Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 5, Episode 1 - 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 tonight all news stories on
the season premiere unsolved mysteries in the 1980's one UFO sighting after another numbering into the thousands
astounded residents of New York's Hudson River Valley the controversy boiled over
when maverick stunt pilots claimed they responsible for the spectacular light formations when she was just 17
tami-lynn Lippert had it all she was a beauty queen an accomplished model as well on her way
to a career in the movies but in 1982 Tammi began to withdraw growing increasingly paranoid until finally she
vanished in Paducah Kentucky a young stranger was seen loitering at the local airport penniless and trying to talk his
way onto a flight people still wonder what drove him to make the desperate decision that would end his life
join me for these intriguing stories on our season premiere perhaps you may be able to help solve on the street
[Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] Tammi is 16 years old it's 5 foot 1/2 1982 the Miss America sunshine surf
beauty pageant in Orlando Florida the eventual winner will be Tammy Lynn libert incredibly at the age of 16 Tammy
has already competed in more than 300 beauty contests she has won the crown 280 times she was very loving kind she
was always smiling you never saw the child when she wasn't smiling when she is as young as I can remember she woke
up with a great big smile and the last thing I saw for she went to sleep with a big smile Tammy Lindley prett was a nun
commonly beautiful child when she was just four years old she was entered in her first beauty contest Tammy's mother
and father divorced when she was 7 her fledgling career fell to the tender loving care of her mother who was a
theatrical and modeling agent I was constantly busy running her around to where she had to go and what she had to
do and I enjoyed it I enjoyed watching her itself because she always went for the best that she could go for the
highest level wing Flanagan one of Linda's clients was just 11 when he began living at her house
he and Tammy were like brother and sister she would bend over and kiss me on the cheek and I couldn't quite ever
get it completely off it was rather you know embarrassing to walk around with this mark but I think
actually I learned to wear it proudly after a while because it was almost a status symbol
you know Tammy in July of 1982 tami-lynn was cast in the teen exploitation film Spring Break which had
gone to earn nearly twenty five million dollars at the box office after Spring Break Tammy went unchaperoned to an
out-of-town weekend party she came back a different person sometimes I'd ask her you know what was
on her mind if anything was bothering her and she'd usually evade the question she'd change the subject or she'd say oh
nothing you know and then try to laugh it off soon Tammy's behavior began to take on paranoid overtones hello no
she's not here right now yeah all right bye happy now Tammy what's the problem honey talk to me Tammy I saw something
awful what something really bad honey what did you see I wasn't supposed to see it she said that she saw
something so horrible that she couldn't talk about it I talked to me and she said mom what would you say if I told
you somebody was trying to kill me what are you see this Tammy can't tell anybody I kept trying to find
out who they were she never would tell me [Music] tami-lynn began a steady retreat into
isolation Linda and wing had no way of ascertaining which of Tammy's fears were real and which were paranoid delusions
once she called me over to the window she said look across the street tell me what you see I said well the neighbors
got a new van and she said exactly and you know I was I didn't know quite what she was getting at and she said the van
has mirrored windows that means that they can see us but we can't see them after two weeks of virtual seclusion
tami-lynn was offered a small part in the big budget Al Pacino film Scarface which began shooting in Miami in March
of 1983 she stayed with a family friend Walter Leibovitz all went well until the
fourth day of filming I received a call from the casting director to tell me that Tammy had a breakdown on the set
they said that there was a scene where someone was supposed to be shot and I had artificial blood spurt out and they
said when Tammy was watching the scene she started crying hysterically and it got so bad that they had her take her to
a trailer she was in a tremendous state of fear anxiety hysterically crying saying something about money laundering
I don't know where to hide things of that nature what it was that caused this great fear in her I don't know when I
spoke with Tammy's mother I told her that she should take Tammy to a doctor and also take her to the police to find
out if the problem was psychological or if there was some basis in fact that someone was actually trying to kill her
and get to the bottom of it Tammy Lynn quit the film and went back to Cocoa Beach that her mother's insistence Tammy
did talk to the local sheriff but apparently never mentioned that she felt her life was in danger
even with her family Tammy's paranoia ran rampant she became convinced that someone was trying to poison her
tasteless why just do it there were good days and there were bad days there were days when she was almost
normal almost and there were other days when she was real edgy she was not the Tammy
that we know we did not recognize this Tammy in personality she even began to take on a different look kind of a wild
look in her eyes and scared look that's what it was and if she really believed that somebody was going to try to kill
her scared us the feeling that we were seeing on July 1st 1983 Tammy Lynn finally snapped what are you looking at
not you I saw you looking at me Robert I look at you don't we're doing stop completely crazy
looking at her eyes she wasn't her I don't think she really knew who I was I just kept saying over and over again
Tammy I love you until I finally saw recognition in her eyes I knew then right then that I handled that incident
but I didn't know if I was gonna be able to handle the next one Linda checked Tammy into the brevard
county mental health center for a complete physical and psychiatric evaluation doctors found no evidence of
drug or alcohol use and kept Tammy in the hospital for 72 hours of observation [Music]
after we took her home she said you've got to make me a promise I said if I can just mom if anything happens to me
anything at all I want you to get even with that person for me would you please I said what do you think it's gonna
happen Tammy she said I know you don't want to hear this but he's still gonna try to kill me
Rick Adam it was Tammy's best friend they went out the day after she was released from the hospital at that time
Tammy we got out of the van and she looked at me and she says Rick I I love you I said Tammy I love you too and she
said I might be going away for a while next day everything seems to be extraordinarily normal
she seemed I think really be trying to impress me she was okay a little bit right I suddenly got frightened real
frightened and I went to the door and opened it I just knew right then it was the last time I was gonna see her
this friend picked her up at her home in Rockledge Florida and they drove to the
beach and we talked to him and he basically stated that they become involved in a verbal argument that she
had requested that he let her out near the glass bank in Cocoa Beach and he complied and as far as we know that was
the last person to see Tammy I just want you to shut up according to Tammy's friend he dropped
her off at approximately 3 p.m. on July 6 1983 five miles from her house she was
barefoot and carried no purse she disappeared without a trace we talked to some of her close friends they
felt strongly that Tammy was having problems at home and that that she had left home and she wanted to leave home
there's no conceivable way I would believe it because first of all she was getting ready to go to California for
three months that's a way from as far away from me as she could get from Cocoa Beach to California and she was really
excited about going what reason would she have for running away Tammy saw something Tammy saw something
that she shouldn't have Tammy knew something she shouldn't have about someone that she was very frightened of
sometimes I feel if I had asked her rather than told her that it was in her imagination maybe she would still be
here [Music] what could a 17 year old girl have seen would cause it a fear for her life
during her break down on a set of Scarface tami-lynn had mentioned money laundering according to an official at
the US Customs Service dozens of money laundering cases in Florida under federal investigation at that time
some call it sheer coincidence Tammy's mother believes it is no coincidence at all I think Tammy is either a victim of
foul play or she doesn't know who she is I as a mother wanted to believe everything she told me and I wanted to
help her if I had it all to do over again I would go back in I would believe every single word she told me and I
would just hide her someplace until we found out what the truth was but I can't do it over and maybe she had to hide on
their own I don't know no matter what happens I would like for things to turn out for the best
this interview was taped in 1983 during Tammy Lin's final beauty pageant do you like the best aren't the best and things
the doubt seems again are the best but I'll do my best no matter when we return a series of UFO sightings fuels
controversy New York's Hudson River Valley the quiet beauty of New York's Hudson River Valley malaises location
just 40 miles north of the bustling streets of Manhattan the valley is home to upscale professionals and retirees
they tend to be well educated in cosmopolitan hardly the type of people you would expect to be swept up by UFO
fever yet that is exactly what happened to more than 5,000 area residents between 1983 and 1989 the epidemic of
sensational UFO sightings in the Hudson River Valley lasted six years ultimately the entire episode was
largely dismissed as a hoax perpetrated by a group of local stunt pilots however
to this day many of the eyewitnesses maintain that what they saw could not have been a handful of airplanes
[Music] Dennis sent a husband and father of five has worked in local government for 17
years he is currently the highest-ranking deputy in Putnam County on March 17th 1983 sans home in Brewster
was a site of an extraordinary event [Music] with a very large object the structure
of it was very dark grey metallic almost girder type looking girls toasty money to see this
the objects seem to be very silent the lights were iridescent bright they stood out in the sky and 3-dimension it looked
like a city of lights it's just hung in the sky of all brilliant colors at that time the girls became very frightened
and they ran inside the house then my son and I were just drawn underneath it feel very good about encountering a
visual contact with the object [Music] we followed the object around to the backyard and at that point a feeling of
fright came upon me my thoughts started to flood my mind thoughts of the craft touching ground thoughts of an encounter
with an alien being thoughts of being abducted all types of fearful thoughts started to enter into my mind and it
seemed only to be seconds before the object started to move again but the feelings were overwhelming
from beginning to end the 19 or 20 minutes that I had viewed that craft was also a time of self-examination of
myself and who I was [Music] Dennis Santana's family we're not the only ones mesmerized by the
extraordinary light formation a few miles away traffics preached to a halt on Interstate 84 as a mysterious object
hovered overhead the Hudson Valley sightings had only just begun I was sitting there looking at it and I wasn't
afraid I was just amazed I was in awe of it I don't know what it was officer Andy
said of a ten year veteran of the Newcastle Police is also an instructor in criminal child abuse procedures on
March 24th one week after Dennis Sants sighting officers say dog was working routine
traffic patrol I was working a 4:00 p.m. to midnight tour and assigned to set up
some radar to look for speeding cars I had the radar set up and I looked up into the sky and saw coming from east to
west there was a series of lights and at first I thought it was a plane it was quite a distance quite far away but it
was it was really quite large as I recall there were mostly white lights but there were green lights also
it was alternating green and white lights it approached my vehicle and as it approached the vehicle it stopped and
it seemed to hover there was no sound and I'm looking at this thing like thinking what is it
[Music] when I put my head out the window and I'm looking up and it was huge the thing that I recall the most is I
was amazed that there was no noise there was no humming there was no engine no low sound to it it was absolutely
silent just seconds later the eerie silence was broken another eyewitness report unit five to base from seeing it
- it's hovering above my car at the time that we started to transmit over the air
that was about the time that it started to move and it moved very slowly almost floated and we followed it we followed
it until it disappeared off into the hills I guess I was mostly curious as to what it could be you know excited - to
try and figure out well maybe it's this or maybe it's a government thing or but I wasn't frightened of it no there
really wasn't time to be frightened of it I was spending most of my time trying to figure out why there was no noise
coming out of this thing so it was truly a flying City if that's the way you want
to call it I mean it was huge computer engineer Edie burns is a retired senior manager for IBM at the time of the
sightings Burns handled the company's contracts in Japan and South America on the night of March 24th and virtually
the same time officers Sadoff was pursuing the mysterious object Edie Byrnes was driving home on the Taconic
Parkway ten miles north of say toffs location I have no where I got a lot of static on the radio I felt maybe I was
on the wrong number and then I went over to turn the dial again and that's when I
looked up and saw this crash it was a triangular Chevron ship and the back of that Chevron had to be as large
as a football field at least it was one solid piece of a chevron shape and there
was no noise seems so close to the ground it seemed like I could have thrown a rock at it maybe Ed Burns
pulled off the highway and joined a group of motorists by the side of the road all were gazing skyward seemingly
dumbstruck it was so shocking this one fellow that was talking to her never did answer me a bit isn't that incredible
have you ever seen anything so huge I think was just staring at this thing and I remember his size of his eyes were so
huge and he never did answer me at all it seemed like I talked for an hour was probably only a minute but I was so
excited about I wanted to share and share whatever I was feeling at the time where was it from
I met into astronomy Mars I mean I don't know the solar systems but what I had witnessed that night was not from this
planet the eyewitness reports indicated the object was slowly moving north over the Hudson River Valley
officers say tov and at least 12 others sought newcastle ten minutes later ed burns and at least 20 motorists sought
near Millwood ten minutes after that but phones began ringing off the hook in the
police station at Yorktown Yorktown PD officer Wolfe no ma'am everything is fine no we've had
several reports everything is under control every line kept going every single line
constant answered the phone another one answer the next line another one got to the point I got a call of the Connick
Parkway being stopped the people were all out in the cars it was starting to get really crazy as I tried calling the
cars to find out if they saw anything and the only one that called what the cars was Kevin said that he would stop
in Officer Kevin Sora Villa had also seen the dazzling lights reported by dozens of Yorktown residents the object
was extremely large an estimated to be close to 300 the foreign it yards wide we stood out in front facing to the
north and approximately about five minutes we did the object began to appear from the northern horizon
officers wolf and Sarah Villa were standing side by side under the same sky yet their accounts are entirely
contradictory it's gotta be a group of planes or something I don't think so yeah I think I see a wing in there I
don't think so they don't look like planes officer Sarah Villa is convinced that what he saw was one large object
with a number of small lights I was say approximately 1618 lights running in a v-formation from 200 to 40 yards of why
I was standing between the lights to see any type of a solid structure where he may have basically been staring at the
lights of themselves they look like airplanes to me I said keV I says you know I live near an airport so I see
these airplanes every day so as they were coming over he says well he can't hear anything and said listen with that
when we started hearing a drone it wasn't one big solid unit but it if you looked at it for like a couple of
minutes or even a fraction as it was coming over I could see where some people would have gotten upset
suddenly the Hudson Valley sightings had taken a dramatic turn it appeared that the UFOs were a hoax nothing more than a
small aircraft flying in precise patterns but this earthly explanation was lost in an avalanche of additional
sightings which continued unabated month after month in addition many claim this
circular formation photographed it has swept over the area is also a UFO however other eyewitnesses countered
that the unusual lights they had seen were nothing more than small airplanes flying in wedge-shaped formations is
anywhere from upwards of seven to ten aircraft that do fly around in formation and this is visible from our tower
Anthony Capaldi has been an air traffic controller for just under ten years in the summer of 1983 he made an
observation that seemed to settle the UFO controversy once and for all the first time I observe the formation
flying it looked a little peculiar and from our vantage point in the tower they just appear to be just on being
light because they are they are flying in tight formation so estimate the size maybe two football fields wide there's a
v6 aircraft flying in formation I imagine it's possible at first glimpse that an observer may not be fully aware
of what this formation is but I don't think if this formation flew over an individual's head at a thousand feet
that there's any way you can miss diagnose it for anything but the formation flying due to the the son of
the aircraft engines and imagine at 1,000 feet you could really determine that it's aircraft the UFO was surely
seen before these hoaxster pilots began their night flights and after these hoaxers began their night flights people
would call me up who had seen the UFO on previous dates and said well I saw something strange in the sky but it
wasn't the same thing that I saw a week before it definitely was planes so he had people who saw the UFO and then you
had people who saw the planes and were able to identify each as being something strange in something totally explainable
oh good god I don't know well I'll be - I'm gonna tell you something funny I don't know
what the holidays this home videotape showing a light formation about Brewster New York was taken July 24th 1984 by
local resident Bob Pozzuoli Philip and Bronte know is convinced it shows a UFO being a scientist myself I'm still
waiting for it to be proved 100% although it has been looked at by a number of photographic experts who
indicate that the movement of the object on the video seems to be one rigid object and not individual objects plus
there were hundreds and hundreds of witnesses who saw the UFO and said it was something strange but the night that
the airplanes were seen there were also dozens of witnesses who said in fact that they did see airplanes this image
was videotaped in June of 1984 also by Bob pozzuoli skeptics and believers all agree that it shows a squadron of small
planes that some say are military aircraft if you look at that videos you can see that the lights are shifting
position in relation to each other the fellow who videotaped it is talking about he can hear the engines he can see
the stars as the object is passing over him the matter of fact when that videotape was made of the airplanes no
one came forward to say they had seen a UFO people called me and said they had seen airplanes flying in formation but
the night of the UFO sighting when the videotape was made I had hundreds of phone calls two different telephone
lines of people who had in fact seen a UFO what is the truth about the spectacular
light formations that cruise the Hudson River Valley for the aerial stunts performed by sophisticated pranksters or
UFOs of unknown origin even those who saw the same object at the same time cannot agree I personally think that it
was an airplane or people who were playing games trying to take get a rush and an excitement out of making people
feel hey there's somebody from another world here where in fact they were just fooling people's mind if it was also
lies I'm a little amazed by the precision flying I have to see it again to believe I'm not too sure I'm not too
sure about in a man's life particular things unfold that make an impression for the rest of
their life this was one of those moments in my time that made a very dramatic impression
upon me what I saw was not planes in formation [Music] there was no shaking or movement or
rocking back and forth of any of the lights it was perfectly still you know I'm not trying to say what it was I
don't know what it was I know it wasn't an airplane I tell the story a lot to certain friends that I can trust it'll
believe me I mean my wife I think believes me because she loves me and respects me I don't know if my children
do but they love and respect me but they also read the papers I guess and I guess
about this five other airplanes maybe they equated to that but boy I'll tell you I'll never forget that as long
as I live and five airplanes it was not in preparing to film this story unsolved
mysteries ask the alleged hoaxers to recreate one of their flights during daylight hours no one was willing to be
publicly identified this may be because when flown at night some of the maneuvers violate FAA regulations
according a Tony Capaldi most of the formation flights took place on Thursday nights it is interesting to note that
less than one third of the UFO sightings occurred on Thursday nights in a moment
a young man dies under tragic circumstances [Music] September 30th 1991 Paducah Kentucky are
you a pilot do you know a pilot I can talk to you just after 6 p.m. a young man approached
airport worker Wes Weaver at padukas small airfield listen I'm really in a bind I really need to get out west you
got to know somebody here that can help me out I've kind of thought that maybe he was into something he wasn't supposed
to be into running from something because he honestly he didn't act drugged up I mean didn't act like he was
drunk and he really did not crazy just kind of desperate come on man I mean look I've got this jacket isn't there
some way I could trade this jacket for a lift you know one of the pilots around here what began as an odd encounter soon
evolved into a tragic and perplexing mystery I finally just kind of told him no and and made it to the point to learn
you know he should lay even he stood around for a little while and finally he went back through the hangar 30 minutes
later Wes Weaver's saw the stranger again and he had the jacket on and I thought it was kind of strange so I kind
of slowed down and watched and I saw him run across the ditch and and jump up on
the fence and jump over and run towards the plane and that's when i radioed for someone to call security
two other witnesses saw the young man run across the airstrip me and my husband was out in the yard and this
plane you know pulled up and we saw this guy running in the field and he run over
to on the other side of the plane well we never did see him no more the way he was running to it so fast you know he
was up to something the only aircraft on the runway was commuter flight to nine for old destination Memphis Tennessee
just before sunset but exactly six forty nine the plane was cleared for takeoff everything seemed normal
[Music] the plane got way up there and I stood there you know was watching in a few
minutes I seen something fall and I told my husband I said they something fell out of that plane as darkness fell
Airport authorities mobilized an extensive search looking for any sign of the man witnesses had seen
at the northern end of the airfield Director of airfield services ron jones noticed a section of fence which had
been damaged lying at the base was the body of the young stranger it really hit me the end that that this actually
happened that someone actually got onto an aircraft some kind of wave and that someone had fallen to go there no
identification of any kind was found on or near the body as we examine the and we note that the nails appear to be
manicured and well-groomed blood tests reveal no traces of drugs or alcohol in the victims system we noticed that his
body was well tanned and that there were not any tan lines the pubic hair was shaved in in a swimmer's type style or
of someone who may have been wearing tights we searched out leads with a male dancer
troupe that was here the Chippendale type dancers who were here the week prior and we base that on to his
well-developed physical appearance his tan body the shaved pubic area and all of those leads were negative when they
were researched this is a jacket worn by the young man in one of the pockets investigators
found a pair of swimming goggles sewn into the collar was an ID tag inscribed lieutenant LF price USAF a check of
military records could find no such person when we go back and look at the series of events that led up to this
incident the individual had approximately 90 seconds to two minutes to climb over a seven and a half foot
high fence traverse approximately 800 foot of terrain including one ditch system run around the aircraft's tail
section and then climb on the aircraft although we have no actual eyewitnesses to his climbing on the aircraft and
again the time interval was between 90 seconds and 120 seconds it's quite an accomplishment
within seconds flight to 9/4 Oh was barreling down the runway at 125 miles an hour once airborne the speed
increased to more than 190 miles an hour and that obviously is a substantial wind
force upon anyone trying to stay on the wing of an aircraft with really no hand holes we judge at this point that he
managed to stay on for approximately 3,000 to 3,500 feet after the aircraft departed the ground
[Music] I wonder what was so important to make him take a chance I'm trying to catch a
ride on the outside of an aircraft I think that there's an answer with his family his family may not have even
known that he was coming home and I think that that's probably if we could just get over that hurdle there I think
we could find out why [Music] join me next time for another edition unsolved mysteries
[Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music]

Brief Summary

Tammi-Lynn Lippert vanished in 1983, UFO sightings puzzled Hudson Valley residents, and a young man died trying to hitch a ride on a plane.

Key points

The Mysterious Disappearance of Tammi-Lynn. Tammi-Lynn Lippert, a beauty queen, vanished in 1982 after showing signs of paranoia. Her mother recalls chilling conversations about someone trying to kill her.
Tammy's Breakdown on Set. During filming for Scarface, Tammy Lynn had a breakdown, claiming to have seen something horrifying. This incident marked a turning point in her mental state.
UFO Sightings in Hudson Valley. Between 1983 and 1989, over 5,000 residents reported UFO sightings in New York's Hudson Valley, leading to widespread controversy and speculation.
Mysterious Light Formations. Witnesses struggle to identify strange aerial formations, with some claiming UFO sightings.
Tragic Encounter at the Airfield. A young man’s desperate attempt to board a plane leads to a tragic mystery.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

What drove him to make the desperate decision that would end his life?

Describing a young stranger's mysterious actions before his disappearance.

1:07WatchMay 23, 2019

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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