Original subtitles

ANNOUNCER: This program is about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the actual family members

and police officials have participated

in recreating the events.

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

ROBERT STACK: 1957.

At the height of the Cold War, Army Lieutenant Paul Whipkey

was an observation pilot for government atomic bomb testing.

Almost immediately, he began to show symptoms

of radiation poisoning.

Then Paul Whipkey vanished and was declared a deserter.

Did he get lost and perish in Death Valley?

Or was Paul Whipkey recruited for a top-secret mission?

Tanya Kopric and Richard Bocklage, two lovers,

a study in contrasts.

She was a promising physician dedicated to her career.

He was a struggling pharmacy student

with an unpredictable temper and a penchant for murder.

In 1936, the Depression and the looming threat of poverty

took Gary Rossman from his family.

Now Gary's sister Gwen hopes you can help

find her long lost brother.

Join me.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

Tanya. Here, let me--

Hi.

ROBERT STACK: In March of 1980, Dr. Tanya Kopric fell

in love with Richard Bocklage.

She was a practicing resident at the Truman

Medical Center in Kansas City.

He was a pharmacy student at the University of Missouri.

It seemed an unlikely match.

Richard was 10 years younger than Tanya.

He had grown up in St. Louis, the quintessential

all-American boy.

Five years earlier, Tanya had emigrated from Yugoslavia

to study medicine, leaving behind all

of her friends and family.

Like many immigrants, Tanya Kopric dreamed of an America

paved with gold.

She was determined to overcome the tremendous obstacles

of building a career and a life in a new country.

At 34, she seemed to have achieved the American dream.

Except for one thing.

Tanya longed for someone to share her life with.

Enter Richard Bocklage.

Richard was young and dynamic and showered Tanya

with attention.

Soon after they met, he moved into Tanya's apartment.

Six months later, Richard proposed and Tanya accepted.

But her friends had strong misgivings about the younger

man Tanya intended to marry.

IVAN GREGORIC: I did not really like him because he was using

her financially and morally.

He was using her for a lot of things,

like using her Master charge card

and was using her car, using everything.

ROBERT STACK: Richard spent more and more time with Tanya

and less time in class.

Midway through his sophomore year,

he fell behind in his studies.

Unbeknownst to Tanya, Richard was

perilously close to flunking out of school.

JANE LEIGH: He was not real motivated.

He wanted it.

He wanted to be a pharmacist, but you

have to want it bad enough to devote many, many hours

to the academic study.

End of it.

And I'm not sure he was willing to do that.

ROBERT STACK: On July 19, 1980, university

officials notified Richard that he was academically ineligible.

Look, Tanya, if you just go to the school and you--

look, would you just go to talk to Dr. Sandlin?

Pull a few strings--

ROBERT STACK: Richard demanded that Tanya use her connections

in the Admissions Department to have him readmitted to school.

--look, you've got to help me do this.

No. You must help yourself.

Help myself?

How am I gonna do that if I'm not in school?

- I won't do it. - Come on.

IVAN GREGORIC: I was thinking maybe

he's down to drugs or alcohol because his behavior was

changing.

He was kind of a wild person.

I can't find my electric razor.

I don't know.

Well, see if you can find it, will you?

ROBERT STACK: Richard began to exhibit violent mood swings.

For three weeks, Tanya tolerated his outbursts.

Finally, on September 2, she broke off the engagement

and ordered Richard out of her apartment.

Two weeks later, Richard Bocklage returned to class

as if nothing had changed.

One instructor familiar with Richard's explosive disposition

asked the assistant dean to speak with him.

Richard, I need to talk to you for a minute.

Sure.

Could we go in the hallway?

Richard, we don't show you being enrolled in this class.

Well, Admissions said it would take

a few weeks for the paperwork to come through.

That could very well be, but that's

something you'll have to take up with the admissions board.

Look, I know last quarter I had a little trouble,

but I'm trying now, and I have to--

Richard, this has everything to do with your grades.

Fine. Fine!

Richard, there's a-- there's a proper proce--

Ah!

OK.

JANE LEIGH: Richard always gave me the impression that anything

that happened was not his fault. It

was just that he could not cope with the fact

that this was his responsibility.

And again, he just couldn't believe

that this was happening to him.

ROBERT STACK: Increasingly desperate,

Richard wrote to the admissions office

begging school officials to reconsider his case.

On September 18, at 3:00 PM, the Admissions Committee convened

to determine Richard's fate.

The decision was unanimous.

Jackie, would you please take care

of that as soon as possible?

ROBERT STACK: Richard's appeal was denied

and a secretary was ordered to call him with the news.

Hoping to avoid a confrontation, the committee

quickly dispersed.

At 3:45, two professors spotted Richard driving

towards the dean's office.

They immediately headed in the opposite direction.

Excuse me.

Have you seen Professor Strickland?

Sorry--

ROBERT STACK: Bocklage roamed the hallways searching

for the dean of admissions.

Under his arm, he carried a large manila folder.

Some witnesses feared that it concealed a weapon.

The dean in?

No, he's not.

When will he be back?

SECRETARY: I'm not sure he's coming back today.

I'll just wait for him, OK?

OK.

ROBERT STACK: Three hours later, Tanya Kopric returned

to her apartment after work.

By the time police and paramedics arrived,

Tanya Kopric was dead.

She had been shot three times in the head with a .45 automatic.

I came out, and then I heard the first gunshot.

And I turned and he just-- he shot her two more times.

WARREN MILLER: There was a witness at the scene

and she saw this man walk up to the side of the doctor's car

and shoot her three times in the face.

She recognized him as being the man that dated

Dr. Kopric, Richard Bocklage.

Later during the investigation, we

found out that Mr. Bocklage had purchased

a .45 caliber handgun himself.

And when we checked his residence

to see if the weapon was there, we found out it was gone.

ROBERT STACK: Authorities launched an immediate search

for Richard Bocklage.

Six days later, Royal Canadian Mounted Police

found Richard's car in Thompson, Manitoba, Canada,

more than 900 miles north of Kansas City.

Richard was seen by two area residents.

He then dropped from sight.

WARREN MILLER: I personally think

he's back in the United States.

I think he would have gotten tired of being

that far north with no family.

That's not his style.

His style was a little bit faster, a little flashier,

a little looser.

That might have been OK for a year or two,

but I think he's back.

I think he's back here somewhere.

ROBERT STACK: Two months after Tanya was murdered,

her parents in Yugoslavia notified police

that they received an unsigned letter

postmarked September 16, 1980, two days before the murder.

The envelope was addressed in Richard Bocklage's handwriting.

The letter was a vengeful diatribe which took the tone

of a terrorist manifesto.

RICHARD BOCKLAGE: "Dear Kopric family,

your daughter, Tanya Kopric, has been executed

in Kansas City, Missouri.

She has caused so much grief, anguish,

and turmoil to so many Americans that this act was necessary.

Her execution was inevitable."

ROBERT STACK: At the time of Tanya's murder,

Richard Bocklage was 24 years old.

He is 6 feet tall and weighs 170 pounds.

This computer-aged photograph shows how he might

look today at the age of 34.

Next, the haunting story of an army lieutenant

who mysteriously vanished.

His commanding officer believes he was on a secret CIA mission.

August 17, 1958, Death Valley, California.

Temperature, 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

42 miles from the nearest town, a Fish & Game warden

is surprised to come across an abandoned car.

The keys are still in the ignition.

There is no sign of foul play.

The car is registered to Lieutenant

Paul Whipkey of Fort Ord, California,

nearly 400 miles away.

The army states that Whipkey had been missing for five weeks

and, in fact, has been declared a deserter.

Surprisingly, Paul Whipkey had always

been considered a perfect soldier

and no one could understand why he would

choose to desert his post.

I don't think Paul deserted.

It was completely out of character for Paul

to do such a thing.

He was a loyal American soldier devoted to his work.

I think the army knew exactly what happened to him

and he was part of a big smokescreen cover-up.

ROBERT STACK: The strange and unsettling account

of Paul Whipkey began at Pennsylvania

State University, where he was an ROTC honor graduate.

In 1954, after basic training, he was granted a coveted slot

at Army Pilot School.

In July of 1956, Whipkey was posted at Fort Ord, California.

Two years later, he was assigned the duties of captain,

even though he remained a first lieutenant in rank.

TOM REEVES: Paul was quite worried

about his own capability, if he had the leadership ability,

and if he could take care of this job

or perform in a proper manner.

He studied a lot, and he spent many hours

at night trying to learn the job and to do a good job.

ROBERT STACK: Whipkey seemed to undergo a personality change.

He became withdrawn and somber.

He also began to suffer several upsetting physical symptoms,

which may have been a result of a temporary duty assignment

in the summer of 1957.

Paul spent two months at Camp Desert Rock, Nevada,

as an observation pilot for government atomic bomb tests.

In that role, he was exposed to radioactive fallout.

He soon noticed unusual blotches on his skin.

Several months later, back at Fort Ord,

he had to have all of his teeth extracted.

July 10, 1958.

Late in the afternoon, Whipkey left Fort Ord.

He said his destination was Monterey, California,

less than a mile away.

Paul Whipkey never returned to the base.

The next morning, he was listed absent without leave.

After 30 days, he was declared a deserter.

The following week, his car was found in Death Valley.

Army investigators traced a gasoline receipt

found in the car to Mojave, California,

145 miles from Death Valley.

Whipkey had purchased gas there on July

the 11th, the day after he left Fort Ord.

The evening before, Whipkey had signed

the guest register at Whites Motel

and apparently spent the night.

The next morning, he drove out of Mojave and vanished.

The Army concluded that Paul Whipkey had broken

under the stress of his new assignment,

wandered off into the desert, and without food

or water, perished.

The Army report made no mention of Paul

Whipkey's physical symptoms.

His body was never found.

And Paul's brother Carl Whipkey immediately began

to investigate on his own.

More than 30 years later, he is still

trying to piece together the truth about his brother's

disappearance.

On the very morning Paul turned up missing,

two soldiers stripped his room at Fort Ord.

Everything was removed, including

Paul's personal belongings.

CARL WHIPKEY: Regulations state that the next of kin

or legal representative must be notified

before packing belongings, and they

didn't notify us at that time.

I was very suspicious of this action

as soon as I discovered this had taken place.

ROBERT STACK: Four weeks after Paul Whipkey disappeared,

a rancher driving through Death Valley saw his car.

It was driven by a man in military uniform.

Paul Whipkey left Fort Ord wearing civilian clothes.

When the car was found a week later,

a pile of cigarette butts was beside it.

Paul Whipkey did not smoke.

Also troubling to Whipkey's family

was the fact that the Army did not

mount a search for Paul's body until nine months

after his car was found.

And it was only by accident that Carl Whipkey

heard about the car at all.

CARL WHIPKEY: The only way that I learned

about it was due to a unofficial call

to an enlisted man at Fort Ord.

A half an hour, he called back very excited,

and he said this is classified information

and requested that I did not tell anyone where I

had received this information.

After I was informed that Paul was a deserter,

I called six army headquarters.

And I was inquiring about his status.

I found it almost unbelievable that he would

be classified as a deserter, and I was curious

what was the basis for it.

And I was quickly and promptly advised

that Charlie, forget this.

The case has been closed, and I would recommend that you

don't carry it any further.

And in essence, I was told to shut

up and drop it and blow away.

ROBERT STACK: In 1957, Lieutenant Colonel Lewis

was a captain stationed at Camp Desert Rock.

He recalled the day he saw two men

in plain clothes talking to Paul Whipkey and another officer.

CHARLES LEWIS: On the way to the airfield one morning,

there was two visitors on the airfield

over talking with Paul.

I noticed that they had gone directly to the airfield

instead of reporting to operations, which was required

for a purpose of security.

So I asked them for their identification.

Excuse me, gentlemen.

Did you see that sign over there?

Yes, sir.

This is a restricted area.

Do you have any identification?

Yes, we do.

CARL WHIPKEY: They showed me their military identification

cards and the picture did verify who the two were.

Looks OK.

Is everything all right here?

Yes Yes, sir.

Carry on.

ROBERT STACK: Lewis did not know which government agency the two

men represented, but over the next few weeks,

he often saw Paul Whipkey talking to the same two men.

CHARLES LEWIS: When Lieutenant Whipkey would come in

after they had departed, you could

feel and sense a rigidity in his personality

traits and his mannerisms.

Whipkey, is everything OK?

Everything's fine, sir.

You sure?

Sure.

Finally I asked him, Paul is there something that is wrong?

Something you need to explain?

And he said, no, I'm fine.

I have no problems.

ROBERT STACK: Years later, Lewis realized

there could have been a logical explanation for Whipkey's

association with the men.

CHARLES LEWIS: During that era, there

was a tremendous amount of nationwide recruiting

conducted by the CIA.

And with Paul's qualification--

Lieutenant Whipkey's qualifications,

he would have been an exceptional candidate

for such an assignment.

CARL WHIPKEY: January of the year he disappeared, he told me

during a telephone conversation that he was going to be going

on an assignment, that he was going

to make a name for himself.

Before he could tell me what it was,

he was interrupted by some officers moving

in the proximity of his desk and he could no longer

talk to me about the subject.

I theorized that Paul was recruited

into an Army/CIA joint program that was going on at that time.

When Paul left Fort Ord, he drove

to the town of Mojave, California and checked

into Whites Motel.

It's a possibility that he was met there by Army intelligence

agents or the CIA and transported to Southeast Asia,

possibly from Edwards Air Force Base, which is nearby.

- Lieutenant. - Good morning, Mr. Johnson.

Good morning.

Everything going all right? - Yes, sir.

Thank you. - Sleep OK last night?

Yes.

ROBERT STACK: Carl Whipkey theorized

that when Paul left on his secret assignment,

he turned his car over to the military,

who kept it for four weeks before driving

it into the desert.

CARL WHIPKEY: I think the Army took his car out to the desert

to get rid of it.

Out of sight, out of mind.

If they would just say, yes, he died on a secret assignment,

we'd live with that.

We're all loyal American citizens in our family

and we would buy that.

And until the army tell us what happened,

there will be no peace in our family.

ROBERT STACK: There is a final puzzling twist

to the saga of Paul Whipkey.

One of Paul's closest friends, Lieutenant Charlie Guess,

had served with him at Camp Desert Rock

and again at Fort Ord.

Guess disappeared in an airplane 11 days

after Paul had vanished.

Just over a year later, Guess' remains

were found near a crashed plane northwest of Death Valley.

Curiously, the wreckage showed a different serial number

from the plane Guess had taken off in.

In 1982, the Army Board for Correction of Military Records

met to review Paul Whipkey's case

and found no basis to support his status as a deserter.

Two months later, the board officially

changed Whipkey's status from deserter

to died in the line of duty.

Carl Whipkey hopes that someone watching tonight

served with his brother at Camp Desert Rock or Fort Ord

and has knowledge that will shed light on Paul's

mysterious disappearance.

Next, a woman's quest to find a long-lost brother she

has not seen for more than 50 years.

Perhaps you can help.

[music playing]

Katherine Bickford was 19 years old when

she fell in love with Andrew Rossman, a man twice her age.

It was 1932 at Lake Placid, New York,

the height of the Great Depression.

Rossman cut a dashing romantic figure, a rugged outdoorsman

who made his living hunting and trapping

in the Adirondack Mountains.

This is the spot I was telling you about.

Oh, Andrew, it's beautiful.

ROBERT STACK: Katherine knew that Andrew was not

the marrying kind, but she was in love

and nothing else mattered.

By that time and place, Katherine

and Andrew's relationship was certainly unconventional.

They never married, but lived together

and had two children, a daughter,

Gwen, and a son, Gary.

Sadly, family life and responsibility

proved too much for Andrew.

He left Katherine when Gary was still an infant.

Katherine went to work as a waitress

to support her children, but was often

made to feel ashamed of being an unwed mother.

However, one family, the Winches,

who had known Katherine from childhood

never wavered in their support.

[bells ringing]

PRIEST: Suffer the little children to come to me

and do not forbid them, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.

ROBERT STACK: In the winter of 1935,

Katherine had her son Gary baptized.

Despite local gossip, the Winch family went to the baptism

and stood by Katherine.

Amen.

This is Gary Bickford, the newest

member of the family of God.

ROBERT STACK: By the time of Gary's baptism,

Katherine was in deep financial trouble.

After the ceremony, she took Florence,

the Winches' daughter, aside.

What is it, Katherine?

What's wrong?

I got kicked out of my apartment today,

and I can't even get back in to get any of my stuff

until I get work.

What are you going to do?

My uncle owns a restaurant in Scruton Lake

and he said I could come there and work for him,

but I can't take Gary with me.

Would you like us to keep him for a few days?

ROBERT STACK: Katherine found herself

facing the most difficult decision

a mother could ever make.

Are you sure?

ROBERT STACK: She had to earn a living

to provide for her children, even if it meant

being separated from them.

Looks like we're all set.

Ready to go?

Daddy, Katherine wants to know if we can

take in Gary for a few weeks.

Is that OK?

Oh, a few weeks?

Sure.

ROBERT STACK: Several days later, Katherine

left Lake Placid to take the job at her uncle's restaurant,

secure in the knowledge that Gary would be well cared

for by Florence and her family.

Katherine's daughter, Gwen, who was three years old,

went to live with Katherine's mother and father.

Three years passed.

Katherine visited whenever she could.

Throughout this period, Gwen stayed her grandparents

and Florence Winch took care of Gary.

GWEN SANDERS: Florence and my mom were great friends.

And when my mother left my brother with Florence,

I think she felt that it was a temporary thing

and that she would get herself together and be

able to support the family.

But it never really worked out that way.

They were really difficult times.

Times were very hard.

And Katherine was two hours away, working,

and she couldn't get there.

It wasn't something that she didn't want to do.

It was something that-- a circumstance.

ROBERT STACK: In 1939, when Gary was three,

county child welfare officials contacted Katherine.

She signed papers which she thought

would allow Florence to continue in the role of foster parent.

In fact, the papers gave the county authorization

to put Gary up for adoption.

FLORENCE WINCH LAVALLEY: When they

told me that he was ready for adoption, I tried to adopt him.

But I wasn't married at the time, and in those days

you couldn't adopt a child unless you were married.

So then my mother and father tried to adopt him.

They were too old.

There was an age limit at that time.

We had very good neighbors, and the neighbors

took up a petition at that time and asked

the county if I could keep him.

And of course that was unheard of, so I couldn't keep him.

ROBERT STACK: Finally, the early spring of 1939,

a county welfare worker informed Florence's family

that Gary would be taken away for adoption.

She gave them no idea when or where.

Florence began to prepare Gary for the journey.

Look at the train, Gary.

It's big, isn't it?

This train goes all the way to New York.

FLORENCE WINCH LAVALLEY: When we would go by the railroad

station to go to church or go to the store,

he was afraid of the train, I suppose,

because it made a noise.

It was a steam engine.

So in order that he wouldn't be afraid of it,

I took him up to the train.

The conductor saw us, and I was talking to Gary about the train

and it wouldn't hurt you.

The conductor said, come on onto the train.

We went onto the train and I sit in a seat with him.

The train didn't go anywhere.

It was sitting there.

But I don't think he was afraid of the train after that.

Do you mind if we sit here a while?

FLORENCE WINCH LAVALLEY: I didn't talk to Gary at all

about him leaving.

I never told him that he might be going away.

Now I could see maybe I should have,

but at that time, I didn't.

I never told him that he was ever going to leave.

ROBERT STACK: Eight days after Gary's fourth birthday,

the child welfare worker returned.

FLORENCE WINCH LAVALLEY: One morning at 9 o'clock,

the social worker drove up and came into the house

and said she was going to take him.

I always thought that she wouldn't

come and that, one way or the other, we would keep him.

Either Katherine or our family would keep him.

But of course, that didn't happen.

I-- I packed a few things for him.

That won't be necessary.

And I said, well, could he take a toy?

No, he couldn't.

So with that, she just took him by the hand

and the car was down in front of the house, and she took him.

I think now, as I look back on it, that Gary thought

he was just going for a ride with somebody,

that he was coming back.

I don't think he ever thought he was going to leave.

ROBERT STACK: By the time Florence was able to contact

Katherine, it was too late.

Gary had already been taken to New York City.

Eventually, Katherine and her daughter, Gwen, were reunited.

But in 1984, Katherine died.

She never had a chance to tell Gary how much she loved him.

Well, I felt a real desire to find my brother in that I

wanted to express to him how much guilt my mother had

experienced through her life because of this loss

and to maybe be able to fill in some of the feelings

that she had toward him and still carried

onward even to her death.

And I thought, well, I could give this to him on her behalf.

I think it's about the last thing I could do for her.

ROBERT STACK: Gary Bickford was born in Saranac Lake, New York,

on June 6, 1935.

He has brown hair and brown eyes.

On Gary's birth certificate, his first name was probably

spelled with two Rs and his last name may

have been listed as Rossman.

When we return, the perplexing case of a missing millionaire.

His family believes he was murdered.

[music playing]

St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands,

a lush tropical getaway known as the American paradise.

In 1984, Jim Rice, a wealthy and successful contractor,

came to the island of St. Croix with his wife Astarte

to build their dream house and live the good life.

But two years later, the marriage was crumbling.

Astarte, I wish you'd reconsider coming

to San Francisco with me.

I've already told you I can't.

I've already made plans.

ROBERT STACK: In July, 1986, Jim planned to fly to San

Francisco for shoulder surgery.

Astarte refused to accompany him,

so Jim Rice was scheduled to make the trip alone.

Now police believe he never made the trip at all.

--get an operation without his wife.

Which is more important?

KATHLEEN CLEMENTS: My dad was scheduled to arrive on July 29

and he never showed up at my house,

never called from the airport.

We just never heard from him again.

ROBERT STACK: Jim Rice was a man's man.

He played football in college and was

a highly decorated bomber pilot during the Second World War.

Through his construction business,

Jim amassed a sizable fortune worth nearly $2 million.

In 1970, Jim Rice met Astarte Davis

and was instantly captivated.

Jim turned his life upside down and left his first wife

to marry Astarte.

It proved to be a tumultuous union, marked by business

failures, separations, reconciliations,

and finally Astarte's imprisonment in 1982

for bankruptcy fraud.

Yet through it all, Jim Rice remained loyal to Astarte.

Then three years after Jim vanished,

Astarte Rice also disappeared.

She was born Estebelle White, but as

an adult changed her name to Astarte,

after a primitive goddess of love.

She had three grown sons from a previous marriage

which ended in divorce.

She seemed to make my dad happy and I was happy for him.

And I figured he saw something in her that I didn't see.

And as long as he was happy, then that was OK.

ROBERT STACK: In 1979, Jim and Astarte moved to Kona, Hawaii

and eventually started a charter fishing business.

Two years later, while Jim was out of town,

Astarte's son, Noble, was cleaning their boat when

it was rocked by an explosion.

Noble was seriously injured but recovered.

By good fortune or design, Astarte just happened to be

near the dock at the time.

DUKE DIEDRICH: Well, there was a large debt on the yacht

and they carried insurance on the yacht.

Noble indicated that he was just aboard cleaning the ship, which

is kind of strange because it was like 2 or 3 o'clock

in the morning, a strange time to be

cleaning a boat using gasoline.

And the yacht caught on fire and he said

it was just purely an accident.

But there was sufficient cause for the authorities

back there in Hawaii to charge both Astarte and Noble

with arson of the yacht.

ROBERT STACK: After the explosion,

Jim and Astarte separated.

Both returned to California.

Astarte and her son were never extradited

back to Hawaii for trial.

In April 1981, Astarte filed for bankruptcy.

A year later, she was charged with altering

official court documents.

She was convicted and sent to federal prison.

When Jim visited Astarte in prison,

she convinced him that she had mended her ways

and they reconciled.

After her release in 1983, Jim and Astarte moved to St. Croix

in the Virgin Islands and built their dream house

on an isolated bluff overlooking the Caribbean.

KATHLEEN CLEMENTS: He got down to St. Croix

and expected to build his dream house

and Astarte was going to go straight and not

get in any trouble.

And I think that he found out that she was not rehabilitated.

ROBERT STACK: On July 20, 1986, Jim phoned his daughter Kathy

in the States and told her that he

would be flying to California for shoulder surgery in a week.

He never arrived.

DUKE DIEDRICH: Jim disappeared around the end of July in 1986.

Kathy kept trying to reach him by telephone

and was totally unsuccessful for about two weeks.

When she finally was able to reach his home in St. Croix,

she talked to Astarte.

And at that time, Astarte had told her that Jim had run off

with a woman from Australia.

No, he went off fishing on the Great Barrier Reef

in Australia.

DUKE DIEDRICH: A few days later when she talked to Astarte,

the story was that Jim had gone on an airplane

and flown from St. Croix to Miami.

So we had two completely different stories.

And later on, Astarte denied that either of these things

had occurred.

So we know that right from the beginning,

she lied about what had happened to Jim and how he disappeared.

ROBERT STACK: Two months later, Kathy Clements

hired Dennis Sheraw, a private investigator,

to look into her father's disappearance.

I'm looking for a gentleman by the name of James Rice.

He's a missing person.

ROBERT STACK: Sheraw came across a customs

declaration dated July 28, 1986, the day Jim

was to leave for California.

On the form, Jim Rice's signature

appeared to have been forged.

Sheraw notified the FBI.

I wonder if you'd do me a favor and hold this aside

and I'll have one of the agents from the FBI stop

by and pick it up so they can process it.

We noted that Jim supposedly had

flown on an airplane on July 28, 1986, from St. Croix to Miami.

In fact, the airplane ticket had been bought by a person using

the name of Jim Rice and, in fact, the people

who actually flew on that flight were Astarte,

Astarte's son, Noble, and Noble's girlfriend.

[knocking]

Come in.

ROBERT STACK: Private investigator Dennis Sheraw also

discovered that, a week prior to Jim's scheduled flight

to San Francisco, Astarte had filed

documents which gave her control of Jim Rice's entire estate.

--from your husband to Jim?

Yes.

Where is he?

He's-- we're meeting him in Miami

very shortly and that's one of the reasons

we're in kind of a rush.

DENNIS SHERAW: Probably the key document was a power

of attorney in Astarte's name.

The investigation, however, showed that this original power

of attorney was in the name of Jim's daughter,

Kathy Clements and Astarte had done

a cut-and-paste job on the document

and inserted her name in its place.

I feel, because Jim would have known that his assets were

beginning to be changed or taken away from him,

that Jim's disappearance had to happen in that 12-hour period

from the time that he last spoke to Kathy

to the following morning when the documents

were presented to the notaries.

Hi, ladies.

I don't know if you had a chance to look

at all the shirts and everything yet,

but the jacket is really great.

DENNIS SHERAW: Our investigation showed

that, just days after Jim's disappearance, all

of his personal effects, his tools, his truck

were all sold in a garage sale that was conducted at the house

and sold by Astarte and Noble Davis.

ROBERT STACK: Four months later, Kathy Clements

received a typewritten letter from Australia

signed by Jim Rice.

Once again, Jim's signature appeared to have been forged.

And one other discrepancy cast doubt

on the letter's authenticity.

DUKE DIEDRICH: The most important thing was the fact

that the letter throughout contained the words "I am"

put together.

We know that, from letters which we can attribute to Astarte,

that that was a grammatical error that she frequently used.

I just thought that was the cruelest thing anybody could do

would be to write a letter to a family of a missing

person posing as that person still being alive,

giving an ounce of false hope.

I just thought that was so cruel.

ROBERT STACK: Kathy Clements and Dennis Sheraw

are convinced that Jim Rice was murdered

and that his body lay somewhere beneath the blue waters

of the Caribbean and that Astarte Rice may hold

the key to solving the mystery.

In January 1989, Astarte Rice was charged

with bank and mail fraud because of her attempt

to seize Jim Rice's assets.

She was released on bail and disappeared.

In 1991, Astarte Davis-Rice was arrested

in Santa Barbara, California.

Because Jim Rice's body had never been found,

authorities were unable to charge her in his death,

though the FBI still considers her a prime suspect.

Astarte did, however, plead guilty to bank and passport

fraud in the United States and in St. Croix

and served the first portion of her 15-year sentence

in a medium security prison in California.

In 1997, Astarte was transferred to the minimum security

federal prison camp in Dublin, California,

to complete the rest of her term.

A year later, taking advantage of the lighter security,

Astarte Davis-Rice simply walked out of the facility.

She was present during the morning count

at approximately between 5:00 and 6:00 AM.

Then during the course of the day,

there was a fire drill conducted which

resulted in another present count

being conducted at 10:00 AM.

She wasn't scheduled to work that day,

and so it was the time frame between the first count

and the second count that she had the opportunity

to leave the facility.

She's very cunning. She's smart.

She's intelligent.

And she's very dangerous.

She'll use anyone, deplete their resources--

and that she's been suspected of being involved

in the disappearance of people.

[music playing]

For every mystery, there is someone,

somewhere who knows the truth.

Perhaps it's you.

[music playing]