Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 8, Episode 16 | Forensic Files

[Music] unsolved mysteries a ten-year-old girl is abducted and brutally murdered two
men are sentenced to death for the crime but many think they didn't do it a dog rescues a total stranger from drowning
Pig gets help birds hunger whitey the life after a heart attack what turn these into life-saving on a lonely country
road a young woman is attacked by a total stranger detectives need your help differently
and a woman recalls repressed memories of he's rescued her from [Music] she wants to find that couple
[Music] join me for these intriguing stories plus updates on cases solved by you I'm
Dennis Farina and this is unsolved mysteries [Music] [Music] [Music] Naperville Illinois a suburb of Chicago
Trishna carico and her friends arrived home from school to find that someone has broken into the house but the
problem is much more serious her little sister Jeanine is missing Chris calls the police immediately they
find the front door has been knocked in a footprint remains on the door another footprint and is found in the yard under
the a sheet and blanket are missing Janine is gone it appeared to me and I'm sure a
couple other guys too it was like it was a burglary maybe that went bad she wasn't supposed to be home somebody
kicks in the door next thing you know she's home and they take her two days later the young girl's body was
discovered in a wooded park less than two miles from her home ten-year-old Jeanine Nicarico had been raped and
beaten to death two men would be convicted of killing Jeanine Nicarico both were sentenced to
death but after another man confessed to the crime one of the lead detectives on
the case began to fear that the wrong man would be executed for the crime from the beginning the rape and murder of
Jeanine Nicarico was a high-profile high-priority case the offer of a $10,000 reward prompted a man named Alex
Hernandez to contact investigators Hernandez told police that he'd been drinking with several men who had talked
about this name names but only one provided a possible link to the murder Steve Buckley owned a pair of boots with
treads similar to the print found on the front door of the nikeyra co home Buckley became a suspect but police also
began to think that Alex Hernandez knew much more than he was telling you know somebody told us about sitting
in a car we figured maybe now he's just trying to shift the guilt away from other you know from himself and maybe
he's involved so he was a prime suspect but investigators needed more evidence to link Hernandez to the murder
so they set a trap police put Hernandez in a room with a man he knew from his neighborhood nickname penguino penguino
had been told to pretend that he knew about a murder Hernandez was told that he would get a
$10,000 reward if he convinced penguin to talk about the murder detective listened in the hallway outside we
figured that would be a perfect play if he knew anything hopefully how was us to
get out some information and he was holding back hopefully he would talk easier to his peer somebody that he knew
the meaning turned into a boasting contest penguin oh did as he was instructed pretending that he knew about
the murder of a young boy not to be outdone Hernandez claimed that he knew about janean's murder he even bragged
that he could show police the crime scene he said I was there I didn't kill her but I held her down
police had hit the jackpot or so they thought police drove Hernandez around Janine's hometown expecting him to
identify the crime scene or at least Janine's home we didn't run out of gas we priced he'll be right we never found
anything he never could take us anyplace he rode around and rode around looking at houses and places that he hoped would
be it I think but he never could take us to that place nevertheless police followed other leads that Hernandez gave
them one led to a 19-year old named Rolando Cruz unemployed and surviving on food stamps Cruz had been arrested twice
once for trespassing and once for theft Alex Hernandez I know me but I don't think I was right yeah it was less time
so they asked me about Alex I told that and you would he look like his name but I didn't know him the Pacific we had
anything wrong with him or anything like that we have reason to suspect that Alex
is involved in the caracal murder never heard of it so you don't know about the reward
like Alex Hernandez Rolando Cruz seem to have been tempted by the reward in the nikeyra cold case and like Hernandez he
began to provide police with bits of information about the murder in the process
both men implicated themselves one year passed from the date of Janine's death there's no the investigation was going
nowhere there was an election that was coming up and I just believed that the police took whoever was convenient and
whatever evidence no matter how implausible it was no matter how weak it was and said let's bring the criminal
prosecution against these people investigators built their case for over a year and then a grand jury indicted
Alex Hernandez Rolando Cruz and Steve Buckley on 36 counts including murder rape and daeviated sexual assault
once the indictments were handed in police expected the three defendants to implicate each other in order to save
themselves none of the men attempted to make a deal for at least one detective it was a sure
sign that this case was seriously flawed it was kind of like there was out of the
balloon and I mean that was it it was like we threw our last phone card hoping that something was gonna come from it it
never did it felt like right then and there it's time to go on and find someone else they're kind of like in
they at that point put it in my mind that these guys just weren't involved detective John Sam wanted to take the
investigation in a new direction but his superiors wanted the case closed finally one month before the three men
went on trial Sam handed in his resignation and cleaned out his desk the real killer was
still out there in my opinion and we the police weren't looking for him if we weren't looking for him that meant
nobody was looking for him and therefore he was still out there and could either
kill again or he just gets away with it and that to me was the worst part of this whole thing
Steve Buckley's trial ended in a hung jury and he walked away a free man but Alex Hernandez and Rolando Cruz were
convicted of kidnapping raping and killing Jeanine Nicarico they were both sentenced to death
[Music] next a suspect in another murder says that he killed Jeanine Nicarico model
and that he acted alone ten-year-old Jeanine Nicarico was abducted from her home and murdered two
years later Alex Hernandez and Rolando Cruz were sentenced to die for the crime Hernandez and Cruz had been in prison
six months when another young girl was abducted raped and murdered just like Jeanine
7 year old Melissa Ackerman had lived in the next County her body was found in a
drainage ditch a few miles from where janean's body had been left a man already under arrest for three other
sexual assaults was now being charged with killing Melissa his name was Brian Dugan the arrest of Brian Dugan raised
new questions about the death of Jeanine acara thought not only were the two murders similar Dugan actually told this
lawyer that he had killed Jenny but Dugan wouldn't formally confess without immunity from the death penalty
prosecutors were tempted but could they believe Brian Dugan commander Eadie Sasaki of the Illinois
State Police came up with a list of questions about janean's murder and gave them two Duggan's attorney
Hey we've got a couple of questions what kind of a car were you driving on February 25th of 83 983 I was driving a
green Volare Dugan said that on the day Janine was murdered he didn't go to work
his employer confirmed his absence Dugan said he prowled through Naperville smoking marijuana sometime in the early
afternoon he knocked on the front door of the nikeyra car I need to borrow a screwdriver try next oh okay
in point after point Dugan's description matched the evidence Dugan claimed that
he bound and gagged Janine he described the sheet in which he wrapped her and remembered that he had
taken time to wipe his fingerprints from the doorknob he also said that he was wearing boots that matched the print
found on the front door Dugan described driving Janine to a park called the Illinois Prairie path there he raped her
and beat her with a tire iron and left her for dead Dugan story also matched the testimony of two tollway workers who
had reported seeing a white man driving a green car on the day of the murder Dugan remembered saying the men and said
that as he drove out of the park he almost got stuck trying to turn around the tires on his car had treads that
matched the tire prints left at the crime scene he said I did it and here is how I did it and here are the details of
what I did and he said it in such a way as to permit the Illinois State Police to corroborate each and every of the 50
or so details he gave to commander Suzuki and prove that he and he alone did the crime
a polygraph confirmed that Dugan was telling the truth nevertheless DuPage County prosecutors
never charged them with janean's murder and never offered him a plea deal this case is like a runaway train in the
sense that the prosecutors convicted two men and yet refused in light of overwhelming evidence which showed that
they had made a mistake to admit that mistake five years after the murder the state
Supreme Court ruled that Cruz and Hernandez should not have been tried together in ordered new separate trials
for each Alex Hernandez was ultimately released after successfully appealing his conviction when Rolando Cruz went on
trial for the second time his attorneys intended to prove that Brian Dugan alone
was responsible for janean's murder the prosecution set out to prove that Rolando had at the very least been an
accomplice to the murder the shoe prints found outside the new Caraco home were key elements in the prosecution's case
they were evidence that several people not just Brian Dugan's were involved in abducting and killing Jimmy they said to
our jury there are three different sets of footprints it must have been three different people involved in the crime
prosecution's argument was convincing jury finds the defendant Rolando Cruz guilty of the offense of murder
I couldn't understand it I couldn't understand how anybody could have said guilty again and I just thought as well
it's gotta keep fighting these people I mean I can't give up and after all these years you don't give
up it was only after the trial that Cruz and his attorneys learned that the footprint evidence was false the imprint
under the window was a woman's size six and a half not even close to fitting Rolando Cruz the jury however never
heard about the shoe size prosecutors claimed that they were unaware of the discrepancy
they knew that Rolando and Alex and Stephen Buckley couldn't have made those footprints and they lied about it
now that's misconduct and you shouldn't be afraid of the word prosecutorial misconduct you should point your finger
and say you were wrong with Rolando Cruz on death row prosecutors decided not to
put Brian Dugan on trial despite his intimate knowledge of the crime how can you sit there and say we're going to
execute you and though this other person confessed we think he's lying personally
so we're not putting him understand what's not my understand is this not for the state
to decide whether I'm guilty for a jury so what do they understand let the jury hear what Duggan's got to say
either be totally discredited or let us prove sound truth and let the jury determined
[Music] about communism update Roanoke crews spent nearly eleven years on death row
before DNA evidence finally confirmed his innocence Cruz was released from prison and fully exonerated the DNA test
finally convinced authorities to charge Brian Dugan with the murder of Jeanine Nicarico twenty-two years after her
death he was later convicted and sentenced to death next what would make a dog and a pig
each risk their lives to save a human there's a lot we don't know about the animals that we live with including when
they might suddenly become heroes so you think your pet would risk its life to save yours watch this Seaside Oregon
[Music] Annette MacDonald and her dog Norman often walk along the Oregon coast Norman
is a yellow lab the kind of dog used to guide the blind but in this case those roles are reversed
Norman is white and a net guy - when Norman's gonna bump into something I just say easy easy
if I throw the stick and he doesn't hear where it lands and he goes the wrong direction I tell him to go the other way
and say other way other way I usually turn around and go the right way one August day they were on the
beach when Norman suddenly ran off I was surprised that he didn't run that across the net tried to call him back
worried that he would hurt himself but he completely ignored her 15 year old Lisa in Italy was caught in the
dangerous on the toe of the incoming tide Norman started swimming straight towards he knew what to do when Lisa saw
Norman heading toward her she stopped screaming Norman became instantly disoriented
Annette realized that he had been following Lisa's voice [Music] with Lisa call them norman's man
straight towards her it was the most helpless moment in my life I'm not a swimmer and I wouldn't
have been able to save her it was all depending on him when he swam out to me he kind of looked at me in my face and
kind like he was saying grab ahold of me I'm gonna help you Risa grabbed Norman and then lost her
grip her arms were shaking with fatigue Norman came back for another try yeah he turned around and like swung
himself around so I could grab the back of him so he could swim and I could hold
on to him I think he knew that he had to help me he knew what he was doing Norma totally stood towards shore as
though he had been trained for it all his life he's my guardian angel and I was so happy they but the happy that he
saved me and it was amazing what mysterious instinct inspired Norman to risk his life for a total stranger
and how did he even know that Lisa was drunk Lisa herself has no answers but she will always be grateful on the shore
of Lake Erie Joe Altman was relaxing in her vacation trailer while her husband was out fishing suddenly she felt a pain
in her chest and her left arm Quentin no one in the campground heard her cries no one except me
her pet pot-bellied pig Joe's pain increased and she was terrified that she would die seconds past 10 minutes she
was getting weaker hello is anybody home I'm having a heart attack call 9-1-1 the phone is at the
center all right all the luck get some help I'll get an ambulance just hold on I'll be right back
within minutes paramedics were rushing Joe to the hospital they took me to the emergency room and admitted me they said
in even 15 minutes I would have no quality of life or I would have died but how did the young men happen to arrive
just in the nick of time just ask that guard pig loose from the moment Joe fell to the ground Lulu seemed to know
something was very wrong she ran to the kitchen and squeezed herself through the
dog door scraping her belly rock outside wound threw herself against the gate battering it until it broke Lulu went to
the campgrounds main cross roads and parked herself in the middle of the road forcing drivers to back up or swerve
around she'd come back in through all the doggie door and scrape rebellion chuckling me and put that big mug of
hers over my face and she'd go out back up through everything and do everything again it just seemed like I hollered
forever and Lulu had run back and forth forever and nobody came but Lulu wasn't willing to give up finally someone got
the message from a movie Lulu's behavior defies explanation did she actually think up a plan to save
Joe's life animal behaviorists my credit pack instinct or a genetically programmed response to fear firmly but
Joe has a simpler answer every morning I thank Lord that she was there but every
morning I think her literally saving coming up a country road a young woman is attacked
by a total stranger in the Dallas suburb of Richardson Texas a well-dressed woman fainted at a bus
station and was rushed to a local hospital and she had no memory of who she was or why she was there
this photograph was taken the day that she was found she told hospital workers that her name
was Sandra Evans however the tag on her luggage said Linda Kennedy Sanders said the
handwriting was hers but the name was not inside the bags were several photographs one of Sandra as a bride
another showing two young children and finally a picture of a teenage girl perhaps a high school graduation
portrait across my brain and it won't let me see the other side occasionally a snapshot comes through and I get a
glimpse of a life before but nothing solid nothing concrete Sandra believes her amnesia is the
result of some traumatic perhaps violent experience she is haunted by a vague fear of both her past and her future
I am afraid of what I'm going to find on the other side because something made me
forget it I am afraid that if I've had children that they won't understand where I've
been for the last five months update just moments after this story aired in Canada a viewer identified Sandra Evans
as her sister Carol and Rosic of London Ontario Caroline soon learned that she was divorced the photographs found in
her luggage were offered to sons now teenagers and her 13 year old daughter when I talked to my daughter I asked her
about things that we had done and she said we did everything together she said we were real close in fact the first
time I talked to her it was more like she was the mother and I was the daughter she was so sweet she was so
excited to talk to me even though the information about her past did nothing to jog her memory Carol and immediately
began packing for her return to Canada there her children four sisters and a brother would be waiting to welcome her
six months after she disappeared Carol Ann arrived at the Dallas Airport to board a flight that would take her back
to her family oh yes I'm happy to go home little nervous a little nervous but happy to be
going home carol-anne is back in Milton Ontario she still has no idea what caused her
amnesia but she's hoping that ongoing therapy will help her fully recover her memory near the town of Putnam
Connecticut a woman will call Carole was headed to work along a quiet two-lane highway
Carroll worked as a social worker at the local hospital this particular morning she was running late the road I took
that morning was mine and in a way that I always go to work sometimes I think I was at the wrong
place the wrong time you know why me I didn't do anything wrong as I was driving I all of a sudden came
upon a black truck that was in front of me it was driving very slow so I slowed up
right behind it the truck began to swerve speed up and slow down erratically and crossed the center line
as if it was out of control [Applause] shortly after that he stopped the truck in front I can see it all happening in
slow motion he just slid out of his truck and I realized he had a gun in his hand
[Music] I can remember a second after it happened that I was gonna die I just felt or heard a Russian in my
ears and then I heard the radio on and I knew that I wasn't gonna die so my next thought was I'm paralyzed
Carole was semi-conscious and slumped across the front seat other drivers could not see her
a few minutes passed before a utility service men drove by from his elevated cab he can see into Carol's car he
immediately called for help [Music] EMTs knew that they were racing against the cotton Carol had already lost - /
exactly Carroll was barely alive when she reached the hospital the bullet had torn
through her face about two inches below her left eye her carotid artery had been
severed paralyzing her left vocal cord immediately following the shooting we had troopers and detectives on Bremen
Hollow Road in all the main intersections looking for both the suspect vehicle and also a vehicle
similar in style to the one driven by the victim two drivers told police that in the hours before the shooting a black
pickup truck had pulled on and off the highway repeatedly taunting other motorists it's entirely possible that
all of the incidents are related it was the same black pickup truck involved in all these incidents it appears that it's
a totally random shooting and the victim just happened to be the next motorist to
encounter this as fell on Bremen Hollow Road it's the general feeling of investigators that the suspect is still
out in the area still going to work still going to the same gas station he's just your average citizen who for
whatever reason on this particular Monday morning either under the influence or angry we just don't know
what provoked him to do this three months later Carol's condition improved dramatically but she was left
with a grim reminder of the incident the bullet that had pierced her cheek is still lodged in the back of her neck
close to her spine at first I thought about the bullet being in me every day have wanting it out and not being in me
I'm afraid that if I do go through an operation that something may go wrong and it could be worse
so I will just leave the bullet in me until there's complications or pain we have a motiveless crime at this point
we're not able to determine any particular reason why this gentleman would get out of his truck and without
any provocation shoot the only other person in the face and do it so very quickly and leave the girl for death
we don't have any idea where someone would do that I think of it every day especially when I look in the mirror and
I see the scars and think about the incident and I'm afraid and I'm also angry that this happened to me and that
he's still out there and maybe leading his normal life without any cares to what happened to my life
the shooting took place near Putnam Connecticut the suspect is a white male 5 feet 10 inches he has a medium build
in brown curry hair he was driving a well-maintained black stepside pickup truck it had flared fenders standard
with Blackwall tires and shiny plain wheel covers the next one woman's repressed memories caused her to seek
out the parents that she barely knew she had Irving's in New York I have this vague
feeling that Miriam was in her forties when she started psychotherapy she had thought that her childhood had been a
happy one so she was surprised to experience fragmented flashbacks of shocking events
image like a mummy was the only thing I could liken it to it was so terrifying and so frightening
and I became so petrified by it I didn't know what was happening I didn't understand what was going on Miriam's
journey into her past triggered a flood of memories that refused to go away I found myself getting up at night and
sitting on the floor in the bathroom and all of these memories started coming back of my father attacking me of my
father being subdued by the police what would happen is that she began to become
subject to Flint what she called flashbacks these would be images that would suddenly come out of nowhere and
grab her in such a way that she would just be paralyzed for the instant that it occurred those flashbacks indicated
that there was a certain amount of abuse that went on very early in life that she
did not have a handle on and there was a big part of her that they did not want to deal with it I only remembered good
things about my father and to suddenly have a whole new side of him revealed to me it was a terrible shock and I
remember saying in therapy I don't want this to be true I don't want to believe this about my father
Miriam was her parents only child although her father had often been unpredictable
Miriam's conscious recollections of him had always been happy ones but gradually
fragments of her childhood memory came together to form a different picture the recreations you are about to see are
based on Miriam's memories see you later Miriam honey what are you talking about a couple others right when
it falls off the tree it's fine Miriam would you rather have some crackers or she said she was
somehow your mommy's an expert on coconut sir [Music] I remembered that he grabbed me and my
father was attacking me and somehow I guess I kicked him enough to hurt him and he put me down or dropped me or
whatever I remember watching from a hiding place where he finally left me alone my he was
ranting somehow policemen were there with the policeman trying to subdue her father was terrified beyond anything I
can possibly relate to you I don't know how to tell you the terror that I felt maryam believes that her father suffered
from severe mental illness she now feels certain that while her mother tried to cope Maryam herself
was taken away when I started having these flashbacks I started thinking about mommy and daddy and the images
that went with my parents weren't the images that were popping in my mind and I didn't know who these people were
I suddenly realized they were people in my life that were important to me and I didn't know who they were just something
to eat I'm really afraid it's all right I remember I was absolutely frightened out of my mind
slowly I realize that this was a safe place that these people were kind and they weren't going to hurt me and they
were loving and I was very happy there what are you coloring sweetheart as the gates have a repressed memory opened
miriam recalled being placed with loving foster parents my foster father had white hair and he was a young man it was
very striking I remember his hands I remember that they were strong and powerful hands that made me feel very
safe Miriam believes she called her foster parents daddy Mike and mommy Pat Mike
was a fireman and Pat sang her to sleep with Irish lullabies I just remember being hugged and kissed and just playing
with mommy Pat's ringlets and the overwhelming sense of being loved they thought I was the most wonderful child
in the world and I really delighted in that there's some people but unhappy memories
soon intruded first a serious discussion with Mike and Pat Merriam sense that she
was about to lose them maybe what's important is that we love you [Music] after hearing the testimony of all the
part Miriam then remembers herself in a courtroom sitting with a social worker her birth parents were there as well as
pet emotions it's the decision of this court that Miriam pardon be returned to the natural parents
I was very very distraught I did not want to leave him as far as I was concerned these are the people I wanted
to spend the rest of my life with I [Music] really didn't remember about that kiss
for a very long time actually it didn't come until almost the very very end of all my memories in fact that was
probably one of the very last flashbacks I had and somehow that I love you that was came across and that kiss has been
enough for me to make peace with the loss and to go on with my life and just keep their memory in my soul and in my
heart Miriam lived with her natural parents until she got married at the age of 47
she began her search for my competin their names were Pat and Mike and I think their last name was McGuire
then repeated flashbacks we got the beautiful picture of these marvelous foster parents and without these months
with two loving parents she might not have survived they gave me a lot they saved me from
despair and I would like them to know that there was a good outcome I just pray that their lives are wonderful and
that they've had happiness and I hope that I'll get a chance to be reunited with them and share with them the good
things that I have in my life update after our broadcast a friend of Patton Mike's sent Miriam this photograph of
Pat it was taken when she was in her 30s the front confirmed that Pat and Mike had indeed cared for a little girl
around the same time that Miriam remembers being with them members of their church also confirmed that
Miriam's memory is accurate but Pat and Mike McGuire have yet to be found [Music]
[Music]

This, Episode includes: Who Killed Jeanine? (Pts. 1 & 2), Animal Saviors, Bus Stop Amnesia, Point Blank and Miriam's Memory.

Brief Summary

The episode discusses Jeanine Nicarico's murder, wrongful convictions, animal rescues, and a woman's amnesia journey.

Key points

The Tragic Case of Jeanine Nicarico. A ten-year-old girl is abducted and murdered, leading to wrongful convictions.
The Role of Brian Dugan. A suspect in another murder claims he acted alone in Jeanine's case.
Cruz's Fight for Justice. Rolando Cruz is wrongfully convicted and fights to prove his innocence.
A Random Shooting. A woman is shot in a random act of violence, leaving her fighting for her life.
Miriam's Repressed Memories. Miriam uncovers traumatic childhood memories through therapy, revealing a darker past.
A Search for Connection. Miriam seeks to reconnect with her loving foster parents after years of separation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I couldn't understand how anybody could have said guilty again.

Cruz's disbelief at the jury's decision.

14:37WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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