Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 2, Episode 6 | Forensic Files

[Music] next on Unsolved Mysteries a man is found dead apparently from natural causes but then an odd Topsy reveals
he'd been murdered Wild West Outlaws battle over a Fortune of gold and jewels is the
treasure buried here in skeleton Canyon a bank president and his family are taken hostage by robbers who make off
with close to a million and it was a terrifying case of home invasion three people are left dead and
a killer is on the loose these are stories you won't want to miss I'm Dennis finina and this is
Unsolved Mysteries [Music] [Music] [Music] Hood River Oregon Eric tamaso and Diana Anderson
had been just friends for years and then they decided to take it to the next level it was just kind of checking each
other out and seeing if maybe this is someone that I would like to spend more time with and I think it was the same
for both of us what do you do for fun golf late in the evening the date seemed to be going very well until the couple
heard some mysterious tapping noises outside what was that then someone was at the front
door they heard the sound of footsteps running away but they didn't see anyone it was not funny at that time of
night when I have to get in my car and drive home by myself this would be the first and last
date Diana Anderson would ever have with Eric amasu Eric's home was located in a
remote area outside of town a week after Eric's date with Diana Don Dixon a friend and business
consultant went to Eric's house to check on him hey Eric Eric it's done you home Dixon says
that for several days he had been getting phone calls from Eric's friends who also had not been able to reach
him Eric you home St Dixon claims he he used the key Eric had given him to get in through a
back door he was hit by a foul smell Eric it was an odor that I'd never smelled before my initial Hope was that this was
the garbage that I had seen left [Music] out there was no question in my mind that he was
dead so I set a prayer I went downstairs and I called 911 and asked for assistance when I first walked in it
appeared to me that we were dealing with an unintended death a medical problem or you know a
heart attack uh those kind of things there was no sign of trauma that we could see right off nothing to can
indicate that there was any kind of Foul Play as Eric Tomaso's body was being removed
from his house Hood River County Sheriff Joe Wampler approached Don Dixon with a
strange request does uh Eric have a burn pile around here and he said we've looked for a gun we've looked for bullet
holes we've looked for shells to spare the family grief and discomfort we're going to bring the bedding out and we
want you to burn it piece of Earth over there I could burn it there and I said if it would help the family I would be
happy to to do what I I can to [Music] assist the following morning Dixon Set Fire to the soil bedding from Eric's
room when he was done there was nothing left but a metal frame and a pile of Ashes the next day during Eric's autopsy
investigators were shocked to learn that three small caliber bullets were found lodged in Eric's head what at first
seemed like a natural death was now a homicide investigation the investigation was not
off to a good start Eric tamaso didn't seem to have any enemies so no one had assumed Foul Play The decomposition of
the body had disguised the exact cause of his death and the most important piece of evidence the bed had gone up in
smoke based on the lack of evidence that this was going to turn into a criminal case
it was my decision to burn the bed because of the family might appreciate not having to go through the trauma of
viewing the horrid things that were left behind but could the sheriff had had a more personal Sinister motive for
destroying the evidence a possible answer may have come up in a conversation Don Dixon said he had with
Eric regarding a new romantic relationship there's this uh Polynesian woman I've been seeing a little bit this
Polynesian woman described as older than he was and the Rumor Mill has that the sheriff's wife is Polynesian and older
than Eric but that could be purely coincidental I've heard a rumor that my wife was having an affair uh with uh Mr
Tommy ASU and out of retaliation for that then I went up there and did these things
even went to the the trouble of destroying the evidence burning the bed and all that stuff all I can say is
they're looking in the wrong direction if Sheriff Wampler had nothing to do with the murder then who
[Music] did a second potential suspect is Eric Smith Eric Tomaso's lifelong friend what have we here there's two of
us involved here that it's just not you Don Dixon says that he overheard an in argument between the two Erics just a
few days before the murder he and Eric Smith had been in business together and Eric tomasu felt that Eric was pocketing
money oh what's all these expenditures you know it's supposed to go into the business and here you're going out and
that he owed him between 50 and $60,000 hey Eric is everything okay according to Dixon Eric Tomaso was quite
upset after the AR what he want me to do just eat the $56,000 I asked him if he was okay if everything was all right he
said that's son of a [ __ ] and got into his car and that's the last words that I
heard from Eric tomasu I can tell you flat out for a fact Eric and I did not have an argument
Eric didn't owe me money I didn't owe him money Dawn lives in a fantasy world Eric tomasu and Eric Smith did
have a side business together selling used cars but police believe that there was much less money involved than Don
Dixon had for you when I checked into the business dealings with Eric Smith and Eric Tommy yatu we found out they
both invested the same amount of money which was probably $115,000 to start this business not 50 or 60,000 and it
kind of went downhill and and then they had to go out of business so who else had a reason to
kill Eric taso potential suspect number three Don Dixon the man who discovered the body
[Music] it was Don Dixon who notified Eric's sister of her brother's death just minutes after he discovered his
body well I came out to his house I found Eric and he's dead look she remembers that what Don said next was
very strange he said it didn't look like there was any Foul Play and it also appeared that there weren't any Exit
Wounds and I said what are you what are Exit Wounds what are you talking about Exit Wounds like from a bullet I said
said what why would there be gunshot wounds well I I clearly looked closely at the body to try and see if if he had
shot himself I mean because that was one of my First Reactions was it was it was
suicide um he had been very depressed um and I had looked closely because of that
I mean I honestly believe that a logical reason Eric was dead in bed was suicide
with three bullets lodged in his head Eric's death was clearly not [Music] suicide did one of these three men
murder Eric tamaso or could someone else have pulled the trigger not again in one final twist
Diana Anderson says that when she and Eric heard the strange noises outside they went to investigate and they found
a single footprint could that clue have identified Eric's killer investigators will never know
heavy rains washed it away days later I don't know if the events on Saturday night had anything to do with
Eric's murder or if it was just coincidence I think it's a possibility but I don't
know did the sheriff deliberately destroy evidence in the case I did not have anything to do with the death with
the death of Eric tamasu now could Eric Smith have wanted Eric tamasu dead Eric was my best friend I mean he was the
best man at my wedding he was like my brother did Don Dixon tell the truth about his connection to the murder I
have no way of knowing who was involved with Eric Tam yasu's death the only ones
that I know that didn't do it are my wife and myself other than that everybody else in my mind is suspect
all the suspects in this case passed polygraph tests arranged by the Hood River County Sheriff's Office except Don
Dixon Dixon eventually took an independently administered polygraph the sheriff's department says the results
were inconclusive someone in Hood River has gotten away with [Music] murder if you have any information in
this case please log on unsolved.com coming up a wild west Ambush entails of a multi-million dollar buried treasure
but first a young computer wizard packs into the pentagon's secret computer network Los Angeles
California Kevin pson got his first computer on his 16th birthday it turns out that pson was a natural computer whz
and it wasn't long before he was hacking into computer networks using the Alias dark
Dante pson uncovered a telephone number which gave him access to a restricted computer network funded by the
Pentagon pson managed to hack into a computer that held sensitive documents on Military research being conducted at
the University of California at brookley the University became aware of dark Dante's visits when one day pson
accidentally logged on using his real [Music] name Dan would you just put that in my
car please well you taking my computer the Los Angeles da confiscated pson computer because of his age he wasn't
charged but he was warned that his computer activities were illegal or anything but that warning didn't stop
Kevin P your Bud's going to jail 4 years later in Northern California the owners of a storage
facility opened up a unit on which the rent hadn't been [Music] paid W the locker contained what looked
like stolen Telephone Company equipment the owners called the police we found a storage locker that contained pieces of
electronic equipment payones computer printouts including the print out of the non-published number of the Soviet
Embassy San Francisco that's not the type of equipment or material that one would buy at a swap meet or find in a
dumpster it was quite obviously stolen property the storage unit had been rented to Kevin pson who was now 21
years old when police searched his apartment they found a wiretapping facility in a
spare bedroom what are you doing with all this stuff Kevin I don't know Happ the equipment in
the switch room allowed Mr pulson not only to enter computer databases ours and others but also gave him the ability
to monitor telephone conversations without the parties uh to the conversation being aware um that they
were being monitored how about the test set over there with f lettery on it connected to
poon's computer was an unauthorized test set which can be used to tap into private phone lines I know I got that
from a buddy of mine only the telephone company and law enforcement officials are allowed to use test
[Music] sets but the Smoking Gun was a series of photographs pson had taken of himself
breaking into a telephone switching trailer and using the equipment inside it was time to bring in the
FBI we did determined that the acts that pson was involved in had escalated we found evidence that pson had penetrated
the United States government computer and had transferred the passwords of that computer via electronic mail to
other individuals investigators found out that someone matching pulson description had
illegally entered several Northern California telephone facilities using a fake ID hi can I help you yeah in the
menow Park office I'm here to check out the ESS uh the ESS equipment is up on the second
floor once inside the Intruder found telephone numbers that he could use to hack into the telephone company's
computer system he had also stolen manuals switching equipment and a test set like
the one found in Pen's apartment using the stolen equipment pson had allegedly infiltrated US
military computer Transmissions to obtain classified Army information authorities believe he also
obtained information about the US government's investigation of former Philippine president Ferdinand
Marcus the FBI suspected that pson might have been engaging in Espionage after a 2-year investigation a
19c count indictment was handed down against Kevin pson and two fellow hackers they were charged with
conspiracy Computer Fraud wiretapping embezzlement and theft of public property and Records the two other men
were arrested but pson disappeared update shortly after this story aired the FBI received information that Kevin
pson was living near Los Angeles our San Francisco office advised us that pson had some acquaintances in
the Los Angeles area and we went out and interviewed those acquaintances and one
of them advised us that he had been seen in the not too distant past at Hughes Market we then went out and interviewed
all the employees at Hughes market and displayed his photograph the FBI informed me that
Kevin pson had been seen at the van IU's Market at about 10: or 10:30 in the evening I decided to surveil the market
thinking Kevin may show up again at about 10 minutes till midnight Kevin pson arrived drove up and parked
immediately in front of the market once Kevin was in the store I took a position near the front door and
asked the security guard to go find the evening manager so I could tell him that
Kevin pson was in the store but as pson was checking out and about to leave the store he was grabbed
by two employees security a security guard escorted pson to a store room where he was held until
FBI agents arrived and placed him under arrest Kevin pson pleaded guilty to seven counts of male wire and Computer
Fraud money laundering and obstruction of justice he was sentenced to 51 months in prison and ordered to pay
$56,000 in restitution when Kevin was released from prison he was also given 5 years
[Music] probation after prison Kevin pson reinvented himself as a journalist and
put his criminal past behind him he wrote a computer script capable of searching the membership of Myspace for
sex offenders he ultimately confirmed the identity of more than 700 sex offenders who had Myspace
profiles next unsolved mystery searches for buried treasure in a place called skeleton Canyon and later a pair of
violent criminals take a bank resident and his family hostage along Arizona's eastern border is a
jagged Ravine called skeleton Canyon more than a 100 years ago a gang of Mexican smugglers were ambushed and
red within the Steep Canyon walls some say the take from that robbery was buried in this area an
Undiscovered treasure worth millions for years treasure Hunters have searched in skeleton Canyon they've turned up
bleach bones and old Mexican coins but no treasure not yet anyway so is there really a buried treasure in skeleton
Canyon well it all depends on who you ask it's a known fact that it's a real treasure this is one of the treasures
it's absolutely real real no I don't believe that there is a uh skeleton Canyon treasure waiting out there to be
found the legend of the skeleton Canyon treasure starts in a small Mexican Village Jim Hughes a member of Arizona's
Infamous curly bille grous gang learned that Mexican Bandits looted the town of Monteray
Mexico we done they were planning to smuggle the fortune into the in States through skeleton
Canyon Hughes was able to infiltrate him because he spoke uh fluent Spanish and he found out that the gang was coming
back through Skelton Canyon the Myriad of books and treasure magazines reported the treasure to be
worth anywhere from $2.5 million all the way and I've seen reports of it being worth up to 8
million Hughes rode back to Arizona and made plans with curly Bill bres to Ambush the Mexican
[Music] gang the men of the Rocks shot the Mexicans off their mouths and the coins
and the Contraband were being scattered all over the canyon in order to stop the
mules from scattering and taking the loot with them the Curly Bill br's gang was shooting the
mules The Outlaws now had their treasure but without mules they had no way of moving it out of the
canyon part of the loot was divided up on the spot the rest was buried to be picked up later but two members of the
gang had other plans zwing hunt and Billy grounds were friends and they decided that while the
rest of the gang was out in the local bars spending their money they would double cross the gang and come back into
the canyon according to Legend uh they were able to find a Mexican Teamster talked
him into bringing his team and his horses into skeleton Canyon and removing the treasure and of course he was later
killed because they wanted to keep the new hiding place as a secret I feel very sure my own mind that
it's very likely that the treasure is still buried within the vicinity of uh Skelton Canyon probably no more than 30
mil away zwing hunt and Billy grounds hid in a desert cave where they lived for close
to 4 months during this period Billy grounds wrote a number of letters to his sister
Maggie in San Antonio Billy wanted her to know where the treasure was hidden in case anything happened to him
Billy would venture out once a week to give the letters to a passing stage coach
get yeah you [Music] bet treasure hunter Fern haml claims that he's seen the nine
letters one of the letters he's writing to his sister he said there's a cave at the mouth of the the canyon I found that
cave and it goes back 80 ft and in one of things in the letter it said from our Lookout you can see the uh
Turf growing back over where we buried the treasure down in the valley there I have found all the clues that
there is in the letters every one of them everything is there so I know the treasure is I'm near where it's at it's
there Billy grounds who is supposed to have written the letters was a 19-year-old Texas Cowboy rustler type
it's unlikely to me that he would have been writing home detailed letters about hey we rob these Mexicans and buried
this huge treasure here's how to find it Maggie was Billy ground's sister and she her and a man had spent 2 years
living in a cave out there looking for this treasure and we found this vase in a cave it says
Maggie on 1885 World's Fair so I know that was Billy gr's sister that was there looking for this
treasure a sheriff's posi finally cornered Billy ground and Wing hunt during the shootout Billy was killed
zwing seriously injured turf grass as the story goes after his capture zwing revealed the
secret location of the treasure to his uncle here come Springs his uncle then Drew up a
detailed map it seems to me that it's another typical treasure hunting yarn we never get to see the map we
never get to examine it for its genuiness or see if it matches up with any handwriting samples we might
have bur Hamill says that he's seen the map that was made up by zwing Hunt's Uncle the map shows the canyon and it
shows where the cave is everything matches but on account of the earthquake in 1886 I think the treasure is around 20
ft deep part of the mountain caved off on it is there really a treasure bared in
skeleton Canyon or is it just another tall tale from the days of the old west I think the skeleton Canyon
treasure is a very plausible story from the standpoint that every time it would rain somebody's skull would show up or
another coin would become evident and uh compared to a lot of other stories it's got a lot more plausibility
than I would say the lost Dutchman mine for instance it is possible that there's a
skeleton Canyon treasure out there to be found somewhere but the initial reports
given by the Mexican Government given in the local press indicate that there was
a very small amount of money taken which would have been spent very very quickly
thus I don't think there was a treasure given historical sources to find when I find the treasure I'll stop
looking for it that's it will be when I'll stop because I know it's real this trasure is real and I know I found the
right place where it's at today Fortune hunters from all over the world search through the skeleton
Canyon trying to find the lost treasure despite the doubts of the Skeptics they will continue to look and look because
the them The Treasure of skeleton Canyon is still an unsolved mystery coming up an escaped convict is
finally in custody after 9 years on the run but first the story of two bank robbers who took a family hostage and
vanished with close to a million [Music] West Dallas Wisconsin after locking 14 Bank employees in a store room two armed
robers clean out the Vault when they leave their duffel bags are stuffed with 3/4 of a million
[Music] dollar the thief were identified as Terry Lee Connor and Joseph dockerty
they were serial bank robbers the tools of their trade were Dynamite grenades submachine guns and
hostages 18 months earlier Connor and dockerty were inmates at a federal prison in
Oklahoma one morning they were Shackled by US Marshals before being taken to a courtroom in Oklahoma City
in the strip search they missed the Handcuff key which one story has it that Tor had planted it down inside his
mouth St took firearm he's got my all right take that AC somewhere along the way Connor and
[ __ ] took possession of the vehicle understand from talking to the deputy that he stripped the gun from him
in about 2 seconds the convict's handcuffed two Marshals and then forced them into the
back seat go go outside bur they drove to a secluded area the deputies were I'm sure very
scared anybody would have been in that situation there was a quiet moment when the two deputies were handcuffed around
the tree when Connor indicated that he wanted to eliminate the two deputies he Advanced toward the deputies with his
weapon and had the weapon pointed at them and looked over at dockerty and nodded his head as if to say I'm going
to go ahead and kill them let's go go Joe dockerty replied to him now they've been good guys they'll be okay if we
leave them handcuffed around this tree so it looked like there was a few moments there where the deputies were in
Jeopardy of their lives Connor and Dockery fled from Oklahoma North all the way to Vancouver
Washington their plan was to pull off their biggest bank robbery yet they went to the home of Ray Dearing on the
pretext of buying a car but they weren't interested in the car Ray was the vice president of a
local bank is it possible we go inside and talk about it yeah I guess so neither one would ever let me walk
around him they would always turn their bodies and I never saw their backs and I
realized later they had their 45s and belts behind their back once inside Ray and his son Tom
were easily overpowered Ray's wife Ronnie was brought in from the bedroom the fugitives held the family
hostage overnight early the next morning they changed into business suits to look
like Bank Executives okay you drive I'll drive we didn't know what to expect when we got
there we didn't know if we were in for problems that the police had have drive and certainly we didn't want the police
there at this point because we knew there'd be a shootout if there was he said if the police arrived they would
spray the bank with uh gunfire the group arrived at the bank before any of the employees but the
Vault couldn't be open without two keys held by separate tellers r i want you to
come with me my biggest concern during this whole time was that they separated us I had no
idea what was going on with my family for the next 20 minutes as Bank employees arrived their tellers keys
were confiscated and they were taken to a back room let's go Connor and doery then entered the
Vault and stuffed $250,000 into two duffel bags in less than 60 seconds after they got their money they
took me into the room with the rest of the employees and my family all right nobody opens the door
for 10 minutes at that time I knew we were finally safe they were not taking any
hostages my sole thought was thank God you're all safe and I put my arms around the family and and employees and broke
up update Terry Lee Connor and Joseph dockerty have been arrested the FBI and the US Marshals suspected that the
fugitives were in a suburb of Chicago and distributed wanted posters in the area
a local Motel clerk noticed a guest registered under the name Steven posik one of Connor's
aliases she called authorities and within an hour the FBI and US Marshals began a state
up Connor was arrested the next morning when he left his room he was returned to
prison where he began serving out a life sentence 2 weeks later Joseph doerty was
arrested at a laundromat in antiac California incredibly agents were keeping surveillance on a different suspect but
at the laundromat they recognized Joseph doerty as a wanted fugitive doerty was arrested and sent back to prison he
won't be eligible for parole until [Music] 2019 next two violent fugitives are on
the Run they were armed and dangerous until our viewers saw them on Unsolved Mysteries
next we have two stories and thanks to our viewers two cases South Las Vegas Nevada businessman Frank Allen from Los
Angeles bought a home just outside the city he kept a room there to use during his frequent trips to
Nevada he rented the rest of the house to a man named Joseph welen Smith and his wife Judith Two Daughters from a
previous marriage 12-year-old christe and 20-year-old Wendy also live there what Frank Allen didn't know was
that Smith had a long history as a con man he had once been convicted of attempted Grand Theft but that was
nothing compared to what Joe Smith did next Frank Allen arrived at his Las Vegas
residence on a night when he expected Smith and his family to be out of town I locked the door behind me and
went up the top of the steps and unlocked the bedro and went in I started undressing took off my jacket shirt tie
and suddenly stopped in my track and said something is wrong I said I don't know what it is but
something is wrong [Music] Joe what the hell are you doing I grabbed him at the wrist and that's when
I shook him and I said Joe what in the hell are you trying to do and then it was clear to me that he was trying to
murder me coming down the steps I said I've locked myself in with these Double Dead
boats and I don't have time to Fumble for key so I went straight through the door
[Music] I drove my car up to the guard gate and said to the guard call the police
there's a man in my house come on out Joe the police searched the house they thought they had cornered Joe
Smith hiding under a blanket instead they found the body of 12-year-old Christy Cox Smith's
stepdaughter think we got a homicide here she had been strangled and bludgeon to death it was obvious that she would
been dead for quite some time she had several wounds to the face and to her head in the next bedroom they forcefully
ENT her that also and that's when Wendy Cox was found laying beside the bed she had approximately 32 wounds to her head
and hands defensive wounds to her hands and she had also been strangled then officers searched the
master bedroom they found the body of Joe Smith's wife Judith she had also been bludgeon to death all three have been
dead for approximately 18 hours Joe Smith was now wanted for murder and attempted murder with a
deadly weapon update just minutes after we aired the story on Unsolved Mysteries a viewer
reported that Smith was living near Los Angeles California Smith was arrested at a local
Motel where he was registered under an assumed [Music] name at the time of his arrest Joe Smith
indicated to me that he had seen the last heiring of the unsolved mystery program he also told me that it was very
tough being a fugitive and he always knew that someone be knocking at the door one day he kind of glad it's all
over at this point 2 days later Joe Welden Smith was returned to Nevada he was convicted for the murder of his wife
and two daughters and sentenced to [Music] death in our next update a bank robber
escapes from prison to live a life on the run with his wife for 8 years Thomas Leo langstone
and his wife lived in this small Bungalow in St Paul Minnesota no one ever suspected that
langstone was an an escaped convict named Richard seones with a long criminal record sealon and two accomplices had
robbed the bank in wubber Massachusetts and made off with more than $177,000 sealon was convicted of bank
robbery and armed assault he was sentenced to between 58 and 82 years in prison then he met Karen
Walters Karen was an aspiring teacher whose class assignment was to write letters to inmates eventually she
visited Richard you're much prettier than your picture and a relationship began how was the drive oh it was fine
thank you your typical inmate in prison I find takes advantage of people out in the
community often times they'll latch on to women who are lonely uh want some attention uh um and they take advantage
of them um and I think the women are beguiled by all that attention I Caren take Richard to be my husband hi Karen
take Richard to be my husband 8 years after they met Richard seones and Karen Walters got married in the prison
Chapel 2 years later seph alonis escaped and the couple disappeared update after our broadcast a viewer in
Minneapolis who had done business with the couple recognized Karen's photograph during a stake out of their
home officials tailed sep balonus to a nearby convenience store soon as he pulled into the uh
parking lot and got out of the vehicle uh one of the task force members was uh right there with him so he jumped out uh
drew his weapon uh ordered sepulus not to move and at that point other task force members got there uh jumped out
and assisted in the arrest Karen Walters was picked up 20 minutes later when I found out that they were
who they were I was shocked I couldn't believe it my mouth fell to the floor I never would imagine in a million years
that these two people would be the would do anything wrong despite what neighbors
thought a bag of suspicious items found inside the house suggested that sealon was still an
active criminal the discovery of the bag with the face mask the gun the rubber gloves
the large amount of cash and small bills we think that perhaps he's been back in
the bank robbery or or robbery business again Karen Walters and Richard seones were extradited to
Massachusetts SE lonus was sent back to prison Karen Walters served the short sentence and was
released if you have any information on the cases presented tonight log on to unsolved.com
[Music] [Music]

Brief Summary

Eric Tomaso's murder, a buried treasure legend, and a violent bank robbery are featured in this episode.

Key points

A Date Gone Wrong. Eric and Diana's seemingly perfect date takes a terrifying turn when they hear mysterious noises.
A Shocking Discovery. Don Dixon discovers Eric's body, leading to a shocking revelation about his death.
The Homicide Investigation Begins. What appeared to be a natural death turns into a homicide investigation after bullets are found.
The Search for Evidence. The investigation takes a turn as evidence is destroyed, raising questions about the sheriff's motives.
The Mystery Deepens. As suspects emerge, the investigation into Eric's murder reveals more questions than answers.
The Mystery of Skeleton Canyon. Is there really treasure buried in Skeleton Canyon, or just another tall tale?

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

What at first seemed like a natural death was now a homicide investigation.

The shocking turn in Eric's case as evidence emerges.

5:05WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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