Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 4, Episode 5 - 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 journeyer 27th 1973 the
signing of the Paris Peace Accords marked the end of American involvement in Vietnam just one week later an Air
Force spy plane monitoring North Vietnamese tank movements encountered heavy ground fire and crashed in the
jungle with all hands on board today the families of two crewmen believe their sons did not die at the end of the story
has not yet been written Paul Stamper was an energetic successful young businessman but when his wife
walked out on him Stanford targeted her in a vengeful campaign of abuse and violence meet Josephine White a human
chameleon a charming con artist a pastor of the pigeon drum for years she is preyed on elderly victims to the tune of
more than 1 million dollars I'll also bring you the touching update a woman who spent more than 40 years searching
for her long-lost twin sister join me for another edition unsolved mysteries [Music]
[Applause] [Music] [Music] eighteen years ago families across the country were rejoicing as their husbands and sons
began coming home from the distant jungles of Southeast Asia on January 27th 1973 the Paris Peace Accords had
been formally ratified there would be no more American involvement in Vietnam but
for some families the war would never end [Music] while other soldiers still stationed
overseas are writing joyful letters to their wives and girlfriends back home Air Force sergeant Peter Cressman was
writing to his congressman dear sir On January 27th I read the headlines which hailed the peace with honor
agreement only to wake the next morning to find my situation the same as the day
before as though nothing had changed in Southeast Asia feeling that I must have missed some of the small print of the
agreement I again read it and found that I had not overlooked anything that was on the printed page it was then that I
realized that I and others in my unit were in violation of an agreement which I considered to be an order from the
commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the United States sergeant Peter Crispin was a youngest of three brothers
to serve during the Vietnam conflict he was an electronics expert who flew top-secret reconnaissance missions every
day since the ceasefire is squadron had continued to operate as if nothing had changed
picked up some short transmissions at a 130 I went to seek advice to the base legal office there I was informed of the
consequences for refusing to carry out the orders which I consider to be illegal as well as immoral these
consequences instilled in me a fear which has caused me to abandon any thoughts of refusing to obey these
illegal orders there any questions okay good luck on february 4th 1973 one week after the
ceasefire Peter Cressman and seven other men boarded an EC 47q surveillance plane
codenamed Baron 52 the electronics experts crust but among them were situated in the rear of the
plane ninety 1490 check [Music] the flight plan call for Baron 52 to proceed from Oban Air Force Base in
Thailand into Laos a neutral country which borders Vietnam and Cambodia the assignment was to monitor a column of
North Vietnamese tanks which were moving into Cambodia along the Ho Chi Minh Trail at 11:05 p.m. Baron 52 departed
two and a half hours later reports came in that the plane was receiving heavy ground fire
five minutes later radio transmissions ceased two days later the wreckage of Baron 52 was located in the jungle deep
inside Laos a rescue team recovered the remains of only the copilot declared missing in action were Peter Cressman
and six other men three officers and three electronics experts including 21-year old Joseph manager a letter Jo's
father died in 1984 his mother vividly remembers every detail two military men an officer and a
sergeant came to the home to inform me that Joe was missing in action that his plane had been shot down but there was a
possibility that some of the men may have bailed out of the plane I felt a little feeling of relief because he was
missing and not killed I thought there was some chance that I might see him again it was 18 days later that they
returned and they informed us that none of the men had gotten out of the plane there was no way they were not wearing
parachutes the plane went down into a spin and none of the men could possibly get out so they declared them all killed
in action they said that they did see remains in the plane a plane had been burned so we believed him
of course I Peter Christmas mother had also received word that her son status had been changed from missing in action
to killed in action now if my government said that he had been killed they all had perished in the crash then it had to
be true because they wouldn't go around and tell a family that this had happened
unless they had positive proof rookie he saved several weeks later the Air Force forwarded Peter Chrisman's
personal belongings to his parents they found the letter he had written but never mailed to his congressman Peter's
father passed away in 1989 he was due but he and his other sons had always questions the status changed from
missing to killed the letter only served to heighten their suspicions they were declaring him dead but there was no no
body and we understand it you know bodies can burn up or disappear in combat but in this case there was just
nothing and because of the classification of the missions they never had anything to back up their
position according to this a rescue team found one body and there were no parachutes in the plan but five
frustrating years the Chrisman's wrote various Air Force officials seeking specific details about Peters case the
Air Force response remained consistent based on the condition of the wreckage in the lack of a distress call that was
simply not enough time for the flight crew to bail out the official report concluded that all members of the crew
of Barron 52 were killed in the crash hello then in June of 1978 the Chrisman's received a surprising phone
call from an attorney with a national m.i.a organization he said I really don't know how to tell you people this
you're the first family I've contacted but there's evidence that I've seen that indicates that at least four of the
people on your brother's aircraft not only survived the incident but were captured by North Vietnamese forces
the attorney at land of a report by investigative journalist Jack Anderson Anderson claimed that US military
intelligence intercepted a North Vietnamese communication after barren 52 went down in 1973 Terrell Minh arson was
an air defense analyst for the National Security Agency his job was to decipher intercepted North Vietnamese messages we
saw specific North Vietnamese communique requesting transportation for captured American bandit pilots we felt at the
time that these messages were seen that based on the logistics based on the lack
of American activity due the ceasefire that the only personnel who could have been captured were the ones from Barren
52 there was a good probability some of the crew members had survived parachutes
were missing so they probably push you to doubt and we knew that they had been captured that they were already in the
hands of the Vietnamese and into the prison system my husband a military man a career military man we were certainly
dedicated to serving our country so it was hard for us to believe I telephoned my husband at work and I told him what I
heard and he immediately said that we would have to make arrangements to go to the Pentagon to pool Joe's file out and
to study it ourselves to see just what had really happened when we went to the Pentagon they showed us Joe's file they
brought us into a little room where we could sit together and study it and there in the file where copies of the
radio intercepts much of them were blacked out there was very little that we could read but we saw enough evidence
in his file to show that the government knew all along that these four men had been captured my husband didn't want to
be bitter but it was beginning to hurt him more and more and I would hear him at night when he thought I was asleep
and I could hear him sometimes cry and he would mutter Joe I'd hear him talking out loud when
he thought I was asleep no it never got off of his mind he was very much hurt by
the whole issue the Defense Intelligence Agency does not deny the existence of the North
Vietnamese communique however the DIA claims the nationality of the captured pilots was never specified consequently
they determined that the prisoners were not the crew members of the parent 52 then in 1986 Gerry Mooney a retired
intelligence analyst testified before Congress at Peter Crispin and Joseph Matt a job or prisoners of war but not
in Southeast Asia incredibly he claimed they had been transported to the Soviet Union there Terral Mon arson agrees that
the men could have been transported to the USSR special types of prisoners alleged prisoners with a special
knowledge special experience were being rounded up throughout the various prison
of war camps throughout North Vietnam and sent to Hanoi to be turned over to the Russians for exploitation from that
point they were flown from Hanoi across the northern route which would be northern Laos northern Burma down into
India for refueling in and up to Moscow I had information stating that they had been flown out to the Sokol area
[Music] there is no concrete evidence that POWs were transported to Russia during the
Vietnam conflict however the Soviets have recently pledged to search through their penal system in the unlikely event
that any Americans were ever brought into their country one question continues to haunt the families if the
government had knowledge that their sons had been captured why are their status been changed to killed in action
according the mrs. Mary Jo the answer could be found at the Paris peace talks my husband made arrangements to meet
with dr. Rajesh shields the assistant secretary of defense at the Paris peace talks dr. shields told us that he was
ordered to cross off the name of these four men from the EC 47q from a list a government list of known life captured
Americans and right over them killed in action this plane was flying after the peace treaty was signed
therefore it was breaking the peace treaty it was a covert operation they were flying over Laos and at that time
we said we were not at war with Laos but we were having a secret war and there was secret bombing going on but we
couldn't admit to that so the only thing they could do was just wipe these men out as if they never existed and that's
what they did so he was actually killed on paper at the Paris peace talks Roger Shields declined to appear on
camera in a telephone conversation with unsolved mysteries he stated that he was
never ordered to cross off the names in fact he never had the authority to make a status change however he did
acknowledge that mrs. marriage ah've has every reason on earth to wonder if her son might still be alive
a man puts on a uniform to serve his country should be brought back once he serves and brought back to his loved
ones so I like to speak out about that make sure whatever you do that you never let this happen again god forbid that
should ever be another war another men forgotten we didn't expect this kind of thing from from the government to be
perfectly honest I mean it and I had someone ask me once well do you consider yourself patriotic as though the
information that I was telling them about made me unpatriotic well if something goes wrong in your family you
do what you can to straighten it out you admit to what the problem is and obviously I don't believe they've
admitted to this day what the problem is the Air Force and the Defense Intelligence Agency continue to maintain
that there is absolutely no proof that any of the men aboard Baron 52 were captured the official report reads
following the loss of Baron 52 none of its crew was ever seen alive and there is no intelligence whatsoever which
would indicate that any of the crews survived the incident of loss for nearly 20 years both the Air Force in the
Defense Department is stood by the classification at Peter Cressman and joseph mater Jabez killed in action
however there was one odd footnote to this story at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC
seven of the eight crewmen were lost on Baron 52 including Cressman and Mary jog
unexpectedly listed as missing in action [Music] in the summer of 1924 sharecropper Rufus
Hinkle of Greenville Tennessee was forced to make an agonizing decision [Music] Rufus's wife died after giving birth to
twin girls Mary and Martha with little money and nine other mouths to feed Rufus felt he had no choice but to put
the twins up for adoption within a few months Mary and Martha were adopted by separate families
Rufus never saw his daughters again he passed away in 1950 later on I heard that they would not tell us where they
were at until my father died so shortly after he died we started looking for the
cleanse and we found Mary in September of 1955 Shorty and Mary were reunited at her home in Bluefield West Virginia that
afternoon Mary received a special surprise I just don't kind of explain how they'd feel not knowing that I had a
twin sister a part of me unfortunately little was known to Martha's whereabouts then in 1986
Martha's niece Jackie Reynolds learned that Martha had been taken in by the Meeks family of Johnson City Tennessee
I've never found any trace of the Meeks whatsoever so I really don't know what happened to him from there I've often
wondered if it's been good earth Martha's life has been bad you wonder about them things shortly after our
broadcast one of our viewers sandi detain of san bernardino california contacted the Hinkel family with
surprising news during a search for her mother's biological family sandy accidentally discovered the
location of Martha hinkel's adopted family Martha lived with John and Lyta Meeks for three years when the couple
divorced Martha was taken in by the Dan Jackson family of Johnson County Georgia in 1940
she married James Thomas and together they had four sons [Music] sadly Martha passed away just weeks
before the Hinkle family could contact her I'm glad but it's so sad that I couldn't later of it that I couldn't be
with her just to talk to her dish Bert just for air too and tell her that I loved her although
she never realized her dream of meeting her twin sister Mary's 35 years search was not in vain on July 27th 1991
Martha's four sons met Mary a decided the family they had never known that day and a bittersweet reunion two families
came together as one majority we were part of the family before we ever walked up and touched the one of
them it was written all over their faces when we saw those smiles and tender hearts all the little fears big fears
the apprehension just left it was all over the with glad to be home with our family I'm proud that she left four sons
left part over here for me to get together and know you know her her sons but part of me is gone
that an heir that I never found and I never will find but she'll always be in my heart
[Music] next police are searching for a convicted felon who targeted his ex-wife
for clients November 23rd 1985 Kingfisher Oklahoma 23 year old Teresa Stamper left a small dinner party with
her new boyfriend Chris Buckner the quiet evening was a pleasant change for Teresa who had just ended a marriage
which was marked by violence and abuse unbeknownst to Teresa her estranged husband Paul Stamper was parked nearby
watching her every move through a high-powered telescope that night would be the culmination of a reign of terror
against his ex-wife [Music] Paul Stamper never accepted his wife's decision to leave him for six months he
stalked her night and day waiting for just the right moment to unleash his vengeance
Teresa was constantly looking over her shoulder never knowing where or when her ex-husband would appear Paul Stamper had
changed he was no longer the man Teresa fell in love with five years earlier the booming oil business in the early
1980s had lured Paul Stanford a Kingfisher County Oklahoma staffers set up a lucrative oil equipment operation
and hired Teresa then an impressionable 20 year old as his secretary Paul was a real charmer and you know I I
work for him and he took me places and we flew a lot of places and you know I was no it was different for me you know
it Teresa honey you've been outside yet this morning yes it was on my birthday he called me about took seven o'clock in
the morning and said have you been outside and I said no so I looked outside you know went out there and
there's this 82 red Corvette as they like to do you like to spend money buy nice things
so what do you think what's this now looks like a Corvette this is for me you know we had fun he was really a lot of
fun he asked me to marry him and I liked he was nice and he was good to me you know and I liked living like that you
know it was fun and and we got married Teresa believes she was marrying a dynamic young businessman in fact Paul
Stamper was a convicted felon with a record for theft assault and fraud stretching back to 1974 more recently
his business practices had come under investigation in Oklahoma we had unconfirmed reports that he went out and
destroyed some equipment on locations so that those same people would call him the very next day and have him come and
repair it within six months the marriage became a living hell for Teresa man telling me where the hell you been said
the grocery store been gone for two hours now who are you with he started watching me and having
people follow me and he wouldn't let me visit my friend in one moment he'd be nice and the next moment he hit me and I
just I didn't know how to handle on him did everything for you don't get your nice place to live and buy you nice
things you shut up he was jealous you had better be here when I get back I mean I could be
setting that we could be sitting at a red light and I could just turn and look at someone and it could be a guy sitting
in his car and he would just double his fist up and just hit me right in the mouth I mean it was just it was unreal
to the abuse that he did to me Stamper was arrested and charged with assault and battery against his wife on
no less than five occasions each time the charges against him were inexplicably dropped Stamper bragged to
Teresa that he was paying off the authorities without rumors that that there was payoff attempts whether it's
true or not I don't know we looked into a couple of incidents we could absolutely find no basis for it
but there was a lot of talk about it by the second year of the marriage the violence reached a frightful climax on
the evening of January 5th 1985 a man slipped into the stampers home Teresa was out of town and a friend was staying
over thankfully the friends survived the attack and called the police the woman later identified her assailant
as Gary trout a local mechanic who worked for Paul Stamper Gary trout informed me that Paul Stamper had
contacted him and asked and Paul asked of Gary to kill his wife and was willing to pay five thousand dollars upfront and
then five thousand dollars to finishing stamper was arrested and charged as an accessory to the attempted murder but
when Gary trout's case went to court he refused to finger his boss once again all charges against Stamper were dropped
meanwhile Teresa moved in with her parents yet she never felt completely safe Stamper threatened her repeatedly and on
the night of September 13th 1984 he left a violent calling card I went to the window and Gary was just revving up the
engine and he just let me see him and let me know that he did it that he just drove off
Teresa reported the incident to the sheriff's department but again nothing was done
Teresa remained separated from her husband for more than a year despite continuing harassment from stampers she
tried to put her life back together then came the night of November 23rd 1985 that evening Teresa and her new
boyfriend Chris Butler had left the dinner party at approximately 11:30 p.m. we were just driving down the highway
and you know we weren't speeding or anything and all of a sudden these lights come on and we thought it was the
highway patrolman so Chris pulls over it's real you know late and no one was driving on the highway hey you shut up
what are you doing my wife anyway that's your business [Music] finally you know I was so scared that I
just unlocked the door and he just grabbed me around my neck and just forced me out of the car Chris had come
to and he had yelled don't leave me here you know Teresa don't leave me here you
know and there was there wasn't anything I could do sheriff's deputies and paramedics were
summoned by a passing motorist Chris Butler was in critical condition the bullet had punctured his heart pancreas
spleen and lung but miraculously he survived Paul Stanford held a gun to his ex-wife and headed north two days later
they stopped at a restaurant just outside of Topeka Kansas can I help you two coffees that it
that's it look I gotta go to the bathroom I was walking toward the restrooms and I
kind of looked around my shoulder you know see if he was following me and he wasn't he was just sitting there with
his back toward me and so I just took off running Teresa ran to the managers office and
pleaded with him to call the police got a crazy where the time the authorities arrived
Paul Stamper had vanished five hours later police caught up with Paul Stamper as he boarded a bus in Salina Kansas he
was returned to Kingfisher County and held in the county jail to await trial six months later 3:30 a.m. a man who had
been offered $10,000 by Stamper broke into the Kingfisher County Jail [Music] Paul Stamper escaped and has not been
seen since I'd consider Paul Stamper extremely dangerous reason being is desperate
doesn't want to be caught knows he's looking life in prison once caught and and a desperate person do desperate
things he's out there somewhere you know watching me he knows what he'd done what
I do and I don't think he knows where I live now but you know I just don't think
it's right that he should be out there maybe doing it to somebody else you know [Music]
update just minutes after this story aired the FBI received information from several of our viewers that Paul Stamper
was living in Commerce City a suburb of Denver Colorado one phone call was very specific it had his alias it had his
location his address his employment that he was driving a semi truck overland and
that brought an immediate response from the Denver FBI so that we moved out within the hour
just three hours after our broadcast Paul Stamper was arrested as he left his home the fugitive had been living in the
Denver area under the assumed name Gary wickel for approximately four years this is one of the more efficient
cost-effective speedy apprehensions that we've ever made for us to not have any idea early
evening that this individual is in the Denver area and by 11:30 he is captured he's off the streets and he's on his way
to Denver City Jail that I think made me close to a record fours Paul Stamper was returned to Oklahoma
and is currently being held in the Kingfisher County jail while awaiting trial on charges of kidnapping and
attempted murder if convicted stamper could receive life in prison when we return the saga of Josephine
White a con woman with a thousand faces [Music] April 26 1989 Norwood Massachusetts an
elderly woman is approached by a stranger who seems nervous and agitated the elderly woman is a Lithuanian
immigrant and will call Barbara the seemingly chance encounter would change her life you better go to police to find
out oh she says no I don't go to police maybe they take money and I don't want that this time at the racetrack I've
enclosed the money and sent this way to avoid paying income tax and then it find
Jose what is it Barbara is a volunteer hospital workers retired and living on a small pension she is about to fall
victim to one of the oldest tricks in the book the pigeon drop a lot of money she has been shown as worthless a woman
is a con artist the man her accomplice he's a wizard with finances Barbara an immigrant with a limited command of
English confronted with an amount of money she has never seen before is a perfect target for an acknowledged
master of the pigeon drop Josephine white since 1963 white is allegedly scam more than 100 elderly women and men all
of them living on small fixed incomes once I pinned down that the person I was looking for was Josephine white I was
surprised to see how many different appearances that she had she changes like a chameleon she puts on weight she
loses weight she was described in a number of different fashions and in addition to her own appearance changing
she'll use wigs sunglasses quite a bit of jewelry and very often this will grab a woman's attention away from the actual
physical appearance Josephine white and her accomplice are about to move into Phase two of the
pigeon drop they persuade Barbara to go with him to get advice from Josephine's boss you know I don't know how I would
have gotten him into college and and and I mean and then my wife Oh God well she's got a cancer and a stomach or
something and to learn Barbara further into their trap the accomplice spills out a poignant
hard luck story emphasizing how desperately he needs the money they arrive at novice building where
Josephine claims her boss works I don't know maybe we should tell police don't worry about it please we can't take it
to the police because we never get the money back you know when I need the money my wife is dying of cancer but
police find Jose the older woman actually wants to do the right thing now again the third party is only
reinforcing the idea that this is the best thing to do and even though the victim may make mention of backing out
of the situation the third party puts the pressure on them so she has a motion playing on one side and pressure of the
money being given to her on the other side she's really caught in a vise Josephine White tells him that her boss
says they can legally keep the money $22,000 apiece but she claims it a $5,000 good-faith deposit for income tax
purposes is required do you ever write a card on you phase 3 of the scam now begins convince Barbour to put up the
$5,000 okay let's get going these people come along and they talk so quickly and
they offer you all kinds of grand schemes and the second person is jumping in as soon as the first person stops so
pretty soon the victim's head is spinning you know the idea of money the idea of what should we do with the money
and pretty soon she's being directed she's having all her thoughts channelled by these two people who are actually
manipulating her and manipulating her thoughts remember by the end of the day you'll have five thousand dollars back
in the bank plus twenty two thousand dollars you're sure you want to take it off oh
why sure I sure all right what size bills do you want that it 100 please to the $5,000 represents nearly all of
Barbara's savings Josefin white returns to the same office building she tells Barbara she will show the
$5,000 to her boss a few minutes later white returns and triggers a final phase of the pigeon drop you can go in and get
your money now room 204 Barbara is instructed to meet with a boss herself I'll be right here waiting for you
[Music] there was nobody there I just look around and then I come back again to the
place where they was parked Barbara finds the parking lot empty josephine white the car the man
and Barbara's $5,000 had vanished the scam has taken less than two hours at this point the victim is devastated the
victim doesn't know what to do they didn't know whether to cry to collapse to walk away they just you know they
just lost their trust has been betrayed so what ends up happening is they eventually walk around and they go over
it they Mull it over in their mind jeez if I tell my family they're gonna think I'm a stupid old woman if I tell my son
he may put me in a nursing home and all these terrible thoughts go through their
mind in conjunction with the embarrassment and the problems of losing large sums of money
so I don't understand myself how I did that but I trust her she says you get this 5,000 back and you get Ronnie to
war I trust that's why I believe Josephine White has built her victims out of nearly a million dollars just two
weeks ago she struck again and two different Boston suburbs white sometimes uses a names judith hunt or Judith
Campbell and operates primarily along the East Coast and in California [Music] [Music]
on our next unsolved mysteries in Florida a bright energetic young mother suffered years of abuse at the hands of
her brutish husband when she finally walked out he decided to take revenge in 1969 a lonely young boy found friendship
and understanding with the help of big brothers of America now he wants to find the man who turned his life around join
me next time perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Brief Summary

Families of missing Air Force crewmen believe their loved ones survived, while Paul Stamper's abuse and Josephine White's scams are also featured.

Key points

The Paris Peace Accords. The signing marked the end of American involvement in Vietnam, but for some families, the war never ended.
A Mother's Hope. A mother held onto hope that her son, missing in action, might still be alive.
Questioning the Government. Families of missing soldiers struggled with the government's narrative about their loved ones.
A Call for Accountability. A family member urges that such neglect should never happen again in future wars.
Paul Stamper's Transformation. Once a charming businessman, Paul Stamper became a violent abuser after his wife left him.
The Violent Climax. The violence in Teresa's marriage escalates dramatically, leading to a shocking attack.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The war would never end for some families.

Reflecting on the lasting impact of the Vietnam War.

2:32WatchMay 22, 2019

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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