All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S01E21.480p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-PLAYREADY_track3_[und]

NARRATOR: 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): Tonight

on "Unsolved Mysteries,"
18-year-old Lisa

Marie Kimmel was brutally
stabbed in Casper, Wyoming.

Yet for weeks after police
believe she was murdered,

hundreds of people across
the Western United States

claim they saw Lisa or her car.

For over a hundred
years, fortune hunters

have tried to find Arizona's
Lost Dutchman Mine.

Many men have died trying.

Today the gold could be
worth over $200 million.

Also a story of love and murder
in a remote Louisiana bayou.

And illicit romance led to one
man's death and a young woman's

mysterious disappearance.

From a murder discovered in
the swamps of Louisiana through

a treasure lost in an
Arizona mountain range,

our stories have one
thing in common--

as yet, there is no solution.

Perhaps you can help.

Join me.

You may be able to
help solve a mystery.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On a
little-used suspension bridge

outside Casper,
Wyoming, residents

reported seeing unexplained
lights in the early morning

hours of March the 26th, 1988.

Police theorize that an
unknown assailant, operating

under cover of darkness, brought
his victim, a young girl of 18,

to the bridge.

After stabbing
her repeatedly, he

threw her into the chill waters
of the North Platte River.

The victim was later
identified as Lisa Marie

Kimmel from Billings, Montana.

She had been sexually assaulted
prior to being killed,

in a manner that suggested
some kind of bizarre torture.

The savage nature
of Lisa's murder

is not the only perplexing
aspect of this case.

Lisa was last seen alive
the night of March the 25th.

Police believe
that she was killed

a few hours later in the early
morning of March the 26th.

But what complicates
the investigation

is that nearly 1,000 people
claim they saw Lisa Marie

Kimmel or her car during
a week when police

believe she was already dead.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Lisa was 18 years old

and worked as a
manager at a fast food

restaurant in Denver, Colorado.

On March the 25th, she left town
and headed for Cody, Wyoming

to visit her boyfriend.

Lisa's car, a black
1988 Honda CRX SI,

carried the spunky
license plate Lil Miss.

The plan was that she was
supposed to leave Denver

and, some time after work,
and get to Cody to see

me sometime late that evening.

I talked to her about 4:30.

And she was going to be
leaving in about a half hour,

that she'd be in about midnight
or something like that.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): From Denver,

Lisa had planned to
travel to Casper, Wyoming

on Interstate 25.

From Casper she would
take a two lane road

to Ed Jaroch's house in Cody.

After spending the
night there, she

planned to go on to Billings,
Montana to visit her parents.

Weather conditions were good, so
Lisa should have made the trip

to Cody in eight or nine
hours, arriving at Ed's

house late Friday night.

However at 7 o'clock
Saturday morning,

she still had not arrived.

Ed Jaroch frantically
telephoned the highway patrols

in three states.

Two days later, the
Wyoming Highway Patrol

reported they had
stopped Lisa for speeding

about 60 miles south
of Casper on March 25,

the night she disappeared.

It was nearly 9:00 PM
Friday night, four hours

after Lisa had left Denver.

She was right on schedule.

I was patrolling
southbound on March 25.

I noted a small car northbound
at 88 miles an hour,

according to my radar.

I turned around and
pursued the car.

I stopped her near
Moran Junction.

Good evening miss.

May I see your driver's license?

ALAN LESCO (VOICEOVER):
She was well-kept,

driving a nice car,
kind of person you'd

like to have for a daughter.

OK Miss Kimmel, I
had you on my radar

back there at 88 miles an hour.

Is there any particular
reason for your speed?

I'm trying to
hurry to Billings.

I've got a friend who's
going in for surgery.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): This
was the last confirmed sighting

of Lisa.

Her signature on the citation
and a routine voice recording

the policeman made
verify that it

was definitely Lisa Marie Kimmel
who was stopped that night.

As the week went
on, we realized

the gravity of the situation.

We knew that the outlook
was looking a little grim.

But even at that, even if the
outcome wasn't as we'd hoped,

we still needed to find her.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): On April

the 2nd, one week
after she disappeared,

Greg Bradford, a
mechanic who was spending

his Saturday fishing, brought
the search for Lisa Marie

to a sad end.

GREG BRADFORD: When I
came up to just about

this spot right here, and
I got a real bad feeling

something was wrong.

I felt that somebody died or
somebody was hurt real bad.

It just kept coming over me.

I couldn't shake it.

So I just stepped up.

When I stepped up off
the side of the bank,

I looked over my shoulder and
I saw the lady in the water.

I knew it was a
lady in the water,

but your mind tells you it's not
true, you know, it's not real.

And then I remember, when we
were driving up from Cheyenne,

they said this young girl
was missing from Montana.

So, I looked again and I said,
"Oh my God, it must be her."

When we went out there,
the physical description

matched Lisa.

But at that point, because
of the condition of the body,

we weren't sure until we'd
gotten her out of the water.

We're not sure, at this
point, whether the body

was placed in the river sometime
on the 25th of the 26th.

The body just didn't show
any signs of decomposition

because it was so cold.

There was some stab
wounds in the chest area.

She was sexually assaulted.

She was found nearly
nude, but not quite.

They made stab wounds in such a
manner that we feel are unique.

And I can't tell you how
they were done to the body,

but it would lead the
appearance that somebody

took their time in doing this.

It's hard to
understand why somebody

would do something like
that to another human being.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Police scouted the area where

Lisa's body was discovered.

On an old highway bridge
one quarter of a mile away,

they found blood
which was the same

type as Lisa Marie Kimmel's.

Because the bridge
is so inaccessible

and so seldom used, police
believe the murderer

may be someone local.

Based on the eyewitness
accounts of unexplained lights

on the bridge and an
analysis of other evidence,

police believe the
time of Lisa's murder

is the early morning of
Saturday, Match the 26th,

approximately five hours after
she was stopped for speeding.

Strangely, the next seven days,
hundreds of sightings of Lisa

and her car, many
of them involving

an unknown male
companion, were reported

throughout the Northwestern
United States and Canada.

Up until this date
we've had over a thousand

sightings of this
vehicle, a lot of them

from law enforcement officers.

But there's no pattern to them.

That's the unfortunate part.

There's no direction of travel.

They went south.

They went to the north.

They went to the west.

They just were everywhere.

And we were deluged
with them at the point

that we thought they
had gone to Canada.

We had some sightings in Canada.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Composites

were made of at least
17 men, but none of them

seemed to resemble one another
closely enough to justify

issuing a wanted poster.

Three of these sightings
believed to be among the most

reliable were reported
on the 26th and 27th

of March, after police
believe Lisa Marie

had already been murdered.

One of them was in
Casper, just 20 minutes

drive away from the
place her body was found.

The other two sightings
were in Buffalo, Wyoming,

two hours drive outside Casper.

In none of the three
sightings did Lisa appear

to be signaling for help.

The Casper sighting
occurred on Sunday,

March the 27th,
two days after Lisa

had been stopped for speeding.

Diana Houston was driving a
van through the downtown area

of Caspar when she noticed the
personalized Lil Miss license

plates, because
her roommate owned

a puppy with the same name.

DIANA HOUSTON (VOICEOVER):
It was Sunday afternoon,

about a quarter to 2:00.

And I saw a Montana
license plate on a vehicle.

And being from Montana,
it got my eyes.

So I looked.

And the license
plate said Lil Miss.

I went by.

I saw somebody with
blond hair driving

an had on a yellow sweater.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): 22 Hours

earlier, Donna Kirkpatrick,
the County Sheriff's wife

in Buffalo, reported
that she had seen

Lisa wearing a pink sweater.

DONNA KIRKPATRICK: Well
it was Saturday at noon.

And I noticed a little
black sports car had pulled

out right in front of me.

And then I noticed
the license plate.

It was a Montana license
plate with Lil Miss on it,

L-I-L M-I-S-S. And at that
point I decided that I needed

to see who was driving the car.

I was most interested
to see if the car went

with whoever was driving it.

I am absolutely positive there
was a young gal driving it.

I know the license plate.

I know Montana license plates.

I saw the plate on that car
at that time on that day.

And there's not a
doubt in my mind.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Curiously, Lisa's parents

are not sure that she
ever owned either a yellow

or a pink sweater.

And the highway patrolman
who stopped her for speeding,

the last person to have
verifiable evidence that he saw

Lisa alive, remembers
that she was wearing

a black and white sweater.

Could Lisa have
changed her clothes?

Or do the eyewitnesses
see another young woman

who resembled Lisa?

Two hours after Donna
Kirkpatrick saw Lisa,

another eyewitness also
saw her in Buffalo.

This time, a mysterious
man was with Lisa.

WITNESS (VOICEOVER): I
was busy at the register.

But a car pulled up.

And they said Lil Miss on
the Montana license plates

on the front of it.

And there were two
people in the vehicle.

There was a very attractive
young lady at the wheel.

The individual that was
with here was a small man,

I would say 135 to 140 pounds.

Dark hair, dark eyes,
rather large eyes.

And he had very fine features.

It wasn't button nosed
or anything like that.

They were aquiline, I think,
is the word that the poets use.

And he was swarthy complected.

And he was small.

He fit into the car.

He didn't look out of place
or anything like that.

A few minutes later when
I turned and looked again,

the car had gone.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): If
the three sightings of Lisa

Marie Kimmel are
reliable, they raise

some disturbing questions.

Was Lisa killed as
the police think

she was, during the early
morning hours of March

the 26th?

If she was, who was the
woman seen driving Lisa's

car in Casper in Buffalo?

If Lisa was not
killed on the 26th,

why was she in Buffalo, more
than two hours off the course

of her planned journey?

And if she was in jeopardy,
why did she not signal

for help when she was sighted?

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next,
the story of the legendary Lost

Dutchman Mine.

The clues are scarce.

The stakes are high--
millions of dollars in gold.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The Superstition

Mountains in Arizona
cover 160,000 acres

of desolate, rugged terrain.

According to legend,
these mountains

contain the richest
deposits of gold

in America, the Lost
Dutchman's Gold Mine.

There are hundreds of stories
hinting at its location.

But they're all tied to one
man, a German prospector

named Jacob Waltz,
who was said to have

discovered the mine in 1876.

His nickname was The Dutchman.

TOM KOLLENBORN: Jacob Waltz
was a student of mining,

and he knew what he was doing.

The old timers were very, very
astute to the fact of geology.

They knew what they
were looking for.

If you're going to go out
in these mountains anywhere

and look for gold, you
really want to go to places

where gold has been found.

The Superstitions
would be an exception.

You wouldn't go in there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Waltz was one of the few

who was prepared to prospect
in unpromising locations.

And apparently, he was rewarded.

15 Years later in 1881, when
Jacob Waltz was 80 years old,

he decided to hide his mine.

He is said to have dug a hole
six feet deep at the entrance

to the mine.

He then laid in two sold
layers of ironwood logs,

filled the hole with dirt,
and topped it with stones

from the surrounding area.

The Dutchman bragged
that you could

drive a pack train over
the entrance to the mine

and never know it was there.

For over 100 years, fortune
hunters have searched for Jacob

Waltz's hidden treasure trove.

Several months after
Waltz hid the mine,

he contracted pneumonia and was
taken to the home of a friend,

Julia Thomas in Phoenix.

She tried to nurse
Jacob back to health.

Before Jacob was
died, he told them

that there was gold from the
mine stashed under his bed.

Well I don't understand.

And he said that's what I've
been living on all these years.

He took out the box.

They opened it.

And their comment was,
"My God, that's rich.

It's got to be just a pocket."

And he said, "No, it isn't."

He said, "It's a vein."

He said, "There's
enough in sight

to make millionaires
out of 20 men."

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
As his end drew near,

The Dutchman gave
Julia and Rhinehart

Petrasch a local miner, clues
to the location of the mine.

Take the old-- the
old northwest corner

of the Superstition Mountains.

Take-- take the trail in.

And he left a number of
clues, but several times he

said, "I've almost got
to show you where it is

or you'll never find
it, because you've got

to know exactly where it is."

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Waltz died

before he could give
them a map that showed

exactly where the mine lay.

Even though there are hundreds
of maps in existence today,

none of them came
from Jacob Waltz.

The only direction that Julia
and the Petrasch brothers

had when they ventured
into the mountains

were the verbal cues Waltz
had given on his deathbed.

CLAY WORST (VOICEOVER):
He said, "The setting

sun shines into the
entrance to my mine

and glitters on the gold."

So it must have
faced to the west.

He said, "You take
the first gorge

on the south side from the
west end of the range."

He said that "you can see
Weavers Needle to the south

from above my mine."

Julia and the Petrasches
were so anxious to get

in the mountains, they
actually went in mid-summer

when the mountains were hotter
than hell in a [inaudible].

And it must have been a real
ordeal, for all of them.

They went in there
for almost five weeks.

They came out without any gold.

And this was noted in "The
Arizona Republican" in 1892.

In fact they called it "a
queer quest" in search of gold.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Julia had invested

everything she owned
into this expedition,

but she returned penniless.

Julia Thomas never attempted
to return to the Superstition

Mountains again.

Rhinehart Petrasch was accused
by his brother Herman of not

paying attention
at Jacob's bedside,

writing the clues
down incorrectly.

They never spoke again.

Rhinehart continued
to search sporadically

over the next 50 years.

When his eyesight began
to fail, Rhinehart

realized he would never find
the mine and took his own life.

For over a century,
treasure hunters

have occasionally
claimed that they have

clues to Waltz's lost mine.

And a few of them may
even have found it.

But curiously, they
all died before they

could tell their tale.

When we return,
the story of Walt

Gassler, who five years ago
claimed he'd found the mine.

On his last trip
to the mountains,

he lost his life before he could
reveal his secret location.

The Lost Dutchman's
Gold Mine is

one of the greatest
living legends

of the American Southwest.

Some people say that
it's just that, a legend.

On the other hand,
government studies

indicate that there's a large
quantity of gold located

somewhere in the Superstitions.

It is said that this
matchbox was made

from the high grade ore
that Jacob Waltz had

in his possession when he died.

The ore is so rich that if
the mine were found today,

it could be worth
over $200 million.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Almost 100 years

later, a modern
day treasure hunter

claimed he had found the mine.

His name was Walt Gassler,
head chef at the Biltmore

Hotel in Phoenix.

Using clues handed down from
Jacob's deathbed description,

Gassler has spent
most of his free time

looking for the famous ore.

- Bob Corbin Walt.
- Walt Gassler.

Nice to meet you.
Have a seat.

Thank you.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
When his health began to fail,

he contacted two
other prospectors.

What you got?

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): One of them

was Bob Corbin, the
attorney general of Arizona.

This is a map to the
area where I have my camp.

BOB CORBIN (VOICEOVER): He
wanted to get together with me

so that we could
perhaps go with him

and continue looking for
the mine with his directions

after he had died.

And he gave me his
notes, as well as

a map as to where his
camp was and where

he believed the mine to be.

That's a good location.

It could be there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Two months later,

Gassler called
Bob's partner, Tom

Kollenborn, a local historian.

Gassler was excited and
claimed that he had finally

located The Dutchman's mine.

TOM KOLLENBORN
(VOICEOVER): Walt Gassler

call me on Sunday evening.

He said, "I'm going to the mine.

I know exactly where it is.

You and Corbin have to go."

I just can't possibly
break away in the morning.

I could if you'd just give
me a little bit of notice.

I'd sure want to go in with you.

TOM KOLLENBORN
(VOICEOVER): He said,

no, I can't wait any longer.

I'm going to to it.

And I'll-- I'll-- I'll
see you when I get back.

But I'm leaving in the morning.

TOM KOLLENBORN
(VOICEOVER): Walt Gassler

was convinced that the
mine existed from the clues

that he had.

Some of those clues
he would not reveal.

And the next morning, his
wife took him out to the trail

and dropped him off.

See you in three days.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Walt hiked

alone into the Superstitions,
never to be seen alive again.

Three days later he was found
dead by ranch hand Don Shade.

An autopsy proved he had
died of a heart attack.

I don't have a license
to talk like a coroner.

I thought he was dead,
probably, two to three days.

He looked to me like
a nice little old man

that found a lovely place
to give up the ghost.

- Tom Kollenborn?
- Yes?

I'm Roland Gassler.

How are you doing Roland?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
One month after Walt's death,

Tom Kollenborn had a
surprising visitor.

TOM KOLLENORN (VOICEOVER):
This man came over to my house.

And he said he was Roland
Gassler, Walt Gassler's son.

And we were talking
a few minutes.

And he said, "Well, you know my
dad found The Lost Dutchman's

in the Superstitions.

And he got out a piece
of gold, showed it to me.

Boy, that stuff
really looks good.

TOM KOLLENBORN
(VOICEOVER): It looked

very similar to the
gold that allegedly

came out of The Dutchman Mine.

Where'd this come from?

Came right straight
out of my dad's backpack.

Bob Corbin told me that you had
a map that belonged to my dad.

I wonder if you'd
let me have that?

TOM KOLLENBORN: Well I don't
have the map anymore Roland.

But I do have your
dad's manuscript.

Yes, that is my dad's.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Apparently Walt

really had found the lost mine.

And his son Roland
planned to use the map

and notes to retrace
his father's steps.

Well I knew that
you'd be interested,

and I want to thank you for
being cooperative on this.

OK.
Well, all right.

- Well, see you later.
- OK, bye.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Two months

later as Tom was
finishing a slide lecture,

he was approached by another
stranger who claimed he

was Roland Gassler, Walt's son.

Mr. Kollenborn?

Yes?

Hi, I'm Roland Gassler.

I've been wanting to meet
you for a long time now.

Well I've sure met several
Roland Gasslers lately.

Walt Gassler--

TOM KOLLENBORN (VOICEOVER):
And I think my jaw

dropped 10 foot to the ground.

It wasn't the same guy.

I said, "I oughta ask you for a
driver's license or something."

I said, "You're
the second Roland

Gassler I run into in the
last couple of months."

Sure looks like
you're Roland Gassler.

Yes sir.

After meeting two
Roland Gasslers,

I wondered who was
really Roland Gassler?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Who was the first man who

claimed to be Roland Gassler?

It appeared that he was an
imposter who needed Walt's map

so he could search for himself.

But how had he gotten hold
of the gold ore sample?

It came right
straight out of--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
When Walt died,

the sheriff's report
listed a backpack

among Walt's belongings.

But the real Roland
Gassler never received.

Don Shade, the man
who found Walt's body,

also remembered
seeing the backpack.

And he said that there was
a stranger in the area.

DON SHADE (VOICEOVER):
There was another man

in the area at the time.

When Tom Kollenborn later gave
us a description of the man

that came to him and
showed him some gold,

it jibed up with a man
that we saw in here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Some
believe that the fake Roland

Gassler may have been in the
mountains when Walt died,

and stolen the backpack
with his precious ore.

I'd like to belief
Walt found it.

He spent so many
years looking for it.

And the last thing he would have
done in his life before he died

would have found the mine.

I'd like to believe that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
When Jacob Waltz died,

he left a trunk of
ore, a list of clues,

and a legend of lost treasure
which has captured the dreams

of three generations.

I have good reason to
believe that The Dutchman's

legend could be true.

I've seen the ore that was
under his bed when he died.

I've seen the assay report on
it at a jewelry store in Phoenix

which did exist at that time.

And at today's gold
prices, that ore would be

worth over $2.2 million a ton.

It's the richest gold ore
I've ever seen in my life,

and I've seen a lot of gold ore.

This could have been
Gassler's trick in the trail,

because he's been up here on--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The
Department of the Interior

reclassified the Superstition
Mountains as a federally

owned wilderness area.

And if the mine were found,
all the gold would have to be

surrendered to the government.

But this does not deter Tom
Kollenborn and Bob Corbin.

For them, the search for
the Lost Dutchman Mine

is a fascinating
mystery and a tradition

that keeps alive one of
the most enduring legends

of the American Southwest.

In a moment, the story
of two lovers who

met secretly deep in
the swamps of Louisiana.

30 years ago, their illicit
romance ended in murder.

[gun shot]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The Louisiana bayou country--

surrounded by human swampland
lies Lake Pontchartrain,

just west of New Orleans.

November 24, 1956, at 9:00 AM
on a chill Saturday morning,

a local hunter and his
young son unintentionally

surprised a pair of
lovebirds in an isolated

area known as Frenier Beach.

What are they doing Daddy?

Never you mind.

Let's go.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The next morning,

the two passed by the same spot
and made a grisly discovery.

The man they had
surprised the day

before lay dead
of a gunshot wound

in the front seat of the car.

The woman was
nowhere to be seen.

The victim was
identified as Thomas

Hotard, a 46-year-old
engineer from nearby Laplace.

Authorities later determined
that the woman who

had been with him the day before
was 31-year-old Audrey Moate,

a divorced mother of three.

She has not been
seen for 32 years.

JACK DEMPSEY: This was
probably the largest

case that ever hit the area.

It was all over New Orleans.

It was all over Baton Rouge.

Everybody was talking
about, and they all wanted

to know, where's the woman?

Where did she disappear?

Why did you disappear?

Did they kill her?

Did they bury her body?

Did they throw her in a lake?

Three months
before this happened,

my mother told my grandmother
that "if anything happens

to me, take the kids and
get as far away from here

as possible."

Why would a 30-year-old--
31-year-old woman

in 1956 in a environmentally
crime-free area say this?

Three decades ago, the case of
Thomas Hotard and Audrey Moate

was one of the most publicized
and sensational stories

in modern Louisiana history.

The case still
provokes discussions

among the old
timers in the area.

Most of those involved in
the initial investigation

have since passed
away, but the mystery

of the incident at
Frenier Beach has remained

to baffle the next generation.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The
newspaper obituaries in 1956

described Thomas Hotard as a
quiet, hardworking family man,

active in the church
and with the Boy Scouts.

He worked for a local
chemical company.

It was here in 1952 that
he met Audrey Moate.

Audrey was originally
divorced mother

15 years younger than Hotard.

In addition to
their work, the two

shared an interest in scouting.

They were often seen
together in town organizing

their troop's activities.

DEKKI MOATE: My
mother was a woman

that was way ahead of her time.

She was a single
parent in '56, and she

was a kind of woman that was
very loving, very giving.

Perhaps she's the best
friend I ever had.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Even
though Thomas was married,

he and Audrey fell in love.

But their romance was
a deeply held secret.

Audrey told her family that
she had to work every Saturday,

but it was a lie.

For two years Thomas Hotard
kept the same schedule,

telling his wife that he
too was working on Saturday.

Unbeknownst to both
their families,

Hotard and Audrey spent
these stolen days together.

Good now.

Where have you been?

DEKKI MOATE: I remember, we
used to go on picnics together.

He taught me how
to develop film.

He was there on my birthdays.

I thought they were friends.

I didn't realize
they were lovers.

I found out later when I
read the newspaper accounts.

But I just thought
they were friends.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On Saturday, November 25

Thomas and Audrey met in the
plaza around 7:30 AM, then

drove together to their
secluded lover's lane

at the edge of
Lake Pontchartrain.

[music playing]

(SINGING) Speed and slow.

Rock a body to and fro.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Ironically, that Saturday

was Audrey's birthday.

It was a special day.

And it was to end in tragedy.

Police later estimated
that by morning's end,

Thomas Hotard had
been shot to death,

and Audrey Moate had
vanished, apparently forever.

(SINGING) Oh honey,
finally we can make it

if we take it sweet and slow.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
When the hunter

made his grim discovery
the next morning,

he went straight to Percy
Hebert, the sheriff of St. John

the Baptist Parish.

Hebert was the first
to arrive at the scene.

Hotard had been killed
by a single shot

from the 16 gauge shotgun,
fired at point blank range

through a side window.

At first Sheriff Hebert
thought that the missing

woman had probably killed
Hotard in a lover's spat.

However, once he began to
investigate the crime scene,

he made some
unusual discoveries.

Scattered on the ground
were the partial contents

of a woman's purse.

Inside the car he found the
car keys still in the ignition,

and women's clothes
crumpled on the floorboard.

From the articles of clothing
that were found in the car,

the only thing she
could have been wearing

was a bra and a slip.

Her sweater, her underwear, her
stockings, her shoes, skirt,

all of that was in the car.

The car had the bed
made down in it.

In other words, it was one of
those old Nashes that had a bed

that could be folded down.

The evidence indicates
that they were

probably in the act of making
love when the murder occurred.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It
appeared that the woman had

tried to flee, spilling
the contents of her purse

in the process.

50 yards from Hotard's
car, Hebert found

a pair of footprints
made by small bare feet,

probably Audrey's.

Just behind them was a
print of a man's heavy boot.

Five feet away was an
area where it appeared

a scuffle had taken place, and a
set of car keys was discovered.

There was no other physical
evidence, and no indication

that the murderer
had an accomplice.

Significantly, the woman's
purse itself was never found.

It was not until 10 hours
later that the authorities

decided the missing woman
definitely was Audrey Moate.

At 7:30 that same Saturday
night, Sheriff Hebert

found Audrey's car
parked next to the cafe

where she had met Hotard.

The keys found at the crime
scene fit the ignition.

In a box on the back seat,
he found the verses of a song

from a musical, "The
King and I," hand-written

by Audrey on a small file card.

It read like an obituary for
her secret, lost love affair.

We kissed in the shadows.

We hide from the moon.

Our meetings are few
and over too soon.

We speak in whispers,
afraid to be heard.

When people are near,
we speak not a word.

JACK DEMPSEY: This
was quite a scandal.

It was quite a shock to this
sleepy little town of Laplace

back in 1956.

Everybody was buzzing,
was talking about it.

They all had their own
theory of what happened.

They all had idea of who could
have committed the murder.

They all had an idea of
where Audrey Moate was.

And they all wanted
to help the sheriff

because they saw a woman
answering that description

going door to door.

And all kinds of
confusion, believe me.

Confusion reigned
supreme about that time.

[phone ringing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On December 6,

two weeks after
the disappearance,

Audrey's former mother-in-law
received a strange phone call.

Perhaps Audrey was still alive.

Hello?

WOMAN (ON PHONE): Mom?

Audrey?

WOMAN (ON PHONE):
Mom, I'm in trouble.

Audrey, is that you?

WOMAN (ON PHONE): I need help.

Audrey?

Audrey?

Audrey?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Then a waitress

in New Orleans reported
that she had seen Audrey

in her restaurant
around the same time

that Mrs. Moate
received the phone call.

Here you go.

Will be there anything else hun?

No.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): The waitress

said she recognized
Audrey from seeing

her picture in the paper.

Audrey appeared to be very tired
and her clothes were shabby.

Audrey then left the
restaurant when she realized

the waitress was watching her.

This is the last reported
sighting of Audrey Moate.

DEKKI MOATE: I couldn't let
myself believe she was gone.

I kept thinking she'd
walk through the door.

I couldn't relate to Mr.
Hotard being dead, at all.

That didn't register.

But my mother not coming
back, I-- I thought

everyone was lying to me.

I just couldn't accept it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
As the years went by,

the sensational story slipped
slowly from the headlines,

and eventually disappeared
from the newspapers.

The murder of Thomas Hotard
and the disappearance of Audrey

Moate soon became an obscure
footnote in Louisiana folklore,

until the case was
suddenly revived

more than 20 years later.

In 1980, a sick
and ailing old man

told his family that he knew
what happened to Audrey Moate.

You remember that Hotard
fellow, what got killed

in the swamp, that big search
for everybody, looking around,

never did find out who killed
him, and that Moate women,

what they never found?

There ain't nothing
in that swamp

that goes on that I don't know.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Several months before he die,

Ernst Acosta made a
startling confession.

He claimed that his common
law wife at the time, Caroline

Schlesser had murdered both
Thomas Hotard and Audrey Moate,

and that he had helped
dispose of the bodies.

And they were aggravating her.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Caroline died in 1979.

And it was Caroline who
had shot both those two.

[train whistle]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Acosta and Schlesser

lived on the edge of the
swamp, less than a mile from

the Frenier Beach murder site.

Both had surly reputations.

And Acosta was known to
sit in his front yard

and take pot shots at
any passers-by that

strayed too close to the house.

MARVILLE CARONNA: My father
was a very mean person.

He had no respect for nobody.

And if you would come up to
him and ask him anything,

he wouldn't answer you.

He would grab the gun, show
it to you, and then tell you,

"What the hell you want?"

And then if he didn't like what
you wanted, or what you said,

he would tell you,
"Hit the road Jack."

Caroline was in the same manner.

She slept with a gun underneath
her pillow at all times.

And she was another person
that the gun would come first.

I always go in town--

MARVILLE CARONNA (VOICEOVER):
She would ask questions later.

Because next week I
don't want them kids here.

I don't want them around.

I don't want them underfoot.

ERNST ACOSTA: You don't want
them kids here next week?

No, I don't want them.

MARVILLE CARONNA (VOICEOVER):
They were the perfect pair.

They were two of a kind.

And they loved guns.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Marville Caronna

claims to know of at
least two occasions

where Hotard and Audrey
came to the house.

Both times they apparently
argued with Caroline,

but no one knows why.

MARVILLE CARONNA
(VOICEOVER): My father

said that they knew something
about Mrs. Caroline Schlesser.

What you want here Hotard?

We don't want any trouble.

MARVILLE CARONNA (VOICEOVER):
What they knew, I do not know.

We ain't go nothing
to talk about boy.

THOMAS HOTARD: Now
Miss Caroline--

MARVILLE CARONNA (VOICEOVER):
According to him,

Mrs. Moate was related to Mrs.
Schlesser some kind of way.

All right, make sure.

This is the last time boy.

Come on.

And you better
watch your manners.

And don't talk that
trash talk in my house.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): The night

before the body was found,
Marville says her father

was away visiting his children.

Apparently Caroline phoned
him, and he rushed home.

[wolf howl]

Acosta told his daughter
that both Hotard

and Moate had
actually been killed

by Caroline in the house.

He claimed that
he and a neighbor

carried Hotard's body
back to Frenier Beach

and placed it in the car.

They then tied Audrey's body
to an old Civil War cannon

and dumped it in the swamp.

DEKKI MOATE
(VOICEOVER): I told him,

I said "Daddy, how
could you all have

killed Mrs. Moate
and Mr. Hotard?",

because Mr. Hotard
was killed in the car.

He said, "Believe what
you want to believe.

I'm telling you what happened."

I brought Miss Caronna
to the sheriff's office,

and she was given a lie
detector test on everything

that she said.

And she passed it.

It said that she was
telling the truth.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Wayne Norwood

joined the sheriff's department
of St. John the Baptist Parish

in 1983.

He heard about the
Hotard-Moate case

and became intrigued by it.

For the past five years, he
has conducted an unofficial

investigation on his own time.

Right on the other
side of the track right

at the edge of the swamp
is where the old Acosta

house used to be.

And according to Miss
Marville, about where you see

the big cypress stump is about
where the cannon used to sit.

And we hope to go
back in there a little

later on when the water goes
down and do some more diving.

Hopefully we'll
find something then.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Wayne Norwood

is convinced Audrey's body was
indeed thrown into the swamp

tied to a cannon.

And he has combed the area
with a metal detector.

But he believes Acosta
may have worked the truth

when he told his daughter
the other crucial details

of that night.

WAYNE NORWOOD: Mr.
Acosta said that his wife

had actually done the
killing and that he

had helped hide the body.

But this is one of the
things that I disagree with.

I think that this was his way
of telling what had happened

but not letting the
kids know that he

actually did the murder, just
relieving his conscience.

I think this was
his way of doing it.

I would imagine since he watched
the area back there real close

and he run hunters
off all the time

that he had to know what was
going on because people had

seen this automobile,
and a man and woman,

park back there every
Saturday just like clockwork.

My theory is that he
had been watching them.

And this particular time
that he was watching them,

and probably got excited.

And I think it was a sex crime.

It had to be sheer panic.

It had to be intense fear.

I mean, to watch your lover
get his head blown off,

and then fear for your
own life, I'm sure.

WAYNE NORWOOD: He only
lived about a mile

from the murder scene.

There were no tire marks,
according to the investigation.

And, he only had to take her
about a mile to the house.

So this would be why
there was no tracks

and a quick disappearance.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): The scene

of the crime has
changed considerably

since that tragic
Saturday morning in 1956.

The actual spot where Thomas
Hotard died is now 100 yards

offshore, reclaimed by the
waters of Lake Pontchartrain.

And Audrey Moate?

Her fate remains a mystery
hidden in the murky

swamp surrounding the lake.

DEKKI MOATE (VOICEOVER):
I think it's always

going to be in the back
of my mind, in my heart,

to want to know what happened.

I hope that whatever
happened, that it

was correct, that
she didn't suffer,

that she wasn't
put through a lot.

But I need to know.

For every mystery
there is someone,

somewhere who knows the truth.

Perhaps that someone
was watching.

Perhaps it's you.

[music playing]