Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 4, Episode 24 - 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 in November of 1991 an
exuberant high school dance in Santa Clara California was marred by unexpected tragedy when a 15 year old
boy was struck down long before his time he would die within an hour the victim of a baffling unknown illness the death
of Frank saddles juniors latest blow for his family which has been tormented by an incurable heart disease for more than
30 years perhaps someone watching tonight and finally provide a clue that will help this courageous family join me
for another edition unsolved mysteries [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] December 31st 1960 the American
territory of Guam 3,000 miles west of the Hawaiian Islands shortly after midnight Donatella Santos and a 34 year
old husband Francisco were sound asleep about 1:30 that morning he starts snoring and he never seen or in his life
you know ever since we were married I never experienced any snore so I start waking him up because that's very
unusual he won't wake up he started crying and he still won't wake up I lift him up you know halfway and I let him
lean against me but then all of a sudden he took his last breath and that was it
he was gone Francisco's death was initially attributed to a stroke but was later
determined to be the result of heart failure donnatella was left to raise seven young
children by herself for Donatello Santos the death of her husband was only the beginning
in the past decade five more family members have fallen to a mysterious undiagnosable disease today Donatella
lives in Yuba City California she hopes it by presenting her story someone will be able to help identify this deadly
affliction which has plagued the Santos family for three generations by 1970 Donatella had remarried and moved with
her children a new husband to Northern California then in April of 1981 the Santos family experienced another sudden
tragedy 27 year old Doris the youngest daughter was found unconscious in her bedroom she was half on half off the bed
you know and normally Doris keeps herself all covered up so I tried to wake her up you know to
scoot in you know cover herself up and she wouldn't you know she didn't respond so I ran over and I called my mom he
starts knocking at my door and says mom wake up cuz something's wrong Doris don't want to wake up immediately jump
out out of bed went into her bedroom and I started waking her up and she won't wake up I
told my son Steve I said call the paramedic and the priest immediately doctors determined that Doris had died
of acute congestive heart failure resulting from the ventricles in ability to pump sufficient amounts of blood to
the body doctors drew no parallels between Doris's death and the condition that killed her father
within two years of Doris's death 23-year old Ronnie the baby of the family began experiencing chest pains at
the time he was engaged to his high school sweetheart Damian Ronnie was found to have a virus of the heart
muscle which could be controlled by medication I was scared but I thought well he's under good doctor's care and
things will be fine I'm I didn't it was it was not related to what had happened to Doris because it was a virus of the
heart muscle hers was congestive heart failure and as far as I knew his father died of a stroke so they obviously
weren't related in my mind by the following September Ronnie and Dana had married under a doctor's supervision
Ronnie was able to live a normal active life which included weekly games of softball it was a Monday and I was
sitting out and talking to a friend and they had played 1/2 of an inning they had been out in the field and they came
in not there hadn't been much action he hadn't been running around or anything he just kind of been fielding a few
balls he came in and he was standing by the backstop talking to a few friends leaning on a bat
Ronna me he was groaning and moaning and I couldn't figure out what was wrong with them and I was just standing there
screaming all I could do was scream and point out I had no idea what was happening
Ronnie Santos never regained consciousness he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital the cause of
death cardiomyopathy and irregular heartbeat probably the result of a viral infection I still can't believe at 24 he
was gone it's it's such a shock to think that it's just too young too many things to live for a year later
the Santos family was forced to face yet another funeral this time the victim was
the eldest son 33 year old Frank who collapsed while sitting at home watching television his mother and I were were
out running errands and we received a phone call and I just remember she got off the phone and she said she was in an
in a panic State and she said we've got to go we've got to go something's wrong something happened to Frank
we were driving back to my house and his mother was on the passenger side and she
was praying and I saw the shadows from the lights of the paramedics truck and then it hit me and I knew I knew
something was was wrong I ran into the house and I stopped right at if the dining room looking into the
family room and I saw the the paramedics working on on my husband and and I knew
I knew he was gone I was just in a great shock I can't believe my other son is leaving and I I thought myself he cannot
leave he's my oldest son and he cannot is not supposed to die but he was gone tragically Francisco Santos and three of
his children have died of heart disease before reaching the age of 35 physicians
searched for answers and soon discovered that heart disorders at plate Francisco's side of the family for a
number of generations I think that what's most mysterious about the family is the fact that none of the family
members who died were thought to have abnormal hearts prior to prior to dying and most of them have had post-mortem
examinations and there were no serious problems found at a post-mortem examination Frank's death was also
attributed to cardiomyopathy but doctors were unable to identify the specific disease that would soon claim two more
members of the Santos family in August of 1987 another brother 30 year old Ralph fell asleep on the sofa and never
woke up his death was also attributed to a viral infection of the heart he left behind a
wife and two young sons then in November of 1991 15 year-old Frank Santos jr. was
struck down at a high school dance the mysterious malady had skipped to the next generation Frank's mother was
called to the gym she had now lost a husband and the son I walked in and I knew right when I saw
him laying there still and and the paramedics were administering CPR I knew I knew he was gone Frank setters jr. was
buried next to his uncle Ronnie nearby are the graves of his father his aunt Doris and his uncle Ralph the funeral
was a time for Steve Santos the family's only surviving son there to reflect on his own uncertain future and I was
thinking I might be next you know or because my sister gonna be an expert you don't know one of us I'm very certain
that this is a problem that is in the genetic code and we have just not been smart enough to figure out exactly what
this problem is it's not like we've seen 100 or 150 families like this with the exact same findings that we can that we
can look very very carefully this is a very unusual situation despite the years of pain and hardship and despite the
loss of six loved ones the Santos family has remained remarkably resilient drawing from each other the strength and
hope that modern medicine has been unable to provide this is upon us that much closer to each other
now I have a three-month-old daughter you know I fear for them just like I care for myself my sisters
you know now that it's hit their generation you know I very much every day I think about my children and
my grandchildren's what's gonna happen and I'm not praying and hoping I'm praying that they will die at the shop
that this is gonna stop it's enough already [Music] next controversy surrounds a fatal car
fire was it an accident [Music] on October 25th 1987 in the small town of New Rockford North Dakota an angry
confrontation erupted between Cathy bounders and then her husband over their teenage son who had gone out without
permission what am I supposed to do about missing a night at work you're the one that grounded them in the first
place somebody has to set some limits for the boy and obviously it's not gonna be you
it was after 2:00 a.m. Cathy's husband had already conducted a cursory search and given up you'll be home when he's
ready this is ridiculous it's 2:30 in the morning and we don't know where our son
is fine you go look for him there okay I will yeah well I hope you have a heck of
a lot better luck than I did Cathy a dedicated employee at a local convalescent home and never missed a
shift at work yet this night she was so concerned about her son that she called in sick around 2:30 a.m. the boy was on
his way home with his girlfriend when he saw his mother's car heading out of town
that's my mom's car she's I hope she didn't see me another vehicle was following close behind Kathy's her son
assumed that his mother was driving her car but in fact he was unable to clearly
see the driver in either vehicle [Music] and our liquor a car was reported burning out of control in a lonely
country road just a few yards west of a railroad crossing the heat was intense so intense that 15 long minutes passed
before firefighters could get close enough to look inside a body was in a seated position on the floorboard of the
passenger side of the vehicle the victim was later identified as 35 year old Kathy bond ursin
[Music] day break finally the car had cooled down enough to remove Cathy's charred
body at the time Edward L Maris was the sheriff of Eddy County but as I remember
it the firewall was completely burned the steering column the dash the front seat the only thing was left was the
steel listen I I'd like to have you have the boys flesh it out so if there's any
fragments left from the body the fire had to start up front someplace there could have been a shorter wire pinch
something because that car was doing some bending also when I went across those tracks
Kathie's car was found here sheriff al Maris believe that as Cathy approached the railroad crossing she
inexplicably swerved to the right and lost control when she careened over the exposed tracks a car made a brooked turn
as if it was trying to avoid something then straightened out went across the tracks there was marks on the tracks
which showed us that the car very definitely went over the tracks not the crossing but the tracks al MERIS
believed that a high-speed impact with the raised tracks not only caused the car to burst into flames but also
through Cathy to the passenger side of the car sheriff al Morris felt that he had an open-and-shut case
Cathy bombers and was no doubt the victim of a tragic accident yet oddly her car keys were found virtually
undamaged on the floor Board of the vehicle even though the car's interior had melted within two days a theory
emerged which would pitch sheriff al Maris against an investigator from the North Dakota State Highway Patrol four
years later the two lawman still disagree and the question remains did Kathy bond arson died in an accident or
was she murdered [Music] the day after the fire captain william Byram of the Highway Patrol visited the
scene to file a standard report it was an unusual case it didn't seem to have the same characteristics that a normal
accident would have granted I arrived 24 hours later but I could not distinguish
any marks order a car had left the roadway Byram found no tire tracks to indicate that not of control car had
veered off the road further the tall grass in the area seemed undisturbed he noticed the same marks on the railroad
tracks which Sheriff al Maris had discovered Byram however believes they were not made by Cathy's car the marks I
found were a reddish color we talked with the firemen and the hoses that were used that night were a red rubber hose
and they had been in and around that area drugged the hoses over the tracks [Music]
felt that what I was looking at was something that had been put there by them the next day by remand the State Fire
Marshal examine Kathy bond ursins car I see that it's totally burned but I see absolutely no damage structure-wise
from impact which is normal to find in this type of an accident but I couldn't find any found none zero paint on it
surprisingly the fuel tank still held 12 and a half gallons of gasoline the fuel
line from the tank itself to the carburetor was intact no cracks no dents no no damage whatsoever doesn't appear
that we had any impact on any rail based on the evidence the fire marshal came to
his own disturbing conclusion it appeared the fire started in several different areas which would not be
normally found in an accidental fire there's no question in my mind this fire was not an accident this fire was
intentionally set three weeks later captain Byron requested that Kathy bond ursins body be
exhumed for an autopsy sheriff al Maris objected Byram threatened to obtain a court order al
Marus back down you know it ticked me off when I was forced into signing the petition to exhume the body and then
after we got the full wrap-up from the doctor in in Minnesota the one who performed the autopsy he couldn't come
up with any cause of death one of the very important effects from the autopsy proved that Kathy barson was dead before
the fire started according to the pathologist findings there was no carbon monoxide in Kathy's lungs
suggesting that she was not alive when the fire was ignited I asked him you know if she could have been killed from
a blow on the head and she says yes well if you ever enter bouncing car you know
where your head is going to hit tests conducted on fragments of Kathy's clothing and the vehicles carpeting
revealed that each contained traces of gasoline supporting the possibility of arson further several days after the
incident an empty gasoline jug was found just three hundred yards from where the
car was burned still Sheriff fell Maris would not change his findings there's been no proof offered nothing in
my investigation brought up anything that that even would give you an inkling that there that this might be a homicide
rather than a car accident nothing there are too many other facts leading me to believe that it was not an accident and
I have to work with facts [Music] captain Byram is convinced that someone murdered Kathy bounder s'en and set her
car on fire to make it look like an accident if so he killed her and why [Music]
[Music] [Music] 8:51 p.m. November 13th 1991 a chilling call came in to the Palais whole
California police [Music] patrol cars immediately rolled to the scene of what they believed was a
robbery in progress at the Loomis armored car company as police made their approach they saw
that the security door of the main building was partially open a bag of money lay near the entrance the officers
move cautiously fearful that somewhere the gunmen might still be lurking [Music]
[Music] inside police discovered that this was far more than a simple robbery just
beyond the door a security guard lay dead his hands have been bound with rope and he'd been shot through the head
in another part of the building police found two other guards one was dead the other mortally wounded like the first
victim they had each been bound and shot in the head the guards are identified as 49 year old
martin Macomber 29 year old Dennis Jacobsen and 25 year old enfants Alon tayo a cumber lived behind a wife and
children long taya was engaged to be married in six months this one will forever stick in my mind
as being a very brutal and senseless killing of three innocent people who were trying to make a living and the way
they were killed and just the brutality of the incident will be something that will stick in my mind for a pretty long
time the brutality of this crime was not it's only hallmark police were surprised
to find the killers had left behind an abundance of physical evidence all of that evidence has been used in our
recreations watch closely perhaps someone in the audience will be able to help identify the killers
immediately after police units had secured the crime scene detectives were called in we looked inside numerous
duffel bags that had been left behind inside these duffel bags we found a pair of shoes we found some tools and some
lighter fluid the lighter fluid itself has still somewhat of a mystery to us try as we might we have not been able to
conceive of the purpose of bringing that lighter fluid to the facility a price had been hand written on the lighter
fluid container so far no match for the writing has been found the shoes were a brand called honours sold exclusively at
Target chain stores detectives were surprised to find that the murder weapon had been left behind this revolver is an
8-inch blue steel Colt trooper we were able to determine that that weapon had been
reported as previously lost or stolen in the Los Angeles area in approximately 1969 by the next morning the FBI had
been called in at every turn more evidence was discovered inside the compound investigators found an orange
duffel bag stuffed with hundreds of thousands of dollars nearby they found the bolt cutters which
had been used to break in through the wire fence as we traveled along the fence line of Loomis we located a pair
of gloves that were maybe 15 to 20 feet from that cut hole in the fence beyond that we began locating ski masks
gloves camouflage or fatigue type clothing we found another one of those large bags inside that bag was abundance
of currency it too appeared to have been abandoned in a park across the street investigators found a pair of gloves a
ski mask and an ak-47 assault rifle nearby with this ak-47 was found we found that an impression in the ground
this impression leads us to believe that the responsible laid in that area for some time following the crime hoping
that the police would leave and he could finish his escape judging from the evidence the authorities theorized that
there were four robberies hair samples found on the ski masks indicated that at least one of them was white and one
black eye witnesses would later confirm this exactly one week to the hour after the
murders authorities set up a roadblock near the armored car facility hoping to find people who travel the area
regularly they learned that a white male was seen running north from the building
at around 9:00 p.m. on November 13th a black male was seen around the same time running north on a different Street
working backwards authorities began to piece together what happened on the night of the murders at approximately
8:00 p.m. for heavily armed men dressed in combat fatigues approached the Loomis
building one security guard was on duty inside forty minutes later two other guards
arrived transporting a significant amount of cash they made radio contact with a guard inside the building who was
stationed in a lookout booth called the turret room several Loomis trucks were parked on the inside the fence this
would have provided the responsibles with easy cover so as not to be seen by the guard inside the turret room
once the truck arrived and the gate began to open it would have been possible for the murderers to enter the
facility coming in underneath the opening gate quickly before the guards had a chance to respond
they could have helped the guards as hostages ordering the guard to exit to turret room which he may have done
thinking that that would save the lives of his friends once all three of these guards were
overpowered they were then bound once the guards were bound that allowed the responsibles to focus their attention on
the truck you know [Music] there was no reason to kill them other then if for some reason they could
possibly identify the the robbers that would be the only reason that they would have to be killed now this leads to a
great deal of speculation whether one or more of the employees who were killed actually knew one of the robbers when a
gunshot was fired they activated an interior alarm which cost them to panic and flee
they filled the bags so full of money that they could not carry them they were not aware of how heavy money actually is
despite the blaring alarm the killers fled and got away scot free the stark irony is that they also got
away with absolutely no money these three victims of this crime were more than just cards they had wives children
girlfriends fathers and mothers that they left behind these people's lives their survivors have been permanently
impacted nothing can be ever done to undo what's been done to those people and probably the closest we can ever
come to rectifying the impact in their life is to help solve this crime [Music] [Music]
next a woman is stricken with a rare form of amnesia and loses sixteen years of her memory imagine what it would be
like to awake one day from a deep sleep and discover that your most precious memories are gone forever that's exactly
what happened to a 39 year old housewife from Dundalk Maryland she's been stricken with amnesia a
medical mystery which is confounded science for centuries she is not searching for a lost love no
crime has been committed what she has lost is every single memory from a 16 year period the mystery of Sara de
Janeiro is a mystery of the mind it began on Friday the 13th August 1976 when Sara stopped by her local bank Sara
had a long history of debilitating migraine headaches but this day the pain was beyond anything she had ever
experienced before the pain was so bad if my head had exploded you know if dynamite had gone off on the left side
of my head it would have probably felt the same way there was so much pain the attack left Sara confused and
disoriented unable to see out of her left eye somehow she managed to make her way home
three hours later Sara's husband Paul found his wife sprawled across the bed she was partially paralyzed and babbling
incoherently honey honey talk to me I tried to tell him down at the bank and my god like my head exploded and I but I
couldn't couldn't say it a blood vessel had burst in Sarah's brain doctors recommended an extremely
delicate and risky operation the alternative was bleak Sarah would likely be incapacitated for the rest of her
life they're bringing a pressure net surgeons use a relatively new and experimental procedure called micro
surgery to repair the broken blood vessel in Sarah's brain then they discovered that her condition was worse
than they had imagined there was a second ruction vessel which had failed to show up an x-rays Sarah was on the
operating table for a nine and a half grueling hours as doctors struggled to save her life
listen the doctor said so we can move into some of those stitches now that are in your head during the first few days
of recovery Sarah knew something was not quite right and became frightened she noticed that in just three days paul's
1960s crew-cut had grown out and he appeared to have put on weight Sarah's daughter Kelly sensed immediately that
her mother had changed but Kelly did not know was that her mother did not even recognize her I can remember the day
that my father took me to the hospital it was after my mother was out of intensive care and she was in her
private room and it also happened to be the day that she was getting her stitches out so as the the nurse must be
moving the stitches from her head I was to one side of her and I kept watching her and she would be looking over at me
just had the corner of her eye and not really saying anything to me at all the whole time that I was there almost
wondering who I was 16 years of Sarah's memory had been erased in her mind she was only 23 years old and had three
youngsters waiting for at home not four teenage children most people who have a an aneurysm that ruptured do experience
some memory loss but the memory loss tends to be around the event itself not a prolonged period of time that is lost
in mrs. de Janeiro's case sixteen years a time when children were being born and
were growing to be deprived that is really unusual two and a half weeks after surgery Sarah was released from
the hospital the neighborhood seemed oddly out of kilter what had once been a dirt road was now a paved street or
there were once empty lots new houses stood doctors had warned Sarah that following the surgery she might feel
slightly disoriented but no one had prepared her for what she found right over here there was nothing in the
house like it was before everything was just different but I figured that if I just kept quiet I eventually I'd have
things figured out - Eloise involved still live in Towson two days after returning from the hospital Sarah began
to understand the full magnitude of her problem and it is 1960 isn't it no it's 1936 mom
you're kidding us right yeah I'm just following you guys I knew that terrified by her inexplicable memory
loss Sara made a conscious decision that no one must know not her family not her
friends not even her doctors whenever she was alone Sarah sifted through family photographs searching for
clues about her past she became obsessed with discovering who she was and where she had come from I didn't have all the
knowledge that I had before I would try to get back everything that I know that was lost in my brain Sarah found herself
mystified by the most ordinary household appliances when Sarah was 23 few families at automatic dishwashers
microwave ovens had not yet been invented personal computers were unheard of even the family car seemed like
something out of the Space Age I had never seen anything like that in my life I mean he was this big streamline car it
was unbelievable the magazines they used to give our pictures of cars of the future that's what the Pontiac Grand
Prix looked like Sarah internalized her fears and try to go about life as if nothing had happened yet everything had
changed Sarah's taste in music passion and dance was out of a 23 year old not a woman
approaching middle age I can remember coming home from school or coming home from work and that stereo
would just be blasting and the first thing I would do would be to come in the back door and just turn the stereo down
because it would just drive me crazy it has been a real role reversal at some points you know and just the music that
she listens to you know it's music of my generation and and it's a bit much for me two times
[Music] for nearly four years Sarah managed to keep up her charade finally in November
of 1979 Sarah discovered that she was not alone an article in the local newspaper gave her the courage to reveal
her secret to her family I just read an article about people who have aneurysms right and for years now I thought there
was something wrong with me everything was out and she you know was willing to admit that she did not know who we were
or know who I was sometimes I wish that she could remember me as when I was younger and I was growing up because I
think I did get some characteristics from her such as being athletic that I think she would have really enjoyed
remembering of me we always hope that we can learn from the experiences of our patients and by that process continue to
grow intellectually but from time to time an event will occur that remains inexplicable a mystery today with the
help of her family Sarah is trying to reconstruct the year she thought she had lost forever I didn't know as much as I
did at one time and wasn't able to do the things I could do before nothing was going to get me damn I was
going to relearn everything you know handicapped people are everybody goes Oh instead of shame and they were going to
do that to me despite tremendous advances in the field of medicine scientists tell us that we understand
even less than 5% of how our memory functions Saturday Gennaro is still adjusting to life with 16 years of
missing time though she carries on bravely her doctors do not foresee the day the Sarah will recover her lost
memories on our next unsolved mysteries three suspicious deaths all investigated
his possible suicides haunt the freelance journalist who now believes he has been targeted for murder because he
may know too much about possibly illegal multi-million dollar gold transactions On June 26 1990 in Rochester New York
one of the largest armored car robberies in United States history went off without a hitch
the total haul over ten million dollars in untraceable bills join me next time perhaps you may be able to help solve a
mystery [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Brief Summary

The episode features tragic family deaths, a suspicious car fire, an armored car robbery, and a woman's memory loss due to a brain aneurysm.

Key points

The Santos Family Tragedy. The Santos family faces a series of mysterious heart-related deaths across generations.
Kathy Bondar's Mysterious Death. Cathy Bondar's death in a car fire raises questions about whether it was an accident or murder.
The Loomis Robbery. A detailed account of a shocking armored car robbery that left three guards dead.
Sara's Amnesia. A woman loses sixteen years of her memory due to a medical condition, leading to a profound identity crisis.
Reconstructing Lost Memories. With the help of her family, Sara attempts to piece together her erased past.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I knew he was gone.

Donatella Santos reflects on her husband's sudden death.

2:35WatchMay 22, 2019

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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