Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 4, Episode 20 | Forensic Files

[Music] next on Unsolved Mysteries an accused rapist jumps bail and heads right for the ski slopes of
Switzerland this Civil War military building is now home to the ghosts of Union Soldiers or so The Story Goes
Oliver mson never imagin that buying a car would make him a key witness in a trial and also lead to his
disappearance and 248 American Airborne Troopers die in a plane crash authorities say there was
ice on the wings but others say there was something deadly in the cargo five compelling cases some just
waiting to be solved and maybe you hold the key I'm Dennis finina and this is Unsolved Mysteries
[Music] [Music] [Music] Baltimore Maryland yeah let me show you the Moor okay Oliver mson had just bought a used
but classic doson 240Z so you like yeah yeah um you have the title and registration yeah you got my money
yep he had no idea that the seller Dennis Watson was the leader of a sophisticated car theft rank Oliver's
new car had been stolen just 3 months earlier a man out a proud owner of a z enjoy it here all right all
right Watson owned the garage but it was actually a cover for his chop shop a place where stolen cars were dismantled
and sold for parts or simply resold with fake papers authorities had been quietly
investigating Watson for weeks then they finally decided to put him out of business
right what the hell is this man you can't police discovered illegal titles partially dismantled autos and stolen
vehicle ID tags everything they needed to make a case against Dennis Watson five Maryland plates
one of the names that appeared in the confiscated records was Oliver mson we continue to check paperwork we find that
Oliver mson has a zc car not knowing at that time whether or not Oliver mson had
bought this car or if he was involved with Dennis Watson and as a result we took the car as evidence until such time
as we could continue an investigation to determine what exactly was his knowledge
of the car detect a Goodman had a conversation with Oliver muns you guys took my car wouldn't I have tickets
or something no sir the car was stolen it's a stolen vehicle oh no no I paid for the car how much did you pay for the
cars $1,200 and some trades and who did you buy the car from Dennis Watson Dennis Watson do you
know this Dennis Watson or have you ever dealt with him before no I never met him
before my feeling was at that time and still is that he had bought the car he thinking that the car was in fact a
legitimate car so I have to go to court yes sir you will have to go to court and
Testify the fact of how you got the car detective Goodwin said that Oliver was nervous about testifying but agreed
knowing that he really had no choice [Music] okay a year passed before the trial
began 3 days before Oliver was to appear in court he left for work as usual he was never never seen
again Oliver would rarely miss school and on that particular Monday when he didn't arrive some of the staff and the
kids started to worry that this is not a usual practice for Oliver and maybe something was you know occurring
something was wrong with him Oliver's brother James was also worried Oliver you in here he went to
Oliver's house to look for him Oliver it's me James I just thought maybe that he was sick and I didn't know
if he was unconscious or whatever in the house I didn't know three days later Oliver's car was
found just a few blocks from his home one tire was flat School papers in a sack lunch were on the front seat but
there was no evidence to suggest what had happened to Oliver at that time I felt that there
was something wrong then the decision was made here that we were looking at a kidnapping or
a homicide Dennis Watson became a prime suspect and that led to another Discovery two witnesses scheduled to
testify against Watson in previous trials had died under mysterious circumstances could it be that mson had
been the next in line 10 years earlier a man named Clinton Glenn had burned to death in a
car registered to Watson Glenn was scheduled to testify against Watson in an armed robbery trial the very next day
based on the testimony of another witness Watson was indicted for Glenn's murder however this new witness suddenly
died of a suspicious drug overdose and the murder charges were dropped and now Oliver was missing but
with no evidence to implicate Watson the investigation stalled officer you then police heard from a man named Hilton
Solomon Hilton's car was stolen just hours before Oliver disappeared inside the car Hilton found
the hat that would later be identified as similar to one owned by Oliver mson Hilton Solomon took his car home
after it was released by Baltimore city and he decided to clean the car while he
was cleaning he found several receipts from a video store on these receipts was the name
Oliver mson we went down and looked at the car looked underneath of the seat I found a
spent cartridge case red smudges were also found on one of the receipts and tests revealed that
the stains were human blood type O positive authorities believe that Oliver was murdered but with no record showing
his blood type and no other hard evidence the official investigation reached a dead
end as it turns out Oliver's disappearance had no apparent effect on the outcome of Watson's car theft
trial Watson pled guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison he was paroled after serving half his
term however Oliver mson has never been found if you have any information about his disappearance please log on to our
website at unsolved.com [Music] next a tragic plan crash kills 248 Soldiers the government says that
the cause was ice on the wings others believe the explanation is far more sinister
on December 11th 1985 a unit of the 101st Airborne Division left Cairo Egypt on a chartered
plane much like this one they were going home to Fort Campbell Kentucky after a six-month
peacekeeping mission in the Sinai after one stop in Germany they landed for refueling at Gander airport in in New
Finland Canada just after takeoff the dc8 suddenly crashed the crew and all the soldiers
were killed wreckage was strewn over nearly a quarter mile almost immediately a terrorist
organization Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility but US Army officials quickly dismissed the possibility of
terrorist involvement later a Canadian Board of inquiry stated that ice on the plane's
wings had brought it down however four of the board's nine members publicly disagreed insisting
that ice did not cause the crash there was certainly some kind of an explosion a small explosion that
disabled the control system but what caused that explosion whether it was sabotage or whether it was the accident
Al detonation of some kind of military equipment that was carried uh against regulations we really don't have a
better idea than we had in 1988 to the four descending board members the crash itself seemed highly
irregular usually in a takeoff crash large sections of the plane remain intact and many passengers can survive
but at Gander the wreckage was extremely fragmented and no one survived a normal kind of takeoff
accident can be quite serious and can involve a fire but basically the aircraft isn't completely
destroyed the US government strongly denied that either explosives or ammunition were carried as
cargo however eyewitness reports from the Cairo Airport contradict the government's
claim they say that several large wooden boxes were loaded onto the plane many believe that the boxes contained some
type of classified weapons one of the rescue workers Harvey day said that he saw five wooden boxes
at the gander crash Cent sir that's as far as you can go you have to go back what's in the boxes I decided to walk
down to see what was in this area is that from the plane sir I I can't answer that but I stopped and looked and I saw
what people are beginning to say didn't exist I saw five large wooden boxes they
were black bit burnt from the far I saw things like missiles and little metal boxes they look like ammunition boxes
and it was all piled up very neatly into this cord area military business if don't leave I'll have you removed by
force from the premises just the one all right da says that he also saw an unusual pile of wreckage burning out of
control two firefighters were trying to put it out with water what's going on hey
keep flaring up going have to keep pouring water on it that bad the minute he took the water away he
just flared back up again and he said we've got to do this he said till he said it burns out he said it cools down
to to the point we can remove what's there within weeks Harvey and several other rescue workers began to complain
of health problems the symptoms sounded suspiciously like radiation poisoning I think we had over 30 who described some
type of malady or sickness as a result of the crash they ranged from liver problems to uh what people thought were
heart attacks and just general illnesses and this this is what was checked out and uh it it got to be rather scary when
the reports came in his receptionist called me and I went to him and I'll never forget
this he said Harvey how much do you drink so pardon me how much you drink I said I don't drink I've never drinked
why you got a livery set is equivalent to somebody's drinking excessively for 20 years or more I couldn't believe what
he said according to one unnamed Source the US government sealed its records of the
crash for 70 years however several government agencies including the Department of Defense and the national
Transportation safety board deny that any such records ever existed the files on the gander incident
would not be sealed for 70 years if it were simply ice we know that there had to be
something very very politically embarrassing that could have been very harmful to the Reagan
Administration that had to be covered up as one family member put it she wants to
know if her family member died protecting this country or if he died because our government was protecting
itself US Government investigators did appear to behave strangely for one thing the crash site was bulldozed within 3
months a highly unusual practice the United States Army says that it was done simply to discourage
souvenir Hunters as a rule down airplanes are reassembled in order to stay the crash but in a highly unusual
move authorities quickly buried the wreckage from the gander site in a dump Dr Douglas Phillips and his wife
Zona were troubled by the official reports their son had died in the crash and they formed an organization called
families for truth about Gander they requested several pieces of the wreckage they were surprised when the
government actually actually sent them an expert hired to analyze the scraps claimed that the edges were bent
outwards showing that a blast had occurred inside the plane I think the airplane exploded in
midair and then went down and hit the ground with a gigantic Fireball ensuing upon hitting when the fuel ignited but
there's no doubt in my mind that there was a fire or an explosion while the plane was still in Flight Dr Phillips
turned up one final and chilling fact autopsies revealed that many of the dead soldiers had a significant amount
of carbon monoxide in their bodies the toxicology report showed that the victims had indeed breathed in carbon
monoxide prior to the plane hitting the ground and exploding this had to be from
a detonation a fire or explosion on board the craft in 1990 Congress convened a hearing on the gander disaster the
committee faulted the government's investigation but did not insist on a new one so the families of the soldiers
who were killed at Gander are left to wonder why and how their loved ones really died
next have ghosts from the Civil War made this Military Museum their home the first shots of the Civil War
were fired in South Carolina during April of 1861 over the next 4 years the battle
raged along a,m front although most of the fighting took place in the South it eventually spread across the country all
the way to Wilmington California in 1862 a military Outpost was built near the Los Angeles Harbor it
was called the drum barracks and was a key Center for training and processing troops today All That Remains is a
single building which is now a museum with some very unlikely tour guides I don't call them
ghost or I don't call them hauntings usually uh what I do believe in is we call them Spirits you can lock the rooms
at night I do I I make a check in fact uh very religiously I check all the rooms they're locked the lights are off
the shades are down and you come here at 8:00 in the morning and the light in the
Parlor Jolly will might be on and then again it might not but the shades may be [Applause]
up Marge O'Brien was hired to restore the rundown building after it was declared an Historic
Landmark it was very dark very sad feeling as you walk through and it was just kind of a building just kind of
standing here saying Help Me Marge a team of Craftsmen and volunteers worked for months overhauling
the mus Museum the old building slowly came back to life in more ways than one I'm sitting in my office and
something will take my attention either a window will rattle uh the Roses will hit against the window something the
wind possibly but something attracts me to the fact that I should be checking [Music]
something I will walk over to the Parlor nine chances out of 10 when I have this
feeling and I open the door more likely than not the lights on the table are on most times I will walk up the stairs
and check the Gun Room very often that too has the lights on and the window blinds open even though they have been
closed and down because the rule here is that after every tour you pull the shades down turn off the light and lock
the door Yasmin one of the volunteers also began to believe believe that the building was indeed haunted we were up
there in The Gun Room cleaning dusting I put down the blinds turned off the light and locked the room and
left came downstairs and left a building there were nobody around 10:3 the silver
needs polishing okay we'll do that when I looked up I saw the blind went up really slow did you just see that
what blind went up by itself it gave me the impression as if someone was holding
it you know someone was doing it to me a ghost was like uh Casper the Friendly Ghost or some movie or
something you know I guess you know one don't believe it until they actually are
really convinced Fred Duran an exterminator for the city of Los Angeles became a
Believer during one of his regular stops at the Museum as I got into the kitchen that
morning I heard some footsteps behind me and I thought it was the caretaker I need to get some water yeah
and I didn't pay any attention to it have you seen Maria no no I haven't seen her as I turned around there was this
guy there I thought it was kind of odd because he was in a civil war outfit so as I was going out you know I saw the
the caretaker there and the work and the workmen also and I just asked them I said you know hey the guy that lives
here takes his job seriously and they said you saw the captain's ghost if Fred said he saw it he saw it I
have no doubts in that Fred's a very honest man my reaction is I wonder why at this point what the reason was at
this point in time why he had to to come now and why Fred was talking Marge asked psychic
Barbara Connor to search the museum for ghosts oh this is the par she says we seem to have some creaks and groans and
I thought right away mentally I thought to myself oh it's an old house it's just
settling often when I come in the light is on according to Barbara the drum Barracks was full of ghosts and she
claimed to have met several of them in the officer's Lounge two were playing cards another stood by the window
looking through the curtain but one Phantom seemed more aggressive than the rest he looked at me and he says I want
this chair closer to the fireplace cuz I'm cold I said this gentleman that's sitting in this chair here has a foot
that is his boot is too tight for him what was interesting is my research showed that Colonel Curtis who was the
commander here the longest had frostbitten his left foot when he was fighting Indians up in Washington
right around the ankle above where the nerve endings were was a great deal of pain which he suffered much of his life
he would wear a boot that was a size smaller so that he could have more control of that foot and he dragged
it there is no way Barbara could have known that when she walked into the room I had just started to uncover This
research Barbara says that she continued to have visions upstairs which seemed to
explain some of the strange noises Co there's a little boy sitting here I told Mar I said there's a little boy here and
he's throwing the ball up against the wall she says well we've heard this Thump Thump Thump and we couldn't figure
out what it is and uh I said if you want him to stop just tell him to stop and he'll
stop now I'd like to take you into the storage room I don't the end of the tour Barbara said she saw the ghosts of
Colonel Curtis and his officers in a planning session the uh colonel was standing there at the table and when we
came in he left what he was doing and went over and started digging in this box and he turned to me and mentally
projected he wants his award he wants the award he's trying to find an award and I said what award and he says I have
an award I want my award and I want it on that wall well I had never heard of a plaque
before and I don't remember anything ever hanging in that storage room but I discovered later that when he left
Washington that Colonel Curtis did receive an award for his work with the Indians and possibly that could have
been the pl Commander Curtis gentlemen it's time to go home lights out if you want to
back on that's fine with [Music] me do the long dead spirits of the Civil War still roam the drum Barracks at the
long abandoned military base well for those who have experienced those hauntings they believe that the museum
is alive with [Music] history coming up the conviction of an accused rapist rests on a single piece
of evidence a latch on the backseat of a [Music] car Daren Connecticut 40 mi from New York City
it's one of the country's most exclusive communities at 18 Alex Kelly was one of
daran's brightest young men he came from a wealthy devoted family and had a promising
future on a winter night he met a young woman at a party at this house just before midnight he offered to take her
home in his girlfriend's Jeep but according to the young woman kelly didn't drive her
home instead he pulled into the secluded KAC and raped her 4 days later this time at a nearby
Country Club another party another young woman and Alex Kelly faced yet another accusation of
rape Alex Kelly was arrested for both attacks he denied the charges claiming that the sexual encounters were
consensual Kelly was released on a $200,000 bail but when the jury selection began Alex Kelly left town he
would remain a fugitive for the next 8 years in the summer of 1994 finally authorities raided Kelly
home and learn the surprising truth about Alex's years on the Run Alex Kelly was leading the good life
overseas he traveled all over his passport was stamped with you know just dozens of countries in and out of Greece
and Sweden and France and he spent a lot of his time at ski resorts living the high life and you know he would write
letters home talking about his hangliding and his Paris selling and one in one letter he even said I could live
like this forever and he wasn't exactly [Music] suffering photographs even showed
Kelly's parents visiting him while he was in Heidi and investigators also found an unmailed letter which revealed
Kelly's address in Sweden so Alex knows that law enforcement's closing in on him
now Tom poio is hired by the family as Alex's lawyer poio met with Alex in Europe to negotiate the terms of his
surrender a short time later Kelly surrendered and was extradited to the US where he was charged with sexual assault
and kidnapping he was released again on a $1 million Bond the trial for the first rape began
a year and a half later most days Kelly arrived that Court hand in hand with his
old high school girlfriend the star witness was Kelly's first victim she described her
experience in harrowing detail at one point she said that his hand was on her neck the entire time
before he pushed her into the back seat of the of the Jeep after the victim's testimony the case would revolve around
one clue the latch on a car seat defense attorney Thomas pooo argued that if Kelly's hand was always on the victim's
throat it would have been impossible for him to both unlatch and lower the back seat with his one free
freand first order of of business is to thank the jury the case ended in a mistra after the six-person jury
deadlocked people have a way of doing that but I later some of the jurors said that the testimony about the seat latch
played a major role in their deliberations some even concluded that rape never happened the victim stated that he
reached overa and grabbed her by the throat he immediately put spread his legs over her body was choking her
Connie Williams was one of the jurors at the mistr he reached around and at some
point she heard a clicking noise the clicking noise was The Leverage being pulled he doubts Kelly could have pulled
the latch and lowered the back seat with only one hand there was no way I can do it with
one hand we decided to test the back seat latch that was key to Kelly's defense we asked
an engineering consulting firm to conduct an impartial demonstration our Consultants found the
jeep with the same kind of back seat latch all right that that's always like that the actor playing Kelly was simply
told where the latch was and that it needed to be lifted to release the seat he was then told to simulate and attack
and at the same time okay lower the back seat using only one hand the actor was able to operate the
latch just once in four tries the seat latch evidence had undermined the prosecution's case during their first
trial of Alex Kelly prosecutors had a different strategy at Kelly's retrial this time they relied on the
victim statements made just after the attacks when her memory was fresh she had reported that Kelly took his hand
off her throat in order to lower the back seat this time the jury convicted Kelly of rape Kelly pleaded no contest
to the second rape charge he was sentenced to 16 years in prison and was paroled 10 years later at
the age of 40 well I wish there was some way I could explain to you how sorry I am for
what I've done you know but sorry isn't something I can just tell you you know it's only something I can show you
through my actions and I fully understand that no matter what I feel or what I do it'll never take away the pain
that I've caused Alex Kelly will be registered as a sex offender for the rest of his
life coming up a young mother serving a life sentence for murdering her infant son is proven innocent thanks to
Unsolved [Music] Mysteries St Louis Missouri Patty Stallings rushes her 3-month-old son Ryan to the hospital
he has suffered from chronic gastric distress since birth but this day the diagnosis is
shocking Ryan has apparently been poisoned with ethylene glycol a substance found in
antifreeze just have to ask you a few questions if you could come in for a moment police were called to the
hospital to question Ryan's parents Patty and David Stallings we were split up and talked to
by detectives they were saying that they knew that that baby had been poisoned by
either me or my husband I was devastated I was blown away I just could not believe that they
could even think I mean Ryan was my world while the investigation was going on Patty and David were only allowed to
visit Ryan 1 hour each week Patty was left alone with Ryan for a short time on the sixth
visit 3 Days Later Ryan suffered from another severe attack of vomiting the diagnosis again was poisoning and Ryan
died 72 hours later Patty Stallings was charged with first-degree murder and held without
bail she was not allowed to attend Ryan's Funeral at the time Patty didn't know that she was pregnant
again her second son DJ was born while Patty was in jail waiting trial for the murder of her first son when DJ was 2
weeks old he began to have symptoms identical to Ryan's but this time the illness was diagnosed as a rare genetic
disorder methyl malonic acidemia or MMA its symptoms are often confused with ethylene glycol
poisoning despite DJ's diagnosis Patty was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her son Ryan DJ
was placed in the custody of the state I've lost one child to MMA my second child is stricken with MMA
and may not live He's a year old now and there was still not sure how to treat him I lost my
freedom I've lost everything update immediately after this story aired we received calls from doctors
from all over the country who said that they were familiar with MMA Patty's new attorneys petitioned the
court to Grant her another trial based on the fact that she had previously received ineffectual counsel after
during almost 2 years Patty was granted a new trial and was released from prison after the Unsolved Mysteries
aired people were writing and calling and just want to know how can we help and I can't thank those people enough
because I mean through all of that Wheels started turning and everything just started pushing forward really fast
along with Ryan's a short time later a Press Conference was held in St Lewis and Dr Pierro Ronaldo of Yale University
revealed that independent blood test showed Ryan had definitely died of MMA unfortunately we can't undo the
suffering that the Stallings have endured during this entire ordeal and I apologize to them both
personally and for the state of Missouri all charges against Patty Stallings were
dropped a few days later just over 2 years after his brother's death DJ came home for the first time just want to
make up for the year and a half that we didn't have him and it's hard to make up
that much time but I'm doing the best I can his condition is very scary but we've tackled so many hard things that
you know we've just kind of said we we'll beat this too and with that attitude I know that DJ will do all
right and that we'll do okay he is a miracle child and we're lucky to have DJ and we have our whole life back it's
like we're starting over it's indescribably wonderful they were a young couple living the dream but then they cross
paths with a neighbor who police described as a ticking Time Bomb hey let's make a pit stop with the Grand
Canyon as they started out for their new life in Denver Colorado de loelle and her fiance Jason horley were excited
about living in the big city for the first time you going to get your own house girl what do you
think they bought a house in one of Denver's inner city neighborhoods and soon fell in love with their new
surroundings everything was going well until 1 afternoon when Deborah had a strange encounter with her neighbor
hello what's going on wrong with your dog your dog's crazy I saw you harassing her anybody harassing that dog we're
going to be neighbors so let's get along she learned that her angry neighbor was
Malica Griffin a woman who rented a room in the house next door the couple was determined to make
the best of a bad situation they poured time and money into transforming a former crack house into their new
home they put the incident with their neighbor behind them but then hey it happened again hey you need to move your
truck what I'm in a normal spot there's no other parking places although she didn't even own a car Griffin didn't
want anyone parking in the public space in front of the house you can't live even fear in your
own house and it wasn't anything about the neighborhood I mean it was just this one woman you know I never felt
threatened in my neighborhood a couple of days later Jason was confronted again what's the problem you got your letter
on my property he couldn't see the evil he just he didn't understand the evil his philosophy was you get to know me
you won't hate me and I tried and tried to explain to him some people don't want
to know you even though their confrontations were getting nastier Jason still believed
that he would win over Griffin you know what I want to get some of my tools out of my truck when we got home I said
don't go out there don't go and he said no I'm going to clean my truck so I went
out back to water the [Music] flowers Jason what happened oh my god there was no doubt in Deborah's mind who was
responsible he been shot shot a neighbor drove Jason to the hospital the bullet had caused extensive internal
injuries while emergency room doctors struggled to save Jason's life Deborah was questioned by the police we just got
work from the hospital Jason didn't make it I'm sorry hey investigators later learned
that right after the shooting Griffin stole a car from a friend who lived only blocks from the murder
[Music] scene Denver Police searched Griffin's home for Clues to her background we
found books and paperwork on how to make bombs and booby traps we also found dummy hang grenades the fuse was intact
but the cores had been removed they found the Anarchist Cookbook and the poor man's James Bond
both favorite manuals of terrorists they also discovered notebooks filled with Griffin's
ramblings supporting a coming race War and the killing of white people authorities now believe that a racially
motivated killer was on the loose she eluded our drag net the next time we found that car was approximately 2 and 1
half days later in Iowa city where the car had broken down she befriended a man in Iowa City he took her to a bus
station put her on a bus for Chicago after Chicago Griffin's Trail grew cold I had future plans with Jason you
know he was an extremely positive person so I try to live my life the way he would he would never hurt
anybody and I don't believe I'll meet someone like him again update the FBI arrested Mica Griffin in
elcone California after a coworker realized that she was a fugitive Griffin was working at a biotech technology firm
under an assumed name she was charged and convicted of murder robbery and vehicle death she was sentenced to life
in prison without the possibility of [Music] parole [Music] [Music]

Brief Summary

Five cases of mystery: a disappearance, a plane crash, ghosts, a rape trial, and a wrongful conviction.

Key points

Oliver Mson's Disappearance. Oliver Mson goes missing just days before testifying in a car theft trial.
The Gander Plane Crash. A tragic plane crash kills 248 soldiers, with conflicting explanations about its cause.
Ghosts of the Civil War. A museum in California is said to be haunted by spirits from the Civil War.
Alex Kelly's Fugitive Years. After being accused of rape, Alex Kelly fled and lived a lavish life abroad.
Patty Stallings' Wrongful Conviction. Patty Stallings was wrongfully convicted of murdering her son due to a misdiagnosis.
Mica Griffin's Violent Encounter. Deborah and Jason Horley faced a deadly confrontation with their neighbor, Mica Griffin.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I never met him before.

Oliver's statement about Dennis Watson.

3:52WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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