Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 7, Episode 21 | Forensic Files

[Music] next on Unsolved Mysteries a man falls out of a boat and Searchers can't find his body he was set
to be tried on rape charges is he truly dead or alive and On The Run just 2 days before Christmas a
5-year-old boy and his young mother are brutally murdered can DNA left by the killer lead to his
capture in 1917 more than 70,000 pilgrims in fattima Portugal saw what they believe
was a true Miracle it remains one of the great religious Mysteries and after searching for more
than 50 years a man is finally reunited with his long-lost daughter the heir to his
fortune whether it's murder Larsen or F play sometimes these cases are solved and often by people like you I'm Dennis
finina and this is Unsolved Mysteries [Applause] [Music] [Music] the Snake River
Washington after a late summer fishing trip Strider Starfire and another man head for home
with night approaching they're worried about getting back before dark as the boat speeds across the water
Strider reaches for a beer from an ice chest The Bu driver claims he gears his dog El and when he turns around Strider
is gone he is never seen again the apparent accidental drowning of Strider Starfire has been questioned
ever since it wasn't long before investigators learned that Starfire actually had a very good reason to
disappear Strider Starfire was a family man hi guys let's go he his wife and her
two young children lived in the small town of Roseberg Oregon the teenage daughter of a family friend often spent
time with them we'll call her Lisa can you help me Lisa had grown up without a father
and she became like a second daughter to Strider and his wife those who spent any time with
Strider would usually fall under the spell of his incredible charm about 1200 hours you know me and Tim were in this
Foxhole all right and we're pinned down we can't get up and we were trying to get our he told romantic tales about his
exploits while serving with the special forces in Vietnam spying for the CIA for
fighting alongside the Irish Republican Army my belly dragging when he told us about being this Crusader to help the
little man to pull the poor guy up by his boots and and give uh the underdog his day you tended to believe him he wo
his stories very well so the reason why we're called the clan of Starfire is because Strider also claimed that he was
the last surviving member of a Scottish plan and was the sole heir to its fortunes he
should as Lisa grew up she spent more and more time with the Starfire family and Strider always made himself
available to her he was a father figure when she had no father figure she had no
qualms of believing and feeling safe with him because he'd always been safe something need I got to tell you but
according to Lisa those feelings of trust and security were destroyed One Night in the Starfire home I'm in love
with you out of the blue he started to profess his love to me tell me he'd been in love with me for
years that was it was a really terrifying moment after making his Advance Starfire
allegedly seduced and then had sex with Lisa for more than a year the traumatized
teenager didn't reveal what had happened the secrecy took a heavy toll after strer did that to me my life
really spiral out of control I couldn't make any friends at school so I quit going I did a lot of drugs and I decided
that I couldn't couldn't deal with it anymore strider's Behavior became more BL in other ways one day he brought home
an unexpected guest he introduced her as his new business partner I had been getting a little bit of rumor that there
was more than just business going on between them and when they came home it was exceedingly obvious that they were
being intimate who the hell is that are you out of your mind his wife was shocked when Strider proposed that she
welcomed this woman into their home as his second wife that was the last draw within weeks she filed for divorce but
it wasn't until after the divorce was Final that strider's ex-wife learned the true depth of his lies and his
deceit Lisa left a note saying that she was running away with her boyfriend she also revealed The Dark Secret that she'd
been keeping all these years hello Starfire's ex-wife received a call from 's stepfather he said she left a note and
in the note she states that Strider molested her no I just and I was torn between disbelief and belief Lisa
returned home the following day but Starfire's ex-wife was still grappling with the disturbing Revelation I was
just overwhelmed with everything that had happened I just been through a whole time during the divorce of finding out
that he wasn't who he said he was that the last 11 years really had nothing to do with
reality Strider Starfire was formerly charged with felony rape and sexual assault and then authorities learned
from Lisa that there might be more secrets to uncover in the Starfire home when going over her case she
brought up another uh girl's name that she was aware was living there at the house during that time she was
um that's when victim number two was brought up in this years earlier a girl will called
Debbie had often babysat for the Starfire children this victim was in the ninth grade at the time that she was
first seduced by Starfire I'm going to go back and I'm going to uh regain my kingdom
really Debbie told police that Starfire had won her trust with fantastic tales and Promises to make her his princess
anything you want cuz you're the princess you can have anything in the entire Kingdom it's like he made the
fairy tale and Strider really created a fantasy world for a lot of people and for me it was the fantasy that was sort
of where I really wanted to be in life not where I was it obviously wasn't just an isolated incident I had to come
forward not only to give validity to the other girl's claims but also just to try
and prevent this from happening to somebody else although Starfire was arrested he
was later released without bail to wait for his trial and then just 10 days before the
trial was due to begin Starfire vanished we have a lot of people come up missing or drowned in the Snake River
but I in my 13 years experience I've never had one like this what time did you put the boat in water this morning
did Strider Starfire stage his own disappearance when police examined the boat it was dry and it didn't appear to
have been under water that day all the fishing gear on board was clean and neatly stowed away inside Starfire's
pickup they found a fishing license in the name of Daniel chafe which turned out to be Starfire's real name police
also learned that others knew Strider Starfire as Curtis jacobe man it's getting cold I'm sure Mr
Starfire is alive and well I don't believe Mr Starfire was ever on that boat I don't believe he was ever on that
River I believe he's hoping that at some point hopefully all this will just go away and he can lead on with a happy
life update there are new developments in this case here's one of our staff with
details Daniel chafe AKA Strider Starfire AKA Curtis jacobe managed to elude authorities for 15 years before he
was finally captured in Montana chafe was wanted on several charges of rape and sexual abuse of minors chafe pled
guilty to four of the charges and after plea bargaining was sentenced to five and one half years in
[Music] prison next the brutal double murder of a mother and son in Dallas Texas Dallas
Texas it's just 2 days before Christmas the Dallas County Sheriff's Department is setting the table preparing for their
holiday lunch I'd like to but I need to get back on streets it's going to be good it's a day that no one in the
department will ever forget officer Roy beard was still on duty patrolling an area 10 Mi outside
Dallas a car parked on the wrong side of a dirt road caught his attention on the back seat was a pile of Christmas
gifts on the front seat a blue sports bag a pair of women's gloves and a purse officer be concluded that someone was in
trouble I felt that there was possibly a rape going on or that a female had been
raped I then call for cover and made my entrance into the fied on the north side
of the road I observed a small boy crumpled to the ground and lying next to him was a
white female that was covered with a blanket I touched him and his body was still warm I felt that whoever did this
was possibly still in the area later that day the victims were identified as 30-year-old roxan GS and
her 5-year-old son Christopher the police in Dallas were shocked by these brutal killings solving
this mystery became a high priority for detectives but more than two decades would pass before they got their first
solid lead roxan Cheves had moved to Dallas with Christopher after a divorce she
worked for an insurance company enjoyed country western dancing and was engaged to be remarried
friends described Christopher as happy and an outgoing child he had turned 5 years old on December
23rd the very same day that he was murdered where you go that morning roxan and Christopher had planned to make a
Christmas trip to visit relatives in Kansas concerned that their car might break down on the long journey roxan
took along her toolbox an hour before the ERS a man that police believe was the killer was
seen by a neighbor outside of Rox San's apartment with a female companion it was
the first of many eyewitness reports that helped investigators piece together what happened to roxan and
Christopher we located a neighbor of rock Sands who left about the time that Christopher came out the door with the
red toolbox matter of fact she spoke to Christopher in the process of going to her car she saw the man carrying the
toolbox in one hand and Christopher by the hand as they went around the corner where she believed Roan's car was parked
she said they looked rough nervous she describe them uh as not fitting in the complex check under your hood the next
time the suspect was spotted he was with roxan and Christopher in their car the woman seen near the apartment was no
longer with them he was acting kind of nervous he never looked up at me he never said
anything you could tell that she was nervous and when I looked her she looked me right in the eyes and you could tell
that something was wrong her little boy was in the back seat and I thought well he act like
everything's all right very much I told one of my fellow employees I said it's going to be
something if something happens to that woman cuz ated awful strange sometime during the next half
hour roxan and Christopher were murdered I'm afraid that she saw her son killed and then she and the killer had
quite a struggle before she was initially shot twice herself just as other deputies arrived
at the scene a witness reported seeing the suspect running across a field a total of eight eight Witnesses
saw the killer either running or hitchhiking away from the scene meanwhile less than a mile away
investigators were combing the area for evidence they got lucky the killer had left behind his
blue sports pack and it was full of Clues inside the bag deputies found a preor War II
holster possibly a collector's item a set of burglary tools a brown knit cap and finally a bottle of formal deide it
would be the first hint that the murders were linked to drugs Al it was popular among heavy drug users then to lace a
marijuana cigarette with falah hiide locally here they called it a Sherman stick after the murder callers flooded
police hotlines with tips many of them made the same Justin talked to Roxanne's brother Army private Kurt
Jes police soon learned that just before he joined the army Kurt had been staying
with roxan and Christopher in their apartment they also learned that roxan seemed relieved when he
left we know that he was dealing in marijuana and at some point in time he had a disagreement with these folks over
some of their uh transactions uh with regard to this marijuana according to Roxanne's friends
a man showed up at her apartment late one night where's Kurt Kurt's not here what
do you mean he's not here police now believe that when Kurt left to join the Army he also left behind an angry
customer roxan may have been trapped in the middle of a bitter dispute over drugs Kurt owed me some money and I'm
going to find him 2 years later Roxanne's brother Kurt had been murdered during a drug buy he
had always insisted that he knew nothing about who might have killed his sister and nephew this case occurred at
Christmas time and I'm sure that myself and all the other detectives will never forget what we saw out there that day
whomever committed that offense doesn't need to be free in our society and I don't intend to ever give
up trying to find that person [Music] update 22 years after roxan and Christopher were murdered a man named
George Washington Hicks was convicted of the killings police had recovered a strand of human hair from the cap that
was left in Bran's car on the day of the murder the DNA from the hair sample was
compared with DNA from convicts serving time in Texas state prisons Hicks was The Identical match at
the time he was serving an 80-year sentence for sexual assault and two 15-year terms for assault and robbery
after being convicted for the murders of roxan and Christopher Hicks was sentenced to life in prison this
sentence will not begin until at least 2024 when he completes his existing terms next a 20 th Century miracle that
converted many Skeptics into Believers Fatima Portugal the shrine of Our Lady of
Fatima is visited by more than 4 million people every year it is said that on this very spot in
1917 the Virgin Mary appeared to three young children at the time Lucia santush was
10 years old she and her two younger cousins yasinta and franisco Maru worked as Shepherds near the small town of
Fatima their story began on Sunday May 13th 1917 Lucia santush and her cousins had
taken their sheep to an area known as the kova D area land owned by lucius's family as the flock grazed the children
began to play they were building a little wall around a tree when there was a flash of
light and Lucia thought the flash was a sign of rain she thought that it was lightning so she said let's go home so
we don't get caught by the rain when the children saw a second flash of lightning they realized it
meant more then rain according to Lucia the glowing figure said that she was from
Heaven the lady promised to return several times always on the 13th of the month she also asked the children to be
her Messengers but warned them to expect great hardships although word of the vision
spread quickly not everyone was inspired by the rumors in fact Lucia's mother was
furious at her daughter's involv her mother punished her every now and again sha Maru luci's cousin was a young
boy at the time it wasn't that her mother was bad but she wanted to have her daughter to say that this was a lie
but Lucia kept saying how can I say it was a lie if I actually saw her for Lucia the suffering predicted by the
lady had begun but even in the face of her mother's anger she returned with her cousins to the kova DI area on the
appointed day June 13th they were joined by some 50 villagers drawn by rumors of
the impending [Music] visitation once again the three children claimed the lady from Heaven appeared to
them as in the first visitation only Lucia spoke to the vision although some said that a strange Cloud
of light was visible no one else saw the lady from [Music] heaven when news of the second
visitation reached Lucia's mother she was outraged she believed that her daughter was part of a hoax
her mother said you're going to go to the priest and you're going to confess to him in front of the altar in the
church that you li when confronted by the local priest Lucia refused to discuss what she had seen given the time
and place this was a startling Act of disobedience [Music] later in life Lucia wrote about the
episode as I heard people say that the devil always brings conflict and disorder I began to think that truly
ever since I had started seeing these things our home was no longer the same for joy
and peace had fled what anguish I felt July 13th 1917 the appointed day for the third
appearance by now word of the miraculous Visions had spread across Portugal and neighboring Spain pilgrims clogged the
roads leading to Lova at 12:00 noon the mysterious vision appeared once more but
once again it was only visible to the three children the lady from Heaven reminded
Lucia to return at noon on the 13th day of each month she also promised that on her sixth appearance she would perform a
miracle for all to see and believe the lady then presented a terrifying vision of
Hell a vision that Lucia later described in her memoirs plunged in this fire were demons
and Soares in human form Amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair which horrified us and made us tremble with
[Music] fear Lucia claimed that her vision of hell was the lady's warning that God was
offended by the conflict in Europe World War I was then in its third year although the lady predicted that the war
would end soon she said that it would be replaced by a more serious conflict a war with
Russia Lucia said the lady from Heaven revealed one more prophecy but made her promise not to reveal it one month later
the promise would be severely tested August 13th the day of the fourth appearance a local government official
offered to take the three children to the C Lucia and her cousins were whisked away to a government prison 9 miles from
Fatima the town official was convinced that the children's Vision was a hoax and he was certain that he could extract
the truth from Young Lucia the children were held and tormented for 3 days outside the Prison Walls their
family and friends gathered to express their outrage in spite of the harsh tactics
10-year-old Lucia kept her promise to the lady from Heaven officials admitted their failure and the children were
finally allowed to return home according to Sister Lucia the lady from Heaven appeared a fourth time and a
fifth just as predicted as the date for the sixth appearance approached excitement built coming up startling
eyewitness accounts of the legendary Miracle [Music] at October 13th 1917 the day of the long awaited miracle
was wet and miserable thousands descended on FAA these photographs show some of the
estimated 70,000 people who gathered with the hope of witnessing a Divine Vision many had come from hundreds of
miles away soon after Lucia arrived at the kova area the rain suddenly stopped the huge crowd included both the curious
and the faithful a handful of reporters from the major newspapers squeezed in among them
the local priest fearing a public Fiasco that would embarrass the church was one
of the most V local doubters the crowd grew silent as Lucia began to speak although to onlookers it
appeared that she was talking in to thin [Music] [Music] air eyewitnesses reported that the sun
began to move and Rays of multicolored light were seen shooting across the sky then suddenly the sun seemed to
[Applause] fall the crowd went silent until the sun abruptly reversed course and returned to
its rightful place in the sky the miracle of the son of Fatima is certainly the most spectacular physical
manifestation uh physical miracle that has been associated with our lady she had to manifest her um presence in a
grand manner in a very convincing and spectacular manner because it was important that people all
over the world should believe uh what she had said according to Witnesses the amazing
display lasted for 12 minutes people as far away as 600 mil from FMA reported seeing the event and yet some
eyewitnesses at the coova claim they saw absolutely nothing out of the ordinary but for some Skeptics the
spectacular Accounts at Fatima were real Aina D Ela the editor of A government controlled newspaper became a believer
that day at the hour foretold the rain ceased to fall the dense mass of clouds parted
and the sun began to whirl around in a wild and violent dance with such lovely glowing colors passing successively over
the sun's surface over the years the Miracle at Fatima became the subject of considerable debate some dismissed the
events as a textbook case of mass hysteria but others interpreted the large number of eyewitness accounts as
credible evidence that a miracle had occurred today a basilica stands where Lucia and her cousins claimed to have
seen the lady from heaven in 1930 the Catholic Church recognized the events at Fatima as a miracle Worthy of
belief Lucia's younger cousins both died during a worldwide flu epidemic within three years of the Visions many believe
their deaths fulfilled the lady's promise that the children would soon be called to Heaven soon after her cousins
passed away 14-year-old Lucia santush retreated to the safety of a Convent for most of her life she remained behind
cloistered walls Lucia died in 2005 at the age of 97 the day of her funeral was declared a
national day of mour in Portugal over the decades Fatima's call to the faithful has grown even more
powerful the tide of pilgrims has swelled from the thousands who joined Lucia in
1917 to several million in recent years even those who remain skeptical of Miracles are mystified by the events at
Fatima and the 10-year-old girl whom many believe was chosen to be God's messenger while there were some who
admired me and considered me a saint there were always others who called me a hypocrite and a
sorceress they are all mistaken I am not a saint and I am not a liar only God knows what I
am sister Lucia promised the Virgin Mary that she would never reveal the secret prophecy the Vatican also insisted that
she not speak about her experience without permission sister Lucia took the Secret of Fatima to her
grave next a millionaire who became a father during a youthful love affair tries to find his long lost daughter the
heir to his fortune [Music] we recently featured the story of WB Mack McDonald a self-made millionaire
who was searching for his long Lost Heir a child whom Mack had seen only once more than 50 years
before Pomona California 1948 when Mack was 18 he fell in love with a 16-year-old girl named Mary Helen
Carr but her mother disapproved of their relationship and threatened to have mac
arrested if their romance continued so he decided to leave town 3 weeks later Mary Helen ran away
from home to join Mac in Houston had a new neighbor you did pretending to be husband and wife the
young lovers moved in together but their happiness didn't last long just a minute you who is it I don't know Mac
received a call from a friend who said that the police were on their way to the apartment authorities carried warrants
charging Mac with statutory rape that's fine that's fine I'll call you mack made his escape with no time to
spare I was devastated again they jerked her back to to uh California and I hadn't I had no way of
contacting her again A year had passed and Mac returned to California for a new job one evening
he and a friend stopped off at a drive-in in Long Beach ma Mary Mack was shocked to learn that he
was a father he visited Mary Helen and met his child for the first and only time fearing that police were still
looking for him he left after only 5 minutes he never even learned if the baby was a boy or a
girl Mack is now a wealthy businessman and wants to find the child that he'd left
behind I feel that the youngsters entitled to my estate and I'd want that youngster to know that I love them and I
want him to have the best the night of our broadcast M McDonald learned that he had a daughter
named Sherry the long awaited news came from a viewer in Texas Mary Helen Carr Sherry's
mother one week after the story aired Mack arrived at Sherry's home in Denver Colorado
no come on in it's hard to describe the feeling that I had for my daughter when I opened the
door and she was there and I was able to hold her he said I don't want to hold you at this point in my life to find
that there is someone who is my father and who wants to establish a relationship with me it's just
emotionally very traumatic I just try to come to the realization that it really was my father
standing there and I just you know does he does he look like me does he act like
me I have all these things I need to learn about him the fact that I didn't stay and
fight the battle it's most unfortunate I don't believe I would do it that way again however yesterday unfortunately
can't be redone no matter how you look at it he left my mother with a with a tiny baby
you know and I have to deal with that I have to deal with the fact that I have a
father who loves for me who is raised me who's cared for me but I believe there's
enough room in this family for everyone and I sincerely mean that M McDonald's search for his
long-lost daughter has come to an end and he is determined to never lose touch with her
[Music] again Ashboro North Carolina James Donald King a convicted murder murderer is released from prison
King has served only 6 years of a life sentence for killing his wife but is granted an early parole for good
behavior prosecutors in nearby Greensboro challenge the parole board's ruling they argue strongly that King is
a vicious killer and his early release could have deadly consequences James King grew up in
Greensboro North Carolina the oldest of 12 children he was an honor student and a senior class president at his high
school King got to hang it around the wrong crowd the man we'll call Gordon was a high school classmate of James
King he is now an undercover law enforcement agent these guys that he was hanging around with had been in uh
trouble with the law in the past and I think they had a lot of influence over him 20 years years later King was a
different person he was an angry man in a dismal marriage he and his wife Shirley fought
constantly I need to talk to you I need to talk to you why you keep turning your
back on me [Music] don't oh my baby shley king died instantly James King was found by the
police the next morning less than a mile away sound asleep in a car King played guilty to first degree
murder and was sentenced to life all right break time during his first four years in jail King was a model prisoner
and then while working on a chain gang he made a bold split-second decision man run down
King stayed on the run and avoided capture for 9 years police finally received the tip that he was working as
a janitor in Boston he was arrested without incident and returned to prison in North
Carolina two years later the parole board made a startling decision based upon King's productive life and his
law-abiding Behavior while he was an escaped convict they ruled that he was eligible for early release due to
Goodtime credit when I learned of the attempts to have Mr King parole I wrote a letter to the parole board strenuously
objecting to him even being considered for parole I didn't feel serving six years on life sentence for first-degree
murder was anything close to sufficient in spite of the objections James Donald king became a free man once
again again less than a year after his parole King married Gloria Cornelius a nursing
home worker with three children from a previous marriage within a few months the destructive pattern of his first
marriage began to repeat itself where have you been I've been working working you're 2 hours late King was drinking
heavily and began to physically abuse Gloria don't touch me finally she walked out on
him 3 months later Gloria was playing bingo with friends in Downtown Greensboro at midnight king showed up
Gloria I need to talk to you I don't have anything to say to do come on I really need to talk to
you I'll be back 30 minutes later Greensboro police found the body of Gloria King she had
been shot five times once again James Donald King was on the run when I heard that Gloria had been
killed and that King was the suspect I felt that the parole board was the main culprit because if they had followed the
rules and guidelines of the court system properly Glory may still be alive after date James King was arrested
in Dayton Ohio thanks to a tip from one of our viewers at the time he was working in a metal foundry James King
was tried and convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death [Music] [Music]
[Music] [Music]

Brief Summary

Strider Starfire disappears before trial; Roxanne Cheves and son murdered; Miracle of Fatima; Mack McDonald reunites with daughter.

Key points

The Disappearance of Strider Starfire. Strider Starfire vanishes just before his trial for rape, raising suspicions of foul play.
Brutal Double Murder in Dallas. A mother and her 5-year-old son are found murdered just before Christmas, shocking the community.
The Miracle of Fatima. In 1917, three children claim to have seen the Virgin Mary, sparking a religious phenomenon.
The Miracle of Fatima. Witnesses reported the sun moving and changing colors, a spectacle lasting 12 minutes.
Mack's Search for His Daughter. After decades, Mack learns he has a daughter named Sherry, leading to an emotional reunion.
James King’s Early Release. Convicted murderer James King is granted early parole, raising concerns about public safety.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I couldn't deal with it anymore.

Lisa's emotional struggle after the abuse.

5:26WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from True Crime Files

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.