Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 2, Episode 17 | Forensic Files

[Music] next on Unsolved Mysteries doctors desperate to save a dying man turned to
the shadowy world of voodoo a young woman is stranded in a tropical Paradise later she vanishes
what happened to Claudia kers legendary gangster Dutch Schultz buried a $7 million treasure and took
the secret of its location to his grave some say the fortune is still waiting to be
found and the Char remains of a businessman are discovered and the last person to see him alive is a convicted
felon who is on the run our viewers have helped solve hundreds of cases just like these
perhaps you can help too I'm Dennis finina and this is Unsolved Mysteries [Music]
[Music] Tucson Arizona on a previous broadcast we featured the story of Charles Morgan a successful businessman devoted
husband and loving father on an ordinary spring day Morgan suddenly [Music] disappeared he returned home 3 days
later but he was staggering weak and unable to to talk Morgan communicated with his wife
by writing notes he said that a drug had been painted on the back of his throat I'm going to call the police he was
afraid the dosage was Lethal no Morgan Warner if she tried to contact the police or even a doctor the entire
family would be killed over the next week Morgan added to his bizarre account he said that he
was secretly working for the federal government in his abduct had taken his official
ID then Charles Morgan vanished again 11 days later his body was found in the Arizona
desert he had been shot once in the back of the head curiously he was wearing a bulletproof vest when Morgan's death was
ruled a suicide journalist Don Deo became interested in the story bear in mind he's wearing a
bulletproof vest at the time um I've never seen in all my years as a journalist uh a fell taking himself out
in the desert wearing a bulletproof vest and shoot himself in the back of the [Music]
head 3 weeks after Morgan's death two men claiming to be government officials showed up at his home they ransacked the
house but no one knows what they were looking for or what they [Music] found when we this story our team
received more than 600 calls Don Deo followed up on every lead and what he learned was
incredible Morgan it turns out was extensively involved in moneya laundering activities through his escro
company he was doing well in excess of a billion with a bee a billion dollars a year in Gold alone over that period Well
in excess and that much of it in fact uh seems to have been coming out of Southeast Asia uh at the end of the
Vietnam War Charles Morgan a lot of people seem to have been involved including uh Renegade folks
from the US intelligence Community some some CIA people who were doing stuff perhaps undercover of the agency but
probably most likely to line their own Pockets Charles Morgan kept a set of duplicate records of all the illicit
transactions evidently he thought that duplicates would be his life insurance policy go there instead they became his
death warrant Don Deo was convinced that somebody wanted Morgan's silence forever 3 months after we heard this
story another unusual death occurred right across the street from Don deo's home in
[Music] Phoenix what's time Meed me home 9 9:30 I'll see you then okay careful at 11:00
p.m. a man named Doug Johnston left for work as usual he was assigned to the night shift at a local computer Graphics
Company hi John hi you were the first one on the scene an hour later Johnston was found dead in the company parking
lot he had been shot once behind his left ear from a distance of about 12 in there was no gun found at the scene and
there was no Powder residue on Johnson's hands as far as evidence the only thing
we found was a 25 caliber bullet casing we can't classify it either a murder or a suicide and it's being maintained in
our homicide files Doug would never commit suicide he had just finished a year of computerated drafting he
graduated with honors we had a future starting all over again for us and there's no way he would have committed
suicide Don Deo lived across the street from the parking lot where Doug Johnston was
killed his car was an old Toyota station wagon that looked a lot like Johnston's I contacted Phoenix PD uh
within a few days of the Johnston shooting and told them that I was across the street had a similar car and was in
fact working on a homicide case and the initial read I got from Phoenix PD was one of not really thinking that that had
any bearing on the Johnston shooting and so although I continued to track it for
a while over a period of time I just sort of put it out of my mind the year after Doug Johnston was
shot Deo was contacted by Dan Castello a writer from Washington DC Deo agreed to share the information
he had uncovered concerning Charles Morgan but before Deo can even mail his research Casto was dead
head found in a hotel room his wrist cut with a dozen deep slashes police ruled the death a suicide
but to Deo and others it just didn't make sense Dan castello's brother is a doctor
the doctor tells us the Dan calero was so squeamish that he was reluctant to allow his brother to prick his finger it
up here quiash ing his wrists a dozen times in a bathtub and dying in that manner seems
to me the least likely of anything he could possibly have done these guys don't offer much they
don't volunteer information okay 6 months after Dan calero's death another journalist warned
Deo that his own life was in danger and the word I got back was that they did think they were getting you when they
got that guy [Music] these are the exact words there have been and there still are contracts out
to kill you it's a shocker when somebody calls you up and says uh you're about to
be killed that doesn't mean it's going to happen tomorrow my colleague told me that uh looked like I had a problem uh
that he understood from his CIA contact that whatever it was it involved something I was looking at that had both
CIA and organized crime dimensions and uh that I could be in in some trouble and to get my head down
maybe even get out of there for a while until he could figure out what was uh what was happening it's on the street
and alter my later two other sources one from the CIA and one from Israeli intelligence confirmed the that
threats Deo believed that he was targeted because of his work on the Charles Morgan case if so Doug Johnston
may have been an innocent victim of a contract that meant for Deo his parking lot is right across the
street from my parking lot he was driving a car much like my car and this was not just some random
shooting this was a a shooting that had all the characteristics of a very professional killing this was a a single
shot 25 caliber back of the left ear um very slick uh murder [Music] vict if Johnson was killed with a bullet
that was intended for me I feel terrible about it and uh I feel very awful for his wife and and
family there's so much evidence that these people were After Dawn instead of my husband it wasn't a gang related
shooting or suicide or anything and it all kind of fits together that they were After Dawn and my husband just happened
to be in the wrong place uh I am not thrilled to think that there could be quote a highlevel CIA
official close quote who knows about this uh who is not himself taking official actions to correct it and
clearly if there are people in the US government who know and disapprove of this sort of thing then they damn well
should get off their butts and do something about it [Music] next a young American woman on an island
adventure mysteriously disappears nugrill Jamaica new york-based travel writers Claudia kers and Tanya gringer found
themselves stranded in Jamaica their business trip to Havana Cuba was suddenly canceled when we found out that
we weren't going to Cuba we were really really upset I had assignments Claud was
there on work we were also concerned because when they told us we couldn't go they also told us we couldn't get back
to New York just prior to her trip Claudia had landed her dream job with Frommer's
travel guides although she was stranded in Jamaica Claudia decided to make the best of it and then get back to New York
as soon as possible of the location so L where you come from We're from New York
New York you're from New York clo made friends with Anthony Grant one of the Resort's
bartenders she was a big fan of reg music and Grant reportedly offered to take her to a nearby
club she told me that she had gone out with one of the bartenders who turns out to be Anthony Grant well okay so you
remember the bartend Tanya managed to book a flight back to New York and Claudia was supposed to catch a later
flight they agreed to meet up once Claudia returned you think I'm going to be able
to find somebody that can braid my hair just up the way there a little Claudia was reportedly GL seen by a lifeguard on
a local Beach away from the resort then she disappeared she didn't when her parents
found out that she hadn't show up for work in New York they called the resort call her
mother hotel maids had reported Claudia missing after noticing that she hadn't slept in her bed for several days but
everything in her room seemed normal all her clothes except one bathing suit were
neatly packed away in her suitcase her passport credit card cell phone and $180 cash were recovered from the hotel
safe probably the most devastating piece of news initially was that all of her belong longings were in her room I mean
we would rather have heard that some of her things were missing and then we would have thought maybe she went
somewhere else when we heard the news that Claudia's things were all in her room and they didn't know where she was
it's not that's not Claudia Claudia's really organized orderly person if she was planning to go off somewhere she
would have made a phone call she would have let us know we felt ear very early on that something happened to her that
something just was not right Claudia's parents were on the next plane to Jamaica I wonder if you could tell me if
you've seen my daughter they hit one dead end after another beginning at the resort where Claudia had been
staying as a security precaution the license plates of all vehicles entering and leaving the resort are carefully
recorded in a log book but the log book for the month that Claudia disappeared cannot be found
the videotape from a surveillance camera mounted near Claudia's room had been recorded
over room 621 the room where Claudia stayed was cleared by housekeeping and hotel security before it could be
processed for Clues Z that up authorities had no evidence of file play so they began to investigate the
possibility that Claudia had drowned it's not impossible but I would say it's highly unlikely
uh that area it's not deep and uh the current is not very strong and if something should go wrong with someone
there the body would be found easily news of Claudia's disappearance spread through Jamaica many sightings of
a woman fitting her description began to suggest another possibility many local residents believe
that Claudia may have chosen to run away to live in the Hills with a Jamaican lover we know she wouldn't do that she
had no reason to escape as as has been said she loved her life you know her family her friends her new apartment
everything was going right for her so there was nothing to escape we got a call that Claudia went off with r man in
some hills in Jamaica we have checked several areas we have spoken to a number of rest
ofans everything cool all righty we just want some help from my in fact we have gone to an area where the report said
she was take a look and there's no information to suggest that Claudia kers was ever seen in that area if you ever
see her or hear anybody say anything about her you know youever find me where is she Val show me frustrated
by the progress of the investigation Claudia's parents brought in the FBI and an American search and rescue
team show me show me according to a k9 Handler on the case his dog track Claudia sent to the home of Anthony
Grant the bartender the dog hit on a pair of boots a pair of gloves and a knife bingo while searching Grant's Car the
dog also sved the hit on Claudia kers shock's scent in the back seat and the trunk the Articles found Boots knife
material that made up the trunk of the car was removed by the evidence the FBI evidence Response Team it was taken to
the FBI forensic laboratory in the states it was checked for signs of human blood nothing was
found Anthony Grant was investigated and polygraphed but the results were inconclusive at this time Grant is not
considered a suspect in Claudia kok's disappearance yes or no we interviewed him for several
weeks we just don't find enough evidence to in any way believe that Grant is involved in
her disappearance other than that he was associated with her no one disappears from the face of
the Earth in a town of 3,000 people without one other person knowing it we do believe that Anthony Grant the
bartender introduced her to someone who has a much better idea of what happened we believe Anthony Grant probably knows
something as well you know she could be anywhere the kers shocks are still looking for their daughter and have
offered a $50,000 reward in this case if you have any information on The Disappearance of Claudia kers please log
on to our website at unsolved.com next the legendary treasure of Dutch Schultz it might be in Upstate New York
just waiting to be [Music] found 100 Mil north of New York City two shadowy figures dig along the
banks of a creek on a moonless night the man doing all the work is Bernard frosen CR nicknamed Lulu his
boss is Dutch Schultz King of the New York underworld according to the legend the
Dutchman buried a strong box that night it contained cash bonds diamonds and gold coins today it would be worth more
than $50 million it's a lot of loot it all started when prohibition was passed in
[Music] 1919 the manufacturer and distribution of boot late liquor made Millions for
gangsters like Legs Diamond lucky luchano Al Capone and Dutch Schultz Schultz whose real name was
Arthur flegenheimer was one of the toughest Dutch Schultz was a very successful and
widespread Bootlegger uh owned a string of speak easys and then quickly branched
out into narcotics the numbers Racket and the protection racket Schulz was an extremely dangerous
gangster he was reported to have had 136 people killed and that's over a criminal career
of less than 10 years at the end of The Roaring 20s Dutch Schultz's criminal Empire was
making more than $20 million a year and the IRS knew it he was indicted by a grand jury for income tax evasion and
that's when the Dutchman took steps to protect his money at the time Dutch Schultz was
facing long prison sentence and he decided that he needed a nest EG to fall back on in case he was sent to
prison so he had his top lieutenants clean out his safety deposit boxes and G GA together whatever cash they could
from his available bank accounts beautiful looks good boss at a Hideway in Connecticut Dutch
Lulu Rosen CR and a man named Marty Kroner packed bundles of1 th000 bills negotiable liberty bonds gold coins
diamonds and other gems into a steel-plated strong box hey M don't give me something to drink Dutch
Schultz had the only key that night Dutch and Lulu traveled to Phoenicia New York a town Dutch knew
from his bootlegging days the Dutchman swore Lulu to secrecy and then supposedly marked the site by
carving an X into the trunk of a nearby [Music] tree but Lulu couldn't keep his mouth
shut he told his friend Marty kampir where the treasure was married I shouldn't tell you this but I think it'd
be good for somebody else to know know what remember that strong box some say that Lulu even Drew Marty a map what
about it I ain't got to worry about you doing anything stupid do I me and the Dutchman
were like this and he's going to take care of me listen rumors of Dutch's secret treasure filtered through New
York I'll be back in just a minute but the Dutchmen had other problems baby Manhattan da Thomas E dwey was
determined to further his political career by destroying Dutch Schultz and his illegal
Empire Schultz finally surrendered to authorities in Aly New York his first trial ended with a hung
jury at his second trial he was acquitted of all charges some suspected jury tampering
after the AC quiddle Dutch Schultz moved his headquarters to a Tavern he owned in
Newark New Jersey the palace Chop House and then he went on a bloody Killing Spree to regain control of his
Empire and that angered the powerful New York crime syndicate The Syndicate was a
confederation of of New York City Mobsters who controll virtually all the crime in the Manhattan area and they
were very afraid that he was bringing additional heat upon them with these killings The Syndicate took steps to
turn down the heat [Music] Dutch Schultz died at 8:35 p.m. on October 24th 1935 almost 22 hours after he had been
shot he was just 33 years old his bodyguard Lulu Rosen cratz died hours earlier and that left only one man who
knew where the treasure was buried Marty cromier the night of the Chop House murders two henchman caught up with
Marty at a barber shop in New York City gunned him down and took the map Kier survived the attack but he was
never able to locate the treasure without the map Jake Shapiro made several attempts at Finding the Treasure
from the map uh as did several other gangsters of the year but none were successful if people knew about it
Schultz is as close as associates they told other people I would suspect strongly that it been retrieved long
before now I personally I believe The Treasure of Dutch Schultz was buried and there's a good possibility
that it still exists today because uh even though the liberty bonds have long since matured in the
last 60 plus years none have ever been redeemed perhaps the Dutchman's treasure is still buried in Upstate New York if
so someone who finds a tree with an ax carved into it might just hit the jackpot
[Music] next Voodoo at a modern-day Hospital in a last ditch attempt to save a dying
[Music] patient the word voodoo brings to mind dark rituals and mysterious spells but
in the story you were about to see two medical doctors create their own Voodoo ceremony in a last Stitch effort to save
a dying man Dallas Texas Dr Larry dossy was a young intern when a patient came to him with a
mysterious illness you say you've been uh losing weight right it's any pain anywhere not really sometimes when I
cough okay we're going to run some tests we're going to do some blood tests and some x-rays that sort of thing we're
going to find out what your problem is okay thank you I embarked on a an elaborate
evaluation a medical workup to uncover the cause of the problem and this man's chart just began to get thicker and
thicker with normal tests Mr Bennett I don't understand it I've run every test I know how I've performed every exam I
know how and they all come up normal how do you feel not good at all you don't you don't look
good I just don't know what to do Dr dossy called in a colleague Dr William Hensley for a consultation and I wanted
to come see you to find out possibly if anything that you know of unusual has happened to you such as an insect bite
or anything of that sort L do you believe and whoo it was a strange question but the
patient had asked the right doctor as a child Dr Hensley lived at his grandmother's sprawling South Texas
[Music] ranch there he got to know a woman named Mary reputed to be a voodoo queen The
Experience convinced him that Voodoo had a dramatic effect on those who believe in its power a while back I went to see
aita the patient then told Dr Hensley that he recently refused to pay a fortune teller who had given him a
reading he thought she had cursed with a death hex I start feeling bad feeling real bad you really believe this I
believe she put a dying hex on me after when he started talking about the fortune teller he became very
emotional frightened there really was a possibility that someone with with that strong a belief system could actually be
frightened to death you're not going to believe what he told me let's go talk over here you know I
consider myself a fair thoro physician but yet I was blind to the possibility that anything like a hexing or a cursing
had taken place so this just didn't have a place in the way I thought the world [Music]
worked but Dr Hensley had seen enough as a child to perform a ritual that incorporated elements of
voodoo well I don't know that sounds pretty far out the thing is if I was confronted with something for me that
was very very strange I realized though that with better do something because this man was
dying we were fearful and we were convinced at the time that we could be severely reprimanded if not fired
therefore we did this at the slow time of the week which was late Saturday night so no one would witness this
Ceremony this dexing [Music] ritual I knew that there had to be a fire I knew that we had to have a body
part and I knew that we had to convince him that we were Superior and could overcome the uh the
hex that been put on him what he didn't know was how convincing it would be to a True
Believer the doctors needed fire they lit a drug called mandelamine This Magic is more powerful
than any that has come before it they needed a lock of hair and finally the incantation as your
hair burns the hex is [Music] removed Harold if you breathe word of this to anyone the hex will return
twofold good morning something for you oh and let me get this overnight the patient made an incredible recovery can
I have some ham and eggs too sure that's what you want Harold hi doctor hi how you feeling
today much much much better yeah it looks like your appetite's back huh it was genuine it was a cure overnight
literally overnight this man turned the corner uh from death into life this was your basic dramatic Miracle kind of cure
I don't believe that anything medically cured him uh and I don't know what did I I
know that that uh he believed so strongly uh in in both uh what was happening to him and what we were doing
to change what what was happening to him that we were able to Prevail is it possible the voodoo worked
if not what actually did cure the patient in order to understand why this man lived we have to understand that
that belief is biology your belief becomes your biology there's not the Mind here and the body over here they're
not separate so if you wanted to cure this man you need not just work on the body
you could work with the belief system this is what all Shaman do this is what Dr Hensley
did coming up the body of a businessman is found charred and riddled with bullets and his only employee is nowhere
to be [Music] found on a previous broadcast we profiled an Oklahoma couple Teresa and
Paul Stamper when they got married Teresa thought he was a successful businessman she had no idea Stamper was
also a victed felon with a violent criminal past now I want to know who you were with and I want to know it now
within 6 months Teresa's marriage became a living nightmare Stamper accused her of cheating on him and would often have
violent and uncontrollable rages you're running around this crazy I don't know you shut
up he was jealous and you had better be here when I get back I mean I could be sitting at we
could be sitting at a red light and I could just turn and look at someone and it could be a guy sitting in his car and
he would just double his fist up and just hit me right in the mouth I mean it was just it was Unreal
to the abuse that he did to me after 2 years of almost constant emotional and physical abuse Teresa
Found the courage to leave her husband for the next 6 months he stalked Teresa night and
day and then one night Teresa and a friend Chris Butler were heading home after an evening out they were fooled
over by what they thought was the highway [Music] [Music] patrol Teresa honey you get out of the
car hey man she's not taking orders hey you shut up what are you doing to my wife anyway huh in your business put
down the gun get out of the car now come no Chris oh my oh my God what are you doing open the door I'll shoot you
through the window come on finally you know he I was so scared that I just I unlocked the door and he just grabbed me
around my neck and just forced me out of the car Chris had C too and he had yelled
don't leave me here you know Teresa don't leave me here you know and there was there wasn't anything I could
do Chris Butler survived the attack but Paul stampler held Teresa hostage for 2 days before she managed to
escape Stamper was arrested at a bus station but just 6 months later he broke out of jail and
disappeared update just minutes after this story aired the FBI received information from several of
our viewers that Paul Snapper was living in a suburb of Denver Colorado one phone call was very
specific it had uh his Alias it had his location his address his employment that
he was driving a semi TR Overland and that brought an immediate response from the Denver FBI so that we moved out
within the hour just 3 hours later Stamper was arrested as he left his home he had been
living in the Denver area for approximately 4 years this is one of the more efficient
uh cost effective Speedy apprehensions that we've ever made for us to uh not have any idea early evening that this
individual is in the Denver area and by 11:30 he is captured he's off the streets and he's on his way to Denver
City Jail that uh I think maybe close to a record for us Paul staer was returned to Oklahoma
and pled guilty to kidnapping attempted murder and prison escape he received a 35-year
sentence in Odessa Texas firefighters responding to a routine call arrived to find a charred
corpse riddled with bullets The Remains are later identified as Neil Jennings a classic car buff from Dallas believe got
someone burned up and get two days earlier Jennings had dropped by his brother's
house Neil this car looks great yeah Bill helped me restore it did a pretty good job pretty good job a man named
Bill Roberts was with him Neil had hired Roberts to do the details on his latest
project a 1959 Ford Thunderbird in private Neil L on that he was having financial problems in fact he
could not even pay Roberts for his work on the car Bye Bill glad to met you yeah
bye after the visit Neil Jennings and Bill Roberts drove 300 mil to Odessa and checked into a motel that was the last
time Neil was known to be alive however Roberts was seen all over Odessa engaged in a number of suspicious
activities an hour after arriving in town he showed up at the home of a friend named Jack hey Bill come on in
Roberts was sweating and acting nervous he asked Jack if he could park the truck
in the back and go to to sleep oh sure you can bill the next morning Jack noticed that
Roberts was walking around the truck and staring at the cargo bed which was covered by a
tarp how doing after Roberts left Jack's house he stopped at a rundown Motel where he tried to sell Neil's truck for
$1,200 when he couldn't sell the truck Roberts asked if he could park it in the back of the motel hidden from view all
right well I appreciate that all right yeah about 6 hours later bill Roberts asked for another
favor listen I wonder if uh you might have a pick and a shovel I could borrow I need to fix a broken water line for an
old lady sorry about that bill I don't think we have a pick or a shovel around here
wish I could help you though that's okay look I'll just going to see y a little later
then then Roberts drove the truck to a convenience store about a mile away I was sitting on the store behind
the counter and uh bill came in and asked me if he could park the truck behind cuz he's uh the truck was
overheated thank you I'm just going to I said go ahead no problem that be [Music]
all 15 minutes later Saul heard two gunshots in the distance 45 minutes passed then then
Roberts came back this time with a large watt of cash [Music] night Robert spent the night in Neil's
truck behind the motel Saturday night he came back and uh he said he' done done the
job he acted real nervous you Bill all right the next morning he asked for yet another favor
would it be okay if I did some laundry and I noticed that blood was on his shirt well I didn't think anything about
it because you know it just looked like maybe he cut his and wiped it off on his
shirt once you follow me and I'll show you how to use this washer so I told him okay you know yeah you can use the
laundry a few minutes later another Resident of the motel noticed blood on the back bumper of Neil's
pickup around noon Roberts left the motel and never reached turned 8 hours later the police were at
the scene of the fire burned our investigation at the scene showed there was two pools of
blood we found shotgun shell casings and wading there at the scene there was drag marks leading
from uh the parking lot over to through the concrete slab where Neil was was actually found on
fire there's no doubt in her mind that the Fatal shots happened in that parking lot sheriff's deputies believe that bill
Roberts shot Neil Jennings on Saturday night and hid the body in a trash Heap for some reason he waited 24 hours to
set Neil's body on fire Robert's apparent motive was to murder Neil Jennings so that he could steal his
truck and sell it police later learned that bill Roberts was actually Bill Blackwell who had served time for Larsen
and theft Blackwell was wed by the Texas Department of Corrections on a parole violation Blackwell had apparently left
Odessa within 24 hours of setting the fire he then drove to alberquerque New Mexico where he sold Jennings truck at a
flea market update Bill Blackwell was using an alias when he was jailed briefly on a weapons
charge in North Carolina by the time a fingerprint check revealed his true identity Blackwell was
on the Run run authorities tracked him a thousand miles to Texas where he was finally
arrested Blackwell pleaded guilty to the murder of Neil Jennings and was sentenced to 30 years in prison
[Music] [Music] [Music]

This, Episode includes: Don's Near Miss, Lost In Jamaica, Dutch Schultz Treasure, Voodoo, Stamper's Rampage and Burned Businessman.

Brief Summary

Four cases: Charles Morgan's mysterious death, Claudia Kers' disappearance, Dutch Schultz's hidden treasure, and a voodoo healing ritual by doctors.

Key points

The Bizarre Death of Charles Morgan. Charles Morgan returns home after disappearing, only to die mysteriously days later.
The Mysterious Disappearance of Claudia Kers. Claudia Kers vanishes while stranded in Jamaica, leaving behind all her belongings.
Dutch Schultz's Hidden Treasure. Legend has it that gangster Dutch Schultz buried a treasure worth millions.
A Mysterious Illness. A patient presents with unexplained symptoms, leading to a series of tests.
The Power of Belief. Dr. Hensley recalls his childhood experience with voodoo and its effects.
A Dramatic Recovery. After a unique ritual, a patient makes an incredible recovery overnight.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I’ve never seen a felon take himself out in the desert wearing a bulletproof vest.

3:06WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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