Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 7, Episode 12 | Forensic Files

[Music] Next on Unsolved Mysteries, a young woman is brutally murdered in a secluded
field. What the killers don't know is that there is a witness to their crime. Two patients nearly die after a
nurse poisons their IVs. Will she be caught before she strikes again? A man accused of stealing minerals from
the government vanishes while scuba diving. The FBI believes that he is still alive. And the surprising identity of a
serial rapist who eluded police for more than 20 years. Five fascinating mysteries, some
just waiting to be solved. I'm Dennis Fina and this is Unsolved Mysteries. Heat. Heat.
[Music] [Music] Pomona, California. Rehab one. Dr. Austin to rehab a problem in 2011. A medical emergency at a
rehabilitation center. Two patients are in acute distress. One of the patients was definitely
flushed, definitely having difficulty breathing, and the other patient was unconscious. She didn't respond to me at
all. Let's go get the supervisor now. I had seen him the night before, and they were fine. There was nothing wrong with
them, you know, uh other than needing their medication, you know, they looked really well. Just laying. It's got the
nursing supervisor down here now. Okay. The patients have been receiving intravenous antibiotics for similar
infections. As the staff works to stabilize them, nursing supervisor Lzette Nukita remains calm. But Aunt
Gregory, the director of nursing, is alarmed from the start. I knew that we had something very seriously wrong here.
There was no way that this could be a coincidence that this happened to these patients that that they had the same
reaction from this medication at the same time. Paul, I need you to take those IVs and
bring them. The patients are rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment.
Both have insulin shock. Both survive, but as a precaution, every IV bag in the facility is confiscated for
analysis. Hospital officials were stunned to find that a total of 16 IV bags had been contaminated with
potentially lethal doses of insulin. Worse still, it appeared to be intentional. The FBI was called in to
investigate. One of the first people the FBI questioned was Lette Nikita, the nurse
who had administered the IVs. She was a nursing supervisor on duty that night. Nukita had worked at the facility for 6
months. In that time, she had earned a reputation as a hardworking nurse who took her job very seriously. Now, where
are the IVs kept? They're kept in a storage room right down the hall. Who has access to? Only a handful of people
had access to the medical supplies. Nikita was one of them. She said that she noticed nothing suspicious about any
of the IV bags. If you have anything to add, please don't hesitate to call me. Here's my card. It was determined that
the product tampering had occurred at the rehabilitation center. Lette Nikita was working during that shift and the
supervisor on duty and we decided to call her in for another interview. Is your name Lette Nikita? Yes. 6 months
into the investigation, Lette Nikita agreed to take a polygraph test. Midway through, she dropped a bombshell. Did
you cause insulin to be introduced into the IVs of two patients on the morning of February 8th, 1991?
Yes. Are you telling me now you did it? Yes. When I interviewed Lette, she told me that she injected the IVs with
insulin to cause a reaction so that an investigation would be conducted and ultimately she could turn herself in.
Why? Because I have had these terrible headaches and I haven't been able to get the help that I needed and I have gone
to these doctors and I have gone to the hospital and I have taken these pills and nothing. She told me that she had
read or heard that the best medical care available was for people in prison or jail and that if she was ultimately
arrested and incarcerated, she would receive the treatment that she needed for her headaches. She was playing
basically Russian roulette with these people's lives. There's no way that you could measure the amount of insulin to
be given through those IVs and know that you're going to make them severely sick
without killing them. Nikita was arrested in jail while awaiting trial. Is it okay if I get a
drink of water? As far as anyone remembers, she never requested treatment for her headaches. It was at jail that
Nukita met a 40-year-old prisoner who we'll call Steve. He had been convicted of smuggling heroin.
I want you to promise me one thing. I'm being transferred up to Lombok next week. Great. Steve and Nikita managed to
carry on a jail house romance. They met several times and began to exchange letters. Go ahead. I'll see you later.
Steve was transferred to the federal prison in Lampaul, California. A month before that, Nukita
had been released on bail. She moved in with her parents to await trial and finally sought treatment for her
headaches. Nukita and Steve stayed in close contact through letters and phone calls.
Hello. She was obsessed with this man who was always writing to her long letters and calling on the phone. Yeah,
I was just writing. I think she didn't have any hope and she was devastated with the idea of going back to prison
and she used to say, "Well, he's the only one that loved me. By virtue of the authority vested in me,
Nikita and Steve were married in the prison chapel at Lamp. 3 months later, Nikita told her
family that she was going to Lamp and would soon return. What she didn't tell them was
that her husband was going to be released on parole later that same day. The FBI believes that Nikita picked
Steve up at the prison gate and they ran off to start a new life together. Two months later, Nukita's
family received this letter written in Spanish and postmarked Oxnard, California. Nukita wrote, "I love you
and please forgive me for everything I have done." She also mentioned that she was working in a school as both a cook
and a nurse. The fact that Lette is out there somewhere and has a good chance of
possibly working as a healthcare worker really scares me because if she has done
this once, what's to say that under similar circumstances, she won't do this again?
[Applause] Update. 3 years after they disappeared, Lucet Nukita and Steve were tracked down
and arrested in Porto Viarda, Mexico, Steve was returned to prison for violating the conditions of his parole.
He has since been released. Nukita pleaded guilty to six counts of tampering with medical products and was
sentenced to 18 years in prison. She served her time and has been released. Next, police need your help to find a
mysterious man who witnessed a brutal murder in Florida. [Music] Miami, Florida.
911 police on fire. A man calls 911 and tells a police operator that he had just witnessed a
horrible crime in the town of Belglade, 80 miles to the north. [Music] In a rushed, nervous voice, the caller
says that he was hunting illegally in a sugarcane field when he heard a car in the distance.
The man says that as he ran to hide, a blue Ford Bronco pulled up. A man and a woman got out. She called him
Ricardito. What you are about to hear is a translation of the eyewitness's phone
call to the police. Give me that money. They started to argue, the girl and him.
Give me the money. I'll get it for you. I promise I'm going to kill you. It appeared to be a drug problem. You don't
believe me? You see what I can do? He was telling her to give him the money. I don't have the money. She told him she
could not give him the money yet. There were two of them. The young man appeared to be Cuban and the other
Mexican by the way he spoke. I'm going to kill you. Give me the money. She was shouting, "Ricardito, don't kill me,
Ricardito. Give me the money." After he killed her, he dragged her away. So I got down on my knees because
I thought if this person sees me, they're going to kill me, too. Then the Bronco pulled away. I saw a
seven and a two on the license plate. Then I left because I was scared. But later I thought it's a
crime. Perhaps fearing for his safety. The eyewitness waited more than a week before contacting police. He never
revealed his identity, but he did provide them with enough clues to begin their investigation.
The caller said that the sugarce field was behind a building. shaped like a giant ice cream cone. The Palm Beach
County Sheriff's Department sent a detective to investigate. I saw like a small brown object in the
tall grass area. And after I got there, I realized it was the body of a female at that
time, but the body was in a state at which at that time I couldn't determine which race it was. It was a very heinous
crime. It was very violent. Uh I believe that the suspect had a lot of disregard
for a human life. She had been laying there for approximately a week, maybe a few days
longer. She had passed a decomposition stage and she had started to get into mummification. Her right thumb print was
the only print left. The majority of her fingers had already turned to skeleton.
And with that right thumb print, we were able to make an identification and prove
that she was in fact Rebecca Young. Rebecca Young was a 21-year-old resident of Belgrade. Her mother had also been
murdered when Rebecca was just 12 years old. At that time, Rebecca went to live with her
[Music] aunt. Police looked into Rebecca's background and discovered that she had
become involved with a man known to be a petty criminal. She had gotten hooked up with a person
who had gotten her into a different type of life than she was accustomed to. He started introducing her to the drug
scene and prostitution and things of this nature. He had beat her up on more than one occasion and had intimidated
her and threatened her into this type of lifestyle. Police have determined that the man is
not a suspect in Rebecca's murder, but they do believe that his activities may have led to her death. This person may
have robbed the client without Rebecca's knowledge that he was going to do this.
Rebecca may have suffered the consequences as a result of his actions. 3 weeks after Rebecca's murder, the
sheriff's department arrested a possible suspect. He was a local man who reportedly told a prostitute that he had
killed a black woman. The police suspected that the man was drunk or stoned at the time they pulled him.
Would you stop me for sir? Step to the back. I know what you guys want right there. Before I could interview him, he
told me that I wanted to talk to him about a murder. And when I told him no, I wanted to talk to him about the
prostitute he had been out with, he said, "I don't want to talk to you. I want an attorney." And at that point
where we didn't have any further evidence that he was involved in this, I had to release him.
Even though the suspect was released, police believe that he was somehow involved in Rebecca's murder. But they
need proof. They're searching for the eyewitness who originally called to report the crime. Not much is known
about the man except that his name is Antonio. He said that he called from a pay phone because he didn't have a line
at home. Judging from Antonio's accent, police believe that he was born in Cuba.
This is a portion of the actual tape recording of Antonio's telephone call. [Applause]
The police and Rebecca's friends and family hope that Antonio will come forward. If you have any information,
please log on to our website at unsolved.com. [Music] Next, a wealthy ay dies, leaving a
billion dollar estate. Some say that she was murdered for her money. Los Angeles,
California, March 4th, 1993. I want you to understand that I have no family. 80-year-old Doris Duke is about to
change the terms of her will. Long time ago, but hers is not just any will. Doris is one of the wealthiest women in
America, worth more than$1.2 billion. Waiting in the wings is the person who arguably stands to gain the
most from Doris's death. her butler, Bernard Laferty. As sole executive of the estate, Laferty would be given a fee
estimated to be $5 million. In addition, he would receive $500,000 a year for life. I cannot believe she would have
put that kind of trust into Bernard. It's just not possible. There had to be some collusion. There was a manipulation
between, in my feeling, between Bernard Laferty, the doctors, and the lawyers. The last will and testament of Doris
Duke was bitterly contested. There were even allegations of murder. It was a sorted end to a charmed life. Doris Duke
was the only child of tobacco tycoon James Buchanan Duke. She was just 12 years old when her father died, leaving
her $100 million, a third of his holdings. The press called her the richest girl in the
world. As Doris grew up, her fortune grew, too, from millions to over a billion. She personified the rich during
the Great Depression. She was a cross between um Princess Dye and Madonna in the press. People treated her as if she
were a major major star. Doris Duke led an eccentric and lavish lifestyle. She was married twice, divorced twice, and
reportedly had dozens of lovers. Among them, movie idol Errol Flynn, General George S. Patton, and Duke Kahanamoko,
the Olympic swimming champion. Kahanamoko allegedly fathered Doris's only child, a daughter who died at birth
in 1940. Doris was 27. It wasn't until Doris was well past 70 that she adopted a daughter, a
35-year-old woman named Shandi Hefner. In 1987, Doris changed her will and named
Shandi as executive. Eventually, she and Chandi had a falling out, but not before
Shandi introduced Doris to Bernard Laferty. He was an alcoholic. He had a tremendous
drinking problem. Doris told other family members that she was pretty disgusted with him. Uh that's why so
many family members were so surprised when in the end he was in control. In 1991, Doris Duke removed Shandandy as
executive and replaced her with Dr. Harry Demopoulos who built himself as a longevity specialist.
When I went over with her who were the list of possible candidates for executive, Bernard wasn't even on the B
list. He wasn't on the A list. He wasn't on the B list. Within a year, that had changed. Dr.
Demopoulos was dropped and replaced by Duke's accountant, who was then replaced by Duke's half nephew along with the
butler, Bernard Laferty. When Harry Demopoulos and I heard that, we said, "This isn't the misstuke that we know.
This cannot have been a Miss Duke who was acting in her right mind at the time. On Wednesday,
some say that Laferty was a natural choice for co-executive. They claimed that he was Doris's closest adviser and
looked out for her best interests, but Doris's former housekeeper and her personal chef, who both sued Laferty for
harassment and breach of contract disagree. Bernard is definitely a manipulator. Bernard let people in and
let them out. He picked up the phone. So after a while, he had control of who got
in touch with Miss Duke. He would instruct other employees of Miss Duke to uh have conversations with Miss Duke
about how devoted he was to her. He was trying to win her trusts and affections in an obsessive kind of way. Everything
seems to be fine for now. At the age of 78 and within days of naming Laferdy as co-executive, Doris decided to have
extensive cosmetic surgery. The surgeon, Dr. Harry Glassman, was reportedly recommended by
Lavity. 2 days after the surgery, while on medication, Doris fell at home and broke her hip. Dr. Glassman referred her
to Beverly Hills physician, Dr. Charles Kivowitz, who became her primary physician. Over the next year, Doris was
in and out of the hospital several times. Following March, she was suffering from episodes of mild
confusion. Around this time, she apparently decided to change her will and to give Bernard Laferty power of
attorney. Papers were drawn up by attorneys who had been recommended by Dr. Glman. One of them, Bill Doyle,
helped Doris at the signing. Miss Duke, we've prepared your will. The signing took place at Cedar Sinai Medical
Center. Anne Bastitch was in the room and claims that Doris did not know, but she was signing. She couldn't really
sign it. She just sat there like a wooden statue. And Bill Doyle lifted the will up and put his briefcase underneath
to raise it up. And she still couldn't sign it. So he slid his hand under her wrist and sort of propelled her hand
along so she could scroll her name. And I stood there and I was totally shocked.
I thought this is there's something really wrong here. Very good. Thank you very much, mister. In a sworn
deposition, Bill Doyle claims that Doris was of sound mind and knew what she was
doing. A few weeks later, Laferty was named sole individual executive of the estate. He went on a spending spree.
$60,000 on Armani clothing, $25,000 on jewelry, and several thousand more on flowers and gifts, all charged to the
estate. In July of 1993, Doris suffered a stroke. She returned home after 2 months
in the hospital. Her bedroom had been turned into a makeshift intensive care unit with 24-hour nursing supervision.
Miss Duke. Miss Duke. According to Dr. Kowitz, Doris's condition began to deteriorate, but a nurse named Tammy
Payet stated the following in a signed affidavit. Within a short period of time after she
arrived home, Miss Duke's physical therapy was cut off and she was placed on a massive sedation regime by Dr.
Kivitz at the request of Bernard Laferty, Miss Duke's butler. But Tammy Payet's credibility
has been called into question. She was convicted of stealing nearly a million dollars in valuables from several of her
patients and was sentenced to 8 years in prison. On October 7th, Dr. Kibwitz began to
administer the painkiller Demoral by injection, even though Tammy Payet claims that Doris was not in pain. Payet
also says Doris's request to return to the hospital was ignored. They've got her home. She's
signed the wills. If they let her out, if they let her meet a friend, if they let somebody come in there and they
rehab her, she may sign other wills. This is the time for Miss Duke to die. She wanted to remain comfortable
and pain-free there in her house. That's where if she was going to die, she wanted to die. And Dr. Kwitz followed
her orders. He would have followed any orders she had given him. 10 days later, a package was delivered
to the Duke mansion addressed to one of the nurses. And it was from a drug company somewhere. And Bernard jumped
out of the chair and and he ran over and he grabbed the box and he looked at it and then took it downstairs and then a
few minutes later he he could make oh Miss Duke is going to die tonight. That afternoon Dr. Kibowitz
substituted morphine for demoral. In her affidavit, Tammy Payet made note of Lafert's reaction to the day's events.
Later that evening, Bernard became very excited and impatient because Miss Duke was lingering and called Dr. Kivowitz,
explaining that Miss Duke had not expired. Records indicate that Dr. Kivowitz returned to the mansion and
administered another 10 mg of morphine. He recorded that Doris was in a state of
advanced pulmonary edema, a fluid buildup in the lungs. Everybody there knew that Miss Duke was
going to be dying with the addition of that morphine. And you can see the lockstep relationship. Increased doses.
Drip, drip, drip into Miss Duke. Down goes the breathing. Down goes the heartbeat until we're at a flat line.
Miss Duke, can you hear me? By 400 a.m. on October 28th, Doris Duke was clinging
to life. Miss Duke, can you hear me? According to the records written by attending nurse Tammy Payet, Dr.
Kivawitz phoned and increased the morphine dosage. I asked in the deposition of the doctor, was she in
pain? Of course not. She's unconscious and yet we're increasing the morphine. There's no reason other than pain or
terminating a patient to increase the morphine at that point. And that's what happened with Miss Duke. Dr. Kwood did
everything he could to keep her painfree and comfortable. And whenever he gave nurse Payet the discretion to increase
the medication if necessary, nurse Payet increased it far beyond what he authorized, then claimed 18 months later
that he was the one overmedicating her. It doesn't make sense. At 5:15 a.m., according to notes from
another nurse, a 100 mgram dose of Demoril was added to the morphine drip by quote telephone order of Dr.
blastsman per Dr. Kivowitz. One hour later, Doris Duke was dead. I believe that woman wanted every
chance possible to live. She had a strong constitution and a will. And I know she wanted to live and I know they
killed her. [Music] Update. After a prolonged investigation, the Los Angeles DA's office found no
credible evidence of criminal homicide in the death of Doris Duke. The civil suit challenging Duke's will filed by
her former housekeeper and cook was also dismissed. Bernard Laferdy has since died.
Next, a surprising update on a rapist and murderer who terrorized women in upstate New York. And later, a
businessman vanishes after scamming the government out of millions of dollars. [Music]
Previously, we reported on a serial rapist who had been targeting young women in and around Buffalo, New York
for more than a decade. One of his first known victims was a 17-year-old girl taking a shortcut to school. Shut up.
Don't look at my face. He started dragging me back into the woods and then he started strangling
me and then I thought that's it. I was going to die. After sexually assaulting the young
woman, the rapist fled. He was described as a short, stocky, possibly Hispanic man with a mustache in his
mid30s. His next victim was a 16-year-old girl walking along some isolated railroad tracks.
The same individual double wrapped a rope around her neck, gained control of her, and took her to the bush area
behind me. He forced her to place tape over her eyes. He bound her and sexually assaulted
her. Over several months, the attacker assaulted six women using the same method before letting them go. His
seventh victim wasn't so lucky. 22-year-old Linda Yalam was a student at the State University in Buffalo when she
was attacked. Linda was left to suffocate in the woods, her mouth and nose wrapped
tight with duct tape. It was premeditated murder. He planned on killing her when he grabbed her that
day. Once he put that tape over her nose and her mouth, there was no chance for survival.
After four years, the man police call the bike path rapist struck again. A 14-year-old was his eighth known
victim. This guy strikes so infrequently. He's very hard to profile. Very, very difficult. He's either got
tremendous self-control or else he's hitting in other parts of the country that we're not aware of.
Update. The so-called bike path rapist has been identified as 49year-old Eltemio Sanchez of Chick Taga, New York,
a suburb of Buffalo. Sanchez was a married churchgoing little league coach with two grown children. Acting on a
tip, police had put Sanchez under surveillance. They obtained DNA from a drinking glass at a restaurant Sanchez
had visited and matched it with DNA found at some of the crime scenes. A DNA match also links Sanchez to two earlier
sexual assaults for which another man was already serving time. In 1985, Anthony Caposi, who suffers from
schizophrenia, was convicted of raping two women and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. After 22 years behind bars,
Anthony was released and reunited with his family, who never doubted his innocence. By the time that Elteio
Sanchez was arrested, the statute of limitations had run out on the rape charges. Sanchez eventually plead guilty
to three counts of murder in the second degree and was sentenced to 75 years to life. An April day off the coast of
Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. Can you show me that hole? Raymond Young, his son Edward, and two friends had been
scuba diving since dawn. At 6:00 p.m., Raymond and Edward decided to take one final
dive. 20 minutes later, Edward surfaced alone in a panic. Help! Did you see my dad? No, I haven't seen him. The
peaceful outing became a crisis. Raymond Young was missing. A massive search turned up nothing and
Young's family assumed he had drowned, but authorities were convinced that Young was alive and well and that he had
staged his own disappearance. Raymond Young was a type of person who liked to gamble. He was a chance taker.
He spent millions of dollars in his activities. He liked to live the good lifestyle and he saw that he could make
big money fast. Raymond Young was a flashy self-made millionaire who owned and operated a wholesale fuel company on
Marco Island, Florida. Message was right. Opportunity of a decade. The company distributed diesel fuel for
offshore marine use because he supposedly sold to wholesalers only. Young was exempt from paying certain
federal taxes. But when customs officials found that millions of dollars were flowing in and out of Young's
personal bank accounts, they began to suspect that his real business was scamming the
government. In fact, Young had been selling his fuel to retail gas stations in Texas and pocketing the money he
should have been paying in taxes. About 40 cents per gallon sold. 40 cents a gallon may not seem like a
lot of money, but when you multiply that by the hundreds of thousands of gallons
that Ray Young was distributing, he could have uh in actuality of defrauded the government for in excess of $15
million. When the IRS and US Customs Service launched a joint investigation, Young began to liquidate his assets.
Eventually, he was charged with 17 counts of tax evasion. But Young left Florida while the investigation was
still underway. Several months later, he surfaced in New Orleans where federal agents set up a surveillance operation.
They saw Young's Mercedes parked near a luxury yacht which was being prepared for a voyage. And although the boat was
flying a foreign flag, records show that it belonged to Raymond Young. It is our
man. Let's get him. By all indications, Raymond did not think he was going to be found guilty on
these charges. I told all of his friends that he would not be convicted and felt
very confident that that would be the case. Ray, wait. Now, that was a totally unexpected verdict. Young could not have
been more wrong. He was found guilty on 16 counts. Counselor, I am not going to prison.
Even though Young faced up to 13 years in prison, he was granted bail to organize his personal and business
affairs. 2 days before his sentencing, he went scuba diving in the Gulf of Mexico and has not been seen
since. We do feel that he has millions of dollars at his disposal and he could live a very good lifestyle outside of
the United States wherever he pleased to live. He could be anywhere at this time
living a life of luxury. Update. 7 years after Raymond Young disappeared, the US Marshall Service
received a tip that he was living in San Jose, Costa Rica. Police there set up a
surveillance and after one failed attempt were finally able to capture him. Young fought extradition, but he
was eventually returned to the United States. 4 months later, he was sent to prison for his original conviction of 7
years. Raymond Young has since been released. Next, doctors are puzzled by a strange illness that has afflicted four
children in one family. Vallejo, California. Hey, bye. One February day, Christina
Smith returned home from a brownie meeting. Mommy, I don't feel good. Why don't you come over here and sit down by
me? I gave her medicine and I brought her upstairs. So, she stayed up during the night complaining of her sore legs
and stomach ache, which I actually thought it was due to the fact from the cold. The next morning, I thought it was
a good idea for Christina to sleep in. Just after breakfast, Christina's uncle, Joseph, stopped by for a short visit.
The children's in the living room. I went upstairs and I found Christina laying down. She opened her eyes and
looked at me and there was a glaze in her eyes. Christina, you better get out of here. There's something wrong with
Christina. Hurry up. I'm talking to her, but she's not hearing me. We took her to
the living room onto the couch, and at that time, we started uh examining her, asking her what's wrong, and I didn't
even feel like she knew where she was. By that time, her neck had swelled and she was having seizures.
Christina, wake up. At that moment, Tina's husband, Charles, arrived home from work.
I didn't know what was going on. So, I walked over and I looked into Christina's eyes and she looked
relatively unconscious. And your doctor, what's wrong? My daughter. Her family rushed Christina to
the nearest hospital. How long has she been like this? Oh, for about 2 hours. I knew she was real sick. You have a
seizure? I'm not sure. I was starting to become real, real frightened. We have an
unconscious child here. I don't know what's going on. We were trying to search our minds to
try to come up with what might have happened, but we had no answers. Christina Smith was racked by seizures
and her breathing was labored. Then she developed a fever and her temperature shot up to
105°. Finally, Christina lapsed into a coma. Christina is stable. She has had a massive seizure and she's no longer
seizing. We've given her medication. Doctors and Christina's parents had no idea what caused the sudden illness. But
they were afraid that it might be connected with what happened to 2-year-old Dominique, the youngest child
of Christina's uncle, Joseph. A year earlier, Dominique had also been rushed to the hospital after
suffering the same symptoms as Christina. Dominique fell into a coma and suffered severe brain damage. She
died just one month before Christina got sick. Doctors still have no idea what caused Dominique's death. I think the
scariest part was being that I was there once before. I didn't think that these doctors knew what was going on.
Okay, Christina, here we go. Got extremely high fever. Uh had great difficulty breathing. showed severe
abnormal movements of her body. Uh she had despite all efforts had remained in a nonresponsive coma state and that
carries a terribly terribly grave prognosis. How you doing? Fine. You look at a child and you think it's hopeless.
Many families stay away. In Tina's case and Charles, they came every day. We felt that maybe she could hear us and
she can fill us around her. There goes his ears in your ear. So, we decided to keep her life as busy as
possible while she laid there unconscious. Soon, Christina's room was filled with
getwell cards, posters, and her favorite toys. The hospital staff even organized
potluck dinners, which everyone ate in Christina's room. Despite all the attention, there was no improvement in
her condition. The doctors who were still baffled by the disease ordered more tests.
And after all those testing for months, they still did not locate her illness, what caused her to become ill. They
realized that she had suffered brain damage. So they told us that Christina would remain a vegetable for the rest of
her life. And that normally when a patient suffers brain damage, they don't recover.
It was felt at that time that she should be sent to an institution that could take care of her uh and just maintain
her in her comeoma state. The Smiths refused to give up hope. They decided to look after Christina at home.
Okay, Christina, it's time for your favorite TV show. When we brought Christina home, I was happy but then
scared, not knowing what might happen. Put your brakes on. Okay. And mommy's going to go right behind you on the
couch. The only thing I could do was just play it by ear and go with the emotions and how I felt for her care as
each day went on. But on this particular day, 6 weeks after Christina had come home, something
extraordinary happened. I worry. Without any apparent cause, Christina completely awakened from her
coma. And I didn't know what was going on. My heart dropped. I was so excited. I was in tears. It was incredible. You
know, I've never had a feeling like that. It was incredible. Christina's recovery was remarkable. She
began to move her arms and legs. Her speech improved, and she started the long fight back to health. Soon she was
enrolled in physical therapy. It was just an exciting, incredible change in a youngster who had been so desperately
ill. All the 30 years that I've been in this field, I've never seen a family or a situation exactly like this. It was
just just unique. This mystifying illness seems to be centered on Tina and Joseph's family. In total, three of
Christina's cousins have been afflicted. Two of them did not recover and died. In
my own medical experience, I've never seen anything uh to equal the devastation in this particular family.
And certainly, it it is one of the unsolved medical mysteries at this time. If there are any doctors or families who
know of similar cases, please log on to our website at unsolved.com. [Music] [Laughter]
[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]

Brief Summary

A nurse poisons patients, a murder witness is sought, and a wealthy heiress's death raises suspicions of foul play.

Key points

Nurse's Intentional Tampering. Lette Nikita injected insulin into IVs to provoke an investigation for her own treatment.
Murder Witness in Florida. A man witnesses a brutal murder and calls 911, fearing for his life.
Doris Duke's Will Controversy. Doris Duke's will is contested amid allegations of manipulation and murder.
Doris Duke's Tragic End. Doris Duke clings to life as morphine doses increase, leading to her death.
Christina's Miraculous Awakening. After weeks in a coma, Christina unexpectedly awakens, marking a remarkable recovery.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I have had these terrible headaches.

Lette Nikita explains her motive for tampering with IVs.

4:51WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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