Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Tonight, on Unsolved Mysteries.

Come on, girl.

NARRATOR: We're all familiar with the incredible bond

that exists between a dog and his master.

But the world of medicine is beginning

to recognize that that mysterious connection can

sometimes defy ordinary explanations.

Does man's best friend and the ability to detect

life threatening illnesses?

When a vivacious college freshmen without an enemy

in the world is brutally slain, her mother

personally takes on the case to find her daughter's killer.

Could the mother's undercover work with the local police

department have made her 18-year-old daughter

a target for murder?

17 human bones are found strewn in a Kentucky stream.

Whose are they?

And how did they get There For Forensic Anthropologist, Dr.

Emily Craig, solving mysteries like this

has made her one of the most well

known experts in her field.

When Deputy Clark Jackson decided to investigate

a steamer trunk found by the roadside,

he was taken by surprise.

He had no idea that the contents would lead detectives five

years search for a killer.

NARRATOR:

Join me for these intriguing stories, and more.

You may be able to help solve a mystery.

Before dawn on a crisp September morning,

18-year-old Bonnie Craig began her trek to school.

Two days a week, the University of Alaska

freshman walked 45 minutes through the early morning

darkness to catch the bus to campus.

Bonnie was a diligent student who prided herself on arriving

promptly for her 7 a.m. class.

But on this day, Bonnie would never make it to school.

Later that afternoon, another Anchorage college student

was out shooting photographs from a hiking trail

in a public park when she made a grisly discovery,

the lifeless body of a young woman floating in McHugh creek.

DAVID HANSON: Her remains were located

at the bottom of a 33 foot cliff in fairly shallow water.

It wasn't a place that you would

normally hike along the stream to get to where she was.

So that she could have been hiking

and taken a misstep somewhere and slipped

and fallen off of the cliff.

NARRATOR: The following day the victim

was identified as Bonnie Craig.

The medical examiner determined she had drowned,

but Bonnie had also suffered severe head

injuries, possibly resulting from a fall off a cliff.

At the time of Bonny's death, her mother Karen Campbell

was on vacation in Florida.

She rushed home when she learned the tragic news.

KAREN CAMPBELL: They told me Bonnie

had died in a hiking accident and I wouldn't believe it.

I still expected Bonnie to be coming up to me

and apologizing and saying, I'm sorry mom.

It wasn't me.

NARRATOR: Viewing her daughter's body was devastating for Karen.

However, as she took a closer look, Karen was stunned.

This is no hiking accident.

KAREN CAMPBELL: Her knuckles were bruised and broken.

There was defensive wounds on her body.

And I knew that she had been attacked.

It was murder.

Troubling questions that already

begun to surface before Karen Campbell

had viewed her daughter's body.

What was Bonny doing anywhere near McHugh

Creek Park on a school day?

And since she didn't drive, how did Bonnie

get there, a distance of 10 miles

from where she was last seen?

Even then, authorities were slow to conclude

that Bonnie had been murdered.

And what few leads investigators developed,

they kept to themselves.

But a frustrated Karen found an ally in television

reporter, Maria Donnie.

So can you tell me anything about the cause of death?

Anything like that? - Not at this time.

MARIA DOWNEY: It was really tough for the community

to take because Bonnie was a well

liked, well known young lady.

Can I get an official statement?

We talked with Karen several days

after Bonnie's body was found.

At that time, troopers were still

not releasing much information.

NARRATOR: One piece of information troopers

didn't release was a result of a sexual assault

examination, which Karen learned of six months later.

KAREN CAMPBELL: I had originally asked if she had been raped

and they told me no.

After fighting to get information from them,

they were revealed to me that, yes, Bonnie was

brutally raped and murdered.

DAVID HANSON: The results of the autopsy show

that there was evidence of sexual activity.

We can't confirm whether it was a sexual assault

or whether it was consensual sex.

Hey, can I give you this flier?

My daughter was recently killed--

NARRATOR: Such disputes were typical of Karen Campbell's

relationship with police.

Her frustrations with investigators

soon motivated her to begin her own search for information

about Bonny's death.

KAREN CAMPBELL: Everybody here in town put up

signs, flyers, bumper stickers.

We wanted to make sure that until the crime was solved,

nobody was going to forget about it.

NARRATOR: Karen Campbell was no stranger

to investigations or criminals.

On several occasions, she had performed

risky undercover work as a reserve officer

with the Anchorage police department.

Wearing a hood and mask to conceal her identity,

Karen would nod silently to point out

those who had sold her drugs.

KAREN CAMPBELL: I was involved in what

I thought was minor drug buys.

I had gone out five or six times and bought crack

for the Anchorage police department.

Karen, you got a sec?

Sure.

NARRATOR: A few months into her investigation

into Bonnie's death, Karen learned

that undercover work might have jeopardized the lives

of those closest to her.

She was approached by an acquaintance

who claimed to have information about Bonnie's murder.

At his request, Karen promised to protect his identity.

According to Karen, the man told her

that her family had apparently been targeted on the orders

of a local drug lord, after a sting she was involved

in resulted in the arrest of several members

of his organization.

KAREN CAMPBELL: He told me that her murder was ordered

by this drug lord because it was a message to the Anchorage

police department to back off.

Bonnie was murdered the day after the people

that identified as drug dealers were released from jail.

NARRATOR: Despite the precautions taken to protect

her identity during the bus, it would not

have been difficult for the accused

to learn who had fingered them.

Criminals always are supposed to know who their accusers are

and so my name appears about 10 times

in each page at the indictment.

Thanks for seeing me, detective.

Thanks.

Have a seat.

NARRATOR: When Karen relayed what the informant had told her

to the lead investigator on Bonnie's murder,

she was not satisfied with his response.

He said this was a retribution killing

for the undercover work I did with the Anchorage

police department. - Wait.

Who's his source?

KAREN CAMPBELL: When I gave him all the details,

he just kept asking me, where are

you getting this information.

I said it was from somebody who did not want to be identified.

This is not their MO.

You know we're investigating this.

Are you going to help me here?

Who's your source?

I'm not going to reveal my source to you.

I want these leads followed.

KAREN CAMPBELL: And I told them I wouldn't reveal my source.

He told me, well then, you're hindering

your daughter's investigation and I'm not

going to investigate this lead.

And to this day, I don't know what they've done and probably

will never know what they've done as

far as investigating that lead.

DAVID HANSON: The fact that she feels that we may not

have investigated thoroughly enough or followed up

on her confidential informants lead,

I don't believe to be true.

We followed up all the leads and if she believes that we

haven't, it might just be that we

haven't filled her in on every single thing that we've done.

NARRATOR: Almost a full year after Bonny's murder, the case

took an unexpected turn when Karen

was contacted by one of Bonnie's college instructors.

Hello?

Yes?

MARIA DOWNEY: She really felt that there

was this one particular student that may have

been involved in the murder.

NARRATOR: According to Karen, the instructor

told her that her suspicions stemmed from reading

the student's class journal and the references he

made to the date of Bonnie's murder, September 28th.

Karen believes certain entries in the journal

could be significant.

KAREN CAMPBELL: His journal was incredibly violent

filled with anger.

And there was two incidents where he specifically

said that September 28th was going

to be a very tough day, that he was going to be put to a test.

NARRATOR: The instructor told Karen that on the day

Bonny was murdered the student in question was absent.

You missed class this morning.

I'm sorry I just overslept.

KAREN CAMPBELL: There was supposed to be

papers handed in that day.

That student brought it to the teacher

later on in the afternoon.

You overslept the whole class?

Sorry

KAREN CAMPBELL: He was wet like he had just gotten out

of a shower and she said it smelled

like he had just poured a whole bottle of Cologne on himself.

After the murder, his journal became more peaceful.

There wasn't the anger.

yet, he knew that there was a student but had just died,

and there was no references to Bonnie's murder.

NARRATOR: Detectives investigated the student,

but soon ruled him out as a suspect.

DAVID HANSON: DNA evidence recovered

from a body at the scene did not match

DNA evidence collected from the student at the college.

I immediately told them that didn't seem right to rule him

out because of DNA, because there could have been more

than one person. if there was two people,

it didn't have to be his DNA.

NARRATOR: Karen did some sleuthing over and uncovered

more disturbing information.

KAREN CAMPBELL: That particular student did have an assault

charge against him and he had been bailed out

of jail by a young man who had been

involved in another murder.

MARIA DOWNEY: I found it very surprising when I saw the bail

slip, who bailed this student, this potential suspect,

out of jail.

The student and several other of his friends

were involved in a fatal shooting here

several years ago.

It doesn't sound like the type of group

that a student who is up and up would have been involved with.

I do believe that he could have been the murderer

and I'll probably never rule him out.

NARRATOR: Despite the disagreements,

both Karen and investigators do agree on one thing.

The key to this mystery might rest with Bonnie's routine.

DAVID HANSON: A young lady who was a neighbor of hers, who

was a paper delivery type person,

saw her around 5:20 walking down her street.

Another gentleman who had seen Bonnie a couple of days

prior in the area of the bus stop

saw her again that morning.

And that was about the last time that we have a confirmation

of anybody definitively seeing Bonnie alive

was around 6:20 that morning.

NARRATOR: Could someone have been

lying in wait for Bonnie Craig?

One neighbor reported seeing an unknown car

idling in front of Bonnie's home early that morning.

And an anonymous caller to the Police Crime Stoppers line

claimed to have seen Bonnie that morning at the bus stop talking

to two men in a vehicle.

Karen Campbell intends to do everything she can to keep

the investigation alive.

KAREN CAMPBELL: Until the crime is solved,

it just keeps going through your head

that somebody else's child will end up murdered and raped also.

So until this crime is solved, you can't give up.

I told you before, you had no right to take

that money out of our account.

Oh, why not?

NARRATOR: A bitter argument erupts on the streets

of Covington, Kentucky.

Diane Washer and her husband Jimmy are at it again.

A night of drinking has inflamed their already

turbulent relationship.

Your name, and my name--

TODD KENNER: Diane Washer and Jimmy Washer, that evening,

were fighting over money.

And fighting over the fact that she had just

received a $10,000 SSI settlement due to her bad back.

As he approached her, they got into an argument.

She struck him with the phone, on the pay phone.

Called 911.

And by the time Covington police got there,

Jimmy Washer had already left.

Well, they'd offer Diane for a ride.

She refused, and walked on down the street.

In essence, they were the last ones to see her alive.

NARRATOR: Diane inexplicably disappears.

The police immediately turn a suspicious eye

on her husband Jimmy.

Jimmy Washer was my number one suspect, primarily because he

hadn't reported her missing.

Straightforward.

Feet on the floor in front of you.

CHARLES VALLANDINGHAM: And I had to asked Mr. Washer

if he would consent to taking a polygraph in reference

to his wife.

Yes.

Did you cause the death of Diane Washer?

No.

CHARLES VALLANDINGHAM: The test was ruled inconclusive.

Some of what he was answering was truthful.

Some wasn't.

There wasn't enough credibility to his answers to totally

erase Mr. Washer as a suspect.

NARRATOR: The investigation into Diane's disappearance

reaches a dead end.

Her case is relegated among the many unsolved

missing person cases on file in Kentuckys' police department's.

Three years pass, outside of Covington, Sheriff's deputies

searching for an illegal marijuana field

make a grisly discovery.

Looks like a skull.

NARRATOR: A partially crushed human skull

and seven other bone fragments are strewn

throughout the creek bed.

Whose bones are they and how did they get there?

For the answers, the Covington police

looked to Dr. Emily Craig.

She is one of the foremost experts

in forensic anthropology, the science

of identifying even the most badly decomposed human remains.

From here it looks like blunt force trama.

But I'm not going to say until we get back to the lab.

I'll go ahead and take a picture of this.

Good.

NARRATOR: When the dead hold the key to a perplexing crime,

Dr. Craig is often called upon to unravel the evidence.

EMILY CRAIG: I was able to determine that the bones

hadn't been there that long.

The end of the long bone still had

some remnants of soft tissue.

And the bones had kind of a greasy feel, which

indicates the post-mortem interval really

hasn't been that many years.

And my initial estimate of the time since death

was between 12 and 36 months.

There's another one. There's another one.

Oh, look.

There's bones all over the place.

EMILY CRAIG: Once I got a good grasp of the crime scene

and could see what a complex problem we had,

we decided to set up an additional search

and recruit anthropology students from the area.

Let's get some more over here on this side too.

EMILY CRAIG: We did a line search

of the area we started where the bones had been found

and basically worked upstream.

Yeah, that's a jaw fragment, but it's non-human.

Come on, folks.

Good eye though.

NARRATOR: Complicating Dr. Craig's effort

was that the search area was where

the county dumped its roadkill.

The stream was littered with the bones of dozens of animals.

Still the search team was able to distinguish a total

of 17 human bones among them.

EMILY CRAIG: Once we get all the evidence back to the lab,

then we were able to get a better biological profile

of the victim.

The sex, she was female.

The race, she was white.

I was able to get a good estimate of her height, just

a little over five feet tall.

And I also was able to determine from the bones of the skull

that she had sustained massive head

trauma at the time of death.

There was one particular bone that was intriguing

and that was a bone from her lower back.

This particular bone showed a lot more arthritis,

some bony limping and changes that were just not consistent

with the rest of the skeleton.

So I was able to offer an opinion that this individual

suffered from back pain.

NARRATOR: From their missing persons files,

police found a match for the profile

Dr. Craig had assembled.

It was Diane Washer.

The Covington woman who disappeared

three years earlier.

Her medical records indicated that shortly

before she vanished, she injured her back

in a traffic collision.

LISA BAYNUM: When they called me and said

they found the remains of my mom, I totally went into shock.

I mean, I kind of knew she was dead by that point,

but like I said, I carried on hope.

It did give me some sort of relief

to know that my mother was dead and being

able to bury her was great.

It did help a lot.

NARRATOR: Dr. Craig's finding sparked new public awareness

of Diane's case.

As police hoped, an informant stepped forward,

but to their surprise, he did not finger their prime suspect,

Diane's husband Jimmy.

Instead, he's at a local house painter,

Larry Freeman was responsible for Diane's death.

This is Diane Waher, right here.

NARRATOR: When police brought in Larry Freeman for questioning,

he confessed.

He said he and Diane had gotten drunk

together then went joyriding.

While driving he lost control of his car and Diane

was ejected from the passenger's door.

When the vehicle finally came to a stop, he went back to her,

saw that her hair was blood soaked

and realized he had probably killed her.

It was at that point that he took her down to an area where

he was raised, where he felt comfortable

and threw her into the creek.

Larry Freeman was convicted of manslaughter

and is now serving a 20 year sentence.

The mystery is one of hundreds Dr. Craig has helped solve.

But despite her expertise, other cases

remain too difficult to crack.

Perhaps you can help Dr. Craig pieced together one of the most

perplexing of her career.

NARRATOR: It began when two teenagers

were returning from exploring caves

in Barren County, Kentucky.

Some kind of bones.

Oh, that's a human bone.

NARRATOR: In the debris of a roadside dump,

they discovered fragments of a human skeleton.

The county coroner called Dr. Craig to the scene.

OK.

Let's see what we got here.

EMILY CRAIG: At this scene, basically all we

had when we first started was a pair

of red jeans with the human leg bone still inside.

OK.

Here's a fibula.

I see another arm bone and shin bone.

Dr. Craig, I think I found the skull.

EMILY CRAIG: Ultimately, we were able to recover

almost the entire skeleton.

The skull is the best indicator of race and sex.

You look at the brow ridge.

You look at the nose.

You look at the chin, the cheeks, just the general shape.

NARRATOR: Dr. Craig's analysis of the skull

would later determine that the victim was a white female

in her early 40s.

And cut marks on one of the bones

indicated she may have been stabbed to death.

OK.

Well, let's start collecting this.

You got a bag for me?

Sure.

The left tennis shoe, or sneaker,

whatever you want to call it.

And that red stuff, you know, it looks like denin.

Red jeans?

NARRATOR: Dr. Craig hoped that the victim's clothes

would yield additional clues.

She hoped they might match the clothes

indicated in one of the local police's missing persons files.

EMILY CRAIG: When I got these remains back to the lab

I was able to do a very detailed study.

And within a very short time, I found

a file that almost exactly matched age, race, sex, height,

time since death, were indicative, but absolutely

positive were the fact that this victim was

wearing red jeans, white tennis shoes, and a button

down blouse.

NARRATOR: The file was that of 42-year-old Nancy Daddysman.

Before she disappeared, she had lost custody of her five

children in a bitter divorce.

Heartbroken, she had come to Kentucky seeking a fresh start.

Nancy had vanished on a September night two years

earlier after her car had broken down

in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

BARNEY JONES: She was planning on traveling at 65 north

to meet a male friend of hers in the Indianapolis, Indiana area.

We did a lot of background check on this individual.

We was able to verify that it was

not possible that he would be a suspect as far as cases

concerned.

NARRATOR: The Hillside where Nancy's remains were found

was 30 miles from where she was last seen.

The Barron County authorities have no suspects,

but believe only someone familiar with this area

of Kentucky would choose to place her body there.

EMILY CRAIG: Identifying the victim is the first step

in solving the crime.

We've done this first step.

Now we have to find out who did it.

NARRATOR: Dogs have been domesticated for thousands

of years and man continues to rely on our canine companions

sense of smell.

Whether finding someone who's lost, tracking a fugitive,

or sniffing out explosives, to strengthen accuracy

of a dog's nose is legendary.

MARTY BECKER: If you were to take a gigantic football

stadium that NFL teams play in and fill the entire stadium

with yellow tennis balls and had one white tennis ball,

they can smell the one white tennis

ball in the entire stadium.

NARRATOR: Using his powerful sense of smell, is it possible

a dog could actually diagnose life threatening illnesses?

Do these family pets possess hidden medical talents?

You're about to meet two incredible dogs whose owners

offer persuasive evidence that man's

best friend may be able to save lives in mysterious ways.

OK.

I got your latte working right now.

NARRATOR: Nancy Best seemed to have it all.

In addition to being the mother of three children,

Nancy ran a thriving coffee business

and Garberville, California.

In fact, business was going so well she

had recently opened a new shop.

Blueberry muffin and coffee.

NARRATOR: Despite Nancy's hectic lifestyle,

her beloved dog Mia was never far from her side.

She had acquired the yellow lab as a puppy.

Stay.

NANCY BEST: A friend of mine saw the dogs and called me

and Mia was the first dog that ran up to me.

At the time I didn't know if I wanted a boy or a girl

until she came up to me and I fell

in love with her instantly.

Yes and you are such a good dog.

NARRATOR: Nancy's mornings were spent running the coffee house.

You helped mommy.

Oh, thank you.

NARRATOR: But about one o'clock each afternoon,

Nancy set aside an hour just for herself and Mia.

NANCY BEST: I would drive home and lay on the couch

and take a nap before I'd have to pick up my daughter

from school so I could recharge my batteries

for the rest of the day.

NARRATOR: Then one afternoon out of the blue,

Mia began acting strangely.

NANCY BEST: She came up and started sniffing and licking

at my breast and because she was eight months pregnant,

I thought maybe she was kind of wigging out

or maybe smelled food from the Java joint.

So I didn't pay any attention to it.

I just went and told her to lay down.

NARRATOR: But Mia it was persistent.

The following evening as Nancy was struggling to fall asleep,

Mia began tugging at the bedcovers.

NANCY BEST: She started biting my shirt away like a dog

bites fleas, little tiny nipples.

I was trying to pull my shirt away from my body.

Enough.

Enough.

NANCY BEST: I was starting to get upset with her.

NARRATOR: Desperate for her much needed sleep,

nancy banished Mia to the backyard.

The following day during Nancy's afternoon break,

Mia repeated the same behavior.

But this time, Nancy finally received

Mia's apparent message.

NANCY BEST: Mia jumped up on my lap while I was sitting up

and dove with her nose into my chest

and the force of the pressure of her nose

made me rub it because it hurt.

And when I rubbed it is when I felt the lump.

NARRATOR: Nany she was stunned to discover

a lump in one of her breasts.

NANCY BEST: I had had a negative breast exam by a physician

just four months prior.

There was no cancer in my family.

I was 39, not old enough for a routine mammogram.

So I was thinking this couldn't be cancer

but the lump felt very odd.

It was quite large.

NARRATOR: Medical tests showed he

had what appeared to be a cancerous tumor in her breast.

The subsequent lumpectomy confirmed her worst fears.

Nancy had been stricken with a stage two

invasive ductal carcinoma, an aggressive form

of breast cancer.

In the midst of her health concerns,

Nancy couldn't help thinking about Mia's

unusual recent behavior.

NANCY BEST: I remember the days prior where she was sniffing

and licking at the spot.

It was like she was anxious to come in and say,

would you listen to me?

MARTY BECKER: When I first heard about Nancy Best's case,

I talked to an oncologist at the Mayo Clinic about that.

And one of the things that we surmised there was that there

was a certain smell that was being secreted,

the type of tumor that she had in her breast

may have had a certain kind of an odor.

You have to remember this kind of breed of dog

is actually used for hunting you know they

have a very sensitive nose.

NARRATOR: Nancy underwent a partial mastectomy.

Months of chemotherapy and radiation therapy followed.

She has been cancer free since 2000.

The doctor believes that had this cancer not been detected

at this time, within six months it could have entered my lymph

nodes and I would have died.

NARRATOR: Needless to say, the experience

has forged an even stronger bond between Nancy

and her remarkable dog Mia.

NANCY BEST: I'm not the kind of person that believes in flying

saucers but I do believe that miracles happen

and things happen for a reason and there

is a reason that I got Mia.

There was a reason she became part of my life.

And I believe that because of her I'm alive today

and I love her.

That's my sweet girl.

NARRATOR: If it's possible for a dog

to sniff out an early cancer diagnosis,

are there other unexplainable even

more profound life saving powers a pet can offer its master?

Darlene Werremeyer of Spokane, Washington

believes her dog, Shadow, is a most vital prescription

she's ever received.

He was the best medicine that I could have ever taken.

If it was in a pill form, he'd be a miracle drug.

NARRATOR: In 1991, Darlene was diagnosed

with diabetes, which triggered a series of medical setbacks.

While recovering from subsequent open heart surgery,

Darlene suffered a stroke.

For a time she had lost her ability to speak.

By 2001, she had recovered her speech,

but struggled with an awkward stutter.

When attending a family reunion the anxiety of being in a crowd

made that start her even worse.

I was so nervous I couldn't talk again

and this little schnauzer named Maggie came up to me

and started licking my hand.

I started petting her.

She got in my lap.

And I noticed as long as I sat and started petting her

I could talk so much easier.

It was phenomenal.

NARRATOR: So phenonmenal that as soon as she returned home,

Darlene scheduled an appointment with her neurologist.

He's like, yeah.

I know about dogs.

I know how they can help.

There's been lots of studies done.

So he wrote a written description for a dog.

NARRATOR: So on doctor's orders, Darlene

adopted a schnauzer of her own and she

became a member of her family.

Come on.

Come on, boy.

Come on, Shadow.

NARRATOR: The bond between Darlene and Shadow

quickly grew.

And while petting Shadow, Darlene's speech

significantly improved to the amazement her doctor.

CAROL WYSHAM: We don't fully understand why dogs

have such an effect on people.

But in Darlene's case, she felt very calmed by the dog.

Perhaps, you know, paying attention

to the animal, petting and the sensory affects of that

could be actually just putting her

more into a meditative trance.

NARRATOR: A short time after adopting

Shadow, Darlene learned what an extraordinary animal he was.

As Christmas neared, Darlene spent

hours baking holiday cookies.

When a wave of exhaustion hit her,

she knew she needed to get off her feet.

Darlene quickly dozed off.

But Shadow was alarmed by something

and would not allow Darlene to sleep.

DARLENE WERREMEYER: He starts pawing at me.

He wouldn't leave me alone.

I sat up in the room just spun.

NARRATOR: Uncertain why shadow was upset,

Darlene checked the glucose level of her blood.

It was dangerously low.

If I diabetic's blood sugar level falls too low,

it can trigger unconsciousness or even a coma.

Darlene's ever present canine companion

and somehow diagnosed her medical dilemma before Darlene

was even aware of it.

And he continues to provide her with medical alerts

to this day.

CAROL WYSHAM: Shadow has helped Darlene in many different ways,

not only in her safety, as far as being able to detect

the low blood sugar.

But also it just in her general life.

Darlene now is able to walk without a cane.

She's able to function and do the things that she

wants to do on a daily basis.

NARRATOR: The lives of Darlene Werremeyer and Nancy Best

were saved by the mysterious powers of their dog.

MARTY BECKER: The ability of these dogs to detect a seizure,

or detect cancer, it's probably equal parts

their incredible sense of smell, their incredible ability

to read body language, and then kind of what I call,

not just a sixth sense, but a sick sense and that's

that ability to know when something's

just not quite right and then the ability

to draw near to help them.

We shouldn't be so amazed that pets are able to do this.

We should be amazed on the amount

that we don't know that they're able to do.

NARRATOR: An off duty park ranger

was heading out of Harper's Ferry Historic Park

in Virginia at about 11:00 p.m.

When something caught her eye.

Near the trash bin was a large steamer trunk.

Alone and without a radio, she decided

to postpone investigating until she returned

to work the next morning.

It would be hours later when deputy Clark Jackson was making

his rounds through the national park

that the contents of the trunk would be revealed.

I saw the black trunk just sitting right there,

right past the barricade.

And that's when I got out, went underneath the barricade.

I nudged it my foot and noticed it was very heavy.

I lifted the top of the trunk off and it was a duffel bag.

So I unziped the duffel bag and there

was another duffel bag in it.

And it was a fleeting moment in the back of my mind

where I said, boy it would be strange if there

was a body in this bag.

And I unzipped the second duffel bag

and there was a body in the second duffel bag.

I couldn't believe I found a body.

This is Deputy Jackson.

I'm out at the Potomic Wayside Overlook.

NARRATOR: Officer Jackson immediately called for backup.

DEPUTY CLARK JACKSON: I turned my alley lights

on and take down lights on just to give me a little more light.

I didn't know if someone was watching me in the woods.

It made me feel a little bit more

comfortable having some security with those lights.

NARRATOR: Over the next several hours

authorities conducted a complete search of the area.

Crime scene specialists photographed

the site, including the body of an elderly man

inside the trunk.

Detectives were called in to investigate.

The quest to identify the body began.

You were the first on the scene to discover the truck?

Yes, sir.

NARRATOR: The trunk, with its human remains,

was wrapped and taken to the coroner's office.

Male caucasian, late 60's, early 70's, found at the Potomic

Wayside Overlook.

When When he was taken to the morgue and removed the position

he was in, his knees were up against his chest

and he was folded into the duffel bag, placed

into his trunk, which is only 31 inches long

and 15, 15 and half inches high.

It's just a steamer trunk.

Well, it appears that he's been dead about two

to three days.

And comes from a long term care situation, it seems.

How can tell that?

Well, he was found in the pajama tops and no bottoms.

They do that make it easier to remove the bed pans

and take care of them.

INVESTIGATOR OCHSMAN: He appeared

to be tremendously underweight.

Turned out he did weigh 111 pounds and was 5'7".

Very scrawny, stubble beard, somewhat unkempt

and emaciated looking.

NARRATOR: The coroner would soon discover large doses

of a tranquilizer in the man's system,

and that he died from strangulation.

Who was the elderly man found in the steamer trunk

and who killed him?

These key questions have mystified detectives

for more than five years

According to experts, it is possible a man is one

of thousands of elderly victims whose murders go undetected

and his killers go unpunished every year.

The reason, the offenders are relatives,

care providers, or even their own children.

When people get to a certain age, they are expected to die.

And those deaths do not raise any eyebrows.

NARRATOR: The senior population is the fastest

growing sector in the nation.

As they become infirm, they are often cared for in nursing

facilities or by relatives.

America's top authority on abuse of the aged

believes over 3,000 elderly people are murdered every year.

Perhaps this is the case with the man in the trunk.

JOSEPH SOOS: Because he was generally unkempt and appearing

to be uncared for, relief of burden homicide

may be applicable here.

That is someone simply got tired of caring for the man

and decided it was time for him to die.

The second category that might be involved here

is murder for profit, where someone has gained control

of him, really doesn't care about him because obviously he

was not well cared for.

But was simply keeping him around for a while

to make sure that they had gained absolute control of all

of the assets, financial assets that

could be gotten control of.

NARRATOR: Detectives speculated as to the motive

behind leaving the trunk in the open, near the trash can.

JOSEPH SOOS: That man was put out near a trash dump

or where trash was thrown away.

So it might well be that the offender

in this particular case thought that he might,

the man in the trunk, might simply be picked up by a trash

truck and taken to a landfill.

NARRATOR: Unlike the victim in the trunk,

most murders of the elderly are disguised as a death

by natural causes.

Authorities aren't as likely to be aware of foul play

unless an autopsy is conducted.

JOSEPH SOOS: 1% or less of elder deaths are subjected

to a post-mortem examination, absent bullet holes, knife

wounds, garroting obvious signs of trauma,

those cases are immediately concluded to be natural deaths.

So there are very, very few post-mortem examinations

conducted of the elderly.

NARRATOR: In the case of John Doe,

detectives hoped an autopsy would lead not only to clues

about how the victim died, but more importantly,

to who he may be.

INVESTIGATOR OCHSMAN: The hardest

part of this investigation has been getting him identified.

And we're stymied.

The whole rest of the investigation

is stymied because we cannot get him identified.

NARRATOR: Identifying the victim could

lead police to his killer, so the body became

the key piece of evidence.

INVESTIGATOR OCHSMAN: His dental records

have been entered into the National

Crime Information computer.

His fingerprints were taken and we have them.

The manual search by the FBI yielded negative results.

NARRATOR: At one point, detectives

were hopeful they could name the man by tracking

the serial number found on a micro valve implanted

in his heart during a previous surgery.

INVESTIGATOR OCHSMAN: The micro valve flexible ring

it came with three by five card for the physicians to fill out.

The serial number was on the card.

Once they used it, they were supposed to send the cards

back in as a way of tracking.

NARRATOR: Unfortunately, not all physicians returned the cards

and no match could be found.

Because detectives efforts have been stalled,

they've asked us to show you the only photo

available of the victim, one taken during his autopsy.

Although difficult to view, it is considered

by authorities to be the best hope

for a positive identification.

This photo was taken of the deceased in the coroner's lab.

The FBI also commissioned this computer

enhanced picture of the victim.

Officials hope they will spark someone's memory.

INVESTIGATOR OCHSMAN: The most bothersome part of the case

is that someone has, for the last five years,

got away with this so far, and that they could do it again.

JOSEPH SOOS: The hardest thing about this

I suppose then is that it's really

typical of what is occurring in too many areas of the country.

And that is that even our elderly

have become a throw away item in our society.

For every mystery

NARRATOR: For every mystery there is someone

somewhere who holds the key.

Join me for the next edition of Unsolved Mysteries.