Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 3, Episode 10 - Full Episode | Forensic Files

this program is about unsolved mysteries whenever possible the actual family members and police officials have
participated in recreating the events what you are about to see is not a news broadcast in Mississippi a hike in the
woods ends in tragedy when 17 year old Norman Latimer is shot and killed local coroner rules a death a suicide
Norman Ladner's parents are convinced that their son was murdered and a lonely Highway arrested
what driver Dwayne mccorkadale was brutally gunned down in cold blood 25 dollars perhaps you can help find his
killers more than a century ago a mysterious carpenter arrived at a tiny chapel at Santa Fe New Mexico he left
behind a wondrous legacy a magnificent spiral staircase and Valley was he just an itinerant craftsman for as the nuns
believed God's answer to their prayers nileen Marshall disappeared during a picnic seven years ago she is not 12 and
a man who claims to be holding her as male taunting letters to the authorities also tonight a poignant update of our
story about a seven-year-old girl who made a solemn vow to a sick friend 21 years ago thanks to our viewers Nicki
Crowder has finally fulfilled her promise and we filmed their joyous reunion join me for another edition of
unresolved mystery [Music] Norman Charles Ladner a Picayune Mississippi was a third child an eldest
son in a family of seven he was a senior in high school a good student and a skilled craftsman with his own workshop
in the family bar on August 21st 1989 Norman left his Paris country store to go hunting the family farm it was a
muggy summer day that apparently began like any other [Music] Norman you are property very well it's
fenced on all four sides even though it's a 122 acres it has some were passionately and what about 60 acres
more timber new roads so he knew most every foot of it he'd walk it a number of times
[Music] hello to fish he loved to hunt he loved to be among the wild animals squirrels he would come back so excited
when he would see a young deer the back pasture it was just his fascination and love of being out there where was
peaceful and quiet normal would always be back by 7:00 to 7:30 in the afternoon or an evening without failed to help us
sweep up and mop up the store we and restock the coolers and about 7 o'clock up again get worried about it because he
was very punctual it was the most unusual you could almost such a o'clock morning
that's the type of young man he was very punctual [Music] Charlotte Nam is not back yet and I'm
getting a little worried yeah went down to the barn is not there either but bring the dog and meet me at
the farm we'll go look for him I helped to some degree in the search but then I decided that it would be best
had I waited at the store for him perhaps if he was lost he could come to the store or if he was limping from a
snake bite or whatever he would come to the store first and I felt my place should be there
[Music] Oh I know downtime and I felt it I felt he was cold I knew it wasn't had been dead
for a while it's a deep shock and a tragedy to come upon to find your own son because you
could never imagine or think to how this could happen or the loss of a child until you've experienced it gone through
it just after 10 p.m. the Pearl River County Sheriff's Department cordoned off the death scene and began an
investigation foul play is the first thing that I normally address in the course of an investigation I ruled it
out in this instance because I saw nothing there to indicate there was a part like that yes
you notice it's been broken in repairs before yeah at first I thought it might have been an accident in viewing the
scene it looked as though he might have been in a tree nearby and so clearly falling out of the tree in the gun
discharged et cetera [Music] after they found him a deputy came to the store and approached the dorm and he looked at
me as if trying to find the right words to tell her mother that her son was dead
and I said is he dead and he said yes I can tell you it's the most shattering experience anyone can go
[Music] we felt that it was an accident and even when the coroner came back to the store after the results of his
examination he came up with two davidís and he said he felt there was ninety percent sure that it was an accidental
shooting the case of Norman Ladner became a living nightmare for his parents on the corner issued his
findings he officially ruled their son's death a suicide caused by a close contact rule in which the bullet had
entered at Norman's right temple and exited at his left imagine for a moment that you are Norman Ladner's parents you
understand the caller to say that your son's death is an accident this is it best difficult to accept but
it becomes nearly impossible to accept when you are told it is not an accident after all your son has committed suicide
it was impossible for afraid to be a suicide I knew my son too well he and Jordan he lived life to the fullest he
was happy he was outgoing he was not depressed in any way and he had too many things going for him the results of that
autopsy is what I faced my findings as to believing that it was a self-inflicted wound I think that he
went back into an area where he felt comfortable he enjoyed going for reasons it I don't know we don't
know that he decided to take this one [Music] we believe the boy was standing when the
shot was fired because of his body position in relation to the gun at the scene they made no attempt to locate the
bullet and never fingerprinted the gun they cannot with say with any facts that his gun was the weapon that he was used
to kill him even with their ruling of suicide I still believe that it was an accident
and for several weeks we did nothing about it until we started to piece the the jigsaw
together then we realized that it was definitely not a suicide as a matter of fact it definitely was not an accident
one particular item in the coroner's report made no sense to the Ladner's the corner described a 1 and a quarter inch
long laceration on the very top of Norman's head if Norman had committed suicide
how would he sustains that you would the corner and the pathologist found this jagged route of the death scene
they say it was spattered with blood and believe the route caused the laceration
we didn't see how that could happen because falling straight back he would hit you hit on them the side or directly
in the back not up in a crowning he hid up in a peak of his head because the authorities had never found the bullet
that killed Norman the Ladner's began their own investigation they dug through the earth in the area where their son
had fallen I remember so well the feeling that I had of having to sift through the dried particles of brain
tissue and blood that my of my son we found a bullet it was longer then bullet that Norman's gun would would hold the
chamber was not bored out for the length of that bullet and the bullet was intact
it had a slight twist on it and he had a nick on it and it was had blood spitting
dried blood in a hair that we examined under the magnifying glass we have no way of knowing where that bullet came
from we don't have any reason to believe that it was the bullet that was fired that caused the boy's death mainly
because we feel that the boy was standing at the time that the gun was fired and if that being the case with
the direction of travel that the pathologist says the bullet taken it would not have been in the ground
underneath his head finding the bullet indicated that our son was not in a standing position when he was killed
the bullet was retrieved out of the ground which had the bullet was embedded about two or two-and-a-half inches in
the ground and we came to the conclusion that he was lying on the ground and he was shot by someone in a standing
position a state ballistics expert was unable to determine whether the bullet had been fired by Norman's rifle he
returned the bullet to the Ladner's but they say it is not the one they found three weeks after their son's death if
the Ladner's went to the coroner's office the question is ruling according to mrs. Ladner a stranger interrupted
the conversation [Music] as we were a distance away he said mrs. Lander don't open this case up you have
other children I suggest you raise them for your own good you'll never find the person that
killed your son [Music] my reaction to that statement was that it was a warning that we would
experience some type of problems if we would investigate this case but my feeling on this issue is that this was
my son and I will not back down under any circumstances undaunted Norman's father returned to
the area where his son had died [Music] hey to me 300 yards away he found a strange radio like device
that looked homemade we figured we had a piece of evidence of some sort that we must try to find some way that you want
it done once state authorities thought it was not an important clue but a neighbor suggested he take it to a next
narcotics agent living in the area the former DEA agent said that this was a type of devices the drug dealers used
to signal aircraft by sending out on a low-range signal for the proper alignment to drop shipment of drugs well
that led me to speculate that Norman possibly came upon picking up a shipment of triplets when I
land and possibly this was a reason he was murdered that he would have recognized
the person or persons [Music] I don't think that that's what happened in this case it's very hard to accept a
death period is it's that much harder to accept a suicide it's my feeling that if
this case was ruled an accidental death today they would say nothing else about it what really happened a young Norman
Ladner authorities continue to stand by the coroner's ruling Norman's parents refused to believe that their son could
have killed himself this stays with you almost constantly almost 24 hours a day on every waking hour you think about
this it's a part of us it's missing and it's a great deal of strain knowing that
he was murdered and nothing has been done to bring his murderers to justice we have to proceed we will not stop this
investigation no matter what until it is finished we owe it to our son and we owe
it to our children we owe it to ourselves and we owe it to the other people's children out there as well we
want to know what happened to our son [Music] in 1969 seven-year-old Nicky Crowder was
hospitalized in Los Angeles California to have several tumors or move from her throat there she met eight-year-old
Sheree Talon Hardy Sherita had a rare and dangerous form of cancer I looked up to Sherita because once she was older
and she was there first so she kind of initiated me of what you know to being in a new place new atmosphere in the
days that followed a warm and caring friendship blossomed between the two girls there was a bond there because we
mattered to one another we looked out for what when we you know went on and we had something in common and that was our
illnesses itself a few weeks after they met Charita underwent several hours of grueling surgery mommy is this going to
happen to me no honey this isn't gonna have to TV it has a different type of operation than you're gonna have so
that's when my mother explained to me that Charita had had a very very delicate surgery and that she wouldn't be able to
have kids and I remember feeling like oh that you know was just the worst thing in the world
that night Nikki did her best to comfort her friend I said you don't have to cry because if
I ever have a baby I said you can share it with me and we can both be its mommy I saying I don't even name it Charita
after you five weeks later Nikki was released from the hospital the two friends never saw each other again
[Music] today nikki is the mother of a beautiful three-year-old girl she wants to
christen her daughter Sherita and keep the promise she made in 1969 and from a few minutes after Nikki story aired we
learned that Sherita Ellen Harding was alive and well and living in Oklahoma we immediately contacted Nikki with a good
news just ten days after I brought dues to more than 21 years after they said goodbye
Charita Len Harding and Nicky Crowder were finally reunited Nicky's home in Los Angeles
[Music] I don't think Nicky has changed that much she was always caring giving person
that seems like she's feels the same she would have to be to try to find me and you know all these years and be so
persistent about father in the name of Jesus what's up over this child detective all of the
days of her life on October 20th 1990 Mickey Crowder was finally able to fulfill her promise a child is listen
it's a gift you can't buy it's the most perfect gift in the world and it comes from God and nobody should be deprived
of that whether they have it naturally working shared with somebody you know and that's something that I wanted to
share with Sherita because of all the joy and strength you know she gave me I could give her back something that she
missed Lord bless them even as godparents cause your spirit to rest being a godmother is special to me
because I don't have any kids and and you know this is giving me a catch out on my own that I you know can share
I'm just honored or so I try to live up to it best as I can I'm very happy and now I can go on and I can go on a
positive note because she's bi and I just like to say thanks to everybody i christen thee sharia Kennedy
[Music] November 12th 1988 Chandler Oklahoma an anonymous caller reported seeing the
body of a man lying beside a phone booth at a highway rest stop at approximately
8:00 p.m. the Oklahoma Highway Patrol arrived on the scene the man had been murdered coins were scattered about his
body [Music] the dead man was Dwayne mccorkin tail a 27 year old truck driver and father of
twin girls from Kansas City Kansas he had been killed by a single shotgun blast fired a close-range into his back
the apparent motive robbery if Dwayne had been killed in an accident I could have stood it a lot better
it seems so ironic that he was killed for money when the last thing a trucker will do is carry very much for that very
reason Assunta Bakersfield Shannon told a Seattle everyday thousands of big rigs travel the
highways and back roads of America though they come from many walks of life truckers have one thing in common CB
radios their lifeline to the rest of the world but for Duane mccorkin an idle conversation over the airwaves
may have signed his death Road [Music] Dwayne's final run began like any other on November 10th 1988 he left Detroit
Michigan on route to Oklahoma City mccorkin Dale made a regular run bringing parts to an Oklahoma City
automobile plant we have no reason to believe anything was different that night he enters the turnpike he's given
a ticket with the time on it and through that ticket were able to determine that
he made no other stops he drove directly from the turnpike gate to the rest area
other truckers reported that at approximately 5:45 p.m. Dwayne mccorkadale told them he was stopping at
the Chandler Russ table to call his wife their eyes someone had been listening to
him on the CB and actually followed him into that rest area where perhaps was already there waiting for it
[Music] it looked like he was walking up to the telephone perhaps counting changing out
in his hand since it was changed there at the base of the phone booth and was was killed as he stepped up to make the
call whoever was involved in this killed mccorkin Dale just shot him in the back
and he was dead before he hit the ground it killed him instantly then checked him to see if he had any
money on him any valuables at all so people like that are to us scary because those type of people in our minds are
very likely to do it again and that's why we place so much emphasis on this case investigators determined that the
only ID was missing word Dwayne's keys and his wallet they estimate that the killers take was no more than 25 dollars
being killed for that little money seems ridiculous especially when I know that if they had come up to him in any
threatening manner he would have handed it over early on in the investigation I hate to say we were 2 dead in but our
leads were thin they were very thin one of the things that the agent started doing is he started putting notices in
the trucker magazines across the United States and the call started coming in within days investigators received
reports about a brown Ford Pinto equipped with a CB radio several truckers told of a dangerous game of cat
and mouse time of the mccorkadale death we have reports that the Pinto was driving very
erratically on the highway trying to cut 18-wheelers off and when the truck driver would call him on the
CB they were abusive they said that leave us alone or will do to you what we did
to this other trucker three weeks later authorities received a call from trucker Edie hight camp he was
breaking for lunch at a rest stop when he was approached by a young woman who was acting strangely well I hate to say
about you look kind of trashy I mean it looked like she had been on something and she was just awful shaky Texas
visiting some friends were trying to get back to Alabama Mike Amy can you help us
I kind of turn to reach to get a map next thinks he's got her hold the front half inside the truck well then she
started a Stryker you know if I could spare some money needed to fix awful bad I said I wasn't about to give her
nothing for that about that time this brown panel pulled up and then she jumped down off the truck and headed for
the car and they took off the next day just 13 miles south on the same highway Duane mccorkin Dale was
gunned down after I read that article I thought maybe I'm lucky that I didn't get out of the truck otherwise I might
have been the one I would have got shot because they was desperate well we have no way of knowing if the Pinto was
actually involved in this or not it is without a doubt our strongest lead and we have got to locate the Pinto and
ultimately the people to talk to them to see if if if nothing else we can eliminate them from this from this
situation [Music] Dwain mccorkin dale was murdered doing the thing he loved best but for him the
freedom of the road ended one senseless of violence split second [Music] having the twins grow up
knowing their father only from pictures has been hard because they see other little girls and boys with their daddies
and they've asked where their daddy is and we've had to tell them that their daddy's in heaven with Jesus later on
I'm going to have to find a way to tell them what somebody did to them when we return the legend of a miracle staircase
in Santa Fe New Mexico no one knows who built this mysterious and ethereal structure Santa Fe New Mexico is a city
rich in the tradition and lore of the Old West a century and a half ago it was a last outpost along the Santa Fe Trail
a bustling untamed haven for outlaws gamblers Mavericks and renegades in 1852 the sisters of Loretto a religious order
in Kentucky dispatched seven nuns to bring religion and education to the frontier it was a journey fraught with
danger harsh weather hostile Indians and disease when they were on their way they
were attacked by cholera one of the sisters died and one had to return because she was too ill to travel so
five sisters continued the trip to the west this is an a once in Santa Fe the sisters established a school and began
making plans to build a chapel finally in April of 1878 the sisters celebrated the completion of the Chapel of Our Lady
of light it still stands today [Music] more than 20 French and Italian stonemasons spent five years
constructing the Magnificent Catholic chapel or chuckles so splendid the sisters were
delighted except for one minor detail there was no staircase leading to the choir loft the sisters finally had their
Chapel but no means of ascending to the music chamber many of the lofts of churches early
churches in New Mexico had no staircases they simply leaned a ladder up and climb
the ladder and say but the sisters couldn't climb a ladder in their long ropes so they they needed a staircase a
conventional stairway was not feasible as it would require the removal of too many seats some carpenters had come in
and looked the situation over but shook their heads in dismay and there was just
no way and so they decided that they would not do anything until they made a novena to st. Joseph the patron of
carpenters how it would be thy name Saiki the novena requires nine days of meditation and regular prayer give us
leap days assisters prayed nothing happened as we forgive those on the ninth and final day of the novena
a stranger arrived at the chapel come in sir Mother Superior I'm seeking work and
what is your trade sir I'm a carpenter we do have need of a stairway to be built in our Chapel
I think the sisters left the stranger at 10th but so many had said was impossible
they were hopeful their prayers had been answered if the carpenter had a name and has long
since been forgotten according to the legend he carried only three tools a hammer a saw and a t-square some say he
worked for six months others say it was more money was finished he call the nuns
together you have your staircase he announced then he left without being paid and was never heard from again
[Music] the carpenter obviously had to be a very fine carpenter he had to be a master
carpenter to build the staircase that was built because you see there's no center support this is what makes that
staircase of extraordinary there is no center post it rests by its own geometric balance and design it's very
steep 22 feet going around and around because it makes to 360 degree turns and once again with no center post there's a
certain springiness when you walk up it and you realize you're climbing a very very special staircase sisters I've
counted the stairs there's 33 the exact number of years our Lord Jesus Christ was on this earth
I never failed to count those steps whenever I go up or come down and it's still 33 the sisters planned a feast for
the carpenter when he failed to appear they searched the town the mysterious stranger was missing nobody had seen him
nobody knew where he slept nobody ever fed him they made a novena to st. Joseph the patron of carpenters
so it's understandable that they would believe st. Joseph David [Music] so far as anyone knows the carpenter
never returned to Santa Fe the chapel is now a tourist attraction through the years the mystery
surrounding the staircase persisted then in 1965 Oscar had Weger a third-generation master carpenter
visited the chapel he went in and he saw the staircase and of course he was overwhelmed being a builder any builder
is overwhelmed when they see this magnificent piece of carpentry and he remembered a story in the family that
his grandfather had come to this country and and had built a staircase Oscar's grandfather Johanna hadwiger was a
renowned European carpenter who spent two years travelling and working in Colorado and New Mexico it was during
that two-year period that the spiral staircase was built Oscar had wicker became obsessed with a staircase over
the next 10 years he created ten perfectly scaled models he sent a letter to the sisters contending that his
grandfather had been the Builder the sisters were skeptical the sisters are indeed surprised shocked
it's his claim all of a sudden and they they tell him that perhaps he can't prove this claim and that if he can't
prove it it might be fraudulent they have nothing except their word of mouth' that he did it already can I
don't buy it in 1970 Oscar had wicker found what he felt was proof and a storage room in his sister's home he
came across his grandfather's toolbox inside was a faded sketch of a spiral staircase the drawing was an overhead
view with 33 steps Oscar had lugar passed away in 1980 the sketch was never authenticated and has since disappeared
all that exists today is this photo copy of the drawing as for Johan had we Gers
tools they too have disappeared who is a stranger who answered the sisters prayers as a Johan hardly gave the
European building or could it have been as a sisters of Loretto lead 100 years ago a Messenger of God on a sacred
mission next a family's desperate search for their missing daughter and a man who
claims he'll never return in 1983 four-year-old 19k marshall disappeared while picnicking with family and friends
near her home in Montana for over seven years Naya Dean's family has been trapped by the agony of not knowing what
happened to her [Music] nileen story is all too familiar every year thousands of children in the United
States disappear and tragically many of them are never found with your help nylons case may have a
different ending two and a half years after she disappeared authorities received this letter from an anonymous
man who claims he has nileen he writes she's a sweet little girl I realize how much her family must miss her I love her
and I have her I just can't let her go please watch carefully you may know the man who wrote this letter you may even
know nileen k Marshall June 25th 1983 Helena Montana a group of local families were enjoying
a picnic in a remote wooded area less than a hundred yards away nileen and several other children who are playing
on the banks of a shallow creek at around 4 p.m. [Music] but 10 days more than 2,800 searchers
combed the area the daleks weren't successful the grid search was unsuccessful was just absolutely nothing
to indicate if she was even there authorities were baffled then my aleene's mother learned of a chilling
possibility some of the children playing near nightly told her they remembered seeing
a strange man dressed in a jogging suit dear little girls had walked by nine lean while she was sitting there and a
man stepped out from behind the trees and first little girl didn't recognize him as part of the group and Eileen was
heard by her saying my brother can run faster than you and she was still sitting there with her little legs
crossed a second child an eight-year-old girl came by and saw the man and the man
took a step closer to my lean if you have a plate follow the shadow follow the shadow
one of the little boys a six-year-old said that nileen had told him the man had told her to follow the shadow and
they haven't been seen since convinced that nileen was abducted Nancy Marshall and her husband Kim distributed
thousands of missing posters across the United States they received dozens of reported sightings but none could be
confirmed then on November 27th 1985 the case of nileen K Marshall took a dramatic turn the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children received an anonymous phone call from a man who claimed he had nily two months later an
organization called child find of America received a typewritten letter from the same man in the letter a man
claimed that he was raising nileen but he loved her and had no intention of returning her to her parents this man
said he was taking good care of her but during the same phone conversation or same letter that he would write would
also make reference to things that he was having Eileen do which would be sexual abuse
[Music] over the next six months child find of America received two more letters and
another two phone calls these phone calls were coming from the Madison Wisconsin area as were letters that he
was sending the FBI to my understanding had actually located the phone booth that the phone calls were coming from
when that lay after locating the phone with however the phone calls abruptly stopped in his letters the man reveals a
few clues that might help find Aileen he claims that he lives off substantial investments that he and Aileen traveled
frequently a teacher at home and she likes to go with me when I travel she would gladly
recount to you trips to San Francisco New York Oklahoma City New Orleans Nashville
Chicago Porto Rico or Canada we were even in Britain for a month last year and she loved it nobody questions
passports there were numerous leads about my liens sightings all over the United States well that ties in if he is
in fact traveling that would account for the sightings from one coast to another
coast just last June authorities received another possible lead in the case nileen Marshalls uncle saw this
composite of a man and woman wanted for child abduction in another part of the country he believes he saw them during
the first day of the search for an alien it's not really all that unusual for a person to remain at the scene of a crime
get lost in a crowd stick around to see what was going to happen next I still look for her I always will every time
I'm at an airport every time I met a a resort every time I'm at an amusement park sure I look like I'm having a good
time but I'm looking for my child every minute that I'm out today 19 K Marshall would be 12 years old this is a computer
aged photograph of what she may look like at the time of her disappearance she had dark brown hair and blue eyes
once again the anonymous man placed the phone calls from a phone booth in Madison Wisconsin he states that he now
calls nileen by her middle name k in his letters he mentions that his parents and
younger sister were killed in a car accident when his sister was 9 years old [Music]
next week on unsolved mysteries in Aurora Missouri a prominent citizen has burned to death in her own home
a young [ __ ] man named Johnny Wilson confesses to the crime but later recants two years later the case takes a bizarre
twist when another man confesses to the murder and says Johnny is innocent but Johnny Lee Wilson is still behind bars
two men in a bar fight over a woman and had more North Dakota the next day one of the combatants Kenneth ng is found
dead in his garage an accident or murder join me next week perhaps you can help solve a mystery
[Music] [Applause] [Music]

Brief Summary

Unsolved mysteries of murder, disappearance, and a miraculous staircase are discussed, featuring updates on Nicky Crowder's promise to her friend.

Key points

The Tragic Death of Norman Ladner. Norman Ladner's death was ruled a suicide, but his parents believe he was murdered.
A Promise Fulfilled After 21 Years. Nicky Crowder reunites with her childhood friend Sherita after decades apart.
Dwayne McCorkin's Murder. Truck driver Dwayne McCorkin was killed for a mere $25, leaving his family devastated.
The Mysterious Carpenter. A stranger arrives to build a staircase that defies explanation.
The Disappearance of Nileen Marshall. A family's desperate search for their missing daughter leads to chilling revelations.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's a deep shock and a tragedy to find your own son.

A parent reflects on discovering their child's death.

5:30WatchMay 22, 2019

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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