Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Tonight on "Unsolved Mysteries."

ROBERT STACK: He was TV's first superhero.

In the 1950s, George Reeves achieved overnight stardom

as a legendary man of steel.

Then suddenly it was over.

Reeves was found shot to death in his home

and ever since the question has haunted Hollywood,

who killed Superman?

In Fairfield, California a team of police officers

dispatched to arrest a suspected drug dealer,

walked straight into an ambush.

Toledo, Ohio 1963, a tragic accident

leaves three young children motherless.

Within days, Tina Shiets is separated

from her little brother.

More than 30 years later, Tina is still searching,

still hoping to find them.

It was one of nature's mysterious wonders,

the birth of a pure white buffalo calf.

Almost immediately a small Wisconsin farm

was transformed into a revered shrine for Native Americans.

Is the arrival of the miracle buffalo the fulfillment

of an ancient prophecy?

Join me for these fascinating new stories

and much more on tonight's edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]

DETECTIVE 1: All right. He's got something.

He's giving it to the guy. - OK.

The deal is going down.

It's the male, white in the black Chrysler.

We have two units to stay on him when he leaves.

ROBERT STACK: February 1980.

Acting on a tip, Detectives from the Oakland,

California Police Department staked

out a liquor store parking lot.

DETECTIVE 1: All right, Ramirez is backing out.

Ramirez is out.

ROBERT STACK: Sure enough, a suspected

drug dealer named Roberto Ramirez had set up a sale.

Roberto Ramirez was no ordinary dealer.

He allegedly distributed cocaine from Oakland to LA.

The word was that Ramirez would do absolutely

anything to turn a dime.

DET.

CLINT OJALA: He would often deal out of his house,

but most often meet people at different locations.

He'd often have his children, two small children, grammar

school age, carry the cocaine in backpacks

and bring it to the buyers that way.

ROBERT STACK: After obtaining a search warrant,

police converged on Ramirez's home in Fairfield, California,

some 40 miles north of Oakland.

I want everybody to make sure they got one in the chamber.

The safeties are off.

ROBERT STACK: A total of 12, Oakland and Fairfield officers,

were in on the raid.

But would Ramirez come easy?

Would he get stubborn and make it tough on everybody?

Officer Marc Burrell, Oakland PD.

MARC BURRELL: My assignment was to pry the iron

grate on the front door.

The safest entry that we make is a quick entry.

It gives the people inside less time to prepare

and normally we catch them in that surprise mode.

ROBERT STACK: Detective Mark Smith, Fairfield PD.

MARK D. SMITH: My position was to cross in front of the house,

and I would cover the window and the side of the house

for anybody trying to flee or any attack

coming from outside the window, through the front window.

ROBERT STACK: 1:42 AM.

Showtime.

[knock on door]

Police officers!

Search warrant!

Open the door!

Policias!

Abre la puerta!

[knock on door]

Police officers! Search warrant!

Open the door!

Policias!

Abre la puerta!

ROBERT STACK: Ramirez's silence was a challenge loud and clear.

Come and get me.

At that instant, Ramirez appeared at a side window.

[gunshots]

Somebody's hit.

Everybody hold your fire.

ROBERT STACK: Two officers fell.

Severely injured, Detective Smith had to be

dragged from the line of fire.

Officer Burrell took refuge under Ramirez's window.

Hold your fire.

I'm coming out.

All right, it's clear.

MARC BURRELL: I took a physical check on myself.

My legs worked, and I was clear thinking.

My left arm didn't work.

My shoulder was numb.

Go. Go.

Go. Get him out.

Get him out.

ROBERT STACK: But the other officer wasn't so lucky.

Detective Smith was bleeding profusely.

He was evacuated through a neighbor's house

to a waiting ambulance.

Watch the door.

Roberto, [speaking spanish]

ROBERT STACK: Still Ramirez wouldn't budge.

Reinforcements from eight other police departments

had filled out the ranks.

Now 30 heavily-armed officers surrounded the house.

POLICE: He's coming out.

OK, he's coming out.

ROBERT STACK: After a two-hour standoff,

Roberto Ramirez finally emerged.

True to form, he cowered behind his wife eight months pregnant

and their children ages 10 and 6.

POLICE: [speaking spanish]

MARC BURRELL: When Ramirez came outside,

there was a lot of tension.

He had shot two of our police officers.

And he had a lot of time to think about what he had done.

POLICE: [speaking spanish]

MARC BURRELL: Anything can happen.

You don't know what's going through their mind

at that point.

ROBERT STACK: Roberto Ramirez was arrested on two counts

of attempted murder and a laundry list

of drug and assault charges.

A bail bond of more than $500,000

in California real estate was enough to spring Ramirez

from jail.

In June of 1990, shortly before a court date,

the couple packed up their children

and dropped from sight.

They are still on the run, but the damage they inflicted

lingers on.

MARC BURRELL: I was shot through the upper left arm.

It was basically in and out.

It severed the nerves in my left arm and left me with no feeling

although I have strength and muscle flexibility in the arm,

but I just don't have any feeling in it.

[gun shots]

POLICE: I remember muzzle flashes and then

my next memory, I felt like I had been punched in the stomach

or hit with a baseball bat in the stomach.

I can't pronounce most of the things I had damaged,

but it was most of the internal organs in my abdomen.

The bullet went completely through most of the intestines

and the kidney, liver, enlodged.

It stopped on the opposite side of my body

just under the skin in my back.

I'm always going to have the scars and the pain

and all from it, but it would give me some satisfaction if he

was caught and was in jail serving his time

and pain for what he's done.

ROBERT STACK: Roberto Ramirez is 38 years old.

He is a heavyset 5' 6", 210 pounds.

He should be considered armed and dangerous.

Last Friday, the lines at the phone center

was swamped with calls from our viewers.

Let's quickly go to Keely Shaye Smith to see what happened.

For the past two weeks, the nation's attention

has been focused on the tragic murder

of 27-year-old Linda Sobek.

Sobek's body was found here in a shallow grave

at this spot in the Angeles National

Forest outside Los Angeles.

Sheriff detectives now fear her murder

may be connected to an unsolved homicide we profiled

on an earlier broadcast.

The remains of the victim in that case

were also found in this area.

Linda Sobek was a successful model and former Los Angeles

Raiders cheerleader, whose disappearance on November 16

left her family and friends frantic.

This man, photographer, Charles Rathbun,

has claimed that Linda Sobek died in a freak car accident

during a photo shoot.

Then in a state of panic, he buried her

in the Angeles National Forest.

Days later, with the help of Rathbun,

Linda Sobek's body was recovered.

But initial reports from the coroner's office

seemed to indicate that Linda's injuries were not

consistent with being hit by a car.

Charles Rathbun has been charged with first degree murder

and is being held on $1 million bail.

According to the authorities, he is now a suspect

in the death of another model, Kimberly Pandelios, whose story

we aired last year, March 3, 1993,

again, in the Angeles National Forest.

The LA county coroner was called to investigate

a possible murder site.

A partial set of skeletal remains had been discovered.

When the coroner checked dental records

of missing persons in the Los Angeles area, he found a match.

The remains were identified as those of 20-year-old Kimberly

Pandelios, a model and actress who

had disappeared, a year before.

Kimberly was married and had a 14-month-old son.

On February 27, 1992, Kimberly had

told her husband that she was scheduled

to do an outdoor photo shoot.

Authorities believed she responded to an ad

in a local paper.

The next day, her burned-out car was

found near the Monte Cristo campground section

of the Angeles National Forest.

A search of the immediate area turned up no clues.

Another year would pass before Kimberly's remains

were found a few miles from the spot

where Linda Sobek was buried.

RON SPEAR: We do have some similarities

between the death of Kimberly Pandelios and Linda Sobek.

We also have a person who has come forward

and indicated that they saw Kimberly Pandelios

in the company of Charles Rathbun

inside a Denny's Restaurant shortly before her murder.

KEELY SHAYE SMITH: Two blonde models on photo shoots.

Two bodies found in the Angeles National Forest.

Two victims with known or reported ties to photographer,

Charles Rathbun.

Despite the similarities, the LA County Sheriff's Department

believes it is too soon to positively

connect the two cases.

ROBERT STACK: April 6, 1963.

A highway under construction.

A young, single mother hurrying home

to her three small children.

In the blink of an eye, disaster.

26-year-old Patricia Lamerand of Toledo, Ohio

was killed instantly.

A few miles away, Patricia's children

waited patiently and unknowingly at the home

of their great aunt.

REPORTER: Accident investigators believe

she lost control of the car along a section of the highway.

ROBERT STACK: That evening, the flickering

images on the television brought the tragedy home.

Look, there's mom's car on TV.

ROBERT STACK: Suddenly, they were motherless,

Patricia's one-year-old son, Craig, nicknamed Chipper,

two-year-old Christopher, Chrissy for short,

and four-year-old Tina.

TINA LAMERAND SHIETS: The day before was my brother,

Chrissy's second birthday, and I remember the birthday cake

and the people at the party.

And my next memory goes immediately

to my aunt on the phone crying.

ROBERT STACK: Tina had only the vaguest notion that something

terrible had happened.

She had no idea that she and her brothers

were about to be split up forever.

Chrissy and Chipper were eventually

handed over to foster care.

Tina was uprooted as well, lonely and confused.

She left her great aunt's home to live with her grandparents.

TINA LAMERAND SHIETS: I do remember once my grandparents

took custody of me that I was very upset

and could not understand why my mother and my brothers

were gone.

I felt as though I was bad, that I had done something terribly

awful for all this to happen to me and for everybody

to have been taken from me.

As I grew up, I missed not having Chrissy and Chipper

there.

I knew that they were somewhere and that I wanted

to be with them, but it was out of my control

as to where any of us went.

And the older I got, the more I knew

I had the ability to find them.

ROBERT STACK: Tina started looking when she was 16.

What is it?

It's the address of the foster home where

Chrissy and Chipper were taken.

ROBERT STACK: Her great aunt gave her the first clues.

You mean, this is where they lived?

No, that's the place where they were taken.

I don't know what happened to them after that.

ROBERT STACK: Tina found the house

only to learn that Chrissy and Chipper's foster parents

had moved.

She then went door to door hoping

the neighbors could help.

Hello.

Hi.

I'm trying to locate a family that

used to take in foster kids.

I believe they lived next door to you about 15 years ago.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, there was a family.

They had lots of foster kids over there.

Yeah.

I'm trying to find my two brothers.

Their names were Chipper and Chrissy,

and I believe they lived with her for a while.

I remember those two.

Yes.

Cute little boys, yeah.

You remember them?

Oh, I remember.

It was a long time ago though.

Cindle.

Her Name was Doris Cindle.

Doris Cindle?

Yes.

I think she's a nurse.

ROBERT STACK: Tina was elated.

She finally had a name.

She was only a phone call away from locating

her long, lost brothers.

She never imagined it would take another eight

years to track down Doris Cindle and make that call.

- Have a good day. - Thank you.

You too. - Good bye.

When I first told her who I was,

I asked her if she ever lived in Toledo, and she said, yes.

And I asked her if she was ever a foster parent, and she said,

yes.

And I told her I believed that she had fostered my brothers.

And she said, my babies, Chrissy and Chipper.

And I nearly fell off of my chair.

ROBERT STACK: Doris had mothered Chrissy and Chipper

for almost two years.

She loved them as her own until they were adopted

by a couple from Michigan.

Tina, I've been waiting for you, hon.

ROBERT STACK: Tina visited Doris as soon as she could.

She wanted to hear every detail.

This was taken at Dear Park.

ROBERT STACK: Doris gave Tina a glimpse into the life she might

have shared with her brothers.

Doris had saved everything, the home movies, the photographs,

even the boys' tiny bow ties.

TINA LAMERAND SHIETS: They were so cute.

These are the actual ties.

When I handed her the bow ties, I

had no intentions of letting her keep those bow ties.

But I didn't have the heart to take them back

because she looked with them with such loving care,

and she couldn't speak.

She cried.

How sweet.

It just felt as they had actually worn these.

I was that much closer to them.

I just wanted to be able to be with them.

Coming up, one of Hollywood's most intriguing mysteries.

Was George Reeves TV "Superman" killed by an irate husband?

But first we'll take you to Wisconsin

where the birth of a rare white Buffalo calf

turned a small farm into a spiritual mecca.

150 years ago, the buffalo ruled the Western plains,

30 million strong, proud masters of a vast, uncharted land.

But today the Great Plains are virtually empty.

Just 130,000 of those majestic creatures remain.

Most are on ranches or farms such as this one

in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Dave Heider and his wife, Valerie,

have been breeding buffalo since 1989,

but nothing could have prepared Dave for the remarkable events

of August 20, 1994.

That morning, he went out to check on a pregnant cow.

What he discovered would change his life and his farm forever.

DAVE L. HEIDER: Well, I headed out in the pasture

trying to find his cow.

And I found her on the east most corner of the pasture.

The cow stood up and the calf stood up.

And she was in the shade, and the calf

looked funny colored, real strange colored, like a gray.

The cow walked out into the sunlight,

and the calf followed her.

I could not believe what I was looking at.

She was as white as white could be, as white as snow.

ROBERT STACK: It was nature at its most

glorious and unpredictable.

The odds were 1 in 10 million, a white, non-albino buffalo calf.

Fittingly, the Heiders named her Miracle.

As news of the extraordinary calf spread,

the Heiders were besieged by members

of the Lakota Sioux nation.

To the Lakotas, Miracle was a profound gift, the fulfillment

of an ancient prophecy.

Almost overnight, the farm was transformed

into a religious shrine.

VALERIE HEIDER: They came from all over the world here.

They would call from all over the world.

We had telephone calls every three minutes

from 6:30 in the morning till 11:30 at night.

At one period, we had 2,300 people through our driveway

in a five-hour length of time.

And it was wall-to-wall people constantly.

It was like a wave that never ended.

[chanting in foreign language]

ROBERT STACK: Initially, the Heiders

were confounded by all the commotion,

but as a flood tide of visitors continued,

Dave and Valerie soon learned the full significance

of the white buffalo calf.

This rare animal is at the heart of a hallowed legend

handed down by the Lakota Sioux for some 600 years.

[speaking foreign language]

ROBERT STACK: Arvol Looking Horse

of the Cheyenne River Reservation

is a spiritual leader of the Lakota nation.

He is responsible for passing on the story

of the white buffalo calf to the next generation.

There was a time when the white buffalo calf

woman, she came to the people 19 generations ago.

ROBERT STACK: According to the legend,

two scouts were set out during a great famine

to search for the buffalo herd.

As they crested one rye, as they spied a lone, white buffalo

calf, it was an amazing sight.

The braves watched in awe as a calf magically transformed

into a beautiful young maiden.

Four days later, the white buffalo calf woman appeared

again to the entire tribe.

She bore a sacred pipe and a code of laws

as important to the Lakota as the 10 commandments

are to Western religions.

[speaking foreign language]

ROBERT STACK: The maiden promised that she would return

once more in 600 years as a white buffalo calf to user

in a period of peace and harmony.

DR. ARVOL LOOKING HORSE: I was told 19 generations ago,

she came when the cherries are deepest red or black,

and that would be the last week in August.

And that's when, 19 generations later, this white buffalo calf

has been born.

ROBERT STACK: But if miracle is the reincarnation

of the white buffalo calf woman, why is she here now?

The Lakota believe her return is tied to an ancient prophecy.

FLOYD LOOKS FOR BUFFALO HAND: In the next five years,

she's going to show us natural disaster and man-made disaster.

It's going to be evil killing evil.

ROBERT STACK: Floyd Hand believes

it will begin with great fires.

Floods will follow, as well as earthquakes,

typhoons, and man-made disasters, pollution and war.

The prophecy states the devastation will continue

for a full five years, but as the onslaught wanes,

harmony will prevail followed by an unprecedented period

of world peace.

FLOYD LOOKS FOR BUFFALO HAND: There is hope.

There's no going to be no end of the world.

It's just that we've got to put our minds together

as concerning our Mother Earth.

ROBERT STACK: Perhaps not surprisingly,

offers to buy the buffalo calf come in daily,

from such diverse people as media mogul, Ted Turner,

and rock star, Ted Nugent.

DAVE L. HEIDER: She's not for sale.

She will not leave here.

But you have to be here to see the effect

that this calf has on people, how it changes their lives.

Something that is as sacred and holy as what calf

is, you can't put a price on it.

That calf was sent here for us to be like a caretaker to it

for all people to come see.

Catholics, Protestants, they've all been here.

You'll see rosaries.

You'll see everything on the gate,

from anything that is very important to them,

they will leave out of the gate.

A lady came to baptize her baby.

She put her baby's hand through the fence and held it there,

and the calf come right up and put her head right

under the baby's hand and stayed there

through the whole little ceremony.

And when she was all done, she just backed off

and she pulled the baby's hand back,

and it was just unbelievable.

ROBERT STACK: Unbelievable, indeed.

Apparently, the miracle calf has already fulfilled one portion

of the prophecy, changing colors four

times, from white, to black, to red, and now yellow.

This is the world-renowned white buffalo,

which is not so white anymore.

Yeah.

And she's one of these four.

Do you think you can pick her out?

Ladies and gentlemen, there is the star.

I've seen people from all over the world come here.

And when they walk away, there's something different about them,

which is spiritual awakening.

But the message she brought to us

is the time has come for us to live through

peace, love, and harmony.

ROBERT STACK: Next, authorities need your help to track

down a man accused of rape.

This story is about a rape survivor.

Call her Deidre.

Despite her intense trauma, Deidre

refuses to let her living nightmare destroy her.

She wants to fight back by finding the man who raped her

and putting him behind bars.

But she cannot do it alone.

She needs your help.

For years, Deidre lived on New York City's

fashionable Upper East Side.

It is normally a very expensive area,

but Deidre had lucked into the rent stabilized apartment.

Eventually, however, the building

was slated to be torn down.

As leases ran out, the tenants moved.

By early 1992, Deidre was the only tenant left,

the only person living in the building,

which was badly in need of repair.

In the end, it was one of those repairs, a leaky ceiling,

that led Deidre to disaster.

Oh, yes.

It's me again.

Sorry.

It's just a mess today.

We've got to get it fixed.

ROBERT STACK: The landlord agreed to send someone.

He hired a 31-year-old handyman named David Gause.

DEIDRE: When he was first hired, it didn't seem strange at all.

It was just somebody else coming in to do

some work in the building.

That's all.

ROBERT STACK: After Gause fixed the ceiling,

the landlord gave him more work.

While Gause did the repairs, he lived temporarily

in a basement apartment.

DEIDRE: One night, late at night I smelled smoke downstairs,

and I went running down.

David, are you down there?

I smell smoke.

Oh, no.

I was just cooking soup in a can.

Are you crazy?

You could burn the place down.

No, I was just cooking soup.

DEIDRE: I said, if you're ever going to cook again,

why don't you come up and ask me if you

can borrow a pan because I really don't

want the building to burn down.

[knock on door]

ROBERT STACK: March 29, 1992, 9:30 AM.

Who is it?

It's David.

Oh, David.

I thought you were coming up yesterday to paint the ceiling.

I had other things to do.

I couldn't make it.

I came up to borrow a frying pan.

Oh, OK.

Just a second.

Here you go.

Hey, what are you doing?

Is this a joke?

No, it's no joke.

Stop.

After he raped me, it seemed like he was calmer.

But then he got a crazy look in his eye again.

And he took an ice pick out of his pocket.

I thought for sure that he was going to kill me.

ROBERT STACK: Deidra was willing to try

anything to save her life.

She hit on a desperate ploy.

No. No, listen.

You don't understand. Wait.

No. We could be together.

I made him believe that he was my boyfriend.

It totally disarmed him.

He got really confused about the whole thing.

Listen here. I have this other money.

Take this too. - Really?

Yes. Go find those guys.

Pay them the money and come back.

We'll go for breakfast. We'll be together.

ROBERT STACK: The ploy worked.

Gause claimed he needed money to pay a debt.

Deidre gave him all she had.

Deidre's called to 911 brought an immediate response.

[inaudible] another unit.

Yeah, I'm up here?

Calm down.

I'm coming right up.

ROBERT STACK: But David Gause was long gone.

At the police station, detectives ran

a background check on Gause.

It quickly turned up a long list of previous arrests and felony

convictions, including armed robbery,

assault, and grand larceny.

OK, Deidre, now what we're going to do

is I'm going to show you a series of six pictures,

and let me know if you recognize anybody, OK?

OK.

It's him.

DET.

JOHN SAVINO: After we, identified David Gause

as the person who raped Deidra, I also contacted other police

departments and learned that David Gause was also

wanted for a rape that occurred in Nassau County, Long Island.

In that rape, he raped an acquaintance of his,

and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

ROBERT STACK: David Gause has not been

seen in three and a half years.

The police currently have no leads,

but they fear Gause will rape again.

DR. PATRICIA SCHILLER: Rape is a crime

that is usually repeated until they are caught and put away.

So there's no doubt in my mind if David Gause is not caught,

then he will go on doing what he is used to doing, raping women.

DEIDRE: It's been three and a half years

and it still affects my life.

I don't trust anybody.

There's no enjoyment left.

I know that he's raping other women,

and I know that other lives are being destroyed.

I'd like to see him off the streets.

I'd like to see him put away forever.

ROBERT STACK: When we return, the shooting death

of television actor George Reeves

still has many researchers wondering who killed Superman.

NARRATOR: Faster than a speeding bullet.

More powerful than a locomotive.

Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

MAN'S VOICE: Look, up in the sky.

It's a bird.

WOMAN'S VOICE: It's a plane.

NARRATOR: It's Superman.

Yes, it's Superman.

ROBERT STACK: In the 1950s, millions of TV viewers

across America knew actor George Reeves

as Superman, a man of steel, both

indestructible and invincible.

NARRATOR: --bend steel in his bare hands.

ROBERT STACK: Then came June 16, 1959.

At about 1:30 AM, Los Angeles police race

to George Reeves' fashionable Hollywood Hills home.

Upstairs, they found George Reeves sprawled across his bed.

He had died from a single gunshot wound

to his right temple.

Police quickly ruled Reeves' death a suicide,

yet within a week, some people began to question that ruling.

It was the beginning of a controversy,

which continues to this day.

It doesn't make sense that George

Reeves committed suicide because the evidence

doesn't support that.

I don't believe that George Reeves killed himself.

I believe that he was murdered.

Who killed Superman?

For nearly four decades, that mystery has tantalized

and fascinated Hollywood.

Those who believe George Reeves met with foul play

say a woman was behind it, but what woman?

At the time of his death, Reeves was at the vortex

of a twisted double love triangle, which would have

shocked as many loyal fans.

In 1952, George Reeves became an overnight star as Superman.

Just four years earlier, he had been forced to eke out a living

by digging septic tanks.

One of his "Superman" costars was Jack

Larson who played Jimmy Olsen.

JACK LARSON: I didn't know what I was getting into.

My presumption, as I'm sure George's was,

no one will probably ever see this.

And we became famous.

I mean, we became hot, and I was just a guy around New York who

some people would say, hey, didn't I see you

in the [inaudible],, you know, they'd be at the lunch counter,

and suddenly I was Jimmy Olsen.

ROBERT STACK: Away from the cameras,

in his love life at least, Reeves bore little resemblance

to the TV superhero.

His steady girlfriend was Toni Mannix,

a former Ziegfeld showgirl eight years his senior.

Toni, however, was a married woman.

Her husband, Eddie Mannix, had been vice president of MGM

and was still a powerful force in Hollywood.

No one knows why, but Mannix and encouraged his wife's

involvement with Reeves.

JIM NOLT: The relationship between George and Toni

was a very open relationship.

She took care of George very well.

The car that he drove was bought by Toni,

and the house that he lived in was Toni's house.

But something happened in late '58 that

broke that relationship off.

ROBERT STACK: Toni Mannix was devastated by the breakup,

but George moved on quickly.

He soon began spending his time with Leonore Lemmon, a member

of the New York Cafe Society, much younger and much wilder

than Toni Mannix.

JIM NOLT: She had a reputation, a bad reputation for fights

in clubs in New York.

I think George liked the excitement

that he found with her.

Another, George?

Yes, please, dear.

ROBERT STACK: On the night George Reeves

died, his life was not as perfect

as it might have appeared.

Although he pampered Leonore and they were reportedly engaged,

Reeves could not keep up the lavish lifestyle

he had enjoyed with Toni.

Cut off from her money, the bills were piling up.

Moreover, Reeves hadn't filmed a new episode of "Superman"

in two years.

It was the perfume.

JIM NOLT: I think George Reeves was going

through a mid-life crisis.

There are reports that George was planning

to marry Leonore Lemmon.

I don't think he was going to do that.

And that's where I think an argument came up.

[knock on door]

Coming.

ROBERT STACK: By midnight, only Leonore

Lermmon and writer, Robert Condon, remained at the house

with Reeves.

George!

ROBERT STACK: Shortly thereafter, two neighbors

stopped by looking for a party.

I want you to meet my friend.

This is George Reeves.

Mrs. William Bliss.

The bar is closed.

George, I'm sorry.

ROBERT STACK: According to Jim Nolt,

Leonore became increasingly agitated about the way

Reeves treated the guests.

Look what you've done.

Fine.

JIM NOLT: I think this made Leonore Lemmon very angry

that he treated his friend like that.

She went up, and I think an argument started.

I think George, at that time, told her

that he had no plans to marry her

and that she became very angry and pulled out a gun

and I don't think on purpose, but I

think accidentally shot George.

And exactly what did you hear?

Well, we were downstairs, and we heard a shot.

We went upstairs.

ROBERT STACK: Half an hour passed before the police

were notified.

Jim Nolt believes the party goers needed time to come

up with a consistent story.

Anyway, Carol was with William.

ROBERT STACK: When questioned, everyone

said Reeves had been alone in his bedroom,

that he had shot himself.

No.

He was up there alone.

Immediately, the police ruled Reeves' death a suicide,

despite some rather curious evidence.

A .30 caliber Luger pistol lay on the floor

between Reeves' legs and that there were

no fingerprints on the gun.

Bullets in the ceiling.

ROBERT STACK: A bullet had passed through Reeves' skull

and lodged in the ceiling above his bed.

And strangely, the fatal shell casing was

found underneath Reeves body.

JIM NOLT: If George Reeves had committed suicide and held

the gun to his head, the bullet casing

would have been expelled away from his body,

not in back of his body where he would have fallen on it.

There were no powder burns in his hands.

There were no powder burns in his head, which

means that the gun was held far enough away from his head

that there weren't any powder burns.

Somebody else pulled that trigger.

ROBERT STACK: But was Leonore Lemmon that somebody else?

Writer and researcher, Michael Hayde,

has an even darker theory.

He believes that George Reeves' death was a direct result

of his illicit affair with Toni Mannix and her husband, Eddie's

anger, over Reeves ending it.

MICHAEL J. HAYDE: I believe that the man was murdered.

I believe that Eddie Mannix, tired of listening to his wife

grieve and obsess over George Reeves,

decided that it was time to take some action.

It was my understanding that George's house was pretty much

an open house and I think was relatively easy for Eddie

Mannix to send someone over to the house

during the course of a party that may have been going on,

and Eddie Mannix had the guy killed.

Hey, Georgie boy.

Who are you?

Get out of here.

[gunshot]

George?

MICHAEL J. HAYDE: Eddie Mannix, by the end of the '50s, who

was retiring, would endanger his life

and the end of his life by having

something nefarious done to George is to my mind ludicrous.

ROBERT STACK: But what about the physical evidence?

No fingerprints on the gun.

The shell casing underneath Reeves'

body, the lack of powder burns on his hands or head.

JIM BEAVER: The absence of powder burns

raises a question in a lot of people's minds

because most people have a misconception

about powder burns.

They believe that powder burns happen when a weapon

is placed up against the skin.

That's not the case.

When the weapon is placed against the skin,

the powder goes into the wound and does not

burn the outside of the skin.

The police found no evidence of fingerprints on the weapon.

George was a gun collector, and he kept his weapons well oiled.

Well, a thick coat of oil won't hold fingerprints

anymore than water will.

OK, take him.

ROBERT STACK: Perhaps the most difficult fact to explain

is how the shell casing got under the body.

A .30 caliber Luger is designed

to eject the shell upwards and away from the shooter.

Most people think that couldn't put the shell behind him.

However, if the gun was fired this way,

it would eject the shell downward.

For example.

ROBERT STACK: According to the autopsy report,

the bullet entered Reeves' head about one

inch above his right ear.

It exited about 1 and 3/4 of an inch above the left ear,

then lodged in the ceiling.

The bullet trajectory suggests that Reeves' head was

tilted when the gun was fired.

Consequently, he may have held a gun in an odd position.

JIM BEAVER: If George had held the gun,

not this way, but in this way, the more

comfortable and natural position,

he would have ejected the shell directly

behind him and onto the bed.

ROBERT STACK: But why would Superman kill himself?

Jack Larson believes that Reeves was despondent over his lack

of work.

JACK LARSON: He couldn't get a job.

I couldn't get a job in the United States.

I was too typed as Jimmy Olsen, absolutely typed and nobody

wanted me to work at all.

I don't know what happened to George.

I only had a bow tie and a sweater to worry about.

George had the Superman outfit.

So I was depressed, and I accepted instantly

that he had committed suicide.

There is evidence to support all three

theories about his death.

I think there is evidence to support suicide,

there is evidence to support a tragic accident,

and there is evidence to support murder.

The only people who know how George Reeves died

are no longer with us.

NARRATOR: Yes, it's Superman.

Strange visitor from another planet.

ROBERT STACK: Who killed Superman?

Was George Reeves' death the result

of a secretive and perilous love triangle,

or was he the victim of a depression so profound

that he took his own life?

Perhaps we will never know.

Perhaps this is one case destined to remain

an "Unsolved Mystery."

NARRATOR: --fights a never-ending battle for truth,

justice, and the American way.

Join me again this Friday at our regular time

for an all new edition of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]