Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 8, Episode 11 - Full Episode | Forensic Files

tonight on unsolved mysteries Michelle O'Malley says it started with a single vivid dream about her deceased
grandfather over time the dreams became more frequent and more real leaving Michelle convinced that her
grandfather's spirit was actually communicating with her from beyond the grave in Connecticut a wealthy community
is shocked by the brutal death of a 15 year old girl there's a key to her murder why were the sons of a prominent
family who lived across the street for Jean Warren a foster child named Roger Linsley became the loving son she never
had but after three years together the authorities placed Rodger with another family
launching Jean on a poignant search the disp and nearly three decades also we've traveled here to Washington
State for a startling report new information has surfaced in the baffling case of the Green River Killer over a
two-year period he claimed at least 49 victims all of them young women he set in motion one of the greatest criminal
investigations in history yet no arrest was ever made and the name of the killer
remains a mystery incredibly this man claims to know what the police do not the identity of the Green River Killer
it all began here along the Green River near kep Washington when the bodies of the first victims were found in 1982
more than a decade later the search for answers continues join me for this fascinating edition unsolved mysteries
[Music] we didn't [Music] what happens when we die is there a light beyond this one remarkably four
out of ten people say they've experienced some form of communication with a dead often through dreams these
visits are called direct contacts what makes them unique is the specific previously unknown information passed on
to those who have been visited consider the case of Michelle o Malley of Portsmouth Virginia it was November 15th
1993 three months after the birth of Michelle's son Benjamin that evening Michelle had an extraordinary dream the
first direct contact with her deceased grandfather [Music] in the dream I saw my grandfather and he
came up to me and he asked me did you think it's true and all throughout my dream he kept coming up saying did you
bring that french toast first I thought it was just one of those things where I must have had him on my
mind and you know thinking it was just a dream and I asked one of the family members and they said oh yes he'd loved
french toast you know and I was like okay well this must be a coincidence [Music]
Michelle was just ten when her grandfather Benjamin passed away as she grew up specific memories faded but
Michelle never forgot his warmth his strength his kindness Michelle always knew she would name her
first son Benjamin in honor of her grandfather but she never imagined the profound impact it was to have upon her
life a second dream came just days after the first Michelle's grandfather reappeared
with a message for his son Greg Michele's father I didn't know if it was all in my head again like the French
toast or not and I asked my dad I said what did he mean by this and I was just stunned I didn't say
anything she says does that make any sense I says it makes perfect sense and I remembered back when I was a child he
had asked me on Labor Day to go fishing with him and I remember taking the pail and caught an eel and my job was to
carry it back in the pail and it was kind of a scary scary thought I mean this thing's squirming around on this
bale walking back with it Michelle had no way of knowing that I became a believer at that point I knew that it
wasn't something she was just remembering bits and pieces of memories from her childhood that these were
things that she could possibly have no knowledge of one of the most fascinating evidences of life after death contained
in direct context is the fact that the loved ones who have passed on will often through particularly vivid dreams tell
us little bits of information tell us things that we could not possibly know [Music]
Verte I'm Michelle's dreams began to feel more and more real Michelle actually appeared in some dreams herself
conversing with their grandfather [Music] my grandchildren Michele ask Rick if he
knows where your uncle's purple hardens grandpa when I asked my father about the
Purple Heart my dad was like no Michelle you know none of my uncle's not that I know of had a Purple Heart and one day I
happened to be speaking to my mother and I asked her about it and she says oh yeah
she says your uncle had gotten a Purple Heart and she had it and it was wrapped in a flag which my father had also told
Michelle that's that's the way she would find the Purple Heart the dreams began to take Michelle to places she had never
been before places her grandfather has spent some of the happiest days of his life we're late for the track
I'm sorry do you have to go back no come on home but tell Greg I got his lucky pencil I thought now I'm really losing
it this did not make sense whatsoever so I called dad when I told him about the lucky pencil dad just sat there again on
the phone and he was real quiet and he told me that when he was a little boy they used to all go the racetrack my mom
had a box of pencils little stubs and full-length ones and I took that down off the shelf
and I stood at the gate of the racetrack and sold lucky pencils she was coming up
with little nuances that I had no I couldn't imagine how she was picking these things up because we had never
talked about it and there would be no way for her to know these things [Music] another dream at the racetrack brought
more information and the unexpected appearance of family members Michelle had never met locked up Slater's after
they called you know I did not recognize them come to find out my uncle said that
yes my grandfather used to talk to a man who would Clark the horses in the morning and he would try to get get the
good score so he would know who to bet on during you know during that time so yeah it's an I had no way of knowing
that none he said he will always watch over me and Benjamin so in a way I look at it as a guardian angel I often
wondered why me Michelle had named her baby Benjamin after her grandfather I believe that's
the reason grandpa came back to her it was a way of affirming that he's there it was a way also of saying thank you
hey that's nice just the way of somebody here on earth named a child after you'd
say well thank you how flattering that was all two years and more than 100 dreams later Michelle O'Malley looks
forward to each encounter with her grandfather just as one would anticipate the visit of an old friend I just kind
of look at it as a blessing a gift and one thing he did tell me was that I was gonna help a lot of people with my story
and I don't know how I'll know that but I believe him because when grandpa speaks I listen
[Music] make that french toast so they have you mean to measurement because you mentioned out Greg I got his lucky
pencil is there an earthly explanation for Michelle O'Malley's extraordinary experiences a skeptic might say her
dreams are just wishful thinking that hardly matters to Michelle who credits the visions of her grandfather with
teaching her the true meaning of family next a special report this man believes he has evidence that the Green River
Killer was his own brother and later murder rocks a wealthy community and two teenaged boys become
suspects I'm standing by the Green River 13 miles south of Seattle Washington it was here
in the summer of 1982 that the bodies of five young women were found it was the beginning of the hunt for a heinous mass
murderer a hunt that is yet to end tonight will reexamine this disturbing case and take
a closer look at one of the key suspects a man who many believed was the infamous
Green River Killer it remains the largest unsolved serial murder case in US history two years 49 victims all
young females most of them prostitutes who operated along a seat tax strip near the
seattle-tacoma Airport nearly all of them strangled and dumped in a remote area thousands of leaves were
investigated hundreds of suspects interrogated today more than a decade later one man in particular stands out
his name William J Stephens bill Stephens was a petty thief in and out of trouble with the law for most of
his life in 1981 he simply walked away from a minimum security facility where he was serving time for burglary over
the next eight years Stephens avoided the authorities dividing his time between Seattle
Spokane and Portland Oregon bill Stevens was an alienated disaffected individual
who never held a job he fit all the FBI profiles of serial killers his poor relationship with women a mother who
throttled his personality and development he was raging to his friends about how with the prostitutes of the
SeaTac strip were spreading the AIDS epidemic my brother told people on several occasions that he wanted to kill
women he wanted to torture them he wanted to cut them up dissect him he wanted he wanted to fill them with rocks
he wanted to fill them with concrete and he wanted still put all of this on tape
he thought that would be neat Chris take the back January 1989 acting on several
tips police searched Stephens parents house in Spokane they uncovered a cache of guns and police badges
they also found dozens of Polaroids of nude women most of them prostitutes [Music]
in another room police came upon dozens of pornographic tapes and fraudulent credit card receipts from 1981 to 1989
covering the years of the Green River killings Stevens also had had a fully equipped police car which he had managed
to get registered to a non-existent City he had an ambulance police motorcycle those factors tended to make him more of
a suspect in that it would have provided some ease for contacting potential victims investigators later searched a
second house in Portland where Stevens lived until 1985 [Music] in the basement there was a secret room
which could only be accessed by using an automatic garage door opener the secret
room first came to the attention of a neighbor who lived outside Portland at the same time Stevens did he invited her
in to see this room and in in the room as I remember it there was a bed and on the bed was a
mannequin a store dummy that was dressed in women's underwear and was struck in an obscene pose in
January of 1989 Phil Stevens was arrested and charged with felony escape in a series of weapons violations that
summer Stevens was also publicly named as a prime suspect in the Green River killings
[Music] but within months authorities had cleared Stevens primarily because of an
alibi provided by his younger brother I visited him in the King County Jail before he was transferred back to
Spokane and he mentioned that he couldn't have done the killings because he was on a trip in Connecticut visiting
me in 1982 when the killings first happened after the visit bill Stevens and his Paris continued on a
cross-country trip Bob Stephens produced receipts which seemed to prove that bill was still
traveling with her parents when the first five victims were murdered additionally we were able to determine
that Stephens was not in the Seattle area he was either in Spokane or or Portland OR Vancouver Washington on the
day before or the day after 19:00 Green River victims were last seen today many people still believe bill
Stephens got away with murder at least 49 times perhaps the most surprising convert is Stephens own brother the
person who provided him with his alibi I really believe my brother is a Green River Killer that the police had had the
killer behind bars in 1989 and I helped get a killer away free Bob Stephens now questions whether his
brother was in fact with their parents when the first five murders were committed
my dad had told me that my brother didn't always leave with them he would always maybe just kind of join them
somewhere disappear on their trip and then leave again that was his way of providing a paper trail he used my
parents as his alibi Bob Stevens believes his brother had his own unique mo he would travel to various parts of
the country established that he was there fly back to Seattle to commit murder and
then returned to his vacation spot to re-establish his alibi Bob Stephens has never contacted us and provided us with
any information contrary to what he he initially gave us this is basically news to me the police are involved in
misdirection here because they don't want the public looking too closely at the various roles Stevens played in his
life Roderick Thorp claims that the authorities are not reinvestigating William Stevens for one simple reason
thou'rt believes as Stevens was a police informant police are only as good as the
information they get which they get from people who live as Stevens did on the edge of society committing crimes that
the police have to overlook because a guy like Stevens is constantly giving them information about more serious
criminals so he was a good police informant but at the same time he was indulging in his little sport there
which was the murder of young girls and but they never could believe it bill Stevens was never an informant with for
any for any of the local police departments and was never affiliated with any of the local police departments
there's no cover-up with regards to the investigation of William Stevens he's simply not the Green River Killer bill
Stevens died of cancer in 1991 today detective Jensen is the only Police Officer actively working the Green River
case officially the murders themselves ceased in the early months of 1984 we've explored the reasons why the killings
may have stopped the suspect could be dead could it be incarcerated for another crime he could have moved to a
different part of the country but however the killings truly stopped at least six unsolved murders in Seattle in
the late 80s and early 90s bear an eerie resemblance to the Green River killings
if William Stevens was in fact the killer then who could be responsible for these latest deaths it seems very clear
that Stevens did not work along Stephens phone bills were in the possession of the police and one of the detectives
told me that they were puzzled about hours and hours of long-distance calls to a certain number what were they
talking about there is no evidence to support the theory that there was more than one
killer long telephone calls to a friend or are not in any way incriminating and in many cases tend to provide him with
alibis there have been killings since that are Green River type killings all right they're suggesting that the person
who was Stephens accomplice has continued in a very random way because that's the way to get away with it
was William J Stephens a Green River Killer did he work with an accomplice or was a killer someone else someone who
may still be on the loose [Music] [Music] in a moment the woman needs your help to
find the foster son she still loves as a row [Music] for Jean Warren and her family February
of 1967 was a time of tearful parting [Music] five year-old Roger Linsley who had been
living with the Warrens as a foster child was leaving I think the whole family was on edge because we knew that
we were gonna lose Roger and just broke my heart because Roger was our family and I had all intentions of adopting him
and my husband also as our son but didn't work out that way it's been almost 30 years since Jean Warren said
goodbye to Roger Linsley tonight Jean needs your help to find the foster son she still loves as her own they met in
1964 Jean her husband Don and her three young daughters were living in Queens New York but the wars had always longed
for a son and Jean had a special reason for wanting to be a foster parent I was a foster child and because of this I
guess I wanted a foster child to do what somebody did for me it's the tender loving care to me this is what's
important giving a child to love the attention that he needed and not just a bed to sleep in
Roger this is Carol and Wendy and Donna Donna this is Roger hi joy I can place my toys he was kind of shy but Donna she
was a year older than Roger and she took to him the agency did tell you back I saw the problem to me problem
Rogers a little slow he has trouble picking up new things you just have to be patient with him Gina and her family
were more than patients Donna especially took her new brother under her wing all
three of us girls tried to help them as much as we could but since I was closest
to his age I think that's why we got along so good he was my buddy and my brother I thought of him as my brother I
never thought of him as a foster child he was Roger my brother he'd come to me and he'd go I got my shoes on and then
I'd looked down at his feet and they'd be on wrong you know and I was always trying to show him you know which side
to put on which foot it took a while but he finally did learn and he learned to tie his shoes really quickly Roger do
you remember what this is you said the word yesterday is it soda can you say that for me yeah very good would you
like some within a year's time I have to say Raja developed so wonderfully he started
smiling a lot laughing a lot you know he was no longer that shy little boy that walked in that Danny you're doing real
good Roger I'm proud of you I think adjusting and our family was the best thing for Roger whatever we did he was
there with us and each day I was loving this child more and more and more Roger lived with the warns for three
years then in 1967 Don and Jean had to move to Ohio they were heartbroken to learn that they
could not take Roger with him I questioned the agency because I wanted to adopt Roger and they told me that was
impossible because he had family then I asked them would it be possible to take Roger to Ohio with us and that was also
denied because he forced a child couldn't be taken out of state Roger you're gonna go with this nice
lady here despite the fact that Roger had relatives in the area he would not be returning to them instead he was to
go to another foster family Roger will be well taken care of did you find a nice home for him well
I'm afraid we haven't found him a permanent home yet but we found the family who can take him
in temporarily I'm afraid they don't speak English but they're very good family I don't understand what do you
mean they don't speak English well I'm afraid they only speak Spanish oh you can't do this we've worked so hard with
Roger he's doing so well he's made so much progress this kind of traveled me because I felt that Roger would more or
less forget everything that he was taught I just thought that would be the worst thing for him but there was
nothing I can do but I cried naturally even more so I didn't want to let him go come on mature I'm going
[Music] when she took him to the car he looked at us and looked at me and I remember
putting up his hand and crying I don't want to go I don't want to go and you'd be a good boy Roger I could only say
Roger be good take care of yourself and I love you and I'll always remember you [Music]
when we return the unsolved murder of a teenage girl fuels controversy and scandal in a wealthy community
[Music] on the night before Halloween 1975 fifteen-year-old Martha Moxley of Greenwich Connecticut disappeared for 12
hours her family was in a panic the entire neighborhood spread out in search of the missing teenager the next
day another fifteen-year-old girl took a shortcut through Martha's yard and made
a shocking discovery I became an adult very young I saw something I should never have seen I saw this beautiful
wonderful sweet girl who maimed I mean just devastated I saw how cruel people can be to people
Sheila was crying and I civiles she all right did she see she didn't think so and so I stayed in the house and this
friend went with Sheila and they came back in a couple of minutes and my friend said it's Martha and she's dead
the murder of Martha Moxley stunned the wealthy gated community of Belle here initially everyone assumed the killer
had to have been someone from outside the area in fact among the suspects then enough our two young men who lived less
than 200 yards away you have a case here which really should be called getting away with murder
and I believe that where this not a prominent family nobody would have gotten away with this
crime it's been more than 20 years as Martha Moxley was murdered but the case remains
open and is perhaps now more than ever solvable not only because of advances in forensic technology such as DNA analysis
but because of stunning new revelations allegedly made by two of the suspects themselves
[Music] mock's October 30th 1975 had begun innocently Martha Moxley as several friends went out for an evening of
teenage pranks early the next afternoon Martha's body was discovered in her own backyard her jeans and underpass were
pulled out around her knees but there was no evidence of sexual assault Martha was struck with a golf club
she received several blows to the head the head of the club was found 50 feet from the portion of her driveway where
she believed she was accosted subsequently we were able to determine that she was stabbed in the neck it's
believed that the portion of the shaft of the golf club that was used was later used as a weapon to stab her with that
the particular section of the club which is a probably about a foot long was never located here the clubs you
requested from that set it's the only set like that that we have the golf club turned out to be part of a set belonging
to the Skakel family who lived across the street from the moxley's Rushton Skakel is a brother of Ethel Kennedy
Robert Kennedy's Widow in fact that the club now was determined to have come from
that from the Skakel resident I think there was a significant piece of evidence and made us obviously focus our
investigation in that household and within that family the police estimated that Martha had
been murdered between 9:45 and 10:00 p.m. 15 year-old Michael Skakel told police he had been with Martha that
night 17-year old Thomas Skakel was with her as well Thomas in fact was the last
person known to have seen Martha alive we want to listen to some tapes but my brother and my cousin were inside the
house listening to music on the big stereo so we decided to go ahead and listen to music in the car thomas told
detectives that he and martha along with michael and two other friends sat in the
car from around 9:00 to 9:30 well we're in the car for a while and my brothers came out and kicked us out of the car
because my cousin Jimmy needed a ride home when was this about what time oh maybe
9:15 9:30 men well then Brian left and then Alexandra left and a few minutes later Martha left I had a paper due on
Abraham Lincoln so I went back inside the house and up into my room and what time was it say about 9:30 the police
later checked with Thomas's school they found that no such report had been assigned Michael Skakel corroborated
part of his brother Thomas's story Michael told police that at 9:30 he went with his two oldest brothers John and
Rush jr. to give their cousin a ride home but if Michael was in the car and Thomas
was in his room what happened to Martha Moxley on her short walk home investigators found yet another suspect
in the Skakel household about 12:00 12:30 24 year-old Kenneth Littleton had just been hired as a live-in tutor for
the Skakel children he had moved into the house in the morning of the murder I spent the entire time watching TV what
were you watching French Connection anybody see you in there watching TV sure uh mrs watson
she's the housekeeper mr. Littleton I just heard some noise going on outside my window could you go and take a look
please sure mrs. Watson I'll go check so what time was that that was about 9:45 before he went
outside Littleton said that he decided to check on the 7:00 Skakel children the four oldest boys rush jr. John Michael
and Thomas were still not home but his story was he had heard some noises coming from the bushes on the property
and Lee leaves rustling but claimed he did not see anything at the time he was out Littleton said he didn't see Thomas
until 10:25 when Thomas joined him in front of the TV the other three boys came home within half an hour over the
next several months detectives interviewed more than 200 people and gave several polygraph exams according
to the police Thomas cackled was given two tests the first was inconclusive Thomas passed the second
then after months of cooperating with the authorities the Skakel's on the advice of their
attorney abruptly put a halt to all further questioning no one has an obligation to cooperate
with police but most instances individuals who may have some knowledge that may lead to the identification of
an individual who has committed a violent crime are more than pleased to contribute that information to the
police so it's most unusual when an individual possessing information decides that he does not want to give
that information to investigators do you know who killed Martha Moxley know eventually attention shifted again
to Kenneth Littleton who'd been dismissed by the Skakel's after six months in July of 1976 Littleton was
arrested and Nantucket Massachusetts for burglary and theft according to the police he was given a polygraph
regarding the Moxley murder and failed still authorities felt there wasn't enough evidence to make an arrest the
case became inactive no and you know you can always count on your family don't you if you're implying that my family is
lying to protect me you're dead wrong incredibly 16 years later it was a media attention surrounding the rape trial of
William Kennedy Smith that brought the Moxley case back to life the connection between the Skakel and
Kennedy family served as the impetus within weeks the Greenwich Police had reopened their investigation the opinion
of the and most of the investigators who are again trained police officers are is
that whoever was responsible for this crime probably was in the Skakel home at some time that evening and we've been
told in no uncertain terms that under no circumstances would they ever speak or agree to any type of interviews or come
forward and meet with any of us at any time other in 1991 the police had brought in
forensic pathologist dr. Henry Lee who would later gained national prominence during the OJ Simpson murder trial dr.
Lee was able to utilize technology unavailable in 1975 while was able to re-examine certain evidence who was
sample fond some newer evidence among the items examined by dr. Lee were clothes found discarded in the Skakel's
garbage shortly after the murder this included a pair of pants and sneakers which reportedly belonged to Michael and
will found some hairs and fibers some of the hair microscopically similar to hers
other hair dissimilar to her dr. Lee determined that the hair belonged to a male Caucasian but he didn't have a hair
sample from any of the possible suspects and was unable to make a match however after studying the crime-scene
photographs dr. Lee was able to provide a possible motive for Martha's murder the blood smear on her body indicates
somebody tried to use force it's suggest could be a sexual motivator homicide Leonard Leavitt is an
investigative reporter for the Long Island based daily Newsday he has been looking into the Moxley cases 1982 there
were no defense wounds which indicates that she knew her attacker merely the fact that she was hit repeatedly with a
golf club indicates some kind of rage which personalizes this thing which indicates that there was such anger that
the two had to have known each other that it was a crime of passion time and again the trail led back to the
Skakel's by 1995 thomas cackled was 37 years old a successful businessman married and the father of two years
earlier Thomas's father rushed and Skakel is set out to clear the family name once and for all he hired his own
private investigators but what they allegedly discovered about the night in question was nothing short of a
bombshell in November of 1995 a full 20 years after the murder of Martha Moxley Leonard Levitt reported in Newsday that
Thomas and Michael Skakel had made startling admissions to the private detectives both Thomas and Michael told
the investigators that they had lied to the police about their accounts the night of the murder
Thomas said to them that after 9:30 he went inside his house and then he went back out and spent another 20 minutes
with Martha he claims now that he and Martha engaged in a sexual act and then left her at about 10:00 to 10:00 if you
go back now and you look at the story that he told it just doesn't add up I'm very sorry to be calling you so late
but I'm looking for my daughter Martha at 1:00 a.m. Martha's mother called around the neighborhood looking for
Martha they awakened Thomas who's asleep and his story is I last saw her at 9:30
p.m. if Thomas doesn't know that Martha is dead why doesn't he say then I last left her at 10:00 to 10:00 why is he
lying before even knows that something has happened to her that's a question that nobody has resolved his younger
brother Michael says that around midnight he went out to Martha's house climbed up a tree threw stones at her
window to awaken her the only thing that possibly makes any sense was that if Martha was dead at 10 o'clock and he's
up there at midnight they didn't know she'd been killed then climbed down and passed what police now say is the murder
site says he saw and heard something saw nothing and went home and what this wall
means nobody can quite figure out clearly we're a different situation now that we've ever been because we've got
these admissions from Thomas that he lied to the police that he's put himself with Martha at
precisely the time that the police believes she's murdered if you take those articles that being factual the
question arises why did they lie and why have they 20 years later decided to change their
stories there's certainly a strange and different change in stories here that firmly indicate to me that the answers
to this case are within that family it's frustrating to know that for 20 years they've known that they lied and they
know something that's going on and I'm not saying that they did it but they know something that could help us it was
just very exciting to think that we've actually had some little breaking down in their story and just with the hope
that if one thing breaks down maybe other things will break down and it's bound to happen anytime I can do
anything to help it I'm going to do it and I won't give up and I have to do that for Martha
[Music] [Music] [Music] but our next turn saw mysteries do you believe in ghosts perhaps you will for
taking the unofficial tour of the legendary Comedy Store in Hawley some people say that once a celebrity's go
home the real show begins join me next Friday at our regular time for another fascinating edition fun song the spirits
[Music] [Music]

Brief Summary

Michelle O'Malley shares dreams of her grandfather, while the unsolved murders of Martha Moxley and the Green River Killer are examined.

Key points

Michelle O'Malley's Dreams. Michelle believes her grandfather communicates with her through vivid dreams, impacting her life profoundly.
The Green River Killer Suspect. William J. Stephens, a prime suspect in the Green River killings, had a troubling history and connections to the crimes.
Jean Warren's Search for Roger. Jean Warren seeks to find her foster son Roger, whom she loved dearly and lost to the system.
The Murder of Martha Moxley. The shocking murder of a teenage girl in a wealthy community remains unsolved after decades.
New Revelations in the Case. Advances in forensic technology and new admissions may finally solve the case.
Admissions from the Skakel Brothers. Startling confessions from Thomas and Michael Skakel raise new questions about the murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I just kind of look at it as a blessing, a gift.

Michelle reflects on her dreams with her grandfather.

9:46WatchMay 23, 2019

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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