Original subtitles

[music playing]

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.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): An unknown killer stalks

a family in Denver, Colorado.

In 1985, Roger Dean was gunned down

in cold blood in his own house.

Five years later, the killer contacted Dean's widow

and threatened to kill her daughter, unless he

was paid extortion money.

December 7th, 1941, the Japanese sneak attack

devastates Pearl Harbor.

Nearly 40 years later, a woman under hypnosis

provided a detailed firsthand account

of that infamous day, which occurred a full 10

years before she was born.

In Las Vegas, an eccentric, beautiful con artist

named Liza Montgomery went on a wild two-day Christmas shopping

spree and gobbled up $150,000 worth of jewelry,

furs, and other luxury items.

Join me.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

December 7th, 1941, 7:38 AM, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii--

for those who were there and survived,

it was, indeed, a day that will live in infamy.

Their memories are as vivid today

as they were 50 years ago.

SHARON JOHNSON: There's smoke.

I don't want to die.

Those aren't our planes.

They're firing at us.

They just keep coming.

I've got to get a gun.

I've got to get a gun.

There's no ammunition.

We don't have any ammunition.

They're just bombing everybody.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The narrative

you just heard was related by a woman under hypnosis.

She was born in 1952, 11 years after the attack

on Pearl Harbor.

The woman claims no more than a passing knowledge

of the events of that fateful Sunday morning, yet much

of her account is filled with specific names and details,

which lead some to believe that she was actually

present during the attack--

in a past life.

Others, however, are convinced that her memories

are no more than a byproduct of hypnotic suggestion.

In either case, the details of the story

defy logical explanation.

The woman at the center of this baffling mystery of the mind

has asked to remain anonymous.

We shall call her Sharon Johnson.

Step right this way [inaudible], please.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1979, Sharon Johnson

first visited hypnotherapist, Frank Baranowski,

because she wanted help losing weight.

In 20 years of practice, Baranowski has placed thousands

of patients under hypnosis.

Ever been hypnotized before?

No.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When Sharon was hypnotized,

she began to experience a recurring

nightmare of smoke and fire, which had

plagued her since childhood.

Three, four.

You're four years old now, Sharon.

[coughing] The water's on fire.

Water's burning.

[coughing]

All right, Sharon. All right, all right.

Relax. Relax.

Deeper relax now.

SHARON JOHNSON: I don't have dreams

like that as much as I used to-- you know, just periodically.

The dreams started when I was very small.

I always remember having the dreams

about fires and explosions.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Sharon lost 30 pounds,

but the dream remained unexplained.

Six months later, she visited Hawaii

for the first time on a group tour

with Frank Baranowski and some of his friends.

SHARON JOHNSON: It was strange when I was there, because there

were places that I went to when I was there that it was

like, I've been here before.

I've seen this.

I knew where things were that I couldn't have known about.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Sharon's visit

to the Battleship Arizona Memorial

at Pearl Harbor triggered the same anxiety

as her recurring nightmare.

She returned to her hotel room and asked

Frank to hypnotize her.

During this session, Sharon began to speak as never before,

and a new persona emerged.

His name was John Gillespie.

FRANK BARANOWSKI: OK.

So we take her to the time [inaudible].

She's Sharon Johnson.

We go back to age 12, age 10, age five, down to birth,

and then I ask her to start recalling

something that happened.

I said, when I reach the count of 12,

you'll be in the 12th season of your life.

OK?

And suddenly, when she's there, she's

talking like a 12-year-old. What's your name?

John.

John Gillespie.

I'm a junior.

Oh.

Where you at?

On the farm.

What farm?

I says, where you at?

She says, what?

This is Omaha.

Omaha?

Yeah.

Well, Omaha, Nebraska.

[inaudible].

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): As the session continued,

a chilling account of the surprised Japanese attack

began to emerge.

[coughing] There's bombs dropping everywhere.

They're everywhere.

These planes everywhere.

They bomb us with it too.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In the account,

several men were named, who were on board the Nevada

at the time of the attack.

Among them, a Captain Stanley, a Paymaster Cooper,

and [inaudible].

Don't worry about me!

Take a forward.

Secure the main gun!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In Sharon's memory,

Tosic was particularly prominent.

He was apparently the son of an admiral and was badly injured.

A few minutes later, the story came to an abrupt end.

With great pain, Sharon realized that John

Gillespie had been killed.

Very good.

Deeper relax for me.

SHARON JOHNSON: Up to that point,

I had not had a past life regression.

I wanted to know more about what had happened

and who the person was that I felt

I was in this traumatic experience I had just had.

What about your grandfather?

What's your name?

We call him Red.

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

Sharon underwent progressive hypnosis 20 more times.

Frank recorded the details of these sessions

and then set out to see if the story of John Gillespie

could be documented.

In one hypnosis session, Sharon, speaking as John Gillespie,

listed the names of nine men serving on the USS Nevada.

She also gave John Gillespie's serial number.

Frank Baranowski turned to the office of Congressman John

Rhodes for help. - Good morning, Frank.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Bob Scanlon,

senior aide to the congressman, was assigned the case.

Thank you.

ROBERT SCANLON: When he first asked for our help

and briefed me on the problem, I was pretty skeptical.

I thought, you know, we got a lot of strange requests,

and this has to be one of the strangest.

I know it's rather incredible, but she gives me names,

dates, and places of people.

I have no way of checking. Here.

ROBERT SCANLON: When I heard the story

and listened to the tapes, I figured

that our office in Washington certainly

should be able to get into Naval archives

and either prove or disprove what this young lady had said.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Using congressional privileges,

Scanlon obtained the Nevada's roster of officers

from the National Archives in Washington, DC.

Amazingly, eight of the nine men Sharon mentioned were listed.

I remember when I received that and first read it,

I told my secretary that I don't know whether to point

with pride or view with alarm.

This was a strange result that I really didn't expect.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): However, the Ensign Tosic,

who would play such a prominent part

in Sharon's past life memory, was not included on the list.

Ensign Tosic was originally shown in all Naval records

to have been in Long Beach, California

the morning of the attack on Pearl Harbor,

when, in fact, he was on board the Nevada

and was tragically injured that morning.

In fact, I think, as we found later,

he lost a leg due to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): "Unsolved Mysteries"

contacted Robert Tosic, a former ensign

in the United States Navy.

Tosic declined to be interviewed on camera, but incredibly,

confirmed many details of Sharon's account.

He was on board the Nevada that day

and, in fact, had to have his leg amputated.

The name, John Gillespie, does not appear

on any of the ship's rosters.

FRANK BARANOWSKI: The Navy admits the only records

that they carried were the paymaster's

records onboard that ship.

The fires raged incessantly for two days.

All of that was destroyed.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Fire would also

frustrate any attempt to verify the serial number

of John Gillespie.

In 1973, flames ravaged a Naval warehouse in St. Louis,

destroying the service records of thousands of seamen

from World War II.

How about your grandmother?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Sharon's past life memory

also included information about John Gillespie's personal life.

Under hypnosis, she stated that he was born in 1921 in Omaha,

Nebraska, the son of John Gillespie, Sr. and grandson

of Harry Gillespie.

In census records from 1899, Frank

found what he believes is proof that John Gillespie did exist.

FRANK BARANOWSKI: When we came across this frame,

we found it--

Harry Gillespie, wife, Ida Mae, son, Benjamin, son, John.

And that John was John Gillespie's father.

And he would have been 24 years old when John was

born, exactly the right age.

Yes, you can read about Nebraska.

You can read about the farmland.

You can read about Omaha and Lincoln and all

of those places, but unless you have

experienced something, then where

do you get specific names, specific places?

I mean your history--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): How valid

are Sharon's so-called past life experiences?

At least one expert feels that Sharon

may have absorbed the tales from books from the power

of hypnotic suggestion.

Well, the information about Tosic

is easily available to anyone who looks for it

in a book that tells a story.

The events at Pearl Harbor have probably

been as written about as any incident in this century.

No, she never did any reading about Pearl Harbor.

It was one of those things that she just didn't care for.

When somebody would mention it, she would just

shudder and just walk away.

He asks leading questions of his subjects.

He seems to take control of the regression,

rather than allowing the person involved to be in control

and to volunteer information.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In an attempt to refute the critics,

both Frank and Sharon agreed to undergo polygraph tests

with Glen Whiteside, a polygraph examiner

for 20 years, who has been board certified in four states.

GLEN WHITESIDE: In my opinion, Sharon and Frank absolutely

are not conducting a hoax.

They did not get their information out

of records books.

They are not using mind conditioning

or hypnotic suggestion.

They are not perpetrating a hoax in any way.

Any place else?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Under hypnosis, Sharon

revealed that John Gillespie had a Hawaiian girlfriend named

Sugar.

This composite was made from Sharon's description.

John met Sugar while he was stationed at Pearl Harbor.

If she exists, Sugar would today be 70 years old.

For most of us, the incredible facts of this story

seem hard to accept.

How could a woman living today have such vivid memories

of someone else's life and death at Pearl Harbor 50 years ago?

Is there any way to prove the details of Sharon's account

beyond a shadow of a doubt?

Probably not.

But for believers, there is no need to.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next, a killer

has returned to torment the family of the man he murdered.

[music playing]

Littleton, Colorado is an affluent suburb

15 miles from Denver.

Its residents are, for the most part,

business and professional people.

Roger Dean was typical.

He and his wife, DJ, had lived in Littleton for 15 years.

November 21st, 1985, seemed like an ordinary Wednesday

morning, except for the car nobody recognized

parked outside the Dean home.

Some remembered it as a '68 Pontiac, others

as a '76 Oldsmobile.

But all agreed on one thing.

They had never before seen the lone man who sat inside.

At the time, they thought nothing of it.

But at the time, Roger Dean was still alive.

ROGER DEAN: DJ, come out here.

DJ DEAN: I'm in the tub, Roger.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): At approximately 7:00 AM,

Roger Dean called his wife, DJ, into the bedroom.

J, come out here.

What is it, Roger?

All right, lady.

Shut up and get on the bed. - Oh!

Shut up.

Get on the bed.

Shut up.

Get down.

Tie her hands.

A masked intruder forced Roger to tie and blindfold DJ.

Then he took Roger into another room.

As DJ lay bound helplessly on her bed,

she could hear Roger and the gunman talking,

but she could not tell what they were saying.

You had enough time to think about it?

How much money have you got in the savings account?

I don't know.

How much money have you got in your savings account?

I don't know.

[crying]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): DJ heard the gunman

rifling through drawers.

Then a loud noise made him bolt from the room.

ROGER DEAN: I don't owe you any money.

How much money do you in your account?

I have $30,000.

I want it, and I want it now.

It's not here.

All right, we're going to the bank.

Let's go.

All right, I'll give you the money.

Go!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Suddenly, the gunman fired.

The bullet ricocheted, striking Roger Dean in the arm.

At the front door, he fired again, five

times at point blank range.

Roger Dean died before paramedics could be summoned.

DJ DEAN: After I started hearing the gunshots,

I made my way down the steps, and I did get outside.

And from there, things are a little blurred.

I think someone that was driving by

must have come by and taken my blindfold off.

I'm really not even sure of that.

I just knew that Rog--

I saw Rog went over to him, and he was lying in the street.

And then he was taken away, and I was taken to the neighbor's.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): From the start,

authorities were struck by several oddities in the case.

Roger had twine fiber embedded in only one wrist.

It appeared that Roger had never actually

been tied up by the gunman.

Went on up the street.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Also, Roger was wearing contact

lenses when he was shot.

Look at these glasses here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Yet strangely,

in an upstairs bedroom, his eyeglasses were

found covered with duct tape.

Police began to theorize that the twine and the glasses

were both red herrings, planted to give

the impression that Roger had been blindfolded and bound.

ANTHONY SPURLOCK: We believe that Roger hired an individual

to come over to basically kidnap him, take him to his bank,

withdraw $30,000 from their account,

and then obviously, drop Roger off someplace,

so Roger could report a robbery.

And he would have that $30,000 to himself.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): During the investigation,

two other unusual facts emerged.

In the year prior to his death, Roger Dean

had taken nearly $30,000 from his business

and deposited the money in a private account

unbeknownst to his wife.

Also, on the day of his murder, Roger was seen sipping coffee

in his garage at 7:00 AM.

On most weekdays, Roger left the house no later than 6:15.

ANTHONY SPURLOCK: What we make of that timing

is that he was waiting for this individual

to come and meet him at his house.

We also believe that the individual was probably sitting

in his car when Roger lifted the garage door, which

was the signal for this individual

to get out of his car and walk over to Roger's home.

This is the man that I was married to for 26 years,

and yes, there had been personal problems in the last few years,

especially since the death of our son.

But I knew the man too well.

In my heart, I cannot believe that Roger

had anything to do with this.

Tragedy was not new to DJ Dean.

Two years earlier, her son has been killed

in an automobile accident.

Within a few months, another accident

took the lives of her parents.

DJ and her daughter, Tammy, tried desperately

to rebuild their lives.

Then five years after Roger Dean's murder,

DJ received a chilling anonymous letter.

Its author claimed to be the man who had killed her husband.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The letter

arrived on July 21st, 1990.

It demanded $100,000.

If Roger's murderer did not get the money,

he planned to kill again.

EXTORTIONIST: Do you know that I met your daughter,

Tammy, on a few occasions?

She is a very attractive blonde and a very good model.

Do not make me kill her.

Your son is dead.

Your husband is dead.

Do not risk your daughter.

She is the last one left.

DJ DEAN: I was in total shock.

I mean this was like something that doesn't happen to you.

This only happens in the movies.

It makes me angry that we had just

started to get on with our lives and put the past in the past,

and it's all brought up to you again.

This person isn't letting us continue,

and we never did anything to deserve this.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): DJ and Tammy

notified the local authorities and the FBI.

The FBI had no doubt that the extortionist was who he claimed

to be, Roger Dean's killer.

DJ and Tammy were given round the clock protection.

The killer had told DJ that he would

telephone her on July 27, 1990.

FBI agents moved into DJ's home and set up a wiretap operation.

[phone rings]

Wait for the second ring now.

[phone rings]

OK, DJ, pick it up.

Hello?

EXTORTIONIST: Listen.

Your husband owed me money, and I want my money.

If my husband owed you money, I'll pay you what he owed you.

EXTORTIONIST: I want my money.

I'll give it to you.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The FBI traced the call

to a phone booth in Denver.

All right, I'll call you tomorrow,

and I'll tell you where to take it.

[inaudible]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But before they could get there,

the killer had disappeared.

DJ DEAN: I don't believe my husband owed anyone this money,

but that was what he said.

And the phone calls continued and continued and continued.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After nearly a dozen phone calls,

the extortionist told DJ to drive

to a supermarket 20 miles north of her home

and wait for further instructions.

OK, DJ, be calm.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): With an FBI agent hidden in her car

and surveillance trucks and a SWAT team for backup,

DJ attempted to lure the killer into a trap.

OFFICER: OK.

She's out of the car.

And she's heading across the parking lot now.

She's headed towards the phone booth.

DJ DEAN: I waited, and I waited, and I waited.

Could not believe I was really having

to go through this terror.

[phone rings]

And then finally, when I did get a call,

I was given instructions as to which streets to take

and where to make the drop.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The extortionist

told DJ to leave $100,000 in an alley

behind an apartment complex in downtown Denver.

At 10 PM on August 19th, 1990, DJ left the money,

once again shadowed by the FBI.

[phone rings]

Hello?

EXTORTIONIST: You haven't followed instructions.

Yes, we have.

EXTORTIONIST: No, you haven't.

You haven't followed instructions,

and now I'm going to hurt you.

TAMARA DEAN: He called about--

it seemed like forever, but a couple of hours

later and was using a lot of profanity

and said that she had basically not followed his instructions,

had not done what he had told her to do,

and that now he was going to do what he had said that he

would do to me because of that.

He would hurt me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The FBI kept the bundle of cash

under surveillance until dawn.

It was never picked up.

BOB PENCE: Whether or not he spotted something,

whether or not he just took for granted that the law

enforcement was involved, or whether or not he

got cold feet, and although he didn't detect any type of law

enforcement, he just was too scared

to actually make the pickup, I think

all those are possibilities.

When he didn't pick it up, I was devastated.

I guess I thought, this is not over.

I was totally devastated.

There's nothing more that either one of us

want than for this to be solved and for whoever murdered my dad

to be caught, and at the same time, for him

to be also caught for the fact that he's still terrorizing us.

He is still making us live a nightmare that continues

on and on all the time.

In his last call, the extortionist

told Tammy he still planned to kill her

and that he would strike when she least expected it.

Authorities know only that the suspect

is white, about six feet tall, and uses

an extensive vocabulary.

Interestingly, they feel that the extortion

letters were written by a man and a woman

working in conjunction.

[music playing]

In the past four years, 68 wanted fugitives

profiled on "Unsolved Mysteries" have

been captured, thanks to vital information provided by you,

our viewers.

One recent case was that of a convicted con man wanted

by Nevada police for murder.

Joe, come on out, Joe.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On October 6, 1990, Henderson,

Nevada police entered the home of 50-year-old Joe Weldon

Smith.

Inside the house, they found the bodies of Smith's wife, Judith,

and his two stepdaughters.

All three victims had been strangled

and bludgeoned to death.

[phone ringing]

Hello?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two hours

after the bodies were discovered,

Joe Smith telephoned his wife's daughter-in-law.

He denied any involvement in the murders.

Joe? What's going on?

[inaudible]

JOHN WILLIAMS: He called her on the phone

and told her that he had killed one

of the people that did the killing

and knew who the other ones were.

JOE WELDON SMITH: I'm going to find the guys who did it.

I know who they are, and I'm going to kill them.

JOHN WILLIAMS: In my opinion, it was a ruse by Mr. Smith

to get support from Judith Smith's family members

and make them believe that he was

not involved in the killings.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Joe Weldon

Smith was charged with three counts of first degree murder.

His whereabouts remained a mystery until the night

of our broadcast.

Just minutes after we profiled Smith's case,

an anonymous viewer called our telecenter

to report that the fugitive was living

near Los Angeles, California.

Smith was hiding out at this motel,

but managed to escape before he could be apprehended.

E EDWARDS: Once we established that Joe Weldon Smith was

in the Los Angeles area, we focused our attention

to his brother, who we knew that he had close contact with.

After five days of surveilling this brother,

we established where the suspect was residing.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 20 minutes later, Joe Weldon Smith

was arrested at another local motel, where he was registered

under an assumed name.

Inside Smith's room, detectives recovered several credit

and identification cards.

Smith told police that he was in the process

of creating a new identity.

E EDWARDS: At the time of his arrest,

Joe Smith indicated to me that he had seen the last airing

of the "Unsolved Mystery" program,

and he also told me that it was very tough being a fugitive,

and he always knew that someone would be knocking at the door

one day, and he was kind of glad it's all over at this point.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next, a beautiful young con artist

embarks on a wild shopping spree.

[music playing]

Las Vegas, Nevada-- the city of light in the desert,

a seductive town of high rollers and big spenders, where

money flows quickly and easily.

On the weekend shortly before Christmas,

1990, an eccentric young woman named Liza Montgomery

again a bizarre and most unusual shopping spree, remarkable even

in freewheeling Las Vegas.

On Friday afternoon, December 21st, Liza,

dressed to the nines, visited local businessman, Mark Huseby.

She was responding to his newspaper ad offering

to send a full length mink coat and a two carat diamond ring.

[knocking]

- Hello. - Hi, Liza.

How are you?

Come on in.

Oh, thank you.

MARK HUSEBY: Liza's personality was like that

of an excited schoolgirl.

Here's your cashier's check.

My god, there it is, and there's the ring.

Liza, I told you to bring cash.

I know, but the bank was closing,

and anyway, that's just as good.

I mean, don't worry about it.

I mean it's a good check.

Well, can I see your ID, please?

Oh, sure.

MARK HUSEBY: I asked to see her identification,

because I had told her when she came to the home

here that I did want cash.

But I settled for the cashier's check.

LIZA MONTGOMERY: Thank you.

Well, let me walk you to the car.

Oh, all right.

Thank you.

MARK HUSEBY: As I was saying goodbye to Liza,

and I walked her out to her car, it seemed very unusual to me

that she--

how she treated the mink coat.

She just literally shoved it in the car,

as if it meant nothing to her.

Have a nice Christmas.

Oh, you too.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Liza's shopping

marathon was just beginning.

Oh, hello.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): That same evening,

she purchased two rings, which she

had selected the previous week.

She paid with a cashier's check in excess of $39,000.

And here are your rings.

Oh, thank you.

They're just beautiful.

SMILES ZEPEDA: Liza had been coming

to us for about three months.

She was always well dressed, so we never

had a problem believing whether or not she could actually

afford anything she wanted to.

You know, you're very fortunate to get

both of these diamonds at this price.

Well, that's why they call me lucky.

Here's your cashier's check.

Oh, great. This looks fine.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The next day,

Liza continued her rounds clad in the mink coat

she had bought from Mark Huseby, driving

an old battered moving van.

If you could just write down that number.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): She purchased

what she called a surprise gift for her husband--

$23,000 worth of furniture.

Throughout the weekend, Liza continued her seemingly

endless Christmas shopping, always

paying with cashier's checks.

At nine different stores, she picked up

an additional $100,000 worth of jewelry,

furs, and luxury items.

All along the way, Liza made a big impression

and raised quite a few eyebrows.

People were becoming suspicious, starting

with businessman, Mark Huseby.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Shortly after selling Liza

the mink coat and ring, Huseby began to question

whether Liza's check was good.

He drove to an exclusive gated community

looking for the address printed on Liz's identification card.

Hi, do you have a Liza Montgomery living

here at 2901 [inaudible] Drive?

No, sir. MARK HUSEBY: Are you sure?

I'm positive.

That address doesn't even exist.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Huseby immediately returned

home and called the police.

I explained to him that unless or until the bank received

that check and officially notified him that it was

counterfeit or somehow forged, there was really nothing

we could do at that point.

Even if we were able to find her,

we'd have no authority to detain her,

simply because the address on a cashier's check

was somehow an error, and that we couldn't

detain her just based on that.

Be careful with that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Meanwhile,

back at the furniture store, Liza

was having difficulty squeezing everything

she had bought into the van.

If you want to, you can borrow one of our trucks,

and we can follow you over there.

- No, thank you. - Are you sure?

I mean after you surprise your husband,

I'd be glad to help you set up some of the furniture.

I don't care what you have to do.

Just get it in there.

Just get it in.

OK.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The store owner was troubled

by her belligerent attitude.

Once the van was loaded, he decided

to follow in his own car just to see where Liza would go.

Before leaving, the amateur sleuth

gave his wife a walkie talkie and took one for himself.

She's turning away from Rancho Bel Air.

I knew she was lying.

Call the police.

I'm going to keep following her.

OK.

PAUL FIGLIA: We had learned from dispatch that the check had

already been passed at the furniture store

and that it was in the name of Liza

Montgomery, which was the exact same name

that Mark Huseby had given us.

Based on that information, we felt that there was enough

corroboration now, since there were two checks floating

around, that she needed to at least be

stopped and identified.

By the sounds of it, what?

10 minutes away maybe?

Six if we hurry.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The furniture store owner

followed Liza's van to a residential neighborhood

five miles away.

He described each event as it unfolded.

She just pulled over onto a residential street

and met up with a man standing next to a red convertible.

Now he's getting into the truck.

She's getting into the car.

They're leaving together and heading north on Jones.

OK.

My husband says that the woman made contact with the man.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The store owner's wife

attempted to keep authorities abreast

of her husband's whereabouts.

We advised the store owner to try and keep up

with the vehicle if he can, and we'll be there momentarily,

within two or three minutes.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The van and the red convertible

headed south.

The store owner remained on their heels.

When the vehicles reached an intersection

on the outskirts of town, the van made an illegal right turn

and sped away.

She stopped the car.

Oh, I better get out of here.

What are you doing?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The store owner

was fearful that this angry woman in a white mink coat

might be carrying a weapon.

He sped off with the convertible in hot pursuit.

After nearly a three-mile chase, the store owner

pulled to the side of the road.

Liza whizzed by and disappeared.

The police were just minutes away, but it was too late.

They combed a five-mile area, searching

for Liza and her accomplice.

They ran checks on various garages and warehouses hoping

to recover the stolen goods, but the perpetrators

and the property were gone.

In summary, she hit at least 12 places that we're aware of,

and the amount of loss to all of those in total

was over $150,000.

The last of the places she hit was a gaming supply store

at which time she bought three slot machines, almost as

if she wanted to take a souvenir of Las Vegas

with her out of town.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Eventually, the van and

the convertible were recovered.

Liza had rented both vehicles at local agencies.

In each case, she persuaded the rental clerk

to accept a $500 cash deposit in lieu of a credit card.

The cash was never reclaimed.

Usually, we only find this type of skill

amongst people who are going to get

involved in a scam that's worth thousands

upon thousands of dollars.

For the most part, some of these nickel and dime con games

fall through when the victim looks straight

through the suspect and is able to see that it is a con game.

But when we talk about big money like this,

if they're going to get away with it,

they're going to have to be very good,

and Liza was one of the best.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Liza Montgomery did leave behind one

significant piece of evidence.

When she rented the van, the clerk made

this copy of her state ID card.

[music playing]

When we return, an intriguing eyewitness account

may help solve a string of bizarre disappearances.

[music playing]

[sirens]

February 4th, 1990, 4:30 AM--

sheriff's deputies responded to a call

at a convenience store in Orlando, Florida.

Who here called the sheriff's office?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two customers

and found the all night market open,

but curiously, unattended.

No one was minding the store.

A friend of mine works here, and I stopped in to say hello.

And she wasn't here.

I don't know where she is.

She just kind of disappeared.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Deputies

immediately searched for any signs of the missing clerk.

Behind the counter, they found a work smock neatly folded.

The cash register was locked, and there

was no evidence of a robbery.

RIGGS GAY: The store appeared to be just abandoned.

There was absolutely no signs of any struggle.

Nothing appeared to be missing from the store

with the exception of the store clerk.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The missing clerk

was 26-year-old Deborah Deann Poe,

who worked days at a local newspaper and nights

at the store.

Deborah had moved to Orlando just

four months earlier with her friend

and roommate, Lori Tillman.

LORI TILLMAN: Debbie and I were more like sisters

than I am with my own sister.

We had a very unusual friendship.

We could fight like sisters do, we

could ignore each other like sisters do,

but we were there for each other.

If we ever needed anything, we could count on one another.

Good evening, sir.

That's $1.89.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The most dangerous

time for convenience store employees

is the graveyard shift.

This was Deborah's shift.

Five nights a week from 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM,

she was behind the counter alone.

How ya'll doing?

Seeing a lady tonight on a Saturday night?

There you go.

LORI TILLMAN: She needed to work and get the money.

She had a brand new car to pay for.

She wanted to buy a house, and she wanted to start a business.

So if it meant working two full time

jobs that she really didn't like, that's what she'd do.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Just after 11 o'clock on the night

she disappeared, a friend of Deborah's dropped by to discuss

some house plans with her.

That's what I want.

I don't know if I can afford it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police verified that Deborah

waited on customers from the time

her friend left until 3:05 AM.

I've got to take care of her.

I'm sorry.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When her friend returned at 3:50 AM,

Deborah was nowhere to be found.

Her vehicle was parked where she parked it that night

when she came to work.

It had not been disturbed.

It was locked, and her purse was sitting on the backseat.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Investigators

concluded that Deborah Poe had probably been abducted.

Looks to be about $25 cash in here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): They soon discovered

that Deborah was not the first store

clerk in Florida to disappear on the graveyard shift.

Six months earlier, on August 6th, 1989,

29-year-old Donna Callahan disappeared from a convenience

store in Gulf Breeze, Florida.

As in Deborah's case, there were no signs

of struggle at the scene.

Donna was three months pregnant and left

behind a two-year-old daughter.

Five weeks later, on September 18th,

36-year-old Darlene Messer was abducted from a Lake

City convenience store.

Two days later, Darlene's body was found in a nearby creek.

She had been bludgeoned to death.

Three victims, all single females in their 20s or 30s--

all had vanished while working the graveyard shift alone.

Investigators believe that the cases were linked

but had no suspect.

Then three days after Deborah Poe's disappearance,

authorities were contacted by a young woman,

who read about the case in a local paper.

She came forward after realizing that she

may have stood face to face with Deborah Poe's abductor.

WITNESS: I stopped by a convenience store about 3:30

to pick up a pack of cigarettes, and there was

only one person in the store.

And it appeared to be the clerk.

Looking back on it, he didn't know

where the cigarettes were, which isn't that

uncommon if it's a new clerk.

And I had to point out which ones I wanted.

No, the regular ones up top over there.

WITNESS: He had long, stringy hair.

He was wearing an earring of a cross.

You really shouldn't smoke, you know.

WITNESS: And a skull's ring.

Yeah, right

WITNESS: And he had a rock t-shirt and the name, Megadeth,

across the top.

We cannot locate anyone else that has been able to tell us

whether or not this individual was in the store

when they were in the store.

He might have been a customer that walked in and was walking

around looking for the clerk.

He might have been an individual,

who was taking an opportunity to shoplift or steal some things.

Or he might be responsible or, in part,

responsible for the abduction of Deborah Poe.

There's a good possibility that we're

dealing with an individual, who is a serial type of person,

who abducts these people.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Deborah Poe is

officially listed as missing.

She is 26 years old, five feet, two inches tall,

and weighs approximately 105 pounds.

LORI TILLMAN: If we don't find her alive, then we can at least

put her to rest, give her a decent service,

go after her killer.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): This Sunday, a special edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries--

The Investigators."

In North Dakota, a woman dies when

her car is engulfed in flames on an isolated country road.

This controversial case pits two investigators

against each other.

One says it was an accident.

The other is convinced it was murder.

Join me Sunday night at 8:00 for these fascinating profiles,

The Investigators on "Unsolved Mysteries."

[music playing]