1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,680 This program is about unsolved mysteries. 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:06,520 Whenever possible, the actual family members and police 3 00:00:06,520 --> 00:00:09,480 officials have participated in recreating the events. 4 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,280 What you are about to see is not a news broadcast. 5 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:19,760 Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries, the residents of a Florida 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,760 nudist camp were stunned to discover that one of their most 7 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:27,000 popular members was allegedly a fraud, a cheat, and a child. 8 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:31,000 In Ypsilanti, Michigan, a small town realtor was calloused 9 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,000 a gun down in his office by two unknown killers. 10 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:38,000 Was this regular family man the victim of a professional hit? 11 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,000 In a tiny church in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, 12 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,000 the congregation are certain that they 13 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:45,000 have witnessed a miracle. 14 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:47,000 The eyes of Jesus and the carved wooden statue 15 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:49,000 over their altar were once open. 16 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,000 Now they say the eyes are closed. 17 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,000 The family members were stunned to discover 18 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,000 the eyes are closed. 19 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,000 Join me for these fascinating stories. 20 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,000 Perhaps someone somewhere has that one vital clue that 21 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,000 can help solve a mystery. 22 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,000 Perhaps that someone is watching. 23 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:09,000 Perhaps it's you. 24 00:01:54,000 --> 00:02:01,000 Ypsilanti, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, January 11, 1984. 25 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,000 The real estate office of Jack Brown. 26 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,000 At approximately 11.10 a.m., two men entered. 27 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:14,000 As one stood guard, the other headed toward Jack's office. 28 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:16,000 Yeah. 29 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,000 We have trouble here. 30 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,000 It appeared that the men were familiar with the man 31 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,000 out of the building. 32 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,000 I think you're pretty smart, don't you? 33 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,000 Well, maybe. 34 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,000 Don't move or I'll shoot. 35 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:31,000 Where's the bathroom? 36 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:32,000 Way in the back. 37 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:33,000 Way in the back. 38 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:34,000 Hurry. 39 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,000 Oh, God. 40 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:37,000 Did you have your bathroom? 41 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:38,000 Come on. 42 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:39,000 Come on. 43 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,000 Get in there and close the door. 44 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:42,000 Now. 45 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:45,000 Leaving the three employees locked in the bathroom, 46 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,000 the two men walked away. 47 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,000 Jack Brown died in the hospital. 48 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,000 He was in the hospital for a week. 49 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,000 Jack Brown died 12 hours later from a single bullet wound 50 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:56,000 to the neck. 51 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,000 He never regained consciousness. 52 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:03,000 Jack Brown had lived in Ypsilanti for most of his life, 53 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,000 and was a member of the local Chamber of Commerce and Rotary 54 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,000 Club. 55 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,000 At the time of his death, he was 47 years old. 56 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,000 The murder of Jack Brown was no random act of violence, 57 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,000 nor was robbery the motive. 58 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:20,000 The contract killing planned and executed by professionals. 59 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:22,000 But Brown was no mafia don. 60 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,000 He was a small town realtor. 61 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,000 Who ordered him killed and why? 62 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,000 A five-year investigation has not been able to answer 63 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,000 these questions. 64 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,000 I've seen old tires coming out of the thing. 65 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:35,000 Annie, hi. 66 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:36,000 How you doing? 67 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,000 Jack's real estate brokering business put him in contact 68 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,000 with many members of the community. 69 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,000 They could not imagine why he would have been targeted 70 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:44,000 by a killer. 71 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,000 You asked us to find you a classic victory. 72 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,000 There was absolutely nothing in Jack's background 73 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:54,000 that I was aware of that would warrant any kind of problem 74 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:55,000 whatsoever. 75 00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:01,000 And surely not the tragedy that happened here. 76 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:06,000 My opinion of the gunman is that they came here to challenge 77 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:08,000 Jack in some way. 78 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:09,000 We got trouble here. 79 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,000 I heard the gunman say, you think you're smart, don't you? 80 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:14,000 Well. 81 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:19,000 And I heard Jack say in kind of a halting voice, well, well, 82 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:20,000 maybe. 83 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,000 At that point the gun went off. 84 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:27,000 And I guess I really figured that we had bought the farm, 85 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:31,000 that they were then going to get rid of three eyewitnesses 86 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:32,000 to a murder. 87 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:36,000 But I guess looking back on it, it would seem to me to be a case 88 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:41,000 where whatever problem they had was with Jack and not the rest 89 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:45,000 of us that happened to be in the office that fateful morning. 90 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:50,000 No one seems to know anything shady about Jack or anything 91 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:55,000 that he might have been involved in that could be termed shady, 92 00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:00,000 which leads us to believe that maybe he was living a double life, 93 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,000 was involved in something that no one knew about his family, 94 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,000 friends, or anyone in this area. 95 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,000 The night before Jack's murder, his brother saw him on the phone 96 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,000 on a state of extreme agitation. 97 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:13,000 Where's Jack? 98 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,000 He's back on the phone back there. 99 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,000 When I arrived, Jack was on the phone. 100 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:24,000 I could tell, you know, by this conversation, that he was getting upset. 101 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,000 So when he finally, you know, hung the phone up, 102 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:32,000 I asked him if there was a problem. 103 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:34,000 Oh, that's nothing. 104 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:35,000 I just got a few problems. 105 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,000 I got to work out. 106 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,000 You guys have a good time at the poker game. 107 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,000 I'll see you tomorrow. Okay? 108 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,000 Okay. 109 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:47,000 I honestly feel, you know, in my own heart that something about that phone call, 110 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:51,000 you know, was involved with what happened the following day. 111 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:56,000 It's really strange when someone is murdered or taken from you suddenly like this, 112 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,000 that you look back and you search your mind. 113 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,000 You search everywhere for clues. 114 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:07,000 And you remember things that someone said that didn't fit. 115 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,000 It was a fun party, wasn't it? 116 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,000 Yeah, I really liked it. 117 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:12,000 Jack and I had been to a Christmas party, 118 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:15,000 and I was just a little irritated with him because he had a bit much to drink, 119 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,000 and he was kind of rambling. 120 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:22,000 What would you do if you knew some very important people, 121 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:29,000 some very powerful people, did something very wrong? 122 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:36,000 Would you write their names in a list and put it in a safe deposit box? 123 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,000 What are you talking about? 124 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:42,000 Probably safer for you not to know. 125 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:47,000 You know, when I talk to you and tell you these things that my husband said to me, 126 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:49,000 I'm almost embarrassed. 127 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:51,000 It just sounds so unreal. 128 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:55,000 Politically powerful people doing something really wrong, 129 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,000 and then you just let it drop. 130 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,000 I mean, I'm an intelligent person, 131 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,000 and you say, well, why didn't she find out more about it? 132 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:06,000 I mean, and I look back and I really wished I had, 133 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:10,000 but he told me that it was not something I should know, 134 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:14,000 and it may sound silly, but I believed him. 135 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:18,000 After I recovered from the initial shock of his death, 136 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:23,000 then these little comments that he dropped in conversation started coming back to me, 137 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:27,000 and I searched for that safety deposit key. 138 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,000 It was nowhere in my house. 139 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,000 I mean, I have just searched. 140 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,000 I'd like this resolved. 141 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,000 I want to know, I want to know who those powerful people were. 142 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:40,000 I want to know what their names are. 143 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,000 I want the killers, the people that actually did it, 144 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,000 but I want to know the people that hired them. 145 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:47,000 The same day that Jack was murdered, 146 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,000 a major drug bust occurred in the area, 147 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,000 triggered by an anonymous informant. 148 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,000 Could there have been a connection? 149 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:58,000 I think it's very possible there are people in the community 150 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:01,000 that know more about what happened. 151 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:05,000 That, for some reason, either they're afraid to say, 152 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:10,000 or maybe, for instance, if he knew something about someone else, 153 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:15,000 that person's obviously not going to tell us what they know. 154 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:22,000 It really seems unfair because Jack didn't deserve to die. 155 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,000 If he did do something wrong, he did something bad, 156 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,000 you know, I've thought in my mind that maybe I didn't want to know, 157 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:33,000 that if he did something bad, I don't want to know about him. 158 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:35,000 But it's not true. 159 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:37,000 I can think of anything he could have done 160 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:42,000 that would give those people the right to come in and take his life. 161 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,000 The man who shot Jack was 35 to 40 years old, 162 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:49,000 approximately six feet in height, 163 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,000 and wore a beige jacket and light-colored pants. 164 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:55,000 He was armed to the .38 caliber revolver. 165 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,000 His accomplice was approximately 50 years in age 166 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,000 and was about five feet 10 in height. 167 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:03,000 He was wearing coveralls and a blue knit stocking cap. 168 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:06,000 He was also armed with an automatic handgun. 169 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:12,000 Next, the story of an extraordinary occurrence 170 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:14,000 at a tiny Pennsylvania church. 171 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,000 The parishioners at Holy Trinity believe 172 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,000 they witnessed a genuine miracle. 173 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:31,000 To many Catholics, miracles are an accepted part of their religious beliefs. 174 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,000 These miracles can take many forms, 175 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,000 but usually involve phenomena occurring before witnesses, 176 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,000 that cannot be explained by any known science. 177 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,000 But the church is extremely conservative 178 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,000 when it comes to officially recognizing a miracle. 179 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,000 To date, only a handful have been seriously investigated, 180 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:50,000 and only three in this century have been authenticated. 181 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:55,000 In 1917, Fatima, Portugal 182 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:58,000 was the site of the most famous 20th century miracle. 183 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,000 That year, three young children said that God had promised 184 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,000 to show a sign of his existence. 185 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,000 And on the day, in specified time, 186 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,000 in the middle of a rainstorm and in front of a huge crowd, 187 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:15,000 the clouds parted and according to witnesses and reporters, 188 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:17,000 the sun apparently touched the earth. 189 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,000 Today, thousands annually make the pilgrimage to Fatima 190 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:26,000 to celebrate this divine occurrence. 191 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,000 More recently, another miracle is said to be taking place 192 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:34,000 in a small Yugoslavian village called Medjugorje. 193 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:38,000 Since 1981, four girls and two boys 194 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:42,000 claim that they are being regularly visited by the Virgin Mary. 195 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:45,000 She still appears to for them daily in a local church 196 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,000 and has told them that this will be the last time 197 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,000 she will appear until the second coming of Christ, 198 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:52,000 a visit that will signal the end of the world. 199 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:56,000 This miracle has been dismissed by the bishop in Medjugorje, 200 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:00,000 but at the request of the Pope, it is currently being reinvestigated. 201 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:06,000 Right now, in a small town in Pennsylvania, 202 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,000 another miracle is said to have occurred, 203 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:10,000 this time in front of a number of witnesses. 204 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,000 Some skeptics believe that this is nothing more than a hallucination. 205 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:15,000 Others suspect a hoax. 206 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,000 But many eyewitnesses are positive, 207 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:21,000 but they experience something that has no physical or scientific explanation. 208 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:25,000 A phenomenon they insist was divinely inspired. 209 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:31,000 20 miles north of Pittsburgh, 210 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:34,000 the area surrounding Ambridge, Pennsylvania has been slowly dying. 211 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:40,000 Abandoned steel mills line the banks of the Ohio River, 212 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,000 a grim reminder of the region's lost prosperity. 213 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,000 But the many residents of Ambridge refuse to move out of town. 214 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,000 Some of these people gather together in the Holy Trinity Church 215 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,000 to gain strength from their religious beliefs and one another. 216 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:04,000 The Holy Trinity Church is a simple house of worship, 217 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,000 a reflection of the people that gather under its steeple. 218 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,000 But the church is justifiably proud of its beautiful structure 219 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,000 and is justifiably proud of its beautiful suspended crucifix. 220 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:19,000 This wooden plaster icon has been at the church since 1931. 221 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:23,000 It was refurbished last January by local artist Dominic Leo. 222 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:31,000 I became really deeply involved for two weeks with the crucifix. 223 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:37,000 It was a crucifix that had been here at this church for possibly over 60 years. 224 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:39,000 So now it was time to restore it. 225 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:45,000 And when I completed everything and finally got to the face, 226 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:49,000 I actually worked on all of the face and the eyes last of all. 227 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:53,000 And when I got to the eyes, then I just painted them 228 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:57,000 and put the color of the blue grain to the retina. 229 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:02,000 And then I started to put some accents into the socks of the eye 230 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:06,000 to show the color of death. 231 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:14,000 On March 24th, 1989, a special three-hour mass was held to celebrate Good Friday. 232 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:18,000 Worshiping together was a devoted prayer group. 233 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:22,000 300 men and women who take their Catholic beliefs very seriously. 234 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:28,000 Jim Savitkovich is a nephew of the parish priest, 235 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:31,000 and that night he was serving as an altar boy. 236 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:33,000 Everything was normal. 237 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:37,000 We had our readings and sang the songs and veneration of the cross. 238 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:41,000 I got communion and I went down on the side of the altar, 239 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,000 just waiting for everyone else to get done. 240 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:46,000 That's when my brother Tom came up next to me. 241 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:50,000 And I was looking up and I was praying. 242 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:56,000 As Jim looked heavenward into the face of Christ, he had a stunning surprise. 243 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:02,000 The eyes that were once open now appear to be closed. 244 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:08,000 When I first noticed that the eyes were closed, I was shocked. 245 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,000 I didn't know what to believe at first. 246 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:15,000 I was happy, but I was scared at the same time, 247 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:19,000 because you know, you figure that God, you know, he did this right there 248 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,000 while I was kneeling right there. 249 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:23,000 Tom. 250 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:24,000 What? 251 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,000 And I turned to tell my brother Tom. 252 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:27,000 Just look. 253 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,000 And he looked up and verified what I saw. 254 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:32,000 His eyes are closed. 255 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,000 Go to the other side and check. 256 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:39,000 But then we thought maybe it was just the lights or something. 257 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:42,000 Just to make sure that, you know, we just weren't seeing things. 258 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,000 I had to go to the other side. 259 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:48,000 I looked up and noticed that the eyes were still closed. 260 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:52,000 It didn't hit me until we went into the back. 261 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:55,000 And I had time to think about it for a few minutes. 262 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:58,000 And that's when I started crying, because you know, 263 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,000 you don't expect something like that to happen. 264 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,000 And you know, it was something that I was a part of. 265 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:03,000 They were crying. 266 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,000 And I asked them what happened, and they said, 267 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,000 the eyes on the cross are closed. 268 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:13,000 So I went back out with another priest who was helping me that evening. 269 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:14,000 And we looked. 270 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,000 And there was a change. 271 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,000 And I started to look around in church at the people. 272 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,000 And I happened to look in the back. 273 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:29,000 Going out the doors was the artist who had refurbished a cross. 274 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:34,000 And I called his name two or three times and asked him to come to the altar area. 275 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:36,000 And I just simply said to him, 276 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:39,000 would you look at the cross and tell me what you see? 277 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,000 First, when he told me that, I was wondering, I said, 278 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,000 what could possibly be wrong? 279 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:47,000 You know, I said, is it falling down? 280 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,000 And the second thing I said, it doesn't look like it's falling down. 281 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:52,000 I said, is it a defect? 282 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,000 Some of the plaster is falling down or something, you know? 283 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:57,000 And it wasn't that. 284 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:01,000 And then my attention and everything was just grabbed. 285 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:03,000 And my neck just flipped back. 286 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,000 And my eyes just went straight up to the crucifix. 287 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:09,000 And when I looked up there, I couldn't believe what I saw because, 288 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:13,000 not only were the eyes closed, but there were, 289 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,000 there was like all kinds of tears underneath it. 290 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,000 And it were fleshy like, and it was, 291 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:22,000 the eyelids were moving and moving like this. 292 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,000 And all the tears were in there. 293 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:30,000 It was just like as if the crucifixion was, 294 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:33,000 had just started again from 2000 years. 295 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,000 It looked just like that. 296 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:37,000 They were all underneath and everything. 297 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,000 I could never forget that. Never, never. 298 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:52,000 Don, go ahead. 299 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:57,000 Since the crucifix was suspended 22 feet in the air, 300 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:00,000 a ladder was brought in to allow for a closer look. 301 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,000 Dominic was the first to make the climb. 302 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,000 I went up to the tip top of the a-latter. 303 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,000 I straddled the ladder at the top of it, 304 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:15,000 and I had a very close look at the eyes. 305 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,000 The left eye is closed, 306 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:22,000 and the right eye is slightly, slightly open. 307 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,000 It was just unbelievable what I saw. 308 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:28,000 This eye here, this eye here was close completely, 309 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:31,000 except for a little sliver of gray. 310 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,000 But this eye here was open slightly, 311 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:37,000 and you could just see the bottom, the bottom of the retina. 312 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,000 And this is what really did it because when I seen that, 313 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,000 it looked like it was burned, that it had been burned, 314 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,000 you know, from energy of some sort. 315 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:49,000 Another parishioner who had to see for himself 316 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,000 was Pennsylvania State Trooper Chris Marion. 317 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:56,000 I wanted to make sure nobody had tampered with it. 318 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:59,000 And I got real close, like a three-year-old, 319 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,000 and looked into its father's face. 320 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,000 And as I looked at it, I realized there's no way, 321 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:05,000 it was too high. 322 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,000 I knew no one could have tampered with it, 323 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:09,000 and it was fine, and I felt good about it. 324 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:11,000 I'm sort of glad that this happened to me 325 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,000 because as a state trooper, and I've been one for 28 years, 326 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,000 I've been trained to look at things 327 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:18,000 a little differently than normal, the normal eye, 328 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:21,000 just like I knew the crucifix a lot better than everybody. 329 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,000 Well, I knew that everything that happened here, 330 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,000 this wasn't some hoax, this wasn't a bunch of people 331 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:27,000 just making this up. 332 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,000 These are the type of people you drink beer with every day, 333 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,000 and everything that happened here was for a reason, 334 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:34,000 and was definitely the most religious experience 335 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,000 that I've ever heard of in my lifetime. 336 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:43,000 Sue Tolfer was another member of the prayer group 337 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,000 familiar with the cross. 338 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:50,000 The cross used to be in an alcove area 339 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:54,000 where anyone could come and light the big candles. 340 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,000 And I've done that lots of times, 341 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,000 and anybody that has ever lit a candle, 342 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:03,000 when you look up, Jesus is looking at you. 343 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:07,000 I remember the eyes were opened very clearly, 344 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:11,000 the eyeballs, the white, the blueish-gray. 345 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:17,000 He was a live Christ dying on the cross, 346 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:20,000 and his eyes were still opened, 347 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:24,000 and that on Good Friday, they closed. 348 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:30,000 That night, as he stood beneath the cross, 349 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:33,000 a parishioner claimed to have received a divine message. 350 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:37,000 He wrote it down and shared it with his fellow believers. 351 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,000 It read in part, 352 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:44,000 I have given this sign for all those who have faithfully come. 353 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,000 Truly, my presence is within this church. 354 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:49,000 Within the months to come, 355 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,000 many will flock to see what I have done. 356 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:56,000 Welcome them, just as the people of Medjugorje, 357 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:59,000 welcome those who flock to see my mother. 358 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:05,000 Medjugorje has more than a spiritual connection with Ambridge. 359 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:12,000 Many of the Holy Trinity parishioners are of Yugoslav descent, 360 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:17,000 and four former Ambridge priests were born in the small town. 361 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:24,000 Today, some members of the prayer group regularly make pilgrimages to Medjugorje. 362 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,000 Suzanne Rini is a Catholic scholar. 363 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,000 She feels that the parishioners' impassioned faith 364 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,000 led them into seeing something that did not exist. 365 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:39,000 It is a very, very great possibility that it could be a subjective reality 366 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:44,000 that's born of the desire to share in the same kind of thing 367 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,000 that has happened in Medjugorje, 368 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,000 a terrific hunger to have it happen here, 369 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:53,000 and also as a kind of affirmation 370 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,000 that their prayer group is a successful prayer group, 371 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,000 that it's pleasing to God, 372 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:01,000 and therefore he sends them this sign. 373 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,000 The Catholic Church shares in the skepticism 374 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:07,000 for this event cannot be authenticated by the Church as a miracle 375 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:10,000 until it undergoes a rigorous investigation, 376 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:14,000 in this case by a commission headed by the local bishop of Pittsburgh. 377 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:19,000 There is always value when people return to their faith, 378 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,000 but you would want them to return for the right reasons 379 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:27,000 for what if they found out later that there was some deception here 380 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:32,000 or some defraud that could be very harmful to their faith, 381 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:35,000 and that's what the Church is always concerned about 382 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:38,000 in an investigation like this, 383 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,000 that we are very objective, that we are very careful 384 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,000 because of the harm that can come to faith. 385 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:47,000 Since that Good Friday, 386 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,000 Ambridge has been visited by thousands of people 387 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,000 who want to see the crucifix for themselves. 388 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,000 But what really happened in the Holy Trinity Church? 389 00:21:56,000 --> 00:22:00,000 Miracle or hallucination? 390 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,000 Even if the eyes of Christ didn't close, 391 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:09,000 one can readily admit that some kind of a miracle has taken place. 392 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:13,000 Ambridge has retreated from his inexorable slide into depression, 393 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:16,000 and many of his residents have found a new reason to believe 394 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,000 in their Church and in each other. 395 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:25,000 At times I sit here and wonder if, you know, is this of God? 396 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:28,000 Is this of something evil that's taken place? 397 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,000 But I know that people are coming here praying. 398 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:36,000 I know people are coming here, you know, they have dreams. 399 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:40,000 They come from all over the place, and when they leave, they have peace. 400 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:43,000 So to me, this is all positive. 401 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,000 I think my little nephew summed it up best for me. 402 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:48,000 He said to me, Uncle Chris, I know what happened. 403 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,000 He's five years old, and I said, what happened? 404 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:54,000 He said, well, God closed his eyes so everybody else would open theirs. 405 00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:00,000 We all need signs of affection, signs of love at time. 406 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:04,000 We need to be reassured, and I think maybe miracles are a way 407 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:08,000 of God's reassuring us of His love. 408 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:13,000 Several weeks after we completed filming the story, 409 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:16,000 the Bishop of Pittsburgh's commission announced his decision 410 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,000 on the events that took place in Ambridge. 411 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,000 The Bishop's commission reviewed videotape and photographs 412 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:26,000 to show the crucifix before and after the alleged miracle of Good Friday 413 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,000 and stated that there was no convincing evidence 414 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:33,000 that the miracle properly defined occurred at Holy Trinity Church. 415 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:38,000 This decision means that the Vatican will take no further action on this case. 416 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:43,000 However, the Bishop's commission did go on to say that the witnesses were sincere, 417 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,000 and many of the people we interviewed for this story are still convinced 418 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,000 that what they saw really happened. 419 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,000 They are unshaken in their belief that a miracle did in fact occur. 420 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:55,000 Whatever the truth, the events of this Good Friday did serve 421 00:23:55,000 --> 00:24:00,000 to bring a troubled community together under one roof and under one God. 422 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:05,000 To many people on Ambridge, this is one miracle that cannot be dismissed. 423 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:10,000 In a moment, we'll reveal how our viewers helped put an embezzler 424 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:14,000 who built the Medicare system out of $16 million behind bars. 425 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:25,000 Last May, we examined the shocking case of Sheldon Weinberg, 426 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,000 a New York businessman who along with his two sons, 427 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:32,000 Ronald and Jay, stole an estimated $16 million of taxpayers' money 428 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,000 that was earmarked for medical care for the poor. 429 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:36,000 The solicit father and son operation 430 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:41,000 made him the largest Medicaid fraud case ever prosecuted in the United States. 431 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:48,000 In 1979, Sheldon Weinberg and his sons opened the Bed-Stuy Health Care Clinic 432 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,000 in one of Brooklyn, New York's most impoverished neighborhoods. 433 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:54,000 A facility employed over 25 physicians 434 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,000 and catered primarily to Medicaid recipients. 435 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,000 The Weinbergs immediately began defrauding the system 436 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:05,000 by submitting up to $30,000 per week and false billings to the government. 437 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:12,000 They began small, manually writing up phony records and phony bills. 438 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:17,000 But once they started getting away with it, they realized the scam was working. 439 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:22,000 When the Weinbergs started using a computer to create bills and medical records 440 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:24,000 for non-existent visits and services, 441 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:28,000 their profits soared from thousands to millions of dollars. 442 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,000 Jay, can we bring these numbers up? 443 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,000 Why not? 444 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:36,000 They used Medicaid like it was a private bank account for them. 445 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:42,000 And from that bank account, the Weinbergs led the high life on the backs of poor people. 446 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:48,000 I think their appetite for conspicuous living, for fancy clothes 447 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:54,000 and especially shoes was only outdone by Imelda Marcos. 448 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,000 For seven years, the money rolled in. 449 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:03,000 But in April of 1986, the Weinbergs' elaborate scheme started to unravel 450 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:07,000 when authorities began to investigate the clinic's billing practices. 451 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,000 For over four weeks, auditors painstakingly searched through the clinic's records 452 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:17,000 and traced the phony Medicaid billings. 453 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:21,000 If you look at the medical chart, you'll see that a four-year-old boy 454 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:25,000 was shown as having smoked four packs of cigarettes a day 455 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,000 and having drank a quarter of booze a day. 456 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,000 You found men with gynecological problems. 457 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:35,000 And that's the type of things that jumped out off the paper at you. 458 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:41,000 On November 30th, 1988, Sheldon Weinberg and his two sons, Ronald and Jay, 459 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,000 were convicted of grand larceny, conspiracy, 460 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:48,000 and 63 other counts relating to their Medicaid fraud scheme. 461 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:54,000 Ronald Weinberg was sentenced to spend five to 15 years in prison. 462 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:57,000 Jay Weinberg received an eight to 25-year sentence 463 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:00,000 plus additional prison terms for tax evasion. 464 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,000 Three days before Sheldon Weinberg was to be sentenced, 465 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,000 he disappeared along with his wife, Roslyn. 466 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:11,000 He was sentenced in absentia to a seven to 21-year prison term. 467 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:15,000 Update. 468 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,000 Within three hours of our broadcast, 469 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:21,000 Sheldon Weinberg was arrested by FBI agents in Scottsdale, Arizona, 470 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,000 where he and his wife were living under assumed names. 471 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:31,000 Right after the show aired, we got specific information from callers 472 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,000 who had seen them all over the Scottsdale area. 473 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:40,000 And one of the callers told us that the Weinbergs were using the alias Davida 474 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,000 and this corresponded with information we previously had back here in New York 475 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,000 that they were traveling under that name. 476 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:50,000 So when the caller told us that he had seen people that looked like the Weinbergs 477 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:54,000 using the name Davida in Scottsdale, we knew we had our man. 478 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,000 On May 19th, Weinberg was extradited back to New York. 479 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:04,000 Three days later, it appeared before New York State Supreme Court Justice Ruth Moskowitz 480 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:07,000 to reimpose the seven to 21-year sentence. 481 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,000 I do not regard this as a white-collar crime. 482 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:17,000 This is a crime of violence to all of the people of New York City. 483 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:23,000 This is a crime of violence to the Medicaid recipients. 484 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:30,000 Medicaid state funds should not go so that people could live in Trump Towers, 485 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:35,000 so that people could live in luxury on Florida estates. 486 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:43,000 Hopefully, the message will go out loud and clear to other people 487 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:51,000 that the court system will not tolerate this type of crime, execute sentence. 488 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:57,000 To date, authorities have recovered less than $6 million 489 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:02,000 at the estimated $16 million that Weinberg and his son stole from taxpayers. 490 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,000 Sheldon Weinberg is currently serving his sentence 491 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:10,000 at the Attica Correctional Facility in Upstate New York. 492 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:26,000 Next, the story of a conman who allegedly fleeced thousands of dollars 493 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,000 out of his friends and neighbors at a Florida nudist camp. 494 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:40,000 For 40,000 Americans, nudity is a way of life. 495 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:45,000 Sunny Sands Resort in northeast Florida is one of the 200 nudist clubs 496 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:47,000 in the American Sunbathing Association. 497 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:50,000 Clothes are outlawed here, just avoided. 498 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:55,000 Many outsiders consider public nudity strange or sexually exploited, 499 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:58,000 but to the 66 families of Sunny Sands, 500 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,000 being nude is only being natural. 501 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:06,000 There's a real unfortunate misconception that being in a nudist club 502 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:10,000 means sexual behavior, means a lot of drinking, 503 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:13,000 a lot of party atmosphere, that kind of thing. 504 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,000 And here you don't find that kind of atmosphere. 505 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:18,000 Here you find families. 506 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:22,000 In a nudist club, you'll find that things are a lot more wholesome 507 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:26,000 than at Daytona Beach or in the state of Florida. 508 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:31,000 And at Daytona Beach or downtown Orlando or a lot of places. 509 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:35,000 While many of us consider nudity offbeat, 510 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:39,000 its devotees feel that lifestyle without clothes is healthier and more open. 511 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,000 However, from time to time, the clubs attract single men 512 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,000 whose only purpose is to exploit this environment. 513 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,000 So they must carefully screen their applicants. 514 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,000 They don't always succeed, as we'll see in our next story. 515 00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:00,000 Good morning. May I help you? 516 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,000 Hi, my name's Rusty. 517 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:05,000 In February 1988, a clever con man calling himself 518 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,000 Garland Houston Russell, Rusty for short, 519 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:12,000 arrived at the Sunny Sands Resort and asked to join the camp. 520 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,000 Rusty was immediately likable. 521 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,000 He was not high pressure. 522 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,000 He explained to us that he was looking for a place to live, 523 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,000 but he understood when we told him that he could not. 524 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,000 He couldn't move in right away, that we needed time to have him 525 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:29,000 get to know us and us to get to know him. 526 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:32,000 Being a single guy, we're a little careful. 527 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:36,000 And as far as, I think probably the easiest way to say is he seemed, 528 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,000 he was very friendly and very comfortable, 529 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,000 but he was also very lonely. 530 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:44,000 And he was looking, he gave you the feeling like he was looking for a family. 531 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:47,000 And he was looking for a family. 532 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:50,000 And he was looking for a family. 533 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:55,000 And he was looking for someone to share his life with. 534 00:31:55,000 --> 00:32:00,000 Rusty told the camp's owners that he had been discharged from the Air Force 535 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:04,000 after the tragic sudden death of his parents in a car crash. 536 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:09,000 He claimed their estate was in probate and he'd be wealthy when it was settled. 537 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,000 I traveled around a bit and wound up here, 538 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:14,000 and when I came here, it felt like it should be home. 539 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:16,000 We're glad you feel that way. 540 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,000 We've had a chance to talk to some of the people that have met you since you've been here. 541 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:21,000 And they all seem to like you, and it seems that's such a fit in really well. 542 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,000 And we'd like to have you stay. 543 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:27,000 The rental's available, and if you'd like it, it's yours. 544 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:28,000 Appreciate it. 545 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:29,000 Welcome aboard. 546 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:30,000 Everybody seemed to like Rusty. 547 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,000 He did everything for everybody. 548 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:35,000 The part that amazed me, he really loved children. 549 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,000 And my children loved him. 550 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:41,000 They thought of him as like a big brother or an uncle. 551 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:45,000 Rusty renovated an empty store in Crescent City, 15 miles away, 552 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:50,000 and stocked it with videotapes he said he'd acquired while in the service. 553 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:56,000 Police now suspect he stocked the entire store with inventory stolen in Texas. 554 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,000 Put that down there, okay? 555 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,000 Okay, how you been Rusty? 556 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,000 For members of Sunny Sands, he had a special deal. 557 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,000 Thanks, Rusty. 558 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:09,000 He sold the tapes to his friends and bought them back at a slightly higher price, 559 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:11,000 a tax dodge, he told them. 560 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:12,000 Here's the deal. 561 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:15,000 You're gonna give me a check for $500. 562 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,000 I'm gonna give you a check for $600. 563 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,000 You hold that check for 90 days. 564 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,000 You pick up 20% on your money, you cash the check after 90 days. 565 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:25,000 You pick up 20% on your money, you get to watch the tapes, 566 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,000 you give the tapes back to me, 567 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,000 and then I'll rip these tapes out as used tapes, you see. 568 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:31,000 Okay. 569 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:32,000 And then I get over on the government, right? 570 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:33,000 Sounds beautiful. 571 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:34,000 Right, you make the money. 572 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,000 I'd rather give it to you than the government. 573 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:37,000 That sounds great. 574 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:38,000 Wouldn't it is great. 575 00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:42,000 The people we spoke to who had invested with Rusty early on, 576 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:45,000 everybody had seemed to have made their money back. 577 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:47,000 Their principal, plus their 20% interest. 578 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:52,000 They had, at a maximum, people had invested maybe $1,000 with Rusty, 579 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:56,000 and had made $1,000 plus their $200 interest. 580 00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:58,000 Who is it? 581 00:33:58,000 --> 00:33:59,000 Rusty. 582 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:00,000 Oh, Rusty. 583 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:04,000 After four months, Rusty wanted to expand the store. 584 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:05,000 Hello. 585 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:09,000 He approached the neighbor for a $20,000 loan. 586 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,000 She quickly agreed. 587 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:12,000 Good. 588 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:15,000 Listen, I have an opportunity to share some wealth with you. 589 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:16,000 Let me see that. 590 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:20,000 Just six weeks later, Rusty asked a second couple for $20,000 more. 591 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:24,000 See, what I want to do is to save some money on my tax. 592 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:27,000 He didn't tell this couple about the first investor. 593 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:34,000 He needed money to buy more tapes, more equipment, and so forth. 594 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:38,000 And we wanted to make a little interest on the money. 595 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:41,000 So it was just an investment, as far as we were concerned, 596 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:44,000 and helping out somebody at the same time. 597 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:45,000 Hey, Rusty. 598 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:46,000 Hello. 599 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:47,000 Hey, thank you. 600 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:48,000 Hey, Robert. 601 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,000 Now, don't you fill up on that, because this is. 602 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,000 Rusty flourished his sunny sands. 603 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,000 Surrounded by happy families who supported his business, 604 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:58,000 this lonely man seemed to have found his place in the sun. 605 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:10,000 On August 28, 1988, Rusty's careful setup began to unravel 606 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:13,000 when the 11-year-old daughter of his closest friends 607 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:16,000 fled in tears from his trailer. 608 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:19,000 She said that he threw her against the wall, 609 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,000 and then he threw her on the bed, 610 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:23,000 and that he was touching her all over. 611 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:26,000 The rest is a little personal. 612 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:29,000 And in trying to do that, that's when she hit him. 613 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:33,000 And she hit him three times before she got away from him. 614 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:37,000 State attorneys issued a warrant for Rusty's arrest 615 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:40,000 for sexual battery against a child under 12, 616 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:43,000 a charge for which he would be held without bond. 617 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:51,000 Blue Sheik County Sheriff's Department. 618 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:52,000 Come on in. 619 00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,000 Investigators of Blue Sheik County Sheriff's Department, 620 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:00,000 we have a warrant for your arrest. 621 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:01,000 We have a warrant for my arrest. 622 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:04,000 Blue Sheik County Warrant No. 88090744. 623 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,000 Officer, it's a mistake. 624 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:07,000 Telling a warrant. 625 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,000 We handcuffed him, put him back in the back of the mart car, 626 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,000 and took him over to operations to be processed 627 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:15,000 and to try to interview him. 628 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:18,000 He verified the little girl's story, 629 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:20,000 except he put a different slant on it. 630 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:22,000 He put a different light on it. 631 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:25,000 He did say that, yeah, they were nude and they were in the trailer. 632 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:27,000 Of course, that's not so unusual. 633 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,000 They're in a nudist camp. 634 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:36,000 And he admitted to touching her, touching the little girl, 635 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:38,000 pretty much all over her body. 636 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,000 And the way he explained it was he said, 637 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:41,000 we were having fun. 638 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:42,000 We were wrestling. 639 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:43,000 That didn't ring true. 640 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:45,000 It just wasn't right. 641 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:47,000 But he held fast to a story that there was, 642 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:51,000 that he had no intent to assault her. 643 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:55,000 When Rusty was arrested, nobody believed it. 644 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:57,000 The people in the camp were all shocked. 645 00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:00,000 You know, here we were taking this man who everybody liked. 646 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:03,000 He was everybody's friend, everybody's big brother, 647 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:06,000 and turned around and said, well, he did something so despicable. 648 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:08,000 And they turned against us. 649 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:11,000 It was a lot easier to say, oh no, that child's lying. 650 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:14,000 You know, it's easier to blame the child than it is to say, 651 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:19,000 well, this guy who's so nice isn't, you know, as nice as we thought. 652 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:25,000 I would have believed that Rusty would have stolen our entire 50 acres 653 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:27,000 and walked away with it before I would have believed 654 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:29,000 that he hurt a little girl. 655 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:35,000 Only because that's the way he presented himself. 656 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:37,000 Rusty's loyal friends convinced the judge 657 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:41,000 to grant Rusty release on $25,000 bail. 658 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:44,000 Rusty asked Bob Pickens, his landlord, 659 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:46,000 at the video store to post his bond. 660 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:49,000 Before this has happened, her grandparents are coming down 661 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:53,000 to testify on my behalf. 662 00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:58,000 Bob, you've got to get me out of this place. 663 00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:00,000 Rusty, I'll do what I can. 664 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,000 I was surprised when Rusty was arrested. 665 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:10,000 And very frankly, he convinced me that he was innocent. 666 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:15,000 That I suppose indicates some naivety on my part, 667 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,000 but he was very convincing. 668 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:23,000 Bob Pickens arranged to have the money available in 24 hours. 669 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:29,000 In those same 24 hours, the Noonans were also trying to raise Rusty's bail. 670 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:31,000 As they looked into Rusty's business accounts, 671 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:35,000 they were shocked to see he was seriously overdrawn at the bank 672 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:37,000 and had lied to them about what he owned. 673 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:41,000 He ends up being overdrawn by over $1,000, $1,068. 674 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:42,000 That's not right. 675 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:46,000 The facade that Rusty had built about being the honest business man that he was 676 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:49,000 is now coming apart like a bad brick wall. 677 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:52,000 And in fact, if he was a bad guy financially, the chances are, 678 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:57,000 he was a bad guy with the child on all station charges. 679 00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:00,000 We tried to get a hold of the bonding agent. 680 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:03,000 We spoke to her and explained what was going on, 681 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:07,000 but she wouldn't tell us who was posting the collateral. 682 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:10,000 We tried to find out, but before we could, 683 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:13,000 find out who was posting the collateral for his bail, 684 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:15,000 he was out. 685 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:17,000 We missed him by minutes. 686 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:20,000 I was really shocked. 687 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:25,000 You know, he got out on bail and he shouldn't have. 688 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:29,000 I was told by the investigator he was not going to be granted bail, 689 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:33,000 but then he managed to caught his way into it. 690 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:38,000 In the next 48 hours, Rusty persuaded Bob Pickens to buy his business, 691 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:43,000 telling him that his reputation as a businessman had been ruined. 692 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:49,000 Bob learned later he was the third person to whom Rusty had sold his inventory. 693 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:53,000 As soon as I found out there were other individuals, 694 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:59,000 I made every effort to have Rusty apprehended and the bail removed, 695 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:02,000 but I was unsuccessful. 696 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:07,000 Rusty raised more cash by selling his car to two different unsuspecting partners. 697 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:11,000 Then he rented another car and disappeared. 698 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:14,000 He never showed up for his court date. 699 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:26,000 When Rusty took off, I felt sick, disappointed, surprised, and somewhat of a fool. 700 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:31,000 This guy took us all for a ride. 701 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:35,000 No matter what happens, we know we'll never get our money back. 702 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:41,000 But right at this point, the money is immaterial. 703 00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:45,000 Right now, the big thing I want Rusty caught is what he did to that child. 704 00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:49,000 That child will never be the same for the rest of her life. 705 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:54,000 I want him caught. I want him punished and I want him stopped. 706 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:59,000 I want him to go to jail where he can't get his hands on other children. 707 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:04,000 Police have since learned that Garland Houston Russell is not Rusty's real name. 708 00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:09,000 It is one of the 42 aliases used by William Eugene Hilliard. 709 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:15,000 The real Garland Russell, a man from Tennessee, is another innocent victim of Hilliard's cons. 710 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:20,000 Hilliard has been arrested in 14 states and has wanted for fraud in Florida and Texas. 711 00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:23,000 His swindles total at least half a million dollars. 712 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:26,000 Hilliard has green eyes and is nearly bald. 713 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:31,000 He disguises his appearance with a toupee of straight brown hair, often worn with a headband. 714 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:36,000 He is 44 years old, weighs 200 pounds and is 6 feet tall. 715 00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:44,000 Within minutes of our broadcast, several viewers from South Carolina called our telecenter 716 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:47,000 to report that they recognized William Eugene Hilliard. 717 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:55,000 The morning after our broadcast, Hilliard was arrested by Georgetown County Sheriff's Deputies 718 00:41:55,000 --> 00:42:00,000 at a convenience store in Murls and Litt, South Carolina, a small town just south of Myrtle Beach. 719 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:04,000 He is living under the assumed name Ronald Edward Kent. 720 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:13,000 On October 20th, Hilliard was returned to Florida to face charges of fraud and sexual battery against a child under 12. 721 00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:18,000 If convicted of the sexual battery charge, Hilliard could receive the death penalty. 722 00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:37,000 A final note on tonight's broadcast. 723 00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:42,000 Last week we presented the poignant story of Jim Mead, a helicopter pilot who was injured in Vietnam. 724 00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:46,000 Eventually he made a startling recovery and for 15 years, 725 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:50,000 searched for the nurse who taught him how to walk and talk again. 726 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:53,000 The morning after our broadcast, Jim's search came to an end. 727 00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:59,000 We received a surprise phone call from Karen Stevens, who I'd just mentioned to you. 728 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:04,000 She lives in the city of Stevens, who identified herself as the Army Lieutenant who nursed Jim. 729 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:09,000 She lives only 30 miles from Jim. She was astounded to see her own story on national television. 730 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:16,000 Jim and Karen are planning to get together soon, and we will bring her their heartwarming reunion from one of our next broadcasts.