All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S05E08.480p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-PLAYREADY_track3_[und]

ROBERT STACK: By
his own admission,

Stephen Michalak is an ordinary
man who leads an ordinary life.

But in 1967, Michalak claims
that his life was turned upside

down, when he had an
extraordinary encounter

with a mysterious flying craft.

For many years, AJ Breaux was a
fixture in the small community

of Houma, Louisiana.

Then suddenly in 1991,
he simply vanished.

A mysterious note
sent to the police

suggested that he
had accidentally

killed himself while drinking.

But at least three
eyewitnesses are

positive they saw Breaux in
the weeks after he disappeared.

California's Frontera Prison
is one of the largest women's

penitentiaries in America.

But over the past
decade, the deaths

of a prison guard
and an inmate have

led to controversial
allegations of corruption

inside the prison walls.

Join me for these
intriguing stories,

and a heartwarming
update, on another edition

of Unsolved Mysteries.

[MUSIC - "UNSOLVED MYSTERIES
OPENING THEME"]

Every year, there are
thousands of reports

of unidentified flying objects.

As a rule, people who admit to
having an encounter with a UFO

open themselves to
ridicule and derision.

Some will call them crazy,
others will openly accuse them

of concocting a hoax.

In this story the
person involved

is a simple,
unassuming man, who was

always skeptical
about UFOs, until he

had his own close encounter.

Stephen Michalak and his
wife came to Manitoba, Canada

from Poland after
the second World War.

Stephen found work as
an industrial mechanic

in a cement plant, and life
was happy and uneventful

for nearly 20 years.

Steven was an amateur
rockhound, who

spent every spare moment in
the beautiful natural woodlands

of Manitoba.

I love nature, I
love birds, animals.

And also I have
interest in nature,

rocks, and this and that.

Every weekend, in
the long weekend,

I usually travel, go
to out in the country,

and snooping in the rocks.

ROBERT STACK: On May
20, 1967, Stephen

was prospecting approximately
100 miles east of Winnipeg.

Suddenly he was distracted, when
a flock of geese in the pond

below kicked up
an unusual racket.

Looking on the
tree I notice two

cigarette-like shape things,
with a hump in the middle.

I said, what the hell is that?

One stay in the air,
and the other one

is coming down, down, down.

I start looking for marks.

I never see a word or NASA or
something written on it, no.

Nothing, I didn't
see anything on it.

But still I was thinking
that probably experimenting

[inaudible] from United States.

ROBERT STACK:
Stephen Michalak says

that he made this sketch
of the strange craft,

just after he saw it land.

I do remember one description
that he gave at the time.

He said that the skin of the
craft, the outside of the craft

was flawless.

ROBERT STACK: Stan Michalak
was 10 years old in 1967.

--no nothing.

It was as though
you had milled out

of a solid block of steel
this disk, this saucer

with a dome on top.

ROBERT STACK: Stephen
Michalak told his son

that after a few moments,
the door of the craft

slowly opened.

When the gate opened, there
was a, goody, goody, goody,

goody kind of shrieky talk, like
kids in problem or something.

Thinking of USA, I
said, OK Yankee boys.

Seems to me you are in trouble.

You got troubles,
I'll help you.

ROBERT STACK: When his
English received no response,

Stephen tried Russian.

[speaking russian]

Then Polish.

[speaking polish]

And finally, German.

[speaking german]

Stephen says that as
he drew near the door,

the light was so bright he
had to snap down the visor

on his safety goggles.

After a few moments,
the door suddenly shut.

[speaking polish]

According to Stephen,
the craft rotated

counter-clockwise,
knocking him backwards

and setting his shirt on fire.

STEPHEN MICHALAK: After
igniting with their fire,

the craft lifts up 30 to
40 feet, and vanished.

And then I decided, I say
now is the time for me

to buzz off from here, go out.

So I started going.

ED BARKER: He started
feeling strange

and threw up several times.

At the same time, he
was experiencing spots

in front of his eyes, which
could be after effects

from the brilliant
lights emanating

from what appeared to be
ducts or ports in the top

of the alleged craft.

ROBERT STACK: When Stephen
checked his compass,

trying to find his way
southeast to the road,

he says the needle went haywire.

Disoriented and badly burned,
Stephen took his best guess

at the direction.

Nine hours later, he finally
arrived back home in Winnipeg,

where his story made
local headlines,

and apparently left
doctors baffled.

At that point in
time, the diagnosis--

if you can call it that--

was burns.

And sure they were burns, yes.

Heat caused burns.

What they couldn't diagnose--
and didn't have a clue about--

was what appeared below
the chest, on the abdomen.

The exact same
pattern of holes that

was on the grid on the side of
the craft, in the same order,

in the same rows, in the same
number, appeared as red spots

on his lower abdomen.

Red dots.

Stephen was released
from the hospital,

but he says his
symptoms worsened.

The nausea continued,
and his body seemed

to emit a sulfuric stench.

There was this sulfur,
ozone, electric burning

motor stink about him.

It was like he was carrying
an aura of this smell.

Wherever he walked, and
he got close to you,

you could smell this.

Not baths, showers
wouldn't take it out.

That lasted for weeks.

I remember seeing him
in bed constantly,

tired, nauseous, headachey.

Not feeling well,
losing a lot of weight.

ROBERT STACK:
Stephen Michalak was

tested for radiation poisoning.

The results were
negative, yet no one

could explain the source of
the strange burns on his torso.

The physicians were
actually unable to determine

many of Michalak's ailments.

They knew for example he was
physically, thermally burned.

His chest was burned and singed.

But the pattern lower
down on his chest

was very, very unusual.

It was eventually determined
that it was a chemical burn,

not a radiation burn.

Although he did
have some symptoms

that might have
suggested to some people

that some sort of
radiation effects

might have been involved.

ROBERT STACK: On
June 30, six weeks

after the encounter,
Stephen and a friend

went looking for the site.

After several hours,
They found a burned

out circle with a radius
of more than 15 feet.

This is it.

I knew it.

I told you.

On this barren patch of
rock was a circular, roughly

circular, ring of vegetation.

Dead pine needles, dirt,
leaves, that sort of thing.

The rock had been swept clean
except for this ring which

was surrounding this area.

They also noticed that
a few of the trees

appeared to have dead branches,
as if something had either

come in and touched
them, or brushed

by them with an intense
heat, or some other effects.

ROBERT STACK: Within days, a
team of experts from the United

States, working in cooperation
with the Royal Canadian Air

Force, converged on the site.

They took measurements,
cataloged soil samples,

and checked for radiation.

The levels appeared
alarmingly high,

and the health
department considered

quarantining the area.

Later however, they discovered
that the high levels

were caused by a
vein of radium which

ran under the entire region.

Mr. Michalak, this is
my colleague Dr. Shaw.

He's a radiologist.

ROBERT STACK: Meanwhile,
Stephen's burns,

which had appeared
to be healing,

suddenly flared up again.

I want to examine these burns.

ROBERT STACK:
According to Steven,

his doctors remained mystified.

DOCTOR: --shows he's not
suffering from radiation.

After every three months,
my burns from legs and here

were coming back.

Showing up again and burning.

And burning, and vomiting.

Anything I eat, bingo, goes.

To this day, you
can-- if he lets you--

can press into his skin and
feel subcutaneous scar tissue,

in the form of those
burns on his chest, which

he playfully calls his buttons.

And it's there.

You cannot deny
this, this is there.

ROBERT STACK: On May
19, 1968, one year

after Stephen Michalak's close
encounter, he and a friend

returned to the site.

ED BARKER: Just about center,
a little north of center,

the Geiger counter rose
very, very dramatically.

At that point, within an 18
inch section of the crack,

they scooped out
almost half a jar

full of what appeared
to be molten rock

or molten metal of some sort.

Subsequently, we found out
what it was, but at that time

it was unclear.

But it was quite radioactive.

ROBERT STACK:
According to Ed Barker,

an analysis revealed
that the material

was an extremely
pure grade of silver

that is difficult to obtain.

It had been coated with
pitchblende ore, which contains

both uranium and radium.

This is what we found.

Three identical bars of what
appear, at first glance,

to be silver alloy of some sort.

They were obviously
manufactured somehow.

It was considerably
radioactive, and now

it's perfectly safe to handle.

This is one of the
biggest mysteries

and one of the biggest
puzzles, and skeptics

have pointed to
this as the reason

why the case should
be discounted.

Why would particles and
metal fragments of this size

and radioactivity
have been missed

by all previous investigators?

And this is one mystery
that we don't have

definite answers to this day.

ROBERT STACK: Ed Barker
believes the silver was planted

by someone who may have
wanted to lend credence

to Stephen Michalak's story.

--planted on the site.

Saying that, I do not
believe Michalak did

have anything to do with this.

But I do believe
that it was planted.

I'd like to think
that one day, we'll

get a letter from the US
government and it will say,

we have the two craft
in our hangar over here

and we were experimenting
with them at the time, sorry.

And I'd want to go and see them.

And I'm sure dad would too,
and that would be great.

What would be worse is to have
this thing drag to a point

and drag on, where
it's never explained.

ROBERT STACK: Today Stephen
Michalak is 76 years old.

He and his wife continue
to live in Manitoba.

Stephen still is not sure what
it was he saw back in 1967.

He says doctors have
never been able to explain

the burns on his chest, or
the mysterious symptoms which

resembled radiation poisoning.

Since no other explanation
is forthcoming,

Stephen Michalak is willing
to entertain the notion,

no matter how far
fetched, that he saw

something not of this Earth.

When we return-- allegations
of murder and cover up,

inside one of America's
largest prisons for women.

Frontera Prison, 45 miles south
of Los Angeles, California.

One of the largest women's
penitentiaries in America.

Frontera's maximum
security wing houses

some of California's most
dangerous female offenders.

Yet it is the alleged criminal
activities of some guards

and administrators that
has shoved Frontera

into the public spotlight.

In recent years,
former prison employees

have made sensational
allegations of widespread drug

trafficking at the prison.

They have tied these
charges of corruption

to a pair of seemingly
isolated incidents--

the disappearance and
subsequent murder of a Frontera

guard Jesslyn Rich in 1984,
and the controversial death

of an inmate named Terry
Lucas three years later.

In November of 1987,
Lucas was found dead

in Frontera's infirmary,
where she was recovering

from a cancer biopsy.

To some, the incident
appeared highly questionable.

According to former Frontera
guard Betty Thompson,

an officer from another
wing of the prison

had approached Terry Lucas
shortly before she died.

The unauthorized visit
apparently terrified

the 25-year-old Lucas.

This was an inmate that
came off as tough and mean

and mouthy.

But when she saw the officer
walking down the hall,

her whole demeanor changed.

She was absolutely
devastated by his presence.

ROBERT STACK: Thompson claims
that the officer was determined

to unlock Terry Lucas's cell.

He retreated only when Thompson
threatened to report him.

You just can't come into an
area where you're not allowed.

Most of the time
officers back officers,

we don't back inmates.

But in this particular instance,
it was just almost automatic

that I would stand
in front of the door

and not let him in there.

After this officer left
the area, I keyed the door

and went in to talk to
Terry Lucas in her cell.

She said the officer
scared her, and the reason

he scared her is because it
was to make her be quiet.

And she tells me that
she's got information,

she's got evidence,
she knows who

was involved in the
disappearance of Jesslyn Rich.

I can tell you who,
I can tell you what.

I got all this stuff, I can give
you all the evidence you need.

ROBERT STACK: Betty Thompson was
stunned by Lucas's revelation

that she knew the fate of
Jesslyn Rich, the Frontera

guard who had disappeared under
strange circumstances in 1984.

Jesslyn Rich was a 35-year-old
divorced mother of two.

While working at
Frontera, she had

maintained a straight-A
average in criminology classes

at night school.

At the time of
her disappearance,

Jesslyn had reportedly
grown concerned about drug

dealing inside Frontera.

You want to dance?

ROBERT STACK: Jesslyn Rich was
last seen on November 11, 1984

at a country Western bar, where
she and a friend Marilyn Ault

were joined by two
male acquaintances.

--work, and school.

See that's your
problem, you got

to get out more and
live life, that's

what it's all about there.

MARILYN AULT: And all of a
sudden she sits very still,

and looks almost past
me to the front door.

Jesslyn, you OK?

MARILYN AULT: And I look
at her, and her eyes

drew wide and fearful looking.

But I didn't look to the door,
I just, for some reason just

didn't turn around.

And then she came back
into the conversation.

I'll be right back, I
got to use the ladies room.

Jesslyn, I'll
keep your seat warm.

MARILYN AULT: As she turns
around the corner to go down

the hallway to the
bathroom, a gentleman

appears to me out of
the side of my eye,

going directly behind her.

And that's the last I see her.

Ever.

ROBERT STACK: Jesslyn
Rich literally

vanished without a trace.

Her family and friends
launched an all-out search.

To them it seemed harshly
out of character for Jesslyn

to abandon her children and
scrap her career aspirations.

But police investigators
said they had no evidence

to support the family's belief
that Jesslyn had been kidnapped

and possibly murdered.

They made light of it, called
us just distraught relatives,

suggested that my
sister had just ran off

on a fling with some person.

Which is totally
absurd, given her work

record of only being late
once, and a 4.0 grade

point average student.

It just was unheard of.

ROBERT STACK: Gary
Munz tore apart

his sister's house, searching
for clues that police

might have overlooked.

When he sifted through
Jesslyn's trash,

he found evidence
that her knowledge

of illegal activities
at the prison

had put her life in danger.

GARY MUNZ: And inside,
in the plastic bag,

were many, many pieces of
paper torn up very, very small.

I picked up a few
of these and I could

tell that it was my sister's
writing or printing.

And they were apparently
notes or letters to a friend

of hers, a coworker.

And I figured that
I would take them

home and sort them out later.

ROBERT STACK: The
letter had been written

to another guard at Frontera.

Scrawled on the margin
of the last page

was Jesslyn's haunting
recital of an apparent threat

she had received
from a coworker.

That anyone interfering
with his drug activities

would be taken care of.

At the time, this
letter was the only

concrete evidence
indicating that Jesslyn

had met with foul play.

Three years later, the case
had faded from public view.

Then in 1987, the mystery
was suddenly thrust back

onto center stage,
when Terry Lucas

told Betty Thompson she knew
what happened to Jesslyn Rich.

I have information
about Jesslyn.

ROBERT STACK: The morning after
extraordinary conversation

with Lucas, Officer
Thompson returned

to the prison infirmary.

When I walked
over to touch her,

I noticed that Terry was dead.

I went out of the
cell, and I went

down to the nurse's station.

And I told them what I
had seen, and what I knew,

and the coldness of the room,
that she was not covered,

her eyes were
open, her breakfast

tray had not been touched.

And the nurses told me
they would take care of it.

ROBERT STACK: Incredibly,
Betty Thompson

claims that the
inmate's body remained

in the cell for
a full three days

before the county coroner's
office was called.

According to
Thompson, an official

from the coroner's
office was initially

mystified by what he found.

Betty claims there
were blades of grass

in Lucas's hair, and multiple
bruises on her face, ears,

neck, and lower arms.

Her right arm
appeared to be broken.

He asked, who
killed this inmate,

and he's saying that
this inmate was murdered.

He is saying that
he sees evidence

that she was suffocated
with the pillow that

had been under her arm,
that appeared to be broken.

ROBERT STACK:
Betty Thompson says

that after the official
met with high level prison

administrators in
Lucas's cell, he

had a sudden change of heart.

And he told me that we were
not going to call it murder,

and we were not going to
say that she was laying

there dead for three days.

We were going to, in fact, say
that she was actually laying

there only two hours, and
that the cause of death

was actually complications
due to diabetes.

ROBERT STACK:
Betty Thompson says

that she refused to go along.

How many times do I
have to tell you Thompson,

you can't put this
information in your report.

Now you know what you're
supposed to write.

Just do it.

ROBERT STACK: Thompson maintains
that one of her superiors

demanded that she change her
report on Terry Lucas's death.

You are not leaving
this institution

until you do as you are told.

ROBERT STACK:
According to Thompson,

she was subjected to
threats and intimidation

for six grueling hours.

You can kiss your
career with the Department

of Corrections goodbye.

There was one
high administrator

that even made the comment
that the same thing

that happened to Jesslyn Rich
could easily happen to me.

At that point in time
I broke down and cried.

That's what this was all about,
and I hadn't told anything

what Terry Lucas had said.

I hadn't told them
anything about that part.

And for him to bring up Jesslyn
Rich and her disappearance,

it said why Terry
Lucas had died.

It definitely had
something to do with that.

ROBERT STACK: Thompson
says she finally

gave in and signed a false
report that was typed for her.

BETTY THOMPSON: But
I added on the bottom

that I had signed the
document under duress,

and the document was untrue.

To my knowledge, that
document was ripped up,

another one was retyped
saying the similar things

that were on the first document,
and that my signature was

forged.

ROBERT STACK: Betty
Thompson claims

there were further
attempts at intimidation.

They began on her next shift,
with an anonymous phone call.

Infirmary, Officer Thompson.

MAN OVER PHONE: Thompson, if
you don't learn how to do things

in the proper
manner, you'll end up

dead alongside some muddy ditch.

ROBERT STACK: The
following day, Thompson

had an unnerving encounter.

Have you been receiving
threatening phone calls?

What are you talking about?

Oh, like, you might be found
dead in a ditch one night.

BETTY THOMPSON: At
this point in time,

the hair on the back of my
neck twisted straight up.

I was absolutely petrified,
because I knew that she knew

what they were saying to
me, and that she was part

of whoever was threatening me.

ROBERT STACK: Thompson says the
menacing calls and harassment

continued for seven months.

Finally in June of 1988, the
threats turned to violence.

[gunshot]

[tires squealing]

Betty Thompson immediately
called the police, who arrived

at her home moments later.

As I was upstairs
filing a police report

about the shooting,
a phone call came in

and I picked up the phone.

It was a male voice and he
said, next time we won't miss.

The police officer saw my
face and saw how upset I was.

He included that in his report.

ROBERT STACK: In 1990, the
brewing scandal at Frontera

was the subject of a series
of front page special reports

in the Orange County Register.

The articles supported
insider accounts

of drug dealing and corruption.

That same year, Betty
Thompson and five other guards

testified before
state Senate hearings

on the alleged offenses
at Frontera prison.

Prison officials declined to
be interviewed for this story.

However Tip Kendall, spokesman
for the California Department

of Corrections, told an Unsolved
Mysteries researcher, quote--

"I'm not saying
the things people

are alleging didn't happen.

There's just no evidence
to support them."

End quote.

Next, thanks to our viewers, a
woman framed by her stepfather

has been reunited
with a former Deputy

Sheriff, who came to her rescue
when all else seemed lost.

Recently we brought
you the poignant story

of a woman named
Cathy Williams-Loving,

who grew up in Chicago.

Let me out!

ROBERT STACK: In 1961,
when she was 14 years old,

Cathy fell prey to the
abusive sexual advances

of her stepfather, a detective
with the Chicago police.

Cathy finally went to
the authorities for help,

but she was labeled
incorrigible and detained,

apparently because of her
stepfather's influence.

Four months later, by
order of a juvenile court,

Cathy was remanded to a
state training school.

She was placed in the custody
of a Cook County Deputy Sheriff

to be transported.

Cathy had no idea that
this ride would become

a remarkable turn of fortune.

When they put me in the
back of that paddy wagon,

I just started boo-hooing.

It dawned on me then, nobody
knows where I'm going,

I don't know where I'm going.

You know, this has to be hell.

I didn't do anything wrong.

Yeah, I've heard
that story before.

ROBERT STACK: Alone
and scared to death,

Cathy began to
blurt out her story.

I'm here because my
stepfather was messing with me.

- Your stepfather?
- Yes, he was messing with me.

Messing with you how?

Touching me the way
a man touches a woman.

ROBERT STACK: By the time they
arrived at the reform school,

the deputy was convinced
that the system

had made a terrible mistake.

He offered to help
Cathy, and she

gave him the names
of two friends,

Louise Gordan and Maisy Bell.

They brought the
case to the attention

of state social workers.

Ultimately, Cathy was
declared an emancipated minor,

and released from
the reformatory.

But Cathy never forgot
the unknown deputy

who lent a helping hand
when no one else would.

If I can find him,
I just want to say

to him that many people
reach out for help,

and many are refused help.

But because of the fact
that I reached out to him,

and he acknowledged me and
gave me the help that I needed,

he gave me my life.

On the night we last broadcast
this story, Cathy Loving's

search for her
unknown benefactor

finally came to an
end, when former Deputy

Sheriff Fred Lyle of Chicago
called our telecenter.

Lyle said he had watched the
story on Unsolved Mysteries

and remembered the
incident vividly.

That evening, Fred Lyle and
an overjoyed Cathy Loving

spoke on the telephone,
and made plans

to meet as soon as possible.

Today Kathy lives in a
well-appointed suburb

of Atlanta, Georgia.

On July 18th, 1992,
Cathy and several friends

gathered to await the
arrival of Fred Lyle

and one of his daughters.

For Cathy it was a
special occasion,

which afforded her the
opportunity to finally say,

thank you.

The first thing out of my
mouth was I said, I love you.

I said I have been
waiting all these years

to tell you that I love you,
and I wanted to say thank you.

So I knew that was him.

ROBERT STACK: The
celebration culminated

with a homemade feast prepared
by Cathy, which included

Fred's favorite dishes.

And I want to
thank all my friends

for helping me to cook
and prepare this meal,

and thank you for
the food, amen.

Now it's time to start eating.

Eat macaroni
and cheese first--

[interposing voices]

I want to see what
your face look

like when you bite down on it.

Let me see that smile.

ROBERT STACK: Fred Lyle left the
sheriff's department in 1965.

He has four children
and eight grandchildren.

And meeting Cathy
was like welcoming

a new member to the family.

FRED LYLE: This is
something special, something

never happened to me before.

And I, I doubt it'll
ever happen again.

But I can remember
this one time.

That's why I came back here.

I just wanted to see
her and tell her,

thank you for finding me.

Because it did something to me
inside, to know that somebody,

somewhere down the line
appreciates some of the things

I did for them.

OFFSCREEN WOMAN: You finally
have a daughter who can cook.

It's the oldest one, too.

The lesson I learned with
Fred was that, when all

else has failed, don't give up.

Not just not to give up,
but there's always a way.

And Fred Douglas
Lyle was my way.

Again, I can't say it enough
times, he was my hero.

I reached out, one more time I
thought, and he reached back.

And he is my light,
and he is my rainbow.

That's what I've been
waiting to give you.

And another one too.

ROBERT STACK: Next, a small
town businessman vanishes

under mysterious circumstances.

Houma, Louisiana,
population 31,000,

lies in the heart
of Cajun Country,

steeped in the
romance of backwater

bayous and sweeping magnolias.

AJ Breaux was a
fixture in Houma.

He had lived in town his entire
life, raised three daughters,

and worked in the same clothing
store for more than 30 years.

Everyone in Houma
knew that AJ Breaux

was a man you could depend on.

MELISSA TARDO: My dad came
off as being very friendly.

He was extremely nice.

Anybody and everybody
that knew him

knew that if they
needed something,

that he was there to help them.

ROBERT STACK: AJ had not come
by his reputation easily.

For years, he had battled
a drinking problem.

A problem which eventually
led to his arrest

for drunk driving,
and contributed

to the breakup of his marriage.

However, by 1991, AJ
had conquered his demons

and been sober for eight years.

Nearly every evening, AJ
could be found at the Easy

Does It Club, a support
group for people

with drinking problems.

AJ was dedicated to sobriety,
and was available at any hour

of the day or night
to assist those who

were in desperate need of help.

Once he got involved
with the program,

it changed his whole life.

He became even more responsible,
and more dependable, and more

trustworthy, and more
of a friend, because he

was involved with more people.

ROBERT STACK: The Easy Does
It Club was headquartered

in an old warehouse.

On Wednesday August 28,
1991, AJ left the club

at approximately 8:30 p.m.

Hello AJ, how you doing?

ROBERT STACK: A
half an hour later,

AJ stopped at a convenience
store to buy a quart of milk.

He told the cashier that he was
on his way home, where he lived

with one of his daughters.

He never arrived.

Two days later, AJ's car was
found abandoned in a park,

across the street from the club.

His three daughters
immediately drove to the scene.

MELISSA TARDO:
When we got there,

I had already called the
police department to meet us.

The car was locked,
so we couldn't get in.

And our immediate
reaction was tears.

We were very
emotional, very scared,

and Detective Naquin, the
detective working on the case,

had appeared.

When he got out of
the car, we told him

that we knew it was my dad's
car, because he had a cracked

blinker plate in the front.

Are ya'll sure this
is your father's car?

MELISSA TARDO: My
instinct told me

that he was in the trunk, dead.

Detective Naquin, do you
think we could check the trunk?

I think he might be in here.

MELISSA TARDO: I immediately
thought foul play.

Because it just
wouldn't be like him

to park his car where
everybody could find it

and everybody knows
him, and disappear.

ROBERT STACK: But
apparently that

is just what AJ Breaux did.

His body was not in the trunk,
there was no sign of foul play,

and a search of the
park turned up nothing.

The only clues were AJ's
wallet and checkbook,

which were found tucked beneath
the front seat of his car.

The entire town was mystified.

AJ Breaux seemed the least
likely person in Houma

to disappear.

Authorities launched an
immediate investigation

and distributed missing persons
flyers throughout the state.

Soon a number of
witnesses came forward,

witnesses who told
intriguing tales of seeing

AJ Breaux after he disappeared.

On Friday, August 30, the same
day that AJ's car was found,

a local resident named
Kenneth Pellegrin

claims that he ran into AJ
outside of a convenience

store in Houma.

Hey AJ, how's it going?

OK.

KENNETH PELLEGRIN: It was
a strange situation for me

to see him then, because
he just didn't, he didn't

look the same as he always did.

He was wearing like a
flannel shirt, something

like a lumberjack style.

And the pants were loose
fitting, brown, very

loose fitting, they
wasn't nothing neat.

And he was wearing
some old tennis shoes.

So that struck me as wrong,
because of all the times

I've known him since
seven years old,

I've never seen him with
his hair out of place,

or not dressed up neat.

AJ was nervous.

It was like he
was being watched.

ROBERT STACK: Kenneth Pellegrin
also observed a red compact car

parked in front.

KENNETH PELLEGRIN:
I noticed the car,

and it had three guys
still sitting in it.

But the engine was running
and he was on the phone

looking towards their way.

And when I came back out, AJ
was gone, the car was gone.

Had I known he had been missing,
he would have been found then,

because I knew who he was.

Soon after Ken Pellegrin
called the office,

I received another
call from a witness

who said that he saw AJ in a
car with three other gentlemen.

It was a red, small compact
car on a rural route

about eight miles out of town.

He waved to AJ Breaux, but
AJ Breaux did not wave back,

and that's very uncharacteristic
of AJ not to wave back.

So he didn't think
anything of it

because AJ wasn't, he
didn't know AJ was missing.

It makes me think
that definitely

somebody knows something.

If both of these
gentlemen who know

him from a good while back-- one
a lot longer than the other--

have seen him, we know that
they know what he looks like.

And they both saw him
in the same color car,

with three men in it.

I'm pretty much
convinced that somebody,

somewhere knows something.

ROBERT STACK: For
the next two weeks

there were no further
sightings, and no clues

to AJ's disappearance.

Then a chilling handwritten note
came into the police station.

It read-- "AJ Breaux.

He was drunk at the time.

Self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Stomach.

Draw-string cotton sack.

Put in by friend.

Rolled over steep
grassy bayou bank.

Near dam."

The note was signed, Helene.

The note painted
a bizarre scenario

in which AJ had been drinking
and accidentally shot himself.

Then someone, for
some unknown reason,

dumped his body in the bayou.

Just so happens
where we found a card

that described that area.

So we called the Sheriff's
office water patrol units

and they dredged
both sides of the dam

on three different
occasions, but were

unable to find anything.

ROBERT STACK: Soon the case
took another strange twist.

Authorities received
a surprising report

which indicated that AJ
Breaux might still be alive.

On September 28, four
weeks after AJ disappeared,

a woman named Christy Boudreau
was sitting on the front porch

of her home in Lockport,
Louisiana, 30 miles northeast

of Houma.

CHRISTY BOUDREAUX: I saw a van
pass up and down the street,

two times, I forget.

Whoever was in the van
was evidently lost.

Then I saw him reach
over the driver's seat

into the middle of the van,
and he picked up a bag.

I didn't know what was in
it till he got to my porch.

And as he walked to me
he looked really nervous,

and he was shaking.

He wanted to know if I wanted
to buy some frozen fish

and I told him no.

And I smelled alcohol
on his breath,

and he looked homeless,
kind of straggly.

OK.

Thanks anyway.

CHRISTY BOUDREAUX: And as he
got I'd say 10 feet from me,

he turned around
and glanced at me.

And that's when it
hit me that I saw

that man on a missing person
flyer in the post office.

Christy, I have
a picture here I'd

like you to look of AJ Breaux.

TROY NAQUIN: I met with
Christy, and I showed

her some photographs of AJ.

One was a photograph
of the flyer

that was being
distributed, and she

wasn't too sure about that one.

Then I showed her a photograph
of a mugshot that we had of AJ

from when he was drinking, and
she was almost certain that

was AJ Breaux then.

I mean he was
older, but he was

skinnier, like in this picture.

CHRISTY BOUDREAUX:
I was almost certain

that that was the man
that had approached

me while I was on
my porch, and that's

what I told the detective.

That I was 99.9% sure
that that was Mr. Breaux.

AJ Breaux is a
recovering alcoholic.

And if he did start
drinking again,

there's all sorts of things
that could have happened.

He could have had a blackout,
and not remember who he is.

ROBERT STACK: AJ's
family, however,

refuses to believe that he has
turned to alcohol once again

and disappeared by choice.

Because AJ's wallet
and checkbook

were found in his car, they are
convinced that he was abducted.

When I think back
to what happened,

or why things may have
happened, in my mind

I go back to the fact that
his car was found at the park.

What happened when he
got there I'm not sure,

but I'm wondering
if he may have seen

something or heard
something that he

wasn't supposed to see or hear.

ROBERT STACK: A few days
after AJ's disappearance,

a golf course maintenance worker
had called the city police.

He reported that he had seen
three men forcing a fourth man

into a white automobile, in the
park where AJ's car was found.

But the details were sketchy,
and nothing ever came of it.

What really happened
to AJ Breaux?

While there is some evidence
that he may have been abducted,

there is no indication as to
why someone would kidnap him.

And authorities now
suspect that the note

detailing Jay's
accidental suicide

was a mean spirited prank.

AJ Breaux at
this time is still

listed as a missing person.

We have no evidence
of foul play.

But of course we have
no evidence that he

just got up and left either.

So we really don't know
what happened to AJ.

It's not like him to
disappear and not notify us.

The last year, it's
been about a year

since my dad's been missing,
and it's been a very long year.

It feels like forever.

It's been torture, very hard.

And we want it to end.

ROBERT STACK: AJ
Breaux Is 51 years old.

He's 5 feet 11 inches
tall, and weighs

approximately 155 pounds.

He has brown eyes
and brown hair.

AJ was last seen
on August 28, 1991.

On our next Unsolved Mysteries--

as a POW during the Vietnam
War, Colonel Charles Shelton's

legendary resistance earned the
respect of even his captors.

Back home in America,
his family's persistence

has been no less inspiring.

For more than 25
years, they have

fought to prove that Charles
Shelton was still alive,

long after the war was over.

Because of their
efforts, Colonel Shelton

is the only remaining
POW now presumed

dead by our government.

Join us next week for this
timely and heartrending story,

as we commemorate Veterans
Day on Unsolved Mysteries.

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