Original subtitles

ANNOUNCER: Tonight, on "Unsolved Mysteries."

ROBERT STACK: She was sensuous, charismatic, and talented.

One of the bright lights of Seattle's rock music scene.

Everyone said Mia Zapata was destined for greatness.

Then, in July 1993, Mia took a lonely stroll

through the dark streets of Seattle

and crossed paths with a vicious, unknown killer.

Tonight, we're in Seattle, Washington

to investigate the tragic case of this ill-fated young singer.

Join me for a dramatic profile of life and death

of rock star Mia Zapata, as well as these intriguing mysteries.

Thomas David Dixon is the very definition of career criminal.

When he's not in prison, he's doing what he does best--

robbing banks and brazenly taunting the authorities.

Michelle Arkin was just a teenager

when a late night confrontation confirmed

what she had long suspected.

Her mother and father were not her biological parents.

Now, Michelle needs your help to find the family she never knew.

Meet Philip Pauli.

If you think he looks like an average eight-year old,

think again.

Philip's favorite subjects are geometry and cellular biology.

He prefers museums and archaeological digs

to playgrounds and ball fields.

Philip, you see, is a genius whose

extraordinary abilities make for a fascinating mystery

of the mind.

Stay with us for these fascinating stories and our

special report on Mia Zapata.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

WOMAN (ON POLICE RADIO): Dispatch to unit four.

Dispatch to unit four.

Eight miles south, Route 15.

Investigate abandoned vehicle.

ROBERT STACK: For a Sheriff's deputy in Florence County,

South Carolina, it was a routine call

until he uncovered the getaway car from a recent string

of bank robberies.

[interposing voices]

Polaroids left in the car showed off a formidable arsenal.

A rambling message filled seven pages of a small notebook.

It was signed "Tom Dixon."

TOM DIXON (VOICEOVER): I know the feds are closing in on me,

but they need an informant, so I need

to really watch who I trust.

I will not go back to prison under no conditions,

ever, for any length of time.

ROBERT STACK: It is hardly surprising that Thomas Dixon

vowed never to be taken alive.

During the last 22 years, he had been out of prison

a scad eighteen months.

When he wasn't doing hard time, Dixon was robbing banks.

The FBI pegged him for at least twelve,

and there were probably more.

In 1984, after a 10-year stretch in prison,

Dixon and a series of accomplices

terrorized banks across North Carolina.

Dixon's partners may have changed,

but his MO never varied.

DODGE FREDERICK: Dixon was what we

would call a takeover robber.

In law enforcement jargon, it means that they control

everything inside the bank.

Which means, when he came into a bank, usually he or his partner

would hold somebody at bay with a weapon, make announcements.

[gasps]

This is a robbery.

You all put your hands where I can see them.

This is a hold up.

Just stay cool.

Move it!

Nobody's gonna get hurt.

Move it along. Move it!

You two, in the office.

Out here, now! - Move!

Move!

Come on, move! - All right.

Now, hand it down. - Move it!

You sit in that chair, lady, right there.

Mister, you just take a seat right here,

and put your hands where I can see them.

TELLER: I dropped the keys. - Get up!

Get up!

Kick the keys to where I can see them.

Do it, now!

Come on, move it.

Just keep moving.

Move it!

Don't mess with me.

Don't mess with me! [gunshot]

[scream]

Don't mess with me!

The money.

Just get the money.

[keys rattling]

ROBERT STACK: After a string of seven robberies,

Dixon went underground.

He holed up with a girlfriend in a remote cabin

in North Carolina.

Federal agents got wind of the hideout and moved in,

but they weren't taking any chances with Thomas Dixon.

Go.

[leaves rustling]

We were able to gather enough information about Dixon

to know that he had certain patterns

that might play in our favor in trying to make an apprehension.

[crunching]

But we knew that he was a jogger.

Dixon has always been in excellent shape.

He takes good care of himself.

Freeze!

Dixon, you're under arrest!

On the ground! On the ground!

Hands behind your back.

What are you guys doing?

Let me go!

Hands up! Hands up!

Let me see them.

Hands up!

When the SWAT team went in to make the search of the cabin,

in addition to his female companion,

there were several long-barreled guns,

seven handguns of various size and caliber,

25 sticks of dynamite.

And we were absolutely shocked at the amount of weaponry

he had inside the apartment.

TOM DIXON: What is this, huh?

[grunting]

He's got a weapon.

ROBERT STACK: Thomas Dixon was on his way

to another decade behind bars.

When Dixon was paroled around Christmas of 1994,

he picked up right where he had left off.

But now, Dixon always worked alone.

Good morning.

I'll be right with you.

That's all right.

This is a hold up.

I got a police scanner, so don't do anything funny.

Just be cool, and put the money in the bag.

RONALD HEWETT: He doesn't come in as a flashy guy.

He comes in prepared.

He's methodical.

He thinks about things before he does them.

ROBERT STACK: During the summer of 1995,

Dixon showed up on one bank surveillance tape

after another.

Five robberies in a seven-week period.

Have you FBI ever heard of Thomas Dixon?

MAN (ON PHONE): No.

Should we?

The man is one bad-ass bank robber.

Tomorrow he's gonna rob a bank in North Carolina.

ROBERT STACK: During the summer robbery spree,

Dixon began to taunt the FBI with advance

notice of his bank jobs.

MAN (ON PHONE): Hello?

ROBERT STACK: In one call, Dixon targeted a bank

in Matthews, North Carolina.

Instead, he turned up in Columbia, South Carolina,

eighty miles away.

Just put it in the bag.

Who's that in the back?

That's the manager.

You be cool.

ROBERT STACK: Dixon's last known heist was September 11, 1995.

You all have a nice day.

You can turn on that alarm now, if you like.

Excuse me.

ROBERT STACK: FBI agents see Dickson's flippant

self-confidence as a mask for an unstable personality

coming apart at the seams.

Investigators now believe that Dixon deliberately

left the photos, notebook, and getaway car for them to find.

Three weeks after Dixon's last robbery, they got the message.

A deliberate taunt from a criminal ego running wild.

TOM DIXON (VOICEOVER): Now I need a really good score

so I can go underground for a few months

and get myself back together.

I got myself a bulletproof vest.

[camera clicks]

So maybe it'll saved my ass long enough to drop a couple of them

before I die.

[camera clicks]

Yes.

You keep looking and I'll keep working.

We'll meet up someday, and we'll see if it's you, or is it me.

DODGE FREDERICK: I don't think there's any question that Dixon

has become a walking time bomb.

Dixon was alerting us to the fact that he is heavily armed

and he has every intention of using

those arms in a confrontation with law enforcement.

[update music]

ROBERT STACK: Next--

When a young woman is found dead floating in the Chesapeake Bay,

two old boyfriends emerge as suspects.

[theme music]

[waves lapping]

Maryland's Natural Resource Police routinely monitor

the state's coastal areas tracking down poachers

and enforcing game regulations.

But on the 30th of August, 1993, an NRP patrol

pulled the body of an attractive brunette

from the Chesapeake Bay.

Do we have an ID on the boater that found her?

No.

ROBERT STACK: The woman who was identified as Nancy Manni, one

of the few female members of the Seafarers International Union.

Nancy had made a career sailing the world as a ship's steward.

But now, at the age of 33, Nancy was dead--

drowned and possibly murdered.

Who could have killed Nancy Manni?

The investigation quickly narrowed in on an ex-boyfriend

named Billy Mesmer, a self-styled poet

whose dark rhymes hinted at a dangerous obsession.

It looked like a rock-solid theory

until rumors seemed to implicate another boyfriend and some

of his associates in the Seafarers Union.

And overshadowing all was a second murder victim--

a young woman identical to Nancy in almost every way.

When was the last time you saw Nancy?

Wednesday.

ROBERT STACK: Billy Mesmer was questioned two days

after Nancy's body was found.

Poems Billy had written to Nancy while they

were lovers aroused suspicion.

Perhaps most notable were these lines--

"Excited breath escapes his lips,

but he waits without the light.

No one will ever hear your screams, as the predator

begins to bite."

The poem was signed "Sweet dreams.

Billy."

The title-- "Night Stalker."

I have had experts look at it trying to analyze it,

and they have concurred that he did have an obsession

with Nancy at this time.

Yeah.

I can understand where they would come

up with the word "obsessive."

Nancy was the love of my life.

I'm a poet.

I wrote her poetry constantly, which

is a very obsessive thing.

It's full of feelings and emotion.

ROBERT STACK: During the seventeen months

of their relationship, Billy had written

Nancy more than 200 poems.

Many were sent to her at seaports around the world.

Nancy had sailed to Brazil, Greece, Iceland,

and often worked the giant freighters

that ferried natural gas from Indonesia to Japan.

JAYNE MERRITT: She often said she liked

to play with the boys' toys.

She liked to drive the forklifts and do that kind of work.

She was very feminine.

She was very attractive and fun.

She had a lot of boyfriends, but she hadn't really

found a person that she was destined to spend

the rest of her life with.

She left you for someone else.

I don't understand why you keep accusing me of things.

I really felt that the investigation was

going in the wrong direction.

Obviously, they were crawling all over me with a microscope,

and I was terribly frustrated that the person who actually

did this was going to get away.

She came by and--

ROBERT STACK: Billy Mesmer had a plausible alibi.

He also had a suggestion for the police.

Take a look at certain members of the Seafarers

International Union.

At the time of her death, Nancy had been studying at this

union-run training center--

The Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship

in Piney Point, Maryland.

She was dating a union member who

was connected to the school.

Billy says that Nancy came to his apartment

a few days before her death.

Yep.

Hey, Nancy.

Come on in.

Hi, Billy.

Hey, are you OK?

BILLY MESMER: Nancy had a very, very bad

falling out with her boyfriend.

He had told her that if she didn't do things as he wanted,

he would make things very difficult

for her within the union.

She simply said, "If you do this,

then I will expose you for what you are."

ROBERT STACK: According to Billy Mesmer,

the secret Nancy threatened to reveal

may have had something to do with illegal drugs.

It's been rumored for years that certain members

of the union and of the school down at Piney Point

have been involved in international drug trafficking.

Not only that, but possible disappearances within the union

and within the local community.

I've had several people come clandestinely to me

to report that they suspected illegal activity at the school

was the cause of Nancy's death.

Again, it's been unsubstantiated and they

fear for their lives or their jobs, which is why

they don't want to be known.

After her death, I had received some telephone calls

from friends of hers that were also union members who had told

us that they felt that her death was not accidental,

and that it was possibly linked with the union

and with the school.

ROBERT STACK: For Nancy's sister, Linda,

the unsettling rumors seemed even more

credible when she received Nancy's personal effects

from the school.

LINDA MANNI: In going through Nancy's things,

I had noticed that a lot of things

were missing, particularly pictures of her union

boyfriend and his family.

And I know that she wouldn't have thrown them away.

She would have kept those.

ROBERT STACK: There was more.

Nancy's camera was empty and its internal mechanism

jammed as though someone had forcibly

ripped out a roll of film.

I feel that someone had tampered with her camera,

and so that led me to be more suspicious

that someone in the school had obviously entered her room.

ROBERT STACK: There were also suspicions about Nancy's

final work assignment.

Before entering the school, Nancy

sailed on the SS Mayaguez, a ship which

employed many union members.

She died in August.

In June I got this letter from her when she

was working on the SS Mayaguez.

One paragraph says, "Things are so bad on this ship

that I'm getting death threats now."

And I let that go, and I regret it

every day, that I didn't demand to know who exactly said that

and why.

And what exactly was said.

ROBERT STACK: One more disturbing

question hangs over this case.

Is there a link between Nancy's death

and the 1988 murder of a young woman

named Elizabeth Greenburg?

Elizabeth and Nancy had the same hair color, same eye color,

were nearly identical in height and weight.

Like Nancy, Elizabeth was a ship's steward, a member

of the Seafarers Union.

Elizabeth worked the same Indonesia-to-Japan trade route

that Nancy sailed a few years later.

Both women were attending the union's

training school when they died.

Although Elizabeth was killed by a blow to the head,

she too was found floating in the Chesapeake Bay.

That's eerie when you look at both cases.

The similarities in their life and their lifestyles.

As yet, we haven't found a common denominator

between the two as far as boyfriends or close friends,

but somewhere along the line, there's got to be a thread.

I fear that Nancy's death is gonna be

simply written off as unsolved.

And even though everyone in the county

knows that something wrong, unlawful, cloak and dagger

is going on, they're terrified to talk about it.

With the information that has been given to me

on an anonymous basis over the past two years

since Nancy's death, I'm beginning

to fear for my own life.

[update music]

[eerie music]

[theme music]

It's been said that the human brain is one

of the last great frontiers.

Despite years of research, we have only a few hints

about why some people become Einsteins

and others Forrest Gump.

The source of genius remains secret,

a true unsolved mystery.

This is Philip Pauli of Denver, Colorado.

He may look like an average eight-year-old,

but Philip is quite literally one in ten million.

Philip's abilities are practically immeasurable.

Philip is a genius.

In fact, Philip is so smart that he is too smart for school.

If you need any help, let me know.

OK? - Thanks.

You're welcome.

ROBERT STACK: These days, his mother teaches him at home

because even programs for gifted students

couldn't keep up with Philip's insatiable

demand for knowledge.

Well, I'm studying algebra and geometry and the Middle

Ages and cellular biology.

And in the Middle Ages, I'm working on the castle defenses.

How do I explain Phil's gifts?

That, to me, is a mystery, to be perfectly honest.

I mean, it's not that Philip--

Philip's dad or I are dumb, but we do--

neither of us have the IQs to match Phil.

So it-- it, to me, it was a gift to have a son like Philip.

ROBERT STACK: From the very beginning,

it was clear that Philip was brighter and more alert

than most babies.

At six months, he started to talk

and had enough manual dexterity to remove

the bolts from his crib.

At nine months, Philip displayed a highly

mature emotional sensibility.

During an experiment, he was asked

to spank a doll three times to show he understood counting.

Philip refused to strike the doll.

Finally, when the examiner thought he couldn't understand

what was going on, he patted the doll three times

and then held it and hugged it and protected it

from the examiner and tried to soothe the doll's feelings.

This is not something his mother taught him to do,

because any mother would have a hard time

trying to teach something like that to a nine-month-old.

ROBERT STACK: And eighteen months,

Philip could already read.

For his second birthday, he asked for a violin.

Within days, he was playing simple tunes

he had composed himself.

Philip was light years ahead of his peers.

One particular time we took him to church and we put him

in at the two-year-old level.

And we picked him up.

And after school, the first thing he says to me

is, "Mom, they don't talk."

He was two, and he didn't realize

that other kids his own age weren't doing those kind of--

the same kind of skills.

ROBERT STACK: At three, Philip was studying astronomy.

He had little use for Mickey Mouse or Winnie the Pooh.

His hero was Astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

Hey, Mom, let's go over here.

There's more stuff.

OK.

ROBERT STACK: By the time Philip was four,

the Denver Museum of Natural History

was his favorite playground.

One day he even spotted a mistake in a museum mural

that had gone unnoticed by the curators for thirty years.

What's the matter, hon?

The helmets are wrong.

What's wrong with them?

Those are French helmets and these are Conquistadors.

How do you know that?

ROBERT STACK: Incredibly, Philip had

been able to detect the subtle differences

between a medieval French helmet and that

of a Spanish Conquistador.

On another visit to the museum in that same year,

Philip asked the curator why a dinosaur

skeleton was missing several vertebra in his tail section.

Good morning.

And the curator explained at the time

that the dinosaur was too large for the area

that they had designated for it, but with the new exhibit

they were going to get it correct

and not to worry about it.

But he was flabbergasted.

He said, "You're the only person that's noticed."

ROBERT STACK: Research indicates that along with heightened

mental abilities, child geniuses often show a hypersensitivity

to humanitarian issues.

He carries the weight of the world on him.

He's worried about the economy within the United States

and the government structure, as well as

what's going on around the world and how what we do

affects other nations.

There's times that he gets so consumed with these worries

that he'll stop eating, he bites his nails, he loses sleep.

I mean, these are things that we have to talk about,

what he can actually do on a personal level to help mankind.

It makes me feel sad that America does not value

education, and America is becoming

more like a Roman Empire than the great nation it was.

And here's a few reasons.

Because, like, one is that we're doing gladiators,

like in our movies, and we're going to have a worse

fate than the Roman Empire.

I just know it.

ROBERT STACK: So where would you expect a child like Philip

to play?

A baseball diamond?

Not on your life.

Try an archaeological dig.

I think [inaudible].

OK.

There you go.

I think Philip working at the site here has fun.

He knows it's important.

He understands the value of what he's doing.

It's intellectually stimulating, but he's digging in the dirt.

ROBERT STACK: Philip has a lifetime of enthusiasm for each

of his favorite subjects.

So much so that when we asked him

what he wants to be when he grows up,

he had a tough time picking just one job.

A paleontologist, an archaeologist,

a conservationist, and hopefully I'll be the commander

to the mission to Mars.

And the chief curator of the Denver Museum

of Natural History.

And, if all of the other jobs fail,

I would really want to be a great composer

on the line of Baroque.

Baroque classical and romantic eras in the music stage.

ROBERT STACK: And the list goes on.

Write, "Artifact Number 23."

Artifact--

ROBERT STACK: But what makes a genius?

Is it nature or nurture?

Scientists truly don't know.

But one of the wilder explanations

is that geniuses possess knowledge and skills

acquired in other lifetimes.

He told me one time that he had--

heaven had opened and he could look down

and he chose me as his mom because I

would be the right one for him.

It's clear to me that many, many gifted children come

in knowing more then it would be explainable

by scientific standards.

Where they get that knowledge from, I don't know.

But I would not discount any possibility, including

reincarnation, that there is something evolutionarily

different about them, that the brain structure is different,

or the function of the brain is different,

or that they are visiting us from more evolved cultures.

Anything is possible.

Push me.

Push you [inaudible].

ROBERT STACK: Philip doesn't have

much time left for childhood.

In two years, he'll be old enough to take

the college entrance exams.

He plans to enroll at the University of Denver.

After that, the sky's the limit.

Do I think the Philip's a genius?

I think that the definition that society gives,

the IQ test says yes.

I think whether he will be a genius

or not will be if he uses and utilizes

the intellect and the abilities that he has to help mankind.

Then, I think he would be a genius.

So what are we gonna go see today?

Well, Hall of Life, the Science of Sports, and--

ROBERT STACK: People used to believe genius

was the rarest of gifts, but children like Philip

can crop up anywhere.

The danger is that the talents of these special kids

often go unrecognized.

Experts tell us that even children

with learning disabilities may be hidden geniuses.

If your child seems smarter or more talented than average,

he or she should be tested.

Who knows.

You may be nurturing the next Einstein.

When we return, an unexpected death

splits a young family apart.

Perhaps someone watching can bring them together again.

ROBERT STACK: Michelle Arkin was 16 when she almost

discovered the family secret.

Her mother Laverne had to improvise in order

to preserve it a while longer.

How'd it go?

I didn't get the job.

The personnel officer said that my birth certificate was phony.

Phony?

What do you mean?

He said that it had been amended.

Oh, that's baloney.

I don't know what they're talking about.

There is nothing wrong with your birth certificate.

MICHELLE ARKIN: They just said that my birth certificate

wasn't legal, that they had things on there that shouldn't

be, and I was very shocked.

I mean, as far as I knew, that was my birth certificate.

That was what I grew up with. That was correct.

Get a job at another store, OK?

OK.

Cheer up.

ROBERT STACK: Laverne Neal had dreaded this moment for years.

Michelle was not her biological child.

To tell, or not to tell?

And if you tell, when?

Like thousands of couples who adopt,

Laverne Neal and her husband Wilburn

confronted these difficult questions.

There are no right or wrong answers.

However, parents who decide against revealing the facts

will almost certainly face years of fancy footwork

to keep their secret secret.

Laverne and Wilburn Neal will always

remember the day in September of 1965

when they first set eyes on Michelle.

The Neals had been married for four years.

They were eager to start a family,

but had been unsuccessful.

Hi, Wilburn.

Hi, Raleigh.

Nice to see you, Laverne.

Come in.

ROBERT STACK: Out of the blue, their friends

Raleigh and Juanita Gore had offered the Neals

a chance to adopt a baby girl.

Oh, she's beautiful.

ROBERT STACK: The child's mother, a friend of the Gores,

was unable to care for the infant herself.

She had entrusted Raleigh and Juanita

with finding a loving home.

She's gorgeous.

WILBURN NEAL: I loved her, right off--

I didn't hesitate.

I didn't have no doubts.

We just looked at each other and said, what do

we know about raising a baby?

And neither one of us did.

And so she said, we can learn fast.

ROBERT STACK: For Wilburn and Laverne,

Michelle was a dream come true.

Two weeks went by.

Then Patricia Bonner, Michelle's birth mother, called.

She wanted to see her baby.

LAVERNE NEAL: I knew that Pat was Michelle's mother.

And if she wanted to keep her, even though it'd

break my heart, I knew, you know,

I'd have no choice but to let her.

ROBERT STACK: Patricia Bonner had been widowed while she

was pregnant with Michelle.

She already had three young children to raise by herself,

so she had reluctantly given up Michelle for adoption.

Pat, are you sure you want to do this?

Well, I just don't know what else to do.

It'd be different if Johnny was still here,

but I can't afford to put shoes on my three children now.

I can barely feed them.

How am I going to keep her?

Well, maybe things will get better and--

I know you and Wilburn will give her

a good home and care for her.

Can I just hold her one more time, please?

Of course.

LAVERNE NEAL: I knew that lady had to be hurting bad.

And I hurt for her, because I knew.

I could feel how she was hurting.

There's a couple of other things, Pat.

We'd like to draw up some papers to make the adoption legal.

That'll be no problem.

ROBERT STACK: But when the Neals returned two weeks later,

Patricia Bonner and her children were gone.

Would you go inside and get the bag, please?

LAVERNE NEAL: The apartment was empty.

She had moved, and she left no forwarding address.

Nobody knew where she went.

ROBERT STACK: The absence of formal adoption papers

didn't prevent Michelle from enjoying a typical childhood.

By the age of five, she had a brother named Steven--

the Neals' biological child.

Michelle's background was never discussed.

WILBURN NEAL: Me and Laverne, we talked about it many a times.

Should we go ahead and tell her?

We figured Michelle would feel like she was left

out, she wouldn't be equal to Steven,

if she's not belonged to us.

And we just decided it would be better

to wait till she was older.

ROBERT STACK: The family secret was safe--

for a while.

When Michelle began school, the Neals had

to submit a birth certificate.

With the help of a relative in Kentucky,

they obtained this one listing themselves as Michelle's

biological parents.

By the time Michelle entered high school,

the family secret had started to fray.

Michelle began to ask her parents

if she had been adopted.

The answer was always no.

I don't know what he's talking about.

There's nothing wrong with your birth certificate.

LAVERNE NEAL: I felt very bad, because I never did like to say

anything that wasn't true.

And here I was doing just the opposite of what

I was teaching my children.

And it really bothered.

It hurt me quite bad.

ROBERT STACK: Finally, the burden became too heavy

for Michelle's parents.

Michelle, come in here, please.

ROBERT STACK: Finally, they were ready to talk .

We have to talk.

I know, I'm late.

I'm sorry. It won't happen again.

No, it's not about that, Michelle.

Sit down, please.

WILBURN NEAL: She said, I've heard from too many sources

that I was adopted.

And she said, you got to tell me the truth.

And so I told her the truth about it.

You see, you are sort of adopted.

What do you mean, "sort of adopted"?

You remember Raleigh and Juanita?

You remember us talking about them?

MICHELLE ARKIN: I felt that they had betrayed me,

only because they've always told me

the truth when I've asked it.

Mom, is this true?

MICHELLE ARKIN: It was always, bottom line, this

is the way it is.

And I just felt that they lied to me.

That's why I was so upset.

We didn't want to hurt you.

We wanted to do what was right.

So you just let me live my entire life as a lie?

Michelle--

Don't touch me!

I moved out two weeks later, I got an apartment

with my girlfriend, which--

my girlfriend, they could not stand,

so maybe that was a little bit more

of a rebellious act on my part.

But I mean, eventually, I came around.

I came back to Mom and Dad.

ROBERT STACK: Today, Michelle is herself a parent--

the mother of a boy and a girl.

With her parents' blessing, Michelle

has begun to search for her birth mother and the three

siblings she has never met.

Hi.

Is there a Patricia Leslie Bonner there?

No?

How about a Vincent?

Can I just hold her one more time, please?

Of course.

MICHELLE ARKIN: I can understand what she did back then.

I would just feel better just knowing where I

came from, about my relatives--

you know, just simple basic questions any person

would have.

ROBERT STACK: In a moment, we'll come back to Seattle

to investigate the tragic murder of rock

and roll singer Mia Zapata.

Since 1991, the hottest spot in rock and roll

has been Seattle, Washington.

Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains

all came out of the local music scene.

Many people thought the next breakthrough band would

be that Gits, a punk rock group founded

by Mia Zapata, a charismatic 27-year-old

with a tragic destiny.

[MUSIC - THE GITS, "SECOND SKIN"]

MATT DRESDNER: I went through many shows

where afterwards, people didn't even know I was up on stage,

because their eyes were so transfixed on Mia.

[MUSIC - THE GITS, "SECOND SKIN"]

ANDY KESSLER: She was someone who had something to say.

And she was a very, very compassionate and big-hearted

person, and she brought that into the band.

ROBERT STACK: But on July 7, 1993,

the good times were abruptly snuffed out.

Around 2:00 AM, Mia Zapata left a friend's apartment.

An hour later, her body was found

two miles away, reportedly laying face up

in an almost Christlike pose.

Mia had been beaten and strangled.

Mia Zapata's death sent shockwaves

through the tight-knit music community here in Seattle.

Why had this promising and popular

young singer been killed?

Was it an obsessed fan, a jealous enemy,

or a complete stranger?

In an eerie coincidence, Mia alluded

to her own violent death in one of the last songs she recorded.

The haunting lyrics spoke of someone slashing her

and hinted that that someone might never be found.

You might say Mia Zapata was born to be a star.

She grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, the daughter

of two television executives.

After high school, Mia went on to Antioch College in Ohio.

There, she met the other three members of the Gits.

After five years together, the Gits were attracting interest

from major record companies.

Their first full-scale US tour was in the works,

and Mia had a new look.

For the little girl from Louisville,

it was like a dream come true.

RICHARD ZAPATA: I don't think I can ever remember

my daughter looking so satisfied, so content,

so at ease with herself.

It was all coming together.

ROBERT STACK: July 6th, 1993.

The evening began at one of Mia's favorite bars.

She met friends there about 10.

Mia was in town only briefly.

She and the Gits had been on the road for three weeks,

and the tour was starting in a matter of days.

When Mia left the Comet Tavern, she

walked a block east up Pike Street

to a local rehearsal studio.

She then visited a friend who lived in an apartment

three floors up in the same building.

About 2:00 AM, Mia left, telling her friends.

she planned to take a cab home.

I'm going to just go get a cab.

LEIGH HEARON: She could have gone anywhere from there.

She could have gone out the front entrance,

gone down to the corner, and hailed a cab, as she told

her friend she was going to do.

Hey, Mia!

Oh, hi.

Hey, where you going?

ROBERT STACK: Because Mia didn't have a driver's license,

she took taxis often and knew many of the local cabbies.

You don't need any money.

Come on, hop in.

ROBERT STACK: This led police and private investigator Leigh

Hearon to one of their first scenarios.

Perhaps Mia was murdered by a cab driver.

LEIGH HEARON: Mia did not have difficulty

expressing her opinion.

And sometimes, this got her into trouble,

and other people liked it.

She could have said something to a cab driver

that she knew that just made that person angry that night.

ROBERT STACK: Significantly, no cabbie reported picking Mia up

that night.

About the same time the bars were closing

and some of her friends are hailing cabs of their own,

no one saw Mia.

Scenario number two.

LEIGH HEARON: She also could have gone

into the opposite direction.

A friend had asked her to spend the night.

She lived about five blocks away.

She could have gone down 11th, past a reservoir,

and something could have occurred there.

[screaming]

ROBERT STACK: In fact, something did occur.

Whether it had anything to do with Mia Zapata's death

remains a mystery.

LEIGH HEARON: One of the early clues

that the police received was from a man who

had heard a scream, a terrifying scream, that night.

He was so distraught by it that he actually rushed

to see what was going on.

But he saw nothing.

He lived, however, very close to the reservoir on 11th

where Mia could have gone if she had gone to visit her friend.

ROBERT STACK: Scenario number three.

Perhaps Mia never left the building

where she was last seen.

The next day, one of Mia's friends stopped by the studio

there and discovered a Gits demo tape

and Mia's personal microphone.

LEIGH HEARON: This is something that she would have been

carrying on her at all times.

We don't know whether she left it there after the practice

that night, or whether she went back to the studio

after visiting her friend, something happened there,

and this was simply left.

ROBERT STACK: Mia's body was found about two miles

from the studio, and about three miles from the street

where the man heard screams.

Despite a thorough search of the area,

police found little forensic evidence.

TOM PIKE: This particular investigation

has been difficult, because we're faced with a situation

where we don't know where the actual crime scene was

where the murder took place.

We obviously only know where we found Mia at, which

we don't believe is the same.

MIA ZAPATA: (SINGING) Had a dream

last night that I was dead.

ROBERT STACK: Without a crime scene or witnesses,

leads quickly faded.

However, the pain of Mia's death did not.

STEVE MORIARTY: People really were mad.

They were angered.

They were hurt.

They were shocked.

They were pissed off.

And people wanted justice, and people wanted

to know what had happened.

ROBERT STACK: As a police investigation stalled,

the remaining Gits decided they needed a private investigator

and hired Leigh Hearon.

To raise the necessary funds, they staged benefit concerts.

The response was overwhelming.

Seattle's best musicians took up the cause, including Nirvana--

in one of Kurt Cobain's final performances-- and rocker

Joan Jett.

In their first collaboration, Jett

performed Mia's songs with the Gits

for a special benefit recording.

JOAN JETT: I want more than anything for them

to be able to find out what happened so there can be

some resolution for everybody, because everyone's

been working real hard trying to find this person who did this.

ROBERT STACK: Who killed Mia Zapata, and why?

The police believe it was a random murder.

Investigator Leigh Hearon believes otherwise.

She is convinced that Mia knew her killer--

and that the killer may not have acted alone.

LEIGH HEARON: I think it's entirely likely

that a second person was involved

in transporting Mia's body, if not in the actual homicide.

I base this on the fact that his body was found with her arms

out and her legs crossed, as if two people had been

carrying her and laid her down.

Also, she had been beaten in the course of her attack,

but her face was not touched.

And I believe that this is more the modus operandi of somebody

who knows a person and does not want to attack their face

but attacks their body.

MIA ZAPATA: (SINGING) With the passion of life I have left,

I'm going to use it to sacrifice myself.

STEVE MORIARTY: I just remembered the look

on her face of content and of accomplishment

that last day we finished the tour and how happy she was

and how she was smiling.

She smiled at me with a look of real sense of accomplishment,

and like we had a future.

ROBERT STACK: The surviving Gits have gone on with their music,

forming a new band, the Dancing French Liberals of '48.

It is, they believe, what Mia would have wanted.

But it will never be the same.

MATT DRESDNER: Playing music without Mia is very difficult.

The chemistry that we shared as a band--

having that gone forever is a hard reality to face every day.

[MUSIC - THE GITS, "BOB (COUSIN O.)"]

MATT DRESDNER: I remember her as a best friend and a sister--

one of the warmest, most caring I've ever met in my life.

Join me next Friday for another intriguing edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]