Original subtitles

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Tonight on "Unsolved Mysteries."

ROBERT STACK: It was a dark September morning

in Puerto Rico when a young man had a terrifying encounter

behind his house.

So begins the bizarre saga of a beast called chupacabras.

[music playing]

They say money doesn't grow on trees.

But occasionally, it does drop from the sky.

Just ask the young couple who found an unexpected treasure

in their backyard.

[music playing]

More than 30 years ago, a baby girl

was left at the doorstep of an orphanage in Vietnam.

Today, Kim Shad is an American citizen.

And she needs your help to find the two childhood

friends she loved as sisters.

[music playing]

In life, tobacco heiress, Doris Duke,

was celebrated for her extravagance

and envied for her billion dollar fortune.

In death, Duke's memory has been eclipsed

by a simmering controversy over control of her estate,

an improbable tale of intrigue, deception,

and some say, murder.

[music playing]

Also, you'll see how a woman's search

for her long-lost foster son culminated in not one

but two heartwarming reunions.

Join me for another edition of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[explosion]

[music playing]

I want you to understand that I have no family.

ROBERT STACK: March 4th, 1933, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,

Los Angeles, California.

There have been many, many years since I was divorced.

ROBERT STACK: 80-year-old, Doris Duke,

prepares to change the terms of her will.

But hers is not just any will.

Doris Duke is one of the wealthiest women in America,

worth more than $1.2 billion.

I did have a child.

ROBERT STACK: Waiting in the wings

was a person who arguably stood to gain the most, Doris Duke's

butler, Bernard Lafferty.

Within a year, Duke would be dead, the bulk of her fortune

left to charity.

I had a little girl.

ROBERT STACK: But as sold individually

executor of the estate, Bernard Lafferty was given

considerable financial control.

In addition to an executor fee estimated

to be $5 million dollars, Lafferty

was designated to receive a bequest of $500,000 a year

for life.

ANN BOSTICH: I cannot believe she would have put that

kind of trust into Bernard.

It's just not-- it's not possible.

There had to be some collusion.

There was a manipulation between--

in my feeling-- between Bernard Lafferty,

the doctors, and the lawyers.

ROBERT STACK: Bernard Lafferty, the doctors,

and the lawyers, that's the bizarre case

of Doris Duke in a nutshell.

Since Duke's death, six different lawsuits have been

filed challenging her will.

Everyone you're about to meet has an agenda.

Perhaps, the truth may be found buried in the Byzantine events

of Doris Duke's final days, days which some believe

may have ended in murder.

[music playing]

Doris Duke was the only child of tobacco

tycoon, James Buchanan Duke.

Doris was just 12 when her father

died, leaving her $100 million, a third of his holdings.

The press dubbed her the richest girl in the world.

As Doris grew up, the fortune also grew, from the millions

to over a billion.

JASON THOMAS: She personified the rich

during the Great Depression.

She was, uh, a cross between Princess

Di and Madonna in the press.

People, uh-- people treated her as if she

were a major, major star.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: Doris Duke led an eccentric and lavish lifestyle.

She married twice, divorced twice, and reportedly

had dozens of lovers.

Among them, movie idol, Errol Flynn,

General George S. Patton, and Olympic swimming champion,

Duke Kahanamoku.

Kahanamoku allegedly fathered Doris' only child, a daughter,

who died at birth in 1940.

Nearly half a century later when she was well past 70,

Ms. Duke adopted--

but not a child, a 35-year-old woman named Chandi Heffner.

In 1987, Duke rewrote her will and named Chandi

as executor of her estate.

Eventually, Chandi would fall out

of favor, but not before she introduced

Ms. Duke to Bernard Lafferty.

JASON THOMAS: He was an alcoholic.

He had a tremendous drinking problem.

Doris told other family members that she

was pretty disgusted with him.

She used to, um, call him Rafferty instead of Lafferty.

She would purposely mispronounce his name.

She made-- made fun of him.

That's why so many family members were so surprised when,

in the end, he was in control.

ROBERT STACK: In 1991, Duke removed Chandi as executor

and replaced her with Dr. Harry Demopoulos,

a self-styled longevity specialist.

DON HOWARTH: When I went over with her who

were the list of possible candidates for executor

and she mentioned Dr. Demopoulos.

She mentioned her nephew.

She mentioned her business manager

at the time, Irwin Bloom.

And we considered the list together.

Bernard wasn't even on the B list.

He wasn't on the A list.

He wasn't on the B list.

ROBERT STACK: Within a year, that had changed.

Dr. Demopoulos was and replaced by Duke's accountant, who

was, himself, replaced by Duke's half

nephew, along with a butler, Bernard Lafferty.

DON HOWARTH: When Harry Demopoulos

and I heard that, we said, this isn't

the Ms. Duke that we know.

This cannot have been a Ms. Duke who was acting

in her right mind at the time.

On Wednesday.

Mm-hmm.

To can meet with the, uh, head of businesses.

ROBERT STACK: Bernard Lafferty has

various supporters who say he was a natural choice

for co-executor.

They claim he was Ms. Duke's closest confidant

and was looking out for her best interests.

However, Duke's former housekeeper

and her personal chef, who are both

suing Lafferty for harassment and breach of contract,

disagree.

ANN BOSTICH: Bernard is definitely a manipulator.

Bernard let people in and let them out.

He picked up the phone.

So after a while, he had control of who

got in touch with Ms. Duke.

He would instruct other employees of Ms. Duke

to have conversations with Ms. Duke about how devoted

he wanted to her.

He was trying to win her--

her trust and affections in an obsessive kind of way.

Everything seems to be fine for now.

ROBERT STACK: Within days of appointing

Lafferty's as co-executor, Doris Duke, then 78,

elected to undergo extensive cosmetic surgery.

The surgeon, Dr. Harry Glassman, was reportedly recommended

by Bernard Lafferty.

I'll be here all night long for you, OK?

COLIN SHANLEY: Through the autumn of 1991,

Ms. Duke clearly was failing mentally.

It was at this time that Bernard pressured her, and coerced her,

and coaxed her into getting involved with Dr. Harry

Glassman who was going to lift her depression by making

her young and glamorous again in a minute.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: Just two days after the cosmetic surgery,

Ms. Duke fell at home and broke her hip.

Dr. Glassman referred her to Beverly Hills

physician, Dr. Charles Kivowitz, who became

Duke's primary physician.

Over the next year, Ms. Duke was in and out of the hospital

several times.

By early March of 1993, medical records

indicate that she was suffering from bouts of mild confusion.

Deep breath in.

ROBERT STACK: Around this time, Ms. Duke apparently decided

both to change her will and to give Bernard

Lafferty power of attorney.

Papers were drawn up by attorneys Alan

Croll and William Doyle, who had been

recommended by Dr. Glassman.

Ms. Duke, we've prepared your will.

ROBERT STACK: The signing took place

at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Ann Bostitch was in the room and claims Ms. Duke did

not know what she was signing.

Let me make that a little more comfortable for you.

ANN BOSTICH: She couldn't really sign it.

She just sat there like a wooden statue.

And Bill Doyle lifted the will up and put his briefcase

underneath to raise it up.

And she still couldn't sign it.

So he slid his hand under her wrist

and sort of propelled her hand along,

so she could scrawl her name. And I stood there.

And I was totally shocked.

I thought, this-- there's something really wrong here.

Very good.

Thank you very much, Ms. Duke.

ROBERT STACK: In a sworn deposition,

William Doyle claims Ms. Duke was of sound mind

and signed of her own volition.

A few weeks later, Bernard Lafferty

was also named sole individual executor of the estate.

He allegedly went on a spending spree, $60,000 in Armani

clothing, $25,000 on jewelry, several thousand more

on flowers and gifts.

All of the purchases were reportedly

charged to the estate.

In July of 1993, Doris Duke suffered a stroke.

She returned home after two months in the hospital.

Her bedroom had been transformed into an intensive care

unit, around-the-clock nursing supervision.

Good.

Ms. Duke?

Ms. Duke?

ROBERT STACK: Dr. Charles Kivowitz

stated the following in an affidavit

given after Duke's death.

DR. CHARLES KIVOWITZ (VOICEOVER):

Doris Duke's medical situation while she was at home in late

September 1993 was terminal.

Although upon her discharge from the hospital,

I had initially hoped that she would improve

for several months, shortly after she returned home,

her condition began to deteriorate.

No, she's resting comfortably.

ROBERT STACK: One of Ms. Duke's nurses was Tammy Payette.

In an affidavit filed in January of 1995, Payette stated--

TAMMY PAYETTE (VOICEOVER): Within a short period of time

after she arrived home, Ms. Duke's physical therapy

was cut off and she was placed on a massive sedation regime

by Dr. Kivowitz at the request of Bernard

Lafferty, Ms. Duke's Butler.

[machines beeping]

DON HOWARTH: The rehab is discontinued.

And the drugs go up.

She's kept down.

She's sedated.

And at that point, it seems to me, Lafferty and the others

have taken control of her life.

ROBERT STACK: Tammy Payette's credibility, however, has been

called into serious question.

Recently, she was sentenced to eight years in prison

for stealing nearly a million dollars worth of valuables

from several of her patients.

LEONARD LEVINE: They get her to come up with an affidavit 18

months after Doris Duke's death saying, my god,

Doris Duke is being mistreated here.

She could have lived for five years.

The medication was too great.

Where was she when Doris Duke, uh, was alive?

[groaning]

ROBERT STACK: On October 7th, Dr. Kivowitz

was began to administer Demerol by injection,

even though Tammy Payette claims Ms. Duke was not in pain.

Payette further claims that Duke's request to return

to the hospital was ignored.

DON HOWARTH: They've got her home.

She's signed the will.

If they let her out, if they let her meet a friend,

if they let somebody come in there, and they rehab her,

she may sign other wills.

This is the time for Ms. Duke to die.

She made the decision in full, uh,

possession of her faculties that she

no longer wanted to go to Cedars-Sinai or anywhere else.

She wanted to remain comfortable and pain free

there in her house.

That's where, if she was going to die, she wanted to die.

And Dr. Kivowitz followed her orders.

He would have followed any orders she had given him.

ROBERT STACK: Nine days later, Dr. Kivowitz

ordered that Ms. Duke be given Demerol

by continuous intravenous drip, rather than injection.

In his affidavit, Kivowitz explained.

DR. CHARLES KIVOWITZ (VOICEOVER):

By October 26th, 1993, I believed,

to a reasonable degree of medical certainty,

that Ms. Duke was near death.

ROBERT STACK: The next day, a parcel

was delivered to the Duke mansion

addressed to one of the nurses.

COLIN SHANLEY: A package arrived and it was from a drug company

somewhere.

And Bernard jumped out of the chair.

And he ran over.

And he grabbed the box.

And he looked at it and then took it downstairs.

And then a few minutes later, he came to me, oh, Ms. Duke

is going to die tonight.

And he said it with definitive finality.

It wasn't like the other times where he was saying,

oh, I think she's dying.

ROBERT STACK: In his affidavit, Dr. Kivowitz acknowledged

a change in medication.

That afternoon, he substituted morphine for Demerol.

In her affidavit, Tammy Payette made note of Bernard Lafferty's

reaction to the day's events.

[machines beeping]

TAMMY PAYETTE (VOICEOVER): Later that evening, Bernard

became very excited and impatient,

because Ms. Duke was lingering, and called

Dr. Kivowitz explaining that Ms. Duke had not expired.

Right.

Thank you very much.

Yes, good bye.

[phone receiver clicks]

ROBERT STACK: Records indicate that Dr. Kivowitz then returned

to the mansion and administered another 10

milligrams of morphine by intravenous push.

He recorded that the patient was in a state

of advanced pulmonary edema, a fluid build up in the lungs.

Tammy Payette's affidavit paints a different picture.

TAMMY PAYETTE (VOICEOVER): Eventually,

as a result of the morphine IV, Ms. Duke's kidneys

began to fail.

Her lungs filled up with fluid.

And her circulation began to deteriorate.

Ms. Duke did not have pulmonary edema.

And no doctor had diagnosed pulmonary edema.

DON HOWARTH: Everybody there knew

that Ms. Duke was going to be dying with the addition

of that morphine.

And you could see the lockstep relationship, increased doses,

drip, drip, drip into Ms. Duke.

Down goes the breathing.

Down goes the heartbeat until we're at a flat line.

Ms. Duke?

Ms. Duke, can you hear me?

ROBERT STACK: At 4:00 AM on October 28th,

Doris Duke was clinging to life.

Ms. Duke, can you hear me?

ROBERT STACK: Her respirations has decreased to four to five

per minute.

According to the nurses records written by Tammy Payette,

Dr. Kivowitz phoned and increased the morphine dosage.

DON HOWARTH: I asked in the deposition of the doctor,

was she in pain?

Of course not, she's unconscious.

And yet we're increasing the morphine.

There's no reason other than pain

or terminating a patient to increase

the morphine at that point.

And that's what happened with Ms. Duke.

LEONARD LEVINE: Dr. Kivowitz did everything he could to keep

her pain free and comfortable.

And whenever he gave Nurse Payette the discretion

to increase the medication if necessary, Nurse Payette

increased it far beyond what he authorized,

then claimed, 18 months later, that he was

the one over medicating her.

It doesn't make sense.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: At 5:15 AM, according to notes

from another nurse, a 100 milligram dose of Demerol

was added to the morphine drip by,

quote, "telephone order of Dr. Glassman per Dr. Kivowitz."

An hour later, Doris Duke was dead.

[machine continuously beeping]

ANN BOSTICH: I believe that woman wanted

every chance possible to live.

She had a strong constitution and a will.

And I know she wanted to live.

And I know they killed her.

I mean, she went to these doctors

because she wanted to dance again.

She wanted to go and be photographed shopping in Paris.

And what happens is, a year and a half

later, they are hooking up to machines,

giving her amounts of drugs that would drop Napoleon's army.

If you look at the facts here, at the care that was given

by Dr. Kivowitz, at the money at stake,

you realize there's only one motive here,

and that's to get their hands on part

of the estate of Doris Duke.

And to do so, they will drag any innocent people into it

that they feel it's necessary.

And unfortunately, Dr. Kivowitz is

one of those innocent people.

[music playing]

DON HOWARTH: Her father told her, Doris, you have

more money than anyone else.

People are never going to love you except for your money.

She did not trust people.

Her father had told her that.

And so Bernard Lafferty was able to fill a void.

He came into a vacuum.

He then found a group of opportunists.

He found medical doctors.

And he found lawyers who saw him as someone

who they could control.

So while he used Ms. Duke, he was also,

I think, used by those around him who had something to gain.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: Next, Keely Shaye Smith

reports from the phone center.

See how your calls brought about two joyous reunions.

Also, with your help, a poignant tale of lost friendship

that began in Vietnam three decades ago could end tonight

here in the United States.

And later, we'll take you to Puerto Rico

where some residents claim that a frightening predator

is roaming the countryside.

[music playing]

Here at "Unsolved Mysteries," we've learned

to expect the unexpected.

Tonight's update is a perfect example.

May 7th, 1964, Queens, New York, Jean and Don Warren

rushed to greet the newest member

of their family, a two-year-old foster child

named Roger Lindsley.

This is Roger.

Say hello, Roger.

Hello.

Hello, Roger.

Welcome to our family.

JEAN WARREN: I fell in love with him immediately.

There was something about him that drew me to him.

And I said to myself, this is going to be my son.

ROBERT STACK: Over the next three years,

Roger became just that, the fourth child and only son

in a warm and loving household.

JEAN WARREN: I think adjusting in our family

was the best thing for Roger.

Whatever we did, he was there with us.

And each day, I was loving this child more, and more, and more.

ROBERT STACK: But in 1967, Jean and her husband

had to move to Ohio.

They were heartbroken to learned that they

could not take Roger with them.

Jean will never forget the morning the social worker

came to take Rodger away.

JEAN WARREN: When she took him to the car, he looked at us.

And he looked at me.

I remember him putting out his hand and crying,

I don't want to go. I don't want to go.

And--

No!

You be a good boy, Roger.

JEAN WARREN: I could only say, Roger, be good.

Take care of yourself.

And I love you.

I want to stay.

JEAN WARREN: And I'll always remember you.

ROBERT STACK: Jean Warren remained true to her word.

She never stopped looking for Roger.

Here's Keely Shaye Smith to tell you how she found him.

Bob, the night of our broadcast,

we received a call from a very excited Roger Lindsley.

He was thrilled to learn that Jean was looking for him.

Normally, that would have been enough.

But a few minutes later, we were stunned to hear

from a man named James Lindsley, who turned out to be

Roger's long lost brother.

Suddenly, the stage was set for a remarkable double reunion.

On March 8th, 1996, 30 years after they were separated,

Roger Lindsley finally came home to Jean Warren,

the woman he still calls mom.

Oh, you are handsome!

How are you?

I'm fine.

JEAN WARREN: I was ecstatic.

You're so beautiful.

JEAN WARREN: My heart started pounding.

I would like him and his wife to be a part of our family.

And, uh, it's so nice to hear him call me mom again.

That makes it all worthwhile.

How are you?

ROGER LINDSLEY: I feel so much love for that woman.

She has changed my life.

I got a family overnight.

Overnight, I got a family.

And, uh, I'm a--

I'm a happy man.

These are the pictures of your life in three years

that you spent with us.

KEELY SHAYE SMITH: The reunion with Jean

was a rousing success.

But there was more to come, much more.

Roger's brother, James, was on the way.

They hadn't seen each other in nearly three decades.

[doorbell buzzing]

Hey.

Hey, bud.

What's happening?

Where you been, huh?

I can't believe it.

JAMES LINDSLEY: That's unbelievable.

There's no feeling in the world you could imagine

as not to have a family.

And then 30 years later in your life,

to see somebody that's like you is indescribable.

ROGER LINDSLEY: I'm overwhelmed.

I really am.

I found my foster mother.

I found my brother.

And we were separated as infants.

I-- I couldn't see leaving this world without knowing

where I came from.

And now I know.

KEELY SHAYE SMITH: Believe it or not,

there was still more to come.

In the weeks since their reunion,

Roger and James have found both their brother, Phillip,

and their father, Phillip, Sr--

For one family, a happy ending and a new beginning.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: The snapshot is a window to another place

and time, The Regina Pacis Catholic Orphanage

in Vietnam circa 1967.

For a woman named Kim Schad shown here at the age of eight,

the picture is one of the few tangible links to her childhood

friends, Gnoc and Yanching.

Sing Kim hopes that tonight they will all

be reunited here in the United States

after a separation of nearly 30 years.

KIM SCHAD: I feel that, um, growing

up together in the orphanage, they're

the only roots that I've known.

And, um, I would like to find them again.

[rain pouring]

ROBERT STACK: Kim's ancestral roots were lost forever

in the land of her birth, swept away

by history and circumstance.

As an infant, Kim was left for the nuns at the orphanage

to find.

[baby crying]

[bell ringing]

We will name her Tran Thi Kim Ha.

[baby crying]

ROBERT STACK: It was a parish priest who christened

her, Tran Thi Kim Ha.

She joined some 80 other girls at the orphanage.

And there she came of age.

[baby crying]

[girls singing]

By the time Kim turned five, she and her friends,

Gnoc and Yanching, were inseparable.

KIM SCHAD: Gnoc, Yanching, and I,

we would always try to sit together in the classroom.

And, um, during recess, we would go out.

And we would play in the playground together.

We just seemed to always be together.

(SINGING) Ring around the rosy, pocket full of posy.

KIM SCHAD: We didn't really think about parents.

Because we were raised in the orphanage.

And we feel that's like family.

[girls laughing]

ROBERT STACK: Kim's life was far from luxurious.

But she was sheltered from the winds of war

stirring beyond the orphanage walls.

[explosion]

[gun shots]

By the mid-60s, Saigon was flooded with American troops.

GIs!

The GIs.

Come on, everybody!

ROBERT STACK: Some found their way to the orphanage.

Hey, how you doing?

KIM SCHAD: They would hand us out, um, Lifesavers,

Wild Cherry Lifesavers.

I remember that, because that was, like, my favorite candy.

Gnoc, Yanching, and I, we would talk about that--

we hoped that someday an American family

would adopt us, bring us to America where we

could live free and live happy.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: With the war escalating around them,

the nuns redoubled their efforts to find

permanent homes for the girls.

[girls laughing]

Kim, Kim.

Kim's chance came during the spring of 1967.

Will you come with me?

There's someone I want you to meet.

Sure.

OK.

There he is.

ROBERT STACK: Laurence Shuetta was a retired Air

Force Lieutenant Colonel.

He and his wife had already adopted two boys.

Now they wanted a little girl.

You can call me, um, Larry.

Hi, Larry.

Hi.

Did Sister tell you--

ROBERT STACK: Before an adoption could move forward,

the nuns wanted Kim and the Shuetta family

to get acquainted.

And you.

Now I have something special for you.

What do you think it is?

What's that?

There you go.

Thank you.

Do you know how to drive that thing?

Oh, I'll-- I'll show you how.

Come on.

ROBERT STACK: Nearly every weekend for six months, Shuetta

took Kim on an outing.

Some days, they would spend hours

just meandering through Saigon trying on the roles

of father and daughter.

In the end, it would be Kim's decision

whether or not to leave the orphanage

and join the Shuetta family.

For advice, she turned to her closest

confidants, Gnoc and Yanching.

I don't really want to go to America.

Will it make you happy, uh, you can go.

I'll miss you guys.

And you guys won't be there.

They could take good care of you.

I don't really know anybody in the United States.

They have good cheeseburgers there.

CHERYL MARKSON: An 8-year-old has no idea

of what going to America means.

No matter how well someone tries to explain it to them,

it is total culture shock.

So you go to America is like saying,

um, go to Cinderella's palace.

Have you decided?

I'm not really sure.

ROBERT STACK: Sister Lucy, the Mother Superior,

provided the final nudge towards a choice.

If Colonel Shuetta wanted to adopt Yanching or Gnoc,

you want them to go have a good life, don't you?

Yes.

Well, that's what I want for you.

And that's what God wants.

But I'll miss my friends.

Maybe this would help.

And don't worry.

There's an American family that wants to adopt

Yanching and Gnoc together.

You mean, they're going to America too?

Someday.

[music playing]

KIM SCHAD: I was a little nervous about leaving,

very scared, but yet, kind of excited.

[music playing]

They were excited for me and happy for me

that I got a chance to go and have a better life.

Ready to go?

[music playing]

Bye.

Bye, Kim.

KIM SCHAD: And that was the last time I got to see them.

Bye!

ROBERT STACK: Kim left Vietnam with her adoptive father

in September of 1967.

Today, she lives outside San Antonio, Texas with her husband

and two sons.

Her older boy is about the same age

that Kim was when she left the Regina Pacis Orphanage

in Saigon nearly 30 years ago.

At that time, Kim's friend, Yanching, was between five

and eight years old.

Today, she would be in her mid-30s.

Gnoc was about eight years old.

She would be in her late 30s.

Both girls may have been adopted by the same family

and raised as sisters in the United States.

[music playing]

Next, in Puerto Rico, reports abound

that a mysterious unknown beast is on the loose.

[music playing]

This is the Yunque Rain Forset on the island of Puerto Rico,

a tropical paradise, perhaps best

described as heaven on Earth.

But something is reportedly lurking on the fringes

of the forest, a mysterious beast, which

has turned heaven into hell.

[speaking spanish]

When it moved, I could see it had something here on its hand.

It was like a crest.

But it moved and it made noise.

[buzzing]

When I saw him stick out his pointed tongue,

and when he held his claws and crouched for an attack,

I thought I was the next victim.

I felt like he was watching me,

because of certain movements made by his eyes.

I could see three fingers on each hand

and on each finger, very long claws.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: They call the beasts chupacabras.

It preys on livestock and domesticated pets.

It may look like a creature out of a low-budget horror film.

Yet, these composite drawings are

based on eyewitness descriptions from dozens of Puerto Ricans.

In this day and age, it seems almost impossible that such

a creature might exist.

Tales of the Puerto Rican monster

have been dismissed as fantasy and imagination,

its attacks attributed to wild dogs or monkeys.

Some of the images you're about to see

are unpleasant, but necessary to understand

the phenomenon of chupacabras.

[music playing]

[insects chirping]

David Negron was one of the first to encounter the beast.

Before dawn on September 9th, 1995,

David went out to check on the family goat.

David was startled to discover that his goat had been killed.

[music playing]

DAVID NEGRON: After I found the goat dead,

I was standing there looking around.

And that's when I saw the creature.

[music playing]

It was black and hairy.

It had large red eyes and a crest on top of its head.

When I saw it, I felt scared and I began to run.

[heart beating]

I've never seen anything like that.

And I've never been that scared before.

ROBERT STACK: Later that day, investigators

from the civil defense were called to the scene.

When they examined the goat, the only injuries they found

were two small puncture wounds on the back of its neck.

Yet surprisingly, the goat had been almost

entirely drained of its blood.

The local press immediately seized upon the story.

The creature was dubbed chupacabras, the goat sucker.

Over the next three months, dozens of attacks

were reported.

The targets were all small animals.

Strangely their caucuses were largely intact.

Journalist, Jorge Martin, followed up many of the stories

and began to see a pattern.

JORGE MARTIN: On many occasions, they just have puncture wounds

about, I would say, maybe a fourth way, half an inch

in size, perfect circles.

This small puncture wounds go into the animals.

In most occasions, we have found that they seem

to go right to the brain of the animals and kill the animals,

affecting the brain and the nervous system of the animals.

In other occasions, they go right

straight into the animals in different areas

as if looking for certain organs.

In most occasions, the organs affected

are the livers of the animals and the reproductive systems

of the animals too.

ROBERT STACK: Attacks have been reported all over Puerto Rico,

with the greatest concentration in the village of Canovanas,

30 miles east of the capital city, San Juan.

By October of 1995, even the mayor of Canovanas, Jose Soto,

had taken an active role in the investigation.

[speaking spanish]

JOSE SOTO: I began to take an interest in this matter

when I visited the farm where five sheep had been killed.

I saw two wounds in the neck and on some, a third mark.

[speaking spanish]

It attacks various animals, but mostly sheep and rabbits.

Because they cannot defend themselves easily.

ROBERT STACK: Over the next few months,

Mayor Soto visited the sites of several killings.

[sheep baaing]

He interviewed witnesses and organized search parties.

The attacks continued.

[speaking spanish]

JOSE SOTO: There have been more than 100 animals killed.

We're talking about 70 or 80 attacks.

At the moment, we have some hysteria, some real problems,

and some fear.

I'm determined to resolve this matter.

ROBERT STACK: Despite the hysteria,

there were still many skeptics, among them, police

detective, Eliezer Rivera.

[speaking spanish]

ELIEZER RIVERA: I didn't believe in this chupacabra.

The people were just speculating.

And perhaps, because they were emotional or afraid,

they exaggerated things.

Personally, I never was convinced of these stories.

I just never believed them.

ROBERT STACK: That changed one night as Rivera and a friend

drove home from church.

[music playing]

ELIEZER RIVERA: I saw something strange on the roadside.

I thought it was a puppet.

But as I watched and observed the puppet, it began to move.

And I thought, what is this?

[music playing]

It had long eyes that were illuminated.

It had fangs.

It was hairy.

And it had three fingers with claws.

[music playing]

When I opened the car door, the animal stuck out

a long spike from his mouth.

I interpreted this spike as a defense mechanism.

So I sat back, closed the door, and kept watching.

In my experience as an investigator,

we're trained to analyze and quietly evaluate things.

But in that moment, I can't lie to you, I was scared.

Now I know what's out there when people talk about chupacabra.

They exist.

It is not any known animal.

I tell you sincerely, what I saw was not of this world.

Most of the eyewitness descriptions

are describing this same type of creature with the same details.

They describe something beast-like, animal-like,

with a strange type of head, more humanoid

looking, with big, red, luminous eyes, a flat nose,

and a small, slit-like mouth with some fangs protruding

out from it, almost no ears.

ROBERT STACK: In late November, Jorge Martin and a TV news crew

asked veterinarian, Carlos Soto, to examine

two rabbits allegedly killed by chupacabras.

Dr. Soto made a number of perplexing discoveries,

a precise circular wound on the back of one rabbit's neck,

the removal of specific internal organs,

and the absence of rigor mortis.

[speaking spanish]

CARLOS SOTO: I thought, wow, this is something strange here.

Because this is not normal.

On my eight years in practice, I never seen that before.

It was my first time to see something that odd.

ROBERT STACK: A month later, Dr. Soto examined 20 dead birds.

Each had been killed by a puncture wound

to the back of the neck.

I have seen birds in which they don't go into rigor mortis

again, some birds in which they are depleted from all

the internal organs, OK?

Some birds in which they never-- the blood never coagulates,

and also, some birds in which we will see a perfect round

wound again.

And all that thoracic and abdominal cavity

has been opened, OK, like a perfect world, OK?

So it's strange.

It's strange what we're seeing.

[speaking spanish]

In the animal autopsies that I've done,

the evidence does suggest that these animals

were attacked by something.

ROBERT STACK: Dr. David Morales, a veterinarian and spokesperson

for the Puerto Rican government discounts rumors

of a strange unknown beast.

[speaking spanish]

We think that they were attacked by dogs.

They might be wild dogs.

They could be vicious monkeys or could be tigers.

There are a number of possible predators

that could attack these animals in this way.

These animals are left intact sometimes.

And the perfect wounds that we have

are not compatible with dog bite wounds.

[speaking spanish]

Something strange is going on.

This isn't about dogs, or monkeys,

or bats or anything like that.

It's something very strange.

And the creature that we're searching for

is very intelligent.

These attacks can't be dismissed

as accounts of drunken people or ignorant people.

Because we're talking about highly reliable people

all over Puerto Rico who are witnessing these attacks

and these creatures too.

[music playing]

Until recently, every reported attacked by chupacabras

has been in Puerto Rico.

But last month in Miami, two goats and 26 chickens

perished in a matter that was almost

identical to the killings in Canovanas.

Perhaps, the massacre was the work of dogs or a cruel hoax.

Or perhaps, just perhaps, the chupacabras does walk among us.

[music playing]

Next, a young couple is stunned when a lost treasure

apparently falls from the sky.

[music playing]

Imagine that you're a young married couple.

You're struggling to make ends meet, wondering if you'll

ever have enough money to buy a house

and send the kids to college.

You dream about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

But you certainly don't expect to find it

in your own backyard.

[music playing]

November 12th, 1995 was like any other Sunday

for Matt and Wendy Jameson of Fair Oaks, California.

They spent the morning in church and returned home around 10:30.

[dog barking]

But on this particular Sunday, something just short

of miraculous would occur.

It began with a damp, excited dog.

MATT JAMESON: I noticed my dog was wet.

And I was wondering how she get wet.

Because it hadn't rained.

Why are you all wet?

MATT JAMESON: Then, uh, I noticed what looked like paper

all over the backyard.

When I walked up there, I noticed there was money.

Then I took off running towards it.

Wendy!

What?

ROBERT STACK: Indeed, that paper was money, $6,500 in $20 bills,

origin unknown.

[dog barking] - Where did this come from?

I don't know.

Just start picking it up.

[music playing]

MATT JAMESON: I was trying to get it the fastest I could.

I didn't know where this came from.

And this is a new neighborhood to us.

And I didn't want a lot of people

seeing me have all this money.

So I was trying to pick it up as fast as I could.

I can't pick it all up.

Keep picking it up.

I'm going to go put this inside.

ROBERT STACK: It took 20 minutes to collect all the bills

and another 20 to count them.

I never seen this much money before.

I know.

Where do you think it came from?

I don't know.

It could be stolen.

I don't know.

Or maybe it's fake money.

I don't know.

The numbers look different, these ones.

ROBERT STACK: The Jamesons' first instinct

was to call the police.

But then again, $6,500 was a lot of money.

Temptation began to creep in.

We decided to wait till the next day to decide.

And then I was kind of thinking, oh, well--

that night, I was thinking, oh, it'll be nice to have some--

some things.

So I started counting-- more leaning

towards wanting to keep it.

But--

Well, I stayed up the whole night we found it.

I didn't get any sleep.

Any noise I heard, I was up looking around, you know,

seeing what's going.

Because I expected somebody to come back after it.

And you know, I have a family to protect.

And I wasn't about to let anybody come in this house.

So I was definitely waiting up.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: One sleepless night was more than enough.

Yeah, hello, Sheriff's department?

I found, uh, some money in my backyard.

I'm wondering who I should speak to about this?

I've been in law enforcement 27 years.

And I've never seen a case like this

in my 27 years of experience.

Not only do we find money at this residence,

we found money next door, and at the house

behind, and also on the rooftops of one of the houses,

which was quite unusual.

It appears, at this point, there's a couple reasons

why this may have happened.

The first speculation is somebody may have

thrown it out of an airplane.

We have a lot of planes flying throughout the county here.

And there's airports all around us.

The second speculation is that, uh, it could be drug money.

And somebody threw it from the street over the house.

It landed on the roof, and subsequently,

fell off into the backyard.

Uh, why don't we count this money out.

Then you can verify that I, uh, come up with $6,500 and we'll--

ROBERT STACK: All totaled, more than $10,000

had apparently just dropped from the sky.

California law required the finders to place

an ad in the local newspaper.

The owner then had up to 90 days to claim the money.

If no claim was made, Matt and Wendy

would get to keep the lion's share of the 20s from heaven.

MATT JAMESON: A lot of people, you know,

say, why'd you turn it?

Why'd you turn it in?

You know, I would have kept it.

But I-- I really don't think that you

can say that honestly until you lived having that money around.

And then, you know, I always thought,

personally, if I found money like that,

that I would probably keep it.

But now, after having that amount of money around,

you know, I know that I did the right thing.

[dog barking]

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: As it turned out, March 1st, 1996 rolled around.

And the 90-day waiting period ended.

Matt and Wendy are now legally entitled to the $6,500,

which they plan to use towards a down payment on a house.

As far as the Jamesons are concerned,

this is one unsolved mystery where honesty truly paid off.

[music playing]

On our next "Unsolved Mysteries,"

Shelly Malone knew almost all there was to know about horses.

So when Shelly died in a freak riding accident,

her family was naturally surprised.

Now their doubts have grown into outright suspicion

and led them to a stunning conclusion.

On a stormy summer afternoon, a bolt of lightning

left a young man at death's door,

setting the stage for the appearance

of a mysterious lady in black and a miraculous resurrection.

Nearly 30 years ago, the assassination of Senator Robert

Kennedy shocked the nation.

Today, this man claims that photographs

he took that night could change the official record.

But those pictures have inexplicably disappeared.

Join me next time for "Unsolved Mysteries."

[music playing]