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

tonight on unsolved mysteries most people would go to great lengths to avoid the fiery pain of obesity most but
not all meet two women with multiple sclerosis were convinced at the venom of honeybees have been their salvation
after 10 years of scandal and controversy the notorious preppy rape case ended in a hung jury now Alex Kelly
son of wealth and privilege awaits the start of his retrial in a special demonstration we'll examine a key piece
of evidence that apparently helped decide the outcome for Jamie Santos the benefits of exotic dancing always
outweighed the risks then Jamie was found murdered in her apartment incredibly police believe the killer
himself may have reported the crime in Nevada a forest ranger and his family are targeted at simmering hostilities
over federal land use erupted into violence also they were separated as young children on the other side of the
Atlantic nearly 50 years lately they've been reunited here in the United States jointly perhaps you hold the key perhaps
you may be able to help solve a mystery [Music] [Music] there is no mistaking the sound a quiet
thunder of bees unless you're in the honey business you undoubtedly avoid any person-to-person contact with bees
however to some people honey bees are miniature flying drugstores dispensaries of miracle cures you're about to meet
two women who say they've experienced the miracle both have multiple sclerosis or MS a crippling disease of the nervous
system whose complications can be fatal both have reversed the course of MS through a controversial treatment known
as bee venom therapy literally stinging themselves with honey bees Kelly Ames was in high school when a
mess first crept into her life by the time Kelly was 22 her symptoms became impossible to ignore one day I was in
work and I was walking down a flight of stairs they must have been like 12 stairs where I just lost the feeling in
my feet like all of a sudden and I fell down a flight of stairs and the women in
my office were like wow you know I explained to them that my feet sometimes getting numb medical tests revealed a
cruel truth Kelly had MS the unforgiving disease first robbed her of the ability
to walk alone before long MS was attacking her eyes it's like it took over my life
but then that week I lost the vision in my left eye and I had no control over my
muscles it was just very devastating I hated to depend on other people but at times I need to have the people to help
me Kelly's doctor put her on steroids these potent drugs can temporarily relieve the symptoms of MS but no drug
can stop its advance having the steroid dripped into my arm I would sit there for an hour and a half looking at other
MS people coming in in a wheelchairs and wondering if that's gonna be me some day
you know in that wheelchair then Kelly met a woman would literally walked away from her wheelchair after systematically
stinging herself with honeybees for Kelly Ames it was a last ray of hope [Music]
Kelly's father brought her to a local beekeeper who had been helping MS patients for years he was happy to
donate the honeybees the rest would be up to Kelly he told me that he didn't want to be bothered by me if I wasn't
serious about it he says you have to do this for six months treat every other day faithfully increase it by two every
other day until you get to 20 and he scared me when he said that because I realized that I really had to take the
responsibility of sticking to this and I did Kelly and her boyfriend set up a morning routine he placed the bees of
specific spots on Kelly's body spots for nerves running to the damaged areas are
most accessible for Kelly's failing eyesight that was behind the ear these were also positioned on Kelly's lower
back to treat the weakness in her legs the bees were left in place for as long as 15 minutes to allow all their venom
to penetrate Kelly skin ms had so ravished Kelly's nervous system that she stung herself several hundred times
before actually feeling the full wallop of a sting I could actually feel what a bee sting felt like and hit hurt it
really hurt I was screaming I had my head in my pillow and I was screaming and I was screaming because I was happy
because I could fail again I knew that this therapy was starting to work because within a week my eyesight
started to slowly come back I didn't depend on my cane as much and right then and there I just knew finally this was
kicking in and it was working for me I know Kelly Ames and her situation is a perfect example of how bee venom therapy
helps ms she was not doing well and when she started her bee venom therapy it had
a clear difference in her symptoms and her outlook on life do you think your nomina in that area
okay okay what I'm gonna do is grab the be part of the body today Kelly Ames teaches bee venom therapy to others in
the grip of multiple sclerosis some doctors dismiss the therapy is little better than voodoo
Kelly's remarkable recovery is hardly unique when I decided to do bee venom therapy we kind of kept it a
little hush-hush because I didn't know what other people's reactions would be I know what they have reactions from my
doctors were so I figured you know well we'll keep it a little quiet [Music] Maureen Norton began to experience the
symptoms of MS shortly after the birth of her second child she was seized by a tingling pins and needles sensation in
her legs that made walking nearly impossible it was very scary I just kind of pictured my myself in a wheelchair
holding my little baby and my son along the side you know I didn't I didn't want
that but that was right where Maureen was headed then she started be venom therapy
I was always afraid of bees and about being stung but I just felt that this was my only answer
a beekeeper who lived nearby agreed to teach Maureen the fine art of beer angling how to grab its bristly neck and
coerce it to jab its stinger at precisely the right location I was told this thing I read enough happier foot
right here okay where the time Laureen got started with bee stings a mess had numbed her feet so thoroughly she could
hardly sense they were there to the touch Lorraine's feet were icy blue cold okay
I think that's long enough [Music] within minutes my foot was warm you could feel the venom going through in
the blood like you know there was life in my foot again it was just an incredible feeling I knew right from
that moment that something good was happening and I felt that this was going to help me how much did it help
this photograph of Maureen and her son was taken six weeks after she began the sting therapy
Maureen has just crossed the finish line in a seven mile MS walkathon three weeks later Maureen was prancing
across the dance floor at a party celebrating her spectacular recovery today I'm very active person I haven't
had any attacks sometimes depending if the stress gets too much in my life that you know I'll get some pins and needles
feelings in my hands or in my right knee I immediately just take my B's out and I'll give myself a couple of stings and
the feelings gone should we prize bees for their sting as well as their honey mainstream science has hardly begun to
address the question well some doctors believe bee venom therapy is far too promising to be ignored at first it may
be easy to dismiss bee venom therapy the fact is it sounds a little kooky however in studying about bee venom
there are certain substances which make sense in multiple sclerosis therapy we know that the immune system is involved
and of course a neurologic system is involved therefore be venom which has components which affect both the immune
system and neurologic system is a natural substance which seems to have some effects in MS skeptics might argue
that improvements reported by B advocates are in reality the periodic remissions typical of MS
but Kelly Ames has convinced her progress is a direct result of bee venom therapy I stopped doing the therapy for
a couple of weeks and I felt myself sliding back I felt some symptoms coming on again and it scared me
so right away I grabbed a bee I stung myself a couple of times and within seconds I could feel it go throughout my
body and stimulate my muscles and make me much stronger so right then and there I know I'm not in remission it's time
for physicians and the medical community to take a serious look at whether bee venom may relieve the suffering of some
of our patients estimates are that as many as 10,000 MS patients are currently using bee venom therapy proponents also
claim success in treating arthritis and chronic fatigue syndrome recently the multiple sclerosis Association of
America began funding major scientific research on this controversial treatment the experts do have one warning roughly
one person in 25 is deathly allergic to honey bee stings anyone considering this
treatment should consult a physician coming up last November the rape trial of Alex Kelly ended in a hung jury now
we put a critical defense claim to the test also when a popular exotic dancer is
murdered the only clue is an anonymous call to 911 first a u.s. forest ranger searches for the unknown bomber who
attacked his family [Music] March 31st 1995 Carson City Nevada u.s. Forest Service ranger guide pence was
called to work just after dawn an explosion had ripped through his office the night before do you have any idea
what kind of bomb this was the FBI initially believed the bomber had targeted the building not any particular
employees guy pence suspected otherwise I really always thought that it was aimed as a direct statement to me now it
may be aimed as a direct statement to me as a district Ranger or as a federal employee and not so much at me
specifically why would guy pence for the Forest Service be a target perhaps because they are on the front line of a
war most of us don't even know about some call it the sagebrush rebellion an informal alliance of people opposed to
federal control of local public lands for most of this century ranchers loggers and miners have had permits that
gave them access to huge tracts of that land in some families those permits have
been handed down through five generations over a long history we've always had conflicts over natural
resource management and that can be conflicts over grazing timber harvests recreation to accommodate all users and
protect the diminishing resources the u.s. Forest Service began to restrict private use as district Ranger it was up
to guide pens to make sure everyone complied with the new rules everybody on the district across the board is going
to make a 20% cut well I reckon we've been through worse we'll handle this one too most people
didn't like it but they went alone however son saw a guy pens himself is the inner you wind up with 22 extra
tomorrow just bring it back up on your own and we'll just call it good I don't think that's the case we're running the
whole herd through Michael we went through this we said 800 and you said you weren't gonna give me any trouble
about it I don't think that's the case died making a mistake park guide pet says seems like this had become a
regular part of his job similar conflicts all over the West what originally gave rise to the sagebrush
ribbon the issue that we have here is these people have a right to graze forage they have a right to mine
minerals they have a right to harvest trim timber and the bureaucrats have exceeded their authority in some way or
trying to stop them one way or the other and we are standing up as county governments to protect their rights
ironically many of the people opposed to the new federal rules are local elected
leaders like commissioner carver however they to say they are dismayed by violent acts like the bombing of Pence's
office we were devastated by it the first thing we did is notified our County Sheriff's Department to put extra
patrol on on all the federal agency employees in my County we posted $100,000 bond we want to put a stop to
it as bad as anybody else four months after the bombing any question about whether guy pens had been personally
targeted was erased pence took a backcountry assignment he brought along his youngest daughter guys
wife Linda stayed at home with her two older daughters it was August 4th 1995 we had been making pickles which is a
very hot job and lots of boiling water going on in the kitchen to add to the heat of the whole house and we were
about finished and had rendered a movie and Morgan and I had got into the front room to get that started he
sat down next to the windows yeah sure Coulter our oldest daughter was back in her bedroom at the back side of the
house talking on the phone with a friend who's that what you didn't hear that what'd you hear I think I heard someone
walking there or footsteps or something out there okay there's the buzzer for the pickles key grab them oh yeah
when Linda looked outside she saw nothing unusual Thanks I went into the kitchen and Morgan said this is gonna
take a few minutes I better go turn off the movie [Music] fortunately no one was hurt the homemade
bomb had been placed directly beneath dye Pence's van the charred wreckage was an unmistakable message it's a very hard
thought to accept that someone would try to kill your family there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that whoever did
this knew my family wasn't home the windows were open the lights were on the TV was on my own daughter heard their
footsteps and that they left a killing device and ran into the darkness I have a hard time comprehending how any human
could do that like the first bombing there were a few solid clues and no suspects the FBI laboratory in
Washington DC has advised us that these bombs are very similar in construction and most likely were manufactured by the
same individual we're not looking for a sophisticated bomber in this particular case we're looking for someone who knows
the basics and the basic use and application of explosives to make this bomb but if this was not a mastermind by
any stretch of the imagination while the FBI continued searching for the person or persons responsible for
both attacks guy Pence and his family have moved to another location he could have quit his job the guy chose to keep
working for the Forest Service I think the stakes are very high those stakes are our natural resources those stakes
belong to all of us 300 million Americans and those unborn today those are those resources belong to them it's
extremely important to me that that the forces that support this kind of thing understand that this is not ever how you
win that you only lose that's extremely important that this perpetrator be brought to justice so that everyone
understands this is not how we solve our problems next a woman is reunited with their long-lost brother thanks to you
our viewers and later a simple car seat mechanism plays a crucial role in the notorious
preppy rape trial [Music] most of us would gladly spend a lifetime trying to find someone we love tonight's
update took that and more it involves a search to span two continents two generations in almost half a century
Plymouth England 1952 Helena Kurowski helped her five-year-old son prepare for a long journey
Christopher was going to the United States with another family mr. Christopher my mother didn't really want to send him
with somebody else but my father kept saying you know education education he's going to get a good education he's going
to be able to start school so it was easier for him but my mother I guess being a woman it just tore at her heart
it was only seven years after world war two refugees from Eastern Europe like Helena and her husband Apollinaire we
desperately wanted a better life in America Christopher would live with friends until the karofsky's and their
daughter Michelle could follow a few months later however the karofsky's changed their plans and
decided to stay in England they wrote their friends in America asking them to send Christopher back they don't send
the kurowsky stride every Avenue they could think of to have Christopher returned but there was nothing anyone
could do the cows Keys never saw Christopher again in 1973 Apollinaire II died 20 years later Helena also passed
away her last wish was that her children would someday be reunited I want to be able to tell him how much my mother left
him how she never forgot him how - the day she died but she loved him after so many years we knew finding Michelle's
brother might be a long shot in fact the story aired several times a little response but not long ago the right
person was watching Keeley che Smith is on maternity leave he's Luthan Sen with the details thanks
Bob as it turned out the critical viewer was Christopher's adoptive sister when she told him about Michelle search
Christopher called our phone center he gave the operator specific details only Michelle's long-lost brother could have
known a month later Christopher traveled from his home in upstate New York to Michelle's home
outside Houston Texas it was a moment 44 years in the making as I was waiting for
Christopher to come and I was looking at the window I was wanting my mom to be here and wishing that she was here
because she had dreamed of this long time I really can't describe how I felt it's I can't describe it it's too much
for words all these years wandering hoping its body come true [Music] Kristopher introduced his wife Ellen
then met Michelle's husband Derek her daughter Carrie and her granddaughters Kaley and Danielle it's just so hard to
describe something else I've dreamt about God for it yeah 30 odd years and it's here it's yeah I still keep looking
at him because I I can't believe it's actually happened Christopher and Michelle have a lot of catching up to do
but they're already well on their way I never expected it to really happen but I
always dreamed that maybe one day my turn will come and I would find my brother but dreams I
guess they do come true [Music] coming up a beautiful young dancer is murdered and some believe the killer
himself notified the police but first the trial of accused rapist Alex Kelly ended in a hung jury
well independent testing validate the defense or the prosecution [Music] it was a trial ten years in the making
the cases scandalizing captivated the national media last october alleged rapist Alex Kelly after nearly a decade
on the run faced his accuser in court she is now a grown woman she claims it in February of 1986 just after her 16th
birthday Alex Kelly raped her the trial ended with a jury hopelessly deadlocked tonight with a retrial on the horizon we
will take a unique look at one of the pivotal issues in this case which may ultimately determine whether Alex Kelly
could in fact be guilty as charged Darien Connecticut 40 miles northeast of New York City is one of the country's
most affluent and exclusive communities Alex Kelly was one of darienne's brightest young men or the wealthy
devoted family and a promising future in high school Kelly was a gifted wrestler
with a trademark move the guillotine [Music] Alex Kelly was 18 years old when his
perfect world came crashing down on February 10th 1986 he met the alleged victim during a party at this house at
around 11:30 p.m. Kelly offered to take her home in his girlfriend's Jeep Wagoneer but according to the young
woman Alex Kelly did not drive her home instead she claimed he pulled into this secluded cul-de-sac and proceeded to
rape her four days later this time at the nearby stamford country club another party another young woman another
accusation against Alex Kelly Kelly was arrested for both alleged rapes he denied the charges claiming at both
incidents of an acts of consensual sex he was released on $200,000 bond pending the start of his trial
but when jury selection commenced Alex Kelly was nowhere to be found over the next eight years he continually eluded
the authorities then in July of 1994 police and FBI agents raided the Kelly home in Connecticut and learned the
surprising truth about Alex Kelly's years on the run Alex Kelly was leading the good life overseas he traveled all
over his passport was stamped with you know just dozens of countries in and out of Greece and Sweden and France and all
over the globe he spent a lot of his time at ski resorts living the highlife and you know
he would write letters home talking about his hang gliding and his parasailing and and it went in one
letter he even said I could live like this forever and he wasn't exactly suffering photographs in the kelley home
showed Alex's parents visiting him while he was in hiding investigators also found a nun mail letter which revealed
Kelly's address in Sweden so Alex knows that law enforcement closing in on him now tom Puccio is hired by the family as
Alex's lawyer Puccio met with Alex in Europe to negotiate the terms of his surrender and it was shortly thereafter
in January of 1995 that he's surrendered to Swiss authorities in May of 1995 Kelly was extradited to the US he was
arraigned on charges of sexual assault and kidnapping he was released on 1 million dollars bond
the trial for the first alleged rape commenced in October 1996 most days Alex Kelly arrived at court hand-in-hand with
his old high-school girlfriend Amy Molitor the star witness was Kelly's alleged victim in riveting details she
outlined the terror she said she had experienced at one point she said that his hand was on her neck the entire time
before he pushed her into the back seat of the of the Jeep and at the moat at that time it just seemed like that this
was her description of what happened and it didn't seem like this was any more piece of evidence than anything else and
that this wasn't gonna mean anything more than anything else she was saying but it turned out quite differently
defense attorney Thomas Puccio left to the attack if out is Kelly's hand had never left the victims throat it would
have been impossible for him to both release and lower the backseat with his one free hand the case ended in a
mistrial after the six-person jury deadlocked at 4:00 to convict and to to acquit later some of the jurors stated
that the testimony about the seat latch had played a major role in the deliberations apparently leading some to
believe a rape had never occurred the victim stated that he reached over and grabbed her by the throat he immediately
put spread his legs over her body was choking her Connie Williams was one of the six
jurors although he ultimately voted to convict he has lingering doubts as to how the crime might have been committed
throat he reached around and at some point she heard a clicking noise the clicking noise was the lever being pull
the lever is a spring-loaded device designed to be lifted and held up while a seat is pushed down as you can see
there's no way that I can put this lever forward let's put in my hand forward and pulling in levers for it with both
hand in the seat there was no way I can do it with one hand unsolved mysteries decided to put the defense claim to the
test we asked failure analysis Associates an engineering consulting firm to conduct
an impartial demonstration it's the case that you'll start the firm procured a 1983 Jeep Wagoneer and hired two actors
of physical characteristics similar to Alex Kelly and the young woman regarding the use of the seat match the actor
portraying Kelly was simply told where the latch was and that it needed to be lifted to release the seat
he was then told to simulate an attack and simultaneously lower the back seat using only one hand the test was
repeated three times in each instance the actor successfully lowered the seat without difficulty quite surprising to
me that he could physically move the latch so quickly and move the seat back so fast given the impression I had about
the latch mechanism when I first observed the car what we're seeing in this car is because of the condition of
this particular vehicle that it is possible to lift this latch and get it stuck on a exposed nut and bolt the test
did however contain a built-in flaw in 1986 the Wagoneer was just three years old the vehicle in the test was 13 years
old the scientists believe a decade of wear may have weakened the latch so that it could be moved laterally
to approximate the amount of wear on the latch at the time of the alleged incident failure analysis next brought
in a 1990 Wagoneer one of the last years a model was manufactured the test was repeated with a simulated attack on four
occasions the actor attempted to manipulate the latch and lower the seat with one hand only once on his second
attempt and with a fair amount of difficulty was he successful a simple conclusion that it's possible or not
possible doesn't seem to be in the works but nevertheless we could probably say that with a with a vehicle that's in
relatively new condition it's very hard to do with one hand although our our actor was managed to do it at one time
so even there it's this event really surprised me I think that he could do that whether that seat could have been
operated in the way the alleged victim described he's really dependent on the condition of the seat and the age of the
vehicle and that's a primary factor in figuring out whether it could have happened and that's something we'll
never know about the subject vehicle is the condition of the seat in that vehicle
it should be noted that the subject vehicle was not available for either the court case or our demonstration it was
reported stolen approximately three years after Alex Kelly was arrested [Music] [Music]
when we return she was a beautiful and popular exotic dancer now the investigation into her murder hinges on
a single question who called the police a Good Samaritan or the killer himself [Music]
you are about to hear an actual 911 it was recorded by an emergency operator in Wheeling Illinois just north of Chicago
the caller spoke from a payphone and refused to give his name police believe that he alone holds the
key to solving a murder the anonymous caller was right 47 year-old Jamie Santos wasn't breathing she had been
smothered with a pillow and nothing would ever revive her Jamie had lived just down the road from her family calls
and visits were frequent holidays were spent together she was just like a burst of energy when she walked in you knew
she was there her presence just just radiates I think ultimately she just wanted to get married and have a family
success was important to her I don't think she really had a handle on what she wanted to be successful at but
ultimately it was children and family Jamie's aspirations may have been unremarkable Etape but you would never
have guessed it if you met her on the job [Applause] Jamie had parlayed her natural good
looks into a steady income she pulled in better than a thousand dollars a week dancing for exclusive
private parties in and around Chicago when Jamie first told us this year was going into dancing entertainment it was
a little difficult to handle but when she explained to us how how it was going to to work we feel a little bit more
comfortable because I main concern really wasn't the the type of work she was doing those for her safety
once she reassured us that you'd have somebody accompanying her at all times the driver bodyguard we feel a little
bit more comfortable I just like to make a little extra money I don't think so [Applause]
if she went into a place in the atmosphere wasn't right either because the the people who had been drinking too
much or something they just float up and leave on Sunday October 27th 1991 Jamie
didn't feel she canceled her bookings she rented a couple of videotapes she called a friend that is what we know
about the last night Jamie Santos was alive a call for help came the next morning roughly 11:30 a.m. no time send
em once to 1765 Stonehedge court in Wheeling immediately as a young woman she's not breathing she's turning blue
paramedics found Jamie in her bedroom there are obvious signs of a struggle yet Jamie's head was carefully propped
on a pillow she had not been raped with no eyewitnesses no fingerprints nothing that would yield a DNA profile
the only lead was a male voice on the 911 no one in Jamie's family could identify the caller investigators could
not even determine whether he was the killer or simply a passerby there's a possibility the 911 caller could be an
innocent bystander that stumbled upon this there's evidence of a struggle possibly somebody could have heard a
struggle possibly somebody could have seen somebody running from the area and seen an open door
hello 911 caller could be afraid to come forward thinking that they'll be accused
of being the killer when in fact you know they were bystander [Applause] however in this perplexing case police
can just as easily envision a scenario where the 9-1-1 call was made by the killer himself we don't have evidence
that there was forced entry so there's a good chance person was an invited guest
could be a crime of passion it could have been something that started out innocently and turned bad it could have
been the domestic type arguments I'm gonna have to ask you to leave watch this now don't start with things went
too far and when the person realized that he had hurt Amy he had remorse and in that he tried to
in several ways get her help you know he put a pillow under her head he he made an honest effort to get a medical help
for further bolstering the theory that the killer knew Jayme was a certainty when providing Jamie's address to the
operator send somebody ambling to police - 1765 stonehedge court and reeling immediately 1765 stonehenge stone heads
well i like the bush he's familiarity with the area means that he had been there either several times before or had
a specific reason to have the knowledge he did of the address as far as the numbers in the street and the
pronunciation of the street authorities believe that if the killer did know Jamie Sanders there is a strong
likelihood he had set his sights on her within the world of exotic dancing sexy perhaps one of Jamie's clients couldn't
take no for an answer perhaps one of her drivers of the nursing a secret passion
that flared out of control but every question leads to the same brick wall nine one one tape is a very important
clue we feel that with the identification of the voice and this tape we can resolve this matter I'm
always trying to figure out if I know the voice if I know who that person is I'm gonna hear the urgency in his voice
and it just brings up all the emotions I know what he's seen and I know that I can't help her I feel that this person
could give us some answer on this and I can understand why he doesn't come forward and help us to
relieve some of the pain of Jamie's death here again is the actual 9-1-1 recording made in October of 1991 if you
recognize the voice contact the leading Illinois Police Department please listen
closely join me again next time for another intriguing edition unsolved mysteries
[Music] [Music]

Brief Summary

This episode covers bee venom therapy for MS, the Alex Kelly rape case, Jamie Santos' murder, and a long-lost sibling reunion.

Key points

Bee Venom Therapy Success. Two women with MS claim to have reversed their symptoms through bee venom therapy.
A Long-Lost Reunion. After decades apart, Christopher reunites with his sister Michelle, fulfilling their mother's wish.
The Alex Kelly Trial. The notorious preppy rape case ends in a hung jury, leading to a retrial.
The Life of Alex Kelly. Alex Kelly, once a promising young man, became a fugitive after serious allegations.
The Mysterious Murder of Jamie Santos. A single 911 call holds the key to solving the murder of Jamie Santos.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's like it took over my life.

Kelly Ames describes the impact of MS.

3:43WatchMay 23, 2019

Tension

60/ 100Some tension

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