Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 5, Episode 18 - Full Episode | Forensic Files

this program is about unsolved mysteries whenever possible the actual family members and police officials have
participated in recreating the events what you were about to see is not a news broadcast shortly after the death of his
grandfather Don Decker's life took on a disturbing almost supernatural dimension
suddenly forever Don was brain mysteriously began to appear leaving his friends to wonder if he had somehow been
possessed but for Don Decker Lorraine was only the beginning February 24th 1992 none
seasonably warm night in the San Francisco Bay Area our Michael hunters seemed a perfect evening for a
motorcycle ride he had no idea what was waiting for when Irene love was 16 she was startled to learn that she had been
a dog that discovery led to a stunning revelation about IRAs long lost best friend from childhood we'll also
introduce you to a man who apparently made his living as a professional hospital patient until one of us feigned
illnesses turn fatal it is one of the artists scams he have ever encountered perhaps you can help unravel it an
unsolved mystery [Music] we commit his body to the ground earth to earth ashes are rare twenty fourth
nineteen eighty three guys in Stroudsburg Pennsylvania the funeral of James Kish pars in progress he had died
of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 63 the board the copani with favor and give him peace
his grandson 21 year old Don Decker had been granted a furlough from the county jail to attend the funeral II we would
like to invite you to come forward and pay your last respects Don was serving a four to twelve month sentence for
receiving stolen property it is a capstone of a troubled adolescence but no one knew was that Don
had been keeping a dark secret he says that his grandfather James the man he was now obliged publicly to mourn it
abused him physically from the time he was seven years old no other part of the family know anything about you know what
happened and it was like you know like good fighting evil like I basically I put it you know Deva was gone and I was
hoping you know that everything we changed in fact things would change and drastically but not no way Don doctor
could ever have imagined after the funeral Don was completely unnerved by the way his perce clarified his
grandfather's memory he decided to spend the night with his friends Bob and Jeanne Kieffer whom he had met a few
months earlier it was at the Kieffer's home that all the uneasy feelings stirred up at his
grandfather's funeral came back to haunt nan suddenly the air around him vibrated
with a deep chill almost simultaneously water began to drip from the living room walls don fell
into an eerie trance-like state jeannie have you got water running back there come take a look at this we've got a
leak it's all over the wall at a total loss they decided to notify the landlord Ron
man why get some pots or a bucket or something I'm gonna call Ron the phone rang and I
got a call from my tenant Bob and he said you have to come down we have a problem and I said well what's the
problem he says well he says I can't tell you he says just come down he says but he says you have to come down right
away when one arrived he was just as puzzled as the Kieffer's about the cause of the problem look it's on the walls
too sure it we decided that maybe you know some plumbing but there were no pipes in the front end of the house to
leak there was basically nothing there that the water could have come from because me some condensation like that
after watching it for a while I discovered that it wasn't only coming from the ceiling down it could come from
the wall over or from the floor up there was no you know no basic direction that
it was coming from you know it could come from anywhere ron van white telephoned his wife
romaine and police officer john bogan officer loggia didn't know what to make of the strange scene inside the kefir
house he brought in his partner patrolman Richard wool provides on this man I'm not sure I'm seeing what I'm
saying if you don't tell me what's going on here John at this point he's telling
me I just want you to walk into the house and I said well I'm not walking into the house unless you explain to me
what I'm walking into he says trust me trust me just walk into the house I walked in the door and he
came right in behind me and I couldn't got two steps inside the front door and I was absolutely pelted we were standing
just inside the front door and there's Straub little water traveling horizontally and it just passed right
between us and just travel out into the next room the rest of the house is dry I
literally had a show going up my spine they make me like to make the hair stand up on your neck that's how that's how I
fell this was a situation where things were happening that I never ever dreamed could possibly happen and there was no
way of explaining what was going on we're gonna get you outside we're gonna take her from there let's just go
outside I'd like to stick around this point officers Bojan and wahlberg left to report the incident to the police
chief all the Kieffer's and Don Decker's who'd gone hours without food walked across
the street to get something to eat ron van hawai and his wife remained behind they left and everything else
left to the rain stopped the house was normal stopping we were kind of thinking that maybe it
was coming from them and we weren't sure at that time which one but we kind of figured you know because when they left
it left you know so we were sure it was had something to do with one of them it had now been 23 hours since the
mysterious rain began Pam's gravano ruined the restaurant opposite the Kieffer's house had visited them earlier
that day and seen the rain firsthand Pam was convinced it was a devil's handiwork and that the devil was acting
through Don Decker you look inna Donnie and he was like in a trench you know you
you would look at you but now knowing that you were there I said to genius said you know he's got to be possessed
oh my god we sitting there this is a couple of seconds later and there's water all over the pizzeria - never seen
anything like that happen in my life so I went in the cash register I had a crew
surface there I took it out put it on him and the minute you know put it on and touch the skin and he got burned
burning an eternal black this boy is possessed you have to call you have to go to church you have to have the priest
come and look at him I'm going back to the house to wait there's no way that anybody could have
played it you know a joke like that this was real Donnie was doing it himself and he was
doing it with that realize in it that he was doing it even Don ducktor had begun to believe
that he was somehow responsible the reign of the restaurant is the final straw it made me more sure that I was
had something to do with it because it was following me it didn't start raining in the house until I got there they were
living there enough never happened and that's when I started realizing that that was me it's not a coincidence they
think it's him I don't buy it back at the Kieffer's house from a in Van Wyk confronted Don
Decker accusing him of somehow causing all the trouble on purpose it's your fault
you made it rain in the living room you made it your fault you Johnny you're the
one that's doing this you have to make the pots and pans don't over stove they started rattling that's when I got
levitated off the floor it was just like floating then it was like a push but it
wasn't like somebody taking your hand and pushing you it was like feeling it all over your body at one and I'm a big
guy you know you know I always have been assertive and I mean made me felt like a
newborn you know I'm scared right now just talking about it really right I believe that there was a I don't
know if you'd call it an evil spirit but whatever a demon you know possessed his
body and caused this I you know wake me up in the middle of the night I'm out here a few hours after the strange
incident in the kitchen offers us Bo Jen and Walter arrival there chief a hardened skeptic and toe
when the chief cuts in the house he was pelted with water just as rich and I was
I got the impression that he was put on the spot maybe a little bit embarrassed like we expected something out of him
that he could answer there was no way to explain what happened and I think he was
put in a position where he might have felt a little uncomfortable the Stroudsburg Pennsylvania Chief of Police
would be one of the only eyewitnesses from that bizarre night who denied that anything out of the ordinary had
happened you've got me out of bed for this hey chief this isn't a police problem this
is a plumbing problem this is a police problem these people were helpless these people are having a
joke with you they're having their way with you look nobody's being heard here nobody's being threatened so we're out
of here we'll talk about it outside the police chief coated his officers to leave the Keefer house he instructed
them not to file a report in fact he directed them not to speak of the incident at all I think he just
wanted out he could not give us an explanation for it he couldn't help us he can provide us with anything more
than what we know we had experienced and what we came up with well he just flat-out denied it it didn't happen and
he tried to convince me that nothing happened and he wasn't going to do that I saw it and that's all there is to it
[Music] the next day acting against the specific orders of the police chief three of his
veteran officers went to the Keifer home to try and figure out what was going on
one of the officers was bill Davies this will just take a second bring your hands
we're standing there and I gave mr. Duquette this go cross to hold just hold on to that for the next days it's
burning my hands the birds and there's no explanation for it and you picked it up when you grabbed it not hot hot but
it's hot and that's somebody had I held on to it what's going on here hey guys all a sudden he's lifted up off the
ground and flew across the room with the force of though a busted hit'em Donnie look and there was three claw
marks on the side of his neck let's do blood I have no answer for whatsoever and I just draw a blank even
to today having a cop forty years in I never had anything like this here never I mean there's always an explanation
when something happens if you got investigated you come up with something this is why it happened this case here
there is no explanation finally on the third night Ron ban who I was able to convince an evangelical preacher who we
will call Reverend Johnson to come to the house and attempt an exorcism every Protestant minister and Catholic priest
and Stroudsburg had turned Ron down the van wise and the Kieffer's kept vigil by
Reverend Johnson prayed for Don if she started to pray Donnie went into like a convulsion you know he he started
to shake he pulled himself up until like a ball and the longer she prayed he started to relax then his whole body
seemed to quiet completely down and as you're standing there watching this you could feel the house itself seemed to
take on a totally different feeling and by the time she got done praying the water was gone and that was the last
that we saw and he water at the house at all amazingly the rain had stopped Don Decker appeared to return to his old
self some witnesses believe that Reverend John Cena performed a miracle or an exorcism but whatever it was the
results that proved to be only fleeting [Music] after his fertile Don Decker returned to
the Monroe County Jail within a few days the mysterious rain had once again materialized get me out of here what's
the problem I'm soaking wet it's no gift rate here great can you get him out of here they put me in a maximum
security cell that was in there with another maid and I was thinking you know I shouldn't make it rain in here and all
sudden water just started coming out of a concrete floor and at that point I thought I could do stuff I can control
it this time it was different this time Don felt powerful he realized he could manipulate the rain at will you could
control her and I tell you what if you can control the rain make it rain in the warden's office make it rain and and
Dave keen holds office I was sitting at a desk and I was writing a report I was all by myself in
administration area and nobody else was around it was approximately 8 o'clock in
the evening at the time I didn't feel anything my shirt was drooping down I didn't know
what was going on and the officer told me to look at my shirt it's a branded shirt and right here on
about the center of my sternum about 4 inches long 2 inches wide I was just saturated with water he said
he could make I was startled I'm scared so was the officer the officer was very frightened at that particular time and I
just didn't have an explanation of why it happened all of a sudden I received this Atlantic call from a sergeant in
jail his name is Keane hold and he said can you come over we need you we need your
help Reverend Blackburn nice to meet you sit down splits Thank You officer we'll be fine so they
brought this very meek mild-mannered young man into the room and he was asking my help
I can make it rain they put a cross around my neck and it burned rosary in my hand and it burns on touch thing
would to be a lot simpler if you just stopped all this nonsense right now you're making all this up aren't you all
of a sudden like that demeanor changed and the smell came into the room nurses and doctors medical people will tell you
that when you walk into a room where someone is dying with a cancer or something usually there's a smell you
can tell when you walk in the room and I smelled a smell like that multiplied five times at least evil foreboding have
powers you don't I can make it rain and at that point he raised his hand and he rubbed his fingers together and all of a
sudden it started to rain it was like The Devil's rain was a mist I was in the presence of evil I'm gonna
pray for you I don't want you to pray for me I don't care whether you want me to or not
prayer is my prerogative and I opened up the Bible and started read to him but the pages never got was from the day so
help me it was a frightening sin and wickedness was found in you through your widespread trade you were filled with
violence I think it was brain war from reason was brilliant I prayed and I said and it was only a brief period a Naren
stop I bite you in the name of Jesus Christ he subsided and you could feel a peace he said thank you
he got tears in his eyes and we hugged and we prayed together he was possessed there's no doubt in my mind there is no
way that a human being could do what he did in that room there's no way that he did anything but what he did was
spiritual and it wasn't of God guaranteed it was not of God well it's over and it hasn't happened again so
basically I'm just hoping that it never will and I just you know go day by day and as for my grandfather I think what
had happened was his doing because he abused me when I was young he got a chance to abuse me again I think what
makes this case very unique is that all of the witnesses are so credible we're dealing with very good well seasoned
police officers that were obviously rather frightened and shaken by this but also had the powers of observation chip
Decker no relation to Don and Peter Jordan are the principal paranormal researchers on this case they believe
that somewhere there is information as yet undiscovered which may help them unravel this mystery The Donald Decker
case the rein boy case is by far this singularly most fascinating an important case I have ever
we been involved in that does not mean that I believe that it necessarily is proof positive to me of demonic
infestation but is the case in my own personal experience up to this point that comes the closest to that
hypothesis what happened to Don Decker in all nine eyewitnesses ten recounting Don himself
are willing to go on public record claiming they saw heard and felt phenomena apparently not of this world is it
possible that Don Deckard somehow memorized by the pain of a childhood trauma stumbled into another world which
none of us confound or was Don Decker perhaps trapped in some murky region of his own psyche his power to do good and
his power to do evil locked in combat with Don's own body as a battlefield after all is John Milton wrote in
Paradise Lost the mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of Hell a hell of heaven
next a champion motorcycle racer is gunned down at an apparent robbery turned lethal
[Music] the shimmering lights of San Francisco Bay can be seen from more than a dozen
surrounding communities on the evening of February 24th 1992 one of those communities became the scene of a tragic
unsolved murder at 8:33 p.m. a man slowly approached a gas station in Emeryville across the bay from San
Francisco he was hunched over his motorcycle weaving in an erratic and perilous fashion
police and paramedics were dispatched to the scene and attempted to revive the stricken right this pulse was feeble and
he was barely alive the absence of any external injuries left the authorities mystified
there was no bleeding at all at the site if it had been a reported motorcycle accident or some kind of an accident you
would expect to see some kind of blood but there was absolutely none there no motorcyclist is rushed to a nearby
hospital it was later discovered that he had been shot three times by a small caliber weapon one of the bullets that
shattered his knee a second had lodged in his abdomen the third and fatal bullet had punctured his aorta
the wounds were nearly invisible but had resulted massive internal bleeding the victim never again consciousness is
pronounced dead shortly after 9:00 p.m. [Music] the victim was later identified as
thirty year old Michael hunter an avid motorcycle racer who had survived hundreds of dangerous competitions only
to perish on a lonely Bayfront road what happened to Michael hunter is unfortunately at all too common
occurrence in today's big cities an innocent person is murdered the killer walks away the police are left without a
suspect or a motive even in a highly competitive field of motorcycle racing Michael hunter was known as a man with
no enemies he lived for one thing and one thing only high-speed racing during the mid-1980s Michael hunter suited up
for competitions throughout California earning a reputation as one of the area's top cyclists he said that racing
gave him probably the highest high that he'd ever had in his whole life he said if there was nothing that beat this
excitement and the thrill of the racing and I think the competition was maybe almost incidental to the the thrill of
the racing he was always sharing always teaching might took me in hand from the beginning and taught me how to ride
taught me how to ride safely he taught me how to ride clean the evening of February 24th began like
many others for Michael hunter a 7:45 p.m. he climbed aboard his red white and blue sport bike apparently
just to go for a run February 24th was a beautiful evening it was almost like a summer night crystal clear no breeze it
was just it was very pleasant to be out in a few minutes after Michael left home he
stopped off at an ATM half a mile away as he withdrew $20 miss checking account a security camera in the ATM recorded
the transaction from the photographs that we have it would appear to be an uneventful withdrawal so we don't have
any reason to think that he was robbed or shot at the ATM machine Michael Nutt showed up at a liquor store half a block
from the ATM there he purchased the pint of whiskey which was later found in his
jacket pocket [Music] what happened next is pure conjecture the police believe that Michael may have
headed to a frontage road three miles from the gas station known first breathtaking view of the Bay Bridge it
was here while enjoying the fresh winter breeze that Michael hunter may have encountered his killer or killers the
police theorized if someone may have robbed Michael of his wallet at gunpoint and then demanded his motorcycle a
customized Honda VFR interceptor sport bike probably Mike's love of his motorcycle would cause him to be
reluctant to turn it over Michael apparently tried to outrun the bullets it was a race he had no chance
of winning I think that he was probably pretty scared tonight I like to think I really like to believe that he didn't
know what was going on would have taken him a long time to get to that station that's not a short stint to ride when
Michael had very few minutes to live after he was shot the bullet that shattered his leg would have caused him
to be in a great deal of pain and it was his past experience and training that enabled Michael to make the ride into
the gas station where he knew there would be some kind of health care an hour later Michael hunter was dead
leaving his family to wonder who killed him and why I think all the time he raced I knew that something could happen
to him because he was living beyond what most people do as far as is what he chose to do for his recreation had he
died that way it was a choice he would made and a conscious choice he'd made and I think that it would have been a
lot easier to accept there's just no information coming our way about a person that was on a red
white and blue motorcycle dressed the same kind of way obviously very noticeable I believe that somebody saw
Michael hunter in the last 40 minutes of his life and we need those people to come forward
to tell us that little piece of information that will identify the killers of Michael hunter
Michael hunters friends and family have raised a $10,000 reward for information which may help solve this case
[Music] but we returned a nationwide search for the true identity of a hospital hopping
compound just before 9:00 a.m. on February 11th 1992 the emergency team at a Danbury Connecticut hospital springs
into action the patient a man registered as Tom Hughes is in the grip of a severe
cardiac arrest for 90 minutes doctors and nurses labored to revive him however all their efforts are in vain at 10:20
the man known as Tom Hughes is pronounced dead on the hospital dutifully attempted to contact the man's
wife they discovered that her name and phone number were bogus so were the patients social security number address
occupation and employer Tom Hughes simply did not exist among the man's possessions were receipt from a hospital
in California and a bus ticket stub from Pennsylvania to Connecticut starting with these meager clues authorities soon
uncovered a peculiar fraud scheme until he died a man known as Tom Hughes had essentially been a professional hospital
patient it was a scam that may have killed him he says happened while you were working
yes I was helping my brother do some work on a house he's buying over in Ridgefield the con man would stay in a
hospital for three to seven days before sneaking out and leaving his bills unpaid wait and the next thing I know it
appears that Tom would check into a hospital with some sort of small self-inflicted wound and have a
complaint of the lower back pain we think that he was checking himself into the hospitals to obtain the pain pills
okay well my first try something a bit stronger and I'd like to suggest that you check herself in for observation for
a few days and objection well whatever you say sure the doctor we were able to determine that Tom had essentially been
travelling across the country and staying in one hospital after another I'm taking a bus from one destination to
another we were able to track him from California all the way to Rhode Island and points in between yes my name is
Thomas Hughes I need to speak with someone about a personal injury case the con man had made sixteen calls before he
died on a civil engineer yeah investigators trace them hoping to locate friends or family members instead
they uncovered yet another facet of his unusual scheme every single call had been made to an attorney in fact we
think he called the attorney's number the story that he wanted to have a lawsuit because of his injuries at work
but I think the real reason he called the attorneys was to again tell his story to someone and borrow some money
he needed travel money and he would obtain this by borrowing small amounts in the attorneys oh listen I I hate to
ask you this would you do me a favor sure well I'm expecting a package for my wife today it's come on see Odie
could I borrow $40 until tomorrow yeah I guess I could do that I'll just add it to my bill okay $40
we know that Tom had been traveling from hospital hospital for a year two years or possibly longer
and each time taking excessive amounts of painkillers and we believe that there could be a contributing cause of his
death this photograph of the unidentified man was taken just hours before his death he
weighed 277 pounds although authorities caution that he may have put on much of the weight since he began living in
hospital beds [Music] next a woman needs your help to fight a childhood friend it turned out to be
much more than just a friend most of us have read Alice in Wonderland pondered what it might feel like to fall through
the looking glass into a place where nothing was quite as it seemed for a Los Angeles woman named Irene love Looking
Glass was an old strongbox harboring her mother Minnie's private papers once Irene opened it her parents and her best
friend turned out not to be at all what they seemed 1962 mid-city Los Angeles 16
year old Irene love was killing a Saturday afternoon in her mother's bed new I used to play music a lot my
records I would sometimes even go to my mother's drawers and just be nosey have always been nosy I looked around and
there was some metal box I opened it up and there were some papers there were they in 1942 and I thought God mom keeps
this then there was another piece of paper folded up and it was a birth certificate and it had Irene went on it
and I go huh same first name was mine I notice the father's name was Glenn mother's name was Ramona County General
Hospital the date I said well the date that was what caught me the date was the same date as my birth and by that time a
little bit later on my mother came home what's that and I showed her the paper [Applause]
where'd you find this over there what are you doing snooping through my things you know those are private papers
are you my real mother Irene I love you so much and it came to life that I was adopted and she and my dad had adopted
me three days after I was born and she was fearful that I was going to at that point leave and go in search for my real
parents and I told her no I wasn't I just wanted to know what was a story about it many and Forrest Lovett brought
Irene home on June 3rd 1946 they could not have children of their own Shalini and Forrest are especially thrilled with
her new daughter look at that big they provided her with everything even a best friend Dolores for just one year older
than Irene was the only child of Minnie and Forrest best friends they would bring her over every day or
every weekend we went on camping trips we went to the park we went everywhere to the lakes we never really argued it
was like we we knew each other we connected if one one is something the other one
knew about it and it was always there we were just connected so close that there
was like a great friendship there every holiday they would come over and bring the gifts and we exchanged guests there
in the living room it was basically we got the same toys so they didn't deny us anything they made sure that we were
happy kids I don't think of challenges was had a better childhood than I have because I
had my my mom my dad I had billion Ford they were just like my mother and father
I had Dolores who just had a we just had a fun time they occupied every minute of
our lives when we were children together and that was fun times is there anything
else she should tell me well honey day in 1962 Minnie asked diary to think back to our happy childhood
she asked you to recall a restaurant Clifton's were minion forest had taken Irene every Sunday
now many explained why they have always gone to the same place Irene's birth mother Ramona who is Hispanic worked at
the cafeteria this was her only opportunity to watch Irene grow don't [Music] at some point I release birth father
Glenn began to work at Clifton's - minion Forrest would alternate their seating locations in the restroom
so both Glenn and Ramona could see the daughter they had been to poverty-stricken to raise them settled
was never his play I never faulted them for what they did they had to do what they had to do and I'm thankful that
they gave me to a family and to the family that they did give me too so that's you know I was lucky in that
way Irene and Delores and their parents lived happily until 1956 then Delores his mother Billy died of a kidney
disease suddenly Delores seemed to vanish into thin air Irene never saw her again only years later but Irene's
mother finally told her the truth did Irene learn what had happened to her friend shortly after Delores mother died
her father came to the sad conclusion he could no longer raise her alone that she needed her mother he took
Delores to live with Glenn and Ramona the couple who worked at Clifton's cafeteria I'll take but why
finally the shocking news came out Delores was also the child of Glenn and Ramona wind Delores and Irene were
sisters honey Irene was thunderstruck her mother explained apologetically that she had
been afraid to let Irene continues seeing Dolores after Dolores moved in with Ramona and Glenn I was afraid if I
told you the truth then I would lose you no matter what you'll always be my mother
[Music] in 1989 after both of her parents passed away Irene found herself irresistible
drawn back to the old neighborhood reliving her happy childhood with Dolores in my mind I can see us playing
together we were like twins you know but not knowing that we were sisters you know that's so that's what I want real
bad to meet with her she's a part of my early life she's a part of me I feel things that I don't think anybody else
could feel right now because it's like the emptiness that's going on inside of me due to the fact I don't know where
she's at and I hope one day soon that we can't come together and be the silly little girls that we were when we were
growing up cuz I'm still silly little girl in heart and I want it I'm gonna be with
her as soon as possible Eirene also has a message for her birth parents Glenn and Ramona Wynn who
watched so lovingly from a distance while she grew up Ramon and Leah I want to get to know you also and bring you
back into my life I don't have any anger I believe you did what you had to do and
I love you just if you're out there listening please call me I want to hear from you also
today Glen and Ramona wind would be 72 and 67 years old respectively they divorced in the 50s and Ramona whose
maiden name was via married a man named Richard's or Richardson with whom she also had children these are two of the
last known photographs of Dolores Ford in 1956 when she was 10 Dolores moved to 2nd Street in downtown Los Angeles to
live with Glen and Ramona win this July Dolores will be 48 years old last known address was also in the Los
Angeles area [Music] join me again next week perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery
[Music] [Applause] [Music]

Brief Summary

Don Decker's supernatural rain, Michael Hunter's murder, and Tom Hughes' hospital scam are featured in this episode of unsolved mysteries.

Key points

The Mysterious Rain Begins. After attending his grandfather's funeral, Don Decker experiences inexplicable rain in the Kieffer home.
Police Encounter the Unexplainable. Officers arrive at the Kieffer house to witness the bizarre water phenomenon firsthand.
An Exorcism Attempt. Reverend Johnson performs an exorcism on Don Decker, leading to a moment of calm.
The Return of the Rain. Don Decker, back in jail, discovers he can control the rain at will.
The Tragic Death of Michael Hunter. Motorcycle racer Michael Hunter is shot and killed under mysterious circumstances.
The Thrill of Racing. Michael Hunter experienced the highest high of his life through racing, sharing his passion with others.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I was absolutely pelted.

Police officer's reaction to the strange water phenomenon.

6:30WatchMay 23, 2019

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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