Original subtitles

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In Arizona,

a successful real estate entrepreneur named Chuck

Morgan was found shot to death.

Some believe this was a contract killing

ordered by organized crime.

The only significant clue was a cryptic list Morgan scribbled

on the back of a $2 bill.

1965.

The South was embroiled in the painful civil rights struggle.

In rural Louisiana, a young black deputy sheriff

is brutally murdered by unknown gunmen.

Today, new evidence has surfaced and the case

reopened by the FBI.

In Tacoma, an unusual and heartwarming story

concerning a young epilepsy victim and the dog who

saved her life.

Does a mysterious sixth sense enable some animals to actually

predict epileptic seizures?

This is the only photograph of a bold bank robber who has coolly

committed a series of successful holdups

without ever being identified.

Perhaps it will help you put him behind bars.

We'll also tell you how you helped shed light

on the bizarre case of a demented arsonist

who set fire to a house and then callously videotaped the blaze.

Thanks to our viewers, two suspects, both teenagers,

are now in custody.

Join me once again.

You may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Tucson, Arizona.

March 22, 1977.

Chuck Morgan left as usual to drive two of his four daughters

to school.

Riding the crest of Tucson's real estate boom,

Morgan had become president of his own escrow agency.

From the outside, his life looked ideal--

the hardworking businessman, devoted husband, and father.

But in 1977, Chuck Morgan had become a potential witness

in a state land fraud case involving

a known organized crime boss.

And suddenly, on March 22, Morgan disappeared.

Three days later, Chuck Morgan returned

home at 2:00 in the morning.

I was in bed, and the dog started barking.

And I got up, and there was a thump against the back door.

I went to the door and opened it, and there was Chuck.

Chuck!

What happened?

RUTH MORGAN (VOICEOVER): And he was missing a shoe.

He had one plastic handcuff around one ankle,

and his hands still had them on.

What happened to you?

Mom, what happened to Daddy?

Just go back to your room.

Go back to your room!

RUTH MORGAN (VOICEOVER): He kept motioning to his throat,

because he hadn't said a word.

RUTH: Can you talk?

Can you write?

RUTH MORGAN (VOICEOVER): And he shook his head yes,

so I went and got a tablet and pen.

RUTH: Hallucino-- hallucinogenic?

RUTH MORGAN: He wrote that his throat had been painted

with a hallucinogenic drug and that drug could

drive him irrevocably insane or destroy his nervous system

and kill him.

And he wanted the car moved.

He wanted it moved immediately, because he said that he didn't

want them to know he was home.

He wouldn't tell me who "they" were.

I'm gonna call the police!

RUTH MORGAN (VOICEOVER): And I wanted to call a doctor,

and I wanted to call the police.

And he was adamant.

But why?

RUTH MORGAN: And then he wrote out

that that would be signing a death

warrant for the entire family.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For one week,

Ruth Morgan nursed her husband, feeding

him water with an eyedropper.

Before his voice returned, he began

to allude to a secret identity, agent

for the federal government.

RUTH MORGAN (VOICEOVER): He wrote, "They took

my Treasury identification," and that's

the first I'd heard of it.

Your Treasury ID is missing?

What Treasury ID?

He wouldn't talk to me about it.

He wrote.

He had been working for them for about two or three years,

and that was it.

Who was responsible for this bizarre kidnapping

episode in Chuck Morgan's life?

It is possible that Morgan really was a secret agent

dealing with organized crime so he could pass information

along to the government.

But Morgan may also, like so many others in Arizona

during the '70s, have become caught up himself

in the web of organized crime.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Lured by the mild climate

and a confused and corrupt criminal justice system,

the mafia reportedly established Arizona as a narcotics pipeline

and a haven for swindlers and money laundering.

Led by former New York don Joseph Bonanno,

more than 500 established racketeers set

up shop here during the '70s.

Their influence began a slew of gangland-style killings,

culminating in the slaying of investigative reporter Don

Bolles.

What made Arizona particularly attractive to crime syndicates

was a unique state law which allowed

them to buy up land through numbered blind trust accounts.

That way, they themselves could remain

anonymous, providing a nearly foolproof way to launder money.

Chuck Morgan did real estate escrow work for at least one

mafia family, and they may also have begun

using him to do escrow work for purchases

of gold bullion and platinum, a more convenient way

to launder money.

It is very easy to get in over your head.

And I suspect that, over the years,

Mr. Morgan was in that kind of a situation.

He was a straight businessman who probably got a little too

close to the flame.

Well, the sales agreement looks all in order,

the legal description of the parcel, the amount.

DON DEVEREUX (VOICEOVER): He was around the edges

of a couple of fairly large organized crime

groups in Arizona at that time.

We've got ourselves a deal here.

DON DEVEREUX: The records begin early '73,

and it would indicate he was doing perhaps upwards

of a billion with a B escrow work in bullion and platinum,

transactions that only existed on paper.

There was never any gold at that level, at least.

And money changed hands and moved through escrow accounts

in Los Angeles and Atlanta banks,

and that's how the monies were legitimized.

Chuck mentioned to me once that there was money laundering

going on in this town, but nothing that he

himself was involved in.

He told me the less the girls and I knew,

the better off we would be.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After his kidnapping,

Chuck Morgan began exhibiting a justifiable paranoia.

He wore a bulletproof vest and insisted

on driving his daughters to and from school.

He informed the school that no one else was authorized

to pick the girls up.

All his precautions were to no avail.

Two months after his first disappearance,

Chuck Morgan vanished again.

The last morning that anybody saw him,

he went up to his parents' house.

And he was talking to his father and told him

that if anything happened to him,

there was a letter explaining why, how, and who.

The letters never surfaced.

[phone rings]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Nine days

after her husband had disappeared,

Ruth Morgan received a mysterious phone call.

The caller was a woman who gave Ruth

a reference from the Bible.

RUTH MORGAN: This woman said, Ruthie?

I said, yes?

She said, Chuck is all right, Ecclesiastes 12: 1 through 8,

and then she hung up.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The passage

reads, in part, "Men are afraid of a high place

and of terrors on the road.

Remember him before the silver cord is broken

and the golden bowl is crushed.

Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,

and the Spirit will return to God who gave it."

Two days after Ruth's cryptic phone message,

her husband's body was discovered,

his bulletproof vest ironically in place.

He had died from a single bullet fired at close range

into the back of his head.

The bullet came from his own .357 Magnum,

which was lying beside him.

The investigators also found a piece of paper

with directions to the murder site jotted down

in Chuck's handwriting and a pair of sunglasses

which definitely did not belong to him.

They made one additional discovery.

Apparently, Chuck Morgan had clipped

a $2 bill inside his underwear.

Written on the bill were seven Spanish names beginning

with the letters A through G. Above them was

a notation, Ecclesiastes 12, with the verses 1 through 8

marked by arrows drawn on the bill's serial number.

This was the same reference the mysterious female caller

had given to Ruth Morgan.

On the back of the bill, the signers of the Declaration

of Independence were numbered 1 through 7,

and a crude map was drawn.

DON DEVEREUX: The map is of some roads that

do exist between Tuscon and the Mexican border,

going out to a place called Robles Junction

and then going south to a little town called Sasabe.

A ranch is identified down there where there are landing strips.

It's an area that very likely would be involved in smuggling.

And there are some indications that if Mr. Morgan was involved

in some movements of real gold, that some of it,

in fact, may have been coming across

from Mexico in that fashion.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Despite the puzzling evidence,

many in the sheriff's department believed Chuck

Morgan's death was a suicide.

They claimed he had shot himself in the back of the head.

RUTH MORGAN: There is no way Chuck

would have committed suicide.

And if he had even contemplated suicide,

he would have left a letter for his girls and for me.

It is not a very normal place to shoot oneself as a suicide.

And bear in mind, he's wearing a bulletproof vest at the time.

I have never seen, in all my years as a journalist,

a fellow take himself out in the desert wearing

a bulletproof vest and shoot himself

in the back of the head.

I was familiar with the intelligence officers

working intelligence for the sheriff's

department at the time.

I had some conversation with them about this case.

They thought it was a homicide, gang related.

They left the sheriff's department.

I don't know if they left because of what they

detected in this case or another case or a combination of cases.

But they indicated they were in fear of their lives

and actually left law enforcement.

Two of them left the continental US.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two days

after Chuck Morgan's death, an anonymous woman

spoke to a member of the Pima County Sheriff's Department

on the telephone.

She said Chuck had come to meet her at a local motel

just before he died.

The woman called herself Green Eyes

and said she was the same one who

had called Chuck's wife quoting the passage from Ecclesiastes.

Green Eyes also said that in the motel,

Chuck showed her a briefcase containing

thousands of dollars in cash.

He claimed the money would buy him out of a gang contract

that had been put on his life.

How much do you have in there?

Hopefully $60,000.

Why do you need so much?

DON DEVEREUX (VOICEOVER): If the information that Green Eyes

provided is accurate, it is, in a very perverse sense,

remotely possible that Mr. Morgan paid for his own murder.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The theory

goes that organized crime put the word out that they

wanted Chuck Morgan dead.

A hitman then told Chuck, who came up with the money

to buy the hitman off.

But when the two of them met in the desert,

the hitman killed Chuck anyway, then took his money.

DON DEVEREUX (VOICEOVER): There is a great likelihood

that Mr. Morgan was, in fact, doing

something with the government.

And I think somebody blew his cover,

and I think he got killed.

We had a deal here!

Go over there and kneel down!

DON DEVEREUX (VOICEOVER): I think

this was a guy who was extremely naive about a lot of things,

the sort of associations he suddenly found himself

in and maybe was even asked to put himself in by people

in the US government.

[knocking]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Three weeks

after her husband's death, Ruth Morgan

had two visitors claiming to be government officials.

This is Jack Richards.

We're special agents for the FBI.

RUTH MORGAN (VOICEOVER): They opened and closed

their identification very fast.

They said they wanted to come in and look through the house.

I never thought at the time to ask them for a search warrant.

They never said what they were looking for.

To this day, I don't even know what they were looking for.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The two men tore Ruth Morgan's

house apart, searching for something which

they seemed unable to find.

Because she was so rattled, Ruth did not take down their names.

No one knows for sure if the two men really were from the FBI.

Don Devereux contracted the bureau to get more

information on the Morgan case.

DON DEVEREUX: When I made a formal Freedom of Information

Act request to the FBI, they'd never heard of Mr. Morgan,

despite the fact that they obviously

opened an investigation, despite the fact the FBI interviewed

Mr. Morgan's attorney.

They were all over this thing like a blanket for a while.

But now, they've never heard of the guy.

He never existed.

No card, no file, no nothing.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Was Chuck Morgan

doing undercover work for the government?

Were the clues he left behind on the $2 bill an attempt to pass

coded messages to the FBI?

12 years later, Ruth Morgan is still

trying to unravel the strange clues left by her husband.

The passage from Ecclesiastes haunts her.

"While the sun or the light or the moon or the stars

be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain.

In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble--"

I don't know what it means.

There's a message there somewhere.

I know there is.

But I don't-- I don't know what it means.

DON DEVEREUX: I think the $2 bill provides the basis

for some kind of cryptography.

I think there are the bases or some kind of a code there.

What seems to be missing, however, is the document

that the $2 bill would unlock.

I think we need a companion piece

to really make ultimate sense out of the $2 bill.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Is there a document

that explains the mysterious death of Chuck Morgan tying

all the cryptic clues together?

Were the two men calling themselves federal agents

searching for the document when they ransacked the Morgan home?

For Ruth Morgan, only one thing is certain.

RUTH MORGAN: He was murdered.

Somebody held a gun to his head and killed him.

I don't know why.

I-- I may never know why, and I probably will never know who.

But I know somebody did it.

He was the husband of someone.

He was the father of four children.

Was he a good guy?

Was he a bad guy?

If he was quietly providing assistance to the US government

and monitoring the activities of one

or more major organized crime families, he wasn't a villain.

He was a good guy.

And they need to know that.

When the segment aired, we received hundreds of calls

relating to Morgan's death.

According to Devereux, who continued his investigation,

many turned out to be productive leads.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Three months

later, a draftsman at a Phoenix computer company,

Doug Johnston, was found dead in his car outside his office.

Johnston had been shot once behind the ear,

and police have suggested it was a possible suicide.

Curiously, Johnston worked across the street from Don

Devereux's office and drove a car that almost

exactly matched Devereux's.

In fact, Devereux is now convinced

that the bullet which killed Doug Johnston

was intended for him.

I got a phone call from a journalist friend of mine from

Washington, DC, who had been briefed by a high-level CIA

official that, in fact, that was a botched hit,

that some people thought they were hitting me when they

shot the guy across the street.

And, in fact, there was still a contract outstanding,

and it was coming around again, that whatever I had done

was still a problem to someone.

Two other sources in the intelligence community

have confirmed to Don Devereux that he is a target for murder

and that the next attempt will be

made to look like an accident.

We'll bring you a full report on this intriguing case

in the near future.

Recently, we profiled a story that generated more than 1,600

phone calls from our viewers.

The case involved a fire that was apparently

started by an arsonist then recorded

on videotape by the suspect.

MAN (ON VIDEOTAPE): This is what I've been

doing on my week's vacation.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): This footage

is from the actual videotape found on August 15, 1989,

by a Stockton, California, family.

MAN (ON VIDEOTAPE): [laughing]

I've never run across anything as eerie as this tape.

It was-- it frightened me.

As a matter of fact, I thought about it

that night when I went to bed.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Despite

a frame-by-frame analysis of the video,

investigators were unable to match the fire recorded

on the tape with any suspected arson fires reported

in the state of California.

The burning structure appeared to be a wood-frame house,

perhaps in a rural area.

Because fire engines do arrive, investigators

felt certain that somewhere, a report of the blaze

was on file.

I think the person who made this videotape

and is responsible for the fire will,

without a doubt in my mind, continue to set fires.

And the person needs to be apprehended

and stopped before his fires become more destructive.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Update.

Redwood City, California, 60 miles west of Stockton.

Within minutes of our broadcast, several viewers

from Redwood City called our telecenter

and identified the location of the house

seen burning on the videotape.

As we were sitting here and we looked at the film on the TV,

we realized with utter shock that it was the house

behind us that was on TV.

And our family was scared, to say the least,

because we didn't realize that the film even existed.

And there was no mistake in my mind

at all that that was the house that

was behind us while watching the videotape on TV.

We called into "Unsolved Mysteries"

and gave all the information.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The arson

occurred on August 15, 1988.

The house that was destroyed was under construction at the time.

Today, it has been rebuilt. Incredibly, on the night

of the blaze, Woodside fire captain John Dellinges

also videotaped the fire.

JOHN DELLINGES: While I was setting up the command post,

directing companies in to extinguish the fire,

I had set up my video camera to film the fire for training

and investigation purpose.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): By Comparing Capt. Dellinges' tape

with the video shot by the arsonist,

investigators were able to confirm beyond a doubt

the fire's location.

DET.

MARK POLLIO: Some of the calls received

led us to a 17-year-old Woodside youth.

We interviewed that youth.

Through that interview, it led us to a 19-year-old Redwood

City youth.

He was arrested and interviewed and subsequently

admitted burning the house, taking the video,

and was the one who talked on the videotape.

Our biggest hope was that maybe we would find an area

or a location of the fire.

We never dreamed that we'd get the results that we did.

One of the two suspects is currently awaiting

trial on charges of arson.

Investigators believe that between them, the two suspects

may also be responsible for as many as 25

arson fires in the Redwood City area over the past three years.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In the early 1960s,

the American South was at a crossroads.

Selma, Birmingham, and Greensboro were just a few

of the battlegrounds where the desire for racial equality

became a demand.

With segregation starting to crumble,

blacks and whites faced off in tense, often

violent confrontations.

In Washington Parish, Louisiana, the black community

began to push for integration of the sheriff's department.

In response, two black deputies were appointed.

On June 1, 1964, 46-year-old David Creed Rogers

and 34-year-old O'Neal Moore became

the first black law enforcement officers in Washington Parish.

MAEVELLA MOORE SAM: It was just a great day knowing my husband

was the first Negro deputy.

He got in his car, and he turned his radio on and reported in,

and we were just tickled.

At that time, feelings were running very high, very high.

And people-- some people, not all people--

was against the blacks taking a part in any part

of law enforcement or anything.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A year later, Deputy Sheriff O'Neal

Moore was gunned down while on duty

in a racially motivated attack.

On June 6, 1965, Moore was laid to rest, an unheralded martyr

of the civil rights struggle.

His killer was never identified.

Moore's partner, Creed Rogers, lost an eye in the attack

but survived.

I would like to know who did it

for my sakes and everybody else to know

who their neighbors are.

I know I wouldn't want to live next door to anybody,

black or white or whatever, who was dirty enough

to do something like that.

Today, Southerners are justifiably

proud of the enormous strides made by both blacks and whites

in putting the past behind them.

But 25 years ago, times were different.

Black deputies such as O'Neal Moore and Creed Rogers

were not allowed to confront whites, much less arrest them.

But despite the fact that they were working in a white world

that barely tolerated their presence,

O'Neal and Creed persevered.

They promised themselves that they would

not let their community down.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It was the night of June 2, 1965.

After a year on duty, O'Neal and Creed

had come to expect harassment, so they

were not surprised when a pickup truck began to tailgate them.

It ain't so bad at night, 'cause--

DAVID CREED ROGERS (VOICEOVER): As we got on Peter's Hill

about two miles north of Varnado,

we saw a fire on the left of the road.

So we made a U-turn to inspect the fire.

It was a wooded area, see if there was fire getting out.

What do you think?

Hell, it ain't nothing but an old trash fire.

Come on.

DAVID CREED ROGERS: We checked the fire

and saw it was just the trash.

It wasn't no danger.

So we made a U-turn and proceeded on south.

And this truck had pulled over to the right.

And as we passed them, the truck pulled out

and began to follow us.

It appeared to be a dark truck, black.

I noticed it had a white grill and a Rebel tag on the front.

So as we headed south, it continued to follow us.

Well, the car hit the tree, and they passed, still shooting.

And evidently, the last shot got him.

It knocked him over on me.

You guys all right?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Hearing the shots,

a local resident ran to the accident scene.

Don't worry, my wife called the police.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): He found O'Neal Moore dead

and Creed Rogers badly injured.

He stood guard until police arrived.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Doyle Holiday

arrived a few minutes later.

He began an investigation that would consume

the next several months.

DOYLE HOLIDAY (VOICEOVER): When I got up there,

I found Deputy O'Neal Moore dead and Deputy

Creed Rogers all shot up.

- Black truck. - What's that?

Black tru--

A black truck?

DOYLE HOLIDAY (VOICEOVER): Creed, he described the truck

right down to the last detail.

You're going to be OK.

It's all right.

DOYLE HOLIDAY: And I immediately put out an APB on that truck.

In less than about 30 or 45 minutes,

they called me from my office and told me

that they had apprehended a truck of that description

in Tylertown, Mississippi.

The truck fit the description to a T

of what Creed had told me, with the exceptions of the side

rails.

There were no side rails on the truck

at the time of apprehension.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The truck was stopped just 20 miles

from the scene of the shooting.

The driver was arrested but was soon

released on a $25,000 bond.

The charges were later dismissed due to lack of evidence.

Suspicion naturally focused on the Ku Klux Klan,

but the local chapter immediately

denied any involvement.

Racial tensions increased.

In Washington Parish, the sheriff refused

to give into the pressure.

O'Neal Moore was replaced by another black deputy.

MAEVELLA MOORE SAM: They really didn't accomplish anything.

Because when they was trying to get rid of Creed and O'Neal,

it didn't frighten them.

That just gave others more--

more get up and go about them.

It really-- it really gave them more courage.

They weren't going to get the black deputies off

of the sheriff's department, because it wasn't

any time after that until the sheriff called me one day

and told me to go and hire another one.

Well, we can't get on it before first thing

in the morning.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Doyle Holiday continued

to pursue his investigation.

Two weeks after the shooting, the violence came to his home.

DOYLE HOLIDAY: After I got through talking to the sheriff,

I went over and sat down on the couch.

That's when the shot rang out.

[gunshots]

And I hollered, get down.

And I grabbed my gun that was laying on the table

and went out the door and fired.

And they immediately took off.

I might have been stepping on somebody's toes.

I don't know.

But I don't know why they picked me out, singled me out.

Because even had they backed me down, which they didn't, they

still had the FBI and the state police to contend with.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The local population

refused to cooperate with the FBI or local authorities,

despite a $25,000 reward from the governor of Louisiana.

The case was deemed inactive in 1967.

DOYLE HOLIDAY (VOICEOVER): 25 years ago,

the Klan was so strong that the people

would not open their mouths.

They would not give you a lead on anything for fear

of their house being burnt or some member of their family

being hurt or something to that effect.

Back then, they didn't want anything

to do with the FBI, the state police, or the local police.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In June of 1987,

the FBI field office in New Orleans

was contacted by one informant and received letters from two

other anonymous sources.

They claimed to identify the people responsible for O'Neal

Moore's murder.

As a result of this new information,

the case was reopened.

One of the two letters is very specific on identifying

individuals that were within the pickup truck

and the getaway route of the pickup truck involved.

We have looked at the three individuals specifically

mentioned in this anonymous letter,

have interviewed their families or anyone

that may be associated with these three individuals.

Let me write this down now. What did you say?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The FBI

does not currently have enough information

to make any arrests.

However, they do believe that the killers

belonged to the Klan.

We feel that it was members of the Ku Klux Klan

that took part in this shooting, but they did it on their own.

They didn't allow other individuals to have knowledge

of what they were going to do.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It has been

25 years since O'Neal Moore and his partner

took their last ride together.

Creed Rogers refused to be frightened away from his chosen

career, and in 1988, he retired as a full captain

from the Washington Parish Sheriff's Department.

DAVID CREED ROGERS: I still wonder who could have done it.

That'll be with me forever.

Who could have done that?

You know, when people try to kill you

and you haven't did anything to them,

why, that never leaves your mind.

Sometimes, you wonder if they're still out there,

still wanting to try.

It's a bad feeling.

I think that a lot of people that was in involved back then

are getting on up in years, like myself,

and they don't want to go face the Almighty

with that on their conscience.

And I think before the final day,

somebody is going to get it off of their chests.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The death of O'Neal Moore was

a crime against every American.

That his killers are still at large after 25 years

is a further affront.

Their capture will not ease the pain felt by O'Neal's family

and friends, but it will certainly

prove that while justice may not always be blind,

it does have a long memory.

[gospel music playing]

When we return, the story of a remarkable dog who helped

save the life of an epilepsy victim

by predicting her seizures.

Our next story is a unique and heartwarming mystery.

It deals with the bond between people and animals

and the amazing sixth sense some animals

possess when it comes to helping and protecting their owners.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Minneapolis, Minnesota.

December 4, 1984, 2:00 AM.

15 minutes earlier, a drunk driver had run a red light

and collided with a car driven by 19-year-old Victoria

Doroshenko.

Victoria was left unconscious and suffering

from multiple head injuries.

VICTORIA DOROSHENKO: Before the accident,

I had a perfect life for a teenager.

After the accident, I lost everything.

I couldn't go back to school.

I lost my job.

I was in and out of the hospital so

many times that there was no way that I could even

function with a normal life.

I felt really lost.

I felt like somebody had taken away my life, for what life

I had after the accident.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Victoria

was plagued by headaches and periodic blackouts.

A year and a half later, she moved

to Tacoma, Washington, hoping to put the accident

and her injuries behind her.

Coming through, folks.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Then in August of 1986,

while she was already hospitalized,

Victoria suffered a violent seizure.

The symptoms were clear--

Victoria had epilepsy.

Is she breathing?

NURSE: Let's get her on her side.

Oxygen.

NURSE: Oxygen.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In her automobile accident,

brain cells had been damaged, disrupting normal activity

and causing seizures.

For Victoria, the prognosis was grim.

When my seizures were at their worst, I was having up to 24

a day, big ones.

And in between the big ones, I was

having about 10 little ones.

The doctors didn't think that I was

going to live very much longer.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The severity of Victoria's seizures

left her completely incapacitated.

She fell often, reinjuring her head, which

only induced more seizures.

She was confined to a wheelchair and required

round-the-clock care.

Because Victoria's lungs filled with fluid

during and after the seizures, death was a constant threat.

Her situation seemed hopeless.

You take care of yourself now.

VICTORIA DOROSHENKO: I couldn't do anything.

I couldn't leave the house.

When I did leave the house, I had

to have enough people around me that could pick me up or carry

me if need be or whatever.

If I was having a seizure, I had to be strapped in to somewhere,

because the seizures were so violent

that I would throw myself around and injure myself.

I wasn't awake most of the time.

When I was awake, I was really depressed.

I didn't want to-- I didn't really want to live.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Victoria would find

help in an unlikely place--

the Purdy Correctional Center for women, a prison 25 miles

outside Tacoma.

There, the state of Washington has set up a special program.

Under the guidance of a professional,

the inmates train dogs rescued from the pound as companions

and aides for the handicapped.

The dogs learn to open and close doors, pick up a telephone

receiver, pull wheelchairs, fetch things

like clothing and hairbrushes.

In 1987, Victoria heard about the program

and went to the prison.

It was a decision that would save her life.

- There he is. - Hi, Vicky.

This is Chase.

VICTORIA DOROSHENKO (VOICEOVER): I

was hoping for a dog that could help

me in my daily living skills.

And I was real lonely.

I didn't have a life.

I didn't have a social life.

So I thought maybe that a dog would help.

Would you like to get to know him a little better?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When Victoria arrived

for her interview, inmate trainers

were working in the room with two

dogs, both golden retrievers.

One of the dogs had been chosen for Victoria.

VICTORIA DOROSHENKO (VOICEOVER): That day,

when I was out at the program, I ended up

having a major seizure.

Sue, can you give me a hand?

Yeah.

Sherry!

It's OK.

VICTORIA DOROSHENKO (VOICEOVER): And the dog that they were

originally training for me just walked away from me.

and didn't care.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The second dog

in the room, whose name was Harley, defied his trainer's

commands and did respond.

Harley, stay!

SUE MILLER: When Vicky started seizuring and Harley went

to her and laid down with her, you know, everybody in the room

was astounded.

You know, the dog was doing what we'd

hoped he could learn to do before we ever

hoped he could learn to do it.

He somehow knew.

VICTORIA DOROSHENKO (VOICEOVER): When I woke up from my seizure,

I woke up, and his head was laying on me.

And he was looking at me, like, all sad,

and he knew something was wrong.

As soon as I started petting him,

I think he realized that everything was OK.

He started wagging his tail.

And from there on, I knew that that was my dog,

and I knew it was going to work.

He was my partner from then on.

No one could explain why Harley responded

to Victoria during her seizure.

The prison program had discovered another dog which

showed a special sensitivity to epileptics, again

with no explanation.

Why do certain animals appear to establish

this immediate sympathetic bond?

For the medical community, this question is an intriguing one.

For Victoria Doroshenko, it was a question of life and death.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Once Harley was with Victoria

full time, her anxiety diminished,

and the frequency of her seizures

decreased dramatically.

Victoria's doctors allowed her to resume classes

at a local community college.

Harley was Victoria's constant companion.

I was at Tacoma Community College,

and I was walking across campus, and he all of a sudden

started acting real funny.

He didn't want to cooperate.

He didn't want to--

he didn't want to listen to me.

What is it, boy?

What is it, boy?

Calm down.

Calm down. Come on.

Shh, calm down. Come on, let's go.

Let's go.

Harley was a real laid-back dog.

He wasn't rambunctious like that or rambunctious.

So when he started acting that way,

I really didn't know what was happening.

Excuse me. Can I sit down here?

Yes.

Thank you.

I'm not feeling so well.

Can I do something for you?

No, I just want to sit here for a while.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Harley calmed down once Victoria

was safely inside a classroom.

Five minutes later, she had a major seizure.

Amazingly, it appeared to Victoria and to others

present that Harley had somehow known Victoria

was going to have a seizure.

His barking and strange behavior had been a signal

for her to go to a safe place.

VICTORIA DOROSHENKO (VOICEOVER): When

I realized Harley could predict my seizures ahead of time,

I was so thrilled.

I knew that I was saved.

It changed my life completely.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After his first prediction,

Harley never failed to warn Victoria

when a seizure was coming on.

He always exhibited the same aberrant behavior,

giving Victoria 15 to 45 minutes notice before a seizure was

about to strike.

VICTORIA DOROSHENKO: So after that, the bond and the trust

and the love and the dependency grew and grew

and grew until there was no comparing it.

We were each other.

We became like one, a shadow.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Harley changed

Victoria's life dramatically.

She now felt comfortable enough to leave

her house whenever she wanted.

She began to interact with other people.

If she had a seizure, Harley always stayed by her side.

He sensed danger and kept her away from traffic

if a seizure was coming on.

For the first time since her accident,

Victoria enjoyed the comfort and security of a normal life.

Modern technology and physicians, doctors,

and none of us can predict when a seizure will occur

or how many seizures a person will have.

These dogs can.

They can tell beforehand when a seizure will occur.

They can warn the person, which is an incredible phenomenon, so

that the person can feel safe.

They can be safe.

They can have the comfort of having a dog with them

at all times.

Because the anxiety of having a seizure is with someone

all the time.

I can never, never repay him or show

the devotion I have for him from what he has done for me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In June of 1990,

Harley became ill.

Veterinarians could do nothing, and in July, Harley died.

VICTORIA DOROSHENKO (VOICEOVER): There's no words to describe

how I felt about Harley.

He gave me a life, and that's--

a life is more than you could ever give anybody.

The Epilepsy Institute has received reports

of 15 other dogs that seem to be able to predict

epileptic seizures.

Six of these animals came from the Purdy Correctional Center

for Women.

No one can explain why certain dogs

seem to have an innate sensitivity to epileptics.

For the victims of epilepsy whose quality of life

is so greatly improved by these dogs,

no explanation is necessary.

They are happy to accept this particular unsolved mystery

at face value.

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

who pulled off a series of daring bank robberies.

Finally, he has been captured on film.

On September 19, 1987, a well-dressed man entered

a Spokane, Washington, bank.

May I help you?

Stand up and move away from the desk quickly.

Come on.

Move over.

To the counter.

Both of you, back away from the counter.

Quickly!

Don't touch any alarms.

Do exactly as you're told. You!

Get over here with the others!

No tricks, no fast moves.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The robber was calm, in control,

and seemingly prepared for any eventuality.

Take them out slowly.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): He even showed the terrified bank

employees a police scanner, claiming

that he would know if they managed to alert the law.

If the police are on their way, I'll know about it.

Move!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The robber

ignored the easy money sitting in the tellers' drawers.

Instead, he ordered everyone into the vault.

ROBBER: Hurry it up!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In his first robbery,

he stole more than $100,000.

Hurry up!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It was over in less than five minutes.

The robber left no fingerprints behind.

He even managed to avoid being photographed.

STEVEN L. POMERANTZ: The reason for that

is the way he very quickly got control of the situation

prevented any photographs from being obtained.

Between this first bank robbery in September

of 1987 and the present, he has robbed

four more banks here in Spokane using very similar methods.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On August 30, 1988,

the bandit stole $14,000 from another Spokane bank

and received an unexpected bonus.

STEVEN L. POMERANTZ (VOICEOVER): A dye pack

was given to the robber, which went off

very shortly after he left the bank, within seconds

of him leaving the bank.

Obviously, that caused a commotion on the street,

and a witness did observe that commotion

and, as a result of that, saw him get into a vehicle

and make his escape.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After another robbery in November

of 1988, bank employees were able to help create

composites of the bandit.

But these sketches were no substitute for photographs.

Amazingly, he had still managed to avoid

the omnipresent bank cameras.

But on June 6, 1989, when he paid

a visit to Spokane's Horizon Federal Credit Union,

his luck changed.

This time, frightened but resourceful bank tellers

stood up to threats.

We said hi, and he said hi.

And he walked up to the counter and pulled out his gun and put

on sunglasses at the same time.

And then he told us that he wanted to go into the vault

and get the money.

He had one of the girls hold the bag while I got the money.

I put the money in the bag.

And he told us to empty out the teller drawers.

He went to one drawer at a time.

And when we were emptying them out, we, you know,

pulled all the money out.

And there's a bill trap underneath, you know,

some of the bills.

We pulled the money out from underneath the bill trap,

which triggered the alarm.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Not only

was a silent alarm activated, but the bank's surveillance

camera was also triggered.

For the first time, the robber was captured on film.

I was really scared when I pulled the bill trap.

I thought, if this guy knew that I pulled it, I'm in trouble.

And I just knew that I had to do it, though.

There was nothing else I could do.

Getting a photo in this robbery

was a big step forward for us in our investigation.

Up till this point, all we had were witness descriptions

of the bank robber.

Now, we have an actual photograph,

and a very good photograph, to work

with to help us identify him.

It did result in us linking him to three

additional bank robberies as a suspect in Tucson, Arizona.

So that was, again, a major step forward

in determining the scope of what he's been doing,

as well as an aid to identification.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The robber

appears to be between 35 and 45, 6 feet to 6 feet 3 inches tall,

and weighs between 200 and 220 pounds.

He seems tanned and healthy, and the FBI

believes he may live in the Southwest,

commuting to banks in the Pacific Northwest.

In order to protect their employees,

the Horizon Federal Credit Union has transferred those involved

in the holdup to new locations and have redesigned

their internal security.

Meanwhile, the robber has been busy.

Since 1987, the elusive robber has allegedly held up

at least nine banks, six in the Pacific Northwest

and three in the Southwest.

His last known heist was in April of 1990.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Unbeknownst to him,

this time he was captured on videotape.

These are still frames taken from the videotape.

At 10:30 AM, the bandit strolled into a Tacoma, Washington, bank

and walked out with a substantial amount of cash.

Next week on "Unsolved Mysteries," the tragic story

of Norman Ladner, a 17-year-old Mississippi

boy who died from a gunshot wound to the head.

The police say suicide.

The parents say murder.

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, the legend

of a miraculous staircase built in a tiny chapel

by a mysterious and unknown carpenter.

For over a century, visitors have

been dazzled by his handiwork and baffled by his identity.

In Oklahoma, a brutal murder took the life of truck

driver Dwayne McCorkendale.

Perhaps you can help identify his killers.

For every mystery, there is someone

somewhere who knows the truth.

Perhaps that someone is watching.

Perhaps it's you.

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