Original subtitles

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Tonight on "Unsolved Mysteries."

ROBERT STACK: The images are now seared

into the national conscience, the Federal

Building in Oklahoma City ripped in half

by a powerful, homemade bomb.

But even here, the terror was tempered

by quiet acts of courage.

Tonight, the harrowing account of one survivor

who found himself trapped in the destruction

face-to-face with death.

When all seemed lost, two anonymous heroes

emerged from the rubble to carry him to safety.

Today, all that remains of the Federal Building

is the vacant lot behind me.

They've come here today to pay tribute, both to those who died

and to those who risked their own lives in the rescue effort.

Join me for this moving profile, as well

as these fascinating stories.

Best-selling author, James Ellroy,

is renowned for his brooding, seductive crime novels.

But since childhood, Ellroy has been

haunted by the dark memory of his own mother's brutal murder.

Travel with Ellroy as he revisits the Los Angeles

of his youth in a final attempt to solve

this most personal mystery.

In South Carolina, a brazen hold-up leads

to a standoff with a police.

And a volunteer Officer is cut down in a hail of gunfire.

Now the man convicted of killing him has escaped from prison.

Since 1993, the apparent suicide of Vince Foster,

one of President Clinton's most trusted advisers,

has been a flash point of controversy.

Some researchers believe that a suicide

note found in Foster's briefcase is, in fact, a clever forgery.

Stay with us for a dramatic and compelling hour

highlighted by our special report from Oklahoma City.

Perhaps, you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[explosion]

[music playing]

MAN (OVER RADIO): We've got a lot of people here.

We need to get this [inaudible].

[sirens wailing]

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: The smoke and sirens have faded.

But part of Oklahoma City still has the feel of a war zone.

The Federal Building, once humming

with activity and purpose, stood at this very spot.

It is hallowed ground, the scene of cruel tragedy

and remarkable heroism.

Tonight, perhaps, you can help one survivor of the blast

find the two men who risked everything to save his life.

The morning of the bombing began as a picture of normalcy.

Duane Miller, married and the father of three,

pulled into a federal building parking lot at around 8:52.

He planned a quick stop, just long enough

to pick up some papers at the credit union.

Hi, I'm Duane Miller.

I called yesterday about some documents.

Hello, Mr. Miller.

Uh, yes, hold on.

ROBERT STACK: 9:00 AM, business as usual,

deposits, loan applications, paperwork.

Debbie, could you check in the back for me for some documents?

DUANE MILLER: When I walked through the door

into the credit union I should not have been in that building

more than five minutes.

And I picked the wrong five minutes.

Andrea, you might check at your desk too.

ROBERT STACK: 9:01, 80 feet away in front of the building,

the bomb was in place, the detonator set.

9:02--

[explosion]

DUANE MILLER: All of the sudden, I

felt a huge blast of air come through the door

that I was standing by.

And it instantly just got-- it got the blackest

black you can imagine.

And I-- and I'm flying through the air.

[sirens wailing]

I heard one lady scream.

I could just hear her.

She had to be in the credit union where I was.

I just heard a scream that maybe lasted a second.

I was here at home when it went off.

And our house just shook.

I mean, we actually heard it.

It shook the windows.

And the noise-- I went outside.

I thought a plane had crashed nearby.

But I was not concerned about him

until someone contacted me and said

that he had been seen going into the building

and getting on the elevator.

Then I got scared.

[sirens wailing]

ROBERT STACK: Most of those in the credit union with Duane

were crushed by tons of concrete.

Duane plummeted two floors and was

thrown into a part of the building

that was still standing.

[music playing]

Duane found himself dangling some 10 feet

above a sea of broken walls, twisted pipes,

and splintered furniture.

His legs were trapped in a tangle of wires.

[struggling]

DUANE MILLER: I'm assuming they're electrical wire.

And to tell you the truth, I thought, if I grab that stuff,

I'd get electrocuted.

And I thought, you know, big deal.

I'm going to die if I don't get out of here anyway.

And so I just started grabbing from wire and took my chances.

[gasping]

[struggling]

I realized that I couldn't see out of my right eye.

And I actually reached up with my hand to see

if my eyeball was still there.

And it was.

I just white my eye like that.

And it was-- my whole side of my face

was just covered with blood, evidently.

Because when I do that, I can see out of that eye.

I want to get out of that building.

And I look around.

And I see an opening in the wall.

And that's the only opening I see.

That's the only way I see out of that place.

[gasps]

ROBERT STACK: Safety was a mere 50 feet away.

But Duane's legs were useless.

Virtually every ligament in his knees had snapped.

If Duane was to get out, he would have to drag

himself every inch of the way.

DUANE MILLER: I could hear the building creaking.

It was just creaking.

There was dust and concrete that was flying

off of the support pillars.

And was like the support pillars were just, um, uh, vibrating.

And then-- and I thought the whole building

was going to fall in.

[groaning]

ROBERT STACK: The building shifted and groaned.

The sound of falling rubble was everywhere.

DUANE MILLER: I went as far as I could go.

And when I stopped, I looked up at that hole in the wall.

And I could see two men come through that hole.

I think I see somebody!

Don't move.

We're coming over to you, OK?

DUANE MILLER: When they came in that building,

there were still things falling.

And that, uh, any one of them hit those guys

and they're dead.

And, um, when I saw them, I knew I

was coming out of there alive.

And that's a fact.

Hold on.

[groaning]

We run a daycare center.

ROBERT STACK: Duane's guardian angels

lifted him from the wreckage and carried him towards the light.

Real slow, real slow.

[groaning]

All right, there you go. There you go.

You going to be OK?

Yeah, yeah.

I'm-- I'm OK.

OK.

Let's get out of here.

Let's go back inside.

DUANE MILLER: They got me out of there.

And when they got me out, they turned around

went right back in there.

[sirens wailing]

ROBERT STACK: In the streets, pandemonium.

Victims far outnumbered ambulances.

Only the most critically injured could be rushed from the scene.

Duane and hundreds of others, bloodied but stable,

were later evacuated en mass in buses.

Duane, tell me if any of these areas are tender, OK?

OK.

ROBERT STACK: Dwayne was in the hospital for two weeks.

He still faces years of corrective surgery

and the certain knowledge that he will

never again walk without pain.

What's the worst, chair, getting in and out of the car?

Yeah.

OK.

All right, let me have you lie down.

And we'll, uh--

DUANE MILLER: I feel like I'm real lucky.

I think I'm so fortunate to have come out of that thing alive.

Because there were so many that were there

where I was in that building that

aren't here to complain about the shape they're in, you know?

When that bomb went off, there were

people I could have reached out and touched

that didn't survive.

And I did.

ROBERT STACK: For nearly a year until we filmed this story,

Duane Miller avoided the sight of the Federal Building.

To him, this is a place of unmitigated horror.

[music playing]

DUANE MILLER: I think an evil thing

happened there, just so stupid.

I just-- you know, I can't, in my mind, comprehend why

anybody would do that, would-- would

destroy so many people's lives.

For what reason, I don't know.

Because they've-- they've accomplished nothing other than

cause here in Oklahoma City thousands and thousands

of people to, uh, go-- you know, go through a horrible thing.

And it's just crazy.

ROBERT STACK: If this barren patch of earth

does have one saving grace for Duane Miller,

it is a memory of the brave men who came to his rescue.

[music playing]

You'll be OK, all right?

We're going to help you.

Can you walk?

DUANE MILLER: They could have been killed real easily.

But they saw me.

And they didn't hesitate one second.

They came right over to me and got me out of there.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: When we return, a convicted cop killer engineers

a daring prison break.

Also, Keely Shaye Smith joins us with the latest

news from the phone center.

And later, the death of Vince Foster,

a trusted presidential adviser, sparks political intrigue.

[music playing]

Through the years, your calls have helped

solve more than 230 mysteries.

Tonight's update features another case closed

thanks to you, our viewers.

This is Michelle Neal-Arkin.

Of Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

For more than a decade, Michelle has been

searching for her birth mother.

Michelle was raised by Laverne and Wilbur Neal.

Though they loved her as their own,

Michelle always suspected she was adopted.

Michelle was 18 when she learned the truth about her past.

Michele's birth mother was a woman named Patricia Bonner.

Michelle's father had died in 1965

before Michelle was even born.

Patricia found herself unable to raised four children alone.

So she reluctantly gave Michelle to the Neals.

I know you and Wilbur will give her

a good home and care for her.

Can I just hold her one more time, please?

Uh, of course.

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

I would just feel better just knowing where I came from,

what my relatives, what-- you know,

just simple, basic questions that any person would have.

ROBERT STACK: With the blessing of her adoptive parents,

Michelle began the search, a search

that ended the very night of our broadcast.

Here's Keely Shaye Smith with the details.

Bob, we were still on the air when Michelle's half sister,

Sandra, called us here at the phone center

to tell us that Michelle's mother, Patricia Bonner,

was alive, well and living in Chicago.

In fact, she lived just 10 miles from Michelle.

Within an hour, mother and daughter

were talking on the phone.

It was a moment Patricia Bonner will never forget.

I could not believe it until I heard her voice.

And she told me she was Michelle.

And, uh, it was just-- you don't know the feeling I had.

KEELY SHAYE SMITH: The following weekend

at a hotel in Chicago, Patricia waited anxiously

with her children for the arrival

of Michelle and her family.

Finally, after 30 years, she and Michelle came face to face.

I love you.

[crying]

MICHELLE ARKIN: I was really happy that she

was so happy to see me.

Because that was one fear I had, that she

wouldn't care, you know, that I was doing this all for nothing.

But the fact that she was looking for me

and I was looking for her just is unbelievable.

Do you want to meet your older brother, John?

Yes, the one I've been talking to?

Yes.

Well, hello.

KEELY SHAYE SMITH: Michelle was astonished

to learn that, in addition to her long lost

brother and sisters, she also had two half brothers

and a half sister.

MICHELLE ARKIN: I had no clue that I would ever have

so many brothers and sisters.

And the resemblance in my kids, you know, to them is--

it's unreal.

It's shocking.

KEELY SHAYE SMITH: Michelle's adoptive parents were also

present, thrilled at their daughter's search

was finally over and that the two families were now one.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: Greenville, South Carolina, the night

before Thanksgiving, 1985.

- How's it look? - We're going to do this one.

Let's go.

I can't believe you brought that kid.

Don't worry about Rich.

He'll carry his weight.

ROBERT STACK: Most thieves might not consider a busy grocery

store a good place to rob.

But this night, throngs of holiday shoppers

guaranteed an abundance of cash.

The first man inside was Rusty Corvette,

a convicted racketeer.

The mastermind was Sam Wodke, an armed robber out on parole.

The young man waiting nervously in the car

was Wodke's 19-year-old son, Richard.

[music playing]

[register beeping]

I have to write this in here right now or I'll forget.

Is your video section still open?

I've got to get a tape.

CAROL GOLDSMITH: I turned around.

And I looked over.

And that's when I saw a man wearing a ski mask

and holding a gun.

Wait a minute.

You're not going anywhere.

Everybody hit the floor!

Do it, face down, now!

CAROL GOLDSMITH: I was close enough to see

the color of his eyes.

And I thought, he doesn't care that I can recognize him.

That was the scariest thing of all.

Because I thought, if he doesn't care,

what's going to happen here?

Come on.

Let's go.

Move! Come on!

Come on! Come on!

Move to the back of the store! Go!

Go! Go!

Move!

Very cool, all the way back to the store.

All the way back!

Everybody, move back to the store!

Everybody, I said back.

What do you think, we're kidding?

[gun shot]

Been a pleasure.

Rich.

Woo, we did it!

ROBERT STACK: The take was almost $8,000.

But the robbers didn't get away clean.

Two store employees caught the make and license

plate number of the car.

A man in a gray Cutlass had just turned off

of Rutherford Road on the 291.

There are at least two subjects in the car.

PARKS EVANS: I advised the other cars that were around me.

A road block is what we were trying to do and, you know,

be able to stop him, get him out of the car,

and arrest him without, hopefully, any instance

of injury occurring.

ROBERT STACK: Within minutes, other units

were converging on the robbers.

Charlie 29, uh, I'm heading north on Piney Mountain.

ROBERT STACK: Officer Dennis Eubanks and a volunteer

constable, Valdon Keith, moved in from the opposite direction.

Heading right to us.

[sirens blaring]

ROBERT STACK: Eubanks and Keith swung around, managing

to get ahead of the chase.

He's coming in right behind you.

ROBERT STACK: Before they could set up a road block,

the robbers were on top of them.

[sirens blaring]

Hit it.

Let's get around them.

If-- Sam, let's run!

Sam, let's hit it.

Get around them!

[gun shots]

[sirens blaring]

ROBERT STACK: Backup arrived far too late.

Volunteer Valdon Keith, 46 years old, a father of four,

was dead.

Within 48 hours, police had arrested all three suspects.

Sam Wodke, charged with first-degree murder,

was facing the death penalty.

I wrote it all down for you, everything you need to say.

Here, take it.

Come on.

Wodke, take it.

ROBERT STACK: In jail, Wodke talked

Rusty Corvette into another cold-blooded scheme.

They would both finger Wodke's son as the trigger man.

We're going to make Rich look like one geared up cowboy.

JOE WATSON: It was like it was a game to him.

He acted like this ultimate story he was going to tell

was the truth of the matter.

You know, I mean, he was plotting

to put his own son in the electric chair

is what he was doing.

ROBERT STACK: Nevertheless, Sam Wodke paraded his innocent act

to the media, sporting a dapper mustache

and a cavalier attitude.

REPORTER: Sam, what are you thinking so far?

Fantastic.

REPORTER: Yeah?

I truly believe in the judicial system.

It's really impressed me a lot the way things are going.

ROBERT STACK: In the end, Wodke was convicted of murder,

primarily because his son and Rusty Corvette

testified against him.

Wodke had, however, created just enough

doubt to get a life sentence instead of the death penalty.

LT. WILLIAM HITCHINS: We were leaving the courthouse.

And he grinned at me.

And he said, you know, he said, life isn't nothing.

He said, you know, I'm going to get out.

He was very confident about it.

ROBERT STACK: It took almost eight years

and several botched escape attempts,

but Wodke eventually made good on his boast.

[sawing]

On January 8th, 1994, Wodke and another inmate, Danny Lail,

were assigned to an unsupervised landscaping

detail on the prison grounds.

Because it was Saturday, there would be no midday headcount.

Got it!

Let's do it.

ROBERT STACK: The convicts used a stolen hacksaw blade

with a homemade handle to gain access

to an underground maintenance tunnel.

Wodke and Lail had to slice through three wire gates,

a steel door, and the rebar sandwiched

between two wire mesh gates.

22 hard cuts in all and only eight hours

before the evening head count.

[sawing]

[grunting]

SR. AGENT WILLIAM E. SHAEKEL: I imagine the adrenaline

was pumping, and nervous.

Every sound they hear, they figured,

there's going to be a guard coming to get them.

ROBERT STACK: By 4:30, Wodke and Lail

had made it to the boiler room.

Dale.

Hey, Dale!

What are you doing down here?

Are you going to get me the keys to that truck?

Or am I going to have to get them myself?

I told you not to come down here doing my shift, Wodke!

ROBERT STACK: The trustees working

there didn't want to get caught helping the escapees.

Sam, we got 15 minutes!

ROBERT STACK: But they weren't about to get in the way.

Get some rope, so we can hog tie ourselves.

ROBERT STACK: With barely 15 minutes to spare,

Wodke and Lail drove a prison truck through the main gate

and disappeared.

Police caught up with Lail less than a month later.

Wodke, however, is still at large.

JOE WATSON: Sam Wodke is in a category by himself.

He is, I believe, very psychopathic.

But it's not that he enjoys killing.

But he'll do it an instant.

He'll-- he will do anything it takes to preserve him.

And he won't hesitate.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: Coming up, best-selling crime novelist,

James Ellroy, embarks on a painful personal investigation

to unravel the mystery of his mother's murder.

But first, a team of handwriting experts

reaches a stunning and controversial conclusion

about the suicide note of White House adviser, Vince Foster.

[music playing]

Our next story concerns the controversial suicide

of a high-powered Washington attorney.

It threatens to become one of the biggest

political scandals of our time.

It began with a somber announcement

and remains, for many, an unsolved mystery.

I have just met with the White House staff

to basically talk with them a little bit

about the death of my friend of 42 years, Vince Foster.

ROBERT STACK: On July 20th, 1993,

the country was shocked by the unexpected death

of 48-year-old Vincent W. Foster, White

House Deputy Counsel and close personal confidant

of the Clintons.

Foster was found dead in Fort Marcy Park across the Potomac

River from Washington.

He had been shot once in the head.

The wound was apparently self-inflicted.

At the time of his death, Vince Foster

had become a central figure in a growing Whitewater scandal.

Two separate investigations by the United States Park Police

and by the FBI for independent counsel, Robert Fisk,

concluded that Foster had, indeed, taken his own life.

Perhaps inevitably in a case with serious political

ramifications, there were serious doubts

concerning Foster's suicide.

Some of the most controversial reports

were published in the conservative "Pittsburgh

Tribune Review."

CHRISTOPHER RUDDY: Vince Foster was the highest

federal official to die under suspicious circumstances

since the death of President Kennedy.

I don't push a non-suicide theory.

I have never said Vince Foster was murdered.

I have said that police are trained to treat every suicide,

no matter how apparently, as a homicide,

as a murder first, until the facts prove otherwise.

What is clear in this case is that police

procedure was never followed.

ROBERT STACK: For Christopher Ruddy and many others,

one of the keys to this case is an unsigned

suicide note allegedly written by Vince Foster.

This is a copy of the reconstructed note,

which when found, had been ripped into 28 pieces.

It read, in part--

VINCENT FOSTER (VOICEOVER): I made mistakes from ignorance,

inexperience, and overwork.

I did not knowingly violate any law or standard of conduct.

No one in the White House, to my knowledge,

violated any law or standard of conduct.

I was not meant for the job or the spotlight

of public life in Washington.

Here, ruining people is considered sport.

ROBERT STACK: The shredded note was found in Foster's briefcase

four days after his death.

Curiously, White House counsel, Bernard Nussbaum,

had earlier inspected the contents of the briefcase,

but didn't find the note.

This led to widespread skepticism concerning

the document's authenticity.

On October 25th, 1995, a team of well-known handwriting experts

held a press conference in Washington.

They had been hired by the editor

of an independent financial newsletter.

Each of the experts had examined a photocopy

of the alleged suicide note and concluded

that it was a forgery.

The death of Vince Foster was suddenly

cast in a whole new light.

If the note was forged, was it part of a cover-up

by the Clinton Administration?

Or was it evidence that Vince Foster had been murdered?

Is there any substance to the claim that the suicide

note was forged?

The experts believe that the forger studied an existing

document handwritten by Vince Foster

and then copied his writing style letter by letter.

To examine this remarkable claim,

we invited the experts to meet with us in Boston.

Blow-ups of both the suicide note

and several random known samples of Foster's writing

were provided.

Then we asked the experts to show us exactly what

led them to their conclusions.

We have known four. We have the enlargement.

ROBERT STACK: For purposes of the demonstration,

the suicide note is labeled Q1 and referred

to as the questioned document.

The known samples or label K1 through K12.

Ronald Rice, a handwriting examiner

who has worked for the state of Massachusetts

is convinced that the note was forged.

If we compare the formation on the cursive capital I

here on the questioned document to the formation of the capital

I here on the known document authored by Mr. Foster,

we can plainly see it is not the same.

With an entirely different letter formation.

One, two, three strokes--

ROBERT STACK: Rice went on to describe other discrepancies.

For example, in the suicide note, the letter O is open.

By contrast, in the known samples, it is close.

In addition, Rice claims that the letter B In the note

was made with at least four strokes of the pen.

In the known sample, he says the letter was written

with one continuous stroke.

You can plainly see the weakness--

ROBERT STACK: Rice says he discovered

numerous discrepancies, which prove

to him that the suicide note was not written by Vince Foster.

RONALD RICE: My study and examination

in excess of 40 hours I had spent

on this concluded that this was a document that

was very skeptical.

And it was my opinion that it was a forgery.

ROBERT STACK: Many handwriting analysts

would say that Foster's writing was typified by u-shape strokes

known as swags.

Action, another N--

ROBERT STACK: Reginald Alton of Oxford University in England

believes the forger had a difficult time imitating

Foster's graceful style.

When Foster writes Clinton's, the I-N

is an elegant double swag.

When the forger writes Clinton's, we

find the strokes are not easy and elegant

and not really on form at all.

There were an inordinate amount of hesitation

dots found in the document.

ROBERT STACK: Hesitation dots are

small blobs of ink left where the pen and starts or stops.

Anthony Iantosca believes the presence

of so many dots indicates that the suicide note was

deliberately and painstakingly copied, rather

than written in a normal hand.

ANTHONY IANTOSCA: We take a look at the capital letter N.

You'll see four distinct hesitation

dots starting at the top where the pen comes

in contact with the paper.

It stops.

He comes down.

And it stops at the bottom.

He comes back up and retraces.

He comes back down again.

You see a third hesitation dot.

He stops.

He comes back up.

And you'll see a heavy concentration of ink

right here for the fourth hesitation dot.

And more neatly written.

ROBERT STACK: Retired homicide investigator, Vincent Scalice

is a certified document examiner.

He points to the fact that the words beginning

with the letters T-H, whether the T is

capitalized or lowercase, are much more

crudely written in the suicide note than in the known samples.

But can the differences be explained,

perhaps, by stress, the stress of a man about to kill himself?

These experts give no credence to the argument.

VINCENT SCALICE: Your handwriting

would not change because you were under that type of stress.

It might get a little sloppier.

It might get a little less clear.

But your style of writing normally would not change.

ROBERT STACK: Is it possible that the experts are right?

Could the suicide note of one of President

Clinton's most trusted advisers had been forged?

The implications are staggering, but only

if these particular experts are correct.

And at least one other expert says, they are not.

MARCEL MATLEY: There's nothing in the questioned document that

would support any finding of forgery.

And the things that are brought forth,

the apparent fragmentation in those things,

are explained by the fact that we have a deteriorated copy

and the fact that the man was under some emotional stress

at the time.

ROBERT STACK: Marcel Matley is convinced

that the other experts are wrong and has

provided his own demonstration to prove it.

Again, Q1 on the left side represents the suicide note.

A1 through K11 on the right side represent the known samples.

The first is the word "the."

We have three "the's" from the suicide note, three

from the first known sample.

You cannot tell the difference in these words.

The only thing that, uh, that might be a difference

is here where it's deteriorated.

This is from the photo copy that's been copied too often.

The loop is gone and the stem is gone.

The second word to, we have four of them

in the questioned document, one of which is where the tear is,

so we can ignore it.

But you notice these three "to's" have

differences among them.

We go to K9 and K10, we get three more words, to.

We have the same difference.

The word Clinton was mentioned.

First, we do have a tear at the end of the word,

which we have to ignore.

But otherwise, the only notable difference is the final S.

But that doesn't make any difference.

Because in the suicide note, Foster used two styles of S.

In his known sample, he uses the same two styles of S.

So from comparing these words, the conclusion

is the same person wrote both writings.

ROBERT STACK: Did Vince Foster write the suicide note?

Are these the final thoughts of a man

overwhelmed by the cold realities

of politics in Washington?

Or as critics of the Clinton Administration contend,

is the note part of an elaborate cover-up?

In the end, there are still many, many questions

to be answered.

The ongoing investigations into both the Whitewater scandal

and Vince Foster's suicide will, in all likelihood,

continue for some time to come.

Given the explosive political nature of the case,

it is quite possible that we will

never know the entire story behind the death

of Vince Foster.

[music playing]

Next, crime writer, James Ellroy,

tackles his most haunting case, the unsolved murder

of his own mother.

[music playing]

It was the 19th century poet Lord

Byron who observed that truth is stranger than fiction.

170 years later, a bestselling crime novelist has pushed

that notion to the limit.

He has turned an unflinching eye to his own past

and to the unnamed killer who shaped his life.

[music playing]

JAMES ELLROY (READING BOOK): He knew the area.

And he knew that access road.

It was dark and quiet and semi-secluded.

It probably went bad right then right there.

He was living in that split second

that separates lust from rage.

He was thinking about sex.

He probably wasn't thinking about murder.

Listen.

ROBERT STACK: This brooding scenario was

penned by writer, James Ellroy.

His fitful tales of sexual obsession

and explosive violence consistently

top the bestseller list.

In 1995, Ellroy's book, "American Tabloid,"

was named novel of the year by "Time Magazine."

But few of Ellroy's readers know how much truth there

is just below the surface.

JAMES ELLROY (READING BOOK): The spark point could have

been words or a simple gesture.

The combustion occurred.

It flared out of control.

[woman screaming]

He hit her, and hit her, and hit her and strangled her.

ROBERT STACK: When James Ellroy was 10 years old,

his mother was beaten, raped and strangled.

Her semi-clothed body was left in a bed of ivy.

A strand of pearls lay pale and scattered in the street.

JAMES ELLROY: My mother's crime scene, to me,

is all crime scenes.

The crime scene, to me, is--

it's primal.

It's almost Oedipal.

The moment of the discovery of her body is, in many ways,

the moment of my birth.

Because it's the genesis of my detective's

obsessions with the murders that they,

ultimately, become consumed by.

ROBERT STACK: Like a character in one of his own novels,

James Ellroy has become entangled

in his mother's unsolved murder, obsessed

with tracking down her killer.

A widely-sought eyewitness known as the blonde woman

was never found.

Almost 40 years later, Ellroy believes the elusive blonde

is very likely still alive.

Perhaps, she is watching tonight.

Perhaps, she will finally come forward

and reveal the name of the killer who lashed

out in the summer of 1958.

James?

James, I'm home.

ROBERT STACK: Gene Ellroy, divorced, early 40s.

She was a staff nurse at a Los Angeles factory, lived

in the nearby town of El Monte.

It's your dinner.

Would you come in the kitchen?

ROBERT STACK: Gene had custody of 10-year-old James

during the week.

There you are.

How was school today?

OK.

ROBERT STACK: Every Saturday, James would take the bus

to stay with his father.

Your father's picking you up tomorrow.

ROBERT STACK: Sundays, James would return by cab.

The custody ritual ran like clockwork until the afternoon

of June 22nd, 1958.

JAMES ELLROY: The yard was full of policemen

in uniforms and plainclothesmen.

I wasn't afraid.

But I was anxious.

I was apprehensive.

Are you James Ellroy?

Yeah.

Son, your mother has been killed.

Where is your father?

What?

Where's your father, son?

JAMES ELLROY: I think people were surprised that I wasn't

more overtly emotional in the moment right

after I got the news that my mother had been murdered.

I think they expected me to cry, or carry on, or display

some kind of overt histrionics.

But I took the news internally.

ROBERT STACK: This picture of Ellroy

was snapped by a press photographer that day.

JAMES ELLROY: The die was cast for me on June 22nd, 1958.

After my mother's murder, all I wanted to read

were crime novels, novels of detection,

true crime books, and anything pertaining to violent crime

and psychosexual abhorrence.

At age 17, my father died.

I went from bad to worse.

I was no choirboy before that time.

But, boy, oh, boy, things got worse.

I drank, used drugs, broke into houses

and stole things, drove around in stolen cars,

shoplifted and did spurts of county jail time

from 1965 to 1977.

My life was going nowhere.

And I wanted a real life.

I hadn't been with a woman in years.

And I wanted to write.

I wanted to write dark, evil, well-defined,

perverted, powerful, compelling, crime fiction.

And I knew I wouldn't be able to do it as

long as I drank and used drugs.

ROBERT STACK: Ellroy sobered up and the words tumbled out.

His first novel was published in 1982.

10 more followed.

Seeping between the lines was a dark legacy of his own mother's

rape and murder.

It bubbled to the surface in "The Black Dahlia," Ellroy's

take on the infamous sex slaying of Elizabeth

Short, one of the most provocative unsolved murders

of the century.

Ellroy dedicated the book to his mother.

JAMES ELLROY: It's as if Elizabeth Short became

a stand-in for my mother.

I wanted to feel the horror of my mother's death.

And I used Elizabeth Short as a substitute.

ROBERT STACK: By 1994, James Ellroy

was ready for the real thing.

Detective William Stoner of the LA County Sheriff's Department

arranged for Ellroy to examine the official case file.

First of all, this is the sheriff's-- what we call--

murder book. DET.

SGT. BILL STONER: This was the first time I'd ever been asked

by a member of the family of the victim

to actually see the crime scene photographs.

And I was very hesitant to show those to him.

Because they're very graphic.

And so I warned him.

And if you wish, I'll go through there

and pull out the ones that I think you may not want to see.

No, thank you.

I'd-- I'd like to see them all.

OK.

ROBERT STACK: Physical evidence from the murder scene been

preserved in a paper bag, locked away

for more than three decades.

An important piece of evidence during the investigation.

ROBERT STACK: James Ellroy found himself in a nightmarish scene,

just the kind he might have dreamed up for a novel.

He held the nylon stocking used to strangle his mother.

He touched her silk dress, the one she was wearing that night

she was raped and murdered.

JAMES ELLROY: I started sweating.

I started shaking.

It was locked down, revved in, right on the edge

of shell shock, exploding.

It was truly an awe-inspiring moment.

ROBERT STACK: Then there was a face staring back at Ellroy

from the find, the suspected killer.

Because he was dark haired and olive complected,

he had become known as a swarthy man.

Several eyewitnesses saw him with Gene Ellroy

just hours before she was slain.

[music playing]

Ill be right with you.

Hi.

ROBERT STACK: Around 10:00 PM, Gene and the swarthy man

pulled into a local drive-in.

With Detective Stoner's help, Ellroy

tracked down the waitress who served the couple.

Would you like a menu tonight?

LAVONNE CHAMBERS: She had on this beautiful dress

and pearls around her neck.

Her hair was done beautifully.

That's what made me remember her so well, because she

was a beautiful woman.

And then she had this dress on that I had one like.

It meant she looked very prim and proper.

She was very pleasant.

And, um, anything for you, sir?

Just coffee.

LAVONNE CHAMBERS: He had no accent.

He didn't talk with any--

even a southern drawl.

He just talked very normally, like you expect

an average Californian to talk.

ROBERT STACK: Gene and the swarthy man

were next seen at an El Monte bar called the Desert Inn.

But now they had company.

She was a dishwater blonde, mid to late 30s.

No

One knows her name or how she fit into the evening's plans.

She apparently knew both Gene Ellroy and the suspect

and left the bar with them at around midnight.

By 2:15 AM, the blonde was out of the picture.

Gene Ellroy and the swarthy man returned to the drive-in.

Would you like a menu tonight?

LAVONNE CHAMBERS: This time, she was not

as neat and prim as she was when I waited on her the first time.

She looked like she had been necking or, you know,

fooling around some.

Because her dress and her hair was kind of messed up.

But, uh, they didn't seem overly friendly together.

Chili and coffee.

[laughing]

OK.

And, um, for you, sir?

LAVONNE CHAMBERS: And he wasn't saying anything.

He was just too quiet.

Coffee.

ROBERT STACK: Shortly before 3:00 AM, Gene and the suspect

left the drive-in.

Time was running out for Gene Ellroy.

[crickets chirping] DET.

SGT. BILL STONER: I think the swarthy man

decided that the evening wasn't over for him.

He, uh, either knew about a secluded location

or came up on it and, uh, stopped and forced

himself on Mrs. Ellroy.

Listen, I had a good time.

Just take me home.

[gasps]

I bought you drinks.

I bought you dinner.

You owe me!

I don't owe you anything.

[music playing]

The most important person from that evening,

if we could locate her, would be the blonde-headed

lady that joined Gene and the swarthy man at the Desert Inn.

Ooh, a dance floor.

You feel like dancing?

Sure.

JAMES ELLROY: The blonde woman knows who killed my mother.

The blonde woman knows the identity of the swarthy man.

The blonde has-- has told people.

There are people out there who know

elements of this case, who know names, who've heard the story.

And it's just a question of tapping into those people.

The elusive blonde woman, who would now be in her early 70s,

is considered a material witness in this case.

She is not in any way a suspect.

Gene Ellroy's former coworkers at Air Tech Dynamics

in Los Angeles may also be able to provide

useful leads or even point the way to the swarthy man.

[music playing]

JAMES ELLROY: If the swarthy man is alive,

I would like to bring him to justice.

If we identify the man and learn that he's dead,

I want to go back and trace this man's

roots back to his crib to find out why this event happened.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: On our next "Unsolved

Mysteries," but a violent storm swept

over Mary Clamser's house.

She never guessed that the turbulent skies would deliver

a miracle, one that has apparently cured

Mary of a debilitating disease.

Join me next time for another edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[music playing]