Deep Secret | Full Episode | Forensic Files

It was really pretty. Lots of palm trees, I like that. It was always hot. We always hung out in the street
corners, went to the beach, dyed our hair blonde. We also partied a lot. >> Kids uh partying, kids over at the park,
kids with beer in the car. I mean, there wasn't very much going on here in 1977.
We didn't have a a lot of violent crimes. >> I'm Bob Vernon, I'm a retired Coral
Springs police detective. I worked on the Jeff Clee case. >> He was really tall and handsome. He was
[music] funny and smart, warm and kind, [music] and he would do anything for anybody.
I am Jenny Clee. In 1977, I dated Jeff Clee. >> He was the firstborn. [music] He got along with most everybody.
>> I'm Flossie Clee, and I'm Jeff Clee's mother. Jeff disappeared on June 21st, 1977.
>> It was on a Monday night. He went to the Crown uh Lounge with a group of friends.
They apparently left about 2:00 in the morning. >> It was a an average Joe kind of bar,
where everybody kind of hung out. >> When we woke up the next morning, and Jeff wasn't in his bedroom, Jeff's van
wasn't there. We called around, and we couldn't locate him. >> Was that unusual?
>> Yeah. He'd never done it before. And so we called and reported it to the police, and they said, "Well, you know,
he's 18, and you know, he probably just took off. Uh When your child goes missing like that,
you you you don't know. How could this happen? >> I wonder where he is. I hope he's well.
Well, he has a special place in my heart. He always has. >> [music] >> A lot of people overlooked the case
because it was just another kid who didn't come home, >> [music] >> and he's off someplace else.
>> It was just like the earth just opened up and swallowed him. >> Somewhere in between the Crown Lounge
and his house, something happened. >> It took 31 years for the case to be solved.
>> Deep Secret, tonight's 48 Hours Mystery. >> [music] [music] >> Back in the '70s, how were you treated
as a mom? >> Well, they ignored me. [music] They said I was hysterical. >> When Flossie Cleve reported her
18-year-old son, [music] Jeff, missing on a June day in 1977, she was frustrated that police didn't
take her seriously. >> I said, "Well, [music] when was I hysterical?" Cuz I I I I never I never
screamed or hollered or cried or any did any of that. I mean, I was just concerned. Where is my son?
He isn't home. Where What are you going to do about it? >> They didn't do much. >> They said, well, [music] you know, he's
18 and we can't really do anything. You just sort of have to wait and he'll come
up. He'll show up. >> Even if police have begun a serious search, it wasn't so easy to track down
a missing teen back in the late 1970s. There weren't surveillance cameras like this everywhere as there are now, no
ATMs on every corner, cell phones, electronic tolls, or vast computer networks. It wasn't so difficult to virtually
disappear. Back in the 1970s, drinking laws were more relaxed, too. [music] It was perfectly legal in Florida for
18-year-olds to drink at bars. Nickel beer night at the Crown Lounge [music] was a big hit with Jeff Lee and
his friends. >> Jeff was He was a lot of fun. He was a party maker. >> [music] >> Alan Carpenter was one of those close
friends. >> He just enjoyed having a good time. >> Jenny Healey was Jeff's [music]
girlfriend. >> He was strong and I thought he was handsome. Like a man's man. Didn't mean even at 18.
It's like he knew who he was. >> You loved him? >> Mhm. Absolutely. >> And here's his birthday.
>> As the oldest of four children, Jeff was also close to his mother and three younger sisters. Didi was 11.
>> And I remember sitting in the front yard for hours cuz I was waiting for him to
come home. And she's like, okay, you know, it's time to come in, Didi. I'm like, but he's not home yet.
>> Cindy, now a Coral Springs cop, was 15. >> He'd give you the shirt off his back to
anybody, even his sisters, believe it or not. >> Laurel, only a year younger than Jeff,
was closest to him. >> [music] >> She hung out with him and his friends, especially his best friend, David
[music] Cusinelli. >> They did everything together. He was like a big brother to me.
He and Jeff, they were just [music] almost inseparable. >> Both David and Alan worked for Jeff's
dad, Bucky, who ran a landscaping business. Bucky had a commanding presence and expected his son to someday run the
company. >> My husband had given him half of the business and uh he had a brand new van.
>> Did he like working in his father's business? Was that something he enjoyed doing?
>> I think he did, but I also think that he um he'd get a little resentful only because
he worked so much. >> How did your husband [music] deal with Jeff's disappearance? How
would you describe what he was going through? >> This was this was [music] his boy, you
know, and and it left a big void with him in his life, I think. >> Do you remember the last time you saw
Jeff? >> Mhm. Yep. He was in my family room and he was [music] going out and I can see him
and we were all laughing in the in the family room doing something and I remember him saying to me, "Mom, I
love you." And that was the last time I remember that. >> Jeff, from what I understand, left the
Crown Lounge and then he went to take David Cusinelli home and never returned home himself.
>> What I recall is Cusinelli telling me that Jeff had disappeared and his mother was looking
for him [music] and have you seen him? And I said, "No, and I haven't heard from him."
>> [music] >> So, what did you think? >> He always mentioned that everyone here go off daydreaming that he would move to
California. And I thought he went. >> A lot of people thought Jeff, you know, went off in his own.
Find a place down in the Keys. He had a scuba license. He loved the water. >> As time wore on, there was still no sign
of Jeff. >> [music] >> As part of procedure, police took a closer look at his family and learned
that Bucky Clee was a gambler. >> [music] >> My husband knew a lot of people and not
not all of them were wonderful people. >> Little shady? >> Oh, yeah, kind of. And Bucky did like to gamble.
He knew bookies. >> Any possibility of your husband having a debt that could have something to do with your son's
disappearance? >> No. >> The police also learned [music] that the Clees had taken out a $100,000
life insurance policy on [music] Jeff. And wasn't that a pretty large insurance policy on an 18-year-old?
>> Well, probably. My girls also had uh large uh policies on them, too. And this was just something we did.
>> Flossie refused to believe her son was dead. >> The first year she she brought a ton of
Christmas presents for him and I'm sitting there kind of like looking at he's not here. Well, he he'll have
something to open up when he comes out in, you know, through the front door. >> Jeff's sisters began to wonder if the
friend who last saw their brother might be hiding something. He had stopped working for their father right after
Jeff disappeared. >> Did you continue to see David Kusenelli? >> I did from time to time, but I really
thought that he knew something. But I didn't know what. >> Did you ever ask David like what
happened to my brother? >> Yes, I asked him and he just said he didn't know. >> But if David [music] seemed reluctant to
talk, someone else they knew was not. >> [music] >> In 1981, four years after Jeff
disappeared, suddenly there was news. >> And a friend of his is saying Jeff's alive.
>> Yeah. And he asked me not to say anything to anybody because if they ever find Jeff, Jeff
would be in trouble. >> So the the three little ones [music] little and he's all handsome.
>> That's me? And that's Cindy and Jeff. >> Look, he's got his arm around both of
you. >> Mhm. >> Old faded photographs are all Laurel [music] Cleese left of the older brother
who vanished in June of 1977. She heard nothing [music] until four years later when by chance
she ran into someone she knew from high school. >> It was just a bizarre conversation.
>> Michael Collister told Laurel that Jeff was alive but in hiding living under an
alias after a drug deal went bad. >> Mike Collister is telling you that when Jeff disappeared in 1977,
he had actually gone somewhere, changed his name, and was on the run? >> Yes. >> But he refused to tell Laurel where.
>> And he said that he had a nice girl, they were living somewhere and uh he was set for life. It didn't
sound like Jeff, but I you know I didn't know. >> Laurel, who at first kept quiet, later
confided in her mother. >> I just didn't believe this. I said that this is just not something Jeff would
do." >> When investigators eventually tracked down Collister, he denied telling Laurel
that her brother was alive. >> If I had a conversation with her about Jeff, it was only to
try to ease her pain to some degree and tell >> A dead end, says Detective Bob Vernon.
>> I discounted it right from the start. It just >> Vernon took charge of Jeff Clee's case
in 1982, 5 years after he went missing. Vernon was shocked by how thin the case file was.
>> Did Jeff Clee's disappearance kind of fall through the cracks? >> Yes. It was listed a missing person on
the face sheet. It was a basically an empty folder. >> Vernon wondered how Jeff and his van
could simply disappear without a trace. >> It never showed up in 5 years. I mean,
not in a chop shop, the license plate didn't show up, it didn't end up on some used car lot.
>> His gut told him that Jeff was dead. >> [music] >> And back in 1977, when Coral Springs was an undeveloped
maze of canals and levees, there were plenty of places to dump bodies and vans. >> There was a lot of empty fields. I mean,
[music] there was a lot of possibilities. >> While Detective Vernon [music] was beginning his search, Jeff Clee's mom,
Flossie, had never stopped hers. >> I think I chased every black van in Broward County.
I hate to admit it, I went to at least five different psychics trying to find out. I would just come away shaking my
head thinking, "This just that's not him. They don't know him." >> Through all the false leads, Flossie
held out hope. >> I never changed my phone number thinking that if something did happen to him,
he'd have he'd know the phone number. >> Like Jeff's family, Detective Vernon thought that Jeff's friends had to know
more than they were saying. >> Jeff Klee had been out with friends. They'd been drinking here at the Crown
Lounge. >> According to police reports, the last friend to see Jeff was David Cousineau.
So, Vernon began dropping by his workplace. >> After half a dozen or more visits,
the same questions come up. Do you can you think about anything else? Do you remember anything else that night?
>> David told Vernon what he told police in 1977. That Jeff [music] dropped him and his
brother Carl off at their house at around 2:00 a.m. They never saw or heard from Jeff again.
Vernon felt the best clue to the mystery was something Jeff's sister Laurel had mentioned offhandedly.
>> She said, um, >> [clears throat] >> "A few years ago, I got a letter from Attica State Prison."
>> The letter, Laurel says, came from a New York State prison official who stated
that an inmate wanted to write to her. [music] An inmate by the name of Scott Rango.
>> I was 17. My mom asked me if I knew him, and I said, "No, I don't know who it
is." >> Why did he want to write you? >> I had no idea. >> Scott Rango was serving a life sentence
for murder. >> I just didn't want my daughter involved with that. And so, that was the end of that.
>> How would he get the address to write to the Klee family? >> What were you thinking?
>> At that particular point, I tell you, I just, you know, it was like pulling on a
string. You know, I'm going to pull wherever I can to see whatever it is and you know
>> Rango had robbed and killed a psychiatrist in New York and was a suspect in as many as 17 other crimes,
[music] many violent. >> He would meet people out, become friends, drink [music] in bars, stuff
like that, later rob them or try to kill them. >> More significantly, back in 1977,
Rango was here living in Florida in the Coral Springs area and he just happened to wash dishes at a restaurant
near the Crown Lounge, the same club where Jeff hung out with his friends on the night he disappeared.
And how close is the restaurant where Scott Rango worked? >> Right across the street. I would say
probably 500 yards. >> That one right there on the corner. >> That was known as the clock restaurant
then. I putting the pieces together, I'm thinking well, you know he comes across the street
he meets Jeff, he asks for a ride home. I was thinking he's probably killed him,
took his van at that time and went to New York. >> Vernon was sure he was onto something.
But it was too late to talk to Scott Rango himself. Shortly after Rango reached out to Laura Klee he hanged
himself in his [music] cell. Was the case pretty much though closed believing that Scott Rango
was the one who killed Jeff Klee? >> In my mind, yes, it was. >> Nearly 9 years after Jeff Klee went
missing and at the insistence of the insurance company, the Klees finally asked to have him declared dead.
>> I said I can't do it. I don't want to do it. I you know, I he might walk through
that door tomorrow. >> Detective Vernon testified [music] how he believed Jeff Klee died at the
hands of Scott Rango and the judge made it official. >> Tough. >> Tough. Having to walk away from that
>> [music] >> judges chambers in silence. Not talking about it on on the way home.
>> one has talked. We just walked out real quiet. >> I would have go to my grave believing
that Scott Rango was responsible for the disappearance of Jeff Kline. >> But today you feel differently, don't
you? >> I feel entirely different. Yes, absolutely. I was wrong. >> Totally? >> Totally.
>> Three decades after Jeff Kline disappeared, Coral Springs is a thriving community. Busy bridges now span the
city's canals. >> Was any of this here back then, like any of these homes? >> No, this was
these were cow fields back here and this bridge wasn't built until 1989. >> The Kline case had been passed to
detective Dave Weisman, only 5 years old [music] in 1977. >> I wanted to give the Klines more
answers. [music] >> He was reviewing the case in March 2008 when he heard his colleagues were
dredging the C-14 [music] canal. >> For stolen vehicles possibly involved in insurance fraud.
>> They fished out more than 30 vehicles here. And [music] then a discovery no one
expected. Remnants of a black van [music] that had been submerged for a very long time.
>> When I put the van down on the concrete it actually fell apart. So it had to be
in a canal for several years because it totally deteriorated once it hit the ground.
>> His scuba license floated [music] to the top of the canal and license plate was
still on the van. >> One by one, clues [music] to a 30-year mystery emerged. >> We found eight-track tapes, we found
cologne, a comb. >> [music] >> And Jeff Klee's bones. His mother's agonizing search had come to [music] an
end. >> I was just so astonished. I really was. I I just I had to go by and see the van.
>> Jeff had never been far from home. >> It's incredible to think that probably about 3 and 1/2 4 miles from our house
this is where my son's resting place was. And how many times have I driven over that bridge [music] after it was
made? How many times have all of us driven over that bridge? >> Jeff's father, Buggy, died in 2004
never knowing what [music] happened to his only son. >> They found the van on my dad's birthday.
You think that's coincidence? >> I said it was a gift [music] from Daddy. >> What was your reaction when this was
actually pulled up? What do you think even when you [music] look at this now? >> I just can't believe that
Jeff was stuck in this van for 31 years. It's just hard to believe. >> The timing was uncanny because the van
wasn't the only new evidence to surface. Remarkably, just 2 weeks earlier, the police heard from a new witness.
>> Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so you got?
>> I swear. >> Dana Holmes, who was only 1 year old when Jeff Klee went missing,
came to police out of the blue to report an event that happened in the year 2000.
Back then, she met a man at a Coral Springs bar. >> He was drinking very much. He was
wasted. >> She and the man ended up alone that night. >> He was coming on to me.
And I said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa." >> Instead of getting intimate, she says, they shared secrets.
>> He started crying and he explained that he killed his best friend. His words.
And my heart dropped. And And then he continued to say, "But it was an accident."
>> Dana was very disturbed by the story, but she was married to another man at the time, so she kept the story to
herself. >> I did I figured, well, who am I going to tell? What am I going to do? Call Coral
Springs PD and say, "Oh, this guy I met one night, he told me he killed his best friend. I
don't know his best friend." I mean, it's one heck of a story. I didn't know if anyone would believe that.
>> As Dana went on with her life, she says, she buried the memory of that night until 7 years later in 2007,
when her memory got a jolt. She was in a bar again. This time, she overheard a woman telling a chilling story about her
missing brother. That woman was Coral Springs Police Sergeant Cindy Clee. >> Her brother had disappeared
30 years earlier. She strongly believes that her brother's best friend had something to do with it. And I listened
and I thought, "Oh my god, I know this story." >> Did you say something to Cindy?
>> No, I didn't. I didn't do anything and it did work on me. >> What do you mean worked on you?
>> I because now the victim had a name. >> It was 6 months after that, in March 2008, when Dana Holmes finally went to
the police. >> He was very emotional, and he was very, very detailed. And he said it was about when he was 17
or 18. >> And she gave them a sworn tape statement. >> He said that him and his best friend
were fighting, and there was some type of girl involved. And he said that he accidentally had
killed him, and that he hid a body, and that he didn't want to go to the cops. >> Dana knew the man only by his first
name, Dave. But when shown a photo lineup, >> That is David. >> she picked out David Cusenelli, Jeff
Cleese's high school friend. >> That's him. That's the man that told me he killed
his best friend. >> I It was just like God said, "Okay, they We've We've had enough of this. Let's
get this thing settled once and for all." >> Detective Wiseman was now convinced that
David was responsible for Jeff's death. >> How do you know he didn't just kind of
get lost and drive into the canal? >> That wouldn't be possible. There were no roads back then. There wasn't a bridge.
And when we found the van, um, it was found in neutral, which raised our suspicions that someone
had pushed the van into that canal. >> Dana Holmes continued to remember details of the story David Cusenelli
told her 8 years earlier. >> There was something that had to do with a rock. >> This time, she was under hypnosis.
>> It's an investigative tool. That's all it is. It's not admissible in court. >> I don't know if he fell
and hit his head on a rock, or he hit him in the head with a rock. I know that he killed him.
>> Wiseman also interviewed Jenny Healey Spence, Jeff's high school girlfriend, who revealed to police for the first
time that she had cheated on Jeff. >> You had spent some time with David Cusanelli.
>> Yeah. Yeah, on his birthday. >> On David's birthday. >> Yeah. >> And how did Jeff react?
>> Well, he was pretty mad, so we broke up. >> There's our motive. Jeff, that gave Jeff uh the reason to
confront David. >> You feel responsible in some ways? >> Yes. >> David was still in the area. He had
never married, but making [music] a case against him was not going to be easy. Nothing in Jeff's van or the condition
[music] of his body answered the biggest question, how did he die? >> We may have the why now, but how?
>> It was time for the detectives to confront David Cusanelli. Four months after Jeff Kline's body was
found, yet another surprising development. The man police suspect of pushing Jeff
and his van into the C-14 Canal agrees to talk to detective David Weisman. >> Nobody thought he would come in, and
then we got the call that there was somebody down in the lobby. Uh all the investigators were stunned.
>> Hey, Dave. >> Hey, how are you doing? How are you? >> David Cusanelli, now 50, arrives without
an attorney. >> It was extremely important because there was no physical evidence.
And we needed David's confession. >> But if David knows what happened to Jeff, he's not telling the team of
detectives who question him. >> So, tell me about that night. Do you remember what time you
left? >> I'd have to be >> And what time did you arrive, and who drove, and just set up the situation.
>> Well, Jeff drove, and my brother Carl went with him. Dropped me and my brother off at the
house, my parents house, and I said that was it. >> It's the same story he has always told,
except for one crucial difference. For the very first time, David admits that he and Jeff had argued that night about
Jenny, Jeff's girlfriend. >> He was upset. >> David admitted that Jeff was upset
because he had found out that [music] Jenny and him slept together. >> Were you scared Jeff was going to hurt
you that night? >> No. >> When he found out about it? >> No. No. >> While police continue to press David in
one room, what David doesn't know is that in another room, his older brother Carl,
who also agreed to talk, is being interrogated. Police are hoping to find inconsistencies in the brothers'
stories. >> When you went down to the Crown Lounge that night, how did you get down there?
Did you drive? >> David is confronted with Dana Holm's statement [music] that he had confessed
to her that he had killed his best friend. >> Rock. There was something that had to do
with the rock. >> Why would she say something like that? >> I have no idea. And I never told her anything. I never
told her that I killed Jeff Kling. I did not hit him with no rock. I did nothing like that.
>> David sticks to his story, even as he is egged on for hours. >> Cuz you know, accidents do happen.
>> I understand that, but I don't know what happened to him. He dropped me off at my parents' house
and drove away. >> Were you nervous questioning him? >> Uh I [clears throat] was I was a little
nervous. >> Finally, both brothers begin to waver on whether Carl had really been at the
Crown Lounge the night Jeff disappeared. >> I thought he was in the van. Maybe it
was another night he was in the van. >> Well, where were you? >> Um I don't remember.
I thought I went to the bar with the two of them and that was it. >> So, that's when we went in the room and
I spoke with Carl. >> This is a detective wasting He's been speaking to your brother.
>> After 3 and 1/2 hours, Carl appears to [music] break. >> I asked him if there was any malicious
intent with Jeff's disappearance. >> An accident is an accident, okay? As long as you can tell me
that there was no malicious intent, then I'll be fine with that. I really will be.
>> There was no malicious intent. >> Thank you. And at that point, I can see that we
were getting somewhere. >> David called me up and told me that there was a problem.
I guess I went out and met him. I must have helped [music] him dispose of the the vehicle.
I helped him push it in. >> Carl does not give any details and he insists he never saw Jeff's body in the
van. >> Carl, what did he tell you happened to Jeff? >> I don't know. I Yeah, vaguely come up with
pushing the van into the canal and I'm not even I wouldn't swear up and down that
>> Carl. Come on. >> I I don't I can't think of anything else. >> When police push him for more,
>> Come on. >> I'm not going to make something up. I don't know. >> Carl suddenly ends the interview.
>> Do I need to get a lawyer at this point? Is that where we're at? >> Are you requesting a lawyer?
>> You know, I I can't give you guys the answers you want. You know. >> But Carl has given the cops the
ammunition they need to press David. >> The police something. It's important that you see this.
>> They show David portions of his brother's interview. >> David called me up and told me that
there was a problem. I got up and went out and met him. I must help him. This was in the the vehicle.
>> He goes into more detail. >> What the police talking about? >> When we brought the video
in the actual room of Carl confessing, uh David started to freak out a little bit.
>> I did not do it. >> David, why your brother's on a mission? He helped you. >> No freaking way.
No freaking way. >> You saw it. >> I No way. >> It's your blood. >> I understand that. No, I
>> It's your blood. >> I did not kill Jeff. I did not. >> Then, David changes his story. He begins
to tell police how Jeff might have gotten hurt. >> He said the only thing that could have
happened is he was chasing me around the van. He tripped, fell, and hit his head.
>> In your mind, he really finally broke when he saw Carl. >> I believe so. Absolutely.
Seeing his own brother confessing uh to something they probably um we're going to keep a secret
amongst themselves their entire lives. >> What's the possibility that you grabbed
something and threw it at him? Hm? >> I >> Does that sound more reasonable? >> at him, maybe.
>> Does that seem more reasonable? >> It's possible, but I don't know. >> remember if that rock hit him in the
head? >> No, I don't. >> Or did he trip and fall? >> know if the rock hit him in the head or
if it caused him to trip and fall and it him in the body and then he tripped and fell.
>> Where did you see an injury? Forehead. >> I would think it was on his forehead.
>> How big of an injury? >> I think it was split wide open. >> The detectives finally feel they're
getting somewhere as David begins to reluctantly talk about that night. But David is never clear about how Jeff died
or how he and Carl put the van in the water. >> Did he jump back in the van with you and
go down there or did he would have followed you because it's kind of a long >> would have followed me in his car.
>> It's hard to watch him talk about our brother like it was just his life didn't matter.
>> We showed Jeff Clee's mother and sisters some of David's taped interview. >> I mean, if he was breathing, I wouldn't
have put him in the canal. >> Okay. >> No way. >> All right. Did you think that there was a chance
that he could have been brought to a hospital? >> If I thought there was, I would have.
>> Do you think it's possible that Jeff wasn't dead when he was put in the canal?
>> That was one of the first questions I had. How did they know he was dead? He could have been unconscious, totally
unconscious. >> And then drowned. >> I mean, these are two guys. I mean, they aren't paramedics.
>> Right. >> I said I thought it was a bad dream. So I woke up the next morning I was like, nah, no way did that happen,
no way. >> Would you actually describe what David [music] said as a confession? >> I believe so.
>> Oh God, what did I do? >> More than 9 and 1/2 hours after he arrived, >> My God.
>> David [music] goes home. Why wasn't he arrested? >> We wanted to review the case with the
state attorney. Make sure we had all our ducks in a row. >> What were you hoping he could be charged
with? >> Homicide. >> He was a good looking fellow and uh, he loved to be [music] dressed nicely.
>> Do you remember what Jeff was wearing when he disappeared? >> I remember he had this shirt on with
little tiny roses. >> I don't remember anything [clears throat] about his shirt.
>> tiny ones like this and it was uh, he he he really did like that shirt. >> Okay, Mom.
>> [laughter] >> We do miss him. We do miss him and what he could have been, I think all
>> It's not just losing a son and brother that is so difficult for Flossie Clee and her daughters. They are still
reeling from learning that Jeff's best friend may be responsible. >> Maybe it was an accident, but why did
they have to cover it up then? We might never know. So, there's always going to be a question in all of our
minds. >> What do you think of David Cusenelli today? >> I think that uh, he and his brother both are cowards.
They knew where Jeff was for 31 years and they chose to remain silent. >> Immediately after David and his brother
Carl gave their taped statements to police, they hired an attorney, Mitch Pole. The Cusenellis wouldn't talk with
us, but their lawyer did. The police called David Cusenelli's statement a confession.
>> Do you agree with that? >> No. >> What do you call it? >> I call it something that's coerced. I
call it something that's manufactured. >> Now, do you recall him chasing you? >> Pole says police fed David information
and pressured him into admitting he was there the night Jeff died. >> These pieces of the story don't
initially come from David. Here, >> this does not come from the police when he says, "Do you see an injury on the
forehead?" >> Where did you see an injury? >> Forehead. >> That came from David. David is the one
who said it was split wide open. >> How big of an injury? >> I think it was split wide open.
>> David is the one who says it's a couple of inches of a gash. >> How long do you think the gash was? 2 3
6 inches? His whole forehead like this? >> maybe a couple inches. >> That wasn't fed by the police. That
sounds like real details, doesn't it? >> But you have to take a step back before
he answered that way with some specificity. Who brought up the fact that he tripped
and fell first? It was the police. >> I don't have it right here in the top of my head.
>> And Carl's attorney says got the same treatment. >> Every time he would say, "I didn't have
any type of involvement. I don't remember." The police would say, "That's not a good enough answer for us. That's
not good enough. We could help you along." >> And you're saying that neither David
Cusanelli or Carl Cusanelli had anything to do with it? >> I'm not saying that they didn't have
anything to do with it. I'm saying that they both denied had it having anything to do with it and I
don't think that these so-called confessions confirm it anything. >> The Cleese hoped a criminal court would
settle the matter, but then a development that no one expected. [music] Today, what charges are pending against
David Cusanelli or Carl Cusanelli? >> No charges are pending against them. You heard it. The Cusanelli [music]
brothers will face no charges at all. >> Assistant State's Attorney Sherry Tate Jenkins.
>> We don't have any evidence to suggest homicide because it could have been accidental.
>> There is simply not enough evidence to prove premeditated murder, she says. The
main problem is that no one can even say how Jeff died. His skeletal remains, meticulously
examined, reveal nothing. >> You can't tell whether he drowned? >> No. >> You can't tell whether he was stabbed?
>> No. >> Or shot? >> No. >> Or even hit in the head with a rock? >> No. No. >> But what about Dana Holmes? Didn't she
say David confessed to her? >> If you took that alleged statement as factual, um
that indicated an accidental death and really gave no details whatsoever of that.
>> As for David's own admissions, >> I don't think I could describe it as a confession. He doesn't say um
definitively, "I hit him." In fact, he many times stresses the opposite. >> What about Carl Kessinger? Would you
describe his statement as a confession? >> He places himself there, um only to help his brother do something with
the van. He claims no knowledge of uh Jeff Kling being there. >> If it was an accident, what about
manslaughter charges against the brothers? Well, that's out, too. >> You have to apply the law that existed
in 1977. >> The law in Florida has since changed, but back in 1977, there was only a 3-year statute of
limitations on manslaughter, meaning that the state could only bring charges 3 years after a death. Obviously, by
2008, the clock had long run out, not only on manslaughter, but on lesser charges like concealing a body.
But no one even knew Jeff Kling was dead. >> No. No. But that was the law at the time, in
1977. >> They'll never pay for the crime, which is frustrating to the police department, frustrating for the Klee
family. >> We are burdened by knowing that someone who we believe put our brother in his
van and pushed him into the canal will not be held legally accountable. >> With no case pending,
Jeff's belongings are returned to the Klees. >> There were a few things that we we just
my family decided to keep, but um they're strictly for their own personal remembrances.
>> This is his dive card. This is what floated to the top. >> The hair. >> Proof positive who it was.
>> Flossie finds a tiny threadbare piece of cloth with a faint, but familiar pattern. It's the shirt she has
remembered all these years. >> See, here's the rose, right here. >> She allows the [music] remnants of
Jeff's van to be towed away and junked. In 1977, Jeff Klee left in that vehicle [music]
intending to spend a night out with his friends. His family feels he has finally
come home. >> It's over with. >> [music] >> Uh we know the people involved. Are they going to go get justice? They
probably won't. But they have [music] to live with themselves. As far as I'm concerned, that's the end
of the story. >> [music] [music] [music] [music]

Was a missing teenager a runaway or the victim of a serial killer? "48 Hours Mystery" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports in this episode from May 2010. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

The episode details Jeff Clee's 1977 disappearance, investigation, and discovery of his remains in 2008, revealing family and legal struggles.

Key points

The Disappearance of Jeff Clee. Jeff Clee vanished on June 21, 1977, leaving his family in despair.
A Mother's Hope. Flossie Clee never gave up searching for her son, even consulting psychics.
The Shocking Discovery. After 31 years, Jeff's remains were found in a van submerged in a canal.
A New Witness Emerges. In 2008, a woman came forward with a chilling story about a man she met.
David's Confession. David Cusanelli admits to an argument with Jeff about Jenny, revealing a motive.
No Charges Pending. Despite suspicions, no charges are filed against David or Carl Cusanelli.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

How could this happen?

Flossie Clee expresses her disbelief about her son's disappearance.

2:04WatchJun 2, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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