Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 4, Episode 4 - 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 Judge John C Fairbanks was a
respected pillar of his community the residents of Newport New Hampshire regularly trend to win whatever they
needed help no one had any idea that all the while the judge was quietly robbing
them blind in 1988 at a lonely roadside service center a young woman courageously fought off a brutal unknown
assailant a surprise attack carried all the earmarks of a serial killing now authorities have constructed a chilling
psychological portrait of a man who may be responsible for the murders of seven women when suscriber was just 13 she
learned of an astonishing family secret in 1942 her mother gave birth to twins and then gave them away perhaps you can
help end Sue's search for her long-lost brother and sister heartwarming updates thanks to our broadcast a father and
daughter who have never met and finally found each other join me for another edition of unsolved
mysteries [Music] [Applause] [Music] Claremont New Hampshire May 1984 17-year old Bernie scored Amash sets off for her
boyfriend's house she has never heard from again this particular killer I feel does a lot of driving and I think
that what he is doing is selecting sites that are low risk for him two months later 27 year-old Alan Freed a
registered nurse also of Claremont calls her sister from a pay phone she too is never heard from again
rather than stalking a particular victim I don't believe any of these women themselves were pre-selected as victims
he selects sites and he goes from site to site 18 months later the skeletal remains of Helen freed were found in an
isolated area 8 miles outside of Clermont Bernie's court Amash is decomposed body would turn up in the
same woods one mile away then just over a year later the body of yet another young woman Barbara Agnew was found on
an isolated hillside in Hartland Vermont it was becoming more and more difficult
to ignore what seemed to be a chilling pattern police estimate there may be as many as 100 serial killers living among
us on our streets and in our neighborhoods they are cool and calculating choosing victims
indiscriminately with little or no remorse for their actions the overwhelming task for authorities to
determine how the serial killer thinks and hopefully learn where and when he might strike again
one such investigation is currently underway in New England since 1978 the bodies of seven young
women have been discovered within a 50-mile radius along the New Hampshire Vermont border police believe that six
of the seven women were abducted and taken to remote wooded areas where they were murdered all of the victims
suffered similar stab wounds and police began to suspect that the killings were the work of the same individual give us
your opinion on whether or not you feel with no witnesses and little physical evidence investigators were to stand
still as a last resort the New Hampshire State Police brought in criminal psychologist John Philbin to develop a
profile of the killer my approach is to gather as much of the same information that the police used in the very
beginning police reports of crime scene autopsy reports autopsy photographs every bit of
information that would be available typically to the investigators that's what I would begin with profiling is
something that you just as from law-enforcement standpoint you have a belief and it works it's not so
scientific that it is absolute it's not going to tell you this is the individual
but it does give you the type of individual that you can be looking for if you have a suspect it can tell you
whether or not you're on the right Avenue with a right approach in the beginning I did make several trips out
to the locations where Bernice and Ellen were killed the first few times that I went was simply to to have something of
a feel for the place when I was there what what could I hear what could I smell what was the place like what would
it felt like to be there how could this this crime was very bizarre dance between two people how could it have
been choreographed in this space how could it have happened when I get to the point where I'm
beginning to develop some feel for what is going on in the mind of a killer I'll
go back to the scenes using what I have learned and simply going through what might have happened just as though I I
were him what am i hearing is that do I hear the noise of the river going by or is that blocked outta myself focused on
the activities telling me I don't hear what does it tell me about this person's ability to perceive in terms of sound in
terms of what I'm feeling you know in terms of what I'm able to see part of what goes on with this killer is that he
has a very strong need to take these women away alive transport them to this site that he has pre-selected during
which time clearly he owns them they are his to do with whatever he wishes and part of that I think is this this
process of of scaring the daylights out of him midnight August 8 1988 Winchester New
Hampshire a 23 year old woman named Jane was on her way home from a County Fair when she stopped for a soft drink it is
a hot muggy evening and Jane was 7 months pregnant [Music] if there was a serial killer on the
loose this was a perfect setting for him to find a victim [Music] [Music] that pono okay if you wanna be that way
come on okay come on just don't hurt me I'm pregnant come on what do you want you hurt my girlfriend
real bad I didn't hurt anybody yet it's a Massachusetts card no it's New Hampshire it's New Hampshire at some
point Jane tried to break away and The Killers apparent plans to abduct her went awry
he had balked all the way to his vehicle and by this time I was rolled over to my
belly and started getting up on my hands and knees and when he was driving by me
he just looked right down at me he just looked at me and just kept driving I can feel the blood rushing out of me
and I just I thought I was gonna die I kept telling myself Jane you're gonna die that's all I could think of and I
just felt like I had to get to my friend's house to get help although Jane had been stabbed her
slashed a total of 18 times she somehow managed to crawl back to her car and drive to a friend's house two miles away
when I left the parking lot I felt like I was going fast I was driving fast I was in shock of course so I'm really
not sure how fast I was driving but evidently pretty fast because before I knew it I was right behind him and as I
was behind him all I could think about was he was gonna stop or he was gonna turn around and follow me he left me for
dead I know he left me for dead no doubt about that [Music] when Jane reached her friend's house her
attacker drove on [Music] right up the road the attacker turned back he stopped momentarily in front of the house then
disappeared into the night [Music] miraculously none of the stab wounds hit vital organs for James seven month old
fetus two months later she gave birth to a healthy baby girl [Music] if you feel more comfortable with your
eyes closed if you choose to close your eyes Jane agreed to undergo hypnosis with
John Filton nose and was able to provide a graphic eyewitness account of her terrifying ordeal peacefully from what
Jane said during the hypnotic session it became clear to me that she was not stopped her decision to go to the fair
was a last-minute decision she had no sense of anyone following her either going to the fair while she was at the
fair and leaving the fair she was able to supply very specific details of this man getting out of the car and coming up
on the other side making some remark about the telephone this man is very deliberate very methodical very calm we
know especially from the graphic description of Jane provided for us but he doesn't get rattled that he's very
much in control I'm very patient about what it is he's doing you hurt my girlfriend real bad I didn't
hurt anybody he seemed so calm so let's go about everything cause the only thing
I mean he never got mad he never showed nervousness he just was so calm and everything was just as if it
didn't bother him what Jane described was a tremendous struggle a tremendous amount of resistance on her part the
desire to protect her baby but that at some point during the assault it was as though she had done everything that she
could do and she couldn't do anymore and she stopped struggling and it was at that point that the assault stopped it
seemed as though the greater her resistance the more determined he was that as soon as her resistance began to
wane the attack end as you begin to drive south on the highway - what do you see I'm coming up
behind another car and it's um there is that's him that's him the license plate to focus here on the
license plate it's it's dirty i-66 too it's too dirty I I can't see it that's a picture that
you can hold you can hold that picture after getting the description one of the things that we decided to do was see if
we could identify this cheap in order to do that we olicity elicited the health of the state of Vermont the state of New
Hampshire obviously and the state of Massachusetts we generated a computer printout of all jeep wagoneer registered
at that time in those three states matching the description that Jayne had given us chain describes it as between
being 75 to an 85 police narrowed the search to thirteen hundred and fifty jeeps throughout New England
unfortunately none of the leads pinpointed a suspect once again the investigation was stalled
but with one crucial difference the police still do not know who the killer is but thanks to Jane's eyewitness
description they do believe they know what he looks like and how he thinks I think he is a loner type of person
prefers his his own thoughts his own fantasies doesn't like to intrusion I think his view of women is extremely
negative to the point of hostility to the point of viewing them as arrogant intrusive types of people so that I
could see him making an adjustment that we might call within the realm of the normal but it would require I I think is
a very limited exposure to groups of people I just feel really fortunate to be alive but
I just I just wish he could be found so what happened to somebody else maybe they won't be so fortunate like I
was to live [Music] [Music] next an opponent update a grown woman meets her father for the first time
but the power vested in me I now pronounce you man and wife you may kiss the bride on November 11th 1958 17-year
old Patsy Somers married her high school sweetheart in El Paso Texas at the time
only Patsy and her husband knew that she was pregnant seven months later Patsy's daughter Jean he was born from a
very early age I felt very different and separated from my family and no one intentionally made me feel that way I
don't think that it was just a knowledge I had that was I guess in my subconscious after her mother's death in
1983 Jeanie learned of a shocking secret a passage and Patsy's diary revealed that the man Jeannie had known as her
father was not her father at all the diary detail how Patsy had gone to a local park after an argument with her
fiance there she met a young enlisted man stationed at nearby Fort Bliss his name was Duncan Patsy was
immediately smitten by the handsome young soldier they soon began dating she never told Duncan about her fiance or
her fiance about Duncan my mother she thought of Duncan as a very kind person and even stated that of all the people
that she had known that he was the kindest person she had ever met six months later patsy summers was
pregnant she was sure that Duncan was a father but fearing her family's reaction
decided to marry her fiance as planned let's see what is it Patsy told Duncan that she never wanted to see him again
he never knew that he was the father of her child my firm belief is that secrets
only cause people harm and caused a lot of suffering and that's why for me the truth has to come out and I have to know
who Duncan is the night the genies story aired a woman named Suzanne Gilmore was
watching our broadcast at her home in Lake Wylie South Carolina at the time Susan's husband Duncan was fast asleep
Jeannie's mother had written in her diary that he was the sweetest kindest person that she had ever met I just said
that's my Duncan I knew that it was my Duncan and the next thing I know my wife woke me up and she said were you ever
stationed in El Paso Texas at Fort Bliss when you were in the army and I said yeah she said were you there in 1958 and
I said yeah is there in 1958 and she said did you ever know Patsy Somers and I said yeah I know
I knew Patsy Somers did you sleep with her and he said what what what he just kind of came awake and I said it's very
important did you sleep with her and he said oh yeah she said congratulations you have a
daughter and she's looking for you and he just came awake like it shot it was like she's looking for me and I said yes
as soon as I heard some of the details I knew immediately she was my daughter and
then I don't want to say it was matter-of-fact but I just knew that she was my daughter and that we had to be
together and we had to see her and I had to respond nine days and dozens of phone calls
later Duncan Gilmore and his wife Suzanne arrived in Houston Texas on May 3rd 1991 father and daughter met
for the first time in their lives when I hiked my dad it was a combination of being really really happy but also there
was a little sadness there that so many years have gone by and that we've missed
out on each other's lives [Music] I will always remember Jeanie coming to the door and for the first time seeing
my daughter and I'm holding her the day was made even more special when Duncan met his only grandchildren Joshua and
Justin for the first time when I saw my boys playing catch with their grandpa it
it just felt right they needed a grandpa and I can't think of a better grandpa for them to have
[Music] never could I have hoped in a million years or prayed a thousand prayers for
this to turn out as well as it has and he's turned out to be everything that I thought it was going to be no you
did tomorrow and the day after I'll now have a dad who loves me and wants to be a part of my life
when we returned a respected judge has been accused of stealing more than 10 million dollars from his friends and
neighbors [Music] Laporte New Hampshire populations 7,000 reflects the values that America was
built upon a small town where successive generations are born and grow over where
everyone knows everyone else or relationships are founded on honesty and trust but on a quiet morning in May of
1989 a crack appeared in that Foundation Judge John Fairbanks a lifelong resident
asked his court clerk to find a replacement for him and left town at the time no one imagined that Luke port
would never be the same again judge Jhansi Fairbanks was a respected jurist a successful attorney whose
family had lived in the Newport New Hampshire area for three generations On June 6 1989 residents were astonished by
the news that Fairbanks had resigned his judgeship and abandoned his law practice
a few days later they're shocked turned to outrage this pillar of the community was apparently the worst kind of thief
a man who's stolen more than 10 million dollars from his friends and neighbors you understand that you have a right to
present evidence in your behalf for 33 years judge Fairbanks presided over the district court of Newport because
Newport is a small community Fairbanks Court duties were limited and he was able to maintain a lucrative law
practice specializing in probate law John was a nice guy everybody in the community liked him
nobody had a bad word for him you would just loved his family I love this children his grandchildren just a great
guy Fairbanks was honest I mean that was his reputation you might knock him for other things but the one thing everybody
always said about John Fairbanks was he was honest so these people had complete faith and trust and confidence in him
when a client died judge Fairbanks would visit his widow not just to offer condolences but to relieve her of her
financial worries [Music] [Applause] [Music] my husband grew up with judge Fairbanks
here in town the families were very friendly and through the years anything pertaining to law he would go to judge
Fairbanks John Fairbanks was certainly my uncle's estate and then of course I had the estate and I hadn't income tax
to doing it I knew him so I went back to him for the income taxes and I went to him every
year for doing my income tax Patricia Sawyer had been coming to the judge for advice since 1958 in August of
1987 she agreed to turn over her stock certificates to Fairbanks so he could inventory her holdings he called me on
the phone and asked about my getting could I get the stocks that day judge Fairbanks and I had talked about
doing an estate plan and changing my will so many people had died when we got to judge Fairbanks office he said he
would inventory them and he would let me know how much they were worth and we would get together and make well what we
have is this everything Patricia says everything you're sure yes your uncle didn't have any deposits in any other
banks no but he never got back to me and I listened I prodded John a few times but he was awful busy and he hadn't got
to it and then we'll be able to plan the estate Patricia you don't have any idea
how much this is worth I have no idea October 12th 1987 Black Monday on Wall Street the repercussions were felt
worldwide even in judge Fairbanks courtroom how fast were you going 60 how do you know you were going 60 well I
almost never good we'll take a brief recess all rise please the stock market crash I remember very very well it was
the judges 65th birthday he made a couple comments about turning 65 is just wonderful stock market crashes on your
65th birthday the secret of a stock market crash is not to panic hello Anna now what's the
problem he said I'm panicked that he would lose over three million dollars in crash the other accounts but that he
wasn't going to panic he made it through court real quick and left the building but I was real concerned about him his
his mannerisms were different he was very very withdrawn that day John when am I going to be getting some dividends
the effects of the crash had trickled down to Patricia Sawyer I asked him why I wasn't getting dividend checks and he
said that dough to the stock market crash my stocks had gone down and he was turning the dividends back him to bring
the stocks up to where they were before the crash before the the drop in the stock market and I believe that I called
Fairbanks in the spring of 88 because I had not been receiving accountings and it was at that time that he told me that
he had been spending my brother's principal John tiny had engaged Fairbanks as legal guardian for his
brother Richard after their mother died Richard Tweedy is a schizophrenic who has been institutionalized in a New
Hampshire hospital for more than 40 years in November of 1988 John Tweedy insisted
that Farrah banks meet him face to face to discuss concerns about his brothers holdings I had certain questions to ask
him about the estate I mean there was rhetoric in his response but he didn't answer the questions don't worry about
that John yeah I want you to take a look at this I will maybe you can ask you something else
one of my brother's estate going to the Red John I haven't got all those figures
up here in my head but you come back to my office later in the week and I'll lay
it all out for you he was at that time I found out 75% of my brother's money was
gone on estate why didn't you inform me when is the state when to the Red John I
tried to but you're a hard man to find now look I've got another appointment you come in later in the week and we'll
take care of everything see you later John okay John take care if my brother's estate was in the red
and he drew my brother's equity in the real estate if he was going to really take care of my brother's affairs he
would have notified me at that time and said we have to sell some land but he didn't
why didn't he well of course I was to find out why I didn't John Tweedy refused to accept the judges
explanations about his brothers estate and began his own investigation I found that the p8 sole stalked and he had
under reported what he had gotten from the stock he had under reported what he gotten for dividends and after a couple
of weeks of this I came up with $20,000 that was missing it turned out that was only a part of what was missing but that
was all I could determine from public records and it was at that point I realized that well he was embezzling and
I've been raised to believe that when you see a crime committed you call a cops and so I called the cops we drove
over to look at Fairbanks his house here in Newport and we saw the house and we thought gee that's gotta be $500,000 we
were aware they had a home in a gunk would mean which is a pretty expensive area to live right on the ocean it was
worth six or seven hundred thousand dollars and we looked at each other and said disguise a thief judge Fairbanks
house of cards was tumbling down on June 6 1989 he resigned from the bench and retreated to his summer home in Maine
when John Tweedy's charges were made public other disgruntled clients began to come forward with their suspicions
I had no idea that he was doing anything underhandedly until all this came out that morning
that Judge Fairbanks had taken several other people and not only my account but others in town I wasn't the only one he
put these stocks into this stock brokerage firm as my agent and I had never signed any papers giving him any
authority I had never signed my name on the certificates he had done that illegally
Fairbanks said in my opinion have been doing this for so long that he had sort of milk dry most of the accounts that he
had been stealing from and along came Patricia Soria who had almost a million dollars and assets that he got in his
hands and there was like a gold mine and he pounced on it authorities now suspected over a 20-year
period Fairbanks may have stolen more than ten million dollars as the investigation
reached his climax judge Fairbanks spoke with Tom Hanigan from his home in Maine
I told him that all I want to do is to have him produce documents which would show that his accounting was true and
correct let's keep this as quiet as possible I don't want this to become a big we agreed to a meeting and then he
called me maybe a week before the meeting had said that he had a postponement and I said okay and he we
set another date and then when the next state came up I came over to Newport in Hampshire to interview Fairbanks and he
wasn't there finally in December 28th 1989 the judge was indicted on four counts of theft the indictments listed
more than 100 checks written by Fairbanks which transferred money from client accounts to Fairbanks personal
accounts the next day Fairbanks pickup truck was found abandoned near his house in Maine the judge had disappeared and
has not been seen since [Music] this has affected my life - the fact that I wonder what I'm going to do and
I'm going to have to sell land maybe sell the farm and the farm has been in my family since the original settlers
came from Nationals it's apparatus teams when I was in total shock still don't think I've come out of it I just can't
believe it anyone could do such a thing he had a double life he had two totally separated lives and one of them was fine
you know when I was a man of great integrity I respected by the community and the other the other one was well
classical you know it was into all sorts of things which are very shaky very shady and quite Amaro and very few if
anybody knew the two existed [Music] next the search for a set of twins who were separated from their family just
after they were born [Music] growing up in the 50s in Red Hill Alabama life was slow and easy every day
seemed pretty much like another but what a suit Scribner the fifth of ten children was thirteen years old
one day held an extraordinary surprise [Music] I'll never forget the day I came home
from church it was January 1957 my mother was alone in the house which was unusual because he kids usually were all
around she had written two names all over the newspaper so I asked her about that she just said she'd sing the night
since she was writing it when I asked her why she had been crying she told me about having a boy and a girl twin that
had been adopted it's time I told Tommy I was really surprised because I was 13 and and it's a shock to find out that
you have a brother and sister that you didn't know about especially when you already have so many brothers and
sisters two years before you were born I can't premature birth to twins boy and a girl
Sue's mother Calista began to unburden herself it had all begun in Winter Garden Florida at Orange County General
Hospital in January 1942 Kalista went into labor nearly two months early she and Sue's father slim
Scribner were frantic when they arrived at the emergency room doctors named dr. hardy dr. Hart orderly we need a
wheelchair here right away please take her to the delivery let me call dr. harder the twins were born a short time
later Kalista and slim named them Paul and Paula after their doctor Paul harder not
but they're so small the premature who have some serious health problems we have a heart condition and a blood
disorder are they gonna be okay doctor well we think so but they will require a great deal of
medical attention I asked my mother why they were adopted and she said that they
needed some sort of surgery for a congenital heart disease or a heart problem and that they couldn't afford
that I know it's a difficult decision but it's the best choice for everyone she said that dr. Hart or knew someone
perfect to adopt the twins and that they would be able to pay for the medical expenses
[Music] the twins been adopted it just stayed with her forever she never got over it
[Music] before Calista Scribner left the hospital she made a solemn promise to dr. Hajra that she would never search
for the twins in 1944 she and slim were divorced Kalista remarried with a new husband
eventually raised ten children after Callistus death in 1979 her daughter sue enlisted the entire family to look for
the twins but the search went nowhere both dr. harder and Sue's father were dead the hospital records sealed then a
rusty trunk in an attic finally yielded a clue in 1987 one of Sue's cousins found a letter which Calista Scribner
had written to her mother a short time after the twins were born Sue's cousin was surprised that the letter never
mentioned adoption in fact it seemed the Kalista had every intention of bringing
the twins home the babies are still improving the first time they weighed them at the Orange general Paula wait
two or three four pounds and Paul two and a half pounds they told us to be a before yesterday that they weighed three
pounds 14 ounces and three pounds 11 ounces so they're gaining right along and also said they might be able to
bring him home by the 1st of next week when I read the letter that mother wrote it was almost exactly like she had told
me in 1957 the only thing that the letter didn't clear up was find that twins were adopted because she from the
letter you can tell that she did not intend for them to be adopted the discovery of Callistus letter sparked
new interest in the twins several newspaper articles followed and one of them paid off hello in May of 1990 one
of Sue's nieces who lives in Mobile Alabama received an anonymous phone call okay I know the family they don't know
they were adopted the connor seemed elderly and very emotional she said she knew where Paul and Paula were the
caller refused to divulge a relationship with the twins but did say that she planned to tell them they were adopted
on Mother's Day I'm gonna try and tell them the truth you'll be hearing from me in a couple of weeks or else the Twins
will contact you directly oh I called everybody in the family and this is that we found the twins you know we're gonna
hear from them or you know whoever they look the lady was that called and counting the days and when the day came
Sunday counting the hour when and I would not leave home but nothing ever happened
as a last resort sue wrote an open letter to the twins which was published both in Florida and in Louisiana
newspapers and so elusive twins are still search our write letters I stare at strangers with hazel eyes and fair
skin yet should my effort send an emptiness my voice in Oblivion I must tell you this I have not felt so
completely for I've already found you once years ago chasm din that deep indelible well that safe place our
mother's heart [Music] ten days after we featured the story sue Scribner received an anonymous call from
one of our viewers who told her that the twins were living in Orlando Florida sue
immediately contacted her brother and sister whose names are Bruce and Barbara the twins had no idea that they had been
adopted and were shocked to learn about a sight of their family they never knew existed
[Music] on March 15 1992 sue Scribner met her brother and sister the first time in her
life the joyous reunion brought together six of the scribbler children and their
families the very first time I met them I think all of our knees were shaking it
is emotional but I think we've all cried enough tears and we didn't need a lot today so I think that my newfound family
is wonderful I think they're absolutely adorable it's like we've known each other all of our lives even though we
haven't been around each other for five hours I can't wait to get to know them family very excited about it
mm-hmm you have all these questions in your mind Jim what did I miss out on all these years what would they really like
is kids I think everybody's gonna get to know each other and both sides that for a country bumpkin like we are
it's like a blessing doesn't really matter now what kind of life any of us have because it's it's what's left that
counts we know where all of the children are now [Music] [Music] join me next time for another edition
unsolved mysteries [Music] you [Music]

Brief Summary

This episode features a serial killer investigation, a judge's embezzlement scandal, and a family's search for lost twins.

Key points

A Chilling Pattern of Abductions. Police discover a pattern in the abduction and murder of seven young women.
A Miraculous Survival. Jane, a pregnant woman, survives a brutal attack and manages to seek help.
A Family Secret Unveiled. Jeannie learns her father is not who she thought, leading to a life-changing reunion.
The Disappearance of Judge Fairbanks. Judge Fairbanks disappears after being indicted for theft, leaving a trail of suspicion.
The Search for Separated Twins. Sue Scribner embarks on a heartfelt journey to find her long-lost twins.
A Joyous Reunion. Sue meets her brother and sister for the first time, filled with emotion and excitement.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I just felt like I had to get to my friend's house to get help.

Jane's desperate struggle after being attacked.

10:01WatchMay 22, 2019

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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