Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 3, Episode 1 | Forensic Files

[Music] next on Unsolved Mysteries two teenagers mysteriously disappear and then are found
murdered police believed they were trying to escape a bizarre cult a man's charred body is found in a
burnt out car it could be the remains of a notorious drug lord or someone else may have been murdered in his place
after extensive brain surgery a woman wakes up with no memory of the last 16 years of her
life but she's afraid to let anyone know and when a wealthy businessman suddenly vanishes his wife discovers
that his success is a fraud you know you could have the one vital clue to help solve one of our
cases I'm Dennis finina and this is Unsolved Mysteries join us [Music] s Angelo Texas where Shane Stewart and Sally
McNelly grew up is a peaceful ranching town the 4th of July was a reunion of sorts for Shane and
Sally each had recently returned to town and it was their first time together in
months it was also the last time they would ever be seen [Music] alive the next morning a ranger
discovered Shane's car near local Lake fast food wrappers covered the front seat the keys were on the
dashboard but Shane and Sally were nowhere to be found there were no signs of a struggle and so consequently we
looked at it from at first from a from the standpoint of a two kids ran off and got married knowing how much he loved
that car that he wouldn't leave it I was very very concerned that something tragic had
happened that November two skeletons were found near a lake 17 mi from where Shane's car was
abandoned Shane's father heard the call on his police scanner and rushed to the scene I got out of the pickup and walked
over to the area gut feeling is apparent I knew they had found Shane hi Marshall H how are you how you
doing y'all find Shane's body yeah we sure did and it's pretty gruesome in there and uh well we just want to let
you know it there's not a whole lot left I want to see okay let's it was it was Shane dressed like had left the house
that night and I knelt down beside him and told him that I had found him and we would take
him home each victim was killed by a shotgun blast all the forensic Clues were washed
away the discovery of Shane and Sally's bodies confirmed their parents' worst fears it also made them suspicious of
some of their children's friends friends that they believe may have been members
of a satanic cult Shane was like Beaver Cleaver the allaround boy always having fun he had a lot of Dreams a lot of
goals and he was a very lovable kid when Shane and Sally met it was just like two
people clicked on there was a bond there that was almost Inseparable it was like
the two two kids were made for each other Sally loved people she would do anything for a friend Sally tried hard
to please people she wanted people to like her she wanted people to respond to her and love
her I married and had Sally when I was very young so Sally and I spent a lot of our time growing up together we were
like sisters when she was small and as Sally became a teenager she became more and more rebellious and I had less and
less role in her life I don't think I ever heard her call her mother mother it was always Pat she
was real resentful towards the fact that her dad wasn't around and she blinded on
Pat a lot when we were kids Sally's mother first became concerned When Sally began sneaking out
late at night Sally where have you been you scared me scared you I've been waiting
here all night I would just went out for a walk that was the only explanation she would
give me so I called one friend of Sally's the boy's mother answered the phone and she told me that the kids were
mixed up in Satan worship and she said that a group of kids had been at her house one night and said they had a
demon in a bottle Sally really got to a point to where she thought thought nobody loves
me these people come along and they say okay we'll give you that love we'll give
you that companionship that you need you just come with us and do what we ask Sally began to attend ritualistic
parties on a regular basis one evening she invited her friend Helen to join her turn out the
lights I'm going to do this do you want to no thanks I need some hands on the oracle
in the name of our father the great Satan we humbly bow to you now and turn over our will to your great wisdom
Spirit of the Oracle we call on you tonight to guide us [Music] Sally Sally went into a trance Sally are
you all right and it really scared me what I'm leaving okay half of me said Sally's
pulling a stunt just ignore it and half of me said well maybe it's they're kind of having
fun when Sally began dating Shane Stewart she introduced him to her new friends Shane's father began to see
changes in his behavior come on boy come on what's wrong with you Shane started getting into fights let's go come
on come on one day Shane's getting the better of this guy his two friends friends jumped in and then he was thrown
into the [Music] river so I told him I said you should have learned a lesson one not to fight
and two uh be aware of where you are and what you're doing because people can always gang up on
you in March deputy sheriff Larry counts got a call from Sally she and her boyfriend Shane were
members of this group and they were trying to get away from she said there was a lot of drugs
involved there was a lot of group sex she also expressed that she had a weapon that had been given to her by another
member of the cult and when he gave it to her he told her and Shane that the gun had been used in a murder
robbery by that time Shane and Sally were living together they met Deputy CS in their apartment to hand over the
gun well during this meeting when I first met them face to face you really think that they were making this stuff
up but they seem sincere this is the gun that guy gave us that I told you about after they gave me this weapon and we
did some checking on it it turned out to be a stolen gun then their their story became a little bit more credible he's
not going to find out about this is he they did Express fears that that they might be her she and her boyfriend might
be in some danger because it's a very secretive type group and they knew the ends they knew the secrets
6 weeks later Shane and Sally moved out of their apartment and left town separately but by early summer both
returned to San Angelo Sally what's wrong in June Sally made a desperate phone call to
Helen I think they're going to try to kill me I said nobody going to come and shoot you I said what did you do she
said well I really can't tell you I got to go she just tended up things so I really didn't think much of it and I
really didn't think to call Pat and say Pat s's in trouble there's something wrong I mean I didn't think anything
about it Shane it's for you on July the 3rd around noon we received a phone call
there was a man on the phone asking for Shane and as I walked away I heard Shane
mention money I have the money for you tomorrow she lighting up will you and so when Shane come out of the room I asked
him I said is there a problem he said no I told him if there was a problem I was
his dad and I could help him handle it he said no he said everything's fine he said I've taking care of it thanks on
July the 4th Shane told me that he was going to go out and watch the fireworks I gave Shane a hug told him
that I loved him take care of himself and don't get in a bind and he said no problem he said he'd
see me later and left the house that was the last time I saw him alive police have pieced together at
least part of what happened the night Shane and Sally disappeared at 900 p.m. they watched the
annual fireworks display at Lake nasworthy 4 hours later a fisherman spotted them at OC Fisher Lake 6 mil
away they were standing by a car then he saw a pickup truck approach all right Jo let's take a little ride
here now I said get in the truck no we're not going to come with you shut up Hey listen I said we're not into that
anymore okay leave us alone I heard him talking about she didn't want to be with
them people no more I listened a little bit more and they continued all again the F then I got to thinking well there
just bunch of kids out there drinking Parton and I turned my boat around and I left it was the last known sighting of
Shane Stewart and Sally McNelly alive Marshall Stewart refused to believe that they just ran away he scoured the lake
area and questioned people he believed might know something about his son's disappearance hi I'm Shane dad do you
remember me Mr Stewart Shane told me if he and this friend ever got together there was going to be bad trouble he
said we're enemies we hate each other uh if there's ever a confrontation he said
there's really going to be a fight we don't have any Suspects from the standpoint of something that we
could bring to the grand jury we have investigated it with the people that have been referred to us as having been
in the The Cult activity and uh consequently they are suspects until we uh until we solve the
murder if you have any information that might help solve this crime please log on to our website at unsolved.com
next the puzzling death of a drug lord did he stage his own murder to avoid arrest San Juan Puerto
Rico Flames consume a car that has been abandoned in a remote part of the city next morning local authorities find the
remains of a body in the back seat it is charred beyond recognition a fragment of Jawbone and
four loose teeth recovered From the Ashes is the only evidence that might identify the
victim one week later an informant tells police that the dead man is John rubis it was a name authorities knew
well John Scott rubis ran a multi-million dollar drug ring that was headquartered in Puerto
Rico we were able to obtain dental records from John rubis dentist in Florida and we shipped those dental
records to a pathologist in Puerto Rico that uh pathologist identified those loose teeth as being those of John
rubis for years rubis had evaded law enforcement in several countries and now fire had apparently accomplished what
the law could not John rubis was out of business or was he the drug Empire of rubis operated
with military Precision a fleet of small airplanes transported tons of marijuana
and cocaine from Secret plantations in Columbia Panama and Jamaica after processing in Puerto Rico the drugs were
smuggled into the US and estimated 30 million worth in 4 [Applause] years at pre-arranged times the planes
dro the drugs just off the coast of Puerto Rico small boats were already in place
waiting in most cases rubis had handson with the drug trafficking where a lot of
the higher Echelon drug traffickers normally would stay in the background rubis came to the foreground and and
actively got involved in the the distribution process [Music] the drugs were brought from the beach to
a hidden processing plant in the Puerto Rican Highlands there the large bundles were broken down into 1B packages that
were smuggled into the US John is one of the craftiest guys I've ever met in my life his ability to
smuggle drugs into the United States unmolested you know he had several years maybe five six seven eight years of
successful smuggling with no type of wire tapping or anything and don't get funny with my stuff you know he ran a
real stiff organization rubis was very uh ruthless that's typical of the drug business uh you you have to gain your
respect through fear and uh rubis was very good at that it took investigators years to
penetrate the organization finally 37 members of the Ring were charged every one of them
arrested everyone but John rubis he seemed to have vanished Into Thin [Music] Air when the charred remains were
identified the outstanding charges against rubis were dropped in Puerto Rico police uncovered
a vendetta that seemed to explain the murder of the outlaw drug lord Donald curzer a former associate of
rubis was convicted of masterminding the hit allegedly rubis was killed in retaliation for raping Ker's girlfriend
and the 14-year-old daughter of cser's housekeeper according to Puerto Rican authorities rubis was met at the airport
in sanan by two women one was ultimately convicted in connection with the joh right they drove him to a deserted area
on the outskirts of town and made an excuse to leave him alone in the car hey B [Music]
go officially John rubis was dead officially yeah what's upy it's John John where you been but a few months
later his former associate Richard received a call from the dead man Doan I have no doubt about it being John rubis
you know we had an acquaintance you know over an extensive period of time so I mean you know
I'd know his voice anywhere we also began to receive information through some various other
of the codefendants that had been charged in the case uh that perhaps uh rubis was alive that they had seen him
that they had talked to him authorities have another reason to believe rubis is still alive he was
simply too smart to let himself be trapped yeah John rubis in the business he was involved in illegal narcotics was
a very suspicious ious individual and took a lot of precaution to protect himself he never traveled alone and when
he did travel he always traveled arms so the facts that were put together just did not fit well with what we knew of
John rubis two people have served time in Puerto Rican prisons for the murder of
John rubis but was rubis really the victim or was someone else killed in his place rubis was fully capable of staging
his own death and may well have had his own teeth extracted in order to accomplish a false identification of a
body and I believe that there is substantial reason to believe that John rubis is
alive and it wasn't he could have he did pull it off I know John pretty well I mean and John is a very Mystique type of
guy one thing that he would never do is cor himself in a situation where he couldn't get
out he always had an exit that most people didn't know about the bottom line is is that John
rubers still rids update DNA test show that a fragment of jaw found at the scene match rubis his
teeth but some still believe the tests don't tell the full story they're convinced that John rubis has evaded
Justice next a woman with amnesia is able to hide it from her family for years dundock
Maryland I just want to cash that please surely check your C it all began when Sarah de Janeiro stopped by her local
bank Sarah had a long history of migraine headaches but this day the pain was beyond anything she had ever
experienced I'm sorry Mrs degenero we're not going to be able to cash your check
today ma'am the pain was so bad are you all right if my head had exploded you know if Dynamite had gone off on the
left side of my head it would have probably felt the same way there was so much pain that the only thing I could do
was leave there the attack left Sarah confused and disoriented she couldn't see out of her
left eye but somehow she managed to make her way back home honey what's wrong 3 hours later
Sarah's husband Paul found his wife sprawled across the bed honey wake up she was partially
paralyzed and babbling incoherently honey honey talk to me I tried to tell him you know that I was down at the bank
and my felt like my head exploded and I but I couldn't couldn't say it a blood vessel had burst in Sarah's
brain doctors recommend it an extremely delicate and risky operation all right we've got the first
aneurysm clipped it looks like there's another aneurysm here though the surgeon discovered that her condition was much
worse than they had imagined Sarah was on the operating table for 9 and 1/2 hours as doctors struggled to save her
[Music] life hello Sarah how are you doing Sarah emerged from the surgery extremely
confused it seemed to her that in just 3 days Paul's crew cut had grown out he appeared to have put on weight and she
didn't recognize her own daughter Kelly I can remember the day that my father took me to the hospital scissors
snipping the the nurse was removing the stitches from her head I was to one side
of her and I kept watching her and she would be looking over at me just out of the corner of her eye and not really
saying anything to me at all the whole time that I was there almost wondering who I
was 2 and 1/2 weeks after surgery Sarah was finally released from the hospital and headed home okay honey we're home to
Sarah the neighborhood seemed different what had once been a dirt road was now a
paved Street new houses had been built on empty lots okay who's here kids kids are here Sarah
expected to see three little kids not the four teenagers who greeted her hi Mom doctors had warned Sarah that
after the surgery she might feel slightly disoriented but no one had prepared her for this there was nothing
in the house like it was before everything was just different but I figured that uh if I just kept
quiet I eventually I'd have things figured out do Eloise and Bob still live in talson 2 days after returning from the
hospital Sarah learned that she had a big problem and it is 196 isn't it no it's 1976
mom you kidding us right Sarah realized that 16 years of her memory had been erased in her mind she was only 23 years
old she was terrified and told no [Music] one when she was alone Sarah would sift
through family photographs searching for clues about her past I didn't have all the knowledge that I
had before I would try to um get back everything that I that was lost in my brain Sarah found herself confused by
everything in the world around her when she was 23 no one had automatic dishwashers microwave ovens had not yet
been invented personal computers were unheard of even the family car seemed like
something out of the future and Sarah's taste in music fashion and dance was that of a
23-year-old not someone almost [Music] 40 I can remember coming home from school or coming home from work and that
stereo would just be blasting and the first thing I would do would be to come in the back door and just turn the
stereo down because it would just drive me crazy it's has been a real role reversal at some
points Sarah hid the truth for almost four years come here and down then an article in the local newspaper gave her
the courage to tell her family her secret I just read an article about people who have aneurysm everything was
out and she you know was willing to admit that she did not know who we were or know who I was sometimes I wish that
she could remember me as when I was younger and I was growing up because I think I did get some characteristics
from her such as being athletic that I think she would have really enjoyed remembering of
me most people who have an aneurysm that ruptures do experience some memory loss
in Mrs Deano's case uh 16 years uh time when children were being born and were growing uh to be deprived of that is
really unusual yeah that's a big difference I didn't know I my much as I did at one
time and wasn't able to do the things I could do before nothing was going to get me down
I was going to relearn everything Sarah D Jano still has absolutely no recollection at all of
those 16 years her doctors believe she'll never recover her lost memories next a businessman suddenly
disappears and his secret life is [Music] exposed every year thousands of people
vanish Without a Trace many are victims of Foul Play however some people engineer their own disappearances
leaving family and friends to wonder where they are and what happened to them philli and Kathleen brain were married
in Detroit Michigan they were both successful business Executives together they enjoyed the
good life they had expensive grown-up toys paid for by Philip's investments in the stock market for Kathleen the
marriage was a dream come true you want take the wheel I want oh no there were a lot of things that were
really great about him I think it was a of humor was one thing that I thought was really great and we were crazy about
each other I mean I I really LED this person and I believe that he really loved me and I believe that I could
trust him great Philip was the president of a highly successful mortgage company
in Detroit his position gave him the authority to buy mortgages for the company we hear anything back on that
commercial property on the 15 M he always came across kind of as a happy go-lucky guy a wizard in the stock
market I mean he was always coming saying oh I made a great killing today I made 100 Grand I made this I bought
these options I sold these options I just thought this person had a certain Knack that nobody else had yeah Phil
Breen I got some good [Music] news a year after their marriage Breen made a big purchase he bought the Orlando juice
baseball team for $700,000 the team was a new league built around retired ball players it was a
risky Enterprise by the end of the year Breen had upped his investment to $2 million it seemed like it was something
that he really wanted to do it was important to him but in a lot of ways I didn't like it because I thought that it
put an awful lot of pressure on him and it seemed like he was just at that point
running himself into the ground and I it didn't make sense to me I said I'd cover
it Kathleen became concerned about her husband's mental state well I'll send the C no Li I noticed a change in him he
seemed to be spending more money it just seemed like his as time went on the money was going more and
more to his head uhuh so you have no lean on this property then back in Detroit Philip's
mortgage company discovered that the loans Breen had purchased didn't really exist I signatures the company suspected
Philip Breen of embezzlement and the and the one on Walnut it was just mindboggling I mean
something like that could happen you know the things that ran through your mind is my God you know we trusted this
guy you know how could he do this to us Philip and Kathleen returned from a Florida vacation to their home in
Detroit on a Friday hello yes all right all right just a minute just a minute Phil it's the office
something seemed to be not right and I didn't know what and so I I uh took his briefcase
into him in in the room where he was on the phone and that room was a complete disaster
area he had records piled all over the floor papers were strewn all over well I have the signatures right
here I worked with these people looked very upset I mean he had a very funny expression on his face and it frightened
me to see him freaked out like that look well how do you think I feel me my phone's he said to us um don't don't
worry I'll get these guys I know they can explain it um there's there's not a problem you know he kept reassuring us
there's not a problem I'll get a hold of them over the weekend that evening he revealed to me that he had had somehow
been um the victim of people selling phony mortgages bye sweetie by Monday morning
Phillip had convinced Kathleen that he could straighten everything out he left for work at about
8:00 but he never arrived at his office that that night Kathleen discovered Philip had taken some of his
clothes and Luggage the idea that he would have actually gone just was incomprehensible to me I I
couldn't believe it so I did some of my own investigation and I found the FBI was brought in to investigate they found
that in less than 2 years Breen had created close to 100 fake loans him more than $10 million is that some more loans
that you sir I Breen had used the money to support his extravagant Lifestyle the FBI also discovered that
12 years earlier Philip Breen had been convicted for fraud and embezzlement in Florida there was just this whole person
that I didn't even know existed on the advice of her attorney Kathleen Breen filed for divorce but it
was too late the courts held her legally responsible for Philip's deaths she was forced to sell nearly
everything she and Phillip owned their cars boats Florida condo and Detroit home I felt like I was married to a
monster from outer space and it almost just sickens me in a way just just haunted by
it Philip Breen has never been found and the FBI believes that he's out there somewhere if you have any information
about Philip brain please log on to our website at unsolved.com [Music] coming up a fire set by an arsonist
results in tragedy was it an act of Revenge put the money in the bag recently we are
the story of a career bank robber who pull off a string of heists in Canada and the
US he frequently wore cheesy disguises and sometimes carried a leather shoulder bag he became known as the Satchel
Bandit move it but his true identity remained a mystery whoever he was the robers seemed to
operate with flawless Precision but after a heist at a Canadian Bank his luck began to run
[Music] [Applause] out for the first time eyewitnesses were able to get a clear glimpse of the
robber [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Hey by the time the police arrived the suspect was gone however he did leave
behind some of the tools of the trade including a loaded magazine for a 380 automatic
handgun police found several changes of clothes maps of Canada and the US as well as camping gear but nothing led to
the robber's identity 5 Weeks Later the Satchel Bandit struck again [Music] ma'am hurry
up but this time an alert teller planted a little surprise in the stolen [Applause]
cash leaving behind a trail of ruined money the Satchel Bandit made his Escape but not before an eyewitness noticed his
license plate number it was the key to learning the robber's true identity his name Charles Warren
Boomer update Hamilton Ontario Canada not long after we aired this story Boomer was at a restaurant in
Hamilton Ontario the manager called in you know suspicious person that he believed uh possibly was was Charles
Boomer that uh that we responded to the area and arrested him Boomer was wearing
a disguise a cheap wig and a baseball hat he had a loaded gun several th000 in cash and a police scanner which was
turned off at the time Boomer looked entirely different once his disguise was removed police
learned that the robber who had stolen Millions through the years was living in a tent outside of town
there they found a list of banks maps of possible Escape Routes survival gear and
a list of police radio frequencies from both Canada and the US Charles Warren Boomer was eventually convicted of 33
robberies and was sentenced to 45 years in prison [Music] one February night Curtis Ford was
awakened by a strange sound in the stairwell outside his apartment the banging that I heard sound like a herd
of elephants running up the stairs and then I heard which was like a knock at the door
and then I heard the same right down the stairs so I looked up and this wall of fire
just shot out my side balcony window just shot straight up and out it was like my whole apartment lit up I
couldn't believe that the amount of force that this thing had Curtis escaped the fire but three of
his neighbors were not so lucky investigators at the scene quickly determined that the fire was set by an
arsonist police believe that one of the apartment residents might have been the target Donna Balo lived a quiet life
with her 22-year-old son gyel Lewis and 8-year-old daughter bunny Sue Terry the close-knit family had no enemies but
several weeks before the fire a disturbing incident may have given someone a motive to attack Donna Donna
had worked at Wells Fargo Bank for 10 years she was a manager at a drive dri through Branch outside of
Houston one day when Donna arrived at work she noticed an odd piece of paper lying in front of the bank's
entrance it was a note demanding all of the money from the bank it was a well-crafted note well
verbalized and specifically threatened employees if they didn't cooperate in turning over all the bank's money that
day that they would be retaliated against Donna went to her car 5 minutes later another employee showed up don't
stop just follow me they drove to a nearby convenience store and contacted their supervisor who called the police
uh parked the car started walking toward the bay there were no fingerprints on the note or any other Clues as to who
wrote it the authorities had no suspects so that's about it 5 Weeks Later Donna's apartment building was set
on fire Donna's unit was one of two located on the second floor authorities speculate that Donna's
daughter bunny was awakened by the mysterious Knack completely unaware of the fire outside she opened the door
bunny stop no [Music] bu Donna and her son ji then ran into the Flames trying to rescue
bunny Curtis Ford witnessed the tragedy ja's laying there on the landing and I I saw him burning and I just
grabbed his ankle I pulled him down you know and he was just like screaming at the top of his lungs like my sister's
dead I mean he just couldn't believe the fact of this going on I mean it was just horrible horrible
horrible Curtis saw Donna go into the Flames screaming for her youngest child the look on her face just would break
any person I mean I couldn't sleep for the next 2 months because of it Donna and Jai had been critically burned
all over their entire bodies 8-year-old bunny was found dead in the stairwell this was absolutely one of the
most horrible events I've seen in my 30 years in the fire department because they were literally
burned alive there you couldn't even recognize J and you couldn't recognize Donna and so we came out we were just
devastated Donna and Jai were rushed to the hospital but died the next day an entire family was
destroyed update after an intense investigation police learned the deadly arson fire was
set by two neighborhood boys aged 13 and 14 the older boy was tried as an adult was convicted victed and sentenced 12
years in prison the younger boy was sentenced to juvenile detention until his 18th birthday
[Music] [Music] [Music]

This, Episode includes: Dungeons & Dragons, Roubas: Dead or Alive, Amnesia Victim, Philip Breen, Satchel Bandit and Donna on Fire.

Brief Summary

Teenagers vanish, a drug lord's staged death, amnesia, and a businessman disappears amid fraud allegations.

Key points

The Mysterious Disappearance. Two teenagers vanish during a reunion, leading to a tragic discovery months later.
A Gruesome Discovery. Shane's father rushes to the scene after hearing about the found skeletons.
A Desperate Plea for Help. Sally calls her friend, fearing for her life amidst cult involvement.
The Shocking Memory Loss. Sarah emerges from surgery with no memory of the last 16 years.
Philip Breen's Disappearance. After a series of financial troubles, Philip Breen vanished, leaving his wife in shock.
Tragic Arson Fire. An arson fire leads to the tragic loss of a family, igniting a police investigation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I think they’re going to try to kill me.

Sally's desperate phone call to her friend.

9:16WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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