Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 6, Episode 15 - 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 with Valentine's Day approaching histories of love lost love found sometimes when you least expect it
around Chicago she's known as Resurrection Mary a pale mysterious young woman who was teased and beguiled
a city for more than half a century some say she is nothing more than a product of overactive imaginations others are
certain there was much more to this ghostly beauty than meets the eye 1974 a difficult choice faced a young
South Vietnamese Air Force pilot training in the United States city remain in America his true love and his
unborn child for should he return to his homeland to fight and perhaps die for his country his decision and his
concepts play soon van win the center of unsolved mystery it was a frightful crash it might have
taken Colleen Fran Joanie's life not for the two unknown him who pulled her from
the wreckage tonight thanks to your calls Colleen can finally say thank you and the two strangers who saved her life
also will profile one of the most astounding armored car robberies in history 7 million dollars was stolen
much of it is gone to finance terrorist activities jointly perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery
[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] it's late on a moonless night here on a dark lonely road the shadows seem to
reach for you the sudden rustle of leaves makes you jump your heart beats faster and faster you assume it's your
imagination unless you're on the road to Resurrection Cemetery just southwest of
Chicago in January of 1979 the cab driver found himself on that road on just such a night he was about to have
an extraordinary experience which a number of Chicago cabbies claimed to have had over the years
see miss I'm lost and camp on our way back to town look at Bob if you point me out the right direction oh I'll give you
a lift forever you want to go free of charge okay watch happen [Music] just over a mile ahead was Resurrection
Cemetery one of the largest in the Midwest the final resting place of more than 150 thousand souls stop here stop
here the cabby parked across from the cemeteries front gate the mysterious passenger had vanished
without so much as a door slam the unwitting cab driver had just met Chicago's most famous ghost Resurrection
Mary I think that of all the ghost stories worth believing in Resurrection Mary is the one with the
best documentation the witnesses that I found a remarkably level-headed and they're primarily blue collar middle
class types who have steady jobs and who have no other major claims to psychic encounters in their life according to
Richard Crowe the earliest account of Resurrection Mary came from a man named Jerry paleis who died in 1992 in 1986
when he was 72 Jerry described his encounter in a videotaped interview experience because when I met her at the
dance hall I will watch that the year was 1939 on most nights throngs of young people filled Chicago's dance
halls one of the regulars was Jerry penis who considered himself something of a ladies man
hey you know that girl over there I'm gonna ask her to dance Jerry described the woman as being blond
about five foot seven her hair was about shoulder length and she had curls along either side of her
head she was wearing an old-fashioned where I should say a very fancy type party dress of the period old-fashioned
to today's terms its Mary isn't it that's a pretty name Jerry dos semanas de with a quiet captivating young woman
I couldn't help noticing somebody as pretty as you he learned little about her except that
her name was Mary and she lived on the south side of town where south Damon [Music]
hence your like ice must mean you have a warm heart [Music] can I give you a ride home as we walked
along to the street she says well you might as well take me down to Archer Road and I said what for us said you
live here in her work where you told me and she says no and she said I want to slap the archer oh boy it sure is quiet
out here what you want to come out here for dad what stop the car this wasn't at all but Jerry had
expected I need to get out here please Mary had asked him to stop in front of Resurrection Cemetery
[Music] just please just wait right here [Music] Jiri claimed that the young woman
vanished right before his eyes Jerry admitted he was perplexed but certainly willing to forgive one unexplained
disappearance the very next day he went out to Damon Avenue where Mary had said she lived
Jerry found the house with little trouble but before he could even knock front doors were open yes can I help you
excuse me I don't mean to disturb you but I'm looking for a young woman named Mary I was told she lives here you must
be mistaken there's no one here by that name wait that's the woman I'm looking for in
that picture no that's not possible that girl is my daughter and she has been dead for five years I danced with
that girl last night miss van jury said that he understood why the woman he was dancing with that night was ice cold to
the touch he had worked in a funeral home for a while it was the touch of a corpse
the revelation naturally coo jerry's romantic interest in the mysterious beauty years later richard crow learned
the ghost was believed to be the restless spirit of a young woman named Mary Bragg ovie Mary had been killed in
a traffic accident one Saturday night in 1934 a month before her 21st birthday around Chicago folks like to believe
Mary had just left the dancehall when she died she was laid to rest in Resurrection Cemetery they say in her
favorite gown over the years the bewitching spirit has been seen time and time again at dance clubs in taxis is
simply strolling outside the cemetery looking as the legend goes for someone to take her home I really didn't think
there was any ghosts you hear these stories and these old gulls tales but it's never happened to me but now I must
say I think I'm changing my mind in 1980 Claire rude Niki her husband Marc and two friends were driving on
Archer Avenue along the front of Resurrection Cemetery I was just looking out the windows we were going down the
streets and on the right-hand side of the road there was a girl walking [Music] she was bright very bright like
illuminating she was just walking very slow I remember thinking oh my god it's Resurrection Mary and I can fill my
stomach starting to turn let's go back know that it was very frightened to have to admit that did scare me let's go
let's go back on the other hand Claire's husband Mark was ready to swing around for another look no one could have
pulled a prank like that because she was so bright and illuminated and there was
no light source from which that light could have come she was just a bright object a glowing figure on the side of
the road when we were coming up behind her I looked at her from behind on the side
and when I driven past her and all the time I was looking at her face and there was like a black void there was really
nothing there there was no facial features [Music] we all want casted turned around and
came back and by the time we gotten back to where we had originally seen her and
it gone vanished she was all in white and her hair and the dress were were flowing back it was like a stream
backwards you know away from her and I just saw this profile of a young woman so what time are you leaving tomorrow
around 7:00 in October of 1989 Janet : and a friend set out for an evening Drive after about
an hour they found themselves at Resurrection Cemetery [Music] has no impact there was no no bump to
say that you know I had hit something but I know she ran out the young woman ran out in front of my
car and I hit her just calm down everything's gonna be yet nothing no impact no sound nothing
my dad had told me the story about Resurrection Mary before because he had read it in the newspaper back in 1939
but I never thought that I would be party to it that I would see it myself or that I would be with a friend who
would have seen her you can pick apart individual ghost stories but when you come up with a story like resurrection
Mary where we have dozens of reports spanning decades I think you've got to go a long way to try and undermine all
that massive documentation I like to drive past the cemetery to see if I can see her again I never want to see her
again it's so fresh in my mind still it still scares me I didn't believe in ghosts until I saw
and the way I know it was really a ghost is you just know [Music] does the ghost to marry Bravo V still
haunts Chicago late at night or his resurrection marries simply a time-honored urban myth in any case
should you find yourself driving in the city late one night and you spot a wistful young woman and a flowing gown
you might think twice about offering her a ride tonight we have an update which is one of our most touching and poignant
it concerns a woman searching for two men two complete strangers she never even talked to but during one fateful
encounter in 1978 they saved her life she has been searching for them ever since simply to say thank you welcome to
our class Colleen Fran Joanie who was paralyzed from the waist down more than 15 years
ago in a horrible automobile accident since then she has spoken to thousands of high-school students urging them to
wear seat belts buckle up I didn't it's my slogan every time Colleen speaks in a
classroom she relives the night of September 23rd 1978 [Music] [Music] the hit of that second car just twisted
me beyond the normal range and that twist was so forceful that it broke two lower vertebrae and severed my spinal
cord and and and I'm glad I don't remember in the midst of the chaos two bystanders pulled Colleen from the
burning wreckage however both men disappeared before anyone could get their names Colleen has never stopped
looking for them when colleagues appeal err luck was with her both men called our phone center their
names are ray Myers and Mike cane though they both live in the Providence Rhode Island area they had seen each other
only once in the aftermath of Colleen's accident Colleen was thrilled to learn that her rescuers had been found after
more than 15 years what on some mysteries did was the tip lady called me told me you know that she
had heard from one of them and gave me his number because of course they didn't want to give out my number so I called
him I said who I was and and it was just so nice in fact we talked so long that night my husband fell asleep we were in
bed and my husband fell sound asleep while him and I were just talking about you know he was telling me things that I
had no idea on December 27th 1993 Colleen finally was able to meet her heroes in person ray Myers was the first
to arrive I was in shock I couldn't believe it was me you know I mean I knew it was me but
it's like it's incredible that's how I feel about this whole thing I did get some family
[Music] half an hour later it was Mike canes turn [Music] you know I tried to imagine what you'd
look like and I can't do that when I don't understand no surprise you know why 15 years later why why you know why
but when she said she wanted to thank the people after I spoke to her on the phone it was like this lady is really
sincere you know and that's what she wanted she want to thank us I feel the whole circle it's all completed all the
pieces of the puzzle are all put together now and it's a real peaceful feeling inside that's to me and in fact
how many times have I said in the last weeks how many people get to meet their guardian angels and this is how I feel
[Music] next a young woman disappears in the wake of a near-fatal motorcycle accident
[Music] these days most of us have resigned to keeping in touch with friends and family
by telephone the calls are usually a source of comfort and pleasure but for one California mother a phone call from
a 28 year old daughter began a nightmare which is yet to end as a rule we do not
our stories about grown children who choose to separate from their family and friends but the case of Selina Eden is
special when she graduated from high school in 1980 Selena was everything a parent could ask for she was president
of the student body of the senior class but Selena had always marched to her own
drummer she dropped out of college to join the airforce then after a stint Selena became a journeyman construction
worker in San Francisco she joined the Teamsters a bought herself a motorcycle she was humorous she was also quite
daring she was the kind of childlike save as' things that you wanted to do that you know in life this was the child
that kind of did it was that daring on November 29th 1989 Selena was on her way home from the Union Hall in downtown
San Francisco when tragedy struck [Music] after the accident she was in a coma for
six weeks and she had some brain damage she had a long way to go Selena was admitted to the hospital as a Jane Doe
Bridey papers had disappeared in the aftermath of the accident and seven days passed before her mother and brother
were tracked down in San Diego Selena baby look who's here beyond he came with me today hi dear hi baby how
you feel okay baby and good to you she had lost a lot of her memories so it really kind of took away her personality
she appeared to be like a child again like she didn't know too much anymore you know she just you know like like a
child Selina's left I had been permanently damaged she suffered painful headaches
her left thigh was crushed and a severe head injury caused fluid to build up around her brain nevertheless Selena
dove into an exhausting regimen of physical therapy Selena was the type of patient they had to slow up she wanted
to do everything on her if she wanted to walk before she could walk it was just that she was like rushing everything she
challenged herself to the max and it was like a lot of things that she just couldn't do and I guess she just wasn't
ready to accept the fact that she wasn't well yet two months after the accident Selena's brother brought her home to San
Diego Selena planned to live with her mother and niece and continued physical therapy on an outpatient basis doing
good you know when she was living like me she started having more like confused episode being the mother I could see it
and medical people you know really couldn't see it the way I coul there was a lot of changes I feel that sometimes
she had her days that she could be quite mean and then that was the days I would
notice that she was having a lot of headaches so we'll do that so the headaches gave way to general
confusion physically Selina was getting better but mentally she was worse baby was that I was talking to I don't know
who you were talking to did you forget yes things like that would upset her that's when I noticed her frustration
more and more and she felt like more and more she wanted to be on her own but the
more she pushed it the more confused she was becoming with her recovery stalled Selena decided to return to San
Francisco in May of 1990 she hoped that the familiar surroundings would help her
yeah anyways yeah yes who is she she's your friend Selena she's very happy to be in
San Francisco and to be around her friends but you know she didn't appear healthy enough to be on her own okay
she was very unaware of a lot of things I think she definitely needed somebody to be with her you know to help her
despite her erratic behavior Selena had been in the habit of calling her mother regularly finally in October of 1990
nearly 1 year after the accident Clarissa Eaton received a phone call she would never forget Selena
she was evasive Whitney and that wasn't like her she don't tell me everything he
didn't know I said something of what you need to do we need to come back home and
she said well don't worry if you don't hear from me in a month or two Selena you should come back home and then she
said I'll be calling you soon and hung up and that's the last I've heard her folks only know the last time I heard
anything of Selena she was leaving for somewhere in the Midwest and I can't remember where with some woman who she
had just met and I got the impression that she probably didn't know much more about the woman than I did and I didn't
even know the person I had no idea who it was and I couldn't get a last name from her and it was just kind of a
haphazard plan there was no plan it's like I'm going Selena's family hired a private investigator to search for her
even after she told her mother she was leaving town Selena was sighted in San Francisco's tenderloin district some
people said they saw her around here when were she here a few weeks back the investigator followed up on all the
leads but it turned out to be a fruitless search she do see her would you give me a call yeah sure
Thanks you know I just hope she's out there probably you know just living her life and for what reason she didn't call
us maybe it's just because she forgot us maybe she just don't remember you know hopefully it's one of those stories and
hopefully you know we can find it you know I want to see my daughter again that's my baby I love her like I love
all my children and I want her back with us I want her to try to call her someone
called for it she's unable to come and let us know where she is and now she is all new year's eve of
1991 a year after Selena had disappeared she left a garbled message on her friend
Laurie Gallagher's answering machine it was the last time any of Selena's friends or family heard her voice since
then a lawsuit has been filed in Selena's name regarding the accident however the action cannot proceed until
Selena's found selina marie eaton is 31 years old and stares five feet six inches tall at the
time of her disappearance she weighed 125 pounds she has a pronounced stiffness in her left leg which causes
her to live in a moment a daring seven million dollar heist funds a bold and international terrorism it's hard to
imagine what 7 million dollars in cash would look like but 1983 one man managed to steal at astounding Sun
single-handedly he wrestled 50 heavy bags of currency out of a vault loaded them into a getaway car and vanished the
daring robbery still stands as one of the greatest heists in United States history the key figure in the holdup was
a brazen 25 year old armored car guard named Victor Manuel hey Dana at the time of the robbery
Dana was a trusted employee at the West Hartford Connecticut office of the Wells
Fargo Express company [Music] what's up Vic September 12th 1983 Elena's arrival at
work that day was unremarkable except for the one special request he made of his supervisor excuse me Joe I need to
ask a big favor is there anywhere to park my car over here at Bay five I wouldn't really appreciate it what's
wrong with your car it's not mine it's a friend of Mines I hate to see something
happen to it you know how it is outside you know I'm really not supposed to be doing this I'll let you do it this one
time just don't take advantage of me Victor Thanks appreciate it okay the vehicle that Victor was driving that
day was a 1973 Buick LeSabre which was a full-size big car capable of carrying a
large load whatever that may be that day Edea and his partner made all their scheduled rounds collecting more than
three million dollars in currency from local banks and businesses the Wells Fargo vaults already held more than four
million dollars Tim I'm gonna check in the guns thanks by 9 p.m. Dana his partner in the supervisor were
alone in the armored car terminal more than seven million dollars in cash [Music]
listen I'll kill you I swear handcuff it his supervisors arms behind his back and also taped up their mouths
in used duct tape to take their feet and find them so they couldn't move any good
jackets over both the head so they would not be able to see what was going on okay guys this intention it's just gonna
put you to sleep now authorities never determine what the syringe contained but it did not put the gars to sleep hidden
I began to move the $7,000,000 bag by bag [Music] it took the better part of an hour and a
half to load his car with about 1,000 pounds of cash roughly half a ton in marked and unmarked bills
[Music] after the car was loaded we believe that he sent a signal to someone on the
outside that was helping him he honked the horn and opened the bay door to the terminal it's believed that at that
point someone else came into the terminal and drove his car out of the terminal with the money inside the car
with the guards at this point I'm sure were very upset and even more so when they when they heard a shotgun being
loaded which is a very distinctive sound however head in I left the building without harming the guards they soon
worked themselves free and called the police eighteen hours later hey Dana's car was
found abandoned about eight miles from the Wells Fargo terminal Victor hey Dana had vanished along with every last cent
of the stolen money investigators soon discovered that the daring theft was far more than a one-man operation it had
been masterminded by a Puerto Rican terrorist group that counted Victor harina among his members the group
called themselves los Marcia Tarot's literally the machete wielders and they were fighting for nothing less than the
independence of Puerto Rico the island of Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States by Spain in 1898 eventually some
Puerto Rican groups began to agitate for a complete break with the United States
at times they turned to violence in 1952 Puerto Rican terrorists attempted to assassinate then President Harry Truman
the failed attack left one White House guard dead and two injured more than 30 years later lost Marsha Tarot's
attempted to strike another blow flush with millions from the robbery the group purchased a surface-to-air missile
apparently from a black market arms dealer on October 30th 1983 they launched it at the FBI headquarters in
San Juan Puerto Rico however little damage was done and some of hiddenness co-conspirators were quickly arrested
Victor hid in I eluded capture and he was soon elevated to the FBI's ten most wanted list Victor Manuel head Ana is
now 35 years old he has brown hair striking green eyes and when last seen weight around 165 pounds
he stands five feet six inches tall authorities believe he Dana has been hiding out in Cuba but may soon return
to the United States Victor hey Dana should be considered armed and dangerous [Music]
when we returned the Ponyo story of a father and daughter torn apart at war in Vietnam May 1968 soon van Nguyen was
among hundreds of South Vietnamese officers dispatched to England air force base in Louisiana for jet pilot training
[Music] soon was scheduled to remain in the United States for seven months he felt
lonely and displaced until a local family the goat-cheese took him under their wing they had six
children their oldest son was stationed in Vietnam mrs. Gautier was thinking about her son being a foreigner in
Vietnam in the same situation as my friends and I were here in America because of that she helped us on the
weekends so that we feel comfortable just like we were in their own country [Music]
one of the goatees daughters Gwendolen was the same age as soon in no time at all the two of them had fallen in love
but inevitably the war intervened in December of 1968 soon completed his training he and Gwendolyn had one final
night together before they said goodbye I don't want you to go we can leave this
place we could go to Canada or something when I look at you my reunion you know because of my honour as an officer in
the Air Force I could not desert my countrymen or come clean our family and so I said to Gwen do I have to go back
away well he began but I hope that someday we would see each other again [Music]
wait [Music] [Music] within weeks soon was flying combat missions of Vietnam soon often receive
letters from Gwendolyn but one letter carried news it would change his life forever
Gwen was pregnant with his child Shamu came over after barely escaping from death on a very dangerous mission I
came back and there was good news go baby people coming back from a tense mission good boy and hearing the good
news I was so happy at that moment of the year on August 28th 1969 Gwen Gautier gave birth to a healthy
baby girl named her Kimberly Karen when continued to write faithfully soon could
do nothing except right back five long years past years in which soon yearned to see his little girl
he felt frustrated and helpless caught in the middle of a war more than nine thousand miles away from Kimberly
but fate stepped in in June of 1974 soon was set back to England Air Force Base for further training
[Music] Gwen's mother was now divorced and living in a mobile home soon went to visit her not knowing where the guenon
Kimberly lived there not knowing whether after five years mrs. gooje would be friend or full bloom big banana oh my
god she kept saying oh my god I cannot believe it from what I could understand she had never imagined that she would
see me again well that Kim would ever see me at all disobey did you see her she is the most
beautiful little girl in America where are they Houston you did know that gwyndolin got
married no when Oh about a year ago mrs. Gautier became soon's closest ally she contacted Gwen in Houston and
arranged a meeting hello sue hello Gwen hey yeah yeah and I looked at her and knew right away that this was my
child didn't come emotions were running high I really wanted to hug my child this
child had waited so long to see but the situation simply did not allow it it's good to see you mrs. Gautier convinced
Gwen to let Kimberly come back to Louisiana for the duration of soon's assignment for nearly a month
Kimberly lived with her grandmother and soon spent every free moment with his daughter soon had no idea that mrs.
Gautier had told Kimberly he was her father what you say daddy why you call me that
how do you know that okay keeping within my line then Kim said because her hair was black
her eyes were black and her skin was dark-skinned and she was especially proud to point out that she had a flat
nose an Asian nose finally the day soon had dreaded arrived I thought she'd come
with me tomorrow to airport when came to take Kimberly back to Houston sue knew the war was not going well but he might
never be able to return to his daughter can she stay one more day no she can't this isn't a fairy tale so you're going
back to Vietnam tomorrow we got to go [Music] the union though like the time had been
so short and now we were parting today I didn't know if I would ever see my daughter again I couldn't control myself
I broke down and cried and that's the truth soon shipped down to South Vietnam in
July of 1974 in less than a year Saigon fell to the communist government of North Vietnam along with thousands of
other South Vietnamese soon was incarcerated in a reeducation camp where he languished for nearly ten years
in 1984 soon was released from the camp two years later he married and eventually had two children in 1993 soon
and his family emigrated to the United States where Sooners continued the search for his daughter and on our
broadcast he asked if someone in our audience could help reunite them that night the switchboard in our phone
center lit up with calls from Kimberly's friends and family Kimberly who lives in
Pineville Louisiana was thrilled to learn the soon was looking for her over the years Kimberly has searched for soon
but it always run into dead ends now she was anxious to be with her father again
a few days later soon and his American sponsor traveled to Louisiana for an emotional reunion with Kimberly it was
her first time together in more than 20 years [Music] soon was overcome with emotion still he
wanted to convey his feelings in English when Vietnam I never I know never T they
can not I can meet her but now is my dream to be true I'm very very happy and then we hugged and then we said
hello and then it was just you can't describe the feeling it was just like nice does it doesn't do the feeling
justice but it was just incredible fantastic great later that day soon celebrated with 20
members of Kimberly's family including her mother to see them together is just a dream come true a fairytale that uh
had had some bad detours but it came to a happy ending oh this is a big day - happy day and I think I cannot forget
it I knew that wherever he was that he loved me and I was always certain in my heart that one day we would be back
together for soon in Kimberly the end of their long search marked the beginning of a new life for both of them
[Music] next week unsolved mysteries travels to Lourdes France one of the world's most
mystical and revered locales since 1858 millions of religious pilgrims have visited the Basilica where the spring
waters are said to have the divine power to cure the sick in this fascinating study meet two women who believe their
illnesses were cured by a miracle at Lourdes for every mystery there is some somewhere who knows the truth perhaps
it's you join me again next week on unsolved mysteries [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Brief Summary

The episode features Resurrection Mary, a life-saving reunion, and a major armored car heist.

Key points

Colleen's Search for Her Rescuers. Colleen Fran Joanie seeks to thank the strangers who saved her life after an accident.
Resurrection Mary: The Ghost of Chicago. A cab driver encounters a mysterious woman who vanishes at Resurrection Cemetery.
The Daring Heist. Victor orchestrates a massive $7 million robbery with unexpected help.
A Life-Changing Letter. Soon receives news that changes everything during the war.
Emotional Reunion After 20 Years. Soon reunites with his daughter Kimberly after decades apart.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I didn't believe in ghosts until I saw one.

12:59WatchMay 23, 2019

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

More from True Crime Files

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.