Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 3, Episode 15 - 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 Spokane Washington a
popular teenager Russell Evans intervened in a fight a few hours later he was found fatally injured on a lonely
road with a hit and run on murdered brothers century fortune hunters of searched in vain for the legendary Lost
Addams diggings a secret line in Arizona that were according to legend a vast mother lode of gold awaits some lucky
prospector in 1976 State Department official Bradley Bishop disappeared from his home outside Washington DC
tragically the next day the bodies of his wife his mother and his three young sons were found in a North Carolina
coastal park Brad Bishop is wanted for murder for every mystery there is someone
somewhere who knows the truth perhaps as someone is watching perhaps as you join
me [Music] Spokane Washington June 4th 1989 105 a.m. two friends on their way home were
startled when their headlights flashed on a body stretched out on the road 13-year old Russell Evans had apparently
been struck by a car he was barely alive I kept trying to calm him down because he kept trying to move and he squeezed
my hand a couple times not very hard but just because I he hurt and then he quit
talking to me Russell was admitted to Sacred Heart Hospital at 1:30 a.m. but his parents stood by doctors struggled
through the night to stabilize his condition when I got there I just wanted to see him and so I went right to the
trauma room and he was unconscious probably be best for you and him both if you went out to the waiting room for now
I promise we'll keep you posted ok an x-ray okay let's get the CT tech I just knew he wasn't a make it at 9:10
a.m. Russell Evans died you know I I'm really grateful that I had those eight hours because even though he didn't talk
to me I knew he was knew I was there and that was really important to me what makes you Evans family's grief even more
painful is it to this day they have no idea who was responsible for their son's death or why he was killed
the Spokane Police have always maintained that Russell died as a result of a random hit and run accident but a
number of unanswered questions point to a more sinister scenario Russell's parents are convinced that their son was
murdered [Music] Russell Evans was an active and popular 8th grader at Libby middle schooler
Spokane by the age of 13 he was already 6 feet 3 inches tall Russell excelled at basketball and
played pickup games every day after school with his friends he dreamed of one day becoming a pro I did everything
together he's at my house every day and he's very well-liked and in kids sense of humor and he caught along with pretty
much everybody had no problems rusty had already made plans to go to UCLA and he
wanted to be an electronical engineer play pro ball and I mean he had it all he had her all mapped out they hit all
all put together which amazed me June 3rd 1989 in the hours before Russell died he was with Aaron and other
friends hanging out at a local park it was a typical summer evening until they were approached by two other teenagers
an argument ensued over Aaron's girlfriend what's your name hey hey you guys but it's takeoff you
put this real trouble you don't even know what trouble is oh really they say you better watch out because me
it's my homeboys eye but I didn't really think much of it you know so I just turned around and we left and he got in
his car with his friend and took off after leaving the park Russell spent the remainder of the evening at a friend's
house then he called his father to say that he was heading for home around midnight he ran into another friend
Sayed Madison we're at the park and two guys came up to air and start a half little really yeah they were no no he
told me that uh one of his friends once I gotten in a fight that night and he was all psyched up about it and telling
me how if they would have happened he would have been wanting to jump in and he was in the fight you know I saved my
advise and he had up down the street jogging and that's the last time I saw him [Music]
it was now approximately 12:30 a.m. based on evidence found at the scene the police constructed their version of what
happened [Music] on the impact with the vehicle he was separated from his shoes the shoelaces
another debris he finally came to rest about 75 feet from where we think he was struck from the Brutus's president
Russell and the other injuries I think the most prominent possibility here is that we're dealing with a motor vehicle
accident - Russell was struck in the back by a bumper and an ornament dr. Lindholm report determined that
Russell's injuries were consistent with a hit and run accident we looked at him after he died and I thought he'd been in
a fight later on when the police started talking about hit-and-run his mom mama I
just couldn't buy that I mean the injuries weren't there Russell was found next to the median
strip on Thor Avenue two blocks from his home his shoes and shoelaces were downhill 86 feet away three separate
pools of blood were found as far as 50 feet from where Russell Lay John and Sue Evans obtained copies of
the official police report it contained photos of the pools of blood the shoes and shoelaces oddly the
shoelaces had somehow become separated from the shoes the police report failed to pinpoint the spot where Russell was
found [Music] the ovens returned to the scene of the accident with sandy Faris the woman who
had found Russell a question of mine if the crime scene is when I saw those pools of blood over a 35 foot area in my
mind if somebody was flying through the air after being hit by a vehicle I don't
see how you could leave that much blood and one of the crime-scene photos where it shows a shoelace scraped off or
broken away from the shoe there is blood on the shoelace now tell me how do you get blood on the shoelace if you're
struck and driven out of your shoes and thrown 50 feet down the hill he was about right up there the Evans became
convinced that Russell had been struck by something other than a motor vehicle they brought in a second pathologist who
agreed with the initial ruling but concluded that Russell had been in a fight before he was killed
this pathologist came back with the findings that Russell had been in a physical altercation prior to his death
if a body flies through the air when that body hits the pavement there would be some massive scraping Russell did not
have this or this isn't making a lot of sense I'll tell ya if you're hit by a bumper then the bruise is gonna be
fairly symmetrical and even the bruising along his back is not even its demarcated showing irregular an
irregular pattern rather than coming from from one object we believe it came from repeated blows probably from a
baseball bat or a 2x4 russell's parents came up with their own version of what happened that night
[Music] I think it was the fight going back up the hill Oh according to his hands he
got his licks in he had finger marks on his face finger bruises I should say on his face and the
side of the nose finger bruising on his upper for upper arms as though he were being held the the people that were
allegedly involved in the nd argument with this friend of Russell's were polygraphed because other people were
making allegations about them and they volunteered to take the polygraph because of these rumors that were
started by by other kids and they came in took the polygraph we interviewed them they passed the polygraph with
flying colors John and Sue Evans are convinced that finding an eyewitness will determine
what really happened that night at the crime scene sandy Farris believes that Russell himself provided an important
clue we're seeing an aspect was what happened and he started calling to cryin he said it more like a person was in
listening distance that his friends should have been there Mike he thought his friend was close by after the police
have gotten there and they started to put Russell in the ambulance we saw a boy in white shorts up in the bushes and
he was running up the hill and I tried to tell the policeman this a couple of times and he kept telling me to get on
the sidewalk I thought maybe that probably could have been the boy that he was calling for Brian one of Russell's
friends was named Brian and I asked Brian what he was wearing that night and he said well I was wearing white white
shorts and white t-shirt but I was nowhere around then later down the line when the police questioned him he denied
owning that kind of outfit we've asked for him and talked with everyone that we could possibly think of and our
assumption is it was just somebody that was curious that heard the commotion that heard the sirens I went out to take
a look when Sue Evans arrived at the hospital her name Brian surfaced again Brian
concerning his condition who would have known about this unless somebody named Brian was at that scene
that he was calling for there may be one or two is that no more than they're telling and the reason they're probably
not telling is that they are afraid for their lives it's very hard for me to believe that anyone would want to kill
my son I believe in my mind that it was a fight that got out of hand however my child is dead and I think
that some justice should happen [Music] next the poignant reunion my family would not seen each other for 17 years
[Music] in the past year unsolved mysteries hope to reunite nine people with missing
relatives or lost loved ones tonight we are pleased to add Leanne Robinson's name to this growing list of happy
endings in 1972 at the age of 13 Leanne lived in Carson California with a three-year-old half-sister Tammy and
five-year-old half-brother Jim that year their mother Doris lost her battle with
cancer and at her request the three children moved in with her neighbor Ellen Morrow
[Music] with six children in a two-bedroom house life at Ellen's home was hectic but the
children were happy nevertheless a social worker assigned to the case decided that Ellen could not provide an
adequate home for Leanne Jim Tammy the social worker felt that Leanne would be better off living with her father in
Texas in the Jim and Tammy should be put up for adoption I remember feeling immediately that I
was gonna you know run away or I was gonna take Tammy and Jimmy there was just no way I was gonna have us be
separated I remembered wanted to fight but I thought if I just be good and do what everybody tells me to do then I'll
be able to you know reunite with them a few months later Jim and Tammy were adopted by a young couple chosen by the
Department of Social Services Leanne never saw or heard from her brother or sister again and has spent
the last 17 years trying to find them I [Music] can't see any reason in this world why
we should be separate and why we shouldn't be together they are my brother and sister and I'm
gonna keep searching until I find them [Music] just minutes after her story aired
LeAnn Robinson's search came to an end when she received a call at our telecentre from her 22 year old sister
Tammy Tammy lives in Maine and has two children of her own immediately put Liana in contact with her brother Jim an
Army sergeant stationed near Monterey California on December 10th just four days after our show aired Jim and Tammy
arrived at Lee Ann's home in Los Angeles California and met their older sister for the first time in more than 17 years
I just had a really good feeling that they somebody was gonna call live either they were some didn't knew them and
today when I first saw him I felt so close to him it felt like the 17 years just came together and then it was just
a few days ago that we laughs aww each other [Music] but 10 the biggest surprise came when
she phoned our telecenter and discovered that Leanne was there waiting for the call a late occasion bonuses hello and I
said hello I said who's this and she goes this is Leanne and I was too excited to cry I was just too excited to
do anything I said oh my god Lee and I said this is Tammy and I don't even remember what we said the first thing I
think I remember her saying was it she loved me this is the happiest time of my life I
just feel like we're so young you know they're 22 and 23 I'm 32 we have a whole life ahead of us and we're all healthy
and we're very fortunate that we could find each other [Music] next the disturbing story of a
government official suspected of murdering his entire family [Music] March 2nd 1976 Columbia North Carolina a
state park ranger responded to an urgent report of a brush fire in a remote wooded area
[Music] as a ranger brought the fire under control we found the disturbing calling cards of
an arsonist an empty gas can and a shovel when a smoke clear the Ranger was shot to discover evidence of murder as
well on a shallow grave he found the remains of five partially charred bodies three young boys and two
women a thorough investigation of the shocking crime turned a few clues to articles of the victims clothing bore
the labels of expensive department stores in Bethesda Maryland a suburb of Washington DC the shovel came from a
hardware store in the same area the Bethesda police had no missing-persons report they could link to the bodies
until six days later get at 12:00 face guard March 1976 I received a radio call to investigate the absence of five
persons from a residence in Bethesda a unit 12 dirac were proceeding the call had come from a neighbor of william
bradford bishop a respected economist with a state department there was a common driveway to the neighbor's home
and to the bishop home and i met the neighbor there to investigate if we're about to the family
I'm Jo sergeant thanks for coming you called in a missing person report yeah at the bishop so I haven't seen them for
at least a week and I'm getting very worried anything unusual that y-you wouldn't see them for certain length of
time well it's not unusual for them to go out of town but what's what's unusual is usually when they go out of town they
let me know that they're going out of town because I pick up their newspapers for them and I water their plants and
this time nothing I haven't heard anything you said you had the keys yes I sure do may I have them please yes okay
I don't see any reason why I can't go in and look around and make sure everything
is okay yeah I'd appreciate why don't you just wait right here okay thank you he was rather routine to do an
investigation like this it's not unusual and I wasn't oh really concerned about it until I
reached the front step of the home and I noticed there were blood droplets on the
front step [Music] the front door I saw blood droplets leaning from the doorway through the
foyer and to a set of stairs that led to the upper bedroom level of the home and
going to the stairs I observed blood splattering on the wall and in the one bedroom that I could see
into without going any farther into the scene the almost the entire ceiling and wall was completely splattered with
blood hardly a place you could put your hand there wasn't blood splatters [Music]
died in a police officer for approximately 12 years and this was the worse scene that I've ever observed
authorities were finally able to identify the five bodies filed the week before in North Carolina
the victims were Brad bishops wife Annette his three sons and his mother there was no sign of Brad bishop the
bishops would seem to be such a perfect family had been ripped apart by unfathomable violence Brad Bishop grew
up in Pasadena California in 1959 he graduated from Yale University within a few months Brad married anete Weiss his
high school sweetheart by the mid 1970s Brad and Annette had three sons Brad was a state department
director of commercial practices and trade to most of his coworkers Brad Bishop seemed to be on the fast track to
a high-level State Department job but at least one co-worker saw a different side
of Brad bishop Brad bishop had extensive experience overseas he liked the international
scene from the time he was in the army and Italy Brad's career was very much on track although he was exceedingly
despondent about not getting a promotion Brad Bishop and Roy Harrell ran into one another just outside the
State Department on the day the annual promotion list had come out I've been kind of busy Roy what's the matter
I didn't make the promotion this together did I yeah well I'm more qualified than you are Brad I think
that's a subjective you readily apologize he said I'm think I'm getting the flu I don't feel well at all and
threes now I'm leaving work now look at when you come back we'll have lunch sometime next week and talk about okay
okay let's go so I helped him kill a taxi and I watched him drive out the next day
Brad bishops family would be found dead in North Carolina Bishop himself would drop from sight
March 18th almost three weeks after the murders a Ranger at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee
discovered an abandoned station wagon in the back he found what appeared to be dried blood the car was registered to
William Bradford Bishop Bishop now became the primary suspect in the slaying of his own family the courts
will have to determine whether Brad Bishop is guilty of killing his family but there was enough evidence in March
of 1976 for a warrant to be issued for his arrest for homicide based on the fact that there appeared to be
premeditation in connection with the events that occurred on March 1st the FBI believes they have pieced
together bishops activities leading up to the murders on the day he left the State Department Bishop withdrew several
hundred dollars from his bank account and apparently went to a local hardware store
[Music] you [Music] Bradford Bishop went to the gas station in Bethesda where he purchased the can
full of gas and as far as we know after that he returned to his home probably around 7:30 8 o'clock at night after the
children were put to bed [Music] [Music] our investigation shows that mrs. Bishop
was probably killed first she was found beside a book which she may have been reading at the time that
she was killed the children were probably killed next followed by bishops mother they were all killed with a blunt
instrument and none of the victims had an opportunity to defend themselves according to the FBI bishop loaded the
five bodies into the family station wagon and wept the Thesz de maro he headed 200 miles south to the
sparsely populated countryside near Columbia North Carolina [Applause] [Music] as my believe you know murder being a
crime of passion many many people are capable of the same thing it's just sometimes certain people just flip out
faster and do these things Brad Bishop felt from the time I knew him that there was something liking in himself this
feeling was nourished constantly by both his mother and to some degree his wife who constantly told him he was
inadequate and washed-out wasn't going anywhere and I think that he conceived in his mind this was a way to as he
often saved many times about other people this would be a way of putting them in their place
[Music] the FBI believes a bishop after a pair of tennis shoes near the site of the fire drove 400 miles to the Great
Smoky Mountains and Tennessee where a station wagon was found abandoned Bishop had the advantage the bodies were
discovered on the second the car was discovered on the 18th so Bishop had plenty of time in order to
escape there was no indication of any suicide there was no indication of any accident and we have every reason to
believe that he in fact disappeared from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
after the car was abandoned there Brad Bishop successfully covered his tracks and was not seen for two years in 1978
five thousand miles away in a different continent and nearly unbelievable chance
encounter took place ROI Herald the last man to see Bishop before the murders came face to face with him again in
Sorrento Italy I had gone to the Piazza Tasos square in Sorrento to board a bus bound for Rome I decided to go to the
men's room before starting that journey and I was washing my hands and this bearded disheveled looking man came in
in my mind's eye I took the beard and those grubby clothes off of him and I saw the Brad Bishop I had seen coming
out of the State Department your breath Bishop aren't you breath well why don't you get on the bus
with me and come back two wrong Paula Deen woman watched him disappear down the cliffs going toward the boat
landing where boats go to Capri ded Brad bishop brutally murder his own family if he did we can only speculate
about what could have possibly caused him to commit such an unspeakable crime unless Brad Bishop is found the truth
will remain unknown William Bradford Bishop is 6 feet 1 inch tall with brown hair brown eyes and a
medium build he is fluent in French Italian and serbo-croatian and holds a diplomatic passport at the time of the
murders he was 40 years old the FBI has created this computer aged photograph to reflect a bishop might
look today at 54 when we return a legend of an Indian massacre and a fortune and
goal is still waiting to be found in the Arizona desert [Music] as an old saying among fortune hunters
as long as a man believes as a treasure to be found he'll be spurred on by the belief that he'll be the one to find it
it seems that people have been forever obsessed with the prospect of uncovering legendary buried treasure this
never-ending quest to strike it rich has fuelled a million dreams each with a common goal of instant wealth
the Arizona Territory September 1864 troopers from boat Apache find two prospectors wandering in the desert by
the time they reached the fort the men are barely alive we got one of the prospectors known only as Adams tells
the army surgeon a remarkable tale right you don't understand there's there's mountains ago refer to the river full of
Dover there's no crevice size of increments about two weeks ago me lament moved up the Gila River up into the
mount was looking for a zigzag Canyon Canyon it was post beet full ago Adams and his band of 20 miners were led by a
Mexican guy nicknamed gotcha doctor where's that Canyon got cheered had promised to take atoms
to the gold returned for two horses a saddle to $50 gold pieces in a red silk bandana even sent the miners could shoot
him if he couldn't find the gold this Kano gonna work keep in mind and he don't pay for eventually they reached
would appear to be a dead end but God she led the party through a hidden portal into a narrow zigzag Canyon
I think God sure played the major role in getting them to the site and the reason he was able to do this was the
fact that he was raised by the Apaches and he knew the area and he was familiar with the fact that gold was important to
the white man not so important to the Apache inside the canyon the men filed a screen fed by a 20-foot
high waterfall the stream was brimming with what they had come for [Music] [Applause]
[Music] therefore the waterfall there and there was sufficient water but amazing thing
and according to a story again the gold is visible right on the ground realizing that gold is heavy that it
settles down you'd have to think for how much gold was there there if there was still gold visibly on the ground that
means every flash bud to brought water over that waterfalls brought more gold from above Adams and his men agreed to
pool the fortune and share it equally they set up captain the prospecting commenced several days later
unexpected visitors arrived a local Apache chieftain named Lana and 20 of his warriors Adams the Apache there were
several things that were sacred to one thing Mountains all mountains the zigzag Canyon probably undoubtedly was sacred
maybe in some way because it was part of the mountain do you wanna go with dad not channa the patchi's believed that
gold was the tears of the Sun nobody touched the tears of the Sun because the Sun was the Almighty thing to most
Indian cultures I mean its source of all life hand me that rifle a gift they met with chief Donna and Donna had
set down these rules that they do not approve about the waterfall for whatever reason probably because he knew there
was more gold up there and he knew it would attract more white men to the area he hoped they would fill their pokes and
leave and not come back Adams struck a deal with chief Nana any miner found above the waterfalls would
die at the hands of the Indians but one morning a miner chasing a stray horse ventured above the fall he came across a
gold nugget the size of a headache take that the biggest nugget you ever seen more jewelry
where'd you get this that son up yonder my horse got away Adam I don't care I promised the chief we wouldn't go whoop
her you're gonna get us all killed you understand me take this and get back to work
no you keep it get out you're gone all y'all going discovery fuel Gold Fever in the camp
unbeknownst to Adam the other miners began accumulating gold from both above and below the falls some of the gold was
stored in a coffee pot hidden beneath the flagstone of the camp fireplace according to legend the miners amassed
as much as 300 pounds of gold worth nearly one and a half million dollars one morning Adams and his partner Davis
and were a mile out of camp when they heard the sound of dwindling gun fire chief Nana had been true to his word
[Applause] [Music] from a look out above cami Adams and Davidson stared down helplessly I can
take this no it ain't going this no good now just wait'll things settle down then
we'll head on up the canyon and get out of here [Music] we waited till the Sun went down and we
snuck up Kenya you don't believe any of this do about to go look at this well Adams like many prospectors spent the
rest of his life searching for that zigzag Canyon and never could find it I think that once a person sees that much
gold in a place like Adams and he couldn't give up that dream there's no way he knew it was there he had to
continue search for Kelly Thomas Adams never did find his mother lode years later he died drunk competitors
and the story of the lost gold grew into legend in the 1920s a railroad man named
John Mitchell began an extensive search for the treasure his writings are the basis for today's
ongoing quest for the Lost Adams digging Ron Feldman is a camping guide who has studied Mitchell's accounts for years
I've always been hooked on the Lost Addams and it was John Michell story that intrigued me and I kind of reread
that several times and if you pay attention to what John Michell says he tells you basically were the Lost Addams
diggings is by comparing Mitchell's references with modern-day maps Feldman discovered that many rivers and
landmarks had gone under different names in previous years he determined that Adams Canyon lay on Eagle Creek near the
tiny town of Clifton Arizona 200 miles north of Tucson in January of 1990 Ron Feldman and geologist Nick McPherson
journeyed to Eagle Creek hoping to find the Lost Adams fortune when Ron and I walked into the canyon
and discovered the little hidden portal that led into a zigzag canyon my feeling
was immediately was that this was the spot this is where Adams had been this fits the stories that I've read it has
the right appearance and it is an appropriate place where gold could have been concentrated in great quantities as
a placer deposit everything about the canyon seemed to fit Adams descriptions that's got to be the water flow it's
gotta be it Feldman and Macpherson even found a trickle along the canyon wall where a
waterfall had once flowed if you put more water into the system as there was when Adams was there you would have a
beautiful cascading waterfall into an open pool at the base of the fall very hard to explain the feeling that rushed
through me it was very exciting and of course we both knew the legend of the coffee pot full of gold buried in the
floor of the cabin we soon discovered the ruins of a cabin started digging in the floor we found some relic but no pot
full of gold Feldman and Macpherson also found the tools needed for making horseshoes and a
section of railroad track in the early days John D Mitchell the author was actually a railroad man he worked on the
railroads and we thought of Mitchell when we found those items we thought of Mitchell when we didn't find the pot of
gold could John Mitchell have found the coffee pot of gold and perhaps written his history of the legend and a way to
mislead others Ron Feldman and Mick McPherson are convinced they have unlocked the secret of a treasures
location and the mother lode of gold is still waiting to be found however other fortune hunters feel that Feldman and
Macpherson are wrong and The Lost Adams diggings may actually be in another part
of the state [Music] on our next unsolved mysteries the many faces of patrick michael richard ladies
man were may cook the notorious bank robber is ingenious and daring heists netted close to three million dollars
and earned him a prominent place on the FBI's ten most wanted list join me next time perhaps you hold the key perhaps
you can help solve a mystery [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Brief Summary

The episode investigates Russell Evans' death, the Bishop family murders, and the Lost Adams diggings treasure legend.

Key points

The Tragic Death of Russell Evans. A popular teenager is found fatally injured, leaving his family searching for answers.
Leanne Robinson's Heartwarming Reunion. After 17 years apart, Leanne reconnects with her siblings thanks to a TV show.
The Disturbing Case of Brad Bishop. A government official is suspected of murdering his entire family in a shocking crime.
Brad Bishop's Disappearance. After the murders, Bishop vanished without a trace, evading capture for two years.
The Lost Adams Diggings. Legend has it that a fortune in gold lies hidden in Arizona's zigzag canyon.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I just wanted to see him.

A parent reflecting on their child's condition after an accident.

3:00WatchMay 22, 2019

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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