Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 3, Episode 21 - 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 were about to see is not a news broadcast 1957 at the height of the Cold
War Army lieutenant Paul clip key was an observation pilot for government atomic
bomb testing almost immediately he began to show symptoms of radiation poisoning
then Paul would keep vanished and was declared a deserter did he get lost and perish in Death Valley it was Paul
whippy recruited for a top-secret mission [Music] Tanya coke brick and Richard bocklage
two lovers a study in contrasts she was a promising physician dedicated to her career he was a struggling pharmacy
student with an unpredictable temper and a penchant for murder [Music] in 1936 the depression in the looming
threat of poverty took gary Rosman from his family now Gary's sister Gwen hopes you can help find her long-lost brother
join me perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery [Music] in March of 1980 dr. Tanya Koch brick
fell in love with Richard Barnidge she was a practicing resident at the Truman Medical Center in Kansas City he was a
pharmacy student at the University of Missouri it seems an unlikely match Richard was 10 years younger than Tanya
he had grown up in st. Louis the quintessential all-american boy five years earlier Tanya had emigrated from
Yugoslavia to study medicine leaving behind all of her friends and family like many immigrants Tanya cupric
dreamed of an America paved with gold she was determined to overcome the tremendous obstacles of building a
career in her life in a new country the 34 she seemed to have achieved the American dream except for one thing
Tanya longed for someone to share her life with enter Richard bocklage Richard was young
and dynamic and showered Tanya with attention soon after they met he moved into Tanya's apartment six months later
Richard proposed and Tanya accepted but her friends had strong misgivings about the younger man Tania intended to
marry I did not totally like him because he using her financially and morally she
was using her for lotta things but using her masters Charge Card and was kind of
using car using everything Richard spent more and more time with Tania and less time in class midway through his
sophomore year he fell behind in his studies unbeknownst to Tania Richard was perilously close to flunking
out of school he was not real motivated he wanted it he wanted it to be a pharmacist but you have to want it bad
enough to devote many many hours to the academic study end of it and I'm not sure he was willing to do that
on July 19th 1980 university officials notified Richard that he was academically ineligible you just go to
talk to dr. Sam and pull a few strings which freedom and the Tonia user connections and the admissions
department to have him readmitted help myself how am I gonna do that I'm not in school I won't do it I was
thinking lightly he's down to drugs or alcohol because his behavior was changing he was kind of wild person
[Music] Richard began to exhibit violent mood swings for three weeks Tonia tolerated his outbursts finally a
September second she broke off the engagement and ordered Richard out of her apartment
two weeks later Richard Bach bees returned to class as if nothing had changed one instructor familiar with
Richards explosive disposition asked the assistant dean to speak with him or Richard I need to talk to you for a
minute sure could we go out in hallway Richard we don't show you being enrolled in this class
well admission said it would take a few weeks for the paperwork to consider very
well David that's something you'll have to take up with the admissions oh I know
the last quarter I had a little trouble I'm trying out isn't everything to do with your grade fine fine
Richard oiz gave me the impression that anything that happened was not his fault
it was just that he could not cope with the fact that this was his responsibility then again he just you
know he just couldn't believe that this was happening to him increasingly desperate Richard wrote to the
admissions office begging school officials to reconsider his case on September 18th to 3 p.m. the admissions
committee convened to determine Richard's fate the decision was unanimous please take care of that as
soon as possible Richard's appeal was denied and a secretary was ordered to call him with
the news hoping to avoid a confrontation the committee quickly dispersed at 3:45 two
professors spotted Richard driving towards the dean's office they immediately headed in the opposite
direction [Music] Montez roamed the hallways searching for the Dean of Admissions under his arm he
carried a large manila folder some witnesses fear that it concealed a weapon Dean Ian when will you be back
okay three hours later Tania Cole brick returned to her apartment after work [Music]
[Music] by the time police and paramedics arrived Tonya Cole prick was dead she had been
shot three times in the head with a 45 automatic I came out and I heard the first gunshot and I turned and he just
he shot her two more times there was a witness at the scene and she saw this man walk up to the side of the
doctors car and shoot her three times in the face she recognized him as being the
man that dated dr. Cooper Richard Bach much later during the investigation we found out that mr. bocklage had
purchased a 45 caliber handgun himself and when we checked his residence to see if the weapon was there we found out it
was gone authorities launched an immediate search for Richard Buckley six days later Royal Canadian Mounted Police
found Richard Caron Thompson Manitoba Canada more than 900 miles north of Kansas City
Richard was seen by two area residents he then dropped from sight I personally think he's back in the United States I
think he would have gotten tired of being that far north with no family and that's that's not his style his style
was a little bit faster a little flashier a little looser and that might have been okay for a year or two but I
think he's back I think he's back here somewhere two months after tanya was murdered her
parents in Yugoslavia notified police that they received an unsigned letter postmarked September 16th 1980 two days
before the murder the envelope was addressed in Richard Bach bitch's handwriting the letter was
a vengeful diatribe which took the tone of a terrorist manifesto dear Caprica Tonya capric has been executed in Kansas
City Missouri she has caused so much grief anguish and turmoil to so many Americans that this
act was necessary her execution was inevitable at the time of Tonya's murder Richard bocklage was 24 years old he is
six feet tall and weighs 170 pounds this computer age photograph shows how he might look today at the age of 34 next
the haunting story of an army lieutenant who mysteriously vanished his commanding
officer believes he was on a secret CIA mission [Music] August 17th 1958 Death Valley California
temperature 120 degrees Fahrenheit forty-two miles in the nearest town a fishing game warden is surprised to come
across an abandoned car the keys are still in the ignition there is no sign of foul play
the car is registered to lieutenant Paul quid key of Fort Ord California nearly 400 miles away the army stated whip he
had been missing for five weeks and in fact has been declared a deserter surprisingly Paul whip he had always
been considered a perfect soldier and no one could understand why he would choose
the desert his post I don't think Paul deserted it was completely out of character for Paul or do such a thing he
was a loyal American soldier devoted to his work I think the army knew exactly what happened to him and he was part of
a big smokescreen cover-up the strange and unsettling account of Paul whip key began at Pennsylvania State University
where he was an ROTC honor graduate in 1954 after basic training he was granted a coveted slot at army pilot
school in July of 1956 Lipke was posted to Fort Ord California two years later he was assigned the duties of captain
even though he remained a first lieutenant in rank Paul was quite worried about his own
capability if he had the leadership ability and if he could take care of this job or perform in an improper
manner he studied a lot and he spent many hours at night trying to learn the job and to do a good job which he seemed
to undergo a personality change he became withdrawn and somber he also began to suffer several upsetting
physical symptoms which may have been a result of a temporary duty assignment in
the summer of 1957 [Music] Paul spent two months at cap desert Rock Nevada as an observation potted for
government atomic bomb tests in that role he was exposed to radioactive fallout he soon noticed unusual blotches
on his skin several months later back at Fort Ord he had to have all of his teeth
extracted [Music] July 10th 1958 late in the afternoon Lipke left born he said his destination
is Monterey California less than a mile away [Music] Paul whippy never returned to the base
the next morning he was listed absent without leave after 30 days he was declared a deserter
the following week his car was found in Death Valley army investigators traced a
gasoline receipt found in the car to Mojave California 145 miles from Death Valley Lipke at purchased gas there on
July the 11th the day after he left four-door [Music] the evening before Lipke had signed the
guest register at White's motel and apparently spent the night the next morning he drove out of Mojave and
banished the army concluded that Paul whippy had broken under the stress of his new assignment wandered off into the
desert and without food or water perished the army report made no mention of Paulette Vicki's physical symptoms
his body was never found and Paul's brother Carl whippy immediately began to investigate on his own more than 30
years later he is still trying to piece together the truth about his brother's disappearance
[Music] on the very morning Paul turned up missing two soldiers stripped his room
at Fort Ord everything was removed including Paul's personal belongings regulations state that the next of kin
or legal representative must be notified before packing belongings and they didn't notify us at that time I was very
suspicious of this action as soon as I discovered this had taken place four weeks after Paul cookie disappeared
a rancher driving through Death Valley saw his car it was driven by a man in military uniform
Paul Wicky left Fort Ord wearing civilian clothes when the car was found a week later a pile of cigarette butts
was beside it Paul Lipke did not smoke also troubling to whip keys family was the fact that
the army did not mount a search for Paul's body until nine months after his car was found and it was only by
accident that Carl Hickey heard about the car at all the only way that I learned about it was
due to a unofficial call to an enlisted man at Fort Ord a half an hour he called
back very excited and he said this is classified information and requested that I did not tell anyone where I had
received this information after I was informed that Paul was a deserter I called six Army Headquarters and I was
inquiring about his status that I found it almost unbelievable that he would be classified as a deserter you know I was
curious what was the basis for it and I was quickly and promptly advised that Charlie forget this the case has been
closed and I would recommend that you don't carry it any further and either in essence I was told to shut
up and dry up and blow away in 1957 Lieutenant Colonel Lewis was a captain on stationed at Camp desert rock he
recalled the day he saw two men in plain clothes talking to Paul Lipke and another officer on the way the airfield
would morning there was two visitors on the airfield over talked with Paul I noticed that they had gone directly to
the airfield as to the reported operation which was required for a purpose of security so I asked him for
their identification excuse me gentlemen had you seen that sign over there yes sir this is a
restricted area have any identification yes we do they showed me their military identification
cards and the picture did verify the to work it's okay is everything all right here yes sir carry on Luis did not note
which government agency the two men represented but over the next few weeks he often saw Paul Whitley talking to the
same two men but a lieutenant would people would come in after they had departed you could feel and sense a
rigidity and his personality traits in his mannerism what is everything okay everything's fine sir sure sure
finally I asked him Paul is there something that is wrong something you need to explain and he said no I'm fine
I had no problems years later Luis realized there could have been a logical explanation for wikiz association with
the men during that era there was a tremendous amount of nationwide recruiting conducted by the CIA and with
Paul's qualification lieutenant with qualification he would been an exceptional candidate for such an
assignment January of the year disappeared he told me during a telephone conversation that he was going
to be going on an assignment that he's gonna make a name for himself before he could tell me what it was he was
interrupted by some officers moving in the proximity of his desk and he could no longer talk to me about the subject
[Applause] i theorize that paul was recruited into a army CIA joint program it was going
along at that time when Paul left for Turkey drove to the town of Mojave California and checked into White's
motel it's a possibility that he was met there by farming and intelligence agents
or the CIA and transported to Southeast Asia possibly from Edwards Air Force Base which is nearby Carl whippy
theorized that when Paul left on his secret assignment he turned his car over to the military who kept it for four
weeks before driving it into the desert I think the army took his car out to the
desert to get rid of it out of sight out of mind if they would just say yes he died on a
secret assignment we would live with that we're all loyal American citizens and our family and we would buy that and
see well the army tell us what happened there will be no peace in our family there is a final puzzling twist to the
saga of Paul 15 one of Paul's closest friends lieutenant Charlie guests had served with him at Camp desert rock and
again at Fort Ord guests disappeared in an airplane 11 days after Paul had vanished just over a year later guesses
remains were found near a crashed plane northwest of Death Valley curiously the wreckage showed a different serial
number from the plane guests had taken off in in 1982 the army board for correction of military records met to
review Paul hickeys case and found no basis to support his status as a deserter two months later the board
officially changed whipped key status and deserter to died in the line of duty Carl Hickey hopes it's someone watching
tonight served with his brother at Camp desert rocker fort ord and as knowledgable shed light on Paul's
mysterious disappearance next a woman's quest to find a long-lost brother she has not seen for more than
50 years perhaps you can help [Music] Catherine Bickford is 19 years old when she fell in love with Andrew Ross a man
twice her age it was 1932 at Lake Placid New York the height of a Great Depression rossman cut
a dashing romantic figure rugged outdoorsman made his living hunting and trapping in the Adirondack Mountains
despite I was telling you about Oh Andrew it's beautiful Catherine knew that Andrew was not the marrying kind
but she is in love and nothing else mattered for that time and place Catherine and
Andrews relationship was certainly unconventional they never married but lived together and had two children a
daughter Gwen and a son Gary sadly family life and responsibilities proved too much for him he left
Catherine when Gary was still an infant Catherine went to work as a waitress to support her children but was often made
to feel ashamed of being an unwed mother however one family the winch's who had known Catherine from childhood never
wavered in their support suffer the little children to come to me and do not forbid them for of such is the kingdom
of heaven in the winter of 1935 Katherine had her son Gary baptized despite local gossip
the winch family went to the baptism and stood by Catherine amen this is Gary Bickford the newest member
of the family of God by the time of Gary's baptism catherine was in deep financial trouble after the ceremony she
took florence the winch's daughter aside what is it Catherine what's wrong and I
can't even get back into getting any my stuff until I get work what are you going to do my uncle owns a restaurant
and screwin Lake and he said I could come there and work for him but I can't take Gary with me would you like us to
keep him for a few days Catherine found herself facing the most difficult decision a mother could ever make she
had to earn a living to provide for her children even if it meant being separated from them
looks like we're all set ready to go daddy Catherine wants to know if we can take him Gary for a few weeks is that
okay Oh few weeks sure several days later Catherine left Lake Placid to take the
job at her uncle's restaurant secure in the knowledge that Gary would be well cared for by Florence and her family
Catherine's daughter Gwen who was three years old went to live with Catherine's mother and father
three years past Katherine visited whenever she could throughout this period when stayed with
her grandparents and Florence Lynch took care of Gary Florence and my man were great friends and when my mother left my
brother with Florence I think she felt that it was a temporary thing and that she would get herself together and be
able to support the family you know but it never really worked out that if there
were really difficult times times were very hard and Kathryn was two hours away working and she couldn't get there it
wasn't something that she didn't want to do it was something that circumstance in
1939 when Gary was three County child welfare officials contacted Kathryn she signed papers which she thought would
allow floors to continue in the role of foster parent in fact the papers gave the county authorization to put Gary up
for adoption when they told me that he was ready for adoption I tried to adopt him but I wasn't married at the time and
in those days you couldn't adopt your child unless you were married so then my mother and father tried to adopt him
they were too old there was a age limit at that time so we were we had very good neighbors and the
neighbors took up a petition at that time and asked the county if I could keep him and of course that was unheard
of so I couldn't I couldn't keep him [Music] finally the early spring of 1939 a County welfare worker informed
Florence's family that Gary would be taken away for adoption she gave them no idea of when or where
Florence began to prepare Gary for the journey [Music] this when we would go by the railroad station
to go to church or go to the store and think he was afraid of the Train I suppose because it made a noise it was a
steam engine so in order that he wouldn't be afraid of it I took him up to the Train the conductor the sauce and
I was talking to Gary about the Train and it wouldn't hurt you the conductor said come on out to the
Train [Music] we went on to the train and I sit in a seat with him the Train didn't go
anywhere I was sitting there but I don't think he was afraid of the Train after that do you mind if we sit here a while
I didn't talk to Gary at all about him leaving I never told him that he might be going away now I could see maybe I
should have but but at that time I I didn't I never told him that he was ever gonna leave
[Music] eight days after Gary's fourth birthday the child welfare worker returned one
morning at nine o'clock the social worker drove and came into the house and said she was going to take him I always
thought that that she wouldn't come and that one way or the other we would keep him either Catherine or our family would
keep him but of course that didn't happen that won't be necessary and I said well could he take a toy no he
couldn't so with that she just took him by the hand and the car was down in front of
the house and she took him I think now as I look back on at that Gary thought he was just going for a ride with
somebody that he was he was coming back I don't think he ever thought he was gonna leave
by the time Florence was able to contact Katherine it was too late Gary had already been taken to New York
City eventually Catherine and her daughter Gwen were reunited at a 1984 Katherine died she never had a chance to
tell Gary how much she loved him well I felt a real desire to find my brother in
that I wanted to express to him how much guilt my mother had experienced through
her life because of this loss and to maybe be able to fill in some of the feelings that she had toward him and
still carried on word even to her death and I thought well I could give this to him
on her behalf I think it's about the last thing I can do for her [Music] Guerry Bickford was born in Saranac Lake
New York on June 6th 1935 his brown hair and brown eyes on Gary's birth certificate his first name was probably
spelled with two R's and his last name may have been listed as Rosslyn [Applause]
[Music] when we returned the perplexing case of a missing midnight his family believes
he was murdered st. Croix the US Virgin Islands a lush tropical getaway known as the American
paradise in 1984 Jim Rice a wealthy and successful contractor came to the island
of st. Croix with his wife as starting to build their dream house and live the good life but two years later the
marriage was crumbling in July 1986 Jim planned to fly to San Francisco for shoulder surgery a story refused to
accompany him so Jim Rice was scheduled to make the trip alone now police believe he never made the trip at all
[Music] my dad was scheduled to arrive on July 29th and he never showed up at my house
never called from the airport or we just never heard from him again Jim Rice was
a man's man he played football in college and was a highly decorated bomber pilot during the Second World War
through his construction business Jim amassed a sizable fortune worth nearly two million dollars in 1970 Jim Rice met
Astarte Davis and was instantly captivated Jim turned his life upside down and left his first wife to marry
Astarte he proved to be a tumultuous Union marked by business failures separations reconciliations and finally
a studies imprisonment in 1982 for bankruptcy fraud yet through it all Jim Rice remained loyal to a start II then
three years after Jim vanished a star tear ice also disappeared she was born esta Belle Hoyt but as an
adult changed her name to Astarte after a primitive goddess of love she had three grown sons from a previous
marriage which ended in divorce she seemed to make my dad happy and I was happy for him and I figured he saw
something in her that I didn't see and as long as he was happy then that was okay
in 1979 geminus toddy moved to Kona Hawaii and eventually started a charter fishing business two years later while
Jim was out of town a starry Sun Noble was cleaning their boat when it was rocked by an explosion noble was
seriously injured but recovered by good fortune or design a story just happened to be near the dock at the time well
there was a large debt on the yacht and they carried insurance on the yacht Noble indicated that he was just aboard
cleaning the ship which is kind of strange because it was like 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning of the strange
time to be cleaning a boat using gasoline and the yacht caught on fire and he said it was just purely an
accident but there was sufficient cause for the authorities back there and Hawaii to charge both Astarte and Noble
with the arson of the yacht after the explosion Jim and his daddy separated both returned to California as Dottie
and her son were never extradited back to Hawaii for trial in April 1981 a story filed for bankruptcy a year later
she was charged with altering official court documents she was convicted and sent to federal prison
when Jim visited a starti in prison she convinced him that she had mended her ways and they reconciled after her
release in 1983 geminus Dottie moved to st. Croix in the Virgin Islands and built their dream house on an isolated
bluff overlooking the Caribbean he got down to st. Croix and expected to build this dream house and a start he was
going to go straight I'm not getting any trouble and I think that he found out that she was not rehabilitated on July
20th 1986 Jim phoned his daughter Kathy in the States and told her that he would
be flying to California for a shoulder surgery in a week he never arrived Jim disappeared around the end of July
in 1986 Kathy kept trying to reach him by telephone and was totally unsuccessful
for about two weeks when she finally was able to reach his home in st. Croix she
talked to a starti and at that time a start he had told her that Jim had run off with a woman from Australia few days
later when she talked to a starti the story was that Jim had gone on an airplane and flown from st. Croix to
Miami so he had two completely different stories and later on a start he denied that either these things had occurred so
we know that right from the beginning she lied about what had happened to Jim and how he how he disappeared
two months later Kathy Clemens hired Dennis Shara a private investigator to look into her father's disappearance I'm
looking for a gentleman by the name of James risin Cheryl came across a customs declaration dated July 28th 1986 the day
Jim was to leave for California on the form Jim Rice's signature appeared to have
been forged Sharon notified the FBI we noted that Jim supposedly had flown on an airplane on July 28th 1986 from st.
Croix to Miami in fact the airplane ticket had been bought by a person using the name of Jim
Rice and in fact the people who actually flew on that flight were a star T star T
Sun noble and Noble's girlfriend private investigator Denis Shara also discovered
that a week prior to Jim scheduled flight to San Francisco a star T had filed documents which gave her control
of Jim Rice's entire estate probably the key document was a power of attorney in
a star DS named investigation however showed that this original power of attorney was in the name of Jim's
daughter Kathy Clemens and the Astarte had done a cut-and-paste job on the document and inserted her name in in its
place I feel because Jim would have known that his assets were beginning to be changed or taken away from him that
Jim's disappearance had to happen in that 12 out of our period from the time that he last spoke the Kathy to the
following morning when the documents were presented to the notaries hi ladies no no if you had a chance to
look at all the shirts and everything yet the jacket is really great our investigation showed that just days
after Jim's disappearance all of his personal effects his tools his truck were all sold in a garage sale that was
conducted at the house and sold by a starti and Noble Davis four months later Cathy Clements received a typewritten
letter from Australia's signed by Jim Rice once again Jim's signature appeared to have been
forged and one other discrepancy cast doubt on the letters authenticity the most important thing was the fact that
the letter throughout contained the words I am put together we know that from letters which we can attribute to a
star T that that was a grammatical error that she frequently used I just thought
that was the cruelest thing anybody could do B to write a letter to a family of a missing person posing as that
person still being alive giving an ounce of false hope I just thought that was so
cool Cathy Clements and Dennis sure are convinced that Jim Rice was murdered and
that his body lay somewhere beneath the blue waters of the Caribbean and that a star T rice may hold the key to solving
the mystery in January 1989 Astarte rice was charged with bank and mail fraud because of her
attempt to seize Jim Rice's assets she was released on bail and disappeared in 1991 a start a Davis rice was
arrested in Santa Barbara California because Jim Rice's body had never been found
authorities were unable to charge her in his death though the FBI still considers
her a prime suspect Astarte did however plead guilty to bank and passport fraud in the United States and in st. Croix
and served the first portion of her 15 years sentence and a medium-security prison in California in 1997 Astarte was
transferred to the minimum security federal prison camp in Dublin California to complete the rest of return a year
later taking advantage of the lighter security Astarte Davis rice simply walked out of the facility she was
present during the morning count at approximately fought between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. then during the course of the
day there was a fire drill conducted which resulted in another prison camp being conducted at 10:00 a.m.
she wasn't scheduled to work that day and so is the timeframe between the first count in the second count that she
had the opportunity to leave the facility she's very cunning she's smart she's intelligent and she's very danger
she'll use anyone deplete their resources and she's been suspected of being involved in the disappearance of
people [Music] for every mystery there is someone somewhere who knows the truth perhaps is
you [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Brief Summary

The episode covers unsolved mysteries involving a missing soldier, a murder case, and a woman's search for her brother.

Key points

The Mysterious Disappearance of Paul Whippy. Army lieutenant Paul Whippy vanished under suspicious circumstances, leading to a family investigation.
Catherine's Heartbreaking Choice. Catherine Bickford faced a tough decision to leave her children for work.
A Mother's Heartbreak. Florence prepares for the painful separation from her son, Gary, who is to be adopted.
The Disappearance of Jim Rice. Jim Rice vanishes before a scheduled surgery, leaving his family in turmoil.
Astarte's Deception. Astarte Rice is suspected of forging documents and possibly being involved in Jim's disappearance.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I think the army knew exactly what happened to him.

Discussion about Paul Whippy's disappearance.

12:19WatchMay 22, 2019

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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