Original subtitles

ANNOUNCER: Tonight, on "Unsolved Mysteries."

ROBERT STACK: Jessica was 15, a cheerleader,

and in some ways, much too naive.

She should never have accepted the ride that led to this--

fleeing for her life in a lonely cemetery.

Recently, a series of spectacular sightings

had the entire state of Arizona buzzing about UFOs and visitors

from beyond.

The military said the strange lights were just flares,

but eyewitnesses say it just isn't so.

It was supposed to be a night to relax and have fun.

Then a young Marine found himself surrounded

by gangbangers with no way out.

Perhaps one of our viewers can help

track down the man who shattered Joffre Ramos' life and dreams.

The bizarre case of Rachel Timmerman

began when she accused a man known to some

as a town bully of raping her.

Then Rachel and her young daughter Shannon

abruptly disappeared, as did three other people.

The common link-- this man, the same man who allegedly

raped Rachel Timmerman.

Also, a poignant night where a reunion is a result of a phone

call from one of our viewers.

Join me.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

Madison County, Ohio, March 16th, 1991.

A teenager runs for her life.

She has to outrun her assailants.

She scrambles over a fence and lands in a cemetery.

A few hours earlier, her clothes were torn off.

She was raped in a car and held hostage.

Somehow she escaped.

Now, she hides behind tombstones.

She tries to get out of the graveyard, but in the pitch

black smashes into a fence post.

The men catch up.

They strike her face with a blunt object,

and they leave her to die.

Her name was Jessica Lyn Keen.

She was only 15 years old.

Later, investigators are able to pinpoint

Jessica's final movements based on clues

in and around the crime scene.

Mud on the fence.

A sock that belonged to her.

An impression of her knee in the ground.

But they didn't have a clue about why

anyone would want to kill her.

The gruesome murder of Jessica Lyn Keen

has baffled local and state detectives for years.

Jessica had been a popular cheerleader, honor student,

a talented performer, and a young woman

with goals and dreams.

REBECCA KEEN: Jessica idealistically

would have loved to have been a singer, an actress.

I guess realistically, Jessica was--

loved animals, and going--

wanting to go to college to be a zoologist.

She was always laughing, always smiling, always singing,

always fun to be around.

Hey, Susy! Hey, Jen.

- Hey Jan. - How you two doing?

- What's up? - Ah, not much.

Shawn is supposed to meet me here in a little bit.

ROBERT STACK: That year, Jessica's life

began to have its ups and downs.

It had to do with being a teenager.

It had to do with rebellion.

It had to do with meeting her first love,

the 18-year-old Shawn Thompson.

Hey, Shawn!

ROBERT STACK: It wasn't an issue for Jessica or her mother

that Shawn was a different race, but it did bother her mother

that Shawn had had minor brushes with the law

and that he was a high school dropout.

REBECCA KEEN: I had forbid her to see Shawn and said,

you can't see him until your grades come up.

And I was concerned.

We discussed her-- you know, as far as her going to college,

she knew she'd have to keep a good grade average in order

to get a scholarship, and her grades started dropping

and she had skipped school a couple of times

to be with Shawn.

Jessica wanted to get away from her mom.

She thought about running away, but she

didn't actually know where to go and she

didn't want to be a runaway.

And of course, she's threatening me,

and I don't want to live with you anymore.

But I knew I had to do something.

ROBERT STACK: Arguments must between Jessica and Rebecca

escalated into a fury.

They desperately needed a cooling off period.

Mother and daughter mutually decided that Jessica should

spend two weeks at a local live-in counseling

center for teenagers.

OK, I've got some questions I want to ask too.

Hi, Shawn, what are you up to?

ROBERT STACK: On Friday, March 15th, the day before

she was to move back home and just hours before she died,

Jessica spoke to Shawn.

GREGG COSTAS: Jessica and Shawn end up

getting into an argument that day

on the telephone, at which point they broke up.

Numerous people witnessed this telephone

call and said that Jessica was very visibly upset.

[slams phone]

ROBERT STACK: Later, Jessica told her friend

that she was going to the mall.

She was last seen at a bus stop near the center at 6:00 PM.

Authorities suspect that Jessica was abducted.

- --bus? - Yeah.

Come on, hop in, we'll give you a ride.

No, it's OK.

GREGG COSTAS: There is a chance that maybe it was somebody

who Jessica kind of knew.

Maybe wasn't really good friends with,

but familiar enough with them to trust them

enough to get into the car,

Thanks, guys.

GREGG COSTAS: --not knowing what would ultimately . happen.

ROBERT STACK: Jessica's body was found 42 hours later,

20 miles from the bus stop.

It was noon on Sunday.

Investigators surmise that after Jessica was abducted,

she was held captive for at least six hours.

Based on a semen sample, they believe

she was raped two to four hours before she

escaped from the car.

This is the road here that Jessica ran down after she was

able to get out of the vehicle.

I don't think she had any idea at the time

that she was actually climbing into a cemetery to hide,

But that was-- at that point, that

was her only means for getting away

from whoever was chasing her.

This is the area where they--

the crime scene investigators found one of Jessica's socks.

She obviously lost it while she was running.

ROBERT STACK: The sock that was found matched the one that

remained on Jessica's foot.

GREGG COSTAS: We do know that she hid behind this headstone.

That was based on the crime scene

investigators found her knee print in the soft ground

behind the headstone.

[quiet sobbing] [praying]

We are pretty certain that Jessica saw the light

on from a farm house, and that's when she turned

to run for when she collided with a fence post

in the back of the cemetery.

When she got back there, because it's so dark out here at night,

she was not able to see the fence back here

and collided with this fence post.

Once she collided with the fence post, she knocked herself down,

and at that point, her assailants

were able to catch up with her.

This is the spot where she was ultimately killed.

I've never been so passionate about anything that I've

ever worked on in my life.

The thought of this young girl, 15 years old,

who had such a bright future being murdered in such

a horrible, horrible fashion, you cannot help

but want to do everything humanly possible

to find out who did this.

ROBERT STACK: Sheriffs in Madison County

turned their attention to Jessica's boyfriend,

but Shawn Thompson wasn't in Columbus.

He had left for Florida with some friends.

STEPHAN SALTSMAN: They were--

on the return to Ohio, Shawn was questioned,

the friends that had gone with him were also questioned.

And through the questioning, the examination

of physical evidence, we-- we had all but eliminated

the boyfriend and the friends.

ROBERT STACK: DNA evidence from the semen sample

did not match Shawn or the others.

The group was cleared of any wrongdoing.

But an entire week had been lost.

A trail of the actual killer or killers had grown cold.

Jessica's death never stops haunting her mother.

What they-- they did to her, the fear that Jessica felt--

she would do anything to get away.

And I can feel her heartbeat running through the cemetery.

I can feel the deep breathing she was probably doing when she

went up behind the tombstone.

I can hear her praying.

I realized that that was the worst thing that I believe

anyone could go through.

I pray to God to this-- that when she hit that fence,

it knocked her out.

I'm not revengeful.

God has the only right to take someone's life.

But if someone does something and usually gets away with it,

they'll do it again.

I know, but this is one of the last chances we'll really

have to find out who did this.

ROBERT STACK: Next, when a peculiar V formation of light

appears over Phoenix, many claim the Air

National Guard is the cause.

But those who actually see it feel very differently.

Roswell, New Mexico, 1947.

A mysterious explosion.

Unidentified debris found in a remote pasture

sparks a UFO frenzy.

Official explanation-- a downed weather balloon.

Bentwaters Air Force Base, England, 1980.

Multiple sightings of strange lights and aircraft.

Official explanation-- a meteor shower.

Hudson Valley, New York, 1983 to 1989.

Mysterious V-shaped formations seen

by hundreds of local residents.

Official explanation-- an elaborate hoax.

For UFO buffs, it's always the same story--

an unprecedented event followed by an official brushoff.

Now some say it has happened again in Phoenix, Arizona.

MICHAEL KRYZSTON: All right, you tell me what it is.

ROBERT STACK: March 13th, 1997, 10:00 PM.

MICHAEL KRYZSTON: Oh, what do we got?

ROBERT STACK: A man named Michael

Kryzston shot this videotape.

MICHAEL KRYZSTON: Take a look at this.

And before I know it, an entire display of lights comes on.

I got a little excited at that time.

I called my wife, it took her about a minute

to get over there, and it was really quite unusual.

ROBERT STACK: Michael Kryzston wasn't alone.

This videotape was shot around the same time 15 miles away.

BYSTANDER 1: Look at them!

Look-it, there's three of them all together.

BYSTANDER 2: I got the third one copied over here.

There's one behind the chimney!

ROBERT STACK: In fact, the bizarre lights

were seen by thousands of Arizona residents that night.

REPORTER: An unexplainable series of strange bright lights

seen over the skies of Arizona gets a lot of people

are wondering what the heck they saw.

ROBERT STACK: Not surprisingly, an official explanation

soon emerged from Captain Drew Sullins

of the Air National Guard.

DREW SULLINS: The 104th Fighter Squadron of the Maryland Air

National Guard's 175th Wing was conducting

a night training exercise in the vicinity

of the mysterious lights.

And what they were doing was dropping night illumination

flares over the north tactical range of Luke Air Force Base,

and a lot of people seemed to think

that those flares could in fact have

been the, quote-unquote, mysterious lights.

ROBERT STACK: Flares.

It seemed perfectly plausible and was widely accepted.

However, there was one little problem

with the military explanation.

They said they'd only dropped flares between 9:00 and 10:00

PM, but the most impressive sightings occurred earlier

between 8:00 and 9:00 PM.

Taken together, these highly credible eyewitness accounts

seem to indicate that there was something other than flares

in the Arizona sky that night.

Was it an extraordinary UFO event?

Judge for yourself.

8:10 PM.

Nearly an hour before the military

will begin dropping flares.

Ross Nickle and his family were on Highway 89,

just outside Chino Valley, 90 miles north of Phoenix.

Hey, Dad, do you see that light over there?

Where?

Over the horizon.

Oh yeah.

Looks like an airplane.

And I looked out the window and I saw some lights

in a very small pattern.

And what they really looked like at that point

was some-- just dim stars, several of them

in a very tight pattern.

Wow.

Let me out, I gotta see--

Hold-- hold it, let me-- let me look at this first.

They were white like stars when they were coming towards us.

And at that point, they changed colors

and went from light to red.

They were just overhead at that point,

and they were in my estimation not very high off the ground,

I'm guessing 1,000 feet.

And there was absolutely no sound--

during the whole time from the start to the finish,

there was absolutely no sound.

What is it?

I have no idea.

There was definitely five of them.

It's moving again.

They were basically on a flight pattern of some kind

that was fairly uniform.

ROBERT STACK: 10 minutes later, 8:30 PM, 90 miles south,

a commercial airline pilot and his wife

were driving home after dinner.

For professional reasons, a pilot

agreed to tell his story only if his identity was concealed.

They look like fighters.

That's a show formation.

Yeah, I've been flying for 29 years, now,

and I'm not used to looking up in the sky

and not being able to figure out what I'm seeing.

I looked at it then and tried to make it into an airliner.

I realized again, god, it's going to slow,

and, oh, by the way, there's no noise at all.

Definitely not fighters.

And then the next thing that struck

me is that, yeah, and why would his landing lights

be pointed straight down?

Because the lights appeared to be about five lights

arrayed in this V formation with landing lights

pointed straight down.

It's not making a sound.

ROBERT STACK: Ross Nickle and his family

had seen the lights here.

The pilot and his wife saw them here.

Whatever it was seemed to be on a definite southerly course.

14 miles southeast of the pilot sighting,

Ozma Linderman and her boyfriend had

their own peculiar encounter.

Keep in mind, the military would not begin dropping

flares for another half hour.

What is that?

Looks like it's going to crash.

BOYFRIEND: Wait.

OZMA LINDERMAN: It was very clear in my mind

that it was one solid craft.

The lights were traveling too perfectly spaced apart.

And that there was a void clearly

between the lights that blacked out

the stars when it came down.

Look at that.

Wow.

Where's it going?

I don't know.

The whole thing just slowed--

I don't know, maybe to a stop or it hovered for a second,

and then what looked like one solid red oval object,

it just turned red and shot straight

up and disappeared-- gone.

Completely gone.

You know, I tried everything I could to explain them away,

and I said, well, it looks to me like a flock

of geese flying down from Iowa with flashlights

in their mouth.

ROBERT STACK: 8:45 PM, still 15 minutes before the military

would begin dropping flares.

Trucker Gary Morris saw the lights

approximately 10 minutes after, and 80 miles south

of Ozma Linderman.

Hey Jimmy, you see those lights over to the east?

And they didn't look like floodlights,

they didn't really look like spotlights,

there was something different about them

that I had never seen before.

ROBERT STACK: Between 8:00 and 9:00 PM,

the Phoenix lights had traveled over 300 miles

and been seen by hundreds of witnesses.

Gary Morris' encounter came near the end

of the first wave of sightings.

Looks to me like a flock of geese.

ROBERT STACK: An hour passed.

Then at 10:00 PM, Michael Kryzston

shot the videotape that would set off local hysteria

and provide the basis for the official explanation.

MICHAEL KRYZSTON: What do we got here?

DREW SULLINS: If you lived in Phoenix,

these flares, some of them were dropped at 14 and 15,000 feet.

They burn very bright, they burn for five to six minutes,

they they're suspended by a parachute,

and it's a large flare.

You would be able to see those flares I would imagine

for 150, maybe even 200 miles.

ROBERT STACK: The military says that flares like these, dropped

at night, would look like this.

Again, judge for yourself.

I'm certain that the lights that I saw

were not aerial flares as used by the military.

I've seen them from the ground, I've seen them from the air,

and these weren't flares.

And probably the major reason that these were almost

certainly not flares dropped by the military

was there they're dangerous.

So they would never ever be dropped

over a population center.

We saw them travel over a distance of probably

70 to 80 miles over about 12 to 13 minutes.

And then-- no flares that I know can do that.

The Ross Nickle sighting is very interesting,

because it involves--

ROBERT STACK: Veteran UFO investigator

Richard Motzer has been on the Phoenix case

since the beginning.

Surprisingly, Motzer sides with the military up to a point.

He agrees that the 10:00 event was indeed flares,

however, he has no explanation for the earlier

wave of sightings.

RICHARD MOTZER: The descriptions of the witnesses simply

leave you shaking your head, because they will

tell you that this is no military vehicle

that they have ever seen.

And so right now, we can't make a determination

on what actually happened at 8:30 on that night

of March the 13th.

ROBERT STACK: Will the mystery of the Phoenix lights

ever be solved?

For the military, the case is closed,

but for hundreds of eyewitnesses,

the question remains--

did the Phoenix lights come from somewhere beyond the stars?

MICHAEL KRYZSTON: We've got learn

except certain things in life.

We've been sending radio signals out in space for over 50 years,

now, trying to locate intelligent life.

So why would it be hard for us to think

that at some point in time, somebody

finally answered the call?

ROBERT STACK: When we return, it was just a party, a chance

to let off a little steam.

But from for Marine corporal Joffre Ramos,

it became a terrifying descent into hell.

A gangbanger.

[gunshots] A flurry of gunshots.

A man left for dead.

But not a rival gang member, an innocent victim.

He is 20-year-old Joffre Ramos.

Handsome, good natured, a dedicated

Marine who had recently made the rank of Lance Corporal.

September 21st, 1996, Canoga Park, California.

It was supposed to be an innocent fun.

Joffre and some fellow Marines have been invited to a party.

--more of that, come on!

Hey, guys!

You made it. - Hi.

Hi.

Who'd you bring?

Just some old buddies of mine.

This is Joffre.

ROBERT STACK: The clean cut Marines mingled easily

with a diverse mix of party goers, which

according to one of Joffre's friends,

included some gangbangers.

There you go.

ANDREW COLLAZOS: I want a rosebud.

They didn't say nothing to us, you know.

Didn't pay no mind to us, you know,

didn't start no trouble with us.

We just-- we did our thing and they did theirs, you know?

ROBERT STACK: Then, without warning,

What do you think you're doing with Pablo?

Hey, he came up to me.

You wish.

He's not that desperate.

He is if he's with you, trapita.

[slap]

ANDREW COLLAZOS: And then that's when the whole fight broke out.

Just everybody was fighting.

[shrieks]

ROBERT STACK: For Joffre and his fellow Marines,

it was time to go.

This was a party, not a war zone.

As they reached the jeep, Joffre remembered he had left

his wallet in the backyard.

His friends inadvertently drove off without him.

They could not have guessed the Joffre was

heading straight into battle.

On the street, destroying a Marine

was considered a badge of courage.

Yo, Marine!

What's up, man?

GANGBANGER 2: Let's get him, man.

Come on down.

We gonna get him, homes.

Nothing.

Let's take this fool out, homes.

GANGBANGER 2: Let's go!

Come on, take off--

ROBERT STACK: The alleged ringleader of the group

was a reputed gang member named Luis Quezada.

What's up, you know how to kill, Marine?

Huh?

We can show you.

Take about five minutes, homes.

Mess him up real bad, man.

Put his ass in check.

GANGBANGER 2: We can take him down, homes.

You want some?

Huh?

Potential big time macho Marine?

Nah.

What's up with that punk-ass hair, fool?

You going down, man!

ROBERT STACK: Joffre sized up the odds.

There was only one way out.

Hey!

Let's get him!

GANGBANGER 2: Get him, get him, get him!

Come on! LUIE QUEZADA: Hurry up!

Get him! GANGBANGER 2: Come on, come on!

Get him!

LUIE QUEZADA: Get down!

[punching]

ROBERT STACK: Joffre Ramos never had a chance.

He was hit repeatedly.

Pummeled over and over.

[grunting]

The vicious attack lasted less than five minutes.

The Marine ain't so tough, huh?

ROBERT STACK: It was long enough for Joffre's friends to return.

They went inside to look for him.

They coming back.

ROBERT STACK: Luie Quezada, meanwhile,

apparently assumed an approaching car was filled

with Marines and took aim.

[gunshots]

BRUCE L. OAKLEY: By the grace of God, there was nobody hit.

And we very much could have had five additional people

laying out there dead.

I believe a neighbor or somebody was yelling,

there's a dead kid in the street.

So then we ran over there. - Grab his arm-- ready?

Roll him over-- ready?

One-- there we go.

ANDREW COLLAZOS: You could say it was like a nightmare.

Oh God-- Ramos?

Ramos!

I don't know, the way he looked--

bloody, his face was swollen.

And he was just--

he looked like, you know--

he was breathing, but he looked like he was just dead,

you know?

This guy needs help, man!

He's bleeding!

ROBERT STACK: In the midst of the commotion,

the police mistakenly arrested the Marines.

We're Marines, man!

We didn't--

BRUCE L. OAKLEY: Our initial belief, because of the injuries

that Joffre incurred in the beating

was that he was going to die.

And even though he hadn't died yet,

we were handling it as if he had died.

Because it was that serious.

FRANCES PEREZ: It was awful just to see

him laying there like that.

I remember looking through this glass wall

that they had in the room, and I could see him laying there.

And he looked like a monster.

His head was bandaged and had tubes coming out of his head.

His eye was-- it was swollen.

It was-- and his face, oh, his whole face

was swollen, his nose, his lip.

And I thought he was going to die.

ROBERT STACK: The right side of Joffre's brain

had been smashed to the left side of his skull.

He underwent emergency brain surgery

and spent three weeks in a coma.

Doctors doubted he would make it.

JOFFRE RAMOS: I was unconscious for a long time.

And when I came up, I--

I didn't know anything.

Now, some things are coming, but some are still gone.

Though Though Jeffrey suffered some permanent brain damage,

it is remarkable that he is even alive, much less functioning.

He spent eight months learning like an infant, all

that it takes to walk and talk.

FRANCES PEREZ: I think, as I said,

it's very unfair that Joffre has to go through life facing all

of these challenges that he has now while Luie Quezada is

out there having a good time and doesn't

even have any idea of what he's done to Joffre or any of--

or any of us.

ROBERT STACK: Joffre had high hopes of making the military

a career, but instead had to accept an honorable discharge

from the Marines.

Now, every labored step Joffre takes

is proof-positive that he's undoing the damage inflicted

upon him that terrible night.

JOFFRE RAMOS: I'll think about this till I turn--

till I-- until I get old and being that I--

I forget.

I never remember what I've--

never answered why, why would they do that?

And why-- why would they just--

the number ques-- the number one question is why?

Why would they-- why'd they do that?

ROBERT STACK: Next, a young woman is found murdered,

but her baby daughter is still missing.

Have you seen Shannon Timmerman?

August 7th, 1996, Cedar Springs, Michigan.

18-year-old Rachel Timmerman left

a party with 43-year-old Marvin Gabrion and two other men.

I want you out of the car.

ROBERT STACK: Though some consider

Gabrion the town bully, he was friendly with Rachel's family.

He was well aware that life had dealt Rachel a rough hand.

She came from a broken home and had given birth to a daughter

when she was just 17.

Still nothing could have prepared Rachel for what

she said happened that night.

Out of the car.

Ain't no way, man.

I'm not getting out here.

It's the middle of nowhere--

Get out of the car!

Do it! Do it!

Get!

No, not you! - What?

MARVIN GABRION: No!

Guys?

Guys!

Gabrion!

-

ROBERT STACK: Rachel later told police that Gabrion beat her.

Then he raped her.

Not once, but three times.

RACHEL TIMMERMAN: [screams]

ROBERT STACK: After a six month investigation,

Marvin Gabrion was arrested, then released

on bail two weeks later.

That rape was so brutal.

And it took a long time at the hospital,

and the scarring I don't think would've ever went away.

It got to where she didn't really hardly trust anybody

unless she already knew them, because she didn't

know who could hurt her again.

ROBERT STACK: The accusations of rape divided the tiny community

of Cedar Springs.

But in the months that followed, Rachel

began to turn her life around.

She had a daughter to raise, 18-month-old Shannon.

TIM TIMMERMAN: Rachel got herself a job at a restaurant.

She had fun working with some of the other young kids there.

I got the sense that Rachel wanted to do something

with her life, that she saw opportunities out there

that she wanted to pursue.

VELDA TIMMERMAN: The baby is really what changed it all.

Her focus was on the baby almost 99%.

It was just all for the good.

She knew she was a beautiful lady

and-- and she started wearing makeup

every day after that rape to try to make herself feel

pretty, because there were mean things

said that really hurt her.

So everything was really--

it was like a miracle.

ROBERT STACK: But as a date for Gabrion's preliminary hearing

came closer, Rachel's family says she began to worry

about having to testify.

TIM TIMMERMAN: She had told me that he'd

threatened her numerous times.

She was a little scared to go to trial,

but I had talked to her about it.

I told her, it's OK, honey, I'll go with you, I'll help you,

and we'll do it. - No!

No!

VELDA TIMMERMAN: It was actually horrible.

She would have reoccurring nightmares.

She was totally convinced that this man would kill her.

ROBERT STACK: Then two days before the rape hearing,

--out of here.

- Where are you going? - Oh, just out.

With some guy.

You don't know him.

OK, you're taking Shannon with you?

Yeah, actually.

He asked me to bring her with me.

TIM TIMMERMAN: She came out to see me

and told me that she had a dinner date with some boy.

She was going to take Shannon with her and have dinner,

she'd be home in a few hours.

ROBERT STACK: A few hours passed.

Rachel and Shannon did not come home.

The next morning, still no word.

Later that day, less than 24 hours after Rachel disappeared,

her father received a letter.

TIM TIMMERMAN: This letter was from Rachel,

and basically said that she was going on vacation.

And we didn't know what to make of it.

We were worried that it was kind of a goofy thing to do,

that it just didn't make sense.

Here you just got a job at the restaurant,

you're earning money, why would you need to go on a vacation

now?

June 5th we had a pretrial hearing scheduled

for Marvin Gabrion on the rape charge

against Rachel Timmerman.

And on that date, Rachel failed to show

up for that pretrial hearing.

ROBERT STACK: Authorities say rape cases without witnesses

are extremely difficult to prosecute.

The charges against Marvin Gabrion were dropped.

11 days passed.

Prosecutor Chrystal Roach became more and more anxious.

There was still no sign of Rachel or baby Shannon.

Then Roach received a letter, signed by Rachel,

and sent from Little Rock, Arkansas,

more than 1,500 miles away.

RACHEL TIMMERMAN: Dear, Chrystal Roach,

Marvin Gabrion did not rape me.

When he wouldn't have intercourse with me,

I decided to teach him a lesson.

A short time later, we made up, and I

can't bear the thought of trying to lock up an innocent man.

Thank you, Rachel Timmerman.

I didn't believe it.

It didn't make sense to me.

And-- and I got angry.

Because she was very serious about pressing these charges.

I was concerned that something had happened to her.

ROBERT STACK: That same day, yet another letter arrived

at the home of Rachel's father.

It, too, was postmarked, Little Rock, Arkansas.

RACHEL TIMMERMAN: Dear, Dad, Shannon is doing great.

She misses you guys, but she's adjusting

to life out here really well.

I don't know for sure yet,

TIM TIMMERMAN: The letter that I'd received was reassuring.

It said she was OK, her and Shannon were fine,

they had a method of earning money, they were getting by OK,

and that they would be in touch with me later.

ROBERT STACK: More than two weeks

went by without another word from Rachel and baby Shannon.

Then on the morning of July 5th, the still waters

of Oxford Lake outside Cedar Springs

were disturbed by a gruesome discovery--

the decomposed body of a young woman.

It was Rachel Timmerman.

She had been wrapped in chains and with cement blocks

padlocked to the chains, and duct tape

around the eyes and mouth, and then placed into the lake.

CURT SCHRAM: The autopsy revealed

that Rachel Timmerman did die as a result of drowning.

That she had been placed in the lake alive.

ROBERT STACK: Police believe Rachel probably died

shortly after she disappeared.

But what happened to Shannon?

Fearing that the little girl had met the same fate

as her mother, authorities called

in an underwater diving team to search Oxford Lake.

But the search came up empty.

18-month-old Shannon could not be found.

Authorities developed a theory--

whoever killed Rachel forced her to write the letters almost

immediately after she was kidnapped,

then mailed them after throwing her into the lake.

One suspect immediately came to mind--

the man who stood accused of raping Rachel;

the man Rachel was to testify against just two days

before she disappeared; the man named Marvin Gabrion.

Take a look over here and see--

CURT SCHRAM: We decided to go over

to Mr. Gabrion's residence.

Mr. Gabrion was not there, but cinder blocks

were noticed that appeared to be the same as what was found

with Rachel Timmerman when her body

was recovered from Oxford Lake.

ROBERT STACK: Authorities now had evidence that

was potentially crucial to their case,

but they did not have Marvin Gabrion.

He had fled Cedar Springs.

And strangely, Gabrion wasn't the only one

who couldn't be found.

It seems to be, anybody that knows Marvin, has

any information that could be damaging to Marv

comes up as a missing person.

ROBERT STACK: Missing person number one--

Wayne Davis.

Davis had been in the car the night

Rachel was allegedly raped.

He had agreed to testify against Gabrion.

Davis was last seen just days after Gabrion

was released from jail.

Missing person number two--

John Weeks.

Weeks was an acquaintance of Gabrion's,

who had asked Rachel out on a date

a few weeks prior to her death.

His name came up when we were attempting to identify

the individual that might have picked Rachel up on June 3rd

from the Timmerman residence.

In our efforts to locate him, we've

come up against a stone wall and found out that he

also was a missing person.

No one has seen or heard from him

since about the second or third week of June, 1997.

ROBERT STACK: Curiously, that was around the same time Rachel

and Shannon disappeared.

The FBI was called in.

They learned that Gabrion had been using an alias--

Robert Allen.

Missing person number three--

to no one's surprise, authorities

discovered that the real Robert Allen had disappeared in 1995.

October 1997, upstate New York.

A major break in the case.

FBI agents arrested Gabrion.

He had been cashing social security

checks payable to Robert Allen.

Days later, Gabrion appeared at an identity hearing

in New York.

Initially he denied he was Marvin Gabrion.

He has yet to be charged for any crimes he might

have committed in Michigan.

And he hasn't said a word concerning

the fate of baby Shannon.

TIM TIMMERMAN: The hardest part is just not knowing

where your granddaughter is.

It's a-- it's a hole in your heart that needs to be filled.

We know she's out there somewhere.

We just want to know where she is, we want her back.

ROBERT STACK: Shannon Timmerman.

Wayne Davis.

John Weeks.

Robert Allen.

All missing.

All with a common link--

Marvin Gabrion.

Coincidence?

Authorities believe it is highly unlikely.

PRIEST: I will take thee as my wedded husband.

MARGIE ELIZABETH HAMILTON: I take thee as my wedded husband.

ROBERT STACK: On a previous broadcast,

we brought you the heartbreaking story

of Margie Elizabeth Hamilton.

In the spring of 1932, economic hardship

forced 14-year-old Margie to marry a man

nearly 50 years her senior.

You may kiss the bride.

ROBERT STACK: The loveless union unexpectedly brought Margie

a measure of joy when she gave birth to a baby

boy, Benjamin Austin Baker.

But her husband James did not share Margie's happiness.

MARGIE ELIZABETH HAMILTON: How can that be?

Please!

ROBERT STACK: Behind her back, James

put the child up for adoption.

Even though 63 years have passed,

Margie has never forgotten the son who was taken from her.

Her daughter Lois hopes that time

will not run out before Margie's last wish can come true.

LOIS BAKER LANE: It would be so wonderful to be able to say,

Mama, here's Benny.

Here's your son.

ROBERT STACK: Within minutes of our broadcast,

two viewers contacted our phone center

to tell us that Benjamin Austin Baker once

lived as a foster child in their home.

The information he provided was enough for Lois Baker Lane

to locate her long lost brother in Everton, Washington.

Benjamin Baker entered the foster care system

at 18 months old and grew up just

outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

He later became a salesman, married, and started a family.

Sadly, Benny has spent his entire life

believing that his real mother had cruelly abandoned him.

Recently, Benny boarded a plane for Colorado Springs

to find out the truth.

Hello, there.

Hello, there.

ROBERT STACK: After six decades of separation, mother and son

finally embrace, their shared anguish evaporating

in an outpouring of love.

It's been a long time.

Uh, yeah.

[laughter]

LOIS BAKER LANE: I wanted this day to happen for my mama.

And I can't even put it into words how I feel.

I just am-- you know, I am just so happy that we finally

found him.

There.

It's flowers!

BENJAMIN BAKER: I had given up a long time

ago that I'd ever see them.

So it feels great.

It's, uh, you know, it's something I never

imagined would ever happen. - The last one--

Oh.

--I got was this one.

It was-- day was taken, so--

Yeah.

MARGIE ELIZABETH HAMILTON: I tried

so many years to find him.

And I prayed a lot that it would happen.

I'm just glad that I got to see him and he's well and happy.

And that we can be together before my time comes.

ROBERT STACK: For every mystery, there is someone

somewhere who knows the truth.

Perhaps it's you.

Join me next time for "Unsolved Mysteries."

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