Original subtitles

ANNOUNCER: This program is about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the actual family members

and police officials have participated

in recreating the events.

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

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Richard Minns

was a flashy bodybuilding millionaire

who always got what he wanted.

In 1977, he set his sights on Barbara

Piotrowski, a former beauty queen from California.

Three years later, their love affair disintegrated,

and Barbara descended into a personal hell, which

culminated in a brutal attack.

For years, Katherine Bennett lived in virtual seclusion,

apparently on the edge of poverty.

When she died, she left behind a past shrouded

in mystery and an estate worth more than $125,000.

Perhaps someone watching tonight is her rightful heir.

Also, we'll update you on the unusual case of a Canadian,

a man who disappeared in 1987.

Thanks to our broadcast, he has finally been located

and reunited with his family. Join me.

Perhaps you may solve a mystery.

[theme music]

Janni Smith of Irvine, California

is a registered nurse, a marathon

racer, and a new bride.

She is also paralyzed from the chest down,

the result of a brutal attack.

15 years ago, Janni had another name, Barbara

Piotrowski, and another life.

She was a beauty queen and a straight A pre-med student.

In 1977, she became involved in a passionate, obsessive love

affair with a man twice her age.

By 1979, that love affair began to self-destruct.

Barbara Piotrowski found herself embroiled

in a bitter dispute with her former lover, Richard Minns.

Minns, a multimillionaire from Texas,

was the one man Barbara had loved unconditionally,

the man whose child she had carried,

the man who had promised her a bright and limitless future.

Incredibly, she is certain that the attack which

left her paralyzed was a murder attempt,

and that Richard Minns was responsible.

They met in January of 1977 on the ski slopes

of Aspen, Colorado.

Barbara Piotrowski was just 23 and admittedly naive.

Richard Minns was 47, a sophisticated, smooth talking

comedian who could adjust to any situation.

Richard Minns, when he first approached me,

was very loud and belligerent.

He was dressed very loudly in a bright, fluorescent yellow ski

suit.

He was bragging about what a great guy he was.

And when he saw how that affected me,

he just very, very quickly changed his persona,

and was very quiet, charming, almost seemed a little shy.

And eventually, I did not only--

I didn't just fall in love with him.

I fell head over heels in love with him.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Richard Minns

was anything but shy.

He was a dedicated, flamboyant bodybuilder,

who had made millions from a chain of upscale health spas

based in Texas.

Minns was a man who always got what he wanted,

and he wanted Barbara.

What's the two most beautiful moment you've

known in the last four months?

Aspen, in March, and Acapulco.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Within three months,

Barbara Piotrowski had moved from Los Angeles to Houston

to live with Richard Minns.

He hired her as a model for his health spas,

lavished her with attention, and in general made

her the center of his life.

Minns even bragged that his contacts guaranteed Barbara

a spot in medical school.

It was incredibly romantic, and it was too good to be true.

Things like this don't happen in real life.

They happen in a story.

They happen in a movie.

But they don't happen to you.

And I felt so incredibly lucky.

I mean, we seemed to have a very good relationship.

Certainly, it was magical.

So there was no indication whatsoever in the beginning

that there was anything that was really amiss.

My husband is in your house, and I

want to see him right now.

I know he's here. I saw his car out there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Richard Minns

had neglected to tell Barbara one small detail.

Right now.

- I'll go get him. - Dick!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): He was married.

You'd better get out here right now!

At that point, he explained to me

that he had loved me so much that he knew if he had admitted

that he was not divorced, that I never would have consented

to come to Houston, and that he loved me so much that he

would have done anything.

He would even compromised his own integrity

and lie to me because he loved me

so much that he wanted to convince me to come

to Houston to be with him.

And he explained that he was legally

separated but not divorced.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After a short breakup,

Barbara decided to accept Richard's explanation,

and his peace offering-- a townhouse for the two of them

to share.

To prove his devotion, Minns even

gave Barbara papers, stating that the townhouse and

its contents belonged to her.

He really didn't want me to be working

for anyone other than him.

This was his way of dealing with that,

was by giving me every assurance that these were things I didn't

have to worry about, that instead I should concentrate

on our relationship, on finishing my own education

and not worrying about holding down

a job that wouldn't pay me nearly

what he could make in a day.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Six months later,

Barbara discover that Richard Minns

was not legally separated.

In May of 1978, his wife filed for divorce

after she found out about the townhouse arrangement.

When Dick was going through his divorce,

he just became a completely different person.

And it was something that really shocked me.

It really appalled me.

How does something like this happen right now?

Suddenly, I saw a very paranoid, violent

side of his personality.

Barbara, will You stop it?

What do you know?

This silly little thing you play in school,

you think that something to do with-- you think that has

something to do with economics?

"Don't worry about it, don't worry about it?"

Huh?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Richard Minns' temper

became worse and worse, especially after the divorce

settlement was finalized.

His wife, who built the whole spa business with him,

was awarded nearly $6 million.

Why are you so upset?

Barb, I don't wanna talk about it!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): At around the same time,

Barbara had discovered she was pregnant.

Minns suddenly put his plans to marry her on hold.

Didn't you hear a thing?

Yes!

Dick, will you just calm down please and be careful?

Remember?

Remember I told you I was pregnant.

Yeah, good, good.

Right, I told you that.

- Abort it. - No.

I don't want that baby.

No!

Abort the baby.

I won't abort it.

I'm not going to.

I'm not having a child.

I don't want it.

I thought we were gonna have a family!

Abort it or get out of my house!

You hear me, Barbara?

The couches, definitely. Not the piano or the clock.

All right, we won't take the clock.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara feared for herself

and her unborn child.

In a panic, she decided to move out.

Barbara took almost everything in the townhouse.

At the time that I decided to leave,

my emotional state was one of complete confusion.

I didn't know if I was doing the right thing.

I didn't want to be doing what I was doing.

I really didn't want to.

At this point even, I still didn't want to leave him.

It was as if I was tearing myself

away from part of myself.

I was ripping my own arm off.

When Barbara moved out of the townhouse,

she took all of the furniture in the townhouse with her.

Some of these items--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Suzanne Finstad

spent more than three years researching and writing

"Sleeping with the Devil," a book

which pieces together the complex story

of Richard and Barbara.

For which she had receipts.

She did this, thinking she needed to do something

to jolt him, because she'd moved out several other times,

and the relationship had pretty much remained the same.

And she felt she needed to get his attention

in a very dramatic way, which unfortunately she did.

Barbara?

Barbara?

Barbara?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara went into hiding.

Richard Minns was furious.

He had lost his wife, and half his fortune, and now Barbara.

He had called his sister, begging

her to have me come meet him on a particular evening.

And even though I knew that it was a big mistake,

I felt as if I had to, to at least see what he had to say.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When Barbara arrived at Richard's

hotel room, he wasn't there.

Hoping they could work something out, she waited in the hallway

until well after midnight.

Yes, no, now.

No, now.

Tell me.

No.

Yes.

Come on.

Come on.

Barbara.

I can see it didn't take you very long.

Barbara, wait.

I thought you said you loved me.

Wait, I wanna talk.

Wait, I wanted you to come here. Wait.

Barbara.

Who is that?

He grabbed me at first forcibly,

and wouldn't allow me to leave.

And then, while he held me forcibly,

begged me to just come in and talk,

said that he still loved me, we had

a lot to talk about, that somehow

or another, if we just sat down and talked

that we could work things out.

What's going on?

So he brought me into his suite,

and we started to talk a little bit.

He put his arms around me, was telling me

how much he loved me, and all of a sudden, the door burst open.

It was the police.

He threw me from his arms toward them and said, "Take her.

You have a warrant for her arrest."

Call if you don't believe me.

She's an employee of mine.

She stole my jewelry.

She stole my shotgun.

Officer, that is not true.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara had been set up.

Minns had used his connections to obtain

a warrant for her arrest.

One of his associates had called the police.

Are you gonna take her away?

Why are we standing here talking?

You got the arrest warrant.

Don't tell me how to do my job!

It's a valid warrant signed by a judge.

I'm gonna have to-- - It's not true.

God, Richard!

This man is lying.

What he did to me that night was like taking a knife

and just ripping my heart straight open.

But believe it or not, even after what he did that night,

I was still in love with him.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 4 and 1/2 hours

later, at daybreak, Barbara was visited by a police detective.

Barbara?

Barbara Piotrowski?

How you doing?

Treating you OK?

No.

How about a smoke?

No thank you.

Listen, Barbara, I heard about your case,

and I thought I'd come down here if I couldn't give you a hand.

How?

Well, if you'll settle up with Dick Minns,

we can forget about this whole thing.

What are you talking about?

I've got a little piece of paper here.

You read this, you sign it, we can wipe the slate clean,

get you out of here tonight.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The detective

carried a statement which he said Richard

Minns wanted Barbara to sign.

That I never knew Richard Minns,

that I never had a relationship with him,

and not carrying his child?

No. I'm not gonna sign it.

There's some money in there for you.

No, it's lies.

Think about it.

I have.

OK, then.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara Piotrowski

was formally charged with felony grand theft

and aggravated assault, because she

had slapped at Richard Minns with her purse in the hotel.

Less than 36 hours later, Barbara miscarried.

She told her doctors but not Richard Minns.

I think that Dick Minns got the arrest

warrant, got the attention of the authorities

because of who he was.

Because it's always been my opinion that the district

attorney's office would never take any charge unless they

felt that they could make a prima

facie case and get a conviction.

And I felt, when I reviewed these facts, that this would

be an easy case to defend.

Have you been up?

Have you been to the door or anything?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara was released,

and again went into hiding.

She'll be here in a second. You asked me to do a job.

I did a job.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Earlier, Minns

had hired a private investigator named

Dudley Bell, who was notorious for operating

on the edge of the law.

Bell had no trouble finding Barbara,

and the police were close behind.

Don't touch me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On April 17, 1980,

two Houston police detectives served

Barbara with a search warrant.

We'll have somebody up here in a minute to identify it.

Hey, why's he going in there?

We'll just have a look around.

All right.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara

was about to find out that Richard Minns had

engineered the entire episode.

I want my attorney here, OK?

I'm going to wait for him.

If you wanna call--

I don't want him in here!

I don't wanna be standing out here all day long.

I don't want him in this place!

Come on in, Dick.

This is my place.

These are my things!

We got a warrant.

Just take the couch out right now.

Start with that.

Those are my things!

The couches, both the couches are mine.

The table is.

You gave all this stuff to me!

Dudley, get all this on paper, will you?

Get these movers in here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Richard Minns

put the furniture in storage.

He continued to demand that Barbara sign papers,

promising never to sue him.

No!

Just calm down.

He wanted a finality of their, relationship

and he wanted it in writing, and he wanted the peace of mind,

I guess, that he considered was necessary for him

to go on without any concerns about her

instituting any litigation with respect

to marriage or paternity.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara Piotrowski's

fairytale romance with Richard Minns had

disintegrated into a nightmare.

I had been told by people who knew him well

that he was so embarrassed and angry that I had left him

that he had to teach me a lesson,

and that he had to teach everyone else a lesson.

I told her to be careful, to not be alone,

to watch what she did and where she went.

Unfortunately, no safeguard is enough.

If someone's after you, they can find a way to get you.

Good evening.

How can I help?

I wanna get an apple fritter, please.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Finally, on October 20, 1980,

Barbara's love affair with Richard Minns

reached its violent climax in the parking

lot of a Houston donut shop.

That'll be $1.

As I was getting back into my car, a black man approached me,

and I knew.

I knew immediately what was going to happen.

It was essentially the moment that I had been afraid of.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara Piotrowski was shot

four times and left for dead.

The bullets collapsed her lungs and severed her spinal cord,

leaving her paralyzed from the chest down.

Initially, it seemed that Barbara

Piotrowski was the victim of a random street crime.

Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Miraculously, on the night of the attack,

Barbara never lost consciousness.

When paramedics asked who was responsible,

she gave the name of her former lover, Richard Minns.

Within minutes of the shooting, ,

two small time hoods from California,

Nathaniel Ivery and Patrick Steen, were

arrested for attempted murder.

You're gonna do a lot of time.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Under interrogation, they

were close mouthed and gave no support to Barbara's contention

that Richard Minns was involved.

I don't know, man, I don't know.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Then, the following night,

detectives met with one of Richard

Minns' former bodyguards.

I wanna know if you were hired--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The refused

to go public, but claimed that one month earlier a contract

had been put out on Barbara's life.

10 Grand.

By who?

Dudley.

- Dudley who? - Come on, man.

How many Dudleys do you know?

Dudley Bell.

OK.

So who's Dudley Bell work for?

He works for Richard Minns.

So did Richard Minns offer you the money?

No, man. Dudley did.

Dudley works for Richard.

1 plus 1 equals 2, man.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The next day,

police learned that a California trucker named

Robert Jess Anderson owned the getaway car used

by Steen and Ivery.

A guy named Anderson hired us, Bob Anderson.

Bob Anderson?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Steen and Ivery

were questioned again.

They identified Robert Jess Anderson as the man who

had hired them to kill Barbara.

He was gonna pay us, then he gave us the gun

and said it would be better if she was dead.

I just happened to notice this little note here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The following day,

Dudley Bell's ex-wife gave police a note which seemed

to connect Richard Minns and Dudley

Bell with Robert Jess Anderson.

The note, printed in Dudley Bell's own hand,

was on Richard Minns' hotel stationery.

A list of guns, which later turned out to belong to Robert

Jess Anderson, was on the back.

On October 28, 1980, eight days after Barbara

had been shot, police arrested Robert

Jess Anderson on charges of conspiring to commit a murder.

Wait outside, please.

What is your relationship with Patrick

Steen and Nathaniel Ivery?

Relationship?

I mean, I don't know of no relationship.

I mean, you throw these names at me,

I don't know of any relationships.

With what I have, the fact they have confessed,

they have implicated you, they were apprehended

while driving your car, it all boils down to one thing,

Mr. Anderson, is we've got you.

Their testimony and the other evidence is that strong.

I happen to be in a position to cut you a deal to where you

will more than likely not serve any at any time

at all for this crime.

If you'll cooperate with me and give me the information

that I wanna know.

Yeah, sure.

What do you wanna know?

We solicited at that time his cooperation,

because the information that we had in this particular case

certainly indicated that there were

people far above Robert Jess Anderson that were involved.

And we felt that it was necessary to get his assistance

to try to move up that ladder.

Well, I tell you, Dudley's private eye,

you know, he was working with this guy.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Anderson confirmed that it was

Dudley Bell who had hired him.

Anderson also admitted that he in turn

had approached Steen and Ivery to make the hit.

But he said he called it off in the end.

Anderson suspected that Dudley Bell was working for Richard

Minns, but he had no proof.

He stiffed me for the bill.

How about that, you know?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Despite Anderson's cooperation,

the claimed DA claimed he simply did not

have enough evidence to indict either Dudley

Bell or Richard Minns.

In fact, throughout the entire investigation.

Minns was never questioned once.

Amazingly, he continued to press the a theft

case against Barbara.

She appeared in court on November 17, 1980,

less than one month after the shooting, which Minns now

insisted Barbara's new attorney had staged as publicity stunt.

Mr. Deguerin, I understand you have a motion to present today?

Yes, Your Honor.

We'd like for you to rule on our motion to suppress.

I was shot.

I was paralyzed.

I was sitting in the wheelchair.

He wasn't being questioned.

He wasn't being indicted.

Neither were any of the other people who were involved,

yet here I was, sitting in a courtroom,

my first trip out of the hospital,

facing theft charges that he had fabricated.

I have your motion.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara

would never get the chance to prove that she was innocent.

The theft charges were dropped on a technicality

involving the search warrant.

Thank you, Your Honor.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On March 30, 1981,

Nathaniel Ivery and Patrick Steen were

convicted of attempted murder.

Each was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Just over one year later, Barbara Piotrowski

filed a civil suit for wrongful injury

against Richard Minns and his alleged confederates, Steen,

Ivery, Anderson, and Bell.

Before depositions could be taken,

Richard Minns left the country and disappeared.

He has been in hiding ever since, evading a civil suit

by pleading ill health, even though witnesses reported

him waterskiing in the Bahamas.

Richard Minns remains a suspect in this case.

Unfortunately, an unindicted suspect in this case,

because we don't have sufficient evidence

in order to indict nor try Richard Minns for the offense.

There have been many cases of indictments returned

in Harris County on less evidence

than the state has against Dick Minns.

I don't know why Dick Minns hasn't been charged.

He should have been, and no fair jury

that hears that case would find anything other than Dick Minns

was responsible.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1984, the FBI,

in an unrelated investigation, tape

recorded Robert Jess Anderson bragging

about the Piotrowski hit.

He was subsequently convicted of soliciting a murder,

and sentenced to 38 years.

Dudley Bell was also arrested for soliciting a murder.

In 1987, he was convicted when one of his former employees

testified in court that Bell had tried to hire

him to kill Barbara Piotrowski.

Like Anderson, Dudley Bell was sentenced to 38 years.

He was released on parole in 1991, after serving only

4 and 1/2 years.

There's nothing new before this court on this motion,

and the court is noting at this time,

and I want the record to show--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On 17 consecutive occasions,

Richard Minns failed to appear in court to respond to Barbara

Piotrowski's civil suit.

Considering the evidence already presented this court--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Ultimately, Minns

was found in default, and a jury ordered him to pay

Barbara more than $50 million.

In the amount of $58 million plus costs.

That will be all, gentlemen.

It is a civil judgment against Richard Minns.

It's a curiosity of the law that one could

get a civil judgment against someone

and not a criminal judgment.

But that's what's happened in this particular case.

All of the responsible parties in the shooting of Barbara

Piotrowski have not been indicted

and have not been convicted and sent to the penitentiary.

At least four of them have, and I

think it's a consensus in the DA's office

and at the homicide division that there is at least

one person still there, a higher person than anybody else,

that has not been indicted and has not been convicted.

And until that happens, this case will not close.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Barbara

set about rebuilding her life.

She changed her name to Janni Smith,

and eventually moved to Ohio.

Above all, she refused to accept the limitations

of her paralysis.

You cannot go through something

as devastating as what happened to me and dwell on it.

You cannot.

If you do, if you dwell on it, it will destroy you.

You have to go on.

You have to find a way to find meaning in life,

to do something meaningful with your life.

And I swore when I was shot that if I lived through it that I

would find a way to make my life rewarding,

fulfilling, and productive.

And I've tried to do that since the time of my injury.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1983, Barbara, now Janni Smith,

began rehabilitation with Dr. Gerald Piotrowski, who

was experimenting with a device which allows a paralyzed person

to walk independently.

As collaborators. they perfected the system.

It operates by means of computer-induced

electrical impulses.

Today, Janni Smith is president and co-founder

of Piotrowski centers.

In Irvine, California and Scranton, Pennsylvania.

As a nurse, she works personally with patients at the centers,

especially children.

On November 30, 1991, Janni Smith and Dr. Gerald Piotrowski

were married.

It was a remarkable turn of events

for a woman who had been left paralyzed and near

death by an assassin's bullet.

Richard Minns has been seen in Texas,

the Caribbean, Israel, and London,

but is based in Switzerland.

Minns has also changed his name.

Today, he goes by Richard O'Toole,

and bills himself as an international tax attorney.

Minns has reportedly transferred all his assets

offshore to dummy corporations.

Janni Smith has never collected a penny

Next, the search for the heirs of an elderly recluse

who left an estate worth more than $125,000.

It seems like every town in America

has a village recluse, a mysterious soul

who chooses to remain alone, isolated from the community.

Katherine Bennett of Portland, Oregon was just such a person,

an eccentric nearly destitute packrat, who dressed in men's

clothing, rarely left her home, and refused to discuss

her past with anyone.

For years, Katherine Bennett was viewed with curiosity

by sympathetic neighbors.

What no one suspected was that Katherine

had amassed a modest fortune worth more than $125,000.

But on the day she died, Katherine Bennett was a woman

with few friends and no family.

Perhaps one of our viewers can help

find the heir to her estate.

Little is known about Katherine before 1941.

That year, she met a handsome young soldier

named Gilbert Bennett.

Six months later, they were married.

After the Second World War, the couple

settled in Portland, Oregon, where Gilbert worked

as a commercial photographer.

Katherine became his favorite subject.

Oh yeah, this is the spot.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The two shared

a love of the great outdoors.

At every opportunity, they would escape to the unspoiled rivers

of the Pacific Northwest.

I can smell the fish.

You can, huh?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): They loved the outdoor life,

and they fished every chance they'd get.

They were very devoted to each other, truly.

They were inseparable.

Everyplace they went, they went together,

and they fished together, and they hunted together,

and what have you.

I'm sure that they were very much in love with each other.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Gilbert and Katherine

never had children.

Instead, they built a loving private universe for two.

Katherine lavished attention upon her husband,

her garden, and her pets.

Yet she remained intensely private about her past.

She never spoke of a past.

And I have since talked to all my brothers and sisters,

and they said the same thing.

They just didn't know anything of Katie's past.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1980,

after 38 years of marriage, Gilbert Bennett died.

Katherine's world began to crumble.

When she lost Gilbert, she just lost everything, I guess.

And I had talked to Katie, concerned about her future.

And I asked her if she had any living relatives.

And she said, no, she didn't have a family.

She was raised in an orphan home,

and she didn't know anything about a family.

And she just withdrew.

Some holidays and things like this,

we asked her to come to dinner and stuff like this,

and she wouldn't do that.

And we just couldn't keep in contact with her

too long, as a result of this.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Katherine rarely left

the home where she and Gilbert had

spent so many years together.

Mrs. Bennett?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In the end,

only the charity of neighbors kept her from total seclusion.

I just finished dinner and we had a few leftovers, so I

made up a little plate for you.

Oh, thank you.

Sure.

Look, is there anything you need from the store maybe?

Oh, I don't think so.

Thanks.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Finally, in June of 1990,

after 10 years alone, Katherine Bennett passed away.

She was 80 years old.

When no blood relatives could be located,

representatives from the Oregon Division of State Lands

were dispatched to Catherine's house to sort out her estate.

This place is in pretty poor condition.

Really needs some yardwork.

That's for sure.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Almost no one

had entered the house in the 10 years

since her husband had died.

Oh boy, look at this.

What a mess.

LARRY LARIMER: Her home was unkept.

It was cluttered. It was dirty.

It was flea-infested.

I wonder how long it's been like this.

It had an odor.

It was as if a hermit had lived there.

Mr. Bennett's clothing was still draped over the back

of the chairs in the bedroom.

You could hardly even walk through it, it was such a mess.

Papers, and bottles, and trash, and garbage, and uneaten food,

and she had several animals, cats.

There was cat food everywhere, and cat food tins.

And the fleas were unreal.

You could just feel them all over you as you walked in.

It was really bad.

Our first job is to locate a will, or locate heirs.

And when we entered the home, we quickly sift

through the personal papers, looking

for letters, insurance policies, anything

that might lead to an heir.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The investigators never

did find a will, but they were surprised to discover

that despite the surroundings, Katherine Bennett

was anything but destitute.

They came across unopened social security checks,

dating back to 1981 and valued at more than $30,000.

In addition to a large amount of loose change,

they found a number of rare coins worth $1,500.

Finally, investigators discovered that Katherine

had squirreled away nearly $60,000

in two separate bank accounts.

After her house was sold, the value of Katherine's estate

rose to more than $125,000.

Officials in Oregon have launched an extensive search

for Katherine's heirs.

Because her husband is dead, state law

requires that the state go to the nearest blood relative.

What complicates the settling of Katherine's estate

is the fact that almost nothing is known about her past,

and much of what is known is fraught with contradiction.

Katherine Bennett was born in Kansas City, Kansas in 1910.

She once told her in-laws that she

was raised in a Catholic orphanage

after the death of her parents.

However, in a document notarized in 1945, three years after she

was married, Katherine presented a completely different story

about her life.

She declared that her father had died prior to her birth,

but that her mother was still alive and married

to Joseph Fabac of Kansas City.

The document also made mention of a brother

named Martin Juratovich.

On a previous broadcast, we brought you the baffling case

of Alex Cooper, a devoted husband and father of five

who had disappeared without a trace.

In April of 1987, Cooper's car was discovered

abandoned a few miles from his home

in British Columbia, Canada.

Despite a massive search, no sign of him was ever found.

A year later, Alex Cooper was legally declared dead.

I'm calling in regard to Alex Cooper, the birth certificate.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When his wife, Margaret, tried

to obtain his birth certificate, she

made an unsettling discovery.

There were no official records in the name of her husband

prior to their marriage in 1952.

As far as anyone could tell, Alex Cooper simply

did not and had never existed.

Four years after he vanished, authorities

learned that Alex Cooper was alive and well and living

in Toronto, Canada.

But before he could be questioned,

Cooper disappeared again.

I'd love to get him back.

I want to give him a real big hug,

and then I want to give him a kick in the butt, and then

another big hug.

He's got this family that care about him.

And if he's out there living among strangers,

he should rethink this thing.

We deserve it, and so does he.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Who was Alex Cooper?

Why had he assumed an alias and in essence lived

a lie for more than 35 years?

Shortly after this story aired, a viewer in Hamilton, Canada

recognized Alex Cooper and immediately called authorities.

During questioning, the mystery surrounding his life

began to unravel.

Alex Cooper told police that his true name was Albin Arsenault

In 1948, he was accused of robbing

an office of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, where

he was employed at the time.

I was young, and I panicked.

And I said to myself, there is no way

I'm going to be taking the fall for this,

because I didn't do it.

I took off at that time, and I became

Alexander Cooper at that point.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Four years

later, Alex married Margaret.

He had no idea that any criminal charges

that might have been filed against him

had probably been dropped.

For more than 35 years, his true identity remained a secret.

Then, as his 65th birthday neared,

Alex Cooper's past began to catch up.

I was due for a pension, and you're required

to submit a birth certificate.

I knew I couldn't produce one.

Several months prior to this, I knew this was coming up.

I couldn't bring myself about to tell my family,

so I walked away.

It was a snap decision.

And it was wrong.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two days

after he was questioned by Hamilton authorities,

Alex Cooper returned to British Columbia

and was reunited with his family after more than five years.

We were a very close family.

This had been very devastating for all of us.

And I'm really hoping that we can work through this

and put it back together, if not the way

it is, maybe something better.

We can't pick up where we left off,

because things have changed.

But we're going to start fresh, and take it a day at a time.

The way I feel, I don't deserve for anybody to accept

my apology for what I'd done.

Abandonment of your family, to me, is one hell of a crime.

And the biggest job for me at this point

will be to make amends.

And I would say it'll probably take me the rest of my life.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Several months ago, we

profiled the case of Charles Morgan, who was found dead

in a remote Arizona desert.

He had been shot once in the back of the head.

The local sheriff's department ruled his death a suicide,

even though the medical examiner classified it as unsolved.

In the segment, we interviewed Arizona journalist Don

Devereux, who discovered evidence that Morgan had been

part of an elaborate money laundering operation

involving huge amounts of gold.

Devereux believes Morgan did not commit suicide

but was a victim of a professional contract killing.

When the segment aired, we received 100s of calls

relating to Morgan's death.

According to Devereux, who continued his investigation,

many turned out to be productive leads.

Three months later, a draftsman at a Phoenix computer

company, Doug Johnston, was found dead in his car

outside his office.

Johnson had been shot once behind the ear,

and police have suggested it was a possible suicide.

Curiously, Johnson worked across the street from Don

Devereux's office, and drove a car that almost

exactly match Devereux's.

In fact Devereux is now convinced

that the bullet which killed Doug Johnston

was intended for him.

I got a phone call from a journalist friend of mine

from Washington, DC, who had been briefed by a high level

CIA official that, in fact, that was a botched hit,

that some people thought they were hitting me when they

shot the guy across the street.

And in fact, there was still a contract outstanding,

and it was coming around again, that whatever I had done

was still a problem to someone.

Two other sources in the intelligence community

have confirmed to Don that he is a target for murder,

and that the next attempt will be

made to look like an accident.

We'll bring you a full report on this intriguing case

in the near future.

Join me next time for another intriguing edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."