Original subtitles

[music playing]

HOST: Tonight on "Unsolved Mysteries"--

NARRATOR: For decades, many believe that this man, Albert

DeSalvo, was one of the most notorious serial killers

in history--

the Boston Strangler.

Now shocking new DNA evidence seems

to dispute DeSalvo's guilt, raising a disturbing question--

is the Boston Strangler still on the loose?

A 22-year-old college honor student

seems to have it all, until he is

blamed for causing three deaths and a fatal traffic accident.

Free on bail, he has disappeared.

Authorities need your help to bring him to trial.

An ambitious young mother returns to the workforce

and crosses paths with a hot-tempered coworker.

The woman is then brutally murdered.

And now authorities need your help to catch her alleged

killer, Carlos Berjeda.

Also, a doctor accused of poisoning his patients

and fleeing to Zimbabwe has been captured.

This update and more on "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]

On a previous broadcast, we brought you the story of one

of the most infamous serial killers in history--

the Boston Strangler.

At that time, we questioned whether the man held

responsible for murdering 11 women, Albert DeSalvo,

was in fact guilty.

Recently, major new information has

come to light that potentially proves DeSalvo did not commit

at least one of the murders.

Join us as we examined the latest theories and evidence

in this intriguing case.

Perhaps the real identity of the Boston Strangler

will finally be revealed.

[music playing]

Today it is quiet, but 40 years ago, these very streets

exploded in horror.

[woman screaming]

The year-- 1962.

The place-- Boston, Massachusetts.

The first known serial killer in American history

was on the prowl.

Victim number one, Anna Slesers, 55, strangled with her bathrobe

and raped with a blunt object.

Victim number two, Helen Blake, 65,

sexually mutilated and strangled.

Her bra twisted into an enormous bow under the chin.

Victim number three, Nina Nichols, 68, strangled.

Her nylons tied into yet another gruesome bow.

It was only the beginning.

Over the next two years, eight more women

fell victim to this psychopath.

All but one were brutally choked to death in their own homes,

their bodies posed in hideous positions.

The city buckled under a frenzy of fear and paranoia.

Stepping into this maelstrom was Albert DeSalvo.

Already facing a lengthy prison term

for an unrelated series of rapes,

DeSalvo admitted that he was the Boston Strangler.

A wave of relief and calm passed over the residents of Boston.

Order had been restored.

The sadistic killer was finally behind bars.

But many believe DeSalvo had reason to falsely confess.

The first day, I put my arm around backwards, right?

Right.

And then I put the pillowcase around the neck.

The first thing that Albert hoped to get out of being known

as the Boston Strangler was the fame of it,

because he desperately wanted to be famous, even

if it were something terrible.

His second goal was to avoid a prison sentence.

He had apparently been convinced that if he confessed

to the stranglings, he would be sent not to prison,

but to a very fancy private institution

where doctors would study him.

Do you remember tying any knots in it?

Yeah, I did, I did.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But if he was lying,

DeSalvo's confession was uncannily accurate.

Many investigators were convinced

he had to be the killer.

That makes two.

If you had heard him go into detail

and tell you exactly how the furniture was,

and what it was adjacent to, and so forth,

nobody could tell you that unless they were there.

After eight years of research on this case, one thing

I'm certain of, and that is that Albert DeSalvo

was not the Boston Strangler.

There are a number of very good suspects.

None of them happen to be Albert DeSalvo.

On November 24, 1973, Albert DeSalvo

called his former psychiatrist from prison,

stating he was ready to tell the truth

about the Boston Strangler.

But he was murdered that night before he could

meet with the psychiatrist.

Now startling new DNA evidence suggests

the real killer or killers were never actually caught.

Was Albert DeSalvo the Boston Strangler?

Evidence found on the last victim

suggests that the answer is no.

Mary.

Mary.

[knock on door]

Mary.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On January 4, 1964,

Mary Sullivan was found by her roommate, strangled to death

and sexually assaulted.

In a final morbid gesture, a Happy New Year card

was placed at her feet.

[shutter click]

The killer left semen on Mary's body

that the police collected in 1964.

Forensic technology at that time wasn't capable of determining

to whom it belonged.

Mary Sullivan officially became the 11th and final victim

of the Boston Strangler.

Albert DeSalvo later confessed to her murder.

But recently, two families have formed an unlikely alliance

to challenge that assertion more forcefully than ever before--

the family of Mary Sullivan and the family

of her alleged killer, Albert DeSalvo.

I never believed my brother was the Boston

Strangler from day one.

I just want the name cleared, that's all.

Albert was not perfect.

Albert did some bad things.

Albert was not a murderer.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mary's sister,

Diane, also believes that DeSalvo was not the killer.

I mainly come here to say hi to Mary,

and I'm going to try to do what I can.

I'm going to do everything I can to find her murderer,

to find your murderer, Mary.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): To the DeSalvo and Sullivan families,

there was an obvious solution to the controversy,

one of the most powerful forensic tools ever created--

DNA profiling.

[crying]

If the Boston Police Department still

had the biological evidence from Mary Sullivan's crime scene,

her killer could be found.

[shutter click]

I made several inquiries to the Boston Police Department,

and they told me flat out that they did not

have any physical evidence left in the Boston Strangler case

to test for DNA evidence.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Casey Sherman and his mother

Diane were then forced to turn to the only evidence

available to them--

the body of Mary Sullivan.

We had to do the exhumation of my aunt's body.

It was a horrible experience.

We didn't want to do it, but it was our last and only recourse,

we thought, and it was the only chance to find her killer.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): To supervise the exhumation,

the Sullivans asked for the help of world renowned professor

of law and forensic science, James E.

Starrs, and a team of experts.

We were obviously looking for any seminal fluid.

And we do know that seminal fluid

will fluoresce under UV light.

So we looked, and seminal fluid fluoresced.

And it also was in the right location for seminal fluid.

It's on pubic hair.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Could this be the evidence

the team had been hoping for?

A chilling clue reaching across decades to identify the killer.

A sample of her pubic hair was transferred

to a forensic molecular biologist,

David Foran, and his team.

So we examined that and went after that as far as

could we get any DNA from it.

We had to be extra careful because, obviously, her hair

is going to have her DNA in it.

So one of the tricky parts becomes isolating DNA only

from this material that's stuck in the pubic hair and not

from the hair itself.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dr. Foran successfully isolated

a DNA sequence from the sample.

Foran then compared it to Albert DeSalvo

by using DNA taken from his brother Richard.

The results were virtually indisputable--

the DNA found on Mary Sullivan's body

did not belong to Albert DeSalvo.

Somewhat to our surprise, in no instances

did we find anything from Albert DeSalvo.

It wasn't there.

On the other hand, we did find DNA sequences that

are from someone, and they're not someone we can account for,

despite how hard we tried.

A well of emotions came over me,

because there have been a lot of times

where I didn't know if we had done the right thing.

But when he said that there was DNA they believed from Mary's

killer on her body, and that DNA didn't match Albert DeSalvo,

it was just complete vindication,

as far as I was concerned.

For those who say that Albert DeSalvo did do it,

the shoe is on their foot now.

It's for them to come forward and show the evidence to prove

that Albert DeSalvo did do it.

As of now, we've got evidence indicating,

in all scientific probability, that he didn't do it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): If Albert DeSalvo did not kill

Mary Sullivan, then who did it?

Before DeSalvo's confession put an end to the investigation,

the police were pursuing a number of promising suspects.

[shutter click]

The original investigators of Mary's murder

found a strange piece of evidence in her bathroom,

implicating Mary's allegedly abusive ex-boyfriend.

They found an ascot cut up in the toilet.

When my sister dated this person,

that's all she bought him for presents.

He loved ascots.

So I could see him definitely cutting that ascot up

in the bathroom, and I could absolutely

see him killing Mary.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The second suspect is

based on an eyewitness account.

A neighbor saw a man in Mary's apartment

at the approximate time of the murder.

So they're giving you a hard time at work, huh?

Yeah.

What'd they say?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mary Sullivan's

roommate had a boyfriend who matched

the neighbor's description. - Who, your boss?

No, just the other girls.

Why don't you just beat them up?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The roommate's boyfriend

may have also had access to Mary's

apartment, explaining there were no signs of forced entry.

I don't know.

At the height of the Boston Strangler case,

my aunt was well-versed in what was going on.

She wouldn't let a stranger into the apartment.

She would have had to have known that man,

or that man would have had to have gotten

into the apartment with a key.

So?

CASEY SHERMAN (VOICEOVER): The day before Mary's murder,

her roommate had spent the entire day

with the prime suspect in Mary's killing.

I want a steak.

OK, so go to the dining room.

[clinking]

What are these for?

They're the keys to the apartment, an extra set.

I'm going to go powder my nose.

All right.

Her apartment key had gone missing

the day before she was killed.

Now this key hadn't fallen off the key chain,

it was taken off.

Do you live in Vermont?

No.

Do you know Mary Sullivan?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The suspect was brought

in for a lie detector test.

Did you take a key from Mary Sullivan's apartment?

No.

Did you kill Mary Sullivan?

No.

Face front, please.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): According to police,

his responses were deemed untruthful.

Once DeSalvo confessed, however, investigations

into this suspect and Mary's ex-boyfriend were closed.

And what about the other murders?

Author Susan Kelly's extensive investigation

has revealed that the police had promising suspects

in many of these cases as well.

If Albert wasn't the Boston Strangler,

who was the Boston Strangler?

From what my research indicates, there wasn't one,

there were many.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On June 14, 1962,

the maniac claimed his first victim,

56-year-old Anne Slesers.

Earlier that day, a painting crew

was working at her apartment.

16 days later, the same painting crew arrived at the apartment

building of Helen Blake.

She became victim number two.

The only thing that connected those murders

was a painting crew, working on the exteriors of the women's

apartment buildings at the approximate times

they were killed.

Two of the members of the painting crew, their alibi's

couldn't be corroborated by their boss

or by their fellow workers, and that's an unusual connection.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): As was first

uncovered by Susan Kelly's research,

police also had a suspect for victim number

six, 20-year-old Sophie Clark.

The suspect in the Sophie Clark case

was seen entering her apartment building.

He was seen fleeing her apartment

building, covered in sweat.

Are you 27 years old?

Yeah.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police identified the man

and learned that he had dated Sophie at least once.

Do you reside in Boston?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): He was given lie detector tests on two

separate occasions, and according to authorities,

failed both.

Victim number seven was 23-year-old Patricia Bissette.

In this case too, Susan Kelly discovered that police

had a viable suspect.

Patricia?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Patricia's boss,

who discovered her body.

The detectives found out that Patricia Bissette was having

an affair with her happily married boss

at the time she was killed.

Well, I found her autopsy report.

It shows that she was one month pregnant when she was murdered.

Not only do you have motive, but you have a suspect there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Like the suspects in Mary Sullivan's

murder, investigations into every one of these individuals

stopped cold when Albert DeSalvo confessed.

That there were more than one strangler,

there's a possibility that some of the older women

died at the hands of the same person.

Each of the young women who died was

murdered by a different individual

who had his own motives.

If you hated a woman back in the early 1960s,

you could kill her, loosely wrap a stocking around her neck,

and hope that the police would think

it was the Boston Strangler.

Clearly, the killers that were murdering these women,

they had a diagram on how to commit a Boston strangling

because all the grisly details were printed

in the papers at the time.

If you wanted to commit a murder, here was your diagram.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Sullivan family

continues to hope that Mary's killer will

one day be held accountable.

CASEY SHERMAN (VOICEOVER): I want closure for my mother.

My mother has had to live nearly 40 years without any answers

in this case.

We want to publicly identify Mary's killer,

look him in the eye, and tell him what he stole from us.

[music playing]

MATT WAGNER (VOICEOVER): Headlight came right

into the driver side window.

[tires screeching]

And that's pretty much the last thing I remember.

And then I woke up about 10 minutes later,

I had glass in my eyes.

I couldn't really see much just because of all the glass.

And I just looked around, and it clicked to me

that there's no way everybody could

have made it out of there.

And saw my friends on the road.

It was ugly.

It was real ugly.

[siren]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Matt Wagner had somehow survived

a devastating four-car accident on State Route 270 outside

of Pullman, Washington.

Three of his closest friends were not so lucky.

Brandon S. Clements, best friend,

Ryan Sorensen, and Ryan's girlfriend, Stacy Morrow.

Stacy was my daughter, Stacy Gretchen Morrow.

She was 21, going to turn 22, student at Washington State

University, and just one of the most beautiful

young ladies I ever knew.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Shortly after the fatal crash,

Stacy Morrow, along with Brandon and Ryan,

were honored at a Washington State University memorial.

I didn't know what to do, and I had mixtures, of course,

of sadness and just rage that something like this

would happen.

Nothing's been the same since.

It was just a nightmare.

A nightmare that should have been--

that could have been easily avoided

and was totally unnecessary.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police believed

that Frederick Russell, a 22-year-old honor student,

had recklessly caused the accident.

He was charged with three counts of vehicular homicide

and four counts of vehicular assault.

But Fred has his share of supporters.

Do I believe that that accident

was caused primarily by my son?

I don't.

I think there were a lot of causes,

and I think there were a lot of people

responsible for what happened on that road that night.

That doesn't make it any better or any worse.

That's just an interpretation of the facts.

My sense of what Greg Russell is doing in this case

is that he is defending his son beyond a reasonable amount,

and is making statements that are trying to cloud the issue,

spread the responsibility, and excuse his son,

to try to get this young man off the hook

for the deaths of my daughter, and Brandon, and Ryan.

Could Fred Russell have been innocent

of the charges against him?

Russell is from a respected family whose father

is the chair of the Criminal Justice Department

at Washington State University.

He doesn't believe Fred is solely responsible for what

happened that night.

But the victims' families vehemently disagree.

This tragic case has put the college town of Pullman,

Washington, into warring camps.

Many believe that only the driver that night,

Fred Russell, can stop the outburst of rage and grief.

But Fred Russell is nowhere to be found.

Hey.

All right, big guy.

Feeling good?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Investigators

have pieced together Fred's activities in the hours

leading up to the deadly crash.

I think that I was have a drink to that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Several witnesses

claim they saw Fred and his friend,

Jacob McFarland, drinking at a local bar.

I'm driving. I'm driving.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): At approximately 10:15 PM,

Fred and Jacob were seen leaving the bar.

Whoo!

Yeah.

[laugh]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Fred then got behind the wheel

and headed onto Route 270.

Whoo!

[honking]

Pick it up.

This is ridiculous.

Lady, pick it up.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): According to police reports,

Fred came upon a slower moving vehicle in front of him.

Lady, you're moving like 10 miles an hour.

Son of a--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Although he was in a no passing

zone, Fred illegally tried to go around

the car at 90 miles an hour.

[tires screeching]

No!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police believed

that Fred's Chevy Blazer first struck a Geo Prizm heading

in the opposite direction, then a Cadillac carrying

seven college students.

Brandon Clemens, Ryan Sorensen, and Stacy Morrow

were killed on impact.

Matt Wagner and three other students

were critically injured but survived.

The Blazer then smashed into a third vehicle

before bursting into flames.

Amazingly, Fred Russell and his friend Jacob

escaped relatively unscathed.

What was that?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two hours

after the accident, Fred's blood alcohol

was tested at a nearby hospital.

It measured 0.12, well above the legal limit.

Later, Fred Russell was arrested at his home

and charged with three counts of vehicular homicide.

Fred Russell's bail was set for $5,000, which his father,

Greg, had no problem posting.

Fred would remain free until his trial.

In fact, he was even allowed to drive to and from work.

That was pretty hard to take, when you lose your three

friends, it feels like somebody murdered them,

you feel like the guy should be behind bars right away,

and he shouldn't be able to be out in public anymore.

That the bail is so low as to be nothing

other than a slap on the wrist is almost insulting to victims

and their families.

And we believe that he poses no flight risk.

RICHARD MORROW (VOICEOVER): Now whether there

was a personal connection between Judge Fraser

and Greg Russell, the dean of the School Criminology at WSU,

I don't know.

I do believe, though, that Greg Russell's standing

in the community was one of the reasons why Frederick

Russell was allowed to be out on bail

and why that bail was so low.

I would imagine that 99.9% of the time, most judges

in this country in the same situation

would have done the same thing.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Public anger

began to grow as Fred's team of lawyers prepared his defense.

A motion was filed disputing the blood alcohol finding,

and challenges were made as to whether Fred was really

responsible for the accident.

I was shown toxicology reports of the deceased driver

of the Cadillac that indicated there were drugs

and alcohol in his system.

I was shown toxicology reports of other occupants

that showed that there were drugs

and alcohol in their systems as well, meth and marijuana.

There was absolutely nothing in the system of the decedents

that contributed in any way either to the collision

or to their subsequent death.

I think that the accusation by Greg Russell,

that is clearly intended to cloud

the issue of his son's responsibility in this case,

is sinful.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Within weeks, Fred Russell

and his supporters claimed that he

became the target of the community's growing outrage.

MAN (ON PHONE): You're going to go to prison for a long time,

you worthless piece of trash.

I hope to God you get raped in prison,

you worthless piece of garbage.

You're a scumbag, you're a loser.

ANN SHANNON (VOICEOVER): The death threats

that he indicated that he received were two phone

calls in July, early July.

MAN (ON PHONE): --for every person you've killed.

I hope someone puts a bullet in your head.

I hope that your mom's still alive--

And then we received information

that a card was left at the front doorstep of the residence

that he was at, indicating that he

wouldn't live to see his trial.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Four weeks later,

Fred Russell disappeared.

Both his lawyers and family claim to have

not heard from him since.

Shortly after he jumped bail, Greg Russell

and several local newspapers received

a letter signed by Fred.

It read in part--

READER (VOICEOVER): "I left because I had no choice.

Since the first day after the tragic accident,

horrible things have been printed about me.

Now people are so enraged that they would rather see me dead

than receive a fair trial.

I maintain my innocence, but my life has been repeatedly

threatened, so I cannot stay."

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Fred Russell's whereabouts

are currently unknown.

I think Fred has an expensive lifestyle.

I think Fred's accustomed to good things,

being able to go out, and party, and drink, and socialize.

I would find it impossible for Fred

to make his ends meet without assistance in some manner

from some family member or friend.

Since that letter, nobody in the family, to my knowledge,

has heard anything from him.

We don't know anyone who has heard from him.

And I would hope that if anyone did, if any of my friends knew,

if anyone in the family heard from him, that they'd tell us.

What I would say to Frederick Russell is, we'll get you.

You can't hide forever.

And I've got a long time left in this life, and I'll find you.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 10-year-old Joana Molina

of Merced, California, will soon be reunited

with her mother, Jeanne.

Jeanne Molina has recently moved to Tustin, four hours

to the south, and is now ready for her oldest child

to join her.

Jeanne was real happy because Joanna was going

to come and live with her, and we made arrangements

to take her down that weekend.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two months earlier,

feeling a need to take a sabbatical from her marriage,

Jeanne had taken a job as a cook.

It would be a chance to assert some independence.

However, other forces may have prompted her move as well.

She had had a dream that I was going to badly beat her up,

and she felt that she should get out of my house.

And I never understood why she would have a dream like that

and believe that dream.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When her parents

and Joanna stopped by Jeanne's new home, no one was there.

Not knowing where else to turn, the Hitchcocks

checked the restaurant where Jeanne worked.

Excuse me, miss.

Yeah, I'll be right with you.

Two up.

Thanks, Carlos.

Yes? - Is Jeanne here?

Jeanne Molina? - Uh, Jeanne?

No.

She didn't come in today.

Maybe we made a mistake.

I was just really not sure what to do, because Jeanne,

if she said she was going to be there,

she would have been there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The next morning,

the Hitchcocks rushed to Jeanne's room,

hoping to find a sign of her.

Sadly, there were no clues to where she might be.

It was very difficult because at that point,

we were so worried.

And Joanna, she kept watching me.

She wanted to see how I was reacting, how frightened I was,

or how bad the situation was by my reaction.

Oh, excuse me, sir.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Hitchcocks immediately went

to the Anaheim Police Department to file

a missing persons report.

Yesterday, we were supposed to meet with my daughter, and--

ERNESTINE HITCHCOCK (VOICEOVER): Deep down, I did know

that something was very wrong.

But I tried not to think about it because I knew that it

would just make things worse.

Thank you.

Joanna and the Hitchcocks returned home empty-handed,

without a single clue to Jeanne Molina's whereabouts.

Over the next several days, they would anxiously

wait by their phones, hoping for news that Jeanne

was safe and unharmed.

Sadly, that call would never come.

Jeanne Molina was raised in Merced, California.

Following a tour of duty with the Navy,

Jeanne returned home and began a family.

She married Frank Reed and had three children--

Joanna, Elizabeth, and John.

Though she and Frank had their ups and downs,

it was a fulfilling marriage.

We had a lot of fun.

We had a lot of respect for each other.

She just had all of the things that I've always wanted.

She made me want to be married for a long time.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But when her youngest child was

two years old, Jeanne felt a need

for some changes in her life and decided to go back to work.

Merced is such a small town, and she

didn't feel she could go far here,

so she went to Southern California.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Jeanne's experience

as a cook in the Navy helped her land a job

with a restaurant chain.

Within six weeks, she had been promoted.

She was going to be training all the new hires

at each restaurant as they opened up.

She had planned to take Joanna with her,

so it was going to be a neat experience for her.

She was real excited about it.

She was real happy.

Then just when everything was going so well for her,

33-year-old Jeanne Molina vanished.

The very day the Hitchcocks drove to Tustin to see Jeanne,

a gruesome discovery was made in Westminster,

a town 10 miles away.

The badly battered body of an unidentified woman

was found near an abandoned construction site.

It was one of the more vicious crime scenes

that we've investigated, and we've investigated

an awful lot of homicides.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Just after daybreak that Sunday,

a husband and wife witnessed a man acting

suspiciously near his car.

He picked up some type of large object--

and we later found that to be a piece of asphalt--

and with both hands above his head, just thrust it down hard.

And then looked up and saw her, and, in her words,

he panicked, and jumped back in this compact vehicle,

and sped off from the scene at a high rate of speed.

We didn't feel that robbery was a motive.

She had some money on her.

She had a ring on her finger.

We felt that probably under the circumstances,

the suspects that did this knew her in some way.

They were trying to prevent us from finding out who she was.

I don't even know what race she is.

Can you tell?

MICHAEL PROCTOR (VOICEOVER): She was so badly damaged

that we couldn't tell if she was a female

Asian, white, Hispanic.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): An autopsy

revealed that she had been sexually

assaulted, strangled, and bludgeoned

before being run over by a car.

Three days after Jeanne Molina vanished,

her landlord read a newspaper article

about the unidentified female victim found in Westminster

and thought it might be Jeanne.

He immediately contacted authorities

who contacted Jeanne's husband.

- How you doing? - Detective Selinske.

Thanks, John, appreciate it.

Possibly the most difficult thing in my life

I ever had to do, to go down and identify

somebody who was beaten so badly she was unrecognizable.

This ring was found on the victim.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It wasn't until Frank

was shown the ring the victim was

wearing that he was certain his beloved Jeanne had

been murdered.

I'm really sorry.

Frank had called me and told me that he

had had to identify the body.

I didn't handle that very well.

That was a horrible week, and the day was worse, but somehow,

at least--

I can't say it was a relief.

It was just-- it made me angry.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Despite Jeanne's dream

about her husband beating her, investigators

were able to quickly eliminate Frank Reed as a suspect.

I've come to believe that the dream wasn't about me.

It was a dream about something else,

and she had foreseen what was going to happen to her.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Detectives

went to the restaurant and questioned Jeanne's coworkers.

What can I do for you guys?

Ma'am, the reason we're here--

TERRY SELINSKE (VOICEOVER): One of the things we found out

was that she had worked on July 16th, just about

till 11 o'clock at night.

It's 11 o'clock.

OK, you guys, my shift is over.

One witness stated that she did come back after signing out

on the time card.

She did come back and talk to this particular individual

for a few minutes.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): That individual was short order

cook, Carlos Berdeja.

- Surprise. - Hey.

What?

You guys didn't think I was going to come?

I'm glad you made it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Investigators theorize Jeanne

might have left with Berdeja to celebrate her daughter's

impending arrival.

I thought they were all going to come with us.

She'd already bought a bed for her daughter.

She'd already stocked up the refrigerator.

This was an exciting time for her,

this was something that she was really,

really looking forward to.

Carlos.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police would soon

learn that Carlos Berdeja reportedly admitted

committing a previous murder.

He's got a temper.

DETECTIVE: OK, can you tell me what that means?

Um, I was working one day, and I was

just joking around with him.

Carlos, Maria will never go out with you on account of you're

ugly.

MICHAEL PROCTOR (VOICEOVER): The line cook

thought it was just minuscule.

He was just kidding with him.

And he said the guy just went off, and pulled

a butcher knife out, and threatened

him with the butcher knife.

Who do you think you're talking to, huh?

Hey, that's not funny!

[speaking spanish]

Yeah, I killed in Mexico.

MICHAEL PROCTOR: Berdeja then came back

in, according to the person that we interviewed, the next day

and had some kind of paperwork with him stating

that he was wanted someplace in Mexico

for an additional homicide.

He came in the morning, but he didn't show up at night.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Jeanne's coworkers

also informed police that Carlos Berdeja had

abruptly resigned from his job.

Yes, that was Sunday.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When investigators went to Berdeja's

residence, they learned that he and his common-law wife

had vacated the premises the day of the murder.

He left his clothes behind?

Some of his clothes.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): That afternoon,

another neighbor caught Carlos Berdeja

behaving oddly around his car.

Berdeja was then seen attempting to clean

out parts of the vehicle.

[honk]

Wait.

Hold on.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The sedan

registered to Carlos Berdeja was later found abandoned nearby.

The car provided a wealth of physical evidence in the case.

Evidence not only in the vehicle,

but on the undercarriage of the vehicle, that secured,

in my mind, beyond a shadow of a doubt,

that this was the vehicle that had been

used to run over Jeanne Molina.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Authorities have been searching

for Carlos Berdeja ever since.

They believe he may have additional wives

and families in Mexico who are helping him evade capture.

Well, I hope they catch him, and I just

hope to be able to tell him what I think of him.

[speaking spanish]

"You're a coward, and you hide beneath your mother's skirts."

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Carlos Garcia Berdeja

is wanted for the murder of Jeanne Molina.

Berdeja is 37 years old, 5 foot 7 inches tall,

and weighs 180 pounds.

He is adept at creating aliases and should be

considered extremely dangerous.

On a previous broadcast, we profiled a suspected

serial killer who fled halfway around the world

to avoid being charged with murder.

In a remarkable twist of fate, he is now in custody.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The story of Michael

Swango is a bizarre one.

As a medical student, he used his hospital

internship to secretly kill.

When mysterious deaths occurred on his watch,

hospital officials became suspicious.

When coworkers became ill, they believed

Swango was poisoning them.

Swango represents the ultimate betrayal.

We trust doctors.

We put our lives and health in their hands.

And Swango held himself out as someone

who was willing to help.

But in fact, he was looking to hurt.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Using various aliases,

the doctor spent years evading the law.

And when police began to close in,

he quietly fled to Zimbabwe, Africa.

Soon after, authorities issued a warrant for Swango's arrest

for the only thing they could--

fraud.

He had lied on a federal job application.

That warrant would eventually come back to haunt him.

Update.

Three years later, Swango was fleeing Africa to Saudi Arabia,

but had to stop in the US to renew his visa.

At Chicago O'Hare Airport, an alert customs agent

ran his name through the computer, found the warrant,

and Swango was arrested.

It was June 1997, and little did officials know that they had

captured possibly the most prolific

serial killer of the century.

Nothing compares to Swango, the unbelievable, strange

motives that he had, and the length of time

for which he did it, and the number

of times he got away with it.

Nothing compares.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): While serving time on the fraud

charge, federal prosecutors had three years

to develop a murder case against Swango that

could put him away for life.

We had to prove that there was a homicide.

Normally, that's not a problem in a murder case.

You have a dead body, there's a bullet, there's a stabbing,

there's a strangling, a beating.

In this case, the people had passed on,

and it had been assumed that they died naturally.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Exhumed bodies,

complicated toxicology tests, an eyewitness,

and even Swango's own diaries, sealed

the deadly doctor's fate.

Page after page of his personal writings

are filled with morose texts like, "I

love it, sweet, husky, close smell of an indoor homicide."

We can tell from Michael Swango's writings

that he simply liked to kill people.

For him, the thrill was doing the killing

and getting away with it.

And that's why it was difficult to establish

a pattern with him.

Because he was something of an opportunistic killer,

he would kill whenever he had the chance to kill.

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Join me next time for more fascinating stories

from the realm of unsolved mysteries.

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