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): During the late 1960s,

thousands of curiosity seekers lined up

to catch a glimpse of the legendary Iceman,

a mysterious creature reportedly half man and half ape entombed

in a block of solid ice.

But when the police began to investigate just

who or what was in the frozen tomb, the Iceman vanished.

At the age of 10, Tom Vaughn landed

in a children's home, the innocent victim

of his parents' bitter divorce.

Tom was absolutely miserable till he met a boy named Brendan

whose sense of humor and the irrepressible spirit

helped Tom survive his darkest hours.

Tonight, Tom would like to thank the friend

he hasn't seen since 1957.

In 1953, at the height of the Cold War,

a government scientist named Frank Olson

plunged to his death from a hotel

window, an apparent suicide.

22 years later, it was revealed that just days before he died,

Frank Olson been unwittingly dosed

with the hallucinogenic drug LSD as part

of a secret CIA experiment.

Join me as we begin a fascinating new season.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

Well, as you can see, gentlemen,

these are not ideal circumstances

in which to view the exhibit.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On a chilly December evening

in 1968, a promoter named Frank Hanson led

two renowned scientists into an isolated

barn in southeastern Minnesota.

Mr. Hanson, is the exhibit ever shown outside the trailer?

No.

It is always shown only in the trailer.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Ivan Sanderson and Dr. Bernard

Heuvelmans were experts in the esoteric field

of cryptozoology, a study of hidden species.

They had come to examine a peculiar artifact that

had fallen into Hanson's possession.

Gentlemen, here is the exhibit.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The two scientists were astonished.

Entombed in a block of solid ice was

a mysterious creature that appeared

to be half man, half ape.

These are actual photographs of the Iceman.

Sanderson and Heuvelmans departed, convinced

that this bizarre sideshow attraction

had genuine scientific value.

But within just a few short weeks,

the enigmatic creature had vanished,

and with it any future opportunity for study.

Who, Or rather what, was the Iceman?

Most people assumed it was just what it was purported to be,

an entertaining illusion created by a master showman.

Sanderson and Heuvelmans disagreed.

They theorized that the Iceman was, in reality,

a prehistoric ancestor of man that has somehow

survived into the 20th century.

This machine predates the Model T.

It is one of the oldest tractors in the world,

revolutionized farming--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1967, Frank Hanson

was traveling the state fair circuit exhibiting

an antique mechanical contraption

that he billed as the first gas-powered tractor.

At one stop, Frank was allegedly approached

by a mysterious soft-spoken stranger.

The following recreations are based upon published accounts.

Sir, may I have a word with you, please?

Why, certainly.

I find what you're doing here, sir, is fascinating.

I have an exhibit that I think would

benefit from your expertise.

Please give me a call.

It might be worth your while.

Thank you.

Thank you.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Hanson later met

the stranger at a refrigerated warehouse

in some unknown location.

What you are going to see belongs to me.

How I came by it is my business and we need

not discuss that at the moment.

Is there some reason it needs to be kept in such cold?

I think that will be obvious to you in just a few moments.

Is it real?

Where did you get this from?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Frank Hanson

knew a golden opportunity when he saw one.

He agreed to take the creature on the road

and billed it as an educational exhibit.

Over the next two years, the Iceman

became a star attraction at carnivals and state fairs

throughout the Midwest.

Thousands of people were fascinated,

but no one seemed to know what it was.

Zookeeper Bob Surpleski saw the Iceman

when he was 18 years old.

What I was looking at was not made out of latex,

it was not made out of rubber.

It did not appear to be a man-made thing.

It appeared to be something.

But as far as my opinion, I don't

know what I was looking at.

But I'm sure I was looking at something dead.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Environmentalist David Rivard

viewed the exhibit in 1968.

The first thing that went through the average person's

mind was that this was not a wax animal that he had there.

This was not something that was a machine.

It was some kind of a formerly live animal

that was in the block of ice.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dr. Terry Cullen

is a zoological and veterinary researcher.

And I had long been an aficionado of sideshows

and going to see them for mostly curiosity reasons.

It was always enjoyable.

You always had a great time trying to find out

what they were doing and how they had it, what

they did to fool the public.

And about 99% of the--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In the past,

Terry Cullen has been reluctant to deal with the media.

After he agreed to this interview

to try to clear up past inaccuracies about the Iceman.

Oh my god.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Cullen first

saw the Iceman when he was 17.

He says the creature appeared to be a six

foot tall adolescent male.

It was covered with medium length hair

and had highly visible follicles.

Cullen also noticed a traumatic injury to the left side

of the Iceman's face.

There was a noticeable odor coming out of this casket.

The one thing that there is no doubt in my mind about

is that the thing that I observed,

the carcass that I observed, was in fact

made out of some sort of flesh.

Hi, young man.

You've been here before, haven't you?

Yes, I have.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Terry Cullen was hooked.

He returned to the exhibit time and time again.

On one occasion, Cullen snuck in a magnifying glass.

Frank Hansen had seemed increasingly

agitated with each visit, so Terry

made sure he was discreet.

There was something of a death grimace on the face.

The upper lip was pulled back a bit.

I was able to observe all four incisors, which

were very large, very squarish, very

much like an orang's incisors.

Whatever this was, it was important enough

to get the necessary scientific personnel in there

to view it, to establish that either yes, this

is some form of unknown creature or no, this is a fake somehow

cleverly constructed from the parts of other animals

or whatever materials they were using.

Missing link, huh?

Yeah.

I can't wait for you see this.

Kid, I've been to a lot of sideshows.

These things always fake. - No.

This one's amazing.

I think this one's real.

- Don't expect too much. - Yeah.

Go on.

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

Terry Cullen tried to entice several scientific experts

to view the creature.

Eventually, he convinced an anthropologist

from the University of Minnesota.

TERRY CULLEN: He was in there perhaps 10 to 15

minutes, came back out again.

And he started walking past where I was standing

and he had sort of a dreamy look on his face.

I came zipping up to him.

Well, what did you think?

It's amazing.

Yeah?

I mean, well tell me.

It's really amazing.

What did you see out of it.

I mean, what did you--

Thank you.

I remember being practically close to tears from frustration

that I had finally gotten someone who at least had

some credibility in the field of anthropology

to look at this thing and I couldn't even get six

words out of the gentleman now.

The reasons for that I can't even speculate on.

At that point, I decided I would have to pursue other avenues.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In the end,

it was Terry Cullen who convinced

Sanderson and Heuvelmans to examine the Iceman.

TERRY CULLEN: Sandersen and Heuvelmans were both convinced

that, in fact, this carcass was a genuine carcass

of some unknown form of animal or hominid.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In May of 1969,

Sanderson and Heuvelmans published

their findings in a tabloid magazine for science buffs.

National attention quickly descended upon Frank Hanson,

and before long the authorities took an interest in Hanson

and the frozen carcass.

In the summer of 1969, the local sheriff

stopped by Hanson's farmhouse.

Some people think that thing you've got is the real McCoy.

Of course.

They're supposed to. - Look, Frank.

If it is, I've got a couple of problems with it.

Taking a cadaver over state lines is illegal.

And if it's the real McCoy, how did it get dead?

Listen, you can come with me and we'll look at it together.

No, look.

What say I bring a pathologist back tomorrow morning?

That OK with you? - Well, sure.

That's OK.

10:00 OK?

That's fine.

- OK. - See you then.

Sure.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): That very night, Frank Hanson

allegedly beat it out of town, taking

his controversial exhibit with him.

A few months later, Hanson was back on the circuit

with a replica of the mysterious creature.

The whereabouts of the real Iceman are still unknown.

This thing may one day be understood by us

as a genuine object, as a true representative

of something primitive and manlike

that is still living today.

If under other circumstances this kind of thing

is found and described and matches

those extensive descriptions by Sandersen and Heuvelmans,

then at that point in time some day in the future,

we would know that this was the real thing

that they saw in 1968.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): What was the Iceman,

a primitive human-like species that

managed to survive until present day,

an elaborate hoax pulled off by a professional huckster,

or perhaps some unfortunate soul who died an untimely death

and ended up as a sideshow attraction?

Frank Hanson may be the only person

who can answer these questions, and he isn't talking.

Despite repeated attempts to have him share his story,

Hansen declined to participate in this broadcast.

For now, it seems, the legend of the Iceman

must remain just that--

a legend.

When we return, perhaps someone in our audience

will be able to reunite two childhood friends.

At any moment, any one of us can meet a person

who changes our lives forever.

In 1956, two 10-year-old boys named

Tom and Brendan met in a Catholic children's home

in New York City.

By an odd coincidence, they both had the same last name, Vaughn.

Not so coincidentally, they both needed a friend.

TOM VAUGHN: I believe that Brendan saved my life

because he did have such a unique way

of helping me put things into their proper perspective.

I don't know what would have happened

during that first year had Brendan not been

there to tickle my funny bone.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): How Tom

Vaughn came to be in the children's home

is a story in itself.

His mother, Jean, and his father had

gone through a bitter divorce.

By 1954, Jean was hiding Tom and his little brother, Dick,

from their father.

The boys bounced from rooming houses to foster homes,

living in nine different places in less than two years' time.

Finally, they ended up in the Bronx

in a basement apartment supervised by kindly

landlord, Sonny [inaudible].

I came about the apartment.

[knocking at door]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Nevertheless, Jean Vaughn's

life grew increasingly chaotic and the boys were usually

left to fend for themselves.

Who is it?

It's Mr. C, Tom.

Hey.

Your mother called.

She said she's going to be late.

When's she going to be home?

A couple of hours.

Did you have something to eat yet?

Oh, we're about to eat.

Oh, yeah.

Well, then maybe--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Sonny kept an eye on the boys.

In fact, he and his wife wanted to become

their legal guardians, but Catholic Charities stepped in.

They were finally convinced that Jean was an unfit mother.

They pressured her to send the boy to a children's home.

Tom and Dick were taken to the Lieutenant Joseph P

Kennedy, Jr Home for Children in the Pelham

Bay section of the Bronx.

TOM VAUGHN: As we emerged from the car,

there was an opportunity for me to take flight and run

down the street and run away.

And yet I knew there was nothing I could do

and that I had to face what was about to transpire.

Come along, boys.

Come along.

TOM VAUGHN: I had to be in charge of Dick

and there was no way in front of all of these strangers

that I could tell them how I felt or what I was feeling.

So I was trapped.

And I think maybe it's time now to go

and get unpacked and settled.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When the moment came for the boys

to tell their mother goodbye, Tom

was paralyzed with fear, barely able to move

and totally unable to speak.

TOM VAUGHN: I distinctly remember yelling

to myself, Mom, don't leave us.

Don't allow this to happen.

Don't allow them to take us from you.

I love you, Dickie.

I was so angry and I was feeling so much pain

and so much of a sense of loss that I

was just happy to turn from that scene and walk out of the room.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For so long,

Tom and Dick had been one another's

primary source of strength.

Now, although they can still see their mother together

on weekends, at the home itself they were forced to live apart.

Tom sank deeper and deeper into misery

and turned a sullen face to his new peers.

Good evening, boys.

I'd like you to meet Tommy.

Tommy, these are going to be your new dorm mates.

This is Brendan, Jerry, and Michael.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Tom could never

have guessed that this boy, Brendan Vaughan,

would be his salvation.

Brendan simply refuse to let Tom retreat into his shell.

What's your name again, Tommy?

Where you from?

How long you been here?

TOM VAUGHN: He started talking to me,

but I really wasn't in the mood for any conversation

whatsoever and sat there kind of picking at my food.

What happened, cat got your tongue?

TOM VAUGHN: Well, after we left the dinner table,

I went back up to my room and this Brendan character

had the bunk next to mine.

What's your last name?

Vaughn.

Hm.

What a coincidence.

That's my last name.

How do you spell it?

V-A-U-G-H-N.

I spell my a little differently.

TOM VAUGHN: He had big freckles and curly brown hair

and he had the Irish accent.

OK.

Lights out, tuck in.

It wasn't too long before he had me opening up.

And he had a mischievous manner about him and devilish,

to say the least.

Tommy, tell me when you fall asleep, OK?

What?

Tell me when you fall asleep.

How can I tell you when I'm asleep when I'm already asleep?

TOM VAUGHN: He would do silly little things

to try and make me feel not so sad or depressed.

Good night, Brendan.

Tommy, why did God make you?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Brendan helped

Tom in other ways, as well.

Why did God make you?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Especially in catechism

class, where the children were required to deliver

their answers by rote.

TOM VAUGHN: Brendan whispered up the answer to me

and once again, he saved my life there

because I'm certain that I would have been in serious trouble

had I not had that simple answer.

So we could love and serve him.

Perfect.

Know what this is?

A rock.

No, a piece of the Blarney Stone.

What's a Blarney Stone?

It's a magic rock high up on the castle wall in Ireland.

And if you kiss it, you have good luck.

TOM VAUGHN: This constant cajoling by Brendan

put a perspective on where we were

and the fact that it wasn't so bad.

I mean, the treatment there was wonderful.

He began to draw me towards that perspective of what

was actually going on there and that it

was kind of a fun place.

So he really from a therapeutic standpoint

showed me the way to overcome my depression.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A year and a half

after Tom and Brendan met, the inevitable happened.

What are you doing?

I'm packing my suitcase.

Why?

Sister said to get ready to leave, pack my suitcase

and get ready to leave.

TOM VAUGHN: Brendan was very quiet

because I think he was scared and afraid

and didn't know where he was going or what was happening.

I do remember Brendan walking down that long hall

and wanting to run after him, but once again being paralyzed

by my inability to do that.

I mean, I just couldn't show that kind of emotion.

You take care, you hear?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Eventually,

Tom and his brother, Dick, were sent to live

with their father in Montana.

Their mother, Jean, whose problems had finally

overwhelmed her, died in 1985.

Tom Vaughn is now a successful investment banker

in Colorado, happily married and the father

of an 11-year-old daughter.

Tom credits his young friend, Brendan, with changing

his outlook and his life.

There hasn't been a week go by in the last 36 years

that I haven't thought of him.

Think you can get--

TOM VAUGHN: I didn't have an opportunity

to tell him how much I appreciated what he did for me.

And I think it's my turn to make him

smile, perhaps to kiss that Blarney

Stone just one more time.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Within minutes of our broadcast,

Brendan Vaughan called our phone center from his home

in New York.

We connected him with Tom Vaughn in Denver

and finally, Tom had his chance to say thank you.

The two men agreed to meet in Manhattan on March

6, 1994 at 8:30 AM sharp.

Tom came outside early so he'd be there to greet Brendan,

but Brendan--

same old Brendan-- surprised him.

They told me [inaudible].

God almighty.

God. Yeah.

Well, relatively we're the same height, yeah.

It seems like we haven't been apart.

He still has the gregariousness and the power in his voice

and still seems to have the same approach to things.

So I don't think he's changed all that much.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Brendan had brought

along his sister, Noreen.

In the hotel lobby, they met Tom's wife and daughter.

For Brendan, who is divorced and has no children,

it was like finding a long lost family.

Hello.

It's really a nice feeling.

I mean, I was really shocked.

When you sit down and say, what have I done in my life and one

day you know what have you accomplished and you can't say,

well, I touched anybody's life, I haven't done anything.

And then all of a sudden, this pops up,

it's really flattering.

It's really amazing.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Brendan and Noreen,

who was also at the children's home,

spent the morning reminiscing with Tom.

It's hard to tell the nuns apart.

Well, they didn't care as long as you went in the water.

I was so bad that they were trying everything

to try to get me to be good.

TOM VAUGHN: As soon as we got into that conversation,

it was like our last conversation

had taken place the day before, so it was very nice.

I'll be captain [inaudible],, you know, of the honor guard.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Finally, Tom's childhood wounds

are beginning to heal.

The two boys, best friends before they were separated

more than 35 years ago, made an instant connection

to their past and to one another.

TOM VAUGHN: It's represented closure

for a chapter in my life that had been very, very difficult.

And so coming here, facing him, finding him, being here today

is a way to let go of that.

And so I'm very pleased about that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Tom Vaughn and Brendan Vaughan

now hope they will hear from other alumni of the Lieutenant

Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr Home for Children,

the very children all now in their forties and fifties

with whom they once shared so much.

Next, a government scientist falls to his death

from a hotel window.

Was it suicide or murder?

In the early morning hours of November 28, 1953,

a crowd gathered outside of New York's Hotel Statler.

A man had apparently jumped to his death

from a 13th story window.

The victim was later identified as a government

scientist named Frank Olson.

Frank Olson left behind a wife and three small children.

His sons are now grown men and are

still trying to find out what really

happened to their father.

Now in a final desperate appeal, they

hope someone in our audience can help

solve this baffling mystery.

Frank Olson died at the height of the Cold War tensions.

At the time, our leaders here in Washington, DC,

faced the very real possibility that we might be

attacked by the Soviet Union.

Just an hour's drive from where I'm standing,

the country's technological brain trust

was working at a feverish pace to develop

a new generation of weapons.

Frank Olsen was heading one of these projects when he died.

40 years later, the questions surrounding his death demand

answers.

Frank Olson worked at Fort Detrick, Maryland, headquarters

for the military's Biological Warfare Research

and Development Program.

Frank was an expert in aerobiology,

the delivery of deadly viruses and infectious microorganisms

via sprays and aerosol cans.

NILS OLSON: My father was a research scientist

who was involved with germ warfare,

associated with the Division, which

stood for special operations.

That was the most top secret kind of research that

was done out at Fort Detrick.

And some of that research was being done

in coordination with the CIA.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): At Fort Detrick,

Frank Olson earned the respect and admiration

of his coworkers.

Then in November of 1953, Frank went to a three-day conference

with some of his colleagues and came home a changed man.

The weekend after that meeting, my father

was severely depressed.

He felt that he had done something terribly wrong

and he told my mother that he had done something wrong,

but he couldn't tell her what.

And she asked him whether or not he had broken security

and he indicated that he would never do such a thing,

but he felt that he had done something terribly wrong.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Frank's boss, Vincent Ruwett,

told the Olson's he believed Frank was on the verge

of a nervous breakdown.

Just before Thanksgiving, Ruwett took Frank to New York

for treatment.

In New York, Frank shared a hotel room with Dr. Robert

Lashbrook, a CIA scientist.

Nearly a week passed before Frank's family heard from him.

Do me a favor?

Would you kiss the kids for me?

ERIC OLSON: My father seemed a little

more peaceful than he had.

He made a call to my mother to say he was all right.

Bob, it's getting late.

I'm going to turn the TV off.

They went to sleep fairly early, about 11:00.

And the next thing we know from Lashbrook

is that he was awakened by the sound of crashing glass.

[glass breaking]

Frank?

Oh my god.

Frank Olson was dead at the age of 43.

The investigators later determined that he had either

jumped or fallen to his death.

I remember as a nine-year-old and actually for years after

that, I was completely stumped and dumbfounded by trying

to resolve that alternative.

There's a big difference between fall or jump

and I couldn't understand how either of them

could have occurred.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Olsons weren't alone.

The night manager of the hotel found Frank's death suspicious,

as well.

I rushed outside to find Frank Olson, eyes wide open,

looking straight at me, trying to tell me something.

OK.

OK, buddy.

ARMOND PASTORE: He was definitely trying to speak,

but there was nothing coming out but grumbles.

He was in terrible condition.

And by this time, then the ambulance came

and I stepped back because now I had

to find out where he came from.

So I looked up the building and finally I saw a little movement

out of a window shade.

Then when I concentrated on that,

then I see that the window shade was

stuck through a broken window.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Armond Pastore I immediately

took the police to room 1019A.

ARMOND PASTORE: And here is Lashbrook sitting

on the john in his skivvies.

Then the police start to question him

and I heard him say, well, all I heard was a crash.

I walked around the room to look around.

Look at this in here.

ERIC OLSON: Nobody ever jumps through a window.

They open the window and they go out, not dash through a shade

and a sheer drape.

There's no sense to that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 22 years

would pass before Frank Olson's family

hurt Armond Pastore's account.

All they were told in 1953 was that Frank

had suffered a nervous breakdown and committed suicide.

Then in 1975, a government commission

was formed to investigate past abuses committed by the CIA.

Among other incidents, the official report

made mention of a scientist who had plunged

to his death from a hotel room 10 days

after being dosed with LSD.

That scientist turned out to be Frank Olson.

Over the next year and a half, the Olson family

received a formal apology from President

Gerald Ford and a check from the government for $750,000.

They Olsons also met with then CIA Chief William Colby.

As a result of the meeting with William Colby at the CIA,

we were given what was supposedly a complete set

of documents relating to the events of the last nine days

of my father's life.

I should have the results back on the toxicology tests--

NILS OLSON: We learned that he had gone to a retreat in Deep

Creek Lake, in western Maryland, with a group

of other scientists.

The principle of the meeting was that they were going to be

discussing ongoing research.

But in fact, there were agents in the CIA

who were meeting with them who decided that they were going

to give them each a dose of LSD without their knowledge

or consent and then see what their reaction was.

Anyone for a drink?

The Olsons learned that the LSD was slipped into an after

dinner liqueur by either Sidney Gottlieb,

head of the CIA's Technical Services staff,

or his deputy, Dr. Robert Lashbrook.

Help yourself.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The CIA reportedly feared

that the Soviet Union might employ

LSD to produce anxiety or terror in captured CIA agents.

Gottlieb believed that his test would

help prepare American operatives for that eventuality.

Thank you, Sidney.

Just what I needed.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The laced drinks were served eight

of the 10 scientists present.

Some of them, including Frank Olson,

were not told about the test.

--fish the first day we were there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Within an hour,

the LSD began to take effect.

Dude, the most wonderful thing.

Gentlemen?

Gentlemen, are we all feeling a bit strange?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When Gottlieb informed

the drug-induced gathering that their drinks

had been spiked with LSD, Frank Olson became incensed.

What?

Wait a minute, you did what?

We're having an experiment here.

You put a drug in our drinks.

Yes, yes.

We're in the middle of an experiment.

NILS OLSON: We understood that my father was quite agitated

and was having serious confusion with separating

reality from fantasy.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Less than a week later, Frank

made his ill-fated trip to New York,

supposedly suffering from a nervous breakdown.

Well, Frank, how are you feeling today?

I feel lousy, doctor.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Frank was taken

to see Dr. Harold Abramson, an LSD expert who worked

extensively with the CIA.

It's been continuing for about a week now.

Look at me, please.

You were saying that you weren't resting very well.

Is that improving?

No, I'm not resting, I haven't been

able to sleep for over a week.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Accompanying Frank

were Robert Lashbrook and Frank's boss, Vincent Ruwett.

Frank, sit down.

I don't want to sit down.

I can't sit down.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Frank remained in New York

and over the next several days made repeated

visits to the doctor's office.

Someone has been following me.

ERIC OLSON: From the documents we have,

it's impossible to deduce what was

accomplished in those meetings.

And you certainly don't see any indication that a treatment

process was occurring.

You can suspect that some kind of assessment process

was going on, the purpose of which

was more to protect the CIA's interests

than it was to help my father.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Apparently,

the pattern continued in the immediate aftermath

of Frank's death.

For some unexplained reason, Robert Lashbrook

never phoned for help.

However, he allegedly did make a disturbing call

which was overheard by the hotel operator.

[switchboard ringing]

ARMOND PASTORE: In those days, all the calls were manual.

You called the operator and you told her what number you want

and she would dial it for you.

Then she'd listen to see that you got connected.

When the man in the room called this number,

he said, well, he's gone.

And the man on the other end said, well, that's too bad.

And they both hung up.

I mean, what's more suspicious than that?

You don't have to be a genius to figure out

that there's something amiss.

Who said, Hamlet said, there's something rotten in Denmark?

I mean, I knew there was something rotten

at the Pennsylvania hotel that night.

I'd like to emphasize at the beginning

that there are many things that we

still don't know about the events

surrounding my father's death.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When the news first

broke about Frank's suicide, Armand Pastore

contacted the Olson family and told them

about the mysterious phone call.

The Olsons immediately began to suspect that Frank

had not taken his own life.

I believe that what happened was that my father was

considered a security risk, that the CIA either formally

or informally decided that it was in the country's

or in the agency's best interests to have my father

either take his own life or that he needed to be eliminated.

I'm going to do everything that you

tell me to do, I promise you.

NILS OLSON: One of the nights that my father was up

in New York, he was having delusions

that he was hearing voices.

And in the middle of the night, he

woke up and went and threw all his identification

out and his money.

All right.

Get rid of all of my money and my identification.

OK.

You have to see that as an obvious sign

of a suicidal tendency.

Well, to keep my father in a 10th floor room, which actually

was 13 storeys off the ground, to me is the epitome

of irresponsibility.

In 1993, Frank's widow, Alice, passed away.

Eric and Nils had their father's body moved to rest beside her.

But before Frank was reinterred, they

asked forensic scientist Professor James

Starrs to perform an autopsy.

Quite frankly, we had no idea what

the condition of the remains would be after 41 years.

We were delighted that the remains

were in perfect condition for our analysis.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): As part

of his overall investigation, Professor Starrs

and his colleagues went to the old Hotel

Statler, which is now known as the Hotel Pennsylvania.

The first thing that Professor Starrs looked for

was evidence that Frank had, indeed,

smashed through a window.

The medical examiner in New York

who did an external examination back in 1953

said there were multiple lacerations

on the face and neck.

There were none.

I mean, zero.

Soon after that finding was made public,

Lashbrook changes his story which he's held to for 40 years

and suddenly now starts saying that he

can't remember whether the window, in fact,

was open or closed.

The window was completely gone.

There was little glass around it on the fringes

and the shade was stuck out through the glass.

At some point, he had to hit some glass.

I cannot believe that he wouldn't have gotten cuts

in the lower extremities of his body--

on the front of the legs.

We don't find any cuts.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Professor Starrs

did find that Frank had sustained

extensive injuries to his head, chest, and right leg.

When you have fractures as massive

and in different locations as these fractures clearly are,

they indicate a tremendous amount

of force that caused those.

Well, clearly, he was falling from the building.

If he struck his foot and that caused the massive injuries,

the question for us is, well, how

did he get the massive injuries on his chest?

If he hit his chest, well, how did he get the massive injuries

on his foot?

If it was a glancing blow against an abutment on the way

down, the likelihood of his having

the massive injuries from a glancing blow is very remote.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): What happened to Frank Olson?

Professor Starr's analysis is not yet complete,

but his preliminary findings paint a disturbing scenario.

It's getting worse.

Clearly, in this case there is foul play

on the part of the CIA in giving him LSD in the first place

and making a guinea pig out of the way they did.

But foul play of the homicide type, that's

what we're in this business to try to find out.

As I say, the evidence is beginning to mount.

I looked at this case for 14 months

and I found no evidence that points directly to murder.

I don't rule it out, but I found no evidence that would indicate

to me that that would happen.

And I have to tell you it seems unlikely to me

that the CIA people in the context the 1950s

would have killed a colleague.

I can see them doing something like this against a Soviet

or an enemy, but not a colleague.

I think the Olson case must be resolved.

That family deserves to know and I

think the American people now deserve to know

the truth of what happened.

It's been a long time ago, they don't have to hide behind

their classified documents, behind all

of their stealth information, and their sleazy little James

Bond stories.

Tell us what happened to Frank Olson.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Congressman Traficant

is now calling for an official investigation

into the death of Frank Olson.

Perhaps after more than 40 years of secrecy,

the true story behind this Cold War mystery

will finally be told.

When we return, the dramatic capture of a man

suspected of murder.

April 24th, 1994.

Along the Christina River in Delaware,

authorities close in on a dangerous fugitive

who has been wanted on murder charges

for more than six years.

The suspect is 38-year-old Larry Donald

George, a former Army enlisted man

and self-styled survivalist.

You know you're not supposed to be here.

Where you been?

That's none of your business.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On February 12th, 1988,

George confronted his estranged wife, Geraldine, at her home

in Talladega, Alabama.

You're gonna listen to me.

You're gonna listen to me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Geraldine

ran next door for help.

Larry George followed.

[gunshot]

Geraldine's neighbor, Janice Morris,

was shot once in the chest.

Larry, please stop.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next, Larry allegedly took aim

at Geraldine. [gunshot]

- Janice?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Janice's boyfriend,

Ralph Swain, heard the commotion and ran downstairs.

[gunshot]

Ralph Swain was shot in the back of the head.

Janice Morris was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ralph Swain was rushed to a local hospital

where he died a short time later.

Geraldine George survived the shooting

but was left paralyzed from the waist down.

For more than six years, she lived with the bitter knowledge

that her husband was still at large.

After the most recent broadcast of this story,

the authorities were contacted by an "Unsolved

Mysteries" viewer.

The viewer claimed to have seen Larry George

fishing on the banks of the Christina River

in Wilmington, Delaware.

Three days later, two police detectives

were dispatched to the area.

For our cameras, the officers recounted

their dramatic meeting with Larry George.

This is where we first encountered

Larry George at, right here.

We began a conversation with him about fishing.

At this time, he wanted to take us over

here to where his pole was in the water

and show us exactly where he was fishing at.

We got about here and we started talking again about fishing.

And it was at this time where myself and Detective Pinkett

made eye contact and I identified myself

as a police officer to Larry.

At this time, a brief struggle ensued right about here.

We all three fell to the ground here.

We got back to our feet still struggling,

and at that point we just turned and threw Larry into the water.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): While the officers regrouped,

George attempted to flee downriver.

But backup units quickly cornered him

and he surrendered without further struggle.

At George's campsite, police found

a makeshift bunker, complete with generator,

heater, television, and stove.

The subsequent discovery of several weapons,

including a spear gun and a sawed-off shotgun,

led investigators to believe that George

had been prepared to resist arrest

by whatever means necessary.

He knew he was wanted for murder.

He wasn't going to be taken alive.

If he would have put himself in his hideout

and if we'd have discovered, he probably

would have had gunfire and officers would have been hurt.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On April 27, 1994,

Larry Donald George was extradited

to Alabama to face charges of murder and attempted murder.

It was a long-awaited moment for Geraldine Jones

and the families of Ralph Swain and Janice Morris.

They're delighted that this is kind

of bringing this to an end.

And I can understand their feelings about the situation

simply because it's been a long six years

and really not knowing where he is

and if he would show back up.

I'm sure that that brought a lot of discomfort and a lot

sleepless nights to them.

So I know that they're very happy that this

is short of being drawn to a close.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Join me

next Sunday for another fascinating edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

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