Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 5, Episode 22 - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] 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 two unusual mysteries to commemorate the spirit of the Easter season she is known around the world as
our Lady of Guadalupe a beautiful likeness of the Virgin Mary on an old piece of cactus cloth for centuries
religious pilgrims have come to Mexico City to pray to the image which many believe was created by a miracle for
just as long scholars and skeptics at pondered his Our Lady of Guadalupe a work of God or of man in the 1950s
master illustrator Ben Stahl created 15 unique paintings to celebrate the final journey of Christ but just after Easter
1969 a gang of brazen thieves made off with a precious collection left Ben's stall heartbroken then stall passed away
in 1987 having no idea what happened to his beloved collection tonight his children hope that someone in our
audience can help recover their father's lost legacy join me for this intriguing
case as well as these fascinating mysteries on Friday the 13th 1991 Tom Roche dropped his girlfriend at her job
and then vanished without a trace six days later an anonymous letter boasted that Tom Roach had been murdered
near Pittsburgh Pennsylvania a dark lonely road a minor traffic accident a brutal attack now authorities need your
help to identify a killer and thanks to our viewers a family in Canada is reunited with two brothers missing for
nearly 25 years [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] since the mid 19th century religious
pilgrims from around the world a journey to the French village of Lourdes says just before the First World War
hundreds of thousands have traveled to the Portuguese farmlands of Fatima and in recent years millions have come to
measure Goryeo in the former Republic of Yugoslavia many people believe these three communities have shared a
remarkable occurrence the miraculous appearance of the Virgin Mary Mother of Jesus Christ but for centuries long
before pilgrims flocked to Lourdes Fatima and major glory they have been coming to Mexico City the worship Our
Lady of Guadalupe an image of the Virgin Mary on a 6-foot high peasants cape made
a rough cactus cloth which many people claim was imprinted by the Virgin herself
for more than 400 years Our Lady of Guadalupe II is inspired and moved millions long a centerpiece of Catholic
history the images also sparked intense controversy to skeptics it is a skillful
painting impressive and hardly wondrous on the other hand the church is officially recognized the image is a
creation of God a miracle which occurred in 16th century Mexico when Catholic missionaries from Spain were attempting
to convert the native Aztec Indians according to church records there was a man named juan diego who lived with his
uncle in a village five miles north of what is now Mexico City Juan was one of the first Aztecs converted to
Christianity on a December morning in 1531 Juan Diego was on his way to mass when he passed by the base of a hill
called Tepeyac [Music] as he approached the summit Vaughan heard a voice call his name he was
instantly overwhelmed by a god-like radiance the Alegria will miss a signora cereta castella siempre Virgil Maria
Madre de Dios the sails syndrome or the seconds through young templo me on or machi en el cerro el Tepeyac de la he'd
wat ecomony Mensa carro para que vayas con lov spoil a communique snivel nunca signora yo solo soy un padre Indio Senor
Obispo nunca más cuchara then fair one [Music] certain that he had experienced a
miracle one journey straight to Mexico City then the seat of the Roman Catholic Church in the new world he patiently
waited several hours for an audience with Bishop zoom Aragon known as a powerful the gentleman who treated the
Indians with kindness and respect the sec silicon's through you temperance who northern is zero Delta P Jack Jesus he
whom you the bishop was skeptical perhaps one have been drinking or perhaps drinking he told one to bring
him proof [Music] dejected Juan returned home but the next day he would be given his proof his
uncle fell gravely ill and Juan went to fetch a priest to perform last rites his
route took him back to the base of Tepeyac Hill [Music] Senora will you come in over skirts as her
goatee querida Juanito no Sarah necesario to tio Cynara completamente [Music] no pudica Mancera Z or Obispo Dayton
cargo dijo que necesita una señal - yeah para crear may know estes triste ho neato
tu eres Miele hero viola Sima del cerro de corte las flores que encontrar 'as [Music]
now Han became filled with doubts of his own Tepeyac was barren from the cold of
winter and if flowers had once been there they would certainly not be blooming now the forms astonishment the
hilltop was blanketed with brilliant roses of caste one gathered them in his tilma a loose cape made of cactus cloth
I guess that lets a negative me understand senorita accoding the church documents or the
flowers had rested in the tilma there appeared an extraordinary image of the Virgin Mary the bishop now believed that
a miracle had occurred that Juan Diego had indeed seen and spoken with his mother of god after Juan Diego's vision
millions of Indians converted to Roman Catholicism within just three years in accordance with the Virgin's wishes this
shrine was soon built on Tepeyac Hill with the image on prominent display it was named Our Lady of Guadalupe after a
village in Spain over the centuries the church allowed painted details to be added to the portrait including gold
rays a cherub and the green red and white collars of Mexico since 1976 the image has been housed in a special
Basilica every years 5 million believers make pilgrimages but for as long as it has existed there
has been debate over whether the portrait is truly a miracle Jody Smith an associate professor of
philosophy at a Florida College is a leading authority on the image but Smith is hardly the first scholar to be
intrigued by Our Lady of Guadalupe as early as 1666 the church commissioned a group of physicians and master artists
one salgueiro to inspect the Virgin's image Massa well concluded that the painting was indeed on unsigned or
unprepared or on sealed cloth and for that reason alone others also appearing but for that reason alone
given that the cloth was made of the fragile a yacht a cactus fiber it should have long since disintegrated James
Randi is a professional magician and an investigator of paranormal phenomena matter of fact I have a frame with some
of the same kind of cloth in it that dates back about 450 550 years at least from Peru different country perhaps a
different cactus the tillable cloth is very fragile about not what is put in a frame they can last for the longest time
for the first hundred years the tilma had been exposed to a high concentration of saltpeter in the humid air where it
was on display some experts believe this alone should have caused the images disintegration that point was
dramatically demonstrated in 1789 when a sceptical priest ordered eleven artists
to render 11 copies of the painting using the same kind of unsafe discard in just seven years all 11 were so peeled
and coated with fungus that they had to be removed from public display I think that the fact that the images lasted for
over 400 most 500 years now the fact that the tumor which is a cactus cactus plant hasn't rotted and the fact that
the original picture the pigment on the original picture is still just like it always was and hasn't cracked is another
totally inexplicable thing in May of 1979 Jody Smith and Phillip Callahan were given formal permission to examine
the image up close his protective glass removed the gold raised around the Virgin added
in the 17th century were badly chipped at the original image of the face and body remained remarkably bright and
uncracked naturally enough we examined the face most intensely and studying this with the magnifying glass we could
see no hairline cracks whatever the medium used to color it was it's very strange because after all of these years
with no evidence of retouching there's no evidence of age a discount through so many changes over the years of cars and
so many different representations have been made of it and for it that is really hard to tell what happened to the
original or if this is the original you can't tell there's really so little evidence available
these infrared photographs reveal another surprising aspect the lack of an under sketch an under sketch would
indicate that the image had been painted by human hands the film photographs the
infrared photograph showed that there is absolutely no drawing under as inconceivable that an artist in the
sixteenth century would paint a portrait without first doing a drawing of it in fact it's fairly inconceivable Reinier
artist would do it today although you could do it with some modern art thing but not with a portrait the practice of
making a rough sketch before proceeding with a portrait traces back to antiquity
only when completely satisfied with the under sketch did an artist take up his paintbrush of course the absence of the
under sketch in itself does not categorically indicate a miracle but the paint as beautiful a face and bust as we
see it Our Lady of Guadalupe on a rough cactus cloth is all the more remarkable this thing is miraculous because God
willed this to take place among a people who needed some sort of message it took
place at a time when it was needed and it took place because God made nature and God can manipulate nature any way he
wants the essential idea and studying the image of Guadalupe is that we might find something alien something
supernatural and that remains an open possibility but it is by no means the only possibility
perhaps no amount of scientific research can unlock the mystery of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe for true believers
there is no controversy as they have for centuries pilgrims have continued to pray and offer thanks to the image to
them the beautiful face of the Virgin Mary is purely and simply something of miraculous wonder
[Music] when we return the search for an artist precious Lost legacy 15 paintings
depicting the final days of Christ in the Gospel according to John it is written so then Pilate took Jesus and
scourged him and the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and they put it on his head and he bearing his cross but out to
a place called Golgotha the Bible movingly recounts the story of the crucifixion his power is undeniable
these compelling images which illustrate the story are the life's work of American artist Ben Stahl there are 15
paintings in all depicting the 14 Stations of the Cross and the resurrection sadly the public has not been able to
view these works for nearly 25 years [Music] it happened ten days after Easter in
1969 then stalls beloved collection was stolen stall died in 1987 still mourning
the loss of the works he considered his masterpieces tonight Ben stars children hope that they can find their father's
lost paintings in time for Easter they feel that would be the most fitting and most moving tribute they could give him
Ben Starr was born in Chicago in 1910 even as a young man he enjoyed a reputation as a skilled artist for books
and magazines Norman Rockwell once wrote in the letter to stone the rest of us are just illustrators but you are among
the Masters in 1954 the Catholic Press commissioned been stalled to paint the Stations of the Cross for a special
people edition of the Bible the 14 small paintings were such a resounding success
the Ben stall decided to duplicate them on a grander scale [Music] and over the years my father would get
letters from people all over the world wanting to see them and wondering where they were and so I guess my parents got
together and decided to build a museum and daddy would paint a new set and daddy also added the fifteenth painting
which was the resurrection [Music] so he spent two years painting these paintings
there was something very special going on while he was painting these paintings because when he did the face of Christ
or the head of Christ who he pulled it off in 30 40 brushstrokes without ever having to do it over again and he was
really amazed at that in November of 1966 Ben stall opened the Museum of the Cross
in Sarasota Florida to house a second set of paintings it was almost holy I mean it's just the
atmosphere at the Museum and people would come out with tears in her eyes whose it's very moving for a lot of
people but on April 17th 1969 Ben stalls world came crashing down responding to a
frantic phone call from the museum director Stahl found the galleries ransacked all 15 paintings had been
stolen [Music] Ben Starr was inconsolable [Music] he found it absolutely incredible that
this this kind of thing could happen for after all who would steal religious paintings in the first place and such
large paintings where who what could you do with them you had a lot of trust in people insurance is very expensive but
he didn't have any there were no burglar alarms or anything like that because of
this trust so when when the place was robbed he was in total shock police discovered that the thieves had entered
the museum in a brazen fashion breaking through the fire door they were somehow aware that neither a security guard darn
alarm system was in place [Music] instead of cutting the canvases out but these painstakingly removed each
statement then rolled the paintings up and made a clean getaway that they had to be at least three to four people do
this and we felt that they were probably in there and a minimum of four hours the
investigation seemed to be at a dead end then six weeks after the theft a man claiming to be a Catholic priest called
a Sarasota Sheriff's Office he said he had been approached by the people who stole the paintings yes what the
paintings paintings yeah you know the paintings paintings in Sarasota yeah that's right stay right there for course
we were elated you know this was a break one point these weeks my investigation however this lead to me failed to pan
out the priest would not give his name and eventually he broke off content what happened to Ben stalls paintings
over the years rumors placed the collection in the Bahamas or in South America possibly Brazil the authorities
however believe that the paintings are still somewhere in the United States that whoever has them now may not even
know they are stolen [Music] recently we went to Canada to bring you the story of one of that country's great
national tragedies for 20 years through a well-meaning but misguided social welfare system thousands of a Ghibli
Indian children were taken from their families and the reservations to be put up for adoption in the segment we
profiled a Seton family of winnipeg manitoba in 1969 the six children were taken from
their home by government social worker where someone can take care of you alright
Sandra Seaton the oldest was just nine but it happened so fast they just you know come in and they don't really
explain anything they just picked up the kids and then put them in the car that was real scary not knowing where they
were gonna be taken kind of go a little dead inside or something you know cuz you just we were all just kids at a
court hearing a judge order that all six children be put up for adoption but Sandra never gave up trying to reunite
her family by 1988 she had found her two sisters her mother and her oldest brother but
the two youngest boys Calvin and Bernie were still missing all the night two story aired in Canada
Bernie's adoptive parents one of Calvin's former foster mothers were watching the show through their efforts
and cooperation the two brothers are put in touch with her sister Sandra three weeks after our broadcast everything was
arranged March 4th 1993 would be a day of reunions joy and tears at 10:30 a.m. sander and her mother
Myrna were at the Winnipeg Airport awaiting the arrival of Bernie I had such an anxious feeling just
looking and wondering cuz I'd we hadn't seen Bernie at all didn't see no picture
and I was oh I just an and all of a sudden his face just you know sort of just was right there and oh that's him
[Music] with birdie back in the fold the group headed to Mona's house with a new Kelvin
would be waiting [Music] in his youth Calvin had been shunted about to 14 different foster families
now he was finally home again after nearly 25 years it feels really good to be taken in instead of being pushed away
hey like this is a big swish for me and I'm happy if I knew bigger words I probably could say some big word that
would describe how I feel right now but there's no words that I can think of that describes this just uh you know
it's the beginning I just think it's the beginning of a good thing it's all good
it feels great just great that there's a piece of my life put together which I think all my
friends knew that there was a piece missing maybe this is just the part to my life that was missing
[Music] it's got so much to talk about you know so it's just a really great feeling
there is a piece you know there's there was always that piece of my my heart somehow just needed you know to know
that they were okay each one of us has our own lives but it's it's so good to know that we have family
[Music] [Applause] [Music] Tom Roach and Barbara Rondo of Burbank California loved nothing better than to
fire up their harley-davidson and hit the road they belong to a club that often drove
on weekend trips across California Barbara and Tom met in Rhode Island and moved to California in 1988 after 16
years together cycling was a passion they shared we'd known each other since 76 in all our extra time was spent
riding Tom's my father lover teacher guide he's tons my life like their fellow cycle club members who were lawyers
plumbers and accountants Tom and Barbara held steady everyday jobs Barbara worked
at a blue print company tom was an expert in metal plating in the fall of 1991 he accepted a well-paid management
position with a company that plated aircraft parts he was to start on Monday September 16th
[Music] three days before on Friday the 13th Tom drove Barbara to work they made
plans to meet for lunch but Tom never showed up and never called to explain my lunchtime came around and he wasn't
there so just hanging around waiting for him and no show no show and I thought maybe
that he might have gotten caught up at his new place of employment but in fact he would have called me and said you
know Barbara I'm not gonna be able to make it I'm still at the plating shop or whatever he Tom wouldn't know let me
just hang there you know waiting on him by the time Barbara got home at about 5:30 p.m.
she still had not heard from Tom she was surprised to find the front door unlocked
[Music] ha there was no sign of town everything was in its place except for Tom but naumann his pattern soon emerged the
newspaper was still unopened strange since Tom rarely left the sports page unread a motorcycle battery that Tom had
planned to install that morning was on the counter the answering machine was off suggesting Tom had planned to be at
home most of the day Barbara had no choice but to wait and hope I didn't sleep at all that night it's just trying
to figure out where tom was and why he hadn't called to let me know where he might be
[Music] there's a lot of different circumstances for different types of missing-persons
they could take off because of family problems they can take off because of money problems they can take off for a
number of different reasons we really don't know the reason until we get into talking with the family or friends if
Tom in fact wanted to get out of our our relationship or if again there was a problem you know he Tom would have just
told me right out do you see a lot of people going in and out of that house no just him and Barb routine questioning
around the neighborhood turned up nothing significant police could not determine where the talent left
voluntarily or become the victim of some kind of violence it was as though Tom Roach had simply evaporated
however Barbara was convinced something terrible had happened to Tom when she circulated these Flyers at his usual
hangouts no one came forward with any information and Tom Roach was officially listed as a missing person a day passed
then too soon five Barbara's father flew in from Rhode Island to be with her then
on Thursday September 19th a letter arrived addressed to the family of Tom Roach
[Music] [Music] in the envelope for Toms driver's license and the earring he had been
wearing the day he disappeared they were unfolded in a letter a bizarre confession would wrench the case in a
sinister and new direction this is the actual letter received by Barbara Rondo it begins you don't know me and
hopefully never will but I am the one who killed Tom Roach I sent along some personal belongings of his just so that
you won't think this is some kind of sick joke or anything finally the self-proclaimed killer goes
on to say I am very sorry for what I have done I know in time what the guilt will leave me so will your pain was
there someone who might have wanted to hurt him barbar Rondo was devastated had Tom Roach been murdered
where was the letter a hoax it yielded no fingerprints bore no return address and was of course unsigned it was just
unbelievable but I wasn't going to believe that that tom was dead authorities immediately renewed their
efforts to track Tom Roach's activities on Friday the 13th bank records show Tom
made two deposits at approximately 820 a.m. he did not withdraw any money indicating he had no plans to leave town
Tom was next seen by a neighbor talking with an unidentified white male at about
9:30 a.m. if the letter is not a hoax and police believe this man may have been Tom's killer
we contacted wend witness who told us that she had seen Thomas that morning with another subject standing by a
pickup truck looking into the bed of the pickup truck she said that they were not
arguing it look like they were just carrying on a normal conversation and there was nothing suspicious about that
and I believe that was the last time Thomas was seen however testimony from one eyewitness suggest the letter may
indeed be a hoax an employee at a motorcycle parts store in nearby Glendale is convinced Tom came in on
Saturday September 14th one day after the letter said tom was killed he acted a little strange in the sense that he
didn't joke around with me I mean we would always joke around about what kind of motorcycle a rodent about it or
leaking oil and stuff you know so I mean I knew Tom well enough to know Saturday
that it was Tom that came in I had gone into the warehouse to pick up some parts
for the customer and when I came out Tom wasn't there or anything so he must have
left when I was in in the warehouse and I mean I just feel this kind of strange that he didn't say anything when he came
in or when he left authorities believe handy marsala did see Tom Roach but suspect he is mistaken
about the date however the account raises a disturbing possibility perhaps Tom Roach intentionally fled and
wrote the grotesque letter to cover his tracks for months past with no clues no eyewitnesses and no further letters the
investigation dragged to a standstill until January 11th 1992 that afternoon authorities in Placer County California
almost 500 miles north of Burbank were called to investigate a report of weathered bone fragments and personal
effects strewn over a remote hillside motorcycle emblems on some of the clothing eventually led authorities to
link the items to Tom Roche the scattered possessions included a duffel bag flashlight hunting-knife
bottled water two pairs of prescription eyeglasses an empty prescription medicine bottle and several shirts if
the items were indeed Tom's he seemed to have been packed and ready for the road
investigators contacted Barbara Rondo she recognized all the shirts and a pair of eyeglass frames as Tom's I do feel
that what they found is Tom but there's that hope that he is still out there somewhere and that in fact I will find
him [Music] what is the truth about Tom Roach the mysterious letter taken at face value
would explain Tom's disappearance unless it was written by Tom Roach himself it has been
a nightmare it has been hell I still live for Tom he's my life [Music] there's not a minute that goes by that
he's not within my thoughts he'll always be within me it is interesting to note that this
letter claims Tom Roach who is murdered and then buried in the Los Angeles area the only 500 miles south of Placer
County within the next few months authorities will conduct DNA tests on the bone fragments to finally prove
whether they are Tom's remains until then the only person may be able to answer the questions in this case is the
author of the letter and for now his identity remains a mystery [Music] when we return the only clues in a
murder case come from the victim himself before he dies fortunately the only contact most of us will ever have with
random violent crime is watching the nightly news random crime is very real extremely difficult for police to solve
an utterly impossible for families touched by the violence to comprehend one such family was the Hurley's of
Turtle Creek Pennsylvania Pam and David Hurley were married in 1983 by 1988 their family had grown to include three
sons the hurdy shared a nun dramatic but happy life until the early morning hours
of Saturday June 13th 1992 that weekend David and his brother were taking a troop of Boy Scouts on a
long-planned canoe trip honey I'm just gonna go I'm too wound up to sleep I'm gonna go pick up some doughnuts and head
over to my brother's hang out there till we go okay okay you'll have a good weekend thank
you I love you David left home at 1:30 a.m. about an hour and a half later Pam was startled to hear her husband
calling out David [Music] what are you doing home I've been shot what are you talking about I was stunned
and thoroughly shocked I just couldn't comprehend that he get been shot that was just too unbelievable
while they waited for paramedics to arrive David told his wife about the chilling events of that morning David is
stopped for doughnuts and was heading toward his brother's house suddenly a car appeared out of nowhere
David told family expected simply to exchange insurance information with the other driver what happened next
defies reason [Music] he said all he can remember is getting the van and trying desperately to get
home to get away police and paramedics arrived at around 3:30 a.m. David told his story again he was called for a
person had just been shot he was able to give me the information I had was asking
for so we could stop this vehicle before it got too far away from our area at that particular time I was concerned
with getting information that I could put on the air for the other units that were still out on the road David Hurley
would be rushed by helicopter to Presbyterian University Hospital in Pittsburgh six miles away at 4:30 a.m.
he was wheeled into emergency surgery his doctors emerged from the operating room two hours later and I remember we
looked at the clock and it was 6:30 a.m. and I looked at my brother and I said this is great they're done already it
must have been a lot better than we expected because we expected four to five hours from what they told us
in addition to gunshot wounds and the arm and shoulder David was bleeding internally from a
lacerated liver the surgeon told Pam that the operation had progressed well until without warning David went into
acute cardiac arrest I said to him you've got to be kidding and he said no I'm not kidding he's dead
[Music] David Eugene Hurley husband and father of three murdered at the age of 34 in
searching for David's killer police are limited to the sketchy information Hurley himself gave before he died we
only have the description of a young black male traveling to champagne-colored Honda Prelude and it's
a good possibility that this individual is local when someone you love dies it's
very painful and that never goes away and I am sure that never will but that pain is also turning to anger to realize
that there's a person out there continuing with his life as if nothing happened it just makes me very angry David Hurley
was attacked along Route 22 at Wilkins township pennsylvania on june 13 1992 during the few moments hurley was face
to face with the assailant he noticed no unusual characteristics and at this time
police lack sufficient information to produce even a sketch of the suspect [Music]
join me next time perhaps you hold that crucial clue which could help solve a mystery
[Music] [Applause] [Music]

Brief Summary

This episode features the mysteries of Our Lady of Guadalupe, art theft, and the disappearance of Tom Roach.

Key points

The Mystery of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Exploring the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary and its historical significance.
The Theft of Ben Stahl's Paintings. A brazen heist leaves a beloved artist's legacy in jeopardy.
Reunion After 25 Years. A heartwarming story of family reunification after decades apart.
Tom Roach's Mysterious Disappearance. A man's sudden vanishing leads to a desperate search for answers.
The Mysterious Letter. A letter arrives claiming to be from Tom Roach's killer, raising questions about his fate.
A Disturbing Possibility. Authorities suspect Tom may have intentionally fled, complicating the investigation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

What you are about to see is not a news broadcast.

Introduction to the program

0:12WatchMay 23, 2019

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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