, he's found
00:00:14
dead at the bottom of a cliff.
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A young man is terrified when he comes face
00:00:20
to face with the beast called Chupacabra.
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Authorities need your help to catch
00:00:27
Carlos Berdeja, who brutally murdered a young mother
00:00:30
for no apparent reason.
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And when he died, this eccentric man
00:00:36
left behind 50 empty coffee jars, 80 pairs of white socks,
00:00:40
and an unclaimed fortune of a quarter of a million dollars.
00:00:47
Whether it's murder, missing persons, or the paranormal,
00:00:50
for the next hour it's "Unsolved Mysteries".
00:00:54
I'm Dennis Farina.
00:00:55
Join us.
00:00:56
[music playing]
00:01:32
DENNIS FARINA: San Francisco, California.
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One Saturday in September, Kurt McFall,
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a 17-year-old high school student,
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drove from his home in Concord, California
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across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco.
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He told his father that he was staying with a friend,
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and he would be home Sunday evening.
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Kurt never returned.
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On Monday, two birdwatchers spotted a half naked body
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on a remote beach below the cliffs of San Francisco Bay.
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Kurt McFall was dead.
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TOM MCFALL: Kurt told this friend of his
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that he was involved in some kind of satanic cult
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and that he wanted out but thought that they
00:02:16
might try to kill him.
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He really feared for his life.
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It was a murder.
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It needs to be investigated.
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There's no doubt in my mind that Kurt could have handled himself
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in that cliff area, because he was an experienced mountain
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climber and he was a diver.
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So he would not have drowned in the water
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or fallen down the hill.
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Kurt McFall was a handsome and popular
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high school student, a confident young
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man who made friends easily.
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But his father Tom has learned there was another side
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to his teenage son.
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A dark side that may have gotten him killed.
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In Kurt's room, Tom discovered a knife made from a deer's hoof,
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a necklace of stone and feathers,
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and drawings of witchcraft and violent fantasies.
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These seem to prove that Kurt was leading a double life.
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The year before he died, Kurt joined a group that enjoyed
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reliving medieval customs.
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They dressed in costumes and practiced
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sword fighting in the parking lot
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of an Oakland subway station.
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Kurt also joined another organization that initiated
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him into a pagan religion.
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This new group frightened one of Kurt's old high school friends.
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He later contacted Tom McFall and then began
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to fear for his own safety.
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Gradually, over a period of perhaps six months,
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his attitude towards other people changed drastically.
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He kind of moved from just studying
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with an interest in medieval religion
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to actually adopting that religion as his.
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DENNIS FARINA: Kurt's guide into the pagan religion
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was Gabriel Carillo, who uses the ancient Welsh name Caradoc.
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GABRIEL CARRILLO: This is a religion which is also an art.
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A craft which has techniques which are at their essence
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magical.
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I met Kurt because he had evinced and interest in magic.
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Kurt was real bright and real curious
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about just about everything.
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His involvement with this group can be compared to a drug
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addiction, where you begin thinking that you've got it
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in control, and you can take it when you want
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but gradually losing that sense of knowing when
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to stop until you're a junkie.
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GABRIEL CARRILLO: I do not make any attempt
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to control people's lives.
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People are free to come and go at their own discretion
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just as Kurt did.
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If anything, the emphasis that we have
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is on individuals taking control of their own lives.
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DENNIS FARINA: On the last night of his life,
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Kurt stayed over at Caradoc's apartment.
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They had dinner, went to a movie, and around midnight Kurt
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went swimming at Ocean Beach, a few blocks from Caradoc's home.
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According to Caradoc, Kurt had trouble sleeping
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and knocked on his door at about 3:00 in the morning.
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It's too hot in here.
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I'm going to the beach.
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DENNIS FARINA: Kurt was never seen again.
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My best guess is simply that he took one too many chances.
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He might have gone swimming in the ocean
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and been pulled up by the undertow.
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He might have come on climbing on the cliffs at Land's End
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and slipped and fallen, or any one
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of a number of other things.
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DENNIS FARINA: The following evening, Kurt's car
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was found abandoned on a golf course overlooking the ocean.
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There were a number of puzzling clues.
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Kurt's driver's license was on the floor.
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His car keys on the seat.
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A $20 bill was in the glove compartment.
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And the prized suit of armor, which
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Kurt had made for sword fighting,
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was missing from the trunk.
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There were also beer bottles scattered
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in and around the car.
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The car has to be a phony scene.
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To me, that was set up, because Kurt did not drink beer.
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That's also inconsistent with the autopsy report that
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shows that there was no sign of alcohol or drugs on the body
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when it was recovered.
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DENNIS FARINA: At 10:15 the following morning,
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national park service lifeguards recovered Kurt's body.
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It was lying in a cove less than two miles from Caradoc's
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apartment, just below the cliffs at the golf course
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where Kurt's car was found.
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BRIAN CAMERON: When We came upon the body,
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we noticed it was in fairly good condition, fairly pale,
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usually a sign of being in the water
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for an extended period of time.
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No obvious external trauma.
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He looked pretty clean other than a few small abrasions on
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the body but nothing obvious.
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DENNIS FARINA: Kurt had no shoes, socks, or shirt.
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His back and shoulders were covered
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with cuts and abrasions.
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The belt he wore was missing it's buckle.
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With the facts that we have in this case,
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it's really anybody's guess as to where he actually entered
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the water where he came from.
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My guess would be, and that's all it is, an educated guess,
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that he simply fell off the cliff.
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And that's what it appears to me.
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DENNIS FARINA: The coroner determined
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that Kurt died from multiple traumatic injuries
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and severe blood loss.
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But no one knows what caused those injuries.
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Perhaps Kurt died after stumbling over the edge
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or perhaps he was pushed.
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The coroner ruled cause of death unknown.
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TOM MCFALL: I went to the San Francisco coroner
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and I said, what do you think happened to Kurt?
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And he said, I think the most probable cause of Kurt's death
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is homicide.
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But he said, he didn't have enough to testify to that
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in a court of law, and so he sent it up to homicide
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classified as unknown.
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And I can't accept that.
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DENNIS FARINA: The police investigated further
00:08:29
but found no reason to change that ruling
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from unknown to homicide.
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They declined to be interviewed for this story.
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Kurt's father continues to believe
00:08:40
that his son was murdered.
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TOM MCFALL: Kurt may have uncovered something
00:08:44
in the organization and may have indicated to people that he
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was going to expose this.
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And I feel that all of these things
00:08:54
probably contributed to them wanting to do away with Kurt.
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If I wanted to murder somebody,
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the last person I would murder would be somebody
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who was staying at my house, and his father knew that he
00:09:05
was staying at my house.
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I mean, the whole thing is stupid.
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DENNIS FARINA: Tom McFall hopes that someone will
00:09:12
come forward with new evidence that
00:09:14
could reopen the investigation.
00:09:17
If you have any information regarding this case,
00:09:20
please log onto our website at unsolved.com.
00:09:27
Next, a young mother vanishes in the middle of the night.
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What happened to Christi Joe Nichols?
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When a young mother of two small children
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disappears with no note and no explanation,
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well, people begin to wonder.
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When Christi Joe Nichols disappeared,
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her husband Mark was the last person to see her alive.
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Rumor has it that he knows a little more than he's saying.
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MARK NICHOLS: in small towns, they talk a lot.
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And a lot of these rumors tend to get pretty vicious.
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There's been a couple rumors that I
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chopped her up and put her in garbage bags
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and buried her at the dump.
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That's one of the first ones I heard.
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And that one really got to me, because I
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guess they were actually up there digging around.
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DENNIS FARINA: It was in Gothenburg, Nebraska
00:10:33
that Christi married Mark Nichols.
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She was 19 years old and soon to be
00:10:39
the mother of two toddlers who became the focus of her life.
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CONNIE STANLEY: Christi never felt she did anything until she
00:10:46
had her children, and there was something
00:10:48
she could look at and say, hey, I did this pretty well.
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Nobody can do this any better, because she was
00:10:53
just so proud of her children.
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She loved them.
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I would have never thought that Christi would run away.
00:11:00
She would have never left her children.
00:11:04
Mark, could you just wait out here for--
00:11:05
DENNIS FARINA: 10 days before she disappeared,
00:11:07
Christi had gone to a local hospital
00:11:09
after being injured in a fight with Mark.
00:11:13
MARK NICHOLS: The only bad fight I can remember
00:11:16
is when I was trying to get her to stay home from going out,
00:11:21
and she was getting so upset at me
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she started to try to hit and kick me.
00:11:28
And that's when she burned the side of my neck
00:11:32
with a cigarette she was holding.
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And I tossed her onto the water bed,
00:11:38
and she landed wrong and kind of twisted
00:11:41
up her thumb underneath her.
00:11:43
I saw Christi on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
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She came to the emergency room complaining of a sore thumb.
00:11:50
She was acting like a scared rabbit, if you will.
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She's never been one for great eye contact
00:11:57
or been very verbal.
00:12:01
She obviously wasn't telling me everything either.
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DENNIS FARINA: Christi told her cousin Debra
00:12:06
Frederickson that she had been abused by Mark.
00:12:11
DENNIS FARINA: When I went to see Christi,
00:12:12
she was working at the bar.
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When we left the bar, Christi showed me a bruise on her side
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and it really scared me.
00:12:20
I told her she needed to go get help from somebody,
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and I asked her how it had happened.
00:12:27
And she said, her and Mark had gotten in an argument
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and he had thrown her around.
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And she just acted like it wasn't a big deal.
00:12:34
It was something that happened a lot.
00:12:37
As far as a violent argument, which there seemed
00:12:41
to be a lot of rumors going around
00:12:43
that I was always beating up on her, that's just totally wrong.
00:12:49
DENNIS FARINA: Two days before she disappeared,
00:12:51
Christi went to see a divorce attorney.
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She didn't want Mark to find out,
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so she found an out of town lawyer.
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What can I do for you, Christi?
00:13:00
We do a lot of divorce work.
00:13:01
I've handled hundreds of divorces,
00:13:03
but she had to rank up in the top five
00:13:05
of being very distressed and upset and nervous
00:13:09
and needed help.
00:13:10
And when she explained certain abuses
00:13:14
that she had been subjected to, we
00:13:17
decided to make some telephone calls to call the authorities
00:13:22
and to report certain crimes that had taken place.
00:13:25
I can say that the day that Christi was
00:13:27
in my office on December 9th she was
00:13:29
not panic stricken to the point that she would run or leave.
00:13:35
And in fact, she had planned to come back.
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When she left, she had made an appointment
00:13:41
to come back to my office.
00:13:43
DENNIS FARINA: The next day, Christi and Mark went Christmas
00:13:46
shopping with their children.
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This was the last afternoon she spent with her family.
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I felt really uncomfortable the day
00:13:56
before she left, because I felt a lot of anger coming from her.
00:14:02
DENNIS FARINA: However, that evening they hired a babysitter
00:14:05
and went out to the local bar where Christi worked.
00:14:12
When I babysat the night that she disappeared,
00:14:14
I was surprised that those two were going out,
00:14:17
that both of them were going out because I knew
00:14:20
they weren't getting along.
00:14:22
MARK NICHOLS: When we were at the bar,
00:14:24
things seemed to be going really well.
00:14:27
I felt there was a good attitude about herself
00:14:30
and myself and a lot of laughing and carrying on.
00:14:36
DENNIS FARINA: Mark says that he and Christi
00:14:38
left the bar around midnight and stopped at an all night
00:14:40
convenience store.
00:14:42
According to the babysitter, Mark arrived home between 12:30
00:14:46
and 1:00 in the morning.
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The babysitter was doing her homework
00:14:51
in front of the television and does
00:14:54
not remember seeing Christi.
00:14:57
I was about five or six yards behind her
00:15:01
when she reached the door, and she walked right by the living
00:15:07
room where the babysitter was at back towards the kids' bedroom
00:15:12
and went into the main bathroom.
00:15:17
DIANE JANSSEN: It seemed strange,
00:15:19
because Mark had paid me with cash when Christi
00:15:22
usually pays me with a check.
00:15:23
It was unusual for Mark to pay me.
00:15:26
I really can't believe that I didn't see her, because I
00:15:30
would have heard footsteps.
00:15:32
And I would have heard her go into the bathroom,
00:15:37
because I was there between 5 and 10
00:15:39
minutes so that I would have been
00:15:40
able to hear Christi somehow.
00:15:43
But I didn't hear or see Christi.
00:15:46
DENNIS FARINA: According to Mark,
00:15:47
Christi went to bed immediately after the babysitter left.
00:15:51
He claims the last time he saw her was at 2:00 AM
00:15:54
when he went to sleep beside her.
00:15:57
MARK NICHOLS: And that's the last thing
00:15:59
I remember until my kids woke me up the next morning.
00:16:03
And the first thing I noticed was she wasn't in the bed.
00:16:09
DENNIS FARINA: Mark says that he searched the house
00:16:11
and noticed that Christi had taken a suitcase
00:16:14
full of belongings with her.
00:16:17
But both family cars were still sitting in the front yard.
00:16:21
At 9:30 in the morning, Mark received
00:16:23
a phone call from Christi's mother
00:16:26
who lived 100 miles away.
00:16:28
Even though he knew his wife was gone,
00:16:30
Mark told her mother that Christi
00:16:32
was still in bed asleep.
00:16:34
I'll have her call you.
00:16:35
I didn't want to worry her at the time,
00:16:37
because I didn't know where she was.
00:16:39
So I told her that she was still in bed sleeping,
00:16:42
because I didn't think she felt real good.
00:16:45
DENNIS FARINA: At 11:30 AM, Mark took his children over
00:16:48
to Christi's grandmother's and asked
00:16:50
if she could take care of them so he
00:16:52
could go search for his wife.
00:16:55
Well, I didn't think much about at the time,
00:16:56
but like I say, later, he never asked me at all
00:17:00
or telephoned me to take care of the kids
00:17:02
where they always did before.
00:17:03
That was really about the strangest thing.
00:17:05
He never asked if Christi was at my house
00:17:09
or if I'd seen Christi.
00:17:11
He just said that Christi was missing,
00:17:14
and he acted like he was shook up.
00:17:18
MARK NICHOLS: I spent approximately two hours just
00:17:21
riding around town trying to spot her maybe coming out
00:17:24
of a store or I drove some residential streets
00:17:30
where we knew some people.
00:17:34
When we checked out Mark's story
00:17:35
about driving around looking for Christi,
00:17:37
we could find nobody in the city of Gothenburg that
00:17:41
had seen him driving around.
00:17:44
DENNIS FARINA: At 1:37 PM, Mark filed a missing persons report
00:17:48
with the police department.
00:17:50
I was, I was real upset, because there was no indication
00:17:56
whatsoever that she would just pack up a suitcase
00:17:59
and just leave.
00:18:02
DENNIS FARINA: During the investigation,
00:18:04
it was discovered that Mark moved out of the house the day
00:18:07
after Christi disappeared.
00:18:09
A few weeks later, he boxed up all of her clothes
00:18:12
and sold both of their cars.
00:18:17
Three months after she vanished, Christi's suitcase
00:18:19
was discovered in a roadside rest area
00:18:22
30 miles west of Gothenburg.
00:18:25
Police found it surprising that the contents exactly matched
00:18:29
the detailed list of missing items
00:18:31
that Mark had given the police when she first disappeared.
00:18:36
POLICE OFFICER: It appeared to everybody present
00:18:38
that the suitcase had been placed there
00:18:40
instead of just thrown out.
00:18:42
The items were neatly laying around.
00:18:46
It was like the person that put them
00:18:48
there wanted them to be found.
00:18:51
If my wife had left me, I wouldn't
00:18:55
be able to look through the closet
00:18:57
and tell you what she had taken.
00:19:00
I probably would be able to tell you maybe
00:19:02
what suitcase she had taken.
00:19:04
But he was listing items of clothing right down the line
00:19:08
and knew what she had taken.
00:19:13
DENNIS FARINA: The area surrounding Gothenburg
00:19:15
has been searched extensively.
00:19:17
No other trace of Christi Nichols has ever been found,
00:19:21
and no one has ever been charged in the case.
00:19:25
It remains open.
00:19:27
I'd have never done anything to hurt my wife.
00:19:29
I just-- That's just the person I am.
00:19:33
A lot of people think I'm a violent person.
00:19:36
I'm not.
00:19:38
I'm not.
00:19:39
I'm not a violent person.
00:19:42
I hope, I hope and pray that she is alive.
00:19:45
But if she isn't, I'd like to have her buried someplace
00:19:48
where I'd know where she was.
00:19:52
I want very much for Kirsti to come home.
00:19:57
But if for some reason she doesn't want to come home,
00:20:01
you know, Christi, at least call somebody.
00:20:04
You know, let us know where you are, whether you're all right.
00:20:09
DENNIS FARINA: Mark Nichols insists that he is innocent.
00:20:12
But until Christi returns, he will remain
00:20:15
under a cloud of suspicion.
00:20:19
If you have any information about this case,
00:20:21
please log on to our website at unsolved.com.
00:20:27
Next, in Puerto Rico dozens of eyewitnesses
00:20:31
believe they have seen a blood thirsty creature
00:20:33
called Chupacabra.
00:20:45
The Yunque rain forest on the island of Puerto Rico
00:20:49
is a lush, tropical paradise.
00:20:52
But eyewitnesses have reported that a mysterious beast
00:20:56
lurks on the fringes of the forest here.
00:21:02
When it moved, I could see it had something here on its head.
00:21:06
It was like a crest, but it moved and make noise.
00:21:09
[makes buzzing sound]
00:21:12
I felt like he was watching me because of certain movements
00:21:15
made by its eyes.
00:21:18
I could see three fingers on each hand, and on each finger
00:21:22
very long claws.
00:21:24
DENNIS FARINA: They called the beast Chupacabra,
00:21:27
and it preys on livestock, pets, and small animals.
00:21:32
It may look like a creature from a low budget horror film,
00:21:35
but these drawings are based on descriptions
00:21:38
from dozens of eyewitnesses.
00:21:43
In this day and age, it seems almost impossible that such
00:21:46
a creature might even exist.
00:21:49
Tales of the Puerto Rican monster
00:21:50
have been dismissed as fantasy and imagination,
00:21:54
it's attacks blamed on wild dogs or even monkeys.
00:21:58
And yet, the sightings continue.
00:22:02
The legend began when David Negron
00:22:05
went out one September morning before dawn
00:22:07
to check on his goat.
00:22:09
He was startled to find it had been killed.
00:22:14
After I found the goat dead, I was
00:22:16
standing there looking around and that's
00:22:18
when I saw the creature.
00:22:21
It was black and hairy.
00:22:23
It had large red eyes, and a crest on top of its head.
00:22:28
When I saw it, I felt scared and I began to run.
00:22:33
I'd never seen anything like it, and I've
00:22:35
never been that scared before.
00:22:38
DENNIS FARINA: Later that day, the investigators
00:22:40
from the civil defense agency examined the goat.
00:22:43
The only injuries they found were two small puncture
00:22:46
wounds on the back of its neck.
00:22:48
And yet, the goat was almost entirely drained of blood.
00:22:55
The local press jumped on the story.
00:22:57
The creature was quickly dubbed Chupacabra, the goat sucker.
00:23:03
Over the next three months, dozens of similar attacks
00:23:06
on small animals were reported.
00:23:09
In many occasions there's puncture wounds
00:23:12
about, I would say, maybe a fourth to an half an inch
00:23:16
in size.
00:23:17
Perfect circles.
00:23:19
These small puncture wounds go into the animals.
00:23:22
And in most occasions we have found
00:23:24
that they seem to go right to the brain of the animals
00:23:27
and kill the animals affecting the brain
00:23:29
and the nervous system of the animals.
00:23:31
In other occasions, they go right
00:23:34
straight into the animals in different areas
00:23:37
as if looking for certain organs.
00:23:40
DENNIS FARINA: Attacks had been reported all over Puerto Rico
00:23:43
with the greatest concentration in the village of Canovanas,
00:23:47
30 miles east of the capital city, San Juan.
00:23:53
There have been more than 100 animals killed.
00:23:55
We're talking about 70 or 80 attacks.
00:23:59
At the moment, we have some hysteria, some real problems,
00:24:03
and some fear.
00:24:04
I'm determined to resolve this matter.
00:24:07
DENNIS FARINA: Despite the hysteria,
00:24:09
there were still many skeptics.
00:24:11
Among them, police detective Eliezer Rivera.
00:24:17
I didn't believe in this Chupacabra.
00:24:19
The people were just speculating or perhaps
00:24:21
because they were emotional or afraid,
00:24:23
they exaggerated things.
00:24:26
Personally, I never was convinced of these stories.
00:24:29
I just never believed them.
00:24:32
DENNIS FARINA: That all changed one
00:24:33
night as Rivera and a friend drove home from church.
00:24:39
I saw something strange on the roadside.
00:24:42
I thought it was a puppet.
00:24:43
But as I watched and observed the puppet, it began to move.
00:24:47
And I thought, what is this?
00:24:52
It had long eyes that were illuminated.
00:24:55
It had fangs.
00:24:57
It was hairy, and it had three fingers with claws.
00:25:02
When I opened the car door, the animal stuck out
00:25:05
a long spike from his mouth.
00:25:07
I interpreted this spike as a defense mechanism,
00:25:10
so I sat back, closed the door, and kept watching.
00:25:17
In my experience as an investigator,
00:25:20
we're trained to analyze and quietly evaluate things.
00:25:24
It was in that moment, I can't lie to you, I was scared.
00:25:31
Now I know what's out there when people talk about Chupacabra.
00:25:35
He exists.
00:25:36
He's not any known animal.
00:25:39
I tell you sincerely, what I saw was not of this world.
00:25:43
Most of the eyewitness descriptions
00:25:45
are describing the same type of creature with the same details.
00:25:48
They describe something beast-like, animal-like,
00:25:53
with a strange type of head, more humanoid
00:25:55
looking, with big red luminous eyes, a flat nose,
00:25:59
a small sleek-like mouth with some fangs
00:26:02
protruding out from it.
00:26:03
Almost no ears.
00:26:06
DENNIS FARINA: Jorge Martin and a TV news crew
00:26:08
asked veterinarian Carlos Soto to examine two rabbits
00:26:12
allegedly killed by Chupacabra.
00:26:16
He was puzzled.
00:26:17
There was a precise circular wound on the back
00:26:20
of one rabbit's neck.
00:26:22
The internal organs had been moved,
00:26:24
and there was no sign of rigor mortis.
00:26:28
I thought, wow, there's something strange here
00:26:31
because this is not normal.
00:26:34
In my eight years in practice, I had never seen that before.
00:26:37
It was my first time to see something that odd.
00:26:41
DENNIS FARINA: A month later, Dr. Soto
00:26:42
examined 20 dead birds.
00:26:45
Each had been killed by a puncture wound
00:26:47
to the back of the neck.
00:26:50
In the animal autopsies that I've done,
00:26:53
the evidence does suggest that these animals
00:26:54
were attacked by something.
00:26:57
DENNIS FARINA: Dr. David Morales, a veterinarian
00:27:00
and spokesperson for the Puerto Rican government,
00:27:02
doesn't believe the rumors of a strange, unknown beast.
00:27:09
We think that they were attacked by dogs.
00:27:12
They might be wild dogs.
00:27:15
They could be vicious monkeys or could be tigers.
00:27:19
There are a number of possible predators
00:27:20
that could attack these animals in this way.
00:27:25
Something strange is going on.
00:27:27
This isn't about dogs or monkey or bats or anything like.
00:27:31
It's something very strange, and the creature
00:27:34
that we're searching for is very intelligent.
00:27:38
These attacks can't be dismissed as the accounts
00:27:42
of drunken people or ignorant people,
00:27:46
because we're talking about highly reliable people
00:27:49
all over Puerto Rico who are witnessing these attacks
00:27:52
and these creatures too.
00:27:55
DENNIS FARINA: Ferocious attacks on domestic animals
00:27:57
had been reported from Maine to Texas, from Colombia to Russia.
00:28:02
DNA tests on some samples from some of the attacking animals
00:28:06
show them to be diseased coyotes that have
00:28:09
been made hairless by mange.
00:28:12
But the Chupacabra remains a mystery.
00:28:19
Coming up, a young mother goes to work in a restaurant,
00:28:22
and is brutally murdered by a hot tempered coworker.
00:28:34
A woman named Jeanne Molina had a dream, a frightening dream
00:28:38
that she believed was a premonition
00:28:40
of violence against her.
00:28:42
This nightmare was so intense that Jeanne
00:28:44
made drastic changes in her life hoping to avoid the fate
00:28:48
predicted in her vision.
00:28:50
Little did she know that these changes would put
00:28:52
her on a deadly path toward the attack
00:28:55
rather than away from it.
00:28:58
She had had a dream that I was going to badly beat her up,
00:29:01
and she felt that she should get out of my house.
00:29:05
And I never understood why she would have a dream like that
00:29:08
and believe that dream.
00:29:11
DENNIS FARINA: Jeanne Molino was raised in Merced, California.
00:29:14
Following a tour of duty with the Navy,
00:29:16
she returned home and married Frank Reed
00:29:19
and had three children.
00:29:21
FRANK REED: We had a lot of fun.
00:29:22
We had a lot of respect for each other.
00:29:23
She just had all of the things that I've always wanted.
00:29:27
I mean, she was-- she made me want
00:29:30
to be married for a long time.
00:29:31
DENNIS FARINA: But when her youngest
00:29:33
child was two years old, Jeanne needed a change in her life.
00:29:37
She also wanted to escape the savage beating that
00:29:41
was predicted in her dream.
00:29:44
Jeanne left Merced, and move some 300 miles south
00:29:48
to the city of Tustin.
00:29:51
Her experience as a cook in the Navy helped her land a job
00:29:54
with a restaurant chain.
00:29:57
Within six weeks she had been promoted.
00:30:00
She was going to be training all of the new hires
00:30:03
at each restaurant as they opened up.
00:30:05
She'd had planned to take Joanna with her,
00:30:07
so it was kind of a neat experience for her.
00:30:11
She was really excited about it.
00:30:12
She was real happy.
00:30:14
DENNIS FARINA: Jeanne had been at her job for about two months
00:30:17
when she arranged for Joanna, her oldest daughter,
00:30:19
to come down from Merced and live with her.
00:30:22
Jeanne's parents agreed to drive 10-year-old Joanna to Tustin
00:30:29
Jeanne was real happy, because Joanna was going
00:30:32
to come and live with her.
00:30:33
And we made arrangements to take her down that weekend.
00:30:39
DENNIS FARINA: But when they arrived at Jeanne's home
00:30:41
as planned, no one was there.
00:30:44
Jeanne's parents then checked the restaurant
00:30:46
where she worked.
00:30:47
Is Jeannie here?
00:30:49
Jeannie Molina? - Uh, Jeannie?
00:30:50
No.
00:30:51
She didn't come in today.
00:30:54
Maybe we made a mistake.
00:30:56
DENNIS FARINA: The next morning, they went back to Jeanne's room
00:30:58
hoping to find her.
00:31:00
There was no note, no clue to where she might be.
00:31:05
Finally, they went to the local police
00:31:07
and reported her missing.
00:31:09
Yesterday we were supposed to meet with my daughter.
00:31:11
Deep down I did know that something was very wrong,
00:31:15
but I tried not to think about it because I knew that it
00:31:18
would just make things worse.
00:31:20
DENNIS FARINA: Jeanne Molino was nowhere to be found.
00:31:22
Her parents took Joanna back to Merced.
00:31:26
Little did they know that on the same day
00:31:28
they had driven to Tustin, a gruesome discovery was
00:31:31
made in Westminster, a town 10 miles away.
00:31:35
The badly crushed body of an unidentified woman
00:31:39
was found near an abandoned construction site.
00:31:42
It was one of the more vicious crime scenes
00:31:44
that we've investigated, and we've investigated
00:31:46
an awful lot of homicides.
00:31:49
DENNIS FARINA: Just after daybreak that Sunday,
00:31:51
a husband and wife witnessed a man acting
00:31:53
suspiciously near his car.
00:31:56
He picked up some type of a large object,
00:31:59
and we later found that to be a piece of asphalt.
00:32:02
And with both hands above his head just thrust it down hard.
00:32:07
And then, looked up and saw her.
00:32:10
And in her words, He panicked and jumped back
00:32:12
in this compact vehicle and sped off from the scene
00:32:16
at a high rate of speed.
00:32:20
We didn't feel that robbery was a motive.
00:32:22
She had some money on her.
00:32:25
She had a ring on her finger.
00:32:27
We felt that probably under the circumstances,
00:32:32
the suspects that did this knew her in some way.
00:32:35
They were trying to prevent us from finding out who she was.
00:32:39
DET.
00:32:40
MICHAEL PROCTOR: She was so badly damaged
00:32:42
that we couldn't tell if she was a female
00:32:44
Asian, white, Hispanic.
00:32:48
DENNIS FARINA: An autopsy revealed
00:32:49
that the woman had been sexually assaulted,
00:32:52
strangled, and bludgeoned.
00:32:54
Then, run over by a car.
00:32:57
Jeanne Molina's landlord read a newspaper article
00:33:00
about the unidentified female victim
00:33:03
and thought that it might be Jeanne.
00:33:05
He called the police who contacted Jeanne's husband.
00:33:10
Possibly the most difficult thing in my life
00:33:12
I ever had to do to go down and identify
00:33:15
somebody who was beaten so badly she was unrecognizable.
00:33:21
DENNIS FARINA: It wasn't until Frank
00:33:23
was shown the victim's ring that he was certain it was Jeanne.
00:33:29
Despite Jeanne's dream about her husband beating her,
00:33:32
investigators were able to quickly
00:33:34
eliminate Frank as a suspect.
00:33:37
I'd kind of come to believe that the dream wasn't about me.
00:33:40
It was a dream about something else,
00:33:42
and she had foreseen what was going to happen to her.
00:33:45
DENNIS FARINA: Detectives went to the restaurant
00:33:46
and questioned Jeanne's coworkers.
00:33:49
DET.
00:33:50
MICHAEL PROCTOR: One of the things we found out
00:33:51
was that she had worked on July 16, just about until 11 o'clock
00:33:57
at night.
00:33:59
One witness stated that she did come back after signing out
00:34:02
on the time card.
00:34:03
She did come back and talk to this particular individual
00:34:06
for a few minutes.
00:34:08
DENNIS FARINA: That individual was short order
00:34:10
cook Carlos Garcia Berdeja.
00:34:14
Jeanne might have gone with Berdeja to celebrate
00:34:17
her daughter's arrival.
00:34:18
What she probably didn't know was
00:34:21
that he had a history of violence
00:34:22
and a hair trigger temper.
00:34:26
Carlos, Maria will never go out with you
00:34:28
on account of your ugly.
00:34:29
DENNIS FARINA: Carlos Berdeja had threatened a fellow cook,
00:34:32
and then bragged about killing a man in Mexico.
00:34:35
(Angrily) Hey!
00:34:36
Who do you think you're talking to, huh?
00:34:38
Hey, that's not funny.
00:34:39
How's that?
00:34:40
[speaking spanish]
00:34:44
Yeah.
00:34:45
I killed a Mexican.
00:34:46
DET.
00:34:47
MICHAEL PROCTOR: Berdeja then came back
00:34:49
in, according to the person that we interviewed, the next day
00:34:52
and had some kind of paperwork with him stating
00:34:55
that he was wanted someplace in Mexico
00:34:57
for an additional homicide.
00:34:59
He came in the morning, but he didn't show up at night.
00:35:02
DENNIS FARINA: Carlos Berdeja quit his job the day
00:35:04
that Jeanne disappeared.
00:35:06
At Berdeja's apartment, police learned
00:35:08
that he and his common-law wife had left suddenly
00:35:11
on the day of the murder.
00:35:13
That afternoon, another neighbor saw Berdeja behaving
00:35:16
strangely around his car.
00:35:19
Berdeja was then seen attempting to clean
00:35:22
out parts of the vehicle.
00:35:25
Wait.
00:35:26
Hold on.
00:35:28
DENNIS FARINA: When Berdeja's car was later found abandoned,
00:35:30
it provided police with even more proof
00:35:33
that he was the killer.
00:35:36
Evidence not only in the vehicle
00:35:38
but on the undercarriage of the vehicle, that secured
00:35:42
in my mind with beyond a shadow of a doubt
00:35:44
that this was the vehicle that had been
00:35:46
used to run over Jeanne Molina.
00:35:51
DENNIS FARINA: Authorities had been searching
00:35:52
for Carlos Berdeja ever since.
00:35:55
Well, I hope they catch him.
00:35:57
And I just hope to be able to tell him what I think of him.
00:36:06
You're a coward, and you hide beneath your mother's skirts.
00:36:10
DENNIS FARINA: Carlos Garcia Berdeja
00:36:12
is in his late 40's, 5 feet 7 inches and weighs 180 pounds.
00:36:17
He may be using an alias and should be
00:36:19
considered extremely dangerous.
00:36:22
There are no warrants out for Berdeja's wife,
00:36:24
Leticia Herrera Estevez, but she is considered
00:36:28
a person of interest.
00:36:30
Both are believed to be living together in the United States.
00:36:34
If you have any information, please log on to our website
00:36:38
at unsolved.com
00:36:42
Next, he lived at the Y, ate out for a few dollars a day,
00:36:46
and left a quarter of a million dollar inheritance unclaimed.
00:37:03
Howard Drummond moved to the Lansing, Michigan YMCA
00:37:07
when he was 74 years old.
00:37:09
He rented a room for just $49 a week
00:37:13
and chose not to pay an extra $5 a day
00:37:16
to have a private bathroom.
00:37:19
He always ordered the same breakfast, fried eggs, bacon,
00:37:22
and rye toast for only $1.99.
00:37:26
He also bought two extra breakfasts,
00:37:29
packed them in his gym bag, and took them back to his room
00:37:32
for lunch and dinner.
00:37:35
Howard saved money and everything else.
00:37:38
In his room, he kept 50 coffee jars all empty.
00:37:43
He collected hundreds of magazines
00:37:45
and thousands of rubber bands.
00:37:48
He owned 80 pairs of white socks and eight
00:37:52
identical suits and hats so he can wear the exact same outfit
00:37:57
every day.
00:37:58
Howard spoke to a few people in the course of his day,
00:38:01
but when he did, he was always polite.
00:38:05
Primarily, Howard had a very regimented lifestyle.
00:38:08
He would pay his rent at a certain time every month.
00:38:12
The same amount every month.
00:38:14
His receipt, he would want stapled to a certain piece
00:38:17
of paper a certain way every time it was done.
00:38:22
DENNIS FARINA: Every day, Howard went
00:38:24
to the downtown Lansing post office
00:38:26
to pick up the "Wall Street Journal"
00:38:28
and his magazine subscriptions.
00:38:31
He often received envelopes from banks
00:38:33
and sent out registered letters to banks.
00:38:37
Howard never failed to stop for a chat with postal worker
00:38:40
Frances Dodge.
00:38:42
She agreed to help him with his shopping,
00:38:44
and he gave her the money to cover items
00:38:46
he put on his list which were written
00:38:49
on the back of old envelopes.
00:38:53
I thought he didn't have anything.
00:38:55
Why would anyone go around in the same clothes all the time?
00:38:58
He just looked really poor to me.
00:39:00
I always asked him why he wore that same hat all the time?
00:39:04
And he said, well, it's not worn out yet.
00:39:09
DENNIS FARINA: After completing his daily routine in Lansing,
00:39:12
Howard returned to the YMCA.
00:39:15
Until he died at the age of 78, Howard Drummond
00:39:19
never let anyone into his room.
00:39:23
Two days after Howard's death, a county appointed
00:39:26
attorney came to the YMCA.
00:39:28
Since Howard left no will, Paul Rosenbaum
00:39:32
was given the job of settling the estate
00:39:34
and finding Howard's heirs.
00:39:38
Looking for clues, Rosenbaum spread
00:39:41
Howard's possessions all over the conference table
00:39:44
at his law office.
00:39:46
PAUL ROSENBAUM: It took probably 2 and 1/2 weeks
00:39:47
to sort out everything.
00:39:49
He had every single piece of paper from probably 25 years.
00:39:54
He had a diary that was one of the most unbelievable things I
00:39:59
have ever witnessed in my life in which he kept
00:40:02
an hour by hour account of the headlines and news stations
00:40:07
across the whole United States.
00:40:10
He had three watches that wouldn't work.
00:40:13
There were thousands of used shoe laces, unlimited amount
00:40:18
of newspaper clippings with a lot
00:40:20
of it having to do with the royal family and Princess Di.
00:40:23
He was infatuated with her.
00:40:25
It was unique to say the least.
00:40:27
To the best of my knowledge, he had 11 separate bank accounts
00:40:33
from coast to coast with a quarter of a million dollars
00:40:36
in cash in the bank accounts.
00:40:38
And that quarter of a million dollars
00:40:39
is not even the tip of the iceberg.
00:40:41
He has a whole lot more money out there.
00:40:45
DENNIS FARINA: Strangely, the gym
00:40:47
bag Howard always carried with him was not found in his room.
00:40:51
Some say Howard kept his most important papers in that bag.
00:40:56
Rosenbaum did find a key marked number 29.
00:41:00
It seemed like a standard locker.
00:41:02
The type you might find in a bus station.
00:41:05
Could Howard's missing gym bag be in that locker?
00:41:09
Could the paper's inside help to identify his heirs?
00:41:14
We know little about Howard Thomas Drummond.
00:41:17
He was born in Houston, Texas in 1911 and was an only child.
00:41:22
He served in the Army from 1942 to 1945.
00:41:26
Drummond was once fired from a job at a California bank
00:41:30
for stealing Scotch tape.
00:41:32
And then, he became a postal employee
00:41:34
in Pasadena, California.
00:41:37
He lived at YMCAs in Pasadena, Denver, and Dayton
00:41:41
before moving to Lansing, Michigan.
00:41:43
He died at the age of 77.
00:41:49
Update.
00:41:51
After our story aired, several heirs
00:41:53
were able to prove their relationship
00:41:56
to Howard Drummond.
00:41:58
After attorneys fees, the inheritance
00:42:00
was divided among Drummond's half
00:42:02
brother, niece, and nephew.
00:42:05
The county has closed the case and is
00:42:08
no longer looking for heirs.
00:42:14
[music playing]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 70
    Most heartbreaking
  • 60
    Most shocking

Episode Highlights

  • The Mysterious Death of Kurt McFall
    A 17-year-old high school student disappears, leading to a chilling investigation.
    “Kurt told this friend of his that he was involved in some kind of satanic cult.”
    @ 02m 06s
    March 09, 2017
  • Christi Joe Nichols Disappears
    A young mother vanishes without a trace, leaving her family in turmoil.
    “Mark, could you just wait out here for--”
    @ 11m 04s
    March 09, 2017
  • The Chupacabra Sightings
    Eyewitnesses in Puerto Rico report encounters with a mysterious creature known as Chupacabra.
    “It was black and hairy. It had large red eyes, and a crest on top of its head.”
    @ 22m 21s
    March 09, 2017
  • Chupacabra Encounter
    Witness describes a terrifying encounter with a creature that defies explanation.
    “I tell you sincerely, what I saw was not of this world.”
    @ 25m 39s
    March 09, 2017
  • Jeanne Molina's Dream
    Jeanne's premonition leads her to drastic life changes, ultimately putting her in danger.
    “Deep down I did know that something was very wrong.”
    @ 31m 11s
    March 09, 2017
  • Howard Drummond's Hidden Wealth
    A frugal man with a regimented lifestyle leaves behind a surprising fortune.
    “To the best of my knowledge, he had 11 separate bank accounts.”
    @ 40m 27s
    March 09, 2017

Episode Quotes

  • Kurt was a handsome and popular high school student, a confident young man.
    Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 6, Episode 3
  • Kurt's father continues to believe that his son was murdered.
    Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 6, Episode 3
  • I hope, I hope and pray that she is alive.
    Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 6, Episode 3
  • I tell you sincerely, what I saw was not of this world.
    Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 6, Episode 3
  • Deep down I did know that something was very wrong.
    Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 6, Episode 3
  • I thought he didn’t have anything.
    Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 6, Episode 3

Key Moments

  • Kurt's Double Life02:49
  • Mysterious Circumstances05:50
  • Christi's Last Days13:46
  • Chupacabra Legend21:27
  • Jeanne's Premonition28:38
  • Murder Investigation31:31
  • Howard's Routine38:24
  • Hidden Inheritance41:51

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 7, Episode 7
March 09, 2017
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42:49
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 7, Episode 7
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 4, Episode 10
March 09, 2017
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42:48
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 4, Episode 10
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 6, Episode 6
March 09, 2017
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42:25
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 6, Episode 6
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 5, Episode 5
March 09, 2017
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42:53
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 5, Episode 5
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 3, Episode 14
March 09, 2017
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42:50
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 3, Episode 14
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 6, Episode 1
March 09, 2017
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42:49
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 6, Episode 1
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 2, Episode 4
March 09, 2017
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42:54
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 2, Episode 4
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 3, Episode 17
March 09, 2017
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42:54
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 3, Episode 17
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 2, Episode 10
March 09, 2017
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42:48
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 2, Episode 10
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 7, Episode 8
March 09, 2017
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42:53
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 7, Episode 8
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 5, Episode 7
March 09, 2017
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42:51
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 5, Episode 7