Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 6, Episode 3 - 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 were about to see is not a news
broadcast it was Christmas 45 years ago sympathetic deputies transformed the jail in Henry County Illinois into a
sanctuary for a destitute mother hilda cron and her family but within weeks the simple act of charity would backfire
seven of Hilda's nine children were separated and put up for adoption Barbara pesach was thrilled when her
daughter Paula brought her boyfriend's home for a visit five days later Paula was dead the
boyfriend was on the run suspected of murder also one of the most fascinating mysteries of this century the story of
Anastasia's youngest daughter of the last Tsar of Russia history records that she was executed along with the rest of
her family by Bolshevik revolutionaries at 1918 but evidence abounds that history may be wrong in the 1920s a
mysterious woman turned up in Germany using the name Anna Anderson and claiming that she's Anastasia for more
than 70 years the secret Amana Anderson's true identity has provoked a tantalizing and often fiery debate join
me as we journey to Russia on this very special edition unsolved mysteries [Music]
[Applause] [Music] [Music] her name was Anastasia she was more royal than a princess she was an
imperial grand duchess of russia daughter of tsar nicholas ii the wealthiest men in the world Anastasia
was born with her father's captivating Azure blue eyes but the Tsar already had three daughters he along with all of
Russia wanted a boy an heir to the throne Anastasia must have sensed that she was
a disappointment she grew into an unrepentant tomboy a jokester the family clown even after his son was finally
born Anastasia remained the rebel of the Imperial Romanov family her impeached nature was irrepressible whether she was
rollerskating on the decks of the imperial yacht or enduring the pomp and panoply of the Russian Court
then on July 17 1918 Anastasia's fairytale life came to a horrible end he thought that was tomorrow Athena Capano
she was just 17 when her entire family was executed along with their physician and three servants their burial site
remained a dark state secret as far as history was concerned that was the end of Anastasia and her family 19 months
later a young woman nameless and alone wandered the gloomy damp streets of Berlin Germany when she came to bend
lurid spanning a murky city canal the stage was set for one of the world's great mysteries
[Music] eventually the young woman would take the name Anna Anderson and shocked the
world by claiming that she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia the debate over her identity rages to this day there is
absolutely no question in my mind at all that the Grand Duchess Anastasia survived the assassination of the
Romanovs in 1918 made it to the west and died in the United States as Anna Anderson no question at all despite
adamant opinions on both sides it seemed this was a mystery which would never be
solved then on July 12th 1991 in this remote field near the Siberian city of Ekaterinburg Russia the remains of the
Tsar's family were finally unearthed to the astonishment of almost everyone two bodies are missing from the grave one
was Anastasia's now using sophisticated DNA technology scientists may finally be
able to answer once and for all the question that is haunted history for nearly 75 years was Anna Anderson in
fact the gramme Duchess Anastasia whose name means she who was reborn nicholas ii faded to be the last Czar of
Russia in the beginning his life was the envy of the world an adoring wife of royal blood Alexander granddaughter of
Queen Victoria of England four beautiful daughters and granddaughters is Olga Tatiana Maria and Anastasia and finally
a son Alexei heir to the throne Alexei however was a hemophiliac his disease was kept a tightly held family
secret and the seven Romanovs grew more and more into themselves even their closest relatives so little but while
the Romanovs lived in grand and increasingly isolated opulence most of their subjects were starving but
Nicholas involved his country in World War one hundreds of thousands of his soldiers had neither shoes nor rifles
more than a million men were killed or wounded finally the people rebelled in 1917 Nicholas abdicated to a provisional
democratic government but soon after that government fell to the radical Bolsheviks the Tsar's mother and sisters
made it safely out of the country but the Tsar his wife and children were virtual prisoners and their own palace
on August 13th 1917 the Romanovs were banished in the dead of night and the summer palace just outside st.
Petersburg 11 months later the entire family was executed or so it was thought until the mysterious young woman
appeared in Germany on February 18 1920 after her suicide attempt police committed the young woman to Dahl Dorf
asylum a mental institution just outside Berlin she gave no information about herself and was dubbed miss unknowns
only much later which he take the name Anna Anderson this is a doll door if she underwent her first physical examination
doctors discovered that her body was covered with scars from which they could find no explanation she began to reveal
her own personality very slowly for many many months she virtually never left her
bed and James Blair loves you author of Anastasia the lost princess Lou Anna Anderson personally she was in her mind
in hiding and the best place to hide was this Asylum where no one would come looking for her or suspect that she was
who she was the patient hid her identity successfully until a woman named Clara puth art was admitted to the same warded
Dorf in December of 1921 Clara good morning what is I know you I don't what you're talking about is all right
my daughter you know it is such a miracle that you're alive Clara pew Thoth was a devotee as were so
many people think of the of royalty magazines yesterday and she began to look at pictures of the Romanovs and she
began to believe the miss unknown bore a striking uncanny resemblance to the Grand Duchess of tatianna miss alone
neither confirmed nor denied clear up youth arts claim I can see the resemblance
soon word reached several members of the Russian nobility exiled in Paris they sent an official representative a Madame
Tolstoy to daughter we're just here to tune there's someone coming through - Newt
please go away I don't want to say anyone don't be afraid child [Music] it just that I spoke with your friend
Clara and she has told me so much about you I wanted to meet you for myself [Music]
serious bias over Nicholas later Tolstoy told people that when she saw those eyes in the context of the
rest of the face she knew she was looking at one of the daughters of the Tsar eventually Anna Anderson told
several nurses she was actually Anastasia the youngest Grand Duchess indeed she did resemble Anastasia
facially and in height and age apparently several childhood scars and birthmarks were checked out and they too
matched now the fresh scars seemed to make sense perhaps your remnants of Bolshevik
bullets and bayonets four years later in July of 1925 while the young woman was hospitalized for surgery she received a
visitor sure as yard Anastasia's former nanny had come to see for herself just who miss unknown was
Shura recognized the Grand Duchess both by her childhood scars and by a bone deformity on her right foot
then the young woman beckoned assured a massage her forehead with Cologne it had
been a favourite childhood ritual of Anastasia's known only to the two of them later sure and her husband brought
the Tsar's sister Olga to visit Olga had last seen her niece when Anastasia was a
plump boisterous adolescent more than a decade [Music] her aunt said that this young woman had
lost so much weight that she was unable to make a positive visual identification
of her and so they talked I'm so according to Anastasia Olga then did say you are my niece I recognized
[Music] the hospital the next day and a private visit with Olli Anastasia made a revelation about the Czar's
secret bank account which would ultimately prove to be her undoing no escape from Russia I don't think you
have to worry about me why not because all the minors of Nicolas left for us there was she
believed in the Bank of England 80 million dollars this was news to the family and that one conversation that
incident radically changed the life of Anna Anderson forever Anastasia was betrayed eighty million dollars in 1925
was the equivalent of five point six billion dollars in today's economy it was ample motivation for Anastasia's
aunt and the others surviving Romanovs to deny her identity and therefore her right to any of the money
in essence she was once again however Anastasia was not abandoned by everyone in 1947 she took up residence
in a German castle under the protection of a sympathetic Duke and Duchess that spring Gleb Botkin a close childhood
friend of Anastasia's traveled from his home in the United States to see whether
the Grand Duchess had somehow survived Gleb was a youngest child of the Tsar's physician dr. Eugene Botkin the doctor
had been executed along with the imperial family but Gleb was able to escape from Russia one of the childhood
games that he and Anastasia had played together was that Gleb would draw or would paint a watercolor painting of
animals dressed in human clothing and in human-like situations give the picture to the young Anastasia and she then
would make up a story to explain the action in the picture but I would like to see the pictures oh yes he recognized
her immediately and as she leapt through them she remembered the stories that she
had made up years earlier to accompany the pictures that they were safe because the cat was called by a lion it was the
most significant recognition of Anastasia in her lifetime and Gleb Botkin this became as she calls her
lifelong champion friends only later would Ana recount for a Gleb would she knew about the terrible night
of July 17 1918 how she had been horribly wounded and rendered unconscious during the execution how she
had been thrown on a truck for the dead bodies ever family how the truck lumbered off into the night heading to a
secret gravesite is now your own show commercial crystal resolution at some point the truck
overheated dissident a soldier named Alexander Tchaikovsky was one of those left to stand guard
he realized Anastasia was not dead aided by his brother Tchaikovsky spirit has her two safeties
[Music] Alexander Tchaikovsky was later killed in Romania anastasiya eventually made
her way to Germany and bendlerblock [Music] twenty years after the Czar's assassination Gleb Botkin and Hanna's
lawyer were finally able to go to court to claim Anastasia's inheritance and thereby prove Anna Anderson's identity
that Emma Anderson is the Grand Duchess Anastasia during the course of this entire case the Romanov none of the
princes had any idea that the case including several appeals would drag on literally from the rest of their lives
from the beginning Anna's attorneys based their arguments on the numerous points of similarity between the Grand
Duchess and Anna Anderson experts analyzed photographs of both women's ears the match impressed even Anna's
bitterest enemies their nice cars and birthmarks also matched handwriting samples were analyzed and found
virtually identical Anna was now 58 years old she had become increasingly eccentric and was almost totally
uncooperative both with her own attorneys and with the courts and I lived in a remote German village near
the Black Forest her modest cottage was overgrown with weeds and overrun by her for dogs and 30 cats
[Music] can I talk to you in 1959 during an appeal of the case a judge and two language experts came to ascertain
whether Ana will almost always spoke German or English could also speak Russian while these people these are the
experts that your attorney agreed upon and Anastacia refused to allow anyone into her house except the judge any such
meeting and when he extended his hand to shake hers she refused to do so so saying that she was afraid of germs in
fact she considered it a breach of etiquette on the part of a lowly German Supreme Court judge to want to shake the
hand of a Russian Grand Duchess I have made my choices and I'm willing to live with them she refused to speak Russian -
he I don't think was totally social as if this were just a little tea party and at the end of ten minutes she dismissed
him at this meeting so finally in 1967 the German High Court issued a decision there was not enough evidence to prove
Anna Anderson's claim the court did state however that the death of grand duchess anastasia could not be
considered a verifiable historical fact despite that small victory anna had had enough of lawyers and courts these home
movies of anna anderson televised here for the first time were shot in germany in 1967 the following year anna moved to
Charlottesville Virginia for her protector Gleb Botkin and produced her to one of his friends
on December 23rd 1968 Anna married Jack Monahan 18 years our junior one year later
Gleb Botkin died never wavering in his belief that Anna Anderson was Anastasia in fact Anna now called herself
Anastasia Manahan she and Jack were a quirky eccentric couple the bane of their neighbors existence over the years
Jack's once beautiful house became overgrown and full of cats [Music] Anastasia died in 1984 Jack in 1990 16
months later on July 12 1991 the imperial family skeletons were finally exhumed near Ekaterinburg Russia after
the execution the bodies have been buried hodgepodge still everyone expected to find all seven Roman arms as
well as four members of the family's entourage misty security media Billy in the grave there was
supposed to be 11 bodies for the whole year we look toward the two missing skeletons but we could never find the
middle face has been badly fractured in an effort to determine which skeletons were missing the Russians invited
American forensic expert dr. William maples to examine the remains it's a shame you don't have we looked at the
remains we photographed the remains we measured the remains and for each of the nine skeletons we determined age sex
race we determined that the Czar was most likely their bodied 7iz czarina we had the family physician dr. Botkin
and we had three of the daughters but I don't believe any of the three daughters
could be young enough to be Anastasia who was 17 years one month at the time of the shooting
also missing with the remains of Alexi the Tsar's youngest child and only son it was the absence of Anastasia's body
however which once again fueled the controversy was it possible that Anastasia had somehow managed to escape
the carnage whether she could have survived that night I seriously doubt it as forensic scientists looking at the
objective evidence that we have we don't have any evidence that anyone would have
survived the damage to the remains was was pretty profound [Music] the official bolshevik account is as
follows Washington recipe significant recipes the Romanovs were imprisoned in the former home of wealthy Ekaterinburg
industrialists the Tsar had been voted by the Bolsheviks to awaken his family that was unrest in the town and
supposedly the Romanovs had to be moved for their own protection is repeated you
would have is a posthumous mr. Superman you mean the girls were given half an hour to dress they carefully laced on
their corsets a fortune and precious stones and gems had been sewn into the Lightning's the Romanovs along with Gleb
Botkin father and three servants were led into the cell they had no way of knowing they were about to die
[Music] the Zarina asked for chairs proceedeth Puglia two were brought then abruptly yeah coffee offski the
bolshevik officer in charge read the orders of execution with our specialist interpreter brightness to
play an aside score I see you prosper compass traveler still address Nikolas dumbfounded asked him to repeat
he tooted worse the washer lowest energy producer Agnes to plinian as idea to ICU
for Alice Falcone pasta novelist real actress [Music] they began shooting the bullets pounds
of Grand Duchess and returned to them they did not know that in corsets of Grand Duchess the Serena hid their
jewels and jewels protected them they decided that God protected them and they a little and they immediately began
became crazy and disorder shooting began in the first volley of shots anesthesia
was not hit after everyone else was dead even the Bolshevik accounts will tell you that Anastasia was alive
one account has her standing up and screaming while one of the guards stuck a bayonet through her one of her feet to
pin her to the floor and the other one clubbed her in the jaw with a rifle but [Music]
assuming Anastasia was now dead Yurovsky x' men loaded all the bodies onto a truck
however enroute to the secret burial site the truck would get bogged in the mud and yer offski would decide to
dispose of the bodies on the spot Yurovsky reported that in order to confuse anyone who might locate the
grave he burned two of the bodies the disposed of the charred remains right there the other nine he wrote were
buried together a few meters away edvard radzinsky author of the last song the life and death of nicholas ii believes
that europe's key simply invented this scenario cover up the fact that he could not account for all the bodies they did
not see two bodies when they buried the romanov in this terrible grave and Yurovsky had only one opportunity to
explain it he wrote we burn two bodies it was the end Costas not only anastacio but two of the other daughters as well
were actually life Michael Medved yep whose father was a member of the execution squad disagrees when the
soldiers began to move the body from the wall of execution onto some stretchers the girlfriend gained consciousness and
wanting pain including a Nastase in one of the soldiers named Peter your mucky Anastacio
and so the great riddle continues is the body of grand duchess anastasia hidden in a shallow grave near the spot where
the rest of her family was found porta anastasia somehow survived the assassination only to emerge years later
is eccentric Anna Anderson many of those who knew Anna best believe the truth is
undeniable Anna Anderson was Anastasia all she wanted was for the world to leave her alone and for her surviving
family members to publicly acknowledge what they privately acknowledged and that was simply her identity
[Music] it was December of 1948 Christmas was just around the corner Anna Wong Illinois seemed like a Norman
Rockwell painting wholesome peaceful serene but while most families were joyfully anticipating the arrival of the
holiday season one couple Frank and Hilda Crum were visited by disaster the krons were dirt
poor and lived with seven of their children in a small farmhouse on the outskirts of town and it was no plumbing
or heating and every night the children all crammed into a single bed to keep warm
yes hello you mrs. Hilde cron yes I am [Music] judgmental no I'm sorry you had to leave
early this morning why is something wrong well yes ma'am I'm afraid there is we have a eviction notice here from your
landlord and I'm afraid we're gonna have to ask you and your family to vacate the
premises the deputies learned that the cons had nowhere to go and took pity they decided
they could not let the family spend Christmas out in the cold in the spirit of the season
they took hilda and the children to the only available shelter in town the Henry
County Jail Raymond cron was 8 years old at the time yeah it flutters all in the
car did jail would come it was it was just a place for us to be in otherwise his what I kind of remember of his being
that there was no other place for us [Music] suddenly the jail was transformed his
cold cement walls were now home for a destitute mother and her seven young children the boys and girls are free to
roam throughout the jail but in a mystery that is still troubling their parents were forbidden to see one
another dad wasn't allowed to go in to the jail to see mother and she wasn't allowed to go out and I never understood
that either like to say they let us go ever wanted to do what ever wanted to be able to go outside and whatever we
wanted to you get out and talk to other prisoners he used to play with things that we weren't supposed to but I
remember the fun place yeah because I was only eight and I didn't know what was really going on marie chrome was
four years old in 1948 her memories of jailhouse life are quite different from her brother Raymond's one time my mother
was giving me a bath and the police men were walking by good afternoon ladies and I got really nervous I didn't want
to be in that tub every time then after that it was time for me to take a bath I
didn't want to because I was afraid these men would walk back by again and see me in that tub a week went by then -
on December 17th 1948 the family's plight was publicized in the local newspaper which carried this photograph
the only family portrait known to exist in response many community members offered assistance a well-intentioned
social worker hoped to brighten the children's Christmas by taking them out of jam and placing them in foster homes
for the holidays hello you must be Francis in are you Marie you girls are going to come with
me for a little ride I remember that Francis and I neither one wanted to go we really had never
been away from her mother we had always been to our mother had always been there
and everything else but finding we had to go I mean there was no way that we were going to get to stay there I feel
that she felt that if we went that we would have at least a nice Christmas one that we had never actually ever had in
our life and then like I say that's the last time we even one of us saw our mother after that while her mother
remained behind bars Marie and Francis were placed in separate homes and eventually adopted to this day we
wonders whether her mother actually consented to give the children away [Music] maybe she couldn't read and if she
signed any papers that was giving us away she didn't know what she was signing that she was maybe even told
that she was signing a release form for us giving her permission for us to go for over the holidays Christmas Day
finally arrived at the Henry County Jail it was a day without Santa Claus and stockings but not completely without
Christmas spirit reason why no it was Christmastime is because when we got our dinner tray
there was a candy bar on it it made him fresh nominee because probably never had
anything like that for quite a while and or even you know anything for Christmas
for a while but I remembered of you know and and this it did stick in my mind and
it always will within a month Raymond and his brothers Clarence and Leonard would be placed in
children's homes but the fate of their parents Franken Hill dacron remains a mystery to this day
Murray recalls being told that they had been banished from the state of Illinois
my adopted mother told me that they were never to return that if they did they would be arrested
that I don't but they she never explained why or anything else the secrets about her mother and father
plagued Murray throughout childhood she and her sister Frances now named June had been adopted by neighboring families
who for reasons unknown insisted on keeping the young girls apart I remember that one time I went up to
the store and Frances was up there at the store so we walked home together and we talked and then her mother came and
called her in and she told me she'd be back out and I waited and waited and then finally I
went and knocked on the door and her adopted mother came to the door and says she can't come out she has things to do
and then shut the door and I went home and I was real upset about [Music] years passed re never stopped wondering
about her brothers and sisters finally in 1966 re learned through a mutual friend that Bremen whom she had not seen
in 18 years was living in a nearby community I remember driving down the street looking for a Raymond's house and
then I saw this guy standing on the porch and I knew right away it was Raymond and I stopped the car and jumped
out and ran up there and it was really wonderful to see him again after all that time not being together
then she there I knew she was my sister just you know it just I knew it was her I hadn't seen her for 18 years and it
was a real exciting reunion hurryin Raymond spent hours reminiscing and catching up on the years it's been apart
together they bound to find out what had happened to the rest of their family [Music]
for 18 years Marie and Raymond suffered through a series of near misses and false leaves finally in 1993 they did
locate one sister Carol then their story aired on unsolved mysteries incredibly within a few hours two more sisters and
three brothers had been found on July 9th 1994 we were at Raymond's house in Houston Texas as the Kron family
gathered for their first reunion at more than 45 years Marie's dream had finally
come true I've been looking forward this for a long time because I didn't know if
I would ever get to really meet him in person or not I feel that the love is you know still there it's it never went
away it was it's always been there and I always wondered about them and now I'll
finally get to find out what's been going on with their life and everything and get reacquainted
[Music] for the oldest sister Betty Jane the reunion was particularly emotional I
knew that was Marie right away just by looking at her I knew that was Marie and that's when the first one I embraced I
was very happy to see them all and they all started coming to me and I started going to them hugging them and
everything so I was very happy and I feel so good I really do for Raymond the end of the search meant a new beginning
I always knew that their names and everything but just as I you know I didn't know how to go about finding them
or anything we hunted and we just got turned down every place we turn to try to find him and then though this come
along and it worked when we return authorities need your help to find a man suspected of killing
his girlfriend [Music] Kissimmee Florida is a lakeside resort town about ten miles south of Orlando
July 9th 1986 22 year-old Paula pasilla and her boyfriend Jerry Gerber Sony arrived from New Jersey to visit Paula's
mother Barbara they stayed there about one week we all had a good time together Paul I was just happy as a lark the two
of them were I mean we're very together they were they were just happy-go-lucky during the visit Paul Dunn Jerry slept
in Barbara's bedroom while she slept on a couch well just thinking maybe go visit my relatives down in Miami on
Sunday four nights after they arrived Paul and Jerry told Barbara they would be leaving the next morning for a short
excursion to another part of Florida well I got up the next morning good night and I thought I heard them up and
I didn't know whether they were not so I didn't bother to say goodbye maybe if I had you know pinkish would
have been different for a couple of days over the next five days an odd smell began to walk through Barbara's mobile
home food however she and a friend were unable to determine where it was coming from well on Saturday morning I got up
and by now the odor had really become strong to the point where I had to search around to see what was causing
this barbara searched the entire trailer and found nothing the last place she looked was in her own bedroom
[Music] hidden under the bed wrapped in a bamboo curtain I was paulus body at first I
wasn't sure of what I sing just didn't expect it I had to stop and think is this real or am I seeing things
Paula Pesach had been strangled to death and left under the bed for nearly a week
the prime suspect was Jerry curva Sony but he had dropped from sight less than a month later authorities got their
first break on they questioned a friend of Jerry's just three days after the murder he had picked Jerry up at the
Newark New Jersey airplane and claimed the Jerry virtually confessed to killing Paula what did you say I told you I
killed someone I don't know what happened I freaked out I lost it what I need some quick cash so I swiped the old
lady's paycheck what are you doing nothing why are you in my mother stores looking for a life
wait wait wait these wait these are her papers and I saw you put something in your pocket you try to rip
her off though then let me see what's in your pocket though let me touch you need
a herder broken neck look man if you've done something like that you're not getting my car and you're not
coming back to my place you got it I scared you the witness was very surprised when he
learned that Paul had been more senior faith after seven years I believe that Jerry has decided it he's no longer
wanted or that we're no longer looking for him and he's able to roam the streets freely without aurilla being
arrested but the seven years since Paula pzx murder have been filled with pain for her mother Barbara in that time
Barbara has seen her own life gradually unraveled I've become a very angry very hateful person your life is never the
same party it dies update British Columbia Canada on October 21st 1993 Jerry Gerber Sony was
arrested in the small community of salt springs Island where he had been living under the assumed name Gordon McIntyre
but our program aired in Canada there by Sony's former landlord recognized him and immediately called authorities I
come home and sit down to dinner about 9:30 quarter to 10:00 and flip on the TV and there was a black-and-white photo of
Gordon McIntyre my tenant once in custody the suspect vehemently insisted that he
truly was Gordon McIntyre but fingerprints soon confirmed that he was in fact Gerald curva Sony at the
local airport irva Sony tried to avoid photographers as he was hustled onto a leading
airplane he was then flown to a deportation hearing in Victoria Canada your vaso
knee will be held there pending extradition to Florida where you'll face charges in the murder of paula pay dziak
[Music] join me next time perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery [Music]
[Applause] [Music]

Brief Summary

Hilda Cron's family separation, Paula Pesach's murder, and the mystery of Anastasia Romanov's survival are explored in this episode.

Key points

Anastasia's Execution. On July 17, 1918, Anastasia's fairytale life ended in a horrific execution alongside her family.
The Mystery of Anastasia. The story of Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the last Tsar of Russia, remains a captivating mystery. Was she executed in 1918 or did she survive?
Anna Anderson's Claim. A mysterious woman named Anna Anderson claimed to be Anastasia, sparking a decades-long debate.
The Missing Bodies. The remains of the Tsar's family were unearthed, but two bodies, including Anastasia's, were missing.
The Court Case. Anna Anderson's identity was challenged in court, leading to a prolonged legal battle.
A Family Torn Apart. The Crum family faces eviction and ends up in jail for Christmas.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The debate over her identity rages to this day.

4:33WatchMay 23, 2019

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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