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[Music]
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Next on Unsolved
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Mysteries, troubling evidence in the
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assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy
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raises the question, was Sir Han Sirhan
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the only
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gunman? It is known as the Girden Light.
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For more than 80 years, the same eerie
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apparition has been seen by hundreds of
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eyewitnesses. But what is it?
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A tragic accident leaves three young
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children motherless. Within days, Tina
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Sheets is separated from her two
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brothers. She will spend the rest of her
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life trying to find them. Rapper Young
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Lei is headed for stardom when his
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girlfriend is murdered, her house is set
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on fire, and his son is kidnapped. What
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happened? Join us for five cases with
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twists and turns that you can hardly
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believe. I'm Dennis Fina and you're
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watching Unsolved Mysteries.
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[Music]
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[Music]
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Somewhere between New York and
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Washington
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DC, June
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1968, a funeral train carrying the body
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of Senator Robert F. Kennedy slowly
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makes its way to the nation's capital.
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Along the route, thousands mourned the
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loss of a favorite
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son. Three days earlier, Robert Kennedy
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had been assassinated at the Ambassador
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Hotel in Los Angeles, California. For
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those who were there, the agonizing
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moments that followed the shooting will
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never be forgotten. Move back, please.
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By that time, the pandemonium had broken
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loose. I mean, everybody was screaming.
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Uh, there were people yelling, "Kenned
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was shot. Kennedy was shot. Get an
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ambulance. Get a doctor."
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Many people jumped on Sir Han and
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hitting him, yelling and screaming.
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Somebody was trying to get the gun. They
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couldn't get the gun out of his hand. It
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was like frozen in his hand.
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I was afraid somebody was going to snap
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his back. And I thought they'd just snap
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him like a matchstick. And Greer finally
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got possession of the gun and gave it to
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Rafer Johnson. And it was agreed, you
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know, Johnson was to hold on to that
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gun, not give it to anyone until uh the
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police arrived.
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Sirhan B. Sirhan was convicted of the
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first-degree murder of Robert Kennedy.
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Sirhan never denied killing Kennedy, but
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has claimed on several occasions that he
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cannot remember the period of time of
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the shooting. The final report of the
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Los Angeles Police Department
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definitively states that Sirhon acted
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alone and fired the fatal
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shot. It seems that every political
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assassination triggers conspiracy
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theories. The murder of Robert Kennedy
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is no exception. In this case, some
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researchers and eyewitnesses believe
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that a second gun was fired in the
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Ambassador Hotel and that it may not
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have been Siran. Sir Han who fired that
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fatal
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shot. The evening of June 4th began as a
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celebration. I thank all of you who made
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this possible this evening with a
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victory in the California primary.
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Senator Kennedy became the favorite to
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win the Democratic presidential
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nomination.
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My thanks to all of you. And now it's on
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to Chicago and let's win there.
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After concluding his speech, Senator
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Kennedy was scheduled for a press
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conference in the Colonial Room about 40
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yards away. He exited the rear of the
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stage, turned right, traveled down the
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hallway, and entered the hotel's kitchen
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pantry. Kennedy was escorted by Hotel
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Mitra, and paused to shake hands with
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the kitchen staff.
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[Music]
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Sirhan Sirhan fired a 22 caliber
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revolver with a cylinder capable of
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holding eight rounds. He was immediately
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restrained but managed to keep firing
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the gun until it was empty. Robert
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Kennedy died 26 hours later.
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Five bystanders were also seriously
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injured but survived the
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attack. Sirhan Sirhan was taken into
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custody by the Los Angeles Police
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Department. They organized a 40 member
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task force known as Special Unit Senator
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or SUS. The former chief of detectives
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with overall responsibility for the
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investigation was Robert H. Hotton.
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The SUS organization was created not
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only to investigate the assassination,
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but any ramification of that uh
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assassination that could uh possibly be
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a conspiracy. We didn't know that it
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wasn't the time it occurred. We had no
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idea what the exact facts were.
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By the end of their investigation, the
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LAPD concluded, quote, "The right person
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was arrested and prosecuted."
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There's no question in my mind that
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Sirhan had killed Kennedy and he acted
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alone.
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The morning after the shooting, police
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discovered Sir Han's notebook in his
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apartment. 3 weeks earlier, he had
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written, "Robert F. Kennedy must be
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assassinated." The case seemed open and
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shut. The weapon taken from Sir Hunt was
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a 22 caliber Ivor Johnson revolver,
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which held eight rounds. The LAPD
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determined that eight bullets were fired
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in the pantry and that all eight came
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from Sir Han's gun. The official report
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concluded the bullets that struck
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Kennedy were the first ones fired from a
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distance of 1 to 6 in. However, the
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exact sequence in which the shots were
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fired is
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unclear. But could a second gun also
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have been fired that night?
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This computerenerated simulation of the
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shooting is based on the official
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diagram. Sirhan is depicted by the red
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figure and Robert Kennedy by the white.
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The LAPD has positioned Kennedy with his
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right shoulder turned towards Sirhan.
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One bullet entered the back of his head
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just behind his right ear. This was the
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fatal shot. The second penetrated the
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senator's right shoulder and lodged near
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his spine. A third bullet entered
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Kennedy's back, angling upward. It
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exited through his chest and was
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believed lost somewhere in the ceiling.
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A fourth passed through the right
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shoulder pad of his suit jacket. This
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bullet also angled upward and according
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to the LAPD, then struck a bystander,
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Paul Shrade, in the forehead.
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I've talked to Paul Shade. Paul said
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that he had to be 9 ft tall or have his
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head on Kennedy's shoulder in order to
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be hit with this bullet. But this is key
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for the LAPD that this is believed that
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that that bullet hit Paul Shay because
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if not, then there's another bullet in
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that room, which means there's a second
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gun. According to the LAPD version, four
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other bullets struck bystanders. One of
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them ricocheted downward from the
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ceiling and hit campaign worker
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Elizabeth Evans in the head. But medical
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records show that the bullet which
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struck Evans entered at an upward angle.
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If a bullet ricochets from the ceiling
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and comes down through another tile,
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it's going in a downward direction. You
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can't have a bullet going in a downward
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direction medically enter from any other
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direction than downward. Yet her bullet
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enter going upward. The autopsy of
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Senator Kennedy concluded that the fatal
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shot as well as the other two bullets
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that hit him were fired from point blank
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range. about 1 to one and a half inches
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away. However, the eyewitnesses who
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testified at Sir Han's trial placed the
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gun muzzle a foot to three feet away
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from Kennedy not 1 and 1/2 in. If that
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guy that that bullet which killed
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Kennedy that was an inch away from from
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his head, this bullet didn't come from
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from did not come from
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Zahan because he never got that
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close. In a moment, we'll hear several
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accounts that suggest the second gun was
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fired during the assassination of Robert
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Kennedy.
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[Music]
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In
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1969, Sirhan B. Sirhan was convicted and
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sentenced to life in prison for the
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murder of Senator Robert Kennedy. But in
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the years following, some researchers
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believe they have found evidence that
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Sirhan did not fire the only bullets.
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If that bullet which killed Kennedy was
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an inch away from his head, this bullet
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didn't come from from
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Siran. Did not come from
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Zan cuz he never got that close.
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Carl Uker was the Mater D who was
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leading Senator Kennedy through the
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pantry at the time of the shooting. Mr.
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Kennedy was shaking hands. I was holding
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his hand, his arm. I was trying to pull
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him getting into the
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colonial by that time. Shahan came
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behind me. He was trying to get through
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me, but I was pushing him back. And then
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I saw the gun and he shot him
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twice, grabbed him, got him in the
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headlock and pushed the gun away. And I
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was holding his shan over the steam
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table and he kept
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shooting. And I say it again and again
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and
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again that gun never got that close to
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Mr. Kennedy's
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head. At the trial, Uker testified that
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Sirhan fired only two shots before he
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was forced away from Kennedy. However,
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the official report stated that four
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shots were fired before Sirhan was
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restrained. The gun was, I'd say,
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approximately anywhere from one to 2 ft
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away from him. He was not an inch away
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from Kennedy's head because he was
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across the room on this ice thing. And
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the room, I don't know the dimensions of
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the room, but he was not an inch away.
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None of the eyewitnesses who testified
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at the trial believed that the gun could
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have been 1 and 1/2 in away from
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Kennedy. However, the LAPD determined
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that all the eyewitnesses were mistaken
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about what they had seen due to the
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panic and chaos of the
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moment. But that doesn't ring true with
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eyewitness Richard Lubik, who claims
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that he saw a security guard pull his
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gun during the shooting and then leave
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the room.
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I notice that there is a gentleman in
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some type of a uniform and he has a gun
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out. That gun is in his hand, but that
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gun was not aimed at Seirand who was had
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just fired. It was in his hand, aimed
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down, not at Kennedy, but down toward
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the floor.
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The security guard has acknowledged that
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he unholstered his weapon that night,
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but denies that it was fired. He
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cooperated with police and was cleared
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by the LAPD of any involvement in the
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attack. We could not make any connection
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between Stean and this guard prior to
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that evening. None at all. That meant
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that it would be a a phenomenal leap of
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logic to think they would both be in the
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kitchen at the same time unless there
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was a connection. So, we did not and do
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not I do not in any way believe there's
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a second gun involved.
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can't get a match. A lawsuit filed by
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one of the surviving victims resulted in
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a re-examination of the firearms
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evidence. A panel of experts compared
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the three intact bullets recovered from
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the victims with bullets fired from Sir
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Han's revolver. Their findings did not
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rule out the possibility of a second
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gunman.
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The three victim bullets were identified
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as having come from the same gun. The
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siran gun has never been identified as
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firing those victim bullets. And that
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that in and of itself is not conclusive
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that the sand gun didn't do the firing.
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So we're left with a dilemma that we
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have three victims struck by bullets
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from the same gun, but we don't know
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whose gun it was.
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The LAPD says that there were six
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victims who were hit by eight bullets.
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They say that Seir Han made good on all
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eight shots. They've accounted for all
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the bullets. You prove one more bullet,
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there's a second gun in that room.
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Photographs taken of the pantry entrance
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add to the possibility that more than
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eight shots were fired. This FBI
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photograph identifies two bullet holes
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in the center divider between the two
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doors which are not accounted for in the
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official report. This is the
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FBI's photograph from the scene and
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their accompanying caption from the June
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8th, 1968 FBI report. E2, a close-up
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view of the two bullet holes of area
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described above. Here's E2. And these
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are the two bullet holes as the FBI
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describes them. Not alleged bullet
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holes, bullet holes. I saw two bullet
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holes in a center divider. I saw two
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bullets in the
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holes. I know what I saw. And the issue
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obviously is that others say that they
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weren't there. It's a supposition on my
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part that it the door jambs, whatever
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was in there that was looked like
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bullets were extracted and found not to
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be bullets. I presume that was done, but
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I don't have personal knowledge of that.
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I have serious reservations whether or
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not any of Bobby's wounds were inflicted
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by Sir Han's gun. I at this point feel
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that there probably was a second gun
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there and that it was fired.
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Portions of the wooden door frames were
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removed by police from the pantry and
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booked into evidence. However, if they
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could have shed any light on this issue,
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the question is now moot. According to
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the LAPD, they were destroyed 2 months
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after Sirhan's conviction. I think that
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the LAPD thought they had an open and
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shut case. And when extra bullets showed
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up and when other crime scene evidence
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didn't jive with the official version, I
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think the question became one of
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nothing's going to bring him back. So
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why confuse all of this with the facts?
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And I think that the case just rested
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there. Final services for Robert Francis
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Kennedy were held at St. Patrick's
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Cathedral in New York City and were
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televised live to the nation.
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My brother need not be
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idealized or enlarged in death beyond
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what he was in
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life. To be remembered simply as a good
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and decent man who saw wrong and tried
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to write
00:16:30
it, saw suffering and tried to heal it.
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Saw war and tried to stop it.
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those of us who loved him and who take
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him to his rest
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today. Pray that what he was to us and
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what he wished for others will someday
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come to pass for all the
00:16:53
world. More than four decades after
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Robert Kennedy's death, debate about the
00:16:58
second gunman continues. A recent study
00:17:01
of an audio tape recorded in the pantry
00:17:03
that night suggests a total of 13 shots
00:17:07
being fired. The conflicting evidence is
00:17:10
likely to be debated for years to
00:17:13
come. Next, a mysterious light haunts
00:17:16
the railroad tracks of Guren, Arkansas.
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Is it a natural phenomenon or the
00:17:21
prowling ghost of a murdered railroad
00:17:24
worker?
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[Music]
00:17:34
Girden,
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Arkansas. One of the many nearly
00:17:39
identical towns along the railroad
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between St. Louis and Dallas. But Girden
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is a little bit
00:17:47
different. As Darkness falls, the locals
00:17:50
anticipate the arrival of their very own
00:17:54
unsolved mystery.
00:17:56
For decades on the tracks just outside
00:17:58
of town, eerie lights have magically
00:18:02
appeared.
00:18:03
I'd say that I've seen it where I
00:18:05
couldn't write it off as being anything
00:18:07
else probably 20 25 times at least. And
00:18:11
I'm a very skeptical person.
00:18:14
Over the years, I have personally seen
00:18:16
it hundreds of
00:18:18
times with my father and my family.
00:18:22
I've seen a lot at least 60 or 70 times.
00:18:25
Uh, and of course usually when you see
00:18:28
it one time in that evening, you can see
00:18:31
it several times in succession.
00:18:34
What is the Girden Light? A natural
00:18:37
phenomenon, a longunning prank, or
00:18:40
perhaps something
00:18:42
otherworldly? A legend that goes back to
00:18:44
the 1930s may explain it.
00:18:52
Around midnight on a chilly winter
00:18:54
night, section foreman Will Mlan
00:18:57
confronted one of his workers, Lewis
00:18:59
McBride. Got something I need to tell
00:19:01
you and I want it's concerning you boys.
00:19:04
Now go on, clock out. The day before a
00:19:06
freight train had derailed just outside
00:19:08
of Gertton. This is your last night,
00:19:10
McBride. Get your pay. Get on out of
00:19:12
here. Mlan believed that McBride had
00:19:16
sabotaged a section of the track. I
00:19:19
don't want to hear anymore about it.
00:19:20
Just pick up your pay and get off the
00:19:22
yard. I need this job.
00:19:32
Don't
00:19:40
you? When Mlan didn't return home, a
00:19:43
search party was quickly assembled. They
00:19:45
came upon a trail of blood and followed
00:19:47
it along the tracks to the edge of
00:19:50
town. At the end of the trail, they
00:19:53
found the lifeless body of Will
00:19:56
Mlan. By dawn, McBride had confessed to
00:19:59
the murder. In February of 1932, he was
00:20:03
executed at the state
00:20:06
penitentiary. Soon after that, people
00:20:09
began seeing the Girden Light on a
00:20:11
regular basis. Local legends said that
00:20:14
it was the ghost of Will Mlan, doomed to
00:20:17
spend eternity walking the tracks with
00:20:20
his
00:20:21
lantern. One of the first sightings was
00:20:24
reported by a conductor named John. When
00:20:27
he stepped out of the back of the
00:20:29
caboose one night, he was startled by
00:20:32
what he saw.
00:20:36
They say that John went out on the back
00:20:38
platform to investigate and the light
00:20:41
was real far off and kind of faint, but
00:20:44
it seemed to be traveling the same speed
00:20:46
they were. All of a sudden, it just shot
00:20:49
up and he's just like paralyzed, hanging
00:20:51
on to the grab bar and just transfixed,
00:20:54
staring right into the light. According
00:20:57
to John, the light followed the train
00:20:59
for more than a mile. Finally, it veered
00:21:02
off in the direction of the
00:21:05
cemetery. Ever since, looking for the
00:21:08
garden light has become something of a
00:21:10
local pastime. If you go down there uh
00:21:14
with some regularity, uh you're
00:21:16
definitely going to see it after a
00:21:19
while. Walking down the tracks in the
00:21:21
total darkness always left you with a
00:21:24
little eerie feeling.
00:21:27
I've seen it come on in a quick flash
00:21:30
and seen it fade in and then fade back
00:21:32
out.
00:21:34
The descriptions of the light are quite
00:21:37
consistent. It hovers 1 to 3 ft above
00:21:39
the tracks and is rarely visible for
00:21:42
more than 10 seconds at a time. The
00:21:45
whole town has seen it at some point in
00:21:48
time. It's not a figment of anybody's
00:21:50
imagination. It does exist. It is there.
00:21:55
What is it? That's the question.
00:22:00
Is the Gen Light, as some believe, the
00:22:02
ghost of Will Mlan, or is there a
00:22:05
rational scientific
00:22:07
explanation? For years, Dr. Charles
00:22:10
Lenning, a physics professor at
00:22:12
Henderson State University, took his
00:22:15
classes to Girden in search of the
00:22:17
answer. When I first went out to see the
00:22:19
garden light and studied the area maps,
00:22:22
I was pretty confident that the light
00:22:24
always originated from car headlights on
00:22:26
an interstate bridge a few miles away.
00:22:29
The light is usually seen in this area
00:22:32
just outside Girden. The highway lies to
00:22:35
the southwest, 4 miles away.
00:22:39
The problem with the headlight theory is
00:22:41
that we could find reliable accounts of
00:22:44
people that reported the garden light
00:22:45
well before the interstate bridge that
00:22:47
we thought was the origin of the uh
00:22:49
headlights was opened.
00:22:52
Yet another theory is based on the fact
00:22:55
that dense swamp vegetation releases gas
00:22:58
as it
00:22:59
decomposes. Spontaneous combustion of
00:23:02
these gases will produce a display of
00:23:05
light.
00:23:06
The theory of it being swamp gas doesn't
00:23:09
hold up to me uh just because I've seen
00:23:12
it on a windy night. So that would
00:23:15
eliminate any sort of swamp gas out
00:23:17
there. The closest theory that I've come
00:23:20
to for explaining the gird light is the
00:23:22
pazo electric effect. And paso
00:23:24
electricity is a simple phenomena where
00:23:26
if you squeeze um crystals such as
00:23:29
quartz or rochell salt, you get an
00:23:31
electric current out of them.
00:23:34
Girden sits on top of huge deposits of
00:23:37
quartz crystals along with the active
00:23:39
fault line known as the New Madrid
00:23:42
fault. Michael Klingan believes that
00:23:44
when the plates shift, electric charges
00:23:47
are released from the crystals and are
00:23:49
seen above ground as the Girden light.
00:23:53
People tend to say that the light
00:23:55
appeared after the murder of Will Mlan.
00:23:58
That also coincides with a major
00:24:00
earthquake on the New Madrid fault line.
00:24:02
So that tends to support my pazo
00:24:04
electric theory.
00:24:07
Klingan admits that there is one large
00:24:09
hole in his theory. He cannot explain
00:24:12
how the charge migrates to the surface
00:24:15
or why it is concentrated in a balllike
00:24:18
shape. Do we really want to know what it
00:24:21
is? because that would take all the
00:24:24
mystery out of it and all the fun and
00:24:26
and I would like to see my children's
00:24:28
children take their children down there
00:24:31
just like our parents took us down
00:24:32
there. It's a perfect setting for a
00:24:35
ghost story.
00:24:41
So, what is the secret of the Girden
00:24:43
Light? Well, until a solid theory comes
00:24:46
along, we're left with the legend of
00:24:48
Will Mlan's ghost wandering the railroad
00:24:50
tracks with his lantern.
00:24:55
Forever. Next, three children are
00:24:57
separated when their mother dies in a
00:24:59
terrible accident. 30 years later, Tina
00:25:02
Sheets is still looking for her two lost
00:25:05
brothers.
00:25:10
[Music]
00:25:17
Toledo,
00:25:18
Ohio. A highway under construction. A
00:25:22
young single mother hurrying home to her
00:25:24
three small children. And then disaster.
00:25:29
[Music]
00:25:43
26-year-old Patricia Lamaran was killed
00:25:46
instantly. A few miles away, her
00:25:48
children waited patiently at the home of
00:25:51
their great aunt. That evening, the
00:25:54
television brought the tragedy front and
00:25:57
center. Look, there's mom's car and TV.
00:26:01
Suddenly, they were motherless.
00:26:03
Patricia's one-year-old son, Craig,
00:26:06
nicknamed Chipper, two-year-old
00:26:08
Christopher, Chrissy for short, and her
00:26:11
daughter Tina, then four years old. The
00:26:14
day before was my brother Chrissy's
00:26:16
second birthday. And I remember the
00:26:19
birthday cake and the people at the
00:26:20
party. And my next memory goes
00:26:23
immediately to my aunt on the phone
00:26:25
crying.
00:26:27
Tina had only the Vegas concept that
00:26:29
something terrible had happened. She had
00:26:32
no idea that she and her brothers were
00:26:34
about to be separated
00:26:37
forever. Chrissy and Chipper were
00:26:39
eventually handed over to foster care.
00:26:43
Tina was uprooted as well, leaving the
00:26:46
home of her great aunt to live with her
00:26:48
grandparents.
00:26:50
I was very upset and could not
00:26:52
understand why my mother and my brothers
00:26:54
were gone. I felt as though I was bad,
00:26:58
that I had done something terribly
00:27:00
awful, for all this to happen to me and
00:27:04
for everybody to have been taken from
00:27:06
me. As I grew up, I missed not having
00:27:10
Chrissy and Chipper there. I knew that
00:27:12
they were somewhere and that I wanted to
00:27:15
be with them, but it was out of my
00:27:17
control as to where any of us
00:27:20
went. And the older I got, the more I
00:27:23
knew I had the ability to find them.
00:27:27
Tina started looking when she was 16.
00:27:31
What is it? It's the address of the
00:27:33
foster home where Chrissy and Chipper
00:27:35
were taken. Her great aunt gave her the
00:27:37
first clues. Live. No, that's the place
00:27:40
where they were taken. I don't know what
00:27:43
happened to them after that.
00:27:47
Tina learned that Chrissy and Chipper's
00:27:49
foster parents had moved away. She then
00:27:52
went door to door, hoping the neighbors
00:27:55
could help.
00:28:01
Hello. Hi. I'm trying to locate a family
00:28:04
that used to take in foster kids. Tina's
00:28:06
efforts eventually paid off. Yeah. I'm
00:28:08
trying to find my two brothers. Their
00:28:10
names were Chipper and Chrissy, and I
00:28:12
believe they lived with her for a while.
00:28:14
Um, I remember those two. Yes, they're
00:28:17
cute little boys. Yeah, they remember
00:28:18
them. Tina was thrilled. She got the
00:28:21
name of the foster mother, Doris
00:28:23
Synindel, and then spent the next 8
00:28:25
years trying to locate
00:28:27
her. Finally, they connected.
00:28:31
When I first told her who I was, I asked
00:28:33
her if she ever lived in Toledo, and she
00:28:35
said yes. And I asked her if she was
00:28:38
ever a foster parent, and she said yes.
00:28:41
And I told her I believed that she had
00:28:43
fostered my brothers. And she said, "My
00:28:46
babies Chrissy and Chipper." And I
00:28:48
nearly fell off of my
00:28:51
chair. Chrissy and Chipper had stayed
00:28:53
with Doris for almost 2 years until they
00:28:56
were adopted by a couple from Michigan.
00:29:00
Tina, I've been waiting for you. Huh?
00:29:02
Tina visited Doris as soon as she could.
00:29:05
She wanted to hear every detail. This
00:29:08
was taken at Deer Park. This is Doris
00:29:11
had saved everything. The home movies,
00:29:13
the photographs, even the boys tiny bow
00:29:16
ties. These are the actual ties. When I
00:29:19
handed her the bow ties, I had no
00:29:22
intentions of letting her keep those bow
00:29:25
ties. But I didn't have the heart to
00:29:27
take them back because she looked with
00:29:29
them with such loving care and she
00:29:31
couldn't speak. She
00:29:35
cried. It just felt as if they had
00:29:38
actually worn these. I was that much
00:29:41
closer to them. I just wanted to be able
00:29:44
to to be with them.
00:29:47
Based on these childhood photographs, a
00:29:49
police sketch artist drew age progressed
00:29:52
sketches of Chrissy and Chipper. Tina
00:29:55
hoped that these images might reunite
00:29:57
her with her long lost brothers.
00:30:01
I have a longing to be with them. I
00:30:04
don't feel like my life is complete
00:30:07
without them.
00:30:09
There's a lot of missing pieces and um I
00:30:13
need to be with them and I need them to
00:30:17
know their family.
00:30:20
[Music]
00:30:23
Update. On the night of our broadcast,
00:30:25
Tina was at our phone center when her
00:30:28
youngest brother called in.
00:30:31
Chipper, this is Tina. I'm your sister.
00:30:35
I don't know if you know you have a
00:30:36
sister. Tina learned that both Chip and
00:30:39
her other brother Chris lived in West
00:30:42
Virginia. After 32 years, Tina could
00:30:45
hardly find the words to express what
00:30:47
she was feeling.
00:30:49
Been a long time. It was hard for me to
00:30:51
to know if you or Chris even would
00:30:53
remember me. I'm elated. I don't know
00:30:55
how to explain it. Um it's u a solved
00:30:59
mystery.
00:31:01
A few weeks after the broadcast, Tina
00:31:04
joined her brothers for their first
00:31:06
Christmas together in more than 30
00:31:10
years. Tina would still like to locate
00:31:13
her biological father, John Edward
00:31:15
Lamaran. He was born in Detroit and
00:31:18
lived with the family in Los Angeles. If
00:31:20
you have any information about John
00:31:23
Edward Lamaran, please log on to our
00:31:25
website at unsolved.com.
00:31:29
[Music]
00:31:30
Next, a house is set a fire, a young
00:31:33
woman is murdered, and the 4-week old
00:31:36
son of a rap musician is kidnapped.
00:31:43
[Music]
00:31:49
[Music]
00:31:51
His name is Lean Williams. To his fans,
00:31:55
he's Young Lei, a rising star in the rap
00:31:58
music world. But without warning, he
00:32:01
would become the center of a bizarre
00:32:03
double
00:32:06
mystery. It was a tragedy that tore him
00:32:08
from the two most important people in
00:32:11
his life, a case that has stumped the
00:32:14
Vallejo police for
00:32:18
years. I got the hit. In the spring of
00:32:22
1996, Lean Williams was on the fast
00:32:24
track to rap stardom. He had just signed
00:32:27
a recording deal. His new video was
00:32:29
about to be released and his girlfriend
00:32:32
had just given birth to their first
00:32:34
child, a boy named Lison.
00:32:37
What I feel about Lison was it's a first
00:32:40
son. Uh the summer to come, you know
00:32:42
what I'm saying? I'm going to uh be with
00:32:44
him, you know what I'm saying? Take care
00:32:45
of him. It was it was experience to me.
00:32:47
You know what I'm saying? I was happy.
00:32:50
Lean's girlfriend, 17-year-old Daphne
00:32:53
Bdon, lived with her grandmother in
00:32:55
Vallejo. Daphne was working hard to
00:32:58
finish high school while caring for
00:33:03
Lison. One day, Daphne's grandmother,
00:33:06
Reva Lee Bdon, was getting ready to go
00:33:08
out when the doorbell rang.
00:33:11
Is Daphne home? Yeah. Come on in. She's
00:33:14
in the back. Dany? Yeah. You have
00:33:16
company? Right now, Daphne was getting a
00:33:19
lot of visitors. She was the mother of a
00:33:22
local rap star's baby. Everybody wanted
00:33:25
to see Lean's son. Came by to see the
00:33:27
baby. So cute. You can sit down. Dany,
00:33:32
I'm going to play bingo. I'll be gone.
00:33:34
Reva Lee did not recognize these two
00:33:36
girls, but Daphne obviously knew them.
00:33:39
Everything seemed fine.
00:33:44
Within the hour she was rushing home,
00:33:46
neighbors had told her that her house
00:33:48
was on fire. I tried to break her loose.
00:33:51
He said, "No, no, don't go in. I got to
00:33:53
can't get in there. Can't go in there.
00:33:54
My grand
00:33:57
So he said,
00:34:03
um, your granddaughter
00:34:09
did." The news got worse. The fire did
00:34:12
not start accidentally. Daphne had been
00:34:15
murdered and the house torched to cover
00:34:17
up the crime and baby Lison was missing,
00:34:21
apparently kidnapped. For Lean, the news
00:34:24
was devastating. I was saying please to
00:34:27
myself, please Dafany, come walking
00:34:29
around this corner. You know what I'm
00:34:30
saying? With this baby.
00:34:32
[Applause]
00:34:34
Daphne's death outraged the community.
00:34:37
Hundreds turned out for a march
00:34:39
memorializing Daphne and urging Lison's
00:34:42
safe return. The question on everybody's
00:34:45
mind was why
00:34:49
I did hear that some girls were
00:34:52
threatening her and I didn't understand
00:34:55
that, you know, but they said it was
00:34:57
behind my son. I don't know for sure or
00:35:01
not what the situation is, but it seems
00:35:04
to me as somebody wanted a baby and they
00:35:07
wanted to do away with her. And why, I
00:35:09
don't know.
00:35:12
10 months earlier, Lean himself had been
00:35:15
the victim of a holdup. Break yourself.
00:35:18
What's up, homie? You know what time it
00:35:19
is? I thought we was cold. Give up the
00:35:20
damn little one. I'm busting. Come on.
00:35:23
Come on. Anybody moves, everybody dies.
00:35:31
One bullet hit Lean, piercing his brain.
00:35:34
When he recovered, he testified against
00:35:37
the shooter. It's only natural to assume
00:35:39
that there could be some possible
00:35:41
connection there, that it may be some
00:35:42
type of retaliation. We don't want to
00:35:43
overinflate that possibility. Uh, but
00:35:46
again, it's unsolved, so we're trying
00:35:47
not to close any doors on it. However,
00:35:50
Lean is convinced that the two attacks
00:35:53
are not connected. Had nothing to do
00:35:56
with it. You know what I'm saying? cuz
00:35:56
they would have uh tried to get at me.
00:35:58
You know what I'm saying? My life would
00:35:59
have been in danger. Not uh you know
00:36:01
what I'm saying, my uh baby mama's life
00:36:03
and my kid.
00:36:06
Whatever the motive, police had no doubt
00:36:08
that whoever killed Daphne also
00:36:11
kidnapped Lison. We still feel that
00:36:14
there's hope to to recover the baby.
00:36:16
Obviously, we feel it's still alive and
00:36:18
we hope with this information on a
00:36:19
nationwide level, it can lead to some uh
00:36:21
further leads that uh eventually lead to
00:36:23
an arrest.
00:36:28
Update. 6 years after baby Lison
00:36:32
Williams was kidnapped, both he and his
00:36:34
abductors were found. Police received
00:36:37
the tip that the boy was living with a
00:36:39
woman named Latasha Brown. She and her
00:36:42
cousin Osanetta Williams were arrested
00:36:45
and charged with the kidnapping of Lison
00:36:48
and the murder of his mother Daphne
00:36:50
Bdon. Apparently, Brown, who had once
00:36:53
been involved with Lean Williams, was
00:36:55
jealous of his relationship with Daphne.
00:36:59
Osanetta Williams agreed to testify
00:37:01
against Brown and received a sentence of
00:37:03
13 years and 8 months in prison. She
00:37:06
served her time and has been released.
00:37:09
Brown was sentenced to 37 years for
00:37:11
murder and kidnapping.
00:37:18
One day, a cure for cancer will become a
00:37:20
reality. But until then, early diagnosis
00:37:23
is our best hope. And to help in that
00:37:26
quest, you may be surprised to learn
00:37:28
that some researchers are looking to one
00:37:30
of the world's oldest detection
00:37:33
devices, a dog's nose. It has been
00:37:37
estimated that a dog's sense of smell is
00:37:39
more than 200 million times stronger
00:37:42
than that of humans. It can sniff out
00:37:44
people, animals, drugs, bombs, and
00:37:47
cadaavvers. And now it seems it may be
00:37:50
able to detect cancer as much as 2 years
00:37:54
before doctors can diagnose
00:37:57
it. Dwayne Pickle has been training dogs
00:38:01
professionally for more than three
00:38:03
decades. When a local dermatologist
00:38:06
wondered if cancer had a signature scent
00:38:09
and if dogs could smell it, Dwayne
00:38:12
decided to find out.
00:38:14
I talked to several nurses at the
00:38:16
hospital and they said, "Yes, I can
00:38:18
smell cancer myself." And said, "Vance,
00:38:20
when you get off the elevator floor at
00:38:23
the hospital, there's something unique
00:38:24
about that floor as far as smell is
00:38:27
concerned. Not necessarily offensive,
00:38:28
but something very unique."
00:38:32
Dwayne decided to focus on the fastest
00:38:34
growing type of cancer in America, skin
00:38:37
cancer, especially the deadly kind known
00:38:40
as melanoma.
00:38:42
Melanoma begins on the surface of the
00:38:44
skin and at that point is 100% curable.
00:38:47
However, if you ignore it, it will grow
00:38:50
deeper into the skin and eventually it
00:38:52
will reach the blood vessels. Once it
00:38:54
reaches the blood vessels, it can spread
00:38:56
around the body and reach the vital
00:38:58
organs. Once it's done that, there is no
00:39:01
treatment.
00:39:03
Dwayne hid real melanoma cells inside
00:39:06
plastic tubes, hoping the scent was
00:39:09
strong enough for a dog to detect. He
00:39:12
started the experiment with George, a
00:39:15
standard schnowzer already trained to
00:39:17
sniff out bombs. Once George was given
00:39:20
the scent, Dwayne hid the canister. I
00:39:24
wasn't sure whether it was going to have
00:39:25
a strong smell or whether it was going
00:39:28
to be like a salt and have a very weak
00:39:30
smell. And uh but we found out that it
00:39:33
has a very strong smell.
00:39:36
[Music]
00:39:38
Dwayne did a number of experiments using
00:39:41
other body tissues and other dogs to
00:39:44
make sure that they were really
00:39:45
detecting cancer. Apparently, they were.
00:39:50
Whether it was cells in test tubes or
00:39:52
concealed under bandages placed on human
00:39:55
subjects, out of 451 searches, George
00:39:59
and other cancer trained dogs had a
00:40:03
99.8% success rate. Doing that, we're
00:40:06
going to have the dog check here. We're
00:40:07
going to start at the head. Finally,
00:40:09
Tallahassee police officer Eddie Messer
00:40:12
volunteered as a subject. A biopsy on a
00:40:16
suspicious spot on Eddie's right
00:40:18
shoulder had already tested negative for
00:40:21
skin cancer. George slowly went over
00:40:24
Eddie's body, checking each bandage
00:40:28
thoroughly. When George reached the
00:40:31
suspicious spot, he reacted to the smell
00:40:34
of cancer, though there was none on the
00:40:36
bandage. Show me. When George first put
00:40:39
his nose to that spot, you know, it felt
00:40:42
a little funny there, but working with
00:40:44
dogs at the airport and what have you.
00:40:46
Yeah, it makes you think there. So,
00:40:48
maybe he knows what he's talking about.
00:40:51
For a second opinion, Dwayne's partner,
00:40:53
Glenda Manacey, brought in her cancer
00:40:56
trained dog, Breeze. Breeze confirmed
00:41:00
George's diagnosis. Eddie had a second
00:41:03
biopsy. It was still negative, but
00:41:06
Dwayne was sure it was wrong. And they
00:41:08
called me and said, "Well, the spot came
00:41:10
back negative." I said, "I'm very sorry,
00:41:12
but my dog said it's melanoma. It's
00:41:14
melanoma." So then they took off the
00:41:16
whole lesion and they froze it and they
00:41:18
sent it to a lab in Cleveland and they
00:41:21
shaved it just one little stroke at a
00:41:23
time. It actually took 4 and 1/2 days
00:41:24
later before they found there was a spot
00:41:27
in the middle of that lesion that was a
00:41:29
melanoma level three.
00:41:32
If it hadn't been for the dog, if it
00:41:34
hadn't have been for this pavologist
00:41:36
checking on this one spot for 4 and 1/2
00:41:38
days and finding yes, proving the dog
00:41:40
was right in a couple years it could
00:41:43
have be on been beyond repair. But now
00:41:46
we found it early enough so that it is
00:41:48
repairable and that you're going to do
00:41:50
fine. This could lead to some exciting
00:41:52
research in finding out what is it that
00:41:54
the dog's smelling um and that that may
00:41:57
lead to blood tests or other tests to
00:41:59
find these molecules um as a detection
00:42:02
system for cancers.
00:42:05
Until those molecules are isolated, it
00:42:08
will be up to dogs like George to sniff
00:42:10
around and save
00:42:12
[Music]
00:42:15
lives. Heat. Heat.
00:42:27
[Music]
00:42:38
[Music]
00:42:48
[Music]
