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[Music]
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Next on Unsolved
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Mysteries, five friends on a fishing
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trip vanish in a storm. 10 years later
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and 2,000 m away, a grave is found
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containing the remains of one of the
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men. What happened to the rest?
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It's called the Devil's Backbone, a
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haunted patch of Texas Hill Country
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where restless spirits are as common as
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coyotes. A young woman runs out of gas
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on a busy highway. Moments later, she's
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fighting for her life at 70 m an hour.
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And residents of a nudist club find out
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that one of their most popular members
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is a smoothtalking con artist who has
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been arrested in more than a dozen
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states. Join me for these intriguing
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stories, plus updates on cases solved by
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you. I'm Dennis Fina, and this is
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Unsolved
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Mysteries.
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[Music]
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[Music]
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Heat. Heat.
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[Music]
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The town of Hana on the Hawaiian island
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of Maui. On a clear February morning,
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five local men left this small village
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to go pleasure fishing in a 17 ft Boston
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Wheeler named the Sarah Joe.
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The men Benjamin Kalama, Ralph Mayukini,
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Scott Mormon, Patrick Wner, and Peter
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Hanchett were all experienced fishermen.
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When they left at about 10:00 in the
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morning, the water was very calm and it
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was a nice clear day and um they
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gathered their equipment together and
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prepared the boat.
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[Music]
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In the early afternoon, the wind
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suddenly changed direction.
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the wind switching around instead of
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coming from the normal direction which
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is from the east northeast it switched
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and came from the mountains blowing out
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the sea and this concerned me a great
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deal so I told Dave say we better get
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down the coast see if we can spot those
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boys and wave them in
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as the storm grew John Hanchett looked
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for the Sarah Joe
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by this time it was really blowing a
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gale and the rain was beginning to come
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down and it was storming and we went out
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of Hanahaba about a half a mile and then
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down the coast and I still didn't see
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any sign of the boys but it was a very
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rough trip and the oceans were fierce
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I'd never seen them get that
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rough we must have the next day John
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continued the search with the help of
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marine biologist John Nutton to think
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that this man was out all day yesterday
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in in uh 30 to 40 knot winds and 20 to
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25 ft seas in this channel looking for
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his uh for his son. You're hoping coming
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in that someone had seen something
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during the day and they'd have some
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encouraging news, but they had the same
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news that we brought in that was there
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was no sign of the boys, no sign of the
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boat, no sign of anything.
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The following day, the Coast Guard
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joined the search for the Sarah Joe.
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The initial place where you start
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searching was very illdefined cuz we
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weren't really sure exactly where the
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Sarah Joe had gone fishing. So, it
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encompassed a relatively large area
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initially that first day and then the
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area gets bigger and bigger and bigger.
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When the search was finally suspended, 5
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days later, we had searched 73,000
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square
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miles. Over the next few weeks, the HANA
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residents comb the local beaches looking
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for any sign of the missing Boston
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Wher. Despite all their efforts, no
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trace of the Sarah Joe or the five
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fishermen was ever found. And then 10
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years later, a surprising coincidence
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led to a major break in the
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case. 2,000 mi west of Hawaii in the
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Marshall Islands.
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Captain, come take a look at this.
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John Nton, the marine biologist who had
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searched for the Sarah Joe a decade
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earlier, was on a wildlife expedition
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thousands of miles from Hawaii on a
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deserted ATL called Tanji. He spotted a
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small
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boat. At first, we thought it was a boat
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uh mored offshore. So, we approached
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closer and then we saw that it was a uh
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what looked to be a battered small boat
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on the uh island
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itself. John and his crew went on shore
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to inspect the wreckage.
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There were still a few letters and
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numbers uh from the registration number
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and uh immediately I saw the it started
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with an HA which indicates that the boat
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was registered in the Hawaiian Islands
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which of course is over over 2,000 mi
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away.
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About 60 yards away, John's crew found a
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shallow grave.
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When we got up there, we could see
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immediately that there was a human jaw
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bone protruding out of the out of the
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pile of rocks. At that time, we had no
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way of knowing that the grave site was
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associated with the wreck whaler. After
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finding no signs of anyone else on the
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island, the men contacted the Coast
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Guard. They ran a check of the
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registration number and made a positive
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ID. It was the Sarah
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Joe. The grave was excavated and parts
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of a human skeleton were
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uncovered. Dental records identify the
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remains as Scott Mormon, one of the five
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missing men. A strange clue was also
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found buried with the skeleton. It was a
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sheath of of paper and I'd say a book
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except it was not bound. Probably three
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inches by three inches by maybe 3/4 of
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an inch thick. But between each one of
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these pieces of paper, there was a very
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small square piece of of tinfoil
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material. We have not been able to
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determine who placed that there or or
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what purpose it serves.
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Experts say that the Sarah Joe could
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have drifted 2,000 m to the Marshall
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Islands. If so, it would have arrived in
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about 3 months. But according to the
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brother of one of the missing men, a US
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government survey of Tanji a full 6
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years after the men disappeared found no
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trace of the Sarah Joe. If this is true,
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where was the boat in the time between
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its disappearance and the government
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survey? In 1985, he said there was no
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ser. No ser on the Tongi Island. Where
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was the serger?
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Who buried Scott Mormon? And what is the
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significance of the pad of paper found
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in the grave? These unanswered questions
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have left some wondering if any of the
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other men might still be alive. Every
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time I look at the
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ocean, my thoughts go to
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him. I see him way out in the island
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someplace alive and waiting.
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Today in Hana, the friends and families
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of the missing men wait for answers that
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may never come. The key clue that might
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solve this mystery is the notepad found
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in the shallow
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grave. If you have any information about
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this case, please log on to our website
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at
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unsolved.com. Next, a Texas ranch is
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said to be swarming with ghosts. The
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locals call it the most haunted place in
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the country.
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[Music]
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I was feeling extremely scared.
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It was a ghost. It had to be. I didn't
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tell anybody about it.
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That chilling sensation I got kind of
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stayed with me.
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There's something here. Uh what it is, I
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don't know. I've had probably 25, 30
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reportings of different spirits and
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ghosts from different people. They'll
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never
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leave. I'll be dead and gone. They'll be
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here. They call it the devil's backbone.
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Over the centuries, Apache warriors,
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explorers from Spain, and Confederate
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soldiers have all passed through this
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area. Today, their spirits live on. Or
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so says ranch owner Burke
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Wall. I had a situation one time where I
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was finishing a a particular thing I was
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writing and it was late at night about
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midnight
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uh and and the dog started barking a
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little bit but not loud. The wind was
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blowing. It was a cold
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night. I looked through the window.
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That's when I saw the Spanish
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monk. I don't believe it could have been
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a person. There's no way. He was
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definitely from the 1700s. He was
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dressed that way in his habit or
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whatever. His cross hanging. I probably
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watched him for all 15 seconds maybe,
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which is a long time. He disappeared in
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a way that was more of
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a gone.
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The Spanish monk is just one of the many
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spirits that are said to haunt Birch's
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Ranch. Another ghost was spotted by John
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Meyers, who was on the property to hunt
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deer. The stand I was on uh was a tree
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stand. Once I got up and situated
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myself, uh you have to be real quiet,
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real still, and uh watch for the deer.
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As I was sitting up in the stand
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waiting, uh, and that's what you do a
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lot deer hunting is just wait. I heard
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footprints or footsteps I should say,
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walking around the tree, the base of the
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[Music]
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tree. I couldn't see because I was
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sitting on a
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platform, and it kept just walking in a
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circle, whatever it
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was. I started getting a little eerie
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feeling because it wouldn't move away
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from the tree. It just kept going in
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this circle and finally it just
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stopped. It didn't walk away. The sounds
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just stopped and the sun started going
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down and it started getting darker and I
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thought, well, I'm just going to get
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down off the tree and walk back to the
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house. Uh, didn't see any footprints,
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twigs broken or branches broken or
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anything like
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that. I kept getting this feeling that
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someone was watching me. So I stopped
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and I turned back and looked toward the
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tree and there was an
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[Music]
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Indian. It was a very cold night. It was
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in the 20s and he was without a shirt
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and he was looking at me rather
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strangely like who are
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you? So immediately I turned around and
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started back toward the house. I noticed
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to my right out of the corner of my eye
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that he was there walking parallel with
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me. I didn't feel threatened by him.
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It's just, you know, like who are you
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and what are you doing here? And um I
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made about two steps toward him and when
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I did he
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vanished. It was a ghost and it had to
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be, you know, to be able to do that.
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[Applause]
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Lynn Gentry, one-time foreman at Bur's
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Ranch, tells of a sighting he had while
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staying in the bunk house.
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I was kind of relaxing and off in the
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distance, I heard what at first I
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thought was
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thunder. Then, as the sound came closer,
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I realized that it was horses hooves in
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a very fast
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run. There were uh several horses with
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probably 15 or 20 riders on them, what I
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believed to have been Confederate
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soldiers. They certainly looked real to
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me at the time. But then when you begin
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to slowly realize that, hey, what I'm
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looking at is not real. You know, this
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is these are ghosts.
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[Applause]
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John Via Real was hiking the property
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with his friends Corey and BC when he
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had an encounter he still can't explain.
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John claims he not only saw a
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supernatural vision of a wolf, but that
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the spirit actually possessed him.
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Cory and BC were off in another part of
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the creek and uh I got this sensation
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and uh basically saw a vision of a
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wolf. I was looking up watching it come
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towards me and it it leapt at
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[Music]
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me and uh where it would have hit me I
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felt the just a chilling sensation go
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through me. We we didn't see anything
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mysterious. Uh it's all what John says
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that he
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saw. When we got back into the truck, it
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got extremely cold in the truck. He was
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sitting in between BC and I. I was
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sitting on the passenger side. So, the
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whole left hand side of my body got
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extremely numb and
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cold. It's almost
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like if there was a big block of ice
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sitting next to
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me. When we got back to the ranch that
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night, I I didn't know what was going
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on. I didn't know if my friend was going
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to be all right. Um I was actually
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pretty worried about him. My god.
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According to his friends, John fell into
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some kind of a trance. When he spoke, he
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seemed to know about Indian massacres,
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ambushes, and other littleknown events
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from the history of the devil's
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backbone. While I was standing there, I
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was feeling extremely
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scared. And all of a sudden, a big gust
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of wind came out of the
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kitchen. I I was just in shock. I didn't
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know what that was. Um, I stood there
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kind of frozen and kept asking
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questions. What? What? What was that?
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What was that? And then that's when
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someone said, "I think the spirits left
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him. I think it's gone now." I don't
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know for sure what kind of spirit was
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inside of me, but something that knew
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about this ranch, that knew about the
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history of the ranch had to be going
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through me. And uh it's it's hard to
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believe, but it you know basically
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that's what would have had to happen.
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Why is this particular area so
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irresistible to spirits? The devil's
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backbone is haunted because it's
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loved. It's loved by these spirits. It's
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loved by
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myself. And I imagine someday when I'm
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gone, I will haunt this same son of a
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gun.
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If you have any doubts about the haunted
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happenings around Burke Wall's property,
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then you try spending a night in the
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bunk house. You two might just have a
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runin with history.
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Next, witnesses watch in horror as a
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19-year-old woman falls from a speeding
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truck. Police believe that she was
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abducted. A typical spring day just
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outside of Little Rock,
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Arkansas. Lunch hour traffic is suddenly
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interrupted by a horrific scene.
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A white pickup truck swerves erratically
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through traffic. Inside, a terrified
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female passenger struggles for her life
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with the male
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driver. Frantic callers dial 911, but no
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one can help. She's hanging out. She's
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about to fall out the door.
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19-year-old Carson Prince is rushed to
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the hospital with massive head
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injuries. While doctors tried to save
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Carson's life, police began their
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investigation. Identifying the driver of
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the pickup was their top priority. Did
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Carson know the man? And if not, what
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was she doing in his truck?
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[Music]
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Carson was a neat kid. A very caring and
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giving young lady, but she didn't expect
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anything in return.
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She was very, very
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funny. Carson could always make you
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laugh, even if she didn't feel like
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laughing inside. Carson had earned a
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scholarship to the University of
00:18:39
Arkansas.
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Carson was that friend who everybody
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adored. She was the person that was, you
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know, more excited about your stories
00:18:49
than you were. She was more into
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everybody else than she was herself.
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During her sophomore year, she left
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school and moved back with her dad. He
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recalls the last time they spoke.
00:19:04
Here you go, sleepy head. Thank you. As
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I was heading out the door to go to
00:19:08
work, I passed by her bedroom and she
00:19:10
said, "Would you get me a glass of
00:19:11
water?" You know how a daughter can pull
00:19:13
on your heartstrings. I got her a glass
00:19:15
of water and came in and sat down beside
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her bed and she sat up and we talked
00:19:18
about uh what she was going to do during
00:19:21
the day. I think I'm going to go in. She
00:19:23
was going to go to school, pick up the
00:19:25
the forms for registering in the
00:19:27
university there in Little Rock.
00:19:31
Carson never made it to the campus.
00:19:34
Later that day, Carson's mother, who was
00:19:36
a county prosecutor, was returning from
00:19:38
lunch when she was told the awful news.
00:19:42
Suzanne. Carson's been in an accident.
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An accident? She's at the hospital.
00:19:47
Co-workers rush Suzanne to the emergency
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room.
00:19:52
Where's Carson? Have you seen her? She
00:19:53
just got out of surgery. I don't know. I
00:19:56
don't know. Doctor. Doctor, how is she?
00:19:58
Yes, she's out of surgery and she's in
00:20:00
intensive care. There were some spinal
00:20:02
injuries and swelling of the
00:20:06
brain. If the swelling doesn't go down,
00:20:08
we may lose her.
00:20:13
You could tell very early on that that
00:20:16
uh Carson wasn't wasn't going to pull
00:20:19
through. Her mother and I were there and
00:20:23
u it's very
00:20:25
peaceful. We stayed at Carson's side
00:20:28
throughout the
00:20:30
day as she slowly slipped away.
00:20:35
19-year-old Carson Prince died at 10:30
00:20:39
that
00:20:43
night. Investigators were already
00:20:46
piecing together the events leading up
00:20:48
to her
00:20:49
death. Her Ford Bronco was found on
00:20:52
Interstate 430, just a half a mile from
00:20:55
where she was pushed from the
00:21:00
pickup. The gas tank was empty.
00:21:06
Several witnesses recalled seeing Carson
00:21:08
after she pulled over to the shoulder of
00:21:10
the highway. There was a gas station
00:21:13
within walking distance. So Carson's
00:21:15
next move does not make sense to her
00:21:18
parents.
00:21:20
There's something strange in the fact
00:21:22
that she didn't leave her vehicle and
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walk a quarter of a mile to the gas
00:21:27
station to get gas or to get help.
00:21:30
Witnesses saw a man with a white pickup
00:21:32
truck stopped near Carson's Bronco. He
00:21:35
was holding a gas can. At some point,
00:21:38
Carson either got into or was forced
00:21:41
into his truck. I don't think Carson
00:21:45
would have gotten into a truck with
00:21:48
somebody she didn't know just because
00:21:49
she was out of gas. I have a hard time
00:21:51
believing she'd get in the truck with a
00:21:53
stranger.
00:21:56
The next thing witnesses saw was the
00:21:58
struggle going on inside the truck's cab
00:22:00
as it sped down the interstate at nearly
00:22:03
70 m an
00:22:06
hour. Carson was being beaten.
00:22:09
Carson was fighting back, trying to
00:22:11
defend
00:22:12
herself and that
00:22:14
somehow the guy reached across the door
00:22:17
was opened and and Carson
00:22:20
was shoved out of the door and trying to
00:22:22
hang on while the truck was speeding
00:22:24
away and hung on as long as she could
00:22:26
and then fell out and fell to her death.
00:22:28
And the driver continued, which
00:22:30
naturally in the highway patrol guy's
00:22:32
mind says, "Okay, well this, you know,
00:22:34
obviously this guy's left the scene of
00:22:36
an accident here where someone's
00:22:37
critically injured." Uh, so we got to
00:22:39
find him.
00:22:42
Authorities learned that Carson was in a
00:22:45
stormy relationship with a young man
00:22:47
that she had met while working at the
00:22:49
local country club. How you doing,
00:22:52
sweetie? You have to go back to work. I
00:22:54
told her I was like, Carson, this guy's
00:22:56
not good for you. He's not good for you
00:22:58
at all. You know, all he does is make
00:23:00
you cry. He makes you upset. He's not
00:23:03
doing anything for you at all.
00:23:05
The man was known to police as a
00:23:07
suspected drug dealer. Yeah. Yeah. Let's
00:23:10
do this about 7:30.
00:23:12
It was believed that Carson's boyfriend
00:23:14
had used her car a few times when making
00:23:18
deliveries.
00:23:20
I told her that if she were out with him
00:23:25
and he got arrested, she was going to
00:23:26
get arrested, too. What's up, man? What
00:23:29
do you got? Whatever his fate was, she
00:23:32
would share it.
00:23:36
Um, she didn't seem to be too worried
00:23:38
about that.
00:23:39
Hi, hun. Come. The day before her death,
00:23:43
Carson learned that her boyfriend had
00:23:45
been arrested. Can I have a hug? She
00:23:47
believed her mother as a deputy district
00:23:49
attorney might have had something to do
00:23:52
with the arrest. I didn't give Brian.
00:23:53
Yes, you did. He would have gotten
00:23:54
probation. And at that point, I got
00:23:56
afraid. I thought that he was outside.
00:23:59
The Bronco had pulled into the the
00:24:02
carport, lights on, engine running. I
00:24:05
thought he might be going to come to the
00:24:07
door and hurt me, blaming me for a
00:24:11
prison sentence that I didn't even know
00:24:13
anything about. And I told her, "Y'all
00:24:16
need to leave." Listen, that's the last
00:24:19
time I saw her. Ryan going to jail. I
00:24:21
find it a a very strange coincidence
00:24:24
that
00:24:26
within 12 hours of her telling me that
00:24:29
she's on the side of the road, fatally
00:24:32
injured.
00:24:34
Although police were suspicious of
00:24:36
Carson's boyfriend from the start, he
00:24:38
was cleared of any involvement in her
00:24:41
death. Police then wondered if someone
00:24:44
had been stalking Carson or if she just
00:24:47
ran out of gas at the wrong place. at
00:24:49
the wrong time.
00:24:51
I wish I had some answers. I don't think
00:24:56
there will ever be justice for
00:24:59
Carson, but I
00:25:02
think there will be truth
00:25:06
and I will settle for that.
00:25:11
Update. 5 years after Carson's death, a
00:25:14
man named Steven A. Tally walked into
00:25:16
the local sheriff's department and
00:25:19
admitted to killing her. Tally said he
00:25:21
pushed Carson out of his truck during an
00:25:23
attempt to abduct and rape her. He also
00:25:26
confessed to a double murder. He'd raped
00:25:29
and killed a woman after first killing
00:25:31
her
00:25:32
fiance. Steven Tally pleaded guilty to
00:25:35
three counts of capital murder in
00:25:37
exchange for a life sentence without the
00:25:40
possibility of parole.
00:25:44
[Music]
00:25:45
Next, a con man defrauds his friends and
00:25:48
neighbors at a Florida nudist camp and
00:25:52
then disappears.
00:25:56
[Music]
00:26:06
Sunny Sands Resort in Northeast Florida
00:26:09
is one of the more than 250 nudist clubs
00:26:13
registered with the American Association
00:26:16
for Nude
00:26:18
Recreation. Outsiders might consider
00:26:20
public nudity strange or even sexually
00:26:24
suggestive, but to the dozens of
00:26:26
families living at Sunny Sands, being
00:26:29
nude is only being natural.
00:26:32
[Applause]
00:26:34
[Music]
00:26:36
Good morning. May I help you? Hi, my
00:26:37
name's Russ. On a warm winter day, a
00:26:39
clever con man calling himself Garland
00:26:42
Houston Russell, Rusty for short,
00:26:45
arrived at Sunny Sands and asked to join
00:26:48
the camp.
00:26:50
Rusty was immediately likable. He was
00:26:52
not high pressure. He explained to us
00:26:54
that he was looking for a place to live,
00:26:55
but he understood when we told him that
00:26:57
he couldn't he couldn't move in right
00:26:59
away, that we needed time to have him
00:27:01
get to know us and us to get to know
00:27:02
him. Being a single guy, we're a little
00:27:05
careful. And uh as far
00:27:09
as I think probably the easiest way to
00:27:12
say is he seemed he was very friendly.
00:27:15
Looking for a new home. Rusty told the
00:27:17
camp owners that he was about to inherit
00:27:19
his deceased parents' estate and that he
00:27:22
would soon be wealthy
00:27:25
and we'd like to have you stay. The
00:27:26
rental's available and if you'd like it,
00:27:29
um, it's yours. Appreciate it. Welcome
00:27:31
aboard. Everybody seemed to like Rusty.
00:27:33
He did everything for everybody.
00:27:36
The part that amazed me, he really loved
00:27:39
children and my children loved him. They
00:27:42
thought of him as like a big brother or
00:27:44
an uncle.
00:27:47
What camp residents didn't know was that
00:27:50
their new friend, Garland Russell, was a
00:27:52
slick con artist. They would learn too
00:27:54
late that he had 38 known aliases and
00:27:57
had been arrested in 14
00:28:01
states. Rusty renovated an empty store
00:28:05
in town and stocked it with videotapes
00:28:07
he said he had acquired while in the Air
00:28:09
Force. Police now suspect all of the
00:28:12
tapes were stolen. looking very for
00:28:16
members of Sunny Sands. He offered a
00:28:19
special deal. He sold the tapes to his
00:28:22
friends and then bought them back at a
00:28:24
slightly higher price. You're going to
00:28:26
give me a check for $500. He says that
00:28:28
it was a way for him to avoid paying tax
00:28:31
for 90 days. The people we spoke to who
00:28:33
had invested with Rusty early on,
00:28:36
everybody had seemed to have made their
00:28:38
money back, their principal plus their
00:28:39
20% interest.
00:28:43
Who is it?
00:28:44
Oh, Rusty. After 4 months, Rusty wanted
00:28:47
to expand the store. He convinced a
00:28:50
neighbor to give him a $20,000 loan. How
00:28:54
are your people? Oh, great. Listen, I
00:28:56
have a opportunity to share some wealth
00:28:58
with you. Let me just 6 weeks later, he
00:29:01
asked a second couple for $20,000. See,
00:29:04
what I want to do is to save some money.
00:29:07
He didn't tell this couple about the
00:29:09
first investor by selling my store to
00:29:11
you. He needed money to buy more tapes,
00:29:16
more equipment, and so forth. And we
00:29:19
wanted to make a little interest on the
00:29:21
money. So, it was just an investment as
00:29:24
far as we were concerned and helping out
00:29:26
somebody at the same time. Hey, Robert,
00:29:28
now don't you fill up on that because
00:29:30
Rusty flourished at Sunny Sands,
00:29:32
surrounded by families who supported his
00:29:34
business. He seemed to have found his
00:29:37
place in the world.
00:29:41
Then 6 months after he arrived, Garland
00:29:44
Russell's charade began to fall
00:29:50
apart. It started when the 11-year-old
00:29:54
daughter of his closest friend ran from
00:29:57
his trailer in tears. She said that he
00:30:00
threw her against the wall and then he
00:30:02
threw her on the bed and that he was
00:30:04
touching her all over. The rest is a
00:30:07
little personal. And in trying to do
00:30:10
that, that's when she hit him. And she
00:30:13
hit him three times before she got away
00:30:14
from him.
00:30:16
State attorneys issued a warrant for
00:30:18
Rusty's arrest for sexual battery
00:30:20
against a child under 12.
00:30:24
County Sheriff's Department, we have a
00:30:25
warrant for your arrest.
00:30:27
We handcuffed him, put him in the back
00:30:29
of the Mark car and uh took him over to
00:30:31
operations to be processed and uh to try
00:30:34
to interview her. He verified u the
00:30:38
little girl's story except he put a
00:30:39
different slant on it. He put a
00:30:41
different light on it. He did say that
00:30:43
yeah they were nude and they were in the
00:30:46
trailer. Of course that's not so
00:30:48
unusual. They're in nudist camp and
00:30:51
um he admitted to touching her touching
00:30:55
the little girl
00:30:57
um pretty much all over her body. The
00:31:00
way he explained it was he said we were
00:31:02
having fun. We were wrestling.
00:31:05
When Rusty was arrested, nobody believed
00:31:08
it. The people in the camp were all
00:31:10
shocked. You know, here we were taking
00:31:12
this man who everybody liked. He was
00:31:15
everybody's friend, everybody's big
00:31:16
brother. And turn around and say, "Well,
00:31:18
he did something so despicable." And
00:31:20
they turned against us. It was a lot
00:31:22
easier to say, "Oh, no, that child's
00:31:24
lying." You know, it's easier to blame
00:31:27
the child than it is to say, "Well, this
00:31:29
guy who's so nice isn't, you know, as
00:31:32
nice as we thought."
00:31:34
Some of Rusty's friends convinced the
00:31:36
judge that Rusty should be released on a
00:31:39
$25,000 bail. Rusty's landlord, Bob
00:31:42
Pickkins, put up the money. I was
00:31:45
surprised uh when Rusty was arrested,
00:31:48
and very frankly, he convinced me that
00:31:52
he had that he was innocent.
00:31:55
uh that I suppose indicates some uh uh
00:31:59
naivity on my part, but uh he was very
00:32:04
convincing.
00:32:07
At the same time, other friends were
00:32:09
also trying to raise Rusty's bail. But
00:32:12
when they took a look at his business
00:32:13
accounts, they were shocked to discover
00:32:16
that he was overdrawn at the bank and
00:32:18
had lied to them about what he owned.
00:32:21
68. The facade that Rusty had built
00:32:23
about being the honest businessman that
00:32:24
he was is now is now coming apart like a
00:32:27
like a bad brick wall. And in fact, if
00:32:29
he was a bad guy financially, the
00:32:31
chances are he was a bad guy with the
00:32:34
child molestation charges.
00:32:37
I was really shocked. I was told by the
00:32:39
investigator he was not going to be
00:32:41
granted bail, but then he managed to
00:32:44
claw his way into it. Start again.
00:32:47
During the next 48 hours, Rusty
00:32:50
convinced Bob Pickkins to buy the video
00:32:52
business, saying his reputation as a
00:32:54
businessman was now ruined. Bob later
00:32:58
learned that he was the third person to
00:33:01
buy Rusty's inventory. As soon as I
00:33:03
found out there were other individuals,
00:33:06
I made every effort to have Rusty
00:33:09
apprehended and the bail removed, but I
00:33:13
was unsuccessful.
00:33:15
Rusty raised Phil more money by selling
00:33:17
his car to two different people. Then he
00:33:20
rented another car and disappeared. He
00:33:23
never showed up for his court date. When
00:33:26
Rusty uh took off, I felt sick,
00:33:32
disappointed,
00:33:33
surprised, and uh somewhat of a fool.
00:33:38
This guy took us all for a ride.
00:33:41
No matter what happens, we know we'll
00:33:43
never get our money
00:33:45
back. But right at this point, the money
00:33:47
is
00:33:50
immaterial. Right now, the big thing I
00:33:52
want Rusty caught is what he did to that
00:33:53
child. I want him caught. I want him
00:33:56
punished and I want him stopped. I want
00:34:00
him to go to jail where he can't get his
00:34:02
hands on other children.
00:34:05
Update. On the night of our broadcast,
00:34:08
viewers in South Carolina called to
00:34:10
identify Rusty as a man they knew as
00:34:13
Ronald Edward Kent. He was arrested the
00:34:16
next morning. Kent was none other than
00:34:20
Garland Russell. He was later found
00:34:22
guilty of molesting the 11-year-old girl
00:34:25
and will spend the rest of his life
00:34:28
behind bars.
00:34:33
Coming up, perhaps you can help find the
00:34:36
hit-and-run driver whose victim was an
00:34:38
11year-old boy.
00:34:40
[Music]
00:34:49
Yeah, but she'll sleep. 16-year-old
00:34:51
Christy Whismer and 18-year-old Dave
00:34:54
Carlson shared a six-month romance.
00:34:58
After breaking up, they learned that
00:35:00
Christy was pregnant. This isn't helping
00:35:03
anything. Let's just take Christy and
00:35:04
Dave had to make some hard choices.
00:35:07
Neither was interested in getting
00:35:09
married, so they decided to give up
00:35:11
their child for adoption. Over the next
00:35:14
few months, they grew apart and
00:35:16
eventually lost
00:35:22
touch. Christy gave birth to a baby
00:35:25
girl.
00:35:28
They took the baby away right away. And
00:35:32
um after they wheeled me back to my room
00:35:35
and put me into the bed, um my mother
00:35:38
come up
00:35:39
and uh talked to me for a little while
00:35:41
and she asked if I would walk down and
00:35:43
look at the baby. She's the one down
00:35:45
front.
00:35:47
You know, I knew that I loved
00:35:49
her, but I couldn't take her home.
00:35:53
Christy Whismer never stopped thinking
00:35:55
about her
00:35:57
daughter. More than 20 years later,
00:36:00
Christy and Dave got back together after
00:36:02
a high school reunion. They were married
00:36:05
soon after and immediately began
00:36:08
searching for their
00:36:11
child.
00:36:13
Update. The night of our broadcast, a
00:36:16
woman named Katie Jacobs called to say
00:36:18
that she was Christy and Dave's long
00:36:21
lost daughter. Three weeks later, they
00:36:25
welcomed Katie back into their lives.
00:36:27
How was your flight? That's good. You
00:36:29
made it in Chicago, huh? Yeah.
00:36:33
Katie's husband, Rick, and their 1 and
00:36:35
1/2year-old daughter, Michaela, came
00:36:37
along for the reunion. I felt kind of
00:36:40
awkward cuz I, you know, here I was
00:36:42
talking to somebody that, you know, was
00:36:45
like a major part of my life, but I had
00:36:46
never met before. So, it was kind of
00:36:50
kind of
00:36:53
strange. It feels real good because it
00:36:57
answers a lot of questions. It just kind
00:37:00
of fills something that, you know,
00:37:03
wasn't there. Thank
00:37:05
you. getting back
00:37:07
together. It's
00:37:09
just it's nice to be able to think about
00:37:12
Katie and be happy and know that
00:37:14
everything's okay and she's been good.
00:37:18
I've been hoping for this for 22 years
00:37:20
and it's just so hard to put it into
00:37:21
words. You know, finally, you know, my
00:37:24
life's complete. I found
00:37:29
[Music]
00:37:33
Katie. Chicago police have been
00:37:36
investigating an extremely tough hit and
00:37:38
run case. They're looking for a man who
00:37:41
goes by the nickname of Kachima. Perhaps
00:37:44
you can
00:37:49
help. The Logan Square section of
00:37:52
Chicago was a close-knit middleclass
00:37:54
neighborhood. Pedro Santiago Jr. was
00:37:57
born there. It was a place where he
00:38:00
always felt safe.
00:38:02
Pedro, a fifth grader, was a good
00:38:05
student and a talented athlete. By the
00:38:08
age of 11, he had already earned a black
00:38:11
belt in karate.
00:38:14
Hi, Mom. Just calling to let you know
00:38:16
that I'm home. How did school go today?
00:38:18
One December day, Pedro came straight
00:38:20
home from school and called his mother
00:38:22
at work. When I get home, when I'm done
00:38:24
with my homework, can I go over to Erics
00:38:26
and show them the ball blaster?
00:38:28
As Pedro left his house, two teenagers
00:38:31
were walking back from the corner
00:38:39
[Applause]
00:38:41
market. I never seen anything like that
00:38:43
happen. So, I couldn't believe that it
00:38:45
happened. And I started walking towards
00:38:47
the car. I know that, you know, I seen
00:38:49
that it was real. I started I started
00:38:50
running towards the
00:38:51
[Music]
00:38:53
car. The driver, he he got out of his
00:38:56
car. He started cursing. He started
00:38:58
hitting his car. I guess he was upset
00:39:01
with himself for doing
00:39:03
it. Pedro was uh he was trying to talk.
00:39:07
But my friend was telling him, you know,
00:39:09
not to waste his energy. Rick, going to
00:39:12
call an ambulance. Don't let him leave.
00:39:16
Seconds later, the driver jumped into
00:39:18
his black old mobile and took off.
00:39:22
When I was on the phone talking to the
00:39:24
man from the fire station, I seen him
00:39:27
pass right by me.
00:39:31
Pedro was rushed to the emergency room
00:39:34
and the hospital chaplain called his
00:39:36
mother. When I answered the phone and I
00:39:40
heard the voice at the other end, I kind
00:39:44
of got shocked and I said, "What
00:39:47
happened?" And then this other person
00:39:50
talked to me and said, "It's an
00:39:52
emergency. Your son, it's in the
00:39:53
hospital."
00:39:56
Pedro had massive head injuries. His
00:39:58
parents were given only a few seconds to
00:40:01
comfort him before he was taken into the
00:40:04
operating room. When we got to the
00:40:06
surgery room and they said, "Why you
00:40:09
kiss him now?" Okay, you can touch him.
00:40:11
Move forward. We don't have Okay, that's
00:40:12
all the time we've got.
00:40:18
And then they took him in. They said,
00:40:20
"So you would be about an hour and a
00:40:23
half or 2 hours." Then we went in the
00:40:25
waiting
00:40:27
room. And we kept on waiting and
00:40:29
waiting.
00:40:31
Pedro clung to life for 10 days, but
00:40:34
never regained consciousness. He was
00:40:37
buried the day after Christmas. With
00:40:40
Pedro's death, the hit-and-run accident
00:40:43
became a case of
00:40:46
manslaughter. Police put out an all
00:40:48
points bulletin for the car's owner, a
00:40:51
Cuban immigrant known on the streets as
00:40:55
Kachima. When they couldn't locate him,
00:40:58
Pedro's father hit the streets. I went
00:41:01
to a lot of bars, a lot of places in
00:41:06
Chicago and I asked everybody, "Did you
00:41:08
know Kachima?" He say, "Yeah." But he
00:41:11
left Chicago. It's not in here anymore.
00:41:14
It's very hard to let go. I I tried and
00:41:19
just the happy times and that we spent
00:41:24
with Pedro
00:41:25
and all I see is smiling face.
00:41:31
We just miss him a lot.
00:41:33
I know I won't give my son back, but I
00:41:37
would like to see him get caught and
00:41:39
being locked up.
00:41:42
Kachima's real name is Heraldo Gonzalez.
00:41:46
He has not been charged with any crime,
00:41:48
but police would like to question him.
00:41:51
Gonzalez is Cuban, stands 5' 8 in, and
00:41:54
weighs 160 lb.
00:41:58
He may be living in New York, Florida,
00:42:00
Michigan, or
00:42:02
[Music]
00:42:03
Illinois. If you have any information,
00:42:06
please log on to our website at
00:42:23
unsolved.com. Heat. Heat.
00:42:26
[Music]
