Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 6, Episode 14 | Forensic Files

[Music] next on unsolved mysteries Dan Wilson began behaving erratically then disappeared five days later his car was
found but he wasn't JD method who smooths with her ladies smooth enough to make off with nearly a
half a million dollars of their money Anastasia Romanov daughter of the last Russian Tsar was supposedly executed
did she really die when Dean Butterfield raised her nice until they were forced apart
when Dean continues to search for her sounds intriguing you better believe it these are unusual cases that you won't
want to miss i'm dennis farina and this is unsolved mysteries [Music] 100 years ago in st. Petersburg Russia
there lived the grand duchess named Anastasia she was the blue-eyed youngest daughter
observing us the second time the wealthiest man in formed Anastasia and her three older sisters lived lives of
glamour and privilege that were the envy of all she grew into a rambunctious tomboy a jokester and the family clown
she was the rebel of the Imperial Rome her family then on July 17 1918 Anastasia's royal life came to a violent
end she was just 17 when her entire family was executed along with their physician and three servants
their burial site remained a state secret as far as history was concerned that was the end of Anastasia and her
family but it was not the end of her story 19 months later a young woman appeared on a bridge in Berlin and the
stage was set for one of the world's great mysteries eventually the young woman would shock
the world by claiming that she was none other than the Grand Duchess Anastasia the debate over her identity has
continued for decades there is absolutely no question in my mind at all that the Grand Duchess Anastasia
survived the assassination of the Romanovs in 1918 made it to the west and died in the United States as Anna
Anderson no question at all the woman's claim became even more believable years later when Russian authorities
discovered the Tsar's family grave in this remote field six hundred miles east of Moscow when the bodies were exhumed
so family members were missing and one was most likely anastasia is it possible that Anastasia somehow escaped death and
suddenly appeared on a bridge in Berlin it's a story that has captivated our imaginations for nearly a century as
well as igniting a firestorm of controversy but now recently discovered information may shed new light on this
fascinating mystery Anastasia's father nicholas ii was fated to be the last desire of russia in the
beginning his life was the envy of the world an adoring wife Alexandra four beautiful daughters the Grand Duchesses
Olga Tatiana Maria and Anastasia and finally a son Alexei heir to the tomb but while the Romanovs with the good
life most of their subjects were started in World War one hundreds of thousands of desire soldiers didn't have shoes or
rifles more than a million men were killed or wounded finally the people rebelled the monarchy eventually fell to
the radical Bolshevik communist the Romanovs were prisoners in their own palace until the Bolshevik rebels
secretly moved them to a remote Siberian town 11 months later the entire family was executed so it was fun until the
mysterious young woman jumped from the bridge in Germany nearly two years later police committed the young woman to a
mental institution just outside of Berlin she gave no information about herself and was called miss unknown it
was months later when she finally said that her name is Anna Anderson at her first physical examination doctors
discovered that the woman's body was covered with stars she began to reveal her own personality
very slowly she was in her mind in hiding and the best place to hide was this Asylum where no one would come
looking for her or suspect that she was who she was the patient hid her identity
weld until Clara Pugh third was admitted to the same ward a year later I know I don't what hurt her teeny bopper which
is all right we told her you know I had such a miracle the two of us Clara pew Darth was a devotee as were so
many people then of the royalty magazines and she began to look at pictures of the Romanovs
this picture and she began to believe that miss unknown bore a striking uncanny resemblance to the Grand Duchess Tatiana
miss unknown didn't confirm or deny Clara's claim but when work reached members of the Russian nobility exiled
in Paris they sent a representative and Madame Tolstoy to meet the young I wanted to
meet you for myself [Music] nice car later Tolstoy told people that when she saw those eyes in the context of the
rest of the face she knew she was looking at one of the daughters of the Tsar eventually Anna Anderson told her
nurses that she was actually Anastasia the youngest Grand Duchess school in fact she did resemble Anastasia in
height and age several childhood scars and birthmarks also naturally the scars could have easily been the remnants of
the Bolshevik rulers four years later Anna was hospitalized for surgery Shiraki yard anastasia's
former nanny came to meet myths unknown sure of recognized the grand duchess both by her childhood scars and by a
bone deformity on her right foot sure became even more convinced when Anna asked her to massage her forehead
with colonial it had been a favourite childhood ritual of Anastasia's known only to the two of them by 1927 Anna was
living with a German Duke and Duchess they believe their story though most of the surviving Romanovs did not curious
to see whether Anna was who she claimed to be a close childhood friend of Anastasia's came to see for himself
his name was bled Botkin Blair was the youngest child of the Tsar's physician dr. Eugene Baden
the doctor had been executed along with the Romanov family but glad was able to escape one of the childhood gains that
he and Anastasia had played together was that Gleb would draw or would paint a watercolor painting of animals dressed
in human clothing and in human-like situations give the picture to to the young Anastasia and she then would make
up a story to explain the action in the picture I would like to see the yes as she lived through them she
remembered the stories that she had made up years earlier to accompany the pictures that they receive because the
cat was called by life it was the most significant recognition of Anastasia in her life too
and Gleb Botkin became as she called him her lifelong champion coming up Anna Anderson reveals details of what
happened on the night a woman of family was executed the official story was that Anastasia
Romanov daughter of the Czar of Russia had been executed along with her entire family in 1918
months later a suicidal young woman was pulled from a canal uber later she called herself an Anderson but she
claimed to actually be in a station the story she told to a childhood friend of Anastasia's was very convincing Anna
described how she'd been horribly wounded during the execution she was thrown on a truck with the dead bodies
of her family and was hauled off to a secret burial site at some point the truck overheated according to Anna a
soldier named Alexander Tchaikovsky was left to stand guard he realised that Anastasia was not dead he pulled her
from the truck and carried her to safety [Music] 20 years later Gleb Botkin and Anna's
lawyers went to court to prove that Anna Anderson was actually Anastasia and to claim a portion of the Romanov fortune
Anna's attorneys based their arguments on the points of similarity between the Grand Duchess and Anna Anderson experts
analyzed photographs of both women's ears the match impressed even Anna's most bitter critics various scars and
birthmarks also matched handwriting samples were analyzed and found to be identical
the case dragged on for decades Anna became more and more eccentric and reclusive she was almost totally
uncooperative both with her own attorneys and with the courts finally in 1967 the German High Court issued a
decision there was not enough evidence to prove Anna's claim the court didn't state however that the death of grand
duchess anastasia could not be considered a verifiable historic fact Anna Anderson died in 1984 having never
proven her claim but that wasn't the end of the story on July 12th 1991 the skeletons of the Romanov family were
discovered in a mass grave near the site of their execution at least most of them
were found missed his second idea we did luli in the grave there was supposed to
be eleven bodies but only nine the two missing skeletons but we could the Russians invited American forensic
expert dr. William maples to examine the remains hoping to determine which skeletons were missing we looked at the
remains we photographed the remains we measured the remains and for each of the nine skeletons we determined age sex
race we determined that the Czar was most likely there bodied 7iz czarina we had the family physician dr. Botkin and
we had three of the daughters but I don't believe any of the three daughters could be young enough to beat Anastasia
who was 17 years one month at the time of the shooting also missing were the remains of alexey desires only son it
was the absence of Anastasia's body however which once again fueled the theory that Anastasia had somehow
managed to escape death by execution whether she could have survived that night I seriously doubt it as forensic
scientists looking at the objective evidence that we have we don't have any evidence that anyone would have survived
the damage to the remains was was pretty profound eight years later DNA on the bones and the grave proof that
five of the bodies were members of the Tsar's family comparison with a sample from Anna Anderson showed what many
already believe Anna Anderson was not a member of the Romanov family this evidence put her to rest but it
still didn't explain why Anastasia's remains were missing from the grave however the official gota wick account
offers some clues about what may have happened the report states that on the night of the execution desire was
ordered to wake up his family he was told that they were in danger and had to be moved for their own protection
the girls were given half an hour to dress and carefully raced under corsets a fortune and precious stones and gems
had been sewn into the lining the Romanovs along with Gleb Botkin father and three servants were led into the
cell they were told to pose for a family photograph that would prove to the world
that they were still alive and then abruptly the Bolshevik officer in charge read the orders for executions inside
its core I see you where I was shooting the bullets pounds of Grand Duchess and return to them they did not
know that in corsets of Grand Duchess the Serena hid their jewels and jewels protected them they decided that God
protected them in say a little and they immediately began became crazy and dissolved our shooting began
the Bolsheviks loaded all the bodies onto a truck however on the way to the secret burial site the truck got stuck
in the mud and the officer in charge decided to dispose of the bodies on the spot
it was reported that in order to confuse anyone who might locate the grave two of the bodies were burned and the
charred remains buried separately the other nine are buried together a few meters away update nearly two
decades after the Romanov burial site was located a second grave was found nearby the remains buried there proved
to be those of Alexei and Maria Romanov Azar's family was now complete it turns out that Anastasia's remains had been
among those on earth in 1991 but without the last two Romanov children scientists
hadn't been able to make a positive identification and now we finally have proof
Anastasia's survival was after all a myth next a devious con Juan preys on lonely
women taking the first their hearts there [Music] be careful who you fall in love with
that's the lesson learned by nearly two dozen women who got involved with a smooth talking con man named JD method
in a romantic little restaurant in Golden Colorado well Peggy Peterson was getting to know JD method after meeting
him through a person when Peggy was a single mother and businesswoman know something I learned in Vietnam JD
was a very charming person and a nice person and a fun person and someone with some professional credentials he just
knows the answers to just about everything he's intelligent and you just enjoy his company he could talk about
any subject he knows about a little bit of everything in essence he would interview these women he would talk to
them he would find out what they were about their idiosyncrasies what they liked what they didn't like what their
style of life was have a few more credit cards one of the things that we found in
our investigation was the methods ability to get his victims to extend their credit through the use of credit
cards and not just one but get a lot of credit cards and even get a lot of the same kind of credit cards $15,000 just
like that his actual goal of course was for me to have so much credit that he could ultimately draw cash against
himself or get me to you know with his various so it face that he had in his life you know as
long as I had all these cash advances that I could draw well that was more money that he could borrow they got
lucky to meet Rick all right Peggy method works slowly until his victims trusted him completely
I noticed that nice-looking Camaro over there what's the story on that one JD you'll love that $1,500 private owner
pulled it down for it for $500 down oh is that right see peg there you go if I had $500 cash I can buy that car today
sell it tomorrow for $1,000 profit have a thousand bucks in my pocket yeah hey what else you got there I got a
nice clean method was so good that the women would offer to invest without even being asked
I had already survived him doing several car deals over the weeks that we have been dating so I wrote him out a check
for $500 I'm not gonna take your money hey no I mean it's not a matter of the money it's playing the game he toured
the check up and he said I wouldn't take money from you and I so you know I mean check was torn
in half I didn't think anything about it the very next day listen honey I need your help this afternoon method told
Peggy that his uncle was seriously ill and needed immediate surgery he explained that his money was tied up
with investors and that he was terribly embarrassed to ask for further okay well
you know what could I do I mean I already I've already committed myself that I could let him have $500
and you know what could I do I can't say well yesterday I had $500 to loan you today I don't method found another
victim will call her a minute at the time Amelia's son was selling his car so he could buy a pickup truck
method told the million he'd like to help and that he could sell the car and for an additional four thousand dollars
could make a great ride on a new pickup you got the title we do it's all signed taken care of okay
okay you both sign it over to me that's good and then four thousand cash [Music]
got it it's all we name I told him I had some questions about the car and was feeling anxious about the whole
situation since I didn't know him very well he was saying to me you know how could I
possibly doubt him at some point in the conversation you know I had said something to the effect that for all I
knew he could be a con artist and his immediate response was Emilia you could be a con artist for all I know that's
how it got started first it was a little amount and then it would get bigger and
then bigger and bigger and eventually it would get into the tens of thousands of
dollars Linda I need your help on this deal method worked on winning Weaver for two months
then get her for the big money so what I'm asking for is a small loan fifteen thousand dollars to get those have
fifteen thousand dollars do it for you and me okay good girl it happened so fast that
I didn't realize what was coming across until afterwards I'm gone oh my god what
is going on you know he was so good he hit and ran and he's doing it to all his victims three months after he met Peggy
Peterson method ran the same scam on her listen dear I need about ninety six hundred bucks oh man that's a lot of
money JD but that chili beans compared to what my assets are his rationale is always that well I'm gonna pay you back
next week I'll have my money next week I'll pay you right back that night you know I was just sleeping soundly I was
sleeping like a brick and at 2:30 in the morning I just said all tougher right in
bed I'd like Goddard slapped me upside the head with a 2x4 and realized what had happened to me I knew Jerry for 11
months during that period of time he in one way or another extorted over $70,000
in Amelia's case method also waited three months before setting up the big score I don't know about taking the
equity out of my home well Amelia it would only be a short-term you know if it'd make you feel more comfortable I've
got a promissory note a promissory note yes it's a legally binding contract that
insures you that I'll pay you back exact so Jerry I no problem with the promissory notes was that JD method
would fill out the promissory note backwards he would make himself the payee and he would make the victim the
maker so that when you read the promissory note it said that she owed him $30,000 $40,000 whatever the amount
that was involved with that particular victim as mr. method was starting a relationship he would either be in the
middle or the end of another relationship and as the previous relationship began
to end he was in the process of beginning to get money from the new relationship
I don't believe JD method knows the difference between truth and reality anymore I think that he has built his
life on lies for so long that he doesn't even know the truth anymore I think he he probably believes all of the glop
that he shovels off on women update two years after he conned Peggy Peterson JD method was apprehended
in Beaverton Oregon local police got a tip from a woman who claimed that she'd lost $2,000 to a man she'd met through a
personal ad in the newspaper police staked out the man's home and arrested him when he returned he would
soon be revealed as JD mythic inside the house authorities found papers and documents used by method to pull off his
scams jerome david method was convicted on three counts of theft and sentenced to 16 years in prison he served his time
and has been released next the bizarre story of a soft-spoken man who suddenly lost at work and mysteriously vanished
the same day [Music] in Spokane Washington and the ASC machine tool company 35 year old man
Wilson was a reliable worker though recently divorced he remained devoted to his two children
and his Bible study then one day damn with it every time I try to get my work did you come down here and give me a
hard time about dance Boone was shocked by the outburst that manager were concerned and they
told men to take some time off and come back whenever he felt ready but Dan never returned
five days later on a remote highway 700 miles from Spokane Sheriff Tony Harbaugh
spotted a car abandoned on the side of the road when the car was found the doors were unlocked in fact one of the
doors was ajar check for keys and the keys were not in the vehicle when it was found there were a few miscellaneous
items one of which was a Bible length on the front he had a Bible on this Daniel
Wilson inscribed in the front of it sheriff Carbaugh traced Carlson we conducted both ground and aerial
searches it's my belief Daniel Wilson was in the area in in any of the area that we covered we should
have found him at that time there was no reason for Dan's car being abandoned in
the middle of the Montana Prairie his mother Darlene no longer the two of his cousins went to Miles City to talk to
the sheriff and get some answers there was nothing wrong there and there was usual eyes in
my mind that he would just walk away from the car and just take off if certainly was not an area where you
would expect a person would stop and take a walk Dan's family thought he might have been
heading to Colorado to visit other relatives he had made the trip from Spokane to their home in Longmont many
times before Dan normally followed the interstate 90 through Billings Montana to Colorado but this time he headed east
instead and drove 150 miles into the sparsely populated area where his car was found
[Music] how had Dan straight so far off course and such a familiar route his mother
suspect foul play I know that he did pick up hitchhikers if he felt he could give somebody a ride he would I'm
concerned that maybe he was not the person that Park Montana that it could have been somebody
else [Music] Dan's mother and cousins were determined to unravel the mystery they went back to
Spokane where they found his home a complete wreck room his luggage his clothes and an uncashed paychecks were
all still in the house the family left spoke and more puzzled than ever Darlene and Ernie's blended drove Dan's
car under trip home and something they've both developed sore throats and a painful burning sensation in their
eyes at home they had the car inspected well it's what we have here is a bulky muffler on the car it could be allowing
exhaust gases to enter into the interior of the car I would say the car would be
unsafe to drive it appeared that a carbon monoxide leak in the muffler might have caused our Rheem and Aventis
physical symptoms Dave had been driving that same car every day for over a year perhaps he inhaled carbon monoxide
whenever he drove chronic exposure to carbon monoxide can cause an Petite can cause definite changes in personality
confusion can cause permanent loss of function of the brain intellectual ability memory as well as severe
personality changes resembling psychosis I feel it's not impossible that down you
made a decision to disappear and start a new life it was under a great deal of pressure he had not had a happy life
since coming to Spokane but I feel the possibilities are small due to the fact he was so devoted to his children and he
felt the children needed him so badly I feel that whatever has happened is something beyond his control
it could be most anywhere then we wouldn't be able to locate him or he wouldn't be able to locate us update
nine years after Dan Wilson disappeared authorities found his remains just five miles from where his car was abandoned
it was determined that he had died of exposure no foul play is suspected why then could that place the park and
whether he was alone remains a mystery [Music] next a 22 year search for a lost child
ends with a touching reunion thanks [Music] Santa Maria California Glenn Dean Butterfield was about to meet the newest
addition to her family her niece Kelly when Dean's brother bob was in the Army and was being shipped to Germany he and
Kelly Ann's mother had separated and neither one could care for the baby the army plan to put Kelly Anne in an
orphanage but aunt London wouldn't here so she went up the chain of command straight to the office of the president
about two days later the base commander at Fort Campbell Kentucky called me and said that anybody that got that legs to
keep a kid out of an orphanage that the army would give my brother grant and leave to bring her to me once Bob gave
custody of Kelly Anne to his sister he seemed to lose all interest in her Glenn Dean was on her own
or I didn't hear from him for a long time I mean a real long time my name is probably maybe three years
we'll say three years and he just kind of like disappeared you know Callahan spent those years happily growing up
with Glenn Dean and her two daughters we just thought of her as a little sister cuz we got her she was a baby
she's real tiny so she was no different than my sister Vicki except for more fun she liked her horse
she liked riding horses she liked she just did everything anybody's normal can't do me no different than em except
they were a little older you know I mean she just happy-go-lucky then out of the
blue Bob suddenly reappeared unannounced and moved in with Wendy he still showed
little interest in being a father but things changed quickly when a young woman named kitty moved into the same
apartment building less than a week later Bob moved in with Kitty and then without saying a word to Glenn Dean he
decided to take Callahan with him hey Kellyanne like they moved her out after by going
knowing this woman for a day or two and I just went into hysterics over what I mean you know this is my kid with the
help of the police Brendan got Kellyanne back but the Battle of the child was just
beginning within a few months when Dean says Kelly and change she became an unhappy confused little girl Christmas I
just don't understand he wants me to call mommy your Uncle Bob wants me to call him
daddy the situation became even worse when Bob's suit blending for custody and I've just had a nice long chat with
Kelly and my chambers she's a very bright intelligent child she really wants to stay with Glenn Dean he's very
happy where she is so happy I find for the respondent the judge said that Kitty and Bob could have visitation rights six
months we will review the situation they would see or when they weren't supposed
to they would talk to her tell her things it just kept her in a world of little confusion you know I mean you think of a
little girl five years old or four to have five years old and it's made a confusion
you know it got to the point that I was so concerned about our mental well-being
you know for when she got older and everything that I decided I needed to keep her away from my brother Bob and
kidding you want to start a war you just started one let's go as much as she wanted to keep Kellyanne
Glen Dean felt that it was impossible she could think of only one other option Kelly Ann's birth mother Marian Marian
was in the Air Force she had remarried and had two sons blendin believe Marian could provide the
stable environment that Kellyanne needed because that you want to give up custody
to this lady but I do think it'd be best for Killian the judge agreed to the plan
of life soon after Glen being kissed Kellyanne goodbye and left her with her new family
I miss you so much I love you my child I mean this was my child and I couldn't believe that I lost her that I didn't
have her anymore [Music] I sure miss you the last time when Dean spoke to Kelly Ann she was just six
years old she told me she missed me and she loved me and I told her I loved her and you know it was like a kind of not a
real long conversation but just you know I felt wonderful when I talked to her when Glenn Dean called again the line
was disconnected that's that at her on a desperate search that after 22 years still had not turned
up a single clue during that time when Dean and her brother Bob patched up their differences they even worked
together to try to find Kelly Ann until Bob's death in a farming accident Glenn Dean continued the search alone
it hasn't been one day went by since I gave her a rough time I've thought of her a dozen times and wondered is she
okay does she need anything is she happy did I do the right thing did I do the wrong thing
I just wish I knew update within minutes of our broadcast the viewer called to let us know that
Kellyanne was married and the mother of two young children Kellyanne and Glenn Dean spoke on the phone that very
evening and made plans to get together the reunion took plenty to Anchorage Alaska 2,000 miles to the north
Kellyanne was stationed at Fort Richardson where she was the specialist e4 United States Army
it feels wonderful I just can't believe I found it all these years I've pitched her like she's still six mammaries oh I
never could imagine her grown up hearing from her again yes 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
it's a very good feeling to help fill the gaps when being brought along dozens of family photographs I've never been
happier I got all my kids now I know where they're all at all my grandkids I don't have any need nothing else in life
now [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Brief Summary

Dan Wilson vanished mysteriously, Anastasia's survival claim was debunked, and con artist JD Method exploited women for money.

Key points

The Mystery of Anastasia Romanov. Anastasia Romanov's fate remains a captivating mystery, with claims of her survival after execution.
JD Method's Deception. A charming con man preys on lonely women, leading them into financial ruin.
The Mystery of Dan Wilson. Dan Wilson's car is found abandoned, leading to a search for answers.
A Mother's Determination. Darlene and her family search for Dan, uncovering troubling signs.
A Shocking Discovery. Nine years later, Dan's remains are found, raising more questions than answers.
A Long-Lost Reunion. After 22 years, Glenn Dean reunites with her niece Kellyanne, bringing joy and closure.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's a story that has captivated our imaginations for nearly a century.

4:06WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

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