Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 7, Episode 11 | Forensic Files

[Music] next on Unsolved Mysteries a man confesses to murder later he claims that he was forced to
lie and that he's truly innocent he has unlikely allies a local sheriff and a state prosecutor believe
him Island residents claim that a ghostly visitor protects their homes from hurricanes they call him
the gy man within weeks of 9/11 letters laced with anthrax kill five innocent people
after 7 years the FBI's hunt for the murderer takes a troubling turn and a woman tries to run drug
dealers out of her neighborhood will she pay the ultimate price for her [Music] Defiance our team is standing by perhaps
you can help solve one of our cases I'm Dennis finina and this is Unsolved Mysteries join us
[Music] [Music] two boys out fishing on Taylor Bayou find evidence of a tragedy what's that right
there kind of looks like a ball this guy skull it is the skull of a young girl 6 weeks
later police discover the rest of her bones along with the remains of another young
woman dental records identify the girls as 14-year-old Ronda Renee Johnson and 15-year-old Sharon Shaw both have been
missing since the previous summer 5 months after their bones are found police arrest 23-year-old Michael self a
gas station attendant with below average intelligence he's convicted on two counts of murder and sent to prison for
life with no chance of parole I did not kill Sharon Shaw and Renee Johnson it was just all behind politics and wanting
a conviction that was it just somebody to play the petsy what the jury never heard was that
the two police officers officers may have used intimidation and violence to force a confession out of Michael sou in
a surprising twist these same two police officers turned out to be criminals themselves Ronda Johnson and Sharon Shaw
were last seen in Galveston Texas 20 M south of Webster no that's okay we've just got a couple more blocks to go when
they were reported missing police immediately launched their investigation the pressure to find the
girls was intensified by the fact that Ronda was the granddaughter of a well-known Webster city councilman once
the remains of the girls were found the pressure turned towards finding the killer several months after the remains
were found the local city council hired a new police chief Don Morris and an assistant chief Tommy deal son I'm glad
you're with us I Know I Can Count On You yes sir within 3 weeks of taking office
Morris and deal would get a tip on a suspect in the double murder seems to me a few years back a boy named Michael
Glen price another city councilman suggested they investigate known sex offenders and mentioned Michael self's
name Michael had been arrested twice in peeping Tom incidents do a good job Tommy I'll give it a world Glenn bye
following the tip deal called Michael self who agreed to meet him at the police station for
questioning I knew I hadn't done anything I just went ahead and agreed to meet him there now Mike I want you to
answer some questions for me I want you to tell us if you've ever seen either one of these girls before Michael said
that he did recognize the girls but did not know them Renee Johnson to his surprise he was immediately arrested
that's right cing sit down in that chair all right when Michael was being questioned another
police officer Jerry Mitchell stopped by to observe he says that Michael was not
at all nervous at that stage of the interrogation for doing something Michel looked relaxed easy going kind of
laidback he's grinning and I don't know that it ever really sunk into at that time uh what he wasn't being involved in
well like I say I ain't done nothing I ain't broke no [Music] law don't you need to be on
patrol Mitchell left the room according to Michael Chief Morris then took charge
of the interrogation and the tone changed not radically what is he innocent you innocent Michael sir hey
what Tom why don't you go home and take a nap and let me what you are about to see is based on Michael's recollection D
Michael Don Morris started asking me questions why I kill these girls I told him I didn't know what he
was talking about he said that he wanted a confession I wasn't going to leave until
he got one tell me about the girls I don't know nothing about no girls I done told
you I think I go around up some straight dogs hey you be careful out there said don't you have a guilty
conscience and I'd tell him that I didn't know what he was talking about he had me against the wall my
hands are behind my back and he's poking this night stick in my stomach and said
he was going to get a confession you tell it he was more or less a mad man about it
you getting tired of this Michael huh I'm pretty tired of myself I was crying I was
upset he took his gun opens the cylinder and takes five bullets and stands them on in where I can see them youing about
I want you to tell me where you picked them up don't you I want you to tell me I was more scared than I was anything I
didn't know what was going on going on I didn't know what to say cuz I will blow
your head off no tell me about the girl closed it he spun the chamber and he points his gun like this and says
he's going to blow my brains out if I don't sign a confession okay okay I want you to write down everything
you remember about that day he had already beat it half to death Pok him in the stomach and I could see
that he was meant what he said and I asked him who do you what do you want me to
sign he tells me that he'll tell me what to write you were drinking beer while you
were riding around is that the way it happened yes sir less than 1 hour after Jerry Mitchell had left the room he
returned Michael was now visibly upset let me see what you wrote it was my opinion kind of being led in
the sequence of events of how they wanted it written do it again I'd seen you about
half a page of writing on there by the time it was all over with and I think they had to rewrite that one something
wasn't right in true now let's start again you I do know that they rewrote the confession several
times but Michael's confession did not fit the known facts of the crime for example the confession said that Michael
dumped the bodies at a place called el Largo 20 mi from where the bodies were actually found and there were several
more discrepancies there's the statement in here that what he did was in essence he
choked one of the two girls there was no evidence of the breaking of some very tender bones in the neck that
necessarily would have been damaged if if in fact he had choked one of the girls to death there is uh this claim
that uh he went to Sharon Shaw's house well Sharon Shaw's family contradicts that so she wasn't home that day that
didn't occur I had statements from two girls signed by their parents as a witness that they talked to Sharon Shaw
Rene Johnson in Galveston between 8 and 9:00 there's no conceivable way that Sharon Shaw n Johnson could got another
ride and been in Webster riding around with m the law itself at the at the time that they've
gotten this confession next Michael self is sent to prison even though another man confesses
to the [Music] murders tell me about the girls in Webster Texas Michael self a gas station
attendant with below normal intelligence says that he was coerced into confession
confessing to two murders that he did not commit 3 days after his arrest he ignored his original attorney's advice
and agreed to take a lie detector test do you know who caused the death of the two girls yes in the course of giving
him the polygraph exam they say well now we've got this statement that you gave last Friday where you confessed to
killing these two girls is it true and he says yeah and the live detector says no it's not it's not true at all
yes sir Michael says that after taking the polygraph he was still so afraid of Chief Morris that he agreed to sign a
second confession it contained a new version of the deaths of Ronda and Sharon in his first confession Michael
said he struck Sharon with his fist and left the girls bodies in a culvert in the second he claimed that he hit Sharon
with a coke bottle and dumped their bodies in the bayou the second confession also says that Michael
stripped the murdered girls of their clothing and tossed it along the highway in fact their clothing was found with
the remains along with unidentified car keys and a crucifix worn by Sharon there was a slight difference in
the two written confessions but all I had to do was offer in evidence the confession I want
to go with and if the facts the outline facts uh tended to support the elements of
this confession that's all I needed if the jury believed it while Michael awaited trial he was
visited by Dave Coburn who had become chief of police in nearby Cleveland Texas he pulled out his gun yes open it
up start pulling out five bullets one at time when he made that statement to me I
knew knew what had come down because a year prior I witnessed Don Mars taking one shell out of his revolver hiding it
placing five shells in front of a prisoner and playing rushian roulette with that prisoner threatening him and
there's no doubt in my mind that he did that to Michael Lord self and when it came to the trial I was prepared to go
in and make statements and I was never called I don't know whether he did the question r that number bottom line all
three confessions are consistent I'll kill the girls Michael self was convicted of
murder and sentenced to life in prison 3 years later the town of Webster was shocked when Chief Don Morris and
officer Tommy deal were arrested for bank robbery not only were they members of a criminal gang but they had been
holding up Banks During the period that they were questioning Michael both were sent to prison Jerry bernberg petitioned
the court and got Michael a new trial just 9 days before it was set to begin the defense got what looked like a gift
from Heaven he been bugging me for a long time I just wanted to get it off my chest it was Sharon Shaw and Renee
Johnson I'm the one that killed them a man told State prosecutor Douglas O'Brien that he not Michael self
murdered the girls what' you do with their bodies after you killed them I basically got the impression from him
that what he wanted to do was to get it off his chest and confess to the fact that he killed the girls but at the same
time not give information which would allow prosecution of him I tied him up with this this black cord and I I tied
him up and I just I put him in the water the statement by this individual indicated that he had tied their feet
with black cord something Michael S had never mentioned not founding any statement by Michael self that was the
secret fact that the police had held back all these years this guy knew it that guy was out of his
gourd he was he was a I don't know why he came forward I think he was unbalanced I don't remember exactly what
I did all right I don't remember exactly individual was clearly very troubled person with some flights to to to
psychosis but he knew the girls he lived in the same apartment complex with one of them and the most important thing of
all he knew about the black cord despite the surprise confession and the dubious credibility of Don Morris
and Tommy deal Michael's conviction was upheld they have no coating evidence whatsoever nothing to tie him to any
murders or to even being seen with these girls except this which is not worth papers wrote on if he
were try today uh naturally some of these areas would be clarified these particular
points we're talking about we go back and spend more time and send better investigators out and make our decision
as to whether prosecut or not Michael S was never released from prison the US Supreme Court refused to
consider his request for a new trial and he was repeatedly denied parole he died
of cancer while behind bars he was just 53 years old next the search for the terrorist
who killed five people with [Music] Anthrax Trenton New Jersey Tuesday October 16th
2001 Norma Wallace reports for work at the post office Nora isn't feeling well and thinks that it might be the flu but
as the day wears on she becomes more and more sick she can barely breathe 200 mil away in Washington DC
another postal worker Leroy Richmond suffers from nearly identical symptoms he too becomes extremely
ill both Norma and Leroy are hospitalized their conditions growing worse by the hour they seem to be slowly
suffocating to death and doctors can't figure out why but after conducting a series of tests they finally come up
with a diagnosis Anthrax poisoning like millions of other Americans Leroy and Norma were aware that Anthrax had
killed the man in Florida just days earlier and now they were suffering from the most deadly form of the disease
fatal 95% of the time who would commit such a crime and why someone somewhere in the world had
access to the deadly bacterium that causes Anthrax they had the knowledge to work with it and a location suitable for
its handling was it a single person or was it a group where were they located and what were their motives for a nation
that was still reeling from the 9/11 terrorist attacks it seemed nearly impossible to
comprehend the anthrax Terror plot came to light on October 5th 2001 in boka Ron
Florida 63-year-old Robert Stevens a photo editor for the Sun newspaper died after he was exposed to Anthrax spores
experts believe they came from a letter that was opened but the letter was thrown away its Origins
unknown we don't have a crime scene in the traditional sense we don't have witnesses and we really don't have any
anyone that we can call and inform it at this point that same week in Manhattan NBC
News and the New York Post received Anthrax tainted letters it is clear that the terrorists
responsible for these attacks intended to use this Anthrax as a weapon but this time there was a clue
postmarks on the envelopes from Trenton New Jersey FBI agents checked every mailbox in town for traces of Anthrax
they found none October 99th 2001 Washington DC two more letters laced with Anthrax once again
they were postmarked Trenton New Jersey this time politicians were the targets senators tond dasel and Patrick Ley at
their offices the letters contained a form of Anthrax so pure and concentrated it was termed weapons grade this
dangerous dangerous stuff it was estimated that two trillion spores went into each of those envelopes
which would have been 2 G one envelope may have had 100 million lethal doses under the right conditions just
two gs of Anthrax could potentially wipe out one3 of the US population notes that came in the
envelopes were so similar and handr they had to come from the same source did references to 9/11 death to Israel and
Allah is great point to Arab terrorists or to someone who wanted investigators to think Arab extremists were
involved we are looking at three broad areas the first being International terrorists domestic terrorism we're
looking at some of the individuals within the United States and then we're looking at the Lone Wolf as well
by October 20th puler worker Norma Wallace was fighting for her life her temperature had soared to above 100 she
was in shock the anthrax spores were releasing a lethal toxin causing blood vessels to break and the bacteria to
pulse through her bloodstream I felt like I was dying I felt like I couldn't breathe once the
spores enter your lungs they actually attack the tissues and and the lymph nodes and causes the uh Anthrax to
actually um take possession of your body Leroy Richmond was also critical he was in excruciating pain as his lungs
filled with fluid doctors knew their most powerful drugs were rarely effective in fighting
Anthrax I think I was about as near death than as that ever was going to get my breathing had become so shallow that
I was accidentally panting like a dog would breathe and I heard a couple guys say
now he's not going to last for a couple hours and that'll be it for him but how did two male sorters at two
different post offices become infected in the first place the sheer speed of 30,000 envelopes per hour flying through
a male sorter could send millions of Anthrax spores into the air routine maintenance using air blowers only
increase the ch chance of infection I looked up and saw this dust and this this s and stuff coming out of
the machine and I just looked up oh my God and I said like that and probably that instance I may have inheld the
spores miraculously Nora and Leroy survived their hering ordeals but four other Anthrax victims weren't so lucky
bringing the death toll to five in Washington DC Leroy's coworker Thomas Morris and Joseph kersen in New
York City Hospital worker Kathy No 3 weeks later arly lungren in Derby Connecticut in May 2002 the genetic
Fingerprints of the anthrax spores reveal that they came from one of the military's top secret research Labs
perhaps the anthrax was stolen but maybe the attacks were actually committed by someone who worked with Anthrax spores
at one of these facilities loading these letters with Anthrax required specific expertise in other words it couldn't be
done uh in your basement uh or your garage unless you had some specific equipment we are in the middle of an
exhaustive national International investigation we've interviewed over 5,000 people already uh We've issued
well in excess of 1300 subpoenas and every little piece of the puzzle helps update on July 27 2008 a government
scientist named Bruce Ivans was rushed to a Maryland Hospital suffering from a massive overdose of prescription drugs
he died 2 Days Later shortly after the FBI announced that Dr Ivans had been the prime suspect in the anthrax Terror of
2001 one of the country's leading Anthrax researchers Dr Ivans had helped investigate the attacks that killed five
Americans and terrorized the nation but Ivans eventually became a suspect himself and according to the FBI there
is no doubt that he was the anthrax killer the case is officially closed though a motive for Dr Ivan's alleged
crimes has not been [Music] established next a couple says that a Friendly Ghost save their home from
Hurricane [Music] Hugo Paulie's Island South Carolina l late summer 1822 according to Legend a wealthy young
planter rode with his servant along the dunes of a deserted Beach his destination was his fiance's
Plantation the wedding was just a few days away you you by the time he could be pulled out of the marsh it was too late
the young man was dead at the plantation the bride to be heard the tragic news Rachel yes papa it's James he was riding
and he fell in the marsh he died in the fall according to Legend the girl often wandered the shores alone in morning one
day she noticed a shadowy figure standing on the beach that night her fiance came to her in a
dream and whispered an urgent warning play the island the wind is coming the wind she and her parents left the next
day just before a hurricane slammed into the island the girl her family and even
their Plantation were spared they call him the gray man and over the years the ghostly figure has been seen
many times some say that whenever he appears the homes of those who have seen him are spared from destruction is this
just a fairy tale or is it evidence that ghosts really do exist you see for yourself through the years there have
been numbers of different story is often in the newspaper after a storm and in 1954 a man who lived in Georgetown at
had a summer home at Paula Island saw the gry man before Hurrican Hazel his home was so protected that Beach Towers
that they had left hanging on the railing of the porch was still there after the storm well I was here in
Hurricane Hazel so it's very hard for me to believe that beach tows could have remained on that railing and not have
been blown away but they did Hurricane Hazel had left the southern Atlantic Coast in Ruins 95 people were killed and
over 1,800 homes were destroyed for the next 35 years the killer winds stayed clear of Paulie's Island and the grey
man came to be regarded by locals as their own Guardian Angel when he appears to you you're very blessed and fortunate
your house will be saved and so I think um it's strange how people seem to have a sense of fear about ghost and yet The
Gray Man and is a benign and kindly person who helps people when he comes and appeals to
them September 1989 after ravaging the Caribbean Hurricane Hugo slammed into South
Carolina its winds reached speeds of more than 135 mph thousands were forced to leave from
their homes in South Carolina alone there was close to 5 billion worth of damage over
9,000 homes were destroyed Paulie's Island was ESP especially heit it practically destroyed Paula's
Island it destroyed 14 houses in our section ours was left standing as we went in I was so happy to
find everything just like I had left it the papers that we had on the counter still there even though the front door
had blown open there was no evidence of any water or anything inside and the house was
intact even the uh the little pictures and things were still on refri refrigerator they weren't uh weren't
even blown off Jim and CLA recalled a haunting encounter that occurred 2 days before
Hugo struck we were taking a walk late in the afternoon which we usually do and uh you see so many people walking on the
beach at this time of the day that particular afternoon we only saw the one and he was coming directly told us when
I got within speaking distance I decided Well you always speak to people whether
you know I'm or not so I raised my hand to say uh hi uh beautiful evening or beautiful night or whatever and uh he
disappeared where did he go I don't know how to explain it because an eie thing like that you know uh but of course I
didn't worry too much about it because I said well I was just seeing things but I'm sure that he was there and when I
started to speak he wasn't there so I didn't know it was gry man I just thought it was someone on the beach
until he disappeared did I can't explain our good vtune except through the presence of the gray
man and the Lord of course who may have used the gray man I can't think of any way that you
could rationalize the saving of our house except it had to be a miracle I never did believe too much in
ghost I have changed my outlook I believe there there are ghost after seeing a ghost you got to believe it you
know next the mysterious case of two friends who vanished Without a Trace is finally
solved and drug dealers take revenge on a woman who tries to run them out of her
neighborhood [Music] previously we told you about Bill Rundle and Tracy Kenley two friends who went
for a drive near Hastings Nebraska and then seemed to vanish Into Thin Air that afternoon they had visited
Tracy's parents 38 mi from Hastings what do you do Bill we never talked about where they were going when
they left or what they were going to do I guess we felt that she'd make it home safe
around 11:00 p.m. Tracy called her boyfriend and made plans to meet him at the local bar at 12:30 she never showed
up neither She nor Bill were ever heard from again using cell phone records and transmission signals police pinpointed
Tracy's location at the time of the call it was a junction 16 m east of Hastings
but a 30 squ m search of the area turned up nothing police began to wonder if Bill and Tracy had run away
together they didn't run away I I feel that in my heart because neither one of them took their toothbrush neither one
took their uh any change of clothing there has been no evidence uh as far as their credit cards ATMs phones have ever
been powered up from the day they disappeared no evidence has led us in that direction that they're still out
there another theory was that they had met with Foul Play Nebraska is an area where you
travel through to get from the Easter the West there's always a possibility of somebody coming through the area that
may have been a a more severe criminal than we're normally used to we need some kind of clue we have no
clue there has been nothing it's just like they just disappeared [Music] update 2 years after Tracy and Bill
vanished drought conditions lowered the level of a pond near the road where they
were driving a farm worker noticed the outline of a car in the pond and contacted police Tracy and Bill's bodies
were found inside police theorized that they got lost and when they tried to turn around on the narrow road Bill's
Jeep went into the pound investigators have ruled out Foul [Music] Play the city of East Pao Alto
California was a nice working class town but then drug traffickers moved in fed up a resident named CW took a stand
against the criminals it almost cost CW her life 9 yeah me the police my mother shot do
you know who shot her I don't know we went in a house somebody deliver late on New Year's Eve
paramedics and police responded to a 911 call a 60-year-old woman had been shot in the stomach unknown gunmen had fired
35 rounds of ammunition into her house and car the victim was CW rowy a retired phone compy employee who had lived in
the area with her son Darnell for 23 years the attack was the culmination of a three-year Campaign Of Terror against
CW by a group of young drug dealers their customers were often affluent residents from the surrounding
communities the drug dealing on our street was very much like a drive up Bank window they drive drive up the dope
dealers will rush to the car in a total frenzy of competition with one another trying to get the sale and it continue
like that day and night CW decided it was time to take action the first confrontation came when
Teenage drug dealers parked their cars in front of her house excuse me young man do you have any business with me
here L lady lady you just taking care of little business we be here you man you if you don't have business with
me I'd really like you to move your car lady I'm not moving I will be taking your license number and giving it to the
police CW frequently reported the young traffickers but the understaff local police could not handle the enormous
problem I've always felt that your home is your castle and what you do in your home is your business but when they
bring their drugs out in front of my house in the streets that makes it my business and I don't do that kind of
business on another occasion CW was physically threatened what's up old B we going to blow your damn house up you see
what I'm saying and I said to him are you going to make sure that I'm in it and I looked up and saw a police officer
sitting directly across the street yeah you better watch your back straight up officer did you hear what the young man
said to me he threatened to blow up my house you wish to make a citizen the rest yes I do you do wish I do wish to
so we did and he took him off but he was back within a matter of minutes things only got worse over the
next 18 months During certain hours of the day the streets resembled a rush hour traffic Jam in their off hours the
dealers used CW's front curb as their personal parking lot my car you see me park it there act stupid I would like to
why my car somebody else move car and then the confrontation suddenly turned [Music]
violent he picked up a piece of wood and I was infuriated and I said to myself this is stupid so I started back across
the street and they start say yeah go call the police after getting to the police
station the boy was on his way back home before I even finished with the police report you guys are going to pay for
this 2 months later CW was involved in another confrontation Chris Thomas a new neighbor was attacked when he came to
her defense they cut him very badly in the face they had to take him to to the hospital and
get stitches and uh someone called the police police arrested the young man who had attacked the neighbor for the next
10 days things were quiet until New Year's Eve on New Year's Eve in East pal Alto
for some strange reason a lot of citizens like to shoot guns uh they just shoot up in the
air at midnight CW was awakened by the gunfire I heard all of the shooting and I looked up at the clock
and I said oh they're just celebrating New Year's Eve right so I got up and then I went in the
living room I noticed across the street three young men they were just standing around talking and there weren't in
their cars coming up and down the street at that particular [Music] time I would say about 20 minutes after
midnight it had all quieted down all of a sudden I heard all these shots I hit the floor at that time I was
about to get up and I heard my mother scream in pain CW was shot in the stomach her son immediately called for
help I think the attack on my house was a planned attack and they were planning to kill us my mother's been
shot the police arrived within minutes they recovered shell casings from three weapons a 38 caliber revolver a 380
semi-automatic pistol and an assault weapon possibly an Uzi the police did their initial investigations and then
called in the FBI we know that there were three to four individuals who were responsible
for firing these rounds into the home of Mrs Rody this is a neighborhood that has
been somewhat paralyzed because of the amount of violence that has been generated from those who took a stance
to come forward and say no more to date no suspects have been identified but even though the case
remains unsolved the attack has rallied the neighborhood a group of mothers took
charge of the local park and drove out the drug dealers they were successful but they know it is only the first step
on a long road I went by a couple of Saturdays ago and just observe the children out there
playing and it was such a beautiful sight and it made me feel so good it brought tears to my eyes so it's looking
better it didn't all happen in one day and I don't expect it all to change in one day but I do see the beginning of a
change and and the future looks bright and I am hopeful neighborhood residents are still
still hoping CW's attackers can be brought to Justice if you have any information
please log on to our website at uno.com [Music] [Music]

This, Episode includes: Russian Roulette, Anthrax, Friendly Ghost, Update: Vanished in the Heartland and Scare Tactics.

Brief Summary

A man wrongfully convicted of murder, anthrax attacks post-9/11, and a ghost that protects homes from hurricanes are featured in this episode.

Key points

Confession Under Duress. Michael Self claims he was coerced into confessing to murders he didn't commit.
Surprising Confession. A man claims he killed the girls, revealing details unknown to Michael Self.
Anthrax Terror Strikes. Two postal workers fall critically ill from Anthrax poisoning, raising alarms nationwide.
The Gray Man's Legend. The gray man is said to protect homes from hurricanes, becoming a local guardian angel.
Tragic Disappearance. Two friends vanish without a trace, leading to a two-year search that ends in tragedy.
CW's Stand Against Crime. CW bravely confronts drug dealers in her neighborhood, facing violence and threats.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I did not kill Sharon Shaw and Renee Johnson.

Michael Self's claim of innocence.

2:41WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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