Original subtitles

On this episode of "expedition files,"

the criminal known as d.B. Cooper hijacks a plane

before parachuting into the night with $200,000.

Now, after 50 years, the true identity of

america's most infamous skyjacker is finally crashing to earth.

And Michael rockefeller is born into the richest family

in america, but disappears without a trace

half a world away on a dangerous expedition.

It's one of the highest-profile missing persons cases of

the 20th century, and now we'll reveal his shocking fate.

Then, at the age of 24, Hollywood icon James Dean

tragically dies in a violent car crash behind the wheel

of his Porsche spyder.

In the years after the accident, the vehicle is

blamed for more disturbing deaths.

Then, it vanishes into thin air.

Where could this cursed car be hiding?

In the corridors of time

are mysteries that defy explanation.

Now, I'm traveling through history itself

on a search for the truth.

New evidence...

Shocking answers.

I'm Josh gates,

and these...

Are my "expedition files."

The other day, I lost my keys, and man, it drove me nuts.

I looked everywhere.

Don't worry, I eventually found them in my back pocket

right where I left them.

But sometimes when things or even people inexplicably

disappear, it's not just frustrating, it can spark

outright obsession, a desperate need to find

that which is lost.

Well, tonight we embark on the ultimate game of

hide-and-seek, opening three case files of

unforgettable disappearances to finally find answers.

Our journey begins aboard northwest orient flight 305

at Portland international airport.

The date is November 24th, 1971.

Ladies and gentlemen...

The passengers boarding the plane are settling in

for a short flight to Seattle, Washington.

All except the passenger behind me in seat 18e.

His destination is a mystery, and so is he.

According to his ticket, the man in this seat is Dan Cooper.

Just moments after takeoff, he'll set in motion one of

the most outrageous crimes in history, one that culminates in

him parachuting from this plane, carrying $200,000

in ransom money, and then disappearing.

For more than 50 years, investigators will try in vain

to find him.

But now, it's time to put up your tray tables

and fasten your seat belts,

because we may finally be able to reveal the true identity

of the world's most notorious skyjacker... d.B. Cooper.

Minutes into the flight, the so-called Dan Cooper

hands a note to the flight attendant.

Cooper claims he has smuggled a bomb aboard the plane

in his briefcase.

He demands $200,000 and four parachutes be delivered

to the plane when it touches down in Seattle.

If Cooper's demands aren't met, he says he'll detonate

the explosive, killing everyone on board.

Northwest 305, we're being hijacked.

Air traffic control immediately notifies the FBI.

When flight 305 lands, the money and the parachutes

are promptly delivered to the plane.

Cooper then releases all the passengers, leaving only

the terrified northwest flight crew on board.

Cooper orders the pilot to chart a new course to

Mexico City, and he makes a strange demand.

The plane must fly no faster than 230 miles per hour

and no higher than 10,000 feet.

Cooper is left alone in the now-empty passenger area

with the crew in the cockpit.

At 8 pm, 30 minutes after takeoff, the pilot notices

a warning light indicating the boeing 727's rear air stairs

have been deployed.

Then the pilot feels

the airplane's tail section pitch upward.

Cooper has jumped from the plane, parachuting

into that late November night where he disappears.

When flight 305 lands, Cooper and the money

are long gone.

The FBI doesn't find a bomb, but they do find multiple

fingerprints, two parachutes, and his black clip-on necktie.

When agents inspect the tie, they find a distinctive

gold pin piercing the fabric.

The FBI launches one of its largest ever manhunts

for the person the press calls "d.B. Cooper" after a reporter

mislabels "Dan" as "d.B.."

Agents release a composite sketch of

the newly-named fugitive.

Calculating flight 305's path and the time of Cooper's leap,

the FBI estimates he landed 40 miles north of

Portland, Oregon in rugged forests.

Authorities scour the wilderness for any signs

of Cooper, his parachute, or the money,

but they find nothing.

The FBI expands their search, creating a list of around

800 suspects that they think are capable of committing

such a sensational crime... military veterans,

skydivers, bank robbers, airline workers.

But agents find no credible evidence

that any of them are d.B. Cooper.

Then, agents get a possible break in the case.

We're leaving 8,000. Go ahead.

Six months after d.B. Cooper's audacious 1971 robbery,

another skyjacking grips the nation.

On April 7, 1972, united airlines flight 855 is

flying from Newark to Los Angeles when a passenger

holding a hand grenade demands the plane divert

to San Francisco.

Cleared for i-l-s 2-5 left approach.

His requests are eerily similar to Cooper's.

Deliver $500,000 and four parachutes to the jetliner.

And so is his mo.

After the money and the parachutes are delivered,

the pilot is then ordered to fly low and slow over Utah

before the assailant descends the aircraft's rear air stairs

and leaps into the darkness.

- You got a warrant? - But unlike d.B. Cooper,

the FBI has much better luck catching this skyjacker.

Acting on an anonymous tip, agents raid the home of Richard McCoy Jr.

According to the tipster, McCoy has been

flashing around more cash than usual, and he closely matches

the description of the skyjacker given by

one of the flight attendants.

McCoy is a Vietnam veteran, an avid skydiver,

and studies law enforcement at brigham young university.

Investigators find $499,970 in cash inside McCoy's home.

He's arrested on charges of air piracy.

The obvious question is immediately asked.

Is McCoy the skyjacker known as d.B. Cooper,

or merely a copycat?

McCoy does look very similar to the sketch of Cooper.

However, when agents question McCoy's wife, Karen,

about her husband's whereabouts the night of

the Cooper heist,

she tells them Richard was home in Utah with family

all Thanksgiving weekend.

But his wife's alibi isn't exactly airtight.

When agents look into McCoy's financial and phone activity

on the night of the d.B. Cooper robbery,

they find evidence that places him just a day's drive

from the area where it's suspected Cooper landed.

If this circumstantial evidence indicates Richard McCoy Jr. is

the skyjacker known as d.B. Cooper,

why didn't the FBI charge McCoy for the Cooper heist?

Well, it may have come down to fingerprints.

Unfortunately, while the FBI dusted the aircraft and did

recover various prints, none could be matched

to a suspect.

Historian Bruce Smith has done extensive research

on this infamous hijacking.

The FBI found 11 sets of fingerprints, and they found

a good thumbprint that they have high confidence

is d.B. Cooper's.

McCoy, certainly when he was arrested,

had his fingerprints taken.

So presumably, since he was not charged in the Cooper case,

presumably the fingerprints weren't a match.

With agents unable to find any physical evidence

proving beyond reasonable doubt that Richard McCoy is also

the man known as d.B. Cooper,

McCoy is only charged with the skyjacking of

united flight 855.

He is sentenced to 45 years in prison.

The only major break in the case happens

nine years after the skyjacking, when an eight-year-old boy

makes a stunning discovery on the banks of the Columbia river

outside Vancouver, Washington, he finds three packets

of the ransom money totaling $5,800.

Is this evidence that Cooper survived his jump

and dropped some cash, or that he drowned in the river?

Either way, the find sets off a media firestorm.

But it brings authorities no closer

to catching d.B. Cooper.

Then, in 2016, 40 years after the crime,

the FBI officially closes the unsolved case.

But that could be about to change.

New evidence surfaces,

blowing the d.B. Cooper case wide open.

In 2023, Rick McCoy, the son of one-time

d.b. Cooper suspect Richard McCoy Jr. is

cleaning out a family storage shed when he finds

a vintage parachute hidden inside.

Rick grew up knowing his dad was sent to prison

for the skyjacking of united flight 855

and always suspected his father might also be Cooper

because of the similarities in the crimes.

And this chute seems to be an exact match

with the military c9 parachute used by d.B. Cooper

during his daring heist in 1971.

Rick then discovers his father's skydiving log books.

He can see his dad completed dozens of training jumps

in the days prior to November 24th, 1971,

the day of the d.B. Cooper skyjacking.

But after November 24th, he notices

something remarkable... the jumps stop.

This new discovery could be the missing evidence indicating

his now-deceased father, Richard, was also responsible

for the d.B. Cooper hijacking.

Rick alerts the FBI about his find and gives agents

the parachute and logbooks for further analysis.

When agents review the evidence and question the McCoy family

further, they make another possible connection.

One of the foremost experts on the hijacking,

historian Bruce Smith, explains.

When the FBI starts interviewing

family members of McCoy, particularly one of the aunts,

and shows them a picture of the black tie

with the clip-on clasp,

and the aunt says, "that's Richard's."

And the clasp that's on it is very reminiscent to the kinds

of clasp that students at byu, brigham young university,

where Richard McCoy was going to school for law enforcement,

a lot of the students there would wear that kind

of clip-on tie.

Is the black necktie and gold pin the missing link

between Richard McCoy Jr. and the skyjacker known

as d.B. Cooper? Not so fast.

A few years ago, I investigated this mystery myself

and conducted microscopic analysis of the necktie

alongside scientist Tom Kay.

I understand that a lab has been able to test

the tie samples for additional particles.

- What'd they find? - What they found was 100,000 particles.

Awesome. So what specifically showed up?

Well, we start with the most unusual of those,

which is the rare earth element, yttrium.

Ok.

What's the most common use for yttrium in 1971?

It turns out it's the red phosphor in TV screens.

This evidence suggests strongly he's from a very advanced

- manufacturing environment. - Wow.

Plot twist.

The particles on the tie seem to indicate

the man known as d.B. Cooper is

working in a highly specialized industry.

Perhaps the manufacturing of military radar screens, but in 1971,

Richard McCoy Jr. Didn't work in technology.

He was a student at by...

Does that mean McCoy is ruled out?

Again, not so fast.

In 1971, when Richard McCoy came back from Vietnam,

things were tight.

He was just living off of his pension benefit as a vet,

and basically, the family's living, at best,

paycheck to paycheck, hand to mouth kind of thing.

And the son, Rick McCoy III, is now confirming that,

"yeah, my parents were broke, and my father was buying

everything that he wore from a secondhand store."

So that tie that was found on Cooper's plane, Richard McCoy

probably bought that in a secondhand store

in downtown salt lake city.

Still unconvinced?

Well, there's an even more remarkable family revelation

to come, an alleged confession from Richard McCoy's wife.

Rick McCoy, the son of Richard McCoy, the skyjacker,

he says his mother, before she died, was telling

him that not only was she the getaway driver for her husband

on the hijacking of united flight 855, but she also

was intimately involved in the planning

and execution of the d.B. Cooper skyjacking,

and complained numerous times to Rick

that her husband was upset that he wasn't

getting credit for being d.B. Cooper.

This is the family story that's coming forward,

and Rick says that

he waited till now to tell his story

because he didn't want to spill the beans on his mother

while she was still alive.

Richard McCoy Jr. died four years after committing

the crime of air piracy.

He was killed in a shootout with police

after busting out of prison.

It's an audacious way to go, but arguably not that

out of character for a skydiving robber.

So, is McCoy definitely d.B. Cooper?

Well, Richard's son, Rick, is convinced.

So certain, in fact, that he recently submitted

a sample of his father's DNA to the FBI.

If it matches DNA recovered from the necktie, it would

conclusively prove Richard McCoy Jr. is indeed Cooper,

and the man who aimed to be lost forever

will be found at last.

From a man lost in the air to a man who disappears at sea.

It's 1961, and I'm on the shores of the Indonesian island

of Dutch new Guinea.

It's one of the wildest places still left on earth.

Inhabited by remote jungle tribes, few outsiders have

ever set foot here, but one man is about to try.

Ten miles from me, out in that ocean,

is a 23-year-old adventurer named Michael.

His vessel has just capsized, and he's about to make

the most fateful decision of his life to try to swim to shore.

Michael will never be seen again.

His unsolved disappearance

will make global news and captivate investigators

for the next 70 years, because Michael's full name

is Michael rockefeller, and his family is one of

the richest in the world.

November 17th, 1961.

A 40-foot canoe is making its way through

rough and turbulent seas.

On board are Michael rockefeller

and anthropologist Rene was sing.

Born into a life of incredible wealth and status, Michael is

the son of the governor of New York, Nelson rockefeller,

and Michael's great-grandfather

was oil magnate John d. Rockefeller,

one of the richest men history has ever known.

You know the rockefeller record, the man

who has served his nation with distinction

under three presidents, Roosevelt, Truman, and eisenhower.

Nelson has named Michael to the board

of his museum of primitive art in New York.

Michael wants to acquire something special

for his father, and so has journeyed to new Guinea

to make contact with the asmat tribe.

One of the world's most isolated cultures.

The asmat are expert woodcarvers, known for

their ornate shields, paddles, and drums.

But the asmats are not just known for their art,

they're also fearsome warriors associated with

head hunting and cannibalism.

For centuries, the tribe has had little contact with

the outside world, showing no interest in allowing foreigners

to change their way of life or even to

visit their territory.

But visit them is exactly what Michael has been doing.

He's become obsessed with their art and spent the last

seven months island hopping around the region,

collecting great treasures from these remote tribes.

That is until today, November 17th, as a rogue wave

hits Michael's vessel...

And it capsizes.

Rockefeller and his comrade, Rene, cling to their overturned boat

for 24 hours as it floats further from land,

10 miles out to sea.

Then Michael tells Rene he's going to swim to shore.

This would be a tough task, even for an olympic swimmer,

and his friend begs him to stay with the boat.

But rockefeller is insistent, seemingly filled with

the confidence only his surname can supply.

He ties two empty fuel cans to his belt for buoyancy

and pushes off into the open water.

Michael's last words before swimming away are,

"I think I can make it.".

The next morning, Rene was sing is spotted by a plane

and rescued by Dutch authorities.

But while he is now safe, there is no sign

of rockefeller, either in the water or on shore.

When the Dutch are made aware that the missing man is

the Michael rockefeller, the search

kicks into high gear.

His father, Nelson rockefeller, also Springs into action,

chartering a 707 and flying himself,

Michael's twin sister, Mary,

and dozens of reporters to new Guinea to help

in the search.

Nelson wants his beloved son found at any cost.

Dutch authorities mount a wide and frantic search for Michael,

involving dozens of ships, airplanes,

and helicopters, plus thousands of volunteers.

But except for one empty fuel can floating in the ocean,

the searchers find nothing, no body, no clothes,

no other evidence.

The most intensive land-earth search in south pacific history

is drawing to a close, as hopes fade that the son of.

New York's governor, Nelson rockefeller,

will be found alive.

Two weeks later, Dutch officials call off the search.

They list Michael's cause of death as drowning.

On February 1, 1964, a little more than three years

after his disappearance, the rockefeller family has

Michael declared legally dead.

The story then fades until 2008, when documentary footage

of the asmat originally filmed in the '70s

is re-examined.

This documentary was called "the search for Michael rockefeller,"

directed and produced by Fraser heston,

and it contains an image that is truly shocking.

There's a brief scene where groups of warriors are paddling

canoes upriver, and in one of the canoes, there appears to be

a naked, bearded white man.

Could the man in the film be Michael rockefeller?

Could he have survived the swim and gone on to live amongst

the asmat tribe that he was so captivated by?

Is it really possible that for 60 years, the son of

one of america's most powerful families hasn't been lost

at all, but instead simply found a new place to call home?

Michael rockefeller, heir to one of america's richest

families, disappears in Dutch new Guinea in 1961.

Decades later, documentary footage emerges

showing a bearded white man in a canoe with the asmat tribe.

Author Aaron habel has extensively

researched the mystery.

This man who seems to stand out so well amongst the asmat

tribesmen on the war canoe seems to be working in Harmony

with them. His oarsmanship seems perfect.

So it feels like someone who's been living and working

with the asmat for many years.

If that was Michael rockefeller in the footage,

perhaps he'd been living with the asmat tribe.

Maybe they allowed him to come in and join their village.

A lot of people had questions, and one of the people that was

sought out Malcolm kirk, because he was the one

who shot the footage.

And when he was asked, he said, "actually, I think

that's probably just an asmat tribesman who had albinism."

The photo is undeniably intriguing, but inconclusive.

And if the man seen in the picture was actually

an albino native, what happened to Michael?

Rockefeller could have drowned, as the official cause of death

states, but he was attached to flotation aids, and no trace

of his body was ever found.

Could he have made it to land and suffered some other fate?

It's an intriguing question because there's actually

credible evidence that he did make it to the shore.

And even more remarkably, it's information

the authorities seemingly tried to cover up.

In late November 1961, while search teams are still

trying to find Michael rockefeller,

a disturbing report claims to reveal what really

happened to him.

Multiple accounts from the indigenous people suggest

Michael did manage to swim to the asmat's territory,

but when he arrived, he was far from a welcome guest.

According to reports from tribal members,

the asmat performed ancient cannibal rituals

on the outsider, killing Michael, beheading him,

and consuming his body.

To those that know the asmat, these reports are surprising.

While the asmat were fearsome warriors,

their killings and cannibalism were normally reserved

for rival tribes, not innocent outsiders.

If they killed Michael, this would be a huge change

in the tribe's behavior. What could have triggered it?

Michael rockefeller may have shown up at the wrong place

at the wrong time.

Because three years before Michael rockefeller went to

Papua New Guinea, there was an incident where the Dutch

sent a police force to try and deal with an asmat tribe,

and they said they were just going in there to talk,

but it ended up with six asmats shot, five dying.

And the thing is, is the asmat people, when they have a fellow

tribes person who's murdered, they have to seek revenge.

And it just so happened that three years after

this incident, here's Michael rockefeller showing up.

He's exhausted.

He can't do anything except lay there on the shore,

and so they saw this as their opportunity to exact revenge.

The Dutch government very much feared what could happen

if the media picked up on that and ran with it.

And so when they got the information that Michael rockefeller

may have been murdered and eaten by the asmat tribe,

they didn't want that out because it might cause

them to lose control of that colony.

If you believe these accounts, Michael rockefeller was

murdered by the asmat, and the story was then

concealed by the Dutch so they could hold on

to their colony.

If this really is the case, their efforts were in vain.

Not long after Michael's disappearance, the Dutch

gave up the territory, and it became

the independent Indonesian province of south Papua.

And the asmats still live there, holding on to many

of their ancient traditions,

cannibalism fortunately excluded.

As for Michael rockefeller, his work has endured.

The art and photographs from his expedition are now

part of the New York metropolitan museum of art.

But his travels cost the richest family in the world

the one thing they couldn't afford, Michael's life.

From the death of one of the richest men in the world

to the death of one of the greatest stars Hollywood

has ever known.

It's September 30th, 1955.

I'm on route 99, about an hour north of Los Angeles,

and a speeding ticket is being issued to one of

tinseltown's hottest young actors.

Soon, he'll be back on the road for the very last time.

In just over two hours, James Dean will be dead

after a violent crash in that Porsche spyder.

Disturbingly, the Porsche will have a haunting afterlife.

In time, this supposedly cursed car will be blamed for multiple

mysterious accidents and even other deaths.

Then, like a ghost, the car will vanish

without a trace.

Whoo! All right, let's go, baby.

James Dean is flying high.

He's just finished filming his second and third movies,

"rebel without a cause" and "giant."

And is excited to return to his other great passion,

car racing.

With his newfound wealth, Dean has just purchased

the recently released Porsche 550 spyder,

which he affectionately nicknames "little bastard."

It is a light and powerful machine built for racing.

The model is considered so special that

only 90 of them are produced.

Riding with Dean is his friend and mechanic, Rolf wutherich.

They're driving the 300 miles north of L.A.

To put the car to the test at a race in salinas, California.

As Dean and wutherich approach the junction

of highways 46 and 41,

an oncoming car suddenly turns left

directly across their path.

Dean swerves to avoid a head-on collision.

The driver's side of his spyder takes the brunt of the impact,

sending the lightweight vehicle cartwheeling into the air.

Wutherich is thrown from the racer, suffering severe

injuries and broken bones, but he survives.

Because of Dean's quick actions, the driver of

the oncoming car is also spared with only minor injuries.

James Dean is sadly not so lucky.

He has to be cut from the twisted wreckage of little bastard

before being rushed to the Paso robles hospital,

where he's pronounced dead on arrival.

Normally, a deadly car crash

is the end of a story, but for both

James Dean and the 55 spyder, it was just the beginning.

Dean would achieve a level of fame in death

that he had never known in life.

His Porsche would achieve a darker legacy.

In the months following the crash,

parts from the wrecked spyder are sold and transplanted

into other race cars.

A car powered by the engine from Dean's spyder briefly

leads the pack in a 1956 car race in pomona,

but it spins out and crashes.

Though the driver survives, he's left paralyzed

and never races again.

In the same race, driver Troy McHenry,

who repurposed the spyder's transmission and drive train

into his own Porsche, careens out of control

and crashes into a tree. He is not so lucky.

He dies on impact.

The media becomes aware of the crash's connection

to James Dean, and the legend of the cursed car begins,

and things are about to get even weirder.

The remainder of Dean's vehicle, including its mangled body,

is acquired by famous custom car maker George barris,

known for creating iconic vehicles like TV's Batmobile.

Barris claims that when the wreckage first arrives

at his shop, it slips off its trailer

and breaks a mechanic's leg.

When initial plans to restore the spyder prove impossible,

barris instead loans out the wreckage as part of

a traveling driver safety campaign,

but more horrific injuries will follow.

While hauling the wreckage to another city,

the driver, George barkuis, suddenly loses control.

He's violently thrown from the cab, ending his life.

As the years pass, Dean's fame has grown,

and so has the car's infamy.

Fans attempt to steal pieces of the car,

only to also fall victim to it.

A young man tries to make off with the car's steering wheel,

but has his arm ripped open on jagged metal.

Finally, in 1960, barris has the vehicle loaded into a locked boxcar

and returned to California.

However, when the train arrives in Los Angeles, the boxcar is

opened to reveal nothing.

The car has inexplicably vanished.

James Dean's so-called cursed car is never seen again.

In the 60 years since its disappearance, it has

captivated investigators around the world.

What happened to this seemingly literal speed demon?

Well, after decades in the slow Lane,

today we're motoring towards an answer.

The d.B. Cooper hijacking is arguably america's most infamous heist,

but its $200,000 theft is loose change compared to one of

the biggest bank robberies in history.

Brazil's banco central burglary.

In 2005, two dozen thieves rented a house near the bank

and spent three months digging out three tons of soil

to create a tunnel directly into its vaults.

Who needs a quick getaway car when you've got

a 256-foot-long underground passage?

On the day of the heist, they stole $70 million

and made their escape.

Despite all their backbreaking and bank-breaking work,

eight of the crooks were eventually caught.

Efforts to catch the rest are still underway.

But just like with d.B. Cooper's haul, only a small portion

of the stolen cash was ever recovered.

I guess it's fair to say these tunneling robbers

really did hit pay dirt.

James Dean's Porsche 550 spyder, infamously known

as the cursed car, has haunted history ever since.

Dean's tragic death behind the wheel in 1955.

Over the years, those who came into contact with the car

reportedly suffered misfortune.

Then, in 1960, the car vanished without a trace, leaving behind

a mystery that has puzzled enthusiasts for 70 years.

From that day forward, rumors swirled that George barris

had made up the car's disappearance to increase

its infamy, hiding america's most coveted car wreck,

perhaps to sell in his old age.

If true, those secrets go to the grave with George

when he passes away in 2015, just before his 90th birthday.

Leading the race to find James Dean's so-called cursed car

is Brian grams, director of Chicago's volo car museum,

and an old friend of George barris, the last man

who owned the now missing car.

George barris has been a family friend

since the late '90s, and back in 2005,

we were sitting down at lunch with him one day,

and that's when he started talking about the James Dean car.

George was very interested in telling the story

about the car, but it didn't seem like he was too interested

in getting the car back.

I'm sure there's probably a part of him that was curious

as to where it went, but I don't think this was

top on his priority list.

At least that's his story and he stuck with it,

you know, to the grave.

But after hearing George tell the story about the car,

we really wanted it for the museum,

so we decided we were gonna put out an offer

for a million dollars in hopes that it would resurface.

With a substantial reward for the car's recovery,

hundreds of tips have poured in over the years.

Most of them quickly dismissed as dead ends.

However, among the countless leads, one stood out.

A cryptic call from a man refusing to give his name,

sharing an eerie tale.

The most promising tip that we got was from a man

out in Washington.

He claims that he was there when his father,

who was a police officer, and George barris hid this car

in a fake wall inside of a building.

Supposedly, he had cut his hand on the car, and later in life,

after us putting out the reward, he was looking

at his hand and he realized, "hey, I got that scar"

"from that car," and it sparked his memory.

So when I asked him for proof, he naturally was not able to

come up with a photo or anything because the car is

buried behind this wall.

But he did take a polygraph test,

and the results were positive.

You know, he was telling the truth, or at least

what he thought was the truth.

So where is history's most infamous

and allegedly cursed car?

Brian grams believes it's stuck in a legal traffic jam.

Because his witness has no lawful claim to the car

or the building it's said to be hidden in, he's apparently

withholding the location until he can work out a deal.

He hired an attorney to help delegate things, you know,

to make sure he got his reward money.

And things kind of started falling apart

when the legalities came into light.

Who is going to own the car?

Is it gonna be the people that own the building

where this car is hidden?

Was there an insurance claim that insurance company's

gonna come after it?

Is the James Dean estate gonna claim that the car's theirs?

Is George barris gonna claim that the car was his?

It left a lot of red tape that he just didn't want to

deal with and he just kind of dropped it and, you know,

remained a secret, you know, where the car was,

he has not released it.

So did George barris really hide the remnants

of this car behind a wall to keep the public safe

from its harmful aura?

Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, other pieces of the car have resurfaced.

70 years after the accident that took James Dean's life,

the spyder's transaxle appears at auction.

And what's the going rate for a cursed transaxle?

$382,000. And it's now on display

at the haunted museum in Las Vegas.

Was James Dean really the first of many victims

of a cursed car?

Well, if Brian grams' eyewitness is to be believed,

more of the car will be revealed soon.

And while a cursed vehicle doesn't qualify under lemon law,

we can only hope that new owners of the car's parts

don't meet tragic fates.

I'll give the last word to James Dean himself,

who took a break from filming his final role

in the film "giant" to record this all-too-prescient warning.

Do you have any special advice for the young people who drive?

Take it easy driving.

The life you might save might be mine, hey?

Until next time, I'm Josh gates.

I'll see you on the next expedition.