All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S12E08.Episode.456.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-AJP69_track3_[eng]

ANNOUNCER: Tonight, on
"Unsolved Mysteries."

ROBERT STACK: Two
seemingly unrelated cases

lay dormant for years, until two
veteran California criminalists

employ the latest in
DNA profiling technology

to prove an unidentified
serial rapist

and an unknown serial
killer are one in the same.

Authorities now
need your help catch

a notorious murderer who
has preyed on California

since at least 1976.

Donna Baldeo finds a threatening
note outside the bank where

she works demanding money.

The author of the note threatens
violent retaliation if Donna

does not heed the warning.

Five weeks later, a
deadly fire erupts

outside of her apartment.

Coincidence, or was
Donna Baldeo the target

of a vicious extortionist?

An alarming number of children
in a rural western town

are diagnosed with leukemia.

Two have already
lost their lives.

What is happening
in Fallon, Nevada

to create what doctors
call a cancer cluster?

A well-known Colorado family
responded to a call for help

and never came back.

Could the stranded motorist
who placed a distress

call have anything to do with
the disappearance of Dale

Williams?

Join me.

Perhaps you may be able
to help solve a mystery,

or perhaps you may
encounter one that

simply cannot be explained.

October, 1976--
an affluent suburb

outside Sacramento, California.

WOMAN: (DISTORTED
VOICE) I remember

waking up with a flashlight
shining in my face.

Shut up!

Don't say a word.

WOMAN: (DISTORTED
VOICE) And I was

looking down the barrel
of a gun, and he said, uh,

don't move.

Don't make a sound,
or I will kill you.

Gimme your hand!

WOMAN: (DISTORTED VOICE) And
within a moment's notice,

my life was all of a sudden in
the control of somebody else.

Just do as I tell you.

ROBERT STACK: The rape victim,
whose identity we're not

revealing at her request, is one
of more than 40 women believed

to have been assaulted by a man
who terrorized the Sacramento

area during the 1970s.

The mysterious attacker known to
police as the East Area Rapist

was never identified.

Incredibly, more than 20
years later, dramatic advances

in law enforcement
technology determined

that the same man was
responsible for a series

of murders in the 1980s.

Authorities seek
your help in tracking

down a suspect who has eluded
police for nearly 30 years.

During the 1970s, the man
who would defy detection

for decades established
himself as a unique offender

with unusual signature habits,
including boldly lingering

in victim's homes for hours.

WOMAN: (DISTORTED VOICE)
I know that at some point

he was out in the
living room smoking,

and the police felt
that he maybe had

gotten into my refrigerator.

I think he was in the
house anywhere from a two

and a half to three hours.

I laid there for what seemed
like a long period of time

with no noise, and
then all of a sudden--

[screaming]

Did you miss me?

WOMAN: (DISTORTED
VOICE) I couldn't see.

I couldn't move.

And I couldn't yell.

And I remember
wondering, is this it?

Is this the way
I'm going to die?

ROBERT STACK: Eventually, after
sexually assaulting his victim,

the rapist would
quietly sneak away.

Can you tell me maybe a
little of what he looked like?

ROBERT STACK: Detective
Carol Daly interviewed

many of the rapist's victims.

Well, he has a mask.

DET.

CAROL DALY: The East Area
Rapist very definitely

did a psychological rape
along with the physical rape,

and the manner in
which he would threaten

the victims, the length of time
that he stayed in the home--

his crime was
different and unique.

Richard, did
you find anything?

ROBERT STACK: For
Lieutenant Richard Shelby,

this would become
one of the most

demanding cases of his career.

It was a high priority.

It had a lot of publicity.

It had a lot of victims.

The guy is dangerous.

Our office and city police both
had special teams working it.

Get me an evidence bag.

ROBERT STACK: Evidence
recovered near two crime scenes

indicated the rapist
had spied on his victims

before he struck.

I want casts of
all of this, too.

LT. RICHARD SHELBY:
He prowled the area.

He knew it well.

See?

He could sit right here and
look right in her window.

All right.

Some of the cases,
he knew the victims.

He knew the time,
their schedule.

He knew that of the
neighbors', and some of them

were crimes of opportunity.

They weren't
supposed to be there.

There they were, so he
took advantage of it.

ROBERT STACK: The first 15
attacks occurred in homes only

inhabited by women and
children, but then the rapist

became even more brazen.

He targeted homes in which
a man was also present.

DET.

CAROL DALY: When the
rapist would come in,

he would, at gunpoint,
order the female to tie

up the-- the male in the house.

And then he would
remove the female

to the other part of the house
where he would also tie her up.

And then he would put the
dishes on the husband.

If I hear one
plate rattle, I'll

kill everyone in the house.

DET.

CAROL DALY: While he was
in the other room occupied

with the sexual
assault, he could

hear whether or not the
male was trying to get free.

I can't think of any
other rapes that I worked

other than this one where
a suspect was willing to go

in and do the types of
things that the East

Area Rapist did when there
were other people in the house.

[interposing voices]

DET.

CAROL DALY: There was so
much fear in the community,

and there were so many
rumors out there about what

the East Area Rapist
was doing, so we were

holding town hall meetings.

We understand your concern.

DET.

CAROL DALY: They were incensed
to think that a man could have

been in the home when these
rapes occurred and not

have done anything about it.

Look, you don't
you worry about--

DET.

CAROL DALY: In this
particular meeting,

a gentleman got up
and said, I don't

believe that could happen.

But if he ever comes into
my house, I'm gonna be ready.

ROBERT STACK: That
man and his wife

would later become victims.

DET.

CAROL DALY: It led me to
believe that the rapist was

in the audience at
night and probably

followed this couple home.

I think that he liked the
excitement of the game.

I think it was as much a
game with the investigators

as it was for what he
was doing to the victims.

ROBERT STACK: The
sadistic game being

played by the rapist
often extended

beyond the attack itself.

[phone ringing]

Hello?

ROBERT STACK: Several
victims reported

receiving disturbing phone calls
from the rapist years later.

Who is this?

WOMAN: (DISTORTED
VOICE) I felt by what

he said to me that
he had been still

watching me and stalking me.

I felt absolutely terrified.

I think the phone calls
were just his way of saying

you're still my hostage.

Even though I'm
not in your house,

psychologically you're
still my hostage.

ROBERT STACK: By the late
1970s, the East Area Rapist

had moved west to communities
in Contra Costa County,

50 miles from Sacramento.

Authorities traced five
more sexual assaults

to him there before the
attacks abruptly stopped.

Everybody speculated on
where this guy might have gone

or might--

why he might've
stopped, and there

was nowhere to go with it.

We had no real
physical description.

ROBERT STACK: Years passed.

The trail grew colder.

Then 400 miles south,
at the Orange County,

California Sheriff's Department,
forensic scientist Mary Hong

compared semen samples from
several unsolved rape murders

in the Southern California
area and linked the crimes

to the same perpetrator.

Meanwhile, back in
Contra Costa County,

Sheriff's Department
criminalist Paul Holes

ran DNA profiles on semen
recovered from the East Area

Rapist assaults in his county.

Then, in 2001, Paul Holes
contacted Mary Hong.

Let me grab that file.

MARY HONG: Independently,
he was thinking

that this guy has
to be committing

these crimes somewhere else.

So he actually was
calling these agencies

and finding out if they had
any cases that fit his profile.

OK, I've got D3-1516.

MARY HONG: I had him
read me the profile

that he had on his case.
- OK.

MARY HONG: And I compared
that to the profile

that I had in our
cases, and they

matched all the way across.

Wow.

It looks like we've got a match.

LARRY POOLE: And
at that point, we

knew that we had just connected
the series of sexual assaults

in Northern California
with a series of homicides

down in Southern California.

DET.

CAROL DALY: We felt
before he left Sacramento

that he was ready to kill.

His behavior was becoming
more and more bizarre,

and the threats that he
was making to the victims

were, uh, more severe.

His-- just his
demeanor was changing.

ROBERT STACK: The
Eastern Area Rapist

had become a Southern
California killer,

leaving a trail of
deaths in his wake--

Charlene and Lyman
Smith of Ventura,

newlyweds Keith and Patty
Harrington of Laguna Niguel

Manuela Witthuhn of Irvine.

Five years later,
the next murder

took place on May 5, 1986.

Janelle Cruz also
lived in Irvine.

Like the others,
she had been tied

up, sexually assaulted,
and bludgeoned

to death in her home.

Larry Poole of the Orange
County Sheriff's Department

has headed up the Southern
California investigation.

PAUL HOLES: We don't have
anything that we've linked

to him after May 5th of 1986.

Doesn't mean that
it doesn't exist.

Doesn't mean that it's not
out there for us to acquire.

We're just not aware of it.

ROBERT STACK: However,
based on the killer's MO,

Larry Poole has come to believe
that the man he is pursuing

also murdered two couples
in Santa Barbara before

and after the string of
cases connected by DNA began.

PAUL HOLES: I don't
know of anyone like him.

He's a very unique offender--

50 rapes that we're aware of,
10 murders that we're aware of.

We suspect that he's
probably responsible

for more rapes, and
murders, and crimes

outside of what we
have identified.

ROBERT STACK: With a biological
link to the Northern California

rapes confirmed, investigators
now had 50 additional cases

to comb through in
search of new clues

to the serial killer's identity.

The East Area Rapist's MO of
stacking plates on the victim's

partner during the
assault is believed

to be particularly unique.

PAUL HOLES: It's a signature
aspect of our offender.

Is it possible that someone
abused him and treated

him the same way,
terrorizing him, perhaps,

as a boy when he grow up?

It's-- it's possible.

ROBERT STACK: If the old
police adage of serial killers

do not stop unless
they're caught

is true, how is it
possible this one hasn't

been heard from since 1986?

PAUL HOLES: He could be dead.

He could be disabled and is no
longer capable of doing what

he once did as a serial killer.

He could have moved
to another state,

changed his MO somewhat, and
has committed multiple offenses

that he's been
identified for, and we've

just yet to link him up.

Larry Poole believes
there's another possibility--

that this serial killer
could be incarcerated,

perhaps on death row
for an unrelated murder.

Poole advocates DNA testing
of every death row inmate.

However, in California,
investigators

are blocked by an
injunction that prohibits

the extraction of
blood from any prisoner

on death row against his will.

PAUL HOLES: There are
approximately 600 men

who are among California's most
heinous notorious criminals

who do not have DNA profiles
compared against the databank.

WOMAN: (DISTORTED VOICE) I think
that we need to do whatever we

possibly can to identify him,
and to miss that opportunity

I think is-- is criminal.

Please, somebody
out there has to know

something about this person.

And if the information
could come forward,

will it ever bring
closure to the victims?

Only that they would
feel safe that he is

not out there to attack again.

PAUL HOLES: I don't want to end
my career without having solved

this, and if it's not
solved by the time I retire,

I'll think about it
till the day I die.

ROBERT STACK: The Chateaux Dijon
Apartments, Houston, 3:30 AM.

On February 1, 2002,
Curtis Ford awoke

to a series of strange
sounds in the stairwell

outside his apartment.

CURTIS FORD: The
banging that I heard

sounded like a herd of
elephants running up the stairs,

and then I heard--

[knocking]

--which was like a
knock at the door,

and then I heard the same--

right down the stairs.

So I looked up, and
this wall of fire

just shot out my
side balcony window.

Just shot straight up and out.

It was like my whole
apartment lit up.

I couldn't believe the amount
of force that this thing had.

[fire alarm]

ROBERT STACK: Curtis
escaped the fire unscathed.

Three of his neighbors
would not be so lucky.

The fire at the Chateaux
Dijon Apartments

was quickly ruled arson.

Few details have been released
as to exactly how the blaze

started, but authorities say it
may not have been a random act,

that the arsonist
was possibly trying

to harm a specific
resident of the building.

That person was Donna Baldeo.

Donna Baldeo lived a quiet
life with her 22-year-old son

Jailall Lewis and 8-year-old
daughter Bunnie Sue Terry.

By all accounts, the family
was close and had no enemies,

but several weeks prior to the
fire, a disturbing incident

may have given someone
motive to attack Donna.

Donna Baldeo had worked at
Wells Fargo Bank for 10 years.

She was currently a manager
at a drive-through branch

located outside of Houston.

On December 22, Donna was
the first to arrive at work.

She immediately noticed an odd
piece of paper lying in front

of the bank's entrance.

Encased in a protective
plastic sheath was a note.

It demanded all the
money from the bank,

and if anyone called
the police, they

would face dire consequences.

It was a well-crafted
note, well verbalized,

and specifically threatened
employees if they

didn't cooperate
in turning over all

the bank's money
that day that they

would be retaliated against.

ROBERT STACK: Donna
retreated to her car.

Five minutes later,
another employee showed up.

Don't stop.

Just follow me.

ROBERT STACK: They drove to
a nearby convenience store

and contacted their
supervisor, who called police.

I pulled up like normal,
uh, parked the car.

ROBERT STACK: Donna
had done exactly

what the note had explicitly
instructed her not to do.

Authorities found no
fingerprints on the note,

nor were there any clues as
to who the author might be.

The investigation never
turned up a suspect.

Move on, OK.

While investigators had no
evidence that pointed directly

at the suspects leaving
this note for Donna Baldeo

personally, she is the
person who found it,

and in this instance, Donna
Baldeo did not comply.

ROBERT STACK: Five
weeks later, the blaze

erupted in the stairwell at
Donna's apartment building.

Donna's unit was one of two
located on the second floor.

Two more units were downstairs.

[knocking]

Authorities speculate that
Donna's daughter, Bunnie,

was awakened by the
mysterious knock.

Unaware of the inferno
outside, she opened the door.

Bunnie, stop!

No!

Bunnie!

ROBERT STACK: Donna and her son
Jai then ran into the flames,

desperate to rescue her.

Curtis Ford, Donna's
downstairs neighbor,

witnessed the
unfolding nightmare.

[shouting]

CURTIS FORD: Jai was laying
there on the landing,

and I saw him burning, and
I just grabbed his ankle,

and I pulled him down, you know?

And he was just, like, screaming
at the top of his lungs--

like, my sister's dead.

I mean, he just couldn't
believe the fact

that this was going on.

I mean, it was just
horrible, horrible, horrible.

ROBERT STACK: Curtis saw Donna
repeatedly enter the flames.

Horrifying screams for her
youngest child went unanswered.

CURTIS FORD: The
look on her face just

would break any person.

I mean, I couldn't sleep for the
next two months because of it.

ROBERT STACK: Emergency workers
arrived at the apartment

complex within minutes.

Donna and her children were
the only victims of the fire.

Donna and Jai had
been critically burned

over their entire bodies.

They barely clung to life,
hysterical over Bunnie's fate.

When the smoke finally
cleared, the 8-year-old was

found dead in the stairwell.

ROY PAUL: This was absolutely
one of the most horrible events

I've seen in my 30 years
in the fire department,

because they were literally
burned alive there.

ROBERT STACK: Donna and Jai
were rushed to the hospital.

Friends and family gathered
around their bedsides,

hoping for a
miraculous recovery.

You couldn't even
recognize them.

You couldn't even
recognize Jai, and you

couldn't even recognize Donna.

And so we came out-- we
were just devastated.

Jai was pronounced dead
at 10:30 that morning.

Donna followed her son
one half hour later.

An entire family was gone.

Who would have committed such
an appalling crime, and why?

Was this the reprisal
threatened by the extortionist?

Or perhaps there is another
equally tragic explanation.

It has been reported that
over the past three years

15 fires have broken
out at the Chateaux

Dijon apartment complex.

Her death and her
children's death

could be related to
the series of arsons

in that same apartment
complex, including

one that happened on the same
stairwell just a year before.

When the dust
settles on this, it's--

it's probably going to be
somebody that she knew,

and I just got
that feeling about

that-- that this is more
somebody got mad at her

for whatever reason.

No one knows why.

ROBERT STACK: Fallon, Nevada--

population 8,000.

For those who moved here, it
seemed like the perfect place

to escape the urban
sprawl and raise a family.

[chatter]

But there is something
terrible happening

to the children of Fallon.

You goof burger.

ROBERT STACK: It all
began with Dustin Gross.

Honey, where did
you get this bruise?

I falled off of my bike.

Are you sure?

BRENDA GROSS: When I
was giving him a bath,

I noticed bruises on
his back and his arms.

And I asked him,
what was he doing?

Why did he have these bruises?

And he told me he was
playing with his friend

on the big wheels.

And I thought, OK,
that makes sense.

That's where the
bruises come from.

Honey, what are
you doing home?

Well, he's been tired all day.

BRENDA GROSS: But then
the next day, my husband

had noticed a lot more
bruises and brought it up

to my attention.

I saw he had bruises
all over his body--

his arms, his legs,
his stomach, um,

his back, and little
red blood specks

on the surface of his skin.

And I knew that, um, something
was wrong at that point.

You're going to
feel all better.

ROBERT STACK: Brenda took
Dustin to the local hospital,

and he was immediately
transferred

to the UC Davis Medical Center.

Blood was drawn.

A diagnosis was made.

BRENDA GROSS: The doctor told
us that Dustin had leukemia.

I knew about leukemia.

I knew it was a
cancer, but I didn't

actually realize how severe.

ROBERT STACK: Brenda soon
learned the seriousness

of Dustin's condition.

Acute lymphoblastic
leukemia strikes children

usually between the
ages of two and nine.

It causes the
production of millions

of defective white blood cells,
destroying the immune system,

and can be fatal.

Dustin immediately underwent
aggressive chemotherapy.

You want to take your pills?

BRENDA GROSS: I have never
went through anything

like that before in my life.

Not knowing what to expect,
what my child is going through,

seeing him lie there so
lethargic and so lifeless--

I think that that's probably
the hardest thing that I've

ever had to deal with.

It was not easy.

Dustin Gross was not alone.

Over the next two years, 14 more
children contracted childhood

leukemia in the Fallon area--

an astronomical number
in a community so small.

Two have lost their lives.

Authorities are now
convinced that the outbreak

is not a coincidence.

Parents are in a state of
panic, desperate to find answers

before more children become
ill and possibly die.

Within weeks of Dustin
Gross's diagnosis,

two more children came down
with childhood leukemia.

The cancer treatment facility
at the local hospital,

run by RN Barbara de
Braga, was overwhelmed.

Even at that point, I was just
thinking it's just coincidence.

It's just a terrible
coincidence,

but it's a coincidence, but
then shortly after the third,

then we got a
referral for a fourth.

ROBERT STACK: Barbara de Braga
feared that she was looking

at an abnormally high
occurrence of the disease

known as a cancer cluster.

She contacted the state assembly
person for the Fallon area,

and an official
investigation was launched.

A state epidemiologist,
Dr. Randall Todd,

prepared an all out inquiry.

The devastating
disease threatened

to spin out of control, striking
victims number five and six.

A couple of days after, there
was a seventh case diagnosed,

and so this started to--

to kind of make the hair
on the back of my neck

stand up a little bit.

It was-- it was a
frightening time.

We have a series of questions
we want to go over with you,

and we're going to use
this office right here.

- OK.
- If that's OK.

ROBERT STACK: An alarmed
Dr. Todd immediately

sought a common denominator
shared by all the victims that

might explain the epidemic.

Could it be it
environmental toxin?

And, uh, how is the
water supply to that house?

Is it--

- It's a well.
- It's a well.

DR. RANDALL TODD: A well?

OK.

ROBERT STACK: Interviews
with parents, however,

produced no answers,
and Dr. Todd

watched helplessly as new
cases continued to appear.

Zach Beardsley was the
ninth child diagnosed

with childhood leukemia.

TAMMI BEARDSLEY: When I heard
I was number nine in a cancer

cluster, at that time,
my child was so ill

that all I could
think about was,

how do I get out of this
mess with a healthy child?

After I found my feet, if you
will, I realized that it was

important to get involved
in the investigation,

and that's when I
found the strength,

and rolled my sleeves up, and
said, well, what can I do?

And then you start to fight, and
you don't look back, you know?

ROBERT STACK: Tammi Beardsley
readily opened her house

to a phalanx of scientists.

The search for the common
denominator continued.

What did all these
children share that might

explain their illness?

TAMMI BEARDSLEY: There
was a team of people that

came into our home
and vacuumed, took

dust samples, air
quality samples, water

samples, biological testing.

They scraped our mouths--

blood tests.

ROBERT STACK: But these
tests were inconclusive.

Perhaps the problem was not
in the children's homes,

but in the surrounding
environment.

Was there something unique about
Fallon that could explain why

a cancer cluster appeared here?

Researchers began
with the water.

DR. RANDALL TODD: The one
thing that-- that makes

this community sort of stand
out is that they have one

of the highest
rates of naturally

occurring arsenic in
their water supply

of any place in the nation.

ROBERT STACK: Researchers also
found mercury in a nearby lake

and several irrigation canals,
places where the children

were known to play.

And there was another
unusual feature about Fallon

that raised red flags.

Residential homes are freely
intermixed with farmland.

MARK WITTEN: They
have to, uh-- to treat

these fields with
pesticides, and fertilizer,

and this type of thing.

So you're now having that very
close to the living community,

rather than maybe in a
normal farming community

where it starts on
the outskirts of town.

ROBERT STACK: Radioactivity
was also a possibility.

Underground atomic
tests were conducted

near Fallon during the 1960s.

Arsenic, mercury, pesticides--
there seemed to be no shortage

of toxins in the environment.

Incredibly, scientists have so
far failed to link any of them

to the outbreak.

In fact, no studies
have ever demonstrated

that these contaminants
play a role in contracting

childhood leukemia.

DR. RANDALL TODD:
Working on this

really is like trying to do
a gigantic jigsaw puzzle.

What we can say is that,
in fact, we likely will not

have the complete puzzle
put together at the end

of this investigation.

ROBERT STACK: There was
one final possibility.

Fallon is located 10 miles
from a major Naval air station

used to train fighter pilots.

The jet fuel contains
benzene, a known carcinogen.

DR. RANDALL TODD:
There is a pipeline

which transports jet fuel.

The pipe comes right through
and underneath Fallon,

and winds up at the
Fallon Naval Air Station.

Uh, we wondered was there, uh,
fuel getting into the water

supply, but we didn't
find any evidence

that the water had been
contaminated with jet fuel.

ROBERT STACK: Perhaps
the residents of Fallon

were inhaling the jet fuel.

This theory is currently being
tested on laboratory mice

at the University of Arizona.

Human trials may take
place in the near future.

MARK WITTEN: We can
actually measure

on a person's expired
breath remnants

of-- of jet fuel exposure.

That-- that technology
has been developed

over the last five years.

ROBERT STACK: While
authorities search for answers,

the parents of the
children suffering

from leukemia in Fallon
try to remain optimistic.

Zach Beardsley has been
undergoing chemotherapy

for the past 17 months.

Although he is responding well,
it is still too soon to know

if he'll beat the disease.

TAMMI BEARDSLEY: There's
a-- a fear inside of me.

I have two other children
and one on the way,

and I'd like to find out
what's making children become

diagnosed with leukemia
here before I bring

another child into the world.

Surprise!

ROBERT STACK: After two years
of intensive chemotherapy,

Dustin Gross recently had
an end of treatment party.

His cancer is
currently in remission,

but there is always a fear
that it may one day return.

BRENDA GROSS: I am worried
for my family, and my other

children, and for Dustin still.

I will never give up
on pushing the research

to find what has caused
childhood leukemia

in a cluster in this community.

Obviously the more research
and continued research is going

to get us closer and closer,
and I feel that we will find it,

but we cannot let up.

ROBERT STACK: Sunday, July 4.

A family swimming at the
confluence of the San

Miguel and Dolores Rivers
in western Colorado

made a grim discovery.

Submerged in the muddy
waters was a pickup truck.

The Montrose County
Sheriff's Department

responded to the scene, and
it quickly became apparent

that this would be more
than a simple vehicle

recovery operation.

Investigators realized this
might be the break they

desperately needed in a case
that had captured the attention

of surrounding communities.

The truck belonged
to a man who suddenly

vanished six weeks before.

Hopes, however,
were quickly dashed

when no other signs of the
missing man were recovered.

Authorities need your help to
solve this baffling mystery.

The recovered pickup
truck was registered

to 42-year-old Dale Williams.

The longtime area resident was
a devoted husband and doting

father of two teenage daughters.

Dale owned and operated
an auto body shop

in the nearby town of Nucla.

On the evening of
May 27, Dale failed

to make it home for dinner.

His wife, Diana, assumed
he was preoccupied

with a job at the body shop
and lost track of time.

[dialing]

By bedtime, however,
Diana was concerned.

Hi, Dale.

It's me.
Uh--

DIANA WILLIAMS: I
called the shop a couple

of times, and no answer.

OK, give me a call
as soon as you get in.

Bye bye.

So I thought,
well, maybe he just

didn't hear the phone
because he's using

the air ratchets or something.

I went to bed about
10:00, and I laid there,

and I felt like
something was wrong.

I tossed and turned all
night, woke up several times,

and he still wasn't home.

ROBERT STACK: Diana
woke at dawn and was

horrified to discover Dale had
not made it home all night.

As soon as she got her
kids off to school,

Diana drove straight
to Dale's garage.

Dale?

DIANA WILLIAMS: When I
first walked in the shop,

the door was unlocked.

Dale?

DIANA WILLIAMS: The hood
was still up on the van.

His tools were-- they were
just laying around the vehicle,

like he had just walked away
from it for a few minutes.

I went over to my
mother-in-law's, and she

hadn't heard from him the
day before or that morning.

ROBERT STACK: Dale often
shopped at junkyards,

looking for spare parts
to use at the body shop.

IDA WILLIAMS: When was
the last time you--

ROBERT STACK: Diana
and her mother-in-law

thought that would be a good
place to start their search.

When we didn't find
him at the junkyard,

we thought we'd
probably find him

along the way,
the road somewhere

where he'd maybe
ran off the road.

We felt like that something
had happened to him for sure,

but we felt like we would
find him, but as it happened,

we didn't find him.

ROBERT STACK:
Within a few hours,

Diana Williams notified
police, and word

of Dale Williams's strange
disappearance spread

through Nucla.

Investigators began piecing
together Dale Williams's day.

They learned Dale made a brief
stop at Tami Lowrance's office

about 12:15 that afternoon.

I had a windshield that I needed
repaired on a truck of ours.

Hey, Dale.

What's up?

Listen, I stopped
by to let you

know that I can't
do your windshield

until next Wednesday.

That's OK.

Is that all right?

TAMI LOWRANCE: I
thought it was strange

that Dale stopped
in, because he didn't

have to stop and tell me.

He could have called me.

ROBERT STACK: Dale
was in a hurry.

He told Tami he was on his way
to help a stranded motorist.

Maybe he felt uneasy about who
he was going to go give a tow.

I really don't know.

All right.
See you later.

Bye.

TAMI LOWRANCE: That was the last
time that I saw Dale Williams.

ROBERT STACK: The
investigator determined

that Dale's friend, Tom
Ross, had been with him

just before Tami saw him.

We've got an arm.

ROBERT STACK: Tom
and his young son

had stopped by the body
shop late that morning.

TOM ROSS: It was just getting
close to the noon hour,

and he said, uh,
I'm real busy today.

I got a full shop.

But he said, I got time
for one game of darts

if you want to--
if you got time.

I said, yeah, sure.

Yeah, nice job, bud.

Nice job.

[phone ringing]

Uh, hold on a second.

TOM ROSS: A phone call come in.

Hello?

TOM ROSS: And they were broke
down they said about 3/4

of a mile east of the
Bedrock, Colorado store-- just

a little country store.

Yeah, yeah.

I think I know where that is.

TOM ROSS: I was
under the impression

that it might have been
a lady that called.

Nothing that was actually said.

It was just the way
he talked and stuff.

Yeah, no.

It's the other road.

It's the only way to go.

ROBERT STACK: Dale's shop
did auto body repair.

He was not a mechanic,
so it was unusual for him

to receive a call
for roadside help.

I-- I did feel odd
that, um, um, they

called Dale for assistance.

Sorry, you guys.

Uh, I'm gonna have to take off.

TOM ROSS: But at
the same time, Dale

was one that was willing
to go and help somebody

if they were broke down.

We said our goodbyes
at the shop door.

That's the last time
I ever saw Dale.

ROBERT STACK: The citizens
of Nucla responded

to the emergency situation.

Missing posters were
printed up and distributed

by Dale's friends and family.

It makes me feel really great
to know I'm in a small town,

and everybody cares.

ROBERT STACK: However,
Diana would soon

come to understand that not
everyone in her small town

did care.

DIANA WILLIAMS: We had missing
posters up and I noticed--

I had put some in
the post office,

and about two days later,
they were all gone.

So I put some more in
there, and they just--

two or three days
they disappear.

That ultimately resulted in
us installing a hidden camera

in the post office in Nucla.

And that led to us
being able to determine

who was responsible for the
disappearance of those flyers.

ROBERT STACK:
Within a few weeks,

the camera hidden by police
captured images of this man

tearing down the flyers.

Incredibly, he was
ultimately identified

as a former longtime
family friend

of Dale and Diana Williams.

The individual depicted in
the photographs was questioned,

and he denied any involvement
in Dale's disappearance.

He also was able to, uh, give
us an alibi for the 27th of May

1999, and for the most part,
that alibi is consistent

and has been confirmed.

ROBERT STACK: Could
Dale's disappearance

have had anything to
do with some bad blood

between the two men?

12 months before Dale
vanished, Diana and Dale

helped move the mystery man's
ex-wife to another state

without his knowledge.

DIANA WILLIAMS: He
was angry at Dale

for helping his ex-wife move
and get clear out of the area,

and then we wouldn't
tell him where she

was at or anything like that.

And I feel like he was really
angry with Dale for that.

ROBERT STACK: A month after
helping the man's ex-wife move,

Dale found some disturbing items
outside his auto body shop.

DIANA WILLIAMS: He went to work.

He noticed some pictures
torn up there just

laying all over the ground.

ROBERT STACK: The
torn photographs

had been stolen from his shop.

They depicted Dale and Diana
with their now divorced

friends in happier times.

Several 22 caliber
bullets were also

scattered across the ground.

Several days after
that, Diana made

a strange discovery
in the night drop

box of the video
rental store she ran--

a 22 caliber revolver.

Diana and Dale later discovered
the gun, like the torn photos,

had also been stolen from
Dale's auto body shop.

I was really nervous, because
I didn't know what to think.

And Dale just told me
to not worry about it.

Things would be OK, and
things will settle down.

Whatever happened, it
was more to scare him,

he felt like, than anything.

ROBERT STACK: Police
interviewed Dale's former friend

about the burglaries, but
he denied any involvement

in the break in.

Dale's life seemed
to return to normal.

Then, 11 months after his
body shop was burglarized,

Dale Williams
suddenly disappeared.

Six weeks later, Dale's truck
was recovered from the river.

An analysis of the vehicle
at its recovery site

provided more clues.

The truck's ignition
was turned on.

The vehicle was in
gear, and the angle

between the highway and the
river was extremely sharp.

Each detail seemed to
indicate that someone

had deliberately
steered Dale Williams's

truck into the water.

Once Diana viewed
photographs of Dale's truck,

she was certain someone
other than her husband last

drove the vehicle.

She took particular
note of the partially

opened driver's side window.

DIANA WILLIAMS:
Dale usually drove

with the driver's window all the
way down, but never half way--

always down or up.

Somebody put it in
there to get rid of it,

somebody who knew the river.

ROBERT STACK: Generating
further speculation,

police have not located
the stranded motorist

Dale Williams went to help.

Was the mystery caller a woman
as Dale's friend surmised?

And why has that person
never come forward?

Hello there.

ROBERT STACK: Investigators
may already have that answer.

The purported distress
call was placed

from a stolen cell phone.

Dale Williams's loved
ones must also face yet

another perplexing scenario.

There are those who claim
that Dale's truck was parked

in its normal spot at his
body shop by 1:30 PM the day

he vanished.

If true, Dale, or someone
else, drove his truck

back into town within 90
minutes of his responding

to the distress call
outside of town.

There were even
reports from witnesses

who claimed to
have seen Williams

early that evening at a
market in the neighboring

town of Naturita.

TAMI LOWRANCE: I do
believe that the people who

saw Dale Williams between 5 and
6 o'clock at the local grocery

store did, in fact,
see Dale and that they

are people in the community,
that their word can be trusted.

ROBERT STACK: So what
happened to Dale Williams,

and where is he now?

DIANA WILLIAMS: I believe
Dale either seen something

he shouldn't have or knew
something he shouldn't have,

and somebody was
looking to shut him up.

Maybe he was ready to go to
the cops and tell what he knew,

and that was their way
of shutting him up.

ROBERT STACK: Dale
Williams has not

been seen since May 27, 1999.

He stands five foot
seven inches tall

and has light sandy
hair and blue eyes.

Join us next time on
"Unsolved Mysteries."