Original subtitles

ROBERT STACK: Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries--

Socorro, New Mexico, 1964.

It began as a routine police pursuit--

just a wild teenager tooling through town--

and ended with one of the most remarkable UFO episodes

in history--

a close encounter still impossible to ignore.

Welcome to Valley Hill, Kentucky--

where thousands of people from these teenage girls

to skeptical adults say they have

witnessed miraculous visions--

a case of mass hallucination?

Or is Valley Hill truly touched by God?

In Dallas, Texas, an attorney named David Merrifield

schedules a prebreakfast meeting with a mysterious new client.

An hour later, two women make a horrifying discovery.

Who murdered David Merrifield?

And you'll see how your calls reunited a family

with the guardian angels who rescued them

after a terrifying accident.

Join me.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

April 24th, 1964-- the little town of Socorro,

New Mexico was quiet.

Police officer Lonnie Zamora was not surprised.

During the five years he'd been on the force,

Socorro had almost always been quiet.

When Lonnie spotted a local teenager speeding through town,

he figured writing them up might be the biggest

excitement of the day.

[screeching tires]

[police sirens]

The chase proceeded to the edge of town

and beyond, out into the desert.

Lonnie Zamora had no warning.

He was about to leave his safe, secure world

and enter the realm of the unexplained.

[mysterious sound]

[police sirens]

Roswell, Gulf Breeze, Area 51--

to anyone with even a passing knowledge of UFO history,

these names instantly conjure images

of bizarre lights, spaceships, and strange visitors

from another world.

On that day in 1964, Lonnie Zamora

had no idea that Socorro was about to become

another landmark--

a location of what some believe is one of the most significant

UFO sightings ever made.

Lonnie had no idea what was waiting

for him just down the road.

Socorro to Socorro.

LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENT: Socorro, go ahead.

LONNIE ZAMORA: When going up half way or so,

I could see a white object to my left there.

I thought it was a turned over car.

When I got up on top of the [inaudible] there,

I looked down, and I'd seen this big, white object

on the ground.

[mysterious sound]

I thought I could see something around the craft there.

I could see some figures--

looked like they were walking around the craft.

Socorro to Socorro.

ROBERT STACK: According to Lonnie,

he saw red markings on the hull, a vertical arrow

with a horizontal line beneath it,

and a crescent shaped line above it.

Lonnie made several attempts to contact police headquarters.

He was never able to break through the heavy static.

After he heard two metallic sounds

like doors clanging shut, he realized

the small figures had vanished.

LONNIE ZAMORA: I saw this flame come out from underneath it,

and I ran back behind the car, and it went up to 20,

30 feet up in the air.

It just stayed there for a while,

and then finally just took off slowly to the west.

Dios mio.

At first, after I got to my senses, I said, did I see it

or didn't I?

What happened?

And that's it.

ROBERT STACK: Lonnie radioed to an old friend,

Sergeant Sam Chavez of the New Mexico State Police.

He told Sam to come fast and to come alone.

[speaking spanish] Are you OK?

What happened out here?

I saw it.

I saw it, amigo. I-I saw it.

What did you see?

SAM CHAVEZ: I could tell that Lonnie was excited

and probably scared.

Tell me what happened from the start.

I lost my glasses.

There they are.

I'll get them for you, OK?

Relax.

Take a deep breath.

SAM CHAVEZ: Lonnie Zamora--

he's a very dependable, honest type of person.

He's not one to create, or make stories,

or build things up to make it exciting or anything like that.

He's a very well-liked type of a person.

I saw two of them.

Two of them what?

People!

Little ones.

They were in uh, in uniforms, white.

- Let's go take a look, huh? - No, no, no.

I'm not going down there. - Come on, come on.

You don't have to be afraid of anything.

Come on. Lonnie.

"LONNIE ZAMORA": I know, I know. I'll be right behind you.

"SAM CHAVEZ": All right.

Come on.

Let's go.

What the hell is this?

SAM CHAVEZ: We found some indentations on the ground

where this thing had landed.

And the marks into the ground were

nine inches deep, eight inches long, and nine inches wide.

That's where the blast took off.

It blasted right over the car.

SAM CHAVEZ: I started looking for tracks--

human tracks, but the only thing I found

was impressions on the ground.

They were made by a perfect circle,

but I found no human tracks-- no shoe prints.

ROBERT STACK: Within 90 minutes, US army officials

at nearby White Sands Missile Range

sent Captain Richard T. Holder to investigate.

This is the first time Holder has ever talked

publicly about what he saw.

Well, my first impression was that it was something from

the range that needed possible help--

you know, first aid, attention, or, at best, security.

The more I got into it, the less convinced

I was that that was the case.

ROBERT STACK: Holder also noticed the unusual impressions

left in the sand.

On the edge of the landing area, he

found a bush burned to a crisp on only one side, as though

seared by a blowtorch.

Gentlemen, this area is now officially

designated sensitive.

This entire area is needs to be cornered.

MAN: Yes, sir.

OFFICER: Folks, if you'd just head right on back.

Officers, if you'd please take charge of these folks.

Let's bring in and secure this gentleman with the camera,

please. OFFICER: Yes, sir.

ROBERT STACK: State trooper Ted Jordan was taking pictures.

His camera and film were confiscated on the spot.

TED JORDAN: I do recall that they

told me that they would develop them

and send me copies of them.

It never occurred.

And when I asked later about it, they told me

that the film was no good.

It had been ruined by radiation.

OFFICER: Gentlemen, what we're looking

for is anything metallic.

The metallic could be shiny, could be dulled object,

we'll do a magnetic scan later.

RICHARD HOLDER: We looked around to try to find out if we could

see any evidence of anything that would

make us think it was a hoax.

We found nothing.

Everything we saw seemed to support the story

that Officer Zamora recounted.

My impression of talking to him was that he was mystified.

He wanted an explanation.

Nothing that I heard of later gave me the slightest hint

that he did this as a hoax or cooked

it up for fame or fortune.

ROBERT STACK: Whatever Lonnie saw,

he apparently was not the only one.

Just a few minutes after Lonnie drove into the arroyo,

a motorist who has never been identified

pulled into a gas station on the north side of Soccoro.

OK, I guess.

I tell you, your aircrafts sure fly low around here.

How's that?

We were south of town headed north,

something flew right across the hood of the car

doing about 150 miles an hour.

It almost hit our car.

White, oval-shaped objects.

Scared us to death.

ROBERT STACK: Jimmy Grinder was only 13,

but he remembers the incident vividly.

Did you folks call the police?

No, there was a cop who looked like he was chasing it,

going the same way the craft was,

headed west--with his lights on, his siren and everything.

JIM GRINDER: I believe Lonnie saw something--

same as the tourists saw--

something that they have never seen or encountered before.

It did not meet a helicopter-type scenario,

definitely wasn't an airplane-type scenario.

And so you ruled those two things out in 1964.

What do you have?

It definitely wasn't a weather balloon.

ROBERT STACK: By the next morning,

newspapers and wire services all over the country

had picked up the story.

Around Socorro, rumors ran rampant--

wild stories of flying saucers and funny little people.

Everyone wanted details.

LONNIE ZAMORA: They stopped me all over town

and wanted to know this, wanted to know that.

And then I got phone calls from all over the world.

I was getting disgusted with it.

ROBERT STACK: The Air Force followed up

the Army investigation with its own team.

After a cursory once over, the Air Force agreed

that Lonnie saw something.

They insisted, however, that it must have been

a secret military test device.

Are you getting anything?

Of course not.

JEROME CLARK: They never were able to find

any such evidence that any such thing

was being tested at the time.

And in fact, even today, not an iota of evidence

has emerged to support that claim.

Nonetheless, the Air Force line on the case

is that this is a credible witness.

He clearly saw some kind of structured, flying vehicle,

and that it must have been something that we built, even

if we can't find it anywhere.

ROBERT STACK: While the military investigated,

the UFO fever continued unabated.

Since the 1950s, the Air Force had

been criticized by Congress for his handling of UFO reports.

The Socorro sighting threatened to add more pressure.

Finally, Air Force officials summoned Dr. J. Allen

Hynek, a respected astronomer.

Dr. Hynek was a most prestigious consultant

on Project Blue Book, the official Air Force

study of the UFO phenomenon.

Dr. Hynek went to Socorro.

He talked to Lonnie, studied the landing site,

and examined the photographs.

He found the physical evidence extremely compelling,

but the most persuasive argument for a genuine UFO sighting

was Lonnie Zamora himself.

158.5.

OK.

OK, Lonnie, now these depressions, you said,

were actually from the outriggers.

They held up the craft.

JEROME CLARK: Dr. Hynek was enormously

impressed by Lonnie Zamora.

He thought there was virtually no possibility of a hoax.

And on May 20, he wrote a private memorandum

which he kept in his files and which I discovered years

after his death in which he expressed huge disdain

for the Blue Book handling of the report,

and he said that it was clear that the story the Blue

Book had cooked up about this possibly being

some kind of experimental aircraft

was a story that even Blue Book knew to be untrue,

but which was invented to keep Congress

from harassing the Air Force.

ROBERT STACK: Today, some 30 years later,

the question remains, how do we explain

what Lonnie Zamora's saw?

No matter what others believe, Lonnie

has no doubt that what he witnessed

was not of this earth.

LONNIE ZAMORA: I still say that it was something not from here.

If I could find out what it actually was,

OK, I'm satisfied.

I just didn't want to go through it again.

If they want to believe me, good.

If they don't want to believe me, that's all right, too.

RICHARD HOLDER: I believe Lonnie Zamora was a good policeman

and an honest man who reported, as he thought proper, something

well beyond his experience.

Was it something terrestrial?

Extraterrestrial?

I have no idea.

ROBERT STACK: Coming up, a grateful family

is reunited with the unknown good Samaritans

who saved their lives.

Recently, your phone calls brought about one

of our most unusual and gratifying reunions ever.

The people involved were not related,

had never been formally introduced,

and in fact only learned each other's names

on the night of our broadcast.

It began in December, 1983.

The Dover family of Atlanta, Georgia

was traveling to Mexico to celebrate

the holidays with relatives.

On the second day out, just after crossing the border,

the weather suddenly changed, and the Dovers found themselves

caught in a freak snowstorm.

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.

ROBERT STACK: Tragically, all four people in the other car

were killed; but miraculously, the six

members of the Dover party were still alive, if only barely.

By some incredible stroke of fortune,

an American couple, one of whom was a doctor,

happened upon the crash scene.

Thanks largely to their efforts, the Dovers

were pulled from the wreckage and received

urgent medical care.

Linda Dover credits the two good Samaritans with saving

the lives of her entire family.

OK, how you doing?

Hang on there.

LINDA DOVER: I feel like it is was miracle.

Many times there's an accident, and we just trapped

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.

On the night we aired the story,

the Dovers waited nervously back in Georgia

to hear whether the case would be solved.

Let's go to Keely Shaye Smith for more.

Bob, one of our viewers in Houston, Texas saw the story

and realized that she heard that very same

story from her friends Dr. Nancy Neff

Hannan and her husband John.

Later that night, the Hannans called us here at our phone

center and provided agents with a detailed description

of the rescue.

It was clear from the start that the Hannans were in fact

the Dover's guardian angels.

Later that evening, the Hannans spoke to Vance Dover,

who immediately passed on the exciting news

to the rest of his family.

Vance said, well, we found them.

That was it.

We found them.

They've called.

And so it's like you could hear a pin drop on the floor.

After 11 years, we found that these angels

were real human beings.

Nice to meet you.

I'm Nancy.

KEELY SHAYE SMITH: A few weeks later,

some 30 members of the Dover family gathered

to meet the Hannans and compare memories

of that fateful Christmas Eve.

JOHN HANNAN: There was a lady in the front seat,

which had turned sideways.

So I had to lift her up because the front seat

had broken off its pedestal.

I sort of supported that--

kind of wedged myself in there-- supported

that with my shoulders and tried to get him--

get David out.

I remember the pain of somebody pulling me out.

Because I guess that's maybe where I woke up or whatever.

And my leg hurt really bad.

I guess, as a physician, that was one of the most helpless

feelings I've ever had.

I mean, to have the knowledge and everything but not

the tools to do anything-- it was

just really frustrating to me.

To us, you were like an angel from God,

both of you-- that you were right there at the time.

And had you not been there, the whole family

could have possibly died, and you were so instrumental.

And so we just wanted to say thank you.

KEELY SHAYE SMITH: For the Dovers,

the gathering was a chance to finally close

this dramatic chapter of their lives.

Thanks, Keely.

Every Christmas from now on when the Dovers make

their annual pilgrimage to Mexico,

they plan to stop in Houston to visit

with their new lifelong friends--

their guardian angels, the Hannons.

When we return, incredible claims of miraculous

visions on a Hillside in Kentucky.

Hundreds of pilgrims believe.

Do you?

In the past, Unsolved Mysteries has taken you around the world

to visit sacred locales, said to have

been graced with miraculous visions of the Virgin Mary--

Lourdes, France; Fatima, Portugal; Medjugorje

in what is now Bosnia.

Tonight, we feature what may be another such holy spot

much closer to home.

Twice a month on the 2nd and 23rd,

people flock to a small Hillside in Kentucky

where visions of the Blessed Mother have been reported.

We asked newscaster Jackie Hays from our NBC

affiliate WAVE TV in Louisville to investigate this phenomenon.

JACKIE HAYS: This is Springfield,

Kentucky, Route 55, about an hour's

drive southwest of Louisville.

A sign proudly proclaims that the site is now dedicated

to "Our Lady of Valley Hill."

During the past year, thousands of people from teenagers

to senior citizens have crossed this creek bed

and headed up Valley Hill.

Some of them have come here hoping

to be healed of serious illnesses,

and others have sought spiritual healing.

All of them have come here hoping to witness a miracle.

To date, no fewer than 1,000 people

claim to have had visions--

from random bursts of color to showers of golden flakes,

the visions first appeared to this woman,

Iona Wright who owns the land on which valley hill is located.

I've been seeing these visions for years and years--

long time.

Just the same as if I was looking at a movie.

JACKIE HAYS: On the day we filmed at Valley Hill,

I was one of 300 visitors.

I saw nothing unusual; however, at least a third

of those present, 100 people, claimed that they indeed

had visions inspired by God.

Oh, look!

Look up in the clouds.

It looks like blood.

Oh my God, it's going deeper.

It looks like blood.

Up there.

BOY: I mean, look how bright the sun is.

BOY: I can't see it.

I can't tell if it's Jesus or Mary.

WOMAN: You can see that in the sun?

Uh-huh, in the sun.

See, there's like a little rosary right there.

CHILD: And then there's the gateway to heaven.

There is gold on the old man down there.

The man looking up at the sun--

his whole face is gold.

But you don't see it, do you?

JACKIE HAYS: Now had you been looking at the sun?

No.

Because we thought that might be what was causing it.

I said, you know, when you look at the sun

long enough, it plays tricks on your eyes,

but what we saw is away from the sun.

Now, I would never look at the sun.

It started just pulsating, turning colors, and everything.

Then after a while, we'd see colors around--

different colors-- primarily red,

and they would kind of move.

JACKIE HAYS: Many of the eyewitnesses

say that the visions have had a profound effect

upon their lives, perhaps the most dramatic episode involved

a Sunday school teacher and eight

young girls who came to Valley Hill on April 6th, 1995.

The first girl to notice something unusual

was Mandy Mattingly.

I said look, ya'll, the sun, it's moving--

it had like a disk around it, like rings.

We looked at the sun, there's like three

rings around the sun.

It's like shaking and spinning.

It's like the outer part would change colors

and, the inner would change.

It was just different colors at times.

I was like, freaking out.

I was like, oh my gosh, what's happening?

Why is this happening to is?

I turned around to take a picture of the sun

because the girls said, look at the sun.

The sun is pulsating.

And I took my Polaroid and took pictures.

JACKIE HAYS: Did you see the sun pulsating?

Oh yes. Yes.

I saw it, too.

And then when I turned around, well, everybody was saying,

oh, look at her gold.

Look at the gold on you.

Look at here.

I was like, oh my gosh!

Look at me!

There was like sparks of gold all over me.

And then she snapped a picture, and I was like-- like that.

And then I looked at the picture,

and there was like angels on each side of me--

like angels' wings.

She took another picture of the sun.

It came out, it was like real dark,

and then it was like eyes-- you could see eyes of Jesus

and had like this little crown above him.

And then the side was like Mary.

JACKIE HAYS: According to the girls,

the Virgin Mary appears on the left, wearing a veil.

They believe that the blurred image on the right is Jesus.

Another Polaroid was perhaps more unusual.

And one of them had a tombstone it looked like,

and it had my cousin's name on it--

Kate Ballard-- she died when she was born,

and we haven't found any explanation for it,

but I think it was her name.

They were hugging each other.

They were hugging me. There were tears.

They were crying.

To see that experience, I knew that these girls

were deeply affected.

It was a profound experience.

I think they were most amazed--

JACKIE HAYS: We asked paranormal investigator Joe Nickell

to comment on the photographs.

These angel wings or flame effects are due to light

leakage into the cartridge.

When you put the cartridge into the camera,

if your thumb cracks it open just a little bit,

it lets light leak in.

Now what about this picture?

We don't have angel wings, but we have some shape

of a form at the bottom.

The girls say they see the Virgin Mary and Jesus.

It's possible to see faces and pictures in the clouds.

It's a well-known phenomenon.

The human mind wants to make pictures

out of random patterns, and so we

can see pictures all the time.

What would have cased this?

Well, again, this cartridge has been mishandled.

And this part of the film, you can actually see,

is not in focus.

You can see it's blurred.

Tell me about this.

last picture.

There seemed to be words here.

A couple of the girls were saying

it rang a bell-- that there was a family

member's name in that picture and maybe this was a sign.

What do you see in this one?

Right, when we put a film pack in,

and it automatically whirls and ejects

this card, which is meant to keep the light away

from the picture.

And when I turned it over, I really

had to laugh, because here is the chart

with the wording on it--

only it's backwards.

And so the light has gone in there

and bounced off of that white card

and left a reverse imprint as a sort of--

technically, a double exposure.

JACKIE HAYS: Rational explanations

may satisfy some people, but not the mothers of two of the girls

who came to Valley Hill to see for themselves.

I was skeptical at first.

I thought maybe this did happen; but I was kind of scared.

And then about that time, I started looking at the tree

with the words that shows how to say the rosary.

JACKIE HAYS: Which tree?

Where is that?

It's right over in behind the grotto.

JACKIE HAYS: OK.

And I looked behind there, and then I

started seeing the spots.

They kept flickering-- like, they were

flickering on that one place.

I yelled out at Therese.

Therese, my god, you've got gold all over you.

It was like gold dust just--

you'd see it on her feet, and it was like-- it was just going up

her body, and then just leaving and there would come

more up her body and leave.

Had you been looking at the sun for a long time?

ROSE HAMILTON: No, I never even looked at the sun.

I thought, if you look at the sun long enough,

it could do something to your eyes.

JACKIE HAYS: So you did not look at the sun?

I did not look at the sun. JACKIE HAYS: But you saw--

I saw the gold spots.

JACKIE HAYS: How does that make you feel-- when

others are really seeing it?

Does that sort of confirm to you all that what you saw was real?

ADOLESCENTS: Yes.

It was real.

FEMALE: We know it was real.

Yeah, we know it was real.

JACKIE HAYS: Whether or not anybody else sees it?

ADOLESCENTS: Yes.

We've seen it, and that's all that counts.

JACKIE HAYS: Is Valley Hill a sacred spot

destined to join Lourdes and Fatima as a holy shrine?

Only time will tell.

But for now, there is no denying that this remote Kentucky

hillside has become a house of worship--

a church in the woods for the faithful.

[soft singing]

Are the miraculous visions in Kentucky real?

Those who've experienced the sightings

are convinced of their authenticity.

However, it is interesting to note that the local Catholic

Church has declined to recognize Valley Hill as anything

out of the ordinary.

The rest of us will have to decide for ourselves.

Next, when a loving family is split apart,

a young girl embarks on a 20-year search.

For orphaned or abandoned children,

foster homes are often the temporary salvation.

Sometimes unfortunately, they turn out

to be impersonal places that only

a bureaucrat could call home.

To the four children in our next story,

however, a foster home became the first chance

to be part of a real family.

Hi, hello!

Hi, I'm Mark.

Hello, Mark.

How are you?

ROBERT STACK: In December 1968, Dorothy and Robert Reis

of Napa, California welcomed two five-year-olds into their home

as foster children.

Oh, you're so beautiful.

ROBERT STACK: Mark and Tammy Gardner

were fraternal twins who'd been severely abused--

emotionally and physically.

Both were developmentally disabled.

Tammy had trouble walking and talking normally.

Debbie? Honey?

ROBERT STACK: For the Reis's five-year-old daughter,

Deborah, none of that mattered.

She had a new brother and sister.

This is Tammy.

I like your doll.

DEBORAH REIS HAMILTON: When they came to us,

I remembered feeling wonderful that there was someone my age.

I can finally have someone that I can relate to.

There were people-- two little people like me,

and I thought it was fabulous.

You will find, Tammy and Mark, that mom makes the best

fried chicken you've ever had.

DEBORAH REIS HAMILTON: Tammy was very, very scared--

had a very frightful look.

And Mark was the total opposite.

In fact, he spoke for Tammy every time my parents

would ask her a question.

She would like some.

Now Tammy, if you want some butter for your corn,

you're going to have to ask for it.

So would you like some butter for your corn?

Is that the best you can do?

All right, then.

ROBERT STACK: In the supportive atmosphere of the Reis home,

Tammy and Mark began to heal.

A year later, the family grew to include

two more foster children-- six-year-old Kelly Clay

and his four-year-old sister Terry.

Before long, it seemed as if none of them

had ever known another home.

There's was a kinship far beyond blood.

Debbie, right here!

Debbie!

DEBORAH REIS HAMILTON: We were our best friends.

Most of the time, it was the five of us kids swimming,

or the five of us kids picking apples,

or the five of us kids getting into trouble.

ROBERT STACK: Because of the abuse

Tammy and Mark had experienced, they were placed

in special education classes.

That made them a frequent target for cruel teasing.

As the oldest, Deborah was a natural leader.

You pushed my little sister?!

Yeah!

ROBERT STACK: At school, she often confronted the bullies

who tormented Mark and Tammy.

Maybe you like being pushed!

I don't like it at all!

And I don't like you pushing my little sister!

DEBORAH REIS HAMILTON: Tammy, I think thrived on the fact

that she had brothers and sisters that would really

stick up for her no matter what, accepted her for who she was.

She's so stupid!

"ROBERT REIS": Kids, could you come in for a second?

CHILD: One minute.

"ROBERT REIS": We just need to talk for a couple minutes.

ROBERT STACK: By 1974, the Reis clan had

been together for six years.

Dorothy and Robert planned to adopt all four foster children.

Then, the Reises got into a nasty dispute

with the adoption agency.

As a result, the children would have to leave.

To ease the blow, Robert Reis blamed the bad news

on his heart condition.

"ROBERT REIS": --that your mom would be all alone.

And so the folks from Child Protective Services

are going to--

are going to have to--

to split us up.

Where are we going to go?

"ROBERT REIS": Th- they will probably put

you with another foster family.

We're a family, and we have to stay together.

"ROBERT REIS": That's right, sweetheart--

DEBORAH REIS HAMILTON: I just figured they'd never leave.

They were my brothers and sisters forever.

Are we ever going to see you again?

DEBORAH REIS HAMILTON: A few weeks later, the reality

hit when they weren't around.

There was a big empty house, and there wasn't

Mark and Kelly talking and my mom saying, quiet, boys,

go to sleep.

And there wasn't me yakking with Tammy and Terry.

And it was just silence.

ROBERT STACK: A year passed, Deborah

didn't see her foster sisters or brothers at all.

She began to think she would never see them again.

Then out of the blue, Mark surprised Deborah at the stable

where she boarded her horse.

Mark.

DEBORAH REIS HAMILTON: Seeing him--

we were overwhelmed with each other.

We cried.

But what he had to tell me hurt terribly.

Our foster parents-- they hit us-- a lot.

ROBERT STACK: A shaken Mark made some disturbing allegations.

I think it's her more than me.

DEBORAH REIS HAMILTON: My mother and father did try to find out

what was going on, but they ran into people who told them,

never mind.

It's none of your business.

They're not your children.

ROBERT STACK: That day in 1975 was

the last time Deborah saw Mark.

Bye, Mark.

ROBERT STACK: Ever since, her heart

has ached for the loss of Mark, Tammy, Kelly, and Terry.

DEBORAH REIS HAMILTON: I felt like someone

came in the middle of the night and stole them out of my room--

my four best friends, they stole out of my room.

And I don't know what happened to them.

ROBERT STACK: As soon as she was old enough,

Deborah started searching.

20 years went by, but she never gave up.

Finally, just last September, she walked into the open arms

of Terry and Kelly Clay.

Reunited at last.

But Deborah's quest is not over.

Unfortunately, she has yet to find

any trace of Tammy or Mark.

When we return, in Dallas, a respected attorney is gunned

down in his office building.

Dalls, Texas, Thursday, February 9th, 1995.

At 7:00 AM, Attorney Clint Blackmon

arrived at his office building.

He bypassed a notoriously slow elevator

and took the stairs to the third floor.

At 7:30 AM, Juanita Lackey arrived.

Roxanne Ledermann, a secretary, let Juanita into the building.

I'm sorry I had to get you down.

That's OK.

- You're here early. - I know.

I've got a lot of work to do.

Oh, thanks a lot.

Don't worry about it.

ROBERT STACK: Roxanne and Juanita were about to receive

the shock of their lives.

--presentation.

Oh, that's right, I forgot about that.

Are you ready?

Well, yeah.

I think so.

"ROXANNE LEDERMANN": Good.

Oh my God.

[panicked hysteria]

CLINT C. BLACKMAN III: I heard a lot of screaming and hollering.

It was Roxanne and Juanita.

Juanita said that she thought there

was a man in the elevator, but all they'd really seen

was legs and weren't really sure what was there.

So I told her, OK, I will go down and check this out.

Oh my God.

It's David.

It's David Merrifield.

WOMAN: Oh no, it couldn't be!

ROBERT STACK: David Merrifield was one of Clint Blackman's

colleagues in the law firm of Smith,

Merrifield, and Richards.

He had been shot in the back of the head--

execution style.

He left behind two children and a new bride

of only three months.

The murder of David Merrifield is a kind of bizarre case

that every cop dreads.

There was no obvious motive.

The 42-year-old attorney specialized in real estate law.

Over the years, he had built a profitable but prosaic

practice.

His clients were not at all the criminal type.

David Merrifield seemed to be the last person

anyone would want to murder.

Ladies, what time did you get to work?

ROBERT STACK: The most likely scenario was robbery,

but Dallas police quickly ruled that out.

- No. - No.

SGT. JERRY W. KING: Mr. Merrifield's wallet

was recovered a few miles from the crime location.

And in the wallet was still a small amount of money

and all of his credit cards.

So I believe had robbery been a motive,

that stuff would not have been recovered.

ROBERT STACK: Police next turned their attention

to David Merrifield himself, piecing together

the details of his last hours.

The day before he was murdered, David received four phone calls

from a mysterious stranger who identified

himself as Sam Jones.

May I ask what this is regarding?

He's on the other line right now.

Can take a message?

JENNIFER WANAMAKER: He asked if he could hold on.

He told me his name was Sam Jones,

but he wouldn't tell me who he was with

or what it was concerning.

And so I took that to be kind of a solicitation-type call,

because that's usually what solicitors would say.

Hi, David.

I have a Mr. Sam Jones on the other line.

He's very insistent he wants to talk to you right now.

All right, put him through.

This is David.

Hi, Mr. Jones.

JENNIFER WANAMAKER: David spoke to him for, I guess,

a little under 10 minutes.

I went up and kind of joked with Dave

and I said, well, what's he trying to sell you?

And David says, well, he's not trying to sell me anything yet.

He says, he says he wants to do something for me.

David Merrifield, we discovered

during the investigation, had a notepad on his desk,

which had a calendar on it.

And on February the 9th, he had a marking there

for a name and an appointment.

He had a 6:30 AM with Sam Jones.

Due to the common nature of the name,

it's my guess it's possibly a fictitious name.

ROBERT STACK: Police also keyed in on the unusual hours

set for the appointment.

By all accounts, David would never have suggested

such an early meeting.

I had known David and worked with him for years

and know David's habit--

and that was, he never liked to get to work early.

In fact, to see him at work before 9:00 was just unusual.

He was not an early riser.

He usually liked to work later.

For him to make a meeting that early in the morning--

I mean, he would do it for someone

if someone really needed it.

I've since heard that apparently the guys

told him he was leaving on a flight

and absolutely had to see him.

David would do it in a case like that

if it was something he felt was really important.

But otherwise, it was not like David to be anywhere at 6:30

in the morning except asleep.

ROBERT STACK: Police theorize that the killer

insisted on an early meeting in order to get David alone.

Pleasure to finally meet you.

Let's come on up to the office.

Was your flight OK?

That's good.

Get a cup of coffee, and we'll go over the papers.

SGT. JERRY W. KING: We think that Mr.

Merrifield entered the elevator with another person.

Whoever Sam Jones is, it's obvious from our investigation,

lured him to this location to do exactly

what he did-- to take his life on the elevator that morning.

[gunshot]

No one ever heard from this man again-- this Sam Jones.

We all kind of felt like if the man had really

come to try to meet David, then he

would have probably found him--

would have called later to say, I

wasn't able to get in the building,

and Mr. Merrifield never showed up.

I mean, this man just disappeared.

What we need in this case is an independent witness

to come forward.

If that person has heard any person boasting about being

involved in this crime, if that person

happened to be at this location or near this location

on the morning of the crime, and might

have seen suspicious activity, that's the type of information

we need.

We need to know who Sam Jones is.

I think the thing that's most disturbing to me

is the loss of David Merrifield.

He was a very fine attorney, and everyone here liked him

and enjoyed working with him.

So that's probably the most upsetting thing.

It's also very upsetting that there is a criminal out there

who knows he's out there--

he or she-- and knows that they committed this crime

and has not been brought to justice.

Join me next time for another fascinating edition

of Unsolved Mysteries.

[CLOSING INSTRUMENTAL THEME THROUGH CREDITS]