00:00:00
[Music]
00:00:05
next on Unsolved Mysteries a convicted
00:00:08
murderer escapes from prison with the
00:00:10
deputy warden's wife is she a hostage or
00:00:14
an accomplice a respected police officer
00:00:17
has a UFO encounter that has even the
00:00:20
Skeptics
00:00:21
convinced the assassination of Martin
00:00:24
Luther King Jr did James Earl Ray act
00:00:28
alone or was he part of
00:00:30
of a
00:00:32
conspiracy and an update about a man
00:00:34
sentenced to life in prison for a murder
00:00:36
he says he didn't
00:00:40
commit I'm Dennis finina and this is
00:00:43
Unsolved
00:00:56
[Music]
00:00:58
Mysteries
00:01:04
[Music]
00:01:16
[Music]
00:01:21
Granite
00:01:24
Oklahoma home of the Oklahoma State
00:01:26
Reformatory a medium security prison it
00:01:30
was a normal workday for Deputy Warden
00:01:31
Randy Parker until he received a strange
00:01:34
call from his daughter Deputy warden's
00:01:36
office hi Dad it's me um mom's not here
00:01:39
right now she's not and I just came in
00:01:42
and Brandy was sitting all alone on the
00:01:46
floor sweee a half hour later Parker's
00:01:49
wife Bobby was still not at home she's
00:01:53
not home yet listen uh he asked guards
00:01:56
to check on a prison trustee who worked
00:01:58
with his wife at their home the inmate
00:02:02
Randolph Franklin dial was also
00:02:06
missing inmate do is not any cell I knew
00:02:09
at that point that D had escaped in the
00:02:12
fear that he had taken Bobby but yet I
00:02:16
hadn't I hadn't admitted that to myself
00:02:20
yet it was Randy Parker's worst
00:02:22
nightmare his wife the mother of his two
00:02:25
girls kidnapped by a killer but was
00:02:29
Bobby Parker really abducted or did she
00:02:32
run off with a convicted
00:02:35
criminal Randolph Franklin dial was a
00:02:38
confessed Contract Killer and told me to
00:02:41
get off of his property and I pulled the
00:02:43
piece out and fired
00:02:47
once hitting him approximately right
00:02:50
here dial served eight years of hard
00:02:53
time then he was transferred to a
00:02:55
minimum security unit for good behavior
00:02:58
prison officials consider dial a model
00:03:02
prisoner Randolph dial was given trustee
00:03:05
status he was given full run of the
00:03:08
prison in fact as a trustee even though
00:03:10
he was under a murder conviction he was
00:03:12
given access to property outside the
00:03:14
prison there was really no supervision
00:03:17
over Randolph
00:03:19
dial Di's regular work assignment was
00:03:22
caretaker at the home of Deputy Warden
00:03:25
Randy Parker Randy his wife Bobby and
00:03:28
their two daughters lived right next
00:03:30
door to the
00:03:32
prison over the years Bobby Parker had
00:03:35
worked with inmates as a volunteer for
00:03:37
some Rehabilitation programs she and
00:03:40
Randolph dial began working together
00:03:42
when money was donated to start a prison
00:03:44
arts project on it anyway dial often
00:03:47
spent time alone with Bobby in her
00:03:50
garage which had been converted into a
00:03:52
Ceramics Studio you know what we can
00:03:56
make a
00:03:57
fortune go into business together other
00:04:01
we are we're making good money think of
00:04:03
the money the prison's making I think
00:04:05
that he probably read more into the
00:04:08
working relationship and than what was
00:04:10
actually there you know a man's locked
00:04:12
up for over 8 years going on 9 years he
00:04:15
has a woman who is very attractive very
00:04:18
cordial very compassionate caring so
00:04:21
honey are you going to have another late
00:04:22
night the day Di and Bobby disappeared
00:04:24
began like any other I love you love you
00:04:28
have a good day
00:04:31
dial was working in the yard when Randy
00:04:33
left his house take it easy on him over
00:04:36
there
00:04:38
sir when Randy came home for lunch he
00:04:41
found a note from Bobby saying that she
00:04:43
had gone shopping and that his sandwich
00:04:45
was in the
00:04:47
refrigerator it was not anything out of
00:04:50
the ordinary at all to see a note there
00:04:51
let me know where she was um being
00:04:53
concerned that I would be worried or
00:04:56
having my lunch there for
00:04:58
me
00:05:01
Randy went back to work later he
00:05:04
received the call from his daughter
00:05:05
saying Bobby was missing mommy's gone
00:05:08
shopping she'll be home real soon
00:05:10
Daddy'll be home in a little bit okay
00:05:12
thanks
00:05:13
Dad hi sweetie hi Daddy mom still isn't
00:05:17
home yet Randy arrived home a half hour
00:05:20
later Bobby was still not there he began
00:05:24
to fear the
00:05:26
worst then I began to think back you
00:05:29
know I had seen D since this morning
00:05:31
morning M par and usually when I come
00:05:33
home for lunch he's usually there
00:05:35
hanging out trade jobs with
00:05:38
you take it easy on them on over there
00:05:41
sir when Randy found out that dial was
00:05:44
missing he was afraid that the inmate
00:05:47
had abducted Bobby in the family
00:05:51
van hello Mom it's me hi Bobby later
00:05:55
that day Bobby called her mother crying
00:05:58
and upset need you to call up Randy all
00:06:01
right Bobby told her that everything
00:06:03
would soon be okay and asked her to tell
00:06:05
her daughters that she loved them oh I
00:06:07
got to go and she hung up and I knew
00:06:10
immediately that she had been abducted
00:06:13
because my daughter wouldn't talk like
00:06:15
that Bobby she would have called her own
00:06:18
girls and everything she was not a
00:06:21
crying person I didn't know what D was
00:06:24
going to do if how he was going to harm
00:06:25
her hurt her threaten her and and of
00:06:29
course I was worried sick about her but
00:06:31
then I was also worried you know how am
00:06:32
I going to tell the
00:06:34
girls the next day Bobby called her best
00:06:37
friend with the same message the friend
00:06:39
also felt that Bobby was being held
00:06:41
against her
00:06:42
will 24 hours later the Parker's van was
00:06:46
found abandoned just across the Texas
00:06:49
border the vehicle was basically clean
00:06:52
we found no indications that a violent
00:06:55
struggle had taken place in the vehicle
00:06:57
there were no blood splattering at all
00:06:59
we did find uh cigarettes there Basic
00:07:03
cigarettes which was the brand that
00:07:04
Randolph dial
00:07:06
smoked Randy Parker then found out that
00:07:09
dial had been trying to get valum from
00:07:11
other inmates if he could have got some
00:07:14
valum to her in a glass of tear or
00:07:17
[Music]
00:07:18
something then he picked her up and he
00:07:20
walked her out to the van and he laid
00:07:22
her down in there and he took off I
00:07:24
believe that's what happened that's a
00:07:26
girl that's it but authorities had to
00:07:29
consider another
00:07:32
possibility that Bobby Parker had
00:07:34
willingly run off with
00:07:37
dial it does appear that there was a
00:07:40
certain Fascination that Randolph di had
00:07:42
for for Bobby
00:07:44
Parker from interviews with other
00:07:46
inmates at the institution he made
00:07:48
comments indicating that that he was
00:07:50
romantically attracted to Bobby we don't
00:07:54
know if that was uh reciprocated in any
00:07:57
fashion my wife did not leave
00:08:00
voluntarily with dial she did not fall
00:08:02
in love with him I believe that to the
00:08:06
very depths of my soul that that is that
00:08:09
is not even within the realm of
00:08:11
possibilities that she would abandon two
00:08:13
children run off with an inmate who's
00:08:15
who's who's convicted for murder throw
00:08:18
away everything that she's ever had
00:08:21
that's just not even possible that is
00:08:24
absurd and
00:08:27
ridiculous going make this quick
00:08:29
10 days after Bobby disappeared she
00:08:31
called her brother's wife once again
00:08:34
Bobby sounded upset she asked her
00:08:37
sister-in-law to tell the girls that she
00:08:39
loved them and that everything would be
00:08:41
all right listen I need you to do me
00:08:44
that was the last contact at anybody's
00:08:46
had that I know of that's been a long
00:08:48
time and I just keep waiting for another
00:08:50
phone call keep waiting for
00:08:53
something over the next four weeks there
00:08:55
were some sightings of Randolph dial and
00:08:58
a woman who might have been Bobby
00:09:00
Parker one of the most credible was at
00:09:03
an art sale if the woman with dial was
00:09:06
Bobby she had either dyed her hair
00:09:08
blonde or was wearing a
00:09:11
wig I want my wife back I want her back
00:09:14
today this minute you know those kids
00:09:17
have got to have their
00:09:19
mother nothing nothing not my career not
00:09:24
anything matters but her getting
00:09:27
returned back I just want her
00:09:31
back
00:09:34
update after being on the run for 10
00:09:36
years Randolph dial and Bobby Parker had
00:09:39
been found living together in a small
00:09:42
town in Texas a tip LED law enforcement
00:09:45
agents to a mobile home where dial was
00:09:47
arrested Bobby Parker was found working
00:09:50
on a nearby
00:09:52
Ranch according to news reports dial
00:09:55
said that his relationship with Bobby
00:09:57
was never romantic
00:09:59
he said that she lived in fear that he
00:10:01
would harm her or her family if she
00:10:03
tried to leave Rand dial was returned to
00:10:06
prison with 7 years added to his
00:10:08
sentence for the Escape he died in 2007
00:10:13
while still behind
00:10:16
bars Bobby Parker has been reunited with
00:10:20
her
00:10:23
family coming up was James Earl Ray the
00:10:27
real assassin of Martin Luther King and
00:10:31
next a veteran police officer has an
00:10:34
otherworldly encounter in the New Mexico
00:10:45
desert the small town of sakuro New
00:10:52
Mexico on April 24th
00:10:55
1964 police officer Lan Zamora spotted a
00:10:59
a local teenager speeding through
00:11:07
[Music]
00:11:09
[Applause]
00:11:12
town officers zoraa fou of the teenager
00:11:15
to the edge of sakuro and out into the
00:11:19
desert Zamora had no idea of the strange
00:11:23
twist his life was about to
00:11:26
[Music]
00:11:27
take
00:11:28
[Applause]
00:11:29
[Music]
00:11:43
lonni Zamora would soon find himself at
00:11:46
the center of the best documented UFO
00:11:48
sighting on record one that the US Air
00:11:51
Force has labeled
00:11:55
unexplained sakuro to sakuro Sako go
00:11:58
ahead we go going up to halfway I could
00:12:00
see a white object to my left I thought
00:12:02
it was a turnover car when I got up on
00:12:04
top of the Miss there I looked down and
00:12:07
I seen this uh big white object on the
00:12:16
ground I thought I could see something
00:12:18
around the craft there I could see some
00:12:21
figures looked like they were walking
00:12:22
around the
00:12:24
craft according to Lonnie there were red
00:12:26
markings on the hall a vertical arrow
00:12:29
with a horizontal line beneath it and a
00:12:31
crescent-shaped line above
00:12:36
it Soro Lonnie tried to radio Police
00:12:40
Headquarters but was not able to break
00:12:42
through the heavy static after hearing
00:12:44
two metallic sounds like doors clanging
00:12:47
shut Lonnie noticed that the small
00:12:49
Figures were
00:12:55
gone so this flame com on from
00:12:58
underneath it
00:12:59
and I ran back behind my
00:13:01
car and it went up to two 20 30 ft up in
00:13:04
the
00:13:09
air you just stayed there for a
00:13:11
while and then finally just took off
00:13:14
slowly to the
00:13:24
West at first you know after I got to my
00:13:27
sensor I said did I see or didn't I you
00:13:29
know or what happened you
00:13:33
know with his radio now static free
00:13:35
Lonnie called an old friend Sergeant Sam
00:13:38
Chavez of the New Mexico State Police
00:13:41
Lonnie told him to hurry to the site
00:13:43
okay what happened out here I could tell
00:13:46
the Lonnie was excited and probably
00:13:49
scared Lonnie is the more of he's a very
00:13:52
dependable honest type of
00:13:54
person he's not one to create or make
00:13:58
stories or or or build things up to to
00:14:02
make it sighting or anything like
00:14:05
[Applause]
00:14:10
that what the hell is this we found some
00:14:14
indentation on the ground where this
00:14:16
thing had landed and the the marks into
00:14:19
the ground were 9 in deep 8 in long and
00:14:24
9 in wide I started looking for tracks
00:14:28
human tracks but the only thing I found
00:14:31
was Impressions on the ground they were
00:14:34
made by A Perfect
00:14:36
Circle but I found no human tracks no
00:14:39
shoe
00:14:40
prints US Army officials at the nearby
00:14:43
White Sands Missile Range sent Captain
00:14:45
Richard T holder to
00:14:48
[Music]
00:14:49
investigate well my first impression was
00:14:51
that it was something from the range
00:14:53
that needed possible help you know first
00:14:56
aid attention or at best secure security
00:14:59
the more I got into it the less
00:15:01
convinced I was that that was a
00:15:04
case holder noticed the unusual marks
00:15:07
left in the sand and a bush burned to a
00:15:10
crisp only on one
00:15:13
side gentlemen this area is now
00:15:16
officially designated
00:15:17
sensitive everything we saw seemed to
00:15:20
support the story that officer Zamora
00:15:24
recounted nothing gave me the slightest
00:15:27
hint that he did this as a hoax or
00:15:30
cooked it up for fame or
00:15:33
Fortune after their investigation the
00:15:36
Air Force agreed that Lonnie saw
00:15:38
something but they insisted that it must
00:15:41
have been a secret military aircraft
00:15:44
what we're looking for they never were
00:15:45
able to find any such evidence that any
00:15:48
such thing was being tested at the time
00:15:51
and in fact even today not an iota of
00:15:54
evidence has emerged to support that
00:15:56
claim nonetheless the Air Force line on
00:16:00
the case is that this is a credible
00:16:04
witness he clearly saw some kind of
00:16:07
flying vehicle and that it must have
00:16:09
been something that we built even if we
00:16:11
can't find it
00:16:14
anywhere Air Force officials brought in
00:16:17
Dr J Allen heinik he was a respected
00:16:20
astronomer and consultant on Project
00:16:22
Blue Book the Air Force's official study
00:16:25
of the UFO
00:16:27
phenomena Dr heinik found that the
00:16:30
physical evidence was convincing but the
00:16:32
most persuasive argument for a genuine
00:16:35
UFO sighting was Lonnie Zamora himself
00:16:38
okay Lonnie now these depressions you
00:16:40
said were actually from the Outriggers
00:16:43
they held up the craft Dr heinik was
00:16:45
enormously impressed by Lon Zamora he
00:16:47
thought there was virtually no
00:16:48
possibility of a
00:16:51
hoax he expressed huge disdain for the
00:16:55
Blue Book handling of the report and he
00:16:58
said that it was clear that the story
00:17:00
that blook had cooked up about this
00:17:02
possibly being some kind of experimental
00:17:04
aircraft was a story that even Bluebook
00:17:07
knew to be untrue but which was invented
00:17:10
to keep Congress from harassing the Air
00:17:16
Force how do we explain what lonni
00:17:18
Zamora saw no matter what others believe
00:17:22
Lon has no doubt that what he witnessed
00:17:25
was not of this Earth if they want to
00:17:28
believe me good if they don't want to
00:17:29
believe me it's all right
00:17:36
too next the government says that James
00:17:40
Earl Reay was the Lone Assassin of
00:17:42
Martin Luther King Jr but new evidence
00:17:45
suggests a different
00:17:54
story like anybody I would like to live
00:17:59
a long life
00:18:01
longevity has its
00:18:04
place but I'm not concerned about that
00:18:07
now civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther
00:18:10
King Jr delivered one of his most
00:18:12
steering and prophetic
00:18:15
speeches I've looked
00:18:17
over and I've
00:18:20
seen the promised
00:18:22
land less than 24 hours later Dr King
00:18:26
would be dead
00:18:29
he was shot by an Assassin's bullet as
00:18:31
he left his motel for
00:18:33
dinner his accused killer James Earl Ray
00:18:37
pled guilty to the murder and the case
00:18:39
was officially
00:18:41
closed but just 3 days after his
00:18:44
conviction Ray recanted his guilty plea
00:18:47
he now claimed that he was just a pawn
00:18:49
in a conspiracy to kill Dr
00:18:52
King Ray's claims of Innocence were
00:18:55
dismissed and the case remained closed
00:18:59
years later a congressional Committee of
00:19:01
the US House of Representatives
00:19:03
determined that James Earl Ray was the
00:19:06
Lone Assassin of Dr
00:19:09
King but Walter fonty the chairman of
00:19:12
the king subcommittee now believes that
00:19:14
conclusion was
00:19:16
wrong when you look at a murder you look
00:19:18
at three things who had the motive the
00:19:23
means and the
00:19:26
opportunity I'm not now satisfied
00:19:29
that James Earl Reay had a sufficient
00:19:32
motive that he had the means and
00:19:34
certainly the opportunity to pull it off
00:19:36
as it was
00:19:40
done right up until his death in
00:19:43
1998 James Earl Ray maintained that he
00:19:46
did not shoot Martin Luther King the FBI
00:19:49
says that he acted alone but now some
00:19:53
researchers have new evidence that backs
00:19:55
up raise allegations of a conspiracy
00:19:59
organizations Grassroots
00:20:02
organizations Martin Luther King arrived
00:20:04
in Memphis the day before he was
00:20:06
assassinated that violence is not the
00:20:10
answer King checked into the Lorraine
00:20:12
Motel and began planning a March in
00:20:14
support of striking City sanitation
00:20:17
workers King's Presence at the motel had
00:20:19
been well publicized by the
00:20:23
Press across the street from the motel
00:20:26
was a rooming house
00:20:29
on April 4th just before 6: p.m.
00:20:31
Williams and shes a tenant of the
00:20:34
rooming house found the building's
00:20:36
communal bathroom
00:20:38
locked come on man I got to take a leak
00:20:41
what follows is the official government
00:20:43
account of the assassination of Dr
00:20:45
Martin Luther
00:20:48
King inside the bathroom James Earl Ray
00:20:52
a career Petty criminal loaded a
00:20:55
high-powered rifle and took aim at the
00:20:57
Lorraine
00:21:03
Motel according to the government James
00:21:06
Earl Ray then raced into the room he had
00:21:09
rented earlier that day he wrapped the
00:21:11
rifle along with an overnight bag
00:21:14
containing personal items into a bed
00:21:17
spread in the hallway Ray was seen by
00:21:20
Charles
00:21:21
Stevens who lived in the room next to
00:21:24
the bathroom as he was making his
00:21:26
getaway the government believes that Ray
00:21:29
was panicked by a police
00:21:31
car and dropped his bundle in a doorway
00:21:34
of the kite Amusement
00:21:38
Company a moment later three Witnesses
00:21:41
inside the building saw a white car
00:21:43
possibly a Mustang
00:21:47
Speedway police recovered the rifle
00:21:49
along with Ray's personal
00:21:52
items but by the time they identified
00:21:55
Ray he had left the country
00:21:59
2 months later Ray was arrested in
00:22:01
London as he tried to board a flight to
00:22:05
Brussels James Earl Reay eventually plad
00:22:07
guilty to the murder of Martin Luther
00:22:09
King and was sentenced to 99 years in
00:22:13
prison just 3 days after his conviction
00:22:17
Ry announced that he had been pressured
00:22:19
into pleading
00:22:21
guilty he said he did not shoot King and
00:22:24
was the victim of a
00:22:26
conspiracy he claimed that he was a
00:22:28
scapegoat and he was set up by a
00:22:31
mysterious figure named
00:22:37
Raul on the surface James ear raid did
00:22:40
not seem like the kind of criminal who
00:22:42
would commit murder his crimes were
00:22:44
smalltime holdups and
00:22:47
robberies I find it more difficult today
00:22:49
to believe that James R acting alone
00:22:52
pulled off the crime of the century was
00:22:55
able to get out of Memphis out of the
00:22:57
country into Canada to get three
00:22:59
passports and to go all the way to
00:23:02
Europe without
00:23:06
help almost a year before King was
00:23:08
assassinated Ry escaped from a state
00:23:11
prison where he was serving a 20-year
00:23:13
sentence for robbing a grocery store Ry
00:23:16
made his way to Montreal and using the
00:23:18
name Eric starville GT tried to get a
00:23:20
phony
00:23:22
ID Ray said that it was here that he was
00:23:25
approached by a shadowy character who
00:23:28
called himself Raul I hear you're
00:23:30
looking for something yeah you heard
00:23:33
right according to reain when they first
00:23:35
met Raul was only looking for an
00:23:37
accomplice in a smuggling scheme what
00:23:40
else in exchange for raise AG green to
00:23:43
perform certain uh task evidently of a
00:23:47
criminal nature one he was provided with
00:23:50
money and two he was promised that at
00:23:52
some point he would be given
00:23:53
identification a passport something he
00:23:56
needed to get out of the country where
00:23:58
will these deliveries be Ray said that
00:24:00
he was instructed to smuggle Contraband
00:24:02
into Detroit from Canada Ray claimed
00:24:06
that he was then directed by Raul to go
00:24:08
to Birmingham
00:24:11
Alabama what Raul did from that point on
00:24:14
was to uh keep James on a string have
00:24:17
him in various points and places pay him
00:24:20
bits of money have him do various things
00:24:23
and really pretty much keep him on a
00:24:25
string so that he was available as turns
00:24:28
out for use anytime that they wanted to
00:24:30
use him always with the promise of these
00:24:33
travel
00:24:35
documents Ray said that in Birmingham
00:24:38
rul gave him $2,000 and told him to buy
00:24:41
a car say I meet you halfway 7 months
00:24:44
before the assassination Ray did buy a
00:24:47
white
00:24:48
1966 Mustang you got yourself one hell
00:24:50
of a
00:24:51
car over the next several months Ray
00:24:54
said his smuggling jobs with Raul took
00:24:57
him to Mexico Mexico Los Angeles and
00:24:59
then
00:25:02
Atlanta in Atlanta just 5 days before
00:25:05
the assassination Raul gave him his next
00:25:10
job next bit of activity they were going
00:25:12
to be involved in had to do with selling
00:25:15
guns the scenario that he developed was
00:25:18
one which involved the purchase of sort
00:25:21
of sample weapons that he would show to
00:25:24
these Gun
00:25:26
Runners following Raul's instructions
00:25:29
Ray drove to a gun shop in Birmingham
00:25:32
where he purchased a243 caliber rifle
00:25:35
with a telescopic site can I help yeah
00:25:37
I'm looking for a rifle the evidence is
00:25:40
is that uh from the people who witnessed
00:25:43
his purchase of the rifle in the in
00:25:46
Birmingham is that he didn't know the
00:25:48
first thing about
00:25:49
rifles so he didn't have the kind of
00:25:52
familiarity with firearms that you would
00:25:55
expect of somebody who was going to
00:25:56
murder someone
00:25:58
this isn't going to work why the caliber
00:26:02
is too small I was wondering if I could
00:26:05
exchange it why is that there something
00:26:07
wrong with this one Ray said Raul told
00:26:09
him to exchange the weapon the next day
00:26:12
giving him Specific Instructions on what
00:26:15
to buy
00:26:16
the Remington model 760 game master pump
00:26:20
action Ray claimed he gave the Remington
00:26:22
rifle to Raul at a motel in Memphis on
00:26:26
April 3rd the day
00:26:28
before the
00:26:29
assassination this will do fine Ray said
00:26:32
that was the last time he saw the
00:26:35
rifle the same one the government
00:26:37
concluded was used to kill Martin Luther
00:26:41
[Music]
00:26:43
King next we'll examine evidence which
00:26:47
may cooporate Ray's theory of a
00:26:54
[Music]
00:26:56
conspiracy
00:26:58
Memphis Tennessee the day of Martin
00:27:01
Luther King's
00:27:03
assassination according to James Earl
00:27:06
Ray he met his contact Raul at a local
00:27:08
coffee shop sorry I'm
00:27:11
late going to need a room to meet Ray
00:27:13
said Raul told him to go to the rooming
00:27:15
house upstairs rent a room and then
00:27:17
await instructions okay the boarding
00:27:21
house was on Main Street next to the
00:27:23
kipe Amusement Company where the rifle
00:27:25
would later be found the back windows of
00:27:28
The Boarding House faced mulbery Street
00:27:30
and the Lorraine Motel where Dr King was
00:27:34
staying couple of nights May at 400 p.m.
00:27:37
Ray rented a room using an alias John
00:27:40
Willard back Raul had instructed Ry to
00:27:43
bring along an overnight bag so he
00:27:45
wouldn't look suspicious and he told him
00:27:48
to leave the Mustang parked nearby yeah
00:27:52
I'll take it pain Advance what happened
00:27:55
over the next hour no one knows for sure
00:28:00
Ray himself has changed his story
00:28:02
several times but he was always clear
00:28:04
that he left a boarding house at around
00:28:07
5:00 p.m. and never returned I was at a
00:28:10
service station during the time that
00:28:12
Martin Luther King was
00:28:14
[Music]
00:28:16
shot Ray said that just before 6:00 p.m.
00:28:19
he drove the Mustang to a local service
00:28:21
station listen I got a leak on one of my
00:28:23
back tires got a minute to take a look
00:28:25
at it not right now we're awful busy
00:28:27
could you come back in a couple of hours
00:28:29
all right Ray claimed that at 6:01 the
00:28:32
very moment King was shot he was driving
00:28:35
from the gas station back to the rooming
00:28:37
house unaware of what
00:28:41
happened and as he got to the corner of
00:28:43
calhon in South Maine uh he saw already
00:28:47
that there were police barricades and
00:28:49
policemen everywhere the state makes a
00:28:51
great deal of the fact that James fled
00:28:53
the scene you know they uh but James was
00:28:56
one must remember remember a fugitive he
00:28:59
was on the run and he was certainly not
00:29:01
going to hang around where wherever he
00:29:03
saw
00:29:03
police did James Earl Ray Target Dr King
00:29:07
from the window of the rooming house
00:29:09
some say it's unlikely because of Ray's
00:29:12
apparent lack of skill with
00:29:14
firearms in the Army he was trained with
00:29:17
an M1 and he was at the lowest level of
00:29:20
ability the idea of loading by hand a
00:29:22
single shot into that 30 6 and gambling
00:29:26
everything on that one shot makes no
00:29:28
sense whatsoever you have to bear in
00:29:31
mind that from the window of the rooming
00:29:33
house to the balcony where Dr King was
00:29:35
killed was less than 100 yards with a
00:29:40
telescopic site at such a short distance
00:29:42
almost anyone in the world could have
00:29:45
killed Dr King it it really required no
00:29:48
great Marksmanship
00:29:50
whatsoever the official version says
00:29:52
that when Ry ran from his room in the
00:29:54
boarding house he was seen by another
00:29:56
tenant
00:29:58
Charles
00:30:00
Stevens from all accounts Stevens was so
00:30:03
dead drunk that there's no way of
00:30:05
relying upon uh his testimony about the
00:30:08
shot in fact we did not rely on him for
00:30:12
an eyewitness identification what we did
00:30:14
rely on him for was having sufficient
00:30:17
senses to be aware of a loud noise uh
00:30:21
down the hall and in the bathroom and to
00:30:23
open the door and see somebody run by
00:30:26
what you have to realize about Charlie
00:30:28
Stevens is that he was looking for a
00:30:29
reward he was trying to get the $100,000
00:30:32
reward that had been put up for uh
00:30:35
anyone who could identify uh the Slayer
00:30:38
of Dr King the government report said
00:30:41
that Ry ran by the canipe Amusement
00:30:43
Company and dropped his weapon in a
00:30:46
panic but is it believable that any
00:30:49
killer no matter how Panic would drop a
00:30:52
bundle of personal items that could so
00:30:55
easily identify him
00:30:57
it strikes many people myself included
00:31:02
that that looks like a setup that
00:31:04
somebody else gathered that evidence up
00:31:07
and planted it there a dusting of the
00:31:10
rooming house turned up a number of
00:31:12
fingerprints which were never
00:31:15
identified that's not really strange
00:31:17
I've worked any number of cases where
00:31:19
you don't find fingerprints when you
00:31:21
think you should you may find a lot of
00:31:23
smudges and smears but you won't find a
00:31:25
fingerprint that in itself is is
00:31:28
complete enough to make a positive
00:31:31
identification the abandoned rifle had
00:31:33
two fingerprints on it belonging to
00:31:35
James Earl Ray but for some reason the
00:31:39
FBI never conducted a swap test to
00:31:42
determine if the rifle had ever been
00:31:45
fired my recollection is that it had a
00:31:48
spent shell that was in the chamber so
00:31:53
common sense would tell you that someone
00:31:55
had fired that rifle
00:31:58
the FBI also could not match the bullet
00:32:00
which killed King with the rifle all
00:32:03
they could say was that the bullet was
00:32:05
consistent with that type of
00:32:08
rifle the fact that the bullet markings
00:32:11
are consistent with having been from the
00:32:13
rifle means absolutely nothing it was
00:32:16
also consistent with several million
00:32:18
other rifles of the same
00:32:21
kind Ray bought the rifle the rifle was
00:32:25
used to shoot King uh he fled the scene
00:32:28
his fingerprints are on it his
00:32:30
explanations for an alibi his flight uh
00:32:34
all don't hold
00:32:36
water even for those who believe Ray's
00:32:39
story there's still one nagging question
00:32:41
if James Earl Ray is innocent why would
00:32:44
he plead
00:32:46
guilty I just am not going to discuss it
00:32:50
it's Ray claimed that he was coerced by
00:32:52
his attorney who wanted exclusive
00:32:54
publishing rights to his story if Ray
00:32:57
had testified in court his allegations
00:32:59
of conspiracy would have become public
00:33:04
domain this will do fine the most
00:33:06
important element of Ray's conspiracy
00:33:08
story was the man who called himself
00:33:12
Raul in our investigation to
00:33:15
identify Ry and to find out what he did
00:33:19
and where and when we turned up nothing
00:33:21
to indicate that there was either a Raul
00:33:25
or any other conspiracy to involved in
00:33:28
this
00:33:29
crime former Defense investigator Harold
00:33:32
Weisberg has reviewed 60,000 pages of
00:33:35
FBI documents on the king assassination
00:33:38
he says he found references to a
00:33:40
mysterious individual named JC
00:33:44
harden when I was going through the
00:33:46
files of the Los Angeles FBI office I
00:33:49
found where a man who used the name of
00:33:52
JC Harden had called Jimmy from
00:33:55
Atlanta yeah he's here room 313 but he's
00:33:58
out I saw him go out about an hour ago
00:34:00
ask him to call James C Harden could you
00:34:03
spell that for me h r d i n when Jimmy
00:34:08
didn't return the call so far as we know
00:34:10
Harden went out to
00:34:12
California and he met with Jimmy this is
00:34:16
this is confirmed story in the FBI's
00:34:18
records take these stairs up third is it
00:34:20
possible that JC Harden who visited Ray
00:34:23
3 weeks before the assassination was the
00:34:26
mysterious
00:34:28
Raul in 1968 the FBI pursued the lead
00:34:32
long enough to create this sketch of JC
00:34:35
Harden it was based on a description
00:34:38
given by the manager of the St Francis
00:34:40
Hotel but after James Earl Reay was
00:34:42
arrested the FBI dropped their
00:34:45
investigation of
00:34:47
Harden we knew nothing about
00:34:50
Harden I'd like to find Mr Harden that
00:34:54
may lead us to a different conclusion do
00:34:57
you think you got a James Earl Reay
00:34:59
refused to say whether JC Harden and
00:35:01
Raul were the same person in 1998 James
00:35:06
Earl Ray died of liver failure taking
00:35:08
the true story of his involvement in the
00:35:10
king assassination to his
00:35:13
grave there is no way that James Ray is
00:35:16
a lone assassin James R Reay is the
00:35:18
classic py will we ever know the answer
00:35:22
is no we won't know because the FBI
00:35:25
didn't conduct an adquate qu conspiracy
00:35:28
[Music]
00:35:30
investigation I've
00:35:33
seen the promised land and that's one of
00:35:36
the tragedies in Dr King's death he did
00:35:40
not get in his death an investigation
00:35:44
commencement with the Dignity of his
00:35:46
life had he gotten it uh many of the
00:35:49
unanswered questions about his death
00:35:52
would have answers
00:35:55
today
00:36:03
next a man wrongfully accused of murder
00:36:06
is set free thanks in part to Unsolved
00:36:19
Mysteries Fort Lauderdale
00:36:22
Florida we previously brought you the
00:36:24
story of John pervis a diagnosed
00:36:27
schizophrenic who many believed was
00:36:30
convicted of a murder that he did not
00:36:34
commit in early November police in Fort
00:36:36
Lauderdale Florida arrived at the home
00:36:39
of Susan Hamley they were responding to
00:36:42
a call from one of Susan's friends who
00:36:45
said that Susan had not answered her
00:36:47
phone for
00:36:49
days Susan was 38 years old divorced and
00:36:53
the mother of an 18-month-old daughter
00:36:58
she was found dead on her kitchen floor
00:37:01
sexually molested strangled with a
00:37:03
telephone cord and stabbed through the
00:37:05
heart with a carving
00:37:08
knife because Susan's body was not
00:37:11
discovered for several days her daughter
00:37:13
died in her crib from
00:37:17
dehydration at the scene police found a
00:37:20
bloody carving knife with no
00:37:22
fingerprints and some strands of red
00:37:25
hair
00:37:28
statement what kind of statement the
00:37:30
next day detectives questioned Susan's
00:37:33
neighbors two doors away they talked to
00:37:36
66-year-old Emma Joe Bartlett and her
00:37:39
40-year-old red-haired son John pervis
00:37:43
oh good would you like to come down to
00:37:44
the station and give a statement well if
00:37:46
my mama can come with me Chad you know
00:37:49
where John's mother went with him to the
00:37:51
station but was not allowed in the
00:37:52
interrogation room the detectives who
00:37:55
questioned John were unaware that he
00:37:57
suffered from schizophrenia
00:37:59
schizophrenics often cannot tell the
00:38:01
difference between the real world and
00:38:03
their own
00:38:04
delusions well they asked me if I knew
00:38:07
Susan and I said I just barely knew the
00:38:09
girl at all then my mother came up and
00:38:12
and she busted in the door and she said
00:38:15
you have no right to integrate my son
00:38:18
like this she said my son did not kill
00:38:20
the girl we don't know who killed the
00:38:22
girl why aren't you out looking for the
00:38:24
real victim real killer and everything
00:38:26
that's what she told him when she busted
00:38:27
it and
00:38:29
everything we don't have anything on
00:38:31
well then let him go come on get out let
00:38:33
him John's mother took her son and
00:38:34
stormed out but the police still wanted
00:38:37
to question John pvis
00:38:40
alone the first thing I'd like to four
00:38:42
weeks later they got their chance
00:38:45
psychiatrist Dr Joel class was brought
00:38:47
in to administer a personality test
00:38:50
using what are called tat
00:38:52
cards tat cards feature ambiguous
00:38:55
drawings which the test subject must
00:38:57
interpret John had an unusual reaction
00:39:00
to one of the cards keep in mind John is
00:39:05
schizophrenic will I have to go to jail
00:39:07
or can I can I can I go to hos Hospital
00:39:10
I remember even feeling intimidated
00:39:12
because he showed such a strong reaction
00:39:14
do do you think I did it after saying
00:39:16
several times uh do you think I did it
00:39:18
do you think I did it and I said I don't
00:39:20
know uh because I didn't want to use any
00:39:23
leading comments and he said I killed
00:39:26
her I liked her and then impli that she
00:39:29
did not respond to him in a favorable
00:39:32
way John later confessed to the police
00:39:36
those detectives down there at the
00:39:38
police department told me that said if
00:39:39
you'll confess that you killed Susan
00:39:41
we'll let you go home so I had to say
00:39:44
something in order to get out of there
00:39:45
so I just said something I just said I
00:39:47
killed her that was all had to make
00:39:49
something up
00:39:51
though at the trial only the confession
00:39:54
John made to Dr class was allowed into
00:39:58
[Music]
00:39:59
evidence even though that confession did
00:40:02
not match the details of the crime and
00:40:04
even though John peris's hair did not
00:40:06
match the hair found at the scene he was
00:40:08
still convicted of murdering Susan
00:40:11
hamway and her daughter
00:40:14
Shane
00:40:17
update John pervis had been in prison
00:40:19
for 8 and 1/2 years when we aired his
00:40:22
story the broadcast brought new interest
00:40:24
to the case and the fort Lauderdale
00:40:26
Police decided that it might be time to
00:40:29
reopen their
00:40:32
investigation the new investigation
00:40:34
focused on Susan Ham's ex-husband Paul a
00:40:37
wealthy real estate developer in Aspen
00:40:40
Colorado at the time of the murder Paul
00:40:43
hamway was an aspen recovering from a
00:40:45
broken
00:40:48
leg following up on a tip Fort
00:40:50
Lauderdale Police questioned a man named
00:40:52
Robert Becket in return for immunity
00:40:55
Becket confessed that he and an
00:40:57
accomplice Paul serial had been paid
00:41:00
$14,000 to murder
00:41:03
Susan Becket said that he was hired by
00:41:06
Paul hamway and that his motive was to
00:41:08
avoid paying
00:41:11
$180,000 in
00:41:14
alimony Paul hamway was arrested for the
00:41:17
murder of his
00:41:18
wife that same week after 9 years spent
00:41:22
in prison for a crime that he did not
00:41:24
commit John pervis was finally released
00:41:27
I just feel good about and everything I
00:41:29
just feel good he said mom do you think
00:41:31
I'll ever go home again I said sure you
00:41:33
going to go home Johnny I know you are
00:41:36
the excitement of this whole case was
00:41:38
John peris being let out I can't sit
00:41:41
here and think of any other crime that a
00:41:42
man was convicted on such
00:41:44
circumstances
00:41:46
evidence John pervis moved back in with
00:41:49
his mother he was later paid $1 million
00:41:52
by the city of Fort Lauderdale to drop
00:41:55
any further claims against the police
00:41:58
department Paul hamway and Paul serial
00:42:02
were both convicted in the murder of
00:42:04
Ham's wife and were sentenced to life in
00:42:07
[Music]
00:42:25
prison
00:42:26
[Music]
00:42:41
[Music]
