All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S06E03.480p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD 2.0.x264-AJP69_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: 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.

ROBERT STACK: It was
Christmas 45 years ago.

Sympathetic deputies
transformed the jail

in Henry County,
Illinois into a sanctuary

for a destitute mother,
Hilda Craun, and her family.

But within weeks, the
simple act of charity

would backfire when seven
of Hilda's nine children

were separated and
put up for adoption.

Barbara Pasciak was thrilled
when her daughter Paula brought

her boyfriend home for a visit.

Five days later, Paula
was dead and the boyfriend

was on the run,
suspected of murder.

Also, one of the most
fascinating mysteries

of this century, the
story of Anastasia,

youngest daughter of
the last czar of Russia.

History records that
she was executed along

with the rest of her
family by Bolshevik

revolutionaries in 1918,
but evidence abounds

that history may be wrong.

In the 1920s, a mysterious
woman turned up in Germany

using the name Anna
Anderson and claiming

that she was Anastasia.

For more than 70 years, the
secret of Anna Anderson's

true identity has provoked a
tantalizing and often fiery

debate.

Join me as we journey to Russia
on this very special edition

of Unsolved Mysteries.

[theme music]

Her name was Anastasia.

She was more royal
than a princess.

She was an imperial
grand duchess of Russia,

daughter of Czar Nicholas
II, the wealthiest

man in the world.

Anastasia was born
with her father's

captivating azure blue
eyes, but the czar

already had three daughters.

He, along with all
of Russia, wanted

a boy, an heir to the throne.

Anastasia must have sensed
that she was a disappointment.

She grew into an
unrepentant tomboy,

a jokester, the family clown.

Even after a son
was finally born,

Anastasia remained the rebel
of the imperial Romanov family.

Her impish nature
was irrepressible,

whether she was rollerskating on
the decks of the imperial yacht

or enduring the pomp and
panoply of the Russian court.

Then on July 17, 1918,
Anastasia's fairy tale life

came to a horrible end.

[speaking russian]

She was just 17 when
her entire family

was executed, along with their
physician and three servants.

[gunshots]

Their burial site remained
a dark state secret.

As far as history was
concerned, that was the end

of Anastasia and her family.

19 months later, a young
woman, nameless and alone,

wandered the gloomy damp
streets of Berlin, Germany.

When she came to Bendler Bridge,
spanning a murky city canal,

the stage was set for one of
the world's great mysteries.

Nein!
Nein!

Nein!
Stop!

ROBERT STACK: Eventually,
the young woman

would take the
name Anna Anderson,

and shocked the world
by claiming that she was

the Grand Duchess Anastasia.

The debate over her
identity rages to this day.

There is absolutely
no question in my mind

at all that the Grand
Duchess Anastasia

survived the assassination
of the Romanovs in 1918,

made it to the West, and
died in the United States

as Anna Anderson.

No question at all.

ROBERT STACK: Despite adamant
opinions on both sides,

it seemed this was a mystery
which would never be solved.

Then on July 12, 1991,
in this remote field

near the Siberian city
of Yekaterinburg, Russia,

the remains of the czar's
family were finally unearthed.

To the astonishment
of almost everyone,

two bodies were missing from the
grave, and one was Anastasia's.

Now using sophisticated
DNA technology,

scientists may finally
be able to answer once

and for all the question
that has haunted

history for nearly 75 years.

Was Anna Anderson in fact the
Grand Duchess Anastasia, whose

name means she who is reborn?

Nicholas II, fated to be
the last czar of Russia.

In the beginning, his life
was the envy of the world.

An adoring wife of
royal blood, Alexandra,

granddaughter of Queen
Victoria of England, four

beautiful daughters, the Grand
Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Marie,

and Anastasia, and
finally, a son,

Alexei, heir to the throne.

Alexei, however,
was a hemophiliac.

His disease was kept a
tightly held family secret,

and the seven Romanovs drew
more and more into themselves.

Even their closest relatives
saw little of them.

The royal Romanovs lived
in grand and increasingly

isolated opulence.

Most of their subjects
were starving.

When Nicholas involved his
country in World War I,

hundreds of thousands
of his soldiers

had neither shoes nor rifles.

More than a million men
were killed or wounded.

Finally, the people rebelled.

In 1917, Nicholas abdicated
to a provisional democratic

government, but soon
after that government

fell to the radical Bolsheviks.

The czar's mother and
sisters made it safely

out of the country,
but the czar, his wife,

and children were virtual
prisoners in their own palace.

On August 13, 1917, the
Romanovs were banished

in the dead of night
from the Summer Palace

just outside St. Petersburg.

11 months later, the
entire family was executed,

or so it was thought until the
mysterious young woman appeared

in Germany on February 18, 1920.

Please, right this way, miss.

ROBERT STACK: After
her suicide attempt,

police committed the
young woman to Dolldorf

asylum, a mental institution
just outside Berlin.

She gave no information
about herself

and was dubbed Miss Unknown.

Only much later would she
take the name Anna Anderson.

This is your bed.

ROBERT STACK: At
Dolldorf, she underwent

her first physical examination.

Doctors discovered
that her body was

covered with scars, for which
they could find no explanation.

She began to reveal her
own personality very slowly.

For many, many
months, she virtually

never left her bed, and--

ROBERT STACK:
James Blair Lovell,

author of "Anastasia:
The Lost Princess,"

knew Anna Anderson personally.

She was, in her
mind, in hiding.

And the best place to
hide was this asylum

where no one would
come looking for her

or suspect that she
was who she was.

ROBERT STACK: The patient
hid her identity successfully

until a woman named
Clara Peuthert

was admitted to the same ward
at Dolldorf in December of 1921.

Clara, good morning.

What is it?

I know you.

I don't understand.

What are you talking about?

Oh, it is all
right, my daughter.

You know, it is such a
miracle that you're alive.

JAMES BLAIR LOVELL:
Clara Peuthert

was a devotee, as were
so many people then,

of the royalty magazines.

And she began to look at
pictures of the Romanovs.

Look at this picture.

JAMES BLAIR LOVELL:
And she began

to believe that
Miss Unknown bore

a striking, uncanny resemblance
to the Grand Duchess Tatiana.

And then it came to me.

It is you.

ROBERT STACK: Miss Unknown
neither confirmed nor denied

Clara Peuthert's claim.

CLARA: I can see
the resemblance.

ROBERT STACK: Soon word
reached several members

of the Russian nobility
exiled in Paris.

They sent an official
representative,

a Madame Tolstoy to Dolldorf.

We are just here to talk.

There's someone I
would like you to meet.

MISS UNKNOWN: Please go away.

I don't want to see anyone.

Don't be afraid, child.

It's just that I spoke
with your friend Clara,

and she has told me
so much about you.

I wanted to meet you for myself.

My God.

She has eyes of Nicholas.

Later, Tolstoy told people
that when she saw those eyes

in the context of
the rest of the face,

she knew she was looking at one
of the daughters of the czar.

ROBERT STACK: Eventually Anna
Anderson told several nurses

she was actually Anastasia,
the youngest grand duchess.

Indeed, she did resemble
Anastasia facially,

and in height and age.

Apparently several
childhood scars

and birthmarks were checked
out, and they too matched.

Now the fresh scars
seemed to make sense.

Perhaps they were remnants of
Bolshevik bullets and bayonets.

Four years later
in July of 1925,

while the young woman was
hospitalized for surgery,

she received a visitor.

Shura Gilliard,
Anastasia's former nanny,

had come to see for herself
just who Miss Unknown was.

Shura recognized
the grand duchess,

both by her childhood scars
and by a bone deformity

on her right foot.

Then the young woman beckoned
to Shura to massage her forehead

was cologne.

It had been a favorite
childhood ritual of Anastasia's,

known only to the two of them.

Later, Shura and her husband
brought the czar's sister Olga

to visit.

Olga had last seen her niece
when Anastasia was a plump,

boisterous adolescent more
than a decade earlier.

My child, you are so pale.

Her aunt said that this young
woman had lost so much weight

that she was unable to make a
positive visual identification

of her, and so they talked.

I am so happy you came.

JAMES BLAIR LOVELL:
According to Anastasia,

Olga then did say,
"You are my niece.

I recognize you."

We shall not abandon you.

This is such a nice hospital.

ROBERT STACK: The next
day, in a private visit

with Olga, Anastasia made a
revelation about the czar's

secret bank account
which would ultimately

prove to be her undoing.

You know we lost everything
when we escaped from Russia.

I don't think you
have to worry about me.

Why not?

Because all the money
that Nicholas left for us.

There was, she
believed, in the Bank

of England $80 million.

This was news to the family.

And that one conversation,
that incident,

radically changed the life
of Anna Andersen forever.

ROBERT STACK:
Anastasia was betrayed.

$80 million in 1925 was the
equivalent of $5.6 billion

in today's economy.

It was ample motivation
for Anastasia's aunt

and the other surviving
Romanovs to deny

her identity, and therefore
her right to any of the money.

In essence, she was
once again Miss Unknown.

However, Anastasia was
not abandoned by everyone.

In 1927, she took up
residence in a German castle

under the protection of a
sympathetic duke and duchess.

That spring, Gleb Botkin,
a close childhood friend

of Anastasia's, traveled from
his home in the United States

to see whether the grand
duchess had somehow survived.

Gleb was the youngest
child of the czar's

physician, Dr. Eugene Botkin.

The doctor had been executed
along with the imperial family,

but Glen was able to
escape from Russia.

One of the childhood games
that he and Anastasia had

played together was that Gleb
would draw or would paint

a watercolor painting of animals
dressed in human clothing

and in human-like situations,
give the picture to the young

Anastasia, and she then would
make up a story to explain

the action in the picture.

Niet, but I would like
to see the pictures.

Oh, yes.

JAMES BLAIR LOVELL: He
recognized her immediately.

And as she leafed through them,
she remembered the stories

that she had made
up years earlier

to accompany the pictures.

--telling the rat that they
were safe because the cat

was caught by a lion.

JAMES BLAIR LOVELL: It was the
most significant recognition

of Anastasia in her lifetime.

--was about my father.

JAMES BLAIR LOVELL: And Gleb
Botkin became, as she called

him, her lifelong champion.

--friends with the lion.

And when the fox--

ROBERT STACK: Only
later would Anna recount

for Gleb which she knew about
the terrible night of July 17,

1918--

how she had been horribly
wounded and rendered

unconscious during the
execution, how she had been

thrown on a truck with the
dead bodies of her family, how

the truck lumbered
off into the night,

heading to a secret grave site.

At some point the
truck overheated.

A soldier named Alexander
Tchaikovsky was one

of those left to stand guard.

He realized Anastasia
was not dead.

Aided by his
brother, Tchaikovsky

spirited her to safety.

Alexander Tchaikovsky was
later killed in Romania.

Anastasia eventually
made her way

to Germany and Bendler Bridge.

20 years after the
czar's assassination,

Gleb Botkin and Anna's
lawyer were finally

able to go to court to claim
Anastasia's inheritance

and thereby prove Anna
Anderson's identity.

That Anna Anderson is the
Grand Duchess Anastasia.

During the course of
this entire case the,

Romanov family--

ROBERT STACK: None
of the principals

had any idea that the case,
including several appeals,

would drag on literally for
the rest of their lives.

From the beginning, Anna's
attorneys based their arguments

on the numerous
points of similarity

between the grand duchess
and Anna Anderson.

Experts analyzed photographs
of both women's ears.

A match impressed even
Anna's bitterest enemies.

Various scars and
birthmarks also matched.

Handwriting samples
were analyzed,

and found virtually identical.

Anna was now 58 years old.

She had become
increasingly eccentric

and was almost
totally uncooperative,

both with her own attorneys
and with the courts.

Anna lived in a remote German
village near the Black Forest.

Her modest cottage was
overgrown with weeds

and overrun by her
four dogs and 30 cats.

Good afternoon, Ms. Anderson.

ANNA ANDERSON: What is it?

Can I talk to you?

ROBERT STACK: In 1959, during
an appeal of the case, a judge

and two language experts came
to ascertain whether Anna, who

almost always spoke
German or English,

could also speak Russian.

Who are these people?

These are the experts
that your attorney

agreed upon, and--

JAMES BLAIR LOVELL:
Anastasia refused

to allow anyone into her
house except the judge.

I never agreed to
any such meeting.

And when he extended
his hand to shake hers,

she refused to do so, saying
that she was afraid of germs.

In fact, she considered
it a breach of etiquette

on the part of a lowly
German Supreme Court judge

to want to shake the hand
of a Russian grand duchess.

I have made my choices, and
I am willing to live with them.

She She refused to
speak Russian to him,

was totally social, as if this
were just a little tea party,

and at the end of 10
minutes, she dismissed him.

But this meeting is over.

ROBERT STACK: Finally in
1967, a German high court

issued a decision.

There was not enough evidence
to prove Anna Anderson's claim .

The court did state, however,
that the death of Grand Duchess

Anastasia could
not be considered

a verifiable historical fact.

Despite that small
victory, Anna had had

enough of lawyers and courts.

These home movies
of Anna Anderson,

televised here for
the first time,

were shot in Germany in 1967.

The following year, Anna moved
to Charlottesville, Virginia,

where her protector
Gleb Botkin introduced

her to one of his friends.

On December 23, 1968,
Anna married Jack

Manahan, 18 years her junior.

One year later,
Gleb Botkin died,

never wavering in
his belief that Anna

Anderson was Anastasia.

In fact, Anna now called
herself Anastasia Manahan.

She and Jack were a quirky,
eccentric couple, a bane

of their neighbors' existence.

Over the years, Jack's
once beautiful house became

overgrown and full of cats.

Anastasia died in
1984, Jack in 1990.

16 months later
on July 12, 1991,

the imperial family skeletons
were finally exhumed

near Yekaterinburg, Russia.

After the execution, the bodies
had been buried hodgepodge.

Still, everyone expected
to find all seven

Romanovs, as well
as four members

of the family's entourage.

[speaking russian]

TRANSLATOR: In the grave there
was supposed to be 11 bodies,

but only nine were there.

Two were missing.

For a whole year we looked
for the two missing skeletons,

but we could never find them.

The middle face has
been badly fractured.

ROBERT STACK: In an effort to
determine which skeletons were

missing, the Russians invited
American forensic expert Dr.

William Maples to
examine the remains.

It's a shame we
don't have a good--

We looked at the remains,
we photographed the remains,

we measured the remains, and
for each of the nine skeletons

we determined age, sex, race.

We determined that the
czar was most likely there.

Body seven is the czarina.

We had the family
physician, Dr. Botkin.

And we had three
of the daughters,

but I don't believe any
of the three daughters

could be young enough
to be Anastasia,

who was 17 years one month
at the time of the shooting.

ROBERT STACK: Also missing
were the remains of Alexei,

the czar's youngest
child and only son.

It was the absence of
Anastasia's body, however,

which once again
fueled the controversy.

Was it possible that
Anastasia had somehow

managed to escape the carnage?

Whether she could have
survived that night,

I seriously doubt it.

As a forensic scientist looking
at the objective evidence

that we have, we don't have
any evidence that anyone

would have survived.

The damage to the remains
was pretty profound.

[dramatic music]

ROBERT STACK: The
official Bolshevik

account is as follows.

The Romanovs were imprisoned
in the former home

of a wealthy Yekaterinburg
industrialist.

The czar had been
ordered by the Bolsheviks

to awaken his family.

There was unrest in
the town, as supposedly

the Romanovs had to be moved
for their own protection.

[speaking russian]

The girls were given
half an hour to dress.

They carefully laced
on their corsets.

A fortune in precious
stones and gems

had been sewn into the linings.

The Romanovs, along
with Gleb Botkin's

father and three servants,
were led into the cellar.

They had no way of knowing
they were about to die.

The czarina asked for chairs.

Two were brought.

Then abruptly, Yacov
Yurovsky, the Bolshevik

officer in charge, read
the orders of execution.

That

Nicholas, dumbfounded,
asked him to repeat.

[speaking russian]

[gunshots]

When they began shooting,
the bullets bounced off Grand

Duchess and returned to them.

They did not know that in
corsets of Grand Duchess,

the czarina hid their jewels,
and jewels protected them.

They decided that God
protected them, and they--

a little, and they
immediately became crazy,

and disordered shooting began.

JAMES BLAIR LOVELL: In
the first volley of shots,

Anastasia was not hit.

After everyone
else was dead, even

the Bolshevik accounts will tell
you, that Anastasia was alive.

One account has her
standing up and screaming,

while one of the guards stuck a
bayonet through one of her feet

to pin her to the floor, and
the other one clubbed her

in the jaw with a rifle butt.

ROBERT STACK: Assuming
Anastasia was now dead,

Yurovsky's men loaded all
the bodies onto a truck.

However, en route to
the secret burial site,

the truck would get
bogged in the mud

and Yurovsky would decide
to dispose of the bodies

on the spot.

Yurovsky reported that in order
to confuse anyone who might

locate the grave, he
burned two of the bodies

and disposed of the charred
remains right there.

The other nine, he
wrote, were buried

together a few meters away.

Edvard Radzinsky, author of "The
Last Tsar: The Life and death

of Nicholas II," believes
that Yurovsky simply

invented the scenario to cover
up the fact that he could

not account for all the bodies.

They did not see
two bodies when

they buried all the Romanovs
in this terrible grave.

And Yurovksy had only one
opportunity to explain it.

He wrote, "we burned two bodies.

It was the end."

[speaking russian]

TRANSLATOR: Not only Anastasia,
but two of the other daughters

as well were actually alive.

ROBERT STACK: Michael
Medvedev, whose

father was a member of the
execution squad, disagrees.

TRANSLATOR: When
the soldiers began

to move the body from
the wall of execution

onto some stretchers,
the girls regained

consciousness and moaned in
pain, including Anastasia.

And one of the soldiers
named Peter Ermakov,

he killed Anastasia.

ROBERT STACK: And so the
great riddle continues.

Is the body of Grand
Duchess Anastasia

hidden in a shallow
grave near the spot

where the rest of
her family was found,

or did Anastasia somehow
survive the assassination

only to emerge years later as
the eccentric Anna Anderson?

Many of those who knew
Anna best believe the truth

is undeniable.

JAMES BLAIR LOVELL: Anna
Anderson was Anastasia.

All she wanted was for the
world to leave her alone

and for her surviving family
members to publicly acknowledge

what they privately
acknowledged,

and that was simply
her identity.

ROBERT STACK: It was
December of 1948.

Christmas was just
around the corner.

Annawan, Illinois seemed like
Norman Rockwell painting,

wholesome, peaceful, serene.

But while most families
were joyfully anticipating

the arrival of the
holiday season,

one couple, Frank and Hilda
Craun are visited by disaster.

The Crauns were
dirt poor, and lived

with seven of their children
in a small farmhouse

on the outskirts of town.

There was no
plumbing or heating,

and every night children all
crammed into a single bed

to keep warm.

[knocking on door]

Yes?

Hello, are you
Mrs. Hilda Craun?

Yes, I am.

Is your husband home?

No, I'm sorry.

He had to leave
early this morning.

Why?

Is something wrong?

Well, yes, ma'am,
I'm afraid there is.

We have a eviction notice
here from your landlord

and I'm afraid we're going to
have to ask you and your family

to vacate the premises.

Mama, I'm hungry.

Marie, it'll have to wait.

ROBERT STACK: The deputies
learned that the Crauns had

nowhere to go and took pity.

They decided they could
not let the family spend

Christmas out in the cold.

In the spirit of
the season, they

took Hilda and the children
to the only available shelter

in town, the Henry County jail.

Raymond Craun was eight
years old at the time.

Okay, boys, here we go.

They just put us all in a car.

To the jail we come.

It was just a place for us to be
in out of the weather is what I

kind of remember of it
as being, that there

was no other place for us, so.

ROBERT STACK: Suddenly
the jail was transformed.

Its cold cement walls were now
home for a destitute mother

and her seven young children.

The boys and girls were free
to roam throughout the jail,

but in a mystery that
is still troubling,

their parents were forbidden
to see one another.

But Dad wasn't allowed to go
into the jail to see Mother,

and she wasn't
allowed to go out.

And I never understood
that either.

Like I said, they let us
go wherever we wanted to

and do whatever we wanted to.

Can I open the cell?

Sure, you can.

RAYMOND: We used to be able to
go outside whenever we wanted

to, we used to go down and
talk to the other prisoners,

we used to play with things
that we weren't supposed to.

I remember it as a fun
place, because I was only 8

and I didn't know what
was really going on.

Okay, is everybody clear?

Yeah.

There.

We'll make your hair
all nice and clean.

ROBERT STACK: Marie Craun
was four years old in 1948.

Her memories of jailhouse
life are quite different

from her brother Raymond's.

MARIE: One time my mother
was giving me a bath

and the policemen
were walking by.

Good afternoon, ladies.

Hello, Sheriff.

And I got really nervous.

I didn't want to be in that tub.

Every time then after that
when it was time for me to take

a bath, I didn't
want to because I

was afraid these men
would walk back by again

and see me in that tub.

ROBERT STACK: A week
went by, then two.

On December 17, 1948,
the family's plight

was publicized in the
local newspaper, which

carried this photograph,
the only family

portrait known to exist.

In response, many community
members offered assistance.

A well-intentioned
social worker hoped

to brighten the
children's Christmas

by taking them out of jail and
placing them in foster homes

for the holidays.

Hello.

Hi.

SOCIAL WORKER: You
must be Francis?

- Yes.
- I met you, Marie.

You girls are going to come
with me for a little ride.

(CRYING) I don't wanna!

MARIE: I remember that
Francis and I, neither one

wanted to go.

Now, come on.

You'll have fun.

MARIE: We really had never
been away from our mother.

We had always been--
our mother had always

been there and everything else.

But finally we had to go.

I mean, there was
no way that we were

going to get to stay there.

I feel that she felt that if
we went, that we would have

at least a nice Christmas,
one that we had never

actually ever had in our life.

And then, like I say, that's the
last time we, either one of us,

saw our mother after that.

ROBERT STACK: While her
mother remained behind bars,

Marie and Francis were
placed in separate homes

and eventually adopted.

To this day, Marie wonders
whether her mother actually

consented to give
the children away.

Yes, well, come on.

We're gonna have to go now.

Let's go this way.

Maybe she couldn't read and
if she signed any papers that

was giving us away, she didn't
know what she was signing,

that she was maybe told that
she was signing a release form

for us giving her permission for
us to go for over the holidays.

Okay, dinner time, boys.

ROBERT STACK: Christmas
day finally arrived.

At the Henry County
jail, it was a day

without Santa Claus'
stockings, but not completely

without Christmas spirit.

RAYMOND: Reason why I
know it was Christmas

time is because when
we got our dinner tray,

there was a candy bar on it.

It made an impression
on me because I

probably never had anything like
that for quite a while and--

or even anything for
Christmas for a while

that I remembered of, you know.

And this-- it did stick in
my mind and it always will.

ROBERT STACK: Within a month,
Raymond and his brothers

Clarence and Leonard would be
placed in children's homes.

But the fate of their parents,
Frank and Hilda Craun,

remains a mystery to this day.

Marie recalls being told
that they had been banished

from the state of Illinois.

My adopted mother
told me that they

were never to return,
that if they did,

they would be arrested.

That I don't know, but she never
explained why or anything else.

ROBERT STACK: The secrets
about her mother and father

plagued Marie
throughout childhood.

She and her sister
Francis, now named June,

had been adopted by
neighboring families,

who for reasons unknown,
insisted on keeping

the young girls apart.

MARIE: I remember that one
time I went up to the store

and Francis was up
there at the store.

So we walked home
together and we talked.

She's the meanest
teacher there.

MARIE: And then her mother
came and called her in.

June!

Come inside now.

I'll be right back.

OK.

MARIE: And she told
me she'd be back out.

And I waited and waited,
and then finally I

went and knocked on the door.

And her adoptive mother
came to the door and says,

she can't come out,
she has things to do,

and then shut the door.

And I went home and I
was real upset about it.

ROBERT STACK: Years passed.

Marie never stopped wondering
about her brothers and sisters.

Finally in 1966, Marie learned
through a mutual friend

that Raymond, whom she
had not seen in 18 years,

was living in a
nearby community.

MARIE: I remember
driving down the street

looking for Raymond's house.

And then I saw this guy
standing on the porch

and I knew right
away it was Raymond.

And I stopped the car and
jumped out and ran out of there

and it was really wonderful
to see him again after all

that time not being together.

Marie!

Raymond!

Oh my!

Oh my gosh!

RAYMOND: The minute
she got there,

I knew she was my sister.

Just-- it just--

I knew it was her.

And I hadn't seen
her for 18 years,

and it was a real
exciting reunion.

You know, I got a little
lost on my way here,

but as soon as I saw you on
the porch, I knew it was you.

ROBERT STACK: Marie
and Raymond spent hours

reminiscing and catching up on
the years they had spent apart.

Together they vowed to
find out what had happened

to the rest of their family.

For 18 years, Marie and Raymond
suffered through a series

of near misses and false leads.

Finally in 1993 they did
locate one sister, Carol.

Then their story aired
on Unsolved Mysteries.

Incredibly, within a few hours,
two more sisters and three

brothers had been found.

On July 9, 1994, we were at
Raymond's house in Houston,

Texas as the Craun
family gathered

for their first reunion
in more than 45 years.

Marie's dream had
finally come true.

MARIE: I've been looking
forward to this for a long time

because I didn't know if
I would ever get to really

meet them in person or not.

I feel that the
love is still there.

It never went away,
it's always been there.

And I always wondered about
them and now I'll finally

get to find out
what's been going

on with their life
and everything

and get reacquainted.

ROBERT STACK: For the
oldest sister, Betty Jane,

the reunion was
particularly emotional.

BETTY JANE: I knew that
was Marie right away.

Just by looking at her,
I knew that was Marie,

and that's the first
one I embraced.

I was very happy
to see them all.

And they all started coming to
me and I started going to them,

hugging them and everything, so.

I was very happy and I
feel good, I really do.

ROBERT STACK: For Raymond,
the end of the search

meant a new beginning.

I know you're going
to be tired in a week.

[laughing]

No, we won't.

We got a lot of
catching up to do.

Yeah, we do.

I always knew that--

their names and
everything, but I just--

I didn't know how to go about
finding them or anything.

We hunted and we
just get turned down

every place we turned to try to
find them until this come along

and it worked.

[laughing]

ROBERT STACK: When we
return, authorities

need your help to
find a man suspected

of killing his girlfriend.

Kissimmee, Florida is a
lakeside resort town about

10 miles south of Orlando.

BARBARA: Paula!

Mom!

BARBARA: Oh, honey.

Oh, it is so good to see you.

I am so glad that you're here.

ROBERT STACK: On July 9, 1986,
22-year-old Paula Pasciak

and her boyfriend
Jerry Gervasoni

arrived from New Jersey to
visit Paula's mother, Barbara.

OK, let's go.

They stayed there
about one week.

We all had a good time together.

Paula was as happy as a
lark, the two of them were.

I mean, they were very--

together, they were
just happy-go-lucky.

Thanks for dinner.

It was really good,
wasn't it, Jerry?

ROBERT STACK: During
the visit, Paula

and Jerry slept in
Barbara's bedroom

while she slept on a couch.

So do you guys have any
plans for tomorrow or what?

Um, well, I was thinking
maybe we'd go visit

my relatives down in Miami.

ROBERT STACK: On Sunday, four
nights after they arrived,

Paula and Jerry told Barbara
they would be leaving

the next morning for
a short excursion

to another part of Florida.

We're getting kind of tired
so, I think we'll sleep.

BARBARA: I got up
the next morning.

OK, sweetie.
For

BOTH: Goodnight.

And I thought I heard them up.

I didn't know whether
they were or not,

so I didn't bother
to say goodbye.

Maybe if I had, you know, things
would have been different.

How long has it been this way?

For a couple of days.

ROBERT STACK: Over
the next five days,

an odd smell began to waft
through Barbara's mobile home,

however she and a friend
were unable to determine

where it was coming.

Well, on Saturday
morning I got up,

and by now the odor had really
become strong to the point

where I had to search around
to see what was causing this.

ROBERT STACK: Barbara
searched the entire trailer

and found nothing.

The last place she looked
was in her own bedroom.

Hidden under the bed,
wrapped in a bamboo curtain,

was Paula's body.

At first--

I wasn't sure what I seen.

Just didn't expect it.

I had to stop and think, is
this real or am I seeing things?

ROBERT STACK: Paula Pasciak
had been strangled to death

and left under the
bed for nearly a week.

The prime suspect
was Jerry Gervasoni,

but he had dropped from sight.

Less than a month
later, authorities

got their first break when they
questioned a friend of Jerry's.

Just three days
after the murder,

he had picked Jerry up at the
Newark, New Jersey airport.

He claimed that Jerry virtually
confessed to killing Paula.

What would you say if I
told you I killed someone?

Bull.

I-- I don't know
what happened.

I just freaked out, I lost it.

Over what?

I needed some quick cash, so I
swiped the old lady's paycheck.

PAULA: What are you doing?

JERRY: Nothing.

Why are you in my
mother's drawers?

I was just looking
for a lighter.

Wait, wait, wait.

Wait.

These are her
papers and I saw you

put something in your pocket.

Are you trying to rip her off?

No.

Then let me see
what's in your pocket.

- No.
- Let me see--

Don't touch me!

--what's in your pocket.

Get out of my way!

You liar!

I didn't mean to hurt her.

I broke her neck.

Look, man, if you've
done something like that,

you're not getting my
car and you're not coming

back to my place, you got it?

I scared ya.

I was just kidding.

DET.

MARK ALLEN THOMSPON:
The witness was

very surprised when he learned
that Paula had been murdered.

I got you.
You should have seen your face.

After seven years, I
believe that Jerry has decided

that he's no longer wanted or
that we're no longer looking

for him and he's able to
roam the streets freely

without worry of being arrested.

ROBERT STACK: But
the seven years

since Paula Pasciak's murder
have been filled with pain

for her mother Barbara.

In that time, Barbara has seen
her own life gradually unravel.

I've become a very
angry, very hateful person.

Ah, your life is never the same.

A part of you dies.

ROBERT STACK: Update.

British Columbia, Canada.

On October 21, 1993,
Jerry Gervasoni

was arrested in the small
community of Salt Springs

Island, where he had been
living under the assumed name

Gordon MacIntyre.

When our program
aired in Canada,

Gervasoni's former landlord
recognized him and immediately

called authorities.

I come home and sit down
to dinner, about 9:30,

quarter to 10:00,
and flip on the TV

and there was this
black and white photo

of Gordon McIntyre, my tenant.

ROBERT STACK: Once in
custody, the suspect

vehemently insisted that he
truly was Gordon MacIntyre.

But fingerprints
soon confirm that he

was in fact Gerald Gervasoni.

At the local airport,
Gervasoni tried

to avoid photographers
as he was hustled

out of a waiting airplane.

He was then flown
to a deportation

hearing in Victoria, Canada.

Gervasoni will be held there
pending extradition to Florida,

where he will face charges in
the murder of Paula Pasciak.

Join me next time.

Perhaps you may be able
to help solve a mystery.

[erie music]