Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 9, Episode 2 - Full Episode | Forensic Files

tonight on unsolved mysteries peace harmony enlightenment and 11 untimely deaths this is a legacy of an obscure
spiritual movement what a respected young English professor joined up his family became concerned now he's
disappeared and they're asking for your help - Elizabeth Jess check Jonathan Palmer
was dashing sophisticated and fearless everything you'd expect the world-class racecar driver to be Elizabeth fell
madly in love headlong into him is our mystery in Georgia a secluded Lovers Lane a burst of gunfire a young couple
swinging about to witness disagree on the identity of the killer once upon a time a young boy tossed a message in a
bottle into a landlocked Lake he never dreamed he was launching it on an improbable around-the-world journey also
tonight and exciting up there and see how a viewer tip thought about the capture of an accused killer join me
perhaps [Music] [Music] by the Lu I'm sure you've heard yes and I'm sorry to have to put you through
this this way in this haunting message to his family 50 year-old Don Hoffman revealed he had
terminal cancer a diagnosis he said three different doctors had confirmed the test
just hours after making this video Hoffman took his own life an autopsy however found absolutely no trace of cancer
Hoffman's children have never been able to learn the names of his three doctors or even if they existed on the videotape
Don Hoffman said goodbye to five different family members there was no farewell to the heirto Hoffman's estate
his second wife Terry founder of a spiritual movement known as conscious development of body mind and soul today
Terry Hoffman is a woman at the center of what some might call a circle of death among the victims Mary Levinson
drug overdose David and Glenda Goodman shot to death probable double suicide Jill bounds
bludgeoned to death sandy cleaver drove off a cliff in broad daylight Sandy's 14 year old daughter Devereaux
drop [Music] eleven untimely deaths eleven people with a director in direct link to Terry
Hoffman now some believe a twelfth name should be added to this somber list Charles southern jr. a respected English
professor southern mysteriously disappeared more than seven years ago and his family believes it may be no
coincidence that he was a disciple of Terry Hartman call upon your master visualize peace harmony enlightenment
Terry Hoffman offered all this and more to Charles southern and the many others who joined her group conscious
development the lord of the fifth plane to guide you at this time part of the belief system Terry taught us was that
death was really just another state of consciousness and it wasn't a bad thing it was anything to fear
Peter muth belonged to Huffman's sect for more than a decade the other thing we learned was that the dark forces out
there in the universe had a name they were the black Lords black overlords they worked for Satan fight those dark
lords in I the group we worked with with the white Brotherhood or good benevolent
characters there on God's side good guys and we worked with them to combat the dark forces
Terry Hoffman cultivated followers around the country among those who joined the Chicago branch of conscious
development as Charles southern jr. southern was assistant chairman of the English department at a local junior
college joining Hoffman's group was his most recent foray in an ongoing search for spiritual truth an odyssey that had
taken Charles southern as far away from home as India and Africa Charles was very interested in Eastern
religions and various religions in fact he studied all the different religions that he could and that was his curiosity
I think it got him in trouble my feeling is that his interest in Tara was he felt
a power there and that that was real to him the fact that this power might not necessarily be have a good will or not
not that was sort of irrelevant to him I guess to relax Charles rose quickly to a position of
influence and Terry Hoffman's organization teaching classes of leading meditation sessions at your own pace
eventually he was invited to her home in Dallas the darkest of the Lord comes and
he is bright by then terry hoffman had begun to portray herself as a target of attack by
the so-called black lords during special meditation sessions hoffman exhorted her
trusted inner circle to erect quote a psychic shield around her peter muth says he saw Charles at one of these
meetings continues I just met him briefly but the reason it sticks in my mind is he came as a visitor to one of
these closed meetings at Terry's house where she's having psychic surgery to repair damage to her done by the black
Lords have been attacking her the intertwining of light and dark I felt that if Charles or any of us who are in
that room Terri's master bedroom but only be there Terri's invitation and only be there because they're true
believers in the reality she is selling us about creation and her role in it as a god-like figure but it must be
stronger our inner core group we're fighting the battles lived in a kind of constant state of fear because we're
always under attack from black magicians who supposedly could kill us who could drive us insane and as the years went by
you saw people in your group actually start to show signs of the strain show the signs of mental and emotional
problems Charles southern was apparently one of those who buckled under the pressure
we found Charles wandering on the street carried a newspaper stating I lived for
art we got him in the car and took him to Michael Reese hospital for examination stating that he might be
suicidal and he also seemed to be reciting something in a strange language over and over and over again during
Charles's recovery his mother visited everyday so did two members of Hoffman's sight this is my mother later I was to
find out from my mother who stayed with my brother during the whole five days that whenever she was there at the
hospital and they came she was asked to leave the room and stay out Epona's release Charles resumed his
normal activities he remained active and Hoffman's group though friends say he eventually became disillusioned with
Hoffman herself as 1987 drew to a close Charles made arrangements for a trip to India during the Christmas break
[Music] Charles talked to his family several times in the days before his scheduled
departure his mother believed something was very wrong [Music] this is your mother I was concerned
mother yes it's me no no I'm fine I told him that I was disturbed and I felt that I should just come to Chicago
and he said no he said you don't need to come to Chicago because I'm perfectly all right and I will be leaving for
India in three days so he assured me that everything was all right and without assurance I didn't go it was the
last time mrs. southern spoke to her son two weeks passed we of course wondered why we didn't hear from him but he had
travelled so much and so often to so many parts of the world I wasn't overly concerned until he was overdue Charles's
parents drove the 300 miles from Cincinnati when they broke into their son's house a nagging concern for his
well-being turned to outright fear Charles's passport showed no sign of entry stamps from India if he had not
flown overseas then where was Charles during the previous two weeks stashed in a drawer was a file containing a
powerful medication similar to the lethal South American poison curare we don't know why my brother had
this file which was later identified to be a ganglionic blocker which is a medicine used in anesthesia which causes
total muscle paralysis it has to be injected - not eaten precisely arranged on a ceremonial stool
from Africa where Charles's winter dress hat and his coat neatly folded inside out only later would the family learn
that Tablo was a Nigerian tribal symbol of death but who might have left this sinister display and finally there were
two scribbled notes and you're barely legible but appearing to constitute a last will and testament
this is Charles handwriting but it doesn't make sense one said in part I came under a bad influence and I was
trying to fight it myself Terry Hoffman was mentioned twice a named executor there is just a lot of
death and unhappiness around this woman and Charles disappearance simply fits into that pattern is there a pattern if
so that is marked by stunning coincidence over a 12-year period two of Hoffman's four husbands
her only son six followers and two people related to or employed by a follower came to an unnatural end causes
of death one murder four fatal accidents and six suicides in over half of these deaths
Terry Hoffman had been recently named heir or beneficiary designated to receive well over a half a million
dollars in cash plus hundreds of thousands more in real estate fine art and jewelry
should charles southern be added to the list Burke and his long abscess be otherwise explained perhaps another
mental break and a descent into the silent world of Chicago's homeless it is important to note that authorities
have not directly linked Terry Hoffman to any of the deaths and no charges have been filed our letters and calls to
Hoffman inviting her to participate in this broadcast were not answered as for Charles southern at the time he vanished
Hoffman assured his family that she had no idea what had happened to him [Music]
next if your young attractive and female look out for a man named Jonathan Kern he may be out to steal more than your
heart [Music] in the high-octane world of Formula one auto racing danger destruction may lurk around any
Curt those who emerged triumphant can win fame fortune and the kind of adoration usually reserved for rockstars
and loyalty big-time racing has fought his own special breed of criminal case in point
alleged con man Jonathan current he has reportedly made a career than personating a noted Formula one racer
named Jonathan Palmer the real Jonathan Palmer was a medical doctor before he became a world champion driver he is all
too familiar with Jonathan current he is most at home wearing Versace clothes eating caviar and smoked salmon and
driving mercedes-benz sports cars and being escorted by gorgeous women and as he cannot do that through genuinely
earned income he resorts to fraud to achieve his desired lifestyle beginning in 1989 Kearn reportedly crisp crossed
Europe racking up bills for designer clothes elegant restaurants and five-star hotels all in the name of
Jonathan Palmer all unpaid police say that in 1994 Kern brought his masquerade to America Elizabeth gesture met him at
a hotel in Miami Florida hello I'm sorry I don't usually do this but I couldn't help but notice that book
you're reading I read it myself some time ago I loved it I'm wondering how you like it
i'm jonathan palma there's a racecar driver by that name jonathan palmer that's me
Elizabeth who happen to know about car racing had some initial doubts it was blob yes you're right and I asked a few
more questions and I said well what did you do before you raced cars and he said
I was a medical doctor I said that's right I knew some background I said who did you race for and he told me Terrell
which I knew was a British team and I thought wow it really is you yeah proof Kearns passport was a clincher I started
having some doubt as to whether he was Jonathan Palmer but it seemed easier to believe he was Jonathan Palmer than
someone impersonating Jonathan Palmer that never entered my mind that someone would be doing that Elizabeth Jess Chuck
wasn't the only one impressed by Jonathan Kern a car dealer provided turn with a seventy eight thousand dollar
Jaguar free of charge they dropped the keys at the desk and they said this is for mr. Palmer for his use while he's in
America and please make sure that he gets it and we always believed him and that just made us more convinced that
everything was okay for Elizabeth just check Jonathan Kern was almost too good to be true
don't toy with me Jonathan if it's a fling that you're looking for you're going to have to look some routes
this but I'll put my hand on my heart and promise that if this is what we really want nothing will keep us apart
do it I couldn't understand intellectually why he was interested in me I've been to a
lot of the Formula One races and I know a lot of them have beautiful girlfriends
and wives and their wealthy and I'm just a nobody and I said to him why are you interested in me and he told me he just
wanted to move closer on a steady relationship he didn't want the jet-set life and he convinced me over the next
few days that I was what he was looking for still not open with Jonathan current
Elizabeth saw close-up the busy life of an international star the or so indeed everyone at the hotel from bellhops to
the manager then totally snowed by Kern's performance he just woven web of intrigue around around us and managed to
stave have a very nice holiday at the hotel for five days and run up a huge bill in the restaurant and you know have
bottles of champagne delivered to his room and we always believed him despite the fact that he was already having a
little bit of a problem with my front desk about how he was gonna pay his bill excuse David now I you see I'm fine we
have some business to attend to at the front it's a little bit arranged my office neatly well I know but we still
haven't received an imprint I will call them tonight immediately well if you would just take a moment it won't take a
little bit of a rush right now I will call the office I will have them bring you in the a.m. one week later turn left
the hotel without paying a dime on his three thousand dollar bill eventually Elizabeth invited crying to
stay at her home in Connecticut she still believed he was Jonathan Palmer still believed he had put his career on
hold to spend time with her but Kern's thoughts had apparently turned to money Elizabeth money Elizabeth says that Kern
convinced her to accept a personal check it was drawn on an Italian bank for 11 million lira nearly $8,000 at the time I
was nervous about it and the first question out of my family and friends when I told him was did you give him any
money nice first I lied and I just so no no and then once the check cleared I said see it was fine yes I did give him
some money but now the check is cleared and and I have the money back Jonathan stay with Elizabeth was punctuated by
frequent business trips to Manhattan as usual he wouldn't start now on a $125,000 Mercedes went to him by a local
dealer he also carried Elizabeth ATM card just in case of an emergency sure enough Jonathan had an emergency
what's wrong once again Elizabeth put her own money at Kearns disposal you still have my ATM card don't you why
don't you just use that and take it home Elizabeth never dreamed Jonathan would use a card like a spigot to drain her
account of cash I didn't really check up on him I could have gone through his things but I didn't I just continue to
try and believe in him however by the time Jonathan returned from Manhattan Elizabeth had had a complete change of
heart I don't want to do this anymore Beth you have to have patience I have been patient it's not working that but
you could stay here for a week if you want to but I don't want to do this anymore
you'll have your money on Monday it is not the money Jonathan Kern cleared out the next day
Elizabeth began calling numbers from her phone bill matching them with names Jonathan had mentioned do you know
Jonathan Palmer invariably the answers came back the same you don't I mean didn't he call you
me I have your phone number right here and that's what I knew this hadn't been Jonathan Palmer that was staying with me
now I realized some of the numbers that I called were other women you've been romancing other women while he was in
I had been taken he had been loved with me he was just using me I just felt awful there was one final insult nearly
a year after Elizabeth's bank cleared the cheque from Jonathan Kern the bank learned that cheque was in fact not good
they debited Elizabeth's account police say that Kern swindled total some fifteen thousand dollars
Elizabeth Jess cheque was forced into bankruptcy [Music] Jonathan Phillip Kern has been charged
with forgery felony criminal impersonation and larceny Kern is 42 years old 510 180 pounds though he is
British he is not Jonathan Palmer I think the most important thing is to be very very suspicious if anybody comes to
you wanting something and saying that they are Jonathan Palmer the Formula One driver this me is Jonathan farmer
Jonathan Kern does not look like me and I will have no problem if I'm in in the US and being asked all sorts of probing
questions to make sure that anyone can be sure that it is me who is going to a hotel or shop or whatever
when we return the murder of a young couple spawns two conflicting theories but only one known suspect but first an
accused killer spent 18 months on the run until one of our viewers spotted [Music]
January 11th 1995 Pasco County Florida [Music] it was a brazen and stunning escape and
police Lingle an accused killer was in the wind Albert Leon Fletcher was a career
criminal they've been awaiting trial on charges of murder armed robbery and aggravated
assault and battery all of the charges stem from his activities during a single 24-hour period when April 2nd 1993
Fletcher and his cousin Douglas bull embarked on a wild rampage that ended in a Boogaloo
give me your money claw you mean a wallet give me your wallet the victim was 32 year old Nelson Medina
he left behind a wife and two young children a few hours later police arrested Albert Fletcher and Douglas Porter
Porter was convicted in the case and sentenced to life in prison but Fletcher escaped before he could be brought to
trial remained at large for 18 months but on the night of our broadcast he was finally flushed from hiding
here's Keeley Shea Smith with the details Bob it was a viewer in Delaware who pinpointed the whereabouts of Albert
Leon Fletcher she recognized Fletcher as one of her neighbors and immediately contacted the
police oh no April between ninth I received a telephone call from the authorities in Delaware of icing me that
they had a confidential informant and they knew that whereabouts of Albert Leon Fletcher at that time I sent a
bulletin to Delaware and this was around three o'clock that afternoon and about 3:30 or 4 o'clock they had a map or
handed authorities arrested Fletcher without incident at the Holly Hill estates in Smyrna Delaware he had been
living there since his escape using the alias Kevin Woodside apparently Fletcher
himself had grown tired of life on the run I know when Albert was talking to me he was glad was all over with he went to
come back to Pasco County into Polk County and faced the charges [Music] [Music]
I really missed you I missed you too so how about an experiment you shoe it on okay
[Applause] [Music] it was a savage double murder as mystifying as it was ruthless grant
Hendrickson and Michele Cartagena two straight-laced Dean's less students from Mercer University in Macon Georgia
killed in a fearsome barrage of semi-automatic rifle fire no one knew why they had been sweethearts for about
eight months when they went out for dinner and a movie on January 2nd 1995 it was a beginning of a new year full of
promise grant was the nicest guy and he treated Michele just like gold and would
do anything for her Michele was very serious about Grant and she cared for him a lot I believe that he had and
would have liked to have married her as Michele and Grant drove to the movie theater they were seen by a railroad
Foreman named John Ambrose Michele's white Honda Accord was in the right lane and Ambrose was next to her when a blue
Honda CRX suddenly swerved in front of them blue Honda came up to my left at a high
rate of speed and immediately cut back in front of me and cut into the right-hand lane in front of the white
Honda and then started slowing it excessively as I passed it the driver have looked at me like you know like
what's up and like light-skinned black male and appeared he had a white male or female in the car Brown Aaron the mocrs
continued to slow forcing Michelle to drop back when Ambrose exited the interstate he lost sight of both cars
despite what happened on the highway where and Michelle did get to the movies afterwards they drove to a popular
scenic overlook at nearby Lake Juliette in an extraordinary coincidence John Ambrose again found himself witnessing
the prelude to murder there was a chord Ambrose happened to be driving near the lake when he spotted both the white
Accord and the blue CRX that's odd looks like the car I saw earlier the blue Honda was sitting there beside the road
was parking lights on and on them at that time that that was the same car that I'd seen on the interstate because
it's just such a outstanding looking car just down the road Ambrose saw Michelle's car car it was heading in the
direction of the parking area at Lake Juliette I thought it's strange and I saw these two vehicles at two different
times within a three to four hour span that same particular night two other eyewitnesses teenagers parked
at the lake we're able to pick up the account or Ambrose left off they told police at the blue CRX drove into the
park around 12:30 a.m. [Music] turn the music down listen there what was that that can't be gunshot
somebody's gotta be playing around moments later the CRX raced out let's go check it out
the next morning investigators face the carnage more than a dozen bullet holes perforated the car Michelle and Grant
had been killed instantly by multiple rounds of semi-automatic rifle firing grant was also shot twice in the chest
and once in the head with a handgun Michelle's body had been pulled from the car and dragged nearly 25 feet her
clothing had been left in disarray it was a very horrendous type crime something that I've never seen before in
my tenure of law enforcement everything pointed to the blue CRX then yet another
witness came forward to spun the investigation in a totally new direction towards two young men in a white pickup
truck the night of the murders Stephen Boyd was in the theater parking lot just after grant and Michelle left the movies
being a jerk here some his customers without a spluttered and that made me me made me feel like he was he had been
drinking a lot you've been drinking haven't you I've had a few so please just leave us alone okay
you trying to another guy get a car custody to me I felt like that used to be you know felt like someone that she
used to go with her son you know hey his friend came and told her let's go it's now working that's when I had noticed
yeah just got here a night or going on the side because you just littered it caught my eye
Stephen I'm going to show you 12 photographs Stephen boys information seems so incredible police ran a photo
lineup hoping for more they got it thanks so much the person that Stephen Morton picked out of the photo lineup
was a fellow college student was a friend of Michelle's had had a crush on Michelle at one time he is a very
soft-spoken person but when you introduce alcohol into a scenario and he's been drinking then he get he has a
very violent temper and I've seen him do some some very violent things when he's
been drunk well he denied that he was in the parking lot when he was confronted with this information he denied being
anywhere in the area the alibi the hit provided us to this day we're still unable to eliminate him he is still
suspicious no everything pointed to the young man in the parking lot but then there was a blue CRX clearly implicated
in the killings something was missing connecting the blue Honda CRX and the the individuals at the parking lot we
have not been able to do that yet that is one thing that we are hopes to when we do find this Honda CRX to see if
there is a connection [Music] [Music] [Music] when we return the remarkable story but
maybe one of the longest ocean voyages on record 20 years 25,000 miles [Music] most unsolved mysteries are fashioned by
human hands but as you're about to see the most capable mistress of mystery may be Mother Nature
July 16 1978 the Finger Lakes of upstate New York 9 year old Kevin reader and his
mother Merton wild away a lazy summer afternoon with a little homespun whimsy this bottle I know please drop me a line
perfect a lot they sent this out from Elm beach Ovid they sign the note with Kevin's name and
address and tucked it inside an old green glass bottle okay all right you go ahead keep it a good throw good
[Music] good our man how high do you think it could go I don't know we thought somebody around Aurora might find it or
it would go to the south end of the lake to Ithaca and there's college kids and they might be interested in see we're at
Wed and right to Kevin and give him a new pen pal after we tossed a bottle into the into
the lake it was probably it was part of a daily daily thought process waiting for the mail checking the mail the
anticipation until it progressively faded away until you forgot entirely about it
Kevin grew up and moved away first to Florida then to Texas like a bottle in a lake he drifted a bit trying to find his
place in the world Kevin had no idea yet launched the bottle on his own journey a journey that
would one day amaze everyone in 1996 after 18 years Kevin returned to his hometown a letter
postmarked San Diego California was waiting for it it had arrived only days before inside Kevin found the last thing
he ever expected the message yet put in the bottle almost two decades earlier it
was accompanied by a note from two strangers when I called my mother the first thing
that came out of my mouth was you're never gonna believe this it says hello Kevin
I found your message in a bottle like that song at the beach in San Diego California I thought it would be funny
to write back pretty cool it was signed by Rosa and Bruce and has a PS where the
heck is over well there's no return address or phone number 18 years and more than 3,000 miles the concept of how
long and far the bottle had traveled was mind-boggling Kevin's mother pictured it
as a delightful adventure bobbing along on a beach here and then a gully there and somebody picked it up and just threw
it back in again here I go again maybe a little bit of heard some Japanese along
the way or spotted a Hawaiian girl sitting on the beach it had to bog down in different places with floods and
things reappeared and just keep on moving until somebody finally decided to pick up some trash on the beach and
found it the idea of a little bottle that could loading its way around the world is very
appealing but take away that romantic image and we are left with an astonishing conundrum how could an
ordinary glass bottle transport itself across an entire continent from an inland lake in upstate New York to the
shores of the Pacific Ocean that is really amazing I think it's a bit unlikely because of all the
difficulties to get there but that is a truly amazing but not impossible not impossible the dreamers mother dr.
Richardson is one of the world's top experts on global water currents here's how Richardson says the most well travel
bottle in history might have maneuvered through the waterways of the world first
the bottle would have floated out of the lake through the Erie Canal into the st.
Lawrence Seaway then out into the Atlantic Ocean near Nova Scotia that's the hardest part because it's so easy
for a bottle to go Shore and be found by someone once it gets into the Atlantic it's easy for bottles that stay adrift
for many years from Nova Scotia dr. Richardson speculates the bottle might have floated south down the eastern
seaboard then veered toward Europe it cruised the west coast of Africa until a Kurd swung at west to South
America once it managed to cross the northward moving currents at the equator the bottle would proceed back toward
African past the Cape of Good Hope and enter the Indian Ocean it would then move east until it reached the South
Pacific after the bottle managed to again float across the equator it must have drifted north past the Philippine
Islands and Japan after that the bottle would have to travel east again heading down the west coast of North America
until it reached his final destination San Diego California I'm skeptical I think it went to
California in someone's pocket or someone's suitcase so I don't think it actually drifted there because of the I
think you'd be through a million bottles in Lake Cayuga you wouldn't have one reach the Atlantic so that's that sir my
conclusion it's very difficult to get out through the canals and rivers without going to Grand or being found by
someone lined up give it a throw to Kevin the details of the bottles journey don't really matter whether it went by
land or sea or even air what counts as at once upon a time he sent out a message and at long last he has received
an answer it gave me a sense of closure when I got back home and to find this note to tap back into my childhood and
to kind of parallel it with my life the bottles journey with my life's journey and just kind of kind of reaffirmation
that but hey maybe you do belong right here and this is just a little backup little support for you Bruce and Rosa
did not give their last names or a return address the Kevin's mother feels sure she knows at least a little bit
about them they had to have some kind of a sense of humor too badly to pick it up
and open it read it and then you don't send our note back safe where the heck is Ovid I like to picture
it as as a couple strolling the beach and just coming upon it and and taking the time and energy to to allow somebody
to revisit their childhood like they think they've allowed me to do and also just to thank them for it
admittedly the incredible journey of Kevin's message in a bottle is one of our smaller mysteries it is also one of
our most charming we're hoping Bruce and Rosa will contact us here at unsolved mysteries the filler said on the final
chapter of Kevin readers magical bottle on our next unsolved mysteries Bobby fuller was on his way to rock and roll
star then he turned up dead in the front seat of his car thousand with gasoline [Music]
in Florida to primitive fertility statutes causing up one woman after another after another becomes pregnant
with just a simple touch join me next to four more unsolved mysteries [Music] [Music]

Brief Summary

The episode reveals mysterious deaths linked to Terry Hoffman and features fraud by Jonathan Kern and a brutal double murder in Georgia.

Key points

Don Hoffman's Haunting Message. A terminally ill man leaves a video message for his family before his shocking death.
The Dark Legacy of Terry Hoffman. Terry Hoffman is linked to a series of untimely deaths, raising suspicions about her influence.
The Disappearance of Charles Southern. A respected professor mysteriously vanishes, raising questions about his ties to a spiritual movement.
Jonathan Kern's Deception. A man impersonates a famous racecar driver, leading to a web of lies and betrayal.
A Savage Double Murder. Grant Hendrickson and Michele Cartagena were brutally killed in 1995, leaving many questions.
The Journey of a Message in a Bottle. Kevin Reader's childhood message in a bottle traveled 25,000 miles over 18 years.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

There was no farewell to the heir to Hoffman’s estate.

Details about Don Hoffman’s final message to his family.

2:55WatchMay 23, 2019

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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