Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 7, Episode 17 | Forensic Files

[Music] next on Unsolved Mysteries a forest Ranger's quiet life is thrown into chaos
when his family is attacked 25 year-old Michael Rosenblum vanishes on the side of a Pennsylvania
highway his family suspects a police coverer when a police officer is Gunn down in his own kitchen his partner vows
to find the killer also a deathbed miracle and a spontaneous recovery for these people
saved by the power of prayer these are stories that are guaranteed to surprise you I'm Dennis
finina and for the next hour it's Unsolved [Music] Mysteries [Music] just south of Pittsburgh in Baldwin
burrow p pania 30 volunteer firemen gather on a steep Bluff overlooking the mananga hila
River look for anything that you find out of the ORD at the suggestion of a psychic they are here to search for the
remains of Michael Rosen Blom a young Pittsburgh man who has been missing for more than 8 years for Michael's father
Maurice the search is one more desperate attempt to find out what happened to his
son who disappeared from a road that runs along the foot of the cliff there is not the slightest
possibility in my mind that he could be out there alive I pray that that one in 10 million
chance would happen I guess you always have some hope as long as I don't have a body there's
always hope Maurice Rosen blum's search has triggered mysterious phone calls the
discovery of forged documents and Revelations of official coverups it has even led to the firing of a police chief
what really did happen to Michael roseno during High School Michael began experimenting with drugs and soon became
a heavy user of prescription painkillers his life spun wildly out of control and his family struggled to help
him get back on track they insisted that he go to drug rehab let's get out of here don't worry
about a month after Michael was released from drug rehab he began behaving oddly
his mother found a bottle of painkillers in his bedroom and that was it she kicked him out Michael left with his
girlfriend Lisa in her car I said to Michael don't come back until you're completely off drugs until
you want to live your life the way you should and that's that's the way it is I've always faulted myself for that
and I probably will till I die that I didn't say okay well we'll try again maybe
tomorrow will be different but the next day wasn't different after a night of partying
Michael became extremely agitated he insisted I driving Lisa's car and then he left her stranded at a local gas
station Michael's last words were go to my parents house I'll see you there in 2
hours I figured well he took her car and he took off for a day or two then he'll
be back or he'll call we waited that night there were no calls I became seriously
worried my wife felt immediately that it was a terminal situation that he was dead I
didn't he would never have just left when he left there was money in his bank account his clothes were in his
closet and if he were going to have gone anywhere he would have said to us I plan
to do such and such and I'm going to take my money and go but all of that his money is still in his bank
account the following day the RO Ren blooms filed a missing person's Report with the Pittsburgh Police Department
you need a starting point any homicide case that your dead body is your starting point in this case the car
would have been the starting point so it's important we find the car as quickly as possible and then take the
steps of notifying the media for their help and asking the general public if anybody saw the boy who was in the car
they know what happened to him but after two weeks they had found nothing so Michael's father began his
own search he offered a reward for information posted flyers and traveled as far as California to find friends
Michael might have contacted I launched the investigation myself because I was concerned about
finding him and seeing if I couldn't put him back on the right track again 3 months later police in a
Pittsburgh sub subb notified Lisa that her car had been found official records show that the car had been impounded on
the very day that Michael vanished we couldn't believe that they had that car for 91 days absolutely
couldn't believe it the Pittsburgh Police had contacted every Police Department in this area looking for that
specific car and here that car was discovered in the police bonded tow yard Less Than 3 mi from where we're sitting
right [Music] now what happened the day Michael disappeared the More's father learned
the less he felt he knew according to police reports just 2 hours after Michael left Lisa a Baldwin
police unit found the car on River Road two of the tires were flat the keys were gone and the engine was
cool the car had been told to the Baldwin burough car impound where it remained resting on its bent tire rims
for the next 3 [Music] months one the question throws your whole investigation off if we start in
the beginning we knew that car was on River Road the whole picture would have changed
drastically if we had known that that car was found in Balwin that morning within ours I strongly believe we would
have known by now what had happened to Michael when they found the car after 91 days my immediate reaction was
that he was gone dead Maurice demanded an explanation the Baldwin police claimed that they'd
mailed Lisa a letter the day after the car was found saying they had impounded it Lisa says that she never received
it they eventually produced a copy of the letter dated the day after Michael disappeared but Lisa still insisted she
never received the letter from the Baldwin police in my opinion they deliberately misled the Pittsburgh
Police in the search assuming that my son was never even involved why didn't they search for the young lady that
owned the car around that same time Maurice claims that he received two Anonymous phone
calls the first one came in during the time that the car was gone you know they said that he was
arrested and I wrote it off as a crackpot hello hello after the car was found I received
a second telephone call just simply said that your son was arrested by the Baldwin
police click they were gone this was just the first first of many bizarre twists in Maurice's
agonizing search for his [Music] son up next a forge document points to a mysterious police coverup in the death
of Michael Rosen Maurice Rosen Bloom offered a reward for information about his missing
son Michael but after 5 months the only concrete Clues were the discovery of the
car that Michael had been driving and two Anonymous phone calls saying that Michael had been
arrested and then in a shocking turn of events the Baldwin police issued a warrant for Michael's arrest they
claimed that he was wanted in connection with a robbery that had taken place 2 and 1/2 months after he had vanished now
the big twist in this whole thing was that everybody talked to the people who were the victims of the robbery they
both told everybody from day one that the person that come iner was a white man and he had Aviator mirrored
sunglasses on that covered high above his eyebrows and down almost to the bridge of his nose so the only part they
actually could see would be the forehead and the chin line but yet the composite
was made without sunglasses there's no doubt in my mind that this composite was made from that first flyer put out on
Michael Rosenbloom back in Fe worry it's just too perfect one week after it was issued the
warrant was suddenly dismissed something very strange was going on in the buau of Baldwin where
the Baldwin police working to solve this missing person's case or were they trying to hide the truth a full inquiry
into the case cleared the police department of any wrongdoing but years later new evidence
emerged 6 and 1/2 years after his son disappeared Maurice received an unsigned letter it urged him to talk to a former
Baldwin police dispatcher named Margaret hasset the tip would ultimately lead to
accusations that the department headed by police chief Aldo gaburi had mishandled Michael's case Mr Rosen Bloom
showed me an anonymous letter that he had received indicating that if he contacted me I had information regarding
the U vehicle that the Baldwin police towed um I then told him that um approximately two or 3 months after the
vehicle had been towed um the chief of police ordered his clerk Fred Capell to type a letter uh notifying the owner of
the vehicle that it had been towed um and the letter was backd to uh February 15th the day after the vehicle was
Ted the chief's former clerk confirmed Margaret's disturbing story approximately May 20th the chief
told me to type a letter in reference to the car that was towed from River Road I never thought anything about it I
did what what I was told to do you know he's my boss so I did what he told me to do and I didn't uh
question it Fred Capell claims that after he typed the letter the chief ordered him to sign the name of Chester
Lombardi the senior officer at the River Road scene that day Lombardi is now deceased he had asked Chester Lombardi
to sign the letter and Chester refused to sign it because it was backdated so the chief told me to go
ahead and sign Chester Lombard's name to it but don't mail it he said put in a file and then that's what I
did based on these new Revelations Maurice wrote an angry letter to the Baldwin burough Council demanding an
investigation into what he thought was a coverup the council held a hearing on the matter and dismissed chief gaburi
for interfering with the investigation into Michael's disappearance when he was discharged he
appealed that to the Civil Service Commission and there conclusion was uh that the chief was not
guilty the Civil Service Commission voted to reinstate gaburi as police chief finding that there was no
misconduct they have never published a transcript of the hearings but clearly they did not believe Fred
Capelli why they didn't believe me because he the chief had friends on that Civil Service
Commission and they wouldn't believe me no matter what I said all I can say is this commission
rendered its decision strictly on the evidence and a testimony that was presented at the
hearing the time that I'll let this go is when it ends and it's not over yet it's not over
we're getting close but it's not over [Music] 8 years after he disappeared a bone
fragment and some scraps of clothing were found near river road the bone could not be identified but the pieces
of clothing match those Michael had been wearing I just felt sick I contended all
along that something had happened to them but the possibility that I might have proof in my pocket
makes you kind of sick that final proof was discovered 4 years later a hiker in the River Road
area found a piece of human skull and turned it into authorities Tess confirmed that it belonged to Michael
rosenblau after 12 years of searching and wondering Michael's parents were finally able to bury their son but for
them the agony isn't over they still desperately want to know how and why Michael
died if you have any information about the death of Michael Rosenblum please log on at
unsolved.com [Music] next decades after a police officer is murdered in his own kitchen there are
still no suspects only questions Cook County Illinois outside the Academy Theater the
atmosphere is electric it was the night of the Oscars and like millions of Americans Ralph
propest and his wife marleene settled down in front of the television to watch the
Stars while we were watching the Academy Awards on TV that night and I must have
dozed off and the next thing I knew there was this loud explosion that woke me up I saw this cloud of smoke from behind
the television set when I went in the kitchen Ralph was laying on the kitchen floor Ralph had been shot once in the
back of the head by the time help arrived he was dead Ralph PR was a 30y old Cook County
Illinois sheriff's officer Ralph left behind his wife three small children and a series of baffling questions that
almost 50 years later remain unanswered 4 days after his murder Ralph was laid to rest on that afternoon his
partner Bob barowski made a silent pledge as I Stood Beside the casket and looked down at Ralph I made a vow to him
that I would find his killer and I would not rest until I get him I figured it would be solved
quickly but it didn't turn out that way Bob barowski continued to search for his partner's killer the crime scene
evidence pointed to a carefully planned murder but no suspect has ever been named perhaps you might have the missing
clue to solve the murder of Ralph proest Bob and Ralph met for the first time shortly after Ralph graduated from the
police academy okay Gentlemen let's shape up your inspection time the two men were both assigned to
the special Elite Tactical Squad Ron barowski you got Stickney Township tonight you had a lot of problems out
there last night everybody else in the department looked up at the attack unit we were a very elite unit we were all
spit and polish and we were a very proud bunch and Ral was not only a partner but he was also a friend and it was that
sort of relationship you can depend on him and he could depend on you driving again Ralph played things strictly by
the book and made some powerful enemies a few months before his death Ralph and Bob were assigned to guard a
notorious mobster Named Sam D Stefano he had been transferred from the prison to a local hospital after
complaining of stomach trouble to guard you you two lackes are going to guard me
Sam you can't have any visitors here you folks are going to have to go come on who you my doctor hang call the doctor
take don't steal my apples copper man you're going to have to go too get your hands off of her call my lawyer you're
also going to have to eat the regular hospital food just like everyone else in the hospital I am as a matter of fact I
do that's why you're here now uh lie down on the bed hey what are you doing when uh Ralph handcuffed the Stefano to
the bed he became very irate and threatened to kill him better grow eyes in the back of your
head if you need us we'll be outside get out get out of here we really didn't take it very serious we felt that he was
just a big bag of wind and just brushed it off I don't think that the risk ever entered Ralph's mind I really don't I
think it to him it was a job he enjoyed it and I don't think he was ever afraid I me imag in the back of anyone's mind
something could happen but I don't think he dwell on it I just heard it on the radio on the night that Ralph was killed
police found a suspicious pattern of circumstantial evidence it appeared that Ralph had been
shot through the kitchen window okay now secure the house no one in the neighborhood saw the gunman though a few
people did hear a shot a good clear shot of this Ricochet Mark the bullet that killed Ralph ricocheted off a kitchen
cabinet and then fell onto the stove it was fired from a rare 41 caliber magnum handgun that had only recently been
manufactured keep your eyes near as working as what's going out on the street see if there's any talk contact
all your informant although there were only 2,000 of these guns in the United States police were unable to locate the
murder weapon we don't have a motive on this one yet it could be some n who just
doesn't like police officers so when you're out there be very careful the only likely suspect Sam D Stefano was
cleared there were no other obvious suspects except one Ralph's wife marleene I know from the beginning of
the investigation I think what puzzled everybody is how I had seen smoke inside the house but if the gunman had been
outside there wouldn't have been smoke inside and yet when I woke up that's the first thing I saw was this small cloud
of smoke coming up from like in back of my television set this puff of smoke LED
police to suspect that the shot had been fired from inside the house adding to their theory was the fact that the
broken glass from the window was found in the yard not on the kitchen floor when you have a murder
investigation one of the first places you start with is with the family are you set inside yeah the
investigators conducted a test to see if marleene was telling the truth first they fired from 15 ft away
there was no smoke and the glass fell inside but then they fired from 2 in away from the
window there was the puff of smoke inside the house back all over me I never seen anything like we found the
glass came out back under the shooter and fell to the ground and we had the puff of smoke inside the house from that
point on we knew that Marlene was telling the truth we determined that the shooter
would have have to have been 5'1 or taller in order for that projectile to follow the path to where it struck
Ralph to strike the center of the back of the head where the entry point was took one terrific shot
my my theory on Ralph's murder is that somebody knew Ralph was going to be in that position at that certain
time if anyone had been watching the house they wouldn't have been able to know even what room we were sitting in
unless they were standing by that kitchen window every other window was covered there was too much light in the
driveway and that person did not stay there and wait for hours for Ralph to get in that certain position Ralph was
set up I believe that possibly he was going to receive a phone call or he was going to make a phone
[Applause] [Music] call Bob believes that Ralph may have been working on his own secretly in
order to bring down a vice ring in fact several days before his death he had been seen at the home of an ex-convict
named Frank kelvis he had spoken with Kel's wife and then left come on in I'll show you around I
think you'll like it one week before the murder a man resembling Kelis looked at
a home for sale across the street from Ralph's home as they toured the house the visitor asked the owner a suspicious
question was the floor plant similar to the one across the street most of the houses in this area were built about the
same time yeah however after identifying these in a police lineup the neighbor changed his story some are convinced
that he feared retaliation Frank cvis died s years later and no charges were ever filed in
connection with Ralph's death Ralph had information on something whether it be BCE pornography fencing
operation and whoever killed him knew that he was going to talk about it and they killed him before he
could at this time I am unofficially still working on a case and whoever did it I've been making him awful nervous
because he knows that I'm not giving up that somehow someway somebody's going to
say something and he's going to get caught so somewhere somebody's awful nervous and I'm going to keep him that
[Music] way if you have any information about the murder of Ralph propes please log on
to unsolved.com next a kidnapped baby is returned to his parents and later a forest Rancher wants
to know who blew up his [Music] home Baltimore Maryland in a previous episode we
profiled a frightening case of a baby boy who was abducted from the hospital just 2 days after he was
born a woman disguised as a nurse entered the room of Linda Norris she instructed Linda to hand over her
two-day old son Avery James and return to her bed for a physical examination the woman pulled the Privacy curtain
closed and then disappeared with Avery this has really been um I guess one of the hardest things I've have to
ever had to face in my life um I can't imagine going on from day to day without having him
back 2 months later the Maryland state division of Vital Records received a call from a woman who claimed that she
had given birth to a baby boy at her home 2 months earlier the caller 33-year-old carlen
Victoria Wilkinson said that she wanted to get a birth certificate for her son Tavon Anthony Wilkinson authorities
immediately became suspicious and began an investigation a DNA test later confirmed
that the infant was actually Avery James Norris two-month-old Avery James Norris
was immediately reunited with his real parents and went home for the first time we're very happy this is day one we
start our life right from today but I just like to thank all the people who called and all the people who sent
letters and cards and who prayed for us and I thank you from from my husband and
myself and for our baby carlen Victoria Wilkinson was convicted of three counts of kidnapping
and sentenced to 30 years in prison she has since been released you're about to meet a man
named guy Pence he goes to work each day knowing that his job has made someone angry enough to try to kill him but he's
vowed never to quit Carson City Nevada on the window ledge us forest service ranger guy Pence
arrived at work one morning to find that his office had been apart by a bomb the
night before you know I don't know what kind of bom the FBI believed that the bomber had targeted just the building
but guy thought there was more to it than that I really always felt that it was aimed um as a direct statement to me
now it may be aimed as a direct statement to me as a district Ranger or as a federal employee and not so much uh
at me specifically why would guy Pence or the forest service be a Target perhaps
because they are in the front line of a war that most of us don't even know about some call it the Sagebrush
Rebellion ranchers loggers and miners who are opposed to Federal control of local public lands for nearly a century
many of them have had permits that give them access to huge tracks of that land but gradually federal regulations to
protect the land and have restricted their use Rangers like guy have to enforce these new laws which brings them
face to face with angry protesters we'll do if you wind up a 22 xra tomorrow just
bring him back up on your own and we'll just call it good now I don't think that's the case we're running the whole
herd through Michael we went through this we said 800 and you said you weren't going to give me any trouble
about it I don't think that's the case guy you're making a mistake Michael guy says scenes like this have become a
regular part of his job and in some cases rebellious Ranchers have the support of their local
officials make the issue that we have here is these people have a right to Grace forage they have a right to mine
minerals they have a right to harvest T Timber and the bureaucrats have exceeded
their Authority in some way or trying to stop them one way or the other and we are standing up as County Government to
protect their rights cut although local leaders support the land use none of them
support the use of violence like the bombing of guys's office we were devastated by it we want
to put a stop to it as bad as anybody else four months after the bombing any question about whether guy Pence had
been personally targeted was erased guy was out patrolling the back country his wife was at home home with
their two oldest daughters the homemade bomb had been placed directly beneath guys van how
many do we [Music] have fortunately no one was hurt in the explosion wait wait wait wait go go it's a very
hard thought to accept that someone would try to kill your family it just thrown under there was it tape there's
absolutely no doubt in my mind that whoever did this knew my family was at home the windows were open the lights
were on the TV was on my own daughter heard their footsteps and that they left a killing device and ran into the
darkness I have a hard time comprehending how any human could do that like the first bombing there are
few solid Clues and no suspects the FBI laboratory in Washington DC has advised us that these
bombs are very similar in construction we're looking for someone who knows the the basics and the basic use in
uh application of explosives to make this bomb but this was not a mastermind by any stretch of the
imagination guy and his family have moved to another location he could have quit his job but guy chose to keep
working for the forest service I think the stakes are very high those Stakes are our natural resources
those Stakes belong to all of us 300 million Americans and those unborn today those are those resources belong to them
it's extremely important to me that that the forces that support this kind of thing understand that this is not ever
how you win that you only lose that's extremely important that this perpetrator be brought to justice
so that everyone understands this is not how we solve our problems if you have any information
about the attacks on guy Pence and his family please walk on to our website at unsolved.com
coming up two people are healed and they believe that prayer made the [Music] difference Fort Lauderdale
Florida I think I'm seeing something right so Friday December 1st first 42-year-old Kathleen Burkhart is stunned
when a sonogram confirms a large lump in her right breast Kathleen's doctors fear
the worst cancer she is told to come back on Monday for a biopsy and possible mastectomy I just went into an absolute
panic I had known two women that were younger than I that are dead from breast cancer so I had this anxiety in this
Panic about not having breast surgery or even a biopsy I didn't even want a biopsy to alleviate her fears Kathleen
turned to meditation and prayer I went home and I literally uh told everybody to leave me
alone that I was going to concentrate my whole weekend on healing and that I wasn't going to have that surgery on
Monday I put in to practice everything that I had been reading about fasting and um went on a fruit juice and fruit
fast and listened to the tapes and did a lot of praying got down on my knees and
just really asked God to heal me any way to take this away from me please I felt
very peaceful very calm very Serene the fear went away the anxiety went away I became very convinced that I was
healed and that this was totally gone all right let's see what we got on Monday Kathleen was x-rayed again just
prior to her biopsy I don't see any lumps there are no lumps in their breasts today are you sure these are her
pictures yes doctor this is what I wanted to show you the pictures that we took today and
the pictures from Friday what happened here Kathleen's doctor was stunned but cautious he wanted to conduct the biopsy
anyway Kathleen was adamant she was going home on the basis of Friday's pictures for many years doctors have
called these phenomena spontaneous remissions and explained it away oh that's just a spontaneous remission but
what is that this is a healing and we have to as healers find out how this happens what
are the mechanisms so that more people can have this experience thankfully Kathleen is still
healthy she continues to meditate and pray and go in for regular breast exams but was she actually helped by the power
of prayer well some people are not so sure there's no question that the Mind exerts an influence over what happens in
the body the issue at hand is whether prayer or or any other kind of mental exercise can predictably influence what
happens to a person and with respect to prayer there simply is no evidence that it
does Dr Larry dossy former Chief of Staff at Medical City Hospital in Dallas Texas
disagrees one of the best kept secrets in modern medicine is the scientific data surrounding
prayer currently there are over 130 studies showing that if you bring prayer into the laboratory the hospital or the
clinic the prayer works the most significant study in the century I think uh was done by Dr
Randolph bird at the University of California medical school in San Francisco it took place uh in the carer
Care Unit almost 400 people were involved everybody gets treated with state-of-the-art coronary care
techniques the difference was that half the people get prayed for the results showed that the prayed for patients did
significantly better they needed fewer drugs there were fewer deaths in the prade for group and nobody in the prade
for group wound up on the mechanical ventilator 12 of the people not being prayed for had to have this
done many in the medical community find Dr Bar's study unconvincing and even his
supporters admit that when it comes to prayer you cannot adequately monitor a human control
group still some patients and their families turned to prayer as in this next case at Children's Hospital in
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania though he was only 11 months old Eric danowski had just undergone a liver
transplant by the time he had his first transplant he was already quite ill his U Outlook became progressively
work worse because the first liver uh was rejected uh necessitating a second one which was done about 8 or n
days later the second one you know I was like how much more can his little body take you know he was so frail his he had
bones sticking out of his back he was so skinny and had been bedridden for so long that we weren't you know you had
your doubts you know I mean I kept my faith kept positive attitude but in the back of your mind there's always that
doubt is he really going to be able to pull through all this you know 3 weeks after Eric's second
transplant he developed viral pneumonia Dr starel gave him only a 5050 chance to
live I didn't want to hear that my son wasn't going to live there's nothing more the doctors
could do and the only thing that we had left was to hope that the Lord would answer our
prayers that same night Debbie called a newspaper reporter who had written several articles about Eric's medical
crisis he promised to write another one if you would please the article appeared a few days later
churches all over central Pennsylvania began to fill with worshippers praying for little Eric
danowski within a few days Eric experienced a sudden and unexpected turnaround less than a week later his
family and medical team gathered to celebrate his first I feel in my heart that Eric's
recovery was definitely a miracle it was the first day that I think I felt like a really sense of
relief that he was going to make it did prayer give um Eric a booster U I don't know when I when I was young I would
probably have scoffed at the idea but I've seen things and uncovered things over the last um nearly 40 years
that um uh make me unwilling to be nihilistic about any possibility and I think that includes uh
uh prayer eventually Eric underwent a third liver transplant this one a complete
success Eric was far too young to remember his ordeal but his parents have told him about
it when I found out how sick I was I realized that I was very sick and a lot of people are praying for me I want to
make one thing perfectly clear if you've got appendicitis you ought to have an appendectomy we're not advising people
to give up drugs and surgical procedures and just wing it with prayer uh on the other hand you should feel free while
you're doing that while you're having surgery for your appendicitis to get prayed for it too because there are
studies which show literally that prayer increases the healing rate of surgical wounds so we ought to do what works I
think this just Falls falls into the category of Common Sense did prayer help Kathleen Burkhart
and Eric danowski each of us must decide that for ourselves and while prayer will
never take the place of medicine it may offer a very powerful [Music] assist [Music]
[Music]

Brief Summary

Michael Rosenblum's disappearance, Ralph Proest's murder, and miraculous recoveries through prayer are featured in this episode.

Key points

The Disappearance of Michael Rosenblum. Michael vanishes under mysterious circumstances, leading to a desperate search by his father.
Police Cover-Up Allegations. Maurice Rosenblum uncovers potential police misconduct in the investigation of his son's case.
The Discovery of Remains. After years of searching, a bone fragment and clothing are found, leading to a tragic conclusion.
A Mother's Pain. A mother shares her anguish over the abduction of her newborn son.
Bombing Target. Forest ranger Guy Pence reflects on the dangers of his job after a bombing.
Miraculous Recovery. Kathleen Burkhart's unexpected healing raises questions about the power of prayer.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I pray that that one in 10 million chance would happen.

Maurice Rosenblum's hope for his missing son.

2:16WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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