00:00:00
[Music]
00:00:04
Next on Unsolved
00:00:07
Mysteries, a young woman is abducted
00:00:09
from a popular college bar and makes a
00:00:11
daring escape from her
00:00:15
captor. Police suspect that a man who
00:00:17
drank a protein shake laced with
00:00:19
insecticide was poisoned by his own
00:00:23
wife. Small town politics turns deadly
00:00:26
when a powerful lawyer is murdered. The
00:00:29
evidence points to the deputy police
00:00:32
chief and three people researching their
00:00:36
family history seem to be guided by long
00:00:39
lost ancestors communicating from beyond
00:00:43
the
00:00:43
grave. Our team is standing by. Perhaps
00:00:46
someone is watching who can help solve
00:00:48
one of these cases. And maybe it's you.
00:00:52
I'm Dennis Fina and this is Unsolved
00:00:55
Mysteries. Join
00:00:56
us.
00:01:14
Heat. Heat.
00:01:17
[Music]
00:01:32
Mishawaka, Indiana. You, my friend, will
00:01:36
be buying the drinks. So, what do you a
00:01:37
local hangout for college students?
00:01:40
Yeah. A young woman who we'll call Lori
00:01:43
has come here with a friend for a night
00:01:45
out. Oh, yeah. The girl. We did our
00:01:48
usual setting up the pool table all
00:01:50
making little jokes where uh I'll bet
00:01:53
you that I'll beat you two best out of
00:01:56
three. Can I get a beer, please? Lorie
00:01:58
briefly left her friend and went to the
00:02:00
bar to order a drink. And that's when
00:02:03
she noticed that she was being
00:02:07
watched. Uncomfortable, she walked away.
00:02:11
As she moved through the bar, Lorie
00:02:13
paused near an exit door.
00:02:18
The next thing she knew, she was being
00:02:20
dragged from the bar.
00:02:28
I was taken to a car that was no more
00:02:31
than 6 ft from that final door. And it
00:02:34
was two men pushing me into this
00:02:39
car. And quicker than I could snap my
00:02:42
finger, we were backing up.
00:02:46
Lori was held down by one man in the
00:02:48
back seat while another
00:02:50
drove. 20 minutes into the ride, the men
00:02:53
began to argue in Spanish. The driver
00:02:57
then pulled the car over and got out.
00:03:00
I believe that the man in the front had
00:03:02
decided not to carry on from this point.
00:03:06
Get over here. The other man pulled
00:03:08
Lorie into the front seat and drove to a
00:03:11
nearby apartment.
00:03:14
Lori fought back with anything that she
00:03:17
could grab,
00:03:20
but she only arranged her asalance more.
00:03:31
He dragged me into a bedroom and that is
00:03:34
where he was able to overpower me and he
00:03:37
violently raped me there.
00:03:42
What began as a simple evening out
00:03:44
turned into a night of terror. But Lori
00:03:47
is a fighter. After a daring escape from
00:03:50
her attackers, she bravely chose to come
00:03:53
forward and tell her story, hoping that
00:03:56
it would help bring them to justice.
00:04:00
After the assault, I got this fire
00:04:04
inside of me. No more. So, I just took
00:04:08
that power and I brought my knees up and
00:04:11
kicked him off of
00:04:15
me and I
00:04:17
ran through into the living room. I just
00:04:21
thought, "Get out."
00:04:27
Lori tried to get to the door, but she
00:04:30
was overpowered.
00:04:32
And he threw me up against this wall by
00:04:35
my neck. I could
00:04:38
hear the bones in there crunching and I
00:04:42
could feel it. The pain was
00:04:45
overwhelming. I knew he's killing me.
00:04:48
And I said, "No, I have more to life
00:04:52
than this." And as hard as I could, I
00:04:56
brought that knee up into his
00:04:58
gut. And I just ran for that back
00:05:02
kitchen door.
00:05:06
go. And I can hear him coming and he's
00:05:10
screaming, you know, and it's getting
00:05:11
louder, meaning he is right on my tail.
00:05:14
And I ran and I
00:05:20
screamed and I could hear him coming
00:05:23
through that gate.
00:05:26
There was a dumpster at the end of this
00:05:28
alley and I ran real quick around behind
00:05:31
that dumpster and I squatted and I sat
00:05:34
there and I listened and I could hear
00:05:36
the gravel
00:05:39
coming. I know he was out there looking
00:05:42
for me. So I tried to just hold my
00:05:45
breath and you're so
00:05:47
hysterical. That was the hardest thing
00:05:49
to control my breathing because I didn't
00:05:52
want him to hear me.
00:05:55
Biting her time, Lorie waited several
00:05:58
minutes before she ran from her hiding
00:06:00
place and found a pay phone.
00:06:05
How long ago did this happen? About 10
00:06:08
minutes ago and grabbed me and pulled me
00:06:10
out of there. I came and I scream.
00:06:14
Nobody came. Ma'am,
00:06:17
they they know where you are now.
00:06:19
They're going to be sending help now.
00:06:24
The police arrived within minutes.
00:06:28
What a relief that was. And I could just
00:06:31
feel my body just drained of exhaustion
00:06:34
from the fear. I've ran this way. Lori
00:06:38
retraced her escape route, leading
00:06:39
authorities back to the apartment.
00:06:43
She was going through the most traumatic
00:06:44
time in her life, but yet she was able
00:06:47
to give us uh the location of the
00:06:48
residence where it took place. She was
00:06:51
able to give us a description of her
00:06:53
attacker. It was important that she
00:06:55
remembered where this attack took place
00:06:57
because we could link the suspect to the
00:06:59
residence.
00:07:02
We were then able to identify a person
00:07:05
named Rafino Castana as a potential
00:07:08
suspect in this case. He had a history
00:07:11
of of choking and assaulting at least
00:07:13
one other woman. if you recognize any of
00:07:15
these people. Lori identified Casteda
00:07:18
from a photo lineup and police moved in
00:07:20
to arrest him, but he had quit his job
00:07:22
and vanished.
00:07:25
Investigators suspect Casteda's partner
00:07:28
in the abduction was a relative.
00:07:30
However, there is not enough evidence to
00:07:33
make an
00:07:34
arrest. Lori continues to be haunted by
00:07:38
the harrowing experience. You might be
00:07:40
out in public and there might be a smell
00:07:43
that takes you right back to it and it's
00:07:46
just like you're right back there living
00:07:49
it. I remember every single thing. I
00:07:53
don't remember bits and pieces. I
00:07:55
remember everything right down to the
00:07:58
smell of that man to the sweat that was
00:08:00
on my body. All of that.
00:08:04
This man needs to get off the streets
00:08:06
before he does this again. Cuz I don't
00:08:08
believe the next woman will make it. And
00:08:12
nor do I believe that I was the
00:08:17
first. Update. Rufina Castinetteda has
00:08:22
been captured in Mexico. He was brought
00:08:24
back to the United States to face the
00:08:27
charges stemming from the rape and
00:08:29
abduction. He was later convicted and
00:08:32
sent to
00:08:35
prison. Next, a man almost dies after
00:08:39
drinking a poisoned protein shake and
00:08:41
his wife is the one who made it for
00:08:51
him. Redwood City,
00:08:56
California. On a March afternoon,
00:08:59
paramedics rush to a local toy
00:09:02
store. In the employees lunchroom, they
00:09:05
find 23-year-old Gilbert Ortiz drenched
00:09:09
in sweat and suffering from severe
00:09:11
cramps. Cramp, Gilbert, did you drink or
00:09:14
eat something? Shake. Shake. What's in
00:09:16
the shake, Gilbert? Gilbert tells the
00:09:18
medics that he became ill after drinking
00:09:20
a protein shake commonly used by
00:09:22
bodybuilders to help them bulk up.
00:09:25
Gilbert, where did you get the shake
00:09:26
from?
00:09:27
A friend. The friend. Yeah,
00:09:31
he's really wet. Gilbert begins to slip
00:09:34
in and out of consciousness. Paramedics
00:09:36
contact Gilbert's wife and rush him to a
00:09:39
nearby hospital.
00:09:43
Is that the shake right there? Doctors
00:09:46
are puzzled by Gilbert's condition. They
00:09:48
examine the plastic sports bottle that
00:09:50
contained the shake and set it aside so
00:09:53
that the contents can be tested later.
00:09:56
had no wife to be respiratory at 16.
00:09:58
Within moments, Gilbert's wife,
00:10:00
Elizabeth, arrives. Doctors hope that
00:10:02
she can provide some reason for
00:10:04
Gilbert's mysterious illness. Have you
00:10:07
ever seen that bottle? No, never. I've
00:10:08
never seen this. Later that afternoon,
00:10:11
hospital officials contact other members
00:10:13
of Gilbert's family.
00:10:16
I just thought it was going to be over
00:10:18
right away. And, you know, a few hours
00:10:20
later, he was going to be able to go
00:10:21
home.
00:10:23
By that evening, Gilbert has developed
00:10:25
pneumonia and his kidneys are failing.
00:10:28
Then, cardiac arrest sends him into a
00:10:33
coma. Sometime that afternoon, the
00:10:36
sports bottle belonging to Gilbert Ortiz
00:10:39
vanished from the emergency room. It was
00:10:42
the first of several bizarre occurrences
00:10:45
which led investigators to believe that
00:10:46
Gilbert had been poisoned by someone
00:10:49
close to him, someone he thought he
00:10:51
could trust.
00:10:53
Gilbert Ortiz and Elizabeth Fuentes
00:10:56
married shortly after the birth of their
00:10:58
son, Jonathan. Gilbert took a job at a
00:11:01
local toy store. He and Elizabeth often
00:11:04
fought over money, so it was a happy day
00:11:07
when Gilbert was promoted. But less than
00:11:10
a week later, he was in the hospital
00:11:12
fighting for his
00:11:14
life. In the waiting room, Elizabeth
00:11:17
received a strange phone call which
00:11:20
seemed to upset her. Okay, bye.
00:11:24
She got nervous when she came back from
00:11:25
from that phone call. I don't know why.
00:11:28
I don't know what they told her. I'm
00:11:30
going to go home and I think I should
00:11:32
check on Jonathan. And so she decided
00:11:34
that she was going to go see Jonathan
00:11:36
and she was going to go to Gilbert's
00:11:38
work and she was going to go see if she
00:11:40
could find anything cuz Gilbert wasn't
00:11:42
getting any better. You've got Jonathan.
00:11:45
That man has Jonathan.
00:11:48
And about 2 hours later, she came back.
00:11:50
She was hysterical and she kept saying,
00:11:52
"Somebody has Jonathan. This This guy
00:11:54
has Jonathan. Jonathan. Somebody has
00:11:56
Jonathan." What happened? That man
00:11:59
outside has Jonathan. He He said he was
00:12:01
going to hurt Jonathan. Wait, he has
00:12:02
Jonathan outside. No. Yeah. No. The man
00:12:05
said he was going to kidnap him. And so
00:12:06
I was like, "Wait, your mom has
00:12:09
Jonathan. Kidnapped Jonathan. I'm going
00:12:10
to call your mom." And I went and I
00:12:12
called her mom. You know, I asked her,
00:12:13
"You know, is Jonathan there?" And then
00:12:15
she saw like, "Yeah, he's he's right
00:12:16
here." I'm like, "Why?" I'm like, cuz um
00:12:19
Elizabeth just said that some guy had
00:12:20
him. While Brenda was on the phone,
00:12:23
Elizabeth told a confusing story. She
00:12:26
said that she'd been approached by a
00:12:28
small boy in the hospital parking lot
00:12:31
who took her to a man in a parked car
00:12:34
who was wearing a mask. Gilbert had
00:12:37
drank the wrong stuff. What? The stuff
00:12:40
in the bag. He said Gilbert drank the
00:12:42
stuff. Inside the paper bag was a bottle
00:12:45
of liquid insecticide.
00:12:49
Don't call the police. No, don't call
00:12:51
the police. He said if you call the
00:12:53
police, he was going to hurt Jonathan.
00:12:54
I'm calling the police. The ICU nurse
00:12:56
made two phone calls. One to the
00:12:58
National Poison Control Center and the
00:13:01
other to the Redwood City
00:13:03
Police. Elizabeth was later questioned
00:13:06
about the masked man who she said gave
00:13:09
her the insecticide. So tell me about
00:13:11
the little boy that ran after you. Well,
00:13:14
when I was in my car, I thought for
00:13:16
about the first hour of the interview,
00:13:18
she maintained the story that she had
00:13:19
given the officers and the nurses at the
00:13:22
scene. And she told me that she thought
00:13:24
it was definitely a strange story, but
00:13:26
it was the truth. Your story doesn't
00:13:28
make sense. It just I still couldn't
00:13:30
believe what she was telling me. And so
00:13:32
my partner and I started to jam her by
00:13:35
telling her certain things to see how
00:13:37
she would react. There was a witness in
00:13:39
the parking lot. He didn't see a man
00:13:42
with a mask and he didn't see a little
00:13:43
boy. All he saw was you. Okay, I made
00:13:47
that part up. Why? Because the doctor,
00:13:50
you know, he was he said that whatever
00:13:52
Gilbert drank was in the house. Okay.
00:13:54
And so I went, he asked me if I had any
00:13:57
insecticides and I looked, I searched in
00:13:58
the house and that's when I found the
00:14:00
bottle. I was scared. I didn't know if
00:14:02
Gilbert had done this to himself on
00:14:03
purpose. She told me that maybe he was
00:14:06
trying to hurt himself. And so I asked
00:14:07
her, "You mean you think he was trying
00:14:09
to take his own life?" And she said,
00:14:11
"Yeah, maybe. Maybe he was depressed and
00:14:13
and I didn't want him to get in
00:14:14
trouble." Elizabeth, would you be
00:14:17
willing to take a lie detector test?
00:14:19
Look, I have a job interview, okay? So,
00:14:21
I got to go.
00:14:23
Elizabeth never returned to the police
00:14:26
station.
00:14:28
The next day, Detective Anderson called
00:14:30
her, but Elizabeth refused to come in.
00:14:33
Would you talk to your lawyer about it,
00:14:35
please, and give me a call back?
00:14:37
The only person who could tell police
00:14:38
where the shake had come from was
00:14:40
Gilbert, and he was still in a
00:14:43
coma. 11 days later, Gilbert regained
00:14:46
consciousness and confirmed that it was
00:14:49
Elizabeth who had given him the protein
00:14:51
shake. Working for some people. Gilbert
00:14:53
explained that Elizabeth had told him
00:14:55
about a coworker's son who had bulked up
00:14:58
by drinking protein shakes. You know, I
00:15:00
I lift weights in the pit. I I
00:15:02
I could never get big and that's the
00:15:06
kind of guy she likes.
00:15:09
Gilbert said Elizabeth met him in the
00:15:11
toy store parking lot. Hey. Hi. The
00:15:15
shake was already mixed in the plastic
00:15:17
sports bottle. I didn't open it until I
00:15:20
got inside. It looked like a real shake.
00:15:22
I mean, like a chocolate shake. That's
00:15:24
what it looked like. So, I kind of tried
00:15:27
it, right? And then when I tried it, it
00:15:29
sort of like burned my throat a little
00:15:30
bit. I said, "Maybe that's the way it's
00:15:32
supposed to taste." I don't know. And I
00:15:35
kept drinking and drinking it, but I
00:15:36
didn't touch the food at all. I almost
00:15:39
finished the bottle and then I started
00:15:42
feeling really hot and my throat's
00:15:44
really really burning and I was all
00:15:47
shaky and then I felt like getting sick.
00:15:52
Investigators obtained a search warrant
00:15:54
to see if they could trace the
00:15:56
insecticide or the plastic bottle to
00:15:58
Elizabeth. But at the Ortiz apartment,
00:16:01
they discovered that Gilbert's wife had
00:16:03
vanished along with the couple's
00:16:05
2-year-old son, Jonathan.
00:16:09
Then that's when it hit me. She did it.
00:16:12
Then I said, "Where's the
00:16:15
baby?" She's gone. That's that's the
00:16:18
main part that really got me. Her, you
00:16:22
know, fine. She's gone. She's gone. But
00:16:24
the kid, you know, I was too attached to
00:16:27
the kid. I still
00:16:31
am. Update. After several years on the
00:16:34
run, Elizabeth Ortiz has been captured.
00:16:38
The Redwood City Police received a call
00:16:40
from the FBI with a news that Ortiz had
00:16:43
been detained in Mexico. She had started
00:16:46
a new life under the assumed name Rosa
00:16:50
Negrete, but Jonathan was not with her.
00:16:54
Ortiz was brought to Redwood City for
00:16:56
trial. Assuming that Ortiz would arrange
00:16:59
for her son to visit her, detectives had
00:17:02
this computergenerated composite of
00:17:04
Jonathan posted at the jail.
00:17:08
I received a phone call from a deputy
00:17:10
telling me that they had a little boy at
00:17:12
the jail and the little boy was a dead
00:17:14
ringer for the composite picture that we
00:17:16
had. Jonathan had been brought to the
00:17:19
jail by a relative. The following day,
00:17:22
Gilbert was finally able to see the son
00:17:25
that he had been missing for 8 years. He
00:17:28
was 2 years old when he disappeared
00:17:31
and when I got him back, he was 10.
00:17:36
As soon as I saw him, he just came and
00:17:38
hugged me. That's all it took. One big
00:17:41
hug. I cannot explain what that felt
00:17:44
like. It just too much of an emotion, I
00:17:49
guess. Gilbert and Jonathan began the
00:17:52
long process of getting to know one
00:17:54
another as father and son. Elizabeth
00:17:58
Fuentes Ortiz was convicted of attempted
00:18:00
murder and was sentenced to 25 years to
00:18:03
life. She served her time and has been
00:18:08
released. Next, a lawyer is shot at
00:18:11
point blank range and someone has
00:18:13
tampered with the
00:18:20
[Music]
00:18:23
evidence. East Chicago, Indiana. For
00:18:27
years, everyday life in this bluecollar
00:18:29
community was controlled by the local
00:18:31
political machine. One of the city's
00:18:34
most powerful dealmakers was an attorney
00:18:36
named Jay Given. He was a master
00:18:39
fundraiser and a clever behindthe-scenes
00:18:41
operator who traded on favors to create
00:18:44
strong political alliances.
00:18:50
My father was intimately familiar with
00:18:54
the politicians, people in power, knew
00:18:57
all the skeletons in their closet, and
00:19:00
that makes you very powerful in a town
00:19:02
like this.
00:19:04
Given had served as city attorney and
00:19:07
helped elect Bob Pastrick as mayor of
00:19:09
East Chicago, but within two years, they
00:19:13
had a falling out
00:19:15
on a number of issues. My father and Mr.
00:19:18
Pastrick split. Obviously, my father's
00:19:22
attentions were starting to turn towards
00:19:24
electing somebody else other than Bob
00:19:26
Pastrick as mayor.
00:19:29
The Elks Club in East Chicago was the
00:19:31
scene of a Las Vegas themed fundraiser
00:19:33
for county commissioner N. Add Span, the
00:19:37
city's best known black politician. Span
00:19:40
was considering a run for mayor against
00:19:43
Bob Pastrick.
00:19:46
Well, give that a second. How are you
00:19:49
this evening? Well, I'm delighted to be
00:19:50
here. Given appearance at the fundraiser
00:19:52
was seen by many as an attempt to
00:19:55
solidify East Chicago's white and black
00:19:57
voters against the growing political
00:20:00
strength of Hispanic Americans, a group
00:20:02
known to be supporting Bob Pas for
00:20:07
reelection. Given had worked the room
00:20:09
for 2 hours. After saying his goodbyes,
00:20:12
he headed out of the club, but never
00:20:15
made it through the front
00:20:20
door. Jay Given was shot once in the
00:20:23
back of the head at point blank range.
00:20:26
The murder occurred just a few yards
00:20:28
from over 400 people. And yet, no
00:20:31
eyewitnesses have ever come forward, and
00:20:34
the police have yet to charge a suspect.
00:20:40
On the night of the murder, detectives
00:20:42
saw the shell casing in the entryway of
00:20:44
the club and a spent 45 caliber bullet
00:20:48
in the
00:20:49
street. I was astonished at the the
00:20:51
remarkable condition that this evidence
00:20:53
was in. Projectile come through the
00:20:56
frontal part of his forehead, went
00:20:58
through the glass doors, hit the
00:21:01
building across the street, brick
00:21:03
building, and bounced back into the
00:21:05
street. It was in perfect condition with
00:21:08
the exception of the nose of the
00:21:09
projectile. Inspector Dera marked the
00:21:12
bullet and locked it in his desk drawer
00:21:15
rather than check it into the evidence
00:21:17
vault.
00:21:18
I've done it with other evidence. My
00:21:20
partner has done it with other evidence.
00:21:22
I just wanted the other teams to look at
00:21:24
what we had as far as evidence. I said,
00:21:26
"This is unbelievable."
00:21:29
4 days later, Inspector Dera was shocked
00:21:31
to discover the evidence had been
00:21:33
tampered with. Someone had apparently
00:21:36
hoped to prevent investigators from
00:21:38
matching the bullet to a gun.
00:21:42
On the shell casing, a hole was punched
00:21:45
through the primer. The projectile,
00:21:48
someone had taken a sharp instrument and
00:21:50
tried to cut the lens and grooves where
00:21:52
you could identify it.
00:21:55
The only people with access to the
00:21:57
evidence drawer worked in the police
00:21:59
department. It looked like an inside
00:22:02
job. Dera sent the bullet and shell
00:22:04
casing to the FBI for analysis. Despite
00:22:08
the damage, they could identify the
00:22:10
murder weapon as a rare handgun called a
00:22:13
Donix 1911st style combat master. The
00:22:17
shell casing was eventually linked to
00:22:20
one of only 58 Donics with a specially
00:22:23
modified ejecting mechanism.
00:22:27
One of those guns was traced back to
00:22:30
Deputy Chief John Cardona of the East
00:22:33
Chicago Police
00:22:35
Department. Cardona had been a member of
00:22:37
a Spanish-sp speakaking political club
00:22:39
that was at odds with Jay Given. Several
00:22:43
eyewitnesses placed Cardona at the Elks
00:22:45
Club on the night of the
00:22:47
shooting. Mr. Cardona was very active in
00:22:51
the Spanish organization. They were not
00:22:54
welcome at this event. He gave a two or
00:22:56
three different reasons why he was there
00:22:58
based on different conversations. He at
00:23:00
some point in time acknowledged that he
00:23:02
was there to to watch Jay Given. Given
00:23:05
had made it clear that if his people
00:23:07
came in power in the city, there were
00:23:08
going to be some changes and Cardona was
00:23:11
one of those changes. A matter of fact,
00:23:13
the comment that was used that if he got
00:23:14
in, Cardona be walking the beat.
00:23:17
No witnesses saw Cardona when Given
00:23:20
headed towards the exit. But one person
00:23:23
who was there says that shortly before
00:23:25
the shooting, he saw Given talking to a
00:23:28
man in the lobby. Investigators believe
00:23:31
that man could have been John
00:23:35
Cardona. He described the man that was
00:23:37
talking with Mr. Given as approximately
00:23:40
61, black wavy hair and a bluish gray
00:23:44
suit consistent with what uh Mr. Cardona
00:23:46
was wearing at the time and his size. He
00:23:49
went into the
00:23:50
washroom and as he was in the washroom
00:23:52
he heard a
00:23:54
gunshot. When he came out of the
00:23:56
washroom immediately he saw Mr. Gibbon
00:23:58
lying face down on the floor and the
00:24:01
other person was gone.
00:24:04
Cardona insists that he was in the Elks
00:24:07
Club bar when Given was gunned down.
00:24:10
Witnesses who were seated at the bar who
00:24:13
know him could not place him there. The
00:24:16
only person that puts John in the bar at
00:24:18
the time of the shooting is Chad
00:24:19
himself.
00:24:22
You tell the investigators the truth
00:24:24
about this case. Yes. Everyone in the
00:24:28
police department, including Cardona,
00:24:30
was asked to take a polygraph test. He
00:24:33
failed the test and when he refused to
00:24:35
take a second exam, he was dismissed
00:24:37
from the police department. Cardona
00:24:40
later moved out of state.
00:24:43
All the evidence seems to point to John
00:24:45
Cardona as the
00:24:47
killer. He fit a description of the man
00:24:50
seen talking with Jay Given. He owned
00:24:53
the Dutton's handgun, although he
00:24:55
claimed that it had been stolen. And
00:24:57
finally, Cardona had access to the
00:24:59
drawer where the evidence had been
00:25:02
kept. But others questioned whether a
00:25:04
case could be made that John Cardona was
00:25:07
the killer.
00:25:08
Cardona was wellknown and easily
00:25:11
identified. Yet, out of hundreds of
00:25:14
potential witnesses at the fundraising
00:25:16
event, not a single person had come
00:25:18
forward to testify against him. Perhaps
00:25:23
this is why prosecutors never filed
00:25:25
charges against
00:25:27
Cardona. The local prosecutor could not
00:25:29
afford to lose this case. He wanted
00:25:31
basically a tight case and he didn't
00:25:33
think his case was tight enough.
00:25:37
Police believe there are witnesses who
00:25:39
haven't come forward that may help crack
00:25:42
this case. Just before the shooting,
00:25:44
five people were coming down the
00:25:46
stairway of the Elks Club. Three of
00:25:48
them, all men, were near the foot of the
00:25:51
steps at the very moment Jay Given was
00:25:53
shot. Those three men have never been
00:25:57
identified. The police hope that one of
00:25:59
them saw the killer and will come
00:26:01
forward with information.
00:26:05
I would like to see an indictment. I'd
00:26:07
like to see a trial. And if John Cardona
00:26:09
didn't do it, then fine, let's put it to
00:26:12
a jury. And if he didn't do it, in the
00:26:15
in the eyes of the jury, beyond a
00:26:16
reasonable doubt, there you have it.
00:26:18
Let's go after whoever did do
00:26:20
it. It's very frustrating to not have
00:26:25
some closure on this.
00:26:28
Next, psychic communication from beyond
00:26:31
the grave helps rediscover longlost
00:26:33
family
00:26:40
[Music]
00:26:45
connections. On a rainy afternoon,
00:26:48
curiosity got the best of an 8-year-old
00:26:50
boy named Hank Jones. His basement held
00:26:54
a tempting mystery. An old steamer trunk
00:26:57
filled with relics from the past.
00:27:02
I opened the lid and inside was just a
00:27:05
treasure trove of material on our
00:27:07
family. I never knew any of my
00:27:10
grandparents except my mother's mother.
00:27:12
And in a sense, by seeing their
00:27:14
pictures, by reading their diaries, by
00:27:16
looking at their letters, they came
00:27:17
alive to me. And ever since that time,
00:27:20
I've been climbing the family tree,
00:27:21
trying to find out as much as I could
00:27:22
about my ancestry.
00:27:26
When Hank first looked into that trunk,
00:27:28
he had no idea he had just set the
00:27:31
course for the rest of his
00:27:34
life. Hank Jones is now a
00:27:36
genealogologist. His job is digging
00:27:38
through other people's old trunks and
00:27:41
dusty relics, trying to piece together
00:27:43
their family histories. Hank and other
00:27:47
genealogologists claim that during their
00:27:49
research they are sometimes guided by
00:27:51
mysterious forces. Perhaps the spirits
00:27:54
of those who are long dead and long
00:27:58
forgotten. Tracking down his own
00:28:01
ancestors has been one of Hank's
00:28:02
greatest challenges. He is descendant
00:28:05
from the Palatans, a group of immigrants
00:28:08
from southern Germany.
00:28:10
During his research, Hank found himself
00:28:13
especially intrigued by one
00:28:15
man. Johan Dietrich Schneider belonged
00:28:18
to a group of 847 Palletine families who
00:28:22
had left Germany for New York. I don't
00:28:25
know why, but I I felt this almost
00:28:28
obsession to find out more about them.
00:28:30
So I hired a lady named Carla Middlestad
00:28:32
Koopichek to go village to village for
00:28:34
me looking for all these families in
00:28:36
Germany. And so just off the top of my
00:28:37
head, I said, "Carla, I have no vested
00:28:40
interest in any of them, but but I've
00:28:41
always been interested in a man named
00:28:43
Dietrich Schneider who came in this
00:28:44
group to New York from Germany. Go look
00:28:46
for him
00:28:47
first." Hank was stunned when he found
00:28:50
out that he had picked the one person
00:28:52
out of the entire migration who was
00:28:55
actually related to him. It was just the
00:28:57
beginning of a bunch of strange
00:28:59
coincidences, strange occurrences that
00:29:01
started happening to me as I was
00:29:02
studying these Palatine Germans.
00:29:06
I would start to dream about particular
00:29:08
home villages of certain immigrants I
00:29:10
was looking for but I hadn't found yet.
00:29:12
So I decided to uh write down some of
00:29:14
the places where the dream suggested I
00:29:16
look. And lo and behold, we found about
00:29:19
five to seven of those families exactly
00:29:21
where the dreams said they would be
00:29:23
located overseas.
00:29:25
Hank became convinced that the spirits
00:29:27
of his long deadad ancestors were
00:29:30
leading him to places he would never
00:29:32
have thought to investigate. He sent out
00:29:35
letters to other genealogologists to see
00:29:37
if anyone else had a similar experience.
00:29:41
I got 200 responses and practically
00:29:44
every response started with, "I know
00:29:46
what you mean." Or, "Yes, yes. Uh, you
00:29:49
struck a familiar chord."
00:29:52
One of the most intriguing responses
00:29:54
came from Dr. David Fox, a forensic
00:29:57
psychologist in Ontario, Canada. In
00:30:00
studying his bloodlines, David became
00:30:03
fascinated by his great
00:30:05
greatgrandfather, Charles Fox. David
00:30:08
learned that Charles had been a sergeant
00:30:10
in the British army in the mid 1800s
00:30:13
during the colonial campaigns in India
00:30:16
and Pakistan. He had no idea what his
00:30:19
great greatgrandfather looked like until
00:30:22
he began having a strange recurring
00:30:24
vision.
00:30:26
I pictured him in his military uniform,
00:30:28
his red coat, the buttons, and perhaps
00:30:31
metals. And then the picture over time
00:30:35
started to include his wife and his
00:30:38
child who would be my
00:30:40
great-grandfather. And I thought, well,
00:30:43
this is very strange because the
00:30:45
probability of such a picture existing
00:30:48
is so remote, so infinite decimal, you
00:30:51
might as well say zero probability.
00:30:54
David traveled to England to search for
00:30:56
more information about his ancestors. He
00:30:59
stopped at the Norwich Castle, a museum
00:31:02
and art gallery in Charles Fox's
00:31:06
hometown. Just as I was entering the
00:31:08
doorway to one room, I noticed ahead of
00:31:10
me was a very, very large portrait that
00:31:13
just stood out almost
00:31:16
three-dimensional. I was aruck. It was
00:31:18
like the little hairs on the nape of my
00:31:20
neck were just standing up.
00:31:23
I had pictured an item very similar to
00:31:26
this and there it was right before my
00:31:28
eyes.
00:31:30
David says the painting was the same
00:31:32
family portrait he had seen in his
00:31:35
vision.
00:31:37
The painting was completed by one
00:31:39
Frederick Sandes in the year
00:31:42
1860. My great-grandfather would have
00:31:45
been three in 1860.
00:31:47
The woman in the picture was very much
00:31:49
younger than the older soldier, and I
00:31:51
knew that Sergeant Charles Fox's wife
00:31:53
was 13 years his junior. Could the man
00:31:57
in the portrait really be David's
00:31:59
ancestor? Three medals pictured on the
00:32:02
uniform provided David with a clue. He
00:32:06
learned that the medals in the painting
00:32:07
had been awarded for the Sautage
00:32:10
campaign, the Pune job campaign, and for
00:32:13
long service and good conduct. Those
00:32:16
same three medals have been awarded to
00:32:18
David's great
00:32:20
greatgrandfather, Sergeant Charles Fox.
00:32:24
It's almost as if my head became fuzzy
00:32:26
at that time. I had an image, the image
00:32:30
in mind that was translated into
00:32:32
something there, something
00:32:35
three-dimensional to have the fantasy
00:32:37
and reality merge in this way. I thought
00:32:39
this is quite incredible.
00:32:43
The best thing about it is that you have
00:32:45
a feeling that your ancestors care about
00:32:47
you, that they really want to be found.
00:32:49
It's it's a sense of of
00:32:53
reuniting. Carol Mantros would agree.
00:32:56
While researching her family tree, Carol
00:32:59
became intrigued with a woman named
00:33:01
Katherine Reddish Stegmire, who she
00:33:04
believed might be her great great aunt.
00:33:07
But Carol was unable to find the date of
00:33:09
Catherine's death or her grave
00:33:13
site. One day, Carol and her son were
00:33:16
searching through cemeteries when they
00:33:18
noticed a hot air balloon leaving the
00:33:20
ground. They were 150 mi from home. Can
00:33:24
you follow it? Sure.
00:33:27
So all of a sudden there was a road on
00:33:29
my right and I turned and we're sort of
00:33:31
following the balloon at this point and
00:33:33
it came down so low that it actually
00:33:36
clipped the top of the trees and all of
00:33:39
a sudden I saw this church with a
00:33:41
cemetery and the balloon appeared to be
00:33:42
landing in the back behind the church.
00:33:46
But instead of landing the balloon took
00:33:49
off again.
00:33:54
I'll be right back.
00:33:56
I thought that it wouldn't hurt to check
00:33:58
the cemetery even though I had never
00:34:01
really considered any of the family
00:34:03
having been buried
00:34:05
there. Almost in the front row was
00:34:08
Frederick Stegmire, a child of Kate. And
00:34:12
I was ecstatic. I knew that I was at
00:34:14
least in the right area.
00:34:16
[Music]
00:34:18
There in the back row was the grave that
00:34:21
she had been looking for.
00:34:25
Carol likes to think that she found the
00:34:27
grave because she followed the balloon
00:34:29
and she followed the balloon because her
00:34:32
great great aunt guided her there. It
00:34:36
was so amazing, so strange. I can't say
00:34:39
for sure Kate was trying to help me, but
00:34:41
I sure feel like she was.
00:34:44
I believe it's very possible that the
00:34:47
spirits of our ancestors in some way are
00:34:49
directing us in our searches. They they
00:34:51
want to be found.
00:34:53
Can mysterious psychic forces really
00:34:56
reach from beyond the grave and guide us
00:34:58
to our longlost
00:35:00
ancestors? Well, for researchers like
00:35:03
Hank, David, and Carol, the answer is a
00:35:07
definite
00:35:10
yes. Next, perhaps you can help locate
00:35:13
the rightful heirs to a century old
00:35:16
Bible.
00:35:26
On a previous broadcast, we featured a
00:35:28
story that began in Madisonville,
00:35:30
Tennessee, during the Great Depression.
00:35:35
Tom Underwood was an out of work single
00:35:38
father. He left his two young daughters,
00:35:41
Meline and Ada, in the care of a farmer,
00:35:44
Charlie Best, and his family. Times were
00:35:47
hard, but he was willing to take them
00:35:50
and give them a home and and give them
00:35:51
what we had to eat. It might not have
00:35:53
been everything, but we never did go
00:35:56
hungry. Charlie treated the girls just
00:35:59
like they were his own
00:36:01
children. Over the next two years, Tom
00:36:04
Underwood visited his daughters several
00:36:07
times. But one day, Tom came for more
00:36:10
than a visit.
00:36:12
Yeah, Mr. Underwood. Zela, may I come
00:36:16
for the children? It's coming on
00:36:17
nightfall and uh I need to be on the
00:36:19
road before dark. Just like that, the
00:36:21
girls were gone.
00:36:24
Charlie Best and his family never again
00:36:27
saw Meline or
00:36:30
Ada. At the time we filmed this story,
00:36:33
Charlie Best was 96 years old. Although
00:36:37
more than a half a century had gone by,
00:36:39
he often mentioned the girls and
00:36:41
wondered about their lives.
00:36:46
update. The night we aired this story,
00:36:49
Ada Underwood was watching and
00:36:50
recognized herself and her older sister,
00:36:53
Meline, who had passed away several
00:36:55
years
00:36:57
earlier. Ada traveled to Madisonville,
00:37:00
Tennessee for a reunion with Charlie
00:37:03
Best and his two children, Zela May and
00:37:06
Carl.
00:37:08
Well, I was anxious to see her. It was
00:37:10
exciting to know she was coming. Well,
00:37:13
you still look like yourself. No, I'm a
00:37:15
lot older. Glad you got to come. It's a
00:37:18
day I have been waiting for for up
00:37:22
really for 51 years. I was very excited
00:37:26
when I heard that they were looking for
00:37:27
me because somebody cared enough about
00:37:30
me to hunt for me that long.
00:37:34
Ada was only 8 years old when she last
00:37:36
saw Charlie, but she never forgot his
00:37:38
warmth and generosity.
00:37:41
your gift. Well, this year's Ada, Daddy,
00:37:45
do you remember?
00:37:47
Charlie had to be very good to my sister
00:37:49
and I for him to take us in and take
00:37:52
care of us when we had nobody else to
00:37:54
take care of us. And so, I think he was
00:37:56
had to be a really great man. You pretty
00:38:00
Thank you. You pretty. It just meant a
00:38:03
lot to daddy. And uh I feel that in his
00:38:06
own mind uh dream has come true.
00:38:12
Eight weeks after we filmed this update,
00:38:15
Charlie Best passed away. According to
00:38:18
his family, the reunion with Ada brought
00:38:20
him great comfort in his final days.
00:38:24
Indeed, Charlie's dream had come true.
00:38:33
In Los Angeles, antiques collector
00:38:35
Jonathan Grady was out browsing when he
00:38:38
came across a box of forgotten
00:38:40
treasures.
00:38:42
Excuse me. So, how much for your buns
00:38:44
and burners? Well, let me see. I'll tell
00:38:47
you what. I'll give you the whole box
00:38:49
for 70. After buying the box, I noticed
00:38:51
there was several other things in the
00:38:53
box that I could use. Some oil cans
00:38:55
there and old scrub brushes. And there
00:38:57
was this Bible. It's a very large Bible,
00:39:00
very old. and the binding was uh was
00:39:03
torn and but yet it was part of the
00:39:05
purchase price so I took it home.
00:39:10
The Bible was more than a century old,
00:39:12
its binding broken, its pages loose.
00:39:17
I thought something like this would be
00:39:19
nice to display in my living room, but I
00:39:23
had to have it repaired. And after
00:39:24
checking with several bookstores in the
00:39:26
area, I was told it would cost between
00:39:28
$2 and $300. So, I put it into the
00:39:30
garage and I stored it away.
00:39:35
The Bible sat forgotten in Jonathan's
00:39:38
garage, gathering dust and guarding its
00:39:41
memories. Flash forward 10 years.
00:39:44
Jonathan had started a writing career.
00:39:47
One day, he needed a quote from the book
00:39:50
of Job. He remembered the Bible that he
00:39:52
had tucked away.
00:39:55
As he looked through it, he came across
00:39:57
a presentation page which he hadn't
00:40:00
noticed before.
00:40:02
Everything stopped right there. I was I
00:40:04
was completely
00:40:05
surprised. I never found the character
00:40:07
of Job. Instead, I found Lazarus.
00:40:12
The Bible had apparently been given to a
00:40:15
Mr. Charles Lazarus and his bride Fanny
00:40:18
Bergman on their wedding day, March
00:40:20
25th, 1874.
00:40:23
They were married in Cincinnati, Ohio.
00:40:26
When Jonathan turned the page, he found
00:40:29
the history of an entire family. Charles
00:40:32
and Fanny Lazarus had recorded the birth
00:40:35
of two sons, Joshua and Samuel, and
00:40:38
three daughters, Blumma, May, and Raina.
00:40:42
On the facing page, Charles and Fanny
00:40:45
recorded the birth of one grandchild,
00:40:47
Bluma's daughter, Helen Maykelsson.
00:40:50
She was born in Denver, Colorado on May
00:40:53
2nd, 1895.
00:40:57
I looked at this Bible for several days
00:40:59
after that. I would refer to this page
00:41:02
back and forth. I watched his kids grow.
00:41:05
Some unknown source pulled me into this
00:41:07
man's life. And I have not quit. I have
00:41:10
not quit trying to locate another man's
00:41:13
family. This is Jonathan Grady in Los
00:41:15
Angeles. I'm calling you regarding the
00:41:17
Lazarus family Bible. Jonathan had
00:41:19
become obsessed with returning the
00:41:21
heirloom to its rightful owners.
00:41:26
There are family members. There were
00:41:27
four siblings, living siblings of this
00:41:30
man, all married. There has to be a
00:41:32
granddaughter, a great granddaughter.
00:41:34
There's a relative there. I know. The
00:41:37
original owner of the Bible, Charles
00:41:39
Lazarus, died on the 4th of July, 1913,
00:41:44
and was buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery
00:41:46
in New York. Any direct descendant of
00:41:49
Charles and his wife Fanny would have a
00:41:51
legitimate claim to the Family Bible.
00:42:13
[Music]
00:42:18
[Music]
00:42:23
Heat.
00:42:27
[Music]
