Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 12, Episode 1 - Full Episode | Forensic Files

tonight on unsolved mysteries responding to a routine call Lufkin Texas firefighters made a gruesome discovery
the partially burned body of a young woman was tied to her own bed authorities now need your help to find
the murderer of 26 year old Megan Kerik it was a brazen crime spree committed by
an unlikely suspect that left three dead bodies in his wake in 1970 18 year-old Margo freshwater was convicted of murder
but she escaped custody she has abated authorities for more than three decades and tonight a shocking new
development an apparent drowning cause of suspicion for the suppose a victim turns out to be a man awaiting trial for
rape authorities need your help to determine if Strider starfire is dead or alive a man and a woman inexplicably
vanished in America's heartland the massive search for the Peris failed to turn up anything except for a single
bizarre clue growing up Virginia burns never knew that her father had a hidden secret the
previous marriage and another daughter mal Virginia and her sister are finally together and thanks to you our viewers
join me for these stories of intrigue and deception prime ingredients unsolved mysteries
[Applause] [Applause] [Music] four am Lufkin Texas awakened by the smell of smoke an apartment resident
investigates flames are raging out of control in a unit on the second floor the man immediately calls 911 Fire
Department arise within minutes with hoses drawn the firefighters waste no time racing to the apparent source of
the blaze apartment six one six is locked requiring a forced entry to be made the fire is confined to the bedroom of
the small apartment as firefighters extinguished the blaze a chilling sight is revealed tied to the posts of the bed
is a charred body of a woman homicide investigators are immediately called in she had been suffocated with a plastic
bag and her throat had been cut very deeply two different cuts one on each side and then the bed had been set afire
this crime was absolutely the meanest thing I've ever seen one person do to another dental records would identify
the victim as apartment resident Megan curl the 26 year-old woman who worked at a local chicken processing plant and
have been a Lufkin resident for five years investigators continue to face a perplexing question who could commit
such grisly acts on this well-liked young woman Megan curl was born into a military family younger brothers Josh
and Sean soon followed in first grade Megan was diagnosed with mild retardation requiring that she attends
special education classes her life was never really easy she wasn't always accepted
people would make fun of her put her down and she'd always come back with a kind word for them when Megan was in
high school her family settled in Lufkin 175 miles southeast of Dallas Megan would marry at 18 and moved to Arkansas
but according to Sherri McClung that marriage was abusive when they separated Megan returned to Lufkin and insisted on
getting her own apartment because Megan was so trusting and was so outgoing she tended to be an easy target for some of
these men men who are accustomed to looking for women who could be easy prey absolutely could tell that Megan wanted
to please that Megan wanted somebody to care for her and that she was lonely and
I think that that is part of what happened here Megan's mother suspicions maybe on the mark earlier on the night
of her murder Megan curl went to the electric cowboy in a local nightclub she was seen
talking with a man at the electric cowboy club and that man did buy her one or two drinks she talked with him off
and on through the night at the club she wasn't with him the entire night no one
at the club knew who this man was and no one reported ever seeing him there before our sense
Megan loved to dance and sometimes her dancing was a little bit provocative particularly for that area of Texas
she was asked to leave the club [Music] she went to another club called the sport Shack just a little ways down the
road from the electric cowboy club she talked to some people there and caught a ride with an employee of the sport Shack
home Megan arrived home just after 1:30 a.m. a close friend who lived in the same
apartment complex was waiting up for Megan to hear the details of her night out Megan's friend requested that we
alter her voice and protect her identity what was dead out there talking and all
of a sudden there was this guy in his car and he was speeding really fast and he just did it did stop but instead of
getting out the driver remained in the car then I says well cause the guy just sitting there I think I'm gonna go say
hi to him yeah well you be careful okay okay as Megan's friend watched Megan approached the driver she seemed to
recognize him they began to talk into the apartment to give me something to eat because I'm hungry and the one who
went back out she was next time she was sitting inside the car and which you know each little thing I was getting
more worried you know what she was doing I mean but I went back game again and I
come back out the car was still there but neither one of them was there they were gone and I was like oh Lord
Megan's friend was so concerned she went up to Megan's apartment to check on her
she said hi she says I was robbed once my friend from the club and I looked down to him and he does nodded his head
slowly didn't say a word and I didn't speak to him at all either and I says well are you sure you're okay
and she says yes I'm fine okay that would be the last time she would see Megan alive when Megan curls body
was found there was a remnant of a nightgown on her most of it had burned off in interviewing men from her past we
learned that her normal sleeping attire would be something along the lines of shorts and a t-shirt but if she were
going to be romantically involved she would sometimes wear negligee or nightgown we feel like because of that
possibly she knew this person and was preparing for an intimate evening with them the very thought that Megan was
killed by someone she trusted compounds Sherri McClung grief I believe that Megan knew who the murderer was because
she got in the car with this person Megan would have gotten in the car with a person that she knew
there was not a forced entry so this is someone that she led into the apartment and that she had trusted investigators
question men with who Megan curl was known to have had relationships however each man was able to account for his
whereabouts on the night of the murder this sketch is based on Megan's friends description of the man she saw with
Megan in her apartment he is a prime suspect in the murder of Megan curl the man is white in his mid 20s to early 30s
blond hair and a light mustache he wears gold rimmed glasses investigators would also like to find
this man he was seen with Megan by the bartender at the electric cowboy club on the night she was murdered
he is described as having a dark complexion and possibly being Hispanic this man is not viewed as a suspect
investigators simply want to question him about what he may have seen on that night
the year was 1970 Argo freshwater the blonde wide-eyed teenager from Columbus Ohio found herself in an unlikely place
[Music] Tennessee State Prison for Women the one-time babysitter had just been convicted of first-degree murder but
Marga would not remain incarcerated for long on October 4th Margo and another inmate made an audacious escape while
being escorted by a single unarmed guard Margo under accomplice made a run for the fence the guard had to make a
decision in order to stay with main route or chase fire all the guard could do was try to summon some help and have
somebody go after Margeaux freshwater has not been seen since Marga freshwater has managed to
elude capture for more than 30 years longer than any other woman wanted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
police reason that she's blended back into the fabric of everyday life but Margo fresh waters a convicted killer
with your help authorities hope to finally return her to jail how did Margot freshwater a young woman
with no criminal background end up a murderer the story begins in the office of Glenn Nash a hard-drinking lawyer
whose grip on sanity was beginning to slip Nash was being investigated by the Memphis Bar Association for legal
misconduct he had come to the diluted conclusion that agents from the bar were conspiring against him Nash was an
intelligent person but somewhere along the line is drinking and mental situation apparently deteriorated and he
just took a left-hand turn Glenn - Marga freshwater Marga would come seeking Nash's help in getting her
boyfriend out of jail who then took advantage of whom is open for debate in there well I'm here because of my
boyfriend he's in the Memphis jail right now for armed robbery Margot was a young
attractive blonde very good figure and Margo had two distinct ability to turn a man's head when she wouldn't walk by and
I just drove down from Ohio to help him out I believe Margo or Shannon having a life
experience especially with any kind of situation like this Margo has no money to pay Nash she couldn't even afford a
place to stay while in town although broke himself Nash agreed to take the case pro bono
he'll submit Margo up at a local boardinghouse the married 41 year old and the 18 year old then began a torrid
affair but Nash was increasingly consumed by paranoid delusions of agents from the Memphis bar were after him one
evening he told Margo's landlady they were going bowling instead a three state crime spree ensued I believe it Glenn
Nash had lost touch with reality come on I think he was fantasizing that you go in and rob somebody and there wouldn't
be any consequence that schroederd Margo to stay up front while he took the cashier to the back room a customer came
into the store and later told investigators at Margo waited on him meanwhile Nash remained out of sight
accusing the cashier of being an agent of the Memphis bar I seriously doubt Margo knew that any of this was coming
until it gets started the cashier hillman Robbins was tied up with rope and shot five times in the
head a 22 and 38 were both used in the murder he left behind a wife and two children witnesses saw two people
matching Margo and Nash's description fleeing the liquor store and hopping into a white Ford Fairly 12 days later I
witnessed a describe an almost identical scene at a Florida convenience store [Music]
a couple exited the building has sped off on a Ford Fairlane inside the store was a body of s-sir boy she had been
shot in the neck police at first did not connect the murders until they found Nash's car abandoned on a highway show
in the trunk they found rope and bullet casings that match what was used in the Hillman Robyn's murder
the car was traced to Glenn Nash an APB was issued but the couple's murderous rampage was not over a cab driver CC
surrett was shot to death shortly after picking up Glenn and Margo the police staked out all the nearby bus stations
their efforts soon paid off when they arrested him they were transported to Hernando Mississippi on the show to
County Jail where they were charged in connection with CC syrettes murder Glenn Nash was declared insane ruled
incompetent to stand trial and incarcerated at a mental hospital Margo stood trial for the murder of ceci
surrett she testified that she was held prisoner by Nash and forced to participate in the crimes under threat
of death investigator disagree over Marcos culpability in the crime spree take this place Margo fresh water my
opinion was in a psychological condition where she wouldn't attempt to escape from Nash fearing being killed I don't
think that fresh water was a victim in any way she had opportunity after opportunity to leave not commit these
crimes but I think she enjoyed it the jury could not decide either and failed to reach a verdict twice three
years later Marga was tried for the murder of the first victim hillman Robbins she was found guilty and
sentenced to 99 years in state prison 18 months later Margo and another inmate faith Fairchild scaled a barbed wire
fence hitched a ride and disappeared once fy'y and Margo escaped they went from there to Baltimore Maryland
Fay Fairchild was arrested in Chicago sometime later the last time Margo freshwater was seen was on street killer
in Baltimore Maryland where she said her goodbyes to Fay in-phase nice and left after that Marga freshwater seems to
have disappeared off the face of the earth I would say that she has changed her life around she is probably living
as a mother or maybe even a grandmother at this time Margo committed a crime and she needs to
spend her time in prison and serve that sentence update Margo freshwater has been caught
police found her in Columbus Ohio living under the alias Tanya McCarter a married
mother of three she was taken into custody outside that buddy club by Aegis for the Ohio Bureau of Investigation at
the time freshwater was with her husband youngest son and grandchild none of whom
were aware of her criminal past she said nothing and was surprisingly emotionless
she then wanted to say goodbye to her son and husband and we allowed her to do that she first gave her son a hug and
was clearly whispering in his ear and he started sobbing quite noticeably freshwater was reincarnated at the same
Tennessee prison she escaped from 32 years earlier [Music] Washington's Snake River
before we get in after a late summer fishing trip Strider Starfire and another man headed for home
as dusk approached concerns were raised about getting back before dark as the votes sped across the water
Strider reach for a beer from an ice chest the boats driver heard his dog young and when he looked around Strider
was gone never to be seen again the apparent accidental drowning of Strider Starfire has been in question
ever since investigators quickly learn the Starfire had a murky past or may have had reason to disappear 10 days
after he supposedly slipped and fell overboard Strider Starfire was due to stand trial in Roseburg Oregon one thing
was certain this charming and charismatic man was not who he appeared to be Strider Starfire first surfaced in
Oregon in the mid-1980s within weeks the enigmatic Starfire had met a local woman
they fell in love and were soon married [Music] by the early 1990s the Starfire's had a
son and daughter and has settled into a seemingly idyllic life in Roseburg Oregon the teenage daughter of a dear
family friend was a frequent guest to the Starfire [Music] the girl visited so often that she
became a second daughter to Strider in his wife and a beloved sister to their kids
[Music] who ever spent any time with Strider eventually would fall under the spell of
his incredible charisma meet him when his foxhole all right and were pinned down we can't get up and leave he often
told romantic tales revolving around his suppose an exploit serving with special
forces in Vietnam spying for the CIA fighting alongside the Irish Republican Army drag him drag to get to the man
when he told us about being this Savior this crusader to help the little man to pull the the poor guy up by his boots
and and give the underdog his day you tended to believe him he wove his stories very well so the reason why we
call the clan of starfire he's bigger but there was one particular story even more fantastic than the other no no no
Strider starfire claimed he was the last surviving member of a Scottish clan called the house of Ellen Star and he
apparently had proof this is real Strider possessed a letter on a vast parchment stationery proclaiming him the
sole heir to the clams fortune as a young friend grew up she continued to spend time with the Starfire's
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 so they needed I gotta tell you but
according to the then 14 year old girl those feelings of trust insecurity were stolen from her one night in the
Starfire home out of the blue he started to profess his love to me and told me he'd been in
love with me for years that was it was a really terrifying moment after making his advance Strider starfire a married
father of two allegedly seduced and then had sexual relations with the miner for
more than a year the traumatized 14 year old would keep secret what had allegedly
happened that night but Strider Starfire's carefully crafted persona had already begun to crumble according to
his wife her suspicions that he was being unfaithful to her were confirmed the day he brought home an unexpected
guest his new internet business partner I had been getting a little bit of rumor
that there was more than just business going on between him and when they came home it was exceedingly obvious that
they were being intimate you find Strider apparently stunned his wife by proposing it she welcomed this
woman into their home as his second wife this was the last straw and within weeks
she filed for divorce but it was not until after their divorce was fighting the Striders now former wife would
apparently learned the true depth of his lies and deceit after Strider did that to me my life really spiraled out of
control I couldn't make any friends at school so I quit going and I did a lot of drugs and I decided that I couldn't
couldn't deal with it anymore she wrote a note saying she was running away with her boyfriend and she finally revealed
the dark secret she said she'd been keeping Striders ex-wife then receive a disturbing call from the teenage girl'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 the fifteen-year-old girl returned home safely the following day but Striders
former wife was sickened by what he had allegedly done 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 levan
years really had nothing to do with reality Strider Starfire was formally indicted on felony rape and sexual
assault charges authorities would learn from this fifteen-year-old that there may have been more secrets to uncover in
the Starfire hole now when going over her case she brought up another girl's name that she was aware was living there
at the house during that time she was that's when and victim number two was brought up in this years earlier victim
number two as she became known had become close to the Starfire family and often babysat their children this
alleged victim was just a ninth grader at the time she was first seduced by Strider Starfire gaming
really she told authorities he had charmed her with fantastic tales of his Scottish inheritance and promises to
make her his princess anything you want because you're the princess you get anything in the entire kingdom even
horses yeah yeah it's like he made the fairy tale you know 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 no 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
these were classic cases of strider he's in his 40s obviously a mature adult been around
quite a while these young girls haven't he's learned to find these young girls that are in an emotional time in their
their life and he was zeroed right in on and was able to manipulate them and do just what he's obviously probably done
before Strider Starfire was arrested and released on his own recognizance while awaiting trial
than just ten days before that 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 the suspicions of investigators were quickly around the Strider start fire
stage his own disappearance police found it strange that the boat was dry it didn't appear to have been used that day
all of fishing gear on board was clean and neatly stowed away inside Starfire's pickup truck investigators were
surprised to find a fishing license in the name of Daniel chase which was determined to be Starfire's legal name
they learned Striders start fire was only an alias one of two he was known to use some knew him by the name of Curtis
Jacobi further investigation determined the Strider star fire had never served in Vietnam worked with a central
intelligence agency fought with the IRA I'm sure mr. Starfire is alive and well this point I don't believe mr. star fire
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 stridor star ferris wanted on 13 felony
charges related to the rape and sexual abuse of minors authorities fear he may be committing similar crimes
[Music] [Music] last summer bill Rundle and Tracy kentley set out for a leisurely drive
along the remote country lanes of the Nebraska farmland the pair had vague plans to meet Tracy's boyfriend
later that evening bill and Tracy had met six months earlier and by all accounts their relationship was platonic
Tracy a health care specialist who worked with the elderly and Bill a forklift operator got together at around
4:30 p.m. on August 17th they drove off into the afternoon Sun and vanished into
thin air hey Belle the following day bill Rundle failed to show up for work I was concerned he would have not just not
shown up for work absolutely not and he would have called one way or the other he would have let somebody know that he
wasn't gonna be there Tracy can be lived with her boyfriend of seven years Doug Wolfe she was also a no-show at her
job we're looking for Tracy have you seen her I knew it was pretty serious because Tracy if she wasn't gonna go to
work first thing she'd do it would be to call in to work and let him know that she was sick or whatever the first thing
I did was just hop up my clothes on and head out the door and start looking I didn't know what to think I didn't know
what to think at all it's not something is supposed to happen in Hastings Nebraska residents of the
tightly knit rural community all new bill Raoul and Tracey Kenley and cannot imagine how the two could have simply
disappeared nearly a year is passed and the leads in the case are non-existent except for one solitary clue bill
Randall's hat mysteriously surfaced one week after he and Tracy were last seen in an area that had already been
thoroughly searched on the day bill and Tracy vanished there was little to foreshadow the bizarre
events about to unfold that afternoon the two paid a visit to Tracy's parents house 38 miles southeast of Hastings
Nebraska we had never met bill before this so we don't don't know anything about him and but we you know it's like
her dad said any friend of Tracy's as a friend of ours we never talked about where they were going when they left or
what they were gonna do I guess we felt that she would make it home safe [Music]
but Tracy Kenley didn't go home instead she called her boyfriend Doug at 11 p.m.
and made tentative plans to meet him at a local bar at 12:30 a.m. I'm just leaving my parents house with Bill what
are you gonna do after work Tracy and Bill were never heard from again by examining cell phone records and
transmission signals police are able to pinpoint Tracy's location at the time of
the call a junction in the road 16 miles east of Hastings the Clay in Adams County sheriff's
departments organized a search of that intersection in the surrounding area authorities worried that bill may have
crashed his car into the towering corn fields that blanket the region a 30 square mile area was painstakingly gone
over but no sign of bill Tracy or the Jeep turned up a lot of dedicated individuals came out and searched for
two solid days some areas were searched two and three times I believe in a 30-mile circumference we've done a very
thorough job of searching not finding anything with as many searches as we've had you know you would think you'd find
something there's there's just nothing nothing police began to consider where the Bill and Tracy left voluntarily
at the time that he disappeared bill was he was really lonely from what I know of Tracy she was a
really gentle sweet person and I think that bill is probably really attracted to that as a friend and at that point he
did need a friend and I think maybe they needed each other could bill and Tracy have been having an affair kept
completely secret from both their families and Tracy's longtime boyfriend and could they have decided to run away
together to start a new life away from the small-town scrutiny of Hastings Tracy's a very responsible person there
was no way that she would run away from her responsibilities she was very close to her parents she was close to me I
mean if she didn't want to call me if she ran off or something the first person first people she would call her
be your parents they didn't run away I feel that in my heart because neither one of them took the toothbrush neither
one took their any change of clothing there hasn't been no evidence as far as their credit cards ATMs phones have ever
been powered up from the day they disappeared no evidence has led us in that direction that they're still out
there then one full week after Bill and Tracy went missing a baffling piece of evidence suddenly appeared it was found
at the same intersection where Tracy made the final phone call to her boyfriend an area that had already been
searched several times we had a farmer come to us who had recovered a hat and the hat was sent into the lab just in
case through lab analysis it was found that the Hat was Bill Randall's that was laying right down here we do
not believe that bill was wearing the Hat when Bill and Tracy disappeared just the hat laying there there had been
three inches of rain in two nights after they had disappeared and the Hat was clean and did not appear to be out in
the weather plus most of our search teams went directly by that area and we believe our search teams would have seen
it if it would have been there police are now convinced that the Hat was planted but by whom and why
Phil and Tracy knew that they didn't have to meet Doug for at least an hour it would've been very normal for bill to
find a place to pull over and maybe pulled into a shaded area possibly and just open up a few beers and talked is
it possible that Bill and Tracy inadvertently put themselves in the path of a roaming killer Nebraska is an area
where you travel through to get from the east or the west there's always a possibility of somebody coming through
the area that may have been a more severe criminal than we're normally used to but who could have murdered two young
healthy people dispose of their bodies and car without leaving any trace of a crime and why would a killer then plant
Bill's hat one week later friends and relatives cling to the hope that Bill and Tracy
are out there somewhere and will somehow turn up unharmed until that day the search continues I'll
never stop looking we need some kind of clue we have no clue there has been nothing it's just like they just
disappeared [Music] [Applause] [Music] they're snapshots from another place and another time a proud young father
cradles his newborn daughter Virginia burns always thought there were photos of her after Virginia's father died her
mother revealed the truth the little girl in the pictures was in fact Virginia's half-sister her name was
Susan [Music] as a young man virginia's father had been previously married daddy's gonna
miss you but circumstances of a long-standing dispute with his mother-in-law had forced him to leave
his wife and his baby daughter Susan sorry Joe in later years his attempt to locate
them met with failure my mother admitted that she didn't tell me to protect me she had no way of
knowing where my sister was and why tell me if there was no way I could meet her
looking back Virginia suddenly understood the points of one memorable incident from her
childhood for her sixth birthday Virginia's Paris gave her the doll of her dreams so what are you thinking how
sweet beautiful what's her name I don't know what do you think I should call her
he says why don't you call her sweet sue about sweet sue and I did not realizing
that that was the name of my sister she needs to know she has a father who loved
her and secondly I have a sister out there and I'm more than ready to be a sister but we heard the story last
spring we had high hopes of sweet sue would be found we weren't disappointed bathenosh oozin
King lived in Oklahoma City only a short fight from Virginia's home near Denver Colorado the two women spoke in the
telephone that Dighton sensed an instant bond when they met that bond was confirmed
I watched each person as they got off the airplane and I just none of them I knew that they weren't her but when she
came walking out those doors I knew her instantly I just knew that's my sister I was really nervous I didn't know what
to expect so when I walked through their wrist in II and her husband and Jenny was holding
this huge sign that says desperately seeking Susan and I had planned on just walking by to see if she would recognize
me but I couldn't I got to her and dropped my suitcase and we hugged and cried and kissed and hugged some more
and had a crowd looking at us and just fell in love with her instantly since the reunion Virginian Susan have been
thrilled to discover how much they have in common they like the same food the same clothes enjoy the same hobbies even
talk alike we finished sentences for each other we they have the same things my husband has just you know these sits
here and shakes his head he says they are so much alike my daddy I feel like that if our dad was
here right now that from what jenny has told me about him he would be tickled to
death to have both of us together he's looking for national expression I would love to give him a hug to tell him that
you know I'd search for him since I was 21 thought about him since I was 12 I think he would be happy for us he'd
probably think Oh Lord the world's not safe now with two of them the doll that had stood in for Susan for so many years
now has special meaning for both women a tangible reminder of their father's love
I knew it was a gift from our dad to her but I also felt like at this at that moment that it was mine too mm-hmm his
arms definitely I don't feel for every mystery there is someone somewhere who has the answer
join me again run saw mysteries [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]
[Music]

Brief Summary

Megan Kerik's murder, Margo Freshwater's escape, Strider Starfire's disappearance, and Bill Rundle and Tracy Kenley's mysterious vanishing are featured in this episode.

Key points

The Gruesome Discovery. Firefighters uncover a charred body tied to a bed in Lufkin, Texas.
Margo Freshwater's Escape. Margo Freshwater escapes from prison and eludes capture for over 30 years.
Strider Starfire's Dark Secrets. Strider Starfire's charming facade hides a history of deceit and crime.
The Disappearance of Bill and Tracy. Bill Rundle and Tracy Kenley vanish during a drive in Nebraska, leaving the community in shock.
A Baffling Clue Emerges. A hat belonging to Bill Randall is found a week after he and Tracy went missing.
A Long-Lost Sister Reunited. Virginia discovers her half-sister Susan after years of searching, leading to an emotional reunion.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Who could commit such grisly acts?

Investigators ponder the murder of Megan Curl.

3:58WatchMay 23, 2019

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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