All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S06E22.480p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD 2.0.x264-AJP69_track3_[eng]

[music playing]

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: This is Walpole
State Prison, 30 miles south

of Boston, Massachusetts,
a stone fortress, housing

all manner of
dangerous criminals,

a place where violence is
an everyday fact of life.

Hey, Logan, I want
this place sealed off.

Nobody goes in or out.

Hey, notify the state police.

ROBERT STACK: On the morning
of November 26, 1973,

an inmate was found, stabbed
to death in his cell.

The victim was
Walpole's most famous

prisoner and perhaps the
most notorious criminal

of his time--

Albert DeSalvo, the
Boston strangler.

Eight years earlier,
DeSalvo had confessed

to murdering 13 women during
an 18-month siege that

had terrorized all of Boston.

But many people who
knew DeSalvo, including

some members of the
police department,

thought the
confession was bogus.

In fact, DeSalvo was
murdered the night

before he was to meet with
his former psychiatrist

and a reporter to finally
reveal, he claimed,

the truth about the strangling.

For those most
intimately involved

with the investigation,
DeSalvo's death

added another layer of mystery
to an ongoing controversy.

Was Albert DeSalvo
the Boston Strangler?

I was quite sure that he was
not, and could not have been,

30 years ago.

His homicide, just before
he was going to talk to me,

convinced me even more.

And now that I've had an
opportunity to review the tapes

of his interrogation
and confession,

I am even more convinced
that he was not,

and probably could not have
been, the Boston Strangler.

Most people today
assume that Albert DeSalvo

was the Boston Strangler.

Yet few know that he
was never convicted

in court, only in the press.

Tonight, in addition
to Dr. Ames Robey,

you'll meet Effley Bailey,
DeSalvo's defense attorney,

and George Nassar, a prison
inmate who some believe

was the real Boston Strangler.

Join me for this fascinating
investigation, as well as

these other
intriguing mysteries.

Also, we'll take you
to Czechoslovakia

for a remarkable saga
of selfless heroism.

When an American bomber
crash landed near her village

during World War II,
17-year-old Helen Elas

risked her life to
shelter and protect

the crew from the Nazis.

Now Helen needs
your help to find

the American airmen that she
came to regard as family.

On May 3, 1991,
19-year-old Kevin Wheel

of Hawaiian Gardens,
California, was

gunned down, the innocent victim
of a gang-related shooting.

Ever since, his
mother and father

have waged a lonely,
personal crusade to track

down their son's killers.

Perhaps someone watching tonight
has vital information that will

bring their quest to an end.

[theme music]

In the early 1960s, Boston
was a city gripped with fear.

Between June of 1962
and November of 1963,

10 women were found murdered
in their apartments.

The first was Anna Slesers,
age 55; next, Helen Blake, 65;

and on the same day,
Nina Nichols 68.

Then came Ida Irga, 75; Jane
Sullivan, 67; Sophie Clark,

age 20; Patricia Bissette,
23; Beverly Samans, 23;

Evelyn Corbin, 58; and
Joann Graff, 23 years old.

Four women in their early
20s, six women 55 years of age

or older, 10 women with
almost nothing in common

except the manner
in which they died,

strangled to death in
their own apartments.

For the public, every night
was an exercise in terror.

The police were frustrated.

No one seemed to
have any answers.

There are stories of women
rushing out to dog pounds

to buy every available
stray mutt for protection.

Locksmiths reported a
run on their businesses.

People were obviously
quite clearly frightened

by whatever was out there.

ROBERT STACK: The
police speculated

that the killer was a
rabid woman hater who

chose his victims at random.

On January 4, 1964,
19-year-old Mary Sullivan

was found strangled to
death in her bedroom.

She would be the 11th and
last acknowledged victim

of the Boston Strangler.

10 months later, few people
noticed when a man named

Albert DeSalvo was arrested
on unrelated sexual assault

charges.

No one imagined that this
itinerant handyman would one

day become a household name.

Although he was married
and had two children,

32-year-old Albert DeSalvo
had an extensive history

of sexual offenses.

He also had a propensity
for collecting nicknames.

Long before the
Boston Strangler,

DeSalvo was dubbed
the Measuring Man.

Good morning.
Wow, your neighbors were right.

You really are beautiful.

My name is Jack Johnson.

I'm from the Cambridge Modeling
Agency over in Cambridge.

Oh, you must have
the wrong apartment.

From your looks, I think I've
got the right doll right here.

ROBERT STACK: Under the pretense
of recruiting fashion models,

DeSalvo would talk
his way into houses.

He would measure women for
clothing and then fondle them.

Here's the contract I
was talking to you about.

And I'm going to need to take
some measurements for the gown.

ROBERT STACK: DeSalvo's
escapades would

eventually catch up with him.

In March of 1961, he
was arrested and sent

to a state correctional
facility for one year.

Soon after DeSalvo's
release, police

began receiving complaints about
a sex offender whom they came

to call the Green Man, a
maintenance worker who smooth

talked his way into
women's apartments

and then assaulted them.

Good morning.

How are you?

Fine, how are you?

Good, the, uh,
superintendent told me to take

a look at your plumbing.

She would let him in.

He would make an
overture to her.

If the overture were
repelled, he would leave.

But a surprising
number of times,

he wasn't, according to him.

And he ended up making
love with the woman.

Later, his assaults became
much more aggressive.

And eventually these
were the charges

that he was arrested for, for
sexually assaulting four women.

ROBERT STACK:
DeSalvo was arrested

for committing unnatural acts.

He was remanded to Bridgewater
State Mental Hospital.

Dr. Ames Robey was
the medical director.

I, um, I see here
that you've been charged

with a series of molestations.

Well, molestation may
be too strong a word.

Well, how do you mean?

Well, I mean, all
the women I was with,

they had a very good time.

Well, some of them
didn't enjoy it.

That is, after all,
why you're here.

Yeah, well, they-- they
enjoyed it at the time.

Well, the first thing that
was so obvious about Albert

was his incredible need
to be somebody important.

How many women
would you say you

introduced yourself
to with your measuring

and repair work schemes?

Uh, 600.

600?

Uh, well, um, probably more,
actually, uh, over 1,000.

And how many of them enjoyed
their experience with you?

All of them.

You're confident of that?

Yeah, I am.

He would brag about
almost anything.

He gave the feeling, although
he didn't say so at that time,

that he sort of wanted
to be as well known as,

in quotes, "the
Boston Strangler."

ROBERT STACK: Albert DeSalvo
was about to get his wish.

Three months later, George
Nassar, a fellow inmate

at Bridgewater, engaged his
attorney, F. Lee Bailey,

in an odd conversation
about the Boston Strangler

Listen.

Um, there's one other
thing I'd like to ask you.

Go ahead.

If a man was the strangler,
the guy who killed all

those women, would
it be possible

for him to publish his story
and make some money with it?

You mean before or after this
man is tried for the crime?

Before.

It's perfectly
possible to publish.

He asked me whether or not it
would be possible for someone

who had done the
stranglings to write a book

and provide money
for his family.

And my off-hand
answer was, sure.

But you might go to the
electric chair as a consequence.

Later on, I was asked to go
down and see this fellow,

Albert DeSalvo, by my client.

Albert, specifically, what
do you want me to do for you?

I got a wife.

I got a-- a two-year-old son
and a seven-year-old daughter.

And, um, I know I'm going
to be locked up for--

for the rest of my life.

I just hope it's in a hospital.

BAILEY: I was a little
incredulous because everybody

develops a profile.

You're looking for
a monster, somebody,

you know, jowls are dripping.

And it just didn't seem to fit.

There are obvious
problems, uh,

about confessing
to a crime in print

when there hasn't been a trial.

BAILEY: He wanted to be
able to tell his story.

He said, I would like to
find out why I am like this.

Maybe people could give
me tests or something.

And I would like to take
care of my family if I could.

Those are the
things I would like.

Now you tell me what's possible.

Before we even
consider that, I need

to know what that story is.

I need details.

All right, well, as
George probably told you,

I'm the one they're looking
for, the one that did

all the stranglings, all 13.

I thought there were only 11.

There were two that the cops
didn't know about, that they

haven't tagged me with yet.
- OK.

BAILEY: I had no way of knowing
whether or not he was telling

the truth, fantasizing
because he was crazy, or had

read a lot of things
in the newspapers

and wanted to be famous.

ACTOR AS BAILEY: Let's
move on to Sophie Clark.

ROBERT STACK: Two
days later, Bailey

returned to Bridgewater,
armed with a tape recorder

and a list of questions.

With DeSalvo's
consent, Bailey had

struck a rather unorthodox
deal with the Boston police.

They provided him with details
only the strangler would know.

In return, Bailey was
guaranteed that the tapes would

never be admissible in court.

I remember that, um, I
went to the dresser to get,

you know, like, a
stocking or something

to wrap around her neck.

And I knocked a pack of
cigarettes on the floor.

ACTOR AS DESALVO (ON TAPE): I
knocked a pack of cigarettes

on the floor.

And, uh, I left them
there when I left.

Oh, this guy has got to be it.

ROBERT STACK: Later, Bailey
met with the officers

assigned to the case.

John Donovan was then
chief of homicide.

I think we've got to
follow up in every way--

more questions, more
details, more everything.

JOHN DONOVAN: We heard him
answer correctly the question

that I had given Mr. Bailey.

And we liked what we heard.

His description of
the crime scenes,

It was just so accurate that
that impressed me very much.

We have to proceed
with caution.

ROBERT STACK: However, when
Dr. Ames Robey heard the tape,

he was anything but impressed.

He was convinced there
was another explanation

for DeSalvo's knowledge
of the crime scenes.

Can we get a transcript?

AMES ROBEY: Albert
indicated to us

that he had gone to
the various sites

that the newspapers had
named after the police tapes

and the like were off the
doors in the apartments,

just to sort of be there
and see what it was like.

I'm fascinated, you know.

I-- I just want
to be there, walk

around, get a feeling for it.

ROBERT STACK: Dr. Robey
says that during the course

of his sessions with DeSalvo,
he discovered that DeSalvo

had a photographic memory.

Perhaps DeSalvo had visited
the victims' apartments,

or perhaps he was merely
repeating what someone

else had described for him.

As police began to
suspect DeSalvo,

Robey began to believe that
DeSalvo's friend, George

Nassar, was somehow involved.

AMES ROBEY: I first
began to wonder

about something going on
when no other inmates would

come near them.

And they would
immediately stop talking

if any one of the
guards or staff

came anywhere near
where they could hear.

But on this ward, they would
have extensive conversations.

About what, of course,
we didn't know.

ROBERT STACK: For
30 years, people

have speculated
about George Nassar

and his possible
involvement in the killings.

Nassar, a career
criminal, is currently

imprisoned for shooting and
killing a gas station attendant

shortly after the strangler
claimed his final victim.

Tonight, for the
first time, Nassar

has agreed to discuss
his role in the case

and his relationship
with Albert DeSalvo.

With Albert DeSalvo, I
was simply an associate.

I've done the same thing
with many, many prisoners.

People come to me and
ask me for advice.

I give it to them.

If it's worthy of
me assisting them,

I assist them, for
my reasons, because I

feel it's a worthy thing to do.

ROBERT STACK: By order of the
Massachusetts attorney general,

news of DeSalvo's confession
was kept under wraps.

Privately, the authorities
raised the number of strangler

victims from 11 to 13.

But within the
police department,

there was a split
over whether DeSalvo

was, in fact, the killer.

I really couldn't break
it down, percentage-wise.

Probably a little
more than 50% believe

DeSalvo was the strangler.

And a little less
than 50% believed

he was not the strangler.

ROBERT STACK:
Inevitably, someone

leaked the story of the
confession to the local papers,

and a media circus ensued.

OK, now listen up.

I don't want you
to be frightened.

Be

ROBERT STACK: In response
to the news coverage,

two women came forward--

one a survivor of a possible
strangler attack, the other

a neighbor of one
of the victims.

On March 20, 1965,
they were brought

to Bridgewater to see if they
recognized any of the inmates.

Do you see somebody?

Which one?

The gentleman all the
way in the back, right next

to the guard.

Next to the guard?

Yes, next to the guard.

Are you sure?

ROBERT STACK: Surprisingly,
the one familiar face

did not belong to Albert
DeSalvo, but to George Nassar.

George Nassar
would fit the profile

of the Boston Strangler.

We found nothing that would
rule him out, not even one iota.

I do not kill women.

I've never conceived of it.

I wouldn't conceive of it.

I have great respect
and regard for women,

beginning with my mother,
who brought me up that way.

We had people from
all over the country

with different theories, wanting
to get a piece of the action.

George Nassar was
eliminated as the strangler.

I don't think he had the
profile of the strangler.

George Nassar used a gun.

All right, Albert, I want
you to imagine a calendar.

ROBERT STACK: Albert
DeSalvo remained

the state's prime
and only suspect,

even though there was no
physical evidence that linked

him to any of the killings.

On the advice of F. Lee Bailey,
DeSalvo underwent hypnosis.

You tear that off.

Then you do it with each sheet,
back farther and farther.

We had him hypnotized
and age regressed right

through one of the homicides.

And the things that
developed in the presence

of a very bright
medical hypnotist

were of great interest.

I didn't want to hurt her.

I had to--

I had to hurt her to help her.

ROBERT STACK: This
recreation was

based upon F. Lee
Bailey's recollections

of the hypnosis session.

Albert, when you were
strangling that woman, who

were you really trying to hurt?

I don't know.

I think you do know, Albert.

My mother.

Yes, Albert, tell me how
you really feel about her.

I love her.

No, Albert, no, you don't.

Yes, I do.

She took care of me.

Albert--

I love her.

Tell me how you
really feel about her.

- I love her!
- Albert!

- I love her!
- Albert.

[shouting]

It's all right, Albert.

It's all right.

I love her.

You can sleep.

The session seemed to
reveal that DeSalvo had had

strained relationships with
every significant woman

in his life.

We found an
involvement of his wife,

who he married in
Germany, his daughter,

who had a physical disability
that troubled him greatly,

his mother, for whom he had
a love-hate relationship.

And it was just the beginning.

The answers were
almost implied

in the question, which
at least from my training

is something you don't do.

ROBERT STACK: Ames Robey
observed the session

and came to a remarkably
different conclusion.

I was not at all
convinced that anything

had been uncovered and was a
little surprised later when

Mr. Bailey announced that what
had occurred under hypnosis

was definitive evidence.

Albert, even with the
crimes he was charged with,

he was considered
gentle, polite,

his sexual proclivities,
his general attitude.

He was not angry and hostile.

And he presented as a
rather likable individual

so that for all
of these reasons,

as well as his being
married and others,

he just simply didn't fit.

Once you were inside the
apartment, what did you see?

ROBERT STACK: In
the summer of 1965,

the Massachusetts
attorney general's office

conducted their own
series of interrogations,

which once again were
not admissible in court.

The transcripts of those
interviews were never released.

Recently, however,
author Susan Kelly

managed to obtain a
copy while researching

her book about the stranglings,
called "Deadly Charade."

When you read the transcript
of those interrogations,

and you come to a point
where Albert gives

an incorrect answer
to a question,

he is guided to give
the correct answer.

And Albert, who was a smart
guy, caught on very quickly.

I, uh, I remember
there were two chairs.

I remember I took
the chairs out.

And I remember laying
them down on their back.

Where did you get the
chairs, from the dining room?

Yeah, from the dining room.

The principal reason I think
the transcripts or the tapes

of Albert's confession
were never made public

is simply that whoever read
them or heard them would have

reacted to them the same as I
did, which was simply to say,

this man was not the
Boston Strangler.

He didn't kill anyone.

They had the right
guy, beyond question.

No one has ever come
up with anything

meaningful to contradict that.

The question was, how could
we try him as the strangler

and close the file
in the public mind?

ROBERT STACK: F. Lee Bailey
struck a deal with the state.

On January 10, 1967, Albert
DeSalvo went on trial, but not

for any of the stranglings.

Instead, he was tried
for sexual assault

and other crimes in connection
with the Green Man case.

In return, the state agreed not
to press for the death penalty.

This session of the court--

That's all we wanted.

Nobody ever wanted Albert on
the street, including Albert.

And to ask not to be executed
so that he could be studied

seemed to me a
reasonable objective.

I never heard a cogent
word of argument

from any of the authorities.

They didn't want to
kill him, either.

ROBERT STACK: After less than
four hours of deliberation,

the jury reached its verdict.

"On all counts of
breaking and entering,

and on all counts
of unnatural acts,

the jury finds the
defendant guilty."

ROBERT STACK: DeSalvo had been
hoping to be institutionalized

at a state mental hospital.

But his insanity defense failed.

In total, Albert
DeSalvo was found guilty

on eight criminal counts.

He was sentenced
to life in prison.

ACTOR AS JUDGE: --to be
imprisoned for the balance

of his natural life.

It was a much
more severe sentence

than he would have received
normally on the sex charges

of which he'd been convicted.

But he was being sent to
prison as the Boston Strangler.

It was that simple.

I think the most difficult
part of all of this

was the feeling that whether
they had it solved or not,

they had quieted the
public's concern.

So theoretically,
everyone was happy.

ROBERT STACK: At
Walpole State Prison,

DeSalvo was reunited with his
old friend, George Nassar.

Once again,
questions were raised

regarding Nassar's
possible involvement

with the stranglings.

Because Al wasn't tried,
this case had become mythical.

The characters were
like in a play.

I mean, you can manipulate them.

You can say, well, let's
make him the suspect,

or let's say he isn't.

It had become a
real media event,

in the sense that it became
part of, like, a public fantasy

of what really happened.

It became a continuing
mystery when

it should have been resolved.

And I was part of the mystery.

ROBERT STACK: The Boston
Strangler continued

to tantalize the public.

Over the next few years,
no less than three

books and a Hollywood
movie chronicle

the life of Albert DeSalvo.

Outside of prison, he
had achieved immortality.

But inside, he
feared his notoriety

had made him a marked man.

Finally, after more than
six years behind bars,

DeSalvo asked to be transferred
to a cell in the prison

infirmary, where he
would be isolated

from the other inmates.

On the evening of
November 25, 1973,

DeSalvo telephoned his former
psychiatrist, Dr. Ames Robey.

[phone ringing]

Hello.

ACTOR AS DESALVO (ON
PHONE): Dr. Robey?

Yes?

ACTOR AS DESALVO (ON
PHONE): Albert DeSalvo.

Well, Albert, this
is quite a surprise.

Is everything all right?

BAILEY: He wanted to
talk to me to tell

me the, quote, real story.

Listen.

I think it would be
a good idea for you

to come down here tomorrow.

There are some things I
need to talk to you about.

Well, can't we just
talk here on the phone?

ACTOR AS DESALVO (ON
PHONE): No, no, no,

it's nothing I can talk
about over the phone.

Listen.

I've got a reporter coming down
here at 2 o'clock tomorrow.

I think it would be a good
idea for you to come as well.

He didn't say what
the real story was.

And I could only hope that
this is what I would hear,

but I never heard it.

I want everybody
assembled who was

in this infirmary in my
office as soon as possible.

ROBERT STACK: The next morning,
before DeSalvo could talk

to Dr. Robey and
the reporter, he

was found murdered
in his cell, stabbed

repeatedly in the chest.

Two theories immediately
surfaced among the inmates.

Some believe that DeSalvo
was murdered in a drug deal.

Others, including
George Nassar, say

DeSalvo was killed in
a dispute over cuts

of meat he was allegedly selling
on the prison black market.

Obviously, I was not going
to go for the interview.

And the assumption I had
was somebody found out.

Somebody didn't want
that interview happening.

And I think they have said
before, dead men tell no tales.

ROBERT STACK: Three inmates
were eventually charged

with Albert DeSalvo's murder.

But their trials
ended in hung juries,

and no one was ever convicted.

For those who believe
that DeSalvo was guilty,

his death was a fitting climax
to a brutal reign of terror.

But there lies the rub.

Was Albert DeSalvo in
reality the Boston Strangler?

Albert DeSalvo was
the Boston Strangler.

We learned that at great and
tragic expense to the community

and then wasted him away.

We could have learned
a lot from Albert.

We didn't.

I think Albert
became the Boston

Strangler because
he wanted so much

to be the Boston Strangler.

It was the most important
thing in his life.

For somebody who
felt all his life

that he was a nobody,
all of a sudden,

he could become world renowned.

Not many people are handed a
golden opportunity to do that.

Albert was.

ROBERT STACK: In
death, as in life,

Albert DeSalvo remains
shrouded in mystery.

Shortly after his
murder, authorities

came across a collection of
poems he had written in prison.

One of them provided a cryptic,
enigmatic footnote to the saga

of the Boston Strangler.

ACTOR AS DESALVO: "Here is
the story of the strangler,

yet untold, the man
who claims he murdered

13 women, young and old.

Today, he sits in a
prison cell, deep inside,

only a secret he can tell.

People everywhere
are still in doubt.

Is the strangler in
prison, or roaming about?"

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: Next,
the dramatic story

of a young woman
from Czechoslovakia

who saved an
American bomber crew

during the Second World War.

[theme music]

The Second World War, one of
the darkest chapters in history,

but even the tragedy
of war is sometimes

eased by occasional acts
of kindness and compassion.

Over the years,
"Unsolved Mysteries"

has brought you several stories
about survivors searching

for that one special person
who offered them comfort

in the midst of the hardship.

We've even solved
some of these cases

and shared in the
joyful celebration

of friendships
which have spanned

more than half a century.

Rarely has a cause for reunion
touched as deeply as the story

you are about to see.

Recently, we traveled
to the Czech Republic

to film the incredible saga of
Helen Elas, a woman who showed

remarkable resilience in the
face of overwhelming odds,

whose courage and devotion
may have saved the lives

of an American bomber crew.

Helen was born in
1927 in the village

of Kezmarok, Czechoslovakia.

When Helen's mother
died, Helen's childhood

became a nightmare.

[speaking czech]

ROBERT STACK: She was treated
with contempt by her stepmother

and regularly beaten
by her father.

[speaking czech]

I think he blamed me
for my mother's death.

To my sister, he was good.

To my brothers, he was good.

Only to me, he just
tossed me aside like

I don't belong in the family.

ROBERT STACK:
Rejected by her family

and often denied the
essentials, Helen

was forced to learn the
lessons of survival on her own.

She found work on a nearby farm.

And in exchange, she was
given food and clothing.

But the end of each
workday meant a return

to the harsh realities
of her own home.

Often Helen would escape to
the forest, the one place

where she could find solace.

Even the wild animals
accepted her presence.

HELEN ELAS: The woods
were very important to me

because it was so quiet there.

Nobody yelled at me.

Nobody pushed me around.

I was my own self there.

This was my hiding place.

That's why I loved it there.

And I spent many nights
over there, many nights.

ROBERT STACK: One day,
while walking in the woods,

Helen discovered a
mysterious, hidden entryway.

She was instantly
seized with curiosity.

HELEN ELAS: I went inside,
and I saw this is a tunnel.

I was surprised.

I didn't know where the
tunnel was going to go.

ROBERT STACK: The
narrow entrance

gave way to a remarkable network
of underground passageways,

perhaps long-forgotten
escape routes

for a medieval castle that
stood at the outskirts of town.

For Helen, the tunnel soon
became like a second home.

Every time I come there,
I bring something with me,

like with a blanket,
I bring it with me.

And I bring lots
of hay, you know.

And that hay keeps you
warm from that floor.

And I made it like my
own home there, you know.

And nobody knew nothing
about this place, nobody.

ROBERT STACK: However,
the safe haven Helen

had created for herself
could not protect her

from the forces of history that
would soon sweep across Europe.

In 1938, Hitler's armies
marched into Czechoslovakia.

Within a year, the
Second World War would

engulf most of the continent.

By 1943, the medieval castle
was a Nazi headquarters.

Helen, then 17, had come to
despise the Nazi presence.

More and more, she took refuge
in her secret hiding place.

One afternoon, the
quiet of the forest

was pierced by the sound of
a sputtering airplane engine

almost directly overhead.

[engine sputtering]

HELEN ELAS: I saw a plane.

It was on fire.

And I saw it coming
down, down, down.

And I ran.

I ran there.

I ran so fast.

ROBERT STACK: An
American bomber had

crash landed in a remote field.

As the crew stumbled
from the wreckage,

Helen said she made a
decision that would forever

change the course of her life.
- [speaking czech]

Hold it.
Hold it.

Hold it.

Something about
a hiding place.

[speaking czech]

Nazis, there are
Nazis all around us.

Come on.
Let's go.

Follow the girl.

Follow the girl.

ROBERT STACK: Helen led
the men to the one place

where she knew
they would be safe.

HELEN ELAS: I was so scared.

I mean, I was scared.

If Germans would
get them, I know

what they would do with them.

I know they would kill
them, every one of them.

And nobody would even know
that they were killed.

ROBERT STACK: Helen had placed
herself squarely in danger,

but she refused to
shirk the responsibility

of caring for the men, two of
whom were severely injured.

At the local hospital,
Helen scoured

the trash in search of discarded
bandages and ointments.

HELEN ELAS: I
couldn't tell nobody.

I couldn't tell nobody.

I was scared that
if I tell somebody,

somebody is going to squeak.

And they are dead.

And I just couldn't
allow that to happen.

She's got bandages.

Oh, that's great.

You're an angel, darling.

Get 'em out here.

ROBERT STACK: Helen
says that as soon

as the injured men
began to recover,

she turned to a
greater challenge.

So many men in hiding required
plentiful amounts of food.

Helen surreptitiously set
aside portions of the harvest

to take to them.

With no money at her disposal,
Helen created a clever ruse

to obtain additional food.

[speaking czech]

ROBERT STACK: She
charmed A local baker

with a heartbreaking
tale of helping a widow

and her 12 hungry children.

HELEN ELAS: The longer
I was with them,

I cared for them more and more.

You know, I was
doing lots of work,

I mean, carrying
all the food so far,

and stealing and everything,
cheating and everything,

you know.

And this was not
easy for me because I

had never done this before.

But I had to do it for them.

And they were grateful.

You know, you could see
their eyes, love for me.

I know that because I felt
it about them like this, too.

ROBERT STACK: For
several weeks, Helen

managed to keep up her charade.

But her partisan activities
did not go unnoticed.

In August of 1943,
Helen was apparently

betrayed by her own stepmother.

HELEN ELAS: I saw
her on that corner,

talking to those two men.

And I was scared.

I just knew that
something is not right.

ROBERT STACK: In desperation,
Helen turned to the only place

where she might find
a sympathetic ear,

the local Catholic church.

HELEN ELAS: When I
went to him, I cried.

I said, somebody has to help me.

I've got no place
to go, only to you.

You've got to help me.

You've got to help me.

But you have to show it to
me that I can trust you.

And then he told me, he says,
I work for the underground.

Trust me.

I said, OK.
Prove it to me.

And he says, come tomorrow.

[radio tuning]

ROBERT STACK: Helen says
she returned to the church

the next day.

In the privacy of
the confessional,

the priest showed
her the two-way radio

the underground used to
communicate with England.

MAN (ON RADIO): You
can trust the priest.

He's with the underground, over.

HELEN ELAS: It was
such a relief for me.

And so then I told him how
many men and where they are

and how he can find them.

ROBERT STACK: Helen
says her decision

to contact the underground
had been made just in time.

[speaking czech]

ROBERT STACK: Helen says
she was interrogated

and beaten for three days.

HELEN ELAS: They didn't
get nothing from me,

just I don't know anything.

I'd rather die myself before I
was gonna kill all those men.

That's the way was my feeling.

And I was prepared
for it, really.

I was prepared for this,
that I was gonna die.

ROBERT STACK: But nothing
could have prepared Helen

for the horrors she
was about to endure,

a concentration camp in Poland.

[speaking german]

ROBERT STACK: Helen says that
she and several other women

were selected as
human guinea pigs

in barbaric experiments
performed by SS doctors.

Helen was injected
with unknown drugs

and medications, which caused
her to become violently ill.

MAN: [speaking german]

ROBERT STACK: The
living hell lasted

for two excruciating years.

Finally, in 1945, the camp
was liberated by the Allies.

Helen was among the survivors.

In 1948, Helen married a
fellow Czechoslovakian refugee.

They later emigrated
to the United States.

Helen believes the experiments
conducted by the SS

left her physically
unable to bear children.

However, Helen feels
that saving the airmen

was well worth her own
personal sacrifice.

In fact, over the years,
she has come to regard

the men almost as her sons.

HELEN ELAS: They are to me
precious boys, really precious.

They were much older from
me, but they were my boys.

I hope to find them,
every one of them.

And I would hug them,
and I would kiss them.

And I would be very happy, oh.

ROBERT STACK: In a
moment, a mother's

steadfast search for the gang
members who murdered her son.

[theme music]

In recent years,
thousands of Americans

have died in gang-related
violence, most of them

in large, urban areas.

The numbers are staggering
and still growing.

In fact, for young people in
a big city or its suburbs,

it has become almost impossible
to be a high school student

and not come into contact with
someone who belongs to a gang.

This is Teresa Wheel.

On May 3, 1991, her
only son, Kevin,

was gunned down by
four suspected gang

members in Hawaiian Gardens,
California, just south

of Los Angeles.

Ever since, Teresa
and her husband

have waged a lonely crusade
to find out who killed Kevin

and why.

TERESA WHEEL: Kevin was what you
might say a typical teenager.

He loved his music really loud.

He was a little bit
on the shy side.

He had a sense of humor
you wouldn't believe.

And he always, always
had a smile on his face.

ROBERT STACK: But Kevin Wheel
was not immune to the reality

of life on the street.

There was significant gang
activity at Hawaiian Gardens,

and Kevin knew
several gang members.

It was a casual association
that would prove fatal.

May 3, 1991, Kevin has
spent most of the evening

at a friend's house.

Around 11:30 PM,
he was seen driving

south along Norwalk Boulevard,
apparently on his way home.

According to
eyewitnesses, Kevin was

approaching 221st Street when
a vehicle began to follow him.

[tires squealing]

[gunfire]

Kevin was struck twice in
the head and three times

in the back.

An hour later, Kevin
Wheel was dead.

The investigators immediately
suspected that he had been

the victim of a gang shooting.

Some of Kevin's friends were
Hawaiian Gardens gang members,

but that doesn't mean that
Kevin was a gang member.

He just associated with them.

And I feel the other gang
recognized the car that

may have had some
of Kevin's friends

in it from time to time who were
Hawaiian Gardens gang members.

And they just keyed
on the car, and not

the occupants of the vehicle.

I didn't want
Kevin's case to be just

another gang-related shooting.

I didn't want it to be another
shooting that went unsolved.

I made a promise that I would do
everything in my power to catch

these guys who murdered him.

Think we got enough
of these things?

Yeah, I hope so.

ROBERT STACK: In the days and
weeks after Kevin's murder,

his parents, Teresa and Stan,
posted thousands of flyers

around the area
where he was shot.

They even managed
to pull together

$10,000 in reward money.

TERESA WHEEL: When the
investigation first started,

I thought there was so
much information at first

that this probably
wouldn't be no problem.

And being that Kevin wasn't
a gang member, you know,

people would talk.

But I found out that
I was really wrong.

Gang shooting investigations
are very frustrating.

Within the gang culture, the
reason the witnesses are not

coming forward is because
they feel that being a snitch

is worse than death itself.

TERESA WHEEL: The hardest part
for Stan and I right now is,

I think, dealing with the anger,
the anger that our son is dead

and buried in a grave at 19.

There was no rhyme
or reason why anybody

would want to shoot Kevin.

He's never been in any fights
or disagreements with anybody.

I mean, he was just, you know,
a 19-year-old out having fun.

It was just so senseless.

It's so stupid.

It was and still is such a
shock that something like this

could happen.

ROBERT STACK: Two
weeks from tonight,

join me for a special
two-hour season finale.

Here's a sample.

When good things happen
to us, is it pure chance?

Or as some people think,
are there angels among us?

Just ask Janie Shamo.

In 1976, on a trip to
the Painted Desert,

she fell to what should
have been her death.

A force she still doesn't
fully understand apparently

lifted her up to safety.

Join a woman from
Wisconsin as she sets out

to find her missing husband.

He disappeared from a Colorado
motel on August 31, 1993.

Some believe he engineered
his own disappearance.

But after he was allegedly
spotted on an Amtrak train,

disheveled and disoriented,
the investigation

took on a new urgency.

For decades, rumors have
circulated in the Pacific

Northwest about Bigfoot,
the fabled and elusive half

man, half ape.

But recent sightings have
lent increased credibility

to the age-old rumors.

Is Bigfoot real?

Meet the eyewitnesses
and judge for yourself.

Join me two weeks
from tonight for one

of our most intriguing
and fascinating episodes.

[theme music]