Original subtitles

NARRATOR 1: 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.

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK: In 1935, legendary gangster Dutch

Schultz was ambushed by an underworld rival

at a tavern in New Jersey.

On his deathbed Schultz reportedly rambled incoherently

about his mother, his enemies, and his ill-gotten $7 million

fortune buried in rural upstate New York.

But when Dutch died, he took the secret

of his alleged lost treasure with him to the grave.

When five-year-old Lauren Jackson disappeared,

an eyewitness account led police to believe she'd

been abducted by a stranger.

Then a few months later, another witness came forward

with a stunning accusation.

Lauren's own mother may have been

involved in the kidnapping.

Beware of the classifieds.

In September of 1992, a man calling himself Tom Johnson

answered an ad for a computer system,

but Johnson had no intention of paying for his purchase.

Instead he had hatched a con of deadly proportion.

Just outside Dallas, Texas, a young boy and his mother

were murdered by a ruthless unknown assailant.

Authorities hope one of our viewers

will recognize several items left behind

by the killer, crucial evidence that may lead to the suspect's

identity and capture.

Join me.

Perhaps you hold the one vital clue

that will help solve one of tonight's unsolved mysteries.

On a cool moonless night some 60 years ago,

two shadowy figures dug along the banks of Esopus Creek.

100 miles north of New York City.

The man doing all the work was Bernard Rosenkranz, nickname,

oddly enough, Lulu; his boss, the infamous Dutch Schultz,

king of the New York underworld.

According to legend, Dutch buried a strongbox that night

containing a king's ransom of cash, bonds,

unset diamonds, and gold coins.

Today it would be worth more than $50 million.

That is, of course, if it ever existed.

Like most tales of buried treasure,

this one comes with a familiar wet blanket disclaimer,

but let's face it, we love these tales.

Perhaps because they often spring

up around society's villains as pirates,

thieves, and gangsters.

Men just like Dutch Schultz.

The legend of his lost treasure is rooted smack

in the middle of one of America's most colorful

periods, the roaring '20s.

[swing music]

The decade came by its nickname honestly.

Prohibition was passed in 1919.

The criminal element was in its element.

Bootleg liquor became an art form.

Its manufacture and distribution made millions

for ruthless gangsters like Legs Diamond, Lucky Luciano,

Al Capone, and Dutch Schultz.

Dutch Schultz was something of a criminal prodigy.

Born Arthur Flagenheimer in 1902,

he was already a force to be reckoned

with by the time he was 25.

He adopted his name from a notorious ganglord who

had flourished in another era.

JACK FRENCH: Dutch Schultz was a very successful and widespread

bootlegger.

Owned a string of speakeasies, and then

quickly branched out into narcotics, the numbers racket,

and the protection racket.

Schultz was an extremely dangerous gangster.

He was reported to have had 136 people killed,

and that's over a criminal career of less than 10 years.

ROBERT STACK: As the roaring '20s came to a close,

Dutch Schultz's criminal empire was netting

more than $20 million a year.

In 1933, Dutch turned a dubious distinction.

He was named public enemy number one by the Justice Department.

Like Al Capone before him, Schultz

was highly vulnerable to the newly enacted

federal income tax laws.

When he was indicted by a grand jury for income tax evasion

he did what gangsters do.

He went on the lam.

THOMAS P. TERRY: At the time, Dutch Schultz

was facing a long prison sentence

and he decided that he needed a nest

egg to fall back on in case he was sent to prison.

He had his top lieutenants clean out a safety deposit boxes

and gather together whatever cash

they could from his available bank accounts.

Beautiful.

Looks good, boss.

ROBERT STACK: At a hideaway in Bridgeport,

Connecticut, Dutch and his henchmen,

including Lulu Rosenkranz and a man named Marty Krompier,

rendezvoused.

According to gangland legend, they

stacked bundles of $1,000 bills in negotiable liberty bonds,

together with a trove of gold coins,

unmounted diamonds, and other gems,

into a steel plated strongbox.

Hey, Marty.

Go get me something to drink.

ROBERT STACK: Schultz had the only key.

That very night, Dutch and the faithful Lulu

made their fabled nocturnal journey across the Hudson River

towards Phoenicia, New York, a tiny hamlet Dutch knew

well from his bootlegging days.

Dutch swore Lulu to secrecy, then

allegedly marked the site by carving an X into the trunk

of a nearby tree.

But Lulu couldn't keep his mouth shut.

He wasted no time in spilling the beans

to his crony Marty Krompier.

LULU ROSENKRANZ: I shouldn't tell you this,

but I think it'd be good for somebody else to know.

MARTY KROMPIER: Know what?

Remember that strongbox that me and Dutch

buried upstate a few weeks ago?

Yeah, what about it?

I'm going to tell you where we buried it.

ROBERT STACK: Some say Lulu even drew Marty a map.

I ain't got to worry about you doing anything stupid, do I?

Me and the Dutchman, we're like this.

And he's going to take care of me.

ROBERT STACK: As it turned out,

Marty was none too good at keeping his mouth shut either.

WOMAN: And just where is this nest egg?

Lulu drew me this map, and I got it right here in my wallet.

Listen, Marty.

ROBERT STACK: Rumors of Dutch's secret treasure

filtered through New York, but he had

other troubles to contend with.

Specifically Manhattan's crime-busting district

attorney Thomas E. Dewey.

Dewey would later become famous for almost,

but not quite beating out Harry S. Truman in the 1948

presidential elections.

But in 1934, he was determined to make

a career out of squashing Dutch Schultz and his illegal empire.

With the pressure building, Schultz

finally surrendered to authorities

in Albany, New York.

His first trial resulted in a hung jury.

At his second trial he was acquitted of all charges

for lack of evidence.

By Dutch's design, both trials had taken place in upstate New

York where he could jury tamper in peace,

far from Thomas E. Dewey.

After the acquittal, Dutch Schultz moved

his headquarters to New Jersey.

Specifically to the Palace Chophouse, a tavern

he owned in Newark.

Determined to regain control of his empire,

Dutch went on a bloody killing spree,

thereby alienating the powerful New York crime syndicate.

JACK FRENCH: The syndicate was a confederation of New York City

mobsters who controlled virtually all the crime

in the Manhattan area, and they were very afraid

that he was bringing additional heat

upon them with these killings.

NARRATOR: The heat came in the form of Schultz's

old nemesis Thomas E. Dewey.

Finally Dutch decided to get rid of Dewey.

DUTCH SCHULTZ: Hey, let me tell you something.

Dewey's just another politician, and I never met a politician

who couldn't be bought.

I don't think you can buy off Dewey.

Well, if I can't buy him off, then we'll

just have to bump him off.

What are you crazy?

You can't bump off Dewey.

He's right, boss.

Hey, nobody asked you your opinion, Lulu, so shut up.

ROBERT STACK: In the backroom of the Palace Chophouse,

Dutch's trusted lieutenants tried to talk him out of it.

Arthur, you can't go around saying

you're going to bump off Dewey.

Maybe you're right.

I'm just going to go splash some water on my face.

ROBERT STACK: Dutch Schultz headed for the men's room.

Perhaps he would have listened to reason when he returned,

but it was too late.

The syndicate had already taken matters into its own hands.

The date was October 23rd, 1935.

[gunshots]

JACK FRENCH: They took Schultz to the hospital,

and he lingered on until the next evening.

And all the time issuing a delirium series of statements.

How many shots were fired at me?

JACK FRENCH: The police actually had a court stenographer

in the room with them taking down everything he said,

most of which was unintelligible.

Kindly take my shoes off.

They're still on, they feel like handcuffs.

I wonder who owns these woods.

NARRATOR: Dutch hung on for nearly 22 hours.

Once he allegedly begged to be taken to Phoenicia,

where the strongbox was buried.

To the police it was only the babbling of a dying man.

POLICE: Come and get me if he says anything useful.

ROBERT STACK: Dutch Schultz finally died at age

8:35 PM on October 24, 1935.

He was 33 years old.

His trusted bodyguard, Lulu Rosenkrantz,

had died hours earlier.

That left only one man who knew where the treasure

was buried, Marty Krompier.

Too late, Marty learned that the blonde he had blabbed to

was friends with Jake Shapiro, a mobster who

had a few henchmen of his own.

WOMAN: I don't believe you.

Let me see it.

THOMAS P PERRY: The night of the Chophouse murders, the two

henchmen caught up with Marty at a barbershop in New York City,

gunned him down, and took the map.

Krompier survived the attack, but he was never able to locate

the treasure without the map.

Jake Shapiro made several attempts

at finding the treasure from the map,

as did several other gangsters of the year,

but none were successful.

JACK FRENCH: I think buried treasure is always fascinating.

And certainly when you add the element of the gangsters to it,

it becomes even more of a popular story.

Because we're interested in the gangsters because they

represent unfortunately a flamboyant side of our society

which although evil, can be compelling to people.

If people knew about it, Schultz's closest associates,

they told other people.

I would suspect strongly that it had

been retrieved long before now.

I personally believe the treasure of Dutch Schultz

was buried, and there's a good possibility

that it still exists today.

Because even though the liberty bonds have long since

matured in the last 60-plus years,

none have ever been redeemed.

ROBERT STACK: Did Dutch Schultz

leave an ill-gotten fortune buried

on the banks of the Esopus Creek in upstate New York.

Those who believe say that somehow, somewhere, someone

will stumble across a tree scarred with an X

and hit the jackpot.

[theme music]

Next a classified ad leads two innocent people

into a deadly trap.

[theme music]

In today's high tech marketplace,

more and more people are using the classifieds

to buy and sell computers.

In September of 1992, a music video company in Nashville

ran these notices in a local trade publication,

hoping to sell a top of the line computer system

valued at more than $30,000.

At the time it seemed inconceivable that the ads

would lead to murder.

OK, if you've got a couple of minutes,

I'd like to ask you some specific questions about it

because I'm really interested.

ROBERT STACK: On October 7th, 1992,

a man calling himself Tom Johnson answered the ads.

He said he was a freelance computer programmer

and database consultant.

A few days later, Johnson met with a videotape editor named

Jeremy for a demonstration.

I'm mainly concerned with a fast processor.

ROBERT STACK: The two men eventually

agreed on a price of $31,000.

Johnson requested that the computer system be delivered

to his office in Marietta, Georgia,

several hundred miles from Nashville.

October 24, 1992, 1:30 a.m.

Jeremy, and his fiance Heather Uffelman

set off on a five hour trek to deliver

the computer to Tom Johnson.

I just had this feeling that, that you were attracted to me.

JEREMY: I'd been working for about

30 hours on another project, and was completely exhausted.

And I said well, I don't know if I'm going to be able to find

anybody except Heather at this point,

and I'd like to take her along anyway

because we enjoyed taking trips together.

ROBERT STACK: 7:30 AM.

After driving all night, Jeremy and Heather arrived at Tom

Johnson's motel in Marietta.

JEREMY: Originally we had been set

to meet in an industrial park, but he said that the directions

to the industrial park were so complex that he would prefer

to meet us first at his motel.

Which made perfect sense to me because I spent a lot of time

lost in industrial parks trying to find

an unposted address somewhere.

Come on in.

Tom, hi.

How you doing?

This is my fiancee Heather. - Hi.

Nice to meet you.

JEREMY: We arrived a little early, I think.

But he said that his business partner would be along shortly,

and he was bringing the certified check.

He should be here in about half an hour, 45 minutes.

JEREMY: I suggested that we go and get

breakfast if we had to wait for a while because Heather

and I were really hungry.

So we left, and when we came back maybe half an hour later,

he said that his business manager

had called and was on the way and would be there shortly.

I think it'll really save some time if we just

transfer it between your car.

Where's he coming from, do you know?

He's coming from--

ROBERT STACK: 8:00 AM.

Johnson suggested that Jeremy and Heather load the computer

into his car while they waited for Johnson's

partner to arrive with a check.

JEREMY: We so trusted this guy.

It didn't strike me as being odd.

There were absolutely no clues that this guy was anything

but what he said he was.

He was very good at making people

believe that he was legitimate.

Think about how computer technology's influenced

every aspect of our society.

ROBERT STACK: The three returned

to Johnson's motel room and made small talk for 20 minutes.

Finally Jeremy grew tired of waiting.

Tom, I've been up about 30 hours.

If you knew where your president was, we could close this deal.

I think we can close this deal right now.

Are you kidding?

No, I'm not kidding.

Put your money belt over there, and get down on your knees.

You stand up.

Take the sheet off that bed, and lay it down here on the floor.

Hurry up.

Put the sheet down here.

Lay it on the ground.

JEREMY: Why are you doing this, Tom?

Why did you lie? TOM JOHNSON: Shut up.

Lay down.

JEREMY: The person we've been talking

to before was this kind of thoughtful, introspective guy

interested in computers, and then

this person who is pointing a gun was cold,

and calculating, and deliberate.

He knew exactly what he wanted to do.

TOM JOHNSON: Now lay down in it.

Roll yourself up in it.

Your company's going to get an insurance check,

and I'm going to get the computer,

and everybody's going to be fine.

Look away.

Don't look at her.

JEREMY: And so I turn my head away from him,

and then a second later I hear a sharp buzzing in my ear,

almost like a siren, and the whole room

spins because he's struck me in the back of the head.

And then he moved over to Heather,

and I saw him raise his hand up, and bring it down.

And when he did, Heather screamed this horrible scream.

So he kept hitting her.

[screams]

Stop screaming, and he'll leave.

So he came back over, and hit me more,

and then went back over, and hit her more.

And then as he backed out of the room still pointing the gun

at us, he dusted the countertop for fingerprints

as he walked out of the room.

And as soon as he left, I crawled over to Heather,

and I told her that I was going to get help,

and we were going to be OK.

And what I saw haunts me, you know, I can't--

I can't get the picture out of my head.

I mean, that someone could so hurt such a gentle person.

ROBERT STACK: Heather and Jeremy were

rushed to a nearby hospital.

Two hours later, Heather Uffelman

died of massive skull injuries.

Meanwhile, the authorities questioned witnesses

and searched the motel room for evidence.

Among the few clues that Johnson left

behind was the murder weapon.

BILLY HUGGINS: The hammer was still wrapped in plastic,

still had the card identifying its weight, its SKU number.

But we have not been able to trace exactly which

store it was purchased from.

Beautiful.

Oh, I can hardly wait.

BILLY HUGGINS: This is a very unusual robbery in the fact

that he would allow himself to be seen in public in daylight.

I think we can close this deal right now.

BILLY HUGGINS: It's unusual that he had a handgun, especially

a small caliber handgun, and didn't use this handgun

to kill the victims.

ROBERT STACK: Police learned of yet

another curious circumstance that occurred approximately

an hour before the attack.

MOTEL WORKER: Yes, ma'am, may I help you?

WOMAN 2: Yes, I'd like to report a disturbance down in room 332.

NARRATOR: An unknown woman had complained

of a problem in the motel room rented to Tom Johnson.

At that time, Jeremy and Heather had gone out for breakfast.

I know, but there's a lot of noise going on.

Well, ma'am, it sounds like a domestic dispute.

We try not to get involved in a domestic dispute.

ROBERT STACK: Investigators now

believe that the woman may have been an accomplice of Johnson's

who attempted to sabotage the scheme when she learned that he

intended to murder his victims.

I wouldn't have come down here if i

didn't think this was urgent.

BILLY HUGGINS: If we could locate the mystery woman that

entered into the motel that morning,

maybe she could give us further information.

Or anybody at the motel, if they would come forward and give us

any further information on the vehicle or this suspect

called Tom Johnson.

Or if anybody has any information on the computer,

its whereabouts.

ROBERT STACK: The vehicle that Tom Johnson was driving

was a Dodge Dynasty, black cherry color

with a red interior and Tennessee license plates.

Tom Johnson is in his late 20s, or early 30s,

approximately six feet tall and weighing 165 pounds.

He has sandy brown hair and may be wearing glasses.

He was last seen wearing an expensive pair

of boots made of either snake or alligator skin.

JEREMY: Tom Johnson is a riddle.

He had a smile, and a way of talking to you

that made you feel very much at ease.

Tom Johnson could be someone's coworker.

He could be someone's acquaintance,

and they would have no clue that this other side is there

at all.

Until it was too late.

ROBERT STACK: This is the same computer

model the man calling himself Tom Johnson stole from Jeremy.

It is a Macintosh Quadra 950 used for desktop publishing

or videotape editing.

Perhaps someone in our audience purchased

the unit from Tom Johnson.

At this point the police have evidence that Johnson tried

to pull a similar scam just one week

before he murdered Heather Uffelman.

But for some unknown reason, Johnson never

showed up for the appointment.

[theme music]

When we return, after a five-year-old girl disappears,

her grieving mother finds herself a suspect.

[theme music]

On a chilly October evening in 1988,

200 rescue workers and volunteers

swarmed into the tiny township of East Vincent, Pennsylvania.

At a moment's notice, they had put

their lives on hold to launch a search for one of their own.

A five year old girl named Lauren Jackson was missing.

CHRISTINA O'DONNELL: At the time, I was in shock,

and I really didn't realize because I always

thought she's right here.

She'll come up, you know.

She'll come home, mommy, and this is all for naught.

But when daylight came, she wasn't home.

ROBERT STACK: Lauren Jackson has been missing

for more than five years.

In a case like this, anyone and everyone becomes a suspect.

Since Lauren vanished, her case has taken

a number of bizarre turns.

And when all is said and done, many people

believe the prime suspect is a member of Lauren's

family, her own mother.

Lauren's parents, Christina O'Donnell and Mickey Jackson,

were never married.

They split in 1987 when Lauren was four years old.

Lauren lived with her mother, but in September of 1988,

Christina was arrested for attempting to illegally

obtain prescription drugs.

Soon after, Mickey told Lauren he planned

to file for custody of her.

A month later on October 4th, 1988,

Kristina took Lauren and her other daughter out for dinner.

The day had been so normal it was almost mundane.

But within two hours, Lauren Jackson would be gone.

CHRISTINA O'DONNELL: I remember her all day asking me

for a cheeseburger, and I finally gave in and took her

down, got her a cheeseburger.

And we ate, and I let her go out and play

with Brian to dig in the dirt, she loved to do that.

ROBERT STACK: Brian was a six-year-old boy

who lived three doors down from Lauren and Christina

in the Park Springs Apartment complex.

CHRISTINA O'DONNELL: I was outside sweeping, watching her.

And I walked in, and I put the broom in the house

and cleaned up my kitchen counters, and went out,

and she was gone.

Lauren?

ROBERT STACK: Christina says that 20 minutes had elapsed.

She immediately went to Brian's apartment.

According to Christina, no one was home.

CHRISTINA O'DONNELL: I found out later

that his mom had went to the mall,

and they left Lauren outside.

But she wasn't out there when I went out.

MICKEY JACKSON: When I showed up at Park Springs that night

and got out of the car, there was

people mobilizing, and fire engine trucks,

and just a whole lot of--

it was pretty hectic.

I was hoping for the best at the time.

You know, you're kind of overwhelmed by everything,

and you can't believe what is happening to you.

What is all this?

JIM COTE: There are a lot of people

out here looking for Lauren.

ROBERT STACK: At the time Lauren disappeared, Jim Cote

was East Vincent's police chief.

JIM COTE: Anything you can tell us at all to help us find her?

I had probably 250 people went out,

going through weeds and bushes, combing

the area looking for the child.

Rescue units from the surrounding area

cleared 19 ponds in two days.

ROBERT STACK: By the next morning,

the police, using bloodhounds and a professional tracker,

uncovered evidence that Lauren had either wandered

or been dragged towards Route 724,

a quarter of a mile from her home.

When an 11-year-old girl came forward

with an eyewitness account, everyone's worst fears

seemed to be confirmed.

The girl was certain that the child she saw was Lauren,

but the investigation soon stalled

for lack of further evidence.

Then a few months later, another witness

came forward with stunning new information

that pointed the finger of suspicion

directly at Lauren's mother, Christina.

DAVID E RICHTER: A witness told us

that Lauren was not kidnapped, and that she saw Christina give

Lauren away to a couple in the James Way

Mall on October 4th of 1988.

ROBERT STACK: According to the witness, at around 7:00 PM

she was in the mall parking lot when she heard a child yelling.

LAUREN: Please don't make me go, no.

ROBERT STACK: The witness reported

seeing a woman, possibly the child's mother,

hand the young girl to a couple in a parked car.

The day after the witness came forward,

police chief Jim Cote showed up unannounced

at Christina's apartment.

From across the street, the witness and FBI agents

were watching.

WOMAN 3: That's the woman.

That's the woman I saw.

DAVID E RICHTER: She observed Christina, and told us

that she was 100% positive that that was

the same woman that she saw give Lauren

away on October 4th of 1988.

CHRISTINA O'DONNELL: My whole thought is she

saw my picture in the paper.

Either maybe she mistaked me for somebody else,

maybe she just is one of those kind of people that like

to go to the police or the FBI.

There are people like that.

Why, I don't know.

ROBERT STACK: Christina O'Donnell staunchly

maintains that she had nothing to do with her daughter's

disappearance and points to a major discrepancy

in the witness' story.

The witness placed Lauren and Christina in the parking lot

at 7:00 PM.

However residents at Christina's apartment complex

clearly recall seeing Lauren playing in her front yard

as late as 7:15.

BILL DEMPSKI: I don't doubt that she may have seen a child

and a mother in the mall.

ROBERT STACK: The current East

Vincent police chief Bill Demski believes

the witness was mistaken.

BILL DEMPSKI: She's quite sure the time she was there.

There's other people that live in the complex

where Lauren disappeared from that are quite sure the times

that Lauren was still in the complex.

ROBERT STACK: Mickey Jackson is convinced

that Christina was involved.

MICKEY JACKSON: I'd bet my life on it that she did it,

and I feel certain that it's because two

reasons tied together.

Number one to spite me.

Number two she was just overwhelmed with responsibility

of raising a child.

DAVID E RICHTER: Everyone was a suspect in the beginning.

Mickey Jackson was a suspect.

He can probably relate the phone conversation I had with him

the night of the disappearance.

Wasn't too happy with that.

He took offense at being an initial suspect.

There are other suspects along the route

of that long and tedious investigatory process,

and you work through them.

Christina O'Donnell, given the scenario, would be a suspect.

ROBERT STACK: Ultimately a grand jury in East Vincent

was asked to consider whether Christina O'Donnell should

be charged in connection with the disappearance

of her daughter.

After four months, the grand jury declined to take action.

Today there is only one absolute fact in this troubling case.

Lauren Jackson has not been seen since the day she disappeared

more than five years ago.

MICKEY JACKSON: There's got to be-- there's

got to be a trail somewhere.

We were so far behind it that we're here,

and the trail's there.

You know, we need-- we need somebody

to put us on the trail.

A lot of times I give up hope, but

there's always just that glimmer there that I'll see her again.

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK: Next, authorities in Dallas,

Texas need your help to solve a brutal double murder.

[theme music]

Just a few days before Christmas in 1981,

the Dallas County, Texas Sheriff's department

was preparing for their annual holiday lunch.

It was a Wednesday, December 23rd, a day

that no one in the department will ever forget.

At about 11:45 AM, Officer Roy Baird

was still on duty patrolling an area 10 miles outside Dallas.

His attention was drawn to a car parked

on the wrong side of a dirt road with one door hanging open.

ROY BAIRD: This vehicle appeared to be suspicious to me,

and I decided to check it out.

And upon checking the hood, I found

that the car was still warm.

ROBERT STACK: On the backseat was a pile of brightly wrapped

Christmas gifts.

On the front seat, a blue sports bag, a pair of women's gloves,

and a purse.

With the instinct born of 15 years experience,

Officer Baird quickly concluded that someone

was in dire trouble.

ROY BAIRD: I felt that there was possibly a rape going on,

or that a female had been raped.

I then called for cover, and made my entrance into the field

on the north side of the road.

I very slowly and cautiously made my way towards the tree

line that was to the northeast.

I observed a small boy that appeared to be crumpled

to the ground, and lying next to him

was a white female that was covered with a blanket.

I touched him, and his body was still warm.

I felt at that time that whoever did this was possibly still

in the area, and I could not believe

that someone had shot this little boy

this close to Christmas.

ROBERT STACK: That same day, the victims

were identified as 30-year-old Roxanne

Jeeves and her five-year-old son Christopher.

More than 12 years have passed since the brutal double murder,

but it still grips the investigating officers as

though it happened yesterday.

For them the case is far from over.

They hope that tonight, one of our viewers

will provide the critical information necessary to solve

this troubling mystery.

Roxanne Jeeves had moved to Dallas after a divorce.

She worked for an insurance company

and enjoyed country-western dancing.

Roxanne was engaged to be remarried in June of 1982.

Friends describe Roxanne's son Christopher

as happy and outgoing.

He had turned five years old on Wednesday, December 23rd, 1981,

the very day he was murdered.

That morning, Roxanne and Christopher

planned to embark on a special Christmas trip

to visit relatives in Kansas.

Concerned that her car might break down on the long journey,

Roxanne told neighbors she planned

to take along her toolbox.

About one hour before the murders,

a man authorities believe was the killer

was seen by a neighbor outside Roxanne's apartment complex.

It was the first of many eyewitness reports

that enable investigators to piece

together this appalling crime.

LARRY FORSYTH: We located a neighbor of Roxanne's who

left about the time that Christopher came out

the door with the red toolbox.

Matter of fact, she spoke to Christopher.

In the process of going to her car,

she saw the man carrying the toolbox

in one hand and Christopher by the hand

as they went around the corner where she believed

Roxanne's car was parked.

She said they looked rough.

They looked nervous.

She described them as not fitting in the complex.

ROBERT STACK: 30 minutes later at about 11:00 am

the suspect was seen again.

This time it was with Roxanne and Christopher in their car.

The man's female companion was no longer with him.

DONALD CRAWFORD: He was acting kind of nervous.

He had his hands down between his legs.

He never looked up at me.

He never said anything.

He just stared at the floorboard.

You could tell that she was nervous,

and when I looked at her she looked me right in the eyes,

and you could tell then she was nervous,

that something was wrong.

Her little boy was in the backseat, and I thought well,

he acts like everything's all right.

I told one of my fellow employees,

I said, it's gonna be something if something

happens to that women cause she acted awful strange.

ROBERT STACK: Sometime during the next half hour,

Roxanne and Christopher were murdered.

I'm afraid that she saw her son killed,

and then she and the killer had quite a struggle before she was

initially shot twice herself.

ROBERT STACK: The bodies were still warm when officer

Baird found them at 11:45.

He immediately called backup units to the scene.

At the very moment support officers were arriving,

the suspect was seen fleeing the area.

A total of eight eyewitnesses saw

the alleged killer either running or hitchhiking away

from the scene.

Meanwhile, less than a mile away,

investigators were gathering evidence

that may someday convict him.

In making his quick getaway, the suspect

had inadvertently left behind a blue sports

pack, literally a bag of clues.

A pre-World War II holster, possibly a collector's item,

a set of burglary tools, a toboggan hat, and finally

a bottle of formaldehyde.

It would be the first hint that the case was linked in some way

to drugs.

It was popular among heavy drug users

then to lace a marijuana cigarette with formaldehyde.

Locally here they called it a Sherman stick.

ROBERT STACK: Investigators were still at the murder scene

when the suspect burst into a gas station

just five miles away, demanding to use the phone.

SUSPECT: I need to use the phone.

CLERK: Got a pay phone right out there on the corner, sir,

right there where that little sign is.

There's a phone right there.

Let me use that phone right there.

I'm sorry, that's a business phone.

Can't let you use it. - Come on, lady.

I can't let you use that phone, sir.

If you want to make a call, you can use that payphone right

out there on the corner.

It's right out there, sir.

ROY BAIRD: He was there at the gas

station for 15 to 20 minutes.

She said that he used the telephone.

The last time she saw him, he wandered off

towards Interstate 635.

ROBERT STACK: The suspect was seen one final time.

This sighting led authorities to believe that he

may have had an accomplice.

RAY MORRIS: I seen this man run down the hill

from the service station.

And I thought it might have been a robbery because there

was a car on a side road slowing down, stopping to pick him up.

ROBERT STACK: Roy Morris described the getaway car

as a green 1955 Buick.

The driver was a heavyset black man.

In the wake of the murder, anonymous tips

flooded police hotlines.

Several callers made the same suggestion.

Talk to Roxanne's brother, Army Private Kurt Jeeves.

Investigators learned that before joining the service

in August of 1981, Kurt had stayed

with Roxanne and Christopher in their Dallas apartment.

ROY BAIRD: When Kurt moved out to go to the army,

people had told us that Roxanne was relieved.

We know that he was dealing in marijuana,

and at some point in time, he had a disagreement

with these folks over some of their transactions

with regard to this marijuana.

ROBERT STACK: According to Roxanne's friends,

late one night a man showed up unexpectedly at her apartment.

SUSPECT: Where's Kurt? - Kurt's not here.

What do you mean, he's not here?

ROBERT STACK: Police believe that when

Kurt left to join the army, his former associates

were still angry.

Roxanne may have found herself trapped

in the middle of a bitter drug related dispute.

Kurt owed me some money, and I'm going to find him,

and I will find him.

ROBERT STACK: Two years later in 1984,

Kurt Jeeves was himself murdered during an attempted drug buy.

He had always angrily insisted that he

had no information that might shed light on the deaths

of his sister and nephew.

ROY BAIRD: This case occurred at Christmastime,

and I'm sure that myself and all the other detectives

will never forget what we saw out there that day.

Whomever committed that offense doesn't need

to be free in our society, and I don't intend to ever give

up trying to find that person.

ROBERT STACK: On our next "Unsolved Mysteries",

two stories of death defined by overpowering love.

In one, a mothers pain over the loss of her child

was eased when she was contacted by what she believes

was a spirit of her daughter.

And a woman raising two young sons

after the death of her husband says she found

solace when he appeared to her.

Some say these after death visits are pure hallucination.

Others claim they are all too real.

Also a case of utmost urgency.

A serial killer is stalking and murdering

young women in the Midwest.

Perhaps you can help catch the I-70 killer.

Join me next time.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

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