Original subtitles

[music playing]

ANNOUNCER: This program is about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the actual family members

and police officials have participated

in recreating the events.

What you are about to see is not a news broadcast.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: 11:00 AM, May 11, 1987.

The police were called to a deserted service

station near Pontiac, Michigan.

They force the office door open and discovered an empty safe.

Two people are missing.

Elmer DeBoer, the service station courier

who was carrying $10,000.

And Missy Munday, the Assistant Manager

who was just 16 years old.

[music playing]

[birds chirping]

MALE: Where?

This way?

[leaves rustling]

MALE: --to the car--

MALE: All right, all right.

MALE: Right there.

Hold it, Elmer.

[gunshots]

NARRATOR: The following day, the police found a body

of 38-year-old Elmer DeBoer.

He had been handcuffed and shot twice in the back of the head.

The police called it a cold blooded execution.

And wondered what connection this pretty teenage girl could

have had with a brutal slaying.

What happened to Missy Munday is a bizarre story of love

and violence in rural America.

No one has heard from Missy since last May,

the day of the killing.

The police and her parents need to talk to her.

Perhaps someone in our audience tonight has seen Missy.

Perhaps Missy herself is watching.

In the next hour we'll tell you her story, and three

other unsolved mysteries, all needing

one last piece of information before they can be solved.

Join me.

You may be able to help solve a mystery.

[unsolved mysteries theme music]

[unsolved mysteries theme music]

HOST: Elmer DeBoer was killed on May 11, 1987

and his body left in the woods outside Pontiac, Michigan.

The mystery of who killed Elmer and why

is a story of the fatal attraction

between an innocent 15-year-old school girl and a criminal

who had served time for assault and rape.

According to the police, their ill fated love

affair eventually ended in a robbery,

kidnapping, and murder.

NARRATOR: The mystery of Melissa Munday

begins in 1985 in the small Maryland town of Hancock.

Melissa was known as Missy to her friends

and attended the local high school.

She was an honor student and a member of the Future Homemakers

of America.

HARLAN KERNS: Missy's academic records

show that she was in probably the top 10% of her class.

She enjoyed what she was doing.

She got along well.

And if I could have gauged it, I will

have gauged it that everything was satisfactory.

Because that's the way she seemed to be here school.

Missy was a very shy person.

She either go to her basketball games or choir practice

or maybe go to ballgames.

But we always knew where she was that.

When she got done, she'd call us.

We'd go pick her up and bring her back home.

NARRATOR: In 1985, a stranger arrived in the area.

His name was Jerry Strickland and he

said he was looking for a property

to convert into an orphanage.

He called on Missy's family asking about the ownership

of a nearby house.

[knocking]

MALE: Hi, how are you today?

FEMALE: When I first met Jerry, I thought, well, you know,

he's a smooth talker.

I mean, it was his actions.

The way he talked.

He was so demanding.

I didn't care for his attitude.

NARRATOR: Missy was intrigued by Jerry.

This first glimpse was the beginning

of a relationship that was to change her life forever.

SUSIE WALLS: She really liked him a lot.

Every time he came out he brought her a gift.

And he gave her a lot of attention

that she didn't get at home.

She went out with him in the evening after her mom got home

and she said that she got home late.

But her mom didn't know who she was with and she lied to her.

Told her she was with a friend.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Missy sneaked out of her house

regularly to see Jerry.

He told her he had a tragic past and said

his first wife and child had died

in a terrible car accident.

Missy was swept off her feet by Jerry.

PHYLLIS MUNDAY: She had boy crushes

at school, you know, like childhood sweetheart,

stuff like that.

But as far as going out with a boy,

she never said anything to me about it.

She never paid that much of an interest in them.

That's what I don't understand about this and Jerry.

MALE: I got something for you.

FEMALE: Oh, it's beautiful.

MALE: You like it?

FEMALE: Yeah.

PHYLLIS MUNDAY: She had bought a ring, she said, for a souvenir.

I come to find out later, Jerry had gave her the ring.

And I took her at her word because Missy never

did lie to me.

That's why I never dreamt what's going to happen next.

FEMALE: Bye, mom.

The bus is here.

NARRATOR: On the morning of April 17, 1986,

Missy left home to catch the school bus as usual.

PHYLLIS MUNDAY: I never forget that day.

It was on Thursday.

She said, I'm going to school now.

I'll see you this evening.

I said, all right.

That was it.

That was the last words she spoke to me.

NARRATOR: In fact, she got in Jerry's car and left the state.

PHYLLIS MUNDAY: I didn't believe it.

Missy wasn't that kind of a person.

Because I know Missy.

I raised her.

It was just a big change in that one day when she just left.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Even as Missy was driving away

from her home and her family, she still didn't know the truth

about Jerry Strickland.

His first wife and child had not been killed in a car wreck.

They were still alive.

He had been passing bad checks around Hancock

and he had a prison record.

He had been convicted of malicious assault.

He had raped his sister-in-law, cut her throat,

and left her for dead.

This unlikely couple settled in Springfield,

Michigan, just outside Detroit.

Even though Missy gave birth to a son, Jamie,

she never told her family where she was living.

SHERI NIX: She told me that she was very unhappy at home.

And that she didn't care about anybody at home but her older

brother and her grandfather.

And that that's why she was with Jerry

was because he took her away from home.

MALE: Look, I'm working, all right?

SHERI NIX: I had never seen them kiss.

Never held hands.

I never seen them touch at all.

I thought that was so strange.

I remember asking her about it once.

And she said that he wasn't very affectionate.

NARRATOR: To help make ends meet,

Missy took a job as Assistant Manager at a gas station.

There she met Elmer DeBoer, a courier for the oil company.

He picked up the cash receipts from the local gas stations.

Missy and Elmer became close friends.

MALE: How's Jer?

FEMALE: Oh, he's kind of distant lately.

SHERI NIX: He understood that she was going through a really

rough time being married to this guy

and they didn't have anything for the baby

and stuff like that.

He was a very understanding man.

Very loving.

NARRATOR: On the morning of May 11, 1987,

Elmer DeBoer came by, as usual, to pick up

the cash from the station where Missy worked.

He was near the end of his route.

One hour later, customers find the station deserted.

[car horn]

NARRATOR: When the police arrived,

they found Elmer's car in the parking lot.

The office was locked.

DET/SGT DONALD G. BAILEY: We checked the interior

of the station and found that there was nobody inside,

but the safe had been opened.

And there was in excess of $10,000 stolen.

MALE: It looks like there's just nothing

but change in here, David.

DET/SGT DONALD G. BAILEY: Melissa new Elmer's routine

because of her position as assistant manager

to that particular station.

She knew when he was going to pick up and where.

NARRATOR: The police have developed the theory

of what happened that morning.

They believe that Jerry planned the crime

and was waiting with Melissa for Elmer.

When Elmer opened the safe, Gary Jerry made his move.

MALE: Don't move, Elmer.

Don't move!

All right.

All right.

MALE: Put your arms up.

Put them up.

Put the cuffs on him, Missy.

Move, move!

Hurry up!

On yourself, too.

Now! On yourself, too, Missy.

Let's go!

NARRATOR: The police think that Jerry hand-cuffed Missy

and Elmer together to convince Elmer that Missy

was also a hold up victim.

And that her life was in danger.

DET/SGT DONALD G. BAILEY: We feel

that Elmer was handcuffed to Missy,

on the pretext that she was going to be hurt.

And Elmer went along with it.

Reluctantly, but to protect Melissa.

MALE: Now what's going to happen is I'm taking Missy with me.

You're just going to wait here, all right?

So I want you to sit down here and just wait.

DET/SGT DONALD G. BAILEY: Then he unlocked the hand-cuffs

to show Elmer that he wasn't really going to hurt Melissa,

but he just wanted the money.

And then he shot Elmer, twice in the back of the head.

[gunshots]

At first, I couldn't believe that it

could have happened that way.

But then, I found out the rest of the story

and how it had happened, and it was unbelievable.

It was something that you'd never expect out of Melissa.

MALE: Well, what do you think?

You want to take her home?

NARRATOR: The morning after the murder,

Jerry and Missy were seen in Pontiac buying a blue pickup

truck with cash in small bills.

MALE: 24.

MALE: Thanks a lot.

Yeah, I appreciate it.

NARRATOR: While Jerry went to get insurance,

Missy sat with the truck salesman

and chatted for over two hours.

DET/SGT DONALD G. BAILEY: Now you've got this two and a half

hours that she was alone.

She could have told the salesmen of Lucky Auto Sales.

She could have picked the phone up

and called the police herself to say let me out of this.

I'm in trouble.

I need help.

She's guilty.

She's just as guilty as he has is.

She had the opportunity and she didn't do it.

It's unbelievable.

Somebody that sweet could do something like that.

And it wasn't just me that thought she was sweet.

Everybody did.

I just don't think from what I saw of her, that she

could be involved in that.

Again, I guess we change, but to what I remember of this girl,

I just don't think she could be part of it.

She's as guilty as Jerry Strickland is even though she

did not pull the trigger.

She is guilty of first degree murder.

They obviously aren't the people that they

made everybody believe.

They're liars. And phonies.

There wasn't any reason for him to die.

And they could do that to somebody

like that, who knows what they've done

or what they could do now.

DET/SGT DONALD G. BAILEY: We were fearful that somebody

may get hurt again.

They're dangerous people.

And anybody that comes in contact with them, better

understand the fact that they can be very, very dangerous.

PHYLLIS MUNDAY: I never noticed a change in her.

I didn't notice a split in her personality.

Unless I didn't want to.

But Missy's gone.

I don't know if I'll ever see her again or not.

[music playing]

PHYLLIS MUNDAY: When she left, we found this letter.

And in that letter is stated, not let nobody put her down.

She wasn't no whore.

She loved us all.

Take care of ourselves.

Signed, Missy.

NARRATOR: Missy is 5'6" tall, 135

pounds and is now 17 years old.

She's traveling with her one-year-old baby, Jamie.

Jerry Strickland is 26 years old, 5'11", 250 pounds

and has a scar on his forehead.

I want them both real bad.

They are dangerous people to any community that they're in.

They will do this again.

NARRATOR: Update.

Moses Lake, Washington.

Within minutes of our broadcast, 20 viewers

in this small rural community called

the police to say they recognized Jerry

Strickland and Missy Munday.

Seven hours later, police arrested the fugitive couple

at a friend's house.

They discovered that Jerry and Missy had

themselves watched the broadcast and were

waiting for the police.

All he says is I'm the guy you're looking for.

And he was just real calm and collect.

No violence at all.

I figured the time was about seven hours and 15 minutes

from the time Unsolved Mysteries aired and he was in custody.

I just felt sick about it.

NARRATOR: On February 12th, Jerry and Missy

were extradited back to Michigan to stand

trial for armed robbery, kidnapping, and murder.

Jerry insists they are innocent.

They got circumstantial evidence.

All hearsay.

If people talking, but no witnesses-- I mean, OK.

That's why I say they're going to learn

that we didn't do this.

We have enough evidence, circumstantial evidence

and physical evidence, that we feel he's guilty.

All they want is a conviction and they don't

care if they burn me or not.

Thanks to our viewers, Jerry Strickland and Missy Munday

will have their day in court.

They're being tried separately and if convicted,

could face life imprisonment, without the possibility

of parole.

[music playing]

In a moment, the story of a man

who was serving a life sentence for robbing a gas station.

Five eyewitnesses claim he is innocent.

[unsolved mysteries theme music]

NARRATOR: July 14, 1979, the Dallas

suburb of Garland, Texas.

At 7:00 PM, a man entered a gas station office

and drew a gun on Doyle, the attendant,

who was closing up for the day.

DOYLE: When he first come in the door

and he was shaking the gun at me.

Telling me he'd kill me, damn he'd kill me.

Then I realized it was all for real.

NARRATOR: The incident took 10 minutes

but Doyle's key eyewitness testimony would eventually

put a man in prison for life.

DOYLE: I don't think that you ever really get over something

like that, that happens to you.

And if you had a .45 stuck in your face

and somebody was telling you they was going to kill you,

it's something that sticks with you the rest of your life.

And you never forget the person that does it.

NARRATOR: Doyle identified his attacker as Michael Scott

Martin, a 26-year-old welder.

Five other witnesses, however, swore

that Michael Scott Martin could not

have robbed the gas station.

They claim he spent the whole day at his home, 70 miles away.

I mean, this is ridiculous.

I'm at my house in Fort Worth working on a motorcycle

and they're saying I'm robbing a gas station in Garland.

And I've never robbed anything in my life and I never will.

Michael Martin?

Detective Dennis Wheatley.

NARRATOR: Michel Martin was arrested, tried,

and convicted of armed robbery.

I need you to place your hands on that for me.

NARRATOR: Because of a previous arrest,

he was sentenced to life imprisonment

with no possibility of parole until 1999.

Martin has already served eight years

and still maintains he's innocent.

Tonight, he makes a final appeal.

I'm about to the point of giving up.

I am innocent.

I've gone all the way to the Supreme Court fighting this.

And I just keep hoping and praying that there's a way

and I'll find it.

And one day, I'll prove that I didn't rob that gas station.

The case against Michael Martin

was based entirely on eyewitness identification that placed

him at the scene of the crime.

There was never any physical evidence connecting

Martin to the robbery.

No fingerprints were found.

The money was never recovered.

And the gun still hasn't been located.

Martin insists that he has been wrongly imprisoned.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Michel Martin had a clean record

until he was 26 years old.

In 1979, seven months before the gas station robbery,

he was arrested after an altercation in a supermarket.

Michael and a friend had been drinking

and were seen eating polish sausage and potato chips

from a supermarket's shelves.

When the manager threatened to call the police,

Michael panicked.

The incident escalated into violence.

Stay right here and we'll contact the police.

We're not staying anywhere.

I tell you what, here's your lousy money.

We paid for everything.

I don't think so. I want you to wait right here.

I'm going to contact the police. - You want some of this?

You want some of this?

You want some?

MALE: Come on man!

MICHAEL MARTIN: I don't really know why I pulled a knife.

I guess it was just a desire to get out of the door.

Let's get out of here.

MICHAEL MARTIN: I'm drunk.

I'm feeling a little crazy.

I'd been hassling with this manager and I was tired of it.

[gun shots]

MICHAEL MARTIN: I fired it well over their heads.

I wasn't meaning to hurt anybody.

It was just an adolescent stunt that I never should have-- you

know, I was 26 years old then.

I shouldn't have been out shooting up the town like that.

It just didn't make any sense.

I wouldn't call placing knives or shooting at people a prank.

That's a pretty serious offense.

You don't expect somebody to get outrageously angry when

they're asked to pay for something that they're

eating inside a store.

I don't think that should lead to the kind

of reaction on Michael's part that he obviously had.

There was testimony that he was intoxicated at the time.

But still, an intoxicated person who would go to that lengths

to avoid paying for some Polish sausage,

you have to wonder about.

NARRATOR: Martin pleaded guilty to assault

with a deadly weapon.

He was fined and given four years probation.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: At 7:00 PM on July 14, 1979, just two

weeks after Martin's probation began,

the gas station was robbed.

The gunman stole over $400 and fled

the scene of the crime in a car he'd stolen

from Doyle, the attendant.

15 Minutes later, at 7:15 PM, the police unit

spotted the stolen car outside a nearby apartment

building, where Martin had lived until only a month before.

At approximately 7:25 PM, Detective Wheatley

who'd investigated the supermarket incident,

claims he saw Michael Scott Martin in his blue Camaro

three blocks from the gas station.

As he came through the intersection, he looked at me

and I looked at him, and knew him from the previous phase.

offense.

And said to myself, that's Michael Scott Martin.

He came close enough to me that I

could have reached over the top of my motorcycle

and slapped him.

Doyle, I'm going to show you a stack of photographs here.

What I'd like for you to do is look through them

and see if you see any of these in here that you recognize.

NARRATOR: Wheatley asked to be assigned to the robbery case.

The following day, he showed the victim,

Doyle, a series of mugshots.

DET.

DENNIS WHEATLEY: He is the type of witness

that you wish you had on every case that you worked.

His intensity.

His quick reaction to picking Michael Scott Martin

made him a good witness.

DOYLE: I think this is the guy who robbed me.

You think that's the man or are you sure that's the man?

DOYLE: I'm sure.

[speaker announcement]

NARRATOR: Michel Martin was arrested,

charged with aggravated armed robbery ,

and held without bail.

It's a depressing experience, but I felt like I

would prove my innocence.

I mean, I didn't rob this gas station.

I knew I didn't rob this gas station.

I thought I had sufficient proof in just having people

that knew where I was at.

NARRATOR: Martin claimed he was at Lake Worth,

70 miles away from Garland at the time of the robbery.

Five separate witnesses, three of whom hardly knew Martin,

substantiated his claim.

Their testimony was the crux of Martin's defense.

GEORGE MACFARLANE: The day that they

say the robbery happened, I worked on my car

and he worked on his motorcycle.

And other than about two hours that afternoon, between,

I don't know, I think it was around 2:0o-- 2:00 to 4:00 when

he ran for parts, he was here.

At all times.

From the time he got up in the morning to the time

he went to bed at night.

He was here.

He was there with me and with George at the time

he was accused of robbing this gas station.

He just couldn't have done it.

He just didn't do it.

When I left my house, it was after 6:00, before 6:30,

and I saw Mike out in front of his house.

I don't remember what he was doing.

It seems like he's working on his motorcycles.

I don't know but he was here.

After finding out what the circumstances were

and what day it was, I was surprised to see that Mike was

arrested because I knew I'd seen him so close to the time

that the crime was supposed to be committed.

MICHAEL PETTIGREW: It takes well over an hour

to drive from here to Garland.

I saw him around 6:00 and there's

no way he would have had time to leave

and commit this crime by 7:00.

It's 7:00 Saturday night, I remember it

real well because there was a television

show that I wanted to catch.

It was "Battlestar Galactica."

So I made sure that at 7:00 I was there

in front of the television.

Mike, show's starting.

MICHAEL PETTIGREW: And Mike came in

and watched the show with me.

How could he have been at my house at 7:00 PM,

if he was in Garland at 7:00 PM, 75-80 miles away?

Michael Martin's trial hinged on the issue

of who the jury would believe.

The two prosecution eyewitnesses or the five defense

eyewitnesses.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The trial was held in the same courtroom where

two months previously, Michael Martin

had received his probation.

The turning point came when his supermarket conviction

was admitted into the court record,

possibly prejudicing the jury against Martin.

BRAD LAWLER: I don't know if we could have gotten

a guilty conviction in the second offense

if the jury had not known about the first offense.

I think that works great psychological influence

on the jury.

I know that my witnesses were positive.

I also know that the defense witnesses were positive.

And it was one of those cases back then,

when I simply had to put on the case

and let the jury make their decision.

That's what our system's all about.

NARRATOR: It took the jury only 15 minutes to find Michael

Martin guilty of armed robbery.

They gave him the maximum sentence

possible under the law.

I have to do 20 flat years, which means I can't come up

for parole until 1999 because I supposedly took

$400 from this gas station.

I don't think I got a fair trial.

BRAD LAWLER: If a person is on probation for a felony offense

and went out and committed this type of aggravated robbery,

no, I don't have any problem with him serving

a life sentence for that.

If he's guilty.

NARRATOR: If he's guilty.

Those words of troubled Brad Lawler for nine years.

Could the jury have put a man behind bars who was innocent?

BRAD LAWLER: It always bothered me

that we were not able to come up with the clincher.

There were no fingerprints found at the scene or on the get away

car.

No recovery of the stolen items.

There was nothing that conclusively tied Michael

Martin to the commission of the offense,

besides the eyewitness testimony.

And it's for that reason that I think

I always had a little doubt left to my mind about this case.

I'm still sure that I put the right man in jail.

No doubt in my mind then and there is no doubt in my mind

now.

Why would five people, four of whom or three of whom

barely knew him, why would they lie in the court of law

to protect him?

[music playing]

BRAD LAWLER: Back at the time, I leaned toward thinking

that Michael Martin was guilty.

And today in retrospect, I simply don't know.

I thought my 18-year-old witness was positive.

But also, the witnesses who testified for Michael Martin

were positive that they were with him at the time

of the offense 70 miles away.

So it's one of those that I guess we'll

never know the true answer to.

NARRATOR: Michael still has 11 more years to serve in prison.

The groundswell of doubt about his guilt has had no effect.

MICHAEL MARTIN: I've never stopped

trying to prove my innocence because I don't know

what else I have right now.

It's prove my innocence or just sit here for 11 more years.

I can really appreciate what freedom is.

Before I came here, it was a big abstract, you know.

It was always there.

When it's taken away, you really appreciate it.

I want what I lost.

What I feel I had taken from me.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Next, a San Francisco teenager

who strayed into a world of witchcraft,

magic, and mysticism.

His father believes he was murdered.

[unsolved mysteries theme music]

NARRATOR: On Saturday, September 8, 1984,

a teenage boy drove from his home in Concord, California

across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco.

He had planned to spend the night

and return home Sunday evening.

Monday, September 10th, three days later.

On some rugged cliffs in a remote area

of San Francisco Bay, two men were bird watching.

On the isolated beach below, they

discovered the bruised, half naked body

of 17-year-old Kurt McFall.

His father suspects foul play.

TOM MCFALL: Kurt told this friend of his that he

was involved in some kind of satanic

cult and that he wanted out .

But thought that they might try to kill him.

And he really feared for his life.

It was a murder.

It needs to be investigated.

There's no doubt in my mind that Kurt could have handled himself

in that cliff area because he was an experienced mountain

climber.

And he was a diver.

So he would not have drowned in the water

or fallen down the hill.

NARRATOR: Kurt McFall, dead at 17.

To outward appearances, Kurt was a handsome and popular

high school student.

A confident young man who made friends easily.

Tom McFall has learned there was another side

to his teenage son.

The day after Kurt disappeared, Tom

received an anonymous telephone call telling him

that his son had wanted to escape from a cult.

And that he feared for his life.

Tom now believes that Kurt strayed

from a suburban middle class background

into a world of witchcraft, mysticism, and possibly murder.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Alarmed by the strange phone call,

Tom searched his son's bedroom.

TOM MCFALL: After I had received the telephone call,

I thought a lot about this individual

as to what he knew about Kurt's disappearance.

I wanted to gain all the information I could as to what

happened.

NARRATOR: In Kurt's room, Tom discovered

a knife made from a dear's hoof, a necklace

of stone and feathers, and drawings of witchcraft

and violent fantasies.

These seemed to be further proof that Kurt

was leading a double life.

At 10, he had become interested in a medieval fantasy

game, Dungeons and Dragons.

It was the beginning of a voyage into a subculture

that would dominate Kurt.

NARRATOR: A year before he died, Kurt

joined the Society for Creative Anachronism or SCA.

Its members enjoy reliving medieval customs

in the actual costumes of the period.

Once a week, they practice jousting

and sword fighting in the parking lot

of an Oakland subway station.

HILARY POWERS: Kurt was here about twice

a week through February and into March on '84.

Learned how to fight.

He was good, quick, talented.

Really going to be very good at the game.

We were real pleased with him.

And his death certainly had nothing

to do with any part of his participation in the SCA

that I knew anything about.

NARRATOR: As Kurt became increasingly interested

in medieval rituals, he joined a separate group who initiated

him into pagan religion.

One of Kurt's old high school friends feared this new group

and contacted Tom McFall.

He'd become concerned for Kurt and now fears

for his own safety.

MALE: Gradually, over a period of perhaps six months,

his attitude towards other people changed drastically.

He kind of moved from just studying

with an interest in medieval religion

to actually adopting that religion as his.

He lost a lot of his friends through that process.

[singing]

NARRATOR: Kurt studied pagan religion

with Gabriel Carrillo who uses the ancient Welsh

name, Caradoc.

GARBIEL CARRILLO: This is a religion which is also

an art, a craft, which has techniques which

are at their essence, magical.

I met Kurt because he had evinced an interest in magic.

Kurt was real bright and real curious

about just about everything.

MALE: His involvement with this group

can be compared to a drug addiction, where you begin

thinking that you've got it, in control,

and you can take it when you want.

But gradually, losing that sense of knowing when

to stop until you're a junkie.

MALE: We regard evil as a human phenomenon.

GARBIEL CARRILLO: I do not make any attempt

to control people's lives.

People are free to come and go at their own discretion,

just as Kurt did.

If anything, the emphasis that we have

is on individuals taking control of their own lives.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Saturday, September 10th, Kurt

had planned to spend the night at Caradoc's apartment.

They had dinner, went to a movie.

Around midnight, Kurt went swimming

at Ocean Beach, a few blocks from Caradoc's home.

Later, Kurt was restless and couldn't sleep.

According to Caradoc, Kurt knocked on his door about 3:00

in the morning.

[knocking]

It's too hot in here.

I'm going to the beach.

NARRATOR: Kurt was never seen again.

My best guess is simply that he took one too many chances.

He might have gone swimming in the ocean

and been pulled out by the undertow.

He might have gone climbing on the cliffs and Lands End

and slipped and fallen.

Or any one of a number of other things.

NARRATOR: The following evening, Kurt's car

was found abandoned on a golf course overlooking the ocean.

There were a number of puzzling clues.

Kurt's driver's license was on the floor.

His car keys were on the seat.

A $20 bill was in the glove compartment.

The prized suit of armor, which Kurt

had made for his SCA sword fighting,

was missing from the trunk.

Most curious of all, there were beer bottles scattered

in and around the car.

TOM MCFALL: The car has to be a phony scene.

To me, that was set up because Kurt did not drink beer.

That's also inconsistent with the autopsy report that

shows that there was no signs of alcohol or drugs on the body

when it was recovered.

So that looks very suspicious.

NARRATOR: At 10:15 the following morning,

National Park Service lifeguard's recovered

the body of Kurt McFall.

It was lying in a cove less than two miles from Caradoc's

apartment, just below the cliffs at the golf course

where Kurt's car was found.

BRIAN CAMERON: When we came upon the body,

we noticed it was in fairly good condition.

Fairly pale, usually a sign of being in the water

for an extended period of time.

No obvious external trauma.

He looked pretty clean other than a few small abrasions on

the body, but nothing obvious.

NARRATOR: Kurt's body had no shoes, socks, or shirt.

His back and shoulders were scored with cuts and abrasions.

And strangely, the belt he wore was missing its buckle.

RON WILTON: With the facts that we have in this case,

it's really anybody's guess as to where he actually entered

the water, where he came from.

My guess would be-- and that's all

it is, is an educated guess-- that he

simply fell off a cliff.

And that's what it appears to me.

NARRATOR: The coroner's report determined

that Kurt died from multiple traumatic injuries

and severe blood loss.

But no one knows what caused those injuries.

Kurt may have drowned, but that would not

explain his cuts and abrasions.

Or the acute loss of blood.

It appears that Kurt felt from the treacherous cliffs.

But it is not known if he fell accidentally

or if he was beaten and pushed.

TOM MCFALL: I went to the San Francisco coroner

and I said, what do you think happened to Kurt?

And he said I think the most probable cause of Kurt's death

is homicide.

But he said, he didn't have enough to testify

to that in a court of law.

So he sent it up to homicide classified as unknown.

And I can't accept that.

NARRATOR: The San Francisco Police

declined to be interviewed.

They investigated Kurt's death but found no evidence

to classify it as a homicide.

The case remains open, but there are no suspects.

Although he has no proof, Tom McFall still

believes his son was murdered.

TOM MCFALL: Kurt may have uncovered something

in the organization and may have indicated to people that he

was going to expose this.

And I feel that all of these things

probably contributed to them wanting to do away with Kurt.

MALE: My personal theory is that Kurt

stumbled onto some information that he

wasn't supposed to know about.

These types of organizations don't make threats,

they make actions.

GARBIEL CARRILLO: If I wanted to murder somebody,

the last person I would murder would be somebody

who was staying at my house.

And whose father knew that he was staying at my house.

I mean, the whole thing is stupid.

I understand that Kurt's father went

through a great deal of pain about his death

and needed to find somebody to blame.

And I understand that I was a very convenient

person for him to blame.

But I had absolutely no responsibility

for Kurt's death.

[music playing]

TOM MCFALL: I am so frustrated to have the information that

would indicate that your son has been murdered

and to date, they have virtually closed the case.

I am bound and determined to get an investigation.

I think Kurt deserved because he did not deserve

to be taken in that manner.

NARRATOR: Currently, Tom McFall is the only person

investigating his son's death.

If Kurt was murdered, he hopes that even now,

three years later, someone will come

forward with new information.

New evidence that could reopen the investigation.

And provide peace of mind for himself

and justice for his son.

Next, the story of a mysterious bag

of unopened letters dating back 40 years.

They were written by GI's sailing

off to battle in World War II.

And have yet to reach their lost loved ones.

[unsolved mysteries theme music]

ANNOUNCER: Letters from home.

Each day, millions of them are sent

to American servicemen fighting on distant battle fronts.

Because of a war postal system, called V-Mail,

they can be flown throughout the world reaching distant points

safely and with amazing speed.

NARRATOR: During World War II, thousands of soldiers

said goodbye to their loved ones.

And almost every GI made a parting promise, to write

home as often as possible.

Their letters, carried by the military V-Mail service,

were the only link between them and their families.

Some would return, others would not.

For the relatives of those GI;s lost in battle,

the last letter home became a precious keepsake.

A memory of lost love.

NARRATOR: 41 Years after the war ended, on February 4, 1986,

Mike Minguez, a pest exterminator,

was spraying the attic in an elderly woman's house

in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In the corner, he saw some letters

spilling out of a laundry bag.

Mike Minguez had in fact discovered

a military duffel bag.

Filled with hundreds of unopened letters

written by soldiers during World War II.

MICHAEL MINGUEZ: The longer I looked, the more incredulous

I became.

There was just something about the insignia across them.

I've never seen V-Mail before.

I had heard the term and knew that, generally,

anything with V in it was World War II vintage.

And it was really apparent from the very beginning

that there was something here that was just really strange.

MALE: I really think it'd be best if I took this mail

to the proper authorities.

NARRATOR: Mike learned that the elderly woman had a nephew who

had been a crew member aboard the SS Caleb Strong

when it was bound for North Africa in May 1944.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The troops on board had written 235 letters home

and stuffed them into the duffel bag.

The woman's nephew had vowed to mail them when he returned

to the USA, but he'd forgotten.

He died about 1980 and the woman had been too

embarrassed to say anything.

After promising never to reveal her name,

Mike convinced this woman to release the letters to him.

The letters were sent to Meg Harris of the postal service.

92 GI's on board the Caleb Strong had written letters

to over 150 friends and family.

One by one, the US Postal Service delivered the letters

from 89 of the soldiers.

Only three could not be tracked down.

We're trying to locate former Private John Jay Thomas.

MEG HARRIS: You have to be real careful when you start

telling them about this mail.

You kind of lead into it slowly because you don't

want anybody to go in to shock.

And you feel a lot of the closeness of family ties.

The whole experience has been one where you realize how much

people care for each other.

And how much they continue caring even after 40 years.

[music playing]

FEMALE: Still at sea, May 1944.

My precious wife.

Darling, I sure miss you.

I wish I were back with you right now.

It seems so hard to write you as all I can think of

is how love you and long to be with you.

The boat is rocking so I can't write too neatly.

Meryl, darling, I love you.

And hope that we are soon to be together for good.

From what information we can gather,

I believe the big invasion is on.

So I'll be stuck overseas until the war is over.

I love you, my darling.

Your husband, Frank.

NARRATOR: Meryl Page Rapley, is a retired teacher

who was married to Frank Rapley, B17 turret gunner.

His plane was shot down over Austria in 1944.

Meryl Rapley never remarried.

She's been a widow for 44 years.

Receiving Frank's last letter was a surprising and poignant

moment.

MERYL: I was shocked.

It tore me all to pieces.

And it was just as though we were there together and just as

though he was talking with me.

And, of course, I guess I was more

or less in a state of shock.

But it was the most wonderful letter I have ever received

from Frank, even though all of his letters

were very dear to me.

But after waiting that long and still being able, after 42

years, to get another letter from a man that I still love,

that was just something that only the Lord can understand

the depth of meaning.

[music playing]

MERYL: The short two and a half years I had with him was just

equal to a lifetime for me.

That's why I never did remarry.

Nobody else could ever replace him.

And I have every letter he's ever written me.

But this, was always the most special one.

PEGGY: Sweet, just another line today,

as I'm always thinking about you and may not be

able to write for a few days.

We haven't seen land yet, but expect to soon.

There is about six hours difference in time here.

So I often try to think of where you are

and what you might be doing.

I guess that is natural.

Your ever loving and faithful husband.

It's always touching.

Can't help think back all the time, you know.

NARRATOR: Your ever loving and faithful husband,

those were Staff Sergeant Sumter Grubb's

last words to his wife Peggy.

Written on May 19, 1944.

Within months, Sumter was killed in combat,

but his words would not die.

[unsolved mysteries theme music]

Tonight, we've seen four mysteries.

Four true stories of people caught in the most

extraordinary circumstances.

For each mystery, someone somewhere knows the truth.

Perhaps it's you?