Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 5, Episode 15 - Updated Full Episode | Forensic Files

next on Unsolved Mysteries falson prism was virtually escape proof until convicted killer
Steve Wilson broke out how did he pull it off two women are brutally attacked one dies the other the only witness to
the crime is left with [Music] amnesia at first it looked like a tragic accident
but This Woman's death was actually a clever professional hit and her killer is still on the
loose and neighbors notice that the family next door hasn't been around lately and there's a good reason they've
all been murdered cunning deceit and lies can you figure out who's telling the truth I'm
Dennis finina and this is Unsolved Mysteries join us [Music] [Music] olanta California he had rugged good looks and
smooth talking charm when 30-year-old Steve Wilson showed up in this small ranching town he quickly made friends
with the locals people liked Steve Wilson he could tell you anything you wanted to hear and make you believe it
he was very much involved with the college he liked to lift weights he liked to weld and when he was around a
group of people that he enjoyed he was very friendly and very uh fun to be around Wilson said
that he was from San Diego but he never revealed any details about his past he was a jack of all trades who
occasionally did odd jobs on a ranch owned by Bill thornberg while working there Wilson met
22-year-old Cali thornberg who lived at home and worked with her father Steve Wilson was instantly attracted to her
and 9 months later Steve and cie ran off to Reno and were married dad wanted me to get married
because he felt that I needed to have something other than him in the ranch as we were driving to Reno or even
the day before we left I was wishing there was some way that I could get out of it the marriage was a disaster Wilson
was abusive and he threatened cie just 2 months after their wedding cie left him
and moved back in with her father I don't like to say this Wilson was no longer welcome at their Ranch the guys a
n Wilson would call on the phone and harass us and he would say things like I will hurt you worse than you've ever
been hurt before H I will take everything you love away from you you will pay you will
learn to love me you will learn that loving me is easier than being away from me about 3 weeks after the breakup
Wilson showed up to get C back key what do you want Wilson this between me and G
get off the ramp why are you doing this to me just go away I love you Al Hey I've asked you know I'm telling you
Wilson get off this Ranch you hear what I'm saying worth it I grabbed my dad and grabbed the gun
and said no don't shoot him it's not worth it you know I didn't want my father and Wilson to get into any kind
of a confrontation with each other because I was afraid that Wilson would hurt my dad
a few days later bill thornberg left the ranch house to do his morning chores dad I walked out to the water
lines and I found his truck with his every morning cup of coffee sitting on the dashboard and it
was still hot dad bill farberg was never seen again and Steve Wilson disappeared
7 months passed and then on Christmas Eve a teenager riding his bike through the desert 45 Mi south of The Ranch
House made a gruesome Discovery the boy knew his parents wouldn't believe him if he told him so
he he actually took the head and rode back to his house with the evidence at the scene the
clothing and different articles it was immediately known that it was Bill thornberg body and all the evidence led
to Steve after a year and a half on the Run Steve Wilson was finally arrested in Las Vegas
he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received a sentence of 25 years to life at fome prison in
California there hadn't been an escape from folson prison in 15 years folson prison is a maximum security facility
filled with violent killers when Steve Wilson arrived he immediately started trying to get on the good side
of the officers and the administrators he joined the in-house work program and successfully Charmed
anyone who could help him Steve was a model prisoner I have 30 years in his career of mine and I would have to say
that this guy is a greatest clerk I've ever had before long Wilson became the clerk
in charge of shipping it was one of the best jobs in the prison because it offered the most freedom to move around
hey Larry hey Steve how you doing when he became a clerk in in the warehouse up adjacent to the metal Factory in the
license plate Factory his job would entail him being in all different areas of the uh of the warehouse picking up
inventories picking up invoices work orders so for him to be in a certain area at any time would not be unusual
would not be significant and if he wasn't there would not be significant either 2 years passed prison officials
had no idea that during that entire time Wilson was plotting his Escape one day while he was working near the loading
dock hey what it's your problem you ran into me listen I told you about this safety
last week it was his fault watch it Wilson had enlisted other inmates to startu the
guards this plan had worked nobody noticed that he was gone I think he was planning this at least well over a year
ahead of time he was an intelligent individual and uh when you have vehicles going in and out of a secure area that's
your weakest link as soon as the truck left the prison Wilson cut a hole in the roof
using tin snips that he had stolen from the prison metal shop just minutes later the truck pulled
into a local bone valy when the driver went inside for a cup of coffee Wilson squeezed through the hole he had cut and
disappeared having Wilson on the loose is very hard for me because I can never really relax I don't like being alone
and and I'm always looking around all the corners I I'm constantly in fear update Steve Wilson was arrested in
England after a tip help FBI agents trace him to a London hotel Wilson was brought back to California to complete
his prison term of 25 years to life but he was soon up to his old tricks Wilson arranged to have Escape
materials sent to him in prison after officials intercepted the package they sent Wilson to a state-of-the-art
Maximum Security Prison for violent criminals he served his time and has been released coming up was a young
businesswoman murdered to prevent her from blowing the whistle on illegal banking activities
Washington DC in the early morning fire units race to a blaze in the Georgetown district once inside firefighters
discover that the blaze is restricted to the upstairs bedroom in fact the bed itself is on fire
at first it looks like no one is home but as the smoke begins to clear the firefighters are stuned to see a woman
in the bed she is barely alive 38-year-old Lynn Amos is a financial analyst who has lived in
Washington for just 5 months she has rushed to a local hospital with third degree burns over 80% of her
body at first in investigators believed that it was an accident Lynn's blood alcohol content was. 25 2 and 1/2 times
the legal limit for driving in Washington DC that and the fact that they had found a cigarette butt seemed
to indicate that Lynn Amos had been smoking in bed but Lyn's family and friends didn't believe that well Lyn
didn't smoke I smoked until recently if you're a closet smoker you certainly smoke with your friends who smoke there
were no dirty ashtrays in the house there were no matches there were no cigarette packs there was no evidence
that she was smoking in bed the police had to rethink their initial Theory when Insurance
investigators found accelerance on the mattress floor and pillow they concluded that the fire had been deliberately set
the insurance investigators report showed that there was a combination of kerosene gasoline and
turpentine and the doctor has told me that her Burns were consistent with those from a fire that was accelerated
he told me at the hospital he couldn't believe that only she and the bed burned um he said she looked like the
result of a house having been burned around her Lynn Amos clung to life barely conscious and unable to speak then 10
days later she died the cause of death was officially listed at as [Music] homicide who would want Len Amos dead
and why she was a friendly and outgoing person with no known enemies but Lynn apparently did have her secrets in the
weeks before she died she had suddenly stopped talking to her friends about her job a motive for Lynn's murder soon
began to emerge Lynn Amos had moved to Washington to take a position with a management
consulting firm as part of her job she made frequent trips to Mexico to assess the lending
practices of several large Banks less than a month before the fire Lynn had lunch with a close friend Emily
Smith Lynn seemed reluctant to talk about her work I realized when we were having lunch that I didn't know what she
was working on and that was unusual because we talked about work a lot we did sort of similar types things so tell
me about work well I've been working on this project for the Mexican equivalent of the Federal Reserve and I've seen
some very bad lending practices I waited and it was clear she wasn't going to say more so I said well
is your report going to be ugly and she said yes it's going to be really ugly the day before the fire Lynn once
again hinted to friends that she had uncovered some potentially explosive information are you still on that
project with the banks yeah um I've seen some uh dangerous things in Mexico I I'm purely speculating here um
but it's possible that she bumped into a loan having to do with drug money or a fraudulent loan that's the sort of thing
you might bump into when you're reviewing credit portfolios no no I the last time anyone
spoke to Lynn was late on the night of the fire I called we do know that she called her
office confirm that she was going to be late for work the next day so we know Lynn was at home
Lucid completely fine had a 30-minute conversation at 10:00 at night at 10:30 she then we then don't know what
happened when we first told our attorney Howen was killed he first statement was that's a
professional hit the fire detective who came to the scene said that it had all the indications that this was a
controlled fire that somebody was there making sure that this fire didn't do more than it needed to
do Lynn's family and friends believe that sometime after midnight the killer broke into the townhouse there were no
signs of forced entry so he made may have had a key or maybe Lynn knew her asent you do what I tell you I don't
want to have to use this drink the Intruder may have then forced Lynn to drink until she passed
out to achieve the level of alcohol that she was found with it takes between 9 and 14 drinks in an hour for a woman her
size which is almost impossible to consume that means you have a new drank every 4 to 7
minutes and then the killer tried to make her death look like an [Music] [Music]
accident what was done to lenus is so horrible I really do not have the words just gra it Lynn was just a great friend
she was really fun she loved life and uh people should not be allowed to get away with
that Lynn Amos never completed her report on the Mexican Banks her former employer declined to appear on camera
for this segment in a letter to our producers he wrote We Are troubled by the same questions being asked by
investigators we can only hope that forensic science will provide some answers if you have any information
about the death of Lyn Amos please log on to unsolved.com [Music] next a woman survives a brutal murder
attempt however she now has Amnesia and cannot identify her attacker W socket Rhode
Island at approximately 3:30 p.m. Doug Heath returned home from work to his apartment on Providence Street as he
walked through the door he found his neighbors 3-year-old child locked out of her apartment hi
Nicole when I saw Nicole standing on the stairs I knew immediately something was
wrong where's Mommy I asked her where her mother was and she told me that she was downstairs lying down I tried the
door into the first floor apartment their apartment and it was locked and I knew something was was wrong right
there Doug went down to the laundry room to check on her mother Susan laferte I saw a body leaned up against the dryer
in the same instant I turned to my left and I saw Sue lying face down in a puddle of blood
[Music] when rescue arrived at the scene along with the first offices they found that
two women had been brutally assaulted in the basement area of the provence Street
home and for all intents and purposes had been left for dead one woman expired at the scene and
the other one was in very very critical condition rescue stabilized her at the best that they could and transported her
from the scene to the hospital emergency room [Music] 22-year-old darene peard was pronounced
dead at the scene The Other Woman 27-year-old Susan laferte was barely alive actually I was shocked when I saw
the condition that my wife was in because she had no physical resemblance at all of being my wife from
the severe injuries all the swelling and the way they described it she was hanging by a thread her injuries were so
uh severe that it was touch and go at the time Susan survived but she remained in
a deep coma fearing for her safety the police guarded her room around the clock it was obvious to us that the
perpetrator in his mind had left both girls for Dead We immediately became worried that he would realize that there
was a witness to the attack and that he would would come back and try to eliminate that Witness by killing
[Music] her 30 days later Susan finally came out of her coma but she had no memory of the
attack or her as salent investigators had no motive and no eyewitness they had to start from
[Music] scratch I don't know who attacked us it's 5 years later and I'm no closer at
this period of time than I was 5 years ago I don't know what he looked like um or anything else about him I have no
memory whatsoever of the attack what she does remember is this on February 19th the day of the attack
Susan's sister Carol rivet came over for lunch I'll get that at 1:30 two of Susan
friends came to the door hi hi my sister came back from the doorway and stuck her
head in the Parlor and said Carol I'm going downstairs I'll be right back she came back upstairs and I could hear her
talking to somebody in the doorway so I got up to go see who she was talking too guy the two men were interested in
some pit bold puppies that Susan was selling Susan talked to the men for 5 minutes and then they left 10 minutes
later at4 Carol went home and that was the last time anyone saw Susan before the
attack no one can be sure what happened that day between 1 145 and 320 when Doug
Heath discovered Susan and dar's [Music] bodies to I have to admit that I was shocked by the initial
scene the brutality of the assault it was not just a murder it was not just an assault it was a frenzied attack it
was an Overkill okay 15 more minutes okay other than Susan there was only one other witness to the crime Nicole
Susan's three-year-old daughter as I came in the house Nicole was there and from the very beginning she told me that
she let him in she thought that was her mother's friend she saw the man she says he was
probably a little bigger than her father he had a mustache she even told me that
he wore a cap with a visor towards the back he had sneakers and he also had the jeans when she heard her mother crying
she went downstairs and as she was going down he was coming up he had a a a rag in his back pocket
it was red and white she called it polka dot and then she was locked out in the hallway while the man escaped through
the front after the assault Nicole was questioned extensively by the police department as much as the police would
like to have a person who definitely saw the perpetrator that day her story has changed too much to be of real value to
us the stress and confusion as she was under at that point in time really made it very difficult to get a real solid
sure story 4 days after the attack the murder weapon a metal pipe was found in the
house it had been wiped cleaned of fingerprints there was little to go on and the police investigation
stalled update a man named Raymond Tempest has been convicted of killing darene peard
apparently Tempest attacks Susan with a pipe after arguing over a litter of pitbull puppies
and killed peard when she walked in on the assault the investigation was hindered by a possible police cover up
Raymond tempest's brother Gordon was a police officer at the time of the murders Gordon Tempest was sentenced to
7 years for perjury he has served his time and was released Raymond Tempest received the sentence of 85 years for
murdering darene peard next a government official is suspected of murdering his entire family and he's
been missing for over three decades Columbia North Carolina a state park ranger responds to
a report of a brush fire in a remote wooded area as the ranger brings the fire under
control he finds an empty gas can and a shovel When the Smoke Clears the ranger also discovers the remains of five
partially charred bodies in a shallow grave three young boys and two women investigators had only a few Clues
the victim's clothes had labels from expensive Department stor in Bethesda Maryland the shovel came from a hardware
store in the same area however Bethesda police had no missing person's reports that they could link to the bodies until
6 days later 12 I received a radio call to investigate the absence of five persons
from a residence in Bethesda unit 12 direct the call came from a neighbor of William Bradford Bishop a respected
economist with the state department there was a common driveway to the neighbor's home and to the bishop
home and I met the neighbor there to investigate the whereabouts of the family you called in a missing person
report yeah the Bishops usually when they go was rather routine to do an investigation like this it's not unusual
okay thank [Music] you and I wasn't overly concerned about it until I reached the front step of the
um home and I noticed there were blood droplets on the front step upon opening the front door I saw
blood droplets uh leading from the doorway through the forer and to a set of stairs that led to the upper bedroom
level of the home and going to the stairs I observed Blood splattering on the wall and then the one bedroom that I
could see into almost the entire ceiling and wall was completely splattered with
blood hardly a place you could put your hand there wasn't blood splattering i' had been a police officer
for approximately 12 years and this was the worst scene that I've ever observed authorities were finally able
to identify the five bodies Brad Bishop's Wife Annette his three sons and his mother there was no sign of
Brad Bishop was he also a victim or was there a far more Sinister explanation for his
disappearance Bishop worked for the state department as a director of commercial practices and trade to most
of his co-workers he seemed to be on the FasTrack to a high level job but at least one coworker saw a
different side of Brad Bishop Brad Bishop had extensive experience overseas he liked the international
scene from the time he was in the Army and Italy Brad's career uh was very much on track although he was exceedingly
despondent about not uh getting a promotion Roy Harold ran into Bishop just outside the state department on the
day the annual promotion list came out what's the matter I didn't make the promotion list again
neither did I he said I'm think I'm getting the flu I don't feel well at all and U that's the reason I'm leaving work
now okay let's get a taxi so I helped him heal a taxi and I watched him drive out the next day Brad Bishop's Family
was found dead and he had disappeared almost 3 weeks after the murders a ranger in Tennessee discovered an
abandoned station wagon in the back he found what looked like dried blood the car was registered to William
Bradford Bishop Bishop was now the prime suspect in the slaying of his own family there was enough evidence for a
warrant to be issued for his arrest for homicide based on the fact that there appeared to be premeditation in
connection with the events that occurred on March 1st the FBI has pieced together Bishop's
activities leading up to the murders on the day he left the state department he withdrew several hundred from his bank
account and went to a local hardware store and gas station as far as we know after that he returned
to his home probably around 7:30 to 8:00 at night after the children were put to
bed our investigation shows that Mrs Bishop was probably killed first she was found beside a book which she may have
been reading at the time that that she was killed the children were probably killed next
followed by Bishop's mother they were all killed with a blunt instrument and none of the victims had
an opportunity to defend themselves according to the FBI Bishop loaded the five bodies into the family's
station wagon and headed 200 mil South to the countryside near Columbia North Carolina
[Music] Brad Bishop felt from the time I knew him that there was something lacking in
himself this feeling was nourished constantly by both his mother and to some degree his wife who constantly told
him he was inadequate and washed up and uh wasn't going anywhere in his career and I think that uh he conceived in his
mind this was a way to as he's often said many times about other people this would be a way of putting them in their
place after buying a pair of tennis shoes near the side of the fire Bishop drove 400 miles to the Great Smoky
Mountains in Tennessee where his station wagon was found abandoned Brad Bishop successfully covered his tracks and was
not seen for 2 years then 5,000 m away in sento Italy a bizarre coincidence Roy Harold came face
to face with Bishop in a bus station restroom I was washing my hands and uh this bearded dishevel looking man came
in in my mind's eye I took the beard and the scrubby clothes off of him and I saw
the Brad Bishop I had seen coming out of the state department oh my God no R come back come back I pa watched him
disappear down the cliffs going toward the boat landing where boats go to Capri Bishop is wanted by the FBI Intero
and the US Marshals he has evaded capture for over 30 years authorities believe he is living in
Europe William Bradford Bishop is 6' 1 in tall with brown hair brown eyes and a medium build he is fluent in French
Italian and serbo Croatian and holds a diplomatic passport the FBI created this computer
aged photograph to reflect how Bishop might look today if you have any information about
this case please contact us at unsolved.com next a woman is reunited with a little
girl she took into her home 40 years ago Bob it was the fall of 1969 glendine Butterfield rushed to
greet her niece kellyanne who she planned to raise as part of her own family so beautiful blendin's brother
Bob ARS was in the Army and being shipped to Germany he and kellyanne's mother were separated and neither was
able to care for the child glendan was granted legal custody kellyanne spent the next few
years happily growing up with glendan and her children she lik her horse she liked
riding horses she just did everything that anybody's normal kid them me no different than them except they were a
little older you know I mean she just happy gol lucky she was no different than my
sister Vicki except for more fun she doesn't even know what it's like to have a father kellyanne was 4 years
old when Bob suddenly returned and wanted his daughter back glendine was worried that her brother mother couldn't
provide adequate care for kellyanne so she began looking for a more suitable home you don't stand a chance
kellyanne's birthmother Marian was in the Air Force she was married and had two sons glendine felt that she could
provide the stable environment that kellyanne needed a judge agreed to the plan I'm
going to miss you so much I love you I don't want you to go what glendine did know was that the
tearful party would be the last time she would see kellyanne there hasn't been one day went
by since I gave her up I haven't thought of her a dozen times and wondered is she
okay does she need anything is she happy I just wish I [Music] knew update within minutes of our broadcast
we heard from a friend of Kelly Anne's family she told us that kellyanne was married the mother of two young children
and now living in Anchorage Alaska kellyanne and glendine spoke on the phone that night and made plans to
get together it feels wonderful I just can't believe I found her I don't believe
that all these years I've pitched her like she's still 6 and 1/2 years old I never could imagine her grown
[Music] up hearing from her again has it has filled gaps in my life that I have felt like you know
there's part of my life missing you know where is it you know and I always feel like I'm looking for
something but you know to know that she's cared about me and loved me all these years is very good
feeling we drove truck lendine and kellyanne spent time catching up on the in years after the reunion they contined
to stay in [Music] touch Lona Lisa Leonardo da Vinci's Masterpiece through the centuries
Millions have been drawn to its mystery and Beauty most art historians say that Mona Lisa was the wife of a prosperous
Merchant but could the portrait hide a secret identity when Leonardo da Vinci died in
1519 The Secret of Mona's identity went with him to the Grave however a recent computer analysis of the portrait has
uncovered a new intriguing Theory lilan Schwarz co-author of the computer artist handbook pioneered the
use of the computer in art Lillian and a colleague were working with a new computer program when she
compared a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci to the Mona Lisa when the self-portrait was reversed
and placed beside the Mona Lisa a single face emerged the results were amazing this was an incredible match
when I pointed this out I said my God I look at this look at this I mean Leonardo probably used himself for the
model for the Mona Lisa the two faces appeared to be a perfect match the eyes the nose and
especially the mouth using a different computer Lillian and her colleague even managed to turn up the corners of the
self-portraits mouth to copy the famous Mona Lisa Smile next they compare the foreheads an extremely important clue
was that the superorbital ridge that is very prominent in the Mona Lisa image and in Leonardo self-portrait is found
in almost all males over 90% males rarely would you see that in a female head did Leonardo da Vinci actually
serve as the model for one of the world's most beautiful women lilan Schwarz took her findings to magazine
publisher Wick Allison initially I was very skeptical of Lillian's Discovery but when I got to understand
um a very detailed work being done in the laboratory um it started to make uh not only sense to me that this was the
answer but uh as we got to know more about human facial characteristics uh that it was the only
answer there's certain things that right away would puzzle an art historian one is that
the images Leonardo's images say the Mona Lisa is remarkable precisely for the fact that it's not very distinct the
outlines of the face are not very strongly marked there's a shadow under the nose so you can't tell exactly how
long it is so if one wants to apply an a scale there's nothing that tells you exactly where that scale should go in
other words you're placing something very specific on top of something that's not very
specific Professor Kathleen Brent is also skeptical about whether the drawing is a
self-portrait if it was done by Da Vinci it style suggests the date when he would
not have yet looked so old some in the art World believe the portrait was actually drawn by a clever
forger well I found something really interesting here look Lillian set out to prove her Theory
eventually she came across this study of an Italian Duchess named Isabella that many believe was a preliminary sketch of
the Mona Lisa when Lillian compared the drawing of Isabella to an x-ray of the painting
she found that it matched an UND sketch that people always assumed was the Mona Lisa for her it was a crucial
detail I'm convinced that Leonardo started with isab B and then he used himself to complete
this work of art changed much of what was the Duchess incorporating his own uh dimensions and
forehead to create this fictionalized face however Professor Kathleen Brant argues that Lillian's Theory conflicts
with Da Vinci's own philosophy about art Leonardo k artists that every painter somehow paints himself that is that his
own self-image is somehow inherent in his images of others Leonardo says we have to try to counteract that so
therefore it would be absolutely a contradiction if he would should willingly impose His Image into that of
a young woman so did Leonardo da Vinci serve as his own model for the world's most
famous painting for 500 years the Mona Lisa has kept her secret and maybe that's why she
is still smiling [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

This episode includes: Folsom Escape, Georgetown Arson, Amnesia, State Department Murder, Update: Glendeen's Goal and Mona Lisa.

Brief Summary

Steve Wilson escapes prison, Lynn Amos is murdered, and Susan Laferte survives an attack with amnesia.

Key points

The Disappearance of Bill Thornberg. Bill Thornberg vanished without a trace, leading to a shocking discovery months later.
Lynn Amos's Mysterious Death. Financial analyst Lynn Amos was found barely alive after a fire, leading to a homicide investigation.
Susan Laferte's Brutal Attack. Susan survived a brutal attack but lost her memory, leaving investigators with few leads.
The Bishop Family's Gruesome Discovery. Five bodies were discovered in a shallow grave, linked to a missing family's case.
Brad Bishop's Disappearance. Brad Bishop's family was found dead, and he vanished without a trace.
Glendine's Heartfelt Reunion. After 40 years apart, Glendine reunites with her adopted daughter Kellyanne.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I will take everything you love away from you.

Wilson's threatening behavior towards Cie.

3:30WatchJul 26, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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