00:00:05
tonight on unsolved mysteries peace
00:00:10
harmony enlightenment and 11 untimely
00:00:13
deaths this is a legacy of an obscure
00:00:16
spiritual movement what a respected
00:00:18
young English professor joined up his
00:00:20
family became concerned now he's
00:00:23
disappeared and they're asking for your
00:00:25
help
00:00:26
- Elizabeth Jess check Jonathan Palmer
00:00:28
was dashing sophisticated and fearless
00:00:31
everything you'd expect the world-class
00:00:33
racecar driver to be Elizabeth fell
00:00:36
madly in love headlong into him is our
00:00:38
mystery in Georgia a secluded Lovers
00:00:43
Lane a burst of gunfire a young couple
00:00:46
swinging about to witness disagree on
00:00:49
the identity of the killer once upon a
00:00:53
time a young boy tossed a message in a
00:00:55
bottle into a landlocked Lake he never
00:00:57
dreamed he was launching it on an
00:00:59
improbable around-the-world journey also
00:01:02
tonight and exciting up there and see
00:01:05
how a viewer tip thought about the
00:01:06
capture of an accused killer join me
00:01:09
perhaps
00:01:14
[Music]
00:01:21
[Music]
00:02:08
by the Lu I'm sure you've heard
00:02:12
yes
00:02:15
and I'm sorry to have to put you through
00:02:18
this
00:02:18
this way in this haunting message to his
00:02:21
family
00:02:22
50 year-old Don Hoffman revealed he had
00:02:24
terminal cancer a diagnosis he said
00:02:27
three different doctors had confirmed
00:02:29
the test
00:02:35
just hours after making this video
00:02:37
Hoffman
00:02:38
took his own life an autopsy however
00:02:42
found absolutely no trace of cancer
00:02:45
Hoffman's children have never been able
00:02:47
to learn the names of his three doctors
00:02:49
or even if they existed on the videotape
00:02:53
Don Hoffman said goodbye to five
00:02:55
different family members there was no
00:02:57
farewell to the heirto Hoffman's estate
00:03:00
his second wife Terry founder of a
00:03:02
spiritual movement known as conscious
00:03:04
development of body mind and soul today
00:03:08
Terry Hoffman is a woman at the center
00:03:10
of what some might call a circle of
00:03:12
death among the victims Mary Levinson
00:03:17
drug overdose David and Glenda Goodman
00:03:20
shot to death
00:03:22
probable double suicide Jill bounds
00:03:25
bludgeoned to death
00:03:27
sandy cleaver drove off a cliff in broad
00:03:30
daylight
00:03:31
Sandy's 14 year old daughter Devereaux
00:03:34
drop
00:03:35
[Music]
00:03:38
eleven untimely deaths eleven people
00:03:41
with a director in direct link to Terry
00:03:43
Hoffman now some believe a twelfth name
00:03:46
should be added to this somber list
00:03:48
Charles southern jr. a respected English
00:03:51
professor southern mysteriously
00:03:53
disappeared more than seven years ago
00:03:55
and his family believes it may be no
00:03:57
coincidence that he was a disciple of
00:03:59
Terry Hartman call upon your master
00:04:06
visualize peace harmony enlightenment
00:04:10
Terry Hoffman offered all this and more
00:04:13
to Charles southern and the many others
00:04:15
who joined her group conscious
00:04:16
development the lord of the fifth plane
00:04:20
to guide you at this time part of the
00:04:23
belief system Terry taught us was that
00:04:25
death was really just another state of
00:04:29
consciousness and it wasn't a bad thing
00:04:32
it was anything to fear
00:04:34
Peter muth belonged to Huffman's sect
00:04:37
for more than a decade the other thing
00:04:41
we learned was that the dark forces out
00:04:43
there in the universe had a name they
00:04:45
were the black Lords black overlords
00:04:47
they worked for Satan fight those dark
00:04:49
lords in I the group we worked with with
00:04:53
the white Brotherhood or good benevolent
00:04:56
characters there on God's side good guys
00:04:58
and we worked with them to combat the
00:05:02
dark forces
00:05:04
Terry Hoffman cultivated followers
00:05:06
around the country among those who
00:05:09
joined the Chicago branch of conscious
00:05:11
development as Charles southern jr.
00:05:14
southern was assistant chairman of the
00:05:17
English department at a local junior
00:05:18
college joining Hoffman's group was his
00:05:21
most recent foray in an ongoing search
00:05:23
for spiritual truth an odyssey that had
00:05:26
taken Charles southern as far away from
00:05:28
home as India and Africa
00:05:32
Charles was very interested in Eastern
00:05:36
religions and various religions in fact
00:05:38
he studied all the different religions
00:05:41
that he could and that was his curiosity
00:05:45
I think it got him in trouble my feeling
00:05:49
is that his interest in Tara was he felt
00:05:51
a power there and that that was real to
00:05:55
him the fact that this power might not
00:05:58
necessarily be have a good will or not
00:06:00
not that was sort of irrelevant to him I
00:06:03
guess to relax
00:06:07
Charles rose quickly to a position of
00:06:09
influence and Terry Hoffman's
00:06:11
organization teaching classes of leading
00:06:13
meditation sessions at your own pace
00:06:16
eventually he was invited to her home in
00:06:19
Dallas the darkest of the Lord comes and
00:06:22
he is bright
00:06:25
by then terry hoffman had begun to
00:06:27
portray herself as a target of attack by
00:06:29
the so-called black lords during special
00:06:33
meditation sessions hoffman exhorted her
00:06:35
trusted inner circle to erect quote a
00:06:38
psychic shield around her peter muth
00:06:41
says he saw Charles at one of these
00:06:43
meetings continues I just met him
00:06:47
briefly but the reason it sticks in my
00:06:49
mind is he came as a visitor to one of
00:06:52
these closed meetings at Terry's house
00:06:54
where she's having psychic surgery to
00:06:57
repair damage to her done by the black
00:06:59
Lords have been attacking her the
00:07:02
intertwining of light and dark I felt
00:07:06
that if Charles or any of us who are in
00:07:08
that room Terri's master bedroom but
00:07:12
only be there Terri's invitation and
00:07:14
only be there because they're true
00:07:16
believers in the reality she is selling
00:07:18
us about creation and her role in it as
00:07:22
a god-like figure but it must be
00:07:25
stronger our inner core group we're
00:07:29
fighting the battles lived in a kind of
00:07:31
constant state of fear because we're
00:07:33
always under attack from black magicians
00:07:35
who supposedly could kill us who could
00:07:37
drive us insane and as the years went by
00:07:40
you saw people in your group actually
00:07:42
start to show signs of the strain show
00:07:45
the signs of mental and emotional
00:07:46
problems
00:07:48
Charles southern was apparently one of
00:07:51
those who buckled under the pressure
00:07:53
we found Charles wandering on the street
00:07:57
carried a newspaper stating I lived for
00:08:00
art we got him in the car and took him
00:08:03
to Michael Reese hospital for
00:08:06
examination stating that he might be
00:08:09
suicidal and he also seemed to be
00:08:11
reciting something in a strange language
00:08:13
over and over and over again during
00:08:17
Charles's recovery his mother visited
00:08:19
everyday so did two members of Hoffman's
00:08:23
sight this is my mother later I was to
00:08:30
find out from my mother who stayed with
00:08:33
my brother during the whole five days
00:08:35
that whenever she was there at the
00:08:38
hospital and they came she was asked to
00:08:41
leave the room and stay out
00:08:46
Epona's release Charles resumed his
00:08:49
normal activities he remained active and
00:08:51
Hoffman's group though friends say he
00:08:53
eventually became disillusioned with
00:08:55
Hoffman herself as 1987 drew to a close
00:08:58
Charles made arrangements for a trip to
00:09:01
India during the Christmas break
00:09:04
[Music]
00:09:06
Charles talked to his family several
00:09:08
times in the days before his scheduled
00:09:10
departure his mother believed something
00:09:12
was very wrong
00:09:14
[Music]
00:09:17
this is your mother I was concerned
00:09:23
mother
00:09:25
yes it's me no no I'm fine
00:09:30
I told him that I was disturbed and I
00:09:33
felt that I should just come to Chicago
00:09:36
and he said no he said you don't need to
00:09:41
come to Chicago because I'm perfectly
00:09:43
all right and I will be leaving for
00:09:47
India in three days so he assured me
00:09:51
that everything was all right and
00:09:53
without assurance I didn't go it was the
00:09:59
last time mrs. southern spoke to her son
00:10:01
two weeks passed we of course wondered
00:10:07
why we didn't hear from him but he had
00:10:10
travelled so much and so often to so
00:10:12
many parts of the world I wasn't overly
00:10:16
concerned until he was overdue Charles's
00:10:25
parents drove the 300 miles from
00:10:27
Cincinnati when they broke into their
00:10:29
son's house a nagging concern for his
00:10:32
well-being turned to outright fear
00:10:36
Charles's passport showed no sign of
00:10:38
entry stamps from India if he had not
00:10:41
flown overseas then where was Charles
00:10:44
during the previous two weeks stashed in
00:10:47
a drawer was a file containing a
00:10:49
powerful medication similar to the
00:10:52
lethal South American poison
00:10:53
curare we don't know why my brother had
00:10:58
this file which was later identified to
00:11:00
be a ganglionic blocker which is a
00:11:03
medicine used in anesthesia which causes
00:11:06
total muscle paralysis it has to be
00:11:09
injected - not eaten
00:11:12
precisely arranged on a ceremonial stool
00:11:15
from Africa where Charles's winter dress
00:11:18
hat and his coat neatly folded inside
00:11:21
out only later would the family learn
00:11:24
that Tablo was a Nigerian tribal symbol
00:11:26
of death but who might have left this
00:11:29
sinister display and finally there were
00:11:33
two scribbled notes and you're barely
00:11:35
legible but appearing to constitute a
00:11:37
last will and testament
00:11:39
this is Charles handwriting but it
00:11:40
doesn't make sense one said in part I
00:11:43
came under a bad influence and I was
00:11:45
trying to fight it myself
00:11:47
Terry Hoffman was mentioned twice a
00:11:50
named executor there is just a lot of
00:11:54
death and unhappiness around this woman
00:11:59
and Charles disappearance simply fits
00:12:01
into that pattern is there a pattern if
00:12:06
so that is marked by stunning
00:12:08
coincidence over a 12-year period two of
00:12:12
Hoffman's four husbands
00:12:13
her only son six followers and two
00:12:17
people related to or employed by a
00:12:19
follower came to an unnatural end causes
00:12:22
of death one murder four fatal accidents
00:12:25
and six suicides in over half of these
00:12:30
deaths
00:12:31
Terry Hoffman had been recently named
00:12:33
heir or beneficiary designated to
00:12:36
receive well over a half a million
00:12:38
dollars in cash plus hundreds of
00:12:40
thousands more in real estate fine art
00:12:42
and jewelry
00:12:44
should charles southern be added to the
00:12:47
list Burke and his long abscess be
00:12:49
otherwise explained perhaps another
00:12:52
mental break and a descent into the
00:12:54
silent world of Chicago's homeless
00:13:01
it is important to note that authorities
00:13:04
have not directly linked Terry Hoffman
00:13:05
to any of the deaths and no charges have
00:13:07
been filed our letters and calls to
00:13:10
Hoffman inviting her to participate in
00:13:12
this broadcast were not answered as for
00:13:14
Charles southern at the time he vanished
00:13:17
Hoffman assured his family that she had
00:13:19
no idea what had happened to him
00:13:21
[Music]
00:13:23
next if your young attractive and female
00:13:27
look out for a man named Jonathan Kern
00:13:30
he may be out to steal more than your
00:13:32
heart
00:13:35
[Music]
00:13:47
in the high-octane world of Formula one
00:13:50
auto racing
00:13:51
danger destruction may lurk around any
00:13:53
Curt those who emerged triumphant can
00:13:58
win fame fortune and the kind of
00:14:00
adoration usually reserved for rockstars
00:14:03
and loyalty
00:14:05
big-time racing has fought his own
00:14:08
special breed of criminal case in point
00:14:10
alleged con man Jonathan current he has
00:14:13
reportedly made a career than
00:14:15
personating a noted Formula one racer
00:14:17
named Jonathan Palmer the real Jonathan
00:14:21
Palmer was a medical doctor before he
00:14:23
became a world champion driver he is all
00:14:26
too familiar with Jonathan current he is
00:14:29
most at home wearing Versace clothes
00:14:33
eating caviar and smoked salmon and
00:14:35
driving mercedes-benz sports cars and
00:14:37
being escorted by gorgeous women and as
00:14:39
he cannot do that through genuinely
00:14:43
earned income he resorts to fraud to
00:14:45
achieve his desired lifestyle beginning
00:14:49
in 1989 Kearn reportedly crisp crossed
00:14:52
Europe racking up bills for designer
00:14:54
clothes elegant restaurants and
00:14:56
five-star hotels all in the name of
00:14:58
Jonathan Palmer all unpaid police say
00:15:04
that in 1994 Kern brought his masquerade
00:15:07
to America Elizabeth gesture met him at
00:15:10
a hotel in Miami Florida hello
00:15:14
I'm sorry I don't usually do this but I
00:15:17
couldn't help but notice that book
00:15:18
you're reading I read it myself some
00:15:20
time ago I loved it I'm wondering how
00:15:22
you like it
00:15:25
i'm jonathan palma there's a racecar
00:15:30
driver by that name jonathan palmer
00:15:32
that's me
00:15:33
Elizabeth who happen to know about car
00:15:35
racing had some initial doubts it was
00:15:41
blob yes you're right and I asked a few
00:15:44
more questions and I said well what did
00:15:45
you do before you raced cars and he said
00:15:48
I was a medical doctor I said that's
00:15:50
right I knew some background I said who
00:15:52
did you race for and he told me Terrell
00:15:54
which I knew was a British team and I
00:15:56
thought wow it really is you yeah proof
00:16:03
Kearns passport was a clincher I started
00:16:09
having some doubt as to whether he was
00:16:11
Jonathan Palmer but it seemed easier to
00:16:13
believe he was Jonathan Palmer than
00:16:15
someone impersonating Jonathan Palmer
00:16:16
that never entered my mind that someone
00:16:19
would be doing that Elizabeth Jess Chuck
00:16:23
wasn't the only one impressed by
00:16:25
Jonathan Kern a car dealer provided turn
00:16:28
with a seventy eight thousand dollar
00:16:30
Jaguar free of charge they dropped the
00:16:33
keys at the desk and they said this is
00:16:35
for mr. Palmer for his use while he's in
00:16:37
America and please make sure that he
00:16:40
gets it and we always believed him and
00:16:42
that just made us more convinced that
00:16:44
everything was okay for Elizabeth just
00:16:49
check Jonathan Kern was almost too good
00:16:51
to be true
00:16:53
don't toy with me Jonathan
00:16:56
if it's a fling that you're looking for
00:16:58
you're going to have to look some routes
00:17:01
this but I'll put my hand on my heart
00:17:04
and promise that if this is what we
00:17:06
really want nothing will keep us apart
00:17:11
do it
00:17:13
I couldn't understand intellectually why
00:17:15
he was interested in me I've been to a
00:17:17
lot of the Formula One races and I know
00:17:19
a lot of them have beautiful girlfriends
00:17:21
and wives and their wealthy and I'm just
00:17:24
a nobody and I said to him why are you
00:17:26
interested in me and he told me he just
00:17:28
wanted to move closer on a steady
00:17:30
relationship he didn't want the jet-set
00:17:31
life and he convinced me over the next
00:17:34
few days that I was what he was looking
00:17:37
for still not open with Jonathan current
00:17:42
Elizabeth saw close-up the busy life of
00:17:45
an international star the or so indeed
00:17:55
everyone at the hotel from bellhops to
00:17:58
the manager then totally snowed by
00:18:00
Kern's performance he just woven web of
00:18:05
intrigue around around us and managed to
00:18:08
stave have a very nice holiday at the
00:18:11
hotel for five days and run up a huge
00:18:14
bill in the restaurant and you know have
00:18:16
bottles of champagne delivered to his
00:18:18
room and we always believed him despite
00:18:20
the fact that he was already having a
00:18:22
little bit of a problem with my front
00:18:23
desk about how he was gonna pay his bill
00:18:25
excuse David now I you see I'm fine we
00:18:28
have some business to attend to at the
00:18:29
front it's a little bit arranged my
00:18:30
office neatly well I know but we still
00:18:32
haven't received an imprint I will call
00:18:35
them tonight immediately well if you
00:18:37
would just take a moment it won't take a
00:18:38
little bit of a rush right now I will
00:18:40
call the office I will have them bring
00:18:42
you in the a.m. one week later turn left
00:18:43
the hotel without paying a dime on his
00:18:46
three thousand dollar bill
00:18:51
eventually Elizabeth invited crying to
00:18:54
stay at her home in Connecticut she
00:18:56
still believed he was Jonathan Palmer
00:18:58
still believed he had put his career on
00:19:00
hold to spend time with her but Kern's
00:19:04
thoughts had apparently turned to money
00:19:06
Elizabeth money Elizabeth says that Kern
00:19:11
convinced her to accept a personal check
00:19:13
it was drawn on an Italian bank for 11
00:19:16
million lira nearly $8,000 at the time I
00:19:21
was nervous about it and the first
00:19:24
question out of my family and friends
00:19:25
when I told him was did you give him any
00:19:27
money nice first I lied and I just so no
00:19:30
no and then once the check cleared I
00:19:32
said see it was fine yes I did give him
00:19:33
some money but now the check is cleared
00:19:35
and and I have the money back Jonathan
00:19:41
stay with Elizabeth was punctuated by
00:19:42
frequent business trips to Manhattan as
00:19:46
usual he wouldn't start now on a
00:19:50
$125,000 Mercedes went to him by a local
00:19:53
dealer he also carried Elizabeth ATM
00:19:56
card just in case of an emergency
00:19:59
sure enough Jonathan had an emergency
00:20:04
what's wrong once again Elizabeth put
00:20:14
her own money at Kearns disposal you
00:20:17
still have my ATM card don't you why
00:20:22
don't you just use that and take it home
00:20:26
Elizabeth never dreamed Jonathan would
00:20:28
use a card like a spigot to drain her
00:20:30
account of cash I didn't really check up
00:20:34
on him I could have gone through his
00:20:36
things but I didn't I just continue to
00:20:40
try and believe in him
00:20:43
however by the time Jonathan returned
00:20:45
from Manhattan
00:20:46
Elizabeth had had a complete change of
00:20:48
heart I don't want to do this anymore
00:20:51
Beth you have to have patience I have
00:20:53
been patient it's not working that but
00:20:56
you could stay here for a week if you
00:20:57
want to but I don't want to do this
00:20:59
anymore
00:20:59
you'll have your money on Monday it is
00:21:02
not the money
00:21:10
Jonathan Kern cleared out the next day
00:21:15
Elizabeth began calling numbers from her
00:21:17
phone bill matching them with names
00:21:19
Jonathan had mentioned do you know
00:21:23
Jonathan Palmer
00:21:23
invariably the answers came back the
00:21:26
same you don't I mean didn't he call you
00:21:30
me I have your phone number right here
00:21:31
and that's what I knew this hadn't been
00:21:35
Jonathan Palmer that was staying with me
00:21:39
now I realized some of the numbers that
00:21:41
I called were other women you've been
00:21:43
romancing other women while he was in
00:21:46
I had been taken he had been loved with
00:21:51
me he was just using me I just felt
00:21:53
awful there was one final insult nearly
00:21:58
a year after Elizabeth's bank cleared
00:22:00
the cheque from Jonathan Kern the bank
00:22:02
learned that cheque was in fact not good
00:22:05
they debited Elizabeth's account police
00:22:08
say that Kern swindled total some
00:22:10
fifteen thousand dollars
00:22:11
Elizabeth Jess cheque was forced into
00:22:14
bankruptcy
00:22:15
[Music]
00:22:17
Jonathan Phillip Kern has been charged
00:22:19
with forgery felony criminal
00:22:21
impersonation and larceny Kern is 42
00:22:25
years old 510 180 pounds though he is
00:22:29
British he is not Jonathan Palmer I
00:22:32
think the most important thing is to be
00:22:35
very very suspicious if anybody comes to
00:22:38
you wanting something and saying that
00:22:40
they are Jonathan Palmer the Formula One
00:22:42
driver this me is Jonathan farmer
00:22:44
Jonathan Kern does not look like me and
00:22:46
I will have no problem if I'm in in the
00:22:50
US and being asked all sorts of probing
00:22:52
questions to make sure that anyone can
00:22:54
be sure that it is me who is going to a
00:22:57
hotel or shop or whatever
00:23:00
when we return the murder of a young
00:23:03
couple spawns two conflicting theories
00:23:05
but only one known suspect but first an
00:23:09
accused killer spent 18 months on the
00:23:12
run until one of our viewers spotted
00:23:16
[Music]
00:23:32
January 11th 1995 Pasco County Florida
00:23:38
[Music]
00:23:46
it was a brazen and stunning escape and
00:23:49
police Lingle an accused killer was in
00:23:51
the wind
00:23:54
Albert Leon Fletcher was a career
00:23:56
criminal
00:23:57
they've been awaiting trial on charges
00:23:58
of murder armed robbery and aggravated
00:24:01
assault and battery all of the charges
00:24:04
stem from his activities during a single
00:24:06
24-hour period when April 2nd 1993
00:24:12
Fletcher and his cousin Douglas bull
00:24:14
embarked on a wild rampage that ended in
00:24:17
a Boogaloo
00:24:21
give me your money claw you mean a
00:24:22
wallet give me your wallet
00:24:29
the victim was 32 year old Nelson Medina
00:24:31
he left behind a wife and two young
00:24:34
children a few hours later police
00:24:39
arrested
00:24:39
Albert Fletcher and Douglas Porter
00:24:42
Porter was convicted in the case and
00:24:44
sentenced to life in prison but Fletcher
00:24:47
escaped before he could be brought to
00:24:48
trial remained at large for 18 months
00:24:51
but on the night of our broadcast he was
00:24:53
finally flushed from hiding
00:24:55
here's Keeley Shea Smith with the
00:24:57
details Bob it was a viewer in Delaware
00:25:01
who pinpointed the whereabouts of Albert
00:25:03
Leon Fletcher
00:25:04
she recognized Fletcher as one of her
00:25:06
neighbors and immediately contacted the
00:25:09
police oh no April between ninth I
00:25:12
received a telephone call from the
00:25:14
authorities in Delaware of icing me that
00:25:18
they had a confidential informant and
00:25:21
they knew that whereabouts of Albert
00:25:23
Leon Fletcher at that time I sent a
00:25:26
bulletin to Delaware and this was around
00:25:29
three o'clock that afternoon and about
00:25:32
3:30 or 4 o'clock they had a map or
00:25:35
handed authorities arrested Fletcher
00:25:39
without incident at the Holly Hill
00:25:40
estates in Smyrna Delaware he had been
00:25:43
living there since his escape using the
00:25:46
alias Kevin Woodside apparently Fletcher
00:25:48
himself had grown tired of life on the
00:25:51
run I know when Albert was talking to me
00:25:56
he was glad was all over with he went to
00:25:59
come back to Pasco County into Polk
00:26:02
County and faced the charges
00:26:06
[Music]
00:26:16
[Music]
00:26:31
I really missed you I missed you too so
00:26:40
how about an experiment you shoe it on
00:26:43
okay
00:26:48
[Applause]
00:26:59
[Music]
00:27:07
it was a savage double murder as
00:27:10
mystifying as it was ruthless grant
00:27:13
Hendrickson and Michele Cartagena two
00:27:15
straight-laced Dean's less students from
00:27:17
Mercer University in Macon Georgia
00:27:19
killed in a fearsome barrage of
00:27:21
semi-automatic rifle fire no one knew
00:27:25
why they had been sweethearts for about
00:27:34
eight months when they went out for
00:27:35
dinner and a movie on January 2nd 1995
00:27:39
it was a beginning of a new year full of
00:27:42
promise grant was the nicest guy and he
00:27:47
treated Michele just like gold and would
00:27:49
do anything for her Michele was very
00:27:53
serious about Grant and she cared for
00:27:56
him a lot I believe that he had and
00:28:00
would have liked to have married her as
00:28:05
Michele and Grant drove to the movie
00:28:07
theater they were seen by a railroad
00:28:09
Foreman named John Ambrose Michele's
00:28:12
white Honda Accord was in the right lane
00:28:14
and Ambrose was next to her when a blue
00:28:17
Honda CRX suddenly swerved in front of
00:28:19
them
00:28:24
blue Honda came up to my left at a high
00:28:27
rate of speed and immediately cut back
00:28:30
in front of me and cut into the
00:28:31
right-hand lane in front of the white
00:28:33
Honda and then started slowing it
00:28:35
excessively as I passed it the driver
00:28:39
have looked at me like you know like
00:28:41
what's up and like light-skinned black
00:28:44
male and appeared he had a white male or
00:28:48
female in the car Brown Aaron the mocrs
00:28:53
continued to slow forcing Michelle to
00:28:55
drop back when Ambrose exited the
00:28:58
interstate he lost sight of both cars
00:29:02
despite what happened on the highway
00:29:05
where and Michelle did get to the movies
00:29:07
afterwards they drove to a popular
00:29:09
scenic overlook at nearby Lake Juliette
00:29:15
in an extraordinary coincidence John
00:29:18
Ambrose again found himself witnessing
00:29:20
the prelude to murder there was a chord
00:29:23
Ambrose happened to be driving near the
00:29:25
lake when he spotted both the white
00:29:27
Accord and the blue CRX that's odd looks
00:29:31
like the car I saw earlier the blue
00:29:34
Honda was sitting there beside the road
00:29:36
was parking lights on and on them at
00:29:38
that time that that was the same car
00:29:41
that I'd seen on the interstate because
00:29:42
it's just such a outstanding looking car
00:29:46
just down the road Ambrose saw
00:29:49
Michelle's car car it was heading in the
00:29:51
direction of the parking area at Lake
00:29:53
Juliette I thought it's strange and I
00:29:56
saw these two vehicles at two different
00:29:58
times within a three to four hour span
00:30:01
that same particular night
00:30:04
two other eyewitnesses teenagers parked
00:30:08
at the lake we're able to pick up the
00:30:09
account or Ambrose left off they told
00:30:12
police at the blue CRX drove into the
00:30:14
park around 12:30 a.m.
00:30:20
[Music]
00:30:25
turn the music down listen there what
00:30:30
was that that can't be gunshot
00:30:32
somebody's gotta be playing around
00:30:34
moments later the CRX raced out
00:30:41
let's go check it out
00:31:02
the next morning investigators face the
00:31:05
carnage more than a dozen bullet holes
00:31:07
perforated the car Michelle and Grant
00:31:10
had been killed instantly by multiple
00:31:12
rounds of semi-automatic rifle firing
00:31:14
grant was also shot twice in the chest
00:31:16
and once in the head with a handgun
00:31:21
Michelle's body had been pulled from the
00:31:23
car and dragged nearly 25 feet her
00:31:26
clothing had been left in disarray it
00:31:30
was a very horrendous type crime
00:31:33
something that I've never seen before in
00:31:38
my tenure of law enforcement everything
00:31:43
pointed to the blue CRX then yet another
00:31:46
witness came forward to spun the
00:31:48
investigation in a totally new direction
00:31:50
towards two young men in a white pickup
00:31:53
truck the night of the murders Stephen
00:31:57
Boyd was in the theater parking lot just
00:31:59
after grant and Michelle left the movies
00:32:11
being a jerk here some his customers
00:32:14
without a spluttered and that made me me
00:32:18
made me feel like he was he had been
00:32:20
drinking a lot you've been drinking
00:32:23
haven't you I've had a few so please
00:32:25
just leave us alone okay
00:32:30
you trying to another guy get a car
00:32:32
custody to me I felt like that used to
00:32:36
be you know felt like someone that she
00:32:37
used to go with her son you know hey his
00:32:40
friend came and told her let's go it's
00:32:42
now working that's when I had noticed
00:32:44
yeah just got here
00:32:46
a night or going on the side because you
00:32:50
just littered it caught my eye
00:32:58
Stephen I'm going to show you 12
00:33:00
photographs Stephen boys information
00:33:02
seems so incredible police ran a photo
00:33:06
lineup hoping for more they got it
00:33:09
thanks so much the person that Stephen
00:33:13
Morton picked out of the photo lineup
00:33:14
was a fellow college student was a
00:33:17
friend of Michelle's had had a crush on
00:33:23
Michelle at one time he is a very
00:33:25
soft-spoken person but when you
00:33:31
introduce alcohol into a scenario and
00:33:34
he's been drinking then he get he has a
00:33:37
very violent temper and I've seen him do
00:33:42
some some very violent things when he's
00:33:46
been drunk well he denied that he was in
00:33:50
the parking lot when he was confronted
00:33:52
with this information he denied being
00:33:56
anywhere in the area the alibi the hit
00:34:01
provided us to this day we're still
00:34:04
unable to eliminate him he is still
00:34:07
suspicious no everything pointed to the
00:34:13
young man in the parking lot but then
00:34:15
there was a blue CRX clearly implicated
00:34:18
in the killings something was missing
00:34:21
connecting the blue Honda CRX and the
00:34:24
the individuals at the parking lot we
00:34:27
have not been able to do that yet that
00:34:29
is one thing that we are hopes to when
00:34:34
we do find this Honda CRX to see if
00:34:36
there is a connection
00:34:38
[Music]
00:34:46
[Music]
00:34:54
[Music]
00:34:57
when we return the remarkable story but
00:35:01
maybe one of the longest ocean voyages
00:35:03
on record 20 years 25,000 miles
00:35:07
[Music]
00:35:19
most unsolved mysteries are fashioned by
00:35:22
human hands but as you're about to see
00:35:24
the most capable mistress of mystery may
00:35:26
be Mother Nature
00:35:32
July 16 1978 the Finger Lakes of upstate
00:35:36
New York 9 year old Kevin reader and his
00:35:39
mother Merton wild away a lazy summer
00:35:42
afternoon with a little homespun whimsy
00:35:46
this bottle I know please drop me a line
00:35:50
perfect a lot they sent this out from
00:35:57
Elm beach Ovid
00:36:02
they sign the note with Kevin's name and
00:36:04
address and tucked it inside an old
00:36:06
green glass bottle okay all right you go
00:36:11
ahead keep it a good throw good
00:36:12
[Music]
00:36:15
good our man how high do you think it
00:36:20
could go I don't know we thought
00:36:24
somebody around Aurora might find it or
00:36:26
it would go to the south end of the lake
00:36:29
to Ithaca and there's college kids and
00:36:31
they might be interested in see we're at
00:36:33
Wed and right to Kevin and give him a
00:36:36
new pen pal
00:36:37
after we tossed a bottle into the into
00:36:40
the lake it was probably it was part of
00:36:44
a daily daily thought process waiting
00:36:46
for the mail checking the mail the
00:36:48
anticipation until it progressively
00:36:50
faded away until you forgot entirely
00:36:52
about it
00:36:54
Kevin grew up and moved away first to
00:36:57
Florida then to Texas like a bottle in a
00:37:00
lake he drifted a bit trying to find his
00:37:02
place in the world
00:37:03
Kevin had no idea yet launched the
00:37:06
bottle on his own journey a journey that
00:37:09
would one day amaze everyone in 1996
00:37:15
after 18 years
00:37:16
Kevin returned to his hometown a letter
00:37:19
postmarked San Diego California was
00:37:21
waiting for it it had arrived only days
00:37:24
before inside Kevin found the last thing
00:37:28
he ever expected the message yet put in
00:37:31
the bottle almost two decades earlier it
00:37:33
was accompanied by a note from two
00:37:35
strangers
00:37:37
when I called my mother the first thing
00:37:39
that came out of my mouth was you're
00:37:40
never gonna believe this it says hello
00:37:42
Kevin
00:37:43
I found your message in a bottle like
00:37:44
that song at the beach in San Diego
00:37:47
California I thought it would be funny
00:37:49
to write back pretty cool it was signed
00:37:52
by Rosa and Bruce and has a PS where the
00:37:55
heck is over well there's no return
00:37:58
address or phone number 18 years and
00:38:05
more than 3,000 miles the concept of how
00:38:08
long and far the bottle had traveled was
00:38:10
mind-boggling Kevin's mother pictured it
00:38:13
as a delightful adventure bobbing along
00:38:17
on a beach here and then a gully there
00:38:18
and somebody picked it up and just threw
00:38:21
it back in again here I go again maybe a
00:38:24
little bit of heard some Japanese along
00:38:26
the way or spotted a Hawaiian girl
00:38:28
sitting on the beach it had to bog down
00:38:31
in different places with floods and
00:38:33
things reappeared and just keep on
00:38:36
moving until somebody finally decided to
00:38:39
pick up some trash on the beach and
00:38:41
found it
00:38:44
the idea of a little bottle that could
00:38:46
loading its way around the world is very
00:38:49
appealing but take away that romantic
00:38:52
image and we are left with an
00:38:53
astonishing conundrum how could an
00:38:56
ordinary glass bottle transport itself
00:38:58
across an entire continent from an
00:39:00
inland lake in upstate New York to the
00:39:02
shores of the Pacific Ocean
00:39:05
that is really amazing I think it's a
00:39:08
bit unlikely because of all the
00:39:09
difficulties to get there but that is a
00:39:12
truly amazing but not impossible not
00:39:16
impossible the dreamers mother dr.
00:39:19
Richardson is one of the world's top
00:39:21
experts on global water currents here's
00:39:24
how Richardson says the most well travel
00:39:26
bottle in history might have maneuvered
00:39:28
through the waterways of the world first
00:39:32
the bottle would have floated out of the
00:39:34
lake through the Erie Canal into the st.
00:39:37
Lawrence Seaway then out into the
00:39:39
Atlantic Ocean near Nova Scotia that's
00:39:44
the hardest part because it's so easy
00:39:45
for a bottle to go Shore and be found by
00:39:48
someone once it gets into the Atlantic
00:39:50
it's easy for bottles that stay adrift
00:39:52
for many years from Nova Scotia dr.
00:39:56
Richardson speculates the bottle might
00:39:58
have floated south down the eastern
00:39:59
seaboard then veered toward Europe
00:40:03
it cruised the west coast of Africa
00:40:05
until a Kurd swung at west to South
00:40:07
America once it managed to cross the
00:40:12
northward moving currents at the equator
00:40:14
the bottle would proceed back toward
00:40:15
African past the Cape of Good Hope and
00:40:18
enter the Indian Ocean it would then
00:40:22
move east until it reached the South
00:40:24
Pacific after the bottle managed to
00:40:27
again float across the equator it must
00:40:30
have drifted north past the Philippine
00:40:32
Islands and Japan after that the bottle
00:40:36
would have to travel east again heading
00:40:38
down the west coast of North America
00:40:39
until it reached his final destination
00:40:42
San Diego California
00:40:46
I'm skeptical I think it went to
00:40:49
California in someone's pocket or
00:40:51
someone's suitcase so I don't think it
00:40:54
actually drifted there because of the I
00:40:55
think you'd be through a million bottles
00:40:57
in Lake Cayuga you wouldn't have one
00:41:00
reach the Atlantic so that's that sir my
00:41:03
conclusion it's very difficult to get
00:41:05
out through the canals and rivers
00:41:06
without going to Grand or being found by
00:41:09
someone lined up give it a throw to
00:41:12
Kevin the details of the bottles journey
00:41:14
don't really matter whether it went by
00:41:16
land or sea or even air what counts as
00:41:20
at once upon a time he sent out a
00:41:21
message and at long last he has received
00:41:24
an answer it gave me a sense of closure
00:41:27
when I got back home and to find this
00:41:30
note to tap back into my childhood and
00:41:32
to kind of parallel it with my life the
00:41:34
bottles journey with my life's journey
00:41:36
and just kind of kind of reaffirmation
00:41:39
that but hey maybe you do belong right
00:41:42
here and this is just a little backup
00:41:44
little support for you Bruce and Rosa
00:41:48
did not give their last names or a
00:41:50
return address the Kevin's mother feels
00:41:52
sure she knows at least a little bit
00:41:54
about them they had to have some kind of
00:41:58
a sense of humor too badly to pick it up
00:42:00
and open it read it and then you don't
00:42:02
send our note back safe
00:42:05
where the heck is Ovid I like to picture
00:42:08
it as as a couple strolling the beach
00:42:10
and just coming upon it and and taking
00:42:12
the time and energy to to allow somebody
00:42:14
to revisit their childhood like they
00:42:16
think they've allowed me to do and also
00:42:18
just to thank them for it
00:42:21
admittedly the incredible journey of
00:42:23
Kevin's message in a bottle is one of
00:42:25
our smaller mysteries it is also one of
00:42:27
our most charming we're hoping Bruce and
00:42:30
Rosa will contact us here at unsolved
00:42:32
mysteries the filler said on the final
00:42:34
chapter of Kevin readers magical bottle
00:42:45
on our next unsolved mysteries Bobby
00:42:49
fuller was on his way to rock and roll
00:42:50
star then he turned up dead in the front
00:42:53
seat of his car thousand with gasoline
00:42:56
[Music]
00:42:57
in Florida to primitive fertility
00:42:59
statutes causing up one woman after
00:43:02
another after another becomes pregnant
00:43:04
with just a simple touch join me next to
00:43:09
four more unsolved mysteries
00:43:12
[Music]
00:43:49
[Music]
