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this program is about unsolved mysteries
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whenever possible the actual family
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members and police officials have
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participated in recreating the events
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what you are about to see is not a news
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broadcast tonight on unsolved mysteries
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the Pony saga of Amelia Earhart 53 years
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ago she vanished in the South Pacific
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during around-the-world flight but
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eyewitness accounts suggest that a döner
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Earhart may have survived and been
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captured by the Japanese Navy in
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Woodstock Illinois
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Colleen Ritter on which church were
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typical highschool sweethearts until the
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romance went sour now Colleen's parents
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are dead and Ric Church has disappeared
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using an electronic stores of front FBI
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agents in Florida go undercover and
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capture the kingpins of a South American
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drug ring a real-life story of Miami
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Vice
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[Music]
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also we will present a follow-up to our
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story about a popular sixteen year old
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girl who mysteriously vanished most
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Sable forks in new york last year she
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was apparently in Los Angeles at a
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concert for the musical group New Kids
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on the Block and they even have been
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captured on film in their Rock video
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perhaps you help find Carrie Lynn Nixon
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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two years ago we examine the strange
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disappearance of a 16 year old girl
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tonight an update on our case an
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emergent appeal from her family and
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members of the teenage recording group
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New Kids on the Block Kerry Lynn Nixon's
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an above average student and well known
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and liked in a small community of Au
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Sable forks New York at around 10 p.m.
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on June 22nd 1987 Kerry was returning
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home after running an errand for her
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father a few minutes later at only 700
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feet from her doorstep Kerry Lynn Nixon
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disappeared
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my immediate reaction was terror and has
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been a nightmare ever since was Kerry's
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disappears the result of foul play or
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had she simply run away Kerry wrote some
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letters to a friend and in these letters
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she indicated she would like to live in
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Hawaii live moved to Florida possibly
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California and in fact leave the town of
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our Sable forks when she turned 18 my
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theory on this case is Carolyn Nixon was
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abducted her father gave her $20 for
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groceries she went to towns to store for
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her father left Thomas's door with the
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bag of groceries if she was a runaway
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she would have done none of those things
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she would have been dressed better she
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would have taken money with her that she
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had in her bedroom after we searched her
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bedroom she is a victim of a kidnapping
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authorities investigated dozens of
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reported sightings of Carrie but were
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unable to confirm her identity nothing
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has been found not one thing she's
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walked off the face of the earth as far
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as we're concerned as the years in the
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investigation dragged on Carrie's pairs
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began to give up hope of ever finding
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their daughter but all that changed in
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March of this year when they saw video
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tape of a concert given by the popular
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singing group New Kids on the Block
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On June 5th 1989 the group filmed their
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hangin tough live concert in Los Angeles
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California
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[Music]
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among the crowd of teenage fans Kathy
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and Gary Nixon saw a familiar face
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we couldn't believe how much that girl
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looks like our daughter so we just kept
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rewinding it and going over and over and
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over and we just couldn't believe it
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because we never really had any hope
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that she was alive and then there's this
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girl that looks so much like her I'm not
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100% convinced but it looks like our
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Carrie find viewing the tape
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I picked the girl out immediately the
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first time it rained through which is
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obvious to me that this girl did look
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like Kari Nixon and appeared to be her
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this the tale enhanced photographed was
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made from the videotape and compared
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with a picture of Carrie taken shortly
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before she disappeared there's obviously
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many similarities the hair length the
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hair color the shape of the face the
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chin the mouth and had displayed a
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multiple of earrings in the right ear in
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which Kari Nixon has four earrings in
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her right ear and two in her left so the
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photo enhanced finished product further
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convinced the Nixons that this could be
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their daughter
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members of the new kids on the block did
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not recognize the girl in the crowd but
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after hearing Carrie's story wanted to
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make a personal appeal well I just like
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to say to carry that if you're out there
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the best thing to do would just be to
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call somebody and you know even if you
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go to your local police and just just
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tell them your situation then maybe they
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can help you out or if any of you
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viewers out there who have seen her at a
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new kid show or just seen her on the
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street if you could contact someone you
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know to let them know where she is if
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she's alright it or anything that would
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be a big help we need to find this girl
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find out who she is
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whether it's Carrie or not just so that
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if it's not we can go on to something
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else to try and find her I love you
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Carrie and I need to talk to you
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[Music]
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six decades ago Amelia Earhart is one of
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the most famous women in the world
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she had the figure of a movie star in
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the face of an angelic tomboy the first
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woman to pilot an aircraft across the
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Atlantic in 1932 immediate defied labels
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and definitions our all-american girl
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park daredevil she was a perfect hero
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for her time but she was also ahead of
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her time a self effacing yet outspoken
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champion of women's rights a pilot the
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pilot I hope that such equality could be
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carried out in other fields so that men
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and women may achieve equally in any
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endeavor they set out on May 20th 1937
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Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred
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Noonan prepared for takeoff from Oakland
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California
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Amelia was 39 years old this flight was
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designed to be the capstone of her
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brilliant career as an aviator she was
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attempting to become the first person an
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or woman
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around the world at his widest point the
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equator today 53 years later new
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evidence has deepened the mystery
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surrounding Amelia Earhart's last flight
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the first leg of Elena's flight was via
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Burbank to Tucson from there she went on
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to New Orleans Miami Puerto Rico
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Venezuela and Brazil Emilien Fred then
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crossed the Atlantic landing in Senegal
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on the African coast they made several
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short hops across Africa then headed for
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Karachi in what is now Pakistan from
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there to Calcutta rangoli
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Singapore and two stops in Java then
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Australia and finally lay New Guinea
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[Music]
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Amelia and Fred had flown almost
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two-thirds of the way around the world
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and they done it fairly quickly they
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must have been very tired when they got
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to lay New Guinea they had two days
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there they tried to rest up but after
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that amount of flying time they must
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have been exhausted and here they were
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facing the most difficult leg of their
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flight from New Guinea Amelia and Fred
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faced a grueling 18 hours in the air
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they also had to hit an inconceivably
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tiny target Howland Island Howland is
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just a mile and a half long and a half
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mile wide at his highest point the
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island is only 20 feet above sea level
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about half the height of a telephone
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pole
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the difficulty factor on a scale of one
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to ten piloting from lay new Guinea to
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Howland Island in 1937 in that aircraft
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make it a ten the most difficult it
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would be like flying across the United
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States and locating the 18th green of a
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golf course in New Jersey on July 1st
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1937 Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan
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prepared to leave New Guinea squalls
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were predicted along their route they
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decided to postpone takeoff Amelia wired
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her husband that she would not make it
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back to Auckland on the 4th of July as
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planned at the cisely 10:00 a.m. on the
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2nd of July Amelia and Fred took off
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they planned to cross the International
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Dateline and land on Howland Island 18
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hours later
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though she had the best navigator in the
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world setting beside her Fred Noonan she
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was responsible for running that
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airplane she had to fly the head and she
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had to watch the weather she had to
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watch the fuel flows she had to watch
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some mixtures the carburetor air make
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sure they weren't getting carburetor
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rice she was responsible for the
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airplane maintaining altitude
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maintaining trim all these things were
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constant plus she had to do the radio
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transmissions Amelia was not competent
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where radio was concerned she would
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never take the time to learn properly I
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think it can be honestly said that the
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radio was the Achilles heel of that
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flight it may seem incredible now but in
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1937 before radar came in to use a
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battery-powered radio was Amelia's only
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link with the world flying the waters
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around Howland Island the Coast Guard
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Cutter at Aska stood ready to
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communicate by radio with Amelia as soon
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as she came within range with a radio
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barrier the attacker could rescue Amelia
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and Fred at sea should anything go wrong
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for 16 hours nothing did then Amelia's
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lack of radio expertise came into play
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about 17 hours and 14 minutes into the
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flight now we're really getting to the
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critical part she reports that she's
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approximately 200 miles out and she
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wants them to take a radial bearing on
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her and she whistles into the microphone
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what bearing on 3105
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[Music]
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she stopped whistling amia did not
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whistle long enough to give the attacker
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consistent signal what Amenia failed to
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understand was that whistling wasn't
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necessary simply allowing an
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uninterrupted radio signal to play for
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30 seconds would have been enough please
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repeat last transmission on 7500 I
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repeat 19 hours into the flight and one
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hour behind schedule Amelia and Fred
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calculated that they should be directly
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above Holland Island where they had also
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established clear radio contact looking
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down they saw only oh sure
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[Music]
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something was badly wrong only one said
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of me to indicated that she could hear
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the ataxia even though they could hear
00:13:12
her perfectly
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again all Amelia had to do was open her
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radio line to let a signal play so the
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attack occurred take a bearing and find
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out how far off course she was instead
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emedia stopped her radio transmissions
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she had overused the radio and drained
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her battery on a flight the year before
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so she was reluctant simply to let the
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transmitter run they know they've missed
00:13:37
the island gone past it but they don't
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know which side to have no way of
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knowing they have to take a radio
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bearing so a media does the only thing
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she can 20 hours and 13 minutes into the
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flight Amelia sends her last message her
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voice is talking very rapidly and very
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tense in her final radio message the
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media said she was switching frequencies
00:14:06
to 6210 kilocycles the attachment could
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not reach her on that frequency they
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assumed that Amelia
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once again unfamiliar with emergency
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radio procedure had turned her radio
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dial to the wrong setting
00:14:18
frantically the AtTask 'try Qin sees
00:14:21
with no luck come in over
00:14:24
we have an emergency notify all the
00:14:26
ships in the area Amelia Earhart's plane
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may be going down we may be losing her
00:14:30
that was a last verified transmission
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ever heard from the Earhart and
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Reddington
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they must have ran
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and within a minute or two from a
00:14:40
thousand feet would have had to ditch
00:14:41
the airplane into the ocean
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immediately a search effort began the
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largest-ever mounted to look for a
00:14:51
single plane ten ships 65 airplanes and
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4,000 men covered this 250,000 square
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mile area around Holland Island the
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search continued for 16 days experts
00:15:04
agree that a media's plane where this
00:15:06
empty gas tanks would have floated for
00:15:08
five to eight hours on the plane a
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median Fred had life preservers and a
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two-person inflatable life raft equipped
00:15:15
with emergency supplies so they could
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have been afloat for days
00:15:19
[Music]
00:15:28
experts believe Emilia went down
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somewhere near Howland Island but
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incredibly unconfirmed sightings have
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placed Amelia and Fred 2500 miles
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west-northwest of Howland on Saipan in
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the Mariana Islands on Amelia Earhart
00:15:46
and Fred Noonan disappeared Saipan was
00:15:48
an important military headquarters for
00:15:50
the Japanese intent on expanding his
00:15:53
empire Japan was about to attack China
00:15:56
and had begun to build up military
00:15:58
operations on key islands in the South
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Pacific July 1944 seven years after
00:16:06
Amelia Earhart's plane vanished the
00:16:08
island of Saipan was now controlled by
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American forces
00:16:12
sergeant Thomas Devine was a member of
00:16:14
the 240 fourth army unit I first became
00:16:19
aware of matter pertaining to Amelia
00:16:21
Earhart soon after my arrival on the
00:16:24
island lieutenant Lee big who was our
00:16:27
first lieutenant had secured a jeep and
00:16:31
told me that I was to drive you in to us
00:16:34
we don't airfield which was a short
00:16:36
distance away from our black area Devine
00:16:40
in the lieutenant rove along a heavily
00:16:42
guarded road they pulled up in front of
00:16:44
a padlocked aircraft hangar
00:16:49
I'm sorry sir this is a restricted area
00:16:52
restricted to whom with all due respect
00:16:55
sir that's none of your concern while he
00:16:56
waited timeless divine overheard
00:16:58
snatches of conversation from a nearby
00:17:00
group of Marines Amelia Earhart's plane
00:17:03
in that hangar
00:17:07
suddenly an official in civilian clothes
00:17:10
reprimanded the Marines people want to
00:17:13
knock off the chatter here you
00:17:15
understand what's going on this is a
00:17:16
classified project you've come about
00:17:18
that damn close to compromising the
00:17:20
project right now I'm telling you I want
00:17:22
you to sit down do your jobs and shut up
00:17:25
do you understand as we went back we
00:17:31
dropped the subject because it was just
00:17:33
a minor incident into place
00:17:35
later on that same day I heard a roar
00:17:39
from the airfield but we didn't pay too
00:17:42
much attention but till suddenly it came
00:17:45
overhead very very low and you could see
00:17:49
the markings on it it was not a military
00:17:51
plane it was a civilian plane the
00:17:54
marking was very evident than our
00:17:56
sixteen or twenty we all looked up we
00:17:59
all wondered what in the world was going
00:18:01
on
00:18:02
Thomas Devine wrote down the
00:18:05
identification numbers on the aircraft
00:18:06
they corresponded exactly to the numbers
00:18:10
on Amelia Earhart's plane that same
00:18:16
evening Tom saw the plane again now it
00:18:20
was on fire
00:18:23
and I was aghast to see this light the
00:18:27
so-called erhardt blank engulfed in
00:18:30
flames I saw that plane personally on
00:18:35
three occasions that they the last time
00:18:38
the plane was in flames
00:18:42
at about the same time Bob Wallach was
00:18:45
one of the Marines stationed on Saipan
00:18:50
claws and it's first Battalion 29th
00:18:52
Marines we were in the second wave going
00:18:57
into Saipan
00:18:59
there are a day time we got nothing to
00:19:01
do except look around souvenir hunt and
00:19:05
we're looking through some government
00:19:07
looking buildings brick buildings we
00:19:09
found this safe that was there one of
00:19:16
the guys was a demolition person the
00:19:18
noodle and he thought he could blow the
00:19:20
door off the safe and we'd have
00:19:21
something
00:19:24
[Music]
00:19:28
we talk of millionaires but anyway there
00:19:31
was a briefcase that I grabbed and I
00:19:35
thought I had it packed full of money or
00:19:37
something like that to my surprise it
00:19:40
was something I didn't expect to see but
00:19:43
it was full of a mini Earhart's papers
00:19:46
hey Joe
00:19:48
come take a look at this you got wallet
00:19:51
Amelia Earhart what's this stuff doing
00:19:54
here I may have only been 18 years old
00:19:57
but I knew I had piece of history of my
00:19:58
hand I think you're gonna have to turn
00:20:02
that stuff in yeah
00:20:05
walnut turned the briefcase and his
00:20:07
contents over to a commanding officer he
00:20:10
never saw it again
00:20:12
that briefcase is still some place in
00:20:16
this country I believe that because that
00:20:19
officer just I gave it to was high
00:20:21
enough rank that he didn't just take it
00:20:25
and throw it away he had something
00:20:27
valuable too
00:20:28
I do not believe Amelia Earhart died at
00:20:32
sea I think Amelia Earhart survived the
00:20:38
downing on an island in the buddy
00:20:41
Brennan has been investigating the
00:20:43
immediate air heart mystery for more
00:20:45
than 11 years in 1987 he interviewed a
00:20:49
woman in Saipan who said she had
00:20:50
witnessed Amelia's death unsolved
00:20:53
mysteries went to Saipan and interviewed
00:20:55
the same woman what follows is exerted
00:20:58
from both interviews news personnel
00:21:01
Miranda bass woman was brought ashore by
00:21:04
the Japanese
00:21:11
it was said they had captured two spy
00:21:14
people the Japanese soldiers wrote the
00:21:17
spies into town many of us went there to
00:21:22
see look at me look at it look at it I
00:21:30
think they want us to strip the Japanese
00:21:34
cars made them take off all their
00:21:36
clothes everything they had on their
00:21:38
bodies
00:21:39
[Music]
00:21:41
it was then we could see that one of the
00:21:44
spice was a woman I had never known
00:21:50
before a woman who wore men's trousers
00:21:59
Pusha Shinichi drinian AG palawan all
00:22:02
the things that happen today the
00:22:06
soldiers puto in jail they removed her
00:22:11
jewelry from her hands then the Japanese
00:22:16
came and gave her rice she threw it out
00:22:21
I'm a linear aggression when they took
00:22:24
or out of the prison they tied our hands
00:22:26
they blindfolded work
00:22:29
[Music]
00:22:30
I was working on the farm I saw a
00:22:33
Japanese motorcycle
00:22:35
[Music]
00:22:38
the woman was in a little seat on the
00:22:40
side of the motorcycle
00:22:43
citizen under
00:22:52
I watched and they took o to this place
00:22:55
where a hole had been dug
00:22:59
they made her kneel in front of the
00:23:01
whole circus Rhonda
00:23:07
then the shuttle
00:23:10
we did
00:23:11
[Music]
00:23:21
ah he muffled I planted a breadfruit
00:23:25
tree near her grave
00:23:30
in 1987 buddy Brennan conducted Mexico
00:23:33
vation of the gravesite he was only
00:23:36
allowed to dig for 12 hours we got down
00:23:40
to six and a half feet below what they
00:23:45
said would have been the surface in 1944
00:23:49
which is the date miss Blas gave us of
00:23:52
having witnessed the execution and
00:23:55
that's where we retrieved the blindfold
00:24:00
Brennan believes this tattered fragment
00:24:02
of cloth was a blindfold worn by Amelia
00:24:05
Earhart however no human remains were
00:24:08
unearthed
00:24:12
what really happened in Saipan was
00:24:14
Amelia Earhart executed here
00:24:17
buzzer aircraft burned here on American
00:24:20
airfield
00:24:20
if so who burned it and why or did
00:24:25
Amelia Earhart and Fred Newman go down
00:24:27
with her plane and perish somewhere in
00:24:29
the vast South Pacific I am convinced
00:24:33
that the most probable end to the Amelia
00:24:35
Earhart flight ended with them running
00:24:38
out of fuel just like Pete said on the
00:24:40
radio and just like the official
00:24:42
accident investigation report indicated
00:24:46
from captain noise on the Lexington that
00:24:48
they were forced to ditch northwest of
00:24:50
Howland Island after their fuel was
00:24:52
exhausted and they couldn't find Howland
00:24:54
Island because of a navigational error
00:24:56
[Music]
00:24:57
tone Jim long believes Amelia Earhart
00:25:00
and Fred Luna got into three properties
00:25:02
the United States nautical charts Fred
00:25:05
was using at Miss located Howland Island
00:25:07
by six miles a faulty compass on their
00:25:11
aircraft have come seven miles farther
00:25:13
off course finally wind rifts and
00:25:16
related factors pushed them another 22
00:25:19
miles west
00:25:21
according to Elgin long Emilien Fred
00:25:24
ended up a full 35 miles off course I
00:25:27
stick with where the airplane went down
00:25:30
what happened to Amelia I'm pretty not
00:25:32
positive Oh Bob we won't know until they
00:25:34
locate the airplane
00:25:36
I think if we can raise her airplane and
00:25:40
prove once and for all the solution to
00:25:44
the merrier air are at mystery it will
00:25:47
be something very very worthwhile for
00:25:49
our heritage we can't afford to throw
00:25:52
our heroes away many believe that the
00:25:57
mystery of Amelia Earhart could be
00:25:59
solved simply by a deep-sea diving
00:26:00
expedition perhaps so or perhaps Amelia
00:26:05
Earhart is destined to remain a
00:26:06
legendary figure a hero suspended in
00:26:09
time at the apex of an unsolved mystery
00:26:13
[Music]
00:26:17
when we return the chilling tale of a
00:26:21
teenager who apparently embarked on a
00:26:22
murderous rampage when his girlfriend
00:26:25
broke up with him
00:26:26
[Music]
00:26:36
ray and Ruth Ann Ritter grew up in
00:26:39
Woodstock Illinois a small town north of
00:26:41
Chicago
00:26:42
they married 1968 and had three children
00:26:45
Colleen Steve and Matthew the Raiders
00:26:50
were a close-knit family strong
00:26:51
churchgoers and community workers on
00:26:55
fifteen-year-old Colleen began a date a
00:26:57
childhood friend Rick Church it seemed
00:27:00
only natural Colleen and Rick were both
00:27:04
students at a small Catholic High School
00:27:05
at first their relationship seemed like
00:27:08
a typical teenage infatuation school
00:27:17
I first started dating Rick when I was a
00:27:20
sophomore at that point he was a senior
00:27:23
if I didn't care my test yeah Rick was
00:27:25
really good-looking he was involved in
00:27:28
sports activities he was real quiet
00:27:31
though he had a lot of friends but he
00:27:33
was real quiet
00:27:35
I know it's not a fun position a year
00:27:38
after Colleen and Rick began dating Rick
00:27:40
quite away to college Colleen the
00:27:43
romance began to cool a waning of young
00:27:47
lovers of everyday occurrence
00:27:49
fortunately most teenage hearts been
00:27:51
quickly in the case of Colleen Ritter
00:27:54
and Rick Church our or something went
00:27:56
wrong berry room Rick seemed unable to
00:27:59
accept the idea that the courtship might
00:28:01
be over from his college dorm he called
00:28:04
Colleen nearly every night upset and on
00:28:06
edge no one suspected that Rick Church
00:28:09
was coming unhinged
00:28:14
no I rec I'm fine yeah what are you
00:28:20
doing I really haven't studied much I
00:28:27
just called 30 for a second that's not
00:28:32
true look I'm sorry I just I really have
00:28:36
to study I'll have to call you tomorrow
00:28:38
okay fine well good luck on your math
00:28:41
test
00:28:41
[Music]
00:28:53
Rick I have been doing a lot of thinking
00:28:56
in June of 1988 Rick came home from
00:29:00
college to find that his parents had
00:29:01
separated and his girlfriend had reached
00:29:04
a decision so what are you getting at I
00:29:10
think we should see other people I'm not
00:29:16
good enough for you at the beginning of
00:29:18
this that summer he became very
00:29:20
possessive you know where are you going
00:29:23
who are you gonna be with you know that
00:29:26
type of thing they're just like crowded
00:29:28
me too much I couldn't stand that you
00:29:31
were calling me all the time really
00:29:34
sorry if I inconvenienced you
00:29:37
we took possessor
00:29:40
I found it was really hard breaking up
00:29:42
with Rick I still wanted to be friends
00:29:44
we had known each other you know
00:29:45
practically all our lives and I did
00:29:47
consider him a good friend so I thought
00:29:52
maybe this just wasn't it was like a
00:29:53
French up trying to turn into a romance
00:29:55
and it just didn't didn't cut it you
00:29:58
know it just didn't work so then I just
00:30:00
wanted us to be friends once again
00:30:02
because he really didn't he really
00:30:04
needed somebody and I wanted to be you
00:30:06
know a friend for him but I just
00:30:07
couldn't be his girlfriend anymore it
00:30:08
was too hard anyway two months later on
00:30:13
the night of Saturday August 20th
00:30:14
Colleen had a friend sleeping or as did
00:30:17
her brother Matthew ray and Ruth Ann
00:30:20
Ritter were out with friends and their
00:30:21
other son was away at 11:30 p.m.
00:30:30
Rick Church telephoned upset because he
00:30:32
wanted one last Saturday night with
00:30:34
Colleen's
00:30:36
he was kind of depressed he was 17
00:30:39
question I'm very depressed and very
00:30:41
silent really quiet like he he knew
00:30:45
something he didn't want to tell me or
00:30:46
something and he immediately then I said
00:30:53
well you know don't talk to me like that
00:30:55
if you're gonna act like this you don't
00:30:56
want to talk to you tonight I'll just
00:30:57
talk to you tomorrow then
00:30:58
so well fine he just hung up on me I
00:31:00
don't I don't know exactly how the fight
00:31:02
started but it ended up where he just
00:31:04
hung up I know I don't think there was
00:31:07
very there was anything really unusual
00:31:09
about that we had gotten in arguments
00:31:11
before and he had hung up on me before
00:31:12
and I had done the same it wasn't
00:31:14
unusual I don't think in any
00:31:17
circumstance it was just a basic fight
00:31:43
[Music]
00:31:44
around 5:15 a.m. Ric Church entered the
00:31:48
Ritter's house what the police believe
00:31:52
happened next is based on their
00:31:53
investigation and eyewitness accounts
00:31:56
[Music]
00:31:58
ray and Ruth Ann Ritter were asleep in
00:32:01
their ground-floor bedroom
00:32:04
[Music]
00:32:11
by 5:25 a.m. they were both dead
00:32:18
upstairs 11 year old Matthew Ritter
00:32:21
awoke
00:32:24
he was stabbed twice
00:32:33
[Music]
00:32:38
how incredibly died
00:32:44
written broke into the room she rat
00:32:50
Rick never spoke he began to stab
00:32:53
Colleen was like laying on a cedar chest
00:33:01
just pretending I was dead so he would
00:33:03
staff or just trying to do anything so
00:33:05
he would stop I was like playing dead
00:33:07
and that didn't work he kept attacking
00:33:09
me I told him I just yelled out I love
00:33:12
you just so I thought maybe he would
00:33:14
stop
00:33:14
I was trying anything at that point
00:33:21
[Music]
00:33:32
[Applause]
00:33:32
[Music]
00:33:34
Rick fled when two neighbors came to
00:33:37
Kylie's day inside the house young
00:33:45
Matthew Ritter had managed to get to the
00:33:47
telephone and give his address to the
00:33:48
9-1-1 operator the police arrived almost
00:33:51
immediately operating into the false
00:33:59
impression that Rick had run back into
00:34:00
the Ritter house the police concentrated
00:34:03
their initial search efforts there
00:34:05
Matthew bloody and in shock huddled with
00:34:08
his friend who was unharmed
00:34:10
Colleen's girlfriend had also escaped
00:34:12
uninjured in the downstairs bed they
00:34:16
found the bodies of Colleen and Matthews
00:34:18
parents
00:34:21
meanwhile Rick Church had run the 12
00:34:23
blocks to his home and was hardly
00:34:24
packing his things
00:34:30
[Music]
00:34:39
at 5:45 a.m. Rick took his mother's
00:34:42
truck and vanished less than 1/2 hour
00:34:45
had elapsed since the bloody attack on
00:34:47
the Witter family
00:34:50
a Woodstock police issued an all-points
00:34:53
bulletin this was not a criminal or
00:34:58
somebody that's hanging out on the
00:34:59
street or anything like that this is a
00:35:00
kid who'd gone to school here all his
00:35:02
life and you know knew a lot of people
00:35:03
and had a lot of friends and went on to
00:35:05
college and then all of a sudden you
00:35:07
know was accused of a crime like this
00:35:08
and I was thinking be totally out of
00:35:10
character for something like this and I
00:35:12
really don't know today yet what the
00:35:16
motive might have been you know
00:35:17
speculation is the breakup
00:35:18
boyfriend/girlfriend relationship that's
00:35:21
the do something like this
00:35:23
it's really something over that but you
00:35:26
know that's what we have at this point
00:35:27
the reason at the hospital police put
00:35:31
Colleen Ritter and her brother Matthew
00:35:32
under 24-hour guard in case Rick Church
00:35:35
showed up again
00:35:36
Matthew was treated and released the
00:35:38
next day but Colleen was critically
00:35:41
injured with more than 20 stab wounds
00:35:42
most of them in the back of her head
00:35:45
some of Connie's doctors feared she
00:35:47
would be permanently blind or suffer
00:35:49
irreversible brain damage
00:35:51
two days later while Colleen was still
00:35:54
in intensive care
00:35:55
her parents were buried the hardest part
00:36:00
throughout all of this as I guess not
00:36:06
having my parents there that's real hard
00:36:10
that's that's
00:36:12
two of your best friends
00:36:14
and they're gone so that's hard and not
00:36:18
being able to say goodbye because I
00:36:19
wasn't it therefore you know that was
00:36:20
hard so I did that in my own way and I
00:36:23
still am next the story of a risky
00:36:41
undercover operation conducted by the
00:36:44
FBI to capture Colombian drug lords in
00:36:50
[Music]
00:36:57
South America the country of Colombia
00:37:00
continues to fight for its life Hubley
00:37:03
war against drugs the Colombian drug
00:37:07
cartels have taken full credit for
00:37:09
making terrorism and political
00:37:11
assassination our way of life in their
00:37:13
country and have made no secret of the
00:37:15
fact that they want to increase their
00:37:17
power in the United States a cartels the
00:37:22
leaders of the cartels the members of
00:37:24
the cartels in South America and their
00:37:26
representatives in the United States a
00:37:28
particularly vicious there is no premium
00:37:31
on human life these people make the
00:37:35
Mafia look like Boy Scouts they are
00:37:38
totally violent they will kill almost
00:37:41
for the sake of killing Colombian drug
00:37:46
cartels bring in more than five billion
00:37:48
dollars a year in an effort to stem the
00:37:50
tide of the cartels influence inside our
00:37:52
borders the FBI three years ago mounted
00:37:55
one of the riskiest sting operations in
00:37:57
United States history because drug
00:37:59
traffickers need above all else
00:38:01
efficient and unbuckled
00:38:02
telecommunications the FBI said is
00:38:05
trapped in an electronic store
00:38:08
[Music]
00:38:11
the sting operation began in May of 1987
00:38:15
in Miami Florida its center was the
00:38:17
unassuming are a communications company
00:38:19
which sold sophisticated telephone
00:38:22
systems and electronic devices the first
00:38:24
customers weren't quick to arrive some
00:38:27
information on your SAT phones okay well
00:38:30
we sell in-service cellular phones we
00:38:32
also service beepers and sell beepers
00:38:34
what's that you're interested in the
00:38:37
reception is sandy and the manager Jay
00:38:39
were both highly trained FBI agents
00:38:49
sandy do me a favor take messages okay
00:38:52
the drug runners wanted the latest and
00:38:55
carfon ship-to-shore radio beepers
00:38:57
remote phones and airplane
00:38:59
telecommunications devices we did
00:39:07
everything we could to provide them by
00:39:09
so doing of course we knew how they were
00:39:11
operating we knew what frequencies they
00:39:13
were operating on and it gave us the leg
00:39:15
up the drug traffickers overriding need
00:39:21
was for untraceable means of
00:39:22
communication the word on the street was
00:39:25
RA had the best all the employees an RA
00:39:29
who are cooperating fully with the FBI
00:39:30
we're men the drug runners trusted I'm
00:39:36
gonna talk to the man in the moon right
00:39:38
now listen I got a no the men in the
00:39:41
moons wife isn't listening they'll say
00:39:43
I'm saying what you want to know is if
00:39:45
this phone is tapped able right I'm
00:39:47
telling you listen to me now trust me
00:39:49
there's no way you can tap into this
00:39:52
phone in your experience
00:39:53
there's no I'm an expert I just told you
00:39:55
this is the top-of-the-line
00:39:56
state-of-the-art unit we held ourselves
00:39:59
out as being a service component of the
00:40:02
drug business
00:40:03
we made it attractive for them to remain
00:40:06
talk converse and that became a place to
00:40:09
congregate it took on an aura of a
00:40:11
clubhouse type of effect our clientele
00:40:13
probably six months into the operation
00:40:15
was entirely drug
00:40:16
traffickers soon the really major
00:40:20
players in the drug underworld began to
00:40:22
drop into the army Clubhouse one of them
00:40:24
was Colombian national hey sue spaniel
00:40:27
better known by the FBI to handle
00:40:29
regular shipments of cocaine worth as
00:40:32
much as fifty million dollars hazus came
00:40:36
to trust the undercover agents and
00:40:40
cooperative parties working in our a
00:40:42
communications great that he'd been
00:40:47
involved in some violent incidents in
00:40:49
Colombia South America talked about his
00:40:52
desire to flood United States with
00:40:54
cocaine he freely discussed with us the
00:40:57
movement from Colombia South America
00:40:59
through the Bahamas and into the United
00:41:01
States inside the clubhouse Pena of FL
00:41:08
safe enough to make drug deals using the
00:41:11
company phone his conversations were
00:41:14
videotaped and monitored by FBI agents
00:41:26
Hany Oliver's cronies joined him and in
00:41:30
the clubhouse it was not uncommon to see
00:41:32
as many as three different drug
00:41:33
traffickers doing business
00:41:35
simultaneously into the early morning
00:41:37
hours one of those traffickers was
00:41:42
cartel operative Julio Marco COO Julio
00:41:51
Marco Cruz was a customer a purchaser
00:41:53
someone who was going to receive in
00:41:56
excess of 100 kilos of cocaine Cruz had
00:42:00
arranged to receive his large cocaine
00:42:02
shipment nearly November on a book
00:42:04
called a tremolo through our ease
00:42:06
personnel the FBI discovered The
00:42:09
Tremeloes route and time door at the
00:42:11
United States Coast Guard
00:42:14
[Applause]
00:42:16
November 19th 1988 the tremolo entered
00:42:19
US waters and the Coast Guard moved in
00:42:22
the letters of a massive shipment of
00:42:24
cocaine
00:42:25
[Music]
00:42:32
under the Tremeloes floorboards aegis
00:42:35
discovered over 800 pounds of cocaine
00:42:37
their street value nearly forty million
00:42:40
dollars the next day crews showed up at
00:42:45
our a communications accompanied by his
00:42:47
bodyguards
00:42:48
amazingly he seemed to know nothing
00:42:51
about The Tremeloes capture Jay made a
00:42:59
quick decision to keep his cover intact
00:43:01
he told crews about the drug bust on the
00:43:11
cruise was infuriated but he never
00:43:14
suspected that the men who told him
00:43:16
about the bust were in fact responsible
00:43:18
for it he continued to use the same
00:43:21
telephones he had used before and the
00:43:23
FBI continued to gather information it
00:43:32
appeared as if the are a sting might go
00:43:34
on indefinitely but during the fall of
00:43:37
1988 his sous spaniel fair had begun
00:43:40
forcing his attentions on sandy the FBI
00:43:46
fear that sandy eller other agents might
00:43:48
be in jeopardy
00:43:52
the agents who are involved in
00:43:54
undercover activity are exposed to
00:43:57
potential danger at any given time
00:43:59
circumstances were different okay and
00:44:02
really we very closely reviewed and
00:44:05
evaluated with the FBI headquarters and
00:44:07
the other agencies have participated
00:44:09
that we had accomplished a great deal
00:44:11
and it was the appropriate time to bring
00:44:14
forward the matters to a prosecutor face
00:44:17
on December 6th 1988 the FBI brought
00:44:21
charges against nearly 100 drug
00:44:23
traffickers are a communications was
00:44:26
shut down we had a significant amount of
00:44:31
arrests to undertake we had a very
00:44:33
detailed plan of the 93 people indicted
00:44:36
throughout the United States we were
00:44:38
able to apprehend 68 some people
00:44:52
[Music]
00:45:06
next week on unsolved mysteries in 1965
00:45:11
one of the first black deputy sheriffs
00:45:13
of Louisiana was gunned down at cold
00:45:15
blood while on duty 24 years later new
00:45:19
leads prompted the FBI to reopen the
00:45:22
case for every mystery there is someone
00:45:26
somewhere who knows the truth perhaps
00:45:29
it's you
00:45:32
[Music]
00:45:53
[Applause]
00:45:57
[Music]
00:46:05
you
