All language subtitles for 4uibgoerbgoefbgoef

[narrator]
From behind prison walls,

International Prison Ministry
presents Chaplain Ray.

How many of you fellows
have heard of a man called

Jack Murphy, Murf the Surf?

How many have heard about him?

He was hedonistic.

If it felt good, you do it.
If it looks good, you take it.

And he ended up in prison.

So finally,
it got through to him.

"God has a plan for my life."

Jack Murphy, the alleged killer,

became "Murf the Surf,"
the Christian.

When his case came up
before the parole board,

let me tell you who went
to bat for him--his warden.

He said, "I'm here on behalf
of a thousand prisoners

"who need to know

"that if a man
will get his act together

"and get on the right track,

"that the system
will recognize it

"and will cooperate with him.

"But if you do believe
a man can change,

"here's a man that has changed.

[man] I think if
you had a hundred people talk

with Jack Murphy,
50 would believe him

and 50 would say,

"Absolutely not. The man's
a conman, and he's a liar."

♪♪♪

And I think at a certain point,
it stops being about Jack

and it starts
being about the person

kind of making the judgment

and how we choose
to grant salvation to people

as sort of a society.

♪ ...grace ♪

♪ How sweet the sound ♪

♪ That saved a wretch ♪

♪ Like me ♪

[reporter] Jack Murphy used to
be the surfing champ in Florida.

That's why they
called him "Murf the Surf."

Murf made a name
for himself back in '64,

when he stole
The Star of India sapphire

from the Museum of Natural
History here in New York.

Only got 21 months
in jail for that.

In '68, he murdered a woman.
That got him life.

He's 47 now. He was 32
when he went in 15 years ago,

but he might be
paroled next week.

The warden is all for it.
He says Murphy is a changed man

because "Murf the Surf"
found religion.

[rhythmic clapping]

[Michael] Frank Constantino
went to prison,

but then he got born again.

And he was a tremendous
influence in Murphy's life,

because Frank is
a spiritual father to him.

Frank really helped
Jack get out of prison.

Jack Murphy has done everything
that the commission has asked.

To the best of my knowledge,
everything that we have asked

the Department of Corrections
has asked.

And I believe
that his attitude is good.

And I believe that
his chances of making it

are very, very, very good.

[narrator] "Dear Mr. Chairman,
for the past five years,

"I have had
the pleasure of representing

"Dr. and Mrs. Lewis Kent,
the parents of Terry Rae Kent,

"who was murdered by
the above-captioned convict.

"These grieving parents
want to be heard

"so that the vicious nature
of the crime

"will not be deluded
by those who now want him

"to be restored to society.

"The heads of both women
were caved in,

"and their stomachs
were cut open.

"Both bodies were weighted
with concrete blocks.

"The executioner,
who has permanently scarred

"the lives of Dr. and. Mrs. Kent

"ought not be accorded
an opportunity

to again unleash his grisly
propensities upon society."

[rock music playing]

[reporter 2] Jack Murphy,
the surfing champion,

who became famous
as a jewel thief

and then a murderer, won parole
today and re-entered society,

saying he has paid his tab
for the crimes.

[cheers and applause]

[whistling]

[reporter 3] A stylish
Jack "Murf the Surf" Murphy

walked out of prison today,

stopping to
salute fellow inmates

who stood at
the fence singing spirituals.

Murphy, a murderer,

says the religion he found
while among them,

changed his life.

♪♪♪

Jack has indicated to me
that he is going to stay on

with the ministry and that

he is going to
continue in ministry.

Now he plans to open
his own church in Orlando.

He still won't admit
he ever killed anybody.

...wrong place
at the wrong time,

that I made some bad choices
that I regretted.

[man] But you never committed
any murders.

-No.
-The bodies of the victims

were found over the--
over the row of mangroves,

about where my finger
is pointing there.

I think he's playing
a big con game myself,

the biggest con of his life.

He was extremely colorful,

highly intelligent,
and totally ruthless.

I don't think
this guy can change.

No. I think he's a damn snake,
and he'll always be a snake.

[reporter] How would you answer
a cynic such as that?

I'm not the same person that
came in here a long time ago.

What brought about the change?

It was Christians who
didn't stop writing in

and telling me that
God had a plan for my life.

These people have been
watching me for 17 years,

-and they believe in me.
-[reporter] Okay. Thank you all.

Merry Christmas. God bless you.

[man]
Good luck, Jack. Thanks, Jack.

♪♪♪

[Frank] Well, he certainly
put in the work in prison.

But Murphy was
able to work the system.

He knew the right people.

He was able to
push the right buttons.

He had the intelligence
to know how to do that.

♪♪♪

[Inez]
It was on television.

And I thought, he's getting out,
and Annelie is still dead.

[whistling]

And Jack Murphy did not
acknowledge what he did.

How could you
possibly get redeemed from that?

♪♪♪

[boat horn blows]

[Jack]
Good morning.

As you know,
I'm on work release right now.

It's The Bridge, the only
Christian work release center

in the nation.

Over 60% of the men in
regular work release centers,

they go back to prison.

But at The Bridge,
less than 15% of those men

get back in trouble,
and the only difference is God.

Three months ago,
I was at Florida State Prison.

The end of the line.

And I wondered in my heart,

"Am I going out
of here standing?

Will I ever go out of here?"

I saw men cry in that hallway.

I saw men fight in the hallway.

I saw men die in that hallway.

But I saw men born again
in that hallway.

I saw an Almighty God
that has the power

to reach through prison bars
and fences to touch men's lives.

And in His timing,
those gates will open.

And you saw it.

December 20th of last year,

God opened
those gates wide enough

for a freight train
to go through sideways,

and I walked out of that prison.

It was a morning
that was very personal

and in a big circle
out on that lawn,

a hundred men joined hands
and they sang that,

"This is the day
that the Lord has made."

And it wasn't any politicians.

It wasn't any attorneys
or any money

that the door was opening
that morning

because God was in control.

A couple of guards in there who
didn't want to push that button

to let me out,
but God had a plan for my life.

I was a new man.
I was a son of the King.

I walked out there and I
told them, just like Jonah,

in the belly of that great fish
and the bottom of the ocean

cried out,
and God heard his voice.

I said, "God heard my voice
at the end of the line

at Florida State Prison."

Every week,
I put Bibles under my arm.

Fellow picks me up
in the morning,

and I come down
to the biggest jails,

and I walk into
these prison doors.

I go to the end of the line,
and I look you guys in the eye.

You've heard me tell you,
God has a plan for your life.

God will change your life.

God loves you.

Praise the living God.

[applause]

[Domenic]
There are many people

that will probably
watch this and immediately say,

"Jack should have died
in the electric chair."

But, um, I don't
think the worst thing

in our life defines us

if we do something about it,
and that's what Jack did.

[man] He really had a call,
and he fulfilled it.

[contemplative guitar music
playing]

[man 2] Jack had what you
might call a star persona,

and so people would look at Jack
as some kind of a movie star.

[John] Even as a child,
he had a lot of charisma.

He used to
always have that charisma,

and, uh, he polished that
as he went on,

especially, uh, once
he embraced, uh, religion.

[Nate] This was a man
who had boundless energy,

who had reinvented
himself multiple times

already up to
that point in his life.

[Corey]
The religious transformation

did turn out to
serve him pretty well.

It helped him get
out of prison quicker,

and you know,
it was a way for him

to parlay his criminal career
and his prison sentence

into something going forward.

[Sonny] What else
was he gonna do?

You know, how can you
keep his name out there?

How can he be famous?
How can he feed his ego,

if he didn't do that?

[Michael]
This book that he wrote,

it was published, you know,
in the different languages

in an-- I think it was
three million copies total.

[Kitten] We were at a church,
and the pastor had asked

how many had read
his book in prison.

Well, everybody in
the church had read his book.

And anyone know how
many people got saved?

Well, all of 'em got saved
because of the book.

And we all wept for joy
the day that

Jack Murphy came out of prison.

And he went straight
into full-time service for God

and is the best communicator

with prisoners
of any man in America.

♪♪♪

[Kitten] Chaplain Ray
really helped Jack get started.

[man] ♪ If I'm gone when
you call, oh, my Lord ♪

♪ My sweet Jesus, if I'm gone ♪

[Ray] And when you came back
into the free world,

of course, it hit the press.
There was a lot of controversy.

But you found a warm welcome,
didn't you,

on the streets among Christians?

Tell us, what does
Jack "Murf the Surf" Murphy

plan to do
with the rest of your life,

now that you're
back on the streets again?

I plan on doing God's business.

[Kitten]
Chaplain Ray, he's the one

who printed all the books
and the literature

and put them in prisons
all over the world.

Jack Murphy, the jewel thief
who became a Christian

and now serves God and man.

♪ That's what you see ♪

[Kitten] Chaplain Ray
was back in the days

when they used
to do tent revivals,

like all those
other religious men.

♪ Oh, my Lord, sweet Jesus ♪

[Billy Graham]
Are you ready to meet God?

The moment you received
and your name is written

in the Book of Life.

Is your name
in the Book of Life?

[Kitten] I mean,
we're talking '30s and '40s

where they did healing services
and speaking in tongues.

♪ Oh, my Lord,
oh, sweet Jesus ♪

♪ You can't hear me laugh,
and you don't hear me moan ♪

♪ Oh, my Lord ♪

In the name of Jesus, jump.

Start running. Start running.

[cheers and applause]

[Kitten] Chaplain Ray--he was
like a father figure for Jack.

As he told me, he said,

"Well, all those guys,
they're marketable, Kitten."

He was ordained.

But he said,
"My strength is in marketing."

He told them all
how to do mailouts.

He gave them
the days of the month

that you send letters out
to receive money.

I mean, he had
a method that worked.

I mean, he was a master.

And like he did
with Frank Constantino

and Pat Robertson,

Jack sort of shaped himself
after Chaplain Ray.

[Jack] This is the rule book
right here.

This is the road map.

Nobody else is ever
going to stand in here

and get emotional
or get passionate

or get sweaty
talking about their belief,

except people that
represent Jesus Christ.

God is raising up an army,
but it's your choice.

[Bob] Every eye in
the room was just on him.

And I mean,
he was preaching the word of God

as good as Billy Graham.

[Jack] When you get
to the gates of heaven,

and if the Lord is
standing there and he says,

"Why should I let you
into the heaven?

What did you do
with Jesus Christ?"

What's your answer going to be?

And that's not me talking.
That's Billy Graham talking.

[Kitten] One of the things
that people in prison want

is that you want
your family restored.

They want the relationship
with the father

that beat them restored.

And Jack and I
prayed about that.

He only did the Larry King show

because he knew his father
watched it every night.

[Larry] What's the drive
that keeps you

wanting to do this?

I know this, Larry, that if
God isn't a part of your life,

if He's not
a foundation of your life,

if Jesus isn't your
personal manager and savior,

that no matter where you are

or what you're doing,
you're doing time.

This is Larry King Live,
and your phone calls are next.

[Kitten]
Jack and Chaplain Ray

went to Hawaii
and, um, I was doing something,

and the answering machine
went off.

It was his father.

The message was real short.

Before I could get there,
he had hung up.

[machine beeps]

[click]

[Jack Murphy's father]
I just wanted to tell you, Jack.

I saw you on Larry King,
and you look pretty good, boy.

[Kitten]
When Jack was sentenced,

Jack's father was humiliated.

And so he was of the mind
that Jack got what he deserved.

So when he went
on Larry King's show,

sort of redeemed him
with his father before he died.

He still has that tape,

and periodically,
I'd hear him playing it.

[Nate] He told a story about
going on Larry King's show,

and he knew Larry King
wanted to ask him about

the Whiskey Creek murders,
but he also knew they had to go

to commercial break
in a minute and a half.

So, he just talked
for a minute and a half.

Did not let
Larry King get a word in.

And he told me, like,
"That is a strategy that I use."

And that strategy worked
for Jack for a long time.

I kept reading story after story
about Murf,

where there would be
15 paragraphs about this heist,

and then in the 16th paragraph,
it would be like,

"Oh, and then he was
convicted for murder."

If you take out Whiskey Creek,

his narrative is the perfect
American kind of crime story.

Because if you just go
from heist to salvation,

it is dashing and handsome
and stylish and cool.

Not only are the murders grisly,

they complicate
Murphy's salvation in a--

in a very real way.

That part of his life
had sort of been

successfully hidden.

What does it take
to make it out there?

Why-- why didn't it work
time and time again?

What does a guy need to--

to-- to get established,
get his feet on the ground

and get things
working out there?

[Domenic]
If you take a look at his life

from the time
he got out of prison,

it was about prison ministry.

Why would you
look at that as somebody

who did this for the fame
and the glory

and the money
or whatever you get out of it?

It was a thankless,
sacrificial life he lived.

[Frank] I think Americans
love stories of starting over.

You want to see
the person change,

you want to believe in him.

And so as long as he does
stay on the straight and narrow

and behave himself,

then it does become
that self-fulfilling prophecy.

You see what you want.

Many of you might
have heard about him

or read his book
some 40 years ago,

to have the biggest
jewel heist in the 20th century.

And by the grace of God,
he was released from prison.

And, uh, and he's traveled
with us for 25 years.

Please welcome, Murf the Surf!

[cheering]

People don't bet on guys like us
that end up in places like this.

Four out of five men
that come out

of the Texas Department
of Corrections

go back to prison
because nothing changes.

This weekend is
a weekend of change,

and you have a choice
to make this weekend.

What are you going to do

with the second half
of your life?

What are you going to do
with the rest of your life?

[Frank] You know, you're talking
to a jaded, old reporter,

that I think it was a path
that he fully embraced.

It becomes the first chapter
of his new story,

where he is doing some good.

Jesus says, "If you'll represent
me, I'll represent you.

If you'll stand up for me,
I'll stand up for you."

At that point,
something happens.

I don't know why.
I don't know how.

All I know is it happens.

[Domenic] Jack was proof

of how someone who could do
such evil things

can turn life around.

And he has affected tens
of thousands of lives with hope.

[Jack]
...Blessing through this man.

[Domenic]
There's hope for anyone

who's had a bad life
to change and to go forward.

-Amen.
-[inmates] Amen.

Okay.

♪♪♪

The clemency board of Florida

has heard from
a one-time world-class surfer

turned jewelry thief
turned evangelist.

Jack Murphy,
better known as "Murf the Surf"

asked the clemency board
for his civil rights back

so he could vote in Florida.

Others describe
to the clemency board

how his life has
changed since the '60s.

While in prison,
Murphy became a Christian.

When he was released
in the '80s,

he went on to lead prison
ministries around the world.

♪♪♪

[Bob] He came by my house
before he went there,

and we prayed together
about it and everything.

All he wanted was
the right to vote again.

It really bothered him
that he couldn't vote.

[clerk] Number 61.
Jack Roland Murphy is here.

I am, uh, here to speak
on behalf of Jack Murphy.

I've seen what Jack
has done to change his life.

I've seen him in circumstances,
where it would have been

very easy to revert
to the old Jack Murphy

before he became a new creation
through Christ.

[Alex] My name is Alex Taylor.
I'm a chaplaincy administrator

for the Department
of Corrections here in Florida.

And if there is
a case of rehabilitation

through religion,
Jack Murphy epitomizes it.

I'm Louie Wainwright, um,

and I've known
Jack Murphy a long time.

And I think that, uh,
he has contributed more

to this state's
correctional system

than anybody I know,
including myself.

I'm, uh, sort of overwhelmed
at that, uh,

at that endorsement there.

A lot of people have gone
to bat for me over the years,

and I'm-- I'm just trying
to do the right thing and--

and not disappoint the people

who have put it
on the line for me.

[Nate] Murf, he had spent
so many years

kind of surrounded by people
who were willing to believe

in his salvation fully.

But how many times in our lives
are we really challenged

on the stories we tell?

So the pro-commission
says that, um,

your version of the offense
for the murder conviction

differs from the official
circumstances. How's that?

I don't know
what their version is.

[Rick]
Okay. Did you commit the murder?

I was there.
I was involved in that.

I introduced some secretaries

who had stolen
half a million dollars

worth of stocks and bonds
and showed up in Miami

and, uh, made some calls,
and I got some people involved.

And we were out in a boat,

and they were talking stocks
and bonds and it got haywire.

And I'm driving the boat,

and all of a sudden
there's gunshots and mayhem

and an absolute nightmare
occurs.

And I'm right in the middle of
that whole thing and, uh...

[Pam] I'd, uh, like to clarify.

Mr. Murphy, um, it went awry

because they threatened
to talk, correct?

-[Jack] Correct.
-Okay.

So witnesses were eliminated.

These two women
were beaten to death.

And then just to make sure
they were dead,

they were shot and stabbed
postmortem.

Their necks were tied
with electrical cord.

-[Jack] Mm-hmm.
-Tied to cement bricks,

and they were dumped
in the water, correct?

-[Jack] Correct.
-You realize today

you probably would have
been electrocuted by now

for these crimes
or lethal injection

under today's
death penalty scheme.

[Bob] The governor
wanted to allow Jack to vote.

But Bondi-- she just believed
that he-- he didn't deserve it.

Doesn't matter that
the girl getting murdered

was a thief herself,
and Murphy claimed

that he didn't have
anything to do with it.

But she got that other guy
to vote with her.

Any questions?

Right, I move to grant
restoration of civil rights.

[Pam] Disagree.

So, it's denied.

[Jack]
Thank you, sir. Thank you.

[Kitten] The nature of the crime
was too violent,

too severe to meet the criteria
for clemency.

[Nate]
It took the clemency hearing

for him to realize, "Oh, wait.

"Okay, I can't just tell
my little version of the story

and point to my good works."

That hearing had
woken up something in Jack

that he couldn't hide this.

And so, he needed to come up

with a narrative
for Whiskey Creek.

[jaunty piano music]

This man right here
is my dear friend.

His name is Domenic Fusco.

He's a film genius and, uh,
travels all over the world.

He and I are involved
in a movie thing right now.

We're talking to big boys.

Now, we're talking
Matthew McConaughey,

good Texas boy.

We're talking Brad Pitt
and Leonardo DiCaprio.

We're talking
the guns, you know,

and it's, uh, it's on its way.

I'm Jack Murphy
with Domenic Fusco

here at Image Artistry Studios
in, uh, Sanford, Florida.

We're putting together a film
that would assist a writer.

Doing a script,
documentary script or a book.

♪♪♪

[Domenic]
A big part of Jack's life

was the impact
that movies had on him.

So, we started
putting some notes together,

and I would structure 'em
in screenplay format.

The information
will be of my life

through different segments
as a child, then as a teenager,

then as an adult.

♪♪♪

[Domenic]
Jack's story is all-American guy

goes really bad, becomes
the most infamous jewel thief

in American history.

His associations
caused him a lot of problems,

including
the Whiskey Creek murders.

So, you can look at him
and say three years of his life.

Now that will tell you
who he is.

He's a criminal,
he's a bum, he's this and that.

That's not who he is.
He turned around.

That's
a really strong storyline.

[Louie] "I've seen
many good men go bad,

"but I've also seen
a lot of bad men go good.

"I believe old dogs
can learn new tricks.

"And Murphy--
I believe a man can change."

♪♪♪

[Domenic]
And then we wrote a script.

We got this movie.

We went to Mel Gibson,
and that was a no.

Kathleen Kennedy
was a name thrown around,

but we never got to her.

♪♪♪

We met a couple of people
from Hollywood,

probably about six
or seven, eight producers,

and we had hundreds
of thousands of dollars on it.

They want to do the movie,
but like many people,

they wanted to show
chopping the bodies up.

You know, they just
made it into a real slasher

because that's what sells.

They just didn't
get the redemptive story.

♪♪♪

[Meryl] I always love it
when you see a movie

and at the very end, they tell
you whatever happened to.

I had been aware
of the robbery when I was a kid.

I remember what
a big deal it was.

And I remember sitting there
thinking, "Oh, my gosh,

it's going to be
the 50th anniversary."

So my curiosity was,
whatever happened to these guys?

And that gave me the idea
to try to pursue it as a story.

Jack and Domenic have
been trying for many years

to try to sell a movie
of his life,

and so I think he hoped
that any kind of press he got

might lead to that.

[Meryl] He wanted everything
to be about his redemption,

but people had
trouble stomaching the murders.

So I think he was hoping
that I would present

his version of events
in a sympathetic way.

I was more interested
in understanding what happened.

[upbeat, jazzy music
playing]

I spent three days with him.

And you really didn't know
which Murf you were going

to be spending time with.

He had honed skills
to keep people off-guard.

He enjoyed toying with me.

♪♪♪

Murf seemed
to have delight in implying,

"You're gonna
get on a boat with me,

"just like those girls,

and anything could
happen on this boat."

♪♪♪

And while he was teasing,

there was just a bit
of an iron glint in his eye.

Could see the guy who was
pretty scary and threatening,

and he would do that on purpose

because he wanted
to show you who he could be.

[Frank]
I'm working on this story

about "Murf the Surf,"

so I called him on the phone,
and we ended up talking.

When I started asking
about the ugly part of his life,

he ended the interview.

It's a story that he stays away
from not only in his book,

but in every speech
that he gives.

He always steers clear
of the two murders.

Back before this story ran,

all of a sudden,
Murf was standing at my desk.

Even back then,
our office doors were locked

for security reasons.

I tried to ask him
some questions,

but he was interested
only in coming to my desk,

introducing himself,
and then walking away,

that he's in charge.
You know, he's the big man.

The guy did not seem like
the most, uh, religious fellow.

[Nate]
We ended up making a podcast

about Jack and his life.

And that first night
I was with him, he tested us.

He offered to drive us home,
so we got in his car.

We drove away from our hotel,

pulled up to the water's edge,
and just sat there in silence.

No idea what message
he's trying to send.

We're just, you know,
overlooking the Everglades,

car off,
sitting in the dark with a guy

we know is convicted of murder.

Hanging with Jack
was a lot about, like,

power and control.

And you knew there was strategy.

And he always
needed to have the power.

[midtempo jazz music playing]

And Jack, I think, could
see me kind of processing.

And he said something like,

"I ran the clock
on you there, huh?"

After a while,
you really see that

he was always running lines.

And just as in that poster
that I did of Jonah,

Jonah cried out, "God heard him
in the belly of the whale."

God used Jonah's experience
to put him in a whale,

to get his priorities
and his mind right.

He said out
of the belly of hell, cried,

"And you heard my voice,"
Jonah, talking to God.

And this guy said,
"Murf, did you ever cry out

"and ask God for some help?"

He said, "Murf, if you're
not in the belly of hell

"at the end of the system like
Jonah, I don't know who is."

He said, "Did you ever cry out?"

That God had a plan for you,

but you went
and did your own thing?

And now, there you are,
in the whale,

in the belly of the beast.

He said,
"Did you ever cry out?

Did you ever ask God?"

[Nate]
His story is a performance.

The same story,
the same inflection,

the same phrases,
the same punch line.

If you're not
doing God's business,

you're doing time.

Because if you're
doing God's business,

you're not doing time.

If you're not
doing God's business,

no matter where you are,
you're just serving time.

[Nate]
He could have just lived happily

in Florida with his wife,
making a decent living,

speaking on behalf
of these ministries,

and no one
would have bugged him.

And we were able to climb up

to the top
of the fourth floor and...

[Nate]
There was something in him

to need that recognition.

Notorious jewel thief
was on campus

at the University
of South Florida today.

I know that
the crime thing was a--

was a dead end road,
but I didn't care.

[Nate]
It speaks to Jack's arrogance

and that he really thought
he could control his narrative.

But in the end, he would
have to confront, you know,

the very part of his story
that he didn't want to confront.

That's when things got bad.

[Buck Owen's "Act Naturally"
playing]

♪ They're gonna
put me in the movies ♪

♪ They're gonna make
a big star out of me ♪

[Jack] After beating
our head against the wall

for about 10 years,
we just prayed on it

and all of a sudden,
Ron Howard calls.

So anyway, that's how
this God thing in my life works.

♪ Well, I'll bet you
I'm a-gonna be a big star ♪

[Jack]
But here's something that, uh,

that I'm concerned about is, um,

it's very difficult to make me
look like a real good guy.

♪ 'Cause I can play
the part so well ♪

[Jack]
Uh, the trick is going to be

to tell the story, flip
some of that stuff in there,

some of that crime stuff,

some of that
crazy stuff in there,

and then we slide out of it.

So by the end of it,
I'm doing all this good work.

I'm doing all this work
with the homeless

and the helpless
and the prisoners and all.

And what I want to do

is we do a movie
that's got some real guts to it,

like what they did in
the movieBonnie and Clyde.

♪ 'Cause I can
play the part so well ♪

Here's this funny,
fast-moving thing,

and it's going
and you're laughing

and it's exciting.
And you're sort of giggling.

And then all of a sudden
they run around the corner

to the bank,
and the guy runs out of the bank

and jumps on the car and bam,
bam, they blow him away.

And what they
did with that movie,

they jerk with your emotions.

I-- I would like RJ
to be able to take this movie,

and we do that.

[Nate]
Walk me through

what happened
that day out on the boat.

[Jack]
Here's the thing.

You'll hear about that in that
movie script that talks about

the Whiskey Creek murders.

Okay? Did you--
did you get that?

[Nate] Yeah,
I know that you've said that

you've driven the boat.

[Jack] No, no, no.
That's not part of the deal.

Like you're asking me questions.

Well, if you'll read the script,

it'll tell you
exactly like it was.

This story right here,
I never, ever told anybody.

No one had ever, ever
asked me this-- this story.

My attorneys never asked me.

Reporters never asked me.

My partners didn't ask.
No one asked me about this.

You read the newspapers.

You get this story.
You get that story.

Let me tell you the real story.

We're on a boat.

I've got another partner,
Jack Griffith.

And we've got this other guy
with this Player,

and they're sitting
in the back of the boat.

Finally,
they wanted to talk business,

and it got a little heated,

and I can hardly hear it
because I'm driving the boat,

and it's making some noise.

But I hear one
of these secretaries say,

"If we don't have
some money by Thursday,

we're going to the FBI."

Now in the world that I live in,

you don't go to the FBI.

You don't talk like that.

And within a couple of minutes,

I had two dead people
in that boat.

I did what I had to do.
I had to clean up that mess.

And, uh, I don't go
any further than that.

[Nate] Is that gentleman
still alive today?

Do you know
what happened to him?

[Jack] Yeah. I know
what happened to him.

We were paranoid
about him and his situation,

and it was
a decision to be made.

And so he had a--
he had an accident

that, uh,
eliminated our problem.

[Nate]
If he's no longer here,

uh, why protect
his identity now?

[Jack] In this business,
when you're doing bad stuff

and you're with bad people,
you better keep your mouth shut.

Let me tell you something.

Everything in that movie script
is where we're going

with that
particular situation there.

We're not going any further,

and we're not going
to make a giant thing

out of this like
Sports Illustrated magazine did.

People who are Christians
can read the article,

and they know that
he's sort of floundering

with the message here.

That's not what this movie--

what movie or documentary
is about.

You want action?
I can give you action.

I'm going to give you
the biggest jewel robbery

in America's history
at the time,

but I'm not going to elaborate
and go through some

psychiatric evaluation on,
"Why did you do this and--

"Who did that?"

The story is this,
a couple of years of my life,

I got off the track and--
and just went haywire.

But for the last 35 years
of my life,

I've been working.

And there are 50 years' worth
of publications that say that--

that I was involved.

It doesn't say
that I killed anybody.

[Meryl]
His defense lawyer,

Jack Nageley,
said to me he had no memory

of ever hearing
about the fifth man.

[Meryl] Mm-hmm.

[Meryl] So I thought
that that was kind of

a strange phenomenon,
that he would suddenly

invent someone
seemed to be out of thin air.

[Nate] Did you talk to him about
the believability of that?

[Meryl]
I didn't push him.

[laughs] Jack Murphy is not
someone you really want to push.

He didn't want the world
to see him as a murderer.

[Nate] Who did what on the boat?
I don't know,

but Jack Griffith
had a history of violence.

Jack Murphy now says
it wasn't him or Griffith,

but it was this unknown man.

The number of wounds
that happened to these two women

and the way that
they were both killed,

the lawyers in the case made
a pretty compelling argument

that it could not have
just been one of them to do it,

that both men
had to be involved.

But that's something
only Jack Murphy

and Jack Griffith knew.

Are we on?
We're cooking-- Oh.

[Walt] Why would he make
the story up of a fifth man?

To polish his image.

I believe the guy
is a sociopath,

and I believe that
he sees the image of himself

being a murderer of a girl

as being a serious stain
upon his image,

and that has to be erased.

[Domenic]
He's fed up with people

writing about, you know,
him being a brutal murderer.

There were five people
in the boat, not four.

And Jack has told me
a bunch of times

that he was driving the boat.

I can't imagine
why Jack would shoot the girls

and be involved in a murder.

I believe Jack,
no "if"s, "and"s, or "but"s.

[upbeat gospel music]

♪ God is my comfort ♪

♪ Heal the problem
when my life is goin' wrong ♪

I believe that
the evidence is overwhelming

that he is who he claims to be.

-♪ Jesus is a friend ♪
-♪ To me ♪

[Nate] Did he ever
talk to you about Whiskey Creek

and his role in it?

[John] No.
He was safe talking to me.

I wouldn't say anything.

But he never,
ever brought it up.

But I cannot
prove it scientifically.

[Rick] I-- I probably
would have liked to know more,

but he never
wanted to talk about that.

And I just kind of
left it alone.

But I can prove it by the lives
that he transforms every day.

[Bill]
He was driving the boat.

So how do you drive the boat
and kill somebody?

I don't-- I don't know.

Because in my heart,
I don't say, "I think, I hope."

I say I know.

-♪ God is my comfort ♪
-♪ He's my comfort ♪

[Nate] You have
any reason to believe that Jack

would have made up a story
like that?

[Bob] He'd have
no reason to lie to me.

He's told me stuff he's done
that'll curl your toes, man.

♪♪♪

[Michael] But it wouldn't
change my mind either way.

Murder's no bigger a sin
than a lie to God.

He was forgiven for everything.

Forgiveness is forgiveness,
regardless of what the sin is.

A man before
he was born again, you know,

he was the old creature.

All things become new.

His past is his past,
and that's just what it is.

[vocalizing]

♪♪♪

[somber string music playing]

[Nate] That version
of the fifth person conflicts

with the facts that
came out of the trial itself.

[man] Then, what did--
what did the trial say?

[lawyer]
Whose boat was it?

[woman]
It was Mr. Lawrence's.

[lawyer] How many folks
were in that boat?

[woman] Four.

Two women and two men.

[Nate] And the fifth man
wasn't mentioned

until decades later.

[Domenic]
Well, that's--

That's news to me.

I never heard that story.

I can only tell you

what he's told me
over the years.

There may have been something
that just he couldn't face.

I'm not sure.

But, quite frankly, it's--

it's history and, uh--

I guess only God knows
what happened.

[Kitten]
People will tell a story,

and they'll tell it three times.

And by the fourth time,

they believe what they've said,
whether it's true or not.

I had brought up Whiskey Creek
with Jack

on more than one occasion.

Jack never said
he murdered them.

He was always vague,

and he finally said that
that part of his life was over.

He didn't want
to dig it up anymore.

Jack and I
were together 45 years.

And, um, whether
he was guilty or not,

I don't know.
I will never know.

And people that
knew Jack either forgot

or they said they never
knew about the murder.

He'd wake up every now and then.

When he had nightmares,
they were-- they were doozies.

You know,
not that it was Whiskey Creek

or anything,
but I mean, who knows?

[Jack] Your whole life
is one of repentance

for mistakes that you made.

You're always
trying to do something

that will soften that memory
or that guilt.

Everybody bends the truth
to their advantage.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪