Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 1, Episode 10 - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] next on Unsolved Mysteries Tijana Mexico Party Time turns lethal when a college
student is found dead on a street a college athlete Sprints from his bed Through The Frigid winter night
while he's asleep 60 years ago an army spy disappeared a mysterious phone call May
hold the key a family's Dreamhouse is a living nightmare until a team of Ghostbusters
arrives five cases some without endings our team is working on them and perhaps you can help I'm Dennis finina and this
is Unsolved [Applause] [Music] Mysteries [Music] Tiana one of of Mexico's most popular
border towns for college students hunting for big fun at bargain rates but a good time here can cost you your
[Music] life 1:30 a.m. Steven Thomas is looking for his brother Jason in the crowds of
partyers they become separated while heading back to their car I looked to the right of me I turned around my
brother wasn't there I mean it was like that an hour and a half after Jason disappears a Tiana police officer
discovers his battered body in the road Jason was drinking and he was loud and obnoxious and maybe out of
control that night I believe that Jason was murdered by the Tijuana police 20-year-old Jason artist was
attending College in Los Angeles he brought his younger brother Steven out for a visit and a good time South of the
Border but that good time would end in tragedy Saturday night the main drag was packed for many the loose drinking laws
here were the biggest attraction about 900 p.m. Jason Steve and their friend Michael Justin started bar
hopping hitting places that offered all you could drink for less than $5 Jason was usually friendly but he had
a reputation as a Rowdy Drinker that night he was already a little buzzed and he didn't realize that tequila cost
extra $6 a shot now you owe me $12 $12 you crazy Jason didn't want to give up the money
so I just say Jason give him the money just just give him the money and let's get out of here you know what I'm saying
this ain't the spot we need to be at me you the car 15 minutes I meet you car 15
Jason and Steven left Michael at the bar and went back to the strip my strategy was to hurry up and
find the car so we can go sit down we're kind of drunk you know what I'm saying walking around
Tiana walking down the street and that's when my brother accidentally bumped into
a female officer excuse me you just hit me you just hit me you just just hit me well I was kind of frustrated at my
brother for the simple fact of being that drunk my feelings was just I'm ready to go home I'm ready to get back
to Van eyes look Jason man you acting crazy man this ain't our country I told him walk behind me come on let's hurry
up and try to find this car he's like 3 or 4 yards behind me at first that's when I walked up some more
to another block so we walked up I look to the right I looked behind me and my brother wasn't
[Music] there my first reaction was probably that he's sitting down on the curb somewhere or sitting up against the
building or anything like that you know what I'm saying because we were kind of intoxicated soon after Steven lost sight
of Jason Michael claims that he spotted him in the back of a police car I looked and I said what is he doing
in the back of a police car there were the last people I saw Jason with I saw Jason with my own eyes in the back of a
police car like I know my hand Michael and Steven never saw Jason again Jason's family was shocked when 2
Days Later the American counselor sent word that he was dead his aunt Tina Martin Smith went to Tijana to identify
the body I remember thinking this is not Jason there Jason is somewhere in a jail
in Tiana and someone has robbed him and they've taken his ID and this person is in the
m and I look down and it was Jason it was [Music] Jason Tiana authorities told Jason's
family that he must have gotten lost trying to get back to the Border they called it a tragic hit and run
accident but Steven doubts that story I believe that it had something to do with the police I feel that for a
fact after Michael told me that he seen my brother in the back of a police car there got to be something up
there Tiana police deny the allegation they claim they never even had Jason in custody we check and double check uh
almost the whole month of August and there is no retention with that name sometimes it happens that they Mis
write the name in our computer so we run it with the three names we found nothing Jason's family obtained a copy
of the autopsy report through the American culate and had it translated into English nothing was adding up first of
all they stated that Jason was hit by a car and we had these conflicting things we had the photos of him with no
injuries to his lower extremities with these unexplained 5 in marks all over his body
and chest area and in his face we asked three forensic Pathologists to to review the report one
agreed with the hit-and Run finding the other two however questioned the official
results I would be very skeptical of one the autopsy findings and the assertion that that this was simply a hitandrun
accident one has to apply High degree of skepticism to the entire oopsy in my view for instance the Tiana coroner
claimed the car hit Jason so hard in the chest that it ruptured his heart in order for a blunt blow to get through
the sternum and and and rupture the heart it would have to virtually crush the chest and it's quite evident from
from the autopsy that chest is not is not badly mashed there are no bruises on it there AR no big hematomas so that
becomes incredible uh the autopsy report becomes incredible another Point Jason's head
wounds were similar to those caused by a beating certainly the lesions around the
head and the skull which was severe uh certainly consistent with the butt of a rifle or or or any other uh uh sharp or
even blunt object that that that could be used on an individual I believe that he was
[Music] beaten and after he was beaten perhaps in an attempt to destroy the evidence
that they perhaps ran over and or drug him and I believe that when he was run over that he was already
dead Tijana authorities have closed the case they believe Jason's family may be overreacting we have had responses from
the families in conflict with the saying of the hopsy and the statement from our
department uh even in sometimes uh uh where there there are witnesses of an accident and there is a driver resp
responsible for the accident uh there have been some families stating that uh they they are not accepting that was an
accident maybe should have gone to jail for the night but he didn't nobody nobody deserves to die that
we Jason's family hopes that anyone with information about his death will log on
to our website at unsolved.com [Music] coming up mysterious cases of sleepwalking that result in injury and
even [Music] death The Mysterious World of sleepwalking it's often portrayed as harmless or even amusing but in reality
it can be dangerous and sometimes deadly Iowa City Iowa Jared Al good was a talented football player during his
waking hours but was a habitual Sleepwalker at night it all began when he was a young boy he was a a major
Sleepwalker and all of my boys are and that scared me and I talk about it and I'd ask the doctors about it and they
would just pretty much poo poo it like it's really nothing CU I I had asked when Jared went to college his
sleepwalking continued nothing serious happened until one early winter morning Jared was up his eyes wide open
but he was not awake he ran more than a mile Barefoot on the icy pavement Witnesses later
reported that he sprinted with the intensity of a runner at the Finish Line people who have these episodes
spontaneously like Jared get stuck in this state between wakefulness and sleep awake enough to perform complex
behaviors not awake enough to be aware of what we're doing or responsible for what we're
doing somehow in his sleep Jared managed to exit his apartment weave around Park
cars and turned Corners as he ran then in mid stride tragedy Jared all good died instantly
initially authorities speculated that he committed suicide Jared's mother didn't
buy it she talked to her son's roommate and learned that Jared was having a reoccurring dream about running in a
race Jared said it's a crazy dream I'm running a race with the man from Bertram only the man is in a car and I'm on foot
running a race as hard as I can run some may dismiss this as just a coincidence but Jared was killed as he was running
down a road that leads to the town of Bertram Becky elgood was absolutely convinced that her son had not taken his
own life and experts agreed there was not one shred of evidence that he had depression or any other reason to commit
suicide there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol involved the only reasonable explanations is that this was yet just
another one of his sleepwalking episodes in the end authorities agreed Jared Algood became the first person in Iowa
history whose death was attributed to sleepwalking when I hear stories about Jared algod I think that possibly could
have been me and that that scares me to think that like Jared Heidi Ruiz is a dedicated athlete and a sleepwalker she
was attending in college on a track and field scholarship and felt a tremendous pressure to
[Applause] perform I wasn't running from a particular person or a thing I was just
running because I felt like it was the end of the world it was like a monster inside me trying to get out I heard a
blood curdling scream Heidi's mother witnessed two of the most violent episodes bang two big hits where
I could hear her coming through doors help me I have to tell you the force of her
running through that Hall I will never forget because of the tear of the looking of tear on her face was so
incredible and for a mom to not know what to do in order for her not to be a to hurt herself again was um a real
scary thing real scary the biggest episode was in my mom's house back in August of
95 must have gotten out of bed and took one step and bolted straight into the [Music]
wall the impact tore open Heidi's forehead she gasped her wrist as she fell to the floor honey okay let me see
I decided I couldn't handle anymore I was terrified and I said I need to get go seek
help Heidi was tested at the world-renowned Sleep Clinic in Northern California a different look completely
here I had electroids all over my head I had a pulse on my finger I mean I was hooked up like I felt like I was from
Mars was very very uncomfortable but it was an extend test and they had to see what was going on
through a testing process here in a moment or so we wanted to see if we might be able to capture a sleepwalking
episode but that can be rare because it might not occur every night uh but secondly we also wanted to Ru out the
possibility that it um wasn't something else such as seizure activity a sleep related breathing disorder or even leg
movements that were causing the person to wake and and triggering off an attack Dr kashida could find no
physiological cause for Heidi sleepwalking but he was able to pinpoint what is likely to trigger an episode
there's a lot of different triggers one of them is sleep deprivation secondly stress can also increase a chance that
the person might have um sleepwalking both Heidi Ruiz and Jared Algood fit that pattern their
sleepwalking flared up under heavy emotional pressure and lack of sleep Heidi now has her sleepwalking condition
under under control through medication and careful Stress Management unfortunately a lot of sleep is still a
mystery a big mystery in terms of a lot of the causes of these Sleep Disorders but you know it's something that we're
all trying to really work hard on the world of sleep and dreams has been the subject of extensive research
but after Decades of testing scientists are still left with more questions than answers if you or someone you know is
suffering from a serious sleep disorder it should not be ignored please consult the
[Music] doctor next a missing person's investigator searches for her own father who disappeared more than 60 years
ago September of 1945 World War II is over the heroes are finally coming [Applause]
home Arlington Virginia Lieutenant Ray hickingbotham settled down with his wife Dorothy and
three-year-old daughter Carol a decorated war hero Ray was assigned to Army intelligence my memory was one of a kind
of magical summer it was the first time I had a dad at home and my mom there there was just a lot of fun a lot of
time for the family to be together I got you the base housed the top secret radio
operation Ray may have been part of a select group of expert code Breakers his assignment monitoring radio
communications from behind the Iron Curtain the Cold War had begun it's a good ulcer job you're sitting at a desk
you're not mobile you can't get up I've seen them scream sometimes and and just physical frustration you know just and
it's just you know trying to ventilate their frustration while they continue plotting away with this boring but
potentially incredibly fascinating job I think I've got something in less than a
year Ray and his group would be absorbed into the newly created Central Intelligence Agency
where daddy sweetie Ray was working long hours and spending little time with his
family be back pick me up at three in the summer of 1947 Ray was transferred to another top
secet group he did not tell Dorothy about the new assignment things and watch what I can
do my mother was worried because he seemed so tired and so uptight he became very tense and it became worse it just
got worse and worse late that summer Dorothy took Carol to Long Island for a twoe visit with her
grandparents when Dorothy tried the phone ray she was given the surprising news that he had gone on
leave then she learned that the military had without explanation hired a moving crew to clean out their
apartment 2 weeks later a moving van showed up at Dorothy's parents home in the boxes and Trunks there was not one
single item belonging to Ray no pictures no letters no writing nothing it was as
though he had been purged from our lives as though he was completely gone and wiped
out and my mother just didn't know what to make of it a month went back and then a man
claiming to be from the Army visited Dorothy with shocking news this is all I know on October 14th 1947 he was listed
as awall 30 days later he was dropped from the military roles and classified as a
[Music] deserter as a result Dorothy and Carol lost all of their military benefits Dorothy later tried to get in
touch with the mysterious visitor the Army said they had never heard of him my mother was alone she was frightened
and uh she was afraid something terrible had happened to my father perhaps he' gone overseas him and killed in line of
duty she could not comprehend that he would just disappear she really thought the government was withholding
information from her it is absolutely not total paranoia to to wonder if the CIA or another intelligence Branch had
something to do with his disappearance I can think of a half dozen cases where people you know there were weird things
like that happened where the family was not told the truth and the loved one did
disappear or or died and they weren't told how they died Ry was labeled a deserter and was
disgraced Carol and her mother struggled to make ends meet Carol grew up married
and moved to Oklahoma she became a private investigator special izing and reuniting
families but she never gave up the search for her own father as I look through the material
that I received I began to get a picture of someone very special someone very highly trained someone who had performed
to the at the top level and I came to believe that this was a man who would not just
disappear after years of budding heads with government government bureaucracy Carol finally went to the
media an article about her missing father appeared in the local Arlington newspaper 3 hours later she received the
phone call hello the caller identified himself by a code name Archangel he was using a
mobile phone and would not reveal his exact location he said that my AR had really rattled cages at the CIA and that
it had really shook people up those were his words now listen carefully I've got
to give you some background there had been sensitive leaks in the atomic energy area and your dad was
investigating those leaks in August of 47 an attempt was made on his life his Superior decided to bury your father it
was easier to drop out 20 years ago things were different the man told Carol that her father was not a deserter Ray's
life had been in danger so a paper trail was created to cover his disappearance the whole time he was a few miles from
our Archangel revealed the astonishing news that for nearly a year Ry had lived only 3 mil away from Carol and her
mother he had been hidden by the government in the suburbs of Washington DC where is he now your father is still
alive his name is Nelson he lives in a NATO country country where there were high mountains Crystal Clear lakes and a
longtime democracy that's all I can say when I hung up the phone I felt very drained maybe he was a jokester or a con
artist maybe he was going to call back and want money I just didn't know what to believe but there was a part of me
that kept saying my dad's alive there's a chance Carol never heard from the mysterious caller again but she and her
son Ian have never stopped trying to decipher archangel's Clues it's Crystal Clear
leges it is possible that my father chose to follow his career and that that was what he wanted Above All Else
including myself and our family and that's very painful I have compassion for a young
man who may have made a wrong choice we all make wrong choices and I want my father to know that we love him and that
it's it's it's forgotten we just want the pain of not having him to end Carol hopes to someday reunite with
her father or at least clear him of the charge that he's a deserter if you have any information about this case please
log on to our website at unsolved.com next the incredible story of a supernatural force that is terrorizing
ing an entire [Music] family for most of us haunted houses are the places we visit on Halloween we
scream we jump we laugh and then we go home but in Ohio a family has to deal with the horrifying fact that for them
home is A Haunted [Music] House okay got it yeah you first a newly married couple we'll call them Joe and
Mary Smith thought they were moving into their dream home but when Mary was pregnant with
their first child they got a warning that something was wrong it really worried me because it
sounded much more than a mous or a raccoon or something so like grading noises and uh things being dragged so to
speak Mary called her father a police detective careful dad he approached the addict expecting a
[Applause] burglar sweetheart take a look at this the attic was a disaster Zone blankets pulled out boxes
of Christmas ornaments dumped childhood trinkets broken yet there was no sign of
an intruder the attic had been sealed tight at that point I just shivered kind of like with fear
because something was there that I didn't know about and I didn't particularly care for that feeling at
all darn turned on their own and the strange noises continued Mary soon learned that the house had a disturbing
past now we've had a nice walk no no no we hold hands till we get back the previous owners had reportedly adopted a
little boy one day he just mysteriously vanished and to this day no one knows what happened to him Mary suspected that
that boy might be linked to the hauntings one night when her own son was almost the same age as the missing child
Mary says that he let out a blood curdling [Music] scream it just was a very tormented type
of a cry that's what I heard in his voice was that horrible fear what do you see
honey Mary had no idea what upset her son until he happened to visit his grandmother a few weeks
later Grandma are you hurt no I want to go home well why and I thought what happened he says Grandma I
want to go home I'm not never coming back here again I says why what why why aren't you coming back he says no no Dev
de I what is he talking about what a g what are you saying a devil devil the child was pointing at a religious
painting of St Michael the Archangel trampling Satan underf foot the little boy later told his mother it was the
same devil he had seen in his [Music] bedroom Mary and her husband considered moving many times but they had too much
invested in house finally Mary discovered what she now believes is the key to the disturbing
events now we've had a nice walk no no no we hold hands till we get back the little boy who once lived there had
apparently died under mysterious circumstances in the kit and he was buried somewhere on the
property it just was creepy I perhaps thought there might be a connection in fact it wasn't a might
be I was very concerned that there probably was a connection when most people think of a haunted house they
think of spirits of the dead but uh in most cases houses that are haunted genuinely appear to be haunted by some
type of an energy force at our request Dr Nichols and two colleagues investigated Mary's
home we conducted a series of uh of energy field scans throughout the house to try to establish a baseline energy
field reading uh electromagnetic Electric magnetic fields microwave fields to try to determine if there are
any unusual energy Fields present in the house in one of the bedrooms they found
a strong electromagnetic field that surrounded a dresser left behind by previous
owners one of the suggestions that I made to the family was that they remove the dresser at least from the bedroom
and preferably from the house temporarily and see if it has an effect on The Haunting phenomena that they're
experiencing the Paras pychology found even stronger readings in the basement where an abandoned well ran deep down to
an underground Lake we find many houses uh that are haunted are located over sources of
underground water and so there does seem to be a correlation this may conduct some form
of psychic energy it may conduct some form of natural earth-based uh magnetic fields that stimulates a person's
psychic abilities people ask us frequently do we believe in ghosts and the answer is yes
there's no question that people experience ghosts but what are they are they actually spirits of the Dead are
they some type of entities From Another Dimension or are they some strange artifact of the human psyche
unfortunately those are questions which for now remain an unsolved mystery next a young boy whose mother
was murdered is the key to catching her killer it was a summer day in Vancouver Washington let me zip your coat
up you going to have fun with daddy this weekend mhm 5-year-old Dustin Johnson was waiting for his father to pick him
up for a custody visit Dustin didn't know it but he was saying goodbye to his mother for the last
time give me a kiss I love you love you here's your back remember my mom getting
me ready to go with my dad she gave me a hug and a kiss goodbye and told my she'd see me when I come
back but then I come back and Mom wasn't there that same weekend Patricia Johnson
was murdered 9 days later later her naked decomposing body was found 2 weeks later Patricia's own
brother Dennis Keith Smith confessed to the crime he was sentenced to life in prison on a charge of second degree
murder Dustin moved in with his mother's parents when Dennis Smith was paroled 10
years later he came to live in the same house every day Dustin Johnson had to face the man who killed his mother and
then another Local woman mysteriously disappeared Dustin became convinced that his uncle was somehow
involved your lunch is made thanks H Dan and Carolyn kbby lived just 3 miles from
Dustin they were planning an evening out we don't have the kids tonight so why don't we just get together and have
dinner spend some time together okay all right it promised to be a romantic evening just the two of them but before
Dan left work his brother called and invited him to stop by we ended up going down to uh a Tavern down the street we
we had a beer and we started shooting some pool turned out there was a Blazer game
on we started watching that we had a couple more beers and uh I had decided just to uh stay behind at his place and
chose not to drive home home Dan didn't call home until 1 a.m. hi Carolyn it's me listen I'm going to stay
at Dave's tonight I had a few beers so you know I better just stay here I will see you in the
morning Sunday morning Dan returned to an empty house his message was still on the
[Music] machine Carolyn he assumed that Carolyn was angry with him for not showing up but by Sunday
night he began to worry hello Susan yeah this is Dan Dan called everyone in his wife's phonebook
from A to Z no one could account for Carolyn Carolyn still hadn't sh up by 6:00 a.m. Monday when she was due at
work Dan and his brother Cruis the streets of Vancouver looking for any sign of Carolyn finally they found her
car in a nightclub parking lot this is her car the morning bar maid was the G that
worked there Saturday night and she said yeah I saw your wife she was in Saturday
night that's the last time I saw her so at that point you know Panic set in the car was there and my wife was
nowhere to be found when Dustin Johnson read about Carolyn kbby in the local newspaper one fact
jumped out I found a name by the name of Dennis in the newspaper and I continued to read
that the lady was missing and I had this feeling that that person by the name of
Dennis might be my uncle this might be a weird conversation Dustin found Dan KB's
number and call yeah I just was reading through there and found the name of Dennis do you know
what Dennis's last name is he called me and said he'd saw the article and if this Dennis that was mentioned in the
article was in fact Dennis Keith Smith that that was his uncle and he wanted to let me know that he had
murdered his mother authorities had not yet released the last name of the man seen with Carol Dan asked detectives to
check out Dustin's hunch he said that uh he thinks that the man Dennis that you're looking for his name is Dennis
Smith and he said that this guy is a murderer is that true there was a long pause from the
detectives and I knew right then it was the person at that point in time I think uh right then and there I I
knew my wife had been killed right there the nightclub bartender helped police reconstruct what probably
happened to Carolyn kbby you can tell it on her face she's been crying she was alone she didn't want to
be with anybody she's upset if she would had one more drink she would have been passed out probably
going to the hospital she's really bad off she's trouble her oh yeah Dennis Smith was a regular at the club
according to the bartender Smith had been watching Carolyn All Night Long at about 11:30 he made his move it's just
the way he walked up to her is as if there old friends but she didn't know who she is
with he spoke to her for a few seconds she lifted her head up he had one arm around around his neck and had a
hold of it and walked out with [Music] her detectives decided that it was time to have a little talk with Dennis Smith
who was it you talked to it was the bouncer okay you said the waitress or bartender which is it it can't probably
isn't both of them at this point right so he would laugh at times for no real apparent reason reason I was which is
very indicative of someone that's trying to be deceitful you were in your truck for 45
minutes yeah what happened what come on come on Dennis we're all adults what's going on what happens she
attacked me so you know I'm winded and I'm pretty tired after that and we you know what mean she attacked you and then
I see this guy and he's got like the stick in his hand Smith went on to claim that the stranger threatened him and
then took Carolyn away a stick what was it detectives had a hard time believing that
story especially when they inspected Smith's pickup truck oh man that's more than a
cigarette Burn yeah it looks like he took a torch to it it wasn't just the gaping hole in the seat that aroused
suspicion the seat cover had been removed and every inch of carpeting had been stripped off the floor and at that
that point basically I knew that Dennis was hiding something from us maybe any evidence that Carolyn was in his truck
or that something bad happened to her in the truck but there was no proof that Carolyn was actually dead and suspicions
alone weren't enough to keep Dennis Smith in custody by the time police collected enough evidence Smith left
town a warrant was put out for his arrest update on the night of our broadcast Tracy
hodman and John Cummings were watching the program with their new neighbor Dave sandborn he kind of started getting
nervous and um they started describing the color of his tattoos that were on his arm and I said I looked over and I
said you have those color tattoos you know and he asked me is there anything else on he didn't want to watch the show
and I said no I like the show I'll watch it and he you know got up and went in the kitchen he started pacing around
Dave Sanborn of course turned out to be Dennis Keith Smith he stole his neighbor's car but
police caught up with Smith 2 days later at this intersection he turned and charged the officers and a fight ensued
uh during the course of that fight he attempted to remove the firearm from one of the
officers uh was beginning to successfully remove that firearm when the second an officer fired a single
shot uh striking Mr Smith in the neck Smith was also shot in the wrist during the struggle after 2 weeks in a hospital
he recovered enough to appear in a Florida courtroom Smith was exed to Washington and tried on a charge of
first-degree murder he was found guilty and sentenced to 70 years behind bars he
also received an additional 99 years for violating parole but the story of Dennis
Keith Smith does not end here while in prison Smith hanged himself with a bed sheet attached to an air vent he was 42
years [Music] [Music] old [Music] k

This episode includes: Border Line Murder, Sleepwalking, Searcher's Son, Frightened Family and Dennis Keith Smith.

Brief Summary

The episode covers Jason Artist's suspicious death, dangerous sleepwalking incidents, a missing Army officer, a haunted house, and a murder case involving Dennis Smith.

Key points

Tragic Night in Tijuana. Jason's night out ends in tragedy, raising questions about his death.
The Mystery of Sleepwalking. Jared Algood's sleepwalking leads to a fatal incident, raising awareness about sleep disorders.
A Father's Mysterious Disappearance. Ray Hickingbotham vanishes without a trace, leaving his family searching for answers.
The Haunting Past. Mary discovers her home’s dark history linked to a missing boy.
A Chilling Connection. Dustin learns about his uncle's involvement in his mother's murder.
The Shocking Arrest. Dennis Smith's violent confrontation with police leads to his capture.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This ain’t the spot we need to be at.

Steven warns Jason about their surroundings.

3:37WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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