Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 8, Episode 13 - Full Episode | Forensic Files

tonight on unsolved mysteries Karen Wolters was quiet and reserved dedicated to working with disabled children then
she fell in love with and married Richard SEPA Louis a convicted bank robber serving a 50-year sentence today
Karen is awarded fugitive accused of helping her husband escape from prison Gettysburg Pennsylvania is peaceful now
but in 1863 these rolling fields saw some of the fiercest fighting of the Civil War many believe the spirits of
those who died in here still haunt the battlefield the journey into history for a spine-tingling search for the ghosts
of Gettysburg was it harmless recreation or a window into a dark forbidden world
in 1994 a quiet evening of fantasy games ended in the horrible death for two young lovers some say the killer was
motivated by the ritualistic forces of black magic and the occult it was an unforgettable sight a fully loaded
18-wheeler terrorizing campers and picnickers and a remote forest by the time police arrived the rampage was over
the trucks driver had vanished into thin air join me perhaps tonight your call will
make a difference perhaps you can help solve a mystery [Music] I Karen take Richard to be my husband i
Karen take Richard to be my husband on January 13th 1985 after an intense eight-year courtship Karen Wolters and
Richard SEP aloneness became husband and wife Karen was a dedicated special education teacher shy and unassuming she
still lived at home with her mother and sisters it was a happiest day of Karen's
young life for Richard it may have been something different perhaps nothing more than a means to an
end richard cept aloneness was a career criminal serving time for bank robbery and armed assault with the intent to
murder his sentence was 58 282 years a long time to think about the crime that had put him behind bars
August 9th 1973 set the lowness and two accomplices struck in Auburn Massachusetts one robber jumped over the
counter two others had their automatic weapons on me one in front of me one behind me man in front of me put the
weapon under my chin and waited what seemed like a long time was probably just a second so I'd said come on let's
get out of here recess em if we see a cop outside I'm gonna kill the cop and I'm gonna come back in and kill you
[Music] the bandits made off with more than $17,000 in cash a silent alarm got none
marked police unit within seconds everyone's fine it's got guns the red Mustang the bank manager pointed the direction
in which the getaway car had left the bank I followed behind the car when it's probably three three to four
countless behind and going down the street I'm in pursuit of a red Mustang Eddystone paint beach three suspects
extremely dangerous and that's when they started firing the machine guns they put my gun out the
window and fired two warning shots in the air at that point the person that was hanging out the window shooting in
the fashions inside went back into the car and they pulled him in front of a car that was going in the same direction
and opened fire on the driver of the car to create a diversion the robbers had shot and wounded a 60 year-old woman it
gave them just enough time to escape two months later Richard Sepp Ilona's has tracked down in New York City he was
convicted by a court in Massachusetts and remanded to Walpole state prison a maximum-security facility despite his
penchant for violence on the outside Sepp aloneness became a model citizen on the inside over the next five years he
was good as gold a perfect inmate then he met Karen Walters at the time Karen was attending
William Paterson College in her home state of New Jersey Walters was doing a project on while she was attending
college and this project involved writing to a prisoner in Massachusetts or in a correctional system and by
chance she selected SEPA lowness this campaign is letter-writing campaign grew and grew and shortly after that she
began visiting [Applause] you are much prettier than your picture that was the drive oh it was fine thank
you you've never been at a present before no I have it I'm sorry excuse me don't worry about I just want you to be
comfortable means a lot to me I liked your letters I liked yours too your typical inmate in imprisonment
I find takes advantage of people on the community oftentimes they'll latch on to
women who will only want some attention and they take advantage of them and I think the women have beguiled by
the all that attention I can only assume that his relationship with miss Walters
was being conducted in that same vein yeah why don't you ever ask me about the shooting you know why I'm here
I just thought you didn't want to talk about it Karen I did not shoot that inside
I know you do a man on the outside has a job to go to he's got friends he's got other
commitments but a man on the inside a man who's you know either a murderer or a felon serving along an inmate serving
a long sentence he is so focused on that woman she feels so special and so desired and so wanted it elevates the
whole romance to a very high level by 1980 Karen Walters was in effect leading a double life she was teaching learning
disabled children was highly regarded by her fellow faculty members none of them
knew she was in love with a convict we got this shot of view up against the bars let's do one of the Dean Hanna made
it at home meanwhile Richard Sipe aloneness continued his winning ways excelled academically and became the
first inmate at all Pole state prison to earn a college degree dearly beloved we have come together in
the presence of God to enlighten 85 Karen Mary Sep aloneness even though we had served less than a third of his
sentence two years later his model behavior would pay off in a big way except aloneness was transferred to a
minimum-security facility he was very bright and very personable so I think it's once staff find that in an inmate I
think it's it's easy for staff to let their guard down you know I think you always have to be careful with an
individual like that Sepp alona's new home was literally a prison without bars Karen could now visit unsupervised
almost whenever she wanted but with this new freedom claim the ultimate temptation
I want that dream be patient and it'll happen unless we make it happen I don't know if you're ready for that
how do you mean it would be ten months before Karen was ready the trigger was an incident where she and SEPA lowness
were caught allegedly having sex on the prison grounds as a result Karen was indefinitely barred from visiting her
husband three weeks later on a chilly September morning Karen apparently drove to an isolated spot about a mile from
the prison in her pocket twenty thousand dollars in cash for entire life savings
at around noon Richard SEPA lowness appeared yet simply walked away from the prison grounds
Karin waters had made her choice she left behind her career and her family for the life of a fugitive on the run
with Richard SEPA Louis 11 years would pass before anyone knew where Richard SEPA lowness and Karen Walters were
hiding let's go to Keely che Smith to find out what happened after a recent broadcast a viewer in Minneapolis who
had done business with a couple recognized Karen's photograph a taskforce which included the local
police and FBI was mobilized and the house was staked out on October 1st 1996 officers observed Richard Sepp aloneness
leave his residence and drive to a nearby convenience store as soon as he pulled into the parking lot and got out
of the vehicle one of the task force members was right there with him so he jumped out drew his weapon ordered
secularist not to move and at that point other task force members got there jumped out and assisted in the arrest
Karen Walters was picked up twenty minutes later for eight years she and Sepp Ilona's had completely
fooled their neighbors when I found out that they were who they were I was shocked I couldn't believe it my mouth
fell to the floor I never would imagine in a million years that these two people would be that
would do anything wrong a bag of robbery paraphernalia found inside the hideout gave authorities a much different
impression the discovery of the bag with the face mask the gun the rubber gloves
the a large amount of cash and small bills we think that perhaps he's been back in the bank robbery or robbery
business again [Music] coming up two young lovers fall victim to a vicious killer their involvement
with a role-playing fantasy game lead to their deaths but first around the Civil
War battlefield at Gettysburg Pennsylvania they say history comes alive in a most unnerving fashion
[Music] [Music] the obvious scars of healed but 132 years ago at the height of the Civil War
this was hell on earth Gettysburg Pennsylvania the Confederate and Union armies 170,000 strong converged on the
small town of 2400 both sides dead set and determined not to yield an inch three days of ferocious combat left some
50,000 casualties the creeks literally ran red with blood some say Cadiz burg is still haunted by
the ghosts of those cut down before their time at Gettysburg there was so much emotional energy expended in such a
short period of time from the 15 year old kid who was scared to death that he'd never make it home or the 40 year
old man who'd just been shot through the lungs and was dying thinking about his family so much emotional energy was
expended at Gettysburg you have to think that some of them must remain many of the ghosts have been reported by Civil
War buffs known as reenactors dressed in period costumes may we stage the epic Battle of Gettysburg blow-by-blow ray
Hawk says he and a friend were taking a break from one of these mock skirmishes when they were approached by a haggard
figure too realistic to be just another reenactor I think I've seen a ghost I think this guy had original equipment
on original code everything to me points out that it was original role McCoy he smell he he smelled extremely bad a
sulfur and he really looked tired and Hollow look in a face and stuff all right day huh boys yeah what ray says a
soldier handed them each to authentic-looking cartridges when they looked up the mysterious visitor had
vanished where'd you go I simply don't know where he got to I have no clue this is one of the four
rounds that he gave myself and my friend live ammunition hasn't been allowed at Gettysburg for a hundred years but
according to Ray Hawk a university expert determined of the cartridges powder law or genuine Civil War issue
vintage 1863 the Battle of Gettysburg race for three long days each evening darkness brought a lull in the fighting
a morning of the wounded and dying fills a hot humid air soldiers who would survive picked their way through the
battlefield searching for missing comrades a search that some believed continues to this day
in the summer of 1993 the 130th anniversary of the battle a group of friends were at Gettysburg for a weekend
of reenactments one evening we hiked along a creek called bloody run don't let go you'll be ok I was walking along
with my wife and she had stopped me about halfway up the trail he appeared to be a man laying there but he wasn't
solid like you and I are and he news he was more of a hazy mist he was shivering
because it looked like he was in a lot of pain I couldn't go no further emotionally I broke down and cried I was
shaken I had to actually have somebody come back and lead me out of the trail Richard and his wife are the only ones
who had seen the apparition soon after Richards brother David and a few others headed out towards an area called a
slaughter panel they didn't get far did you see that no no see what over there the Phantom was gone but the sons
of the night suggested they were still not alone I was heron cannon shots and drum rolls
and men marching on the road it sounded like it was getting closer so I said to everybody okay let's go it's time to go
we had a thing in Vietnam called the thousand-yard stare and that's when a soldier saw too much
too often Ron Waddell talked to a member of the group the following day and one of the
young men definitely had that the next morning when I saw him he had experienced something which went beyond
the normal the patterns that emerged tell me that something's going on out there other than just individual
sightings when two or three or four different people at different times described seeing the same thing then you
know that something else is going on out there something unexplainable the terror
of Gettysburg was not limited to the battlefield army surgeons deluged with a wounded lacking medicine and proper
instruments handled most injuries with one quick treatment amputation many of the men underwent amputations of limbs
without any anaesthetic whatsoever except perhaps a shot of good old-fashioned army whiskey so the Civil
War hospital then was was probably as close to a descent into hell on earth as the Civil War soldiers would have ever
gotten to this building Pennsylvania Hall served as a field hospital during the battle a
day it houses the offices of Gettysburg College a four-year liberal arts school but the cries of the wounded still echo
here at least that's what two school administrators reported several years ago it was late close to midnight the
two women were alone in the building or so they thought [Music] oh my god what is this what's going on
here as the stench of a hospital was was all around and as they peered out of this of
course this began to panic there was no place to go suddenly one of the orderlies turned to
them and looked at them beseeching me as if he needed help with his horrible task
that he was doing or perhaps helped to get out of this forced incarceration he'd been in for the last 13 decades the
two officials were so shaken by their experience that they have never granted a formal interview that night however
they told the whole story to a campus security officer I would have to say that something frightened them I can't
explain it although I don't believe in ghosts I guess to a certain extent I believe that they saw maybe what they
said they saw only because I know miss credible people are such ghostly sightings of products of overheated
imagination shadows transformed into apparitions fireflies seen as Lantern lights or is it possible to the spirits
of soldiers have breathed their last at Gettysburg remain here eternally in search of peace
[Music] in a moment long-distance trucker Devin Williams as known as a dependable family
man then he took a wild detour off the highway and mysteriously disappeared and later a secluded Lovers Lane an unknown
intruder a brutal double murder a possible link to the occult [Music] many of the mysteries we profile are
just one tantalizing clue from solution a key eyewitness the missing telephone number a clear fingerprint but in the
bizarre case of a missing truck driver absolutely nothing adds up Clues never yield answers the only raise more and
more questions Memorial Day weekend 1995 Arizona's Tonto National Forest the last thing any of the campers
expected to see crashing through the woods with a 10-ton semi-truck astonished to see a large truck like
that on those roads because the roads are not that passable by that large of a vehicle usually most the vehicles we
have up there are four wheel drive the 18th litre thundered back and forth several times that morning to other
campers at a frightening ly close encounter they said he never looked at them as if you recognize there was
someone there there was no expression on his face at all he didn't attempt to slow down or look over to see if they
needed help or anything he just kept on going later that day a carload of picnickers came upon the truck now mired
in a field they spoke with a man they believed to be the driver hey how did you get in here what jail when he said
whatever it was with jail as his last word I envisioned a hostage situation of hijacking kidnapping whatever a
jailbreak maybe and someone had a gun on someone in the cab he made no effort to
keep us there no effort to ask for help do anything for him late Sunday afternoon deputy Dean Wells followed up
a bizarre report at the 48 foot semi was marooned in the heart of the forest when
I initially got the call it really surprised me that you know an 18-wheeler would go down that road and actually
came on to the 18-wheeler it was kind of a matter of odd it was extremely strange
to king the cargo some 1,200 boxes of lettuce and strawberries appeared intact and
undisturbed the refrigeration unit was running the cab was locked the man Charles Hall has spoken with earlier had
vanished when deputy Wells checked the National Crime computer he found no reports of either a missing truck or
driver I did not find any indication of foul play there at the scene the inside of the cab appeared to be very clean I
could not answer at all why of the 18-wheeler was back in there the following afternoon another sighting the
gentleman is his mouth is moving we can hear sounds but like a mumble there's nothing coherent that we can make out
that he's saying he's looking at a tree he doesn't turn to look at us when Jack is asking him the questions hey mister
can we help you yeah I can't Brown closeby I gotta light the grill he has a $20 bill in his hand and in front of him is
a flat rock we look around we don't see anything else around that he would be grilling there was nothing else there
[Music] let's go Linda Arrington and her husband were the last ones to see the confused young man
that same day a long-distance trucker named Devin Williams turned up missing Devin Williams was 29 years old a
husband and father of three by all accounts he was not the type to dump a fully loaded rig in the middle of a
forest but the eyewitnesses were positive the young man matched photographs of Devin Williams finally the mystery had a
starting point on May 23rd 1995 Devin Williams had left his home in Kansas and headed west it was a Rudy had taken many
times Williams delivered his load in California on schedule he picked up blue loads for the return trip and checked in
as planned with his boss Tom Wilson okay looking back I can't see anything out of
the ordinary to make me suspect anything everything indicated it was just a very
normal trip and the time frame and that everything was going real good Saturday evening May 27th Williams
rolled into Kingman Arizona from there he phoned headquarters for the last time I wanna get back on the road by Sunday
morning Devin Williams was off the map barreling through the woods miles many highway to this day no one knows why
none of the theories make sense something happened it was not like him to even go off throughout let alone to
be that irrational reports at Williams were disoriented and incoherent prompted suspicions that he was on drugs but that
didn't fit Devin Williams we'd had no drug problem with him he had passed his drug tests and everything all along with
no problem when you're dealing with people who are missing you can point to something you can see they have a long
criminal history they they've had severe drug problems they've had some mental illness none of those things fit he
didn't appear to be mentally ill and and nobody that I talked to said that he did
he ever had any drug so I simply don't know what was wrong with him certainly we a lot of times we have
people that that want to run away from their responsibilities they having a problem with their wife with their kids
whatever they simply want to run away had devin williams left job and family to start a new life was a significant
the devas briefcase was in the truck but his duffle bag and favorite party of tapes were gone
if Williams had run away he certainly concocted an elaborate cover his erratic behavior would have to have been an act
performed for a succession of unsuspecting witnesses Devon's wife doesn't buy it we're at the happiest
point I think we had been in our marriage we had just bought a house we had so many plans and we've been arguing
whether to put linoleum or carpet in the dining room I talked to a lady who who helped him
quite a bit in California when he'd pick up loads and she told me that the only time Devon ever seemed irritated is when
he had to wait for his load because he was eager to get back home and get back to his family
if Devon Williams didn't run off where was he foot patrols canine search and rescue teams and off-road vehicles
returned empty-handed hunters and hikers in the area never reported finding so much as a bone
fragment or a scrap of clothing some began to suggest only half-jokingly that it seemed as though Devon Williams
had been abducted by a UFO local authorities remain totally baffled I've conducted many searches and I have
not had any instances where I've conducted a search and not been able to find the person I'm looking for either
dead or alive nearly a year has passed as devin williams detour to an unknown fate back home in Kansas Devon's wife
still clings to the hope that her husband will be found I hope that dims a bit with each passing day I've got kids
that look at me and they'll be doing fine and then one day though when's he coming back is he coming back so I just
told me I don't know now if he ain't coming home he's probably up with God [Music]
next a private detective and a respective psychic joined forces with a police to investigate a brutal double
murder [Music] to play you need nothing more than a set of special cards in a vivid imagination
the game involves mystical creatures magic and fantasy elements that some say push participants dangerously close to
ritual violence and the occult you know I'm getting kind of tired I think we should call it a night you gotta go but
Michael Johnston aeroshell Robinson showed no such concerns as they left just such a game one night in June of
1994 perhaps they should have the next day both Michael and Rochelle were found dead
the victims of a hideous double murder 25 year-old Michael Johnson was married the father of - Rochelle Robinson was 19
studying to be a teacher detectives soon discovered that Michael and Rochelle had
been lovers in light of the secret romance authorities ascribed the savage murders to an explosion of jealous rage
however a private investigator no respected psychic disagree they see the homicide as a work of a charismatic
killer entangled in the shadowy world of the art coat a woman discovered Michael Johnston's
body less than six hours after he left the card game his throat had been cut and he was shot once in the head at
point-blank range he was sprawled next to Rachelle's car near a popular shooting range called the
Tacoma sportsmen club Rachelle's body was found later that day on a remote road some five miles from
where Michael had been killed she had been stabbed repeatedly and her throat was slashed to the bone
Rachelle's body was left partially covered by a large cardboard box eyewitness accounts and crime scene
evidence enabled authorities to piece together a possible scenario for that fatal evening police believe that
sometime after 1:00 a.m. Michael and Rochelle parked her car on the quiet road near the Sportsman's Club they were
alone for a while [Music] they were forced to dress hastily Rochelle Robinson had michael johnson
t-shirt on inside out on her body was found and they were removed from her vehicle probably at gunpoint forensic
evidence suggests that michael was handcuffed and forced to kneel near the front of Rochelle's car law enforcement
believes that michael johnson was a passive victim with the real target was Rochelle Robinson they were servile
straight-in type knife pricks I would call them maybe a quarter inch deep and a quarter inch wide in her neck which
would indicate to me - somebody held a knife to her throat to force her to accompany him
detective Reineke concluded that the killer drove Rochelle to the isolated Road some five miles away
we believe this was a crime of passion because of the brutal way in which Rochelle was murdered investigators
believe that the perpetrator of this crime is a person that New Rochelle well and probably wanted to have a
boyfriend/girlfriend relationship with or was an ex-boyfriend of hers Rochelle felt that she was being stalked
by a guy that came into her work approximately three or four months before they found her she felt that that
he'd followed her home several times that he came to work and has stared at her until she left work
this sketch of the stalker is based on eyewitness descriptions however his identity and any connection he may have
to the case remain unknown after a year the official investigation began to wind
down to keep the inquiry alive Michael Johnson's wife Janet hired a private investigator Jim Wright Janet as part of
this investigation I'm gonna have to ask you some uncomfortable questions Jim Wright played it by the book first he
had to clear the victim's family members starting with Janet Johnston then what type of an insurance policy did you have
on Michael and how much was that for we have life insurance policy on on Michael
and we had one on myself as well both of them were $250,000 we both had very large life insurance
policies on each other and that was my at my insistence because I was felt if something happened to me I wanted to
make sure that Mike had the financial stability so that he wouldn't have to work so he could take care of the kids
were you ever aware of any extramarital relationships that Michaels had he and Michelle were seeing each other I don't
know how long it had been going on I don't know if they were going to stop soon or if he was going to leave me or
what I don't we don't know any of that based on a polygraph test the police had already cleared Janet Johnston victims
Jim Wright has found no concrete evidence that might implicate her forth so there was nothing that we were able
to uncover from either Mike or Michelle side initially that every indicated that
she was a suspect but Jim Wright did uncover a secret side to Michael Johnston a world of roleplay fantasy
games black magic and the occult right now believes that this passion but Michael and Rachelle on a collision
course with their killer Michael had a very extensive collection of material relating to the occult because of the
the nature of this crime we believe that people who were involved in possible occult type activities could be the kind
of people that would commit this type of a murder but more than a year had passed
since the murders every which way he turned Jim Wright found the trail stone cold clearly this was an investigation
that demanded an unorthodox approach right turn to Nancy Meyer a respected psychic who was assisted police on more
than 300 homicides it was very hard on Jim because I said you will not tell me anything because it has no validity if
you tell me things ahead of time I don't want someone else's theories because to
me if you're going to work psychically and do it purely you should not pre-read you should go out don't work it cold
without revealing his destination Jim Wright took Nancy Maier to the road near the Sportsman's Club where Michael
Johnson had been murdered I can feel Michael here I can feel his pain I can feel the fear I can feel him
pleading I can also get images of what just happened - Rochelle so I feel he must have died second because I can feel
that the awful images in his mind of what Rochelle has gone through I would not be able to agree with the
theory that would have Michael as an innocent you know bystander not the object of this killing to me from what I
can sense it's the other way around Michael was the actual object indeed Meyer believes that Michael and the
killer knew each other from their involvement in black magic as Nancy Meyer sees the crime Michael
and Rochelle were parked on the isolated Road Meyer believes that the killer a man in his late 30s and too young
accomplices crept up on the unsuspecting lovers come on out Mikey I need to talk to you
man no just need to talk what they seem to be accusing him nice of violating some kind of regulations relative to
some kind of it almost felt like a cult type of situation according to Nancy Meyer
after the killer stabbed Rochelle he and his accomplices drove Michael to the Sportsman's Club the older man seems to
have emotional control over these kids he seems to be able to tell them what to do like a bunch of foolish puppets they
do it Meyer says that her crime scene impressions were so vivid that she was able to envision the three assailants an
artist's sketch Myers impressions this is the killer as he appeared to Nancy Meyer she feels that he teaches at a
local college or university and probably has killed before these are the two accomplices both in
the early to mid-twenties according to mine they are now in danger of being murdered themselves in addition Maier
envisioned this stylized dragon wing medallion she feels that the symbol comes from the occult world that links
michael and the assailants the authorities however are unmoved by Nancy's visions or theories that the
double murder is linked to the occult they remain convinced that the killer will be found among Rochelle Robbins's
friends or acquaintances meanwhile Rochelle and Michael's families must wait for resolution it's a horrible
horrible feeling you just keep going around and around and around it's almost like a merry-go-round and some days you
just want to sit let me off I can't take it and you can't you'll never never get
off of it I know these people whoever did it they're gonna pay then this life or the next and I have complete faith
that that's gonna take place authorities believe the solution to this brutal crime may lie with one of us more
mundane clues the cardboard box a killer placed on Rochelle's body originally the Bucks have large sheets
of high-grade paper used only by professional printers forensic tests have convinced investigators that the
carton was brought to the site by the killer further evidence suggests that for several years the Box may have been in
the killer's home or vehicle perhaps someone watching tonight saw it there no one will ever forget the terrible
devastation and loss of life resulting from the Oklahoma City bombing last year well the Federal Building once stood
only this vacant lot remains a somber monument to the tragedy and while the rubble has been cleared away the painful
legacy of that day lives on next week we'll be in Oklahoma City for a poignant and very special profile one of the
survivors of the Bund needs your help to find the two unknown heroes who saved his life also a surprising report on the
controversial case of White House deputy counsel Vince Foster authorities say he
took his own life some handwriting experts claim Foster's suicide note was faked join me next time for another
edition of the solve mystery [Music] [Music]

Brief Summary

Karen Wolters helps her convict husband escape, Gettysburg's ghosts haunt, and a double murder linked to the occult unfolds.

Key points

Karen and Richard's Love Story. Karen Wolters, a dedicated teacher, fell in love with Richard Sepp, a convict.
The Haunting of Gettysburg. Gettysburg's battlefield is said to be haunted by the spirits of those who died there.
The Mysterious Truck Driver Disappearance. Long-distance trucker Devin Williams mysteriously disappears after a routine trip.
The Disappearance of Devin Williams. Devin Williams' sudden irrational behavior raises questions about his well-being and fate.
Mystery of the Double Murder. The brutal murders of Michael Johnson and Rochelle Robinson lead to a chilling investigation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I want that dream, be patient and it'll happen.

Richard's hopeful words to Karen about their future together.

9:49WatchMay 23, 2019

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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