Original subtitles

[music playing]

ANNOUNCER: Tonight, on "Unsolved Mysteries".

ROBERT STACK: It seemed innocent enough, an executive in Florida

displayed two African fertility statue

reported to have magical powers in his corporate headquarters.

Incredibly, it wasn't long before the place

was awash in pregnant women.

Last summer the bombing at the Olympic games

stunned the world.

Perhaps no one was more shocked than novelist, Ben Sherwood,

who feared that the terrorist plot in his book "Red Mercury"

had become a frightening reality.

Now, this novel may foretell more than Sherwood realized.

It's the ultimate suburban nightmare,

a gang of masked intruders, a house

ransacked, an innocent family terrified,

perhaps you can help.

Bobby Fuller was a rock and roll legend in the making,

then he was found dead in his car doused with gasoline.

The police suggested suicide.

Others said, a beautiful blonde and ties to the mob

led to a cold-blooded execution.

What happened to Bobby Fuller?

Perhaps, tonight we'll find the answer here

on the streets of Hollywood.

Bobby Fuller lived and died.

Join me for "Unsolved Mysteries".

[theme music]

July 18, 1966, Hollywood, California,

a lifeless body of a young man crumpled

in the front seat of a car.

Not the sad, lonely death of an anonymous drifter, but a death

that broke a million hearts.

(SINGING) Her friend came rocking, hot time.

I fought the law and the law won.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): His name was Bobby Fuller.

His band, "The Bobby Fuller Four"

hit it big when "I Fought The Law"

shot to the top of the charts.

They were four country boys from El Paso,

but everyone knew it was Bobby's band, he was the star.

(SINGING) -- law won.

I fought the law and the law won.

RANDY FULLER: They said, he'd have been like Elvis Presley.

Everybody that knew him would describe him

as a musical genius.

BOB KEANE: Bobby was one of the most on purpose musicians

I've ever met in my life.

He was going to be it, he was going to do it.

There was something that came from within him and I think he

was very driven from an early age,

that was just-- he was single-minded

in the pursuit of music.

[band music]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It was over,

almost before it got started.

But when the police suggested that Bobby Fuller committed

suicide, it was the beginning of a mystery

that endures to this day.

CASEY KASEM: When I heard Bobby was dead, or had died,

and somebody said he committed suicide,

I said, that's not the Bobby I know.

I mean, here is a man who had everything to live for.

It has all the elements of a lurid pulp novel,

a handsome star-crossed victim, a beautiful mysterious woman,

suspicious cause of death, rumors about drugs and the law.

All that's missing is a final chapter, the answers

to the nagging questions that can close

the book on this tragic tale of lost

hopes and shattered dreams.

[rock music]

Bobby Fuller grew up with music in his veins.

His idols were Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and especially

fellow Texan Buddy Holly.

When Bobby came to Hollywood and signed with Delfi Records,

he seemed destined to be the next big star.

BOBBY FULLER (SINGING): Love can make-a you feel so good.

Where it goes like you think he should.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): By 1966,

the band was headlining at hot spots throughout the country.

If Bobby Fuller was a man on the brink of suicide,

no one around him suspected it.

(SINGING) You know love made a fool of you.

No gun, no knife, no note.

I'll meet you in the apartment, we can talk to his mother.

Why don't you go see how she's doing?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The police

though, suspected it was suicide from the start,

but when found Bobby's body was in full rigor

mortis suggesting that he had been dead for several hours.

This seemed implausible in light of what Bobby's mother, who was

visiting from Texas had to say.

Mrs. Fuller claimed that Bobby's car

had been gone all night, that she had been checking

for throughout the day.

At 5:00 PM, she went down to pick up the mail,

the car had inexplicably appeared.

[intense music]

EDNA GUNDERSEN: The problem is that dead men don't drive cars

and that car got into that lot and Bobby did not drive it.

So the question is who did, where did it come from,

why did they bring it back, where did they go?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The death scene

itself, was completely bizarre.

Bobby had blood on his face and chest,

there was blood on the car seat.

Bobby's body and clothes have been completely

doused with gasoline.

On the floorboards, had a partially full gas

can with a rubber hose attached to the spout.

Bob Keane of Delfi Records, arrived while police

were still investigating.

BOB KEANE: At about the same time I got there,

the plain clothes detective threw the can of gas

in a dumpster.

Excuse me.

Isn't that evidence?

No.

It's not evidence.

BOB KEANE: He says, ah, what do you mean,

it's just another one of those rock and roll punks.

He committed suicide or something like that.

And uh, the police department didn't do anything.

They didn't take prints, they didn't

ask any questions of anybody.

It was like, just a bum off the street.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It was first

believed Bobby's death was caused by drinking gasoline.

Later however, an autopsy revealed

no gasoline in Bobby's stomach.

Now, his death was attributed to inhaling gasoline fumes.

EDNA GUNDERSEN: Even the coroner's report

has discrepancies.

On one page, it is marked an accident and another page,

there's a question mark next to accident

and a question mark next to suicide,

there was nothing conclusive to suggest that Bobby

had committed suicide.

The other unusual aspect of this was that Bobby looked

as if he had been beaten up.

This is what a number of people said.

Now, some of this could have been the result

of the early decomposition of the body, which the coroner had

noted or could have been earlier injuries, bruises,

what have you.

But two or three people said that he had a broken finger

and three people reported that there was blood on his shirt.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It seemed

that nothing pointed to suicide, but the police were insistent.

Edna Gundersen believes it was an offhand remark

by Bobby's mother, which led to the ruling.

EDNA GUNDERSEN: She did say that he had been upset

in recent days, but did not suggest

that he had been depressed or despondent

as they had reported.

And she was very upset later on that they had concluded,

one way or the other, that he had committed suicide

because she believed that that was not the case,

and that he was incapable of that.

BOBBY FULLER: (SINGING) -- had none.

I fought the law and the law won.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): However, those closest to Bobby

can see that in the days leading up to his death,

he had grown increasingly unhappy with Bob

Keane and Delfi Records.

The drum kit says, Bobby Fuller four.

I don't want to hear Buddy Holly, come on.

I think it sounds fine, Bob.

I want to hear Bobby Fuller.

BOB KEANE: Buddy Holly was his god.

And he wanted to play like Buddy Holly.

And I was constantly saying, no, don't do that because you are

Bobby Fuller, you have your own talent and you know--

and so we had--

we were at odds sometimes in actually making

the music, the record, but I--

I can't picture that anybody would get unhappy about it.

Bob.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But if not suicide, was it murder?

Perhaps the answer lies with a beautiful young woman.

Most remember that Bobby introduced her as Melody.

Nobody knows who she was.

That's good, let's take five.

EDNA GUNDERSEN: Even Bobby's closest friends and his mother

didn't really know much about her

except that he was occasionally seeing her,

and it was very much a clandestine kind of affair.

That was great.

Ah, thanks.

It's a new song, needs a lot of work.

RANDY FULLER: She had like, a brand new Cadillac,

red convertible.

And the um, you know, exposure would be good

for him to drive around Hollywood in the car

and go places and have her driving him you know, like,

chauffeuring him around town.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Some people

believe Bobby kept the affair secret because Melody's

boyfriend, who may have had ties to the mob,

was still in the picture.

EDNA GUNDERSEN: There was a very nefarious character in LA

at the time who was operating a number of nightclubs um,

and had a reputation for being a violent man.

And this was supposedly his girlfriend,

but nobody really knew, except that she did exist,

Bobby did have a certain amount of affection for her

and tried to see her occasionally.

That's all we know.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Randy Fuller

recalls that the night before Bobby was found dead,

he had plans to attend a party with Melody.

It's just a party man.

Where?

It's down at the beach.

So, there going to be any drugs there?

Tonight?

I don't think so.

RANDY FULLER: Melody was going to drive him

there and introduce him to a lot of big time people,

and that there would probably be a lot of drinking

and everything else going on.

And I told him not to do anything that would get

him in any trouble or anything, and he promised me he wouldn't.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It's not known what happened

at the party or who was there.

Soon after Bobby's death, rumors began

to circulate about a drug overdose and a possible cover

up.

Help.

BOB KEANE: I had heard that Melody

had turned Bobby on to hitting acid a couple of times.

One of the possibilities of what happened to Bobby

is that he was at a party, with other celebrities,

and something happened where he was either injured or he died.

An accident possibly or a fight, something like that.

All right.

And of course, they didn't want to be involved

with it, these celebrities.

So somebody said, well, look, let's

make it look like suicide.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): However, there

were no drugs in Bobby's system and no one

could explain why his body had been doused with gasoline.

If Bobby Fuller had been killed by a mobster,

why such an unusual method of execution?

And how did the car get back to his apartment?

RANDY FULLER: My mother went to her grave with a broken heart.

Now, I've kind of--

the burden moved from her on to me,

and I hurt every day over this.

You know, somebody out there knows something

and I just wish I could know.

BOBBY FULLER: (SINGING) Time goes by, it's a-passing fast.

You think your love-a has come at last.

By and by you're--

CASEY KASEM: He had people talking about him

as the next Buddy Holly.

More importantly, when you know that here's a man who would

never have committed suicide on the brink of super-stardom,

who--

who must have been murdered, we want to know who did it,

and why.

[rock music]

[crowd cheering]

After Bobby Fuller's death, the band members

went their separate ways.

None of them ever saw Melody again.

Tonight, Bobby's friends and family hope someone

will finally come forward and shed

light on this 30-year mystery.

[intense music]

Next, the spy novel, "Red Mercury"

sparks a controversial debate.

Could a fictional atomic nightmare

become a horrifying reality?

And later, dozens of women claim that these African statues

possess an incredible power, the power to make them pregnant.

[theme music]

MAN ON PHONE: He's the same height,

same build, he's a big guy and he's a hot tempered guy.

This is the guy, man.

I'm telling you, this is the guy.

The guy--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Last May,

this call to our phone center led to the dramatic arrest

of an accused killer.

He'd been on the run for more than a

year, hiding behind more than half a dozen aliases.

You may remember him from the broadcast as David Freeman.

In 1987, Freeman was hired as a handyman

by a Pennsylvania farmer named Tim Good.

Freeman fancied himself something of a preacher

and he allegedly used his sermonizing to slowly

gain control over his employer.

Say, Tim, I was wondering--

Yeah, [inaudible].

-- I'm going to be leading a Bible study up at the house

later this evening.

Thought you might like to come up and check it out.

About what time?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Reportedly, Good

became a believer.

When he sold his farm and moved to West Virginia

with a million dollar profit, Freeman who was

with him every step of the way.

Hey, Tim.

How about when you're done with that,

clearing some more of that land over by the fence.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police believe

that by 1992 the role reversal was complete and absolute.

When you're done with clarinet,

why don't you get some of that wood over there for kindling?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Freeman gave

the orders, Tim Good obeyed.

Better clear as much as you can.

You know, the Lord says, the man that doesn't work, doesn't eat.

Please bless this food.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): According to investigators,

Tim Good became a virtual prisoner in his own home.

He was consigned to a dank basement cell,

while Freeman and his family lived comfortably upstairs.

JB ARMSTRONG: He indicated what chores Timothy

Good was to perform that day.

He even indicated what Timothy Good was to eat that day, if he

was allowed to eat that day.

Every aspect of Timothy Good's life

was controlled by Dave Freeman.

I'm studying, man, like you told me to do.

Is that what I told you to do?

Is there anything else I told you to do too?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police now believe

that in March 1994, Freeman strangled Tim Good

and left his body in the basement.

Yesterday.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Eight months

later, investigators discovered Good's badly decomposed corpse.

By then, Good's million dollar bank account had

been reduced to pocket change.

Dave Freeman was long gone.

Keely Shaye Smith has a dramatic update.

Bob, our viewer phoned in the crucial tip

while the show was still on the air.

He knew Freeman as William David Cooper, an auto mechanic.

Cooper had recently worked on the caller's car

and made an unforgettable impression.

MAN (ON PHONE): I'll take you right to the guy.

The guy ripped me off in the first place,

he got me for like over $1,000 more

than what he told me he was going to get,

and then he got all upset because I got upset because--

KEELY SHAYE SMITH: State trooper JB

Armstrong had flown in from West Virginia to monitor the calls.

When I realized that it was a valid tip,

I was pretty excited.

I've been chasing this subject for a year and a half

and once I finally knew that he was within grasp,

it was almost too good to be true.

MAN (ON PHONE): This guy is the guy.

I'm telling you, if that picture is accurate,

this guy is the same guy.

This guy-- if it's not-- if it's not him,

he's an identical twin.

KEELY SHAYE SMITH: Within hours, police

staked out Cooper's apartment.

This surveillance video shows the fugitive

as he emerged the next morning.

WILLIAM SCHOEB: When he came out of the house,

that's when it got real interesting.

We could tell that this was the suspect,

he matched the description, our intensity rose,

we really got excited.

KEELY SHAYE SMITH: Police had learned that four children were

in the apartment so they waited for Cooper

to leave the premises, then they made their move.

[intense music]

[dog barking]

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): July 27, 1996,

an explosion at the Olympic games

in Atlanta's Centennial Park.

Panic cries, stunned police, worldwide shock, our worst

fears realized, again.

Perhaps no one was more astounded then this man,

journalist turned novelist, Ben Sherwood,

pen name, Max Barclay.

In 1995, Sherwood wrote "Red Mercury",

a thriller about a terrorist bombing

at the Atlanta Olympics.

BEN SHERWOOD: Immediately, my reaction

was that there had been this strange melding

of fact and fiction.

I had spent so long imagining what could happen

if a bomb went off at the games, and had spent so much time

writing and thinking about the scenario,

suddenly for it to happen, it was really horrifying.

ROBERT STACK: The bomb in Atlanta

was a poorly constructed pipe bomb.

It killed two and injured more than 100.

It was terrifying, but if Sherwood's

scenario had come true, it could have been catastrophic.

In Ben Sherwood's novel, terrorists hit the Olympics

with the stuff of nightmares.

A tiny nuclear device, no bigger than this softball,

but powerful enough to have killed every single person

in Centennial Park.

Sherwood's bomb was triggered by an exotic compound

called, red mercury.

But red mercury is not just a product of a writer's

imagination, it may be real, and it may

be in the hands of terrorists.

This much is known.

In 1968, DuPont Laboratories experimented

with a mercury compound.

They hoped it might be useful in areas like x-ray technology.

Reportedly, that same compound is the bases for red mercury.

BEN SHERWOOD: If you talk to the nuclear scientists,

the world is split over whether or not

there is any scientific proof or backing

for the idea of red mercury.

A lot of nuclear scientists say, it's just a bunch of hogwash,

no can do, no possibility, forget about it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Soviet

Union apparently disagree.

Legend has it that Russian scientists took DuPont's

simple compound and performed an incredible alchemy,

transforming it into a revolutionary

compact explosive.

It was the atomic equivalent of turning lead into gold.

BEN SHERWOOD: The weapons designer

could throw out all the huge, bulky equipment

and create a nuclear weapon in tiny package that would have

a huge radioactive yield, killing thousands

and thousands of people.

And it wouldn't cause the same sort of structural damage

that a larger weapon might cause, destroying

buildings and entire cities.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Sherwood is

talking about a neutron bomb.

It was developed at the height of the Cold War.

It was small, less than 100 pounds, but not small enough

to mistake for anything but a weapon.

With red mercury, weapons designers

could make bombs that would go unnoticed to almost anywhere.

Customs inspectors are likely to miss them.

X-ray machines won't detect them and dogs can't smell them.

Imagine a terrorist leaving, what looks like a baseball,

in a park on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Moments later, it explodes.

The White House is left standing,

but everyone within 600 yards is dead or dying,

blasted by lethal doses of radiation.

Such a mini-neutron bomb is exactly

the kind of weapon the Russians are alleged

to have made with red mercury.

If in fact, red mercury is more than rumor--

I personally, have fully confident that red mercury

is real, it is not a hoax.

It exists and it has existed for quite some time.

If this was true, it would have

tremendous importance for--

for nuclear proliferation because it would--

it would not only enable people to construct

small nuclear weapons, but in fact

would be a design that would be so simple that it would enable

other non-nuclear powers ambitious tyrants,

apocalyptic terrorists, to potentially obtain

a nuclear weapons capacity.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Whether the Russians

did use red mercury to manufacture many neutron bombs

is not known.

[explosion]

By 1991, the Soviet Union had disintegrated

and on the black market, something purported

to be red mercury was being sold to anyone who

could meet the asking price.

BRIAN JENKINS: Certainly, red mercury

is being offered for sale.

And certainly, some substance that is being called

red mercury has been purchased.

Now, the question is what is that substance

and does it have the properties that

would be useful in nuclear weapons design?

And that's the part we don't know.

[non-english speech]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In Moscow,

one chemical company openly offered red mercury for sale.

They claim that this letter from Russian president,

Boris Yeltsin, designated the company

as a sole official provider.

Skeptics suggest, however, that the letter was

forged to embarrass Yeltsin.

Several years ago, a British documentary film crew

managed to buy a vial, alleged to contain

red mercury for $1,500.

Weighs about 100 grams, it's heavy.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When tested,

it was powdered red paint.

And I'd say, about--

BRIAN JENKINS: In every case where people have actually

put their hands on something called red mercury,

it has turned out to be merely a scam.

I think I have a compelling case that indicates

without a smoking gun, I don't have a smoking gun,

but this stuff is for real.

There are no physical reasons, scientific reasons,

why red mercury cannot be developed and produced.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The official position

of the United States Department of Energy

is equally unequivocal.

They say, that red mercury quote, "simply does not exist

and any transactions of red mercury have been hoaxes."

BEN SHERWOOD: Red mercury is the stuff of great fiction.

Its wild and mysterious and crazy.

But it's also a warning for all the people of the world.

While red mercury may not exist, there

is a lot of nuclear material in the former Soviet Union

and a lot of nuclear expertise that we need to worry about.

Because sooner or later, the uranium, the plutonium,

or maybe someday the red mercury is

going to get into the wrong hands,

and when that happens, if we aren't ready for it,

it's going to be unimaginable.

While many experts feel red mercury does not presently

exist, the United States does take

the possibility of a terrorist nuclear nightmare seriously.

In September, President Clinton announced

plans of transfer of 500 agents of the FBI Special

Counter-terrorism Force.

It has also been reported that Clinton is one of the readers

of the novel, "Red Mercury".

[theme music]

Coming up, in Florida, the arrival

of two African fertility statues sparks a baby boom.

But first, a vicious home invasion

robbery leaves a family devastated

and determined to fight back.

[theme music]

It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere.

From vast metropolitan areas to small town America,

home invasion robberies have become a nightly, indeed

hourly occurrence.

In almost every case, the victims never see it coming.

Imagine that you're alone in your home,

you feel safe and comfortable protected

from the outside world.

In the late afternoon, you lie down

to take a nap, in the evening you wake up to a nightmare.

That's exactly what happened to Dr. David Cawood

of Jefferson County, Tennessee.

[suspenseful music]

All right. Wake up.

What's going on here? Who are you?

What do you want? - Where's your--

- Where did you come from? - Where's you phone?

DAVID CAWOOD: I remember not being able to figure out what's

going on and then sheer terror.

What do you want from me?

[scream]

DAVID CAWOOD: I received a blow in the abdomen, blow

on the right side of my chest, blow in the back of the head

that knocked me out.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 9:45 PM, Dr. Cawood's wife, Jeannie

and her son Trinity returned home.

[banging]

What was that?

[shattering glass]

Oh my god, what was that?

[scream]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In a blind panic,

Jeannie ran straight towards the intruders.

I had my hands up in the air.

I was more or less in shock.

Lay down on the floor, on the floor.

Now.

Hands out.

OK, lady. Where is everything?

Tell us what you got.

We know--

[interposing voices]

JEANNIE CAWOOD: And they wanted to know where the vault,

the cash, and the gold was.

Of course, I don't have a vault.

I don't know where my vault is.

- Yes, you do. - Oh, god.

No, no.

You going to talk?

Are you the one that's going talk?

You are aren't you?

TRINITY CAWOOD: You know, I told them where the jewelry was.

I mean, I didn't know anything else to do.

You know, I figured Dad was already dead

and I was just trying to keep Mom and myself alive.

Good boy.

[crying]

Let's go.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The intruders

left Jeannie and Trinity alone, but continued

to ransack the house.

Moments later, one of them reappeared.

Oh, God.

Oh, God, please help us.

JEANNIE CAWOOD: I knew at that point

that they were going to shoot us.

So I immediately started praying with Trinity.

I brought you into this world and we'll leave it together.

I told her I loved her and uh, that I was ready to go

and you know, I was sure I was going to heaven.

I was just ready to go.

I didn't think I'd see another day.

Well, as we finished the conversation Trinity and I did,

I could hear this man choke up and when he did,

he turned around and walked away.

I think that is probably what saved Trinity.

I've got to do something.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When Jeannie

began to struggle against the ropes,

she managed to wriggle free.

They'll kill us.

Trinity, I'm going to lie here on the floor

and get shot in the head.

[suspenseful music]

Come on, Trinity.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Feeling

the intruders were still upstairs,

Jeannie and Trinity ran for help.

JEANNIE CAWOOD: All I knew is I had to get out of the house.

I threw the knife in the garage and I went next door,

and banged on my mother-in-law's window,

and she came to the back door and I ran in, I got her gun

and I told her to call 911.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The police found the Cawood's house

in total disarray.

The thieves had trashed every room

and made off with more than $40,000 in cash and jewelry.

Upstairs, investigators found Dr. Cawood,

bound and gagged on his bed, drifting

in and out of consciousness.

[police siren]

Dr. Cawood had survived the ordeal

with seven fractured ribs and a concussion.

But who would have assaulted him?

Why are they targeting his family?

These were questions no one has been able to answer.

[crying]

For the Cawood's, the official investigation became

an exercise in frustration.

No fingerprints were ever found, none of their jewelry

was recovered, and the police never

unearthed any solid evidence.

The Cawood's weren't willing to accept that the case

had come to a dead end.

They weren't willing to remain victims.

They began their own investigation

and soon found a dozen other families,

all unknown to each other who had

the same terrifying experience.

Four months after the attack, the Cawood's

met with Ken and Patsy Jenkins, who

lived less than 25 miles away.

Their story was frighteningly similar to the Cawood's,

leading Dr. Cawood to believe that both families had been

attacked by the same people.

It was one of the most frightening things I have

ever been through in my life.

DAVID CAWOOD: We not only went on physical descriptions,

but we concentrated on the personalities

of the perpetrators.

How they moved, what they said, and it's astonishing.

One or two members of the cast of characters

may change from time to time, but it's the same people.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Jenkins

were hit five years before the Cawood's, also

on a Sunday night.

Do everything we say, and everything's

going to be just fine.

You going to cooperate?

Yes.

PATSY JENKINS: I-- I remember that he disguised his voice

and he stood with a pillow between him and me.

At the time, I was afraid maybe he might be going

to shoot me through the pillow.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But murder was not on the agenda,

instead the intruders were after the same things

they'd been after the Cawood's, money, gold and access

to a vault.

Find out if there's a vault.

OK, listen.

Do you got a vault here old man?

I don't-- I don't know.

Yeah, come on, you do know.

Just take what you want.

You got some jewels?

Just don't hurt us.

DOUG QUARLES: There was a lot of similarities.

They come in uh, in the night time, but sometimes

Sunday night or at least a time when someone's at home.

They wear dark clothing, they use force

by show or threat of weapons.

Got the vault, we need the combination.

DOUG QUARLES: There use some what of regimented tactics.

Now.

DOUG QUARLES: They methodically go through the house

and then remove uh, what they come after.

KENNETH JENKINS: Dollar wise, it's hard to put

a value on sentimental things.

Uh, maybe $25,000.

They ransacked the house real fast you know, for just--

actually, one person done the ransacking, one

stayed at our bed all the time.

We got it.

We got it all.

Don't even think about calling the law.

We are the law.

DAVID CAWOOD: They move like a SWAT team,

they bark orders like a cop.

And I think that they will use whatever

violence they deem necessary to achieve their goals.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Cawood's now believe

they have linked 12 break in's committed in eastern Tennessee

over a 10 year period to the same gang.

It's a critical connection no local law enforcement

agency had ever made.

We can talk in here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Cawood's research

was so compelling that the Jefferson County District

Attorney's Office was able to convince

a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation

to launch an official inquiry.

There's so much information for you to look at we've

compiled over the last couple of years--

ROBERT DENNEY: Dr. and Mrs. Cawood

have done a lot in this case to help us, assist us.

They have met with several of the other victims

in a form I guess, a coalition of people that want

to try to get this case solved.

We do feel like the perpetrators have

an awful lot of information on the victims in these cases.

They come in and ask questions, so the only--

the victim could have shared with someone else.

Where's your money?

ROBERT DENNEY: And I think they're--

they're casing the houses real well,

and maybe the lifestyle of the people, when they come and go.

So we feel like that these people are doing an awful lot

of homework on these victims.

[screaming]

A lot of people can't realize, just go

on with your life, your alive.

You should be thankful your alive.

I am.

But there's just something else that's driving me,

I mean, these people are going to do it again and again,

and they need to be stopped.

We have found, we're not the only ones.

We have found victim after victim.

And these victims, to the person,

they feel exactly as we do.

And they feel that the most precious thing

that's been taken from them is their security.

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In a moment,

are these solemn statues imbued with ancient magic

and the power of fertility?

Dozens of happy new mothers have no doubt.

[theme music]

Making babies the old fashioned way

generally takes only a man, a woman

and a few cozy winter nights.

However, for these adorable children,

it may have also taken a little magic, ancient magic

imported from the mysterious shores of Africa.

They stand five feet tall, male and female,

carved from solid ebony.

They came from a small village on the Ivory Coast,

north of the Gulf of Guinea.

To the Bali tribe, these figures are

imbued with an incredible power, the spirit of fertility,

the essence of life itself.

Cannibals?

Yes, cannibals.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1994,

a man named Edward Meyer was in west Africa on a buying trip.

He was searching for artifacts bizarre enough

to add to the Ripley's Believe It or Not

museums around the world.

Uh, these statues are from the Bali tribe,

here on the Ivory Coast.

There is a centuries old belief that these ebony carvings

will bring about fertility.

The knife that the man is holding

represents power and the mango represents fertility.

The mango.

That's a mango, and the baby is the fruit of that fertility.

So how do they work?

Well, the shaman blesses the statues

and then it is believed if you place them in a doorway facing

each other, when the woman walks through

and touches them, she will become with child.

I will put this one on the other side.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Meyer had just the place

for the statues, Ripley's corporate headquarters

in Orlando, Florida.

I think they're going to look good here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): As a joke,

he positioned them in a doorway where

they could do their best work.

You shouldn't have touched her you know,

you're going to get pregnant.

Oh, dear I'll have to send a memo out

to everybody in the office so nobody else gets pregnant.

Got to warn everybody.

Oh, dear me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But what began as a joke, quickly

started looking like the real thing.

EDWARD MUIER: Within a few weeks,

our receptionist was pregnant, and she

was the person closest to them.

Basically, had to pass them more than anybody else.

And she got teased unmercifully.

I mean, you know, Lucy touched the statues,

you know, it must work, it must work.

And then along came Kimberli.

I had just recently gotten married so my husband

and I had made the decision that we

didn't want to start a family for about three or four years.

And once I was told the history of the statues,

I had made the decision myself that I

wanted to try and stay as far away from them as possible.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But for Kimberly

there was no escaping the fertility

statues seductive force.

KIMBERLI MARTIN: I was walking down the hall

and I tripped along the base of the female statue.

Looked down and my hand was resting on the baby, thought

at that time the damage had been done,

couldn't do anything about it then so I just

went along about my business.

A month and a half later, I found out I was pregnant.

Should not have gotten pregnant.

Definitely, I was a practicing birth control at the time.

So um, it was definitely a surprise,

but it was a wonderful surprise as you can see.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Candy Prizer regularly

visited Ripley's on business, but she

had no idea the hallway was baby trapped until she was

almost nine months pregnant.

CANDICE PRIZER: Then I remembered

how I used to touch these things every time

I went down the hallway.

Well, those things turned out to be the fertility statue.

And then I pieced it all together

because I really wasn't planning on getting

pregnant until about two months after I had conceived Benjamin.

And then I look back on my calendar

and low and behold, the day that I had been there

to go to lunch with them, back in April,

was probably during the week that I conceived.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 13 months,

13 women who came in contact with the statues

became pregnant, including 3 of the 10 women

who worked in the office.

When word got out, Ripley's was besieged.

EDWARD MUIER: The demand to see them became too great for us

to handle in this office, we just weren't prepared

for people phoning at all hours of the day wanting

to come and touch a statue.

We decided to put them in our local museum in Orlando

and let people come for free.

Why don't you touch the baby?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Nancy McCaffrey

was one of those who took advantage of the opportunity.

She had had a miscarriage several months earlier

and was eager to try again.

I think you should touch them too.

NANCY MCCAFFREY: It was just funny, I got a little nervous

and didn't know exactly where to touch the statue

or how to touch the statue, so we giggled our way through it,

but I was really hoping that it would work.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): And work it did.

Two weeks later, Nancy was pregnant.

I really think they did have something to do with it,

I don't know how, I don't know why,

but it's just a little too ironic for me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Ripley's asked women

to let them know if the statues lived up to their billing.

So far, they've gotten postcards confirming

almost 130 pregnancies.

EDWARD MUIER: I think you find, if you talk

to any one of those, you'll find that they

believe these statues had something

to do with their pregnancy.

Maybe that's you know, the power of suggestion,

but it's their power, they believe it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The stream of would-be mom's

never seems to stop.

TAMARA GELDMACHER: I'm next, I hope I'm next, that's for sure.

I have all the confidence.

Well, I don't know if you're going to believe this,

but I really had some kind of a feeling.

I don't know, it was kind of cool, like a cool feeling,

I just--

I felt good.

In touching it for the first time,

it just gave me goose bumps and actually brought tears

to my eyes, just-- just the thought of maybe,

finally the dream coming true.

When I saw the statues and I was about to touch them,

it was a different feeling.

Um, it was a little eerie, a little scary,

but it was more of a peaceable sense when I did touch them.

ROBERT STACK: That peaceful feeling may have

been a message from the Gods.

Five days after we filmed Susi touching the statues,

she was pregnant.

It would be easy to dismiss this mini baby

boom as pure coincidence, there is

no scientific proof that the carvings have any power at all.

But unless you want to be part of this particular playgroup,

you might want to steer clear of the fertility statues.

[theme music]

On our next "Unsolved Mysteries",

what happens when we sleep?

What mysterious forces enables some people to leave their beds

and move about as if they were wide awake?

It is a world beyond dreams, the world of sleep walking.

Join me next time for another intriguing addition,

"Unsolved Mysteries".

[theme music]