Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 8, Episode 7 | Forensic Files

[Music] next on Unsolved Mysteries three inmates break out of jail and Lead police on a highspeed
chase that ends in a wild shootout the ring leader is still on the run after a routine stop at the bank a
woman is abducted in her own car then she attempts a risky Escape after a woman is kidnapped her
husband pays a ransom of more than a million dollar not to one person but to 12 which one is the
Mastermind and two 10-year-old boys die in a suspicious fire eyewitnesses and family members believe that they were
murdered but why were they killed five cases with strange Clues bizarre twists and secrets you would
never expect I'm Dennis finina and this is Unsolved [Music] Mysteries [Music] in the town of seminal Oklahoma
19-year-old Travis Wayde Duncan worked as a mechanic he had just moved into his own apartment other than one minor
scrape with the law his record was clean Davis was a quite young man he getting a
little Misty of now and then but growing up he was uh he was a good kid you know
from a good family there so when Duncan was arrested for stealing guns his family and friends
were surprised Duncan claimed that when he bought the guns he had no idea that they were stolen his bail was set at
$25,000 but his family couldn't afford to post the bond step back from the door Duncan was sent to the seal County Jail
he appeared to be a little nervous to be in jail and you go Travis was a kind that was very quiet he never did cause
any trouble at all he was just a real quiet type kind of kept to himself Duncan ended up sharing gasel
with another prisoner 19-year-old John fiser according to deputies fiser was both charismatic and a little crazy I'm
everybody I'm out fer was arrested on a murder charge first-degree murder you John's uh goal in life was to be the
drug lord of Oklahoma he was constantly fantasizing about and telling and bragging to other
people that uh he was in with the medine cartel of South America that he had buus
of money just any amount you had he had several accounts that had hundreds of thousands of dollars in it most people
knew he was fantasizing J Fisher but Travis Duncan was not most people he was young naive and gullible
and an easy Mark for John fiser I'm getting out of here I got $200,000 in a bank in Oklahoma I got guns I Got a Car
everything fiser was the kind that would look you right in the face and tell you
exactly how he felt he was a leader among the other inmates he everybody looked up to
him Oklahoma's mine I always considered Fisher to be an escapeist just by his actions and he would come straight out
and admit it that he would Escape if he had the chance for almost 3 months fiser worked
on Duncan filling his head with wild ideas finally Duncan's bail was reduced and he was released on the condition
that he would live with his parents but within a few days Duncan violated the terms of his release he left his
parents home and took his sister's pickup truck no one knows where Travis Duncan went only what he did Travis
manufactured Molotov cocktails different things loaded up the back end of the pickup with all types of ammunition uh
9mm pistols shotguns uh all different types of things some camping equipment and food uh water and things to to live
off of if they had to hide out for a while the day after leaving his parents' home Travis Duncan showed up at the
county gy hey Travis hey what's up not much when he pulled the gun on me I was frightened he also told me if I didn't
cooperate with him that he would uh shoot me this job ain't worth your life move Duncan was familiar with the jail
routine he knew that at this hour only one Deputy would be on duty Duncan quickly found the keys to
the other cell he lost no time freeing move John fer fish I'm ready go although fer tried to get other
prisoners to leave only one other inmate Timothy Johnson was willing to go I think it came as a surprise to Fisher
that Travis did this showing up at just the quick moment that he did we were prepared for a break for an
escape from the inside we never dreamed of one coming from the outside on us it was approximately 30 minutes before we
knew of the escape and a general broadcast was was sent out over the Escape uh with the vehicle description
and the occupants police units up on the interstate uh picked them up on radar running High rate of
speed the Oklahoma Highway Patrol set up a roadblock to intercept the fugitives as they came around the curve
got with individual sighting of our roadblock the driver Travis Duncan then accelerated to about 100
mph I jumped in my patrol car began pursuing the pickup as I caught up the pickup Fisher began to lean out the
window and point a shotgun at my patrol car as I was pursuing him every time he lean out and try to
draw a bead on my unit then I would go to the left of the driver's side of the pickup get as far over as I could get
out of the Night of Fire this is something that you expect to see on the movies but you don't
really expect it to happen to you within a few hours Duncan Fischer and Johnson had roared across more than 150 Mi of
Interstate 40 with state troopers in Hot Pursuit 24 M from the Arkansas border Duncan made a beline for CER Lake an
area which the Troopers knew well but the fugitives did not we exited the interstate started
south on the county road as we did Fisher leaned out the passenger window and threw what appeared to be a beer
bottle up into the air I can even try to throw something through the windshield of my patrol
car that multi cocktail failed to ignite because it hit the road the wind the high speed blew the wick out doing a
sming seconds later fiser tossed another homemade bomb out of the truck it didn't
go off either Trooper James stayed on their heels in no time they were heading down
up Dead End [Applause] Road you don't have time to beer anything the adrenaline's pumping so
hard but your mind rushing you know I hope I told my kids that I love them before I came to work
today once the firefight subsided The Three Fugitives took off for the woods they had had no idea that they were
trapped on a peninsula that jutted out into the lake by Nightfall authorities had them surrounded the Oklahoma Lake
Patrol was called in to search the shore I don't shoot okay coming out don't shoot your hands up over your
head turn around up don't just before 10 p.m. police captured John fiser and Timothy
Johnson the escaped convict they claimed that Duncan had been shot and his body was in the woods later they would admit
that he had actually gone off on his own we kept the area contained for nearly 3 days hoping to find Duncan we
used tracking dogs we did searches in case he had in fact been shot and was down in the woods to know Avail we're
unable to locate him no signs that he's in there there was no evidence to indicate that he'd been shot
one month later deputies discovered a man's body across from the peninsula he had been shot through the head police
concluded that Duncan had gotten away by swimming across the lake they think that
Duncan then shot the man and stole his truck Travis Duncan has not been seen since the night of the
Escape update after a tip from one of our viewers Travis dun and was arrested in
Boise Idaho he pleaded guilty to nine counts including kidnapping and assisting in a prison
escape Duncan was sentenced to 20 years in prison and was released after serving
just under eight police now believe that Travis Duncan had nothing to do with the murder
of the camper who was shot on the Lake Shore John fiser was sent back back to prison to serve a life sentence on a
murder conviction in an unrelated case the third fugitive Timothy Johnson also ended up back in prison on multiple
charges however he has served this time and has since been released next well DNA left at a crime
scene helped solve the murder of a public defender Palo Alto California after raising three children
Gretchen berford embarked on a new life enrolling in law school at the age of 41
within a few years of her graduation Gretchen had a full-time practice specializing in juvenile
law I think Justice was really important to my mother and I think that's part of
the reason she was drawn to a career in law conviction she wanted to help people
who didn't maybe start out with all the benefits that her children had gretan put her heart and soul into defending
the people and she worked hard with them not only just with the legal defense but
there were a lot of uh things that she would be involved in as far as their personal
lives late on a Friday afternoon Gretchen left her office and headed home for the weekend police believe that what
happened next was a random act of violence bank records verify that at 6:37 p.m. Gretchen deposited a check at
a bank four blocks from her office it's here that we suspect that her as salant may have accosted her for
the first time she may have been the type of person who left her car unlocked which
is what as salant look for when they are stalking their victims she's near a walkup teller at
night uh obviously she would be a target for some type of an attack shut up shut up shut up police
believe that Gretchen was abducted in the bank parking lot 5 or 10 minutes after she
arrived what happened next was remains a complete mystery we can only speculate as to what
was going on during that 20 minutes she was used to this type of person and perhaps was trying to appeal to him uh
as to what the consequences would be uh who knows we don't know just 25 minutes after depositing
her check Gretchen tried to withdraw money from another ATM 3 mil away this transaction was declined because the
amount exceeded her daily limit police now believe that Gretchen may have been trying to stall her rep
doctor where's the money I don't know I we had two witnesses pull up behind Gretchen's vehicle uh the male driver
saw a struggle going on inside the car he saw the driver's door open and then it appeared that she was pulled back
[Applause] inside [Music] he's dead Witnesses have told us that she got out of her car screaming he stabbed me
he stabbed me and uh helped me and she collapsed immediately so the wound was uh was
definitely a one single stab and it was fatal police believe that Gretchen deliberately crashed her car in a
desperate attempt to escape in the aftermath two witnesses were able to get a good look at the
killer the lady jumped out of the car screaming that she was stabbed and then he got out of the car
stared me and my friend down then he turned around and ran within 2 seconds 3 seconds he was out of sight since the
girl hit the ground she said she was stabbed we went for her she was lying on the ground and I could see a little pull
of blood she was looking up at me she was saying I'm dying I'm going to die I said
you're just bleeding and you're you're going to be fine so just you know relax and I I held her hand she looked up at
me her eyes rolled back and her eyes closed and it kind of I guess her life uh ended
right there 133 can you ask a number on my last call 133 when I arrived at the scene Gretchen
had already been transported to uh an emergency room I almost immediately started processing her vehicle for any
evidence I looked inside and saw a Paisley baseball hat in the rear passenger compartment that just seemed
out of place we later confirm that that did not belong to her and it's unknown how that
got in her car so we assume that they belong to our suspect the next day authorities
recovered the murder weapon a butcher knife with an 8 in Blade it was found in a driveway one block from the scene but
provided no additional leads police next focused on the Paisley hat found in Gretchen's car even though
all attempts to connect the Hat with the suspect have failed police are convinced
that it could hold a key to solving the case I think it's ironic that that my mother would have gone on helping you
know for years probably um that she'd only just started her law career that she had so much to give and was giving
so much and and helping so many people and um that it was you know it was just ended by somebody who had no idea who
she was or what she was or you no ability to care about her update nearly two decades after the
murder DNA found in the Paisley hat was matched to Tyrone Hamill a convict in a Texas prison Hamill admitted he had
killed Gretchen berford and was sentenced to a second term of life in prison without the possibility of
parole next a Millionaire's desperate search for his kidnapped wife Jackson Mississippi Robert Haron was one of the
wealthiest men in the state his wife Annie lorri Haron was a devoted wife and mother on an ordinary morning in July
Annie was [Music] kidnapped good morning on behal of 12 Days Later Robert Haron called a press
conference at his home my name is Robert Harry my wife Anna was taken from my home over 10 days
ago my children and I have done everything humanly possible to obtain her release my children and I
appeal to whom has my wife that they may say that she may be safely returned to us thank you
I think about Mama all the time and uh I'm sure my daddy does too there there's no real way to quantify what this uh how
enormous a tragedy and ordeal this has been to him and and to the rest of the family the kidnapping of Annie herin was
unusual The Ransom note demanded payment not to one person but to 12 all had some
connection to one of Robert haren's companies it was a strange twist to a troubling
case on the day of Annie's abduction Robert came home from work and was alarmed when he found that his wife was
missing about her after checking with friends and family sir he called the police I'll wait right here for you
officer thank you then Robert made a disturbing Discovery a note apparently left by a kidnapper lay by his front
door the note said do not call the the police however Mr Herring had notified the police prior to the note being
discovered it was clear from the contents of the note that Annie's abduction was in some way connected to
Robert's businesses Robert Haron put these people back in the shape they was in before
they got mixed up with school pictures the demands in the note were very vague and made several demands of Mr her
concerning certain indiv uals listed on the Note who were allegedly harmed by a company of which Mr Heron was
President Robert had been president of a company called school pictures the company sold franchises to photographers
throughout the United States to produce photo portraits of school children in an effort to collect money
owed to them school pictures filed lawsuits against 12 franchise owners in 8 States including
Florida on the day that Annie was kidnapped Witnesses reported seeing a white cargo van with Florida plates in
the neighborhood police soon discovered that the 12 names on the kidnappers Ransom
note were the same 12 people who had been sued by school pictures it's possible that these 12
people had absolutely nothing to do with this abduction but however you can't rule out the fact that maybe somebody
especially that had the knowledge of school pictures and its operation could have been involved with
it school pictures was requested to look into their files on these uh 12 people the transactions were reviewed and uh
letters were of course sent out to these uh 12 people uh trying to determine what
damages uh that that they had what did they want um at that point uh we didn't get a
response except from several of them saying we don't want anything 8 days after his press
conference Robert received a letter he recognized the handwriting immediately it was from his wife
Annie this gave us quite an emotional lift because it meant that mother apparently had survived the the initial
struggle but it still was extremely vague as to what we were to do at that point daddy in order to do something to
show our good faith effort to comply with these vague demands instructed um his attorneys to check these roles and
find out how much school pictures had sued these 12 individuals for Robert sent out checks totaling nearly $1
million to the 12 people on the list half of the checks were returned the letter in Annie's own
handwriting would be the last word that her family or police would ever receive from the
kidnapper it's been our sincere desire from the very beginning from the the moment of the kidnapping that we do
everything possible to comply with these demands we want mother back update Newton Alfred win a 65 year-old
lawyer was arrested by the FBI in Florida on charges related to the kidnapping of Lori Heron wi was one of
the 12 men named in the ransom note left at the Heron Mansion also W than one month before the kidnapping he had
purchased the van which matched the description of the vehicle seen in the Heron
neighborhood Newton Alfred win was convicted of conspiracy to kidnap extortion and perjury he was sentenced
to 19 years and 7 months in prison wi has since been released and still maintains that he is innocent of
the kidnapping Annie Lorie Haron has never been found her husband Robert is now deceased but Annie's family is still
looking for her next a young woman can't remember her family her friends or even her own
[Music] name a local park in Long View Washington I was laying in some grass and my first memory was
unbelievable pain the only noise I could hear really was just pounding pounding in my ears you know I felt so
unbelievably sick that I I couldn't stay in one place it was like something was telling me just to get up to go and then
I all of a sudden I started thinking I didn't know who I was or where I was imagine yourself as a teenager
wandering alone confused and vulnerable without any idea of your name your age the date or even what city you're
in my head was hurting so much I wasn't really there and the first person I saw was this older man leaning against a car
and it seemed like took for ever to get to him when she asked the stranger for help
he volunteered to take her to the police station in the car he never identified himself The Stranger dropped her off a
half a block away from the police station and instead of helping her inside he immediately drove
away Deputy Joel reee was leaving the station when he encountered the confused girl can you help me sure what seems be
a problem I can't remember anything I met her out in front of the Hall of Justice at about4 after 3 in the
afternoon she looked disorientated scared I told her I was going to take you to the hospital she didn't know what
a hospital was this girl had a small lump on the back of her head which was compatible
with either being struck on the back of the head with an object or falling down and had developed acute Amnesia as
a result of of that single blow she had no recall about her family she had no idea of what age she was or whether she
had completed High School nor where she had attended high school with no clues to the girl's
identity the police placed her picture in the local newspaper when a woman named Gloria cook saw the photo she
immediately recognized her daughter Kyra Gloria and her her husband rushed to the
hospital a nurse brought a girl down the hallway toward us and for a minute there
I thought maybe I made a mistake maybe this isn't Kyra she looked different carried herself different but when she
got up to us I know it was Kyra and Kyra looked at us and looked at the deputy she turned around to the
nurse and she said are these supposed to be my parents first time I met my parents was
at the hospital I think a day or two after I was there and um they were just like every other person I'd met totally
strangers I think I felt real bad because the feelings weren't there nothing was there and it was really
dragging myself down trying to make up feelings even after 5 days in the hospital Kyra was allowed to go home but
instead of triggering familiar memories it it was just like visiting a strange new
house first time I went into my room it was I felt really guilty I felt like I was in somebody else's room and I
didn't want to look through anything I did not want to touch anything it took me a couple months before I would even
go through drawers and then when I first read my diary I felt like I was invading
somebody's privacy it took me so long to get through it because I just I didn't really connect the idea that that was
actually me before the accident despite her memory loss Kyra's Amnesia was not total she retained her
talent for art remembers algebra and can still speak German Amnesia is a mystery
to us I never had the feeling that Kyra was faking the Amnesia she was constantly think thinking very clearly
and rationally about how she might understand who she was does this mean anything it's like
looking at a stranger it's difficult enough I guess for a parent to have a child
die but when you have a child that loses their entire life and doesn't even know
you and you have to live with that and every day you wake up hoping today maybe sure remember and at the end of the day
you cry because she didn't the mysterious incident that erased Kyra's memory took place sometime
during a brief 1-hour period Kyra went to the post office to mail a package police believe that she left at about
2:15 p.m. Kyra woke up in the park at 300 p.m. with no memory of what had taken place my personal theory is she was
either dodging a car or was struck by a car and fell and hit her head there's so much traffic in the area
there uh it's a 25 mph Zone and people tend to drive a little faster than that at the hospital we check for other
injuries there were no other injuries but the bump on the base of her [Music] [Applause]
skull Kyra's parents have a totally different theory about what happened knowing Kyra she took a
shortcut from the post office I think someone grabbed her from behind by the throat didn't realize how strong she was
she started to fight them off and they took their fist and hit her and caught her at the base of her
skull Kyra was carrying a brown paper sack containing her makeup and spending money for the day when she woke up in
the park it was gone perhaps the key to this mystery is the stranger who drove Kyra to the
police station repeated Appeals in the local newspaper and by the police department for the stranger to come
forward have met with no success if he would even talk to us anonymously call anonymously and let us know did she say
anything in the car did he see anything he was the closest person to her at the time it
happened 18 years have passed since Kyra lost her memory no one her parents her doctor even Kyra herself has been able
to fill in the time that she she's missing for Kyra to regain her past her doctors believe that something or
someone must trigger her memory when people are talking about the past between themselves I envy them for
having a past and as the months grow on after the accident I'm building up a past so you know I'm just looking
forward to the day when I can look back on 20 years and just think of all those things
Kyra cook has begun the long process of gathering a lifetime of memories perhaps
the day will come when what she is able to recall will outweigh what she has lost
forever next the disturbing case of two young boys who died in a fire were their
deaths and accident or [Music] murder Bullhead City Arizona is a small desert town on the banks of the Colorado River
Sue Johnson moved here from California she and her husband felt that it was a great place to raise their children
Scott and Angel they loved it uh Scott was a natural-born fisherman he loved to fish
and go out in the desert desert catch lizards catch a snake whatever he was just he he was a Desert Rat he just fell
in love with it less than 50 yard from the Johnson's new home stood an old shed once used by copper miners as a Powder
Magazine it became a playhouse for Scott and his friends got you got you oh they
just played there and played cops and robbers and Indians and cowboys and whatever else little boys do I never
felt any apprehension towards that building at all and it was with inside of the house it wasn't anything to worry
about it was a typical thing that children would pick to use for a Ford or a clubhouse at 3:45 p.m. on a Tuesday
afternoon the Bullhead City volunteer fire department responded to a call The Old Powder Magazine was on
fire former fire chief Larry Adams vividly remembers the details all right open it
up what I could see through the smoke and the steam is what appeared to be up holster uh on the floor through the pike
pole when I got the pike pole uh I stooped down to look under the smoke to hook this material and drag it out to
extinguish it oh my God Adams had found the badly burnt B of Scott Johnson and one of his friends 7
weeks later the coroner concluded that the two boys had died accidentally he suggested that the boys were probably
playing with matches and gasoline when the [ __ ] caught fire I was shocked I was very
shocked my child was certainly smarter than to just lay in the back of a building and wait to be asphixiation by
smoke or burned by fire uh it's kind of an obvious thing I always knew it was a murder
always Sue Johnson was not alone in her opinion from the beginning Larry Adams also believed that Scott and his friend
were the victims of Foul Play he had noticed that the door of the shack had not been locked or obstructed in any
way all anybody had to do to escape that building was push on the door in this case in building 6x6 in that panic
situation they would hit that door and escape the building had they been able to a few feet from the door Adams found
a 2X 12in wooden plank he thought that it was odd that the board had a small charred circle on one
side it indicated to me that somebody had prevented their escape through that door
[Music] they may have initially uh tried to hold the door uh but it's metal it got hot
they can't hold the door any longer they need something uh to insulate them from
the heat they picked up the TU 12 one on each end or more and held the 2 of 12 against the door with with one person on
each end of it despite this evidence police closed the cas case as the months went by Sue
Johnson was haunted by the burnt out shed where she believed that her son had been murdered she continued her efforts
to have the case reopened 4 years after the fire a convicted felon came forward with a
shocking story Dale Gordon meter was serving time at a County Jail in New Mexico at the
time of the fire he was living in Bullhead City B why don't you tell us in your own words what you saw on the 3rd
of April 1974 at the Powder Magazine anytime you talk to a prisoner that wants to give you information you know
he's trying to cut himself a deal the man just did not seem like he was you know really telling us all the truth
there was you know there's knowledge there I parked about say 50 75 yds away from the P magazine and seeing these two
guys over meter by us that he saw two men holding these two young kids and pushing them in the Powder
Magazine one of the kids looked like he was heavily drugged and the other one was
fighting then he saw one of the men with a gas can one of them told him take the gas
the street terms to get lost gas and we just burned up two kids 10 minutes I noticed both those Dell meter told
police that he came to know one of the men while serving time at a prison in Nevada authorities questioned the man
that meter accused of setting the fire but were unable to make a case however other Witnesses backed up Dale meter's
account kind of Nar or something it was Tina Mo and John kaou who reported the fire on the day that Scott Johnson and
his friend died they are also convinced that the boys were murdered at the time Tina and John were
teenagers there was two men one was standing on the side of the Hill facing the door of the shack and the other one
well he didn't like this the idea that we were there and he took off and went running on this one I said you know Tina
I said I think we should go call the fire department on this you know cuz I think think them guys set this place on
fire you know that's when we left John atina told the police about the two men that they had seen however
they believed that their statements were ignored because of their own previous scrapes with the
law didn't seem like they took it seriously at all you know it seemed like they didn't believe my story and you
know for my past reputation you know seemed me like they just disregarded it and I never heard nothing
no more about it as time passed the tragedy faded from public memory but Sue Johnson continued
her quest for the truth you wonder was there someone who wanted this just tucked away quickly and for good or was
it just sloppy investigation or just circumstances I honestly feel that it was a common comination of a lot of
things I've talked with Sue on the phone and in person many times when Dale lint
became the new chief of detectives he reopened the case as a murder investigation I told her in the
beginning when I I started out that there may not be an answer to this but we're going to keep
looking where Scott Johnson and his friend deliberately burned to death and if so why would anyone kill two
10-year-old boys one clue may be the unusual discovery that Scott made 3 weeks before
his death look at what I found I think that it's possible that there could have been
someone that used that area possibly for a drug transaction or something and maybe the people that they saw doing
this um thought that the kids would run a block away to the sheriff substation and report them
and therefore they felt like they had to do something to stop it if if we could establish a motive a
reason that these boys were kill certainly would help the case but uh the motive is is strictly a matter of
speculation on anybody's part as far as far as I know it's very hard to live every day of
your life and wonder why your son was murdered and why no one's ever done anything about it in all these many
years I hope that whoever did it gets to pay for what they did someday I don't care how long it
takes I've been patient this long I can wait longer that's what it takes the investigation into Scott
Johnson's death is still open and active detectives hope that a new witness will
come forward with information that will Point them to the Killer [Music] [Music]

This, Episode includes: Bomb Throwing Fugitive, Paisley Hat, Mrs. Millionaire, Kyra's Crisis and Shack Fire.

Brief Summary

Five cases of crime and mystery, including a prison escape, a murder, a kidnapping, amnesia, and a suspicious fire.

Key points

High-Speed Chase and Escape. Three inmates break out of jail, leading to a wild police chase and shootout.
Tragic Attack on Gretchen Berford. Gretchen, a new lawyer, is abducted and fatally stabbed in a random act of violence.
Kidnapping of Annie Lorie Haron. Annie is kidnapped, and the ransom demands are linked to her husband's business.
Kyra's Amnesia. After a head injury, Kyra loses all memories of her past, including her family.
The Mystery of Kyra's Accident. Kyra's memory loss stems from a mysterious incident that occurred in just one hour.
The Tragic Death of Scott Johnson. Two boys die in a fire, leading to suspicions of foul play despite an accidental ruling.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This job ain't worth your life.

A deputy's realization during a high-speed chase.

5:28WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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