All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S01E24.480p.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: One rainy
night in upstate New York,

16-year-old Kari Lynn Nixon,
ran an errand to a nearby store.

Only 200 yards from
her front door,

she mysteriously vanished.

That same summer, Kari Lynn
was spotted in South Carolina.

But by the time her parents
arrived, she was gone.

In 1937, a man named
Doc Noss, explored

secret underground caverns in
a New Mexico mountain called,

Victorio Peak.

He claimed to have found 79
skeletons and a vast treasure

of gold rare coins and jewels.

Many believe that the treasure
still exists and today

may be worth nearly $2 billion.

In the winter of
1985, Dexter Stefonek

embarked on a long trip from
his son's farm in Oregon

to his home in Wisconsin.

At a desolate Montana rest stop,
police discovered Dexter's car

torched by an arsonist.

Dexter had vanished.

Tonight's cases
feature ordinary people

thrust into a vortex of mystery,
heartbreak, and intrigue.

Each one is searching
for that vital clue,

to end a story that
so far has no ending.

Perhaps you can help.

Join me, you may be able
to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

Buried treasure, the very
words have a mythic ring.

And such cases are usually
a fascinating mixture

of truth and fiction,
fantasy and reality.

Tonight, the legend
of a vast treasure

buried in underground caverns
beneath a New Mexico mountain.

Today, that treasure may
be worth nearly $2 billion.

People say it was discovered
more than 50 years ago

by a man named Doc
Noss, and his wife

Babe, who stood by
him even though some

thought he was a con man.

Babe died in 1979.

But part of our story
tonight is a previously

untelevised interview with her.

Graciously made
available by her family.

Is the treasure that
Babe and Doc Noss

discovered an elaborate scam?

Or is it real?

You, be the judge.

White Sands, New
Mexico, 100,000 acres

in the desolate embryo basin.

It is an inhospitable
environment,

home only to rattlesnakes
and sagebrush,

vultures and mule deer.

In November of 1937,
a man named Doc

Noss was deer hunting there.

He hiked to the top of a
hill known as Victorio Peak.

BABE NOSS: The
women stayed at camp

and the men went out for deer.

And so in that first day
hunt, Doc was up on a mountain

to see if he could find
any springs or anything.

And he discovered an
entrance to something.

He lifted up a rock
that was covering this

and there was a big puff of
air hit him right in the face.

But he'd found
something-- somebodies

old mine or something there,
but he didn't know what it was.

ROBERT STACK: Inside the
opening was a crude ladder.

When Doc Noss
inched his way down,

step by step into the
mountain, he uncovered

a vast unexplored labyrinth.

He went deeper and deeper.

Narrow, winding tunnels
led into a vaulted cavern.

In one chamber of the cavern,
Doc found an old chest.

On the lid were the
words, sealed silver,

written in Old English script.

This chest was only
the tip of an iceberg.

The entire treasure
is today estimated

to be worth $1.7 billion.

Even now, more than
50 years later,

it may still be hidden
beneath the craggy slopes

of Victorio Peak.

Doc Noss had been a
traveling medicine show man.

In 1933, he married
Ova Beckwith,

whom he nicknamed Babe.

They settled down and
opened a foot clinic

in Hot Springs, New Mexico.

TERRY DELONAS: Doc
was my grandfather.

And I've heard incredible
stories about him

all of my life.

He loved adventure and was
fascinated with history.

Babe was very strong
willed, an ardent,

might be a word to describe her.

She was loving, very generous,
and absolutely enamored

with Doc.

There it is.

Yeah.

ROBERT STACK: From the moment
Doc discovered the treasure

at Victorio Peak, he and
Babe spent every free moment

exploring the tunnels that
led deep inside the mountain.

You be careful down in there.

Yeah.

I'm going down in and you
keep a close eye out here.

ROBERT STACK: Doc found that
the passageways in the mountain

lead to several caverns.

And in one of them, he
found 79 human skeleton

stacked in a small enclosure.

In another cave, Doc found
amazing riches, jewels,

coins, and priceless artifacts.

TERRY DELONAS: He described
three huge, oval top chests

that he opened.

He brought a couple of
swords and knives out.

BABE NOSS: He
brought out a crown.

And I cleaned it up
in my sink in town.

There were 243
diamonds and one pigeon

blood ruby in this crown.

ROBERT STACK: In
a deeper cavern,

Doc found what appeared to be
a stack of worthless iron bars.

BABE NOSS: This must have
been in the Spring of 39'.

I asked him to bring out
a bar of that pig-iron

that he was telling me about.

And he said it was too heavy,
too hard to get out of there.

But he found a small one
and he brought it out.

And he said, this is the
last one of them babies

I'm going to bring it out.

Here it is, Babe.

Watch it, it's heavy.

Heavy?

Pig-iron?

Well Doc, that is heavy.

BABE NOSS: When I
rolled it over I seen

it was shiny where
you hit the gravel.

And I said, well Doc, this
is yellow, look at it.

And he looked at that and the
sun was right at the right hour

to shine right down on it.

And he rubbed his head
and he said, well Babe,

if that's gold, and all
that other is gold like it,

we can call John D.
Rockefeller a tramp.

ROBERT STACK: Doc told
Babe that inside the cavern

there were as many as
16,000 bars of gold.

How had this enormous
treasure come

to be deep inside the
caverns of Victorio Peak?

There are four theories.

It could have belonged to Juan
de Onate, the man who founded

New Mexico as a Spanish colony.

Reportedly, de Onate had
amassed an Aztec treasure

of gold, silver, and jewels.

Another theory is that a
Catholic missionary named

Father LaRue, who
operated gold mines

near Victorio Peak in 1797 and
stored his gold in a cavern

there.

Doc's treasure
could have belonged

to Maximilian, the Emperor
of Mexico in the 1860s.

He attempted to get his wealth
out of Mexico when he learned

of an assassination plot.

And legend says, he sent
a palace full of valuables

to the United States.

A final theory is that the
treasure belonged to an Apache

tribe which had
raided stagecoaches

carrying California mined gold.

In the spring of 1938,
six months after Doc Noss

had made his discovery, he
and Babe went to Santa Fe

to establish legal
ownership of his find.

How do?

Good afternoon.

Could I help you, sir?

Yeah.

We need some information
on filing a claim.

- Just what type of claim?
- Mining.

Mining.

OK.

Now just whereabouts do you
need this claim located?

TERRY DELONAS:
They filed a lease

with the state of New Mexico
for the entire section of land

surrounding Victorio Peak.

Subsequent to that,
they filed mining claims

on and around Victorio Peak.

We'll have that surveyed for
you or you can have a surveyed,

and we'll determine the
exact location of your claim.

We'll take care
of that survey.

We'll get somebody up
there to survey that.

They then filed a
treasure trove claim,

which has become
the historic Noss

family claim to the
treasure in Victorio Peak.

ROBERT STACK: Over a period of
two years, Doc mined the peak.

Witnesses say he
took more than 200

gold bars out of the cavern.

He then proceeded to hide
the bars from everyone,

including his own family.

Not only because he feared
theft, but also because

back then, it was
illegal to own gold that

was not in the form of jewelry.

TERRY DELONAS: They were hidden
in a variety of locations

all over the desert.

Some right by the county roads
by a certain marked telephone

pole.

Some were dropped in horse
tanks at the nearby ranches.

Some were just
buried in the sand

and Doc would put a different
colored rock over the top of it

than was natural to
that surrounding.

There was a lot of
fear and probably

some increasing paranoia,
in both Doc and Babe,

because as they solicited
more help from more friends,

and neighbors, and supporters,
they started to become afraid

that some of these
people might try

to steal some of the
bullion that they

had re-hidden around the peak.

ROBERT STACK: Finally
in the Fall of 1939,

Doc decided to try
opening a larger

passageway into Victorio Peak.

So he hired a mining engineer,
by the name of Montgomery,

to go with him and help
him dynamite out of the way

a particularly huge
boulder that was

just sort of hanging in the
lower portion of the shaft.

LETHA GUTHRIE:
Doc and Montgomery

was arguing very viciously about
the charge to be put in there.

Doc said that the
mountain was rotten.

And that it wouldn't
take a charge like that.

And this Montgomery
kept yelling it would.

By the way, he got
eight bars for doing it.

[dynamite blast]

ROBERT STACK: The blast
caused a cave-in which

collapsed the fragile shaft.

Doc had shut himself out
of his own mine, forever.

Now, instead of having
thousands of gold bars

to draw from, he only had
those few dozen, or 100,

or so that he brought
to the surface.

And he became very
protective of those bars.

ROBERT STACK: For
nine years, Doc Noss

attempted, illegally,
to sell his gold

bars on the black market.

In 1948, he met a man
named Charlie Ryan

and struck a deal to
sell him 51 of the bars.

I could go for that.

It'll take me a couple
days to get my cash together,

but how about a week from today?

Do it.

ROBERT STACK: At
the last minute,

Doc feared that Charlie
Ryan would double cross him.

He asked an
acquaintance, Tony Jolly,

to help him rebury the
gold in a new hiding place.

TONY JOLLY: And we
got in the pickup

and we went out across
the desert, a long ways.

And we started digging
and we dug 20 bars of gold

out of the ground, right there.

I said, Doc, what's going on?

And he said, well, there's
a fellow coming tomorrow

that's going to fly in here.

And he said, he was supposed
to take this gold and sell it

and split with me.

And he said, I got word that
he's going to sell it and keep

right on going with the money.

And we reburied
those bars of gold.

It turned out to be 90 more.

I handled, and I saw,
110 bars of gold.

ROBERT STACK: The next
day, Doc and Charlie Ryan

got into an argument.

And Ryan pulled a gun on him.

Sit down.

TERRY DELONAS: Ryan
accosted him and said

they'd better discuss
this problem of what

had happened to the gold.

Ryan was actually
telling him, if you

don't tell me
where the bars are,

you won't leave this room alive.

You're just trying to
jack up the price on me.

This is just a hoax.
There's no gold.

I told you we couldn't
trust him, Charlie.

I told you that.

Just a con man, Charlie.

He's going for his gun.

It's in his truck, shoot him.

[gunshot]

ROBERT STACK: Doc
died instantly.

And was photographed
by police where he lay.

The date was March 5, 5th 1949.

For three years, Babe
Noss and her children

struggled to clear the
passageway to the treasure.

In 1952, when they were less
than 12 yards from the opening

to the central cavern,
disaster struck again.

The State of New Mexico was
forced to relinquish Victorio

Peak and the land
surrounding it,

so the United States
Army could expand

the White Sands Missile Range.

Babe and her family were forced
off their claim by the Army.

What are you all
doing on our claim?

Mrs. Noss, this
is a missile range.

It's unsafe for
you to be up here.

TERRY DELONAS:
She was eventually

escorted off the site
by military police

and federal marshals.

Well, I sure as don't like it.

TERRY DELONAS: Protesting
all the time that she did

not want to abandon her claim.

She wanted to continue
her excavation work.

I can do it myself.

She was assured that she would
be able to return to the site

as soon as it was convenient
and not an interference

to national security.

[babe noss arguing with army]

TERRY DELONAS: My
grandmother continued

to petition the
Department of the Army

at White Sands Missile Range
level and pentagon level,

asking for permission to go back
and conduct a proper excavation

to reopen the treasure cavern.

She was repeatedly,
continually, and consistently

denied access to the peak.

Interestingly, some of the
personnel from Holloman Air

Force Base and White
Sands Missile Range

inadvertently stumbled into
a cavern on Victorio Peak

and reported finding a room
stacked full of gold bullion.

THOMAS BERLETT: The area that
Victorio Peak is located in

was 100% off limits to
everybody in those days.

Using hunting as a
excuse, we wandered

into the area quite regular.

After spending a lot of time,
a lot of weekends in this area,

we found the entrance
lower on the mountain

that we suspected was there.

We started digging.

We spent August and
September in this hole.

And a large blockage
was a very large boulder

that we had to tunnel under,
that led him to the first room

that we discovered.

In the middle of this room
was two stacks of material.

And they were bars of something.

And as we scratched
it, we knew right away

that it was actually gold.

We marked and identified
one of the bricks

inside with my initials on it.

And we stood it on end,
on the large piles.

We then discovered another small
room that was off to the side

of the room we were in.

It was a bit smaller in size.

In the middle of this room
was a pile in a pyramid shape.

The reason that we
didn't bring anything out

of the mountain on our
first visit to the cavern

was simply because
we were military.

We were in the middle
of a top secret missile

range that was forbidden
to everybody to be in.

The last thing in the
world we wanted to do

was to jeopardize our position,
and our find, by removing

something prematurely.

ROBERT STACK:
Eventually, the airmen

informed their superiors
about the gold they

had found at Victorio Peak.

They were denied permission
to explore further.

So they took steps to
ensure that no one else

could salvage the treasure.

THOMAS BERLETT: The
following weekend, we

returned to the entrance,
and we dynamited

it in four different places, and
blasted the whole thing shut.

ROBERT STACK: Over a year
later, the Secretary of the Army

created a top secret
classified military operation

at Victorio Peak.

In 1961, Babe Noss, along
with the State of New Mexico,

filed an injunction
against the Army

to stop them from
excavating at Victorio Peak.

She was protesting,
vehemently, that the Army would

be excavating on her
claim, while they

were denying her access
to do the same thing.

ROBERT STACK: In
1963, the Army sought

exclusive rights to Victorio
Peak, including mineral rights.

The State of New Mexico
denied the Army's request.

Even so, aerial photographs
showed a proliferation of roads

crisscrossing the peak.

Word of Doc's hidden gold leaked
to other treasure hunters.

An anonymous group hired
Boston attorney, F. Lee Bailey.

They were seeking permission
from Attorney General John

Mitchell, both to
excavate at Victorio Peak

and to sell gold bars.

The secret of the gold became
public at the Watergate

hearings when John
Dean testified about F.

Lee Bailey's client's requests.

Mr. Mitchell raised
the fact that F.

Lee Bailey had a problem that
he would like to bring up.

He said that Mr.
Bailey had a client

who had an enormous amount
of gold in his possession.

And would like to
make an arrangement

with the government, whereby
the gold could be turned over

to the government without the
individual being prosecuted

for holding the gold.

Mr. Mitchell raised the fact--

NORMAN SCOTT: F. Lee
Bailey and his group,

which consisted of a number
of military and ex-military

people, had a vast treasure
in gold bars, located

somewhere out in the southwest.

In fact, in an area very
closely, if not exactly,

where the late Milton Noss
had made, allegedly, his find.

ROBERT STACK: Because of
the enormous publicity,

the army finally allowed a
group of private claimants,

including Babe Noss, F. Lee
Bailey's clients, and airmen

Berlett's partner, as well as
representatives of the Apache

Nation, and the alleged
heirs of Jesse James

to undertake a 10 day
expedition in 1977.

Led by professional treasure
hunter, Norman Scott,

his purpose was to
determine, once and for all,

if treasure really did
exist at Victorio Peak.

It's sort of a
Department of Army policy

that there's been a lot
of searching up here

and we've found nothing yet,
or they've found nothing yet.

So I don't really expect
any particular gold treasure

to be found, but I might
be quoted incorrectly

too if they find something.

There's no question
that gold like bars

came out of this mountain.

No question about it.

And in behind--
there's paintings

down there behind the shaft.

We came here based
on legend, research.

We are verifying
or refuting same,

by electronic and
personal observation.

ROBERT STACK: During
the expedition,

a scientist from the Stanford
Research Institute, Lambert

Dolphin, conducted
ground radar tests

to determine if there was
an underground chamber

deep inside the mountain.

LAMBERT DOLPHIN: But I
noticed on the radar screen,

some echoes quite
frequently at a very great

depth, 300, 400 feet deep.

And that led me
to the conclusion

that there was indeed a
large cavern at the base

of the mountain,
about where Doc Noss

had said there was a cavern.

Then they came over
here and went this,

and this is the one
that break through.

Ova, now we're going to take
you up to the chimney entrance,

now.

ROBERT STACK: The
1977 expedition

was the last official
attempt to find the treasure

inside Victorio Peak.

The crown Doc found lies
buried, along with other parts

of the treasures, somewhere
in the New Mexico desert.

After Doc's death,
his heirs never

recovered any of the gold bars.

But Tony Jolly, the man who
helped him hide the bars

in the desert, went
back years later,

and retrieved 10 of them.

After more than 50 years
of legend, controversy,

and intrigue, the heirs
of Doc and Babe Noss

are still fighting
for their rights.

And we have
decided that we will

finish the work that
Doc Noss started,

that Ova Noss tired to finish.

We will, eventually,
get Victorio Peak open,

so that the mystery of what's
inside the peak can be solved.

My point of view, as
Governor of New Mexico,

is this is a solvable mystery.

It's always been exciting
for us to talk about it.

Let's do it right now.

It would be interesting
to the state.

Certainly would be
interesting to our economy.

And we'd have an
opportunity to tax

these people if they
were fortuitous enough

to find the gold.

If the mountain has
not been penetrated,

and materials removed
from this mountain,

this will be the biggest
thing that this country

has ever seen.

ROBERT STACK: Babe
Noss died in 1979.

And every year her
heirs have petitioned

the White Sands
Missile Base to allow

them to dig at Victorio Peak.

Every year the request
has been refused.

Recently, Terry Delonas
took his case to Washington.

The Army finally
agreed, in principle,

to allow the
excavation, but claimed

that because of technicalities,
an act of Congress

would be necessary.

This year a bill
will be introduced

by New Mexico
congressman which may

finally give the green light.

If so, an expedition could take
place by the end of the year.

And if it does, "Unsolved
Mysteries" will be there.

Perhaps we'll find only an
empty cavern, with evidence

of riches long ago removed.

But perhaps, just
perhaps, we will

find the greatest treasure the
modern world has ever known.

In a moment, the story
of a 16-year-old girl who

vanished one evening, just
over 200 yards from her home.

What happened Kari Lynn Nixon?

[theme music]

Au Sable Forks,
population 3,000.

Located in the shadows of New
York's Adirondack Mountains,

Au Sable Forks is a friendly,
family oriented community.

Violent crimes are
extremely rare.

Indeed, anything
out of the ordinary

is likely to attract attention.

But in 1987, Au Sable
Forks was stunned

by the mysterious disappearance
of a 16-year-old girl

named Kari Lynn Nixon.

Kari was an above
average student,

the pitcher on her high
school softball team.

Hardly the type of girl who
would willingly invite trouble.

On the evening of June 22, 1987,
at approximately 9:30 p.m.,

Kari left her home to on
an errand for her father.

She headed for a neighborhood
market a few blocks away.

Kari left the market and
headed towards her home,

the time was 9:55.

As Kari took the familiar
path along Palmer Street,

to her house, she exchanged
greetings with a neighbor.

- Hello.
- Oh, hi, Kari.

How are you?
- Pretty good.

How are you?

Just fine, thanks.

ROBERT STACK: The
time was now 10:05.

At 10:10, a group
of boys walked by,

but saw only an empty street.

Somehow, in the five minutes
between 10:05 and 10:10,

and just 700 feet from
her home, Kari Lynn Nixon

had disappeared.

She was innocently
walking down the street

in a neighborhood that she
was born and brought up

with, that I was born
and brought up on,

and something happened.

And she wasn't in her bed
at 6:00 in the morning.

And my immediate
reaction was terror.

And it's been a
nightmare ever since.

ROBERT LEU: We began a
large air and ground search

of the about 50 mile
radius area of around Au

Sable Forks, New York.

We had many volunteers from
the local fire departments,

and the Air Force
Base came over.

The results of all
these searches,

and all the leads,
and everything we've

done in the last
year and a half,

nothing has been
found, not one thing.

She's walked off the
face of the earth,

as far as we're concerned.

Kari wrote some
letters to a friend.

And in these letters,
she indicated

she would like to live in
Hawaii, moved to Florida,

possibly California.

And in fact, leave
the town of Au

Sable Forks when she turned 18.

She expressed this fact
two or three times.

ROBERT LEU: My
theory on this case

is Kari Lynn Nixon was abducted.

And she was dressed in sweats.

Her father gave her
$20 for groceries.

She went to Thomas' store
for her father, paid

$3 for the groceries,
left Thomas'

store with a bag of groceries.

If she was a runaway, she would
had done none of those things.

She would have been
dressed better.

She would have
taken money with her

that she had in her bedroom,
after we searched her bedroom.

She is a victim of a kidnapping.

ROBERT STACK: There was other
evidence that the young girl

had not run away.

Kari was close to her family
and they often bowled together.

Everything pointed to a
happy, stable relationship

with her mother and father.

GARY NIXON: I am 100%
positive she didn't run away.

As far as I'm
concerned, somebody

pulled up alongside
of her, whether it

was somebody she knew, or not
necessary somebody she knew.

But one way or the other,
somebody picked her up.

Was Kari abducted?

Or did she run away?

By the Winter of 1987,
the investigation

had reached a dead end.

But in November, New
York State Police

received this letter
from an anonymous writer

in Flint, Michigan.

The letter reads,
look for Kari Lynn

Nixon in the Eutawville,
South Carolina area.

Despite the tenuous
nature of this lead,

Kari's family traveled
to Eutawville.

They blanketed the
small town with flyers.

The family was as
surprised as the police

when a local resident
remembered having spoken

with a 16-year-old, who
had shyly given her name,

it was Kari Lynn Nixon.

Shirley Kannapel is
the Eutawville resident

who reported this encounter.

She had seen Kari's picture
on one of the flyers

posted by the Nixon family.

SHIRLEY KANNAPEL: I
recognized her immediately

from the way she looked
because I'd just seen her,

just about three
weeks before that.

And her hair, her
earrings, and the name--

it was the same girl
that had been introduced

to me, Kari Lynn Nixon.

There's been
numerous towns people

around the Eutawville
area that said

they've seen this young lady.

And like Ms. Kannapel,
she's seen her.

She was even introduced to her.

And I just actually believe,
100%, that she is still alive.

All right.

What I want you
to do, Shirley, is

to relax your body
as much as possible,

but concentrate on
the sound of my voice.

ROBERT STACK: Shirley
was unable to remember

many details of her sighting.

So at the request of the
New York State Police,

she underwent hypnosis.

They hoped that her
memory might be jogged.

PSYCHIATRIST: And
you should be feeling

very warm, secure, and relaxed.

Shirley, I want you
to go back to the day

that you saw the young girl
that we talked about before.

SHIRLEY KANNAPEL:
It was a hot day.

A little red-headed girl
comes up and asks me

to meet a new friend of hers.

Shirley, I want you to meet
my new friend, Kari Lynn Nixon.

Nixon?

Where you from?

New York.

SHIRLEY KANNAPEL: You
down here to stay?

Yep.

Can you describe her to me?

- She's got long, brown hair.
- Yep.

SHIRLEY KANNAPEL:
Where you staying at?

Across the lake.

SHIRLEY KANNAPEL: Where
at across the lake?

[inaudible]

ROBERT STACK: Kari seemed
shy, unwilling to offer

much conversation
beyond her name.

What was your
first name again?

Kari.

SHIRLEY KANNAPEL: And
I said, well, Kari Lynn

Nixon, that is a pretty name.

And I walked away
from the group.

I had worked for about 4
and 1/2 years in a program

where some of our
clients were runaways,

and you pick up on things.

And the way she
evaded the questions,

I thought then
she was a runaway.

ROBERT STACK: After the
session, authorities

investigated the circumstances
of Shirley's sighting.

They found the girl who
was allegedly with Kari,

but were disappointed
to discover

that she suffered
from a memory lapse

and couldn't recall
the incident.

After failing to find any other
confirmed sightings of Kari,

the investigation, once
again, reached a dead end.

Over a year and a half
has passed since Kari

Lynn Nixon vanished.

Police have investigated
70 sightings,

conducted over 1,500
interviews, and examined

over 200 unidentified bodies.

And they still have no idea
where Kari Lynn might be today.

KATHY NIXON: I love
Kari very much.

We just want her back.

We just need to know
that she's all right.

If she has decided
that something

else is better for her, she
will have our total support.

I just need to know
that she's not hurt.

SHIRLEY KANNAPEL:
I am 100% convinced

that I have met you, Kari.

And if I had any message
at all to give to you,

would be just call home.

Call your mom and dad, let
them know you're alive.

You don't have to
go home, just call

and let them know you're alive.

ROBERT STACK: Today,
Kari Lynn Nixon

would be almost 18-years-old.

At the time of her
disappearance two years ago,

she was five feet three inches
tall and weighed 105 pounds.

Her eyes are blue and
her hair is brown.

She was known to wear two
earrings on her left ear

and four on her right.

As the years and the
investigation dragged on,

Kari's parents began
to give up hope

of ever finding their daughter.

But all that changed
in March of this year

when they saw a
videotape of a concert

given by the popular singing
group, New Kids on the Block.

On June 5, 1989,
the group filmed

their Hanging Tough Live concert
in Los Angeles, California.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK:
[singing] Let's do it.

My favorite girl, oh, oh,
oh, she's my favorite girl.

ROBERT STACK: Among the
crowd of teenage fans,

Kathy and Gary Nixon
saw a familiar face.

KATHY NIXON: We couldn't
believe how much this girl

looked like our daughter.

So we just kept rewinding
it, and going over, and over,

and over and-- we
just couldn't believe

it because we never really had
any hope that she was alive.

And then there's this girl
that looks so much like her.

I'm not 100% convinced,
but it looks like our Kari.

If I'm viewing
the tape, I picked

the girl out immediately, the
first time it ran through.

It was obvious to me that this
girl did look like Kari Nixon

and appeared to be her.

ROBERT STACK: This detail
enhanced photograph

was made from the
videotape and compared

with a picture of Kari taken
shortly before she disappeared.

RICHARD SYPEK: There's obviously
many similarities, the hair

length, the hair color, the
shape of the face, the chin,

the mouth.

And it displayed a
multiple of earrings

in the right ear,
in which Kari Nixon

has four earrings in her
right ear and two in her left.

So the photo enhanced,
finished product,

further convinced
the Nixon's that this

could be their daughter.

ROBERT STACK: Members of
the New Kids on the Block

did not recognize the
girl in the crowd.

But after hearing
Kari's story, wanted

to make a personal appeal.

JONATHAN KNIGHT:
Well, I'd just like

to say to Kari, that if you're
out there, the best thing to do

would just be to call somebody.

And, you know, even if you
go to your local police

and just tell them
your situation, then

maybe they can help you out.

Or if any of you
viewers out there,

who have seen her
at a New Kids show,

or just seen her on the street,
if you could contact someone,

you know, to let them
know where she is,

or if she's all
right, or anything.

That would be a big help.

We need to find this girl.

Find out who she is,
whether it's Kari

or not, just so
that if it's not,

we can go on to something
else, to try and find her.

I love you, Kari.

And I need to talk to you.

[music playing]

Many of us have ridden along
a lonely stretch of highway.

It is an unsettling feeling when
you go for miles without seeing

other people, and you
know that a cry for help

would not be heard.

We're about to see
the story of a man

whose worst fears came true.

It all began innocently, when
he said goodbye to his son

and set out to drive
alone, across five

sparsely populated states.

In the Winter of 1985,
68-year-old Dexter Stefonek

prepared to drive from
his son's Oregon farm

to his home in Wisconsin.

Six years earlier,
Dexter had retired

from a Wisconsin paper mill.

He had been married
for 44 years,

but in 1984, his
wife, Vivian, died.

A few months later, Dexter
went to visit his grandchildren

and his son in Corbett, Oregon.

But as the first anniversary
of Vivian's death approached,

Dexter wanted to go back home.

He came out and we
thought that he'd probably

spend the winter with us.

And then it got to be a
difficult time of year for him.

And I tried to convince
him to not leave then.

Now with your
mother dying, you

know I'm going to be out here
to see you as often as possible.

I had a good time, but
I've got to go back.

DAVID STEFONEK: Winter
was already set in,

there was really nothing he
needed to go back to Wisconsin

for.

Kiss the kids and wife me.

We discussed that even
if he got partway home

and decided to come back
out, that was fine, Turn

around and come back out again.

He was anxious to get home.

And he drove away.

That's the last I saw him.

ROBERT STACK:
Dexter Stefonek left

his son's home in Oregon on the
morning of November 18, 1985.

Dexter had made the 2,000
mile trip from Oregon

to Wisconsin many times before.

Because he wanted to finish the
drive as quickly as possible,

he told his son he would
not stop at motels,

but would pull into
a rest areas instead.

November 19, 1985, on a bleak
stretch of Montana Highway,

at the Bad Route rest area,
a burning car was found.

When I arrived
at the rest area

and pulled in
behind the vehicle,

the inside was completely
engulfed in flames.

I went over and talked to
the State Highway Department.

And they informed
me they didn't see

any person inside the vehicle.

ROBERT STACK: A computer check
of the license plates revealed

that the car belonged
to Dexter Stefonek,

of Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

It was only 26 hours
after Dexter had

left his son's home in Oregon.

The Sheriff's Department
immediately searched the area.

Worried that Dexter might
have begun walking for help

and been overcome by the bitter
cold, they found nothing.

Sheriff Jim George had an
arson expert examine the car.

He found that the
fire had been set

deliberately, using gasoline.

Sheriff George also noticed
that the driver's seat

was pushed all the way back.

JIM GEORGE: Dexter
Stefonek, being a short man,

would have had to have
the seat all the way

up to the front to drive it.

So it had to be a larger man
driving that vehicle, six

foot or larger.

ROBERT STACK: Law enforcement
officials with stymied.

Who was the 6 foot
tall man who had

driven Dexter Stefonek's car?

Could this person have
set fire to the car?

Finally, where was Dexter?

Had he been killed?

Or had he simply disappeared
into the harsh Montana winter?

Sheriff George
attempted to establish

the chronology of
events for the morning

that Dexter's car
had been burned.

His car had been discovered
just after 10:00 a.m.

Nearly three hours
earlier, Fred Siegle,

custodian of a Bad
Route rest area,

had arrived for work as usual.

FRED SIEGLE: I got to the rest
area between 8:00 and 8:30.

There was a pickup parked there,
and there was nobody around.

I really didn't pay
no attention to it.

ROBERT STACK: About 15
minutes later, at 8:45 a.m.,

Clyde Mitchell, a Montana
Highway maintenance supervisor,

made a stop at the rest area.

CLYDE MITCHELL: Fred's pick-up
was there and a white Chevy

pickup, facing southeast.

Went into the utility
room and talked to Fred.

And asked Fred if
he had seen anybody,

or how long the
pickup had been there.

And he didn't know how
long it had been there.

So then I took a
closer look of it.

I saw Arizona
plates in the back.

Walked around the complete
outfit and noticed

it was a four wheel drive
Chevy, with blue trim

and a cowcatcher on the front.

At the time, I didn't
think there was

anything suspicious about it.

ROBERT STACK: At
approximately 9:15 a.m.,

Clyde left to complete
his regular rounds.

15 minutes later, at
9:30 a.m., as Fred Siegle

was leaving the rest area,
Dexter Stefonek's brown

Plymouth Horizon pulled in.

The driver got out carrying
two large plastic containers.

Are you having any problems?

No.

I'd just run out of gas
and I had to go get some.

FRED SIEGLE: Yeah.

He was around six feet tall,
between 35 and 40-years-old,

real light complected,
and was clean shaved.

No sign anything
was wrong with him.

No.

There was nothing
unusual about him.

He didn't seem to be
excited or nothing.

ROBERT STACK: The authorities
have no idea who the man was

or what had happened to Dexter.

Less than a half hour after
Fred Siegle saw the man

at the rest area,
Dexter's car was

discovered there, in flames.

Nearly four months
later, a local couple,

Bill and Cindy Shaw,
went to a remote landfill

17 miles from the
Bad Road rest area.

CINDY SHAW: My husband and I
came up to dump some garbage,

and there was a wallet
laying on the ground.

And it still had the driver's
license and it was current.

So I handed it to Bill
and he looked at it.

And he wondered if it
belonged to the man

whose car burned up at the
rest area a few months before.

And later we just
started looking around.

And there was a bunch of
stuff in the dump that

didn't belong there,
that hadn't been there

when we were there before.

And we each kind of
went our own direction,

trying to see if there was
anything else that didn't

quite belong in the dump.

Boy, there's a shaving
kid, a suitcase--

There's a boot over here
that's practically new.

ROBERT STACK: Both
Cindy and her husband,

Bill, found several
pieces of men's clothing.

Bill picked up a boot,
and when he stood up,

saw a man's foot partially
hidden beneath a mattress.

Bill and Cindy called
the authorities.

The corner positively identified
the body as Dexter Stefonek.

And said that he had been
shot twice in the head.

LANCE SILHA: There were
marks on his hands.

There was damage done to
his neck and throat area.

And he had a bruise,
or damaged area,

on the frontal
part of his skull.

That was probably caused
by a beating or some type

of injury of that sort.

ROBERT STACK: Sheriff's
investigators discovered

that there was money
in Dexter's suitcase,

so robbery seemed
an unlikely motive.

Also, the clothing which had
been conspicuously placed

around the landfill
belonged to Dexter,

and appeared to have
been placed there

just days before it was found.

CINDY SHAW: The
things that we found

that day were just not things
that had been here before.

And it really bothered me that
the week before everything

was normal.

And seven days later all
of this stuff appeared.

ROBERT STACK: Strangely,
Dexter Stefonek's body

seemed to have been in the
landfill for several months.

The condition of the
body would indicate

that it had probably been in
the dump site from the time

that the car was found
burning, until the time it

was discovered.

I have no reason to
believe that it wasn't.

ROBERT STACK: One week
later, the authorities

found one final
clue, a small line

of graffiti written
in pencil, in the Bad

Route rest area men's room.

It began with the
words, hot jock.

And other key words
seemed to refer

to Dexter Stefonek's murder.

Hot jock from
Wisconsin, 1185--

LANCE SILHA: My own
theory is that someone

wanted us to see it.

Hot jock could be a CB
handle, it referred to shot,

it had the Wisconsin
written in the graffiti,

and a date indicating November.

ROBERT STACK: Sheriff
George believes the graffiti

was written by the killer.

JIM GEORGE: I think
he would telling

law enforcement something.

I think he was taunting
law enforcement

or bragging to law enforcement
about committing a homicide.

ROBERT STACK: The Sheriff
has attempted to reconstruct

Dexter Stefonek's last hours.

He believes that Dexter arrived
at the Bad Route rest area

soon after 7:00 a.m.,
on November the 19th,

and that his murderer
was already there.

Dexter was hard of hearing.

It is the Sheriff's theory
that the killer tried to get

his attention and failed.

Sir, sir, could you help me?

I've run out of gas.

Could you take me to
town to get some gas?

What's your problem?

Get out of the car!

Get out of the car!

ROBERT STACK: It is
unclear at what point

Dexter Stefonek was
actually killed,

but the authorities
are convinced

that the mysterious
murderer abducted Dexter.

And after killing him, hid
his body in the landfill.

Sheriff George believes that
the murder returned to the rest

area, doused Dexter's car with
gasoline, and set it on fire,

both to destroy evidence
and to distract officials,

so he would have time escape.

Dexter Stefonek's killer
is still at large.

Only two clues exist,
the description

of the suspect's vehicle
and the sketchy description

of the suspect himself.

For every mystery,
there is someone,

somewhere, who knows the truth.

Perhaps that
someone is watching.

Perhaps it's you.

[theme music]