00:00:00
[Music]
00:00:04
Next on Unsolved Mysteries, 18-year-old
00:00:08
Leroy Dri is killed when his car crashes
00:00:11
into a tree.
00:00:14
25 years later, an autopsy suggests he
00:00:17
may have been murdered. A man is crushed
00:00:20
while working on his car and pronounced
00:00:22
dead.
00:00:24
He comes back to life and describes an
00:00:27
incredible life after death experience.
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A father and his two sons steal over $15
00:00:34
million in the largest Medicaid scam
00:00:37
ever. How did they pull it off?
00:00:42
When Alex Cooper disappears, his family
00:00:44
learns that he's been living alive for
00:00:47
nearly 40 years. In fact, Alex Cooper
00:00:51
doesn't even exist.
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Some hot cases, some cold cases, and
00:00:58
some cases that will even shock you. I'm
00:01:01
Dennis Fina, and this is Unsolved
00:01:04
Mysteries.
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[Music]
00:01:25
[Music]
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Me, Colorado.
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6 p.m. 18-year-old Leroy Dri has just
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left his girlfriend's house.
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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He is killed instantly.
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The coroner's ruling suicide.
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At his family's request, Leroyy's body
00:02:08
is exumed for an autopsy. His sister
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Vicki has always been convinced that her
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brother was murdered. I took a vow that
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I would do this for my brother and I
00:02:20
don't feel like I can stop until it's
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done because I would be letting him
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down. I already feel like the
00:02:26
authorities let him down and obviously
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someone took his life and that someone
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has to stand up and talk for him.
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For Vicky Marlin, time has stood still
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since the day her brother died. Her goal
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is simple. To bring Leroyy's killer to
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justice, no matter how long it takes.
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Leroy Dri was the oldest of four
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children. At the age of 17, he fell in
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love with a 16-year-old girl named
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Patty. A year later, they were engaged.
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On the day he died, Leroy went to a
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party at Patty's house.
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Hello. How are you?
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Good. Good.
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He left the party in the late afternoon.
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a block and a half away, his car smashed
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head on into a tree.
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The first people on the scene were
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Leroyy's father and brother.
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Leroy
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son.
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I tried to hug him and I said, "I'm
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going to go get you some help." So, I
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run to the truck and told Doug, "Let's
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run to the grocery store and call the
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ambulance.
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Other
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way, sir.
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Folks, does anybody know what happened
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here? He had a fight with his
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girlfriend. He said he's going to kill
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himself.
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It was that off-handed remark from a
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bystander that triggered the suicide
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theory. one, two, and three.
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The corner come to the hospital, went
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over what happened, and then I was the
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first one to relay the story to him that
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uh he had had a fight with his
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girlfriend and was going to kill
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himself.
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Based on that information, the coroner
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decided that no autopsy was necessary.
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He called Leroyy's death auto suicide. I
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went to the district attorney in Gley
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and I said, "I don't believe this uh was
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a suicide. I believe it was a murder and
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I need for you to investigate it." And
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um he was very rude. He said, "Um,
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you're just a distraught parent. There's
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no reason for us to investigate this.
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You just go on home and get over it." I
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just cried and went home.
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Why don't you take this? You always
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liked it.
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For 11-year-old Vicki, Leroyy's death
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was the defining moment in her young
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life.
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I remember that my mom was crying for a
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long time. And even though I was only
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11, I knew there was something wrong. I
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had to wait until I was an adult to
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attempt to solve the problem.
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I never did believe that Leroy committed
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suicide.
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Years later, Vicki paid a surprise visit
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to the coroner's office.
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She expected to be stonewalled. Instead,
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they told her that they thought that
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Leroyy's death had not been fully
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investigated.
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Paperwork. And as you can see with this
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report,
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it's very minimal.
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Well, why is there only two pages?
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I really couldn't tell you, but I want
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to encourage you to look further into
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this. And if I were you, I would hire a
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private investigator.
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I felt like it was a real strange thing
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for the authorities to bring it to my
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attention that something's wrong here.
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Vicki became her own investigator. She
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knocked on doors, talked to neighbors,
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and looked for anyone who knew Leroyy's
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girlfriend Patty
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or remembered that the day he died.
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Yeah. Well, that's what they say that
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there has been a fighting.
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Oh, they said there was a big fight.
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According to the town's people, there
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was a party going on at Patty's house
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and there had been a fight,
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but that it had not been between Patty
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and Leroy.
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Get out of here. I'm talking to you.
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That there had been uh several other
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family members there
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that did not like Leroy and that had
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been drinking all day.
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Vicki placed an ad in a local newspaper
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asking Patty to please contact her.
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It worked.
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I went to the corner and got the
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coroner's report. It stated that you had
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told the authorities that he was uh
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going to leave your house to kill
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himself. Did you say that?
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No. No. I I never said that.
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I felt like Patty knew answers but was
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reluctant to talk.
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Can you tell me anything about that day?
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Anything else?
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No.
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Vicki and her family decided to have
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Leroyy's body exumed, hoping that an
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autopsy might provide some answers.
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It was immediately apparent that uh this
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young man had sustained actually two
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insized wounds to the neck. And they
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were very characteristic of what I see
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all the time and other persons who have
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uh received stab or slash wounds to the
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neck.
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Vicki was stunned. Leroyy's neck showed
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two cuts. One a stab wound nearly 2 in
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long and the other a deep 4-in slash
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that had severed his windpipe. Based on
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this information, the cause of Leroyy's
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death was changed from auto suicide to
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undetermined. But crucial questions
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remained.
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Who had attacked Leroy and why?
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In retrospect, everything leads back to
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Patty's house. Every time I think of a
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scenario, the same conclusion and the
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same thought. It started at Patty's
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house with an argument.
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Hey, how are you?
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Good. How are you?
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You look beautiful.
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Leroy arrived for the barbecue at around
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5:00 p.m.
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Leroy come over that day and a lot of
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Patty's family was there and everyone
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had been drinking.
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I was married to Patty's brother. I was
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living in the house with the family
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for about 8 months before and after
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this happened.
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Just calm down.
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No, no, you calm down.
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Patty's family and Leroy had a slight
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argument.
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Kind of a racial argument over
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girlfriends and boyfriends. Why
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don't you just go find yourself a nice
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little white girl? Huh? Huh? Cuz I love
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her and she loves me. Okay,
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you're a
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argument, Patty walked Leroy to his car.
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Vicki thinks that just before he left,
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Leroy was attacked by one of Patty's
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family members.
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I believe that they continued arguing
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and that a male person just quickly
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reached out and uh cut Leroy's throat.
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I feel that Leroy was probably fleeing
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for his life in the automobile and then
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lost consciousness or lost control of
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the vehicle because of the injuries. He
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would have been in pain and would have
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been extremely afraid. But the actual
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cause of death were injuries sustained
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from the automobile crash.
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I feel like I have become a cop in this
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whole scenario, which is very difficult
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at times because I have no training and
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I don't know what to do and I'm sure
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I've made the wrong mistakes at times,
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but I also know that I love my brother
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very much and I know that as long as I'm
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doing this that there is going to be a
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conclusion.
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Vicki claims that Patty contacted her
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again and offered to provide an account
00:10:03
of the party. But when Vicki called to
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set up the meeting, she found that
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Patty's phone had been disconnected.
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Vicki is still hoping that Patty will
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come forward.
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A reward is being offered for
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information leading to the conviction of
00:10:20
Leroyy's killer.
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If you have a tip, please log on to our
00:10:25
website at unsolved.com.
00:10:30
[Music]
00:10:32
Next, when Alex Cooper disappeared,
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there were lots of theories, but no one
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guessed that Alex Cooper never existed.
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Cranbrook, British Columbia.
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Alex Cooper was a traveling salesman and
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a family man.
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Alex was the last person that anyone
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would expect to find at the center of a
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mystery.
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But all of that changed one morning when
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Alex's daughter Laya and her husband
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Pete were on their way out of town for a
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shopping trip.
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We left Cranberrook quite early that
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morning and it was actually Pete that
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said, "That's your dad's car."
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Isn't that your dad's car?
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Oh, you're right.
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Stop and see what he's doing.
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Okay. My dad and I were so close. Pete
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would have known that if if we didn't
00:11:31
stop and say hello, I was just going to
00:11:33
sulk all day anyway. So, we did.
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Okay.
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We just walked right by the car. Didn't
00:11:40
really paid any attention. We
00:11:42
walked down the bank to the water. We
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just assumed that he was fishing.
00:11:50
At the water, I was curious.
00:11:54
When I got back to the car, I started to
00:11:56
get a little bit that feeling in your
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stomach like this is really unusual.
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Past curious now.
00:12:04
Laya was worried, so she called her
00:12:06
mother. Margaret Cooper hadn't seen her
00:12:10
husband in more than 24 hours.
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I felt a great deal of fear. Laya
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suggested that she check out the hotel
00:12:18
which was close, the hospitals, and then
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if he they didn't find him that she
00:12:23
would go to the police.
00:12:25
Do
00:12:26
you know where he was headed to?
00:12:27
He was on a regular sales trip as far as
00:12:29
we know um on his way through the valley
00:12:31
to sell some supplies.
00:12:32
There was no footprints or any other
00:12:35
physical evidence that may be around the
00:12:37
vehicle. The vehicle was locked. He had
00:12:40
a set of clothes that were left in the
00:12:41
vehicle along with some fishing tackle.
00:12:44
Nothing that we found around the vehicle
00:12:46
would suggest that foul play was
00:12:47
involved in this.
00:12:49
The police launched an extensive air and
00:12:52
land search, but Alex Cooper had
00:12:55
vanished.
00:12:58
Investigators learned that on the day he
00:13:00
disappeared, Alex ate lunch at a
00:13:02
restaurant less than a mile from where
00:13:04
his car was found.
00:13:06
Alex had a very bad habit in that he
00:13:08
carried his money in a roll in his front
00:13:10
pocket and if he was going to pay for
00:13:13
anything, out came the roll. He took off
00:13:15
what he needed, popped it back in and
00:13:18
and uh that worried me a great deal.
00:13:20
Excuse me, sir.
00:13:21
Yeah.
00:13:22
Heading up the road this way?
00:13:23
Yeah.
00:13:23
I was wondering, could I catch a ride
00:13:24
with you?
00:13:25
I'm just going up a little ways.
00:13:27
Sure. Fine, man.
00:13:29
Margaret was afraid that someone had
00:13:31
robbed and killed her husband and then
00:13:33
dumped his body in the wilderness.
00:13:39
Laya thought that something else might
00:13:41
have happened.
00:13:42
I focused on the water. I could see him
00:13:45
maybe going down to the creek and being
00:13:47
a fisherman, seeing what the possibility
00:13:50
was of maybe trying to catch something
00:13:52
or drop a line in and he fell in or he
00:13:55
had a heart attack and fell in.
00:14:01
Newspaper and television coverage
00:14:04
triggered yet another theory.
00:14:07
People come to our office reporting that
00:14:10
they had seen a fellow matching the
00:14:12
similar description as Alex Cooper for
00:14:14
height, weight, same type of clothing.
00:14:17
They'd seen hitchhiking in the area of
00:14:18
the vehicle. The investigator's theory
00:14:22
was he just left the area on his own.
00:14:24
For what reasons, we have no idea.
00:14:29
But Alex hadn't taken his heart
00:14:31
medication or credit cards. He took no
00:14:34
clothing except what he was wearing.
00:14:38
It was suggested that maybe he had
00:14:41
staged disappearance.
00:14:44
I wasn't able to accept that at all.
00:14:47
Alec wasn't the kind of man who would be
00:14:50
capable of creating that kind of pain
00:14:53
for his family.
00:14:55
He was the best father anybody could
00:14:57
ever want. And he loved us all. And he
00:15:00
was he was funny and he was sincere and
00:15:02
he was honest. And you know, if I'm
00:15:04
proven wrong, like
00:15:07
I guess I'll have to eat my words. But I
00:15:09
believed everything he ever told me.
00:15:13
A year passed with no word from Alex.
00:15:18
Margaret petitioned to have her husband
00:15:20
declared legally dead. Her request was
00:15:23
granted.
00:15:24
I'm calling in regards to Alex Cooper
00:15:27
birth certificate.
00:15:28
But when she tried to get his birth
00:15:30
certificate, she made a surprising
00:15:33
discovery.
00:15:34
No information at all.
00:15:36
A birth certificate was never issued in
00:15:39
Alex's name. In fact, before their
00:15:43
marriage, there was no record of Alex at
00:15:46
all. No high school transcripts, no
00:15:49
military papers,
00:15:51
no medical history.
00:15:54
He simply did not and had not ever
00:15:57
existed.
00:15:59
Who exactly was Alex Cooper? And why had
00:16:03
he used an alias for nearly four
00:16:06
decades?
00:16:08
4 years after his disappearance, the
00:16:11
mystery finally began to unravel when
00:16:14
another man was reported missing in
00:16:16
Toronto. He was also a traveling
00:16:19
salesman and he looked an awful lot like
00:16:22
Alex Cooper.
00:16:24
The man called himself David Cooper. He
00:16:28
had been living in a boarding house for
00:16:29
about a year. Every week he would
00:16:32
venture out to a new town selling meat
00:16:35
products.
00:16:36
Yeah, that's right. half a cow. We take
00:16:38
the shell off it, though.
00:16:40
During one of David Cooper's business
00:16:42
trips, a friend reported him missing.
00:16:46
When police later searched his room for
00:16:48
clues, they found this photograph. David
00:16:53
Cooper and Alex Cooper were the same
00:16:56
person.
00:16:57
[Music]
00:17:00
When Mr. Cooper returned home and when
00:17:03
he went in to his room or his flat, he
00:17:06
noticed that there was uh evidence of
00:17:09
police presence. The dust that's used to
00:17:12
take fingerprints was uh on the wall and
00:17:15
it was on a couple of other places.
00:17:17
[Music]
00:17:19
What happened to my room?
00:17:20
And at that time, his land lady advised
00:17:22
him that he'd been reported missing. And
00:17:24
the police were trying to find out where
00:17:26
he was. By the time the police returned
00:17:29
to the boarding house, Alex had
00:17:32
disappeared once again.
00:17:34
We have a person who has something to
00:17:36
hide to a point where he would walk away
00:17:39
and leave the family that has been with
00:17:41
for the last 35 years. So, it has to be
00:17:44
something that's very serious or at
00:17:46
least he believes is very serious.
00:17:50
Update.
00:17:52
Shortly after this story aired, a viewer
00:17:54
in Hamilton, Canada, recognized Alex
00:17:57
Cooper and called authorities.
00:18:00
When they took him in for questioning,
00:18:02
Alex told them that his real name was
00:18:05
Alban Arseno.
00:18:08
He explained that when he was 26, he was
00:18:11
accused of robbing an office of the
00:18:13
Canadian Pacific Railroad where he was
00:18:16
working at the time. I was young and I
00:18:19
panicked and I said to myself, there is
00:18:21
no way I'm going to be take the fall for
00:18:25
this because I didn't do it.
00:18:27
I took off at that time
00:18:30
and I became Alexander Cooper at that
00:18:32
point.
00:18:34
When he married Margaret, he didn't know
00:18:36
that any criminal charges against him
00:18:38
had probably been dropped. For nearly 40
00:18:42
years, his true identity remained a
00:18:44
secret.
00:18:47
But with his 65th birthday coming up,
00:18:50
Alex had a problem.
00:18:52
I was due for pension and you're
00:18:54
required to submit a birth certificate.
00:18:57
I knew I couldn't produce one.
00:19:01
For several months prior to this, I knew
00:19:04
this was coming up. I couldn't bring
00:19:07
myself about to tell my family.
00:19:10
[Music]
00:19:12
So, I walked away.
00:19:14
It was a snap decision
00:19:17
and it was a wrong one.
00:19:19
[Music]
00:19:20
Two days after he was questioned by
00:19:22
authorities, Alex returned home to his
00:19:25
family. He had been gone for nearly 5
00:19:29
years.
00:19:30
We're a very close family, and this has
00:19:32
been very devastating for all of us,
00:19:33
including Alec.
00:19:36
I'm really hoping that we can work
00:19:37
through this and uh
00:19:40
put it back together. If not the way it
00:19:41
is, maybe something better.
00:19:44
We can't pick up where we left off
00:19:46
because things have changed,
00:19:49
but we're going to start fresh. Take it
00:19:50
a day at a time.
00:19:53
The way I feel, I don't deserve for
00:19:55
anybody to accept my apology. That what
00:19:58
I'd done,
00:20:01
abandonment of your family to me is one
00:20:04
hell of a crime. The biggest job for me
00:20:07
at this point will be to make amends.
00:20:10
And I would say it'll probably take me
00:20:12
the rest of my life.
00:20:17
Next, Sheldon Weinberg is successful and
00:20:20
wealthy, but he has not made an honest
00:20:23
living. He's stolen more than $15
00:20:26
million from New York's Medicaid
00:20:29
program.
00:20:33
[Music]
00:20:38
Lifelong New Yorker Sheldon Weinberg was
00:20:42
addicted to the good life.
00:20:44
How are you?
00:20:45
Most mornings he left his fashionable
00:20:48
Manhattan apartment and was driven to
00:20:50
work in a limousine.
00:20:52
Take us to the clinic.
00:20:53
Yes, sir.
00:20:54
He was making millions in the healthc
00:20:56
care field.
00:20:58
His son, Jay, was the company's
00:21:00
co-administrator. His other son, Ronald,
00:21:03
helped supervise its dayto-day
00:21:06
operations.
00:21:07
The Weinebergs equated money with power
00:21:11
with a sense of worth.
00:21:13
The more money that they made, the
00:21:15
better human beings they were. They were
00:21:17
successful. They had the power. They had
00:21:18
the money. The Weineberg's morning
00:21:21
commute did not take them to an elite
00:21:23
Manhattan medical complex. Their offices
00:21:26
were located in a warehouse in one of
00:21:29
Brooklyn's poorest neighborhoods.
00:21:35
Sheldon Weinberg and his two sons stole
00:21:37
some $28 million that should have been
00:21:40
spent on medical care for the poor.
00:21:43
Investigators made it their mission to
00:21:46
prove that white collar crime does not
00:21:48
pay.
00:21:51
Weineberg and his two sons came to
00:21:53
healthc care from the garment industry
00:21:56
after a mysterious fire destroyed their
00:21:58
warehouse.
00:22:00
The new family business was called the
00:22:03
Bedstar Healthc Care Clinic. It employed
00:22:06
over 25 physicians and catered primarily
00:22:10
to Medicaid recipients.
00:22:11
We have a lot of patients scheduled.
00:22:13
That's very good.
00:22:14
They're coming through. Yeah.
00:22:15
The Weinbergs began the scam by talking
00:22:18
one of their doctors into submitting
00:22:20
false billings to the government.
00:22:23
They began small, manually writing up
00:22:27
phony records and phony bills. But once
00:22:30
they started getting away with it, they
00:22:32
realized the scam was working.
00:22:34
The clinic was submitting up to $30,000
00:22:37
a week in phony claims. Most of the
00:22:40
money went straight
00:22:42
to the Weinebergs. This has got the
00:22:44
dress business beat all to hell for
00:22:46
sure.
00:22:46
Sheldon Weinberg, the father, was a
00:22:48
general and Jay Weinberg was lieutenant.
00:22:51
He was the person who implemented these
00:22:52
directions at the center and Ronald
00:22:55
Weinberg was like a player at the center
00:22:57
closer to the employees. But it was a
00:22:59
team effort and everyone participated.
00:23:01
Everyone profited and everyone moved
00:23:03
this conspiracy forward.
00:23:04
August is 375,000.
00:23:07
What happened?
00:23:08
I I don't know. Jay, do we bring these
00:23:09
numbers up?
00:23:11
Why not?
00:23:13
To increase their income, they started
00:23:15
billing for patients who didn't even
00:23:18
exist. Their profits jumped from
00:23:20
thousands to millions.
00:23:23
Where'd you get these names, man?
00:23:24
What the program did was enable phony
00:23:27
medical records to be produced for these
00:23:29
phony billings.
00:23:30
Do
00:23:31
they used Medicaid like it was a private
00:23:33
bank account for them. And from that
00:23:35
bank account, the Weinebergs led the
00:23:37
high life on the backs of poor people.
00:23:40
It was the largest Medicaid fraud in
00:23:43
history.
00:23:44
Dad, I think we need to hire some more
00:23:45
doctors.
00:23:46
I won't say no.
00:23:48
Jay used his money to fund his own
00:23:50
commodities exchange and even posed for
00:23:53
the advertising with the family's gold
00:23:56
Rolls-Royce.
00:23:59
Sheldon bought a lavish estate in Boca
00:24:01
Ratan, Florida.
00:24:03
Everything in that mansion was gold
00:24:05
leaf. You had gold leaf mirrors. You had
00:24:07
gold leaf chairs. She had gold leaf bar
00:24:09
stools. I think their appetite for
00:24:13
conspicuous living, for fancy clothes,
00:24:16
and especially shoes uh was only outdone
00:24:20
by Alda Marcos.
00:24:24
For 7 years, the money rolled in and
00:24:26
then a former clinic dentist, Dr. David
00:24:29
Belden Green, was brought in for
00:24:31
questioning by a state investigator.
00:24:35
We got a tip from a New Jersey banker
00:24:38
who told us that huge New York State
00:24:40
Medicaid checks were being deposited
00:24:41
into an account in his little bank by
00:24:43
David Belden Green, a dentist.
00:24:46
We made the case on Belden Green in
00:24:48
fairly short order. He was facing
00:24:50
significant jail time and he agreed to
00:24:53
cooperate with us and revealed the
00:24:57
Weineberg scheme.
00:25:00
We had a team of about six auditors who
00:25:02
painstakingly day after day would go
00:25:05
through each building, line after line
00:25:07
after line, and it took weeks and weeks
00:25:09
and weeks to trace these Medicaid
00:25:11
billings. And we were able to show that
00:25:13
in holidays such as July 4th, the clinic
00:25:15
was closed. But the paperwork showed
00:25:18
that they build for 1,600 visits on that
00:25:20
particular day. You look at the medical
00:25:22
charts, you'll see that a four-year-old
00:25:25
boy was uh shown as having smoked four
00:25:28
packs of cigarettes a day and having
00:25:29
drank a quarter of booze a day. You
00:25:32
found men with gynecological problems.
00:25:34
That's the type of things that jump off
00:25:36
the paper at you.
00:25:42
Investigators also interviewed people in
00:25:44
the neighborhood whose names have been
00:25:47
used for the phony buildings.
00:25:49
My name is John Leiden. These people
00:25:51
stated that they were in the clinic
00:25:52
maybe once or twice a year, but the
00:25:54
billings showed 50 or 60 billings, not
00:25:57
only for the mother, but the the
00:25:58
children in the family, sometimes with
00:26:00
four, five, uh, six children, and they
00:26:03
showed on on a weekly basis.
00:26:06
Investigators finally knocked on the
00:26:08
door of Jay Weinberg's Trump Tower
00:26:10
apartment. By now, he was using four
00:26:13
different aliases, and he hadn't paid
00:26:16
his state income tax for 3 years.
00:26:21
Jay's brother, Ronald, was also arrested
00:26:23
the same day.
00:26:26
Shelvin, the father and the mastermind
00:26:28
of the scheme, was arrested at his
00:26:30
Florida estate and was quickly shipped
00:26:32
back to New York. All three men were
00:26:35
booked on suspicion of medical fraud.
00:26:38
Bail for Sheldon was set at a4 million.
00:26:43
account.
00:26:44
He quickly paid up and was released
00:26:46
pending trial.
00:26:48
From the evidence that was produced at
00:26:50
trial over 7 years, this clinic made $32
00:26:53
million for Medicaid.
00:26:56
We were able to show at trial 28 million
00:26:59
went to the Weineberg accounts.
00:27:02
Ronald Weinberg was found guilty and
00:27:04
received a 5 to 15ear sentence. Jay was
00:27:08
sentenced from 8 to 25 years, plus
00:27:11
additional terms for his tax evasions.
00:27:14
They served their time and have been
00:27:16
released.
00:27:17
Sheldon received a 7 to 21-year term.
00:27:21
But 3 days before his sentencing,
00:27:24
Sheldon Weinberg, accompanied by his
00:27:26
wife, Roslin, jump bail.
00:27:29
The immediate feeling that I had is that
00:27:31
he may have taken off, but it's just a
00:27:33
matter of time before they find him. Hey
00:27:35
Rosalyn, let's go.
00:27:37
These are people who are very
00:27:38
ostentatious.
00:27:39
Coming.
00:27:40
I think there'll be a lot of jewelry on
00:27:41
Roslin Weinberg. I think they'll be very
00:27:43
loud and I think they may change their
00:27:45
identities. They may change their names,
00:27:47
but they're going to be spotted and it's
00:27:49
just a matter of time before someone
00:27:50
picks up on it.
00:27:54
[Applause]
00:27:56
update.
00:28:01
Within 3 hours of our broadcast, Sheldon
00:28:05
Weinberg was arrested by the FBI in
00:28:07
Scottsdale, Arizona, where he and his
00:28:10
wife were living under assumed names.
00:28:13
Right after the show aired, we got
00:28:16
specific information from callers who
00:28:18
had seen them all over the Scottsdale
00:28:20
area. And one of the callers uh told us
00:28:24
that the Weinebergs were using the alias
00:28:26
Devita. And this corresponded with
00:28:28
information we previously had back here
00:28:30
in New York that they were traveling
00:28:32
under that name. So when the caller told
00:28:34
us that uh he had seen people that
00:28:36
looked like the Weinebergs using the
00:28:38
name Dvita in Scottdale, we knew we had
00:28:40
our man.
00:28:43
Shelvin Weineberg was brought back to
00:28:45
New York. He was sentenced to 21 years
00:28:47
for fraud and 2 to 6 years for jumping
00:28:50
bail. He served 16 years and has since
00:28:55
been released.
00:28:59
Next, her vital signs had faded. By most
00:29:02
accounts, she was dead. But she came
00:29:05
back with a remarkable memory of a
00:29:08
near-death experience.
00:29:14
[Music]
00:29:18
When she was 7 years old, Crystal
00:29:21
Murslock was invited to a birthday party
00:29:24
at a local swimming pool. She had just
00:29:26
learned how to swim and she felt
00:29:28
comfortable in the water. I don't know
00:29:31
why, but for some reason I went up to
00:29:34
the deep end where a group of boys,
00:29:39
pushed me in,
00:29:41
and I just started swallowing water,
00:29:43
gasping for air, trying to grab up to
00:29:46
the top of the water.
00:29:49
I couldn't get any air, and so I just
00:29:53
fell unconscious.
00:29:56
And then I was just in darkness.
00:30:02
Can we get some breath sounds here,
00:30:03
please? Let me have a cast. How are
00:30:05
the breath sounds?
00:30:06
Crystal was rushed to the hospital where
00:30:08
doctors desperately tried to save her
00:30:10
life.
00:30:12
Go ahead.
00:30:14
When she came in, her pupils were fixed
00:30:17
and dilated. She probably had no brain
00:30:19
activity. She had none of the normal uh
00:30:23
reflexes that we associate uh with
00:30:25
surviving. She had what's called a
00:30:28
Glasgow coma score of three, which very
00:30:31
few people survive if they have such a
00:30:34
profound coma.
00:30:34
She's not coming around. She's not
00:30:36
coming around.
00:30:37
I did not think that she would survive.
00:30:40
Dr. Morris said that she was so close to
00:30:43
death that to prepare yourself for her
00:30:46
demise that she could expire at any
00:30:49
time.
00:30:49
Okay. Did you check a blood pressure,
00:30:51
please?
00:30:56
At 3:30 p.m., Crystal was clinically
00:30:59
dead, but 20 minutes later, she was
00:31:01
revived. She recalls going to a land of
00:31:05
beautiful light and being filled with a
00:31:07
great sense of peace. Did Crystal
00:31:10
experience life after death?
00:31:14
[Music]
00:31:18
Crystal sensed that she was floating
00:31:21
over her body, observing the medical
00:31:23
team as they attempted to save her life.
00:31:28
When I was up there, I saw the doctors.
00:31:31
They were working on me. They were
00:31:34
sticking things at my arm and at my nose
00:31:36
to help me breathe, and I didn't like
00:31:38
it. That was one of the reasons I wanted
00:31:41
to stay up there.
00:31:48
As Crystal laid near death, she felt
00:31:50
herself moving into darkness. And then
00:31:54
her eyes opened.
00:31:56
I looked up and I saw this bright light
00:31:59
at the end of a tunnel and there were
00:32:01
colored bricks on the walls of the
00:32:03
tunnel. The light kind of pulled me
00:32:06
toward it. It was just the most loving
00:32:09
light I've ever seen.
00:32:11
And then I saw this lady.
00:32:14
She took my hand. She just led me into
00:32:17
the light and through the light and into
00:32:18
heaven. I just felt that this was the
00:32:23
place I wanted to be.
00:32:25
[Music]
00:32:28
But when I got to thinking about how I
00:32:31
wouldn't be able to really hug my mom
00:32:33
again or anybody I really loved, then I
00:32:37
said, "No, I want to go back." And then
00:32:40
I was back in my body.
00:32:44
I wasn't dead. Like my soul, my spirit
00:32:47
was still alive. I wasn't dead at all.
00:32:52
But for at least 20 minutes, Crystal was
00:32:55
dead and she remained in a coma for 3
00:32:58
days.
00:33:01
Eventually, she recovered completely.
00:33:04
[Music]
00:33:05
Crystal had never met the doctor who
00:33:07
saved her life. But when they were
00:33:09
introduced, he seemed familiar to her.
00:33:13
The last time I had seen her, she was
00:33:15
profoundly comeomaos. She could not have
00:33:18
been in a deeper coma and still be
00:33:20
alive. And then I saw her in follow-up 2
00:33:24
weeks later. I said, "I am Dr. Morris.
00:33:26
You probably don't remember me, but I
00:33:29
sure know you, Crystal, because I spent,
00:33:31
you know, a grueling 4 hours trying to
00:33:33
bring you back to life." And then she
00:33:36
turned to her mother and said, "Well,
00:33:38
no, I have seen him before."
00:33:41
She stated that she remembered seeing me
00:33:43
from the emergency room.
00:33:45
I saw his face and I knew him. It was
00:33:49
just like I'd never seen him before and
00:33:52
I knew him.
00:33:54
She also described other elements of her
00:33:57
resuscitation. She described us pushing
00:33:59
on her chest and putting various lines
00:34:01
in her. She told me, "First, uh, you
00:34:04
worked on me in the emergency room and
00:34:07
then you took me to another room, you
00:34:10
know, which was in fact true."
00:34:13
Was Crystal's memory of Dr. Mars
00:34:15
evidence of a metaphysical experience,
00:34:18
or was he familiar because Crystal
00:34:21
watched him try to save her?
00:34:24
When you carefully look at the reports,
00:34:26
I think we've all concluded that
00:34:28
something very different is going on.
00:34:31
The patients are able to tell us things
00:34:33
about the resuscitation attempt that
00:34:35
they wouldn't have any way of knowing. I
00:34:37
have no doubt whatsoever that they had a
00:34:40
glimpse of the life hereafter.
00:34:41
Let's go. Come on.
00:34:44
The near-death experience can be
00:34:46
understood as deriving from a
00:34:48
fundamental psychological need to deny
00:34:51
the reality of death because it's too
00:34:53
horrible to face the prospect that when
00:34:56
the body goes that's it.
00:35:01
I have remembered this. I cannot forget
00:35:03
it. It's always there. It's always been
00:35:06
very real to me and it's always very
00:35:10
clear to me.
00:35:14
Crystal had been to a place where most
00:35:16
people have never gone. She is certain
00:35:19
that her near-death experience will stay
00:35:22
with her the rest of her life.
00:35:27
Coming up, another provocative case. A
00:35:31
man's life is transformed by his
00:35:34
near-death experience.
00:35:44
One of the strangest stories of a
00:35:45
near-death experience is told by a man
00:35:48
named Tom Sawyer. His life was
00:35:50
transformed by a frightening accident
00:35:52
that occurred in his own garage. Today,
00:35:56
Tom Sawyer is literally a new man.
00:36:05
For 33 years, Tom lived a normal,
00:36:08
uneventful life.
00:36:11
I'd have to describe myself as pretty
00:36:13
much an all-American boy. Uh, you know,
00:36:15
with a name like Tom Sawyer, you have
00:36:16
one of two choices. You can become a
00:36:19
comedian or an outgoing or end up being
00:36:22
an introvert.
00:36:24
Tom was a talented high school athlete.
00:36:27
He raised bicycles and he qualified for
00:36:30
the Olympic team. He married Elaine and
00:36:33
they had two sons. Tom was a family man
00:36:36
and a bluecollar worker.
00:36:39
He described himself as an agnostic.
00:36:43
I had thought about such things as
00:36:44
religion and so on and I thought that it
00:36:46
was just a bunch of foolishness.
00:36:49
camera.
00:36:50
What I had figured out was that when you
00:36:52
die, you die. The show was over.
00:36:54
Everything goes black and that's it.
00:36:55
Hand me the needle-nose pliers. When I
00:36:58
had this experience, I was repairing my
00:36:59
pickup truck. I had the front wheels off
00:37:01
it and was lying on my back and the
00:37:04
truck suddenly started to move.
00:37:06
Oh my god. D.
00:37:10
When Todd ran in and made the phone
00:37:12
call, I heard it very clearly and
00:37:14
vividly.
00:37:16
My name is Todd. I live at 15. There
00:37:18
were other things that I was able to
00:37:20
hear that were impossible for me to hear
00:37:22
with my ears, such as the conversation
00:37:25
of the paramedics getting into the
00:37:27
ambulance 3 and 1/2 miles away.
00:37:32
Tom's wife and neighbors worked
00:37:33
desperately to free him.
00:37:36
[Music]
00:37:38
Two.
00:37:41
As I went unconscious, I then
00:37:44
experienced a sensation or a feeling of
00:37:46
absolutely waking up.
00:37:51
The only problem with this feeling of
00:37:52
waking up was that all I saw was
00:37:55
darkness. That darkness gradually took
00:37:58
the shape of a tunnel and way off
00:38:01
absolutely positively to infinity
00:38:04
appeared this little speck of white
00:38:06
light.
00:38:07
This was the most beautiful thing that
00:38:09
I'd ever experienced in my life. It was
00:38:11
just extraordinary.
00:38:13
All the pressure of the truck being on
00:38:15
me and the horrendous pain that was gone
00:38:18
and I felt very comfortable.
00:38:20
The next thing that I realized was that
00:38:22
I was motionless at the end of the
00:38:25
tunnel.
00:38:26
I then experienced a complete total life
00:38:29
review. Every day, every event, every
00:38:31
minute and second. In other words, I
00:38:33
relive the Olympic trials, my marriage,
00:38:36
all of these things at the same time.
00:38:39
I was then given a choice to return to
00:38:42
normal life or stay and become part of
00:38:44
this light.
00:38:46
I chose to stay and become part of that
00:38:48
light.
00:38:51
But I then had a feeling of going
00:38:53
exactly reversal through the tunnel and
00:38:56
slamming back into my body.
00:38:58
The truck was lifted off and Tom was
00:39:01
rushed to the hospital. 652
00:39:04
William
00:39:05
Tom lost oxygen for 15 minutes.
00:39:08
All right, Tom.
00:39:12
Well, I'm probably the only one you'll
00:39:13
ever meet that's been kicked out of
00:39:15
heaven because since I chose to stay and
00:39:18
become part of that light, and I am back
00:39:20
here without any explanation at all, one
00:39:22
of the logical deductive things that you
00:39:25
could assume was that I got kicked out
00:39:26
for some reason or another.
00:39:29
Surprisingly, he was able to leave the
00:39:31
hospital the same day of his accident.
00:39:35
He had no broken bones.
00:39:40
When I was riding home, all of a sudden,
00:39:42
I blurted out and said,
00:39:43
"Oh, it was so beautiful." And Elaine
00:39:46
turned around and said, "What was so
00:39:47
beautiful? What are you talking about?"
00:39:49
Well, I didn't answer her at all, and I
00:39:51
just continued to moan and groan for the
00:39:53
rest of the ride home.
00:39:55
Elaine said to me, "Don't you know what
00:39:57
you've had? That's called a near-death
00:39:59
experience whereupon my response was,
00:40:02
"Well, I don't believe in any of that
00:40:03
hocus pocus baloney." But shortly after
00:40:07
I recuperated from this accident, I
00:40:10
started saying things that I didn't
00:40:12
understand and my wife Elaine didn't
00:40:14
understand.
00:40:15
Max Plank.
00:40:18
Who Who's that?
00:40:20
So, of course, I asked my family if they
00:40:22
knew who that was. And then she asked
00:40:24
me, "Do you know who it is?" And my
00:40:27
answer was, "Well, no, but you'll be
00:40:28
hearing more about them in the near
00:40:30
future."
00:40:35
Tom began to jot down complex equations,
00:40:38
formulas that could only have been
00:40:40
understood by a master of quantum
00:40:42
physics. And he also drew symbols like
00:40:45
the Greek letter sigh.
00:40:52
To find out the meaning of these
00:40:53
symbols, Tom went to the library. The
00:40:56
librarian suggested a textbook on
00:40:59
quantum physics.
00:41:00
Possibly you might find this one
00:41:01
interesting.
00:41:02
Thank you. You're welcome.
00:41:04
When I opened it, there were two things
00:41:06
that stood out on that page. There was
00:41:09
the symbol sigh and there was a title
00:41:11
just underneath a picture of a man and
00:41:13
it said Max Plunk.
00:41:16
Tom says that he knew little about
00:41:18
physics before the accident. Yet somehow
00:41:21
he had suddenly become familiar with the
00:41:23
subject. But that wasn't the only
00:41:26
change.
00:41:27
Started being a more loving person. He
00:41:29
started caring about myself and a lot of
00:41:33
strangers, a lot of people. He helped a
00:41:35
lot. Anybody that needed help, he would
00:41:36
help.
00:41:37
These people have undergone profound and
00:41:40
dramatic changes in their personality
00:41:42
and their lifestyle and their values.
00:41:44
all of them talk about the importance of
00:41:46
wisdom and understanding and certainly a
00:41:48
renewed appreciation of life.
00:41:52
I think the way these people respond to
00:41:54
the experience and the degree of change
00:41:57
that they they experience after it
00:41:59
points to a tremendously powerful force.
00:42:01
Our usual explanations of the way the
00:42:03
brain, the way the mind works in terms
00:42:05
of physiology just don't explain what's
00:42:07
going on. Something larger at work here
00:42:09
than we're aware of yet.
00:42:12
Heat.
00:42:26
[Music]
00:42:29
Heat.
00:42:35
Heat. Heat.
00:42:37
[Music]
