Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 6, Episode 16 | Forensic Files

DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Next on Unsolved Mysteries-- a successful business man is found
dead in the Arizona desert. The mysterious markings on this $2 bill may be a clue to his killer's identity.
[gunshot] When explorers unseal an Egyptian tomb, they suffer disease and destruction.
Some say it's the mummy's curse. The FBI arrest 13 members of a violent gang in Queens, New
York, but the leader gets away. A series of blazes leaves two firefighters dead.
Some say it's the work of the same arsonist. You might have that one vital clue to help solve one of our cases.
I'm Dennis Farina, and this is Unsolved Mysteries. Join us. [theme music playing]
Tucson, Arizona-- it's a typical spring morning. Escrow company owner Chuck Morgan leaves home as usual.
Later that day, he disappears. Morgan is a potential witness in a state land fraud case involving a known organized crime boss.
After being gone for three days, he stumbles back home at 2:00 in the morning. RUTH MORGAN: I was in bed, and the dog started barking.
And I got up, and there was a thump against the back door. I went to the door and opened it, and there was Chuck.
Chuck! [groans] What happened? RUTH MORGAN: And he was missing a shoe. He had one plastic handcuff around one ankle.
And his hand still had them on. [groans] He kept motioning to his throat, because he hadn't said a word.
Can you talk? Can you write? RUTH MORGAN: And he shook his head, yes. So I went and got a tablet and a pen.
He wrote that his throat had been painted with a hallucinogenic drug and that the drug could
drive him irrevocably insane or destroy his nervous system and kill him. I'm going to call the police!
RUTH MORGAN: And I wanted to call a doctor, and I wanted to call the police. And he was adamant.
And then he wrote out that that would be signing a death warrant for the entire family.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Over the next week, Ruth nurses her husband back to health.
Before his voice returns, he begins to hint that he has a secret identity as an agent
for the federal government. RUTH MORGAN: He wrote, "They took my treasury identification."
And that's the first I'd heard of it. What treasury ID? RUTH MORGAN: He wouldn't talk to me about it.
Wrote-- he had been working for them for about two or three years. And that was it.
Was Chuck Morgan actually a treasury agent secretly fighting organized crime? And who was it that kidnapped him?
As it turned out, Chuck would not live long enough to explain. In the 1970s, the mafia established
Arizona as a narcotics pipeline and a haven for money laundering. More than 500 racketeers set up shop here.
What made Arizona attractive to crime syndicates was a state law which allowed anyone
to buy up land through numbered blind trust accounts. This meant that they could launder money,
and it could not be traced. Chuck Morgan had done real estate escrow work for at least
one mafia family, and possibly helped with the purchase of gold bullion and platinum--
a more convenient way to launder money. DON DEVEREUX: He was around the edges of a couple of fairly large organized crime
groups in Arizona at that time. It is very easy to get in over your head. And I suspect that over the years,
Mr. Morgan was in that kind of a situation. He was doing perhaps upwards of a billion--
with a B-- escrow work, and bullion and platinum-- transactions that only existed on paper.
Charles Morgan? DON DEVEREUX: He was a straight businessman who probably got a little too close to the plane.
Chuck mentioned to me once that there was money laundering going on-- that nothing that he himself was involved in.
He told me the less the girls and I knew the better off we would be. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): After his kidnapping,
Chuck took no chances. He wore a bulletproof vest, and made sure that he was the only one who drove his daughters
to and from school. But two months after his disappearance, Chuck vanished again.
Nine days after her husband disappeared, Ruth Morgan received a mysterious phone call.
The woman gave her a reference from the Bible. RUTH MORGAN: This woman said, Ruthie?
I said, yes. She said, Chuck is all right-- Ecclesiastes 12, 1 through 8. And then she hung up.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): The passage reads in part, "Men are afraid of high places
and of terrors on the road. Remember him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed.
Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it."
Two days later, Chuck's body was discovered. He was wearing his bulletproof vest
and had died from a single bullet fired at close range in the back of his head. The bullet came from his own 357 Magnum,
which was lying beside him. The investigators also found a piece of paper with directions to the murder site
written in Chuck's handwriting. And they found a pair of sunglasses, which definitely
did not belong to Chuck. They made one additional discovery. Chuck had clipped a $2 bill inside his underwear.
Written on the bill were seven Spanish names beginning with the letters A through G. Above them was the notation
Ecclesiastes 12 with the verses 1 through 8 marked by arrows drawn on the bill's serial number.
This was the same Bible verse the mysterious female caller had given to Chuck's wife.
On the back of the bill, the signers of the Declaration of Independence were numbered 1 through 7,
and there was a roughly drawn map. DON DEVEREUX: The map is of some roads that do exist between Tuscon and the Mexican border,
going out a place called Robles Junction and then going south through a little town called Sasabe.
It's an area that very likely would be involved in smuggling. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Despite the unusual evidence,
many in the Sheriff's department believe that Chuck's death was a suicide. They claimed that he had shot himself
in the back of the head. RUTH MORGAN: There is no way Chuck would have committed suicide.
And if he had even contemplated suicide, he would have left a letter for his girls and for me.
DON DEVEREUX: I've never seen, in all my years as a journalist, a fellow take himself out
in the desert wearing a bulletproof vest and shoot himself in the back of the head.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Two days after Chuck's death, a woman called the Pima
County Sheriff's Department. She said that Chuck had come to meet her at a local motel
just before he died. The woman called herself Green Eyes, and she said that she was the same person
who had called Chuck's wife quoting the Bible passage. Green Eyes said that in the motel,
Chuck showed her a briefcase containing thousands of dollars in cash. He told her that the money would buy him out of a contract
that the mob had put on his life. --over $60,000. DON DEVEREUX: In a very perverse sense, remotely possible,
Mr. Morgan paid for his own murder. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): The theory goes that organized crime put the word out
that they wanted Chuck dead. The hit man then told Chuck, who came up with the money
to buy off the hit man. man. But when the two of them met in the desert, the hit man killed Chuck anyway and took the cash.
DON DEVEREUX: There is a great likelihood that Mr. Morgan was in fact doing something with the government,
and I think somebody blew his cover. And I think he got killed. - We had a deal here.
Go over there and kneel down! $60,000. DON DEVEREUX: I think this was a guy who was extremely
naive about a lot of things-- [gunshot] --the sort of associations he suddenly found himself
in, and maybe was even asked to put himself in by people in the US government. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): After her husband's death,
Ruth Morgan was visited by two men claiming to be from the FBI. We're special agents with the FBI.
RUTH MORGAN: They opened and closed their identification very fast. They said they wanted to come in and look through the house.
They never said what they were looking for. To this day, I don't even know what they were looking for.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): The men tore the house apart, looking for something that they never found.
Ruth was so upset that she didn't write down their names. No one knows for sure if the men really were from the FBI.
Don Devereux contacted the Bureau to get more information on the Morgan case. DON DEVEREUX: When I made a Freedom of Information Act
request to the FBI, they never heard of it despite the fact that they obviously opened an investigation, despite the fact
the FBI interviewed Mr. Morgan's attorney. They were all over this thing like a blanket for a while.
But now they've never heard of the guy. He never existed-- no card, no file-- nothing.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): If Chuck Morgan was doing undercover work for the government,
could the clues he wrote down on the $2 bill be an attempt to pass coded messages to the FBI?
DON DEVEREUX: I think the $2 bill provides the basis for some kind of a code there.
What seems to be missing, however, is the document the $2 bill would unlock. If he was quietly providing assistance to the US government
and monitoring the activities of one or more major organized crime families, he wasn't a villain.
He was a good guy. And they need to know that. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): For Ruth Morgan,
only one thing is certain. RUTH MORGAN: He was murdered. Somebody held a gun to his head and killed him.
[gunshot] I may never know why, and I probably will never know who. But I know somebody did it.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): If you have any information about the death of Chuck Morgan, please log on to our website
at unsolved.com. Next-- fire investigators believe a serial arsonist is behind a number
of unsolved blazes in Seattle. Seattle, Washington-- on a September night-- [sirens]
--20 engine companies respond to a 4 alarm fire at the vacant Blackstock Lumber Warehouse.
The blaze appears to be isolated in just one wing of the building. But in a matter of minutes, it becomes one of the largest
fires in Seattle history. Matt Johnson and Bill Meredith are two of the first firefighters to get inside.
Is Jack up here? BILL MEREDITH: We decided to explore what appeared to be a second story mezzanine type of area.
While I was up there, there was a tremendous release of heat from somewhere. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): The roof has exploded into a 5,000
degree wall of flame. I'm out of air! DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Two stories below, Matt and Bill are overwhelmed by a blast of heat
so strong, they're almost baked alive. Go on, Bill! Get me through. [coughs] DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): The lack
of oxygen and tremendous heat leaves Matt unable to move. Bill goes for help, but becomes disoriented within the blaze.
BILL MEREDITH: I've been hot before, but I never experienced that. I've had my ears blistered, but this was something else.
It was like being x-rayed with heat. It was absolutely stunning. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Bill manages
to find his way to safety. However, Matt Johnson is found dead in the rubble. He was 32 years old, married, and the father
of a 15-month-old son. To Seattle fire investigator, Dennis Fowler, the blaze seemed similar to others set by an arsonist
that he had been tracking for years. DENNIS FOWLER: On a scale of 1 to 10, he's a 10 as far as his skills and his abilities
go to bring a building down. You can't put them out. And the reason you can't is because they
generate so much heat and energy that a hose of water-- it simply cannot overcome it.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Dennis first suspected the work of the arsonist when Seattle's 40,000 square foot
Carpet Exchange Warehouse burned to the ground in just 19 minutes. The heat was so intense, that it literally boiled concrete
and vaporized steel beams. The firefighters themselves said that it was hotter than they had ever experienced before.
And this is guys wearing state-of-the-art firefighting-- the protective clothing-- and they're still outside.
And they've got hose lines, and they can't get near the fire. After this fire, Dennis Fowler and the Seattle Fire Department
analyzed dozens of others across the United States and Canada. They found at least 20 fires which looked like the work
of the same person. They call them the King of Arsonists. It was believed that the arsonist used a special kind
of fuel which left no residue. And generated temperatures between 5,000 and 7,000 degrees--
three times hotter than a normal fire. Here you can see some silicas which have boiled up
out of the concrete from the high temperatures that we have with the thermite. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): After a year of research,
the Seattle Fire Department set a test fire at an empty shopping center. The entire complex was destroyed in just a few minutes.
RICHARD GELHAUSEN: The Puyallup test fire allowed us to narrow the field of potential accelerants
down tremendously. Although it did not exactly duplicate what the arsonist was able to do, it reproduced close enough for us
to know that this was the type of fuel that the arsonist is using. And this is what we were looking for.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): The fuel was a mixture of several common ingredients,
but only someone with very specific knowledge would know how to put these ingredients together.
The ceiling heights and-- and those rafters. DENNIS FOWLER: He knows the fuel and how much he needs
to use to take a building down. Overall square footage-- DENNIS FOWLER: He may not be an engineer,
but he certainly knows a lot about building construction. This person probably has no contact at all with the people
who are going to burn the building or who actually are going to have the building burned.
Once the fuel is delivered, anybody can light it. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): The Blackstock
Lumber fire was the only one where eye witnesses were present. EYEWITNESS: I read about the Blackstock Lumber fire
in the paper, and I realized that I had been in the vicinity of the fire approximately 15 to 20 minutes
before the alarm was called in. I was driving along the road Blackstock Lumber Yard is located on.
I noticed a vehicle, probably a 1970s vintage, early 80s, Mercedes coming out of a parking lot.
And it just seemed out of place at the time and out of character for the neighborhood.
That area is a industrial area, and at that time of night, everything is closed down.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Another eyewitness said that she saw a suspicious-looking man
after the Blackstock fire was already burning. WILLIAM SMITH: He paid absolutely
no attention to this fire-- basically just going about his business. And she found that to be unbelievable.
It would appear that the fellow was possibly somebody that actually ignited the fire, waited for a crowd
to gather so they could blend in, and make a casual exit from the area. RICHARD GELHAUSEN: There hasn't been a single one
of these fires where we haven't had a large number of firefighters who have suffered
anything from minor injuries to extensive injuries. And in one of the Seattle fires, we had a firefighter who died.
That's a murder. And that's why it's important to me. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Update--
six years after the Blackstock Lumber blaze, the Seattle fire department reexamined the case.
According to reports, they determined that it was not the work of an arsonist. The fires seemed to have been an accident,
probably started by transients. However, some in the Seattle fire department still believe the Blackstock fire was no accident.
Coming up-- the tomb of King Tutankhamen-- storehouse of ancient Egyptian treasures,
and the beginning of a real mummy's curse. Egypt-- home to the pyramids, the great snakes, and giant
statues of long dead pharaohs-- buried deep in the Valley of the Kings are the tombs of Egypt's ancient rulers.
Their mummified bodies were surrounded by treasures meant to travel with them to the afterlife where they
would live on for eternity. By the early 1900s, nearly every tomb in the Valley of the Kings
had been picked clean by both archaeologists and thieves. But Howard Carter, a British Egyptologist,
was sure that there was one more undiscovered tomb-- that of a little known pharaoh named Tutankhamen.
Carter was determined to find it. Howard Carter had no idea that the discovery of King Tut's
final resting place would unleash one of the most sensational legends of the 20th century--
the legend of the mummy's curse. By the fall of 1922, Howard Carter had been searching for King Tut's tomb for five years.
His financial backer was George Herbert, the fifth Earl of Carnarvon. He had already spent the modern equivalent
of a half a million dollars, and was about to give up. Carter begged him to give it one last chance.
On November 26, 1922, Howard Carter, Lord Carnarvon, and his daughter, Lady Evelyn Herbert,
descended the stone staircase and faced the sealed tomb. No one knew what, if anything, might be inside.
THOMAS HOVING: The first thing is this unbelievable feeling of smelling, and feeling,
and a whoosh! Out comes this air. Of what? How many thousands of years, right? And then he puts up this light.
My God, marvelous! Well, let me have a look. Move over. Move over. - Here. THOMAS HOVING: Who could possibly describe what he sees,
you know, this helter skelter gold, gold, gold, gold, gold. Fantastic! THOMAS HOVING: And then, of course, they go in.
They're suddenly in a place where the last person who had been in there was 3,600 whatever years before, right?
And spooky things went on. They began to feel-- I mean, they were no different than thieves.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): They had found King Tut's tomb and his most prized possessions--
the toys that he played with as a baby, the throne that he had ruled from as a King,
and the golden jars that held his heart and lungs. Wooden chip. The Egyptians literally believed you could take it with you.
Since the next the world was going to be a continuation of this world, you would want your possessions.
You would want a bed. You would want your utensils. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): It was the most complete
Egyptian tomb ever found, and it caused a sensation around the world. Carter and Carnarvon became global celebrities.
And then, the discovery took a dark turn. In the days after the tomb was opened,
a cobra, the royal symbol of the pharaohs, attacked and killed Howard Carter's pet bird.
To some, the meaning was clear. The King's serpent had taken vengeance on the man who had
desecrated Tutankhamen's grave. Locals said that before winter was over, someone would die.
That someone was Lord Carnarvon. Five months after the opening of the tomb, Carnarvon and died of blood poisoning in Cairo.
According to legend, at the very moment Carnarvon died, his dog howled in anguish and then fell dead--
in England. [thunder] Back in Cairo, a power failure plunged the city into darkness.
Then a newspaper reported on a curse written in hieroglyphics, in King Tut's tomb.
"They who enter the sacred tomb shall swift be visited by wings of death." DR. ZAHI HAWASS: I discovered here,
at Giza, a tomb with the first curse inscription ever happened. And listen to what the man is saying in this tomb.
"If anyone will disturb my tomb, he will be eaten by a crocodile, lion and the hippo."
His wife, left the same inscription, and she added more-- "and the scorpions, and the snakes will eat you."
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Fear of the mummy's curse created a panic. Hundreds of tourists who had bought Egyptian artifacts
as souvenirs shipped them back, including, in one case, a mummy's arm. The United States Congress even considered
passing a law banning Egyptian artifacts from American museums. But Howard Carter would not be stopped.
He cleared everything out of the tomb, even the King's mummified body. Tut's wrappings were removed, and his bones exposed.
Some say King Tut continued to take his revenge. Over the next 20 years, the mummy's curse
was blamed for more than 20 deaths, including Howard Carter's. But most Egyptologists aren't buying it.
This whole curse thing is total bunkum. Lord Carnarvon gets this infection. He goes to the hospital.
He dies. All the lights go out in Cairo. Now today, in your modern hotels, is a candle in every bathroom.
The lights go out in Cairo, all the time-- sporadically, right? And the fact that the dog howls at the moment,
you know, distant in England-- of the death-- give me a break. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Historians
are quick to dismiss the curse. Scientists agree, but say there could be a perfectly
natural explanation. In his diary, Howard Carter wrote that the tomb walls were covered with an odd pink film.
It's possible this was a type of mold or fungus that gave off dangerous mycotoxins--
poisons that can be more deadly than any curse. Lord Carnarvon was a perfect target for these mycotoxins.
Not long after the tomb was opened, Carnarvon was bitten by a mosquito. The bite became infected, perhaps
by mycotoxins from the tomb. When he nicked himself shaving, the infection became worse, which led to blood poisoning, and his death.
DR. ZAHI HAWASS: This is why I advise my assistants in my excavations-- I tell them, do not shave while we are excavating.
And this is what happened, in my opinion, to most of the cases that's happened during the excavations.
And people said, the curse of the pharaohs. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Since Carter's discovery,
the treasures of Tutankhamen have been exhibited all over the world and seen by millions of people.
If ancient Egyptians wished eternal life for their pharaohs, in the case of King Tut,
immortality has been guaranteed. Next-- one of the missing heirs to a million dollar estate
is found after 30 years. Austin, Texas-- on a previous broadcast, we profiled the case of Lorene Roberts, who mysteriously
vanished in 1962 and had no idea that she was one of the heirs to a million dollar estate.
Uh, I'll be with you in just a minute, OK? DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Lorene was just 16 years old and working as a waitress
when she fell in love. Coffee, pie, and how about I take you for a whirl? DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): She and the serviceman were married
just 10 days after they met. Within five years, the couple had two sons and a daughter,
but their marriage was falling apart. When her husband filed for divorce, Lorene was left to raise the children on her own.
I got to go now. I got to go. Will you watch after them for me, OK? RUBY BOHLS: Lorene tried.
She worked, and she tried to handle, you know, her situations. And she loved her children very much.
But that was just something she couldn't handle. And she was saying she couldn't handle it.
And she tried to get help from her husband-- but no help. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Finally, Lorene
felt that she had no choice but to give her children up for adoption. The decision left her emotionally shattered.
Eventually, she was admitted to a state mental facility. Take care now. OK, you too.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Two years later, while on leave from the hospital, Lorene visited her sister Ruby.
After that, no one in the family ever heard from her again. 30 years later, after the death of her mother,
Lorene became one of the heirs to a million dollar estate. But she couldn't be located, even with an extensive search
by the executors. Update-- when this story aired, Lorene happened to be watching on our show.
She was living in Little Rock, Arkansas, working as a housekeeper for room and board.
A few days later, Lorene flew back home to Austin, Texas for a long overdue reunion with her family.
[laughter] Lorene! Oh! [crying] Oh, Lorene! VIRGINIA TURNE: It was unbelievable.
I could hardly believe it. Because I guess for so long, we had searched and searched for her, and we couldn't find a lead.
LORENE HOUTKIN: Yes, it's nice to be back. They're real nice. They've always been.
They're original people, they said-- that are very darling people. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): After we filmed this reunion,
Lorene remained in Austin for three months. She received her $105,000 inheritance
and returned to Arkansas. When he was just a little kid, the man you're about to meet
wanted to join the mob in New York City. To get the attention of the crime families,
Paul Ragusa felt that he had to make a statement. And so he did-- with guns and violence.
On the streets of Queens, Paul Ragusa had a reputation as a brutal mobster who did it
all-- robbery, assault, racketeering, and arson. And he got away with it, because his victims
were afraid to press charges. Paul Ragusa was the leader, I think, based on his propensity
to engage in violence. Ragusa is known as a fighter, somebody that is not adverse to using his hands and to using firearms.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Ragusa was literally born into a life of crime. JERRY CAPECI: His father, Filippo,
was a major heroin trafficker who smuggled in many kilos of heroin from Sicily. His older sister, Francesca, was a member
of his father's heroin ring. Her husband was also a member of the ring, and so was another of Paulie's brother-in-laws.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Filippo Ragusa was eventually sent to prison, and his son Paul set out to become
a major crime boss himself. He organized the Giannini Crew, a gang of violent thugs
who had their headquarters in the heart of Queens at the cafe, Giannini. According to police, Paul Ragusa and his gang
spent countless hours here sipping espresso and plotting crimes they hoped would put them on the map.
DET. WILLIAM INGWERSEN: Paul and his gang were extremely dangerous. They just didn't have any regard for life.
If you got in their way, they were going to shoot you. JERRY CAPECI: You have to be Italian to get into the mob,
but you have to earn your way into it. You have to show that you're a tough guy and willing
to do just about anything that's required to make money for the family. These guys, however, went too far.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): As an example, Ragusa and his crew robbed the same bank in their own neighborhood three times.
Altogether, their take was more than $200,000. In another crime, the gang targeted two security officers
carrying $20,000 in cash as they arrived at a bank to make a night deposit. Driver got out of the van--
proceeded over to the night deposit box. As he walked over to the night deposit box,
he realizes a van across the street. He turned, and at that time, three suspects exiting the van
approached him, and fired at him at rapid session. [gunshots] He returned fire, emptying his revolver.
He then fell to the ground and crawled to safety. His partner, taking cover behind a wall, also returned fire.
You could still see some of the results from that shoot out. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): The shootout left one security
guard seriously injured. Police believed the guards would have been killed if the Giannini crew had not run out of ammunition.
LEWIS SCHILIRO: The main factor that makes these types of individuals so dangerous
is one, their youth, and two, their total disregard for human life. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): By early 1996,
a joint investigation by the FBI and the New York City Police led to a 32 count indictment against Ragusa
and 13 members of his gang. All were arrested except Paul Ragusa. JERRY CAPECI: If you want to be a tough guy,
you have to show you're not afraid of anything. But deep down, all of these guys have some kind of a fear
that they're going to be caught. It was this knowledge that Paulie was going to get caught
that forced him to run away. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Update-- 18 months after he disappeared, Paul Ragusa came out of hiding
and surrendered to the FBI. He had grown a goatee and dyed his hair canary yellow.
Ragusa was eventually convicted of racketeering, arson, and a weapons charge. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Next, a woman finds her long lost father working for the circus.
And now, she's searching for her brother. 28-year-old Lee Curly Lloyd served this country as a member of the army
during the second world war. He managed to survive, but his marriage did not. While Curly was away on duty, his wife filed for divorce
and placed their son and two daughters in a boarding home for children in Oroville, California.
One day, in 1944, Curly's wife arrived at the boarding house with a man that she would marry
when her divorce was final. I-- I've come here-- I want to take my children-- just the girls, though-- not Arthur.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Peggy Lloyd and her sister went to live with their mother and the man who
would become their stepfather. OK. Let's go. Peggy's brother, Arthur, was left behind.
Peggy grew up being told that her father had deserted the family. When she asked about her brother, she was ignored.
Peggy began to wonder if Arthur had ever even existed. She got her answer on a summer day in 1948.
I climbed up into the attic. And I crawled along, kind of looking at things. In the back was a bunch of boxes.
So I was playing in this particular group of boxes, and I found this picture. PEGGIE LLOYD REYNA: When I looked at the picture, I just--
I knew that it was Arthur. I couldn't say that that was a memory. It was a feeling.
It was like he looked like me. He was the right age. It just felt-- I knew that it was Arthur.
Peggy? Yeah? What are you doing? Where have you been? Look. It's Arthur, my brother.
PEGGIE LLOYD REYNA: She took the picture from me, and I never saw the picture again.
And I still never got an answer. But of course, in my mind, I just knew. And so I guess that I just grew up believing that wherever
my father was, Arthur was. It wasn't until Peggy was an adult herself that she raised the subject again with her mother.
Peggy gave her a chart of her family tree as a way to start a conversation about Arthur and Curly.
PEGGIE LLOYD REYNA: I was an adult now, and she didn't have to be so afraid of what I did.
And perhaps she would give me that information and feel like enough time had passed that she could do that.
I've forgotten that one. But you know, mom, I still don't have any information about my own father.
Peggy, don't start with me again, please. We just want to know where he was born, mom.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): In the end, Peggy's mother revealed Curly's birth place.
Please, mom. Lindsay, Oklahoma. Thanks. PEGGIE LLOYD REYNA: The next day, I called there on the phone, and I put an ad in their local
weekly newspaper, asking if anybody knew his whereabouts or Arthur's. It was from there that things began to happen.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Just nine days after placing the ad, Peggy was bringing in a stack of mail
when a letter caught her eye. PEGGIE LLOYD REYNA: And there I saw this one that said Curly-n-Cue, Clown Alley, Spokane.
When I saw the letter from my dad, it was like I felt like my heart stopped. And I opened the letter, and the letter
said, my beloved daughter, how thrilled I am to hear from you. It was like-- it's indescribable.
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Peggy was surprised to learn that her father, Curly, had been a professional clown
with Ringling Brothers and other circuses. In 1955, he had even performed within five miles of Peggy's
home in southern California. This home video was shot at Peggy and Curly's reunion.
The event was Peggy's 43rd birthday, and the first one that she was able to celebrate with her father
since she was 3 years old. PEGGIE LLOYD REYNA: Suddenly, I had a grandfather, and aunts,
and uncles, and cousins, and just this whole world of family. And they just all acted like I'd been there my whole life--
like they'd always been my family. And it's just a wonderful thing. [laughter] DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): The only sad note
to the reunion was that Peggy's brother, Arthur, was not with the family. For four years, Arthur had traveled with the circus,
watching his father perform in towns and in cities across America. Curly had no idea where his ex-wife and his two daughters
were living. Hey, Arthur. How are you doing? DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): Curly had joined the circus when he
was just 9, and believed that the traveling life would be good for his young son.
But not everyone agreed. PEGGIE LLOYD REYNA: The circus people told him that Arthur
needed to be in school. Arthur needed a home, stability, and that the circus life
wasn't a good home for him. The church can find him a home. I appreciate that. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): When Arthur was just six years old,
curly left him in the care of a Catholic children's organization. Hey. I want you to take care of yourself, OK?
All right? And this man here, he's going to take care of you. Be good. And remember everything daddy told you, OK?
DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): 15 Years later, Curly received two letters from his son.
But Arthur did not include his adopted last name or his return address. Both letters were mailed from Colorado Springs, Colorado.
I tried Colorado Springs. I didn't find anything there. I seemed to be at a loss.
I have to find Arthur. I have to find him to say, you have a family-- not just myself, but all of Curly's family--
who love you and want you. And we want to know you. DENNIS FARINA (VOICEOVER): This is one of only two
known photographs of Arthur Franklin Lloyd. When the picture was taken, Arthur was two years old
and had blond hair. He has blue eyes, and his birth date is April 21, 1943. If you have any information that can help reunite Peggy Lloyd
Reyna with her brother Arthur, please log on to our website at unsolved.com. [theme music playing]

Brief Summary

Chuck Morgan's mysterious death, King Tut's curse, and Peggy's family reunion are featured in this episode.

Key points

The Mysterious Disappearance of Chuck Morgan. Escrow company owner Chuck Morgan disappears and returns with a chilling story.
The Death of Chuck Morgan. Chuck Morgan's body is discovered with evidence suggesting foul play.
The Legend of the Mummy's Curse. The discovery of King Tut's tomb leads to a series of mysterious deaths.
The Mummy's Curse. Fear of the mummy's curse led to panic and even laws against Egyptian artifacts.
Lorene's Emotional Reunion. After 30 years, Lorene is found and reunites with her family.
Peggy Finds Her Father. Peggy discovers her father is a clown and they reunite after decades apart.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

He was missing a shoe.

Ruth Morgan describes her husband's return after his disappearance.

2:18WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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