Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 6, Episode 4 - 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 imagine the vast arid deserts of the American West flowering into a modern-day Garden of Eden
incredible this scenes a former rocket scientist believes he has found a vast underground river in Nevada and could
create just such a transformation after World War two a trusting polish couple sent their only son off to America with
friends they had no idea that they would never see him again in Los Angeles Ted Llosa a prominent surgeon was found
dead in his garage the police ruled suicide but Ted's mother's L was not convinced disturbed
by the odd behavior of Ted's wife zel began to suspect that her son had been targeted for murder
solos have embarked on her own investigation investigation of ultimately forced authorities to
reclassify her son's death perhaps some watching tonight I'll have that one vital clue that could help end cell loss
of SATA SI joint perhaps you may be able to help solve on the street [Music] [Applause]
[Music] [Music] the doorbell rang at 10 o'clock at night and my daughter and her husband were at
the door I was startled company at 10 but when I took a look at their face I knew I was going to hear something awful
[Music] On February 25th 1974 Zell Llosa at Los Angeles California sat ninetieth with
the funeral of her only Son Tay two days earlier the 40 year old orthopedic surgeon had apparently taken his own
life Zell was devastated in her grief she could not have imagined what lay ahead
an all-consuming 19-year investigation into her son's death that would ultimately force authorities to back
down from the official finding of suicide of all people in the world Ted was not one to take his life
my son was murdered definitely [Music] the night turd lows have died police found a suicide note apparently written
to his wife wildered the note said simply all I ever asked for was one moment of compassion and understanding
Zelo safe now believes the note was a finishing touch in a plot to cover up the murder of her son congratulations
Ted this is quite a setup thanks a lot Bob very proud of it Ted Llosa was already a well respected sir claps and
leave his practice in 1971 during a private reception at his new offices Ted was introduced to a nurse named Ted and
Wilda were married less than a year later at Ted's insistence will decide a prenuptial agreement she would get no
property if the marriage ended in divorce within six months that seemed increasingly likely she needed problems
with alcohol it wasn't I soon learned that the marriage was a marriage not of love Wilda would go into history onyx
and scream and yell and carry on the fighting was just awful [Music] apparently is a bitter arguing plagued
the marriage up until the day Ted low Civ died February 23rd 1974 at around 8 p.m. an anxious will delusive and called
police saying her husband was are waiting with Wilden red were Jay a family friend most of South skipper
[Music] yeah Ted didn't answer and there was no sign of it anywhere in the house
well I don't know where he is but he's definitely not here usually parks outside the gates of report
[Music] around the side here Oh they found him in his car in the garage it had to be suicide it wasn't until a
little later when things began to become so suspicious that I wondered about it to authorities on the scene the evidence
of suicide was overwhelming and there was no further investigation no fingerprints were taken no autopsy was
performed no questions were asked in the days following Ted's death cell and Wilda rarely spoke when they did finally
meet face to face March of 1974 Zell was totally unprepared from will des behaviour L arrest will defer a keepsake
a watch she had given her son as a wedding present I know you're worried about this was it worried about this as
oh I didn't care about Ted the way you did I'm glad he's gone we'll discuss comments that awakened
unfocused suspicions in Zell and her grief was slowly overtaken by doubts she began to feel as something was not quite
right about the suicide scene incredibly Zell says the discrepancies finally became clear to her in a dream she
recalled that Ted had never parked his car in the garage I saw a garage filled with lots and lots
of bold equipment cartons of boxes and I realized I was at Ted's garage and I knew that to put his car there it had to
move the things that were in that garage Ted had back surgery it was impossible for him physically and then I saw the
gates these great big double old firing gates in her dream Zell remembered that the driveway gates were damaged and
difficult to open Ted had always parked in front of the house giselle the implications of the dream
were simple but stunning someone had cleared out the garage and pried open the gates
the suicide had been staged her son murdered in cold blood zel suspicions alone are not nearly
enough to get the case reopened taking matters into her own hands she tracked down her son's former housekeeper her
account of Ted's last day would confirm Szell's worst fears for my son Ted to protect her identity we will call the
housekeeper married the following recreations are based on her sworn testimony before a Los Angeles County
coroner's inquest well I was supposed to arrive at 8:30 but I didn't get there until around 10:00 and when I arrived
dr. lo Civ was in the kitchen oh that's okay I hope your wife isn't angry that I
wasn't here earlier she's not going to be around here anymore we had a little misunderstanding and well we're going to
be getting a divorce oh I'm sorry to hear that but around 2 o'clock she came in she she parked her
car directly in front of the door and then she went right upstairs and then a few minutes later I heard all this
screaming and yelling and I said if you want me to continue to work with you you'll have to talk to my husband so he
paid me for my work and I got in my car and I drove down the street and there was mrs. lefse
my god Mary what am I gonna do I can't go back there and then she asked me if she could go with me and I said well yes
so I drove home she kept insisting that dr. Lowe civ had a gun so I called the police no officer no I'm not the wife
well she said that he had a gun he had a gun it's all good she insists that he has a gun
why don't you come talk to him they told me that they couldn't go over there if I
hadn't seen a gun and I haven't seen it Mary says she tried to call Ted at least
20 times between 3 and 8 p.m. every time the line was busy about 8 o'clock I called dr. moseph again it's ringing
finally no one's answering I'm gonna call the police again within the hour police had found Ted's
body their initial belief that he killed himself was confirmed by the discovery of the note in an upstairs bedroom
however to Mary it was the first of several alarming discrepancies I always thought that that note on the shirt
cardboard was kind of strange because I had been ironing doctor love shirts for a long time and I always used a hanger I
never used a shirt cardboard who you see as she stood with her husband and gave the doctor low surfs body
Mary was jarred by another inconsistency when I last saw him he was wearing brown
pants and a kind of a mustard shirt and now he had on grey pants and a dress shirt and do you know that whole time
that I worked there after dr. Lowe sofy ID I never once saw those brown pants and that mustard
colored shirt that he was wearing the last time I saw him the discrepancies became impossible to ignore in the
kitchen Mary found several empty beer cans and four dirty glasses Ted glozer rarely drank
can you come here please a week later Mary found unusual stains on some bedspreads in the guest room oh yes this
is this is the dog's vomit baby were sick last night however Mary remembers the dogs being in a kennel at that time
when she later washed the bedspreads Obama spots completely disintegrating after hearing the housekeeper's many
stories I knew it was foul play and something terrible happened to Ted and that I had to find out there is evidence
of food fiber and the bran key of the logs in 1978 four years after her son's death cell finally won a legal battle to
have Ted's body exhumed for an autopsy the pathologist found undeniable evidence that Ted had suffered a violent
vomiting spell here moments before his death there should have been vomitus on his
clothing his face and perhaps on the inside of the car why wasn't it there this certainly strongly suggests to me
that this vomiting occurred someplace other than in the car and there were a number of discrepancies
that have never been explained but that very strongly move away from the whole thought of suicide this until proven
otherwise as a homicide fueled by the autopsy findings zel pieced together a theory explaining her
son's death a scenario a premeditated murder zel believes ted was assaulted soon
after Wilda and meri left the house I believe that the people that killed my son were close to the wife because they
knew the back door would be open the autopsy indicated Ted had been involved in a struggle
zel believes he was overpowered by at least two men who forced poison down his throat
it was definitely fighting for his life according to the doctor's somebody took the phone off after they made sure he
was dead because it took a certain length of time for this to happen it could be five six seven minutes then
they cleaned him up and they put his great dress shirt on him then they went to the garage emptied out the garage to
make room for the car then they had to open the gates to put his car into this garage carry his dead body into that
garage close the door and then go out and close the gates then they went back into the house I think again put the
receiver back on the hook it's ringing finally all afternoon Mary had been getting busy signal's when she
tried to call Ted now the phone was suddenly ringing Zell believes that this was a pre-arranged message from the
killers to Wilden that their job was done in March of 1982 the Los Santos County
Coroner finally ordered an inquest Szell's murder scenario which many had dismissed as a grieving mothers fantasy
began to gain credibility at the inquest the witness who knew the family testified at the note
the alleged suicide note was indeed written by Ted however he had written it after an argument with Wilden more than
two years before he died the inquest ultimately ruled that Ted loss of death was a homicide but the most critical
witness in the subsequent investigation would soon be lost forever on May 1st 1983
Wilda died from an overdose of drugs and alcohol more than two years later the police completed their inquiry they
ruled that the cause of Ted loss of death was undetermined however Zelo CIFAS convinced that someone has gotten
away with murder she is still hopeful a witness will come forward with new information if the case would open up
and they really get the criminal there'll be a peacefulness that'll come on me I hope a desire to walk to sing to
laugh I haven't been able to if I can do that again that's it [Music] next controversy surrounds a modern-day
prospector had his claim that he has found a vast untapped water supply in the middle of the desert even in a good
year precious little rain will fall in the rugged deserts of the western United States but doesn't evaporate instantly
is quickly soaked up by the few plants and animals evolution has sentenced to living
however numerous legends have sprouted to this otherwise infertile land tales such as the Lost Dutchman's mine or the
missing gold and pegleg Smith in 1927 a prospector named Earl d'Or drove deep into the Nevada desert floored by an old
Indian legend it told of a secret cavern leading to an underground river the sparkled with nuggets of gold hurled or
was just crazy enough to believe he could find it according to an affidavit d'Or later published he and his sidekick
eventually found the secret opening foretold in the legend and squeezed on through
[Music] the affidavit recounts of treacherous 3,500 foot descent into a murky subterranean Canyon Earle claimed it at
the bottom they found the legendary River running as promised far below that cactus and
the scorpions girls said the extorter for days following the river for eight long miles along every footed nature
would slowly concentrated vast amounts of gold what he's describing is something like the world's largest
natural underground sluice where light rocks are carried away by the water and the heavier minerals like your gold your
platinum group metals rare earths would be settling out and concentrating so it's almost kind of a too good to be
true thing Earle claimed that the rich black sands essayed out at a phenomenal 100 ounces of gold per cubic yard at
today's prices a bucket of this fancied earth would be worth close to fifteen hundred dollars it was a stuff dreams
are made of however Earle door had one very major problem someone else owned a land where
the entrance to the cavern was located believing that he could find another way in door decided to dynamite the original
opening [Music] Earl doar was never able to find his treasure again over the next 50 years
others would follow in his path but the location of the river if it existed seemed lost forever
[Music] oddly it was a space shuttle program of the 1980s has suddenly opened the door
to the rediscovery but might be url' doors fantastic River successive missions brought back new and more
remarkable photographs of our planet some of the pictures came to the attention of a scientist named Wally
Spenser for 30 years Spencer had been involved in the development of solid rocket motors for NASA and other
government agencies when he studied the Space Shuttle photographs Spencer was convinced they offered a
down-to-earth opportunity in one picture of Nevada while he spotted what he believed was an ancient river channel
bone-dry for some five hundred billion years but eons ago plants would have flourished along such a river in the
millennia since those plants would have slowly decomposed into black gold Nevada's own crude oil wall-e
jerry-rigged a prospecting device from common laboratory instruments he based his design on two simple facts first the
earth naturally emits a low level of radiation second a large subsurface pool of liquids such as oil will block this
radiation wall he believed that his invention could detect such a drop in radiation thus revealing the location of
a hidden reservoir but Wally had no idea if his device actually worked in June of
1989 with the help of his wife and son Wally put it to the test for three weeks they bounced across the sands waiting
for the device to react whoa Mary stop stop pull it hold it we went off the hill I don't know the wild
response at first suggested a monumental deposit of oil but further testing began
to indicate the warning that they had actually found an immense underground river perhaps the same River
Earle door had boasted about half a century before very disappointing when we found out at one well because once we
started Madeleine looked like the river yeah everybody says hey you found the river you didn't find a pocket of oil
very disappointing but it was so large that it had to be exciting Wally became convinced he had found a virtually
inexhaustible water supply he estimated the flow could be an incredible 17 billion gallons a day in a parched
region like Nevada water is as precious as gold Wally Spencer was certainly it found a
priceless resource there is enough water for a hundred and seventy gallons a day
for a hundred million people now that has got to be something that is extremely of interest to the western
United States to Nevada to our nation as a whole [Music] the land I'm standing on here in Los
Angeles is once a virtual desert but with water piped from hundreds of miles away it became a flourishing garden
Wiley Spencer's River if it does exist could likewise transform Nevada but for Wally that remained just a pipe dream
when he found himself mired down in a bureaucratic standoff with state officials Nevada law required that
anyone drilling for water her first apply for a permit and that meant revealing the rivers location before
doing so Wally asked state officials to guarantee that he would receive a finder's fee even though the state would
all any water that he found however authorities insisted that Wally apply for a drilling permit just like anybody
else no promises no guarantees if I filed for appropriations permit then it would it could be denied on any kind of
whimsical motion the state has like not in the best interest of the people or not to mention best interests of the
state they would own it I would have nothing there's nobody's again I try to rob him of his water rights there might
be other speculators out here that try to might also claim that he has priority if he files the proper documentation and
a lawyer can help him do that all he and his wife Beverly were not convinced and
they weren't taking any chances concerned that others might try to steal the secret of their finds the Spencer's
asked two experts to scan their house for electronic but interesting books at first the sophisticated equipment failed
to locate any hidden listening devices but then one sensor picked up a bug on the phone line you see this guy thing
we're talking about [Music] in addition the investigators found a high-tech listening device secret in the
living room Beverly was convinced that only one thing would motivate the electronic eavesdropping
[Music] they were trying to probably find out the location we never discussed the
location of the water it's not nerve vocabulary so I don't know who did it I don't know why they did it but they
haven't gained from it however there are those who question where the Wally Spencer has any information that is
truly worth stealing he has never revealed his technology he can't show where the water is coming
from he can't show where the water is going and he won't reveal the location so it's not a lot different than the guy
that's walking around the desert with a willow stick or a peach branch and dowsing for water or the guy that's
walking around the crust of the earth with a turquoise bead on a gold chain witching for water
I've known Wally for about 15 years and actually I've worked professionally with
him starting about 10 years ago Wally's one of the true scientist problem solvers that you can run into
he's the type of guy that doesn't run to the textbook to pull out the equation to
solve the problem he takes Newton's equations and he derives what he needs out of them to
solve the problem so he's a true scientist you know I'd like it to be true I mean I don't think he'll find
anybody in Nevada that wants to find water resources like like Wally has described but you have to be practical
at the same time in the way to be practical is just simple questions Wally what have you found with that technology
and the second thing is let me see it [Music] when we return one of your tips leads to
the arrest of a murder suspect [Music] October eights 1980 in Los Angeles California four friends climbed on their
motorcycles to cruise the nearly deserted streets it was a frequent weekend ritual 26 year-old Lisa won a
popular local DJ always look forward to the freewheeling late-night rides but this night would be different
one of the cyclists became involved in an argument because he believed a vehicle was trying to run him down but
the drivers spit in the face of Lee's friend the altercation turned on the four riders scattered although Lee
self had been a completely innocent bystander he became the target [Music] the chase went on are nearly 30 city
blocks it speeds of up to a hundred miles an hour least someone was thrown 100 lady feet
and suffered a massive skull fracture he was rushed to the hospital but died within hours I received a call from
Cedars they said that he was in the intensive care and I knew I just knew [Music]
but I don't believe it yet it's real but it isn't real he was such a big part of
my life he was my buddy wasn't just my son he was my buddy the Los Angeles police began a citywide
manhunt but Lee Selden's killer had skipped town incredibly four years went by before
police finally got the tip they'd been waiting for after a recent rebroadcast of the story a viewer called her phone
center and told one of the operators that there was a man in prison in Georgia would often bragged about
running down a biker in Los Angeles the Los Angeles police obtained a mug shot of the suspect Lee's friends picked the
man out of a photo lineup his name is Franklin Legrand Perkins on July 30th 1993 yes five days before
Perkins was scheduled for parole he was arrested one week later he was brought back to Los Angeles by Detective
Dan Andrews most murder victims know their attackers know their killers but this is a case that that just wasn't
that way this was a random event a person was basically minding his own business and and unfortunate was in the
wrong place at the wrong time and I think it's very unusual to identify somebody and be able to solve a case
after five years it's a very good feeling except for the most important fact which is nothing can ever bring
Leigh back I hope this will bring some closure to this five years of uncertainty and the pain that goes along
with it finally justice can be served and and also I'm grateful that this man is not
out there committing other crimes and hurting other people who killing other people's loved ones one portion of the
grief will be closed or dealt with and I know that when I'm driving on the streets I won't be looking in other cars
wondering if that might be the guy next a young boy is lost to his family in the
aftermath of world war ii plymouth england 1952 even though seven years have passed
since the end of world war two this British port city is still surrounded by refugee camps for families displaced by
the ravages of war in Eastern Europe Helena and Apollinaire II kirovsky a Polish couple are sending their son
Christopher off to America with another family the tearful farewell would prove sadly prophetic though Christopher
kirovsky was only five years old he would never see his parents again for Helena kirovsky the loss of her son
was a heavy blow in a life already marred by tragedy in 1928 Helena had married a dashing infantry officer in
the Polish army after the Nazis invaded in 1939 he was executed Helena was taken
prisoner and forced to serve as a nurse in a German prisoner of war camp for six
harrowing years [Music] shortly before the end of the war a German officer helped Helena escape
alone she crossed the border to Austria then occupied by the Allies it was a dramatic story which Helena would tell
her daughter Michele time and time again my mother was walking down the road and
then here comes this Polish Red Cross army truck and all of a sudden the truck stops yeah she decided that she would
let this man help her and he took her to where all the Polish people were looked
over to her did things for her that nobody had done for her since the war had been going on her heart was
beginning to to become alive again something it hadn't done since the war had happened and he asked her to marry
him and so he says Helena began a new life for the Paulo nari kirovsky they stayed on in Austria
even after the war was over in October of 1946 they adopted an infant and named him Christopher
within a month a karofsky's joined thousands of war survivors flooding into england and into refugee camps
Apollinaire ii found work as a mechanic in 1950 Michelle was born Christopher finally had a sister to play
with my only memory of Christopher is a real happy memory he would run around me
hide behind me and all of a sudden you come around to the front and he got boot and I'd laugh and I'd laugh and I can
still remember to this day the giggles the giggles I was giggling so hard if it's so good it's so good like so many
other refugees Helena and Apollinaire II dreamed of a better life for themselves
and their children we want to go to America to make a visa just tobe oh no no Reva also two children as it turned
out the karofsky's would wait months for permission to emigrate another Polish family living in the camp
had better luck listen I have news for you today I got the visa now we will be going to America
or we'll have a toss for you when do we get to go to America Christopher you must be patient
we will go soon you were to go to America - huh I have an idea why don't you let me Christopher come with me and
my family to America he will play with my children and he will go to school and soon you will be going to America
yourselves the decision was made Christopher would go on before the rest of his family so we could start first
grade in the United States crystal my mother didn't really want to send him with somebody else but my father kept
saying you know education education he's going to get a good education he's going
to be able to start school so it was easier for him but my mother I guess being a woman it just tore at her heart
[Music] weeks went by Eleanor and the Paulo nari continued to wait for their visas they talked of
little else but America and outlandish rumors about life and that unknown land circulated throughout the campus did you
hear this never got scared she had gone through so much during the war and the things that she had seen had made her so
scared that this was another unknown to her and she didn't know whether she could really make it
in the end Helena and Apollinaire II made the agonizing decision to withdraw their visa application they wrote to the
family who had taken Christopher asking them to send him back to England [Music]
don't send Christopher back they don't send Christopher my parents got a letter back from your family in the United
States saying that Christopher had already settled in school had made friends and they weren't going to see
him back Eleanor and apolinaria immediately went to the refugee camps polish Constance he was sympathetic but
all of Christopher's adoption records had gone to the United States making it nearly impossible to bring the boy back
the karofsky's eventually left the camp and suddenly are knotting him they continued to write to the family who had
taken Christopher but received no response in 1966 when Michelle turned 16 she decided it was time to find her
brother it was hard to look for him I really didn't know where to start so I had to ask people where to look and one
person told me to write to the American Embassy and then put a letter inside there for Christopher just in case they
found Christopher and that's what I did two months later Michelle received a reply
[Music] I never thought in a million years that I would actually find him I was jumping
up and down I was running around it was one of the happiest moments of my life I
wrote back right away but I didn't get an answer I waited and I waited check the postman always stopped the
postman asked him if he had any letters for me that were coming from America nothing I didn't get anything back
no letter return to sender nothing the karofsky's were crushed by the lack of further news in 1973 Michelle moved to
the United States after a pollen Airi died Helena finally came to America herself
last April she passed away Alana's dying wish was that her children would someday be reunited
[Music] join me next time for another edition of unsolved mysteries [Music] [Applause]
[Music]

Brief Summary

Ted Llosa's suspicious death leads to a mother's investigation, while a prospector claims to have found an underground river in Nevada.

Key points

The Staged Suicide. Evidence suggests that Ted's death was not a suicide but a carefully orchestrated murder.
Zell Llosa's Grief Journey. Zell embarks on a 19-year investigation into her son Ted's suspicious death.
Discovery of an Underground River. Wally Spencer believes he has found a vast underground river in Nevada, potentially transforming the desert.
A Tragic Motorcycle Incident. In 1980, a night ride turns deadly for a group of friends in Los Angeles.
A Long Wait for Justice. After four years, a tip leads to the arrest of a murder suspect.
A Family's Heartbreaking Decision. Helena and Apollinaire decide to send their son Christopher to America, never to see him again.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

My son was murdered, definitely.

Zell Llosa expresses her conviction about her son's death.

3:18WatchMay 23, 2019

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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