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: Christmas Eve 1983.

A freak snowstorm in Mexico spells

disaster for a vacationing family from Atlanta, Georgia.

Fortunately, an American couple, both apparently doctors,

happened upon the scene and helped save the lives

of at least five people.

Perhaps you can help find these unknown good Samaritans.

All around the world, hundreds of people

say they are being tormented 24 hours a day

by a loud rumbling sound that almost no one else can detect.

Could the source be a high tech radio system used by the Navy

to communicate with our submarine fleet?

Meet Randolph Dial, sculptor, artist, convicted murder.

For eight years, Dial did his time quietly and peaceably

in Oklahoma's prison system.

He became a model prisoner, and even started an inmate arts

program with a woman named Bobbi Parker,

a wife of a deputy warden.

Then last August, Bobbi Barker left her husband a note

saying she had gone shopping.

She never came home.

Later that night, authorities discovered

that Randolph Dial had somehow slipped away from the prison

and vanished.

Join me for this exciting and intriguing edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

In addition, later in the show, we'll

bring you a dramatic new update of a poignant case

of lost love, solved thanks to you, our viewers.

[theme music]

Imagine being plagued by this sound, a loud, annoying hum

that grinds away incessantly, day after day,

night after night.

Incredibly, more than 1,000 people throughout the world

are reporting just such a phenomenon

and it's driving them to distraction.

The thing I noticed about it was it didn't change.

The sound didn't change like it was

getting closer or further away or slowing down or speeding up.

It was just a steady droning sound.

There is a little bit of a whine somewhere

in the background here.

And it's kind of like the air is sizzling.

I've been hearing the hum for about five years.

It sounds like a diesel engine running parked away,

but yet it has a physical effect.

It seems to make a sound resonance in our sternum,

in our thorax area.

It causes a vibration in the temporal lobe

and actually causes ear pain at times and pain on the earlobes.

ROBERT STACK: Hal Runniano moved from Detroit

to Michigan's Northern Peninsula,

hoping to escape the hustle and bustle of suburban living.

But instead of peace and tranquility,

Hal soon found himself tormented by the hum.

It began as a minor annoyance while Hal

was studying for a trade school entrance exam.

HAL: I noticed it a few times before I was studying,

but thinking that it was a motor,

it wouldn't bother me that much.

[humming]

But then I noticed it affecting how I could focus

and how I could concentrate.

That's when it really started agitating me.

So I was able to ignore it maybe for the first month or two.

But after a while, when I got closer

to the deadline of this entrance exam,

I started noticing this thing is really

affecting how I'm studying.

It's really affecting my thought process and how

I'm taking in information.

And it got to where I couldn't tolerate it anymore

and I had to know what it was.

The first few nights I went out looking for it,

I went to the natural places that you would

think a hum was coming from.

I checked out the sewage pumping stations, the airport,

the ventilation systems on top of Michigan

Tech University, any place that would generate a sound.

Finally, I was driving like 100 miles

a night in one direction looking for it.

No matter where I went, the intensity was always the same.

OK, I have a tuning fork and I'm just

going to sort of get an idea of how well your ears line up

with each other. So the first.

ROBERT STACK: We brought here to Los Angeles

to visit Dr. Eugene Flaum, one of the nation's leading ear,

nose, and throat specialist.

In middle of the head, where do you hear it?

Airplane.

Airplane.

Cowboy.

Cowboy.

ROBERT STACK: Hal was found to be suffering some hearing loss,

but there was nothing specific that

might explain the bizarre hum.

Airplane.

I don't know, I lost you.

EUGENE FLAUM: From what we learned today,

we can't prove one way or the other

whether there are extraneous sounds in the environment

or within him.

Those sounds in the environment might be perceived by him

differently than they really are because of things

going on in his system.

I'm certain that I'm feeling something

from an outside source.

I'm a yoga teacher, massage therapist, a [inaudible],,

I've studied acupuncture.

I'm very aware of the sounds that my body makes

and I know this isn't my body producing this.

Many people have suggested that I

might be picking up the electrical fields

from the local power grid.

So what I'd like to do is go down into the caves

and get completely underneath it and see if I can get away

from the electrical fields.

ROBERT STACK: Hal has tried just about everything

to escape the auditory onslaught,

even braving the deep tunnels of an old, abandoned copper

mine near his home.

Would Hal finally be at peace?

We soon had our answer.

Yeah.

I hear it.

CREW: What do you got?

I hear it louder.

It's more penetrating.

It's actually conducting through my bones

more forcefully than it does on the surface.

CREW: Disappointing?

It's very disappointing.

I thought I could get away from it down under all this rock.

It's worse.

This is a tape I developed as a simulation of the phenomenon

as I experience it.

I'm going to play it.

ROBERT STACK: Sarah Ellen has been hearing

the hum for three years.

Higher volume than I experience it at,

but just so that you can you hear

kind of what it sounds like, that's what I'm going to do.

[humming]

Now, the volume level that I hear it at

is much more like this.

You bring it down to the minimum and then

you turn it up until you can just perceive

it, which is right there.

And that's how it's in my environment all the time.

Whenever it's quiet, whenever there's a quiet moment,

I'm in meditation or something, I have

to share my space with this.

And it's not comfortable.

ROBERT STACK: Sarah Ellen lives in Taos, New Mexico, which

literally hums with activity.

Since 1989, dozens of local residents

claim to have heard the irritating sound.

Sarah is a radio broadcast engineer.

She first experienced the hum in 1992,

after she'd been dispatched to repair a transmitter.

It was Sarah's knowledge of electronics that later enabled

her to recreate the noise so that non sufferers would know

exactly what it sounded like.

[humming]

We played Sarah's tape for Winona Witthead,

of nearby Santa Fe, New Mexico.

That's very close.

Very, very close.

CREW: Tell me about it.

That's very close.

It's a little-- it's quite a lot more pleasant

than the jagged, grinding glass sensation or sound

that would come through.

ROBERT STACK: For Winona, five years of constant humming

has completely disrupted her life.

She is currently on disability leave from her job

with the National Park Service.

Like many sufferers, Winona takes comfort in the knowledge

that she is not alone.

In no fewer than 10 countries on five different continents,

people have been hearing a similar low frequency

sound, most often described as a truck laboring up a hill.

Today, many of the low frequency sufferers

belong to an international network dedicated to finding

the cause of the hum.

HAL: We call ourselves hearers, but actually we don't

really feel like we're hearing.

We feel like we're sensing.

And none of us, we're not protesters

or we're not activists.

It's not like we want to take the day off of work and study

physics and electromagnetic resonance,

but it's driving us nuts and we have

the support and exchange of information

that we need with each other.

And that's really been helpful.

We began to keep notes.

Not so much a log book of every day,

because it's there every day.

You write in the log, it's there today.

And that's about all you can say about it.

What we did start noticing was the intensity

increases, which seem to track international events.

Mostly whenever the United States

is involved militarily somewhere,

the intensity seems to increase.

ROBERT STACK: The hearers have come

to believe that the hum may be caused

by a radio system known as ELF, or Extremely Low Frequency.

The Navy developed ELF to better communicate with the nation's

submarine fleet.

When a sub is underwater, it cannot

receive standard radio waves.

However, low frequency signals are capable of penetrating

through hundreds of feet of water

to reach vessels on the ocean floor.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the system

has been in use since the late 1980s,

around the time that people in the US

first began to hear the hum.

I'm fairly convinced that it is military,

not only because of my own research

into it and my own reading and my own theories,

but because of feedback I've gotten from scientists,

from people in the armed forces or who

have armed forces connections, and other people

who I can't name, but who have come forward to me

and who have pretty much verified my theories,

at least in principle.

ROBERT STACK: Recently a team of scientists

was commissioned to find the source of the hum.

They traveled to Taos with some of the most

sophisticated sound and radiation

sensing equipment available.

In the end, the scientists were unable to find

anything dramatic or unusual at Taos

that might explain the hum.

However, they did conclude that the hum is a quote,

"bonafide scientific mystery that

deserves additional inquiry."

I'm hearing the hum now.

And we have days where it oscillates on different sides

and today it seems to be oscillating more

on the right side of my body.

I don't believe how you can't hear it.

[humming]

ROBERT STACK: What is the source of the mysterious hum?

Could it be ELF?

Or is it possible that more than 1,000 people around the world

are imagining the same thing?

It is interesting to note that there

is an ELF transmitting station just 80 miles from Hal

Runniana's house in Michigan.

However, there is not a known station

within 1,500 miles of Taos.

For now, the hum remains a mystery for those who

cannot hear it, and a major source of aggravation

for those who can.

On a previous broadcast, we brought you

the poignant story of the Stallings

family of Tipton, Oklahoma.

A family so poor that in 1948, Lela Stallings, her husband,

and their six children were forced

to live in an old school bus.

In spite of the terrible hardships,

Lela valiantly struggled to maintain a home life

that was as normal as possible.

Thank you.

We always had something to do.

And we had toys to play with and each other to play with.

So we didn't think of ourselves as being different.

ROBERT STACK: However, the authorities felt otherwise.

Lela and her husband were eventually

charged with child neglect.

The charges would later be dropped,

but not before all of the Stallings children

were placed in foster homes.

Two of them, Mary and Joe, were reunited in 1959.

Since then, they have done everything

possible to find their brothers and sister,

only to be thwarted time after time.

I have tried every avenue that I

have came before me to try and locate

these brothers and sister.

And I'll never quit until the last day of my life.

"Unsolved Mysteries" appeared to be the last hope.

And happily, the day after our broadcast,

35 years of frustration came to an end for Joe and Mary.

A man named Lee Shulien of Owassa,

Oklahoma called our phone center.

He identified himself as Ernest Lee

Stallings, who was only five when

the family was split apart.

Lee was thrilled to hear that his brother

and sister were looking for him and was anxious to meet them.

Three weeks later, Lee arrived at a hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma

to be reunited with Joe.

Hello.

ROBERT STACK: The two brothers had not seen each other

in nearly half a century.

Been talking to you on the phone quite a bit.

I've been waiting for this moment for so many years.

I know.

That's what I heard.

JOE DILLAHUNTY: I don't even know how to describe it.

It's such a wonderful feeling.

It's about time.

It definitely is.

Walking in this morning, he walked in and we met,

hugged each other.

Nobody can realize the feeling.

We were separated too many years.

Yeah, about 40.

47 years.

LEE SHULIEN: I really didn't know how I was going to react.

We've been separated for 46 years.

I feel a lot better than what I thought I might.

It felt real good to hug him.

We've already started making some plans

to get together and go fishing.

So we got a future ahead of us to be

together and enjoy each other.

This here is you and I.

ROBERT STACK: Sadly, Joe and Lee's sister Mary was

unable to attend the reunion.

However, she has spoken with Lee on the phone

and they plan to get together in the very near future.

Our dad.

Right, yeah.

ROBERT STACK: When we return, a family

is rescued from a terrifying accident

by two anonymous strangers.

[theme music]

It is a traveler's worst nightmare.

You're in a foreign country, driving along a dark,

winding road with almost no visibility,

and suddenly lose control of your car.

That exact scenario came horribly

true for the Dover family of Atlanta, Georgia

some 12 years ago.

They were in Mexico on their way to celebrate Christmas

with relatives when the journey was cut

short by an unexpected disaster, a disaster the Dovers

miraculously survived, thanks to the selfless heroism

of two anonymous strangers.

The adventure began two days before Christmas in 1983.

Along for the trip were Joe Dover, his son Vance,

his father-in-law James, cousin Tommy,

Tommy's 7-year-old son David, and a close family

friend Mary Ann Prudenti.

Turn around.

Sit down please.

JOE DOVER: There was a real warm atmosphere.

Of course, we were all related, we were all friends.

We talked and we ate in the van coming down,

we played games, and just really had

a real warm time coming down.

I think dad ate them all.

You're kidding.

[laughter]

You want something to drink, grandpa?

You got some water? Oh, here you go.

Hey Tommy, how about something to drink?

VANCE DOVER: We had just purchased a new customized van,

and it was loaded with everything.

We had a television and we had a refrigerator.

So we were stocked up and just making extremely good time

and having a good time.

ROBERT STACK: The drive from Atlanta

to the city of Ciudad Victoria, Mexico was about 1,200 miles.

The Dovers hoped to complete the trip in 48 hours

and arrive by Christmas Day.

To save time, they stopped only for gas and the adults

took turns driving.

JOE DOVER: Now, we left on Friday afternoon

and we drove all day and all night.

We got into Laredo, Texas Saturday

morning, which was Christmas Eve, and crossed the border.

The further along we got in the afternoon,

it really began to get cold and began to snow.

The weather was getting really bad.

And I had been to Mexico several times in the past

and I'd never experienced anything like this in my life.

It was extremely cold, rainy, snowy.

It was just very uncharacteristic for the area.

EUGENE FLAUM: By the time the Dovers crossed the border,

Vance was behind the wheel.

They were now an hour outside of Monterrey, the last major city

before their final destination.

VANCE DOVER: We were supposed to go

over a mountain range to get to the city

and then we were diverted.

There was a policeman in the road.

Hi.

Bueno.

We need to go to Monterrey.

[speaking spanish]

ROBERT STACK: With his father translating from the back seat,

Vance learned that the main road through the mountains

had been closed.

VANCE DOVER: And we had to circle around the mountains

and come into Monterrey from a more easterly direction.

And the snow began to really pick up

and it was a real driving snow.

It wasn't coming just straight down.

And the sides of the road began to be coated.

We could see it on the hills.

Vance.

Vance, why don't you slow down a little bit here, buddy?

It's getting a little bit slick out there.

VANCE DOVER: We were trying to be extremely

cautious, because the road conditions

were really getting pretty bad.

And my father had just told me to even be extremely careful.

And just moments after he had told me that,

I suddenly lost control.

I don't know how much time elapsed.

I don't know how long I was out.

I have no idea if it was five minutes or an hour.

But I woke up and it was just a matter of moments

when someone opened the door and pulled me out.

And the pain that I felt at that time

was absolutely excruciating.

ROBERT STACK: As Vance was pulled from the wreckage,

he was unaware of the carnage surrounding him.

The four occupants of the other vehicle

had been killed instantly.

Incredibly, the Dovers had all survived, but most of them

were barely clinging to life.

By the time Vance's father was pulled from the van,

the rescue effort had been joined

by a passing American couple, both

of them apparently doctors.

VANCE DOVER: My father, he was taken

and put in the back of the pickup truck,

as well as my grandfather.

My grandfather had received just severe head injuries to

the point of his skull showing.

His head was just cut really badly.

And the doctors later told us that

by him being put in the back of a pickup truck actually saved

his life because the cold weather actually helped seal up

and clog the blood.

ROBERT STACK: Through a haze of terrible pain,

Vance watched the rescue effort unfold.

He gradually realized that the two Americans had

taken charge of the operation.

VANCE DOVER: My cousin Tommy was pulled from the van

and his vital signs were taken and it

was assumed that he was dead.

And they were pulling other people out

and trying to revive the ones that they

thought were still alive.

[speaking spanish]

After a few minutes had gone by, this doctor

went in and checked Tommy's vital signs again

and found a very small pulse.

I'm getting a pulse here.

ROBERT STACK: Vance now believes that if not

for the woman's attention, Tommy would have died on the spot.

A few moments later, she placed Tommy's son David,

apparently uninjured, in the car with Vance.

VANCE DOVER: The lady then got in the back seat with me

and she was talking to me and comforting me

and I think she was trying to tell me what all had

occurred, although at that time I really

just couldn't make it out.

[speaking spanish]

ROBERT STACK: The nearest clinic was an Monterrey,

approximately an hour away.

The unidentified American woman stayed by Vance's side

during the trip.

VANCE DOVER: The hospital I was taken into

was unlike anything I've ever seen before.

It reminded me almost like a MASH unit or something

out of a war movie.

There was this one nurse there though.

She spoke really good English.

Her name was Alicia.

We are trying to help you.

Can you tell me--

[speaking spanish]

VANCE DOVER: She told me that my leg was broken really bad.

We will have to put a pin in your knee.

VANCE DOVER: She told me that they

didn't have any anesthesia, but they had to put in traction.

She said they were going to have to put a pin through my knee.

Please calm down.

We're trying to do everything we can to help you.

Where's everybody else?

Where are the others?

There is a man and a woman and a child here.

ROBERT STACK: The nurse was referring

to Vance's cousin Tommy, his friend Mary Ann,

and Tommy's son David.

VANCE DOVER: The nurse told me that they were injured

severely, they had head injuries,

and she didn't think that they would

make it through the night.

There appeared to be no sign of my father and grandfather.

And I had all kind of thoughts go through my head.

I mean, they weren't at the hospital.

I didn't know.

Maybe they were taken to a morgue.

I mean, I had no idea.

And no one in the hospital knew where they were at.

ROBERT STACK: Christmas morning dawned

with a Christmas miracle.

Vance awoke to find that his young cousin David had in fact

escaped unharmed, and that Mary Ann and Tommy

were going to pull through.

Vance was surprised to see that the mysterious woman,

his guardian angel, was still with him.

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

VANCE DOVER: It brought a lot of joy

to me knowing that she was there.

And she brought us both a little Christmas present

and she spent Christmas morning with us there.

ROBERT STACK: The women raised Vance's spirits even higher

when she assured him that his father

and grandfather were still alive and being treated elsewhere.

Gonna be fine.

They're at another clinic and my husband is with them right now.

You remember anything about last night?

I was driving.

VANCE DOVER: She told me that her and her husband were

on vacation and happened upon the accident

just moments after it occurred.

I'm getting a pulse.

You got a pulse?

I'm getting a pulse here.

VANCE DOVER: I've always wondered

what would have happened had they

not come upon the accident.

Because we were an hour or so outside

of this major city and there was nothing out there at all.

And these people just showed up.

Doctors showed up out of nowhere.

And I believe they were extremely

instrumental in saving our lives.

ROBERT STACK: 12 years later, the accident

has had a profound effect on the entire Dover family.

Today they are all actively involved in the church.

And in fact, Joe is a lay pastor with his own congregation

of more than 300.

Perhaps the most thankful of all is Joe's wife Linda.

She is convinced that had it not been

for the two unknown angels, she might

have lost her entire family.

I feel like it was a miracle.

Many times there's an accident and we

just drive by an accident.

And they could have done that that day, but they didn't.

They stopped.

And through their stopping, they saved the lives of our family.

And we just want to say thank you.

[music playing]

[theme music]

It is a prison official's worst nightmare.

An inmate who can charm the devil, who knows how

to play the system, who harbors a deep but completely hidden

desire to escape.

Confessed murderer Randolph Franklin

Dial was just such a man.

Last August, Dial escaped from the Oklahoma State Reformatory

and he took 32-year-old Bobbi Parker, the deputy warden's

wife, with him.

This is their story.

It began in 1986.

On videotape, Randolph Dial voluntarily

confessed to committing a contract

killing five years earlier.

Told me to get off of his property and I pulled

the piece out and fired once, hitting

him approximately right here.

ROBERT STACK: For nearly eight years, Dial served hard time.

But Randolph Dial was not your run of the mill lifer.

An artist of some repute before prison,

he managed to hoodwink the guards and wardens in prison.

Eventually, he was transferred to a minimum security unit

at Oklahoma State Reformatory.

There Randolph Dial became the very definition

of a model prisoner.

BOB RICKS: Randolph Dial was given trustee status.

He was given full run of the prison.

In fact, as a trustee, even though he was under a murder

conviction, he was given access to property outside the prison.

There was really no supervision over Randolph Dial.

ROBERT STACK: Dial's regular work

assignment was caretaker at the home

of Deputy Warden Randy Parker.

Parker, his wife Bobbi, and their two young daughters

lived right next door to the prison.

Over the years, Bobbi Parker had worked with a number of inmates

as a volunteer for various rehabilitation programs.

She and Randolph Dial were brought

together when money was donated to start

up a prison arts project.

What's the big push on it anyway?

Because we've got people wanting to buy these, Dial.

ROBERT STACK: Dial often spent time alone with Bobbi

in her garage, which had been converted

into a ceramic studio.

Given the circumstances, it was not unusual when Dial developed

something of a crush on Bobbi.

RANDY PARKER: I think that he probably

read more into the working relationship

than what was actually there.

You know, a man's locked up for over eight years,

going on nine years.

He has a woman who is very attractive, very cordial,

very compassionate, and caring.

Well, I tell you what Bobbi, you just come right over here,

you work side by side with me, we'll be on your schedule.

What do you think about that?

I think you do your job and I will do mine

and we'll meet at my schedule.

ROBERT STACK: After a few weeks, Randy Parker

began to feel that Dial was spending too much time

with Bobbi at the house and acting as if he

controlled the arts program.

You need help over there?

I had told him, you screw up out here,

and I'll show you what administrative power is all

about.

And he was very much aware of that.

ROBERT STACK: August 30, 1994 began normally enough

for Randy and Bobbi Parker.

First breakfast with their two daughters,

then Randy went to work next door and the girls

headed off for school.

- I love you. - Love you.

Have a good day.

ROBERT STACK: When Randy Parker left his house,

Randolph Dial was already out front working in the yard.

She going to make me do this all day

or she got some other things lined up for me?

You should get back to work, Dial.

Trade jobs with you.

Take it easy on them all over there, sir.

ROBERT STACK: At noon, Randy Parker came home for lunch,

but found the house empty.

There was a note from Bobbi saying

that she had gone shopping and that his sandwich

was in the refrigerator.

RANDY PARKER: It was not anything out of the ordinary

at all to see a note there letting me know where she was,

being concerned that I would be worried or having my lunch

there for me.

ROBERT STACK: Back at the prison,

Randy Parker's day proceeded without incident.

Then at 4:45, he received a troubling call

from his older daughter.

Mom's not here right now.

RANDY PARKER (ON PHONE): She's not?

And I just came in and Brandi was

sitting all alone on the floor.

Mommy's gone shopping.

She'll be home real soon.

Daddy'll be home in a little bit.

OK, thanks dad.

Hi, sweetie.

Hi, daddy.

Mom still isn't home yet.

ROBERT STACK: Randy Parker arrived at his house

30 minutes later.

Bobbi was still not there.

Soon Randy began to fear the worst.

Well, I guess she's still stopping.

ROBERT STACK: He contacted the area hospitals,

but there was no word of Bobbi.

At a loss, Randy rehashed the day in his mind.

Then I begin to think back, I hadn't

seen Dial since this morning, and usually

when I come home for lunch, he's usually there hanging out.

Hello, Captain Randy.

Yeah, would you do me a favor?

Just clear Dial from his cell and send him over here now.

202 to 201, be advised inmate Dial is not in his cell.

Repeat, inmate Dial is not in his cell.

I knew at that point that Dial had escaped.

And the fear that he had taken Bobbi.

But yet, I hadn't admitted that to myself yet.

[phone ringing]

Hello?

BOBBI PARKER (ON PHONE): Mom, it's me.

Hi, Bobbi.

BOBBI PARKER (ON PHONE): Mom, listen,

I need you to do me a favor.

Yes?

BOBBI PARKER (ON PHONE): I need you to call up Randy.

All right.

BOBBI PARKER (ON PHONE): Tell him and the children

that I love them.

It's all going to be over soon, mom.

Mom, I gotta go.

Bobbi, what are you talking about?

Bobbi, what's wrong?

BOBBI PARKER (ON PHONE): I love you, mom.

Bobbi?

Bobbi?

And she hung up.

And I knew immediately that she probably had been abducted,

because my daughter wouldn't talk like that.

She would have called her own girls and everything.

She was not a crying person.

I didn't know what Dial was going to do,

how he was going to harm her or hurt her or threaten her.

And of course, I was worried sick about her,

but then I was also worried, how am I going to tell the girls?

ROBERT STACK: The next day, Bobbi called her best

friend with the same message.

The friend also felt that Bobbi was

being held against her will.

Then 24 hours later, Bobbi's van was found abandoned

just across the Texas border.

The vehicle was basically clean.

We found no indications that a violent struggle

had taken place in the vehicle.

There were no blood splatterings at all.

We did find cigarettes there, Basic

cigarettes, which was the brand that Randolph Dial smoked.

ROBERT STACK: In the meantime, Randy Parker

had learned from an inmate that for several months,

Dial had been actively trying to barter for Valium

on the prison black market.

This fit with Randy Parker's firm belief

that Dial had kidnapped his wife.

RANDY PARKER: He could have got some Valium to her

in a glass of tea or something.

Then he picked her up and he walked her up to the van

and he laid her down in there and he took off.

I believe that's what happened.

ROBERT STACK: But the fact remained

that there was no concrete evidence of a kidnapping.

The authorities began to consider another possibility.

Perhaps Bobbi Parker had run away with Randolph Dial.

BOB RICKS: It does appear that there

was a certain fascination that Randolph

Dial had for Bobbi Parker.

From interviews with other inmates at an institution,

he made comments indicating that he was romantically

attracted to Bobbi.

We don't know if that was reciprocated in any fashion.

At this point, we are under the assumption

that she was taken against her will.

We have no information to indicate otherwise.

My wife did not leave voluntarily with Dial.

She did not fall in love with him.

I believe that to the very depths of my soul

that that is not even within the realm of possibilities

that she would abandon two children,

run off with an inmate who's convicted for murder,

throw away everything that she's ever had.

That's just not even possible.

That is absurd and ridiculous.

Make this quick.

ROBERT STACK: 10 days after Bobbi

disappeared, she made one final phone call,

this one to her brother's wife.

Once again, Bobbi sounded upset.

She asked her sister-in-law to tell the girls she loved them

and that everything would be all right.

And that was the last contact that anybody's

had that I know of.

And that's been September now.

That's been a long time and I just

keep waiting for another phone call,

keep waiting for something.

But Dial's not gonna let her call again.

Well, I personally painted all these ones you see here.

ROBERT STACK: There have been several sightings

of Randolph Dial and a woman who may be Bobbi Parker.

One of the most credible occurred in September of 1994,

at an art sale in Galveston, Texas.

If the woman with Dial was indeed Bobbi,

she had either dyed her hair blond or was wearing a wig.

Witnesses say she seemed nervous and scared.

[music playing]

Next, a businessman suspected of criminal activity

disappears during a fishing trip.

A tragic accident or a clever ruse to avoid arrest?

[theme music]

The muddy, turbulent waters of the Colorado River

snake some 1,500 miles through seven different states.

Over the centuries, the Colorado's powerful currents

have carved out hundreds of gorges,

including the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

But hidden by the river's majestic beauty

is a world of untold secrets.

Among them, the puzzling fate of a man

named Robert Arcieri, who disappeared

during a fishing trip on the Colorado,

more than eight years ago.

To all appearances, Bob Arcieri was

a jovial, fun loving family man who made

friends at the drop of a hat.

He was also the quintessential wheeler dealer.

I got a wonderful property we just got north of Phoenix.

Would absolutely suit you to a tee.

ROBERT STACK: In fact, around Phoenix, Arcieri

was known as a man who could get you almost anything

from soft pretzels to camper shells.

Bill Reddick knew him as well as anyone.

BILL REDDICK: The first time I met Bob Arcieri was I went down

and bought a camper shell from him.

And then he needed some work done, I needed things done,

and we just traded on and off.

And then I sold him a car that I had fixed.

And our relationship just kind of rolled from there

from the rest of time on.

ROBERT STACK: Bill Reddick and his wife Janet

hit it off with Bob Arcieri and his wife right from the start.

Hey, check out these little guys.

Oh, aren't those nice?

That's our kachina collection.

ROBERT STACK: Bob was fascinated by Bill's

collection of rare Native American kachina dolls,

worth $75,000.

You know, I also collect guns.

I've got a 1981 Smith and Wesson.

Would you like to see it?

Oh, I'd love to see that.

I'll go get it.

Great.

ROBERT STACK: Bill was equally proud

of his priceless antique guns.

He left Bob in the living room while he went

to retrieve them from the safe.

BILL REDDICK: I had opened up my safe where they were at,

and then I turned around and looked

and he was right behind me.

It seemed unordinary to me because I

was going to get them out.

The ones that I wanted to show him

were just easy to pick up and bring in there,

and I didn't do that.

He was very calm and very cool about the whole issue.

He didn't seem to be interested in anything.

He just seemed to be more like, oh, that's nice.

Sort of like nonchalant.

ROBERT STACK: On April 3, 1984, Bill Reddick was out of town

on business.

At around 8:00 PM, his wife Janet came home from work.

The house had been ransacked.

The valuable kachina dolls were laid out on a sofa and table.

JANET REDDICK: I went to leave to get out of the house.

From that point on, my memory is kind of black

until I woke up in the hospital a couple of days later.

ROBERT STACK: With Janet unconscious,

the thieves made off with the Reddicks' entire collection

of kachina dolls, all of Bill's antique guns,

and Janet's jewelry.

Total value, more than $200,000.

Janet had been struck five times in the head

with a ball peen hammer.

Miraculously, she would recover, but only after major surgery

and months of rehabilitation. - Did they get much?

They got the guns, they got the kachina dolls.

ROBERT STACK: While Janet was recuperating,

Bob Arcieri stopped by to see how she was doing.

You're kidding.

ROBERT STACK: At the time, the Reddicks just assumed

he was a concerned friend.

Perhaps a little too concerned.

I didn't see anything.

I don't remember.

He said to us that he wished that he could

help us find the guy and if he did,

he'd be glad to kill him for us.

There's three things that Bob was involved in.

He was involved in drugs, he was involved in murder,

and he was involved in robbery.

ROBERT STACK: Almost two years later,

this man, an admitted contract killer, went to the police

with an incredible story.

He claimed Bob Arcieri had masterminded

a series of robberies, that the targets

were Arcieri's own friends and business associates.

Would have dinner with these guys,

have them over to their house, play golf with them,

and then maybe two or three years down the road,

he'd set them up.

We were initially a little skeptical of this information.

However, as we began to investigate the crimes,

the subject's story seemed very credible.

ROBERT STACK: Phoenix police sought to verify

the informant's allegations.

They arranged for him to secretly tape record

a conversation with Arcieri.

OK, don't forget to activate that thing

when you see him drive up.

Got you, man.

LARRY FLICK: The meeting between the information

source and Robert Arcieri took place in a parking lot.

I was able to view the meeting through binoculars

from some distance away.

We already talked about the job.

I told you it was off.

Let's go take a walk.

Come on.

Take a walk.

ROBERT STACK: In the exchange, Arcieri

cancelled an alleged hit he had hired

the informant to carry out.

Come on, Bob, it's on, it's off.

I've been spending a lot of time on this thing.

LARRY FLICK: After we retrieved the recording device from him

and listened to what was being said,

it left little doubt that Arcieri

was in fact involved in the crimes

that the information source was alleging.

I brought some property with me.

I'd like you to take a look at it.

ROBERT STACK: The informant gave Detective Flick

several items he said were stolen by Arcieri's henchmen.

I never thought I'd see these again.

ROBERT STACK: Some of the valuables

belonged to Janet Reddick.

Let Let me know if any of them are familiar to you.

Yeah.

Robert Arcieri.

Yeah.

Is he involved in this?

When I looked at the slip of paper

and I saw Bob's name on it, everything just hit.

This person is involved with what happened at my house.

ROBERT STACK: Robert Arcieri was charged with seven felony

counts, including heading an organized

crime syndicate, racketeering, and conspiracy

to commit murder.

But a few months later in November of 1986,

those charges were dropped while police

continued the investigation.

According to the authorities, they

were gambling that they could build an even stronger case.

Bob Arcieri was once again free to come and go as he pleased.

In January of 1987, he set off on a fishing trip

with his nephew and two friends.

They chose a spot on the Colorado

River known as Lee's Ferry.

RAY BROWN: Bob called me and he said he'd been exonerated

and he wanted to celebrate.

And that's why we went to Lee's Ferry

was to kind of celebrate that being all over and done with.

ROBERT STACK: Ray Brown says that as darkness fell

on the first day of the trip, Arcieri began

to complain about chest pains.

Yeah, it'll be fine.

ROBERT STACK: At the dock, Arcieri

was the last man to disembark.

His nephew had to help him from the boat.

Uncle Bob, you need a hand?

ROBERT STACK: The other man on the fishing trip

has asked not to be identified.

I walked up the dock and left the nephew

and Bob standing there.

And I went to the bathroom and when I was leaving,

I heard a splash down by the dock.

What happened?

- He fell in the water. - Who did?

Uncle Bob. I don't know where he is.

Uncle Bob? What?

What happened?

He was walking and fell in the water.

I don't know.

What did he do, hit his head or something?

- I don't know. - Well where?

In the water somewhere.

RAY BROWN: The water was over a man's head at the boat dock.

And I backed the truck up and shined

the lights out on the river and we could see nothing.

And I knew he must be drowned.

ROBERT STACK: In the area where Arcieri disappeared,

the river broadens out almost into a lake.

Rescuers feared that he may have floated

a half mile downstream towards a set of powerful rapids.

But an intense four day search yielded

no trace of Bob Arcieri.

I feel that if he were in that upper section of the river

in the clear water, there's a very high likelihood

that we would have seen him in that area

and he would have been found.

ROBERT STACK: Did Bob Arcieri suffer a heart attack,

fall into the Colorado River, and drown?

Or was the entire episode a clever ruse,

enabling Arcieri to escape his impending legal troubles?

I feel that Bob Arcieri is dead.

He was a family man out of this world.

And going in that river, I just can't see any way

he could have got out of it.

Bob probably didn't even get his feet wet.

For all I know, the guys went in and threw a rock overboard.

No, he's not dead.

It's my belief that knowing that he was looking at spending

the rest of his life behind bars resulted in him

making some hard choices.

And that was either facing them or feigning his death.

And I believe he took the latter.

Every indication I have is that he did not drown

and he is alive today.

[music playing]

[theme music]

Join me next time.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]