Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 5, Episode 4 | Forensic Files

[Music] next on Unsolved Mysteries late one night an argument turns into a deadly high-speed chase for
a popular Los Angeles DJ when a college freshman is brutally murdered her mother takes on the case to
find her daughter's killer a dedicated father loving husband and aspiring in engineer is gunned down
by an unknown as oh my God and meet the sweetheart swinwood a Charming but ruthless con man who steals his victim's
hearts and then their cash cunning deceit and lies maybe you can figure out who's telling the truth
I'm Dennis finina and this is Unsolved Mysteries [Music] Los Angeles [Music] California 26-year-old DJ Lee selwin was
a familiar face at trendy rock and roll nightclubs in Los Angeles Lee was close friends with many
rock stars he also hung out with motorcycle riders who Cruise the LA streets after hours
but late one night Lee would fight for his life the victim of a bizarre encounter with a crazed
killer Lee San was a man who just loved the nightlife of Los Angeles however simply because he looked different Lee
and his friends were targeted for murder the sad irony of Lee's death is that he
was only an innocent bystander when he first got his motorcycle I guess I was probably a
little bit nervous about it but I knew that he was careful and I knew that he wouldn't take unnecessary chances he
wasn't a crazy kind of person and so I really didn't worry about him early one morning Lee and three
friends left the Hollywood nightclub unaware of the danger that waited for them on the street they rode two by two
Lee and a friend trailing Bob caot and another another friend who rode in front driving along and all of a sudden
out of nowhere this truck comes flying by me as he comes by he Dives in on me laughing Dives in on me I look over mic
and in La this happens every day every day but not so blatant the [ __ ] you going what are you
trying to do I got infuriated cuz he was trying to kill me and I'm really close to the guy and he starts screaming at me
and look like a nut drug spear whatever psycho then he rolls his window down and
spits in my face anybody get spit in their face CU I rate so I punched out his mirror and he
still spitting at me growling and screaming and then he starts reaching down like he's got a gun I put my fist
through his uh driver's window as soon as I broke his window he shot out of the intersection and he's doing a
U-turn and mik gu look at you this guy's going to kill us he's coming after [Applause]
us he just wanted to kill me we're flying down the street and I see his headlights bearing down on us so
we choose to go right and as I look back he comes flying through the intersection
screeching bouncing and comes to a slightest stop when Lee got to the the intersection he turned left the truck
followed him now Lee was the target of the driver's rage according to the witnesses they
were both going anywhere from 60 to 90 M hour here you have a young man who is known by his friends known by his family
as a very Peaceable man who purposely avoids fights and all sudden he's in a situation where he's terrorized by
someone in a car and this ha lasted approximately about a 5 Mile Chase with this man right on his rear
end and he chased him until the time they actually hit him and drove him into a telephone
[Music] pole Lee when he flew through the air he flew close to 180 ft before he came to
arrest this is a murder it's a homicide someone intentionally took the life of another
person it's a homicide Lee received a massive skull fracture in the Collision which led to
his death I received a call from Cedars they said that he was in the intensive care and I knew I just
knew but I don't believe it yet it's real but it isn't real he was such a big part of my life
he was my buddy he wasn't just my son he was my [Music] buddy at Le's funeral hundreds of his
friends came to say goodbye this music video was set to an original song dedicated to Lee's memory by the rock
group Little [Music] Caesar it was amazing to see all these people who really cared there's no way
that that that can be consolation enough it was a real tribute to who Lee was by
how many people were there and how many people really have have shown how much they
carebody know it I should have told him I looked to rid next to [Music] [Applause]
[Music] me we friends organized a rock concert in his honor with special guest performances by Billy Idol and Julian
lennin the proceeds from the concert went to a fund offering a reward to anyone who can bring Le's murderer to
Justice a lot of people take the opinion that these guys are motorcycle gang members when in fact there was four guys
out having a good time they happen to like to ride motorcycles these people weren't doing anything wrong that night
and they had a right to be out there riding their motorcycles and dressed the way they were Lee SN wasn't even the man
who gave him the problem but it didn't matter to him who was on the motorcycle he had to catch that motorcycle and he
had to run him over it's incomprehensible to me to think that we could never find this man
I can't even imagine that I could live the rest of my life not knowing who did this
update nearly 5 years after Lee Salan was murdered authorities were finally able to file charges in the case
one of our viewers provided the information that led to the indictment of Franklin Legrand
Perkins already serving time for violating his probation Perkins was convicted of first-degree murder and was
sentenced to life in prison next when the daughter of an undercover officer is found dead it
looks like a tragic accident but it's not Anchorage Alaska Just Before Dawn 18-year-old Bonnie Craig is on her
way to school 2 days a week she walks 45 minutes through the early morning Darkness to catch a bus to the
University of Alaska Bonnie Prides herself on always arriving early for her 7 a.m. class but
today she won't make it to school later in the afternoon another college student is out shooting
photographs on a hiking trail and she makes a sickening Discovery the lifeless body of a young woman is floating in a
creek her remains were located at the bottom of a 33t cliff in Fairly shallow water it wasn't a place that you would
normally uh hike along the the Stream to get to where she was so she could have been hiking and taken a Miss step
somewhere and slipped and fallen off of the cliff the following day the victim was
identified as Bonnie Craig the medical examiner said she had drowned but Bonnie had also suffered severe head injuries
probably from falling off a cliff they told me Bonnie had died in a hiking accident and I was wouldn't
believe it I still expected Bonnie to be coming up to me and apologizing and saying I'm sorry Mom it wasn't
me viewing her daughter's body was devastating however when Karen took a closer look she was alarmed by what she
saw her knuckles were bruised and broken this is no hiking accident there was Defensive wounds on
her body and I knew that she had been attacked it was murder authorities however were slow to
conclude that Bonnie had been murdered what few leads they had they kept to themselves but Bonnie's mother Karen
would finally get some help from a local television reporter so you can tell me anything about cause of death anything
like that not at this time it was really tough for the community to take because
Bonnie was a well-liked well-known young lady I get an official statement we talked with Karen several days after
Bonnie's body was found and at that time Troopers still were not releasing much information in fact it wasn't until 6
months later that Karen finally got the results of the sexual assault exam I had
originally asked if she had been raped and they told me no after fighting to get information
from them they revealed to me that yes Bonnie was was brutally raped and murdered the results of the autopsy
showed that there was evidence of sexual activity we can't confirm whether it was
a sexual assault or whether it was consensual sex my daughter was recently killed over
here at mchu Creek kin soon began her own search for information about Bonnie's death everybody here in town
put up signs Flyers bumper stickers we wanted to make sure that until the crime was solved nobody was
going to forget about it Karen was no stranger to investigations or criminals she had
worked undercover as a Reserve officer with the Anchorage police wearing a hood and mask to conceal her identity Karen
would nod silently to identify those who had sold her drugs I was involved in what I thought
was minor drug buys I had gone out five or six times and bought crack for the anguage police
department Karen you got a sec a few months after Bonnie's death Karen learned that her undercover work may
have jeopardized her daughter's life Karen was approached by an acquaintance who claimed to have
information about Bonnie's murder these guys at the other table according to Karen the man said that her family had
been targeted on the orders of a local drug La he told me that her murder was ordered by this this drug lord because
it was a message to the Anchorage Police Department to back off habon was murdered the day after the
people that I identified as drug dealers were released from jail right thanks for see me detective thanks have
a seat Karen gave this information to the lead investigator of Bonnie's murder but she was not satisfied with his
response just say it's a call he said this was a retribution killing for the undercover work I did with the Anchorage
Police Department wait wa who's his Source when I gave him all the details he just kept asking where you getting
this information I said it was from somebody who did not want to be identified are you going to help me here
who's your Source I'm not going to reveal my source to you and I told him I wouldn't reveal my source he told me
well then you're hindering your daughter's investigation and I'm not going to investigate this lead and to
this day I don't know what they've done and probably will never know what they've done as far is investigating
that lead the fact that she feels that we may not have uh investigated uh thoroughly enough or followed up on her
confidential informance lead I don't believe to be true we followed up all the leads and if she believes that we
haven't it might just be that we haven't filled her in on every single thing that
we've [Music] done a full year after Bonnie's murder the case took an unexpected turn when
Karen was contacted by one of Bonnie's teachers hello yes she really felt that there was
this one particular student that may have been involved in the murder what kid according to Karen the
teacher became suspicious when she read the students class Journal which made references to the date of Bonnie's
murder September 28th his journal was incredibly violent filled with anger and he specifically
said that September 28th was going to be a very tough day that he was going to be
put to a test the teacher also told Karen that on the morning Bonnie was murdered the
student in question was absent in was class this morning I'm sorry I just overslept he was wet like he had just
gotten out of a shower and she said it smelled like he had just poured a whole body botle of cologne on
himself after the murder his journal became more peaceful there wasn't the anger yet he knew that there was a
student that had just died and there was no references to Bonnie's murder detectives investigated the student but
quickly ruled him out as a suspect DNA evidence recovered from a Bonnie at the scene did not match uh DNA evidence
collected from the student at the college I immediately told them that didn't seem right to rule him out
because of DNA because there could have been more than one person there was two people it didn't have to be his DNA
Karen then uncovered more disturbing information that particular student did have a assault charge against him and he
had been bailed out of jail by a young man who had been involved in another murder I found it very surprising when I
when I saw the bail slip who bailed um this student this potential suspect out of jail the student and several other of
his friends were involved in a fatal shooting here several years ago it doesn't sound like the type of
group that a student who was up and up would have been involved with I do believe that he could have been the
murderer despite their disagreements both Karen and investigators do agree on one thing
the key to this mystery might rest with Bonnie's morning routine a young lady who was a neighbor
of hers who was a paper delivery type person saw her around 520 walking down her street another gentleman who had
seen Bonnie a couple of days prior in the area of the bus stop saw her again that morning and that was about the last
time that we have a confirmation of anybody definitively uh seeing Bonnie alive was around 620 20 that morning one
neighbor reported seeing an unknown car in front of Bonnie's house early that morning and someone called the police
tip line claiming to have seen Bonnie that same morning talking to two men in a vehicle could someone have been lying in
wait for Bonnie Craig Karen intends to do everything that she can to keep the investigation
alive until the crime is solved it just keeps going through your had that somebody else's child will end up
murdered and raped also so until this crime is solved you can't give up update nearly 13 years after Bonnie
Craig's death police finally made an arrest a DNA match LED them to Kenneth Dion who was on probation for robbery at
the time of the murder he was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison no one knows exactly what
happened to Bonnie between the time she left home and the time that her body was
found later that day but as a result of Bonnie's case Alaska lawmakers have passed a bill making DNA samples
mandatory for all felons in [Music] custody coming up your tips help put a serial rapist behind
bars New York City we recently profiled the story of a single woman who was attacked in her
apartment David gauze the resident handyman hey what are you doing forced his way into her apartment raped her and
then threatened her with an ice pick the woman called 911 as soon as her attacker left but gauze disappeared
before police arrived police later discovered gauze had a long list of Prior offenses he was
also wanted for raping a woman in Long Island New York 1 month earlier gauze dropped out of sight for
almost 5 years 5 years of Torment for his victim I know that he's raping other women and I know that other lives are
being destroyed I'd like to see him off the streets I'd like to see him put away
forever update after our broadcast viewers in the small town of laurenburg North
Carolina recognized David Gau and called our phone center Gau had been living there 4 years under the Alias of David
Johnson Gau was married and was working as a handyman he was arrested within a week of our broadcast and sent back to
New York part of the healing of a rape victim is the person being apprehended and her getting her chance to gain her
power back I was happy that for the victim's sake that after 5 years she now gets a chance for justice in the court
system David Gau was convicted of seven charges including rape and sodomy he was
sentenced to 40 years behind bars Matt and Denise Flores had it all a loving marriage a beautiful little
daughter dreams of a full happy life dreams that would vanish in an instant when Matt was gunned down in Cold Blood
he was just 26 Fort Stewart Georgia when Matt married Denise leage their friends called it the wedding of the
century Matt was a second lieutenant in the Army who later served with honor in Operation Desert
Storm Once Matt came home to Fort Stewart in Georgia he and Denise started a family few months after his daughter
Danielle was born Matt began a promising career with a computer company based in
California's Silicon Valley he traveled there for a brief training program it was our our new start in life
as a family us making decisions instead of the military this was his dream come true he he finished with the military
he' done everything right and now he had landed the per the job of his dreams it was Matt's ninth day of
training for his new job that morning he arrived at work and parked in a space in the middle of the
lot nearby another employee sat listening to a talk show on her car radio Chris Chris
taking when a gunshot rang out she moved to investigate oh God the female witness realized that
he'd been shot and then ran to another person for help and then also ran to a shuttle bus to try and get somebody to
call 911 and ask for more help help me approximately four or five uniformed officers responded immediately including
a field supervisor paramedics and fire also responded immediately but they were not able to revive him and he was
pronounced dead at the scene Matt had been shot once in the back of the head at Point Blank Range he probably never
even saw his killer and Incredibly no one else did either even though there were more than 20 people in the parking
lot at the time they said that he was assassinated basically I couldn't believe what I was
hearing thinking this this is not happening this is not happening he was never involved in anything in terms of
drugs gambling uh fooling around any of the things that you would think would lead to being murdered nothing we
couldn't find anybody that didn't like Matt everybody we met he was somebody you'd be proud to have as a son or a
brother this does not make sense there were several security cameras covering the parking lot but the
killing took place just out of their view in a blind spot one of the cameras did however give the police their best
lead what you're about to see is a precise Recreation of what the tape reveals about 20 minutes before the
shooting there was a two-door sport model Ford Explorer that came into the parking lot and
parked in one of the parking stalls facing directly into the camera lens a few seconds later a two-door white Ford
Probe came in the same Lane that Matt would take later the Explorer backed up followed the white probe the Ford Probe
could look something like Matt's renle which was a white Chevy Corsica about 4 minutes before the shoot
shoting we see that same Explorer exiting the parking lot and then about 3 minutes before the shooting we see the
vehicle come back into the parking lot and go in the direction of where the shooting
occurred at 8:12 a.m. 2 minutes before the shooting two cars enter the lot one is driven by the female eyewitness the
other by Matt Flores at 8:14 the murder takes place just out of camera range 20 seconds later the Ford Explorer is seen
leaving the parking lot for the last time if somebody were to watch the videotape and see the activities of the
vehicle that morning and to see it leave right after Matt was shot they certainly
could say that the vehicle was stalking Matt that morning the Explorer initially followed
a car that looked just like Matt's Sergeant teal believes that the murder may have been a case of mistaken
identity perhaps somebody to that parking lot that morning to do harm to somebody else and they got
the wrong person look at the flowers this whoever did this to him I want them to know what they've
taken hi Grandpa one minute life was great we had everything and the next minute I was
shattered I don't think she remembers them anymore she was too little I plan on showing her all the
videos that we have so she knows what kind of a daddy that she had but at the same time she won't know what it feels
like for Daddy to hug her hi are you wa I lost everything that day this case is still open and
authorities hope that someone will come forward with a new lead so far the best clue is still the Ford Explorer
videotaped in the parking lot the vehicle is a twodo sport model manufactured between 1991 and
1994 it has a distinctive black trim on its lower panels if you have any information about
the death of Matt Flores please log on to our website at unsolved.com next a mysterious cancer outbreak
targets children in a small Nevada town [Music] Fallon Nevada population 8,000 for many who live here it seemed
like the perfect place to raise a family but there was something terrible happening to some of the children in
this small town you goof bger all began with Dustin gross where'd you get this bruise I fall off of my
back when I was giving him a bath I noticed bruises on his back and his arms and I asked him what was he doing um why
did he have these bruises and he told me he was playing uh with his friend on the
big wheels and I thought okay that makes sense that's where the bruises come from any what you doing home uh well
he's been tired all day but then the next day my husband had noticed a lot more bruises and brought it up to my
attention I saw he had bruises all over his body his arms his legs his stomach his back and little red blood specks on
the surface of his skin and I knew that um something was wrong at that point you're going to feel all better Brenda
took Dustin to the local hospital and he was immediately transferred to UC Davis
Medical Center the doctor told us that Dustin had leukemia I knew what leukemia was I knew it was a
cancer but I didn't actually realize how severe the type of childhood leukemia Dustin had can be fatal he was given
aggressive chemotherapy you want to take your pills seeing him lie there so lethargic and so
lifeless I think that that's probably the hardest thing that I've ever had to deal with it was not easy
within weeks of Dustin gross's diagnosis two more local children were also found
to have leukemia even at that point I was just thinking it's just coincidence it's just
a terrible coincidence but it's a coincidence but then shortly after the third then we got a referral for a
fourth Barbara de Braga feared she was looking at an epidemic it appeared to be what experts call a cancer cluster she
requested a State investigation as the state launched an inquiry the disease struck victims
number five and six a couple of days after there was a seventh case diagnosed this started to to kind of
make the hair on the back of my neck stand up a little bit it was it was a frightening time we have a series of
questions we want to go over with you Dr Todd began looking for a common denominator shared by all the victims
how is the water supplied to that house as it it's a well well okay but interviews
with the parents produced no answers and new cases continued to appear Zack beerley was the ninth child
diagnosed with leukemia when I heard I was number nine in a cancer cluster at that time my
child was so ill that all I could think about was how do I get out of this mess with a healthy
child Tammy Beardsley opened her house house to Scientific investigators there was a team of people
that came into our home and vacuumed took death samples air quality samples water samples biological testing blood
tests they found no answers inside the homes and turn next to the environment starting with the water
supply the one thing that makes this community sort of Stand Out is that they have one of the highest rate
of naturally occurring arsenic in their water supply of any place in the nation researchers also found mercury in
a nearby lake and several canals places where children were known to play there were other
possibilities pesticides had contaminated nearby Farms underground Atomic Testing during the 60s had left
traces of radiation but scientists failed to leak any of these factors to the cancer
cluster working on this really is like trying to do a gigantic jigsaw puzzle what we can say is that in fact
we likely will not have the complete puzzle put together at the end of this investigation there was one other
possibility Fallon is located 10 mi from a naval air station used to train fighter pilots the jet fuel contains
Benzene which is known to cause cancer there is a pipeline which transports jet fuel the pipe comes right
through and underneath Fallon and and winds up at the Fallon Naval Air Station we wondered was there fuel getting into
the water supply but we didn't find any evidence that the water had been contaminated with jet
fuel there's a a fear inside of me and I'd like to find out what's making children become diagnosed with leukemia
here before I bring another child into the world after 2 years of intensive chemotherapy Dustin gross had his end of
treatment party his cancer was finally in remission I am worried for my family and
my other children and for Dustin still I will never give up on pushing the research to find what has caused
childhood leukemia and a cluster in this community obviously the more research and continued research is going to get
us closer and closer and I feel that we will find it um but we cannot let up all told 16 children developed
leukemia in a span of 5 years then for the next 5 years not a single new case was reported but a cluster of 10
childhood leukemia cases was reported in in Sierra Vista Arizona experts believe that ground
deposits of cobalt and tungsten may have caused the outbreak in Fallon they've asked for our help in locating other
towns with these same conditions if you know of one please log on to our website at unsolved.com
[Music] next a cunning Casanova uses different aliases to con lonely women out of their
life savings police have nicknamed him the sweetheart swindler why well because he
victimizes middle-aged divorcees and widows one victim a woman from Missouri will call Sarah has agreed to describe
her short 5-day encounter with the sweetheart swindler it all began with a phone
call hello oh hi this is Jerry gamble calling you remember me uh no uh we we met last year in a restaurant you were
two friends this gentleman called me and he said that he had met me and that he was calling to see if I would go out and
have dinner with him how would that be I was divorced at this time and I wasn't in the habit of dating so
it sounded kind of pleasant and this is one reason why I agreed to go have brunch the next morning I've been
divorced for a long time and I raised my children myself so I work very hard Sarah didn't remember where she had met
Jerry before she simply enjoyed the conversation and soon he had completely won her over I didn't think you were
interested at all I'm glad we were finally able to get together well I didn't know anything about you or who
you were I enjoyed the brunch and we decided to kind of spend the day together Jerry told Sarah that he was in
the jewelry business and did a lot of traveling he said that he was a widower and very lonely he needed someone to
share his life with traveling from one luxury hotel to another and dining at the best restaurants he confessed to
Sarah that she was just the type of woman that he was looking for I want wanted to believe him in all
these bright beautiful pictures that he painted life really hasn't been easy for
me you know was really nice to think that I'm maybe would be able to relax to travel to have all these nice things and
I wouldn't have to work to me this was very appealing one of the goals I made for myself before I die is to visit all
50 Jerry took Sarah and her daughter Ellen out to dinner Ellen was skeptical but Jerry soon won her over too
look at those rings and those stones aren't those gorgeous Ellen here just try on that little cocktail
ring it's not so little I'd say well compared to some of the other Stones I have it is may I try one more well sure
go ahead that's what jul for it's to be worn look at that that's a real diamond don't break it you can't hurt it it's
indestructible it's a diamond Jerry made no sexual advances but the day after he and Sarah
met he was already making their marriage plans he asked her to go with him on a road trip which would be followed up by
their wedding something I need to ask a favor of you I've got some checks coming
from the East Coast they should be Jerry told Sarah that he would soon be receiving several checks and that one
would be made out to her so that she could pay her bills before they left Sarah had no way of knowing that Jerry
had stolen the checks from one of his former girlfriends and then made it out to sah
himself late the next afternoon Jerry rushed Sarah to the bank telling her the check had just arrived at the last
minute he asked her to take out some cash for him yes I'd like to deposit this and I'd like to withdraw
$3,000 ma'am this is an out ofate Check Yes I'm going to have to get my supervisor's approval coming in at that
time East Coast banks are closed I uh look to the check saw that it was made the Sarah she was a good customer and
she was insistent the check was good so I went ahead and okay the check for her you have a good day thank you we were
going to Nashville and he was going to get my engagement ring there then we were going to go on forther East and
when we met up with his daughter and son then we were going to get [Music] married that same afternoon just 4 days
after they had met Jerry and Sarah were on the road to Tennessee in Sarah's car Jerry had invited Sarah's daughter Ellen
to go with them M were 5 minutes early don't worry about in mice Jerry said that he had a business meeting and asked
Sarah and Ellen to meet him in a hotel lobby afterwards he never showed up right
there we waited around the hotel and after a couple hours I realized that we had been
taken I was angry truly I was angry I really didn't know what to do back in Missouri Sarah found out that
the check Jerry had given her was no good she had been conned out of $3,000 after she went to the local
police to file a report they discovered that Jerry had been using the same scam all over the country
since I started my case I believe he's a suspect in at least 22 other cases in as
many as 15 different states unfortunately probably only a third of the cases get reported due to the to the
victims being embarrassed we think he locates victims primarily through newspaper articles or
advertisements we've known that on occasion he has access Lonely Hearts clubs or mailers you have to understand
that that is all he does he's very very good at it that's how he makes his living and one shouldn't particularly be
embarrassed by being pulled in by this type of scam and and I mean a lot of women in my line of work but I never
know whether they're interested in me or they're just after my jewelry well I'm an attorney and I'd like to see him
stopped I'd like to see him pay for it I mean I know how I feel from all this it's a very devastating feeling
update the sweetheart swindler has been captured police in canosia Wisconsin arrested a man calling himself Robert
cook after he romanced a woman and then conned her out of $1,000 at the time of Cook's arrest
police recovered a dozen fake IDs all issued in different names from different states the sweetheart swindler was
positively identified as Alfred Barett a Canadian national he was convicted of bank fraud bank larsy and Interstate
transportation of stolen Securities he served his time and has been released [Music]
[Music] [Music]

Brief Summary

DJ Lee Selwin and Bonnie Craig were murdered, while a con artist swindled lonely women out of their savings.

Key points

The Tragic Death of Lee Selwin. A beloved DJ is murdered in a senseless act of violence.
A Mother's Fight for Justice. Karen Craig refuses to accept her daughter's death as an accident.
The Unsolved Murder of Matt Flores. A young soldier is shot dead in broad daylight, leaving his family in shock.
The Mysterious Cancer Cluster. A small Nevada town faces a troubling rise in childhood leukemia cases, prompting fears of an epidemic.
Sweetheart Swindler Caught. The conman known as the sweetheart swindler is apprehended after scamming multiple victims.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is a murder, it's a homicide.

Describing the nature of Lee's death.

5:32WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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