Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 2, Episode 3 | Forensic Files

[Music] next on unsolved mysteries for robbers break into an armored car facility and
take more than money a sultry young actress is found severed and two it's the notorious case of the Black Dahlia
drug smugglers create an ingenious scheme 30 feet below the ground two families discovered their homes are
built on a graveyard and they are frightened to death five cases with strange clues and
bizarre twists and secrets that you would never expect I'm Dennis Farina and this is unsolved
mysteries [Music] [Music] Vallejo California 211 in progress there was an armed robbery called in from the
Loomis armored car company patrol cars immediately rolled to the scene of what they believed was a robbery in progress
at Loomis headquarters [Music] [Music] as police made their approach they saw that the security door of the main
building was partially open the officers moved cautiously fearful that gunmen might still be inside
waiting inside police discover that this was more than just a simple robbery just
beyond the door a security guard lay dead his hands were bound with rope and he had been shot
through the head a bag of money lay near the entrance in another part of the building police found two other guards
one was dead the other mortally wounded like the first victim they had each been
found and shot in the head the guards were identified as 49 year-old Martin McCumber 29 year old
Dennis Jacobsen and 25 year old Alfonzo LAN Toya McCumber left behind a wife and children
LAN Thao was engaged to be married in six months it was just the brutal and senseless crime as police began to
investigate they were surprised by the amount of physical evidence left behind by the killers evidence that they hoped
would help solve the case immediately after police units secured the crime scene detectives were called in their
first piece of evidence an 8-inch blue steel 357 Magnum the revolver had been reported stolen
two years before inside the fenced compound investigators found that orange duffel bag stuffed with hundreds of
thousands of dollars and nearby they found the bolt cutters which had been used to break in through
the wire fence as they searched along the fence line of the Loomis compound detectives found gloves ski masks and
another enormous sack of cash in a park across the street investigators found another pair of gloves a ski mask and an
ak-47 assault rifle nearby where this ak-47 was found we found an impression in the ground this impression leads us
to believe that the responsible laid in that area for some time following the crime hoping that the place believed and
he could finish his escape judging from the evidence authorities concluded that there were four robbers
hair samples found on the ski masks indicated that at least one was white and one was black
exactly one week to the hour after the murders authorities set up a roadblock near the armored car company they were
hoping to find people who traveled the area regularly they learned that a white man was seen running north from the
building at around 9:00 that night at the same time a black male was seen running north on a different Street
working backwards authorities began to piece together what happened on the night of the murders here's what they
came up with at approximately 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 heavily armed men dressed in combat fatigues approached the Loomis
building one security guard was on duty inside 40 minutes later two other guards
arrived transporting a large amount of cash [Music] once the truck arrived and the gate
began to open it would have been possible for the murderers to enter the facility coming in underneath the
opening gate quickly before the guards had a chance to respond they could have helped the guards as
hostages ordering the guard to exit to turn room which he may have done thinking that that would save the lives
of his friends once all three of these guards were overpowered they were then balint there was no
reason to kill them other than if for some reason they could possibly identify the robbers when a gun shot was fired
they activated an interior alarm which cost them to panic and flee [Music] [Music]
they filled the bags so full of money that they could not carry them they were not aware of how heavy money actually is
despite the blaring alarm the colors fled and got away scot-free the irony is they got away with no money update after
three years four suspects were arrested for the killing of the Loomis guards while in prison on unrelated charges
Thomas young confessed to the murders and named three accomplices Eugene Livingston a former Loomis employee had
assisted in the break-in he confessed to the robbery but denied participating in
the murder Livingston served three years and was released assad mohammed denied everything but six years later DNA
evidence linked him to the crime the fourth suspect was released for lack of evidence
next a Florida criminal successfully Rob's 30 banks but why did the police call him fumbles and later the exotic
mystery of the Black Dahlia Murder [Music] anywhere across the state of Florida you
might meet the bank robber known as fumbles besides the cap and gloves he has a very
distinctive trademark given the nickname early on of fumbles because in the first
robbery when he came in he got inside the bank drew the weapon held it in his hand and proceeded to trip and fall here
he is again watch his mask the police admit to a certain amount of amusement at their adversaries clumsiness 30 armed
robberies however are no laughing matter update fumbles has been captured within
minutes of our broadcast the police department in Clearwater Florida received a call from one of our viewers
he recognized fumbles as Ross James Preston a 23 year old student living in Clearwater when he was arrested
clearwater authorities said preston was so scared that he suggest that that they
let him jump out of a window fumbles pleaded guilty to a total of seven counts of bank robbery and weapons
charges he served 13 years in prison and has since been released [Music] Hollywood California the city were
dreams die hard she was known as the Black Dahlia she had jet black hair and preferred
black dresses and lingerie those who knew her best said she had a tattoo of an exotic flower on her inner thigh she
wanted desperately to be an actress but her fame would not come from the movies it would come from her death her murder
which has gone unsolved for 60 years on a cold morning in January 1947 the nude mutilated body of 22 year old Elizabeth
Short was discovered in a vacant lot in the Lemur Park area of Los Angeles what made the murder so unique was the
barbaric nature of the crime the black dahlia spotty had been neatly severed in half got it and drained of blood her
face had been very brutally cut from ear to ear and a grin her throat had been cut
and she had been mutilated sexually basically she was the worst case of a sex crime in history of Los Angeles
County it's a case that has fascinated crime writers for generations and almost every one of them has a different theory
about the killer author Lawrence sure as study every angle of the Black Dahlia case and now he believes he knows the
real identity of the man who so brutally murdered Elizabeth Short her life was as
sad as it was brief like so many other young women Elizabeth Short had been lured to Hollywood with dreams of
becoming a star her career was going nowhere and she was running out of cash according to some Elizabeth eventually
drifted into prostitution can you take me home yes I will I need to ride all the way to Los Angeles can
you take me to Los Angeles yeah thank you her final days were shrouded in mystery
Elizabeth seemed to be constantly on the move and was last seen leaving a diner in San Diego with a man who has never
been positively identified she called him red when she spoke to him in the diner and he did have reddish
colored hair however the police were never able to positively identify him although some people felt that he might
have been Robert Manley Robert Manley was a hardware salesman who dated Elizabeth police brought him in for
questioning but he was cleared of the crime other men who were involved with Elizabeth were also interrogated meats
like Manley had an airtight alibi the authorities were completely stunned then a mysterious package was mailed to a
local newspaper a package from the killer Kyra's Dolly's belonging this letter to follow inside the envelope
they found Elizabeth shorts address book which was in reality her trick book one
of the pages in that book was missing and it is undoubtedly true that upon that page was the name of the man who
actually had killed her the package was the closest anyone ever got to the black
dodgiest killer then Lauren chirp began to research the case and made a remarkable connection the case had many
of the same features as the torso slings in Cleveland that sensational crime spree was the case that baffled Elliot
ness the head of the famed crime-fighting team The Untouchables not at this time
I found a body here late this morning the arms and legs and I cut off between 1934 in 1938
no less than 13 mutilated bodies were discovered in the Kingsbury run district and surrounding areas of Cleveland the
victims were all prostitutes or drifters the killer had dismembered most of the bodies with surgical precision
just like the Black Dahlia case nine years later [Music] many people believe that nests actually
knew the Slayers identity but never had enough evidence to prove it in court his biographer Oscar freely says that
Ness was approached by a member of Cleveland's high society this lady socialite who was working when it came
to him and said a member of one of our influential families fits your profile so Eliot said that's fine let's meet
this man admitted that he had been to medical school so Elliott thought surely he had to go have you ever been to
Kingsbury run after sunset no Ness said he gave the man to lie-detector tests and both times the
suspect failed have you ever paid for the services of a prostitute no soon after he took the polygraphs
the suspect voluntarily committed himself to a mental hospital around that same time the torso slayings in
Cleveland abruptly stopped Ness believed that this would be the end of the case because the suspect was so deranged that
he would probably remain in a mental institution for the rest of his life but a few months later a letter arrived from
California and it's from the butcher Elliott in that letter the torso killer describes the fact that his left
Cleveland and has come to California as he described it sunny California and is now performing medical experiments upon
his guinea pig victims here in Los Angeles in the letter the killer referred to himself as ADC a doctor of
chiropractic he said quote I felt bad about operating on those people but science must advance the letter is just
the beginning of the torso Slayer Black Dahlia Connection the killer apparently had a fetish or
cleanliness and cleaned the dahlias body very carefully with water washed it very
carefully shampooed her hair and scrubbed her with a bristle brush so severely that he left bristles embedded
in her skin the cleveland victims also indicate that there were attempts to clean bodies a butcher knife was used to
bisect the Dahlia and a butcher knife was used to dismember decapitate and bisect victims in Cleveland police
determined that Elizabeth had been tortured for several hours before being killed we know that she had been tied up
she had rope burns on her neck arms and legs in Cleveland several victims had exactly the same type of marks also the
Dalia's body had been arranged in a sexually suggestive position just like the torsos latest victims
but if the tarsal Slayer was locked away in an Ohio Hospital how could the murders have continued in other parts of
the Midwest and later Los Angeles perhaps one crucial point was overlooked by Eliot Ness when the killer entered
the hospital sorry I was late sweetheart if one is voluntarily in a mental hospital you are free to legally walk
out anytime you want and I think that's exactly what he did I think he used the mental-health system most of his career
when things got tough four investigations heated up he simply checked himself into a mental
institution waited until they cool down and then check himself out again and departed and continued killing Eliot
Ness never publicly identified the suspect he took the name with him to the grave he was the most prolific mass
murderer in the history of the United States and to this day his true identity remains unknown next drug smugglers come
up with a foolproof scheme which has baffled authorities and later the real-life ghost story behind the
legendary horror film poltergeist [Music] we're about to take you inside one of the most elaborate drug running
operations ever discovered it was a pathway for some 50,000 pounds of cocaine to enter the United States
undetected Douglas Arizona it's a sleepy border town 97 miles south of Phoenix just across the border is the Mexican
town of Agua Prieta this border crossing is watched closely by law enforcement the douglas hog lafayette the area is at
one of the main conduits for cocaine coming into the united states and for that reason it's known as the cocaine
alley a Mexican national named Rafael Camarena began to cross the border daily from Agua Prieta into Douglas Camarena
had purchased a concrete mixing company in Douglas and he was working very hard to make a go of his new business when I
have spoken to mr. camreta he he had told me that he planned to be here for a number of years he would check in on the
business once or twice a day he spent a lot of time in Mexico I see him pursuing
contracts over in our Prieta but yes he was a non hands type of business owner he could have opened up a business
anywhere in the United States of America when Camarena constructed a large warehouse in douglas at the same time
just across the border he built a four-bedroom ranch style home the home located in a wealthy area of
Agua Prieta had all the amenities that come with success mr. Camarena seemed to be a good husband
and a good father he's a type of person that that you would want to be as your friend
in reality Camarena's entire life was nothing but a devious facade it created the cover-up a very lucrative and very
illegal enterprise u.s. customs officials received information that Camarena was smuggling drugs from his
home in Agua Prieta across the border to his warehouse in Douglas incredibly common rayna's business was located just
one block away from the US Customs headquarters early 1990 we initiated 24-hour surveillance of the Douglas
ready-mix company agents staked out Camarena's business for over two months yes comedy alright they became
suspicious of a truck that arrived and departed from the new warehouse nearly every day
on one occasion we followed the tractor-trailer rig from Douglas ready-mix to a rural area outside of
Phoenix Arizona [Applause] a special task force of US Customs agents and other law enforcement
agencies raided a formal Camarena's truck had been seen agents seized over a ton of nearly pure
cocaine the cocaine had been transported inside a hidden compartment beneath the
trucks bed the raid confirmed that the drugs had come from crammed arenas warehouse but the agents were baffled
how we had Camarena managed to smuggle drugs into his warehouse who was being watched around-the-clock by federal
agents just the block away we began receiving bits and pieces of information from a variety of sources
concerning a the existence of a tunnel in the Douglas area two days later agents from the United States and Mexico
launched simultaneous raids on Pam arenas warehouse in Douglas and his new home art wealth creator
[Music] Mexican authorities arrested two men who claim to be gardeners Camarena and his
family fled there was no visible evidence of a tunnel at the Douglas warehouse US agents at first found
nothing then they came upon a large floor dream we found about a five and a half
diameter shaft that went 30 feet into the ground and at the bottom of the shaft we found the tunnel itself this is
the actual tunnel through which enormous amounts of cocaine were smuggled when authorities uncovered the tunnels
entrance beneath Camarena's home it became clear that this was no ordinary drug smuggling operation it was
something right out of a James Bond movie hydraulic pedestals lifted the pool table in a two-ton section of concrete
floor to expose the entrance huge amounts of drugs could be stored below until they were ready to be moved across
the border [Music] the drugs were transported on a specially designed cart at the Douglas
and a custom-made hoist lifted the illegal cargo into the warehouse workers pack the cocaine bricks into the
false bottom of the truck the contraband was driven out right under the noses of
US customs agents in my 18 years with the Customs Service this is one of the most amazing investigations I've ever
encountered the sophistication of the of the smugglers the construction of this tunnel itself just demonstrates to what
extremes these organizations will go to update ten years after the tunnel was discovered u.s. customs agents
determined that Rafael Camarena was already in a Mexican prison he had been sentenced to ten years under a
fictitious name for a different drug charge after completing that sentence he was extradited to the US where he pled
guilty of smuggling cocaine across the border he was sentenced to another ten years in prison
next a man uncovers a coffin in his backyard and soon he and his neighbors are victims of the black hope curse
[Music] just outside of Houston Texas is a neighborhood filled with upscale homes
and manicured lawns salmon Judith Haney settled in at the far western edge of a development when we bought the house in
Newport it was the house that we had always been looking for so it was the house that we intended to stay at for a
long period of time but there was a morbid secret about the Haney's perfect home one that would soon turn their
lives into one never-ending nightmare it all began when a mysterious stranger showed up at their door within ominous
warning yes this elderly man told me that he had noticed that we were putting a swimming pool in our backyard and that
there was something about our backyard that I needed to know about so I followed him around to my backyard he
pointed at the ground and said that there are some graves right here two graves and he marked a spot on the
ground where they were I really didn't know how to react to that I didn't know if he was just joking I couldn't
understand why anybody want to joke about something like that yeah I don't want to get involved
[Music] using a backhoe Sam Haney decided to see if the man's alarming claims were truth
I think I see something and at that point he stopped with the backhoe and we got down into the hole and continued
digging by hand there was pine boards when we lifted up the first board we could see the
indentation of skeleton form it didn't take long to figure out that it was an actual human remains Sam
immediately called the sheriff and the County Coroner who conducted an official explanation most of the bones had turned
to powder but 25 fragments were found some so brittle they had disintegrated when touched a second coffin located
alongside the first hadn't been disturbed inside two wedding rings were discovered on the frail index finger of
the exposed skeleton they handed me the rings and it was sickening to think that I had desecrated
somebody's grave horrified me wanting desperately to do the right thing the Haney's decided to find out whose
remains were buried in their backyard the search led them to a longtime resident named Jasper Norton years
earlier Norton had dug several graves in the area he told the Haney's that their home and
a dozen others were built on top of an old African American Cemetery called black hope the deceased were mainly
former slaves the last burial was in 1939 and as many as 60 people were interred there in paupers graves the
people had very little money they marked their graves however they could with markings on trees with little stones
with fences around them like a family plot the two people buried in the Haney's backyard were Betty and Charlie
Thomas this picture of Betty is the only known photograph of either one they died
during the 1930s and their graves were eventually forgotten it was up to me to give them the dignity that they deserved
and that was very important to me Judith and Sam Haney made an extraordinary decision they reburied
Betty and Charlie in their yard and prayed their spirits would rest in peace I'm so sorry a piece did not come to the
Haney's there was a clock in my bedroom and one night it started sparking and putting out sort of a blue glow when
Judith checked the clock she found that it was unplugged that was only the beginning of the Haney's
hell on earth one evening Sam went to work the night shift leaving Judith alone I heard the sliding glass door open and
I heard which I thought was Sam saying what you doing that everything was quiet the sliding glass doors were locked and
I thought well you know you must be losing your mind this really must be getting to you but much to my amazement
that's not where the story ended in the morning I awoke went in my closet to get
my red shoes and I could not find them anywhere so of course I started looking for them and went through all of her
closets where she normally puts things and we just couldn't find it we walked just a short distance where the
gravesites work and I could see something on the grave and they were both side by side like someone had just
picked them up and carried them over and laid them down on the graveside even more disturbing to the Haney's was the
realization that this was Betty Thomas's birthday and I kind of got the feeling that it was like Charlie was giving
Betty a birthday present I began to come to the realization that this was not all
in my mind and that this had to have some relationship to Betty and Charlie's graves being disturbed their spirits
were saying this isn't right the Haney's were not alone a dozen of their neighbors also reported unearthly sounds
lights turning on and off ghostly apparitions and now these bizarre events were becoming malicious
like the Haney's ben and jean williams thought that they found their suburban paradise when they moved into the same
neighborhood and then after we moved in everything changed when i tried to plant
new plants they just would not live no matter what i did you know fertilizer whatever i stay still and i would not
live I constantly had a foreboding feeling a feeling of things are not right or something bad is about to
happen the William said that near their flowerbed sinkholes appeared in the unmistakable shape of a coffin the
Williams would fill the men only to have them reappear a few days later the Williams felt their ideal home was
invaded by a menacing presence random shadows slid along the walls whispered words in a putrid smell followed in
their wake at the time the Williams granddaughter Kylie lived with a couple during the blazing heat of summer Kylie
said she would stumble into bone-chilling pockets of ice-cold air it would be very very chilly and you'd have
just this feeling of foreboding or just you know like either something wasn't right anywhere in the house you'd have a
feeling that you were not alone somebody was watching you it terrified me to be in the house by myself
the toilets used to flush on their own as the water went down I could hear it was almost like conversations that could
hear people murmuring to themselves it was a presence or spirit or something there something that wanted to be heard
wanted me to know it was there I absolutely believe that all of these things happen to us because we were on
the graveyard and that we were simply going to be tormented until we left there [Music]
next the Williams report the hauntings in their home turned from horrifying to deadly
[Music] in a quiet Houston suburb two families discovered that their homes had been
built on an old cemetery now they soon found themselves experiencing strange sounds and heart-stopping apparitions
the unexplained phenomena seemed to target the home of Ben and Jean Williams both day and night
Ben and Jean debated what to do next that made Jay we talked it over and she said what can we do walk off and leave
it she said we had got enough money to pay doubt on another home I said we always
been fighters we're gonna stay right here fight it and we try to beat it it wasn't long before Ben got his chance I
came home from work around 10 after 12:00 for midnight shift and a walk straight to the kitchen open
refrigerator door and that's when I seen these to go sleep ever and they went straight backwards into
the den and then they started heading right down the hall to jeans and it was standing right about a foot and a half
on the end of the bed the only thing I really thought of they mess with my wife [Music]
as I drove through it I felt a sticky cold sensation in my body down the street from the Williams the Haney's
lives were also unraveling I was crying all the time I was frightened I was scared of doing my daily routine in my
own home the Haney's decided to fight back in court they sued the Builder for not
disclosing that their home was built over a cemetery in parts so that everyone would know what was happening
at their subdivision a jury awarded them 142 thousand dollars for mental anguish
but a devastating reversal ruled on legal grounds that the developers were not liable the verdict was thrown out
and the Haney's ordered to pay fifty thousand dollars in court costs and at that point we decided to file bankruptcy
all in all we ended up losing the case losing the money losing the house we were exhausted and we got in her car and
went where there was love and support and tried to put it behind us [Music] the Williams also explored legal
recourse but they say that they were told that without definitive proof of a cemetery on their property nothing could
be done it was then that Jean made a decision that she will forever regret that was the last straw you want a body
I'll show you a body so I thought to myself I can dig and I can dig about two feet a day and I knew I would reach a
body but soon after she started digging Jean felt ill her daughter Tina volunteered to finish the job she died
for almost half an hour okay yeah I feel just a little faint I remember her saying that she was that she felt funny
she was getting dizzy as well she put the shovel down and she went back inside and she just laid down on
the couch she's like mom daddy I don't feel right no there's something wrong we got to call 9-1-1
the last thing I remember her saying was mommy take care of my baby take care of
my baby and she looks so scared talk to me Tina almost immediately her eyes started glazing over and I was
talking to her trying to talk her out of dying please Tina talk to me and all this time
her eyes were changing until they got to the point where I knew that she wasn't with me or she wasn't you know
responding at all Tina had suffered a massive heart attack two days later she died and I realized that I had
desecrated another grave and now I'm paying I told me and I says we have to get out
of here it doesn't matter what we lose what we had I knew that if we didn't that I was not going to make it because
my fight was gone I could fight no more forever the Williams escaped to Montana and later moved back to another house
and another neighborhood in Texas today they are a happily growing family no longer plagued by mysterious noises
horrific apparitions or heartbreaking tragedies back in their old neighborhood none of the current residents had
reported any paranormal activity but no one has been able to explain what happened to the Williams or the Haney's
it remains an unsolved mystery [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

This, Episode includes: Armored Car Killings, Fumbles Robber, Dahlia/Torso Connection, Tunnel of Cocaine and Black Hope Curse (Pts. 1 & 2).

Brief Summary

Five cases of crime and mystery, including the Loomis robbery and the Black Dahlia murder.

Key points

The Loomis Armored Car Robbery. A brutal robbery leaves three guards dead, shocking the community.
The Black Dahlia Murder. Elizabeth Short's gruesome murder remains unsolved for decades, captivating the public.
The Drug Smuggling Operation. A sophisticated drug smuggling tunnel is discovered, baffling authorities.
The Black Hope Curse. A family's dream home turns into a nightmare upon discovering graves in their backyard.
Unearthing the Past. The Haney's discover human remains in their backyard, leading to a haunting revelation.
A Disturbing Birthday. On Betty Thomas's birthday, the Haney's find her red shoes on her grave.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It was just the brutal and senseless crime.

Describing the shocking nature of the crime scene.

3:24WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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