Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 10, Episode 9 - Full Episode | Forensic Files

tonight on unsolved mysteries Jessica was 15 a cheerleader and in some ways much too naive she should never have
accepted the ride that led to this fleeing for her life in a lonely Cemetery recently a series of
spectacular sightings had the entire state of Arizona buzzing about UFOs and visitors from beyond the military said
the strange lights were just flares but eyewitnesses say it just isn't so it was
supposed to be a night to relax and have fun then a young marine found himself surrounded by gangbangers with no way
out perhaps one of our viewers can help track down the men who shattered joffrey
Remus's wife and dreams the bizarre case of Rachel Timmerman began when she accused a man known to some as a town
bully of raping her then reached on and her young daughter Shannon abruptly disappeared as did three other people
the common link this man the same man who allegedly raped Rachel Timmerman also appointed an art
warming reunion as a result of a phone call from one of our viewers join me perhaps you may be able to help
solve a mystery [Applause] [Music] Madison County Ohio March 16th 1991 a teenager runs for her life she has to
outrun her assailants she scrambles over a fence and lands in a cemetery a few hours earlier her clothes were torn off
she was raped in a car and held hostage somehow she escaped now she hides behind
tombstones she tries to get out of the graveyard but in the pitch-black smashes into a
fence post the men catch up they strike her face with a blunt object to die her name was Jessica Lynne Keene she was
only 15 years old later investigators are able to pinpoint Jessica's final movements based on clues in and around
the crime scene mud on the fence a sock that belonged to her an impression of her knee in the ground but they didn't
have a clue about why anyone would want to kill her the gruesome murder of Jessica Lynne Keene is baffled local and
state detectives for years Jessica had been a popular cheerleader honor student a talented performer a young woman with
goals and dreams Jessica idealistically would have loved it been a singer an actress
I guess realistically Jessica was loved animals and going wanting to go to college to be a zoologist she was always
laughing always smiling always singing always fun to be around hey Susie hey Jen how you two doing I'm
supposed to meet me here in a little bit that year Jessica's life began to have its ups and downs it had to do with
being a teenager it had to do with rebellion it had to do with meeting her first love eighteen-year-old Shawn
Thompson hey it wasn't an issue for Jessica or her mother that Shawn was a different race but it didn't bother her
mother that Shawn had had minor brushes with the law and that he was a high school dropout I'd forbid her to see
Shawn and said you can't see him - your grades come up but I was concerned we discussed her cut you know as far as her
going to college she knew she'd have to keep a good grade average in order to get a scholarship and her grades started
dropping I knew she had to skip school a couple times to be with Shawn Jessica wanted to get away from her mom she
thought about running away but she didn't actually know where to go and she didn't want to be a runaway you're and
of course she threatening you know I don't want to live with you anymore but I knew I had
to do something arguments between Jessica and Rebecca escalated into fury they desperately
needed a cooling-off period mother and daughter mutually decided that Jessica should spend two weeks at a
local live-in Counseling Center for teenagers on Friday March 15 the day before she was to move back home and
just hours before she died Jessica spoke to Sean Jessica and Sean end up getting
to an argument that day on the telephone at which point they broke up numerous people witnessed this telephone call and
said that Jessica was very visibly upset [Music] later Jessica told a friend that she was
going to the mall she was last seen at a bus stop near the center at 6:00 p.m. authorities suspect that Jessica was
abducted there is a chance that maybe it was somebody who Jessica kind of knew maybe wasn't really good friends with
but familiar enough with them to trust them enough to get into the car not knowing what would ultimately happen
[Music] Jessica's body was found 42 hours later 20 miles from the bus stop it was noon
on Sunday investigators surmise that after Jessica was abducted she was held captive for at
least six hours based on a semen sample they believe she was raped two to four hours before she escaped from the car
this is the road here that Jessica ran down after she was able to get out of the vehicle
I don't think she had any idea at the time that she was actually climbing into a cemetery died but that was at that
point that was her only means for getting away from whoever was chasing her this is the area where they the
crime-scene investigators found one of Jessica's socks she obviously lost him while she was running the suck that was
found matched the one that remained on Jessica's foot we do know that she hid behind this headstone that was based on
the crime scene investigators found her knee print in the soft ground behind the
headstone we are pretty certain that Jessica saw the light on from the farmhouse and
that's what she turned to run for when she collided with the fence post in the back of the cemetery
when she got back here because it's so dark out here at night she was not able to see the fence back here and collided
with this fence post once collided with the fence post she knocked herself down and at that point her assailants were
able to catch up with her woman this is the spot where she was ultimately killed
[Music] I've never been so passionate about anything that I've ever worked on in my
life the thought of this young girl 15 years old who had such a bright future being murdered in such a horrible
horrible fashion you cannot help but want to do everything humanly possible to find out who did this
Sheriff's in Madison County turned their attention to Jessica's boyfriend but Shawn Thompson wasn't in Columbus he had
left for Florida with some friends they were only returned to Ohio Shawn was questioned the friends that had gone
with him were also questioning to the questioning the examination of physical evidence we have all but eliminated the
boyfriend and the friends DNA evidence from a semen sample did not match Shawn are the others the group was cleared of
any wrongdoing but an entire week had been lost a trail of the actual killer or killers had grown cold Jessica's
death never stops haunting her mother what they they did to her the fear that Jessica felt she would do anything to
get away and I can feel her heartbeat running through the cemetery I can feel the deep
breathing she was probably doing when she not being the two soon I could hear her praying I realized that that was the
worst thing that I believe anyone go through [Music] I pray to God to this that when she hit
that fence it knocked her out I'm not revengeful God has the only right to take someone's life but someone
does something usually and gets away with it they'll do it again I know but this is one of the last
chances we'll really have to find out who did this [Music] [Music] [Music] next when a peculiar v-formation of
light appears over Phoenix many claim the Air National Guard is the cause but those who actually see it feel very
differently [Music] [Applause] Roswell New Mexico 1947 a mysterious explosion unidentified debris found in a
remote pasture sparks a UFO frenzy official explanation a downed weather balloon Bentwaters Air Force Base
England 1980 multiple sightings of strange lights and aircraft official explanation a meteor shower
Hudson Valley New York 1983 to 1989 mysterious v-shaped formations seen by hundreds of local residents official
explanation an elaborate hoax for UFO buffs it's always the same story an unprecedented event followed by an
official brush-off now some say it has happened again in Phoenix Arizona March 13th 1997 10 p.m. a man named
Michael christen shot this videotape and before I know it an entire display of lights
comes on got a little excited at that time and I called my wife and I took her about a minute to get over there and it
was really quite unusual Michael Kristen wasn't alone this videotape was shot around the same time 15 miles away in
fact the bizarre lights were seen by thousands of Arizona residents that night and an explainable series of
strange bright lights seen over the skies of Arizona gets a lot of people wondering what the heck they saw not
surprisingly an official explanation soon emerged from captain Drew's sullens of the Air National Guard the 104th
Fighter Squadron of the Maryland Air National Guard's 175th Wing was conducting a night training exercise in
the vicinity of the mysterious lights and what they were doing was dropping night illumination flares over the north
tactical range of Luke Air Force Base and a lot of people seem to think that those flares could in fact have been the
quote-unquote mysterious lights claire's it seemed perfectly plausible and was widely accepted however there
was one little problem with the military explanation they said they'd only dropped flares
between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. but the most impressive sightings occurred earlier between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m.
taken together these highly credible eyewitness accounts seem to indicate that there was something other than
flares in the Arizona sky that night was it an extraordinary hue of en't judge for yourself 8:10 p.m. nearly an hour
before the military will begin dropping flares cross Nicol and his family were on highway 89 just outside Chino Valley
90 miles north of Phoenix [Music] where yeah it's like an airplane I looked out the window and I saw some lights in a
very small pattern and what they really looked like at that point was some just dim stars several of them in a very
tight pattern they were white like stars when they were coming towards us and at
that point they changed colors and went from white to red they were just overhead at that point
and they were in my estimation not very high off the ground I'm guessing a thousand feet and there was absolutely
no sound during the whole time from the start to the finish they was absolutely no sound I have no idea there was
definitely five of them moving again they were basically on a flight pattern of some kind that was fairly uniform ten
minutes later 8:30 p.m. 90 miles south a commercial airline pilot and his wife were driving
home after dinner for professional reasons a pilot agreed to tell his story only if his identity was concealed they
don't look like fighters that's a show formation and I've been flying for 29 years now and I'm not used to looking up
in the sky and not being able to figure out what I'm seeing I looked at it then and tried to make it into an airliner I
realized again that's going to slow and oh by the way there's no noise at all and then the next thing that struck me
is that yeah and why it would his landing lights be pointed straight down because the lights appeared to be about
five lights arrayed in this V formation with landing lights pointed straight down Ross Nichol and his family had seen
the lights here the pilot and his wife saw them here whatever it was seemed to be on a
definite southerly course 14 miles southeast of the pilots sighting Ozma Linderman and her boyfriend had their
own peculiar encountered keep in mind the military would not begin dropping flares for another half hour what is
that looks like it's gonna crash it was very clear in my mind that it was one solid craft the lights were traveling to
perfectly spaced apart and that there was a void clearly between the lights that blacked out the stars when it came
down the whole thing just slowed I don't know maybe to a stop or at hovered for a
second and then what looked like one solid red oval object it just turned red and shot straight up and disappeared
gone completely gone you know I tried everything I could to explain them away and I said well it
looks to me like a flock of geese flying down from Iowa with flashlights in their
mouths 8:45 p.m. still 15 minutes before the military would begin dropping flares
trucker Gary Morris saw the lights approximately 10 minutes after an 80 miles south of Oz Melinda he didn't look
like floodlights they didn't really look like spotlights there was something different about him that I had never
seen before between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. the Phoenix lights had traveled over 300 miles and been seen by hundreds of
witnesses Gary Morris's encounter came near the end of the first wave of sightings an hour past then at 10:00
p.m. Michael Kristin shot the videotape that would set off local hysteria and provide the basis for the official
explanation we got here if you lived in Phoenix these flares some of them were dropped at 14 and 15,000 feet they
burned very bright they burned for five to six minutes they are suspended by a parachute and it's a large flare you
would be able to see those flares I would imagine for 150 maybe even 200 miles the military says that flares like
these dropped at night would look like this again judge for yourself [Music] I'm certain that the lights that I saw
were not areal flares as used by the military but I've seen him from the ground I've seen them from the air and
these weren't flares and probably the major reason that these were almost certainly not flares dropped by the
military was there there's dangerous so they would never ever be dropped over a population center
we saw him travel over a distance of probably 70 to 80 miles over about 12 to 13 minutes and then no flares that I
know can do that the Ross nickel sighting is very interesting because involves veteran UFO investigator
Richard Monson has been on the Phoenix case since the beginning they surprisingly muster sides with the
military up to a point he agrees that the 10 o'clock event was indeed flares however he has no explanation for the
earlier wave of sightings the descriptions of the witnesses simply leave you shaking your head because
they'll tell you that this is no military vehicle that they have ever seen and so right now we can't make a
determination on what actually happened at 8:30 on that night of March the 13th [Music]
will the mystery of the Phoenix lights ever be sung for the military the case is closed but for hundreds of
eyewitnesses the question remains did the Phoenix lights come from somewhere beyond the stars we've got to learn
accept certain things in life we've been sending radio signals out in space for over 50 years now trying to locate
intelligent life so why would it be hard for us to think that at some point in time somebody finally answered the call
when we returned it was just a party a chance to let off a little steam but for marine corporal Jeffrey Ramos it became
a terrifying descent into hell a [Music] [Applause] [Music] gangbang a flurry of gunshots a man left for dead
not a rival gang member an innocent victim he is 20 year old Jeffrey Ramos handsome good-natured a dedicated marine
who had recently made the rank of Lance Corporal September 21st 1996 Canoga Park
California it was supposed to be innocent fun Joffrey and some fellow Marines have been invited to a party the
clean-cut Marines mingled easily with a diverse mix of partygoers which according to one of Geoffrey's friends
included some gangbangers they don't say nothing to us you know didn't pay no mind to us you know they're starting to
trouble with us we just we did our thing and they did theirs you know then without warning
thanks for doing Pablo hey he came up to me you wish he's not that desperate he is a fuse with you throughout that
[Music] then f1 the whole fight broke out just everybody was fighting Jeffery and his
fellow Marines it was time to go this was a party not a warzone as they reached the Jeep
Joffrey remembered he had left his wallet in the backyard his friends inadvertently drove off
without they could not have guessed the Joffrey was heading straight into battle
on the street destroying a Marine was considered a Badge of Courage what's up man
let's go the alleged ringleader of the group was a reputed gang member named Louis Quesada what's up you know how to
kill marine huh check macho marine somewhat that punk ass hair fool you going down
Jeffery sized up the odds there was only one way out Jaffe Rommel never had a chance repeated the vicious attack
lasted less than five minutes it was long enough for Jeffrey's friends to return they went inside to look for
Louie Quesada meanwhile apparently assumed an approaching car was filled with Marines and took aim by the grace
of God there was nobody hit and we very much could have had five additional people laying out their dead believed a
neighbor or somebody was yelling there's a dead kid in the street so then um we ran over there grabs I'm ready home all
right what there you go you could say was like a nightmare Ramos Ramallah note the way he looked
bloody his face was swollen and he was just he looked like you know he was breathing but he looked like he was just
dead you know in the midst of the commotion the police mistakenly arrested the Marines we did our initial belief
because of the injuries of Joffrey incurred and the beating was that he was gonna die and even though he hadn't died
yet we were handling it as if he had died because it was that serious it was awful just to see him laying
there like that I remember looking through these glass wall that they had in the room and I could see him laying
there and he looked like a monster his head was bandaged and had tubes coming out of
his head his eye was so swollen it was um his face all this whole face I saw him his nose his lip and I thought I was
gonna die the right side of Joffrey's brain had been smashed to the left side of his skull he underwent emergency
brain surgery has spent three weeks in a coma doctors doubted he would make it I was
unconscious for a long time huh and um when I came up I I didn't know anything there's some
now some things are coming but some we're still going though Joffrey suffered some permanent brain damage it
is remarkable that he is even alive much less functioning he spent eight months learning like an infant all that it
takes to walk and talk I think it said it's very unfair that job he has to go to life facing all of these challenges
that he has now while Louis casada is out there having a good time and doesn't even have any idea of what he's done to
Joffrey or any other you know for any of us Joffre had high hopes of making the military a career but instead had to
accept an honorable discharge from the Marines now every labored step Joffrey takes is proof positive that he's
undoing the damage inflicted upon him that terrible night I'll think about this till I turn sigh so I get old and
thing and I I forget I never remember why I never answer why why would they do that
why why would they just know I'm a requesting the number one question is why why would they or they do that
[Music] [Music] next a young woman is found murdered but her baby daughter is still missing
have you seen Shannon Zimmerman August 7th 1996 Cedar Springs Michigan 18 year old Rachel Timmerman left a party with
43 year old Marvin Gaye Brehon and two other men I wants you out of the car though some consider Gabri in the town
bully he was friendly with Rachel's family he was well aware that life at don't reach in a rough hand she came
from a broken home and a given birth to a daughter when she was just 17 still nothing could have prepared Rachel for
what she said happened that night Rachel later told police of debris and beat her
then he raped not once but three times [Music] after a six-month investigation Marvin
Gaye Brean was arrested then released on bail two weeks later that rape was so brutal and it took a long time at the
hospital and the scarring I don't think whatever went away it got to where she didn't really hardly trust anybody
unless she already knew them because she didn't know who could hurt her again the
accusations of rape divided the tiny community of Cedar Springs but in the months that followed rachel began to
turn her life around she had a daughter to raise 18 month-old shell a Rachel got herself a job at a
restaurant she had fun working with some of the other young kids there I got the
sense that Rachel wanted to do something with her life and she saw opportunities
out there that she wanted to pursue the baby is really what changed it all her focus was on the baby almost 99%
everybody's just talk for the good she knew she was a beautiful lady and and she started wearing makeup every day
after that rape to try to make herself feel pretty because there were mean things said that really hurt her
so everything was really it was like a miracle but as a date for Gabriel's preliminary hearing came closer Rachel's
family says she began to worry about having to testify she had told me that he threatened her numerous times she was
a little scared to go to trial but I had talked to her about it I told her it's okay honey I'll go with you I'll help
you and we'll do it actually she but they had reoccurring nightmares [Music] she was totally convinced that this man
would kill her then two days before the rape here okay you're taking Shannon with you yeah actually he asked me to
bring her with me she came out to see me up and told me that she had a dinner date with some boy she was gonna take
Shannon with her and have dinner she'd be home in a few hours a few hours past Rachel and Shannon did not come home the
next morning still no word later that day less than 24 hours after Rachel disappeared her father received a letter
this letter was from Rachel and basically said that she was going on vacation we didn't know what to make of
it we were worried that it was kind of a goofy thing to do that it just didn't make sense here you just got a job at
the restaurant you're earning money why would you need to go on a vacation now June 5th we had a pre-trial hearing
scheduled for Marvin Gaye bring on the rape charge against Rachel Timmerman and on that date Rachel failed to show up
for that pre-trial hearing authorities say rape cases without witnesses are extremely difficult to prosecute the
charges against Marvin Gaye breanne were dropped 11 days past prosecutor Chris LaRoche became more and more anxious
there was still no sign of Rachel or baby Shannon then Roche received a letter signed by Rachel and sent from
Little Rock Arkansas more than 1500 miles away dear Krystal Roach Marvin Gaye Brian did not rape me when he
wouldn't have intercourse with me I decided to teach him a lesson a short time later we made up and I can't bear
the thought of trying to lock up an innocent man Thank You Rachel Timmerman I didn't believe it it didn't make sense
to me and when I got angry because she was very serious about pressing these charges I was concerned that something
had happened to her that same day yet another letter arrived at the home of Rachel's father it too
was postmarked Little Rock Arkansas dear dad Shannon is doing great she misses you guys but she's adjusting
to life out here really well I don't know for sure yet the letter that I'd receive it was reassuring it said she
was okay that her and Shannon were fine they had a method of earning money they were getting by okay and that they would
be in touch with me later more than two weeks went by without another word from Rachel and baby Shannon then on the
morning of July 5th the still waters of Oxford lake outside Cedar Springs were disturbed by a gruesome discovery the
decomposed body of a young woman it was Rachel Timmerman she had been wrapped in
chains and with cement cinder blocks padlocked to the chains and duct tape around the eyes and mouth and then
placed into the lake the autopsy revealed that Rachel Timmerman did die as a result of drowning that she had
been placed in a lake alive police believe Rachel probably died shortly after she disappeared but what
happened to Shannon fearing that the little girl had met the same fate as her mother authorities
called in an underwater diving team to search Oxford Lake but the search came up empty 18-month old Shannon could not
be found authorities developed a theory whoever killed Rachel forced her to write the letters almost immediately
after she was kidnapped then mailed them after throwing her into the lake one suspect immediately came to mind a
man who stood accused of raping Rachel the man Rachel was to testify against just two days before she disappeared a
man named Marvin Gabriel we decided to go over to mr. Geary incidents mr. Gabriel was not there but cinder blocks
were noticed that appeared to be the same as what was found with Rachel Timmerman when her body was recovered
from Oxford Lake authorities now had evidence that was potentially crucial to their case that they did not have Marvin
Gabriel he had fled cedar springs and strangely Gabriel wasn't the only one who couldn't
be found it seems to be anybody that knows Marvin has any information that could be damaging to Marv comes up as a
missing person missing person number one Wayne Davis Davis had been in the car the night Rachel was allegedly raped he
had agreed to testify against Gabriel Davis was last seen just days after Gabriel was released from jail
missing person number two John weeks weeks was an acquaintance of Gabriel's who had asked Rachel out on a date a few
weeks prior to her death his name came up when we were attempting to identify the individual that might have picked
Rachel up on June 3rd from the Timmerman residence in our efforts to locate him we've come up against a stone wall and
found out that he also was a missing person no one has seen or heard from him since about second or third week of June
1997 curiously that was around the same time Rachel and Shannon disappeared the FBI was called in they learned that
gabion have been using an alias Robert Allen missing person number three to no one's
surprise authorities discovered that the real Robert Allen had disappeared in 1995 October 1997 upstate New York a
major break in the case FBI agents arrested Gabriel he had been cashing social security checks payable
to Robert Allen days later Gabriel appeared at an identity hearing in New York initially he denied he was Marvin
Gabriel he has yet to be charged for any crimes he might have committed in Michigan and he hasn't said a word
concerning the fate of baby Shannon the hardest part is just not knowing where your granddaughter is it says it's how
hole in your heart that needs to be filled we know she's out there somewhere we just want to know where she is we
want her back Shannon Timmerman Wayne Davis John weeks Robert Ellen all missing all with a
common link Marvin Gaye Brean coincidence authorities believe it is highly unlikely
[Music] [Music] [Music] I'm take thee as my wedded husband I take thee as my wedded husband on a
previous broadcast we brought you the heartbreaking story of Margie Elizabeth Hamilton in a spring of 1932 economic
hardship forced 14-year old Margie to marry a man nearly 50 years her senior life you may kiss the bride the loveless
Union unexpectedly brought Margie a measure of joy when she gave birth to a baby boy
Benjamin Austin Baker but her husband James did not share Margie's happiness [Music]
behind her back James put the child up for adoption even though 63 years have passed Margie
has never forgotten the son who was taken from her her daughter Lois hopes that time will not run out before
Margie's last wish can come true it would be so wonderful to be able to you know say mama
here's spinning here's your sound well then minutes of our broadcast to viewers contacted our phone center to tell us at
Benjamin Austin Baker once lived as a foster child in their home the information he provided it was enough
for Lois Baker Lane to locate her long-lost brother in Everton Washington [Music]
Benjamin Baker entered the foster care system at 18 months old and grew up just outside of Atlanta Georgia he later
became a Salesman married and started a family sadly Benny has spent his entire life
believing that his real mother had cruelly abandoned him recently Benny boarded a plane for Colorado Springs to
find out the truth after six decades of separation mother and son finally embrace their
shared anguish evaporating in an outpouring of love I wanted this day to happen for my mom and I can't even put
it into words how I feel I just you know I am just so happy that we finally found
him I had given up a long time ago that I'd ever see them so it feels great it's
you know it's something I never imagined would ever happen I tried so many years to find him that I
prayed a lot that it would happen I'm just glad that I got to see him and he's well and happy and that we can be
together before my time comes [Music] for every mystery there is someone somewhere who knows the truth perhaps
it's you join me next time for unsolved mysteries [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause]
[Music] [Applause] [Music]

Brief Summary

The episode covers Jessica Keene's murder, UFO sightings, Jeffrey Ramos's gang attack, and Rachel Timmerman's disappearance with her daughter.

Key points

The Baffling Murder of Jessica Lynne Keene. Jessica, a 15-year-old cheerleader, was tragically murdered after escaping her captors.
Jeffrey Ramos's Near-Fatal Attack. Marine Jeffrey Ramos was brutally attacked at a party, leaving him fighting for his life.
The Disappearance of Rachel Timmerman. Rachel Timmerman goes missing after a night out, leaving her family in turmoil.
A Gruesome Discovery. The body of Rachel Timmerman is found, raising questions about her fate and that of her daughter.
A Long-Lost Reunion. After decades apart, Benjamin Baker reunites with his mother, Margie, fulfilling a lifelong wish.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She was only 15 years old.

Describing Jessica Lynne Keene's tragic fate.

2:55WatchMay 23, 2019

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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