All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S07E06.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BTW_track3_[eng]

ANNOUNCER: This program is
about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the
actual family members

and police officials
have participated

in recreating the events.

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

Tonight, on a special
two-hour edition of "Unsolved

Mysteries," the strange
and mysterious saga

of the Circleville Letters.

For eighteen years, residents
of a small town in Ohio

have been deluged
with anonymous death

threats, slanderous accusations,
and even a lethal booby trap.

Many believe this
vicious campaign

has led to the death of one
man and the unjust imprisonment

of another.

From England, the spellbinding
case that's not only

in the grand tradition
of Agatha Christie,

it's about Agatha herself.

In 1926, as her
marriage was unraveling,

the best-selling mystery
writer of all time

vanished without
a trace, leaving

the authorities to figure
out who done it and why.

In December of 1991, 21-year-old
Tommy Burkett was found

shot to death in his bedroom.

Just minutes after
arriving at the scene,

investigators told Tommy's
parents that their son

had committed suicide.

But, now, Tommy's
mother and father

believe they have
unearthed a chilling

scenario of murder which may
implicate the local police.

Legend has it that beneath
the remote chilly waters

of Lake Michigan lies
a sunken fortune--

five chests stuffed with
golden bullion worth millions.

Tonight, we'll join a dangerous
underwater quest to find

the Poverty Island Treasure.

Also, tonight, we'll take
you to the phone center

for a very special milestone--

the solving of
our 200th mystery.

And a very special update--

the reunion of a
GI and the buddy

who saved his life in Vietnam.

Join me for two hours
of intriguing cases

and a celebration of 200
solves on "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]

In December of 1993,
"Unsolved Mysteries"

received this postcard.

It was not exactly in the
vein of our usual viewer mail.

The card read--

"Forget Circleville, Ohio.

Do nothing to hurt
Sheriff Radcliff.

If you come to Ohio,
you el sickos will pay.

The Circleville Writer."

It's not often
that we become part

of a story we're investigating.

But, in this case, it didn't
come as a total surprise.

For the past eighteen
years, residents

in and around
Circleville, Ohio have

received literally thousands of
bizarre letters and postcards.

They represent an insidious
campaign of character

assassination which
some believe has

left one man dead and
another unfairly imprisoned.

[somber music]

Circleville, Ohio, thirty
miles south of Columbus,

is a place that rarely
attracts outside attention.

In fact, the town's
main claim to fame

is its annual pumpkin show.

For years, Circleville was
a stable workaday community.

Then, in 1976, the
letters started.

MARTIN YANT: One of
the very first letters,

if not the first letter, was
received by Mary Gillespie,

a school bus driver, telling
her that the letter writer was

aware that she was
having an affair

with the superintendent
of schools,

and that it had better stop.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): In addition

to allegations of an
affair, the letter

carried an ominous threat.

CIRCLEVILLE WRITER (VOICEOVER):
I know where you live.

I've been observing your house
and know you have children.

This is no joke.

Please take it serious.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): The envelope

is postmarked Columbus, Ohio.

There was no return address
outside, no signature inside.

No way to tell whether it
came from a man or a woman.

Within eight days, Mary
Gillespie had received

another letter similar in tone.

Mary?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Mary apparently kept

the letters to herself
until her husband

Ron received one as well.

What's going on?

All right.

I already got two of
these, OK, and I didn't say

anything because it's not true.

What do you mean
you got two of these?

You have to know
it's not true.

Why didn't you say something?

Because I thought they
would just go away, and--

MARTIN YANT: And this letter,
addressed to Ron Gillespie,

told him that if he didn't do
something to stop this affair,

that his life was
undoubtedly in danger.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): The alleged

affair was a rumor
tailor-made to set

any small town on its ear--

the superintendent of schools
and a school bus driver.

Soon, the anonymous writer
was threatening to go public.

CIRCLEVILLE WRITER (VOICEOVER):
Gillespie, you have

had two weeks and done nothing.

Make her admit the truth
and inform the school board.

If not, I will
broadcast it on CBs,

posters, signs, and billboards
until the truth comes out.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mary
and Ron evidently confided

in three family members--

Ron's sister, her husband Paul
Freshour, and Paul's sister.

What was that movie, it
was in black and white,

where they wrote letters?

They thought they knew
who the suspects where,

so they wrote letters to them.

"I Know Who You Are."

That's it.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Mary had

some ideas about who
was sending the letters,

and she had a plan.

--we write letters
back, telling

them we know who they are.

You do it.

You print well.

What do we say?

Just-- just like the letters.

We know who you are--

PAUL FRESHOUR: We thought we'd,
uh, you know, scare the guy.

We did four or five letters
only, you know, nothing, uh--

there was no violence
at him or anything,

just that we knew who he
was and what he was doing,

and we sent him the letters.

[phone rings]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
For a while, the plan worked.

The threatening letters stopped.

Then, on August 19th, 1977,
Ron Gillespie got a phone call.

Who is this?

No, you listen to me.

We're sick of this, OK?

No more letters, no
more phone calls,

we're sick of the whole thing.

Just end it, all right?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): No one
knows what the caller actually

said, but the call
apparently confirmed

Ron's suspicions about the
identity of the letter writer.

He told the children
he was going out,

he was going to confront
the letter writer.

He took his weapon.

He did not seem to be drunk.

Said goodbye to his
children and went out.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
In the heat of the moment,

Ron Gillespie ran to the
family's red and white pickup,

even though the letter writer
had often referred to the fact

that he or she was
watching that truck.

[dog barking]

Perhaps Ron didn't remember.

Perhaps he was
too angry to care.

[siren]

[police radio]

MARTIN YANT: Within on a short
distance, at an intersection

that he knew very well, he
lost control of the vehicle,

hit a tree, and was killed.

[indistinct conversation]

Somewhere in between leaving
the house and hitting that tree,

his gun had fired one
shot, and there was never

any explanation for
when or how at who

that gun could have been fired.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Pickaway County Sheriff Dwight

Radcliff, who declined to be
interviewed for this story,

supposedly investigated
and eliminated at least one

suspect.

He then ruled Ron Gillespie's
death an accident.

But several Circleville
residents soon

received anonymous letters
saying that Sheriff Radcliff

was perpetrating a cover-up.

PAUL FRESHOUR: First of
all, the sheriff agreed

with me there was foul play.

And then, when I
contacted him again,

he changed his
attitude completely.

Then he was telling me that it
wasn't foul play, that it was--

the suspect had passed
a polygraph test.

Gillespie had 0.16 percent
alcohol, which, in Ohio, would

be 1 1/2 times the legal limit.

Most people I've talked to said
that he was not a heavy drinker

and were surprised by
that kind of finding.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Was Ron

Gillespie's death an accident?

Was he really drunk that night?

And why had one bullet been
fired from his handgun?

Six years after the
death of Ron Gillespie,

the Circleville Ohio Letter
Writer was still waging

his or her vicious campaign.

The initial targets, Ron's wife
Mary and the superintendent

of schools, eventually
acknowledged a relationship,

but both claimed it had
begun after the letters

rather than before.

Mary was still driving a school
bus to support her family.

In 1983, the letter
writer began to put

up signs along her bus route.

Finally, Mary's
daughter was targeted.

Mary Gillespie had had enough.

MARTIN YANT: She
ripped the sign down.

Much to her surprise,
behind the sign

was this box and some string,
and also a another post that

was attached to the fence post.

She took it into the
bus and she opened up

this rather unusual-sized box.

As she opened it up,
there was a small pistol.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On closer examination,

Mary realized that it was
a crude booby trap designed

to fire the gun at her.

An amateurish attempt had been
made to rub the serial number

of the handgun.

When lab tests were
able to raise it again,

the case took an
incredible turn.

The gun belonged
to Mary Gillespie's

brother-in-law, Paul
Freshour, who had just

split up with Ron's sister.

PAUL FRESHOUR: I admitted
the gun was mine,

but I hadn't seen
it for a long time.

I had no reason to check
up on it or anything,

and I don't know when
it came up missing.

I really don't know
what happened to it,

and I told them that.

And that's the truth.

That's how it was.

DWIGHT RADCLIFF: OK, Paul--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On February 25, 1983,

Sheriff Radcliff called Paul
Freshour in for questioning

and asked him to take
a handwriting test.

DWIGHT RADCLIFF: We don't
have all the answers

we'd like to have just yet, OK?

What I'd like you to
do is to take this--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Under the impression

he was helping to protect
another family member,

Paul agreed.

The Sheriff told him
only that the missing

gun was somehow linked to
the Circleville Letters.

DWIGHT RADCLIFF: This
is an actual letter.

I want you to copy as closely
as you can, on the pad,

what you see here.

In other words, write
what they have written.

PAUL FRESHOUR: He would
give me an actual letter

and ask me maybe to
do the envelope part,

just as near as I
could to the envelope.

And then on some, he would take
the actual letter out and have

me to do them as near as I
could on the letters from what,

you know, from right
there in front of me.

And I did them because
I knew I wasn't

responsible for the
letters, and I knew

that evidence would clear me.

And then he dictated letters,
and he asked me to recopy,

in my mind, the same
way on this dictation

as I had recopied from the
actual letters and envelopes.

Everyone is talking.

PAUL FRESHOUR: He made
sure that I did them

in a reference of how I
copied them because that

was very important to him.

And I did the best I could and
turned everything into him.

That is not the proper way
to test to see if someone has

a certain writing style
because if they're

copying from a
letter, they're going

to try to emulate the style.

And the experts said that
the testing was improper.

So they didn't really
say that these letters

were written by Paul Freshour.

They said that they
could have been.

Dwight, pardon the mess,
but I usually try to keep

it a little cleaner than this.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
After the handwriting test,

a still unsuspecting
Paul Freshour took

Sheriff Radcliff to his garage.

Sometimes I used
to keep it up here.

And then, on top of
the refrigerator--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Paul showed the sheriff

where he had kept his gun.

Afterwards, the two men
returned to the courthouse.

And I didn't think about it.

PAUL FRESHOUR: He
called in the prosecutor

and told the prosecutor it was
my writing on the booby trap.

And then the prosecutor is
the one that actually told me

that there was a
booby trap found

and I was under arrest
for attempted murder

and placed on a
$50,000 cash bond.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On October 24, 1983,

Paul Freshour went on
trial for the attempted

murder of his sister-in-law,
Mary Gillespie.

Even though Paul wasn't
charged with writing

the threatening letters,
they became a crucial part

of the evidence against him.

What you are about to
hear is verbatim testimony

from court transcripts.

And did you explain to
the handwriting analyst

how you went about
obtaining the samples.

Yes, I did.

And did he indicate
which part of these

he would actually
use in his analysis?

The ones we
dictated were the ones

that would be used
for comparison,

not the ones he copied.

It is my opinion
that the handwriting

on the envelopes,
documents, and postcards

were printed by the same person.

"It" being the known
handwriting or handprinting

of Paul Freshour.

Have you, at any time,
suspected the defendant

of being the one responsible
for writing these letters

and putting these signs up?

Not at first.

Well, when was
your first indication

that you had where
someone indicated

that it could possibly be him?

It was August of 1982,
and his wife came to see me

and indicated it might
be a possibility.

This is the weekly time
record for Paul Freshour

for the week ending to 2-12-83.

And what days was Paul
Freshour working that week?

Uh, Mr. Freshour worked
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

and Friday of that week.

Did he work Monday?

No, he did not.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): The Monday

in question was the very
day that Mary Gillespie had

found the sign and booby trap.

Even though Paul
Freshour had an alibi

for almost the entire
day, he never took

the stand in his own defense.

It was a decision which
Paul would come to regret.

We the jury, find the
defendant, Paul L. Freshour,

guilty of attempted murder.

We further find and specify
that the defendant did have

the firearm under his control.

PAUL FRESHOUR: I
couldn't believe it.

I was just in shock.

I mean, I know they put
in some good evidence

and there was evidence withheld,
but still yet, I mean--

You know, I can't blame
the jury because the jury

didn't hear all the evidence.

But I was just--

I-- I-- I just
couldn't believe it.

I was really in
shock, you know, and I

was probably in shock for a
year after I was in prison.

Unbelievable.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Paul Freshour

was given the maximum sentence
for attempted murder--

7 to 25 years.

Everyone assumed
Paul had written

the Circleville Letters.

And everyone assumed that
with Paul behind bars,

the letters would stop.

Everyone was wrong.

MARTIN YANT: They were being
received all over, a large area

of central Ohio,
so a lot of people

couldn't understand how Paul
Freshour could be mailing

all these letters from prison.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Following repeated complaints

from Sheriff Radcliff, Paul was
placed in solitary confinement.

Still, the letters continued.

All of them were
postmarked Columbus

even though Paul was imprisoned
in Lima, Ohio, 200 miles away.

PAUL FRESHOUR: You go into a
single-man cell and that's it,

you know, it's nothing
in there with you--

no pencils, no
papers, no nothing.

Restrictions-- you
wouldn't believe.

Pat downs, cell searches,
visit monitoring, mail--

in-going, out-going mail--
always examined and tested.

Maybe some days I'd get my mail.

Maybe some days I wouldn't.

We have, of course, reviewed
your file in preference

to your visit with us today.

And, although we find some nice
things about you in the file,

there are also some things
that concern us a great deal.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
After seven years in prison,

Paul Freshour became
eligible for parole.

In the weeks
preceding his hearing,

the volume of anonymous
letters increased dramatically.

Despite the Columbus
postmarks, the letters

worked against Paul.

He was denied parole even
though he was universally

regarded as a model prisoner.

A few days later, the
letter writer sadistically

wrote a letter to Paul himself.

CIRCLEVILLE WRITER
(VOICEOVER): Now,

when are you going
to believe you aren't

going to get out of there?

I told you two years ago--

when we set them up,
they stay set up.

Don't you listen at all?

No one wants you out.

No one.

The joke is on you.

Ha.

Ha.

Full scale investigations
were conducted, twice possibly

three times, during
which Paul Freshour

was put into isolation.

And the warden of the
prison he was in during one

of these investigations then
wrote a letter to Paul's wife

saying that as far
as he was concerned,

it was impossible for Paul
to be writing these letters

and sending them from prison.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
When Martin Yant reviewed

the sheriff's
investigative file,

he uncovered evidence never
mentioned at the trial which he

believes might have kept
Paul Freshour out of prison

altogether.

MARTIN YANT: Mary
Gillespie told the sheriff

that one of the
other bus drivers

told her that she had been
driving that same road about

twenty minutes before Mary
Gillespie found that booby trap

at exactly that site.

And when she went by that
very same intersection,

there was a yellow El
Camino parked there.

A large man with sandy
hair was standing there.

And when he saw her
come, he turned around

and acted like he was going
to the bathroom or something,

but seemed also to be avoiding
any kind of identification.

The description
of the individual

does not fit Paul
Freshour at all,

and Paul had a very solid
alibi for this time of day.

There was no attempt at all
to follow up on that lead.

And if they had, as
I say, they would

have found that another
possible suspect in this case

had a brother who had
a yellow El Camino.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
In May of 1994,

Paul Freshour was
finally granted parole

after serving ten years.

To this day, he staunchly
maintains his innocence,

and he is sure that the real
criminal is still at large.

PAUL FRESHOUR: I'd really
like to see someone really

look at this case
on the letters,

reopen the letter part
of it and get in and find

out who wrote the letters.

I'd also like to
see someone look

into this, to my former
brother-in-law's death.

Look, I-- you know, that's--
that's not my family

anymore and that's my past.

I'm not even going
to look back at it.

I've got a new family
and a new future,

but I still would like to see
someone look at that accident

real close and the letters.

And that's-- that's
what it really is.

ROBERT STACK: So
many questions remain

in this most bizarre case.

Who did write the
Circleville Letters?

At home, did Ron
Gillespie fire his gun?

Did that person kill Ron?

Who was responsible
for the booby trap

found by Mary Gillespie?

And, finally, who stole
Paul Freshour's pistol?

When we return, Agatha
Christie, the world's

most-renowned mystery
writer, becomes

a focal point of her own,
tantalizing, unsolved mystery.

[theme music]

In 1823, the poet
Lord Byron wrote,

"Truth is always strange,
stranger than fiction."

Just over a century later, the
great mystery writer Agatha

Christie authored
such famous novels

as "Murder on the
Orient Express"

and "Ten Little Indians."

It would prove that
Byron was right.

You see, when Agatha
was 36 years old,

she became the subject of her
own real-life unsolved mystery,

demonstrating that truth is
not only stranger than fiction;

often, it's directly related.

On the morning of
December 4th, 1926,

Agatha Christie's car was found
abandoned about an hour's drive

from her home on the
outskirts of London.

Agatha had apparently
vanished into thin air,

but some suspected the worst--

that her husband
Archie had done her in.

[crows cawing]

The press was fascinated.

So was the public.

Agatha was a famous woman.

She was known to be a
mistress of mysteries.

This was a real-life mystery.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): The story

was taken up with great glee
by newspapers around England.

What had become of
Agatha Christie?

How could one of the most
well-known women in the country

have disappeared off
the face of the Earth?

She was born Agatha
Miller in 1890.

Her father was a wealthy
American, her mother

a proper British lady.

Agatha was raised in
the moneyed upper middle

class of English society.

In 1914, Agatha broke
an existing engagement

to marry Colonel Archibald
Christie, a dashing pilot

in the Royal Flying Corps.

Archie had pursued
Agatha aggressively,

even though many thought they
were opposites in every way.

Everybody tells
them it's a bad idea.

It's the war, they get
married on Christmas day,

and he immediately
goes off to the war.

A very, very traditional
and romantic tale.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
While Archie was fighting

in the skies over France,
Agatha worked as a nurse

and, in her spare time,
launched a writing

career creating the
famous Belgian detective

Hercule Poirot.

Agatha's first book, published
four years after the war,

was called "A Mysterious
Affair at Styles."

That first book
was a sensation.

She didn't expect
anything like that.

And nobody expected it from a
rather plump, placid, ordinary

looking girl.

She hit the jackpot
straightaway.

The next three or four books
did a little better each time.

And then, with her fifth book,
"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,"

she really hits the big time.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
In 1926, Agatha, Archie,

or the young daughter
Rosalind, move

into a mansion which
the name "Styles"

after Agatha's first novel.

Archie had been successful
in his own right--

a retired war hero
turned investment banker.

On the surface, the
Christie's looked

like the picture-perfect family.

I hadn't given it a thought.

Archie was a real stockbroker.

He was a British, proper,
upper-crust, boring man

who looked good.

He was extremely conventional.

I'm playing golf
for the weekend.

Care to join me?

I don't believe I can.

As you will.

GILLIAN GILL: Agatha
looked conventional,

but inside she wasn't.

Inside, she wanted more.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Later, in 1926,

when Agatha's mother Clara died,
the strange civility of Agatha

and Archie's marriage cracked.

Agatha was
absolutely distraught

with the death of her mother.

I think she had really never
left the mother's side.

And this is possibly
one of the reasons

why the marriage wasn't
a great success--

that she still remained
very much a family girl.

And when the mother died, it
really unhinged her a bit.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Agatha
took Rosalind and her nanny

to Ashfield, the
rambling Edwardian

home where Agatha had grown up.

Ostensibly, the
move was temporary,

to sort through her late
mother's possessions,

but it dragged on for weeks.

Archie stayed away.

Agatha's grief for her mother
was too deep to fathom.

GILLIAN GILL: At 36,
I think most women

would mourn their mothers.

But with Agatha Christie,
it wasn't just sorrow.

It was something
approaching melancholia.

It was an almost pathological
condition, I think.

And so she lived at Ashfield
in this terrible sense

of disorientation,
physical stress,

with no one to confide in,
looking forward to the point

when Archie would come down
and celebrate with her,

their daughter's birthday.

Agatha, please do sit down.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The
birthday celebration did not

play out as Agatha had hoped.

Agatha, I want you
to give me a divorce.

A divorce?

That's what I want.

No, Archie.

Absolutely not.

Never.

That's what I want, Agatha.

I will not be moved.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): It seemed

that Archie had become involved
with a woman named Nancy Neal.

Well, this was absolutely
devastation for her.

She had been betrayed.

She never thought that a
man could do this to her.

I think she would have even
lived with Archie having

a mistress, but the fact that
he wanted to divorce her,

destroyed her.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
In a last ditch effort

to save her
marriage, Agatha took

Rosalind and moved back home.

I think you should stay at
Styles this weekend, Archie.

We could spend some
time alone together.

If you'll excuse me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On December 3rd, 1926,

Archie took off alone, bound
for a weekend house party.

By some accounts,
Archie and Agatha

argued bitterly before he left.

Agatha must have
suspected that he planned

to rendezvous with Nancy Neal.

With Archie gone, Agatha was
left to stew in her own misery.

GILLIAN GILL: Either at 9:30
at night or around 11 o'clock

at night, according
to different reports,

she left the house in
something of a state.

The maids were alarmed
by the way she went out.

We know that she took with
her a small traveling case

and that she wore her fur coat.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Agatha
left behind at least two notes.

One was addressed
to her secretary

asking that she cancel
Agatha's weekend appointments.

Another of unknown content
was addressed to Archie.

[owl hoots]

Superintendent.

Good morning.

Show me what you've
got, Constable.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The next morning,

Agatha's abandoned
car was found just

an hour's drive from Styles.

GILLIAN GILL: Again, the exact
time seems to be in doubt.

It had gone off the side of the
road, it was not turned over,

there had been no big accident.

A local man found the car
on his way to work, sir.

The license was in her case.

That's how we know
it's Mrs. Christie.

Her coat's still
in the car, sir.

Cold night to be
out without a coat.

Very cold indeed, sir.

What's this?

Her luggage, sir.

One small bag.

Three dresses, uh, two pairs
of shoes, and this, sir.

Very nice.
Thank you, Constable.

[horn beeps]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Archie
Christine had been tracked

down at his house party.

He made an
unfortunate appearance

the very moment the
authorities were

beginning to suspect foul play.

[brakes squeak]

Superintendent.

Hello, Christie.

Who are all these people?

Oh, just the curious, sir.

Have they got to be here?

Too late to stop
them now, sir.

They know that
[inaudible] already.

Colonel Christie, have you any
idea where your wife might be?

No, sir.

None.

I haven't a clue.

Pardon me for
asking, but, uh--

where were you last night?

I was away, with friends.

You were?

Yes, Superintendent, I was.

Excuse me.
Sorry to bother you.

Just one question.
[crosstalk]

Just one question.

Was the colonel asking for--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The press had already

gotten wind of the event.

Constable, keep these
men away from the house,

and keep the inspector--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The Superintendent

went to Styles to question
Agatha's secretary

and other staff members.

No one was able to shed
any light on Agatha's

strange disappearance.

Have you spoken to the staff?

Yes, sir, I have.

GILLIAN GILL: The police
launched vigorous attempts

to find a body.

There is a small pool nearby
called Silent Pool which Agatha

had in fact used in one
of her previous stories,

and this is dragged, I
think at least twice.

They involved the
public, and I think,

even parts of the Army
in kind of beating

the bushes, quite literally.

Dorothy L. Sayers
and her husband

engaged in this very activity.

So there were days of searching.

Meanwhile, the press is
trying to investigate

every angle on the case.

They very rapidly get on
to the Nancy Neal angle.

That is to say, they start
putting two and two together.

Colonel Christie wasn't home.

And the plot they
start to evolve

is, in fact, a murder plot,
possibly a suicide plot.

She's been driven to suicide
by the cruelty of her husband

and his infidelity.

Or, even more interesting,
she is refusing to divorce him

and so he decides to
make away with her.

And the fact that so many of
the elements in the situation

mirror Agatha Christie's
own published fiction

makes the whole thing so
much more fascinating.

[splash]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Fascinating indeed.

All the more so when
witnesses came forward to say

they had seen Agatha Christie.

The first, a workman
named Ernest Cross,

was trekking to his
job on the morning

of Agatha's disappearance.

Are you all right, ma'am?

What are you doing here?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Cross
said Agatha seemed distraught.

She wore only a thin dress,
despite the chilly weather.

I can't start it.

I've tried.

I--

Can I help you then?

Will you?

Oh, please.

- Certainly.
- Very good.

Very good.
I'll just get in.

All right then.

[engine turns]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
According to Ernest Cross,

Agatha drove off in
the opposite direction

from Newland's
Corner, the village

where her car would
later be found.

The plot thickened.

If Agatha Christie was
dead, she certainly

had a strange habit of popping
up all over the countryside.

Yes, ma'am.

Can you tell me where I am?

Yes ma'am.

You're in Guilford and Surrey.

Is that the train?

Yes.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Two railroad porters

who spoke with Agatha outside
the station in Guilford

assumed she had boarded a train.

Thank you.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Eleven days

later, the final chapter
of Agatha's adventure

would be acted out.

The scene-- an elegant
health spa in Harrogate,

200 miles from her home.

An alert musician
in the dance band

notified authorities
that Agatha Christie,

using an assumed name,
was a guest at the spa.

The Superintendent wasted
no time bringing Archie

Christie up to Harrogate.

Where shall I wait?

Right here in the foyer, sir.

She'll have to
pass through here.

And where will you be?

Just through there.

How long shall I wait?

Until she passes by, sir.

Very well.

[sighs]

Agatha.

Archie.

Dear brother, you've
come to take me home?

Brother?

Archie, it's so
good to see you.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For
reasons known only to herself,

Agatha had first identified
Archie as her brother, not

her husband.

We've been searching
everywhere for you.

The police thought
you were dead.

Is this your wife, Colonel?

Yes, it is.

Mrs. Christie.

Hello.

Agatha, please, we must talk.

Come with me.

GILLIAN GILL: What
I would like to know

is what happened when Archie and
she went upstairs that night,

and they sat in that
room all night talking.

I mean, did they give
each other hell or what?

That's what I think nobody,
of course, will know.

And did he say, "Well,
I have no intention

of ever coming back to you."

I think he must have
because that was the end.

That was the tragic
moment, that night.

How long have you been in
Harrogate, Mrs. Christie?

Is there another man involved?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Agatha and Archie

made their getaway from
this spa amid nearly

hysterical press [inaudible].

REPORTER: Mr. Christie, can
we have some comments, please?

[car horn]

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Both refused

to comment about Agatha's
mysterious disappearance,

so reporters all over England
began to dig furiously.

Backed up by Agatha's doctors,
and encouraged by her family,

the press at last concluded
that Agatha Christie had

been suffering from amnesia.

I believe that Christie had
a definitive and terrible fight

with her husband.

It drove her over the edge.

She had been depressed.

Now she becomes, on
some level, psychotic.

She is not herself.

She takes on another identity.

She wanders off.

She gets on the train.

She takes another name.

She goes into this hotel,
and she lives another life.

Dear brother, you've
come to take me home?

That's very, very, very
rare, but it's known.

It's documented in the
annals of psychology.

And we know that Agatha
Christie was an unusual woman.

Well, I think, and
for my elderly age,

I think she plotted and
planned it from the start.

She went to the
only thing she knew.

She would use the media that
she knew, which was revenge,

mystery, possibility of murder.

She checked into this
hotel under the name--

I think it's just madly
funny-- she checked in using

the name of the girlfriend--

Neal.

Table for one for Teresa Neal.

I think she took endless
delight in the fact

that the police shadowed Archie.

Poor Archie had
a hell of a life.

He couldn't go
anywhere because they

suspected him of murdering her.

And I think she took
marvelous delight

in reading this in the papers.

Again, I think, in a sort
of revenge and twisted

up sort of way,
she was thinking,

but it was very funny.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Agatha
and Archie Christie quickly

went their separate ways.

Agatha married
eminent archaeologist

Max Mallowan in 1930,
two years after Archie

had wed Nancy Neal.

By all accounts, both couples
had long, happy marriages.

Agatha Christie went on to write
more than one hundred novels,

becoming the best-selling
mystery writer of all time.

In her later years, Agatha
also wrote her autobiography,

but it would not be published
until after her death in 1975.

Agatha's curious fans
had waited fifty years

to have her strange
disappearance

explained once and
for all, but she

wrote not one word about it.

Agatha Christie, mistress
of mystery to the end,

had taken her
secret to the grave.

Next, a very
special celebration.

The solving of
our 200th mystery.

[theme music]

For the past seven
years, the phone center

has been an integral
part of our operation,

providing the crucial link
with you, our viewers.

Recently, activity at the phone
center took on added excitement

as we counted down to a
very special milestone--

the solving of
our 200th mystery.

Since our first broadcast
in 1987, scenes like this

have become a familiar
and welcomed sight.

Thanks to your alert tips,
more than one hundred fugitives

have been captured all
across the country,

and even in such faraway places
as Panama and Central America,

and the island of American
Samoa in the South Pacific.

No less important are
the heartfelt reunions

of separated family members
and long-lost friends.

To date, your calls have helped
us solve sixty-three percent

of our lost love
cases, a success

rate beyond our wildest dreams.

As we approach the
magic number of 200,

each call to the
phone center was

met with rising anticipation,
and the final solves reflected

the diversity of our show.

A mother and daughter
separated by adoption in 1937.

A man wanted for murder.

A suspected con artist.

Two sisters who had
not seen each other

in more than twenty years.

It's so good to see you.

Gosh.

And now there
are 200, all made

possible by you, our viewers.

Since today is Veterans Day,
it seems only appropriate

that we celebrate
our 200th solve

with the uplifting story
of a friendship forged

by the difficulties of war.

We're going to
take a little run.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In
1964, 19-year-old Mitchell

Shigemoto of Honolulu,
Hawaii made it

through a rigorous
training course

to join the prestigious
173rd Airborne Division

of the United States Army.

The next year,
Mitchell and his unit

were transferred to Vietnam.

At the front, within the
ranks of his own Army,

Mitchell ran into
a strange bias.

He looked just like the enemy.

Move on, Jap.

Hey, you got a problem?

Yeah, I don't
serve zipperheads.

- Let's go!
- You want to go?

Come on!

Come on!

What's the problem?

Why don't you just do your
job and serve the soldier?

All right.
Just relax, OK?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But
one soldier, James Pearson,

stood up for Mitchell.

All right.
All right.

Just take it easy.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Mitchell and James had become

best friends when
they were posted

in Okinawa en route to Vietnam.

[gunshots]

On January 2nd, 1966, their
unit ran into a heavy fire.

[gunshot]

When Mitchell Shigemoto
caught a bullet in the thigh,

James Pearson came
to the rescue.

There was one sniper there
who was keying in on us.

James took a position
right in front of me

like he was trying to
block off the shots,

and James actually
saved my life.

[yelling]

And what I say to him, I say,
"James, I never had a chance

to thank you personally.

I want to thank you now."

I really appreciate
everything that he did for me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
What James did for Mitchell

was against regulations.

He and another
soldier temporarily

left the firing line in order
to carry Mitchell to safety.

A few weeks later, Mitchell
was sent home to Hawaii.

He never saw James
Pearson again and never

had the opportunity
properly thank

the man who saved his life.

After our broadcast,
all that would change

in a most remarkable way.

A viewer in San Bernardino,
California, retired Lieutenant

Colonel Truman Plants,
took it upon himself

to track down James Pearson.

One week later,
Lieutenant Colonel Plants

found him in Chicago.

And before long,
James, his fiancee,

and his two grown
daughters were on their way

to Hawaii to visit Mitchell
Shigemoto and his family.

As Mitchell's relatives
gathered to welcome James,

the two old comrades caught the
first glimpse of one another

in nearly 30 years.

Mitchell.

How are you doing, man?

Great.

It's great to see you.

Great to see you.

You still look the same.

[both laugh]

It was a complete
and total joy.

Happiness.

It's just great to see you.

I had to compose
myself, you know.

It was just completely
overwhelming and unbelievable.

Hi, Connie.

How are you?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Mitchell's wife, Connie,

greeted James in traditional
Hawaiian fashion.

After all, this was the man
who saved her husband's life.

And who is this one?

I wasn't going to
leave him out there

alone under those conditions.

I couldn't have did it.

Whether regulations permitted
it or rules permitted it or not,

I just couldn't have did it.

It took a lot from
a real special person

to do something like that.

And my wife, you know,
when she heard that story,

she made it a point to try to
locate him with no success,

until we found you guys.

[laughs]

That's my next agenda.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): James
spent a full week in Hawaii

with Mitchell.

The two of them never stop
talking about the past,

and the future,
planning the time

they would see each other again.

INTERVIEWER: So how does it
feel to be back together?

[laughs]

They haven't come
up with that word yet.

When they come up
with that word,

I'll write you and let you know.

There is no word
for the feeling,

you know, for right now.

They haven't come
up with that word.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Stay tuned, in the next hour,

for these intriguing mysteries.

When police conclude that
a young college student has

committed suicide, his parents
launch their own investigation

and reach their own
disturbing conclusion.

In Massachusetts,
authorities need

your help to track down a man
who killed his wife's sister.

And journey into
the murky depths

of Lake Michigan in search
of a legendary treasure worth

millions.

[theme music]

When he died at the age
of 21, Tommy Burkett

was a junior at
Marymount University

in Arlington, Virginia,
just down the road

from Washington, DC.

Tommy's parents lived some
twenty miles from the campus.

His mother, Beth George,
was an instructor there.

I thought I left
the lights on.

Tommy?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On Sunday, December 1, 1991,

Tommy was at home after
the Thanksgiving holiday.

Tommy!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
His parents had been

out for much of that afternoon.

When they returned to the
house at about 6:10 PM,

they confronted an
unimaginable horror.

Tommy was upright on
the sofa in his bedroom.

He had been shot once
through the mouth.

The revolver rested
in his hands.

TOM BURKETT: No!

Don't go in there.

No.
No.

I'm going to call 911.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Virtually, from the moment

police arrived on the scene
that night, they have insisted

that Tommy Burkett
committed suicide.

Case closed.

But Tommy's parents, Beth
George and Tom Burkett,

have amassed compelling
evidence that their son

was in fact murdered.

They have pieced together
a chilling scenario

that they claim implicates
officials from both the Fairfax

County Virginia Police
Department and the United

States Drug Enforcement Agency.

Tom and Beth's suspicions began
within minutes of discovering

their son's body.

[sniffs]

Oh, no.

I went over close to him
and I knelt down beside him

and I touched his
hands and they were--

they were stone cold.

It's going to be all right.

But I just kept saying over
and over that everything would

be all right, and that
we would find them,

and that we loved him.

[sniffs]

Tom, look at that gun.

Something's not right.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In
the emotion of the moment,

Tom picked up the revolver.

He was surprised to find
his cylinder unlatched.

Surprised because the
gun could not have

been fired in that condition.

Paramedics arrived at 6:20 PM.

Is there anything
you can do for him?

No.

There's nothing
more we could do.

It's been several hours.

I'm sorry.

After fire and rescue
left, a uniformed officer

entered the house
immediately and he

was in a hurry, which
I thought was strange

because my son was dead.

Don't blame yourself.

I responded, "I
don't blame myself."

And he said, "Well, I've seen
hundreds of these suicides,

and there was nothing
you could have done."

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The lead detective arrived

and went up to Tommy's room.

According to Beth and
Tom, he soon emerged

with an old bank deposit slip.

I have something to show you.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): On one side

was a note which said simply,
"I want to be cremated."

This isn't
Tommy's handwriting.

[sighs]

The Fire and Rescue Squad said
Tommy's been dead for hours.

No, that's not true.

It just happened.

It probably happened while you
were coming down the street.

I was dumbfounded
at that comment

because it didn't take a
medical person to recognize

that Tommy had been
dead for several hours.

He was cold.

He was stiff.

The blood had dried.

Any layman would have
said several hours.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Major
Art Mabry is a spokesperson

for the Fairfax County Police.

The gun was processed.

An autopsy was conducted.

Photographs were taken.

A thorough and acceptable
crime scene was conducted.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
To the police,

the facts spoke for themselves.

Tommy's death was an open
and shut case of suicide.

But the facts told a different
story to Beth George.

She was certain her son had
been murdered, a suicide staged.

It was not just the unlatched
gun and the suspicious note.

Tommy's glasses, wallet, and
driver's license were missing.

Two days after Tommy's death,
his parents went to his dorm

room to collect his belongings.

[knocking]

TOM BURKETT: Come in.

Oh, Mr. Burkett.

You have my condolences.

Thank you.

Oh, by the way, a
student found this.

How did you get this?

Oh, well, I'm sorry--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
According to Tom and Beth,

school administrators refused
to provide any information

about the student who had turned
in Tommy's driver's license.

It was another
unanswered question

to add to a growing list.

It looks like it's
been tampered with.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Tommy's parents decided

to canvas the neighborhood.

They were stunned by what
people had seen the afternoon

of their son's death.

Several neighbors
reported seeing

a car chase, Tommy's car being
chased by a larger, darker car.

One neighbor in particular
had a very clear recollection.

He said he saw the
cars coming and he

thought, "This is serious.

It's life or death."

[tires squealing]

Another neighbor
reported that one

of the cars involved in
the chase at one point

drove through someone's lawn.

Tommy's car was apparently
run off the road

and he was assaulted.

He got away from his
attackers at that point

and made it back to our house.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Two other neighbors

reported seeing a peculiar
incident at around 5:15

PM, a time when paramedics
said Tommy was already dead.

One of the witnesses was
willing to appear on camera.

What I remember about that
night is that another neighbor

of mine was coming over to my
house and she observed a car

going around the cul-de-sac.

It was Tommy's car, and it was
going around the cul-de-sac

with no lights on.

And he was not driving
in his normal manner.

And as soon as she
arrived at my house,

she immediately relayed
the story to me.

You know, we commented
about it for a while.

We stood out on the porch
and chatted for a minute.

And whoever was sitting in the
car did not get out of the car

until after we went inside.

We thought it was very strange
that no one had contacted us

from a law enforcement
agency to find out if we did

indeed know anything or not.

At the insistence
of the Burketts,

we did go and talk
to all the neighbors,

but no information was developed
from those discussions that

would change the information
that led us to believe

that it is a suicide.

Tom, come here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A
few weeks after Tommy's death,

Beth noticed a spray of small
reddish marks on the stairway.

It looks like scattered,
faint bloodstains.

But what would it be
doing on the stairs?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Earlier, Beth

had noticed other spots
near a doorway downstairs.

We have to have someone
come here and look at this.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Beth and Tom

informed the authorities,
but no official investigation

followed.

Tom and Beth then made
a bitter decision.

Tommy's body was exhumed
for a second autopsy.

The new findings added
to their growing belief

that Tommy had been murdered.

The second autopsy
revealed that Tommy

had unexplained abrasions,
bruising around his right ear,

and he had a broken jaw.

Tom and Beth hired
Paul Kish, a bloodstain

expert from the Laboratory of
Forensic Science in Corning,

New York.

He determined that the
spots were in fact blood,

though he could not determine
whether it was Tommy's.

It's not consistent
with being created

from an individual
committing suicide

in a room sitting on a sofa.

Some other violent
altercation took place

where blood was shed,
with a lot of energy

being exerted towards the
blood, like a gunshot.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
This spent bullet

was found in Tommy's room.

It bolstered best suspicion that
the suicide had been staged.

At our laboratory,
professor MacDonald

did a analysis of the lead core
which was pulled from the wall

and was unable to
identify any kind

of tissue which you
would expect to see

that passed through the skull.

And he also had a
negative test for blood.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
To Tommy's parents,

a terrifying picture of his
last hours had begun to emerge.

I'm calling about some
information concerning

my son, Tommy Burkett.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Beth resolved

to find out if her
son had telephoned

for help on the day he died.

Do you have any records of him
making any 911 calls that day?

He did call twice.

What did he say?

She said, "Well, on
the computer screen

it shows his name
and the login number

and the time that he
called and that he

made two consecutive calls, but
the message has been deleted."

Well, how can I find
out what he said?

I really need to know
what my son said.

And she said, "Well, let me
check with the supervisor."

Also, do you have any
records of any complaints

he may have made
against any persons?

She said, "Yes.

He had filed a complaint
at the end of October

and at the end of August."

What was the nature
of the complaints?

And she said, "Well, I'll have
to check with my supervisor."

So she left, was gone several
minutes, and came back

and said, "I don't know why
his name is on the computer,

but he didn't call 911."

I'm not familiar with
who they spoke with.

I do know that there
is no information

to indicate that Tommy had
called 911 prior to his death.

I know Tommy made the
calls because police

department personnel told me.

I know this to be a fact.

I'm angry every day of my life.

I wake up angry every morning
that this police department did

not respond to the 911 calls.

It's my understanding that the
information that the Burketts

came up with about the 911 call
was well after the thirty days

and the tape that would
have been on the machine

that particular night had
already been routinely erased.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): If
Tommy did indeed call 911,

were the official phone
records innocently

erased or deliberately purged?

More importantly,
if Tommy had called,

why were his pleas for help
ignored by the authorities?

Tommy's parents began
to closely re-examine

a strange series of events that
preceded their son's death.

It began with a phone call
from Tommy around November 12,

less than three
weeks before he died.

Hello?

Mom, they smashed my
mailbox and took my paycheck.

They took everything.

Calm down, Tommy.

Look, uh, get in
touch with payroll

and tell them to stop
payment on the check.

It's not the paycheck
I'm worried about, I--

Tommy was normally
very poised, very calm,

and he was just frantic.

I'm not sure
what was in there.

It's OK, hon.

What do you think was in there?

Well, something I didn't
want anyone to know about.

I think they found
out what I'm doing.

And I took it to mean that,
since he was not positive they

had found something out, he was
not going to divulge exactly

what he was worried about.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Beth says

that a few days after
the mailbox break-in,

she had a troubling
encounter with a student

on the Marymount campus.

Hey.
Hey, how are you doing?

Great.
How are you?

I'm doing OK.

Good.

Have you guys seen Tommy today?

No, we haven't.

But when you
find him, tell him

there's three guys
looking to beat him up.

We were later told that
the same young man who

made the threat, the next
night, on the 15th of November,

assaulted Tommy at a
location off campus.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
According to Beth,

several sources told her that
Tommy confronted his tormentor

a few hours later.

What's wrong with you?

Why do you keep
doing this to me?

Why don't you just
leave me alone?

[grunts]

[groaning]

We were later told by a
student at the University

that the young man who
had Tommy's driver's

license after he was
dead was the same student

who had beaten Tommy up.

There may have
been some indication

that Tommy was involved in
investigating drug activity

on the Marymount
campus, and that

may have been one
of the reasons why

we still don't know to
this day what really

happened to Tommy Burkett.

A number of sources, mostly
anonymous, have come to us

and helped us piece
together a story.

In most instances,
their accounts

corroborate each other.

And what we've
learned about our son

was that he was a
paid DEA informant.

That there were a group
of students on the campus

who were dealing drugs.

They felt Tommy knew too
much, and that they conspired

with others to kill him.

[tires screech]

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Beth and Tom

now believe that their
neighbors unknowingly witnessed

Tommy being chased
by the killers.

They also believe
Tommy abandoned his car

and made his way home in
time to place the 911 calls.

Then, the killers burst in.

[yelling]

According to Beth and Tom, an
informer said Tommy was beaten

to death with a baseball bat.

Phone books were used
to minimize bruising

and absorb the blood spatters.

The story fit in with
everything we had noticed

and could not account for
during the previous months.

For example, we had noticed
our phone books were missing

the week after Tommy died.

Also, we had told the police
we were concerned because there

had been a ball bat
in Tommy's bedroom

and the gripping tape had
been stripped off the bat,

and that had not been
done by any of us.

We understand the
students had assistance

in staging the shooting
in the room from persons

more knowledgeable about
law enforcement and crime

than they were.

Tom and Beth have names
of the students they suspect

were involved in Tommy's death.

There's not enough evidence
to say their names publicly

at this point, but I believe,
with some of the evidence

they've collected over
the past two years,

that they may have
the right people.

It has been
determined and it's

going to be
maintained that it is

a suicide until substantial,
credible information is

brought to us.

At that point, we will examine
all the information, just

as we have for the past years.

But, again, credible information
is what we're seeking.

There's just a sense of rage
that nobody's doing anything.

No matter how much
information is

dumped in the laps of
law enforcement people,

they don't do anything.

The response is the same--
everything's all right.

Everything was done wonderfully.

Everything's fine.

And they think if they say
it enough, it'll be true.

It won't be.

And we're not going to
stop saying it's not.

[somber music]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
When we return,

a treasure hunt that is
not for the faint-hearted.

But some think $400 million
in gold is worth the risk.

[theme music]

It is only a speck of
rocky land, just east

of Wisconsin, surrounded by the
chilly waters of Lake Michigan.

It is called Poverty
Island, an apt name,

especially when treacherous
storms sweep in across the lake

without warning.

Furious winds and
lightning-swift currents

have spawned a graveyard
of sunken ships

and over the years, intriguing
tales of lost treasure.

One legend in particular
professes that, just offshore

of Poverty Island,
there are five chests

stuffed with gold bullion and
coins which would today be

worth more than $400 million.

It might sound far-fetched, but
the promise of millions in gold

is enough for Richard
Bennett, a professional diver

and author of "Deep Quest."

Bennett has spent
more than twenty years

and $100,000 of his
own money searching

for the sunken fortune.

--what we're going
to do this morning, OK?

OK.

Could we just put it together?

Any story that last or
survives a hundred years,

has to have some validity to it.

If they survive a
hundred years, they

probably have an eighty
to eighty-five percent

chance of being true.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But
how could $400 million in gold

end up on the bottom
of Lake Michigan?

It all dates back to 1863.

The tide of the Civil War was
turning in favor of the Union.

The beleaguered South,
strapped for capital,

put out a desperate call for
relief to England and France.

According to the legend,
the emperor of France,

Napoleon Bonaparte
III, answered the plea

and arranged a clandestine
shipment of gold

to the Confederacy.

With the Southern
ports blockaded,

the gold was quietly
packed into five chests

and shipped across the
North Atlantic to Canada.

The secret shipment was then
spirited hundreds of miles

down the St. Lawrence River and
clear across the Great Lakes

to Escanaba, Michigan.

There, the gold was hustled
aboard a sixty-foot schooner

for transport to Chicago.

Some say the ship was attacked
by French mercenaries and sunk.

Others, that it was
shipwrecked in a storm.

In either event, the chests
of gold were never recovered.

The legend is very
consistent in several ways,

and I think that's one of
the most intriguing things

about this legend is that, it's
consistent in that the loss is

always at Poverty Island,
there's always five chests,

and it's always
the same scenario.

And over here, she
shows as being lost--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Historian Chuck Feltner

disagrees.

He has spent years in the Great
Lakes searching for shipwrecks.

He believes that the
legend of the treasure

makes for good storytelling,
but maintains it is just that--

a good story.

And that's 257 tons.

CHARLES FELTNER:
Records of shipwrecks

on the Great Lakes in the
year 1863 were extremely good.

We've not been able
to find any evidence

that any of these vessels that
were recorded to have been lost

were sunk in the vicinity
of Poverty Island,

or that they were French
vessels, as the legend would

have it to be.

This is not the
kind of activity

that people would normally
document with enrollments

and this kind of thing.

This was more of
a secret activity,

and they would not want
to be broadcasting it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Despite the lack of a paper

trail, the legend of
the secret shipment

has grown, fed by
rumors and speculation.

In 1929, a group of sailors was
said to have snagged the five

chests with their anchor.

Up it came, just seconds
away, a fortune in gold,

when suddenly the chains broke.

[groans]

[splash]

The treasure plummeted
back to its watery grave.

[thud]

A few years later, a group
of investors in Chicago

allegedly raised $50,000 to try
their luck at Poverty Island.

A young boy named Karly
Jesson, whose father was

a local lighthouse
keeper, was said

to have watched the
salvage operation

for three consecutive summers.

One day he was sitting on the
rocks watching this operation

and there was a lot
of rejoicing, revelry.

Obviously, a real
congratulatory party that

was going on, on the ship.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
According to the boy,

in the third year,
a sudden storm arose

forcing him to return home.

That night, the salvage ship
allegedly sank with all hands

on board.

The heartless tides
of Lake Michigan

had once again reclaimed
the Poverty Island Treasure.

Today, some sixty years
later, Richard Bennett

feels certain that
he will succeed

where others have failed.

Bennett has devised an
ingenious underwater sled

to comb the murky
depths of Lake Michigan.

The only way to really
find this treasure

is to have human beings on
the sled visually looking

at the bottom.

It's cold, it's deep, and
the area is very treacherous.

Rocks, as large as sofas, are
moved around on the bottom.

But I'm a dreamer,
and I'm a gambler.

As long as I have those
things working for me,

I'll probably continue to do it.

Will Richard Bennett ever find
the Poverty Island Treasure?

Only time will tell.

But a word of warning to any
would-be treasure hunters--

the waters surrounding
Poverty Island

can be extremely treacherous,
even for the most

experienced divers.

Next, authorities need
your help to capture

a man convicted of
kidnapping and murdering

his own sister-in-law.

[theme music]

April 25th, 1979.

An intoxicated 29-year-old
man tentatively

made his way to
a Catholic church

in Everett, Massachusetts.

Father.

Jimmy?

There's something
I need to tell you.

Can I come inside?
- Yes.

Certainly, lad.

Come in.

You have to help me, Father.

You have to help me get this
weight off my shoulders.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The
man's name was Timothy Barry.

He was about to make
a stunning confession.

I'm the one that
kidnapped Nancy.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Incredibly,

Tim Barry had
confessed to kidnapping

his own sister-in-law.

In that dramatic moment, he
also became a murder suspect.

23-year-old Nancy
Brown had vanished

sixteen months earlier
from the house she shared

with her mother and sister.

Nancy was still missing.

It seemed too bizarre and
horrendous to contemplate.

Could Tim Barry have
killed Nancy Brown--

Nancy, who idolized
him like a brother?

The seeds of this tragedy were
planted when Tim Barry married

Nancy's sister, Andrea Brown.

Andrea was the oldest
of four daughters,

and when their father died,
Tim became the unofficial head

of the family.

Do you want some marshmallows?

He was the brother that
my sisters never had,

and the whole family
just loved him.

Tim's upbringing was
very similar to my own.

His parents brought
him up very Christian.

He believed in the
same things I did.

Very family-oriented.

We all just became as one.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
They remained as one

for seven, happy,
basically contented years.

Then came Thursday,
October 6th, 1977.

It was Nancy's regular
day off and she got

an early start doing laundry.

The only other
person in the house

was her younger sister,
16-year-old Maura,

home sick from school.

Early that morning,
Maura heard Nancy

slam the door to the
back porch and turn

on the radio in the kitchen.

That was the last anyone
saw or heard of Nancy Brown.

A little while after
supper, my mother

called wondering if I had
seen my sister, which, usually

wouldn't have been abnormal
for me to have seen her

during the course of the day.
And I hadn't.

And I hadn't spoken to her.

And they told me that
nobody had seen her all day.

Mary, have you
seen Nancy today?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Tim and Andrea,

and Andrea's sister Allison,
rushed over to the house

and started calling
Nancy's friends.

She hasn't seen her today.

Oh my God.

I know something's
happened to her.

Nothing's happened to her.

Just calm down.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Both Andrea and Allison

were eight months pregnant.

They tried to keep themselves
and their mother calm.

MRS. BROWN: I
talked to Margaret.

ALLISON: And the neighbors?
- Yes.

ALLISON: Did you
talk to her friends?

Yes.

I wouldn't worry about it, Ma.

There's lots of
places she could be.

She probably went shopping.
- Yeah.

I agree with Allison.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In
retrospect, Tim's behavior

seemed out of kilter.

ALLISON: Did you look around?

Did you look in her room?

When Nancy disappeared, Tim
was there with everybody, very

concerned, wondering
what happened,

but he seemed to be more nervous
than what the rest of us were.

I'll go downstairs
and check the washer.

OK.

You check the basement.

I'll check her room.

And I'll get her address
book and see if there's

anybody we haven't called.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The group split

up to search the house again.

In the basement, Ida
Brown found the one clue

that had been left behind--

Nancy's glasses.

The fact that Nancy's
glasses were found

on the floor of the cellar
was particularly disturbing

because the car was gone.

Nancy was blind is a bat.

She had to have the
glasses at all times,

especially for driving.

The very next day when she did
not appear or report for work,

we conducted an
investigation as to the place

that she was employed and also
the place she was last seen.

We also were
looking for her car.

And on the second
day, I believe,

we located the car in a
shopping mall, perhaps a mile

from her home.

Well, there's no
damage to the ignition.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Interestingly, Tim Barry

been the one who suggested
to police they check

that particular shopping mall.

Nancy's car was unlocked, the
keys lying under the seat.

There were no apparent
signs of foul play.

When they went
to look at the car,

they found out that the
car-- she had an alarm in it.

The car alarm was not set,
which is unusual for Nancy.

She always set the alarm.

And there were a few particles
of sand inside the car.

But that's all that
we had at the time.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
An abandoned car

and a pair of glasses.

The clues were sparse, yet
the ominous possibility

loomed that something terrible
had happened to Nancy Brown.

We all tried to settle
into a normal life,

trying to make things
as natural as we could.

We were always
hungry for any news.

We always tried to
think of possibilities.

--all the way through
the night all ready?

- Mm.
- That's great.

How are you feeling?

Good.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Allison had her baby just

days after Nancy disappeared.

Andrea and Tim's second
child was due any time.

The sisters still
hadn't given up

hope that Nancy would return.

I wish Nancy were here.

Me too.

Me too.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
But Tim evidently had.

Will you stop
talking about it?

She's gone.

There's nothing we
can do about it.

Tim seemed to be
a little bit more

withdrawn, a little
bit more moody than he

normally would have been.

He wasn't acting himself.

ROBERT STACK:
According to Andrea,

Tim had begun to drink heavily.

Unbeknownst to her,
the police had asked

him to take a polygraph exam.
He had refused.

The police began to check
into Tim Barry's background

and soon found an alarming
skeleton in his closet.

While stationed in
Germany with the US Army,

Tim had been charged with the
murder of another soldier.

A military court
found him innocent,

but the record did note his
so-called clairvoyance--

how he had led authorities
to the location of the murder

weapon and the body.

Police now began to believe
it was more than coincidence

that Tim had known where
to look for Nancy's car.

Still, there was no hard
evidence against Tim Barry

until April 25, 1979.

I'm the one that
kidnapped Nancy.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): That
was the night, nearly a year

and a half after
Nancy disappeared,

when Tim Barry made his dramatic
appearance at the church.

I knew that Nancy,
on her days off,

would do laundry at her
mom's house, so I, uh--

I-- I broke into the
house about 5:00--

5:00 AM and waited for
her down under the stairs.

I could hear her
moving around up there,

and she walked down the
stairs, and I, uh, came apart.

I grabbed her and
I blindfolded her

so she couldn't see who it was.

And then I put her
in her car and I made

her lie down in the front seat.

I know who you are.

TIM: Get back down.

Get down.

Timmy, I know it's you.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Tim told the priest

he had worn a fake mustache
so no one in the neighborhood

would recognize him.

He said he drove
Nancy to a beach

in Ipswich, Massachusetts,
twenty miles north of Everett.

Nancy, shut up.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Tim Barry

forced Nancy Brown to
walk through the dunes

into a heavily wooded area.

He carried a hunting knife and
a military and trenching shovel.

NANCY: Timmy, you're crazy.

TIM: No I'm not.

Then why would you be
doing something like this?

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Tim told

the priest that when
Nancy stood up to him,

he decided to end it.

TIM: And no on will ever know.

I hit her in the
back of the head

with the shovel, and then I--

I slit her throat.

I buried her and
threw the shovel

away and buried the knife.

I know it took a lot of
courage to tell your story,

Timmy.

But don't you think it would
be wise if you told it one

more time to the authorities?

Do you think you can do that?

When he first confessed
to us, he was cool, calm.

It seemed like he
had a burden on him,

he wanted to get
it off his chest,

and he told us from the
beginning, you know.

And I just said to
him, "Timmy, you know,

all these years, it's
been over sixteen

months the investigations
are going on.

Why didn't you confess before?

Why now?

He said, because nobody had
ever asked him the question,

"Did you murder her?"

And if they had, he said
he would have confessed.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Later that night, Tim Barry

led the authorities
into the woods

behind the beach at Ipswich.

One of the police
officers present

was Patrick Dello
Iacono, a friend

of Tim Barry's from childhood.

It's, uh, 30
meters over there.

The terrain itself was
difficult, walking in the sand.

It was very sandy.

It was tough on
your feet to walk.

And Timmy kept looking up at the
stars and I questioned Timmy,

"Why were you looking
at the stars?"

And he said, "That's how I find
my way to where we're going."

You know, Timmy, you know
your way around these woods

pretty good, huh?

TIM: Yeah. in the
Army I was trained

in the Special Services.

PAT: Oh, yeah?

I bet they taught you all
about this stuff, huh?

TIM: Pat, I could live in the
woods and you'd never find me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
It took more than an hour,

but Barry finally brought
the group to the spot

where he had killed Nancy.

TIM: She's over there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
In a shallow grave,

police found the
body of Nancy Brown.

She had died exactly
as Tim Barry had said.

PAT: OK, Tim.

We found her body.

You're going to be arrested.

[sighs]

When he was asked
why did he do it,

Tim never would tell us why.

He just said,
"This is the story.

This is how.

Don't ask me why."

And even though we asked,
we never got an answer.

Never had a motive.

I just went to pieces.

I couldn't believe that--

that something like
that had happened.

I didn't want to believe
my sister was dead,

and I couldn't believe that he
had had anything to do with it.

It just, at that
point, it didn't

seem like that was his nature.

And I think the whole family
went into total shock.

It was just something that was
too horrible to have to accept.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On February 11, 1980,

Tim Barry was convicted
of second degree

murder and kidnapping.

He received a life sentence
plus five to ten years.

For eight years, Tim Barry
made a good show of contrition.

According to Andrea, Tim
remained a loving and dedicated

father, even behind bars.

Barry also came to be
regarded as a model prisoner

and was regularly assigned to
work details on the outside.

Hey, Barry.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On Election Day, 1988,

Tim Barry was part
of a crew repainting

the Department of Corrections
offices in downtown Boston.

Fourteen thousand.

We'll need about--

That particular day, the
building was very busy.

There were voting polls on
the first floor of the State

Office Building here.

People coming and
going all day long.

Elevator traffic.

The inmate work crew
were approximately ten

inmates who were working with
an officer-supervised work crew.

Timothy Barry, part
of that work crew,

was assigned to a specific
area painting offices.

I thought you'd be
glad to hear that.

I, uh-- I need
to go to the can.

Here you go.
You remember where it is, right?

- Yeah.
- OK.

Hold on.

It's our understanding that
he requested of the officer

that he go to the
men's room and use

the facilities at approximately
9:30 that morning.

About fifteen minutes
later, the officer

realized that Tim Barry had
not returned to his work area

upon a check.

And we soon realized
that the subject

had left, taking an elevator
down to the first floor,

and mingled into the traffic,
the floor traffic of the people

voting and the pollsters,
and blended into the crowd

and just took off
and fled the area.

We initiated a ground
search, and that search

revealed absolutely
nothing, as if Timothy Barry

just disappeared into the sun.

Gone.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Nearly a year

and a half later,
Tim Barry walked

out of the woods in Vermont.

His children, then
twelve and seventeen,

were visiting Tim's
sister for Memorial Day.

Is that Dad?

What?

Hey, that's Dad!

Hello, Sally.

Oh, God.

I had to work, so
I didn't get to go

to the family vacation home.

Where have you been?

Uh--

I don't think anybody
expected what happened.

As a matter of fact,
I'm certain of that.

I'm never going to
see you guys again.

Where are you going?

I just--

I just have to be by myself.

I-- I need to be alone.

Obey your mom.

Say hello to everybody for me.

Dad, come back.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Tim Barry had

stayed for only ten minutes.

It was the last time
anyone in the family saw

or heard from him.

I can't say that
I'm frightened,

but I have to admit to once in a
while looking over my shoulder,

wondering if maybe he
isn't someplace watching.

I know he would never do
anything to hurt the children

or put the children
in a position

where they could
be hurt in any way,

but I have to
admit to wondering.

Timmy Barry is an extremely
intelligent individual,

convicted of murder,
sentenced to life imprisonment

in this state, and he is to be
considered extremely dangerous.

I want to see Tim caught and
brought back to incarceration.

I mean, he did commit
a murder, and he

does owe his debt to society.

[dramatic music]

ROBERT STACK: Update.

Timothy Barry is once
again behind bars.

As a direct result of
"Unsolved Mysteries"

Barry was arrested this
past Monday in Akron, Ohio.

Barry had been working there
as a truck driver using

the name John Prendiville.

At a hearing in federal
court on Tuesday

morning, Barry
waived extradition

and was remanded to the
custody of the US Marshals

for transport back
to Massachusetts.

[theme music]

For every mystery,
there is someone,

somewhere who knows the truth.

Perhaps it's you.

Join me again next week
on "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]