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ANNOUNCER: This program is about unsolved mysteries.
Whenever possible, the actual family members
and police officials have participated
in recreating the events.
What you are about to see is not a news broadcast.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For more than 30 years,
Joe and Mattie Harvey and their country store
were an institution in the small town of Lewis
Chapel Mountain, Tennessee.
Then in March of 1991, Joe and Mattie were brutally murdered.
A grieving community was shattered by the news
that one of the primary suspects was a member
of the Harveys' own family.
In 1941, Barney Dewey and his sister,
Angeline, were taken from their parents,
separated, and placed for adoption
by a deceitful preacher posing as a friend.
A year later, Bonnie set out on a lonely journey
to find his sister.
Perhaps you can help bring his long search to an end.
In Henderson, Nevada, two unknown bank robbers
took a woman hostage and led police
on a dangerous high-speed chase.
Incredibly, as the escape unfolded,
an alert newspaper reporter snapped
a picture of the bandits from her passing car.
Also, thanks to our viewers, nine brothers and sisters
who were separated by the tragic death of their mother,
have found each other.
Join me.
Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.
[theme music]
According to official FBI files, on any given day
an estimated 40 banks in the United States
are robbed at gunpoint.
On November 13, 1991, a bank in Henderson, Nevada
was added to the list.
It is a frightening, traumatic experience
for the bank employees, who fearing retribution,
have asked that their identities be concealed.
It began an hour before opening.
The bank manager was at his desk alone, seemingly
secure behind locked doors.
Don't touch the alarm.
Did you set off the alarm?
No.
This is a robbery.
I want you to do everything I tell you to do.
Now, is there anything you have to do now?
I have to sign on my computer and I
have to check my daily mail.
Let's do it.
The first thing that I saw was the handguns that both of them
had.
They were like a stub-nosed large caliber weapon.
I believe the individual was a professional bank
robber because he knew about banking procedures.
All right.
Do what you have to do.
BANK MANAGER: He watched every move that I made up and down
the teller line to make sure that I didn't reach
down and set off any alarms.
All right.
I'm in.
Stand here.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The robbers had
apparently done their homework.
Don't look at me.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): They seemed well aware
that the bank's vault was equipped
with a dual combination lock.
The manager knew the first half of the six-digit sequence.
The other three numbers were known only to the vault teller.
At 8:00 AM, she arrived for work.
When I was unlocking the door, I kind of felt
that there was something wrong.
But I went ahead and entered anyway.
Don't touch the alarm.
Do you know the other information to open this vault?
Yes, I do.
Open it.
Come on.
The bank robber was pretty calm, I thought.
He was just really precise in what he wanted us to do.
So my manager and I, we opened the outer door
and we all went inside the vault and we
went to go to the inner vault, where the cash was.
Now, this is what I want you to do.
You go across the lobby to my partner and stay there.
Go.
You, go outside and stand by the door and don't move.
Hey!
You, get over here.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two tellers
were also taken hostage by the second gunman
when they arrived for work.
Drop that purse.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): At some point
during this phase of the heist, a silent secret alarm
was activated.
Police moved in cautiously and staked out the bank.
The robbery was very well planned out,
but we were able to make it to the bank we believe
without their knowledge.
Had they have known we were on our way to the bank,
I believe they would have left the bank prior to our
getting there to avoid the confrontation.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Once officers were in position,
the police dispatcher placed a call
to the bank trying to find out if a robbery
was, in fact, in progress.
[phone ringing]
- I've got to get the phone. - Get it.
[phone ringing]
Valley Bank.
This is the Henderson Police Department.
We're receiving a silent holdup alarm from your business.
Is everything OK there?
BANK MANAGER: My stomach was in my throat.
I suppose.
I didn't know really what I was going to say
or how I was going to say it, but I
knew that I had to alert this person that there
was a problem within my branch.
And my normal procedures would be joyful and tell
her that everything was OK.
This time, I just told her that, yeah, I
suppose everything's OK.
That alerted the dispatcher that there was definitely something
wrong within my branch. - Everything's all right.
You set off the alarm, didn't you?
No, I did not.
WOMAN (ON PHONE): Who were you just talking to?
There's someone else here with me.
OK.
What I need you to do is I need you to go outside
and speak with my officers.
Can you do that for me?
OK.
Very well.
That's the store across the street,
they think there's something up here.
They're going to call the authorities.
I've got to go.
I have to straighten this out with them.
Go outside and take care of it.
BANK MANAGER: The hardest thing that I had to do
was to walk up my teller line and see my three employees tied
up, knowing that once I left that bank
that I couldn't get back in to do anything to help them.
This is taking too much time.
One One robber, he was really, really nervous
and he was mumbling to himself.
Too much time.
I was nervous of course, but I wasn't freaked out, I guess,
as some people would say.
I kept my cool.
I didn't say anything.
I didn't make them nervous or jittery
or that I was going to cause some problems.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): No one knows if the gunmen were aware
that the police were outside.
Let's go.
Grab one of those women.
Let's get out of here.
You, come on.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For reasons known only to himself,
one of the holdup men removed his mask as he left the bank.
What had begun as a robbery had suddenly
escalated into a dangerous hostage situation.
[tires squealing]
[sirens]
The escape route had obviously been planned well in advance.
The robbers managed to confuse their pursuers
as they entered the labyrinth of a large apartment complex.
There were only three intruders and exits
from that apartment complex and there
were probably six to eight dead ends in that apartment complex.
And they seem to have known exactly which
route to take through there.
When I was in the car, I wasn't sure what
was going to happen to me.
I kept my eyes closed for the most part
so they wouldn't want to kill me since I could identify them.
So I automatically lay down in the back seat.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police sealed
off all possible exits in an attempt to entrap the robbers.
[gunfire]
Incredibly, the bandits made good their escape.
A short time later, they switched getaway cars
and released their hostage unharmed.
Authorities believe that the two men who robbed the Henderson
Bank may be responsible for as many as 10 holdups
during the past five years.
In every case, their disguises successfully
concealed their identities, leaving
investigators with absolutely nothing to go on.
But the Henderson holdup would be different.
That morning, newspaper reporter Katherine Scott
heard of the robbery on her police scanner.
I ran out of the office to my car
with the camera and my scanner.
As I was going, I heard my scanner
say that there were three people tied up in the bank.
There was a hostage in the car, the robbers
had a semiautomatic handgun, a semiautomatic pistol,
and they were heading my way on Sunset Road
with the police behind them.
I saw the car and decided that that had to be the car
and that's when I thought, I can take a picture.
But I was afraid to take the picture because if I lifted up
my camera and took the shot, then
I knew that they had plenty of time to react by lifting
their weapons and shooting me.
That's when my heart started to pound.
And I don't know how much time passed,
it couldn't have been very long.
But I kept thinking, I can take this picture
but he'll shoot me.
I can take this picture. I can take this--
I want to take this picture.
I have to take this picture, but he'll shoot me.
And just as we passed, that was it, the moment of truth.
And so I took it.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): This is
the photograph that Katherine Scott took that morning.
Authorities have enhanced it to make the unmasked driver
more recognizable.
From this image and eyewitness descriptions,
the FBI created a composite drawing of the suspect.
He is Caucasian or Hispanic, between 40 and 50 years old,
six feet two inches tall, and weighs
approximately 220 pounds.
No photographs exist of the other robber without a mask.
He is believed to be in his late thirties,
is five feet nine inches tall, and weights around 175 pounds.
Next, a man's poignant search for the sister
he hasn't seen in 50 years.
More than 50 years ago, the United States
began a brutal downward economic spiral
that lasted just over a decade.
Officially, the Great Depression ended in 1942,
but for many, the cost in personal tragedy
would continue for a lifetime.
Such was the case for a young girl and her older brother
who lived in Haskell, Texas.
In 1941, Barney Dewey was just 12 years old,
but he had already been forced into manhood.
--and the charge was 63 cents.
Now, how much change do I have?
37 cents?
That's right.
Here you go, sir.
No, no.
You keep that.
That's yours.
Well, thank you very much, Mr. Wilson.
You're welcome.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barney worked part time
at a gas station and looked out for his little sister,
Angeline.
Their stepfather was hospitalized
and their mother toiled long hours as a garment worker.
Times were rough in those days and we
were concerned with living and trying
to keep body and soul together.
And so my mother was trying real hard.
She was not a well-educated person,
but she could read and write and what have you.
But that was the only job that was available.
Do you want to play a game with me?
OK. What do you want to play?
Books.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It was a bleak existence,
but Barney and his family managed to scrape
by and stay together--
until the day in the spring of 1941
when Barney and Angeline had a visitor,
a kindly old man named Reverend Nicholas.
How can I help you, sir?
Hello.
You're Barney Dewey, aren't you?
Well, I'm Reverend Nicholas.
Most people call me Daddy Nicholas.
Oh. Daddy Nicholas.
Yeah.
I'm a good friend of your mother's.
BARNEY DEWEY: So he told us that my mother
wanted us to go with them.
She said it would be all right if I
came over and took you and--
The way he put it and the way he expressed himself, well,
there's nothing wrong.
Just go with him.
And my mother, I thought that perhaps my mother was sick.
So you're sure she's going to be there later.
Yeah. She's going to be--
hello.
You're Angeline, aren't you?
Well, how would you like a piece of candy?
BARNEY DEWEY: He was a very personable person
and he was very nice and he could quiet your fears really
easy with just a few words and with his candy, which
he always had in his pocket.
Come on.
Here you go.
There you are.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Reverend Nicholas
took Barney and Angeline to a fancy hotel,
bought both of them new outfits, and fed them
a sumptuous dinner.
The next day, all dressed up in their new clothes,
the children were formally photographed.
There you go.
Now, go on over here.
BARNEY DEWEY: They said that something had happened
to my mother and that we weren't able to see her
and so they took us to the bus station.
And I questioned him.
I said, where are we going?
He said, well, we're going to take a little trip
and don't worry.
Everything's going to be all right.
Well, my sister balked and she began to cry.
Barney, I don't want to get on the bus.
It's all right. Don't worry.
Don't worry.
I talked to your mom.
She said she'd meet us--
Every time we would raise some objection,
well, he would smooth our feelings down
and say, well, everything's going to be all right.
We'll go see your mother.
I still had in my mind that we were going to see our mother,
that all of this was taking place to get us transported
to the place that she was.
And so this is the way it happened.
And it worked out for Reverend Nicholas just real well.
We kind of trusted him.
And when we got to the foster home,
we just felt like that that was the place that we was
to stay until we met my mother.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A few days
later, Barney realized that his trust had been misplaced.
Reverend Nicholas and his adopted son, Nick Crane,
came to the orphanage to pick up Barney but not Angeline.
It's time for lunch.
We're going to our house.
You can't take him there.
We're just taking him for some food.
BARNEY DEWEY: And of course, Angeline
began to cry and sob and held on to me and followed me out.
And she had to be restrained.
Barney, you promised me we're gonna find our mom!
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Only later
did Barney understand that the fancy new clothes
and the photograph had been nothing
more than an advertisement to be shown
to prospective foster parents.
Barney was sent to live on a ranch
outside of Abilene, Texas.
His foster parents were Reverend Nicholas'
secretary and her husband, who conveniently
needed a ranch hand.
BARNEY DEWEY: I had the responsibility
of driving the tractor, plowing, and doing the chores
on the ranch to keep the animals up and everything,
keep them fed and what have you.
And I was pretty satisfied right at first
there because I had my own horse and I could
do whatever I wanted to do.
On the ranch, I was kind of in charge
and really felt good about it.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barney's memories
of his foster parents are fond ones, even though he lived
a solitary existence eight miles from the main ranch house
and saw them rarely.
As time passed, Barney yearned for his own family
more and more.
BARNEY DEWEY: I began to get lonely
and I began to miss my mother and my sister.
Well, I just got so upset that I began
to think about maybe I ought to get away from here
and go look for my mother.
Well, I felt obligated to my foster mother and father,
and so I took my clothes off.
I took my good clothes off that they had bought
me and everything and I just laid
them aside and put my old clothes
on that I came to them with.
And I made sure I had my money with me.
I had 37 cents in my pocket.
I decided I was going to go to Haskell and look for my mother.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It was 97 miles
from the ranch to Haskell.
When Barney got there, he discovered that his mother
and stepfather had moved away.
Thus began a personal odyssey for Barney
Dewey, one that would criss-cross Texas
and cover nearly 1,000 miles.
Barney found his birth father in Cleburne.
Together they traveled to Kilgore, Texas,
then on to Humble, just outside Houston.
There, Barney's father put him on a bus
to Odessa, where he would be reunited
with his mother and stepfather.
BARNEY DEWEY: When I got off the bus in Odessa,
Texas and I looked over and I saw my mother
and I recognized her, of course, but she didn't know me.
It's me.
Oh, Barney.
BARNEY DEWEY: I had changed in the year that had passed
and I had glasses on.
And of course, my dad had bought me some new clothes.
I'm glad to see you.
You're so brave to go all this way.
BARNEY DEWEY: We had a wonderful time there.
And she says, where's Angie?
Have you heard from Angeline?
No.
But she's doing OK, though.
BARNEY DEWEY: We began to talk about the events
that had taken place.
And I asked her, I says, Mama, I said,
did you sign any kind of papers or anything
to release us to these people?
And she says, no.
Honey, she says, I'd never do that.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barney lived
happily with his mother and stepfather
until he was 18 years old.
In 1947, Barney married.
Four years later, he and his wife
traveled to Abilene trying to locate Reverend Nicholas.
Barney asked around and discovered
that Nick Crane, the reverend's adopted son,
owned a pharmacy in town.
Hi. Am Nick Crane.
Can I help you? - Yes.
I'm Barney Dewey. This my wife, Stella.
I don't know if you'll remember me or not.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Nick Crane told Barney
that Reverend Nicholas had died two years earlier
and that his orphanage had been shut down by the state.
Whatever records existed were stored haphazardly
behind the pharmacy.
Barney and his wife sifted through the dusty papers
but found nothing that could lead them to Angeline.
For the last 50 years, I have been searching for my sister.
And I haven't been able to contact her
and I have nobody knows anything about her.
And it has been this long, 50 years,
half a century in my search for my sister, Angeline.
The night of our broadcast, Barney Dewey's prayers
were answered when Neil Smith of Cedar
Hills, Texas recognized Angelina as his adopted sister, Martha
Jean.
Martha Jean is mentally handicapped
and lives at a group home for the disabled in Arizona.
Barney immediately made arrangements
to reunite with his sister at his daughter's
home in Chandler, Arizona.
On March 23rd, 1992, the moment Barney had waited more than 51
years for finally arrived.
Barney.
Open the door.
Hello, Angie.
Can you get out of there all right, darling?
- No. - Well, it's good to see you.
After all this time.
Goodness, look at me.
I know.
And look at me.
I know.
Goodness.
It's good to see you, I'm telling you.
Hey, I'm telling you, it was a real thrill.
I mean, it's hard to describe but there she
was and my search has ended.
I found who I was looking for all of these years.
And the only regret I have is that my mother
was not there to greet her.
My little sister.
This is the way we were standing when we took that picture.
Yeah.
Back there in Abilene, just before we were separated.
- Separated. - That's right.
It's joy that I found Barney and all his family.
I'm happy that I've got two families now.
Instead of one, I've got two and I am really happy.
This is your sister, Opal Faye.
She really was thrilled when you were born.
I look like her.
And there's Barney Dewey, your brother.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): That afternoon, Barney
and Martha Jean began to fill in the details of the years they
had spent apart.
Yeah.
And this is your mother.
My mom.
Yeah, that's your mom.
She was 51 years old there.
51?
Yeah.
I got the information that she was treated right
and had been raised properly and had gotten an education
and had been loved.
And so that that really was the ultimate, as far as
I was concerned.
When I got back to Odessa--
I really feel good.
I mean, really, this is an exciting high point in my life
and I'm really glad that everything
turned out like it did and our dream has really come true.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On May 31st, 1974,
funeral services were held for 34-year-old Wanda
Vess in Toledo, Ohio.
Wanda left behind nine children.
The oldest was 16, the youngest just 10 months.
The childrens' father, James Vess,
did not attend the funeral.
He was in jail, charged with the murder of his wife.
Three days earlier, James Vess brutally gunned down Wanda
at a tavern where she worked.
He later pled guilty to first degree murder
and was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 1983.
In one senseless and violent moment,
James Vess had shattered his entire family.
Within days of their mother's funeral,
the nine Vess children were sent to live in separate homes.
I think for some reason, I felt
we had enough family that some kind of way we
would all be kept together.
But I was wrong.
It was like nobody wanted us.
We were taboo.
To be around us would be to remember
what happened, to have to accept it, and they didn't want that.
So to me, we were punished for what
my father did because we weren't even
allowed to have each other.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1986, with the loving
encouragement of her husband and two daughters,
Sharene began searching for her missing brothers and sisters,
whom she had not seen in 11 years.
Incredibly, it took Sharene only two months
to find four of her brothers.
Within the next two years, she managed
to locate two of her sisters and another brother.
But one of the Vess children still remained unaccounted for,
Sharene's brother, Heath, who was six years
old when they were separated.
I actually had a dream one night
that there was all nine of us in a room
and I just know that I'm going to get them all together.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The night
of our broadcast, Sharene's dream
of finding our brother he came true
when he called our telecenter.
Heath, who is now married and living in Ohio,
was shocked to learn he'd been featured
on national television.
The next day, Heath spoke with his sister for the first time
at more than 17 years.
Four weeks later, Heath, accompanied by his wife, Robin,
arrived in Los Angeles for a special reunion
with five of his brothers and sisters.
I was really excited.
I just wanted to get out of the car.
I was thinking, who am I going to hug first?
And I didn't want anybody to start bawling or anything.
I just wanted to get out and hug everybody at once, basically.
When I heard Heath was found, I was actually kind of numb.
I thought it would take months.
I didn't know that people would just call in
and it would be that easy.
I'm glad it was because it's been a long wait.
Meeting everybody, it's changed my attitude a lot.
It's picked up my attitude because I've
had a lot of feelings.
I had that unwanted feeling and I never really knew why.
But now since they found me, I have that wanted feeling now
and it's a good feeling.
Because I never really knew.
Finding Heath and this reunion is the first day
of a new beginning.
I know when we all leave here that we're all going
to leave here differently.
It's going to be better for all of us.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The picturesque
forests of the Appalachian Mountains
are dotted with small, tranquil communities
where everyone knows their neighborhood and families
take root for generations.
Joe Harvey and his wife Mattie, called Teak by friends,
exemplified the unique character of the area.
For 35 years, the Harveys ran a combination convenience store
and automobile repair shop in Lewis
Chapel Mountain, Tennessee, just northwest of Chattanooga.
It was the only place to buy gas or groceries for miles around
and served as a gathering place for the community.
He liked to talk a lot.
Joe was quieter than Teak was, but Teak liked to talk a lot.
That was kind of like a community newspaper,
in other words, right there.
They just knew everybody.
Anybody who needed help, they would help.
It was pretty well common knowledge that they kept
cash receipts in the store.
Hey, Patty.
ED HARVEY: I asked him time and time
again not to keep that kind of money around,
that they needed a bank account.
And Joe, I tried to get him to even get a gun
and put in the garage and station there where he was at
and he wouldn't even do that.
He trusted people too much.
Let's go get some supper before you
fall asleep in front of the TV.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Joe and Mattie
were such a fixture that everyone figured
they would be there forever.
Then came March 4th, 1991.
The local sheriff was called to the Harveys' house
by a concerned neighbor.
For the first time in memory, the store
was not open at 9:00 AM on a Monday morning.
JOE MAY: I walked up the little steps
like where you go up to the back door
and reached the handle of the door.
And it was unlocked, so I just pushed the door open.
Joe?
Teak?
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The inside of the house
was completely gutted.
Joe and Mattie were nowhere to be found.
JOE MAY: And I just turned and come back out on the porch.
I discovered blood spots with some hair fragment and flesh.
So that gave me a funny feeling that something had
really happened at that point.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Agents from the TBI,
the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation,
arrived on the scene.
State arson investigators soon found a two-gallon gasoline can
on the kitchen table.
BILL POPE: The investigators found various blood spots
throughout the house and on the porch
and steps leading from the house.
The conclusion is obvious.
The arson was set for an attempt to cover up the crimes
that had been committed there.
And so with the idea that we had been informed that they did
keep large sums of money, the first reaction
is there had been a robbery.
I just thought maybe they might have been kidnapped.
I thought maybe they went on the Smokeys or something like that.
But when I got to the mountain and they told me
they had found blood and the house had been burned inside,
then I didn't know what to think at that point.
All I could think about was hoping
that they were still alive.
A large scale search of the area
yielded absolutely nothing.
The disappearance of Joe and Mattie Harvey
left their family and friends stunned.
That sort of thing just did not happen
in Lewis Chapel Mountain.
But soon, the community would be rocked again.
Another member of the Harvey family
would mysteriously vanish.
Joe and Mattie had no children of their own,
but were extremely close to their extended family,
especially their niece, 27-year-old Cheryl Holland,
and her young daughter.
Hey, Cheryl.
Hi, Cheryl.
Hey, Teak.
ED HARVEY: Teak could not have loved Cheryl any more if she
had been her own daughter.
That's the way she felt about her.
And she felt that way about the little girl of Cheryl.
She loved that little girl to death.
I mean, she thought that little girl was all the world.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): One week after Joe and Mattie
disappeared, Cheryl's pickup was found abandoned at a truck
stop two hours from home.
BILL POPE: Investigators found the truck unlocked, they found
keys in the truck, and they found
a necklace that has later been identified as hers
laying beside the truck.
Also, her pocketbook was still in the truck.
The evidence they found on the scene
would lead a reasonable person to assume
there had been an abduction.
What time did you leave Ralston?
It was about the middle of the morning on Wednesday.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): TBI agents
soon questioned Cheryl's common law husband, Eddie Wooten.
BILL POPE: He tells about her taking
him to Newport News, Virginia.
He tells about stopping at a place where they slept,
but he can't remember where they stopped.
So we kept hiding many, many consistencies such as that.
We have two missing people, now we have three, all out
of a very close immediate family, even as I say,
living next door many times in life.
The favorite niece is missing.
There's no money in the house, the arson, the blood.
It all builds.
And then the question is, is she really missing,
is she an abductee, or she part and parcel of a crime?
As far as thinking that Cheryl was involved in anything,
the TBI asked me.
I was telling them that had had about all the grief we
could take because we'd lost a brother-in-law
and a sister-in-law.
And he wanted to know did I think it was connected.
And I said, no, there ain't no way.
I mean, Cheryl was a Christian girl
and she was living a Christian life
and there's no way that Cheryl's involved in this.
This is altogether a different story.
Eddie, when was the last time you saw Cheryl?
Just like I said, when she dropped me off at Newport News.
OK.
Where was Cheryl the week--
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On March 10th,
Eddie Wooten was questioned again.
He told authorities that in late February,
he took Cheryl to a hospital in Knoxville
for a week-long treatment of stomach cancer.
What was the name of the hospital?
I don't remember.
You don't remember the name of the hospital?
We had been told by the family that she had borrowed money
and gone to other institutions for supposed treatment
of a cancerous condition.
And we found that not to be true.
On the day in question that he claimed that he left her
in Knoxville for treatments, she in fact was working
in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
How could she be in Knoxville at the hospital
and here in Chattanooga working at the truck
stop at the same time, Eddie?
If I tell you what happened, what's going to happen to me?
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Finally, Wooten broke down
and a tale of heartless betrayal began to unravel.
In all, Wooten would tell his story three different times.
What follows is based on the court records
of Eddie Wooten's confessions.
That whole week, Cheryl worked at the truck stop
and I stayed at home.
On Saturday, I guess March 2nd, Cheryl came home from work
and she started telling me that she needed more money.
So that night, we were going to go up to her mother's so Cheryl
could pick up a paycheck.
On the in question and towards the evening hours,
they stopped by a service station
and purchased a gas can and filled it up with gasoline.
They then went up on the mountain
where her parents lived, where she
went in to talk to her mother.
And then they drove to the residence
of Joe and Mattie Harvey.
We got to do it.
We need the money.
We don't need it that bad.
We need it.
They got more than they need and I know where they got it.
Eddie, are you going to help me do this or not?
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): According to Wooten,
he and Cheryl were not alone at night.
When they went into Joe and Mattie's house,
they left their six-week-old son and Cheryl's
five-year-old daughter in the cab of their truck.
You got the gun?
What do we need a gun for?
Because we're going to have to kill them.
Kill them?
Kill Joe and Teak?
Do you think they're just going to hand over the money?
Look, Eddie, we've got no choice.
Now come on.
And I said that I didn't want to kill them,
but she said that I was going to have to help her to do it.
And so I said I would.
Hey, Joe.
Oh.
Hi, Cheryl.
How are you doing?
Where's Teak?
Oh, she's in the back bedroom.
She came out of the back bedroom
and I shot her in the head.
Cheryl, she told me to go out into the driveway
and tell the kids to get down onto the floorboards
of the truck.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): According to Wooten,
he and Cheryl stuffed the bodies into the trunk of Joe
and Mattie's own car.
Next, Wooten followed Cheryl as she drove the Harveys' car
across the Alabama state line.
They stopped at the Bridgeport ferry on the Tennessee River.
According to Wooten, Cheryl later returned alone
to Joe and Mattie's house.
She stole an estimated $150,000 in cash
and then tried to cover up the crime.
Two days later, Cheryl brazenly returned to the crime scene
again, even as investigators were searching for evidence.
She intended, obviously, for the house to burn completely
and the house did not burn.
As a result of that, the gas can was left basically
intact on the kitchen table.
You're not going to believe what's
on the bottom of this can.
What's that?
A A bloody fingerprint.
Hey, Mike, come here.
Shoot the print.
And from that gas can, we were able to obtain a latent print
which definitely matched up to the known thumbprint of Cheryl
Holland.
I was mad, I was hurt because I
can't believe that she would do anything like that, not at all.
Cheryl just-- Cheryl would not have had that in her.
I've done heard so much on Cheryl
that it didn't shock me anymore.
I mean, it was--
I just felt like it was Cheryl and Eddie and at this time,
I feel like she was much involved as Eddie was.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Searchers began dragging
near the Bridgeport ferry.
On Wednesday, April 17th, they found the Harveys' car.
Joe and Mattie had both been shot in the head,
just as Eddie Wooten described.
The hardest part is when I had to identify the bodies.
I just identified them and walked off there
for a few minutes, I had to.
That was a bad thing, to have to look at em.
The way I'd always seen them at the store and everything
and then seeing them in the trunk of this car,
it was bad, really bad.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Eddie Wooten was arraigned on charges
of first degree murder.
A warrant was immediately issued for Cheryl Holland's
arrest on the same charges.
Investigators began to track her movements in the days just
after the killings.
She seemed to be traveling alone,
having left her children with her mother.
But authorities soon learned of a mysterious man who had
apparently been following her.
On March 7th at 9:30 PM, five days after the murders,
Cheryl was seen by a service station attendant
in Greenville, Tennessee.
Hi.
Can I help you?
I was going to get some gas, but I've got to go.
We have a witness that saw Miss Holland
and talking to a male with a beard and a black leather
jacket driving this red and white pickup truck.
Miss Holland didn't seem to have any desire
to talk to the bearded man.
She left the scene and the truck with the male in it
followed behind her in the same direction.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): About an hour later, Cheryl
was spotted using a pay phone at a truck stop
12 miles from the service station.
She called her family and said she was two hours from home.
Later, another witness spotted two people talking
inside Cheryl's pickup truck.
A man meeting the same description
of the bearded person seen in the Greenville area
had come to Cheryl Holland's place of business on the day
before the murders and she was seen writing this man a check.
Now, whether or not that is the same man, whether or not
a bearded man has any involvement in this at all,
of course would be idle speculation on our part
and we have no factual basis to conclude that he is.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Cheryl was
last seen at the truck stop around 11:30 PM
that same evening.
Whether Whether or not she planned this disappearance
prior to the homicide or whether or not the disappearance
was impulsive, I don't know.
But we as prosecutors and investigators
do feel that she is alive and has assumed
a new identity somewhere.
You're innocent until proven guilty,
and I don't think they're giving her the benefit of the doubt
as much as I would like for it to be.
I think that Eddie went berserk and Cheryl was just there.
She didn't know what to do.
If she did burn the house, it was
the only way that she could figure that she
could get away from Eddie.
Until she could see that it was safe for her and her babies,
she's just going to have to go and try to help him.
As far as what happened to Cheryl,
I think Eddie or someone that he knows
has done something to her, has killed her.
Eddie in the first place has not got that much education.
Second place, Eddie did not know--
Eddie and Cheryl had been together about a year
and Eddie would have no way of knowing Joe and Mattie had
a lot of money in the house.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A year has passed
since the murders of Joe and Mattie Harvey, yet
a number of questions remain.
Did Cheryl Holland mastermind the murders?
If so, what could drive a woman to kill the aunt and uncle who
loved her so much?
Did Cheryl staged her own disappearance
to escape justice, or did she simply
fall prey to an unknown assailant, possibly
a mysterious bearded man?
No one will ever know exactly what
transpired on the night of the murders until Cheryl is found.
Authorities believe she is still alive and has fled Tennessee.
Her common law husband, Eddie Wooten,
remains behind bars awaiting trial.
Update-- Austin, Texas.
Less than an hour after our broadcast,
Cheryl Holland was captured, thanks to a viewer's tip.
Holland was arrested at this convenience store, where she'd
been working for six months under the assumed name Amy
Foerster.
I asked her if she was Cheryl Holland and she said, yes.
And that was about it.
We put her in handcuffs at that point
and placed her under arrest.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Employees
of the store were shocked to learn of their co-worker's
double life.
The first thing that came to my mind,
no, that can't be her- not Amy.
The only Dauntingness said last night, she said, I'm sorry.
I got myself into a mess and I want to get myself out of it.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Four days later, Cheryl Holland
was returned to Tennessee to face
charges of first degree murder.
Anytime that you apprehend someone that's
a fugitive in a case like this, a case of double homicide,
yes, you're relieved.
And yes, we're relieved from that standpoint.
ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): If convicted
of the charges against her, Cheryl Holland could
receive the death penalty.
Join me next time for another fascinating edition
of "Unsolved Mysteries."
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