Original subtitles

[music playing]

ANNOUNCER: Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries.

DENNIS FARINA: These formations are known as crop circles.

They often pop up overnight in the middle of nowhere.

Many are attributed to clever pranksters.

Others have no rational explanation.

Are they the work of some strange force on Earth

or something not of this world?

Still lonely and heartbroken from the sudden death

of his beloved wife, Charles Barker was happy when

a new woman entered his life.

However, his happiness was to be as short

lived as the relationship.

Ashley Pond or Miranda Gaddis--

same age, same height, same features, dance teammates,

and neighbors, until they were snatched off

the street near this Oregon City apartment complex.

Unspeakable crimes that have left a small town

gripped with fear and authorities hunting

for the worst kind of predator.

A violent gang member reportedly wreaks havoc

on the quiet streets of Milwaukee,

leaving three innocent people dead.

Police are asking for your help in apprehending a suspect

before more lives are lost.

One final piece of information may be all this

needed to solve the mystery.

Perhaps that someone watching can help, perhaps it's you.

[theme music]

DENNIS FARINA: Edmonton, Alberta on the western edge

of the Canadian prairie.

Rusty Manuel and Thelley Whitman had been driving home

from the city when they were flagged down

by one of their farm hands.

- Hey. - Hey.

You all done?

Yeah.

WHITMAN: He said, "You have a circle in your field."

And I said, "Yes, I know.

The darn animals they're always lying

down and flattening the grain.

He said, "Oh, no.

It had to be an awfully big animal to make this circle."

DENNIS FARINA: What Rusty and Thelley discovered where seven

crop circles pressed into a thistle and barley,

comprising a formation about 190 feet long.

THELLEY WHITMAN: It was just amazing.

What made this?

How could it be made?

What's going on here?

The grain was all flattened down.

And it almost looked like a pattern like petals, the way

the grain came out and then the heads turned back

in towards the center again.

I got hold of the city police and the city police

did come out.

He was totally amazed.

DENNIS FARINA: Soon after the startling discovery was made,

the Canadian Crop Circle Research Network was contacted.

CCCRN is a group of volunteers dedicated

to gathering information about the mystery of crop circles.

Judy Arndt is a field researcher with the organization.

JUDY ARNDT: It looked like a place had been electrocuted.

The plants were so badly frazzled, it was just amazing.

Looked like there had been a huge force of some sort.

So it's over there?

No, over here.

[interposing voices]

JUDY ARNDT: I was very curious to see

what we could see and look at the details of the formation.

DENNIS FARINA: Skeptics are quick to call the whole affair

a hoax, attributing the work to clever pranksters

like those shown in this TV documentary.

Well, I'm from a farming background,

so I know what it looks like when plants are driven

over or flattened in some way.

So it was very clear to us that it

hadn't been flattened by somebody out there

with planks and boards.

You can't do that to thistle.

It was very densely grown.

And it would be very difficult for anybody

to get in without leaving tracks behind.

DENNIS FARINA: Paul Anderson, Director of the CCCRN,

has studied many similar formations in Western Canada.

Well, anybody can go out with a board and flatten down wheat.

I could do that, anyone could do that.

And yet, something you have to take into account

is it's not just the formation itself,

but it's the complexity of how it's actually constructed.

What's even in some of the ones here in Saskatchewan

we've seen have been quite elaborate--

like multiple layers going in different directions,

one on top of the other and so on.

DENNIS FARINA: Paul believes another factor

makes it improbable the so-called Edmonton

circle was a hoax.

Unlike England's mysterious Stonehenge region

where many crop circles have been sighted,

Western Canada holds little of that same mystique.

What would be the point?

Usually when you hoax something, you

want to claim it after and make a big fuss about it

and make a name for yourself.

As Judy Arndt examined the site, she

carefully documented each of the circles within the formation.

Judy also gathered up crop and soil samples

for scientific analysis.

JUDY ARNDT: Each sample is numbered

and there's a corresponding sample of the grain stalks

and of the soil at that particular location.

So those are all numbered and written on a chart.

DENNIS FARINA: The samples were analyzed by Nancy Talbott

in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Nancy works with a consortium of scientists

who have studied more than 350 crop circle cases

from eight different countries.

The three major changes in plants and the real McCoy

as opposed to man-made crop circles are no elongation,

expulsion cavities at the nodes, and germination abnormalities.

DENNIS FARINA: Each of these conditions

was present in the crop samples sent from Edmonton.

In other words, both internal and external characteristics

of the crops were profoundly altered

in ways that could not be induced by humans

using ropes and board.

There is a sense that you're walking into something special.

I have always equated it to walking--

DENNIS FARINA: Former high ranking British government

official, Colin Andrews, has witness

this phenomenon many times.

There's preciseness, the geometry is precise.

There are no tracks in or out.

The plants are not damaged.

They're bent over.

They're not knuckled or broken.

The plants are changed in their internal structure

at the cellular level.

You don't find that in the hoax.

DENNIS FARINA: Meanwhile, the soil samples from the Edmonton

site were sent to Dr. Sampath Iyengar Dr. Iyengar

is an expert in material analysis.

We went ahead and looked at the mineralogy

of the clays using a technique called

x-ray powder diffraction.

That's the technique that can be used to identify

the type of place and the type of various other minerals

that are present in the soil.

DENNIS FARINA: The results showed a dramatic difference

between the soil samples taken from inside the crop circle

compared to those taken from outside the circle.

SAMPATH IYENGAR: This has been seen by geologists before.

But this is in a geologic time where several millions of years

plus a lot higher temperature than what you

would expect in a crop circle.

And this has to be some kind of a fantastic

synergy or some kind of laser type of thing

that's causing this change.

And I don't have any idea what it is.

Do the crop circles of Western Canada

finally provide conclusive evidence of unknown forces

at work?

Skeptics say no.

They blame pranksters who probably take credit for making

80% of these often complex formations,

creations they call human land art.

But what about the other 20%?

It's a debate that's been raging since the mid 1970s

on a wave of crop circles captured worldwide attention.

The most compelling question remains unanswered,

if they are not the work of humans, then who

or what created them and how?

DENNIS FARINA: Theories range from

geothermal and magnetic forces to some kind of cosmic energy.

COLIN ANDREWS: We looked at meteorology.

We looked at Earth energies.

We have that chemical application of the farmers

and all of them lead to a blank.

It just didn't fit.

What we now know is we have a solid mystery.

This cannot be explained in the terms of people making them.

We have many hundreds that are absolutely

certainly not man-made.

And that is a solid fact.

Things like compasses will deviate or even

spin if you set them on the ground

like in the center of a circle.

Things like that which to me hoaxing simply

doesn't explain because something has

to be affecting that compass.

Even compasses in airplanes have been affected

flying over some of these.

I had problems with my own camera, both on the ground

and in the plane.

Any kind of electrical equipment will

often just malfunctioned or go completely

dead inside some of these.

DENNIS FARINA: Perhaps most intriguing of all the proposed

theories is the one that claims at least some crop circles are

the work of extraterrestrial.

I was contacted by a young couple who had been driving

along in the late evening.

So do you have to work next week?

Uh, maybe.

I think they're going to call me in even though--

JUDY ARNDT: She was taking her husband

to work in North Edmonton.

I thought you were going to have a weekend off?

JUDY ARNDT: He looked out the window and saw some lights

and rolled down the window to make

sure it wasn't just reflection on his passenger side window.

And the lights were still there, he got quite excited about it.

And asked his wife to pull over.

There were two small lights, brilliant bluish.

Is that a plane?

No, planes don't move like that.

JUDY ARNDT: Then they said these two

lights looked like they were playing tag with each other.

No one is ever going to believe this

JUDY ARNDT: And it went on for--

I don't know, 20, 30 seconds.

This sighting occurred about a week before the crop

circle formation was found.

DENNIS FARINA: Then a few days later

Rusty Manuel and Thelley Whitman have their own close encounter.

THELLEY WHITMAN: We were just approaching

our farm, ad we saw this light. - What's that?

What?

First, you thought it was a helicopter because it

moved like a helicopter, but still there

was no other lights on it.

That is so weird.

I don't know what that is.

THELLEY WHITMAN: It was just bright

and it would just hover over the field and sort of move

off and then come back again.

Oh my god, I've never seen anything like that.

I tried to picture it as being an aircraft.

But it was too much too big for an aircraft.

That's no airplane.

No.

And it just seemed like it passed

over the back end of the pickup and it just

disappeared it just so fast.

DENNIS FARINA: Was there a connection

between the strange lights in the sky

and the sudden appearance of the Edmonton crop

circles just days later?

Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer

at the SETI Institute--

an acronym meaning The Search for Extraterrestrial

Intelligence.

Seth and his colleagues explore the heavens

for any sign of life.

I believe that the aliens are out there.

But I don't think that they're visiting here.

The fact that so many people feel that there may be

something unusual going on here-- crop circles,

UFOs, and so forth--

I think this speaks a psychological need that we all

have to believe that there are some powers

that we don't understand.

And after all it's much more interesting

to think that this pattern in the weed

here was graffiti from beings from another world

than to think that it was students

from the local university.

That's not a terribly interesting story.

DENNIS FARINA: But what about crop

circles that simply defy logic?

Formations that show no sign of human intervention.

That certainly seemed to be the case in Red Deer

Alberta not far from Edmonton.

According to a stunned local farmer,

this giant Star of David formation

literally appeared overnight in one of his field.

It measured an incredible 422 feet across.

Still skeptics like Seth Shostak believe

it's all smoke and mirrors.

When I go to a stage show in Las Vegas,

and I see these grand illusions produced by these magicians,

I don't understand how they're all done.

In fact, I don't understand how most of them are done.

And I could assume some unknown physical force is involved.

This would be terribly important if it were

true about the crop circles.

But the facts are that to say that they

are made by something other than humans is a radical--

a revolutionary claim.

And consequently I'm not going to be swayed by what amounts

to very anecdotal evidence.

It's got to be better than that.

I don't think we need, necessarily,

to be talking or trying to prove that it

is or isn't extraterrestrial.

I don't know that either.

What I know is what I'm looking at that

has arrived in our fields.

Something knows what it's doing here.

There is intelligence of some sort.

And I know they're not all made by people.

Over the past three decades, researchers

have compiled a database that includes

more than 10,000 crop circle reports from around the world.

If 8,000 of these strange formations

can be attributed to pranksters, that

still leaves more than 2,000 that are simply unexplained.

Hello?

Yeah, um, I'd like to put an ad in the personals.

For a week.

Single, white female, 47--

DENNIS FARINA: August 1998, a woman calling herself

Dieanna Ray decided to place an ad in the personals section

of a Louisiana newspaper.

I'm honest and hardworking and seeking

a compatible single, white male, 45 to 55

to enjoy life together.

Dieanna Ray was hardly being honest.

According to authorities, Dieanna

was a drifter who hitchhiked around the country

looking for her next mark--

a lonely man to latch on to and drain his bank account.

In fact, her real name was not Dieanna at all.

It was Hazel Liotta Head.

A man named Charles Barker would have

been interested in any one of these details

if he had only known.

DENNIS FARINA: Charles Barker had recently

suffered through the devastating sudden loss

of his wife of 10 years.

JENNIFER SPOONTS: She was killed by a drunk driver.

It was a settlement out of court.

And he came into a lot of money.

But after she died, it just seemed

like he kind of fell apart.

He didn't know what to do with himself, I think.

He was depressed but then later on, it's like he

snapped out of it and wanted to do things--

go fishing and travel.

He bought a Winnebago, a boat.

I guess that's when the loneliness set in,

he didn't like doing them by himself.

DENNIS FARINA: The riverboat casinos operating

on the Red River in Bossier City, Louisiana

became Charles Barker's latest diversion.

All right.

All right!

DENNIS FARINA: Although, he probably

believed he and Dieanna became acquainted by chance,

given her track record, she undoubtedly

orchestrated the meeting.

This seat taken?

Well, it is now, isn't it?

It is.

I just took it.

Yeah, you did.

Charles Barker carried pretty large amounts of cash with him.

Hazel would have almost certainly

noticed that because she'd be looking

for those kinds of things.

You look like you're doing pretty good over there.

ED BASWELL: And so he would have become a target for her.

You know what?

I might ask you to help me because I'm not doing too good

here.

Well, your hand looks pretty good right now.

Let's see.

DENNIS FARINA: They shared a whirlwind romance.

And less than a year after the death of his wife

and within days of their initial meeting,

Hazel Head moved in with Charles Barker.

Here we are.

It's so adorable!

I love it!

JENNIFER SPOONTS: Dad told me he'd met a woman in a casino.

I didn't think anything of it.

I just hoped he was happy and I don't want to see him alone.

I thought maybe she would be a good companion for him.

And evidently he was happy with her for a while

because he would call me and say he liked her.

You gone carry me over the threshold?

Well, I'm going to give it one good old try,

I'll tell you that much.

He needed someone, some companionship.

He didn't like to be alone.

So you're looking really good, Dad, tell about this--

DENNIS FARINA: One weekend, Jennifer made the nine hour

drive from her Austin, Texas home

to meet her father's new girlfriend.

Hey, sugar, I'm all out of ammo.

Oh, hun.

Dieanna, I want you to be my daughter, Jennifer.

Oh, hi.

Jennifer, Dieanna.

Nice to meet you

Boy--

JENNIFER SPOONTS: When I first met her,

she was in a casino with my dad.

So are you from around here?

DENNIS FARINA: She wasn't a real presentable

woman, just no class.

She looked like a bar fly.

I was suspicious of her.

I knew she wasn't right for him.

Daddy, what's going on?

You do not sound--

DENNIS FARINA: A short time later, even Charles apparently

began to share that opinion.

One big old messy situation here.

DENNIS FARINA: According to his daughter Cindy,

Charles admitted he was troubled in a phone conversation

but declined to reveal what his problems were.

Daddy, I can help you with this, please.

Sweetheart, listen to me.

Trust me here, next week we'll together and I promise you.

And I'll sit down with you and I'll tell you--

CINDY JEFFERSON: When my dad called me,

he just sounded so different, and he started crying.

And I've never heard my dad cry or anything.

But he told me he'd call me in two or three

days, everything would be OK and let me know what was going on.

DENNIS FARINA: But that explanation never came.

Shortly afterward, Jennifer tried calling her father

to arrange another visit.

And I'd been trying to phone him for the whole week.

[phone ringing]

JENNIFER SPOONTS: And no answer and I finally called my aunt.

And she said we'll go back there and check on him.

DENNIS FARINA: Charles Barker's sister, June, and her husband

drove over to see if there was a problem.

Charlie?

Charlie!

June Stringer and her husband noticed

that the front door of the residence

is open, so they proceed further.

The husband looks in and sees Mr.

Barker slumped over the bar.

[screams]

DENNIS FARINA: Charles Barker had

been dead for five days, killed by a single gunshot

to the head.

As investigators comb the crime scene,

several observations were made.

ED BASWELL: Our detectives found no sign of a struggle.

They did not find the house that had been ransacked.

Mr. Barker had a 25 caliber Raven Arms pistol

that he kept in his residence.

There were no prints found on the gun,

but the ballistics evidence indicates that that

was the weapon that was used.

Mr. Barker had a safe that he kept in his bedroom.

The safe was opened when investigators arrived.

DENNIS FARINA: Except for Charles Barker's

personal papers, it was empty.

I know for a fact that my dad always kept money in there.

And at that time, I believe he probably had $45,000, at least,

in that safe.

DENNIS FARINA: Also missing was Charles Barker's Lincoln

Town Car and his girlfriend.

ED BASWELL: Mr. Barker's vehicle was found the next day

after his body was discovered.

It was found near the airport.

Inside the car where pieces of clothing

that belonged to Hazel.

Also found in the car was DNA evidence,

physical evidence, that we believe definitely

links her to the car.

We believe she is the one that took the car from his residence

and drove it to that spot near the airport.

DENNIS FARINA: A background check on Hazel Head

revealed that she'd been married as many as 10 times

and was known to use more than a dozen aliases.

There was also an outstanding warrant for her arrest

in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Hazel Head had allegedly burned down

her boyfriend's mobile home then fled before standing trial.

Did Hazel Head murder Charles Barker

and escape with an unknown amount of cash?

Had this been her plan from the very beginning?

ED BASWELL: Our investigators theorize

that Mr. Barker was probably at the bar reading the newspaper.

Hazel came out of the bedroom with the gun, the 25 caliber.

He didn't realize that she was behind him.

We believe that Mr. Barker probably

never knew what hit him.

DENNIS FARINA: But was hazel had plotting yet another scam

even while she we're still living with Charles Barker?

HAZEL HEAD (ON TAPE RECORDER): Hi, my name is Dieanna Ray.

DENNIS FARINA: Louisiana authorities subsequently

recovered a recording of a personals ad she placed

shortly before his murder.

This is Hazel Head in her own voice--

lonely men everywhere beware.

HAZEL HEAD (ON TAPE RECORDER): And looking

for a single white male between 45 to 55.

I like to have a good time, enjoy life,

and just be all around happy.

DENNIS FARINA: Hazel head is known to frequent truck stops,

often hitching rides from town to town.

Hi, head you say you were going to Dallas.

DENNIS FARINA: Investigators believes

she easily blends into that environment

and never stays long in one place.

Hazel Head a very street smart woman.

She flies below radar.

To track Hazel Head is very difficult.

She becomes almost like a ghost.

It's like she's here and she's gone.

But it must not be forgotten that she is a dangerous person,

that she might have killed even before Mr. Barker was murdered.

She may have killed since.

She has a dark side to her.

DENNIS FARINA: Hazel Head stands five feet, two inches tall.

She has a scar near her right eye

and a gap between her front teeth.

Head is wanted for the first degree murder of Charles Barker

and should be considered dangerous.

Oregon City, Oregon is a small blue collar town of 27,000

people just south of Portland.

A friendly place where adults trust their neighbors

and children play without fear, but suddenly, everything

changed.

Over a six week period, two young girls

vanished without a trace.

Setting in motion one of the most

complex and unusual investigations

state authorities have ever encountered.

DENNIS FARINA: Nestled among the hills

of Oregon City sits Newell Creek Village Apartments.

The complex includes 125 units and is home

to more than 325 residents, including

Lori Pond and her 12-year-old daughter, Ashley.

Ashley, you better hurry up.

You're going to be late.

Coming, Mom.

DENNIS FARINA: January 9th, 2002, Ashley

was running late as usual.

It was a little after 8:00 AM and she had only

a few minutes to catch the bus.

Love you, bye.

Love you too.

DENNIS FARINA: The walk up the hill to the bus stop

took less than 10 minutes.

Ashley was a popular student and member of both

the swimming and dance teams.

On that Wednesday, she was looking forward

to practice after class.

Lori Pond expected to hear from her daughter by 6:15 PM.

When she didn't Lori became worried and called the school.

LORI POND: The dance coach answered.

She said, "No, Ashley wasn't there."

I said, "Well, can you ask the kids?

Maybe they saw her."

And they said no.

And they said they hadn't even seen her in school.

And that's where I went, this is wrong.

Something's wrong because Ashley would not have done that

and she would have called me.

Now, when was Ashley last seen.

DENNIS FARINA: Lori immediately contacted

the Oregon City police.

She told the officer none of Ashley's clothes

or personal belongings was missing.

Things she was sure her daughter would have taken

had she run away.

I sleep that night at all.

I just thought maybe she would come

home and knock on the door, or whatever, but she never did.

DENNIS FARINA: The police concluded

there might be a child abductor on the loose

and opened an investigation.

Detectives first talk with some of Ashley's classmates.

They said she never got on the bus.

Next, police canvassed the entire apartment complex

looking for leads or possible suspects.

They found neither.

GORDON HUIRAS: The investigators have

been able to search every apartment within that complex--

including crawlspaces and attic spaces--

and are confident that there was nothing there to see.

DENNIS FARINA: The search expanded,

hundreds of volunteers combed the surrounding area.

While detectives questioned Ashley's father,

looked into Ashley's internet activity

and checked out lists of known sex offenders.

Again, no clues, no suspects, and no sign of Ashley.

Detectives then contacted the FBI.

CHARLES MATHEWS: We moved to the larger community

around the apartment complex.

We've been through the school.

We've talked to individual students who were associates.

We've talked to teachers.

We've talked to administrators.

We talked to the school as a whole.

DENNIS FARINA: More dead ends.

And still the same fundamental question

remained unanswered, what had happen to Ashley Pond

between 8:05 AM and 8:15 AM.

It's really hard to believe that happened to one

your friends or something.

DENNIS FARINA: Meanwhile, 13-year-old Miranda Gaddis,

Ashley's neighbor and dance teammate,

found herself in the middle of an intense investigation.

How are you doing, Miranda?

Hi.

Can you tell me how long you've actually known Ashley?

Since about third grade.

MICHELLE DUFFEY: The FBI talked to Miranda a lot

about Ashley because they'd known each other for so long.

They were friends and I'm sure that they knew

pretty much the same people.

DENNIS FARINA: Days turned to weeks,

still no sign of Ashley Pond.

And life at the apartment complex

became somewhat normal again.

Good morning.

Morning, Mom.

DENNIS FARINA: March 8th 2002, Michelle Duffy

packed up for work as usual.

It was 7:30 AM.

Her daughter Miranda was in no hurry.

She still had 45 minutes before the school bus arrived.

Police believe Miranda left her apartment

a little after 8:00 AM and headed

up the hill for the bus stop.

Hi, this is Michelle.

MICHELLE DUFFEY: About 1:20, my oldest daughter

called me and said Miranda's friend

said she wasn't at school.

So of course I called home no one answered.

Then I called the school, and the school said "Oh, yeah.

She's absent."

And then I got very upset.

Oh my god, something's wrong.

Thank you.

No, no, thank you.

MICHELLE DUFFEY: Then I went to the police station.

And they took the report and started right then on the case.

Everybody's reaction was the same of oh my god, not again.

DENNIS FARINA: Minutes later, police race

to the apartment complex hoping against hope Miranda Gaddis

would show up.

She didn't.

We notified the FBI and immediately

ratcheted up just a full scale investigation and search.

Well, when I heard Miranda had came up missing also,

my heart dropped into my stomach,

and I cried because I was like reliving the day Ashley

came up missing all over again.

DENNIS FARINA: The circumstances surrounding

Miranda's disappearance on March 8th, 2002

were eerily similar to those of Ashley Pond two months earlier.

Even more ominous was a striking resemblance

between the two girls.

They're about the same height and weight

and both have brown eyes.

CHARLES MATHEWS: We've got a mirror image

of a victim and an occurrence.

It is almost as if the same child disappeared twice,

and it was just a repeat.

DENNIS FARINA: Like Ashley, Miranda usually took the road

up the hill to catch the bus.

Had she been snatched by a stranger on the way?

Had Ashley met a similar fate?

It's feasible, if we're dealing with a stranger

abduction-- that Ashley's disappearance

was a crime of opportunity at that one moment in time.

And that the offender, having been successful,

came back to the same area to do it again.

DENNIS FARINA: A crime of opportunity

committed by a stranger?

It was certainly plausible, but the mothers of the two girls

found it highly unlikely.

They both would have put up a stink if somebody tried to take

them that they didn't know.

If someone grabbed Miranda she would have fought

and there would have been something laying in the road.

DENNIS FARINA: Without an apparent crime scene,

police began to focus on another,

perhaps more likely theory.

CHARLES MATHEWS: There's nothing to indicate there was

any struggle or any resistance.

There's no blood, no articles of clothing or anything

of that nature.

So we also have the possibility we're dealing with somebody

that both of them knew.

DENNIS FARINA: Since the disappearance of Ashley Pond

and Miranda Gaddis, the school bus now picks up students

right outside their doors.

However, residents of Newell Creek Village Apartments,

indeed all of Oregon city, remain on edge.

Terrified that a child abductor walks among them.

CHARLES MATHEWS: This is the type of the center that doesn't

stop on their own volition.

This type of multiple sexual predator

is someone that, at least in the general experience,

dictates that they will continue until they're stopped.

Investigators are processed over 3,500 tips,

still they have no suspects.

However, the search continues for any lead that might help

correct these puzzling cases.

Meanwhile, two hard working single mothers

suffer through every parent's nightmare

and try their best to remain hopeful.

Miranda, I love you and your family loves you,

your friends love you and everyone misses you And.

We want you home.

And whoever has you, we're never going to give up.

We're going to be here forever.

I can't wait for the day that I

can wrap my arms around Ashley again and tell her I love her.

DENNIS FARINA: Update-- on August 27th, 2002,

the desperate search for Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis

ended tragically at a neighbor's house

just a few hundred yards from where the girls were last seen.

The remains of Miranda Gaddis were

found in a shed in the backyard of Ward Weaver's rented home.

Two days later in the same backyard,

investigators broke up a concrete slab to unearth

the body of Ashley Pond.

When the gruesome discovery was made,

the 39-year-old Weaver was in custody charged with raping

his son's girlfriend.

He is being held on a $1 million bond.

Weaver is expected to be charged in the deaths of the two girls.

[music playing]

The south side of Milwaukee is home to hundreds of law

abiding blue collar families.

Not long ago this peaceful neighborhood

was invaded by a vicious gang of drug dealers

known as the Lopez Family.

Allegedly, the gangs principal enforcer

is 20-year-old Arthur Lopez Jr. Police believe

Arthur is behind a bloody wave of terror

that has left three people dead and countless lives destroyed.

Hopefully, someone watching can help authorities

find Arthur Lopez Jr.

DENNIS FARINA: The Lopez family reportedly

bought seven houses in a two block radius

to oversee their drug empire.

[speaking spanish]

What's up, homie?

DENNIS FARINA: When a rival gang called the Latin Kings tried

to move into their area, authorities believe the Lopez's

did not hesitate to act.

Vamos.

[tires screeching]

[gunshots]

DENNIS FARINA: Anyone who gets in their way

reportedly has to face this man, Arthur Jr.,

the alleged hit man for the Lopez Family.

Carlos Hernandez was once a member of the Latin Kings.

But according to his family, Carlos

had recently left the gang and turned his life around.

He just seen drive-bys and he started

to see how very rarely do they hit their intended target.

They'll hit innocent bystanders--

kids playing on their bikes in front of their houses.

He knew it was a possibility that could happen to anybody.

And he felt best that he'd get out of the gang

and turn it around and really try

to help the neighborhood come back to what it was once

was before.

DENNIS FARINA: Carlos Hernandez organized a youth basketball

league and took a job with a city organization that

helps kids stay out of gangs.

A major part of his job was to try

and mediate problems between the gangs in that particular area.

So what do you think, Bob?

These fools are taking all our business.

DAVE KLABUNDE: The Lopez family had

come to Mr. Hernandez with a problem with the Latin Kings

over territory.

DENNIS FARINA: Police believe that Hernandez

failed to resolve the Lopez's turf

dispute with the Latin Kings.

Arthur Lopez Jr. was allegedly given the order

to take care of Hernandez.

According to witnesses, Arthur Lopez Jr. And several family

members surrounded the building where Carlos Hernandez worked.

There was a predetermined code that they

were going to broadcast on the radio

when Mr. Hernandez was spotted.

The code was "it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood."

And that code was put out when Mr.

Hernandez left from his business to his vehicle.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

DENNIS FARINA: At 4:30 PM, authorities

believe Arthur Lopez Jr. Donned a mask, hopped on a bike,

and coasted toward the unsuspecting Hernandez.

[gunshots]

DENNIS FARINA: Carlos Hernandez was hit by eight bullets

and died instantly.

It was a nightmare.

We miss him.

We wish it had never happened.

The hardest part is at family gatherings, seeing my sisters

and my mother cry because he's not there.

DENNIS FARINA: Although, Arthur Lopez Jr. was a suspect

in Hernandez's homicide, police had little evidence

against him or his family.

Then Arthur made a seemingly harmless mistake.

Arthur Lopez was arrested for driving without a license.

While he was being processed, police

received an unexpected visitor.

Why you harassing my son?

DENNIS FARINA: Arthur's father, Arturo Sr., second in command

of the low family.

Calm down, Mr. Lopez.

Why you sweating my kid?

Because of me?

Because of who I am?

Arturo Lopez Sr. demanded the release of his son

and threatened to return with a firearm

and to kill all the police officers who were involved

in Arthur Lopez Jr.'s arrest.

I ought get my strap and smoke all of you.

- You're under arrest! - Fuck you!

You're first!

DENNIS FARINA: Arthur Lopez Jr. could

not be held on the misdemeanor traffic charge

and was released.

But Arturo Sr. was convicted of threatening a police officer

and sentenced to 18 months in jail.

His incarceration gave the authorities the opportunity

they've been looking for.

DAVE KLABUNDE: While Arturo Lopez Sr. was in prison

he made daily phone calls to his son

and other members of the Lopez Family

basically directing that continued

narcotics distribution activities of the low gang.

He's going to give you a packet.

I want you to drop it off at Chino's pad.

DAVE KLABUNDE: All of these phone calls

that were made by Arturo Lopez Sr.

were recorded by the prison phone system.

So there are recorded copies of all the conversations

from both ends of the telephone.

DENNIS FARINA: As authorities continue

to build their case against the Lopez's that was

yet another violent outburst.

Once again according to witnesses, Arthur Lopez Jr.

played a principal role.

GANGSTER: That's that punk ass right there.

He's clear, man.

He's clear.

Come on.

DENNIS FARINA: On August 11th, Maximillano Costillo,

a known member of the Latin Kings and his girlfriend,

Vanessa Rivas, returned home after a quick trip

to the grocery store.

A car was shadowing the couple.

All right, I'm going.

DENNIS FARINA: Police believe that the driver was Arthur

Lopez Jr. and that his passenger was another Lopez

gang member named Luis Acevedo.

Hey, you Max?

- Que paso, homes? - Que paso, bro?

I got a message from a friend, bro.

Yeah?

So what's up?

You a dead man, punk!

[gunshots]

DENNIS FARINA: Vanessa Rivas, a completely innocent bystander

who had just celebrated her 15th birthday,

was unable to escape the rain of bullets.

We know that Vanessa Rivas was hit once in the side.

The bullet did a lot of damage and she

basically bled to death.

Mr. Costillo was struck a number of times,

at least three times by the bullets fired by Mr. Acevedo.

And he also died from his injuries.

DENNIS FARINA: In the ensuing months,

authorities used Arturo's Sr. taped

phone calls and eyewitness testimony

to secure arrest warrants against Arthur Lopez

Jr. and the rest of his family.

On December 15th, a multi-jurisdictional task force

moved to put the Lopez gang out of business for good.

[shouting]

Get your hands up!

- Get them up! - On your knees!

DENNIS FARINA: Large stashes of guns, drugs, and money

were seized.

[speaking spanish]

Speak English or don't speak!

DENNIS FARINA: Eight individuals were

arrested, destroying the gang's ability

to terrorize the community.

Only one Lopez family member managed

to escape the citywide dragnet, Arthur

Lopez Jr. He has now avoided arrest for nearly two years.

He's got to pay.

He's done so much hurt too many people families.

And he's a coward.

He's hiding.

We need We need to get him.

Get him off the streets.

[music playing]

For every mystery, there is someone,

somewhere who holds the key.

Join me for the next edition of Unsolved Mysteries.