Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 4, Episode 7 - 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 a leave of Halloween two
intriguing ghost stories on unsolved mysteries in its heyday the old st. James hotel in New Mexico was host to a
long list of legendary gunslingers and outlaws today employees report different kinds of guests on earthly visitors that
never check out for years June Farris dreamed of a strange house that she had never seen or even been in
later she found herself living in that same house for years before the previous owner had been murdered she and her
family believe that his spirit is still there we also profile the patent case of
Mary Ann Perez who vanished without a trace in 1976 15 years later an anonymous caller contacted her family
claiming that not only was Mary Ann still alive but she was being held Dave against her will and authorities
need your help to track down a clever and corpulent conman who masquerades as a bona fide physician and hoodwinks even
the most sophisticated of victims call him dr. fraud jointly perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery or perhaps
you may encounter one that simply cannot be explained [Music] [Applause] [Music]
tomorrow brings a one night each year which seems to bring out the wide-eyed child in all of us
Halloween as darkness falls our imaginations take flight houses begin a whisper and creak shadows come to life
the sky fills with ghosts and goblins but in Cimarron New Mexico Halloween is an everyday occurrence at the old st.
James hotel which some say is haunted by the spirits of the wild West's [Music] when I bought the hotel I didn't believe
in ghosts at all now after the convincing evidence of the last five years I'm certain that their ghosts here
[Music] they are indeed real to me there are not something that I made up they are indeed
in this hotel the ghosts are here are they haunting it no I think we're just living here there
are places where the emotions have been very strong and it's something like the energy gets captured or caught and this
hotel is certainly one of them in its heyday the st. James hotel offered good food attractive dancing girls and
comfortable beds for such wild and wooly guests as Jesse James Bat Masterson Annie Oakley Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp
but as the glory days of the Old West faded the hotel fell into disrepair [Music]
in 1985 headsets Berger and his wife Pat purchased the st. James they plan to bring the old hotel back to life
thus its burgers soon discovered that the st. James had a life of its own I wanted to see how many leaks were in the
old hotel in so I got my friend to come with me and to go through the hotel with
our flashlight we finished doing all the checking and put out some buckets here and there because we did have some leaks
and then we turn the chandelier off and then went downstairs and out the hotel and for some reason I turned back up and
looked back up to the second story and that chandelier was on sure I took this when we got out and it locked the door
and looked back up again and the light was again on so we went through the hotel again
turn the chandelier off and came back down the stairs and out again lock the door looked back up
the last time we went up we went down the hall and I turned back to John and I said well the farmer owners had told us
about some things that had happened previously in the hotel let me just try something and so before I turn the
chandelier off this time I said I don't know who you are or why you're here but I'm tired and I really don't want to
play tonight I'm glad you're here but could we please play another day and at that point I pulled the cord on the
chandelier and heard a click and we turned around and went back down the stairs and I looked up and indeed
the lighted stage awesome first I thought maybe it was an electrical problem because it's an old hotel but
after doing it three or four times it couldn't have been and I could hear it shut off and the three times that I shut
off the click of the switch and so there was no reason for it coming back on according to the system buggers the
hotel is haunted top to bottom [Music] guests in room 17 have reported a persistent eerie tapping noise whenever
the window is open in the kitchen the Cook has witnessed several bizarre occurrences and in May of 1988
Charlie Varela a local high school student was cleaning the bar at 5:00 a.m. Charlie thought he was alone
it was kind of dark in there and I was going to back to get some liners for the trash and I was cause I was going back
to I just glanced over to the bar and I just I see my little boy sitting on the bar and spinning the glass you can hear
it on the table just perfectly spinning at first - no I thought his little boyfriend come on up and upstairs and he
was just down messing around you know I was gonna tell him you know excuse me you're not supposed to be in here but
when when I went to make the move to tell him he turned around his face was hideous and Jesus jumped
off the scariest I quit that morning I just don't see that I scare me and anyone work anymore dr. Kenneth Wright a
surgeon and amateur ghost hunter heard about the spirits at the st. James and came to investigate let's go inside
when dr. Wright asked me to go into room 18 I was a little skeptical because I had been in there many times before and
it felt the chonus and the negative mess in there the room was cold and when I lived up in the upper left-hand corner
there was a quarreling that was going on the corner you couldn't see the corner of the room it was
like a white swirl there was this anger and hatred and instantly I was filled with terror I was
gasping for breath because I had not expected it did not encounter I've never been that terrified in my life and as
this was happening to me I heard Pat saying you can go you're free to go you can go
I couldn't believe what was happening to me I don't know what the swirling presence
was it was negative it was cold it felt like it was from the past it didn't want
me there that was very obvious he was angry at her because it was his place and she was telling him that he was free
to leave and he was telling her you don't tell me I am free this is you leave next headsets Burger contact - Jackie
Littlejohn a psychic from Albuquerque Jackie claims to be able to communicate with a spirit world I was able to sense
physical violence our gunshot it was so strong I stepped backwards I could see and feel and smell and uh you know they
the evidence of violence was so intense during her tour of the hotel Jackie claims she had a vision of a
deadly poker game the poker game had been going on for a long time and it was feeling that either the hotel was a
steak are a very large herd according to Jackie one of the current players was a
man whose ghost now inhabits room 18 [Music] he died of blood poisoning very slow
very painful very dreadful desperate desperate man very fearful Jackie says the dead man's name was TJ
right and that he probably won the hotel in the poker game just before he was killed we wanted to look back in the
records and corroborate the story so we went back and looked at there at the hotel register in 1881 and found TJ
Wright registered three different bays in 1881 it just is reasonable to me that that he believes he owns a hotel still
and wants to maintain possession or at least live here edge this burger keeps the old registry locked in a glass case
and he is certain that Jackie Little John never had access to it there is ofcourse no way to prove that
the ghost of TJ Wright is now haunting room 18 but ed sis burger is not taking any chances
there's no construction activity in that room or renovation work that's going to
be done that's his room as far as I'm concerned as a permanent resident for as long as I have the hotel
is it truly possible that the st. James hotel is haunted by the spirits of the Old West
the first-hand accounts you've just heard are definitely difficult to believe but if you can offer a better
explanation for what goes on in the old hotel the folks at the st. James would certainly like to hear it
[Music] when we return a family in Florida claims that the ghost of a murder victim
has returned our heart the scene of the crime nagas 1968 in Richmond Virginia a woman named June Farris is having a
disturbing dream about a strange house she has never set foot in or even seen the dream has plagued her for months in
the dream I was in an upstairs bedroom and I would come out of the bedroom go out into the hallway
[Music] I would turn to the right and go down the narrow staircase [Music] I knew the house had a front staircase
but I never used the front staircase in the dream it was always the back I would turn to the left and go through
the kitchen around a refrigerator and stove that were on the one wall I had a feeling of anxiety an anxious
feeling that something was going to happen that I should know about and I would go out the kitchen door onto the
porch and that's where I would wake up and I suppose that this dream continued maybe once a month until we moved to
Orlando four years later June and her family moved to Florida in 1972 two years later she was driving through the
small town of Clermont Florida when she came upon a house that enchanted her I've always liked old Victorian houses
it was such a lovely home so I called the realtor and asked if I could go through it June returned with a friend
for a closer look once inside June began to experience an eerie sensation we went through the
downstairs first and went up the front staircase and I had a feeling of I guess you would say deja vu I had definitely
been here before look more stairs I know where they go they go down through the kitchen pass the stove and
onto the back porch how do you know I've dreamed about this house so as we walk through the house it
definitely was the same house of the dream and I knew every room in the house every closet every where everything was
if it was it was just a real unusual experience not scary not I didn't feel spooked it
was just there was a good feeling it was a feeling like I had come home in March
of 1978 June and her husband and three of their children moved into the old house
almost immediately odd things began to happen my father had brought the boat out on
the trailer and the trailer hitch was on a sawhorse type stand and it looked as if someone had reached over pick the
trailer hitch up and just dropped it on the ground there was nobody there I mean
it was blank space it wasn't like it jumped off it was like someone had actually lifted it off of the stand and
dropped it but it happened several times again afterwards [Music] so fast that you really wanted to think
to yourself did I really see that did that really happen that it was just shocked absolutely shocked over the next
few years the Pharisees were to witness more and ever stranger occurrences the extraordinary became the ordinary and
the family began to suspect that they were not the only ones living in the house I was about 20 or 21 it was what
my husband David and I were married and we were living in my mother's house he woke me up in the middle of the night
one night Robert said listen sounds like the music boxes he knew that the house was haunted and he was just
terrified that switches were not on they were just wound up and they were playing
all of them were playing the music bus is coming on really assured me that we definitely had a guest in that house and
I felt like we did before then but it just got it where it wasn't scary to me anymore it was kind of fascinating in
1985 Bob Vitter began dating June's younger daughter Laurie that was a firm disbeliever in ghosts but after
everything that's happened to me in that house there is such a thing as ghosts and there is a ghost in that house
couple of nights before Halloween Laura and I were in the parlor on the couch and we heard the back screen door slam
Jeff just my mom I heard something with boots come through the kitchens and walk down the
hallway and stop in the opening going into the parlor and I had a feeling that whatever it was was standing right there
watching us [Music] and the sound of its boots continued down the hallway and I followed it at
that point I was really very very scared I never encountered anything like that I was just so terrified I couldn't even
move [Music] by now everyone was convinced that the house was haunted but no one had
actually seen a ghost yet I was walking up the stairway in the foyer as a house I felt a cold chill so
I'm this like when you open your freezer in the hot summer time [Music] it was very definitely in person and he
was a very early middle age or late thirties and it was just like a vapor just like a cloud of smoke kind of you
know it's there and then it's gone but it was very definite it was very definitely a person three months later
Bob bitter had his own ghostly encounter I was upstairs preparing to paint I opened the attic door and there in
front of me was a white vapor almost in the shape of the human [Music] I took another step forward this vapor
came at me and I went right through me and I felt a cold blast of air and the musty smell that always accompanied the
ghost and as just as quickly as it went through me it was over in October 1985 Bob Vitter began looking into the
history of the old mansion in a local library he found volumes of old newspapers and was startled to discover
an account of a brutal murder in which the owner of the house was gunned down in his own backyard the victim's name
was John harden Bob began to believe that if there were a ghost to house perhaps it was the ghost of John Hardin
[Music] Hardin grew up in South Florida and at 18 married his high school sweetheart
Rita together they raised four children in Jacksonville Florida every moment with him was wonderful he was a good
person it was always caring not only about his family but his friends you know everybody he was always a concerned
about everyone around him everyone that touched his life but after 14 years of marriage John Hardin dropped a bombshell
on his wife he came in from work one afternoon I love you you know his arms around me she
said I love you I have to go away what do you mean I have to leave for a while he said I have some problems I'm gonna
get myself together I'll be home he never came oh yes I am about a year and a half later Hardin remarried he and his
second wife moved to Clermont where they purchased the old Victorian mansion nine months later John Hardin awoke to a
disturbance outside of his bedroom window hardens pickup truck was engulfed in flames
[Music] [Music] it was later determined that the fire had been deliberately set [Music]
hardened lay mortally wounded shot once in the chest with a single barrel shotgun he died less than an hour later
no one was ever arrested in connection with a shooting had they been motive you know we could have proceeded with the
case investigation a lot better there was several things it was brought to our attention but they was never a firm
motif established we had absolutely nothing after three and a half months of the great deal of travel and and
interviewing literally hundreds of witnesses we didn't have anymore at the end of the three and a half
months we had when we started on a scale of one to ten a difficulty of solving a
crime this is probably about as close to a 10 as I've ever seen could John hardens spirit possibly be haunting his
former residence there do seem to be amazing similarities between the ghost and the man himself according to his
first wife Hardin was a loving and overly protective parent when our children were little Johnny would be
very concerned about him always going to the other room to check them just to be
sure they were okay to be sure they weren't you know wrapped up in the covers or you know always wanted to be
sure that they were alright very concerned about him always even as they got older it was always concerned
[Music] the first is believed that the spirit in their house has this same nurturing
attitude apparently he was very fond of children and babies because my grandson had an experience with him he would wake
up and see this man standing over his bed and of course that would scare the bejeebers out of me and I'm sure it did
him and it happened several times until Robin went into the room one night before Raymond went to sleep and she
spoke to the ghost and she said please do not come back in this room anymore and please leave Raymond alone and after
that he didn't come back or at least if he did Raymond didn't wake up when Joon Farris learned the details of John
hardens life and death she recognized a startling connection with a dream which had plagued her for years
when I first learned that John Hardin came down the back stairs into the kitchen and out the back door which was
the same path that I took in my dreams I felt like there was something there that
I should know maybe if the dream had continued I would have learned something that there was a link and in some way
he's trying to tell us what happened to him and even help us find the killer I think that he haunts to try to make a
point to people that hey I'm here and I can't go anywhere until this is taken care of
in 1990 that Ferris has moved out of the old mansion the new owners also tell haunting tales
of a restless spirit roaming the hallways each night curiously when we filmed if the old
Victorian house in Clermont our production crew encountered a number of unusual difficulties lights flickered on
and off for no apparent reason equipment failed door is opened on their own in a window in the Attic shattered
the cause unknown perhaps it was just coincidence perhaps it was a spirit of John Hardin unable to
rest until justice is served and the final footnote to this story is apt to give anyone pause the investigation into
the murder of John Hardin has now been reopened next an anonymous phone call rekindles a case of a woman who
disappeared in 1976 Donna I gotta get going - on on March 25th 1976 Mary Ann Perez of Chalmette Louisiana said
goodbye to her teenage daughter Donna Donna had agreed to babysit her younger brothers and sisters so Marianne could
go out with one of her girlfriends that should be calling to check on us about 10 11 o'clock and Donna said she got a
phone call from mama first state mama said that she was okay she'd be home shortly and then about 1:30 in the
morning Donna said she got a phone call from a woman by the name of Dorothy hello hello
when I heard about the call and heard the name Dorothy I couldn't imagine who in the world I could have been I knew
there was something wrong somewhere the car being practically new and no reason for car trouble
maryanne Perez never called and never came home her family soon discovered that she had gone to meet her friend at
a country-western club on the outskirts of New Orleans the next morning Marianne's car was
found parked in front of the club New Orleans police inspected the vehicle they saw no evidence of car trouble the
automobile was in perfect running condition three days later Mary Ann's purse weighted down with a brick was found on
Lake Pontchartrain ten miles away there was no trace of Marianne Perez nine years passed and Marianne's family
waited not knowing whether she was dead or alive then in 1985 the New Orleans Police Department dispatched a detective
to Wichita Kansas to question a man named David Courtney Courtney along with his wife had confessed to a multi-state
killing spree one of their victims seemed to have a lot in common with Marianne Perez I was buying this bar for
a drink and I saw this woman and she was heading for her car in the parking lot she look a little tipsy when I went up
to Kansas to interview David Courtenay he told me about the female yeah Doug didn't Wallace he stated that he was
driving down the highway and pulling a parking lot of a country-western bar oh oh are you okay yeah now drive that
car oh yeah my god I gotta get home to my kids look why don't you let my wife and I take you home
she's right up the road here and pick it out for it I can't I can't ask you to do
that I'll have all wouldn't show Matt I saw miss no problem for us we live in Shawna it's on the way there no problem
at all you know I feel guilty if I left you here in the shape you're in so what's your name I'm David did you
pick your wife up yeah and and we took it straight to our trailer after you got to the trailer did y'all have sexual
advances toward just when he stated that this female fell asleep on a chair in the trailer and there were some sexual
advancements by David Courtney's wife which woke this female up and she became disturbed and irate and upset about what
was going on then they agreed to give her a ride home at that time David Courtney stated that his wife
drove and he sat in the back seat with her intended victim taking you back as always
is this a road right you can see Courtney said he had already killed once and he and his wife were afraid that
this woman would go to the police if they let her live [Music] according to David Courtney he and his
wife dumped their victim near the Louisiana Mississippi state line they made absolutely no attempt to hide
the body detective Lambert was becoming more and more certain that the Courtney's victim had indeed been Mary
Ann Perez let me show you a photograph now I want you to take a look at it and see whether
or not you can identify this person could be yeah I kind of looks like her a little bit heavy but I can't be 100%
sure of it yeah I think so I'm gonna show you a small photograph and once you look at it
see if you recognize anything and it photograph well yeah that's a car it's green
definitely detective Lambert next question Courtney's wife specifically about Mary Ann's purse I asked her if
the female had Duncan had a purse and she said yes that she threw it over the side of a bridge that they were crossing
at the time my daddy came into the room and he got us all together and he said um he said to us he said mama is dead he
said they found the people that did it and she's dead she's gone and it just it tore us up because we had
a lot of hope until that based on Courtenay statement an extensive search was conducted a body
was not recovered even though all of Courtney's other victims have been found or he said they would be Courtney's were
never charged with Mary Ann's murder slim hope that she was alive continued to flicker then in 1990 the case of Mary
Ann Perez was resurrected once more fifteen years after Mary as disappearance the wife of her oldest son
Elwood received a phone call from a woman who claimed to be Mary Ann's best friend she asked to speak with Elway and
I didn't want to tell the stranger that my husband was at home she asked to speak without what again and I said well
if you're not gonna tell me who you owe I'm not gonna let you speak with them and she said well it's about Mary Ann
and I said what about Miss Mary Ann and she said well miss Marianne still alive no I don't know down is now the caller
was emphatic she would not be able to telephone again like Mary Ann she was not allowed that caused me to think you
know more positive that she was alive and of course there was statements made that it's possibly a prank call I don't
know but I do know that if she is alive I'd like to see her you know and I'd like to find her
and I feel that I'm speaking for my family and her family her children her husband we'd all like to have her come
home the authorities believe it is almost impossible that Maryann Perez might still be alive however Mary Ann's family
clings to the fragile hope that David Courtney who admits he was drunk at the time did not succeed in his attempt to
strangler he murdered several other people and their bodies were found so that gives us
some hope that maybe he might have strangled her unconscious thinking that she was dead and threw her out maybe she
had amnesia or something like that or maybe some of the brain cells were you know destroyed and she can't remember
who she is or what she was and coming to some time after the Courtney's left and
just wondered out maybe she got up several hours later maybe there's a possibility a slight possibility that
she is somewhere out there did Maryann Perez miraculously survive the victim of amnesia or did David
Courtney kill her Courtney is currently serving a life sentence for the confessed murder of one
of his other victims one day I think that he did do it another day I think I don't know what
happened to her the fact is she's gone and has been gone for 15 years whether she's dead or alive I don't know we love
her we miss her and we want her back that's all we want and if if if she's gone we still want a graveside to go put
flowers on for 15 long years Mary Ann Perez's family is watched and waited they are anxious for any news of Mary
Ann but they especially hope the woman who telephoned Shawn Perez will call again Mary Ann's family members want the
caller to know how eager they are to cooperate each of them holds on to the hope however illusory that one day
Mary Ann will come home maryanne Perez has reddish brown hair and blue eyes she's five feet four
inches tall and at the time of her disappearance weighed 108 pounds this is a computer age photograph to show her
Marianne might look today at the age of 48 [Music] when we return authorities need your
help to track down a clever conman who operates as a doctor Cincinnati Ohio November 1986 a smooth talking con
artist lays the intricate groundwork for his latest scam Mike wills yes dr. John Anderson how you doing target
is Mike wills a veteran coin dealer like most of us Mike thinks he would never fall prey to a conman he came across as
a very polite articulate man and I had no reason at that time to doubt that he was anything other than what he told me
he was indeed a doctor the corporate conman who called himself dr. John Anderson was interested in buying gold
coins he suggested that wills visit him at Children's Hospital I speak to his physicians investment group I gotta be
rushing on over the hospital I'm all trapped was now in place points plus two days later dr. Anderson
ordered $30,000 worth of gold coins Mike Grylls agreed to bring the coins to the
hospital when he addressed Anderson's investment group at 8:00 a.m. on November 26 1986 Mike wills arrived at
Children's Hospital dr. Anderson had arranged to meet with Mike privately before Mike spoke to the physicians
group the elevator door opens up and [Music] [Music] that's fine there were two other doctors
on the elevator that he was not having conversation with the gentlemen you later but as we got off he acknowledged
them there was nobody at all in the hall which didn't strike me as being odd because it was so early in the morning
okay let's see what we have durant erson told Mike wills he had access to a safe upstairs where he
wanted to store the gold he would return momentarily you might want to have a seat and I'll be back with a check okay
[Music] I set their thinking back on what seems to be an eternity but as most probably
more like five six minutes and my gold is gone and dr. Anderson is gone and I have nothing to show for it that was
about all I could take I guess at that moment I got up and I walked out of this blind door and now everybody is there
there's five or six parents in the waiting room now there's a nurse at the nurse's station can I help you yes I'm
Mike wells from a coin store here in Cincinnati I need you to page a dr. John Anderson for me I just gave him a large
amount of gold there's no dr. Anderson at this hospital there was a dr. Anderson and rank down
in the room don't I'm sorry I don't know of any dr. Anderson on staff here you may want to try upstairs
you can't page it made me feel extremely gullible that I could be duped so easily
out of 30,000 dollars like I trusted a nametag I trusted what this man told me when he mentioned dr. maybe checks that
I could have made I didn't make because this made everything seem right here you
go ten gold maple leaves three years later a dr. Alfred Evans notable for his girth showed up at a coin shop in Albany
New York the doctor made several small purchases from coin dealer Wendell Williams then a new twist Williams
received a forty five thousand dollar gold coin order from dr. Evans via Federal Express I decided that I
wouldn't buy any goal but I would see what he did when he came in that Saturday which was November the fourth
when I was waiting on other customers he came in and his jovial way and said hello to me first words out of his mouth
was did you get my gold I told him no seemed a little alarm but turned around and said well then what do you have for
me and he's what about that Rolex wristwatch that you had and as well I've got that for somebody else but I'll get
you some gold okay here you go doc 80 ounces of gold may police how much is this
there'll be three eighty five seventy-five each all right I'll make you a check for it you know I'm gonna
have to hold the gold of that check please you know my checks are good might be when plan a didn't work
the bogus MD switch strategies just so this doesn't happen again I'm gonna go ahead and make out a blank
check you hold on to this and that way next time to go through this sounds good after Evans wrote the check he started
to chat with another customer and waited patiently for a new opportunity with Wendell Williams occupied the coast was
clear Plan B went off without a hitch all right give me a favor I gotta get running off to the hospital
so I'm gonna leave these checks here and if you can just do me a favor make sure
that he gets them take care of those thank you very much as one might expect dr. Evans skipped
town his check for more than $30,000 was of course no good in trying to track the activities of dr.
Evans we've noticed that he'll be in town for a couple of months to pull his scam and then he'll be disappeared for a
couple months we can't seem to find out what he's been doing during that period of time
there'll be gaps of anywhere from two to five months between cities he could be doing anything from having a legitimate
business pulling another scam or just plain vacationing somewhere authorities have uncovered these photographs of the
elusive sudo doctor they were taken in 1990 at a bank in Massachusetts the authorities do not
know the conman doctors real name but in addition to Anderson and Evans he has also used the aliases dr. John Miller
dr. Michael Baker and dr. Brown [Music] [Music] join me next time for another edition
unsolved mysteries [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Brief Summary

Ghost stories, a disappearance, and a conman doctor featured in this episode.

Key points

The Haunted St. James Hotel. Guests report eerie experiences at the historic hotel, once frequented by legendary outlaws.
June Farris's Disturbing Dream. A woman dreams of a house she has never seen, only to find it years later.
John Hardin's Tragic Fate. The brutal murder of John Hardin remains unsolved, with his spirit possibly haunting his home.
The Disappearance of Mary Ann Perez. Mary Ann Perez vanished after a night out, leaving her family in despair.
A Shocking Confession. In 1985, a detective linked a multi-state killer to Mary Ann's case.
A Mysterious Phone Call. Years later, a caller claims Mary Ann is still alive, reigniting hope.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I don't know who you are or why you're here, but I'm tired.

A plea to the spirits in the hotel.

5:46WatchMay 22, 2019

Tension

60/ 100Some tension

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