Original subtitles

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.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 17-year-old Kurt Sova

disappeared after an impromptu party.

Five days later, Kurt's body was found, but no cause of death

could be determined.

No one knows how or why he died.

Last May, two boys found a rock carved with mysterious symbols.

Suddenly, a phenomenal run of good luck began.

They believe rock has special powers.

In New Mexico, a Catholic priest was lured to an isolated

truckstop and abducted.

In Montana, another priest mysteriously vanished.

Authorities fear a priest killer may be on the loose.

1949, Chongqing, China.

As communist revolution of Mao Tse Tung sweeps the country,

an American GI named Melvin Ellis is shipped back

to the States, forced to leave behind his girlfriend and

their five-year-old son, John.

More than two decades later, the boy

is a grown man, one of thousands of refugees fleeing Vietnam

during the fall of Saigon.

Today, John Ellis is an American citizen,

with a good job and a new family,

but the painful memories of Vietnam are still fresh.

Like his father before him, John Ellis left behind a young son

when he came to the United States.

Join me, perhaps you could help reunite

a family torn apart by war.

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On October 28, 1981, in Newburgh

Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland,

three young boys made a gruesome discovery.

Wow.

Is it a dummy?

I don't know.

I don't think so.

I think it's real.

Let's get out of here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The body

the young boys found seemed to have been deliberately

placed where it lay.

Apart from some minor scratches and bruises,

there was no sign of injury.

One tennis shoe was in a pile of rocks 12 feet away.

The other shoe was missing.

Several hours later, the body was positively identified

as 17-year-old Kurt Sova.

An autopsy revealed that Kurt had died 24 to 36 hours

before his body was found, but he

had been missing for five days.

I would like to know where Kurt was these five days.

I would like to know how he died, what caused his death.

I'm sure somebody knows, because somebody put him there.

Somebody either was with him when he died or somebody came

upon him after he died, and evidently panicked and put him

down there.

They didn't want to be with him.

Ken and Dorothy Sova called "Unsolved Mysteries"

in a final effort to find answers of the questions that

plague them.

Where was Kurt during the five days it was missing?

Did he die in the vacant lot, or was his body placed there?

And is it really possible for a perfectly

healthy 17-year-old boy to die without any apparent cause?

The sudden unexpected death of a teenager is always tragic,

but for Ken and Dorothy Sova, the tragedy

is compounded by the mysterious circumstances surrounding

Kurt's disappearance and death.

Kurt Sova lived with his parents in this quiet blue collar

neighborhood on the outskirts of Cleveland.

He was the youngest of Ken and Dorothy Sova's four sons,

and the closest to his parents.

DOROTHY SOVA: He never had any trouble with the neighbors.

I never had any trouble with him in school.

I never had any trouble with him with the police.

That's why I can't understand what happened.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Kurt left

home for the last time on Friday, October 23,

late in the afternoon.

One block from his house, Kurt met up with a friend of his.

How you doing?

ACTOR AS KURT SOVA: Hey, what's up?

- Nothing much, how 'bout you? - All right.

Hey, party tonight. - Yeah, where?

Sue's house. Let's hit it.

Tonight?

- Yeah, why not? - I was--

It's a Friday.

I was planning on going to the haunted house.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Kurt Sova never returned home.

DOROTHY SOVA: It was not like him to be gone overnight.

It was not like him to stay out after 10, 10:30,

11 o'clock, the latest, and that was

only when we knew where he was.

This night he just never came home.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): By Saturday morning,

Kurt's parents were worried.

Dorothy began calling Kurt's friends

while Ken scoured the area.

KEN SOVA: We searched all the neighborhoods, all the places

that we figured Kurt would be.

And as that day went by, looking for him, nobody turned Kurt up.

And I started getting really worried.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On Sunday, the Sovas

registered Kurt as a missing person

with the Cleveland police.

Meanwhile, Dorothy papered the neighborhood

with missing flyers.

DOROTHY SOVA: We searched the ravines, searched the school

yards, I even went so far as to search

dumpsters looking for him.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On Sunday afternoon,

Dorothy turned up a lead.

Kurt's friends told her that he had been at a party

Friday night at Newburgh Heights,

less than two miles from where the Sovas live.

Dorothy went to the duplex where she

had heard the party was held.

Yeah?

Are you Susan?

No, Susan isn't here right now.

DOROTHY SOVA: When I went there, the girl who had the party

was not there.

It was another girl.

She claimed she was babysitting, and that the other girl

was working.

Do you know anything about a party

that was here last Friday?

No.

Could you possibly have Susan call me when she gets home?

Sure.

Tell her it's real important.

Let me give you my name and phone number.

All right.

Please have her call me.

Yeah, all right. OK.

Thank you.

All right.

DOROTHY SOVA: When the girl returned home that had rented

that apartment, she called me, and she said she never saw

my son and she had no party.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Despite what the woman named

Susan told Dorothy Sova, a pizza delivery man

stated that indeed there had been a party

at the duplex on Friday night.

Dorothy contacted Susan again, and this time she

admitted Kurt had been there.

More than a dozen people had dropped by, some of them

older than Kurt.

Most of them people he'd never met before.

Susan told Dorothy that Kurt had been drinking very heavily.

Those who knew him say that Kurt was not

much of a drinker, and his slight build

added to his low tolerance for alcohol.

[low talking and laughing]

DOROTHY SOVA: I was shocked to hear Kurt was drinking.

I never knew him to drink.

I'm sure if everyone else was drinking,

he probably was drinking at that party.

I never knew him or his normal friends to drink,

but these were not his normal friends he was with this night.

They were all a whole new group of people.

The fella that Kurt went to the party with

told us that Kurt had become ill.

He took him outside for some air,

and because it was a chilly night,

he said he went upstairs to get Kurt's jacket

and he left him hanging on the fence.

He said he went up to get his jacket and came back down

and Kurt was gone.

Kurt?

DOROTHY SOVA: That's when I think I became hysterical.

I thought my god, something happened to him.

At that party or in between the party and home.

Only, I didn't, in my wildest dreams,

expect him to turn up dead.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On Wednesday, October 28,

five days after he left home, Kurt Sova's body

was found in a ravine on Harvard Street.

He was found just 500 yards from the duplex where

he had last been seen alive.

We have a young male, probably about 16 or 17--

ROBERT CARRAS: It's our belief that his body was dumped out

there, and whoever the person or persons were knew the area,

and they knew that people go back there

and ride dirt bikes and kids play back there.

So they knew that eventually, within a certain amount of

time, that he would be found.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The police

combed the area for clues.

They found Kurt's left shoe wedged in some rocks

less than 12 feet away from his body.

They were never able to locate his right shoe.

Photo 29.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Kurt's body

was taken to the Cuyahoga County coroner's office

for an autopsy.

The coroner determined that Kurt had died 24 to 36 hours

before his body was found, which meant

that he had been alive for at least three days

after he left the party.

What the coroner could not determine,

however, was the exact cause of death.

On the basis of the things that we saw and, equally

important, the things that we did not see, what was absent,

we felt that Kurt Sova had died from instantaneous

physiologic death.

And the manner of death, in this particular case,

was signed out as probable accidental.

Because we eliminated everything else.

He hadn't been beaten in any way,

he hadn't been traumatized in any way,

he hadn't been-- he didn't have enough alcohol to end his life.

He had no preexisting natural disease,

and as Sherlock Holmes said, you eliminate

all other possibilities and that which remains is the truth.

This was a diagnosis by exclusion.

DOROTHY SOVA: I didn't believe that they

couldn't tell me how Kurt died.

Which is immaterial to me what they

put on that piece of paper, for my peace of mind,

I want to know what happened to my boy.

But I'm not really sure I want to know

who put them in that ravine.

I couldn't do that to somebody's animal, let alone

a human being.

I just want to know what happened to my boy.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After the initial shock of Kurt's

death had abated, Dorothy Sova began to piece together

a series of strange events that had occurred during the five

days when her son was missing.

On Monday, three days after Kurt disappeared, one

of his friends, David Trisnick, claims

he saw Kurt and another boy walking

along a busy street less than a mile from the Sova home.

I was on my way to a job interview,

it was on a Monday morning, and I spotted Kurt.

And he was with somebody I didn't recognize.

And I pulled over to offer Kurt a ride.

At this point, a van pulled up and Kurt yelled out, Franco.

They both ran over to the van and they got in the van.

I didn't know Kurt was missing.

If I would have knew he was missing,

there would probably have been something I could have done.

I could have followed the van, I could have did something,

you know, but I didn't know.

And two days later he was found dead.

That was the last time I seen him.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Also on Monday, a stranger who

had been seen hanging around the Sova's neighborhood

noticed Kurt's missing poster in the window

of a local record store.

There you go. Thank you.

OK. See you later.

All right, bye-bye.

Can I help you with something.

See that picture that boy over there?

Yeah, what about it?

You might as well take it down.

They're gonna find him dead in two days.

Nobody's going to know why he died.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The manager was skeptical.

However, she soon had a reason to take

the strangers seriously.

STORE MANAGER: The next day before the record

shop had a opened, he left flowers and a note.

And the note said, roses are red, the sky is blue.

They found him dead, and they'll find you, too.

Police questioned him, and they said

he was a crazy from Detroit, and I didn't see him after that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Because Kurt was only missing

at this point, the police released

the young man from Detroit.

Later, when Kurt was found dead, the man had disappeared.

Then on Wednesday, the very day Kurt's body would be found,

Dorothy Sova received an early morning phone call from Susan,

the young woman who lived in the duplex

where Kurt had been drinking on Friday night.

DOROTHY SOVA: I got a phone call at 3:30 in the morning,

and she told me that someone was sleeping in her basement,

and perhaps it was Kurt.

And I thought why are you calling me now after lying

to me so many times?

I didn't know whether to believe her or not believe her.

My wife told me that the girl called about 3 o'clock

in the morning, and told her that she thinks that Kurt

was sleeping in the basement.

I proceeded to go over to the house there,

and I went down to the basement.

And I thought maybe he was sick or he was hurt,

and I figured if I got down there and found him,

then maybe I can do something for him.

There I found a cot, that it looked like somebody

had slept in there.

But after searching the whole basement

I didn't find anybody in there.

I have no idea if it was Kurt or not.

All I know is somebody did sleep in that cot that night,

and when I got there, they were gone.

I think Kurt was there.

I think he was already dead in that cot,

but I think they panicked and got

rid of his body in that ravine.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Whether or not Kurt had died

in the basement, Dorothy and Ken Sova are positive of one thing.

24 hours before his body was found,

Kurt was not in the ravine.

Ken Sova had searched there and found nothing.

KEN SOVA: I knew it was in there the day that I was searching.

They must have dumped it off that evening.

I looked around and I'm sure that if Kurt was down there,

I would have noticed that bright yellow t-shirt that he had

on against any of the terrain.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Finally, three months

after Kurt's death, Dorothy had reason to be suspicious again.

The death of a boy Kurt used to know,

Eugene Kvet, seemed to have an eerie resemblance to Kurt's.

Eugene was found in another ravine on Harvard Street,

2 and 1/2 miles from the place Kurt's

body had been discovered.

Both boys had been missing for some time preceding

their deaths, and Eugene Kvet's right shoe

was also never found.

The mysterious death of Kurt Sova

leaves a trail of disturbing questions in it's wake.

How exactly did Kurt die?

Where had he been for the five days after he left home?

Had Kurt slept in the basement of the duplex?

Was there any connection between Kurt's death

and the death of Eugene Kvet?

Seven years later, Dorothy and Ken Sova

are still searching for answers.

KEN SOVA: We still don't know anymore than the day

we went out looking for him.

But I believe that somebody out there knows

exactly what happened to Kurt and they're

just being quiet about it.

I don't think I it will come to peace with myself

until I find my answers.

And if I don't find out through this program,

I'll keep on searching.

I'll search to the day I'm buried myself.

I will never give up, because I don't believe

that a normal, healthy boy just walks

away and disappears for five days

and then ends up dead in a ravine.

I know somebody knows what happened to him.

[jet roaring]

[explosion]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): April 1975, South Vietnam.

As Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese,

thousands of refugees fought to leave the country.

To John Nellis the son of a Vietnamese woman

and an American soldier, this exodus was a nightmare.

Under the cloak of darkness, John and his wife-to-be,

Vivianne, jumped into the back of a truck for the first step

in a journey that was to take them to the United States.

[yelling]

They narrowly avoided being shot by angry South

Vietnamese troops.

JOHN NELLIS: I was real terrified cause

I was thinking will we make it?

We thought we got a chance to get out of country,

but we don't know exactly where we're going.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): John and Vivianne were lucky,

they managed to escape.

But today the turmoil in John's life continues.

The history of 20th century Asia has been marked

by violent war and revolution.

42-Year-old John Nellis's life has been

torn apart by these conflicts.

When John was still a child, his American father

was swept from his life by the bloody rise

of China's Mao Tse Tung.

And in 1973, as the United States was withdrawing

from Vietnam, John's infant son disappeared

in the chaos that marked the ending of another war.

Today this new American citizen needs your help

to finally close this tragic circle

by reuniting with a son he wants to know

and the father he never knew.

John's father's name was Melvin Nellis.

He was an American serviceman John's mother

met during a mid-1940s in Chongqing, China.

Chongqing was to become a focal point

for the revolutions sweeping China,

as the nationalist regime of Chiang Kai-Shek

was swept from power by the Communist army of Mao Tse Tung.

Melvin Nellis was stationed in Chongqing,

and there he met, lived with, and loved John's mother.

OK, it's ready.

Here you go, it's dinnertime.

Are you hungry?

Yeah.

OK, great.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When John was five years old,

his father was shipped back to the States.

Still wish you could come with me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): As his father and mother were not

legally married, she could not follow

him to the United States.

Melvin Nellis promised to write, but

eventually the letters stopped.

John never heard from his father again.

JOHN NELLIS: My mother did not let me go with my father,

because I am the only child she has.

And also in the Asian culture, the boy is

the foundation of the family.

My mother also wanted me to be around with her just

in case I can support her when she grew old.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1952, John and his mother

moved to her homeland South Vietnam.

At this time, the Vietnam War was gathering momentum.

John's mother made a marginal living selling produce, but was

still able to save just enough money to send

her son to private schools.

There he was able to learn English and receive

a Western education.

JOHN NELLIS: My mother, she did make a lot of sacrifice for me.

She has to spend at least two-thirds of her income

to send me to that school.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1957,

John's mother took her son to the United States embassy

in Saigon.

- This is my son, John. - Hello, John.

- Hi. - How are you?

I'm John Quinn.

Won't you have a seat?

What can I do for you?

I would like to register my son for immigration

to go to the United States.

JOHN NELLIS: After my mother lost contact with my father,

she has financial hardship.

So she was thinking of send me to the United States,

because she was afraid that she could not take care of me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): At the embassy,

she was able to secure a registration

document that proved that John's father was an American.

This document was to be vital in his later emigration

to the United States.

As the war in Vietnam escalated, John's personal life also

went through dramatic changes.

He met a woman and fathered her child.

Then in 1971, she left him and took John's son.

In 1973, she married an American Marine,

and John believed that the couple had taken the boy

with them to the United States.

JOHN NELLIS: First of all, I feel upset because I lost--

I lost a son, but I feel happy, because he can

go to United States, has a proper education,

have a better life.

So he doesn't end up like myself.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In April of 1975,

John and his new girlfriend, Vivianne,

were on one of the last planes leaving Saigon.

JOHN NELLIS: I was taking a last look down through the door when

the plane up high, and I see all the light of the city.

And I this is just good bye, and I say, well, finally, I make

a trip to the United States.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Later, after John had settled

in America, he was to learn that his boy had been

left behind in the chaos and carnage

that had overtaken Vietnam.

After John and Vivanne's daring escape, they were married.

They currently lived in an affluent suburb

in Orange County, California, where John works

as an electronics technician.

In 1986, the couple became citizens

and they have a three-year-old daughter, Vienna.

Despite John's new found happiness,

his life is full of loose ends.

He has lost both his father and his son,

and longs to be reconciled with both.

JOHN NELLIS: If my father and my son watching me right now,

I would like to tell them how much I miss them,

and I love them.

And I would like to reunite and see them again.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): John's father, Melvin Nellis,

served in China in the late 1940s.

His last letters to his Asian family were mailed from Ohio.

Melvin Nellis would today be between 60 and 70 years old.

Thanks to our broadcast, John Nellis

learned that his father is now retired

and living in Tokyo, Japan.

Incredibly, just three weeks later,

John's search for his son Daniel also came to an end

when they were reunited after more than 17 years.

WOMAN: Oh, he's coming!

This is him!

JOHN NELLIS: That's him.

That's him, right there.

For so many years I miss him, I think of him all the time.

And I'm so happy to see him.

This is a real dream come true.

It's a miracle.

[non-english speech]

INTERPRETER: When I saw my dad, I

was so excited and very happy.

When I looked into his eyes and saw his family,

I found happiness.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Daniel's first day

in America was overwhelming.

Not only did he reunite with his father,

he also met his stepmother and half sister for the first time.

JOHN NELLIS: Now he's with me, I'm going to do my best

and I'll give him a good chance in life

and a better future for him and make up for what he has lost.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In a moment, the story of two

priests connected by a violent and unexplained fate.

Someone may have a vendetta against clergy,

and that someone is still at large.

[monks chanting]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When there are ordained,

Catholic priests vow to become servants of God

and servants of their community.

Their door is always open to those in need,

but their faith can place them in jeopardy.

A priest's willingness to help, no matter

who, no matter when, no matter where, can

even threatened his own life.

Father Reynaldo Rivera of Santa Fe, New Mexico,

has been murdered, and Father John Kerrigan of Ronan, Montana

has mysteriously disappeared.

Authorities fear these two cases, 1,000 miles and two

years apart, may be connected.

It is even possible there's a serial killer

at large, who is exclusively murdering Catholic priests.

ACTOR AS PATRICK GERARD: St. Francis Cathedral

Father Gerard speaking.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On the evening of August 7, 1982,

a call for help was telephoned to the rectory

of St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I have impaired vision, I cannot drive at night.

But could you call back in a few minutes?

I'm sure another Father--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Father Patrick Gerard

couldn't leave the rectory, and asked the caller to telephone

again in 15 minutes.

Thank you very much, and God bless you.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Exactly 15 minutes later,

the telephone rang again.

This time Father Reynaldo Rivera took the call.

This is Father Reynaldo.

CALLER: Hello, Father?

I need the help of a priest.

My grandfather is dying.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The caller was insistent.

He wanted a priest to come immediately

to administer the last rites.

Are you familiar with the rest stop just south of Santa Fe?

ACTOR AS REYNALDO RIVERA (ON PHONE): Yes, yes I am.

Well, how long will it take you to get there?

I can be there in 20 minutes?

Then I'll see you there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The man

said his name was Michael Carmello, and that he was

telephoning from a rest stop near Waldo, New Mexico,

20 miles away.

Goodbye, Father.

GILBERT ULIBARRI: Father Rivera left

that evening to meet someone at the rest area in Santa Fe.

This was on a Thursday evening.

He was reported missing Thursday night, didn't show up Friday.

There was a broadcast made that Father Rivera was missing.

Obviously, we had a location.

At least we knew it was Waldo, somewhere in that area,

because the priest remembered Waldo, New Mexico.

We had hundreds of volunteers, hundreds of citizens

volunteer their time to come out to the Waldo area,

and we searched on horseback.

They had four wheel drives.

You had hundreds of people walking the area,

combing all the hills and the desert for him.

Probably 90% of the people in Santa Fe knew who he was,

or he had some impact in their lives at one time or another.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two days after the search began,

Father Rivera's body was found on a deserted road

three miles from the rest stop.

At Father Rivera's funeral, the entire city mourned, devastated

by his brutal murder.

CORINNE MARTINEZ: From Saturday until his burial,

the city was just awe stricken.

Whether you were Lutheran, Catholic, Protestant, Jew,

we were just all one at that time.

ANTONIO VALDEZ: The very fact that he

went out there on this call was an act

of charity, an act of love.

I think because he showed this love for people,

the people just responded.

And so when he died, I think there

was that sadness in their heart for somebody that they loved.

ELIZABETH ABEYTA: Everybody loved Father Reynaldo.

I'm sure he's happy where he is now.

I will miss him.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The night

of the murder, a man calling himself

Carmello was waiting for Father Rivera at the rest

stop in a blue pickup truck.

Lieutenant Ulibarri has developed

a theory of what happened next.

GILBERT ULIBARRI: The killers were

probably there waiting for him.

When he arrived at the rest area, they singled him out.

- Father? - Yes.

- Are you the priest they sent? - Yes, I am.

I'm Father Reyanldo.

Why don't you come with us.

GILBERT ULIBARRI: There's no way one individual could

have handled Father Rivera.

He would given them a hard time.

So there had to be at least two people involved,

and we know they had a gun, obviously, because he was shot.

So I'm sure they controlled him with that weapon,

but there had to be two people involved to subdue him.

Because he was a very strong individual.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Ulibarri

believes the killers took Father Rivera to a remote desert area.

Go.

Go, outside!

Get him out, get him out!

[gunshot]

GILBERT ULIBARRI: He was not killed where he was found.

They drove to a location, threw him on the ground,

and they left.

The could have hid him anywhere in that Waldo area,

and there's several places in Waldo

where you can kind of hide a body and you'll never find it.

So obviously, they wanted him to be found.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After the crime,

the killers returned to the rest stop

to remove Father Rivera's car.

GILBERT ULIBARRI: His vehicle was found in a rest area just

east of Grants, New Mexico, which is

about two hours from Santa Fe.

There was no physical evidence found in the vehicle.

We didn't find any fingerprints, there

was no blood stains, nothing to indicate that someone

had even driven the car.

It had been wiped clean.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Santa Fe police had few clues,

and after a nationwide check they found no suspects

named Michael Carmello.

GILBERT ULIBARRI: As far as motive,

Father Rivera was not the target.

A Catholic priest was a target, for whatever reason.

Robbery was not a motive, because there was nothing taken

from the priest other than his last rites kit,

and that's a possibility for a souvenir.

Apparently, the killer would like to relive the experience.

Every time he looks at it, he remembers killing a priest.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two years later,

on August 8, 1984 in Ronan, Montana,

another priest mysteriously disappeared.

Father John Kerrigan was new to the Sacred

Heart Catholic Church in Ronan.

He had only been there four days before he, too, vanished.

At 11:00 PM on the night he disappeared, Father Kerrigan

went to a bakery across the street from the church

to chat with his new parishioners.

- Welcome to Ronan. - Thank you.

Nice to have you here.

Oh, it's my pleasure.

Good.

Expect to see everybody here in church tomorrow.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After a few minutes,

he was returning home go to bed.

The next day, at a turnout along the highway that circles

nearby Flathead Lake, a local fruit peddler discovered

a pile of bloody clothes.

Blood all over this shirt.

BRUCE PHILLIPS: After we realized that they were Father

Kerrigan's, we did a search of that area

around the cherry stand, on the hill behind it.

A bloody coat hanger was found close to the clothing.

We concluded that the coat hanger could have been

used either tie someone up.

Could have been used to strangle someone,

we believe Father Kerrigan.

Or also could have been used as a gag.

Just no real way of determining exactly

what the use was, but it definitely

is connected to the clothing.

And it wasn't just a hanger laying there,

it had been deformed and definitely used

for some purpose.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A week later, Father Kerrigan's car

was found abandoned five miles from the area where his clothes

had been discovered.

BRUCE PHILLIPS: We know that car sat there

where we found it for approximately a

week before it came to our attention.

We did a thorough search of that area,

and we found the keys lying in the tall grass.

There was blood on the front seat and the right door panel,

on the right floorboard.

Wonder if we got a body in the trunk, here.

BRUCE PHILLIPS: He found a shovel in the trunk with blood

on it.

We found a pillow in the trunk with blood on it.

There was also blood splattered inside the trunk.

The police were surprised to find $1,200

and Father Kerrigan's wallet.

The money was not hidden, it was just normally as it would

have been kept in a wallet.

None of that was disturbed, so we

don't feel that robbery was a motive

for this particular crime.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When Lieutenant Ulibarri learned

of Father Kerrigan's disappearance,

he flew to Ronan to investigate the similarities

between the two cases.

Right here in this area, stacked up with weeds--

GILBERT ULIBARRI: In both cases, the killer wanted people

to know I killed a priest, and here is the evidence

to show I killed him.

I still strongly believe that whoever

killed Father Rivera was involved with Father Kerrigan.

There are other similarities between the two cases.

Both victims' cars were driven away from the crime scene.

A deformed metal coathanger was found near Father Kerrigan's

clothes, and there is evidence a coat hanger was

used in Father Rivera's murder.

In both cases, robbery was not a motive,

and perhaps most significantly, both priests

belong to the select order of Franciscans.

If there's other law enforcement agencies that

had a Catholic priest killed with some

of the similarities we have just discussed here,

we'd like to hear from them.

Possibly we have a serial killer,

going killing Catholic priests.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next, the story of a family

transformed by incredible luck.

It all began with a boulder carved with mysterious symbols.

Could a rock have the power to change people's fortunes?

Our next story is part Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn,

and part fairy tale.

What it all boils down to his this; two boys in the state

of Washington find a large rock covered with strange symbols

deep in the forest.

Then a phenomenal run of good luck begins.

Is it coincidence or something more?

You be the judge.

On Saturday May 14, 1988, deep in an isolated stretch of woods

near the Canadian border, 13-year-old Jamie Parr

led his friend Trevor Johnson along the meandering

path of Tumwater Creek.

Jamie had found a special rock here,

and decided to show it to his best friend.

We're here.

Cool!

ACTOR AS JAMIE PARR: See, didn't I tell you?

ACTOR AS TREVOR JOHNSON: Wow.

That's neat.

Looks like people came and drew it with a stick

eons and years ago.

ACTOR AS JAMIE PARR: Yeah, I know.

One that I'm kind of wondering about

is that man in the corner.

Could be a man or something.

It's like a stamp almost.

ACTOR AS TREVOR JOHNSON: Maybe the Martians came and did it.

It's really near.

It's got all of the aspects of nature.

ACTOR AS JAMIE PARR: The only way that somebody could ever

do that is if it was clay or they had some space

age tool or something.

ACTOR AS TREVOR JOHNSON: Why don't we go tell my dad?

ACTOR AS JAMIE PARR: Yeah, let's go.

I felt just an immediate need to go down and see this rock.

His excitement was contagious and really piqued my interest.

And I turned, and there was this beautiful rock

with these markings on them.

I'd never seen anything quite like it.

I got a very immediate feeling that this rock

had something to say.

It really had something very positive

to say about life to me, and being so challenged,

I got a great boost out of it.

When I first saw the rock, I had the most eerie feeling.

It was a good feeling, a very positive one,

but it just-- you can't say the words that the rock

makes you feel like.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): From that day on,

Steve and Pattie Johnson's lives would take

a dramatic turn for the better.

And they would attribute it to the rock.

For years, the Johnson family had

been struggling financially.

To help pay the bills, Pattie took a job as a receptionist.

Even so, they found themselves in debt.

PATTIE JOHNSON: Things were just looking really sad.

We were in a small apartment, monies were not good.

Patti and I were both working.

I was working as a prison correctional officer.

I wasn't happy with the position,

the pay wasn't sufficient for us to be

able to even meet some of our bills,

to be quite honest about it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): To improve

their financial situation, the Johnsons

planned to open a small, 100 square foot shop in a newly

constructed local mall.

Pattie quit her job so she could run the shop,

but the plan backfired when construction

ran behind schedule.

Instead of improving, their financial situation worsened.

On May 16, 48 hours after Steve Johnson

saw the rock for the first time, his luck

began to change dramatically.

Sure, Dennis.

We're gonna be right down.

Honey, that was Dennis Logan, he'd like to know if we

come down to the Landing Mall.

OK.

STEVE JOHNSON: Out of the blue, the ownership of the mall

approaches us with, listen, we'd like you to open

up the 1,000 square foot shop.

OK, this is the space I had in mind for you.

STEVE JOHNSON: I was very up front with him that we

had no money to do that.

And it wasn't a blinking in an eye,

and the gentleman says, well, we'll take

care of getting your inventory.

I really didn't overcome the shock at that time.

I couldn't even ask an intelligent question,

as I remember to the guy as to how they were going to do this.

We were both flabbergasted.

We just couldn't believe that there are people

out there that want to help.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Three weeks later in early June,

Steve and Pattie's dress shop opened

and was a resounding success.

Other business opportunities began

to spring up unexpectedly.

Three days after the dress shop opened,

Steve was offered a job as manager of the mall's

only movie theater.

The mall ownership was so impressed with Steve

that in less than a month, they let him buy the theater

outright for a very low price.

Three months and one day after he saw the rock,

Steve opened a candy store, his third successful business

venture in the mall.

The Johnsons are convinced that their good fortune

was related to the magical powers of the rock.

Last September, archaeologist Rick McLure examined the rock

and determined that the petroglyphs were

not carved by American Indians.

McLure feels that the symbols were made in this century

and have no religious significance or magical powers.

The Johnsons' run of good luck continues unabated.

Three months ago, they were offered a five bedroom house

for four years, rent free, in return

for making minor home repairs.

For the Johnsons, it was a dream come true.

STEVE JOHNSON: Looking back at all the wonderful things that

have happened, we're spending more time with our family,

good, quality time.

Our income has grown to a point that we're actually

being able to start to pay back people that have helped us

over the years, and those type of things

bring a lot of pleasure to us.

I don't know if it's superstition

or not, or if it's good luck, but it just

seems like since that's happened, things have changed

and things have come about for us.

Is the Johnson family's streak of good fortune

related to the rock and its cryptic symbols?

Most of us would probably call it a coincidence.

But who knows?

Sometimes the line between coincidence

and something more mystical is an unsolved mystery.

Join me next week for another edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."