Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 4, Episode 15 - Updated Full Episode | Forensic Files

next on unsolved mysteries a church secretary is savagely beaten and has no memory of the attack
her husband denies being involved but his mistress moves in just two weeks later
a daring con artist steals hundreds of thousands of dollars and then he disappears
with his young wife a killer's 15 years as a fugitive comes to an end when one of our viewers
spots his photo on our website and two co-eds disappear from different universities leaving two devastated
families and two baffling mysteries [Music] cunning deceit and lies maybe you can figure out who's telling
the truth i'm dennis farina and this is unsolved mysteries [Music] [Music] winter haven florida
just before 1pm a church member stops in to buy tickets for an upcoming event [Music]
the woman finds 47 year old nancy drake the church secretary close to death she has been beaten so viciously that
her skull split open nancy survives but within two weeks police discover that her husband thomas
has been cheating on her while nancy recovers in the hospital he even moves his mistress into their home
there are two other potential suspects but thomas drake is arrested for attempting to murder his wife
i did not beat nancy i could not beat nancy i'm not that type of a person i never have been
i've never been one to fight anybody i've always turned from fights it's not me thomas drake was convicted solely on
circumstantial evidence nancy was the only witness but the severe blows to her head erased all
memory of the attack the prosecution refused to participate in this story but it maintains that
thomas drake is guilty when nancy and thomas drake moved to florida one of the first things they did
was to join the local church nancy sang in the choir and worked as the church secretary
thomas was a truck driver who tape recorded the church services every sunday i just loved doing
whatever i could at the church it was not unusual for me to work 60 hours seven days a week but i loved
every moment of it the concert is on saturday night thomas says nancy's devotion to the
church was taking a toll on their nine-year marriage they even talked about a separation
nancy got so involved in everything she thought everything that happened it couldn't be done without her
i was very unhappy with with our relationship at home i didn't have a wife anymore
she wasn't there for me the day of the attack nancy was busier than usual selling tickets to a church
concert she didn't have time to break for lunch so thomas brought it to her i arrived at the church approximately 15
after 12. there was a green station wagon parked there with a white-haired gentleman in it that i'd never seen
before but i didn't think too much about it because there was a lot of people attended church that i didn't know
hi tom brought you lunch thank you i went inside and nancy said i'll be right back and went to the back of the church
somewhere you just miss mary oh i'll give her a call nancy returned to her office
uh yeah at that point i left the church and it was right at 12 30 then at 1 15 the pastor called thomas at home
he said that nancy had bumped her head and had gone to the hospital but when thomas got there he learned
that his wife was an intensive kid i just can't be very optimistic when i finally got in to see her her face was
swollen so bad her eyes were shut her head was bigger than a basketball you know it was just stumbled he didn't look
like a human being and i couldn't believe that anybody could beat anybody that bad
at the church police found the safe and nancy's office open and empty they later found the weapon used to beat
her a claw toothed hammer there were no fingerprints on it outside an office window they found a
muddy footprint and inside they found a fingerprint on the door it belonged to a
local man this person lived in the area was a formal mental patient and had no explanation for why his
fingerprints would have been on the door another possible suspect was a white-haired man one of the parishioners
noticed at the church that morning this may have been the same man that thomas saw when he brought nancy her
lunch the police came up with this composite sketch and issued an all points bulleted
the police hope that nancy would be able to tell him who assaulted her but after
the attack her memory and her ability to speak were severely impaired three weeks later the drakes had a
conversation that would come back to haunt thomas i want to go home now no nancy you can't just leave the
hospital without the doctor's permission you don't care about me you know that's not true
how would you like it if i hit you on your habit the police officer on duty overheard the
conversation she thought it sounded like nancy was accusing thomas of attacking her
her interpretation was that nancy said i had hit her on the head at that point she could not speak
without getting her words all messed up she would say one word for another and she said how would you like them to be
hit on your habit they interpreted it as me hitting her [Music] police put drake under 24-hour
surveillance what is this kid i didn't see anything in the report about a kid atta boy come on back at me hi guys
police learned that thomas had been having an affair for almost a year and investigators were shocked to
discover that only two weeks after his wife was attacked thomas invited his girlfriend and her
child to move into his home he had met the woman we'll call her judy on one of his trucking runs to fort
lauderdale police stopped following other leads thomas drake became their prime suspect
i was trying to help this lady out she was coming here to live there i needed somebody stay at the house somebody to
care for it i said you do it looking back i can see how it looked at the time i didn't think anything
about it at that point the only thing i could care about was nancy getting well getting out you know the hospital
i didn't even think about it i really didn't thomas drake yeah i'm detective kirkland
ask officer carlton how are you doing this evening we'd like to take you down to the station please uh uh yeah sure
what what for we're placing you under arrest for the attempted murder what's going on here
no in addition to arresting thomas police took his girlfriend judy and her son to
the police station thomas agreed to be questioned without an attorney present that
was a mistake i've already heard nancy i don't want to hurt judy i just want to drag judy into
this mess and he said then you cooperate with us and you tell us how you beat nancy i
said i didn't beat nancy he said well you just said you heard her and i said yes but i'm telling you by getting a
divorce and splitting up i said that was enough hurt for her i said i've done her
enough harm i meant i said i didn't physically hurt her and i couldn't i couldn't do that to anybody
i woke up the other night screaming thomas said that he had dreamed of nancy calling out to him
saying no tom no also he admitted that he agreed in theory with the police hypothesis
that it was possible for him to have attacked his wife and then blocked all memory of it police felt that both
statements suggested thomas was guilty i don't know why there was a portion of the tape recorded statement that tom
gave to the police when tom's denial sounds like a hypothetical one and it was only after the detectives took him
to hypothetical questions that they got him to say i don't believe i could have committed this
how crime have you known tom police also questioned thomas's mistress judy you were planning on living with
tom yes did you know he's married no he told me he was divorced judy would eventually become a witness for the
prosecution thomas was charged with robbery and attempted murder and then his attorney brought an offer
from the prosecutor he's agreed to drop the charges of attempted murder and robbery if you plead guilty to grand
theft he said the only reason they offered this they know they don't have any evidence against you
and they're hunting a way out i said well i'm not going to plead guilty to something i didn't do
he said that's all i need to hear and that was it i turned it down coming up nancy's memory returns and she
thinks that she can identify her attacker was it thomas thomas drake was about to go on trial
for attacking his wife nancy and it was known that thomas had been having an affair
yet nancy stood by him she even visited him in jail i'm happy that you came i wasn't sure that you would don't be
silly i'm here because i want to be the term that i knew did not do it and that's the reason why i wanted to go
visit him because that side of tom yes i loved him the other side of tom that was have an
affair i didn't know him and like any other human being i can honestly say that side of him i hate it
at the trial nancy didn't testify because she had no memory of the attack the prosecution's case was based
primarily on circumstantial evidence i've already heard nancy i don't want to hurt judy
the jury heard the tape of thomas's interrogation they also learned that the day before
the attack thomas had been in the church equipment room working with the same hammer that
was later used to bludgeon nancy but the most damaging testimony came from judy his former mistress and could you tell
the jury the progress of your relationship it became gradual like friendly and then
became more personal according to thomas judy's testimony was not given freely and you could be charged as his
accomplice hi i haven't been involved in anything when she was taken to the police station the
night of my arrest they told her if you don't cooperate with us and testify against him we will take your son if not
i can't guarantee when you're going to see your son i said you haven't done anything
she said but they threatened he said if i don't cooperate with him they're going
to take my son and arrest me and that was the last conversation i'd had with her
did he ever tell you that he'd gotten a divorce yes what were your plans that he was going to take care of us
from now on and i wouldn't have to work i could stay home and raise my son it's very difficult for the jury not to
see tom drake in the context of all of his sins living two lives while nancy was in
the hospital not just having an affair but bringing the woman home to their home
the jury found thomas drake guilty but a few days later his attorney got a surprise phone call from nancy
her memory of the attack had returned i remember a white man with white hair and thick glasses
he was a tall slender person who wanted some tickets for the church concert uh yeah morning i like a couple of tickets
for the cotch they're five dollars each so that would be ten dollars just go down
oh um nancy said the man wanted to pay for the tickets with a hundred dollar bill but she didn't have enough change
he convinced her to go to the equipment room and open the safe i went down to the safe and i opened it
and just after i'd done that he came back and hit me [Music] the last thing i remember
is that i should have never opened the safe nancy told the judge her story and he
agreed to give thomas a new trial once again thomas was offered a plea bargain and once again he rejected it
thomas believed that nancy's testimony would clear his name nancy drake tom drake's wife says that
tom did not attack her and i expect her to come before you and testify as to her memory of these events
i don't know if i can do this however just moments before she was due to take the stand nancy's memory suddenly failed
her medication had been changed the day before and she couldn't tell the difference between
what she had been told and what she actually remembered the pressure she felt of tom spade her
husband's fate being on her shoulder was such that emotionally she was not capable able to testify
call your next witness please defense rest john thomas's lawyer was forced to rest this
case without calling nancy to the stand and without nancy's testimony the jury had every reason to believe
that thomas was guilty count one we the jury fined us to the defendant thomas eugene drake
guilty of attempted second-degree murder with a weapon it was just unbelievable that with no
evidence they could return a verdict that way but they did the jury the state played totally upon their
emotions of this affair i was having with another woman and that's the only thing they convicted
me of the guilty verdict came as a major shock to thomas but even a bigger shock came
the day he was sentenced the sentencing guidelines called for a five-year sentence
and the judge decided that five years wasn't enough he then gave me life with no parole
plus 30 years to run consecutive which means i will never get out of prison nancy returned to her hometown in
indiana and remarried it's been over 25 years since the attack and she still can't work and doesn't remember anything
about that day i don't know whether he's guilty or not don't rightfully give a darn either
he deserves to be where he is not for trying to kill me because i honestly don't know whether he
did or not but just for everything he had done previously today thomas drake lives behind the
razor wire at a prison in florida while he serves his life sentence he has filed a number of appeals so far
all have been denied coming up he's been hired to manage a company's finances what they don't know is that he's a
master con man baton rouge louisiana when brent trouth decided to sell his nissan sports car he found the perfect
buyer john maggio all maggio needed to seal the deal was a cashier's check and brent agreed to
drive him to the bank during the short trip the conversation was friendly yeah and the bank should be
right over right over here and then without warning brent suddenly found himself on the wrong end of a gun
fighting for his life he had the meanest look on his face cold-blooded killer he pulled the gun to the right
and it went on the side of my leg the bullet went on the side of my leg and came out on the corner by my kneecap
and that's when i bit him on his shoulder and he let go of the gun and i threw the
gun out of the car stop the car i'm not gonna stop laughing i said stop the car maggio dove out the passenger side door
and brent drove himself to the hospital he nearly lost his leg the next day police arrested john maggio and charged
him with attempted murder to those who knew him the attack came as no big surprise
maggio had always been troubled [Music] john maggio spent five years in prison and was released on parole
he immediately went to mobile alabama where family connections helped him land a job
in a typical display of bravado maggio had listed his prison jobs on his resume failing of course to mention that he was
behind bars at the time [Music] at his new job maggio processed payroll accounts for ships in dock a job that
involved handling large amounts of cash the owners of the vessel would wire us the money that the captain requested
and then we would make out the receipts bring the cash down to the captain he would sit there and count it out and
then sign the receipt and you'd be done maggio fit in right away and got along with everybody
we just went overboard to be nice you would he was just super he was outgoing when you talked to me
you felt like you'd known him forever that's just how he made you feel molly perez was churned by maggio
after a whirlwind romance the couple decided to get married sure my aunt will show up
molly had a four-year-old daughter from a previous marriage and maggio appeared to love her like his own
but according to molly's mother the relationship was rocky and sometimes violent
molly never told me that he was abusive but her daughter did and she was terrified of john
terrified in front of us he acted like the doton stepfather but when he was away from us it was a
different story it turned out that maggio had a lot of people fooled including this bank
officer who asked not to be identified he called to inquire how long it would take me to get 197 000. you know and i
told him i need to know by tuesday to have it in by towards the end of the week police believe maggio snuck back
into his office after hours [Music] unlocked the filing cabinet then walked out with a blank check
good morning miss henderson he then showed up at the bank with a forged check for
197 000 it was a well established account he was a well-known person to be you know
responsible for picking up and calling in the orders and the signature was a match
the bank officer said maggio was friendly but nervous maggio explained his behavior by saying
that a co-worker had been killed doing a similar term moments later maggio calmly walked out
of the bank and simply disappeared for that green shipping the next day maggio's office received a
disturbing phone call from company headquarters the accountant that manages all the
money he asked me we had written any big checks and of course i said no so he said look for this check number so i
went and looked and the check was missing so i went back to the phone and i said
yes the check is gone and i said how much money is gone and he said 197 thousand dollars
and i said god meanwhile molly left her daughter with her mother and prepared to leave town
she was protecting us and her daughter because i know now that molly knew just how evil he was
and is police say molly left with maggio in a brand new suv which he bought with some of the stolen
money four months later the couple turned up in new york using the names rick and sarah parker
they rented a small apartment from nanette mali kano maggio came off to be the sweetest people to
everyone not only to my husband and you know myself and my family members but to the
neighbors as well over the next year maggio bounced from one job to another before landing a sales position with a
rare autographed dealer in manhattan but it wasn't long before majo was up to his old tricks
can i help you yes you may maggio had attempted to cash a fifteen hundred dollar check
and the place where he was trying to cash it contacted the employer and he said no he
does not have the authority to cash a check in that amount cash checks here all the time uh sir for
this amount i need an authorization maggio never showed back up at that company the individual had an audit done of his
records and determined that maggio on 14 different occasions had written one thousand dollar checks which were forged
and which were basically embezzlements from the company by the time the police were notified
maggio and molly were longed on early in the morning it must have been like 6 30 in the morning i suddenly get
a phone call from maggio hello hey there it's rick and he was like oh i'm taking molly to the hospital she's
very sick watch the dog i left the key underneath the mat nanette was surprised and concerned for
molly but before she could ask any questions maggio hung up the phone i'll give you a
call later right there all the cards started falling right into place something is
very fishy sarah nanette was suspicious so she went down to check on her tenants
[Music] the apartment was trashed and the maggios were gone detectives later discovered that mali
had bought two airline tickets for a flight from new york to los angeles [Music]
update john maggio had been on the run for two years when a co-worker recognized him
from a photo at the local post office and called police maggio was arrested and charged with
federal bank fraud and parole violation he served 24 months and was released his
wife molly was never charged with any crime coming up the vietnam war separates a
fighter pilot from his daughter during the late 1960s the united states trained hundreds of south vietnamese jet
pilots at an air force base in louisiana one of these pilots was soon van wynn and he ended up with especially close
ties to america soon van wynn was 2 000 miles from home he recalls feeling lonely and displaced
until a local family the galtiers befriended him they had six children and their eldest
son was stationed in vietnam mrs gautier was thinking about her son being a foreigner in vietnam
because of that she helped us on the weekends so that we feel comfortable just like we were in our own country
gwendolyn one of the gautier's daughters was the same age as soon before long they had fallen in love
after seven months soon's training was complete he and gwendolyn shared one final night together before saying
goodbye i don't want you to go we could go to canada or something gwen why not because of my honor as an officer in the
air force i could not desert my countrymen and so i said to gwen i have to go within weeks soon was flying combat
missions in vietnam he received many letters from gwendolyn what one would forever change his life
gwen was pregnant with their child late in august gwendolyn gave birth to a healthy baby girl and named her kimberly
karen [Music] more than five years passed with soon unable to see his daughter finally his luck changed
[Music] soon was sent back to the base in louisiana for more training he was uncertain how the gautiers would react
to his arrival i i don't believe it soon hello mrs cartier mrs gautier arranged for soon to visit
gwendolyn who was now married and living in houston texas can't believe this is this child had waited so long to see
but the situation simply did not allow it gwendolyn and kimberly returned to louisiana for the rest of soon's
assignment for nearly a month kimberly lived with her grandmother and soon spent every free moment with his
daughter soon did not know that mrs gautier had told kimberly that he was her father
what'd you say daddy why you calling me that because you are how do you know that
okay then kim said because her hair was black her eyes were black and her skin was dark skinned
and she was especially proud to point out that she had a flat nose an asian nose
finally the day came that soon dreaded gwendolyn had to take kimberly back to houston
soon knew he might never see his daughter again we got to go i didn't know if i would ever see my
daughter again i couldn't control myself i broke down and cried and that's the truth
shortly after soon returned to the war when saigon fell he was incarcerated at a communist re-education camp for the
next 10 years after his release soon remarried had two children and eventually immigrated to
the united states he immediately started to look for kimberly because of that time we had we have a
beautiful memory in common i believe it is possible that beautiful memory kim and i share
has engraved itself on her mind so whenever kim thinks of her father she knows that i wish only the best for her
i care about her she understands me and knows that i really love her update the night this story aired we received
calls from kimberly's friends and family they told us that kimberly lived in pineville louisiana and that she was
thrilled to learn that her dad was looking for her a few days later soon traveled to
louisiana for a reunion with kimberly they had not seen each other for 20 years [Music]
when vietnam i never i know everything i can not i can't meet her but now it's my dream to be true
i very very happy [Laughter] it was just you can't describe the feeling it was just like
nice it doesn't do the feeling justice but it was just incredible fantastic wonderful
great later that day soon celebrated with kimberly's family including her mother
wendell to see them together is just a dream come true a fairy tale that uh had had some bad detours but it came to
a happy ending i knew that wherever he was that he loved me and i was always certain in my heart that one day we
would be back together oh this is a big day it's a happy day hey no i think i cannot forget
coming up two young coeds on opposite sides of the country mysteriously vanish on a previous broadcast we asked for
your help in finding michael wayne brown a ruthless killer who escaped from an oklahoma prison
what are you doing here brown then 18 years old was committing a burglary with another teenager when an
employee stopped by to pick up a file brown was put on oklahoma's death row for murdering richard sullivan
however the sentence was later commuted to life without parole nine years into brown's sentence a
lonely widow named donna moses began writing him letters as part of her church group's attempt to help convicts
find spiritual comfort they quickly became more than just pen pals hi hi i'm michael i know
she was lonely and she needed that companionship someone you know to talk to her about things and show her love
and affection and that's what she got from him you michael wayne brown think this woman would be your lovely white
wife three months later they were married i do brown was transferred to a minimum
security prison where he and another inmate jumped a four foot fence and escaped let's go
let's go donna drove the getaway car for 15 years authorities investigated tips until finally
one paid off update an unsolved mysteries viewer saw brown's photograph on our website
i couldn't believe it it looked like him but my mind said it's not him but the picture said it was him
greg knew donna and michael brown as linda and kenneth ginter they owned the local video store in a
quiet suburb of kettering ohio in fact greg's wife worked there he'd never know he was a murderer he was
like an icon of the community everybody liked him the kids would come in here and high-fiving me give him candy and
super nice guy a few minutes after seeing the photo greg got a call from kenneth ginter
the phone rings and it was him and he was asking my wife to work that night i told him that i seen a guy on a
computer that looked like him and i said michael wayne brown and he kind of got quiet for a minute and he says well greg
everybody has a twin so i left it at that michael wayne brown surrendered to authorities when he realized that he had
been identified he was returned to prison to serve out his life term plus additional time for the escape
donna wasn't charged with any crime authorities believe that she was a victim of brown's clever
manipulation eighteen-year-old april gregory and nineteen-year-old kristen smart never
met they were enrolled at different universities on opposite sides of the country
yet within the same five-hour period they were both suddenly gone no warning no explanation
syracuse university april gregory took her schoolwork very seriously when she finished her freshman year she
immediately enrolled in the summer session on an ordinary spring night april's brother lamar dropped her off at her
door i helped people with her bags to the front of the dormitory and that was the last i saw
april walked up these steps entered these doors under the watchful eyes of dorm officials
and went to her seventh floor room that's all anyone knows a short time later police searched
april's room they discovered that when she disappeared she had not finished unpacking
and in the closet only one clue her work uniform was missing [Music] this was the path that april normally
took to her job at a local restaurant but that night she never arrived at work really did she miss her very really
i just knew something bad happened to my baby and almost at the same moment that april
gregory disappeared another young woman mysteriously vanished three thousand miles away
nineteen-year-old kristen smart was a freshman at cal poly state university in san luis obispo
about the same time april should have been heading to work in new york kristen was walking along this road in
california she was returning to her dorm after a party she was not alone nineteen-year-old paul flores was also a
freshman at cal poly he had offered to walk kristin home after the party [Music]
an eyewitness saw paul and kristen at this corner paul told police that kristen went to
her dorm and he crossed the street to his kristen phoned home every sunday religiously
and when that sunday passed and she hadn't phoned i knew something was wrong [Music]
police and volunteers searched the campus for kristin but they didn't find a clue
then cadaver search dogs were taken through the dorms those dogs hit on this room run room 128 on the cal
poly campus and specifically came into this room and hit on this mattress and the corner of
this mattress this room was occupied by the male subject that was last seen with
kristin smart that male subject was paul florey's authorities became suspicious of flory's
statement that he and kristen had gone home separately when they got to approximately here
he says he continued into his dorm which is up the hill and she left and went up
between the two dorms to her dorm however we believe that based on what we've learned from the
search dogs she actually continued into his dorm with him at this time kristen smart is still
considered a missing person we never give up hope that kristen will be found but
as any parent can imagine the longer that it goes on the dimmer the light and you can only hope
april gregory's family feels the same way there's a neighbor girl she resembles equals a lot and i'd be in the kitchen
sometimes she walks in the house with my heart flutter because i'd be hoping it's
my april and i feel so disappointed with us now everything brings people to my mind i
don't cry as much as i used to but the pain still did i me with miss our daughter
update there are new developments in this case and here's one of our staff with details
more than a year later april gregory's former boyfriend terence evans was charged with her murder
evans is currently in prison serving 25 years to life in the case of kristin smart paul flores
was ultimately arrested in 2021 and charged with kristen's murder his father ruben flores was also arrested and
charged as an accessory after the fact they have both pleaded not guilty and await trial
[Music] you

This episode includes: Thomas Drake, Mad Maggio, Viet Pilot's Daughter, Update: Breakout Mom and Missing College Kids + UD.

Brief Summary

Nancy Drake's attack, two college disappearances, and John Maggio's cons are featured in this episode of Unsolved Mysteries.

Key points

A Husband's Betrayal. While Nancy recovers, her husband Thomas moves his mistress into their home just weeks later.
A Brutal Attack. Nancy Drake, a church secretary, is viciously beaten, leaving her with no memory of the attack.
A Shocking Verdict. Despite circumstantial evidence, Thomas is found guilty of attempted murder.
The Return of Memory. Nancy's memory of the attack returns, leading to a new trial for Thomas.
Life Sentence. Thomas receives a life sentence plus 30 years, shocking him and his family.
Maggio's Deception Unraveled. Maggio's embezzlement scheme is uncovered, leading to his disappearance.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I did not beat Nancy, I could not beat Nancy.

Thomas Drake's denial of the attack on his wife.

2:29WatchMar 16, 2022

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from True Crime Files

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.