Original subtitles

[theme music]

ANNOUNCER: Tonight, on "Unsolved Mysteries."

ROBERT STACK: A rock star turned computer whiz alone in his car

on the freeway, a desperate call to 911, and then nothing.

A man and his vehicle literally vanish into thin air.

What happened to Taylor Kramer?

Voodoo, the very word conjures up images of black magic,

hexes, and curses.

But believers insist voodoo can be a force for good.

Just wait until you see the incredible story

of two doctors in Texas who turned voodoo to the cure

a dying man.

Recently, this man lost custody of his children

after a bitter court battle.

Now, police believe he is a killer.

The victim was his ex-wife's attorney.

How do you treat an arthritic tiger with an attitude?

Perhaps you can call on Linda Tellington-Jones,

a therapist with an orthodox approach

and an unconventional client list.

Join me.

Perhaps you hold the one vital clue

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

[theme music]

OPERATOR (ON PHONE): 911, can I help you?

TAYLOR KRAMER (ON PHONE): Yes, you can.

I'm going to kill myself.

OPERATOR (ON PHONE): OK.

What is your name?

Hello?

[dial tone]

Hello?

ROBERT STACK: That call to a 911 operator in Los Angeles

marks the moment this man, Phillip

Taylor Kramer, vanished.

The question is, did he commit suicide?

And if he did, why have so many people seen him?

[MUSIC PLAYING - IRON BUTTERFLY, "IN A GADDA DA VIDA"]

(SINGING) In a gadda da vida, honey, don't you

know that I'm loving you?

ROBERT STACK: In the 1970s, Taylor Kramer

was a bass player for the rock and roll band, Iron Butterfly.

By the '90s, Taylor had settled down and become a family man.

Taylor and his wife, Jennifer, have two young children, a boy

and a girl.

Taylor Kramer is also a math and computer

whiz who founded his own high tech

multimedia company in 1990.

Yes.

ROBERT STACK: For several weeks before his disappearance,

he had been working around the clock

on an exciting new breakthrough.

- What time is it? - I don't know.

JENNIFER KRAMER: He said, it's very simple.

It's been here the whole time.

It's so simple that no one has discovered it.

I can't believe how close I am right now.

And he said, imagine, Jennifer, a computer

and a camera being able to find a missing child in a sea

of thousands of people by just showing the computer

a small piece of that child's face,

and finding that child in a fraction of a second.

ROBERT STACK: Taylor's research consumed him.

It was based on revolutionary theories about data

compression, ideas that his father,

a former professor of electrical engineering,

had developed 30 years earlier.

My brother was just so excited in the fact

that they had made this beautiful discovery

that was going to help people.

And I believe, in fact, that that's real.

But my brother, just it being the person that he is,

the excitement of it all and everything

just overwhelmed him.

Sweetheart, the hand of God has touched me.

Hey, Taylor, calm down.

You're going to twist an ankle.

I can do no wrong.

He's sending me the truth, babe.

JENNIFER KRAMER: The day before he disappeared,

we went on a hike up in Thousand Oaks.

And we hiked up to the top of the hill--

It's my favorite color.

JENNIFER KRAMER: --and we look across,

and you can see the whole Conejo Valley where we live.

And there's a cross up on the hill that belongs

to one of the colleges nearby.

And he turned around, and he pointed to the cross.

And he said, look, honey, our house

is right in the path of this cross.

He started to see sacredness in everything.

Jennifer now blames Taylor's bizarre behavior

on sleep deprivation.

Like I said, they're coming in a little after--

ROBERT STACK: The day after the hike,

Taylor left home around 9 AM.

We'll be back here 1:30, 2:00.

ROBERT STACK: He would visit his father-in-law briefly, then

go to the airport to pick up a business

associate and his wife.

Taylor went to the airport as scheduled, waited 25 minutes,

then inexplicably left before his friends arrived.

He drove north toward his home.

Along the way, he made a series of phone calls.

At one point, he left a message for his old friend, Ron Bushy,

the drummer for Iron Butterfly.

Bushy, this is Kramer.

I love you more than life itself.

RON BUSHY: His voice sounded stressed.

He sounded maybe, like, scared.

Maybe he had even been crying.

I don't know.

But apparently, this cell phone call from his car

was made to me.

He also called Jennifer and a lot of other people.

Hi, Jenny.

Listen, uh, tell Greg--

tell Greg I'm not going to be able to meet

him at the airport.

He'll understand.

OK?

And I said, Taylor, where are you?

Where are you going?

What are you doing?

Sweetheart, I want you to remember that whatever happens,

I'll always be with you.

And I started to get scared, and I thought,

something is wrong with Taylor.

And I said, where are you going?

You just tell him that, uh, I'll meet

him at the hotel at 1:00, OK?

JENNIFER KRAMER: And really calmly and lovingly--

They'll just grab a cab.

JENNIFER KRAMER: --like he normally talks to me, he said,

"and when I see you, honey, I have a big surprise for you."

And I'll see you [inaudible].

JENNIFER KRAMER: But I knew in my gut

that Taylor wasn't going to be at the hotel.

I just knew that he wouldn't be there.

ROBERT STACK: An hour later, Taylor made his last contact,

a call to 911.

OPERATOR (ON PHONE): 911, can I help you?

TAYLOR KRAMER (ON PHONE): Yes, you can.

I'm going to kill myself.

OPERATOR (ON PHONE): OK.

What is your name?

Hello?

[dial tone]

Hello?

It's really hard to commit suicide and take your life

and disappear.

I mean, somebody is going to find you.

Somebody is going to find the car,

and the car and him were gone.

ROBERT STACK: No car, no body, no further activity on Taylor's

credit cards or cellular phone.

However, after his family papered the Los Angeles area

with posters, several people claimed

they had seen Taylor Kramer near the area

where he made his phone calls.

A pawn shop employee in Canoga Park, California,

spotted Taylor in late February.

When he was here that day, he left an impression on me.

And then when Chuck came in and showed me the picture,

I was positive that it was him, because we stood here

and talked for a little while.

So I mean, I couldn't be wrong about it.

That's why I'm 100% sure that it was him.

ROBERT STACK: Around the same time,

Jan Biondi and her daughter saw Taylor at her garage sale.

Then later that day, Kathy came by in the car

passing out the flyers.

And said, you know, he likes garage sales.

He's been seen in this area.

Have you seen him?

And my daughter said, yeah, yeah, yeah,

he was here this morning.

I'll see you.

ROBERT STACK: If Taylor Kramer did not commit suicide,

what happened to him?

On February 28, 1995, 2 and 1/2 weeks after his disappearance,

Jennifer believes he made one final call to his family.

JENNIFER KRAMER: He called the house,

and the answering machine picked up.

And all Taylor said was, hello, hello.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: In a moment, an unexpected conclusion in

the case of a missing husband.

[music playing]

Recently, we brought you a missing persons

case that was perhaps one of the most

unusual we've ever presented.

Now, the case is solved, and the outcome has proven to be just

as odd as the story itself.

In 1990, Christine Reinhard finally

found the man of her dreams.

I now pronounce you husband and wife.

ROBERT STACK: She and Craig Williamson

were married just a month after they met.

Craig, you may kiss your wife.

ROBERT STACK: The newlyweds were virtually inseparable.

They bought a farm in Wisconsin, and began

to raise exotic fish for sale to gourmet restaurants.

But in 1993, Christine Reinhard's perfect world

was torn apart.

That August, Craig drove to Colorado Springs, Colorado,

on a business trip, and never returned.

Craig's disappearance launched Christine on a heartbreaking 18

month search.

She traveled to Colorado Springs,

posted flyers, asked questions.

She went to the hotel where Craig was last seen.

I haven't seen him. I don't know him.

ROBERT STACK: Every lead came to a dead end.

Yet Christine refused to give up hope.

CHRISTINE REINHARD: I know he's alive,

and I know someday I'll find him.

The trouble is I don't know when,

and I just have to keep hanging on.

The hardest part is hanging on.

Shortly after our broadcast, Christine Reinhard's long

odyssey finally came to an end.

However, it was a far cry from the joyous conclusion

she had hoped for.

Here's Keely Shaye Smith with the details.

After seeing himself on our program,

Craig Williamson phoned Christine

from Key West, Florida, where he was working as a handyman.

Craig was now going by the name of Ron,

and he bore little resemblance to the loving

husband Christine remembered.

The phone rang, and he said, hello,

Christine, this is Craig.

And it didn't really sound like him.

He sounded like a shell of himself.

It-- it-- from what phrases he used

and things like that, I knew it was Craig.

But his voice was really, oh-- very weak.

And I was just shaking.

I was-- I was in total shock.

KEELY SHAYE SMITH: Craig Williamson

recounted a harrowing tale.

All he could remember was that he

had been attacked by an unknown assailant in Colorado Springs.

What followed were two years of severe amnesia,

painful headaches, and frequent blackouts--

two years with virtually no sense of who he was.

When I saw this whole thing on "Unsolved Mysteries,"

I realized that I was Craig Williamson.

But I didn't know who Craig Williamson was.

I didn't have a clue who he was.

I knew that he had a family someplace.

I-- I knew that he was married.

I didn't know that he had a fish farm.

I didn't know a lot.

KEELY SHAYE SMITH: Last September,

Craig and Christine met in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Christine hoped that a tour of the area

where Craig had disappeared might help to jog his memory.

Does that look at all familiar to you?

It-- it doesn't--

it looks familiar from the "Unsolved Mysteries"

segment, but it doesn't--

there's nothing here.

I feel nothing, no attachment to it.

So, no, it doesn't, except for the--

KEELY SHAYE SMITH: In the end, Craig remembered nothing,

and the reunion Christine had long dreamed of ended

in a bittersweet parting.

I'll still call and that stuff.

CHRISTINE REINHARD: Neither Craig nor I

are the same people we were two years ago before all of this

happened.

We're still very good friends, and we're

always going to stay connected.

But we can't go back.

He's not there.

He doesn't have any sort of emotional attachment anymore,

and I just have to accept that.

We are not the same people.

We still love each other.

We still care for each other.

But we've decided it's best for us to go our separate ways.

We'll still be friends, and we still love each other,

but we're not the same people that married.

You take good care of yourself, OK?

I will too.

Take care of yourself too.

CHRISTINE REINHARD: Everything I've done has been worth it.

The search, all the effort that I put in trying to find Craig

was worth it.

I would do it all over again, and I can't

imagine doing it any other way.

Craig Williamson is now living with friends in California,

hopefully receiving the medical treatment he needs.

Christine has moved to Wyoming to begin life anew.

In a moment, two doctors, a desperately ill patient,

and a journey into the shadowy world of voodoo.

[music playing]

Tonight, four innocent people are in hiding,

worried that they may be the next victim

of an alleged killer named Kelly McGinnis, all the result

of a custody battle that began in bitterness,

and apparently, ended in murder.

It happened just one month ago yesterday, August 12, 1996.

Thomas Meyer, the city attorney of Greenville, Illinois,

was found shot to death in the alley behind his office.

One of the first to respond to the scene

was John King, Greenville's chief of police.

Thomas Meyer was his best friend.

It was one glance and I knew that it was him,

and there was no life left.

ROBERT STACK: 67-year-old Thomas Meyer had suffered

multiple gunshot wounds.

There were no witnesses to the shooting,

but fingers were pointing at Kelly McGinnis from the start.

McGinnis and Meyer had recently clashed in this courtroom.

Meyer had represented McGinnis's ex-wife

in a legal action regarding the custody

of their two young children.

LARRY LEFEVRE: Kelly McGinnis felt that the children

would be better off with him.

He desperately wanted to be the custodial parent.

But the result was that Mrs. McGinnis was awarded custody,

and Mr. McGinnis was awarded some visitation,

a fair amount of visitation.

ROBERT STACK: McGinnis apparently refused to accept

the decision as final.

Just hours before the murder of Thomas Meyer, McGinnis

was back in the courthouse, reportedly

still angry about being denied custody.

No one knows what was going through his mind,

but he was next seen near the alley where

Thomas Meyer was shot dead.

We have witnesses that put Mr. McGinnis at the scene

just prior to the shooting, and Mr. McGinnis

was seen leaving the area shortly

after the time of the murder.

ROBERT STACK: When police went to McGinnis's home

to question him, no one answered the door.

When they broke it down, McGinnis had vanished.

A day went by, a week.

Some speculated that McGinnis taken his own life.

Then 10 days after the murder, McGinnis mailed five letters

from central Illinois.

Two went to area newspapers and complained about corruption

in the judicial process.

He wrote, in part, "clearly the only winner in a divorce case

are the lawyers.

Their gains being made at the expense of the children."

The other three letters went to relatives and a friend.

In one of them--

The letter was very apologetic to his family.

Although it wasn't an admission of the offense,

it alluded to that.

He appears to be very sorry for what happened.

He makes mention of the fact that he will probably

never see his children again, and he's

very remorseful for that.

ROBERT STACK: The killing has shattered

Greenville's sense of security.

Murders just don't happen here.

The last one was 10 years ago.

Now, some fear the killing hasn't stopped.

McGinnis's ex-wife has left town with her children,

their whereabouts a secret.

McGinnis's own attorney is under the protection of US Marshals.

Guards have beefed up security at the courthouse.

And Ann Callis Rongey, the judge who ruled on McGinnis's custody

suit has gone into hiding.

Judge Rongey is very concerned for her safety.

She's expressed that to us.

Also, I've spoken on a daily basis with her family members.

She just wants him caught.

ROBERT STACK: But no one wants McGinnis

caught more than Thomas Meyers's widow, Barbara.

I just pray that he will come forward

without hurting anyone else.

The McGinnis family, I'm sure, is suffering as much as we are.

His parents, his siblings, his children, his ex-wife, we need

some healing for everybody.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: When we return, meet Linda Tellington-Jones.

Can her mysterious healing touch soothe a savage beast?

[music playing]

If you are a person and you are in pain,

you can find a specialist somewhere to treat

you no matter what the problem.

But what if you're not a person?

In the animal kingdom, Linda Tellington-Jones

is a one-woman Mayo Clinic.

She uses her own special healing techniques she calls a TTouch.

The results are phenomenal.

Truly, an unsolved mystery.

[music playing]

Keiko the killer whale won hearts around the world

when he escaped to the open sea in the film "Free Willy."

In real life, Keiko suffers from a troublesome papilloma,

a strange wart like growth beneath his pectoral fins.

During the 10 years Keiko has lived

at Adventure Kingdom in Mexico City,

no one has been able to cure it.

Enter Linda Tellington-Jones.

When I was asked to work with Keiko with the touches,

I really didn't know if it would help him or not.

What I was hoping is that these little circular touches would

actually affect the cells and help to reduce the effects

of this virus-like papilloma.

ROBERT STACK: Keiko's handlers were amazed to see

results almost immediately.

The day after Linda was with Keiko,

we saw big changes on the papilloma.

It was very thin, and it wasn't broken as it always is.

So he was active also.

He was like, kind of very happy.

Linda Tellington-Jones claims she has helped thousands

of animals during the 20 years since she developed her TTouch.

However, there are skeptics who suggest

that Linda's touch is no more than a pleasant massage.

To get a firsthand look at this mystery,

we went to Out of Africa, a wild animal park

in Phoenix, Arizona.

Jineane Ford, an anchorwoman on KPNX

TV, our NBC affiliate in Phoenix,

joins us from the park.

JINEANE FORD: The Out of Africa Wildlife Park

showcases hundreds of different kinds of exotic animals

from all over the world.

And while the handlers here can take care of most

of the behavioral issues, these are wild animals,

and there are some problem cases.

For instance, this 400 pound Siberian tiger

named Brindle has been known to unexpectedly charge her fence,

scaring visitors and creating problems for her handlers.

At first, she seemed open to Linda, but in an instant,

the encounter turned ugly.

She's just being nuzzled.

Oh, no, no, no, Brindle, Brindle.

No.

[inaudible]

What happened?

JINEANE FORD: Linda had even less success

with Cheddar, a temperamental African caracal whose

paws may have nerve damage.

[music playing]

[growling]

JINEANE FORD: Fortunately, Cheddar, unlike the other cats,

had been declawed, and Linda was not hurt.

Undaunted, she went on to bigger game.

Kipling, a 400 pound Bengal tiger,

has joints that are inflamed and very painful.

Perhaps the TTouch can help him.

But what exactly is the TTouch?

LINDA TELLINGTON-JONES: They're a collection

of circular touches done all over the body with the idea,

with the intent, of waking up the functioning of the cells.

And to make the connection, I do the big circles,

and say, feel, you feel.

And then when I really went into the joints,

it's with very directed connection

so that he really feels the intent

of waking up those cells.

It's like turning on the electric lights of the body.

So--

It seemed to calm him down, and his body relaxed,

and his breathing came heavier.

So he was going into a deep, relaxed state by her touch.

When she got to a point where it was

obvious his joints hurt him, he reacted,

but not violently in any way.

So now, we know where to touch him, where he really

needs it, just from her what she did with that session with him.

JINEANE FORD: Linda now faced her biggest challenge,

Genesis, another Siberian tiger who doesn't have an off button.

He is prone to attack almost anyone, even on occasion,

handlers he's known all his life.

[growling]

He has attacked me.

I have a personal experience with Genesis

where he actually went through my arm, and way into my arm.

[growling]

I'm hoping that, with Linda's touch,

that we'll be able to work with him, because he needs touch.

He very much wants to be handled,

and yet, he's so dangerous.

So I'm hoping that I will be able to be in there with him

without getting hurt.

JINEANE FORD: It was too risky for Linda

to go inside the tiger's enclosure.

From outside, Linda guided Bobbi in performing the TTouch

while another handler, Shea Erickson,

kept Genesis pacified by letting him lick her fingers.

Now, go back toward the shoulders.

If there's a way you can keep him sucking, and you reach

back, and if you can get to the neck and shoulders,

and at least give him a little bit of relief on his shoulders.

Because of course, when he's protecting his--

when he's putting so much pressure--

JINEANE FORD: In the first session,

Genesis remained wary and alert, but relaxed enough to stretch

out on his side.

The primary contact with the hand,

where he feels safe up on the shoulder, and the other one

just kind of moves back.

And up there, along the top of the scapula,

where your right hand is, that's where it kind of gets sore.

What we find is that the touches override fear or aggression.

It helps his body more.

Those are instinctive responses.

And when we do these little circular touches

all over the body, you can take an animal who's very fearful,

or an animal who is aggressive, and suddenly, you

change them at a core level, at the level of the brain.

Then do what you just did--

JINEANE FORD: A few hours later, they tried a second session.

Shea, again, gentled the tiger by letting him lick

her fingers, while Bobbi continued

to apply the Tellington touch.

--circles in a different spot.

Work with your left hand around the shoulders,

just like you are, and slowly, go back down his back.

JINEANE FORD: A few minutes later,

Shea took away the pacifier.

That's it.

That's it.

SHEA ERICKSON: And I got very nervous

because I knew, at that moment, he

didn't have the same distraction that he had before.

And so there was a moment of hesitation.

I put my hand by his mouth, wondering

what was going to go on.

But his response was wonderful.

He knew I was there.

It was OK.

And he was enjoying being touched.

As a skeptic, you know, I don't understand

part of her philosophy of relaxing

and getting to cellular levels.

I mean, that doesn't make any sense to me

from a medical standpoint.

But--

JINEANE FORD: Dr. Irvin Ingram, a Phoenix veterinarian,

has treated Genesis several times.

He approached the TTouch sessions with reservations.

By the end of the day, Dr. Ingram saw

a distinct change in the tiger.

Something certainly made a difference, yeah.

And she is the primary difference,

I guess, today, but there is no question from this morning

to this afternoon, much calmer.

Seems almost aware of what's around him instead of being

in his own little world.

But you're still skeptical over the whole?

I don't understand, and certainly, I need more than one

episode to be convinced.

But it's a miraculous change on this individual case, yeah.

I couldn't ask for better results

than what we got from Genesis.

It was wonderful, absolutely wonderful,

to be able to be in there with him

and not experience that fear I had before,

with that touch being the go between, if you will.

Oh, yeah.

How does the touch work?

Ha, ha, I wish I knew.

I don't know how the--

I don't know why it works.

I don't really know how it works.

We only know from experience in six continents

with incredible numbers of animals and people

that it does work.

But it's a mystery.

According to Linda Tellington-Jones,

anyone can learn the TTouch.

Perhaps in the future, a visit to the doctor

won't mean a shot, but a gentle touch.

And how are Linda's tiger patients doing?

Much better, particularly Genesis, who is now literally

acting like a pussycat.

When we return, two doctors, a desperately ill patient,

and a journey into the shadowy world of voodoo.

[music playing]

[non-english singing]

ROBERT STACK: Voodoo-- for most of us, the word brings

to mind images of death hexes and evil curses, blood, pain,

agony.

But believers say that is black magic.

Voodoo is something altogether different.

[non-english singing]

ROBERT STACK: Ava Kay Jones is a priestess of voodoo

in New Orleans, Louisiana.

She insists that voodoo is a force for good, not evil.

It is, in fact, an ancient, nature-based religion

that traces its origins back thousands

of years to West Africa.

[non-english singing]

A lot of people come to me who somehow

seem to be fixed in negative emotions,

negative ways of thinking.

Some of them are, in fact, hexed.

ROBERT STACK: But are hexes and incantations real?

Can voodoo affect someone on a physical level?

Or is it all in the minds of those who believe?

AVA KAY JONES: There is truly a psychological component

to voodoo, and by that I mean, certainly, if you want to be

healed, and if you believe that you will be healed,

your state of mind has a direct effect on your healing.

Faith works miracles.

That idea is common to all religions.

And now, science is beginning to accept that the power of belief

can indeed cure, whether it's the healing waters at Lourdes

or the arcane rituals of voodoo.

In the story you are about to see,

two doctors create their own voodoo ceremony.

It's a daring last ditch attempt to save a dying man.

It may defy all you know about medical treatment,

but those involved swear every detail is true.

Mr. Bennett--

ROBERT STACK: In 1967, Dr. Larry Dossey was a young intern

at a hospital in Texas.

You're losing weight, right?

How much weight are you losing?

ROBERT STACK: One afternoon, he was assigned a new patient,

a man we will call Harold.

About 35 pounds.

ROBERT STACK: Harold was as weak and emaciated--

OK, what about pain? Have you experienced--

ROBERT STACK: --as a prisoner of war.

--any pain anywhere?

Not really, sometimes when I cough.

OK.

We're going to run some tests.

We're going to do some blood tests and some x-rays,

that sort of thing.

We're going to find out what your problem is, OK?

Thank you, Doctor.

I embarked on an elaborate evaluation,

a medical work up, to uncover the cause of the problem.

And this man's chart just began to get thicker

and thicker with normal tests.

Mr. Bennett, I don't understand it.

I've run every test I know how.

I performed every exam I know how.

And they all come up normal.

How do you feel?

Not good at all, Doc.

No, you don't look good.

I just don't know what to do.

ROBERT STACK: A baffled Dr. Dossey

called in another intern, Dr. William Hensley,

for a second opinion.

--Dr. Dossey.

We've been really worried about you.

And I wanted to come see you to find out possibly of anything

that you know of unusual that has happened to you,

such as an insect bite or anything of that sort.

Doctor, do you believe in hoodoo?

ROBERT STACK: Dr. Hensley was stunned by the question.

It took him back some 20 years to his grandmother's

sprawling south Texas ranch.

A woman named Mary, reputed to be a voodoo queen,

lived out back.

As a small child, Dr. Hensley witnessed Mary's power

firsthand when a young woman was assaulted

by one of the ranch workers.

When the constable came to arrest him,

my grandmother refused to let that happen,

and had him sent back to the back of the place.

And Mary, who was the head person in the back,

said that she had put a death hex on him.

And sure enough, that night there

was all kinds of clattering going on,

and a fire at the back of the place.

And this went on every night for several nights.

And then one day, Mary came to the back door and said,

Juan's dead.

And they came and picked him up.

And my uncle, who was a physician,

said there wasn't a mark on him.

Awhile back, I went to see a reader.

I was having some problems.

ROBERT STACK: Harold confided to Dr. Hensley

that he had refused to pay a fortune teller

who had given him a reading.

And two weeks after that, [inaudible]

ROBERT STACK: She apparently cursed Harold with a death hex.

I started feeling bad, feeling real bad.

You really believe this?

I believe she put a dying hex on me, Doctor.

There really was a possibility that someone with that

a strong belief system could actually

be frightened to death.

Larry, I just met with Harold.

Yeah?

You're not going to believe what he told me.

What?

Let's go talk over here.

LARRY DOSSEY: You know, I considered myself

a fairly thorough physician, but yet I

was blind to the possibility that anything like a hexing

or cursing had taken place.

So this just didn't have a place in the way

I thought the world worked.

I was thinking about actually doing a dehexing.

ROBERT STACK: But Dr. Hensley's world view was different--

He's came to think he's been hexed.

ROBERT STACK: --in fact, radically different.

What kind of procedure?

We could take a fingernail of his or some hair, and burn it.

Um, I don't know.

That sounds pretty far out.

Well, the thing is, if we let him--

ROBERT STACK: Dr. Hensley we felt there was only one way

to cure Harold. - --better medicine.

ROBERT STACK: He wanted to use the voodoo techniques

he had learned as a child to drive out the evil spirits.

I was confronted with something, for me,

that was very, very strange.

I realized though that we'd better do something,

because this man was dying.

We were fearful, and we were convinced at the time

that we could be severely reprimanded, if not fired.

Therefore, we did this at the slow time of the week, which

was late Saturday night, so no one would

witness this ceremony, this dehexing ritual.

I knew that there had to be a fire.

I knew that we had to have a body part.

And I knew that we had to convince him

that we were superior, and could overcome the hex

that had been put on him.

ROBERT STACK: Whether by accident or fate,

it was a full moon night.

The doctors needed fire.

They lit a drug called Mandelamine.

It burned with an eerie flame.

This magic is more powerful than any

that has come before it.

ROBERT STACK: They needed a lock of hair.

And finally, the incantation--

As your hair burns, the hex is removed.

Harold, if you breathe word of this to anyone,

the hex will return two-fold.

[music playing]

Hello, how are you doing?

Good morning.

I have something for you.

Oh.

Oh, and let me get this.

That's OK.

ROBERT STACK: The next morning, to everyone's amazement, Harold

was alert and full of life.

Could I have some ham and eggs too?

- Sure, that's what you want? - Yes.

OK, I'll go get it.

Thank you.

Harold.

Hi, Doctor.

Hi, how are you feeling today?

Much, much, much better.

It looks like you're appetites back, huh?

LARRY DOSSEY: It was genuine.

There was a cure overnight, literally, overnight.

This man turned the corner from death into life.

This was your basic dramatic miracle kind of cure.

I don't believe that anything medically cured him.

And I don't know what did.

I know that he believed so strongly in both what

was happening to him and what we were doing

to change what was happening to him

that we were able to prevail.

There are a lot of people who are lay people who

are excellent mediums who are not necessarily

in the priesthood who know how to deal

with spirit forces and forms.

And Dr. Hensley did have a background in--

because of his childhood, in dealing with magic.

This magic is more powerful than any that came before it.

ROBERT STACK: Does voodoo truly work, or was Harold's illness

and his swift recovery brought on entirely

by his own imagination?

The hex is removed.

In order to understand why this man lived,

we have to understand that belief is biology.

Your belief becomes your biology.

There's not the mind here, and the body over here,

they are not separate.

So if you wanted to cure this man,

you need not just work on the body.

You could work with the belief system.

This is what all shamans do.

This is what Dr. Hensley did.

[non-english singing]

No matter what you may believe about voodoo,

there is no doubt that the mind can be one of medicine's

most powerful tools.

Though Harold's doctors never again prescribed voodoo,

they have always remained open to alternative forms

of healing.

Stay tuned.

Perhaps you can help locate a young man

who has no idea that he has inherited more than $50,000.

[music playing]

Over the years, we have found that every missing person's

case has its own unique twist.

Tonight, with your help, we hope to reunite a family.

And in the process, find the long lost heir

to a $50,000 estate.

Like any teenager, 19-year-old Tim Molnar of Daytona

Beach, Florida, had his moods.

But by all accounts, they gave no hint of what would

happen on January 24, 1984.

Tim, a student in aeronautical mechanics,

simply drove away from home and out of his family's life.

Tim was a rather quiet, sensitive type of a person,

but he was always very polite and well-mannered.

And he was doing well in school.

He was on the dean's list, in fact,

and he was a very likeable person.

I'm really getting worried.

He's always so prompt.

Well, why don't you give Billy a call?

ROBERT STACK: Tim's parents grew increasingly

frightened as the hours passed and Tim failed to come home.

Frank, did he act kind of strangely when you dropped--

dropped you off at school?

Or did he say anything?

ROBERT STACK: His 14-year-old brother, Frank,

had been the last family member to see him.

He said to have a nice day.

OK.

FRANK MOLNAR: There's a pretty good age difference between us.

But we still hung out a lot, because we got along real good

and pretty open relationship.

And I could just tell something was--

something was bothering him.

While he wasn't really saying, it seemed like there

was a lot going on in his mind.

ROBERT STACK: Two weeks passed. - Sir, sir?

ROBERT STACK: No word from Tim.

Hi.

ROBERT STACK: The Molnar's first clue came from a gas station

in Lake City, Florida, 150 miles north.

On the day he disappeared-- - my son, Tim, was here.

And he's been missing--

ROBERT STACK: Tim had stopped there

and paid for a tank of gas with his parents' credit card.

Do you remember seeing him possibly?

ATTENDANT: Oh, yeah, yeah.

I remember the car. TIM'S MOTHER: You do?

ATTENDANT: Yeah, Dodge Dart.

Was he alone?

ROBERT STACK: The attendant recalled that Tim

had been traveling alone. - As I can remember, he was.

ROBERT STACK: But traveling where?

And did you notice anything wrong?

ROBERT STACK: Tim's family could only guess.

Yeah, he wasn't very pretty talkative.

ROBERT STACK: They received a letter from an auto

impound company in Georgia.

That is Tim's car.

ROBERT STACK: The Molnar's learned that six days after Tim

vanished, his car had been abandoned

in a parking lot one block from Atlanta's

Greyhound bus terminal.

When we went to inspect the car,

we did find his driver's license, and wallet,

and some identification, and our credit

card, which indicated to me that he changed his identity.

And in other words, he wanted to start a new life from there on.

ROBERT STACK: One fact was undeniable.

It's empty.

He had a red bicycle.

ROBERT STACK: Someone had carefully removed everything

of value from the car.

A new stereo, Tim's expensive tool

set, and a 10-speed bike he had packed in the trunk

were all missing.

The best thing we can do now is continue to--

ROBERT STACK: Had Tim Molnar sold

his possessions to buy a one-way bus ticket to a new life?

Or was the explanation perhaps more sinister?

I worried mostly about foul play

and was afraid that something happened to him, because we

have no proof that he drove his car from Lake City, Florida

to Atlanta.

ROBERT STACK: Tim Molnar left behind a tangle

of conflicting clues.

On one hand, he didn't take any clothes with him.

Perhaps he had never really intended to stay away.

And yet, just before leaving, Tim

had withdrawn nearly all the money from his savings account.

He did, however, leave a balance of $10, as though to say he

might someday return.

I mean, no matter where he is or what he's up to,

it'd be great to see him.

And just, you know, tell him we miss him,

and kind of curious why he left, what have you.

I'm sure-- I don't know what the circumstances were.

But it'd be great to see him.

[music playing]

Join me two weeks from tonight for

another fascinating addition of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]

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