All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S05E20.480p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-PLAYREADY_track3_[und]

ROBERT STACK: When Chad
Langford, a 20-year-old army

MP, was found mortally
wounded, a cap

was stuffed in his mouth, a
cord wrapped around his neck,

and his ankles were bound.

The army believes Langford
did these things to himself

as a prelude to suicide.

His family is convinced
he was murdered.

When Newell Sessions
of Thermopolis, Wyoming

agreed to store an old
footlocker for a friend,

he got more than
he bargained for,

and unidentified human skeleton,
and a perplexing unsolved

mystery.

In 1978, a police
chief in Oklahoma

was mortally wounded
during a shoot

out with two armed robbers.

Seven years later, his
killer, David Gordon Smith,

escaped from prison
and vanished.

Nearly eight years, David Smith
lived on the run successfully

eluding capture until
he was recognized

by one of our viewers.

Join me for this dramatic
update and more on tonight's

"Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK: March
12, 1992, 7:40

PM, along the deserted perimeter
of Redstone Arsenal Army

Base in Huntsville, Alabama,
20-year-old military policeman

Chad Langford was
completing what should

have been a routine patrol.

30 minutes later, Langford
radioed his base station

informing them he was
stopping to investigate

an abandoned car.

Roger, send your 28.

[static]

Papa 21, say again?

21, this is Redstone, say again.

Get a unit.

All available units proceed
to South Patton Road,

locate Papa 21.

All gates locked down.

Secure the post.

ROBERT STACK: Approximately
10 miles from MP headquarters,

a backup officer found
unsettling evidence

that Langford was in jeopardy.

Close to the entrance of a
civilian recreation area that

is part of the base,
he found Langford's

military ID tag, his armband,
and his portable police radio.

They had been
deliberately arranged

in the middle of the street.

A quarter of a mile away,
the patrolling officer

made the discovery
he had been dreading.

This is Papa Sierra, I've
located Papa 21 at Bunker 8745.

Officer is down.

I request ambulance
and backup immediately.

ROBERT STACK: The
officer was stunned

by Langford's condition.

The MP was bleeding from a head
wound and breathing faintly.

His cap had been
stuffed into his mouth,

and the cord from
his radar unit had

been wrapped around his neck.

His pistol strap was
tied around his ankles.

Langford's handcuffs were
clamped on his left wrist,

and on his left hand
was a cryptic message

written in black ink,
March 3, and what

looked like the name Robert.

Oddly, Langford's 45
caliber pistol was

found under his left shoulder.

Later examination
would show two rounds

had been fired,
although it could

not be determined whether
one of them had hit Langford.

Get an ambulance here ASAP.

Go.

Just hang in there, Langford.

ROBERT STACK: Chad Langford was
rushed to Huntsville Hospital,

where he died two hours later.

Langford was four months
shy of his 21st birthday.

Chad Langford's
family had assumed he

was killed in the line of duty.

They were shocked to learn that
the Army apparently believed

Chad had taken his own life.

When I heard that, I was very
upset about the whole thing.

I know that my boy
did not kill himself.

There's no way.

I feel that someone is
covering something up here.

ROBERT STACK: Chad Langford
was raised by his father

and grandma in the small
northern California

community of Elk Creek.

Chad joined the Army
right out of high school,

and soon found
himself with US forces

stationed in South Korea.

There he earned several
good conduct medals.

At the conclusion of
that tour of duty,

he joined the military police
at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.

According to his family,
Chad loved Army life

and planned to realist.

However, early in 1992, Chad's
attitude suddenly changed.

JIM LANGFORD: In
January, he called

me and told him
that he'd been asked

to do some undercover work.

He called me three or four
different times, and each time

he gave me a little bit about
his still working undercover,

and sounded quite frustrated
and sad sometimes.

Hi, Dad, how you doing?

Yes, OK, I guess.

Listen, remember what
I told you a few weeks

ago about my new assignment?

Well, it's getting
pretty intense.

JIM LANGFORD: I
had asked him just

exactly what he was
working on, and he

said with guns and drugs.

Numerous times, he told me,
probably two or three times,

he told me that if he was found
out that he was a dead man.

I've been getting threats, you
know, phone calls and letters.

No, I don't know
who's sending them.

I don't recognize his voice.

I mean, it might be nothing,
but I'm starting to get worried.

I don't know what to do.

JIM LANGFORD: That time,
I told him, I told him,

Chad, you gotta get out of this.

And he came back with,
I can't get out of it.

I can't get out of it, Dad.

And I said, you've got to get
out of it if it's that bad.

OK.

I will.

Give my love to Grandma.

Bye.

ROBERT STACK: When Jim
Langford urged his son

to talk to his
undercover superior,

Chad said he would not be
able to for another 14 days.

But in 14 days,
Chad Langford was

found bleeding from a fatal
bullet wound to the head.

The Army's Criminal
Investigation

Division, or CID, reviewed
Chad Langford's death

for four months.

Their report stated
that Langford

had not been involved in any
undercover narcotics work.

The CID finding echoed the
Army's preliminary judgment,

Chad Langford had
taken his own life.

The report included
what the CID called

a psychological autopsy,
a post-mortem evaluation

of mental health.

It described Langford
as having serious

lifelong emotional problems.

The report that they sent
me, the psychological autopsy

they sent me, no, that's
so far out of whack,

it's unbelievable.

I'm sorry, I just can't
believe that, any of that.

I mean, I mean, I raised
the boy for 20 years.

I know him better than that, and
the military has psychologists

out to talk to you-- or
call you over the phone,

and talk to you for
10 minutes, and then

they have the complete
life story of everybody.

And they're so far off
base, it's unbelievable.

ROBERT STACK: The report claimed
that a deterioration in Chad's

relationship with his
girlfriend had triggered

his final suicidal depression.

The CID report said that
Chad committed suicide

for the distraught over
my breaking up with him,

but that wasn't true.

I didn't break up with Chad.

Chad broke up with me.

ROBERT STACK: In
January of 1992,

six weeks before his
death, Chad had abruptly

broken up with Roxanne.

I mean, I've got to
make up my mind soon

because after we get married--

Roxanne.

we need to talk.

What?

Listen, we're gonna have
to put off getting married.

I don't understand,
I mean, wh--

why?

It's my work.

This new assignment is
taking a lot of my time,

and it just wouldn't
be fair to you.

I mean, you deserve to
have a lot of my attention.

You still love me, don't you?

I'm involved in things
you don't even understand.

I can't even talk about them.

But why?

I mean, I mean, why do
we have to break up?

Is there another person?
Is that it?

That's it.

No, there's no one else.

Why do we have to break up?

Can't you understand English?

Just get out.

ROXANNE: I left.

I don't want to
be with you anymore.

ROXANNE: In a rage, crying.

I had a feeling that someone
was telling him to break it

off with me, and
I think Chad did

it to protect me or something.

ROBERT STACK: Roxanne saw Chad
for the last time five days

before his death at
the base nightclub.

He seemed to have
changed dramatically.

Chad was dressed all in
black gang style clothing.

He now sported an
earring, and was

hanging out with several
rough looking men

Roxanne had not seen before.

Langford's lifestyle
changes tie-in

with another shocking CID
allegation, that he had been

the mastermind of
an aborted robbery

plan targeting base PX funds.

The CID report
included interviews

with three soldiers
who identified

Chad as the ringleader.

One of you guys
will have to shoot me.

Shoot you?

But I'll be wearing
a bulletproof vest.

That way it'll look
like I put up a fight.

I'll probably have to fire
off a couple of rounds,

so I don't look like a punk.

All right, now what
about the other escort?

Won't he be able to identify us?

Well, I guess we'll
just have to kill him,

unless we want witnesses.

It seems very strange
to me that somebody

would come forward to the
Criminal Investigation Division

after someone was
killed, and said,

yeah, we were planning
on robbing a PX van for X

amount of thousand dollars.

I just can't imagine
anybody coming forward

with that kind of information.

It's really tough
that, you know,

he's not here now to be able to
tell us what really happened.

Now, the plan is you'll
be one of the escorts.

You'll wear a bulletproof vest.

ROBERT STACK: Chad's
father believes

there is a legitimate
explanation

for any contact his son may
have had with criminal elements

on the base.

Maybe they were
trying to recruit him.

Maybe this was right in what
he was doing with the informant

or other undercover work?

ROBERT STACK: Hours
before his death,

Chad left phone messages
for several friends,

but not for his family.

The CID interpreted Chad's calls
as goodbye messages to those

he cared for most.

ROXANNE: When I got off
work, my mother told me

that there was a message
on the machine from Chad

that had been erased,
but she heard it.

It was him calling to say
hi, and how was I doing?

Was I taking care of myself?

And that he would see me soon.

Sorry, I missed you.

Give me a call.

Bye.

ROXANNE: It didn't seem
like a goodbye to me.

JIM LANGFORD: Chad
would have called me.

I know he would have.

He would have called me if
something was to the point

where he was going
to commit suicide.

I know he would have.

But he didn't call me, and he
didn't call his grandmother.

So they weren't goodbye calls,
as far as I'm concerned.

I mean, I know he
would have called me.

ROBERT STACK: The
psychological autopsy

claimed that Chad Langford had
a profound lack of self-esteem,

and was desperate to
create a new image even

at the cost of his own life.

According to the report, Chad
felt that the glory alluding

him in life would finally be
his if he appeared to have

died in a heroic last stand.

JIM LANGFORD: The psychological
autopsy more or less told us

that he was doing this to
make us feel good about him,

because we wanted
him to shine, and he

was doing this to please us.

And that he wanted
to go out in glory,

so this is why he set
this whole thing up.

This is why he drove out
there and handcuffed himself.

He didn't want to just go
out and go around the car

and do away with yourself.

He wanted to make it special.

ROBERT STACK: The
official inquiry concluded

that every aspect of Chad's
death was methodically

staged by Chad himself
from his accounts

of undercover assignments to
the peculiar circumstances

of his shooting.

Redstone, this is Papa 21,
I have a stranded vehicle.

I'm on Patton South.

REDSTONE: OK, 21,
what's you location?

I'm on Patton South.

REDSTONE: Roger, send your 28.

21, say again.

21, this is Redstone, say again.

All available units,
proceed to South Patton Road

and locate Papa 21.

All gates locked down.

Secure the post.

To start with, it was very
bizarre, even from the night

that it happened, because the
Huntsville Police Department

and the other law
enforcement agencies

never heard a word from
the Army about any of it.

And generally, when there's
a police officer that's shot,

I mean, there'll be
a manhunt everywhere.

And everybody was really baffled
because they weren't getting

any information about it.

You take into
consideration that he

was tied with his own equipment,
that it happened in a very

remote area with easy access to
the civilian recreation area,

anybody could have gotten in
and out there very, very easily.

And then even before the Army
ruled that it was suicide,

there was just wild
speculation as to what

could have happened to him.

People were saying espionage,
drug deals, all kinds

of things, then it
perpetuated itself as it

went with the CID reports.

ROBERT STACK: According
to Langford's family,

even some of the
evidence gathered

from the death scene conflicts
with the suicide findings.

Investigators recovered
two 45 caliber casings,

but they found no bullets of
any kind in or near the body.

Without bullets, authorities
were unable to determine what

type of gun killed Langford.

In addition, lab tests did not
conclusively prove Langford

had even fired a weapon.

There was never an explanation
of how he came to be

lying on top of his own gun.

They also said there
wasn't a struggle,

but there was a struggle.

I mean, there's
no doubt about it.

They found two buttons in
the front seat of the car.

And those two buttons
were supposedly

pulled off his uniform
when the medics got there.

This was the explanation to
me that when they ripped open

his shirt, both buttons flew
in the front seat of the car,

and that's completely
impossible, because I've reset

that up, and there's no way.

From where he was
laying, and from the side

his buttons were on, his buttons
would have went the other way.

They wouldn't have
went in the car.

ROBERT STACK: Jim Langford also
believes that MPs responding

to his son's distress call
squandered opportunities

to question possible suspects.

Within a mile of
where Chad was found,

MPs stopped two different cars.

However, contrary to
military regulations,

no record was made
of the driver's names

or of either cars' make,
model, or license number.

The drivers were
never questioned

about Langford's death.

Just letting him go, I
mean, it's absolutely crazy.

You're talking
about a murder here,

and it appears to me that
anybody within three or four

mile radius of that
place should have been

stopped and held for some time.

They didn't do that.

They let the man go.

ROBERT STACK: A source
close to the investigation

has said that one of the
drivers was named Robert,

the name found scrawled
on Langford's hand.

Those who believe Chad Langford
was working undercover are

convinced his
sudden, violent death

was nothing less than murder.

JIM LANGFORD: I feel
that he went down there

on that part of base
because he was supposed

to meet somebody down there.

When Know I talked to him
on the first part of March,

he told me he couldn't talk to
his contact for at least two

more weeks, and that was
just about the same time

he was supposed to
talk to his contact.

And he drove down to the
end of that road down there,

and there was a vehicle there.

But he knew who was
in that vehicle,

and he phoned in just to
get away from his radio.

Redstone, this is Papa 21.

I'm checking out a
stranded vehicle.

I'm on Patton South.

It would have taken more
than one person to handle Chad.

He was very strong, very
agile, and then again,

he knew these people.

I know he knew these people.

Redstone, this is Papa
21, I need back up now.

This is Papa 2--

[gunshot]

JIM LANGFORD: I think Chad was
involved in evolved when he was

telling me he was involved in.

He was an in-between person
with some drug dealing.

I think he was put
in that position

by somebody on their base.

Whether it military or civilian,
somebody put him there,

and I think he was a middle
man, and I think he was set up.

I really feel he was set up,
and I'm going to find out.

ROBERT STACK: Chad
Langford's final hours

remain shrouded in mystery.

Did he invent a tale
of undercover intrigue

and then stage a heroic death?

Or did Chad Langford
truly die a hero, gunned

down in the line of duty?

Next, thanks to our
viewers, a convicted killer

has been captured
nearly eight years

after he escaped from prison.

Just after 8:00 AM on September
1, 1978, in Catoosa, Oklahoma,

police chief JB Hamby
responded to an emergency call

from an auto license tag agency.

Freeze!

Get outta here!

ROBERT STACK: 20
rounds ricocheted

through the small store
in a matter of seconds.

One robber was killed,
the other was hit twice,

but somehow managed to escape.

Less than five minutes
later, Chief Hamby

died from gunshot wounds.

He was a 24 year veteran
of law enforcement,

and the only police
officer in Catoosa.

On June 15, 1979, the surviving
gunman, 25-year-old David

Gordon Smith, began
serving a life sentence

for the murder of JB Hamby.

Smith became a model
prisoner and eventually

achieved trustee status.

Seven years after he
murdered Chief Hamby,

David Gordon Smith took
advantage of his status

to escape and to disappear.

When we first aired
this story last October,

we received more than 75 leads,
but none of them panned out.

However, one thing
we have learned

on "Unsolved Mysteries" over
the years is never to give up.

The story aired again
in March, and this time

in a small South Dakota town
the right viewer was watching.

He called the local
authorities, and they

immediately contacted the FBI.

One day following the airing
of the David Gordon Smith

case on "Unsolved
Mysteries," an anonymous tip

was received giving
us his location.

He was working as
a service manager

in an automobile dealership
in Spearfish, South Dakota.

Agents of the FBI, local
authorities in South Dakota,

went to his place of
employment, he was arrested

without incident, and
he readily admitted

his identity upon questioning.

When David Gordon Smith
is brought back to Oklahoma,

he'll go immediately
into our system.

He'll be classified as a
maximum security inmate,

and because of his escape, he
will be in our maximum security

prison for a long time.

There's a tremendous
amount of relief.

It was equivalent
to a long term,

gigantic debt being paid off.

ROBERT STACK: On
December 14, 1983,

a masked gunman
held up a fast food

restaurant in Toledo, Ohio.

As he rushed to escape,
he shot a police officer

at close range,
seriously wounded him.

The next day, Morgan Anthony
Miller, a 27-year-old musician,

was arrested after being
identified by two eyewitnesses.

Miller never denied
that he and two friends

had been in the
restaurant that night.

However, he always insisted
that the robbers struck

sometime after they left.

Everything that they
said that I had done

was totally ridiculous.

There's no way a real criminal
would drive his own car up

to a restaurant, talk to a
waitress who works there,

and 30 seconds
later rob the place,

and not expect to get caught.

I'm not crazy.

ROBERT STACK: A month later,
the case took a surprising twist

when police arrested
35-year-old Joseph

Clark in an unrelated case.

During questioning,
Clark admitted

that he had robbed
the restaurant

and shot the police officer.

I was the one that
shot that policeman.

ROBERT STACK: But when
detectives pressed him

for details, Clark recanted.

Five months later, Tony Miller
was convicted of armed robbery

and assault. He was given a
sentence of 20 to 40 years

in prison.

I absolutely did not commit
the robbery or the shooting

of the police
officer, and I would

never do anything like that.

I'm a musician and artist.

I'm not a criminal.

ROBERT STACK: Update, Tony
Miller is now a free man.

On the night of our broadcast,
one of the prosecution

witnesses from Tony's
trial called our telesetter

and corroborated Tony's story.

The man had seen the
robber flee the area,

but had never been asked
to identify Miller.

After viewing our story,
the witness said quote,

it was the first time I had
seen photographs of Tony

Miller and the other man.

Based on those photographs
and my recollection

that evening, the man who ran
past me was not Tony Miller.

On December 2, 1992,
Tony Miller's conviction

was reversed.

A week later, he was
released from prison

after 8 and 1/2 long years.

For a while you think that
this is just like a dream.

It's just-- it's
hard to describe.

It feels so good.

I just wanted to scream,
but I was scared if I did,

they'd lock me back up.

So I didn't scream,
but I was really happy.

Tony is one of the most
enjoyable people I've ever met,

and having him out of
prison has just increased

his natural joy and happiness.

He's a very special person.

How do you feel?

Good.

When you know you're
innocent, there's

no doubt about it in your mind
that you haven't done a crime,

and you know it,
you can't give up,

especially when you have
the support of your family.

You know, a lot of
my family members,

Granny, I love her dearly,
to know that they're fighting

as hard as they possibly can
to simply get to the truth,

because the truth will surface.

Regardless of how long it takes,
it comes to the top every time.

ROBERT STACK: In a city
as large as Philadelphia,

police operators
receive literally

thousands of reports
every day regarding

possible criminal activity.

Most of the calls
are routine, but some

are so unbelievable that even
the most world weary detectives

can be taken by surprise.

On September 10, 1991,
Detective Pat Brennan

was stunned to receive
not one, but three

telephone calls from a convicted
rapist named Julius Patterson.

Those calls would
launch one of the most

bizarre and disturbing
murder investigations

the city has ever known.

Go find a body?

Who's body?

ROBERT STACK: Out of
the blue, Patterson

confessed to a shocked Brennan
that he and his girlfriend

Paulette Hite had killed
two people, one in 1986

and the other in 1988.

P-A-T-T-E-R-S-O-N?

And When did Paulette
Hite kill your sister?

ROBERT STACK:
Incredibly, Patterson

admitted that one of the
victims was his own sister.

He even revealed where
her body could be found.

I just need a little bit
more information from you.

I'm gonna need a date of birth,
a social security number,

where you're living.

It was like a man on a mission.

He was out to convince me and
anyone else that would listen

to him that what he
had to say was real

and he was out to make
the police act on it.

With this urgency in his voice,
and the detail to what he was

saying to us, it
just made me feel

that everything he was
saying was the truth,

and would be founded.

ROBERT STACK: Detectives
were immediately

dispatched to the address
Patterson had given.

Hi, ma'am.

I'm sorry to bother you.

We're with the
police department.

ROBERT STACK: The
current resident

had lived there
for several months,

and had a difficult time
believing there might

be a body in the basement.

How do you know he
was telling the truth?

Well, we have to
check it out, ma'am.

It's probably just a
crank call hopefully.

We don't want to
be here all night.

Are you sure this
is the right house?

Yes, it is.

ROBERT STACK: Patterson
had told detectives

to look for a discolored
patch of cement.

What are you going to
do if you find anything?

We probably won't, but
we have to check it anyway.

ROBERT STACK: At the
foot of the steps,

under an old
tattered carpet, they

found an area which
fit the description,

but it remained to be
seen what, if anything,

might be buried
beneath the floor.

At almost that same
moment, Detective Brennan

received another call
from Julius Patterson.

Earlier he had said
that his girlfriend

Paulette Hite could be found
at a motel in New Jersey.

To Jersey.

Now, I need you to come in
and give us a statement.

ROBERT STACK: Now, he
was demanding to know

if she had been arrested.

I don't know.

They haven't called
us back yet, but we--

Once I confirmed for him that
detectives were at the crime

scene and that there
were detectives

en-route to South Jersey, he
stated he would call back.

He hung up the phone,
and he never called back.

ROBERT STACK: Using sledge
hammers and shovels,

the anxious investigators
began to excavate.

Put gloves on.

Put the gloves on.

ROBERT STACK: Soon, their
worst fears were confirmed.

Yeah, we got a body.

ROBERT STACK: Julius Patterson
had been telling the truth.

Julius Patterson has to be the
worst type of person possible.

For somebody to want
to kill your sister,

it's just mind boggling.

Like I said, I've
never seen that

in my entire police
career, something

that tragic especially.

ROBERT STACK: Police soon
learned that from 1984

to 1986, Julius Patterson
and Paulette Hite

and Julius's sister Jessie had
lived together in the house.

Other members of
the Patterson family

confirmed that Jessie
had mysteriously

vanished in July of 1986.

Testing later confirmed
that the bones

were the remains of
Julius Patterson's

26-year-old sister Jessie.

She had been born
blind, deaf and mute.

It is almost too horrible to
imagine that her brother, who

had been entrusted
with her care,

had murdered her apparently
as part of a devious scheme

to cash in on her social
security benefits.

But the investigation
was just heating up,

Julius Patterson had
confessed to a second murder

and had identified
the victim as Gordie.

Police eventually learned
that during the 1980s,

a man named Hall Luther Gordon,
who suffered from Alzheimer's

disease, had also been
under the care of Julius

Patterson and Paulette Hite.

Though unlicensed, Hite
made her living by providing

home care for the elderly.

She had met Gordon at
a local boarding house.

He was last seen
in July of 1986,

around the same time
his two caretakers moved

away from the neighborhood.

If you look at both
of the individuals,

Hall Luther Gordon
and Jessie Patterson,

both of these people, for
totally different reasons,

were incapable of taking
care of themselves,

and were completely at the
mercy of the people that

were entrusted with their care.

Because someone took
advantage of that situation,

and that in itself is not
that unusual, unfortunately,

but the fact that
they actually went on

to kill them for no other
reason than to increase

their own wealth,
yes, that did take

a special significance for us.

ROBERT STACK: These pictures of
Julius Patterson and Paulette

Hite were taken by a bank ATM
camera in August and September

of 1991.

Authorities believe that
over a 10 year period,

the pair may have stolen as much
as $150,000 from their victims.

FBI agent Richard
Kane and Detective

Duzack traced the missing
fugitives to a motel

in South New Jersey.

Got a photograph.

ROBERT STACK: They
arrived only to discover

that Patterson and Hite had
moved out the week before.

She was here almost a year.

We were able to track Paulette
to another hotel down the road,

and found that she had stayed
there for a night or two

under an assumed name, and
had left there hurriedly

abandoning possessions.

ROBERT STACK: Julius
Patterson and Paulette Hite

were last seen in Philadelphia
in September of 1991.

The couple robbed an old
friend of the Patterson family

at gunpoint, and then
promptly dropped from sight.

Julius Patterson
is 38 years old.

He is 5 feet 11 inches
tall and weighs 150 pounds.

He is wanted for
questioning regarding

the death of his sister
Jessie and the disappearance

of Hall Luther Gordon.

He is also wanted
for armed robbery,

assault, and parole violations.

Paulette Hite is 44 years old.

She is 5 feet 3 inches
tall and weighs 190 pounds.

She uses the aliases Collette
Hoop or Pauletta Price.

She is wanted on
charges of armed robbery

and fraudulent receipt of
social security payments.

She is also wanted
for questioning

regarding Jessie Patterson
and Hall Luther Gordon.

Following our most recent
broadcast of this story,

a former employer
of Paulette Hite

called our phone center to
report that Hite had been

working in a fast
food restaurant

in Cliffside Park, New
Jersey, under an assumed name.

Here's what happened next
according to Philadelphia

Police Lieutenant Joseph Witty.

He gave us the social security
number she used and the FBI

tracked that social security
number to a [inaudible]

recipient in New York City.

FBI agents and New York
City Police Department

staked out the location where
she was to pick up her checks.

At that time, both Julius
Patterson and Paulette Hite

were apprehended.

ROBERT STACK: After the
arrest, Julius Patterson

led police to this
empty warehouse

in North Philadelphia,
where he said

he had left the partial
remains of Hall Luther Gordon.

Police records confirm
that some human bones

had been found there in 1989.

The police now believe
that they were the remains

of Hall Luther Gordon.

Three weeks later,
Patterson led police back

to the same area claiming
that he had buried

yet another victim there.

During the search, the
unexpected happened.

While behind the
factory, he assaulted

one of the detectives,
knocking him down,

and then ran down a
railroad, adjacent railroad

tracks and jumped off
a railroad trussel,

which was about 10 feet
tall, onto a street

and then made his escape.

Three days later,
Julius Patterson

was captured in an intersection
of North Philadelphia.

When he was
apprehended, Patterson

was standing at a bus stop
wearing severed handcuffs

concealed under a coat.

Sometimes in the most
unlikely elements

comes a tantalizing
mystery, and confirmation

that the truth is
stranger than fiction.

The mystery might
start, say, with

this broken down footlocker.

Who can guess what the
old trunk might contain?

Or where it might lead?

Perhaps to a small town in
Wyoming, called Thermopolis.

In 1986, a long time resident
whom we will call Gabby,

moved away from Thermopolis.

He left some of his belongings,
including the old locked trunk,

in a shed.

He left the shed with a
friend, Newell Sessions.

Six years crept by, finally,
Newell couldn't stand

the suspense another minute.

Let's just see what's in here.

No telling what we'll find.

I doubt if you'll
find much of anything.

Uh-oh.

My goodness, it's a skeleton.

It's human.

What do you think about that?

It's been in
there a long time.

Nobody could believe that we
had uncovered a human skeleton,

and there wasn't too
much said at that time.

I think it was my
wife asked me what

we were going to do with it?

I said, I think that the best
thing we could do with it

would be to take it
out here and dig a hole

and give it a proper burial.

ROBERT STACK: Newell's
wife put her foot down.

She told him he had
to call the sheriff.

Before he did, though, Newell
felt obliged to contact Gabby.

How about Karen and the kids?

Oh, they're just fine.

So what's up?

Well, uh, you remember
that shed you left up here?

GABBY: I sure do.

Do you remember the
footlocker that was in the shed?

Yes.
I was--

ROBERT STACK: Gabby told
Newell that he'd never

even opened the footlocker.

He thought he'd bought
it at a garage sale,

but when it came to
the time and the place,

Gabby's memory failed him.

Well, when I cut
the lock off, I found

a human skeleton in the trunk.

You're not serious about
this, are you, Newell?

He acted probably
as surprised as I

did, when I opened the trunk.

But he couldn't believe it,
he thought I was kidding me.

And I told him, no,
I'm not kidding ya.

There is a human
skeleton in there.

ROBERT STACK: Newell
Sessions contacted

John Lumley, the Sheriff
of Hotsprings County.

Right from the start,
Sheriff Lumley smelled a rat.

Newell doesn't know much, and
says Gabby doesn't know much.

I've talked to a lot of
people about this case,

and everybody said,
almost 99.99% or more,

that they would have opened it
immediately upon purchasing it.

They said if they went to
a yard sale or garage sale,

bought a trunk, that's
half the excitement.

It's like a Christmas present,
can't wait to get home to open

it.

I don't think my curiosity
is any less than the others,

although it apparently has a
tendency to atrophy, because I

know I took the thing home.

I didn't have a Hacksaw.

I was going to cut the lock
off, and that's a lot of work.

ROBERT STACK: Two days
later, another bombshell.

X-rays revealed a bullet
lodged in the skull.

Now, Sheriff Lumley
thought he might have

a murder case on his hands.

He decided he'd better
have a chat with Gabby.

Where did you buy
the trunk at, Gabby?

Oh, I guess it was '73--

ROBERT STACK: Gabby was awfully
vague about the details.

He said he might have bought the
trunk in Wyoming, or in Iowa,

Illinois, or maybe Oklahoma.

It might have been
as early as 1973,

but it might not have been.

Gabby just couldn't be sure.

I was trying to find
furniture for the new place.

Well, my being a suspect, I
first off, I wasn't the least

bit worried about why.

What do I have to worry about?

I mean, really?

I know I didn't do the guy.

I didn't shoot this dude.

I'm barely, in fact,
I'm not even as

old as the gun that shot him.

Gabby is in his mid-forties.

The footlocker and
the lock were made

back in the 30s time period.

I don't believe that Gabby
was the person that caused

the death of this person,
but my thoughts have always

been that he has knowledge of
who the person in the trunk is

or where they came from.

To put tools in.

ROBERT STACK: For
the record, Gabby

says he doesn't know one
single thing about the bones

in the footlocker,
and at this point,

he's a little irked
by the whole mess.

On March 31, 1992,
Sheriff Lumley

turned the skeleton over to
the Wyoming state crime lab

in Cheyenne.

Maybe the bones could tell
him what Gabby couldn't.

Boy, it sure doesn't look
like there's any organization

to those bones, are they?

Not really.

OK, well, let's
start laying it our.

He was in his 50s to
mid 60s, probably stood

about 5'8", plus or
minus an inch and a half,

was a Caucasian male.

The bullet was then turned over
to our firearms examiner, who

was able to identify it as
coming from a 25 caliber

weapon that was produced
in the early 1900s, 1904,

and then available in the
United States about 1908.

Here's a plastic bag.

ROBERT STACK: Also
in the trunk was

a rotted plastic bag
from a supermarket

chain called Hy-Vees.

The bag with that
particular logo

was not manufactured
until the early 1950s.

Investigators figured that the
skeleton had been buried once

only to be dug up and
crammed unceremoniously

into the footlocker.

In an effort to
identify the victim,

Sandra Mays fashioned
a three dimensional

reconstruction in clay.

The result is uncanny.

Only the eyes and
hair are guesswork.

Otherwise, this should
be a good likeness

of the man who somehow
got a bullet in his head

some time after 1908.

Strangely, both of his
lower leg bones and one hand

were missing.

On his rib cage, there were
several nicks, which might

have been made by bullets.

Who is this man?

How and why did he die?

Perhaps this footlocker
holds the key.

The old trunk, though not
official government issue,

bears markings which
indicate was used by someone

in the United States
Armed Services

between World War
I and World War II.

For every mystery,
there is someone

somewhere who knows the truth.

Join me next week
for another edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

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