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This program is about unsolved mysteries. Whenever possible, the actual family members

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and police officials have participated in recreating the events. What you are about

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to see is not a news broadcast.

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April 1986. A raging house fire set by an arsonist takes the life of a wealthy widow

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in Aurora, Missouri. Five days later, Johnny Lee Wilson, a young retarded man, confesses

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to the crime and is sent to prison. Two years later, another man claims to have been present

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at the murder and insists that Wilson is innocent. Today, the controversy has divided the town.

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Is Johnny Lee Wilson a killer or a victim?

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In Edmore, North Dakota, Kenneth Engie and Curtis Hack came to blows over a woman in

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the bar fight. The next day, Engie is found dead. The police call it an accident. Kenneth

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Engie's family thinks otherwise.

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We will also introduce you to a most unusual artist, an Englishwoman who seems to have

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the ability to create life-life portraits of people she has never seen. In fact, people

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who have been dead for years. Incredibly, many witnesses swear to the uncanny accuracy

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of her drawings. Join me for another edition of Unsolved Mysteries.

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I've got a young lad here who went to spirit very suddenly. I don't know quite how many

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people in Clarksville, Indiana paid $15 a piece for a demonstration by Coral Poles,

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a British artist with an unusual vision. He doesn't actually tell me how he was killed.

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For years, audiences from around the world have been mystified by Coral's work and often

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touched by the results. Her drawings are simple portraits, nothing fancy, but he's

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got a lot of work to do.

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Coral's subjects are otherworldly, people who have been dead for years.

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He had no real sense of responsibility. That's the big problem.

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I don't actually see these people. I don't hear them. And I honestly don't quite know

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how I do it. I just sense them. Also, there is an element of what we call automatic control,

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as if somebody takes over my hand and gives me a certain amount of help in getting the

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drawings accurate. With good results, obviously it's not always good, but when we do get

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good results, we get quite nice likenesses of people's relatives who have passed into

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the world of spirit.

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Today Coral Poles lives in a small town in England. For the last 40 years, she has possessed

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and been possessed by her unusual ability.

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The concept of life after death has fascinated mankind for centuries. It is a fascination

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ripe for exploitation by mediums and clairvoyants who claim the power to communicate with the

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spirit world. Some are obvious shoddings, but others display gifts which seem to defy

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explanation. During the past four decades, Coral Poles has drawn more than 100,000 eerie

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portraits. It could be argued that she is nothing more than a keen observer of faces,

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but her drawings of people she could never have known or seen are uncannily accurate

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and have convinced some skeptics that her powers could be real.

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In 1984, photographer Peter Cook went to Coral Poles' home in Surrey, England. Peter was on

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assignment for a national newspaper.

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I've always been a pretty open minded kind of person and I was a bit skeptical. I had

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heard about people speaking with the dead and through the dead, but when it came to

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the truth, it was a different matter.

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Do you have any drawings that you've done that I can talk with you about?

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Yes, but I think it might be better if I...

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Peter and Coral had never met before. He had no idea he was about to become Coral's subject.

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We'll sit down and we'll see what we can get for you.

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And Coral just simply asked me to sit down next to her and I did. And she came up with

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really astounding pictures.

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Now I've got a little elderly lady here coming through. She brings me a...

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The first of the pictures that she started drawing was my grandmother.

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Rounded cheeks and a sort of...

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As it took shape, I could see that it was going to be somebody that I recognised.

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And my stomach was beginning to churn just a little because it was my first experience

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with anybody talking about my grandmother or any other relationship in that kind of manner.

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A beautiful rosy complexion. In fact, she might even be called rosy.

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I keep getting the word rosy, but she's smiling very much what I'd call a country complexion.

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And what she's showing me now definitely confirms that it's a little waterbuck where she probably

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gets her drinking water from.

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According to Peter, his grandmother's name was Minnie Rose. She did have rosy cheeks and her drinking water came from a rain barrel.

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It wasn't so much the picture that she drew that I recognised so much as the description she was giving.

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And the names and the people that were near her. And they were pretty astonishing.

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Are we making any sense to your people?

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Anybody who's a skeptic, really, I mean, they better open their eyes because I believe it.

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Minnie Rose died in 1962. Peter Cook is positive that Coral had no way of knowing what she looked like.

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In the same sitting, Coral also drew Peter Cook's mother Emily, who died in 1978.

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Coral certainly has a special gift. I don't understand why. And I have to say that Coral really has sparked me off to investigating in some depth as to the possibility of life after death.

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Coral became aware of her gift just after World War II. Her mother suffered from severe arthritis.

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When nothing else could ease her mother's pain, Coral took her to a spiritualist.

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I must admit I nearly died of fright on the spot because the medium came to me and said, do you know you're a psychic artist?

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Which I didn't. I didn't even know what she meant. And she said, well, you are an artist, which was true.

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And she told me one day I'd be a very famous medium. And I must admit I thought she was completely barmy.

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And so I began to sit to try and develop the gift and eventually within two or three years was getting psychic drawings.

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I gave up counting how many we'd ever done. When I got to 100,000, it just goes on. And I don't have time to keep records.

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A lady almost held her head up so straight. You're drawing my aunt. Not Aunt Hesse, we would just...

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Lorraine Piranha was another witness to Coral's powers. Coral drew this portrait of Lorraine's aunt who died when Lorraine was six.

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I have photos that they're exactly the same. It's quite remarkable. I have never met Coral in my life.

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It's the first time I've heard of her, never mind me. And I'm devastated, shattered. I just couldn't believe what I saw.

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When people come to me for sittings, some come out of curiosity, some come because they're desperate for evidence.

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And I hope that I can prove to them that there is a life after death. It doesn't always work, but we try.

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Is Coral Poge truly gifted? Or is she merely a talented artist with extraordinary powers of perception?

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For those who believe, Coral Poge's drawings provide comfort and reassurance that there may be life after death.

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Well, I don't find it mysterious at all. I've come to a stage where, to me, it's so normal, so ordinary.

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And I find that life becomes more beautiful. One would not hasten going into the world of spirit,

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but it's a beautiful thought that one day we're all going to be reunited with those people we've loved and temporarily been parted from.

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In a moment, an investigation of a fiery murder of a wealthy 79-year-old widow, two different men have confessed to the same crime.

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Every week, hundreds of calls are received here in our telecenter, but he was suggestions for stories.

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Several months ago, one of our producers received a startling telephone call from a man in prison.

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From his cell, he told us that before his imprisonment, he'd been involved in a murder for which another man had been convicted.

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His call led us into the disquieting case of Johnny Lee Wilson, a mildly retarded young man serving a life sentence for the murder of an elderly woman.

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What makes this case so intriguing is that Wilson had confessed to the crime, a confession, as proponents say, was coerced.

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And now, the final appeal of Johnny Lee Wilson.

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Aurora, Missouri, population 7,000.

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A typical middle American small town where everyone knows everyone else.

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And everyone in Aurora knew Johnny Wilson, a mildly retarded 20-year-old with an IQ of 71, who according to psychologists had the emotional development of a fourth grader.

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Johnny was raised in Aurora by his mother and grandmother.

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I'm going down to Ramey's for some pop.

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OK. Take care of her, honey.

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Johnny was a quiet boy. He was a homeboy. He never did cause us any trouble.

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But he had problems learning disability.

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And we had to have special education for him.

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And a lot of the kids we thought in school didn't treat him, you know, so good.

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But really, Johnny has always been a happy boy.

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Even when we knew things maybe were kind of bad sometime, he was happy.

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On school days, Johnny left his bicycle with Mrs. Pauline Marks because his classmates were often vandalized.

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All right, if I leave my bike here.

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My, you know it is.

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Mrs. Marks was a close friend of Johnny's grandmother.

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See you then.

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At 79, she was the last surviving member of the wealthiest family in Aurora and owned the town's largest business.

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April 13, 1986, at 8 p.m. in the evening, the fire and rescue squads rushed to the home of Pauline Marks.

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By the time they arrived, the house was in Gulfton Flames.

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When firemen were finally able to search the wreckage, they found the charred body of Pauline Marks.

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The official cause of death was smoke inhalation, but the fire was not an accident.

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Mrs. Marks had been bound in gag with rope and duct tape.

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Investigators concluded the fire was deliberately set.

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It started with gasoline.

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There was an immediate public outcry.

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Pauline Marks had been one of Aurora's most beloved citizens.

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Five days later, anger turned to shock.

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The police picked up Johnny Wilson for questioning.

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Interrogated him for nearly four hours and finally arrested him after he had confessed to the crime.

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A confession he would later recant.

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I just, I just made the mistake of confessing to it when I didn't do it.

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To this day, I don't know why that I said I did it, you know.

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It just, it just happened.

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I didn't want it to happen, but it did.

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It was just a mistake on my part, you know, saying that I did it when I really didn't.

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It was a mistake on my part.

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For the past four years, the Johnny Wilson case has divided the small town of Aurora.

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Many believe Johnny is innocent.

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Law enforcement officials disagree.

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When we requested interviews with Lawrence County Sheriff's Department and the District Attorney's Office,

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they insisted they had put the right man behind bars and declined to participate in the broadcast.

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The recreations of court proceedings and Johnny Wilson's interrogation and confession

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have been filmed word for word from official transcripts.

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Sunday, April 13th, 1986.

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On the day of the fire, Johnny spent the early afternoon at home taping records with a friend.

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Later, he mowed a neighbor's lawn.

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When Johnny was finished, his mother drove him home.

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She and his grandmother claim he could not possibly have been at Pauline Martz's house when the fire was set.

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They didn't get home until about five o'clock, and as soon as they got home,

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the neighbor boy came back over again to tape, and he stayed until nearly seven.

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And then when they left at seven, Johnny and I put up nine posters in his bedroom.

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And then when that was done, then we, about 25 to eight, we left and went and mowed two letters.

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Went up to Rameys, got some things, and then when we came out, that's when we heard the sirens.

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We heard the sirens, so we went over by and saw that this Pauline's house, the back of the house,

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was in the Dofton Flames.

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Hey Johnny, how's it going? Not bad, how about you?

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18-year-old Gary Wall was also mildly retarded.

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I'm running my grandma.

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He and Johnny were both enrolled in a special education program at the local high school.

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See you later. Bye.

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Basically I just said hi, Howard, and you know, bye, you know, and then I went back to the car and,

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and I'm setting the back seat, and that was it.

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Hey Johnny. Hey.

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The next morning, Gary Wall was questioned by police.

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No.

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He gave them a completely different version of his conversation with Johnny.

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Mrs. Marks is in there.

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Well, how do you know?

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She tied up.

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Well, you sound like you know something about this.

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You tell anybody and I'm gonna beat you up.

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Okay, Charlie.

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Gary Wall later took a total of six lie detector tests.

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He failed all but one.

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The morning after Johnny's arrest,

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Sheriff's deputies went to the Wilson home to search for evidence.

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They came to search the house and said they had a warrant.

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I gave them permission to search because I didn't think they'd find anything to see.

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But they did.

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I mean, they thought they did.

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They went to his room and just started searching.

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They did. They went to his room and just started taking things out of drawers

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and cabinets and things that was in there.

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The authorities believed that Johnny had sexually assaulted Mrs. Marks.

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Deputies found women's underwear in a bureau in Johnny's room.

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However, the family said the bureau and clothing belonged to Johnny's mother.

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In Johnny's confession, he admitted to stealing jewelry.

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The deputies also took costume jewelry which Johnny's grandmother said she used for sewing.

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Finally, they found a nearly empty gas can which investigators would later say

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was used to start the fire.

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Johnny Wilson was charged with first-degree murder.

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Because of his diminished mental faculties,

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Johnny was examined to determine if he was fit to stand trial.

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What did you like about high school?

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I was a manager for the football team.

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They gave me a jacket and everything.

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Alright. Do you have any friends in school?

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When you're asked to evaluate someone's fitness to stand trial,

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you look at first whether they understand what the charges are against them.

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And then second, are they able to reason and make their own decisions about whether to enter a plea?

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Are they able to decide whether they want to testify on their own behalf at a trial?

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Are they able to help their attorney by giving him a consistent account of what happened?

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How about a job? Do you ever have a job?

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And in those particular range of skills, I did not think Johnny was constant to stand trial.

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I used to work at the hardware store.

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Johnny, when the police arrested you, did they ask you anything about Miranda rights?

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Yeah, I think so.

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Do you know what Miranda rights are?

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Yeah.

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What are they?

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Well, that's the difference between right and wrong.

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Johnny was ultimately examined by two psychiatrists and a psychologist.

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Two of the three judged that he was incapable of understanding the court proceedings.

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However, the third, the court appointed psychiatrist determined that he was fit to stand trial.

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Johnny told his court appointed attorneys he was innocent.

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However, based upon his confession, a testimony of Gary Wall and other evidence,

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his attorneys advised him to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty.

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By pleading guilty, Johnny lost his right to a trial by jury.

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Because he had given a confession, his attorneys told him that it would be very likely that he would get convicted if this went to trial.

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And they also told him that this judge was very likely to give him the death penalty based on prior cases that had gone before this judge.

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And so what he understood was if he went to trial and he was found guilty that he would die.

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What is your understanding of why you're here this afternoon?

216
00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:02,200
Plead guilty.

217
00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:05,200
Why are you pleading guilty, Johnny?

218
00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:07,200
I don't know.

219
00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:08,200
Pardon?

220
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:13,200
This recreation of Johnny's hearing has taken verbatim from court transcripts.

221
00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:16,200
Just a first degree murder.

222
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:18,200
But that's what you're pleading guilty to.

223
00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:21,200
Why are you wanting to enter such a plea?

224
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:24,200
I don't know.

225
00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:30,200
The so-called plea of guilty should have been stopped about 60 seconds after it started.

226
00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:34,200
The judge asked Johnny if he knew what he was doing.

227
00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:36,200
And Johnny Wilson said no.

228
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:38,200
I don't understand why I'm here.

229
00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:40,200
I don't understand what's going on.

230
00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:42,200
And the judge said, do you want to plead guilty to this charge?

231
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,200
And Johnny said no.

232
00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:46,200
I don't want to plead guilty to it.

233
00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:50,200
At that point, the circuit judge should have said gentlemen, courts adjourned.

234
00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:52,200
This case will be set for trial in two weeks.

235
00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:54,200
I expect everyone to be here and be ready for trial.

236
00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:57,200
I'm not going to take this plea of guilty.

237
00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:58,200
But he didn't.

238
00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:01,200
The judge went further, continued to cross-examine Johnny,

239
00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:04,200
and finally accepted the plea of guilty.

240
00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:08,200
It was voluntarily entered and will accept your plea and pronounce sentence.

241
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:14,200
Upon your plea of guilty in this cause, the court sentences you to life imprisonment

242
00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,200
in the custody of the Missouri Department of Corrections.

243
00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:19,200
Court stands adjourned.

244
00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:24,200
Johnny Wilson was immediately remanded to the Missouri State Penitentiary.

245
00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:32,200
Ten months later, at a prison in Kansas, this man confessed that he knew who killed Pauline Martz.

246
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:35,200
And it wasn't Johnny Wilson.

247
00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:42,200
When we return, he will examine evidence which has led many to believe that Johnny Lee Wilson is innocent.

248
00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:48,200
In 1986, Johnny Lee Wilson, a mildly retarded 20-year-old,

249
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:53,200
confessed to the murder of Pauline Martz and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

250
00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:59,200
Two years later, on February 11, 1988,

251
00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:04,200
convicted felon Chris Brownfield confessed to participating in the same crime.

252
00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:09,200
Brownfield was and still is serving a life sentence.

253
00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,200
Once I found out that they had a retarded boy,

254
00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:16,200
that they had forced him to confess him to the crime and stuff,

255
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,200
I just kind of got the feeling sorry for him.

256
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:23,200
And then I found out he was raised by his grandmother and mother,

257
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,200
you know, and I was raised by my grandmother.

258
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:30,200
So I had a lot of feelings toward probably what they felt.

259
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:32,200
And it was distasteful.

260
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:36,200
And I was just so happy that I was able to get to the crime.

261
00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:39,200
And I was just so happy that they felt.

262
00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:42,200
And it was just such a situation.

263
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:45,200
To me, it was so cut and dried that they had the wrong man.

264
00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,200
I just thought there shouldn't be any problem.

265
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:52,200
You know, to tell them they got the wrong man, look at it and release the boy.

266
00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:58,200
According to Chris Brownfield, he and an unnamed accomplice

267
00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:02,200
had been tipped off that Pauline Martz kept a great deal of money in her home.

268
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:09,200
They broke into the house.

269
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:15,200
Chicken.

270
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:20,200
Hey, it's all right, man. Just relax, all right?

271
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,200
What happened?

272
00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:24,200
Come on, just watch her.

273
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:31,200
Where's your money at, lady, huh?

274
00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:35,200
According to Brownfield, they ransacked the house.

275
00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:40,200
Mrs. Martz was bound and gagged.

276
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:48,200
Brownfield and his accomplice decided to burn down the house

277
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:51,200
so that no evidence would be left at the scene.

278
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:59,200
Brownfield says he was outside when his accomplice started the fire.

279
00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:03,200
Hey, where's the lady? She's still in the house.

280
00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:05,200
I thought we were going to get out of here.

281
00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:07,200
She's got to pretend we're looking. Let's get out of here.

282
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:09,200
Hey, let's go on back, see if we can get her out.

283
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:13,200
Brownfield claims he later tried to go back inside to save Mrs. Martz.

284
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:18,200
It was too late.

285
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:22,200
Two men fled the scene.

286
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,200
When the news of Chris Brownfield's confession was made public,

287
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,200
the town of Aurora was thrown into turmoil.

288
00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:41,200
One group of citizens banded together and erected this billboard.

289
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:45,200
Shortly thereafter, it was firebound by an unknown party.

290
00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:50,200
The sheriff believed Chris Brownfield's confession

291
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:53,200
was part of an elaborate escape plan and discounted it.

292
00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,200
Chris Brownfield is a member of the Brownfield Police

293
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,200
and Brownfield is a co-blooded murderer.

294
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:06,200
He has killed senior citizens before using the exact M.O.

295
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:10,200
in the same manner that Mrs. Martz was killed.

296
00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:14,200
Noted Missouri attorney, D. Wampler,

297
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,200
was hired to represent Johnny and reopen the case.

298
00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:21,200
Wampler became convinced that Johnny's confession had been coerced.

299
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:25,200
It's the first time the state of Missouri has ever put a third grader on trial for murder.

300
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:26,200
Okay, thank you very much.

301
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:31,200
Johnny Lee Wilson was at a movie theater on the night that he supposedly confessed,

302
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:35,200
and they tricked him into going with them to the police headquarters.

303
00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:38,200
He had lost a billfold several days earlier,

304
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,200
and they came and asked him to go to the police station,

305
00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:45,200
and he thought that he was going because they had found his billfold.

306
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:46,200
Johnny, did you lose a wallet?

307
00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:47,200
Yeah.

308
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,200
We found it. We got it down at the police station.

309
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,200
If you come down and identify it, you can pick it up, take it on home.

310
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:54,200
Okay.

311
00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:55,200
Come over here.

312
00:26:55,200 --> 00:27:00,200
His mother and grandmother were not told that they were going to question him that evening.

313
00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:05,200
John, is there any possibility that you are involved in this?

314
00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:07,200
No.

315
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:09,200
What if I told you I thought you was?

316
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:15,200
The police interrogation began at 8.30 p.m. and was concluded just after midnight.

317
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,200
What if I told you you were seeing that fire before it started?

318
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:20,200
Oh, I'd say I wasn't.

319
00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:25,200
The words spoken in these scenes are taken verbatim from transcripts of a police tape recording.

320
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:30,200
What would you do if we brought in a witness in here, in this chair,

321
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,200
and he sat here and looked you right in the eye and said,

322
00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,200
John, you was there before that fire started.

323
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:40,200
They kept on saying, well, we know you did it.

324
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:46,200
We know we got a witness saying that you told him you did it,

325
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:54,200
and after that, you know, I just, I remained, maintained my innocence.

326
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:58,200
I said, I didn't, I didn't do it.

327
00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:00,200
I don't know who did. I didn't do it.

328
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:02,200
Murders what you're in here for.

329
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:07,200
They started, you know, started yelling saying, well, we know you did it.

330
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,200
You're going to tell us that you did it.

331
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:12,200
So we just get this all wrapped up so we know to go home.

332
00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:14,200
You didn't know she was tied up.

333
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:16,200
How'd that information get out?

334
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:21,200
There's a whole bunch of people out there that night that came up with information that she was tied up.

335
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:23,200
The language used was so aggressive.

336
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:27,200
What an ordinary individual might have done at that point was to end the interviewer,

337
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:35,200
asked for their attorney, but being a fairly young, young man who was limited intellectually

338
00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,200
and no prior experience of the criminal justice system

339
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:42,200
and the emotional stability of her an eight or nine year old,

340
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:44,200
they're not going to know.

341
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:47,200
Just say, get out of my face, stop talking to me.

342
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:52,200
You know, I didn't do it and, you know, I've already told you that I want to end this.

343
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:54,200
He didn't think he had the permission to end this.

344
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,200
He didn't know he could end the interrogation.

345
00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:58,200
I went with him five miles of that house.

346
00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:01,200
You know too much. Why'd Gary make up something like that on you?

347
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,200
He mad at you.

348
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:08,200
At the end of the interrogation, he forced my head back and that's when I said,

349
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:13,200
okay, okay, I did it, but when I really did, that's when I lied.

350
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:15,200
What besides a rope was around her ankles.

351
00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,200
The interrogation continued.

352
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,200
The deputies pressed for details.

353
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:24,200
You know, and I know, just think.

354
00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:26,200
Come on, John.

355
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:28,200
Thank you.

356
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:31,200
What are some of the things that could be used?

357
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:33,200
Handcuffs, I think.

358
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:36,200
No, no, wrong guess.

359
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:41,200
If you're a scared kid, you know, sometimes you lie to get out of trouble

360
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:46,200
and essentially when he gave this confession, I think he may have been lying to get out of trouble.

361
00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:51,200
The immediate trouble at the moment, which was a couple of angry detectives,

362
00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:54,200
you know, questioning him pretty vigorously.

363
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:59,200
They just simply said, if you'll tell us what we want to know, we can all go home.

364
00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:04,200
And he was just acting like a child that has brain damage

365
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:08,200
and he thought, okay, I'll tell them what they want to know and then we'll all go home.

366
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,200
But Johnny did not go home.

367
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:20,200
At the end of the confession, they slapped the handcuffs on me and walked me out the door

368
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:23,200
and drove me to Mount Vernon and locked me up.

369
00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:32,200
That's when I thought, no, I ain't going home over something that I think just run my life.

370
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:38,200
I'd set my jail cell, you know, just thinking, I didn't do this, you know.

371
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:44,200
Bottom line, you know, I just want to go home.

372
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:50,200
Former Sheriff's Deputy Dustin Toller began studying the evidence on his own.

373
00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:53,200
He came to Johnny's defense.

374
00:30:53,200 --> 00:31:00,200
As I got into the reports, I observed that what was being said about Johnny Wilson

375
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,200
by the Sheriff's Department and other investigative agencies

376
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:08,200
and what was substantiated by evidence were not the same thing.

377
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:13,200
Toller discovered that the costume jewelry taken by investigators from the Wilson home

378
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:17,200
belonged to Johnny's grandmother.

379
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:21,200
The underwear they found belonged to Johnny's mother.

380
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:27,200
And there was another gas can found at the crime scene which was never entered into evidence.

381
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:31,200
The more I observed, the less evidence I could find.

382
00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:36,200
I never did find anything that could tie Johnny Wilson to the case.

383
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:41,200
One surprising piece of evidence which was discovered at the crime scene

384
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:43,200
was a battery operated stun gun.

385
00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:45,200
No, I haven't. That's a stun gun.

386
00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:46,200
A stun gun.

387
00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:48,200
Yeah, go ahead and push the trigger.

388
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:53,200
In his confession, Chris Brownfield mentioned losing a stun gun during the robbery.

389
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:58,200
The weapon which he described was identical to the one found at the scene.

390
00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:05,200
It had never been publicized that a stun gun had been used in this crime.

391
00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:11,200
Chris Brownfield in his confession was the first one who ever mentioned the stun gun.

392
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:18,200
He described the stun gun and drew a picture of it that was identical to the stun gun

393
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,200
that was eventually found at the crime scene.

394
00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:24,200
Johnny Lee Wilson didn't even know what a stun gun was.

395
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,200
He was asked about it.

396
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:30,200
He thought a stun gun was an electric razor.

397
00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:38,200
On May 8th, 1989, D. Womper presented a motion in circuit court

398
00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:43,200
requesting that Johnny Wilson be given a jury trial.

399
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:47,200
The motion was denied.

400
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:50,200
The judge ruled that Johnny was competent when he pled guilty

401
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:54,200
and that Chris Brownfield was not a credible witness.

402
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:59,200
Brownfield had refused to testify in person at the hearing.

403
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:04,200
How would the state of Missouri suffer from giving this poor little boy a trial?

404
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,200
It probably would only take two or three days.

405
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:09,200
I couldn't see that there's any harm or damage in it

406
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:13,200
and he should have been given a trial in my opinion.

407
00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:20,200
Today Johnny Wilson is still serving his life sentence.

408
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:25,200
He has been placed in protective custody because prison officials believe

409
00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:30,200
he would not be able to protect himself from the general prison population.

410
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:35,200
Johnny will be eligible for parole when he is 70 years old.

411
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:42,200
Justice has been very difficult to find in the Johnny Wilson case.

412
00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:47,200
It's one of those cases, perhaps there's only one in a thousand

413
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:51,200
where an innocent man is doing time in the penitentiary

414
00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:56,200
and Johnny Lee Wilson is innocent and if he had a trial he would probably be acquitted.

415
00:33:56,200 --> 00:34:01,200
I don't think the jury would deliberate more than an hour before they acquitted him

416
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:06,200
and it's a shame that he never got a chance to prove his innocence.

417
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:13,200
All I want is somebody to believe me, you know, just that I didn't do this.

418
00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:20,200
In September of 1990 an appeal was heard before the Missouri Appellate Court.

419
00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:24,200
Johnny's appeal for a trial was denied once again.

420
00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:43,200
When we return a man is found dead in his garage the morning after a bar room brawl.

421
00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:46,200
An accident or foul play.

422
00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:01,200
October 4th 1988, 3.30 p.m.

423
00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:05,200
What did you find when you pushed came through the door?

424
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:11,200
Police in Edmore North Dakota began an investigation into the death of a local auto repairman.

425
00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:19,200
An hour earlier the body of 27 year old Kenneth Inge had been discovered in his own garage by his uncle.

426
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:23,200
The cause of death, massive carbon monoxide poisoning.

427
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:27,200
Initial indications pointed to a probable suicide.

428
00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:35,200
Kenny had too much going for him to be committing suicide, you know, that was way too far.

429
00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:40,200
You know, he didn't have any trouble so would rather him that much.

430
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:47,200
Almost immediately bits of evidence began to cast doubt on the suicide theory.

431
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:51,200
A fully loaded .22 caliber rifle was lying six feet from Inge.

432
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:56,200
There was a small pool of blood on the floor but no marks on the body and no sign of a struggle.

433
00:35:56,200 --> 00:36:03,200
Even more puzzling, the fuel tank of the truck and the garage was nearly full and the ignition had been turned off.

434
00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:11,200
If Kenneth Inge had in fact committed suicide by inhaling carbon monoxide, then who turned off the truck's engine?

435
00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:18,200
The investigation into Kenneth Inge's death was stifling.

436
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:22,200
His family vehemently insisted that suicide was out of the question.

437
00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:28,200
But if there was foul play involved, who could have had a motive and the opportunity to commit the crime?

438
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:34,200
Within 12 hours the police found a potential suspect who had both motive and opportunity.

439
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:41,200
2 a.m. Conkels Bar on the main street of Edmore.

440
00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:44,200
By closing time only two customers remain.

441
00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:48,200
Kenneth Inge and Curtis Heck another auto repairman.

442
00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:51,200
Kenny look I'm closing up you gotta go.

443
00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:52,200
I'm taking you home tonight.

444
00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:53,200
I gotta right.

445
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:54,200
Who you going with?

446
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:55,200
Curtis.

447
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:57,200
You really are a tramp aren't you?

448
00:36:57,200 --> 00:36:58,200
Now.

449
00:36:58,200 --> 00:36:59,200
I wanna talk to you.

450
00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:00,200
She's going home with me.

451
00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:01,200
Get your hands off me.

452
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:04,200
Neither one of us are Muhammad Ali.

453
00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:08,200
I mean, it was rolling around on the floor rassling and a bunch of dumb stuff.

454
00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:12,200
There was some punches thrown back and forth but nobody really got hurt.

455
00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:19,200
And at one point I got him down on the floor and I held him down there and I told him I'm going to let you up.

456
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:23,200
And I said when I let you up I want you to just walk out the door.

457
00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:27,200
And I let him up and then he did go out the door.

458
00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:29,200
Moment's later Kenneth Inge retaliated.

459
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:42,200
I heard the crash out out front and I knew what it was as soon as I heard it.

460
00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:44,200
And I seen my pickup out there.

461
00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:46,200
It had been broadsided.

462
00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:51,200
I thought about it and I thought about it and I thought about it and I thought about it.

463
00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:56,200
Me and Kenny were both body men and he had just annihilated my pickup.

464
00:37:56,200 --> 00:38:02,200
So I thought if I'm going to have to fix my vehicle then he's going to have to fix his.

465
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:11,200
Approximately one hour later, Hecken the barmaid arrived at Inge's house and he was in the car.

466
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:13,200
He was in the car and he was in the car.

467
00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:15,200
He was in the car and he was in the car.

468
00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:17,200
He was in the car and he was in the car.

469
00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:21,200
Approximately one hour later, Hecken the barmaid arrived at Inge's home.

470
00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:24,200
Inge's truck was parked in the driveway.

471
00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:44,200
I heard a noise coming from the garage.

472
00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:46,200
It's a groaning sound.

473
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:51,200
So I went around to the back door and I opened up the door and I went in.

474
00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:55,200
You know you told my truck don't you?

475
00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:04,200
I should have realized you know that there was something wrong with him.

476
00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:05,200
But I didn't.

477
00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:07,200
I was mad at him anyway.

478
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:13,200
Any other time if I'd seen somebody on the floor moaning and groaning I certainly wouldn't have left him there.

479
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:17,200
But you know the guy just smashed my pickup all the pieces and I...

480
00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:23,200
I figured he was sick from drinking so I figured go ahead and spend the night on the garage floor.

481
00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:30,200
According to the official police report, this is the last time Kenneth Inge was seen alive.

482
00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:36,200
I believe that Kenneth Inge when he was in the garage and it became cool,

483
00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:41,200
started the vehicle, sat there and waited for Curtis Heck to come to the garage

484
00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:44,200
for the confrontation that was bound to happen.

485
00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:52,200
Realizing that something is happening to him, at this point I believe he turned the vehicle off that was in the garage, a pickup,

486
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:59,200
started to head for the door and didn't quite make it to the door before he collapsed.

487
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:06,200
Time passed and he died waiting for Curtis Heck.

488
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:13,200
Inge's uncle Richard Nygaard disagrees with the police.

489
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:21,200
I think Kenny was a little bit smarter than that to start a vehicle up and leave it running in the garage while he was still in there.

490
00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:29,200
He might have started it up just so he could move it and probably run his own vehicle in and run that one out.

491
00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:36,200
Nygaard believes that Inge heard Heck kicking his truck.

492
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:46,200
He feels that the two men had another confrontation inside the garage.

493
00:40:46,200 --> 00:41:02,200
He fell down and probably was knocked unconscious and Curtis shut the door and walked away and then realized the truck was running and came back and went in and shut it off.

494
00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:15,200
With a sealed garage there was still enough carbon monoxide fumes in there to still do somebody in.

495
00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:22,200
The autopsy does not indicate that there was any assault on that body and I don't believe there was.

496
00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:28,200
It doesn't make me very happy to know that I was the last person to see him alive and walked out the door and left him there.

497
00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:37,200
But I had absolutely no reason to think that there was any carbon monoxide involved because there was a vehicle in his garage.

498
00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:46,200
There was a friend of his pickup in the garage but it wasn't running and I don't remember seeing any smoke in the garage.

499
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:49,200
I don't remember. I think I would have noticed that.

500
00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:54,200
Several puzzling questions continued a loom over this case.

501
00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:59,200
Did Kenneth Inge start at the truck to keep warm until the inevitable arrival of Curtis Heck?

502
00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:09,200
Inge was a trained mechanic and certainly knew the lethal possibilities of running an engine in a small enclosed space unless alcohol had completely impaired his judgment.

503
00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:21,200
But if a drunken Inge did start the truck and was overcome by fumes, how could he have had the clarity of mind to cut the ignition but be unable to reach the door just 15 feet away?

504
00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:29,200
And finally, if it was not Inge who turned off the ignition, then who did and left him on the floor to die?

505
00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:40,200
We believe that the death occurred from a lethal dose of carbon monoxide and that there was no criminal foul play involved.

506
00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:49,200
The family wants to continue the investigation as to theories which they're certainly entitled to but law enforcement has officially closed this case.

507
00:42:50,200 --> 00:43:04,200
There just doesn't seem to be a clear cut answer to it and there's been a lot of stories and rumors and it's been in just, it's been hell on everybody is what it's been and I'd like to see an answer to it some place.

508
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:15,200
I don't think they'll ever have a, you know, a final that says this is exactly what happened. I don't think they ever will, you know.

509
00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:20,200
There's just, there's too many loose ends.

510
00:43:45,200 --> 00:43:54,200
Join me next week for another edition of Unsolved Mysteries.

511
00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:47,200
you