Original subtitles

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Captain

Jeffrey Digman was a marine's marine with a bright future.

But then Jeffrey Digman was found dead in his bedroom,

a bullet to the head.

The police ruled suicide, his family says it was murder.

Barbara Ann Ratner and Barbara Ann Smith

met in 1958 when they were just teenagers.

They soon became the best of friends.

Years later, the two Barbaras discovered a mysterious secret

in their past and learned that they shared

much more than first names.

In Florida, nearly 30 churches have

been hit by suspicious fires in only 16 months.

Authorities feel a deranged arsonist may be at work.

Also tonight we celebrate a remarkable milestone.

Recently calls from our viewers resulted

in our 100th case solved.

Thanks to you, law enforcement has closed cases that were

deemed virtually unsolvable.

And the families of missing persons

have been joyously reunited with their lost loved ones.

Join me for this special presentation,

you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

For adopted children the search for a natural parent

can last a lifetime.

In this unusual story, two women named Barbara are

both looking for their mother.

Remarkably the two Barbaras, are longtime best friends

who discovered as adults that they had far more in common

they could ever imagined.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara Smith

grew up in Los Angeles, California in the 1940s.

When she was five-years-old, Barbara

had one of those unfortunate childhood experiences

which would forever change her life.

And your own mother didn't want you.

That's why she gave you up.

My mother told me so.

BARBARA SMITH REED: I just started to run home

and I just burst out into tears.

That's when it rang clear to me that it could be used

in a very vicious, hurtful way.

Someone had given me up.

Even though I had known the security

and love of my own family, it was

a time of well what happened?

What really did happen?

And I guess it was the first of the real feelings

of what it meant to be adopted.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara

was born in July of 1940.

She remembers being told by her parents, Jack and Rose Smith

that she had been adopted.

It never bothered her, until the day her best

friend began to ridicule her.

Sweetheart, remember how I told that the Doctor's

going to come over?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): That evening,

Barbara was inconsolable.

Her parents asked the family doctor, Maurice Sultan

to stop by and speak with her.

How are you?

BARBARA SMITH REED (VOICEOVER): Dr. Sultan came into my room

and he sat down he told me the whole story.

Barbara, I am the doctor who delivered you.

Your real birth dad, he died during the Second World War

and your birth mother, she died right

after giving birth to you.

I don't believe it.

Well, why don't you get a good night's sleep and--

BARBARA SMITH REED: So that started, at that point,

my father to come in the room after the doctor left and he

talked with me and said, well, I hope you're feeling

better and calming me down.

And saying, Barbara, you know that everybody is gone.

I know that my family is still alive

and you know that too, Daddy.

BARBARA SMITH REED (VOICEOVER): And he just sort of left it.

He didn't continue, he didn't say anymore,

just left it at that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Finally when

Barbara was a teenager, her father

brought out her long buried adoption papers.

For the first time, Barbara Smith

learned that her real mother's name was Victoria Baumgartner.

BARBARA SMITH REED: There was no indication

there that she had ever died in childbirth as I had been told.

And I remember seeing my mother's signature on the paper

and I just stared at it and stared at it and stared at it.

I just, it was the only thing that I

knew that she was in existence.

And it sort of, at that point resurged in myself saying,

I know that they're out there.

I don't know who or what but something is out there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A couple of years passed.

In 1957 Barbara met a young man named Steve Reed.

They soon fell in love and eventually became engaged.

- Hey, come on in. - Hello.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): One afternoon,

Steve and Barbara visited a friend of Steve's

named Pie Ratner.

Barbara was startled by a portrait

hanging in the living room.

Wow, that portrait looks almost like me.

Yeah, that's my sister Barb.

remember I told you how much you guys looked alike?

Oh that's right you did mention that.

Yeah, well you--

BARBARA SMITH REED (VOICEOVER): I looked at that portrait

and I thought, well he's right.

She does resemble me.

How interesting.

Everybody's upstairs.

BARBARA SMITH REED (VOICEOVER): And then we

assembled in to the dining room and Barbara came in

and just, we briefly were introduced.

She said, hello.

- Steve. - Barbara

- Hi. - How are you?

I'm good. How are you doing?

OK.

I'd like you to meet my fiance, Barbara.

Hi. Barbara--

BARBARA SMITH REED (VOICEOVER): And I thought,

she does look like me and I just kind of thought that to myself.

Friends for the movies.

We met and it was just instant like.

You know how sometimes you meet somebody

and you feel like you've known them for a long time?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The two Barbara's soon

became the best of friends.

They even married two men who were also best friends.

The young couples were inseparable.

BARBARA SMITH REED: Our friendship

developed almost instantly.

We really became very close.

We shared a lot of our lives events,

having children we raised our children together.

To the point that Barbara was Aunt Barbara

and I was Aunt Barbara for her children.

Barbara never knew that she was adopted.

And I had been told that she was adopted.

So it was a thing that I knew, never talk about it.

But I talked about it from my point of view later on.

I told her that I was adopted and the name of my mother

and what I knew.

She just asked a couple of questions and that was it.

And nothing more was ever thought about it,

until her mother passed away.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1966

Barbara Ratner's mother died and her father decided

to sell the family home.

While helping to pack, Barbara uncovered

a box filled with mementos from her childhood.

Barbara Ratner was shocked to discover

that she had been adopted.

Amazingly the adoption papers listed her natural mother's

last name as Baumgartner.

The same last name as Barbara Smith's natural mother.

BARBARA RATNER BESANTY: I was dumbfounded.

I didn't know that I was adopted but I didn't connect it

with Barbara, at that moment.

It was a few minutes later when I started

reading the correspondence.

And there was one paragraph where they were describing

the mother as being a healthy woman,

already having one previous child, a daughter,

living in Beverly Hills that was in very good health.

I just knew it was Barbara.

I just knew.

[phone ringing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara Ratner

immediately called her best friend, Barbara Smith.

What was your natural mother's name again?

Victoria Baumgartner.

BARBARA RATNER BESANTY: And I said, well, you're

not going to believe this.

I said, I just found some papers and I am baby girl Baumgartner.

And there was a long pause and then she said,

I'll get back to you.

And hung up.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara Smith

called her adoptive parents.

Her father agreed to call Dr. Sultan.

He confirmed that Barbara Smith and Barbara

Ratner were indeed sisters.

It was just the most wonderful thing to me.

I mean, your best friend is your sister

and that couldn't be more wonderful.

I mean we were already Auntie Barbara.

And I remember running into her children at one point

and saying, but I'm really Auntie Barbara

but I'm really Auntie Barbara.

And they looked at me and thought,

what is she talking about?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The two Barbara's were overjoyed.

In 1969, they approached Dr. Sultan with questions

about their natural mother.

He provided them with a few details,

but withheld most of the information.

Before his death in 1989, Dr. Sultan destroyed all records

pertaining to their adoptions.

We really appreciate--

BARBARA SMITH REED (VOICEOVER): He was reluctant because he

was very close to my parents.

He just wanted to let sleeping dogs lie is the word.

The best thing that we can do under the circumstances.

This was just not something that you

could conduct with finesse.

And to be close to the family and to do

all of the arrangements and the things

that went on in both of our cases,

I mean it just must have left him devastated.

Because by law, you are to protect the mother.

She was his patient.

So where does that leave us?

With very little information.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara Smith and Barbara

Ratner then contacted the Children's

Home Society of California.

A sketchy history of their past began to emerge.

In 1940, an unmarried 23-year-old woman

named Victoria Baumgartner arrived in Los Angeles.

Good morning.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): She was pregnant and turned

to Dr. Maurice Sultan for help.

Having any discomfort?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On July 31, a baby girl was born.

She was adopted by Jack and Rose Smith,

who named her Barbara Ann.

I'm sorry, Victoria.

It's time to take the baby back to the nursery now.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 15 months later, Victoria gave

birth to a second daughter.

Again, Dr. Sultan made arrangements for adoption.

In an absolutely mind boggling coincidence,

the two young sisters grew up just five miles apart,

each was named Barbara Ann and each

was raised by an adoptive mother named Rose.

BARBARA SMITH REED: As we started

to compare some of the facts and the dates,

it was just a lot of similarities.

Even some of her outfits as children were similar.

I don't think a lot of twins have

as much similarities as we do.

And that fact that we married best friends.

And the fact that we are best friends.

It just goes on.

Barbara Ann Smith and Barbara Ann Ratner

found each other against almost inconceivable odds.

They have little information on Victoria Baumgartner.

But bolstered by their own experience,

they are convinced that if they keep looking,

they will someday find their natural mother.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next, the death of a Marine Captain

is shrouded in controversy.

Was it suicide or murder?

THEME MUSIC]

From the time he was 10-years-old Jeffrey

Digman wanted to be a Marine.

He signed up while he was still in college

and was accepted into Officers Candidate School.

WILLIAM JOE DIGMAN: Jeffrey was very even tempered he spoke

very softly, very quietly.

He was a very clean type of individual.

Everything had to be just perfect.

He was just a very organized individual

who knew what he wanted and directed

all of his efforts and attention in achieving in that.

Because he was such a athletic kid,

he thought it was the, very macho to be a Marine

and I think that's why he chose the Marines.

He thought he could do it and he could.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): At the age of 28,

Jeffrey Digman was promoted to Captain

and stationed in his hometown of San Diego.

In late June of 1988, he and another officer

pooled their money and bought a house together.

DRILL SERGEANT: One, two, three. ALL: One.

DRILL SERGEANT: One, two, three.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Just four months

later on November 1st 1988, Digman

was transferred to Puerto Rico.

According to friends, Digman was unhappy about the transfer.

But by Christmas he had begun to settle in

and was dating Lucy Garcia, an accountant at the base.

Thank you.

I enjoyed that.

LUCY GARCIA: Jeffrey was a very quiet person.

He was so serious.

And I liked that of him.

He said he was going to take two weeks off to go

back home and fix some things.

Work on his income tax papers and do

some other things over there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Just after the holidays,

Digman spent two weeks at his home in San Diego.

He was scheduled to fly back to Puerto Rico on January

22, 1989, Super Bowl Sunday.

At halftime a neighbor saw Digman return home.

Digman's roommate, a Major in the Marine Corps,

had gone to Las Vegas for the weekend with his girlfriend.

[gunshot]

At 6 PM, neighbors heard what they

thought was a car backfiring.

At 10 PM, the Major returned from Las Vegas.

He was surprised to see Jeffrey Digman's car still there.

Digman's flight to Puerto Rico been scheduled

to depart 15 minutes earlier.

HENRY SAWICKI: When the roommate returned home

with his girlfriend, they noticed that the house

appeared to have someone in it.

The lights were on, the garage door was open apparently.

So this caused them some concern,

some suspicion as Mr. Digman was not supposed to be there.

The roommate and the girlfriend again thinking that something

was out of the ordinary, went across the street

to get some neighbors.

Hi Bill, I'm sorry to bother you.

I was wondering if you could come over

and help me out over at the house

and just take a look inside with me?

What do you need? What's the matter?

Well I'm not sure but if you could come over--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Major persuaded his neighbor

to go into the house with him

That's all right.

Did you notice anything strange around here tonight?

No, it looks normal, natural.

Jeff's car wasn't supposed to be here and I was- the lights

were supposed to be off.

I don't know.

But I'll appreciate you coming over.

That's OK.

I'll check in here.

[suspenseful music]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Jeffrey

Digman was dead with a single bullet wound

to his right temple.

Digman's blood alcohol level measured an incredible 0.24.

Exactly three times the legal limit for intoxication.

--Touch or move anything?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The death was ruled a suicide.

No, no I didn't.

HENRY SAWICKI (VOICEOVER): Among the items

that lead us to conclude that it is a suicide,

we're talking to his acquaintances

as going to possibly his state of mind before this occurred.

Just positioned on the bed and--

HENRY SAWICKI: As well as forensic evidence

that was discovered at the scene.

One of the pieces of forensic evidence

was what we call a gunshot residue test.

And that determined that there was gunpowder

or an indication that Mr. Digman had

fired a gun on the right hand.

I at no time ever believed that he committed suicide.

I never believed that from when I first got the phone call

to when I went down that night.

Or in the past two years, have I ever believed

that he committed suicide.

I've always believed that he was murdered.

And that's what the evidence shows, that he was murdered.

The Naval Investigative Service backed up the coroner's

ruling of suicide.

Unconvinced, Bill and Donna Digman hired several experts

and began their own investigation, which

not only took on a life of its own

but soon took over their lives as well.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For more than a year

the Digman's, working out of their home,

collected information about their son's case.

Upstairs, in his childhood bedroom,

they painstakingly duplicated the scene

of Jeffrey's death using the actual furniture

from his house.

With the help of a private investigator,

Bill Digman demonstrated for us why

he believes his son could not possibly have killed himself.

In this room we've recreated a mock-up of the crime scene.

Everything is located in the same position it was that night

and it was determined by our investigator, Ted Gunderson.

Well, the first thing I had to do

was determine the trajectory of the bullet, which I did.

And this is the trajectory of the bullet on that occasion.

Also it was important that we recreate the bedroom

as nearly as possible.

And we did that by measuring the furniture

and using the exact furniture that was in the room

that night, the night of the shooting.

This was the position that my son was found in.

And I am the same height as my son.

Now he was shot through the head.

And for him to have been able to have shot through the head,

he had to be shot somewhere along the bullet

path here, which means that you have to get lined up with it.

And to do that I have to get in this contorted position,

like this.

The other thing was that he was left handed.

If he'd held the gun in his hand and in this contorted position,

along the side of the bed, as soon as he was shot

he would have fallen to the floor.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Even though Jeffrey Digman was left

handed, investigators found powder burns on his right hand

as well.

Bill and Donna Digman believe there was other evidence

inconsistent with suicide.

A trail of blood ran from Jeffrey Digman's left ear,

down his cheek.

This raised the possibility that Digman

was in an upright position for at least seven seconds

after the gunshot wound was inflicted.

Police photographs taken at the scene

also revealed an abrasion on Digman's cheek and a contusion

on his elbow.

Above Jeffrey's head, on the turnback sheet,

was an unexplained smear of blood.

His parents hired Steve Schliebe,

an independent forensic expert, to review the case.

I don't feel that Jeffrey killed himself.

I think there was some kind of a struggle that took place

and he was shot during that struggle,

based upon an evaluation and the evidence at the scene.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 10 months after Jeffrey Digman's

death, his parents requested that his body be exhumed

and a second autopsy performed, with their observers present.

The Naval hospital in San Diego performed a second autopsy,

they found two injuries not mentioned in the first autopsy

report: contusions on Jeffrey Digman's right elbow

and on the middle finger of his left hand.

The second autopsy report however

stated that these injuries were insignificant.

There was no medical evidence to support

a conclusion of homicide.

The Digman's continued to believe that their son

had been murdered.

They felt Jeffrey's death was somehow related to his tenure

with the San Diego Marine Drug Testing Unit.

For seven months in 1988, before he

was transferred to Puerto Rico, Jeffrey Digman had

served as chief of the unit.

People were dealing drugs.

People were testing positive.

He would write his reports documenting what

the results of his investigation were and those people

weren't being disciplined.

They were not being discharged.

He was very upset over that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Jeffrey's mother

recalls that while he was with the drug unit

she visited him at his house in the very room

where he would later die.

And I found some military documents in his safe

and I asked him, what were those documents.

And that was when he told me that he was saving those tests

from drug abuse tests, so that he

could cover himself in case anyone

said that he wasn't doing his job.

When we came back to move Jeffry's things,

we wanted to empty the desk, to make it lighter.

And we opened the hinged door that the safe was usually

behind and the hinged door came off

and our hands and the hinges were not connected.

And the safe was not there.

They were after those papers.

We didn't get the safe back because I believe that they

pried it open, broke it.

Couldn't very well give it back to us

if it would have been damaged, or possibly it had blood on it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): There is a final puzzling

postscript to this case.

When Lucy Garcia I helped the Marines pack Jeffrey Digman's

belongings in Puerto Rico, one of the items

was a small, green backed diary.

LUCY GARCIA (VOICEOVER): They opened the book

and they start reading it.

They closed the book again and then they give it

to the person who was packing.

When I give the green book to one of the enlisted,

I notice that all the pages were in the book.

Everything was fine.

Eventually we unpack things and looked

for the little green book that Lucy was telling us about.

And when we found it what we found

was that the pages were cut out of it.

WILLIAM JOE DIGMAN (VOICEOVER): It's been difficult,

thinking about it all the time.

With the mock up there, so close.

The constant reminder that he's dead.

But I have a job to do and some people

may say they were enthusiastic or obsessed with this.

Yeah, we're obsessed with the fact,

we want to know why our son is dead.

We want to know why.

We're not going to give up until we find out why.

Two months ago, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology

reviewed both autopsy reports.

They changed the cause of death to undetermined.

Although the Naval Investigative Service and the Riverside

County California Sheriff's Department

stand by their original suicide ruling,

they would welcome any new evidence pertinent to the case.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next, authorities in Florida

need your help to solve a wave of arson,

on tonight's Special Alert.

[theme music]

On October 24, 1991 firefighters rushed to the First Baptist

Church in Ocala, Florida.

Despite their efforts the 85-year-old landmark

was completely gutted.

Incredibly, this was the 21st suspicious church

fire in Florida during a 15 month period.

Authorities began to fear that they

might be dealing with a pathological serial arsonist.

The series of blazes began in July of 1990

in Jackson County, Florida.

By February of 1991, 11 churches had been torched.

By June, a total stood at 15.

Then suddenly, the fires mysteriously stopped.

For 3 1/2 months all was quiet.

But in October, the reign of destruction erupted again.

Seven more churches in as many days went up in flames.

Among them, the First Baptist Church in Ocala, Florida.

Damage from this fire alone is estimated

in excess of $4 million.

After the rash of fires in October,

authorities formed a special joint task

force comprised of federal, state, and local investigators.

Task force is looking at all possible patterns and avenues.

Everything from profiles of possible fire setters

to times of day and other information

regarding the churches.

But there certainly is no specific pattern that has

been determined at this point.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Just five hours

before our camera crew arrived in Gainesville to film

interviews, the Westwood Hill's Church of God

was destroyed by an arson fire.

At daybreak, church members looked on as a task force

searched the rubble for clues.

Churches like ours, like to stay open and offer

people a place to meditate or pray

and be involved 24 hours a day.

And it's got to the place now that where

we can't leave our doors open so someone could come in and pray.

We're having to guard the church.

I would hope that we will come to some sort of quick solution.

However, I think it should be noted that we need to be

prepared for the long haul.

These are very complex investigations.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): To date,

more than 26 churches have been damaged or destroyed

by the arson fires.

Resulting in a combined property loss in excess of $8 million.

But for the congregations, the devastation cannot be

measured in dollars and cents.

These are very important places for us

very important structures.

They house memories, good feelings,

and they're a very vital part of our community.

So the loss is heavy for all of us.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Fortunately,

no one has been killed or seriously

injured in any of the blazes.

Currently there are rewards totaling $46,000 in this case.

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Theresa

and Paul Stamper of Kingfisher, Oklahoma were married in 1982.

Paul was a successful local businessman.

At the time, Theresa had no idea that Paul

was also a convicted felon with a violent, criminal past.

I know you were with someone.

Now, I want to know who you were with and I want to know it now!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Within six months,

Theresa's marriage to Paul became a living nightmare.

He accused her of being unfaithful

and would often erupt in violent and uncontrollable rages.

You shut up.

Ow!

THERESA STAMPER (VOICEOVER) : He was jealous.

And you had better be here when I get back.

I mean I could be sitting at, we

could be sitting at a red light and I could just turn and look

at someone, and it could be a guy sitting in this car,

and he would just double his fist up

and just hit me right in the mouth.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Finally after two years

of nearly constant emotional and physical abuse,

Theresa found the courage to leave her husband.

For the next six months, Paul Stamper

stalked Theresa night and day, waiting to seek his revenge.

On November 23, 1985, Theresa and a friend Chris Butler,

were heading home after an evening out.

They were pulled over by what they

assumed was a highway patrol.

Paul!

Theresa honey, get out of the car.

No!

What are you doing?

[gunshot]

[gunshot]

No, Chris!

Oh, my God.

Chris had come to and he had yelled, don't leave me here.

Theresa don't leave me here.

And there was, there wasn't anything I could do.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Chris Butler survived the attack.

Paul Stamper drove north, holding Theresa at gunpoint.

After two days she managed to escape.

Paul Stamper was arrested at a bus station in Salina, Kansas.

But just six months later, he broke out of jail

and disappeared.

Update.

Just minutes after this story aired,

the FBI received information from several of our viewers

that Paul Stamper was living in Commerce City,

a suburb of Denver, Colorado.

One phone call was very specific.

It at his alias, it had his location,

his address, his employment, that he was

driving a semi-truck overland.

And that brought an immediate response from the Denver FBI.

So that we moved out within the hour.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Just three hours

after our broadcast, Paul Stamper was

arrested as he left his home.

The fugitive had been living in the Denver area,

under the assumed name Gary Wikel

for approximately four years.

This is one of the more efficient, cost effective,

speedy apprehensions that we've ever made.

For us to not have any idea, early evening,

that this individual is in the Denver area.

And by 11:30, he is captured, he's off the streets

and he's on his way to Denver city jail.

That, I think, may be close to a record for us.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Paul Stanford

was returned to Oklahoma and is currently

being held in the Kingfisher County Jail

while awaiting trial on charges of kidnapping

and attempted murder.

If convicted, Stamper could receive life in prison.

[theme music]

The Haunting Desert of the American

Southwest, immense, desolate, nearly uninhabitable.

Visited by only the most durable of men and women,

who for one reason or another finds safety in its solitude.

Vast horizons where one can be alone and observe.

Where secrets can be hidden midst

the sand, sage, and chaparral.

[plane descending]

1933, just north of Farmington, New Mexico.

That summer, a daredevil, barnstorming pilot

named Red Moiser made several mysterious flights

into the desert.

There he was met by a Mexican millionaire named Leon Trabuco.

19 years later, the secrets of the enigmatic and elusive

Trabuco would begin to unravel.

In 1952, a federal grand jury was convened

after investigations by the United

States Treasury Department and the Secret Service.

It was alleged that Leon Trabuco and four other financiers

had engaged in a sinister plot to buy up

much of Mexico's gold reserves and resell

it in the United States.

It is a brazen scheme conceived at the height

of the Great Depression and born from a conspiracy of greed.

Y, que lindo.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): By the spring of 1933,

Trabuco and his associates were convinced that the United

States would soon devalue the dollar

and that gold prices would skyrocket.

But the potential for enormous profits carried great risk.

Their gold had to be smuggled into the United States.

If caught, the conspirators faced long prison terms.

At a makeshift foundry in Puebla, Mexico,

gold in every imaginable form was melted down

and cast into ingots.

In less than three months the conspirators

had allegedly amassed an incredible 16

tons of solid gold.

So Mr. Trabuco, this is the property

I was telling you about.

Lots of space to store stuff.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Leon Trabuco traveled to the United

States in search of a safe hiding

place for the illegal treasure.

After several unsuccessful trips,

he decided it would be wiser to bury the gold.

It's too big.

I need something a little more secluded.

Secluded.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Legend has it

that Trabuco chose a sparsely populated region

in the Northwest corner of New Mexico.

The area is near the Ute and Navajo Indian Reservations.

Just north of the small town of Farmington.

[plane ascending]

Red Moiser allegedly made a total of 16 flights.

Carrying an average payload of one ton per trip.

After each delivery, the gold was loaded into a pickup truck

and transported to an unknown location.

Oddly, Leon Trabuco never made a map of that location.

Nor did he reveal the burial place to his co-conspirators.

Records indicate that the final shipment

was delivered on July 14, 1933.

Just 6 1/2 months later, the Gold

Reserve Act of 1934 became law.

The price of gold soared.

The conspirators had made an overnight profit of $7 million.

However, the group elected not to sell the gold but to wait.

Confident that the price would continue to rise.

Blinded by greed, not one of them

was aware of an executive order related to the gold act.

It declared the private ownership of gold

within US borders after January 17 1934,

would be punishable by steep fines and imprisonment.

The group had waited too long.

When FDR put the gold embargo, that takes gold off the market.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Ed Foster

grew up in Farmington New Mexico and has spent

more than 35 years researching the legend

of Leon Trabuco's treasure.

--gold.

It's illegal.

And so consequently, these five men

from, financiers from Mexico City, they had 20 tons of junk.

It was not worth a dime because they

couldn't sell it for anything.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Within five years,

three of the conspirators met with untimely deaths.

Leon Trabuco spent the next two decades

traveling the world in a vain attempt

to sell the illegal treasure.

In 1952, he tried to cut a covert deal

with US government officials prompting

the grand jury investigation.

Trabuco was never indicted.

He died several years later, apparently taking to his grave

the secret location of the gold.

[helicopter whirring]

Ed Foster has scoured the desert terrain surrounding Farmington

and is convinced that he has found the landing strip

used by Red Moiser in 1933.

It is a seven mile long plateau known as Conger Mesa.

I believe that Conger Mesa is where the plane would

adjust and come in and land.

I met this Indian lady that couldn't speak English.

So I got it an interpreter.

She said she had watched that plane

land there many, many times.

Ed interviewed another Navajo woman

who was six years old in 1933.

[non-english]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): She remembered several Mexican men

who lived on the reservation.

This would be very unusual for a Mexican to move out here.

For a Spanish or a white man to move out here and live

would be unheard of.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 20 miles west of Conger Mesa,

near an abandoned Navajo home, stands

a building unlike any other on the reservation.

Ed believes that it was constructed

by the men Leon Trabuco left behind to guard the gold.

This house has windows, a front door and a back door

and it had a veranda.

To me this house would look good in Tijuana, Mexico,

but not on the Navajo reservation.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 28 miles east of the Mexican style

home, Ed uncovered an intriguing clue

etched in the face of a stone outcropping

he calls Shrine Rock.

Ed believes that it's the key that

will ultimately lead him to Trabuco's

treasure buried in 1933.

This is 1933 16 t-o-n.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Ed foster

feels certain that the gold is buried somewhere

within this triangle formed by Conger Mesa, Shrine Rock,

and the Mexican style home.

Ed contacted internationally renowned treasure

hunter, Norm Scott, to conduct a detailed survey of the area.

I get an awful lot of stories coming to us

after 30 years in the business.

And probably about 80% to 90% of them

you have to chalk up to some fictional writer who's

writing a book or magazine.

But this one has a ring of authenticity to it

and therefore it deserves attention.

And we intend to give it to it.

I have looked with my eyes and metal detectors for many years

and now they have technology.

And that's why I think it's going

to be found with technology.

It's not going to be found with dumb luck

because I've spent all of that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Is Ed Foster merely

chasing a legend, which has grown grander

with the passing of the years?

Or does a desert of New Mexico indeed

hold the secret to Leon Trabuco's long lost fortune?

[theme music]

On our next Unsolved Mysteries, in 1978

a charming, sophisticated man befriended

a wealthy widow in Tennessee.

Before long he was running her estate and her affairs.

Seven years later he allegedly faked his own death

and vanished, leaving the widow virtually penniless.

Join me, next week for another edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries".