Original subtitles

[music playing]

ANNOUNCER: This program is about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the actual family members

and police officials have participated

in recreating the events.

What you are about to see is not a news broadcast.

NARRATOR: Summer of 1977.

In the city of New York, a year-long nightmare

was coming to an end.

On August 10, a man named David Berkowitz was arrested.

Police believe that he was a lone gunman behind the Son

of Sam killings, a brutal series of shootings

that had left six people dead and seven seriously injured.

The media rejoiced.

The illusive Son of Sam was behind bars.

Or was he?

The general perception among the public for years

had been that David Berkowitz was a lone gunman.

The facts and the evidence, not speculation, but the facts

and the evidence say otherwise.

In 1977, the nation believed the Son of Sam murders

were solved.

But in the last 11 years, reporter Maury Terry

has collected convincing evidence that David

Berkowitz did not act alone.

Tonight, we examine Terry's theory

and present other mysteries where you may be able to help.

In a tiny Baptist Church in rural Georgia,

a deacon and his wife were the victims of a double murder.

The killer dropped a pair of glasses

that may lead to his identity.

And from Omaha, Nebraska, a poignant story of unrequited

love, a frugal bachelor who left an unclaimed

fortune of $200,000.

Someone watching tonight may be his heir.

Join me.

You may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

Son of Sam's reign of terror began on July 29, 1976.

[gunfire]

It occurred an area in the Bronx called Pelham Bay.

The time was 1:10 AM.

A.m.

Two young girls were hit by 44-caliber bullets.

One died.

A composite sketch of the gunman was created from the survivor's

eyewitness description.

[gunfire]

On October 23 in the borough of Queens,

another 44-caliber shooting occurred.

A man suffered a serious head injury.

A month later, again in Queens, two girls

stood on a stool talking.

A man appeared out of the shadows.

Both survived, but one would be confined to a wheelchair

for the rest of her life.

Eyewitnesses were able to help police in creating

a new composite of the gunman.

1977.

Two separate shootings took the lives of two women.

As in the earlier attacks, a 44-caliber bulldog revolver

was used.

Eyewitnesses created two more composites of the killer.

They showed a very different face from the earlier drawings.

Each appeared to be a different person.

On April 17, 1977, another shooting

occurred, again in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx,

just three blocks from the scene of the first shooting.

This time, a hand-printed letter was left at the scene.

It read, quote, "I am a monster.

I am a Son of Sam.

I am a little brat."

The city was paralyzed with fear.

The people in local neighborhoods,

particularly in the Bronx, were petrified.

I remember people yelling to people in the street, get in.

That nut's out there.

And this is in the early afternoon.

No one double parked their cars.

Business at the local entertainment

places such as bars and restaurants were nil.

No one went out.

NARRATOR: On Memorial Day, another letter

from the Son of Sam was sent to columnist Jimmy Breslin.

Written in the same distinctive style,

it contained taunts and references to Satanism.

Finally, on July 31, son of Sam struck for the last time.

[gunfire]

Stacy Moskowitz was killed.

Her date, Robert Violante, partially blinded.

No, he just walked up to them and shot them.

NARRATOR: A 19-year-old mechanic named

Tommy Zaino was an eyewitness.

That guy came over to the car and blew those people

away in less than four seconds.

He pressed the trigger, and they both could have died.

Luckily, one of them's alive.

But I will never forget it.

NARRATOR: Zaino gave police a description of the shooting.

Another composite was created showing the gunman.

Again, there were more differences than similarities

when compared to the earlier drawings.

One of them would soon look like David Berkowitz.

The others did not resemble him at all.

It was completely different.

I thought it was rather strange.

Although we know that these drawings are done by victims

or witnesses who see the killer for a brief period of time,

and then a day or two or several hours later,

they have to go to a police department artist,

and he has to put that on paper.

That's a very difficult thing to do.

So many times, these sketches are not very accurate.

So I thought perhaps maybe that's

why they saw so many different versions of the Son of Sam

on the composites.

NARRATOR: In their investigation of the Moskowitz shooting,

police discovered a parking ticket had been issued

near the scene to a Ford Galaxie owned by a postal employee

named David Berkowitz.

He took off right back into the park.

NARRATOR: The police traced this ticket to Berkowitz's home.

As they approached the building, they saw the car.

They spotted a duffel bag with what looked like a rifle,

but protruding through the opening.

When they entered the car, they found a letter

threatening another attack.

It was signed Son of Sam.

John, look at this.

We got him.

Let's get back and get a warrant [inaudible].

NARRATOR: The police staked out the Ford Galaxie,

waiting for its owner to emerge.

At 10:00 PM, Berkowitz walked to the car.

Inside the brown paper bag he was carrying,

there was a 44-caliber revolver.

As detectives moved in to arrest him, he sat in his Ford Galaxie

almost passively.

What took you guys so long?

Step out of the car.

Turn around.

NARRATOR: Berkowitz confessed to all of the shooting.

He told the police that he received his orders

to commit the crimes from a barking

dog of an elderly neighbor named Sam Carr.

Berkowitz pleaded guilty to all the charges against him.

He sentenced to 25 years to life in New York's Attica Prison.

But to Maury Terry, his confession

seemed too convenient.

After the arrest of Berkowitz, just through fate or whatever,

I started poking around into the case,

because I had some suspicions that maybe there was more to it

than the public was being led to believe.

And that's when I started my own investigation

into the case, really the day after Berkowitz got arrested.

NARRATOR: Maury Terry believed that David Berkowitz did not

act alone, that he was part of a gang of killers,

and it was the killing of Stacy Moskowitz that

first aroused his suspicions.

Next, we will go through a step by step

reconstruction of the events leading to the killing

of Stacy Moskowitz.

Maury Terry believed that this last killing was deliberately

planned and executed, not just by David Berkowitz,

but at least three people.

And he says that there is eyewitness testimony

to corroborate this theory.

Well, the very early reports on the Moskowitz killing

had me concerned.

David Berkowitz' resemblances, his features,

were widely different from the sketches of the killer that had

been done by the police artist.

Started seeking out witnesses.

Found Tommy Zaino, who was a key witness to the shooting.

NARRATOR: Tommy Zaino was with his girlfriend, parked on Shore

Parkway, in front of the car that held Stacy

Moskowitz and her boyfriend.

TOMMY ZAINO: I was looking through the mirror of the car,

and I noticed somebody standing in the park.

And what I seen is, he had long hair.

And it's hard to really see his face, and he was thin.

He looked like he was in pretty good shape.

From looking through the mirror, when he was in the park,

the guy then came over to the car.

He walked up to the car like as if he

was going to get in the car.

Then he went into a stance--

[gunfire]

--and shot them.

And that it.

He turned around and ran.

I can't picture Berkowitz running like that.

That's something that confused me after they caught him.

If I seen him-- in a week, he can't get that fat.

That's all I can say.

He didn't look like the type of guy to run and do that.

NARRATOR: This was a map showing the neighborhood where

the last killing occurred.

Stacy Moskowitz and her boyfriend were parked here.

Two blocks away, on Bay 17th Street,

David Berkowitz received the incriminating parking ticket

on his Ford Galaxie, parked here.

According to Terry, the events leading up to the shooting

began here, at the Shore Parkway entrance

to the park at about 1:00 AM.

Witnesses saw a yellow Volkswagen

arrive at the park entrance.

Two men emerged.

The same car was seen fleeing the crime

scene after the shootings.

30 minutes later, Tommy Zaino noticed the yellow Volkswagen

drive past more than once.

A half hour later, at 2:05, a policeman

issued a parking ticket to Berkowitz's Ford Galaxie.

A neighborhood resident named Cecilia

Davis pulled up in a friend's car just ahead

of Berkowitz's Ford.

She then said goodbye to her friend.

CECILIA DAVIS: We were at triple park.

And I was looking in the back, so in case a cop comes up.

I saw that guy taking the summons off his windshield,

and keep on looking, watching the cops

as they still gave tickets.

Then, he got in the car and he came behind us.

He couldn't pass because we were blocking the whole street.

And he blowed the horn at us.

[beeping]

[inaudible]

So I got out, and I took a look at him.

More or less, I gave him a dirty look.

What's the big rush in the middle of the night?

NARRATOR: Cecilia has identified the man in the car

as David Berkowitz.

After she left her friend, she saw Berkowitz

drive up Bay 17th Street and turn right

on Bath, following the police.

MAURY TERRY: The fact that David Berkowitz pulled up

behind Mrs. Davis and her date as he did with the police cars

still on the block or just pulling off the block,

blaring his horn, he would not be doing something like that

if he was the elusive, ingenious, Son of Sam carrying

that 44 bulldog in his car.

He would try to be as stealthy as possible.

NARRATOR: 15 minutes after the parking ticket was issued,

Stacy Moskowitz and Robert Violante

went for a late night stroll.

As they walked in a nearby park, Stacy and Robert

saw a man standing next to a restroom, watching them.

This restroom was over two blocks

from Cecilia Davis' apartment.

At 2:33 AM, Mrs. Davis returned to her apartment

after walking her dog.

She saw David Berkowitz, the man who had honked earlier,

walking straight towards her.

CECILIA DAVIS: I know it was the same guy

because I saw him when I got out of the car from my friend.

I looked at him, because he blowed that horn.

NARRATOR: Cecilia saw Berkowitz here, over two blocks

away from where Stacy and Robert were parked.

Approximately one minute later in her apartment,

Cecilia heard the sounds of gunfire in the distance.

[gunfire]

Those four shots killed Stacy Moskowitz

and almost blinded Robert Violante.

How could Berkowitz have traveled from this spot, where

Cecelia last saw him, to this area,

where Stacy and Robert were shot in one minute, when it takes

at least two and a half minutes to briskly

walk the two blocks from Bay 17th Street to the park.

Just 15 seconds after the shooting,

witnesses saw a man wearing a cheap light-colored wig run out

of the park, get into a yellow Volkswagen,

and speed away up 17th avenue.

In his haste, he ran a red light and narrowly missed

colliding with another car.

Maury Terry believes that at least three people,

including David Berkowitz, were involved

in the Moskowitz killing.

He claims they were members of an organized

conspiracy responsible for every single one

of the Son of Sam shootings.

David Berkowitz was selected to be the fall

guy on the Son of Sam killings.

He was not a willing fall guy.

He wanted it to be another way, but

Berkowitz knew that he had been involved

in all of the shootings.

He has pulled the trigger definitely two times

and responsible for three murders,

he's not an innocent man, and was

on the scene of all the others as a look-out, a wheel

man, whatever.

So Berkowitz was involved, and Berkowitz knew he was guilty.

He also was responsible for getting a parking ticket

on his car that night, which also

made him susceptible to be the guy

to be picked to take the fall.

And on top of that, the real killer

escaped in the yellow Volkswagen,

and that person was deemed more valuable to the conspirators

than David Berkowitz was.

No, I didn't think it was David Berkowitz then,

and I don't think it's him now.

I definitely don't think it's him.

It has crossed my mind, and it's a strong opinion of mine,

that David Berkowitz was not the sole killer

and was aided by other accomplices.

We received information that other people

may have been involved.

I had a statement made to me by someone who allegedly spoke

to David Berkowitz wherein David Berkowitz is

supposed to have stated that others were involved.

New York prosecutor John Santucci

moved the status of the Son of Sam investigation

from inactive to active.

Next week, we will continue Maury Terry's investigation.

He has discovered David Berkowitz and at least

two friends were members of a Satanic cult.

These two friends were brothers, and their father's name

was Sam.

Next, the poignant tale of Curly Green.

For half a century, he lived a solitary frugal life

in a tiny Omaha apartment.

When he died, his friends were amazed that he

had amassed a $200,000 fortune.

Someone watching tonight may be his heir.

[theme music]

Until 10 years, Walter Green lived alone

in a small apartment near downtown Omaha.

His nickname was Curly, and he lived a simple, frugal life.

How you doing?

NARRATOR: He was cordial to his neighbors,

but kept mostly to himself.

On April 24, 1978, Curly Green had a heart attack.

He died while working in his yard.

Everyone who knew him was astounded to find

that Curly during his lifetime had

accumulated more than $200,000.

He left no will, and his next of kin could not be located.

10 Years after his death, Curly Green's fortune

remains the largest unclaimed estate in Nebraska history.

When it came out in the papers that he had the amount of money

that they said he had, we were shocked.

I can't imagine how he amassed that amount.

They found stock certificates.

I understand they found a coin collection.

And they found, much to everyone's surprise,

that Curly actually owned the apartment

building where he was living.

It is extraordinary that a man who

lived as simply as Curly Green could have accrued

such a large sum of money.

It is even more extraordinary that the money

remains unclaimed.

But this is not just a story of missing

heirs and unclaimed fortunes.

It is also a love story, a sweet and haunting one, that

began nearly eight decades ago.

We don't know much about Curly Green's early life.

What we can surmise is this.

When he was nearly 17, he hopped a train bound for Omaha.

Curly jumped off outside the city near a small farming

town called Schuyler.

[train horn]

Curly immediately began to pound the pavement, looking for work.

Al Rominger, a local tavern keeper, saw the young stranger

and offered him not only a ride, but a home

cooked meal with his family.

Catherine, the younger of the Rominger girls,

was then only nine years old.

CATHERINE: I don't know why Dad brought him home.

We supposed he came from Denver.

We were curious when he showed up to table,

because we'd never seen him before,

but he was a nice looking young man.

Well, I'll bet it's been quite some time since you smelled

cooking like this, Curly.

Well, yeah, a little while.

NARRATOR: At dinner, Curly was secretive about his family

and his birth place in Montana.

Where's your family, Curly?

Well, I left my mom and my step dad back in Denver,

and that's about all the family I really have.

NARRATOR: Curly said he hadn't gotten

along with his stepfather, so he had travelled east.

CATHERINE: He had a very nice way of relating.

See, when Mama asked him, didn't you

have some cousins or something, he just said, well, I did once,

and he changed the subject.

And that's the way Curly was.

And we respected him for it.

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

Well, none as pretty as your daughters now.

NARRATOR: The moment Curly first saw

Jessamyn Rominger, Catherine's older sister, he was smitten.

He would never feel the same way about anyone else.

Al Rominger found Curly a job working at the local garage.

The automobile was still a pretty new-fangled machine,

but Curly had a knack for fixing cars.

He earned enough to enable him to move into a boarding house.

He wasn't a spendthrift.

And I used to like it right after he'd get paychecks,

because he'd give me nickels and dimes.

NARRATOR: With his new salary, Curly began to court Jessamyn.

He only had one problem, getting rid of Catherine,

the little sister.

Got to the movies.

Well, I was thinking of the park.

How about if you go to the movies,

and me and Jessamyn go to the park.

OK.

OK.

Well, here we are.

CATHERINE: He and Jessamyn would go wherever they want.

They had some friends in Schuyler,

but I didn't care where he went.

I got the nickel and dime.

That's all I cared about.

Curly thought quite a bit of Jessamyn,

because he never went with other girls, only Jessamyn.

In 1917, Curly left his job as a mechanic to enlist in the army.

He also left his beloved Jessamyn.

She began training to be a nurse.

Curly served on the European front.

It was his unenviable duty to drive

the dead and wounded to a makeshift army hospital.

The suffering he witnessed scarred Curly.

But when the war ended, he returned home full of hope

to Schuyler, Nebraska and to Jessamyn.

Catherine.

It's good to see you again.

How have you been?

I'm fine.

Is Jessamyn here?

No, Curly.

I'm sorry.

She's gone to Omaha.

Well, I got some flowers.

Here.

Jessamyn liked him, and he was a gentleman always.

But she wanted other things out of life,

and he didn't appear to be educated,

and his earning capacity wasn't great, I suppose.

And anyhow, they didn't go together anymore.

NARRATOR: Curly followed Jessamyn to Omaha

and got a job, first as a mechanic

at a newspaper, the "Omaha Bee," then as a nightwatchman

for the Union Pacific Railroad Curly

refused to give up on Jessamyn, but Jessamyn Rominger

married to another man.

Curly never fell in love again.

He never married or had a family.

Curly spent the next 60 years alone.

In all those years, he never told

anyone who his real family was.

Other than Catherine, Curly's best friend

was Riley Marr, his barber and a fellow member

of the Masonic Lodge.

RILEY MARR: I really never really got

that close to him, actually.

I thought I was a pretty good friend of his,

because he did invite me over to his home on occasion,

and we did sit around and have a cup of coffee

and talked about things.

NARRATOR: Once, Riley noticed some postcards

and pictures neatly displayed in Curly's apartment.

He was curious to know if they were from Curly's family.

RILEY MARR: And I picked one of them up,

and it had a postmark of Brooklyn, New York.

And I asked him something about, well,

that was a long ways from home.

And he said, never mind, and he took it and put it away.

Well, it made me feel like I was probably intruding

on the privacy of some sort, and that he had something that he

maybe didn't want to reveal, or maybe he had a tragedy

in his lifetime somewhere along the way

that he was trying to avoid talking about.

NARRATOR: Over the years, Curly had

amassed a considerable fortune, but he kept that a secret too.

Some people attributed Curly's wealth to an extremely

valuable coin collection.

But Catherine thought he just plain

saved every penny he made.

Well, he said he would get up in the morning,

and after he'd eat breakfast, he put a can on the pilot light.

And by the time he'd come back and ready

for lunch or the evening meal, it was just right to eat.

He was that saving.

Maybe that's how he got the money.

NARRATOR: When he died, Curly Green

had accumulated a fortune of more than $200,000,

held primarily in real estate, stocks, and bonds.

So far, no legitimate heirs have claimed Curly's estate.

In 1986, investigator Josh Butler,

who tracks down missing heirs professionally,

began researching the case of Curly Green.

Josh had heard that Curly once mentioned having a brother

who was killed in a shootout.

JOSH BUTLER: Indeed, there had been a man named

Al Green who was shot and killed shortly after the 4th of July

in 1921.

And we really went to some extremes in his case,

but were surprised and a little disappointed

never to have found any clear connection with Curly Green.

Part of the mystery here is that Al Green's father, I believe,

to have been a Joseph Green.

And I now understand that Curly Green's father

was a Harry Albert Green.

So quite probably, Al Green and Curly Green

were cousins rather than brothers.

NARRATOR: The man named Al Green was killed in 1921.

Josh Butler now thinks it is probable

that Crowley's actual brother was

killed several years earlier.

The search for Curly's heir continues.

JOSH BUTLER: It's very strange that a man would accumulate

$200,000 in his lifetime, and that he would have no known

relatives that anybody knew about,

and not leave some sort of a written document concerning

the disposition of this money.

Somewhere there's somebody who has enough information

in their own family that they're going

to be able to come forward and prove

their entitlement to this.

It will be a case of going from the people back to the money.

NARRATOR: These are five of the few known photographs of Curly

Green, showing him as a young man, in middle age,

and before he died.

We know he said he was born in Kendall, Montana

and lived in Denver.

We know he had a collection of gold coins, some of which

he might have obtained in Mexico.

He received postcards from someone in Brooklyn, New York.

Curly claimed he had a brother who was killed in a shootout,

and he stated on a 1938 birth certificate

that Albert Harry Green, born in England, and Ann Mauren Green,

born in Latvia, were his parents.

None of these three relatives has been traced.

At Curly's funeral, a mysterious wreath of flowers

became the final clue to his past.

This card came with the flowers.

It's signed Mrs. Joel Greener, Denver, Colorado.

Perhaps Mrs. Greener is the key to the puzzling

life of Walter Curly Green.

Next, the story of a double murder in a tiny Baptist

Church in rural Georgia.

The only clue is a pair of ordinary glasses

left behind by the killer.

[theme music]

[gospel singing]

Waverly, Georgia, population 825,

is a predominantly black community nestled

in the Baptist Bible Belt. Lumber, farming,

and the paper mill provide the income

for this small, isolated area over 35 miles

from the nearest big city, Jacksonville, Florida.

[gospel singing]

For years, Raising Daughters Baptist Church

has served not only as a place of worship,

but also as a social center for the small township.

But on March 11, 1985, this quiet community

was shattered by violence.

The quiet sanctity of Rising Daughters Church

was violated by the brutal double murder

of Harold and Thelma Swain.

Harold Swain was a well-respected deacon

of the church, a member of the county jury commission,

and a spokesperson for the black community.

Thelma Swain was also closely involved in church affairs,

and Harold and Thelma had been married for over 43 years.

ROBERT SWAIN: Harold was always happy and jolly.

And it's something that might have come

natural to Harold, because of his love

and kindness for everyone.

And he would always go out of his way

to help someone at any time, day or night, no matter what time.

If you needed a favor of any type and he could do it,

he was there.

Same thing about Thelma.

All the people up here came to his funeral.

Most people I ever saw at a funeral here in my life.

Just felt everybody thought how much

of [inaudible] and respect.

NARRATOR: On the night they were murdered,

Harold and Thelma held their weekly Tuesday night Bible

class.

Nine women attended.

Let me never be put to confusion.

Now let us pray.

Oh God, I want to thank you for bringing us together.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Amen.

HAROLD: Now is there any order of business

that you care to discuss, Sister Brenda?

Yeah, well, I'd like to remind everybody about the--

NARRATOR: At 8:50, one of the women excused herself early.

Excuse me, Deacon.

I have to go now to pick my daughter up from work.

OK.

Help resolve this situation.

May I help you?

Yeah, I want to talk to somebody.

Who?

Somebody in there.

NARRATOR: She encountered a stranger

in the church vestibule.

I want to talk to.

Him

I'll be right back.

NARRATOR: Some of the other women

in the group caught just glimpse of the man, a young white male.

In April.

Excuse me, sister.

[inaudible]

[clattering]

What's happening?

[gunfire]

Harold!

Oh, my God.

Harold!

[gunshot]

Harold!

[gunshot]

The women rushed into the pastor's office

and tried to call for help.

The phone didn't work.

It's dead.

NARRATOR: 20 Minutes passed while the women waited in fear.

Finally, one of them made a dash for her car

and went to summon help.

That night, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was brought in

and a massive manhunt started in this tiny black community.

BILL SMITH: Harold and Thelma were personal friends

of mine and my family's.

And it was kind of a shock to me.

I think I was in shock for a while.

When I got there, there was a lot of confusion,

and no one really knew what had happened.

They didn't know what the facts were.

They didn't know who had done the killing.

They didn't know what the motive was.

The Swains were highly respected people.

Very active in the community.

Are just not the type of person that would

be the victim of a murder plot.

There was a lot of physical evidence at the scene.

Bullet casings, two pair of glasses.

But one, we were able to determine

belonged to Harold Swain.

The other pair, no one knew who they belonged to.

The first gut reaction that I had

was a transient, because the glasses appeared

to belong to a person who did not have enough money

to properly maintain the glasses or to buy eyeglasses

when they needed them.

NARRATOR: These are the glasses found on that night,

and they're not ordinary glasses.

The lenses are thick, the surface

pocked by a welding torch.

The earpieces don't match.

Were they dropped by the killer?

When the police discovered these glasses,

they investigated the theory that the murder

may have been a transient.

Raising Daughters Church is located on busy Highway 17.

Transients often would stop by for a hand-out or a free meal.

But if robbery was the motive, why were over $300

left in Harold Swain's pocket?

Other evidence suggests that the crime was premeditated.

The authorities feel that the church had been

cased before the brutal attack.

Telephone lines at the church had

been cut, which could or could not say that it

was a premeditated murder.

It could have been a premeditated armed robbery

attempt.

NARRATOR: The woman who left the church

early clearly saw the attacker.

Fearing for her life, she did not want to appear on camera.

WITNESS: He was calm.

I was thinking that he was there for a handout.

He didn't seem to be someone to hurt anybody.

I didn't see any weapon or anything.

And seemed like he had on scuffed boots,

and he had long blonde hair, shoulder length hair.

But I really wasn't looking at him that hard, you know,

because I wanted to leave.

Hi, may I help you with something?

NARRATOR: The police attempted to create

a picture of the killer using an Identikit,

but the eyewitnesses did not agree on many of the details.

An artist was brought in to sketch a composite drawing.

For five months, the police searched for the killer

using the composite drawing, but no new leads or clues surfaced.

[sirens]

Finally, July 5, 1985, police 135 miles away in Telfair

County, Georgia pulled over a car

for a minor traffic violation.

In the trunk, they found an automatic weapon

and a submachine gun.

Three suspects were taken into custody, one of them,

Donnie Barrentine.

JOE GREGORY: We were given some information

about some acquaintance of these people.

And Donnie Barrentine had told people in Florida

that he had murdered a black Preacher and his wife

in a church.

After several interviews with Donnie,

he admitted that he had told these people in Florida

that he killed a black Preacher and his wife.

And then he just smiled and said, I was lying to them.

We have never been able to come up with any hard evidence

to connect Donnie with this case.

Donnie Barrentine was then given a polygraph test,

and he flunked it.

As matter of fact, the polygraph operator

told us that Mr. Barrentine was a very

good suspect in the murder.

NARRATOR: The resemblance between the man

on the wanted poster and Donnie Barrentine was inconclusive.

So the eyewitnesses from the church in Waverley

were taken to Jacksonville for a police lineup.

These people cannot see you.

You'll be viewing five individuals.

I'd like, if you will, to place yourself

in the mind back at the church the night

that this incident happened. OK?

Yes, sir.

The five individuals on the other side

won't be able to see or hear you.

Mike.

Mike.

WITNESS: There was about six men there.

And I really couldn't say that one of them

was him, because the person I saw had short hair.

His complexion was a little bit lighter.

But he had the same boots that I saw that night.

The boots was what I recognized, but I

wasn't really, really sure.

NARRATOR: The murder charges against Donnie Barrentine

were not pursued, but he was subsequently convicted

on weapons charges and is currently serving five years

in a federal penitentiary.

One year later, the Swain investigation

took a new direction.

Agent Joe Gregory came across a face

in a state crime bullet which exactly matched

the Identikit picture created by one of the witnesses

at the Church.

JOE GREGORY: It gave me a chill.

It literally gave me a chill when I saw the composite,

because there are so many hundreds

of thousands of combinations to make a composite.

And what are the odds that two of them being exact?

And these composites were exact matches.

NARRATOR: A Kansas suspect was wanted

for armed robbery in a church, but was

never taken into custody.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation

could not even give Agent Gregory the suspect's name.

JOE GREGORY: We found that they had never developed any leads.

They don't know who he is, other than the fact

that he drove an older car with a Florida tag on it.

NARRATOR: Three years later, the brutal murders

of Harold and Thelma Swain remain a mystery.

Were they just random killings committed

by a violent transient, or were they a planned and premeditated

murder?

And if so, why?

They say your first hunch is usually your best .

Everything that night pointed to a transient

attempting to pull a robbery.

My feelings are, in that the individual did not

get any money, and he went around and checked to find out

if there was a phone, and then cut those lines,

and singled out one individual from the church

and brought him out to the vestibule, shot,

and then, in my opinion, intended that he be dead,

shot him the last round in the temple,

there's no question that his intent

was to kill Harold Swain.

Personally, a case like this haunts you.

It's just the type of case that you never forget.

I drive by Rising Daughters every day

coming into this county, and I never

drive by that I don't look and think about the Swains.

[choir singing]

[music playing]

[gunfire]

ANNOUNCER: Last February on "Unsolved Mysteries," we

examined the case Elmer DeBoer.

An auto company courier who was murdered execution

style on May 11, 1987.

The two key suspects in the case were

Jerry Strickland and his 16-year-old girlfriend,

Missy Munday.

Local police believe the couple kidnapped, robbed him

of $10,000, then took him to a deserted wooded area

outside of Pontiac, Michigan and murdered him.

[gunshot]

Jerry and Missy were never seen again.

Update.

Moses Lake, Washington.

Within minutes of our broadcast, 20 viewers

in this small rural community called the police

to say they recognized Jerry Strickland and Missy Munday

Seven hours later, police arrested the fugitive couple

at a friend's house.

They discovered that Jerry and Missy had

themselves watched the broadcast and were

waiting for the police.

All he said was, I'm the guy you're looking for.

And he was real calm and collect.

No violence at all.

I figured the time was about seven hours and 15

minutes from the time that "Unsolved Mysteries"

and he was in custody.

I just felt sick about it.

NARRATOR: On February 12, Jerry and Missy were extradited back

to Michigan to stand trial for armed robbery, kidnapping,

and murder.

Jerry insists they are innocent.

They got circumstantial evidence.

All hearsay.

It's people talking, but no witnessing.

I mean, OK.

That's why I say, they gonna learn that we didn't do this.

We have enough evidence, circumstantial

and physical evidence, that we feel he is guilty

All they want is a conviction, and they don't

care if they burn me or not.

Thanks to our viewers, Jerry Strickland and Missy Munday

will have their day in court.

They're being tried separately, and if convicted,

could face life imprisonment without the possibility

of parole.

[music playing]

Next week, we will continue our examination

of the Son of Sam shootings.

Reporter Maury Terry claims that the attacks were engineered

by a satanic cult, a cult he believes

is still alive and has not yet been brought to justice.

Join us next week for another edition of.

"Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]