Original subtitles

NARRATOR: This program is about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the actual family members

and police officials have participated

in recreating the events.

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

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On the eve of Halloween,

two intriguing ghost stories on "Unsolved Mysteries."

In its heyday, the old St. James Hotel in New Mexico

was host to a long list of legendary gunslingers

and outlaws.

Today, employees report different kinds

of guests, unearthly visitors that never check out.

For years, June Farris dreamed of a strange house

that she had never seen or even been in.

Later, she found herself living in that same house for years

before the previous owner had been murdered.

She and her family believe that his spirit is still there.

We'll also profile the baffling case

of Mary Anne Perez, who vanished without a trace in 1976.

15 years later, an anonymous caller contacted her family,

claiming that not only was Maryanne still alive,

but she was being held captive against her will.

And authorities need your help to track down

a clever and corpulent conman who masquerades

as a bona fide physician and hoodwinks even the most

sophisticated of victims.

Call him Doctor Fraud.

Join me.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery

or perhaps you may encounter one that

simply cannot be explained.

[theme music]

Tomorrow brings a one night each year,

which seems to bring out the wide eyed child

in all of us, Halloween.

As darkness falls, our imaginations take flight.

Houses begin to whisper and creek, shadows come to life,

the sky fills with ghosts and goblins.

But in Cimarron, New Mexico, Halloween

is an everyday occurrence at the old St. James

Hotel, which some say is haunted by the spirits of the Wild

West.

When I bought the hotel, I didn't

believe in ghosts at all.

Now, after the convincing evidence

of the last five years, I'm certain that there

are ghosts here.

They are indeed real to me.

They are not something that I have made up.

They are indeed in this hotel.

The ghosts are here.

Are they haunting it?

No, I think they're just living here.

There are places where the emotions have been very strong

and it's something like the energy gets captured or caught,

and this hotel is certainly one of them.

[western piano music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In its heyday,

the St. James Hotel offered good food, attractive dancing girls,

and comfortable beds for such wild and woolly guests

as Jesse James, Bat Masterson, Annie Oakley,

Doc Holiday, and Wyatt Earp.

But as the glory days of the old west faded,

the hotel fell into disrepair.

Just got one more wall left.

Yeah, we're about finished.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1985,

Ed Sitzberger and his wife, Pat, purchased the St. James.

[inaudible] goes on forever

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): They planned to bring

the old hotel back to life.

Ah, we'll get there.

[lightning and thunder]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Sitzbergers

soon discovered that the St. James had a life of its own.

PATRICIA (VOICEOVER): I wanted to see how many leaks ran

the hotel and so I got my friend to come

with me to go through the hotel with our flashlight.

We finished doing all the checking

and put out some buckets here and there, because we did have

some leaks, and then we turned the chandelier off,

and then went downstairs and at the hotel.

And for some reason, I turned back up

and looked back up to the second story,

and the chandelier was on.

I don't believe it.

We got to go back in.

I'm sure I turned this off.

[light clicks off]

When we got out and had locked the door, and looked

back up again, and the light was again on.

So we went through the hotel, again, and turned

the chandelier off, and came back down the stairs,

and out again.

Locked the door, looked back up, and it was on.

The last time we went up, we went down the hall

and I turned back to John and I said,

well, the former owners had told us

about some things that had happened

previously in the hotel.

Let me just try something.

And so before I turned the chandelier off,

this time I said, I don't know who you are or why you're here,

but I'm tired and I really don't want to play tonight.

I'm glad you're here, but could we please play another day?

And at that point I pulled the cord on the chandelier

and heard a click, and we turned around and back

down the stairs, and I looked up,

and indeed, the light had stayed off.

All right.

First, I thought maybe it was an electrical problem

because it's an old hotel, but after doing it three or four

times, it couldn't have been.

And I could hear it shut off, and the three times that I shut

it off, the click of the switch, and so there was no reason

for it coming back on.

[click]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): According to the Sitzbergers,

the hotel is haunted top to bottom.

[clicking]

Guests in room 17 have reported a persistent eerie tapping

noise whenever the window is open.

[clicking speeds up]

[window shuts]

[clicking ceases]

In the kitchen, the cook has witnessed

several bizarre occurrences.

And in May of 1988, Charlie Varela,

a local high school student, was cleaning the bar at 5:00 AM.

Charlie thought he was alone.

CHARLIE (VOICEOVER): It was kind of dark in there

and I was going to back to get some liners for the trash,

and as I was going back to it, I just glanced over to the bar.

And I just--

I seen a little boy sitting on the bar and spinning the glass.

You can hear it on the table go (WHIRRING),

spinning and just perfectly spinning.

At first, I thought it was a little boy from upstairs,

and he was just down, messing around.

I was going telling him, excuse me,

you're not supposed to be in here.

But when I went to make the move to tell him, he turned around.

CHARLIE (VOICEOVER): His face was hideous.

He just jumped off and just scared me, and I just took off.

I quit that morning.

I just-- seeing that, it scared me, and I didn't want

to work here anymore.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dr. Kenneth Wright, a surgeon

and amateur ghost hunter, heard about the spirits at the St.

James and came to investigate.

Let's go inside.

PATRICIA (VOICEOVER): When Dr. Wright asked me to go into room

18, I was a little skeptical because I had been in there

many times before and had felt the chilliness,

and the negativeness in there.

The room was cold, and when I looked up

in the upper left hand corner, the was a whirling that

was going on in the corner.

You couldn't see the corner of the room.

It was like a white swirl.

There was this anger and hatred,

and instantly, I was filled with terror.

I was gasping for breath because I had not expected it,

did not encounter it.

I've never been that terrified in my life

and as this was happening to me, I heard Pat saying--

You can go.

You're free to go.

You can go.

[spirit whirring]

PATRICIA (VOICEOVER): I couldn't believe

what was happening to me.

I don't know what the swirling presence was.

It was negative, it was cold, it felt like it was from the past.

It didn't want me there.

That was very obvious.

He was angry at her because it was his place

and she was telling him that he was free to leave.

And he was telling her you don't tell me I am free.

This is-- you leave.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next, Ed

Sitzberger contacted Jackie Littlejohn,

a psychic from Albuquerque.

Jackie claims to be able to communicate

with the spirit world.

JACKIE: I was able to sense physical violence, a gunshot.

It was so strong, I stepped back where I could see,

and feel, and smell.

The evidence of violence was so intense.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): During her tour of the hotel,

Jackie claims she had a vision of a deadly poker game.

JACKIE (VOICEOVER): The poker game had been going on

for a long time and it was a feeling

that either the hotel was at stake or a very large heard.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): According to Jackie,

one of the card players was a man whose

ghost now inhabits room 18.

[footsteps]

[gunshot]

JACKIE (VOICEOVER): He died of blood poisoning.

Very slow, very painful, very dreadful, desperate.

Desperate man, very fearful.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Jackie says the dead man's name was

T.J Wright, and that he probably won the hotel in the poker game

just before he was killed.

ED (VOICEOVER): We wanted to look back in the records

and corroborate the story.

So we went back and looked at the hotel register in 1881

and found T.J Wright registered three different days in 1881.

It just is reasonable to me that he believes

he owns the hotel still and wants to maintain possession,

or at least live here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Ed Sitzberger

keeps the old registry locked in a glass case,

and he is certain that Jackie Littlejohn never

had access to it.

There is, of course, no way to prove that the ghost of T.J

Wright is now haunting room 18, but Ed Sitzberger

is not taking any chances.

ED (VOICEOVER): There's no construction

activity in that room or renovation

work that's going to be done.

That's his room, as far as I'm concerned,

as a permanent resident for as long as I have the hotel.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Is it truly possible

that the St. James Hotel is haunted

by the spirits of the old west?

[rolling thunder]

The firsthand accounts you've just heard

are definitely difficult to believe,

but if you can offer a better explanation for what goes on

in the old hotel, the folks at the St. James

would certainly like to hear it.

When we return, a family in Florida

claims that the ghost of a murder victim

has returned to haunt the scene of the crime.

[theme music]

[crickets chirping]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): August 1968, in Richmond, Virginia,

a woman named June Ferris is having

a disturbing dream about a strange house she has

never set foot in or even seen.

The dream has plagued her for months.

JUNE (VOICEOVER): In the dream I was in an upstairs bedroom,

and I would come out of the bedroom,

go out into the hallway, and I would turn to the right,

and go down the narrow staircase.

I knew the house had a front staircase,

but I never used the front staircase in the dream.

It was always the back.

And I would turn to the left and go through the kitchen,

around the refrigerator and stove

that were on the one wall.

I had a feeling of anxiety.

An anxious feeling that something

was going to happen that I should know about.

And I would go out the kitchen door, onto the porch.

[door slams]

And that's where I would wake up.

[exhales]

And I suppose that this dream continued

maybe once a month until we moved

to Orlando, four years later.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): June and her family

moved to Florida in 1972.

Two years later, she was driving through the small town

of Clermont, Florida, when she came upon a house

that enchanted her.

I've always liked old Victorian houses.

It was such a lovely home.

So I called the realtor and asked if I could go through it.

This is great.

How ever did you find this place?

I just drove by on the side, it was right out front.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): June returned with a friend

for a closer look.

Once inside, June began to experience an eerie sensation.

Let's go upstairs.

OK.

JUNE (VOICEOVER): We went through the downstairs

first, and went up the front staircase,

and I had a feeling of--

I guess you would say, deja vu.

I had definitely been here before.

Oh look, more stairs.

I wonder where they go.

I know where they go.

JUNE: They go down through the kitchen, past the stove,

and onto the back porch.

How do you know that?

I've dreamed about this house.

JUNE (VOICEOVER): So as we walked through the house,

it definitely was the same house of the dream.

And I knew every room in the house, every closet,

where everything was.

It was just a real unusual experience.

Not scary.

I didn't feel spooked.

It was just-- it was a good feeling.

It was a feeling like I had come home.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In March of 1978, June,

and her husband, and three of their children

moved into the old house.

Almost immediately, odd things began to happen.

ROBIN (VOICEOVER): My father had brought the boat out

on the trailer and trailer hitch was on a sawhorse type stand,

and it looked as if someone had reached over,

picked the trailer hitch up, and just dropped it on the ground.

Robin, what are You doing

I didn't do it.

ROBIN (VOICEOVER): There was nobody there.

I mean, it was blank space.

It wasn't like it jumped off.

It was like someone had actually lifted it off of the stand

and dropped it, and it happened several times again afterwards.

It was so fast

[thud]

that you really wanted to think to yourself,

did I really see that?

Did that really happen?

That it was just shock.

Absolute shock.

[crickets chirping]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Over the next few years,

the Farris's were to witness more

and ever stranger occurrences.

[music box playing]

[music boxes playing faster]

The extraordinary became the ordinary,

and the family began to suspect that they

were not the only ones living in a house.

ROBIN (VOICEOVER): I was about 20 or 21.

It was when my husband David and I were married

and we were living in my mother's house.

He woke me up in the middle of the night one night.

Robin, what was that?

Listen.

Sounds like my music boxes.

ROBIN (VOICEOVER): He knew that the house was haunted

and he was just terrified.

[music boxes playing]

The switches were not on.

They were just wound up and they were playing.

All of them were playing.

The music boxes coming on really assured me that we definitely

had a ghost in that house, and I felt like we did before then.

It wasn't scary to me anymore.

It was kind of fascinating.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1985, Bob Vitter began dating

June's younger daughter, Lori.

I was a firm disbeliever in ghosts,

but after everything that's happened to me in that house,

there is such a thing as ghosts, and there

is a ghost in that house.

[tv playing]

BOB (VOICEOVER): A couple of nights before Halloween, Laura

and I were in the parlor on the couch,

and we heard the back screen door slam.

[door slams]

What was that?

It's just my mom.

Oh.

[footsteps]

BOB (VOICEOVER): I heard something with boots

come through the kitchen-- - That's not your mother.

BOB (VOICEOVER): And walked down the hallway,

and stop in the opening going into the parlor,

and I had a feeling that whatever it was,

it was standing right there, watching us.

And the sound of its boots continued down the hallway,

and I followed it, and at that point,

I was really very, very scared.

[footsteps continue]

I never encountered anything like that.

I was just so terrified, I couldn't even move.

[footsteps grow quieter]

[door slams]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): By now, everyone was convinced

that the house was haunted.

But no one had actually seen a ghost, yet.

ROBIN (VOICEOVER): I was walking up the stairway

in the foyer of the house.

I felt a cold chill.

It's almost like when you open your freezer

in the hot summer time.

It was very definitely a person and he was very

early middle age or late 30s.

And it was just like a vapor, just

like a cloud of smoke kind of.

It's there and then it's gone.

But it was very definite.

It was very definitely a person.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Three months later, Bob Vitter

had his own ghostly encounter.

BOB (VOICEOVER): I was upstairs preparing to paint.

I opened the attic door and there in front of me

was a white vapor, almost in the shape of a human.

And as I took another step forward, this vapor came at me,

and it went right through me.

And I felt a cold blast of air and the musty smell that

always accompanied the ghost.

And just as quickly as it went through me, it was over.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In October 1985,

Bob Vitter began looking into the history of the old mansion.

In a local library, he found volumes of old newspapers

and was startled to discover an account of a brutal murder

in which the owner of the house was gunned

down in his own backyard.

The victim's name was John Harden.

Bob began to believe that if there

were a ghost in the house, perhaps

it was the ghost of John Harden.

Hardin grew up in South Florida, and at 18,

married his high school sweetheart, Rita.

Together, they raised four children

in Jacksonville, Florida.

Every moment with him was wonderful.

He was a good person.

He was always caring, not only about his family,

but his friends.

You know, everybody.

He was always concerned about everyone around him,

everyone that touched his life.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But after 14 years of marriage,

John Harden dropped a bombshell on his wife.

RITA (VOICEOVER): He came in from work one afternoon.

I love you, you know that.

RITA (VOICEOVER): Put his arms around me.

Yes, I do.

RITA (VOICEOVER): He said, I love you.

I have to go away.

What do you mean?

I have to leave for a while.

He said, I have some problems.

I'm going to get myself together.

I'll be home, but he never came home.

[birds chirping]

Good morning!

RITA: Good morning!

Are you the owner?

Yes, I am.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): About a year and a half

later, Harden remarried.

Yeah, uh, beautiful house [inaudible].

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): He his second wife

moved to Clermont, where they purchased

the old Victorian mansion.

Nine months later, John Harden awoke to a disturbance

outside of his bedroom window.

[soft sound of flames]

Harden's pickup truck was engulfed in flames.

[flames grow louder]

It was later determined that the fire been deliberately set.

[gunshot]

Harden lay mortally wounded, shot once in the chest

with a single barreled shotgun.

He died less than an hour later.

No one was ever arrested in connection with the shooting.

Had there been a motive, we could

have proceeded with the case and investigation a lot better.

There was several things that was brought to our attention,

but there was never a firm motive established.

[POLICE CHATTER ON WALKIE TALKIE]

BRUCE (VOICEOVER): We had absolutely nothing

after three and a half months of a great deal of travel,

and interviewing literally hundreds of witnesses.

We didn't have any more at the end

of the three and a half months than we had when we started.

On a scale of 1 to 10 difficulty of solving a crime,

this is probably about as close to a 10 as I've ever seen.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Could John Harden's spirit possibly

be haunting his former residence?

There do seem to be amazing similarities between the ghost

and the man himself.

According to his first wife, Harden was a loving and overly

protective parent.

RITA (VOICEOVER): When our children were little,

Johnny would be very concerned about them,

always going to the other room to check them

just to be sure they were OK.

To be sure they weren't wrapped up in the covers or--

always wanting to be sure that they were all right.

Very concerned about them, always.

Even as they got older, he was always concerned.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Farris's

believe that the spirit in their house

has the same nurturing attitude.

JUNE (VOICEOVER): Apparently, he was

very fond of children and babies because my grandson

had an experience with him.

He would wake up and see this man standing over his bed,

and of course, that would scare the bejeebers out of me,

RAYMOND (SCARED): Mom! Mom!

JUNE (VOICEOVER): And I'm sure it did him.

RAYMOND (SCARED): Mom!

Mom!

Mom!

Mom!

Mom!

JUNE (VOICEOVER): And it happened several times

until Robin went into the room one

night before Raymond went to sleep

and she spoke to the ghost.

And she said please do not come back in this room anymore,

and please leave Raymond alone.

And after that he didn't come back, or at least if he did,

Raymond didn't wake up.

[crackling fire]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When June Farris learned the details

of John Harden's life and death, she

recognized a startling connection with a dream which

had plagued her for years.

JUNE (VOICEOVER): When I first learned that John Harden came

down the back stairs into the kitchen,

and out the back door, which was the same path that I took

in my dreams, I felt like there was something

there that I should know.

Maybe if the dream had continued I would have learned something,

that there was a link, and in some way

he's trying to tell us what happened to him,

and even help us find the killer.

I think that he haunts to try to make a point to people.

That hey, I'm here, and I can't go anywhere

until this is taken care of.

[crickets chirping]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1990, the Farris's

moved out of the old mansion.

The new owners also tell haunting

tales of a restless spirit roaming

the hallways each night.

Curiously, when we filmed at the old Victorian house

in Claremont, our production crew encountered a number

of unusual difficulties.

Lights flickered on and off for no apparent reason.

The equipment failed, doors opened on their own,

and a window in the attic shattered.

The cause, unknown.

Perhaps it was just coincidence, or perhaps it

was the spirit of John Harden, unable to rest

until justice is served.

And the final footnote to this story

is apt to give anyone pause.

The investigation into the murder of John Harden

has now been reopened.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next, an anonymous phone

call rekindles a case of a woman who disappeared in 1976.

[theme music]

I got to get going, darling.

All right, mom.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On March 25th, 1976, Mary Ann

Perez of Chalmette, Louisiana said goodbye

to her teenage daughter, Donna.

Yeah.

And would you put everything in the fridge when you're done?

Sure.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Donna had agreed to babysit her

younger brothers and sisters so Maryanne could go out

with one of her girlfriends.

I love you, I'm a come and check up on y'all.

- OK - Lock the doors.

I will.

SHANNON (VOICEOVER): She told Donna that she would be calling

to check on us about 10:00, 11:00 o'clock

and Donna said she got a phone call from mama first.

Mama said that she was OK.

She would be home shortly.

And then about 1:30 in the morning,

Donna said she got a phone call from a woman

by the name of Dorothy.

[phone ringing]

Hello?

DOROTHY (ON PHONE): Hi, my name's Dorothy and I'm a friend

of your mama's.

I'm calling to let you know that she's

having car trouble so she'll be a little

late getting home tonight. - Is she OK?

DOROTHY (ON PHONE): She'll be fine.

She'll be home soon, bye.

[phone clicks]

Hello?

Hello?

[phone clicks into place]

When I heard about the call and heard the name Dorothy,

I couldn't imagine who in the world that could have been.

I knew there was something wrong somewhere,

the car being practically new, and no reason for car trouble.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mary Ann Perez never

called and never came home.

Her family soon discovered that she

had gone to meet her friend at a country

Western club on the outskirts of New Orleans.

Uh, cold beer.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The next morning,

Mary Ann's car was found parked in front of the club.

When the New Orleans Police inspected the vehicle,

they saw no evidence of car trouble.

The automobile was in perfect running condition.

[POLICE CHATTER OVER WALKIE TALKIE]

There's nothing in the back seat.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Three days

later, Mary Ann's purse, weighted down with a brick,

was found in Lake Pontchartrain 10 miles away.

There was no trace of Mary Anne Perez.

Nine years passed.

Mary Anne's family waited, not knowing

whether she was dead or alive.

Then in 1985, the New Orleans Police Department

dispatched a detective to Wichita, Kansas

to question a man named David Courtney.

Courtney, along with his wife, confessed

to a multi-state killing spree.

One of their victims seemed to have a lot

in common with Mary Ann Perez.

Um, OK, um, I was going to this bar for a drink,

and I saw this woman, and um, she was heading

for her car in the parking lot.

She looked a little tipsy--

When I went up to Kansas to interview David Courtney,

he told me about the female he abducted in New Orleans.

He stated that he was driving down the highway

and pulled into a parking lot of the Country Western bar.

[car running]

- Whoa. - Oh.

Hey, you OK?

Yeah, I'm OK.

Thank you.

Um, you're not driving that car, are you?

I gotta.

I got to get home to my kids.

Well, look, why don't you let my wife and I take you home?

She's right up the road here and I'm picking her up from work.

I can't.

I can't ask you to do that.

I live all the way in Chalmette.

Chalmette's no problem for us.

We live in Chalmette.

It's on the way there.

You don't mind?

No problem at all, you know?

I'd feel guilty if I left you here in the shape you're in.

Come on in.

I probably should.

[winces]

So what's your name?

Mary Ann.

I'm David.

Did you pick your wife up?

Yeah and then we took her straight to our trailer.

After you got to the trailer, did y'all have sexual

advances towards this woman?

BOB LAMBERT: He stated that this female fell asleep

on a chair in the trailer and there

was some sexual advancements by David Courtney's wife, which

woke this female up, and she became

disturbed, and irate, and upset about what was going on.

And they agreed to give her a ride home at that time.

[car wooshing past]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): David Courtney

stated that his wife drove and he sat in the back seat

with her their intended victim.

[inaudible] we're just taking you back and it's all over.

That's all.

No problem at all.

This is your road, right?

I mean, you can see it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Courtney said he had already

killed once, and he and his wife were

afraid that this woman would go to the police

if they let her live.

[inaudible] recognize this place.

Is this it? - This is it.

You know-- hey baby, you're going down the right road?

This is not the way home. This is not the way home.

It's not.

[struggling]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): According to David Courtney,

he and his wife dumped their victim near the Louisiana,

Mississippi State line.

Come on!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): They made absolutely

no attempt to hide the body.

Come on, grab her legs.

I got her.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Detective Lambert

was becoming more and more certain

that the Courtney's victim had indeed been Mary Ann Perez.

DAVID: Come on, let's get out of here.

I'm going to show you a photograph

and I want you to take a look at it

and see whether or not you can identify this person.

DAVID: Um, could be.

Yeah, it kind of looks like her.

A little bit heavy, but I can't be 100% sure of it.

Yeah, I think so, maybe.

BOB LAMBERT: I'm going to show you a small photograph.

I want you look at and see if you recognize

anything in that photograph.

DAVID: Well yeah, that's her car.

It's green.

Definitely, uh-huh.

Yeah, that's her car.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Detective Lambert

next questioned Courtney's wife, specifically

about Mary Ann's purse.

[inaudible] police department.

I spoke with your attorney last night.

It's my understanding that you don't wish to--

BOB LAMBERT: I asked her if the female they abducted had

a purse and she said yes, that she threw

it over the side of a bridge that they

were crossing at the time.

SHANNON (VOICEOVER): My daddy came into the room,

and he got us all together, and he said to us-- he said,

mama is dead.

He said they found that people that did it and she's dead.

She's gone.

And it tore us up because we had a lot of hope until that.

DAVID'S WIFE: Get her out, quick.

DAVID: Get her legs.

DAVID'S WIFE: I got it, I got it.

Just move her.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Based on Courtney's statement,

an extensive search was conducted.

A body was not recovered even though all

of Courtney's other victims had been found

where he said they would be.

[car door slams]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Courtney's were never

charged with Mary Ann's murder.

The slim hope that she was alive continued to flicker.

Then in 1990, the case of Mary Ann Perez

was resurrected once more.

[phone ringing]

15 Years after Mary Ann's disappearance,

the wife of her oldest son, Elward,

received a phone call from a woman who claimed

to be Mary Ann's best friend.

I'm not going to let you speak with him unless you

tell me what it's about.

SHAWN (VOICEOVER): She asked to speak with Elward

and he wasn't home, and I didn't want to tell the stranger

that my husband wasn't home.

She asked to speak with Elward again,

and I said well, if you're not going to tell me who you are,

I'm not going to let you speak with him.

And she said, well, it's about Mary Ann.

And I said, what about Miss Mary Ann?

And she said, well, Miss Mary Ann's still alive.

WOMAN (ON PHONE): I'm calling for Mary Ann

because they won't let her call.

Mary Ann can't remember-- look, do you have Donna's number?

No, I don't know Donna's number, but I can--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The caller was emphatic.

She would not be able to telephone again.

Like Mary Ann, she was not allowed.

WOMAN (ON PHONE): I'm telling you, Mary Ann is still alive.

I don't understand why you don't want to help her.

[phone hangs up]

That caused me to think more positive that she was alive.

And of course, there were statements made that it's

possibly a prank call.

I don't know, but I do know that if she is alive,

I'd like to see her.

I'd like to find her.

And I feel that I'm speaking for my family, and her family,

and her children, her husband.

We'd all like to have her to come home.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The authorities

believe it is almost impossible that Mary

Ann Perez might still be alive.

However, Mary Ann's family clings to the fragile belief

that David Courtney, who admits he was drunk at the time,

did not succeed in his attempt to strangle her.

DAVID: It's OK, [inaudible] it's OK!

SHANNON (VOICEOVER): He murdered several other people

and their bodies were found.

So that gives us some hope that maybe he

might have strangled her unconscious, thinking that she

was dead, and threw her out.

Maybe she had amnesia or something like it.

Or maybe some of the brain cells were destroyed

and she can't remember who she is, or what she was,

and coming to some time after the Courtneys

left, and just wandered out.

SHANNON (VOICEOVER): Maybe she got up several hours later.

Maybe there's a possibility, a slight possibility, that she

is somewhere out there.

[footsteps]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Did Maryann Perez miraculously

survive, the victim of amnesia?

Or did David Courtney kill her?

Courtney is currently serving a life

sentence for the confessed murder

of one of his other victims.

One day, I think that he did do

it, another day I think I don't know what happened to her.

The fact is, she's gone and has been gone for 15 years.

Whether she's dead or alive, I don't know.

We love her, we miss her, and we want her back.

That's all we want.

And if she's gone, we still want a grave site

to go put flowers on.

For 15 long years, Mary Ann Perez's family

has watched and waited.

They are anxious for any news of Mary Ann,

but they especially hope the woman who telephoned

Shawn Perez will call again.

Mary Ann's family members want the caller to know how

eager they are to cooperate.

Each of them holds onto the hope, however illusory,

that one day Mary Ann will come home.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mary Ann Perez

has reddish brown hair and blue eyes.

She is five feet, four inches tall,

and at the time of her disappearance,

weighed 108 pounds.

This is a computer aged photograph

to show how Mary Ann might look today at the age of 48.

When we return, authorities need your help

to track down a clever con man who operates as a doctor.

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Cincinnati, Ohio November 1986.

A smooth talking con artist lays the intricate groundwork

for his latest scam.

- Mike Wills? - Yes.

Dr. John Anderson. How are you doing?

Well, nice to meet you, Doctor.

We spoke on the phone.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The target is Mike

Wills, a veteran coin dealer.

Like most of us, Mike thinks he would

never fall prey to a con man.

[inaudible] we've been talking about, the maple

leaf and the [inaudible].

And he came across as a very polite, articulate man,

and I had no reason at that time to doubt that he

was anything other than what he told me he was,

indeed a doctor.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The corpulent con man

who called himself Doctor John Anderson,

was interested in buying gold coins.

He suggested that Wills visit him at Children's Hospital

and speak to his physician's investment group.

I got to be rushing on over to the hospital.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The trap was now in place.

[inaudible] and I'll be back with you.

Nice meeting you.

[phone ringing]

Coins plus.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two days

later, Dr. Anderson ordered $30,000 worth of gold coins.

Mike Wills agreed to bring the coins to the hospital

when he addressed Anderson's investment group.

At 8:00 AM on November 26th, 1986,

Mike Wills arrived at Children's Hospital.

Dr. Anderson had arranged to meet

with Mike privately before Mike spoke to the physicians group.

WOMAN (ON SPEAKER): Dr. Kravitz, you have

a visitor in the main lobby.

MICHAEL (VOICEOVER): The elevator door opens up

and he's in the elevator.

Hey, Mike, how are you doing?

[inaudible] How are you doing this morning?

Pretty good. How about yourself?

All right, good.

Go ahead and press G for me. - OK.

Thank you.

Now, care for a little transaction?

We'll take care of our business

as soon as we get downstairs.

That's fine.

MICHAEL (VOICEOVER): There were two

other doctors on the elevator.

He was not having conversation with the gentleman--

See you later.

MICHAEL (VOICEOVER): --but as we got off, he acknowledged them.

I'll just head on over here to radiology.

MICHAEL (VOICEOVER): There was nobody

at all in the hall, which didn't strike

me as being odd because it was so early in the morning.

OK, let's see what we have here.

[door closes]

Over here I have two tubes of gold,

each that have 25 pieces in it.

OK.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dr. Anderson

told Mike Wills he had access to his safe upstairs,

where he wanted to store the gold.

He would return momentarily.

[inaudible] business.

You might want to have a seat and I'll be back with a check.

OK?

[door opens and closes]

MICHAEL (VOICEOVER): I sat there thinking back on it.

What seems to be an eternity was most probably more

like five to six minutes, and my gold is gone,

and Doctor Anderson is gone, and I have nothing to show for it.

That was about all I could take, I guess.

At that moment, I got up and I walked out of this blind door,

and now , everybody is there.

I think there's five or six parents in the waiting room.

Now there's a nurse at the nurses station.

WOMAN (ON SPEAKER): Doctor Mark Standler, please dial 1917.

Can I help you?

Yes, I'm Mike Wills from a coin store here in Cincinnati.

I need you to page a Dr. John Anderson for me.

I just gave him a large amount of gold.

There's no Dr. Anderson at this hospital.

There was a Dr. Anderson right down in the room down the hall

five minutes ago. - Well, I'm sorry.

I don't know of any Dr. Anderson on staff here.

You may want to try upstairs.

- You can page for me from here? - Sir.

MICHAEL (VOICEOVER): It made me feel

extremely gullible that I could be

duped so easily out of $30,000.

I trusted a name tag.

I trusted what this man told me.

When he mentioned doctor, maybe checks that I could have made,

I didn't make because this made everything seem right.

Here you go, 10 gold maple leaves.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Three years, later Dr. Alfred

Evan's, notable for his girth, showed up at a coin shop

in Albany, New York. - Sounds fair enough.

Will you take a check?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The doctor

made several small purchases from a coin

dealer, Wendell Williams.

Then, a new twist.

Williams received a $45,000 gold coin order from Doctor

Evans via Federal Express.

I decided that I wouldn't buy any gold,

but I would see what he did when he came in.

That Saturday, which was on November the 4th,

when I was waiting on other customers,

he came in, in his jovial way, and said hello to me.

The first words out of his mouth was did you get my gold?

I told him no.

He seemed a little alarmed, but turned around and said well,

then what do you have for me?

And he said, what about that Rolex wristwatch that you had?

Well, I got that for somebody else,

but I'll get you some gold.

OK, here you go doc.

80 ounces of gold maple leaves.

How much is this?

It'll be $385.75 each.

All right, I'll make you out a check for it.

You know, I'm going to have to hold the gold

until that check clears.

You know my checks are good.

That might be, but--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When plan A didn't work,

the bogus M.D. switched strategies.

Look, I'll pay [inaudible] just so doesn't happen again,

I'm going to go ahead and make out a blank check.

You hold onto this, and that way next time we

won't have to go through this.

Sounds good.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After Evans wrote the check,

he started to chat with another customer

and waited patiently for a new opportunity.

I've got some [inaudible] in one of my offices

that I'm looking to possible-- - Excuse me, fellas.

I've got to take care of a customer.

Sure.

Can I help you?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): With Wendell Williams occupied,

the coast was clear.

Plan B went off without a hitch.

All right, I'll tell you what, if you do me a favor,

uh, I've got to get running off to the hospital.

So I'm going to leave these checks here,

and if you can just do me a favor

and make sure that he gets them.

Sure.

Take care of this for me.

OK.

All right, thank you very much.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): As one might expect,

Dr. Evans skipped town.

His check for more than $30,000 was, of course, no good.

In trying to track the activities of Doctor Evans,

we've noticed that he'll be in town for a couple of months

to pull his scam, and then he'll be disappeared

for a couple of months.

We can't seem to find out what he's been doing

during that period of time.

There will be gaps of anywhere from two

to five months between cities.

He could be doing anything from having a legitimate business,

pulling another scam, or just plain vacationing somewhere.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Authorities

have uncovered these photographs of the elusive pseudo Doctor.

They were taken in 1990 at a bank in Massachusetts.

The authorities do not know the con man doctors real name,

but in addition to Anderson and Evans,

he is also used the aliases Doctor

John Miller, Doctor Michael Baker, and Doctor Brown.

[music playing]

[theme music]

Join me next time for another edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."