Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 6, Episode 19 - 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 when a baby girl named Mariah was born three months early with critical
problems that are undeveloped lungs their chances of survival seen grim then a nurse employed a controversial
technique called therapeutic touch while it doesn't have the blessings of the medical establishment therapeutic touch
may have helped save Dryas life the story of Mitchell sugar moto and James Pierson is a moving saga of
interracial friendship honed to a Spina stage by the rigors of war but Mitchell was cut down by enemy fire and Vietnam
James became as human tonight Mitchell needs your help to find the man who saved his life
while the day David now is Viera remarried no one imagined that the love and affection would someday disintegrate
into violence no one imagined that 14 years later David would go into hiding as a fugitive accused of killing his
wife jointly are these fascinating cases perhaps you may be able to help solve a
mystery [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you are witnessing a controversial healing technique called therapeutic
touch or TT it's practitioners who must complete a comprehensive training program believe
that by running their hands a few inches above the body they can pinpoint areas of disease or injury
TT practitioners also claim that they can direct energy from their bodies to others in order to promote healing
to the laymen therapeutic touch sounds pretty wild although it is taught at major
universities across the country and practiced by tens of thousands of nurses and doctors its effectiveness has long
been at the center of a heated debate does therapeutic touch really work just ask Janet Ziegler a clinical nurse
specialist and experienced TT practitioner from Pittsburg Pennsylvania in November of 1984 Jenna drove her
three boys to the regular martial arts class besides his interest in sports janice
youngest son michael was already an accomplished pianist [Music] michael who's only seven went in and as
he was slipping his shoes off he put his hand up in the jamb of the door by that time i gotten out of the car and
michael ran out of the school and he was i don't think he realized what happened
he wasn't crying or anything but his finger was bleeding profusely and he said mom I think I pinched my finger and
I looked down at his finger and it was gone and I said Michael where is your finger Michael what's wrong my finger
caught in the door okay stand very still Janet did not panic almost instinctively
she began to treat Michael with therapeutic touch [Music] this immediately calmed him he didn't
shed a single tear at all through the whole process okay sweetie let's go wash it off I
looked in the door jamb to find the finger and I found it it was actually unrecognizable it was totally squashed
and of course the nail was gone it really didn't look like a finger but it was the only thing in the door jamb so I
assumed that's what it was it was scary I hadn't started to cry or anything but the blood ende and seeing my finger gone
and wondering what's gonna happen it was just a fear that went through me well how was I gonna be able to keep going a
friend rush Janet and Michael to a local emergency clinic along the way Janet continued to perform therapeutic touch
although the injury was not life-threatening Michaels promises a pianist was now in jeopardy
hey big guy what's your name huh what happened here his finger was cut off in the door I need you to sew it
back on I'm sorry but this is never gonna take I don't think we can reattach this finger please try he's a pianist
he's got to have this finger the doctor you know with my insistence agreed to do it and he turned to me and
he said what are you doing to him and I said I'm doing therapeutic touch to keep
him calm energy of the finger so he said well I don't know anything about that he
said but whatever it is you're doing keep doing it because I've never seen a child so calm in such a situation
despite his misgivings as the doctor reattached the fingertip he recommended that Michaels see a
plastic surgeon as soon as possible the very next day when I went to the plastic surgeon he unwrapped it looked
at it and said I'm sorry this is not going to take he's going to lose his finger and he just wrapped it up again a
dry dressing didn't do anything at all to the finger and it went like that every week
hello Doctor Oh Michael what's your answer for eight weeks Janet used therapeutic touch on Michaels
finger for eight weeks the plastic surgeon warned that the reattachment would probably never work
what do scabs gone it's great they removed the bandage the scab and everything and I saw like almost a brand
new finger with new skin and everything I was totally overwhelmed a good deal more color than I expected I don't think
there's any swelling well appearances can be deceiving can you do this can you feel that yeah
no it may not mean anything to be honest with you mrs. Ziegler I think the fingers gonna fall off there
probably before summer so why don't you make an appointment with me then and we'll see where we stand
the plastic surgeon was willing even before the bandage came off Michael was back at the keyboard less than a month
later he placed first in the piano competition a decade later music remains an important
part of Michael's life [Music] the experience of my accident and what my mom did for my finger most definitely
changed my feelings about therapeutic touch before it happened I would go to my mom
get the treatment from her but was a little skeptical you know it looks sort of funny and would joke about it after
this experienced I was totally 100% believing in her therapeutic touch and that it definitely worked
trained TT practitioners like Janet Ziegler believed that the human body is a complex field of interacting energies
that can literally be felt and that can be disturbed by injury or illness tt practitioners use their hands to
reorder these disturbances in Michaels case his finger mended perfectly although two physicians have
predicted the opposite should therapeutic touch take credit for such successes not everyone is convinced I
think the practitioners are good and honest and kind nurses I think their therapy which stresses
energy fields emanating from people which they seek to influence with their fingers is below me
the debate is rate since the 1970s when a nurse named Dolores Krieger first developed therapeutic touch and defined
what makes an effective healer what you remove by originally is a compassion you see a compassion to help
another person and it's the power of compassion that brings you across that bridge
the good effects are primarily placebo effects that means that what the patient believes will
happen will happen a couple we will call George and Marie could care less about placebos they
learned about therapeutic touch firsthand when they were a heartbeat away from a personal tragedy
in November of 1993 Marie was six and a half months pregnant when she was stricken with preeclampsia weeks ago her
body was releasing lethal toxins into her bloodstream threatening her life and that of her unborn child we can't wait
any longer George we have to do with cesarean it's my baby gonna be okay baby's fine she's very healthy was the
last time I saw you I remember going into delivery room and I felt myself slipping away I did feel myself slipping
away it felt as if it would have been very easy to just let go because things were just so drastic at that point but I
knew George was waiting for me and this baby that I wanted more than anything in
the whole world and I knew I had to live I had to survive for that baby the next
thing I remember it sounded like a little screech like a little cat my daughter was born
and I had mixed feelings and mixed emotions because I was really worried about my
wife and I was worried about my daughter situation kept see-sawing back and forth
my wife got a little better my daughter got worse George and Marie's daughter Mariah was
born nearly three months premature she weighed less than two pounds and soon developed critical problems that are
immature lungs [Music] father O'Brien I'm very sorry I'm having such a rough time little Mariah
continued to weaken and hospital officials summoned a priest the Baptizer should we do it now
may God bless this water and this child and all of his children name this child why are you Junior i baptize you in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit oh man the nurse disconnected
the wiring all the tubing from the baby and put the baby in my wife's arms and my wife held the baby and she started to
cry and um I thought that was it I I thought the baby was dead in a last-ditch effort to save Mariah
doctors put the tiny infant on a respirator after the delicate procedure one of the
intensive care nurses began treating Mariah with therapeutic touch she wasn't slipping drastically under
but she wasn't advancing either I continued to take care of Mariah for the rest of my shift and
you know continued to work on her direct energy and a therapeutic touch mounted to her and continued to do therapeutic
touch throughout her process in the hospital basically I'm a very logical bottom line shoots straight from the hip
person and for someone to talk to me about alternative medicines they would have to prove it to me
[Music] your oxygen numbers the levels are going up that's good right responding well
look at her I'm an accountant I do in numbers and to see this I can relate to it every time Joanne took care of the
baby every time Joanne had the baby the baby got better the baby's numbers the saturation the heart rate the numbers
got better Laurie was also in critical condition Joanne began to use therapeutic touch
with her Joanne did basically the same thing for me as she had done for Mariah and little
by little it worked and the pain went away and Joanne would not take credit for it it was funny she
would just chuck it off like it you know was just an everyday thing for her it was part of her nursing technique
[Music] today Marie and Mariah are back home and healthy the terrifying crisis of
November 1993 is fading into the past replaced by the busy joy of caring for a baby still George and Marie will never
forget how close they came to tragedy the bottom line is my baby's alive and I have the doctors to thank I have the
whole nursing staff to thank and more so I have Joanna thank because I believe without Joanne
we wouldn't have this baby if you ask George and Murray or the Ziegler's they will tell you the
therapeutic touch definitely works but we still wanted to find out for ourselves a young woman named Vicky
Ewald allowed unsolved mysteries to film her first session with a TT practitioner
when we began know knew how the treatment would turn out in 1986 Vicky contracted a stubborn cold
that escalated into bronchitis then a debilitating case of chronic asthma such breathing problems can be triggered by
either physical or emotional stress but a parade of specialists failed to help Vicky
finally I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired and I did out of dress just go see
somebody that could possibly help me Vicky went to see Joanna Riley the same nurse who attended Mariah in the
hospital jo-ann had me closed my eyes I had no idea what she was doing to me I mean I
sensed that something was going on around me but she wasn't physically touching me
you know really felt for the first time today relaxed and and I guess for lack of a
better word centered and as we've been around each other today I was coughing and wheezing most of the
day and since Joann has worked on me I've coughed once after the session Vicky experienced a
rush of unexpected emotions well from from the onset I think of asthma when I first got to the city I
also did lose a sibling a brother that's that kind of triggered yeah but don't you know the the idea
hasn't Beyonce yeah that's when I got very sick and couldn't you get back up and then two years ago I lost my mother
um and there's a lot of grief related yes [Music] in the month after her first session
Vicky Ewald went for three more treatments Vicky reported that her breathing improved to the point where
she felt comfortable reducing her asthma medication even the most dedicated proponents of
therapeutic touch admit that it doesn't always work perhaps in the future medical science
and unravel the mystery of this intriguing technique in closing one note of caution all the practitioners we
talked to emphasize a therapeutic touch should never be performed by anyone without the proper training
the residents of the Lombardi family in the Columbus Ohio suburb of Westerville an ordinary townhouse an ordinary Street
home to a typical middle-class family but on August 30th 1997 Barney a housewife and mother would make a tragic
discovery one that would forever rip the family from the tranquility of suburban
life Cheryl had come home at around midnight and she assumed that her 22 year old son
Tony would also be home soon she says it around 12:45 she heard a door closing in the sound of footsteps
Cheryl went to Tony's room to say goodnight [Music] son [Music] Cheryl was horrified to find her son
lifeless a single gunshot to the head Tony Lombardi was just a few months shy of his 23rd birthday
for Cheryl Lombardi the familiar pattern of life was shattered that morning her home swarmed with detectives with her
son's bedroom the center of a crime investigation in such cases Clues found at the scene will often read like a book
clearly revealing what took place and implicating any assailants but to those investigating Tony's death the clues
seem to tell two conflicting stories two scenarios it would pick Tony's family against the police
our investigation has been concluded in our investigation says that Tony committed suicide
I'm very upset with the fact that I know our son was killed I know he did not commit suicide
and I don't think they have a right to role someone's death a suicide when it was not a suicide and just closed the
case and go on like it never happened this home video made a year before he died shows Tony Lombardi just as his
friends remember him Funland and always ready with a smile tony was a hit with the ladies in fact
at the time of his death he was seeing three women one of whom was already living with a man
Tony worked the swing shift at a baby food factory setting up cans to be filled with formula but on August 29th
1990 Dhoni didn't show up at the plant early the next morning Cheryl found him in his bedroom dead
police survived at around 1:15 a.m. they discovered Tony's car was missing from the garage
perhaps stolen by an assailant according to the police investigation moves swiftly yet by the book our normal
procedure is to contact the detectives haven't come in we treat all death scenes as a homicide until we prove it
otherwise inside on the floor near the body police found a 38 caliber semi-automatic pistol
with Agatha 937 pouring on the bed was a single spent 38 shell then investigators found a drunk driving
citation and Tony's pants pocket which pushed the inquiry in an entirely new direction
two days before his death Tony had been arrested for driving while intoxicated in Panama
detectives quickly solved the mystery of Tony's missing car it had been impounded
by Columbus Police at the time of the arrest ok thanks for the info in addition Tony had faced fines and
possible suspension of his driver's license to investigators a portrait had now emerged of a young man stripped of
his freedom and despondent over impending legal problems right now everything that we have any
evidence that we have indicates Tony's death was a suicide about the only fact not in dispute is
the time of Tony's death several hours before shell came home at around midnight a Tony's family believes his
death was nothing short of cold-blooded murder I believe that there was a struggle
because our son's watch was found broken off of his arm on the floor he had an inch and a half the gash of
his left eye he had a broken jaw he had bruises the fact that he was found nude he would never let anyone see him nude
those are all things that I think should have been looked into [Music] these Turner observations that morning
Cheryl believes that not only was her son murdered the killer was still in Tony's bedroom even as she moved about
the house Cheryl's evidence is disarmingly simple the light in Tony's bedroom going up and down the steps you you can
see my son's room and the door was closed and there was no light on going up and down the steps as many
times as I did there is no way I could have missed the light being on Cheryl assume Tony hadn't yet arrived
because the light in his bedroom was off Cheryl says at 45 minutes later she heard the noise
[Music] when she saw that the light in Tony's room was on she assumed he had finally
come home [Music] when I went to the room I could immediately see the light was on
underneath the door it was obvious son I opened the door and that's when I found
my son Dan who could have turned on the light Cheryl now believes it was the killer
trapped in Tony's room by her arrival home I believe in my mind that I came in on
someone that had killed her son I believe that I surprised him and then when I went to my
bedroom to get ready for bed they thought that was a good opportunity for them to leave and I believe that's what
I heard was someone leaving she was questioned by a detective there later on after shed composed herself a
little bit as to what the noise was she hurt he specifically asked her was the noise a house noise say a door shutting
air conditioner kicking on step creaking and she said I can't I can't remember what it was I really don't remember
they'll never change what I heard and what made me go to our son's room I went to our son's room because I heard him
come in in my mind I heard the door shut to me my son had come home to Tony's parents there was further
evidence pointing to murder in the week before he died Tony was the target of two different death threats
a woman who lived next door witnessed the driver of a white pickup truck screaming at Tony do you ever cut me off
like that again and I'll kill you you hear me I said do you hear me I hear ya where do you live I said where do you
live right here right here good I got it we called the police and told them the woman's name and where she lived which
was a next-door neighbor to my knowledge as of yesterday they have still never talked to this woman
Tony's father overheard the second death threat just a few days later I was checking my messages and I heard
this threat on our voicemail have a gentlemen a young person telling Tony that he had a gun and was going to use
it if Tony doesn't stay away from his girlfriend and at that point I brought that up to
Tony and he said not to worry about it that he had a friend of his call this person who knew him well and thought it
could be worked out that way Tony's best friend Andy Royer agreed to mediate I told Tony that I talked to the guy and
see what the deal was on it and I called him up and he said to me that his problem was not
with me it was with Tony and that he would take care of it Tony would get what was coming to him
lead detective on the case contacted as many people as he could on the case either by phone or in person and
attempted to question him about what they had said or somebody said they had said and we found no evidence that Tony
was under any immediate death threats the police never contacted me about Tony's death at all I never heard from
anybody about anything the Lombardi's dispute the official conclusions drawn from some of the
physical evidence for example a test that revealed Tony had recently handled a metal object
any metal is gonna gonna give that trace metal detection but the conclusion that
we come to is that Tony was holding that gun in his hand and part of that conclusion stems from the trace metal
detection he worked on a can line downtown at the Columbus plant he handled cans daily
naturally you would have metal on your hands from working with that the position of Tony's body and the
trajectory of the fatal bullet are also subjects a bitter controversy this was our son's bed that he was
actually killed in and when I found him he was laying on the bed and there was two pillows propped
underneath his head or underneath his shoulders I'm sorry his head was above pillows he was laying on the edge of the
bed the pillows were under his shoulders his head was above above the pillow her son's head was on a
couple of pillows and the detectives examined that examined the angle removed that spent bullet from the headboard and
had every indication there that dent Bullock the trajectory of that bullet was correct and the bullet hole in the
headboard is behind the pillows and as you can see it's down there and if you take a pencil and you insert that into
the headboard you can see that the bullet hole is much lower than the way I found
our son the bullet hole does not make sense to me unless there was some pressure on top
of Tony holding him down the bullet would have been much higher in the headboard
finally Cheryl says the county coroner found bruises on Toni's chest directly under his clenched hands - Cheryl proof
her son was forcibly held down by an assailant the last minutes of Tony Lombardi's life
remained clouded by controversy as far as the police are concerned the 22 year old took his own life the
conclusions supported by the County Coroner the Sheriff's Department and the district attorney
the Westerberg police sure have sympathy for the family I mean anybody would have sympathy for the
family and it's very sad situation and they've suffered a lot of trauma but you know we have to deal in the facts
and the facts of this investigation reveal what happened was a suicide until they open our son's case back up
and change the cause of his death I will not stop until the last breath is taken
from my body and if I do not accede to be able to get that done till the day I die then I'll fight them from eternity
[Music] next an ex-gi searches for the unsung hero who saved his life and get naam
[Music] two natives of Oahu in Hawaii the exotic is commonplace most of them would
probably drive right by the farm that Mitchell shigga moto and his wife Connie run and never give it a second look a
[Music] passerby would never guess that Mitchell's sugar moto has a story to tell in fact has an unsolved mystery
that he hopes our viewers can help solve back in 1963 Mitchell was a 17 year old
volunteer in the United States Army he was 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 110 pounds remember the less he signed up
for the demanding 173rd Airborne Division Mitchell was a smallest man in basic training and the only Asian American in
his company from the start he faced an uphill battle due to my size I was told that I could
never make it being a paratrooper so that dense in itself gave me an incentive to try harder
we started like maybe with about 800 men and the graduating class was maybe less than
300 so you know it was quite an accomplishment just to get through it [Applause]
it was tough being a part of the 173rd it was clearly an elite airborne unit with its own special Spri decor created
specially to go to vietnam first to be deployed by helicopters in combat and the only combat unit to make a parachute
combat jump in vietnam in February of 1964 Michels sugar moto became a full-fledged member of the
173rd the unit was stationed in Okinawa before transfer to Vietnam Mitchell was all too
aware of his physical resemblance to the enemy that's where I initially started getting
some problems because at that time in the army we got paid once a month and we got paid in cash and put the money
away and somehow one way or another it got stolen from me [Music] it was common knowledge around the
barracks that Mitchell was being victimized only one soldier stepped forward to befriend him
[Music] amen we're going out tonight do you want to come with us I don't feel like it
it's gonna be me and a couple of the soldiers come on maybe next time [Music] he knew that I didn't have any money you
know on his way out he dropped atonia on my bunking just left the barracks [Music]
that really caught me by surprise I was thinking like he must be quite a person too to even be generous enough to to
help out a person who's basically a stranger yet you know because I was fairly new there
didn't get to know very many people yet in time Mitchell became a regular and James Pearson's group of friends they
went everywhere together [Music] in okay now is this black section of town to call four corners and I used to
go down there with him and feel comfortable and we could sit down and listen to the music and as long as he
knew that James was my friend I had no worries at all [Music] in May of 1965 the 173rd airborne
shipped out to Vietnam at the front Michels Asian heritage became a major problem and his friendship with James
was more important than ever I [Music] remember one particular incident when we came back off of an operation to our
tent city and that's our chance to get hot meals one of the guys who was serving
didn't want to serve me so when I got in front of him he I just stood there and you just looked at me said move on Jeb
you got a problem yeah I don't serve zipper heads come on what's the problem why don't you just do
the job and serve the soldier right just relax okay no no you relax it's gonna be
me and you all right the business of being an Asian American in combat in Southeast Asia is probably
beyond my capacity to really understand we were killing people who looked just like Mitch and I don't know how he dealt
with that it must have been extremely difficult for him it's a burden that many of us didn't have to deal with over
and above the burdens of am I going to be killed maimed or what's gonna happen to me today
by the end of 1965 the war has significantly escalated nine months after the 173rd airborne arrived in
Vietnam they found themselves facing get Cong guerrillas on an almost daily basis
the enemy was very good at picking the times and places that they engaged you so often we were in X open positions and
having to confront them in concealed positions it was dangerous work [Music] January 2nd 1966 of yet Kong bullet tore
through Mitchell sugar Moto's thigh James's immediately by my side there was one sniper that was keying in
on us James took a position right in front of me just like he was trying to block off the shots there I'm James
actually saved my life there was another guy solids are the booby to cover and then I met it came by he asked me
what kind of pain I was there and he gave me a shot of medication to try to take the pain away and then he moves on
to catch up at the company that's when I guess James and Salazar decided to take me back to the
evacuation point James Pierson feared that Mitchell would succumb to shock he and the GI named
Salazar defied regulations and carried Mitchell to safety maybe in the military textbooks you're
supposed to continue with your mission and the fulfillment of that mission actually protects you all but you know
that was his best buddy there and I'll never I could never fault him for what he did if they didn't stop James
didn't stop to to give me aid I probably wouldn't wouldn't be oriented enough to
know which which way to go to get to an evacuation point by myself so you could really see that James
actually saved my life fix you right up is he gonna be all right he'll be fine if I get back to unit
yeah Mitchell had no idea that he would not return to the 173rd airborne that he
would never serve beside James Pearson again a few weeks later Mitchell was sent home
to Hawaii he never saw James Pearson again and never had the opportunity to properly thank the man who saved his
life [Music] after our broadcast all that would change in a most remarkable way a viewer
in San Bernardino California retired lieutenant colonel truman plants took it upon himself to track down James Pierson
one week later Lieutenant Colonel plants found him in Chicago and before long James his fiancee and his two grown
daughters are on their way to Hawaii to visit Mitchell Sugimoto and his family as Michels relatives gathered to welcome
James the two old comrades caught their first glimpse of one another in nearly 30 years
[Music] yeah [Music] it's great to see you great decision still up the thing [Music]
joy epimers and just wait to see I had to compose myself you know you just completely over
where thank you and unbelievable [Music] Michels wife Connie greeted James and traditional Hawaiian fashion after all
this was the man who saved her husband's life the bottom line I wasn't going to leave
him out there alone under those conditions I couldn't did it well regulations permitted it rule for me I'm
not I just couldn't have did it and it took a lot from from a real special person to do something like that
and my wife she you know when she heard that story she she made it a point to try to
locate him with no success until you found you guys that's my next objective James spent a
full week in Hawaii with Mitch the year the two of them never stopped talking about the past in the future next lining
the time they would see each other again [Music] so how's it feel to be back together
[Music] they haven't come up with their words yet come over there word I'll write you and
let you know there is no word for this feeling you know but for right now they have done with their words
[Music] when we return and childhood sweethearts to murder the tragedy David and Alice
beer [Music] June 29th 1974 in the main Church of the Portuguese island of st. Michael twin sisters Alice
and Georgina arruda married their sweethearts Alice was 17 and her new husband David
Vieira was just 60 David analysis we first cousins but such unions are common among traditional
Portuguese families on that festive day no one could have imagined that 14 years later and five
thousand miles away in America Alice would be the victim of a vicious murder and some of the same family members
would gather again - born at Alice's grave Alice Ferris life and death seemed to
been shaped by age-old Portuguese traditions she grew up in a society where marriages were arranged her
daughter was brought up to obey first her father and later her husband it was a devoutly Catholic world where only
death can truly end a marriage Alice and David were born on Saint Michael one of a group of islands west
of Portugal known as the Azores when Ellis was 9 her family emigrated to New Bedford Massachusetts 35 miles south
of Boston even in America Alice's father was determined that his children will be
brought up in accordance with the old ways my dad was very strict with the girls we
weren't allowed to wear makeup we couldn't wear shorts and definitely we couldn't have boyfriends
you know it was go to school come home to house work and stay in the house we were not allowed to even sit out on the
porch that's how strict he was Alice was 12 when an unexpected letter arrived from Portugal it was from her
cousin David then 11 years old - Ellis is surprised David was proposing that they be engaged what some might
have regarded as no more than a child's infatuation was taken very seriously by a traditional family like the arruda z--
at first my mom says oh you know you're kind of young and my father right away insisted that she should start writing
to him because that was his family and knowing that I you know that'd be nice being married into the family so he gave
the okay on Alice and she wrote back to David stating that they would be going out by writing
the letters continued for five years David and Alice never once talked on the phone they didn't see each other until
the summer of 1974 when Alice and her family returned to st. Michael for the Alisa who that
at the time that David asked Alice for marriage Alice insisted also on marrying him because she thought it would be
better if she would have a little bit of freedom which we never had [Music] David and Alice eventually settled near
her parents and New Bedford although David spoke little English she found work in a textile plant within a
year Alice was pregnant dream average went off pretty good like maybe I'd say about the first couple of
months and then you know already he was already starting with her you know she couldn't wear makeup she couldn't do
anything you know he was very jealous very possessive my sister by 1981 Alice and David had three
children father says that as a years went by David rarely lost an opportunity to
snarl but Alice or the children [Music] she stayed with him because she figured you know he's the father of the kids and
that's how she was brought up you know you gotta be with your husband and that's the way it is
according to photo David's anger seemed to erupt without cards and continued without end
they used to always say if you ever leave me I'm gonna kill you there's no other woman in my you know for my life
like you are you know you're a good mother you have a good cook and he always had threatened her that if she
ever decided to leave him for anybody that he would kill her but we never took it seriously you know
[Music] Cara very busy dude sometimes you go up to my parents and tell my mom and dad my can't
take him anymore and he's always beating me up if any little reason and he's always been up the kids and my parents
would always like tell her you got to stay with him he's your husband you know it's gonna be a shame to the family if
you divorce them we don't believe in divorces so they kept shoving it back to him
finally after 14 years of abuse Alice found the courage to defy her parents and her husband
she finally felt strong enough to say I can't take it anymore and she decided to
get him out of the house she finally sat down and says David I can't take it anymore I want you to leave
David moved out in the summer of 1988 and Alice began to build a new life for herself she enrolled in nursing school
fulfilling a lifelong dream and she began to see another man but David Vieira would not let go
he began to stalk Alice at work and at home night and day [Music] okay [Music] David Clark you
gotta shut up Top Chef [Music] her boyfriend went by the house to see her that morning and
david drove up and down and i think he spotted the boyfriend's car at the house and my brother law couldn't take that
[Music] Alice's boyfriend witnessed the attack and ran a mile to the nearest police
station to get help Alice had been bludgeoned with a tire jack then stabbed 24 times of the
butcher knife by the time authorities arrived at the scene the young mother of three was dead David Vieira was nowhere
to be found we learned that he in fact had taken a bus from Fall River Massachusetts to
Boston Massachusetts and then from Boston to Canada someone matching his description did in fact get off a bus in
Canada near Hamilton Ontario and from that point on we were unable to find out where he went
Update David Viera had vanished and for nearly six years he could not be found until the night of our broadcast
our particular segment on that show aired our time here in New Bedford Massachusetts at approximately 850 p.m.
by 903 p.m. I was receiving telephone calls from Canada right here into my office with very good leads as to his
whereabouts the first phone call that I received saying that they knew where he was I just jumped up with joy and told
my husband I think we got him you know and I couldn't believe it took less than 48 hours to apprehend him
vieira had lived in montreal for at least two years and was well known in the portuguese community he belonged to
a neighborhood soccer team and was employed at a local fish market the era's co-workers were stunned to learn
about his secret past homies the dream I don't believe the guy do that I don't believe you know
that guy's so nice because we see the pictures yeah if we don't see the picture is exactly the man if we don't
see we never trust I've seen him I've pretended and with handcuffs and to me that was a sign of
saying thank God I can rest and my sister can also be at peace now that he's caught
[Music] on our next unsolved mysteries the fascinating saga the infamous gangster
Dutch Schultz and his lost treasure legend has it that in 1933 shots Barry cash gems and bombs were seven million
dollars near a creek in upstate New York less than two years later showst was gunned down by rival mobsters and as far
as anyone knows his hidden fortune was never recovered join me next Wednesday for another
intriguing edition unsolved mysteries [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music]

Brief Summary

Therapeutic touch aids survival, friendship saves lives, and domestic abuse leads to murder in this episode's gripping stories.

Key points

Mariah's Fight for Life. A premature baby girl faces critical health issues, leading to a controversial healing technique.
The Mystery of Tony Lombardi. A mother discovers her son dead, sparking a debate over suicide versus murder.
Death Threats. Tony receives alarming threats from a young person claiming to have a gun.
Controversial Conclusions. The police conclude that Tony's death was a suicide, despite evidence suggesting otherwise.
A Mother's Fight for Justice. Cheryl vows to fight for the truth about her son's death until her last breath.
The Infamous Gangster. Explore the saga of Dutch Schultz and his lost treasure.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I thought the baby was dead.

A mother fears for her newborn's life.

12:16WatchMay 23, 2019

Tension

60/ 100Some tension

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