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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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The breathtaking beauty of Canada's Yukon territory has captivated travelers for generations.

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But when Philip Frazier of Anchorage, Alaska picked up a lone hitchhiker, the wilderness

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became the gateway to a nightmare. In 1990, four men were cast adrift when their fishing

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boats sunk off the coast of Georgia. After an incredible four-day ordeal, one of them

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was rescued. As for the other three, a series of strange phone calls suggest that they are

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being held against their will in a foreign country. When he was 20, Mac MacDonald fell

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madly in love with a girl next door. A year later, Mac met his child for the first and

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last time. Now that child could inherit Mac's estate estimated at more than a million dollars.

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Freewheeling Las Vegas was a perfect locale for Mac's Carson, a fast-talking, self-style

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film producer. In reality, Carson was a hustler and ex-cop named William John Wood. He is

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now wanted for rape.

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Join me for these intriguing new stories. Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

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Alaska, America's last frontier.

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Highway 1 is its lifeline, a thin-ass fault ribbon which cuts through Canada's Yukon territory

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to connect Alaska to the continental United States. On June 14, 1988, 25-year-old Phillip

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Frazier, the son of two physicians, left his home in Anchorage to enroll in a pre-med course

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at Evergreen College in Washington State. Philip had packed up everything he owned for

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the trip, including two handguns. On June 17, after losing two days to car trouble, Phillip

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crossed the border into Canada.

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Hi, where are you coming from?

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Alaska.

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Alaska, where are you headed?

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Washington, on the Scoop.

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Going to school down there then?

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Yeah.

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Anything on board, any goods that you purchased that you're bringing across?

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Just my books and things like that for school.

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At Beaver Creek, Phillip was entering into Canada from Alaska into our Yukon territory.

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And Phillip did declare that he had two firearms of his own. And at that point, our Canada customs

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people seized the firearms from him as it is illegal for Americans to enter Canada with

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any kind of a firearm.

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After a one-hour delay, Phillip Frazier was on his way. His guns became the property of

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the Canadian government.

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The next day, 600 miles south of the border checkpoint, a hitchhiker was dropped off at

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the 40-mile flat café owned by Gay Frocklage. Gay and her daughter Tina were on duty.

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Individual that dropped them off didn't come into the café, just dropped them off and

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left. And just looking at them through the window, there was something wrong with him.

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And the parents wasn't comfortable. And I said to Tina, we've got a winner here. There's

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something wrong with this guy.

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I remember saying to Mom, you know, maybe he escaped from a mental institution because

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he was so strange.

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I think we've got a problem here.

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I wouldn't leave her alone in the building with him, as it was nobody else there at the

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time. And so I said to Tina, well, you go ahead and take care of him and I'll just hang around.

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As I passed the side window, I seen a small black car pull up right to the side of the

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café. And the young man in the car didn't get out of the car, but proceeded to act

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like he was searching his car, like he had misplaced something that he needed. During

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this time, another vehicle pulled up to the service station.

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Yeah, Tina, there's cars at the pumps. Do you want to serve them gas? And I'll just

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stay in here.

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OK, sure.

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Tina Frocklage went to the parking lot to pump gas for another customer. She and Philip

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Frazier exchanged hellos.

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Is that everything?

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Yeah.

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Gay and Tina were relieved when the hitchhiker finished his meal. They remember that he paid

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his bill in Canadian money.

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I watched the hitchhiker go out and approach Frazier.

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Hey, where are you heading?

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Doussot.

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Yeah, I'm heading that way too.

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Good.

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And how about a ride?

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Uh, I'm good going here yet.

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You sure?

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Yeah.

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All right.

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The car sat for a few minutes, and then he pulled ahead like he had second thoughts.

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You still heading in this direction?

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I thought you were going to have a bite to eat. Mind if I go with you?

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The hitchhiker just ran beside him and pulled the door open.

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And the young man in the car proceeded to let him enter.

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The strange thing was, is as they left the yard, Tina made some remark about he's going

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to live to regret this day he picked this man up.

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It was like a sixth sense that this man was capable of anything.

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Eight hours later, in 200 miles south of the 40-mile Flat Cafe, Eddie and Pauline Olson

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of Gatwonga, Canada pulled over to help a stranded motorist.

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Oh, wow, am I glad to see you guys.

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Hey, I think my car ran out of gas.

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I don't know what happened, but I stopped at the last gas stop, but it just quit.

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I'm on my way to college, and I've got all my stuff in the back of the car.

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You could tell he was nervous, but I thought that, well, you know, he was just scared of

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being out here this late at night and I didn't want to stay out here because it's kind of a remote area.

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And at that point I just said, well, I'll tow you home and we'll figure it out in the morning.

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Now you can sleep down here.

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We've had quite a few people stay down here and they have a pretty good sleep.

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No, this will be great. I really appreciate everything you guys have done for me.

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You can just pick out whichever couch you want there and there's some blankets right there.

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Okay.

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Have a good sleep and we'll see you in the morning.

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All right, thanks.

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I'll sleep good.

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He slept downstairs in our basement, and I have about 12 or 15 guns and a gun case down there,

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and where he slept, the guns were just right beside him there.

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Good morning. How did you sleep?

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Oh, I slept great. Thanks.

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Oh, sit down and have a coffee.

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Oh, thank you.

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The next morning, the young man told the Olsons that his parents were both doctors and anchorage

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and that he was on his way to college in the States to study medicine.

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And I really wanted to thank you guys.

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I got talking to him about his car and he told me that if I was interested, he would sell it to me.

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And I said, well, I was interested because all he wanted was a plane ticket to Seattle,

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but I said the only way I would buy it is if you waited till Monday and we went through customs.

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And he said that would be too late for him.

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I can't wait till Monday. I need to be in Seattle on Monday. I really can't wait.

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I really need to get going.

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Is there something I can do for your hospitality? Anything?

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The Olsons were surprised when the young man pulled out two wallets and began to behave secretively.

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He gave the Olsons $20 in American money, then left to fix his car.

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Thank you.

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Within an hour, the young man was back on the road headed south.

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The car trouble had turned out to be nothing more than a broken fan belt.

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Twelve hours later, the charred ruins of Philip Frazier's car were found at a car wash

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in Prince George, British Columbia, 300 miles from the Olsons home.

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The condition of the car after it was burned was almost totally gutted out on the inside due to the fire

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and fire damage to the outside as well.

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Nothing was found in the car of any significance.

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In fact, none of Philip Frazier's belongings have ever been found.

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The parents were contacted in Alaska and there was a great deal of investigation done at that point

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as Philip was considered a missing person and potentially a homicide victim.

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I was sure that there had been foul play, but I kept hoping, thinking of all sorts of alternatives.

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Like maybe he decided he wanted to ditch his car and be in his own.

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And I knew, you know, intellectually I knew that was wrong because he really loved this car.

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Six weeks later, a body was discovered in a gravel turnaround area 70 miles from the Olsons home.

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At the time of the discovery of the body, it was already well known about the instant of the car burning

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in the car wash in Prince George and almost immediately investigators were looking at the remains of being that of Philip Frazier.

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In order to do a positive identification, we required dental records from Alaska,

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which we obtained very quickly and were able to make that identification.

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I think, excuse me, any parent who loses a kid feels like he's lost part of himself.

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I think that's the one thing you definitely feel.

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You feel like you aren't intact yourself.

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I think it's very difficult just to describe it in words.

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You feel like your life and your family has been front-created. Cut off.

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I felt angry, bitter.

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I wondered what sort of a person, what kind of a person would destroy someone who was so idealistic and so full of life.

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What really happened along that lonely stretch of Highway 1?

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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police theorized that the mystery hitchhiker learned everything he could about Philip Frazier and then killed him.

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They believe the hitchhiker assumed Philip's identity, stole his possessions and finally attempted to destroy the car.

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In my mind, most definitely he's a dangerous person. He's taken one life.

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He has the capability of taking more.

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As to whether he's done this type of thing before, I couldn't say that, but we know he's taken one life.

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And I would consider him very dangerous.

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These are composite drawings of the hitchhiker based on the descriptions of Gayantina Frockledge and Eddie and Pauline Olsen.

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He is Caucasian, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs approximately 225 pounds.

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He has a flabby belly which overhangs his belt and is between 20 and 25 years old.

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He has brown hair and brown eyes.

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The authorities believe that the hitchhiker is familiar with the Toronto area and the Seattle, Washington area.

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He may be masquerading as Philip in his Frazier.

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Among the items never recovered were Philip Frazier's birth certificate, visa, passport and checkbook.

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Next, three fishermen are lost at sea, but some believe they survive when they're being held against their will.

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The Best Oceans of the World have captivated humankind since the dawn of civilization.

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The young especially seem drawn by the promise of adventure and romance, but there are also a thousand hidden dangers.

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Sometimes a sea can be an unforgiving mistress.

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In 1990 alone, 865 people drowned in American coastal waters.

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April 12, 1990, Richland Hill, Georgia, just south of Savannah,

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four commercial fishermen prepare to embark on a seven-day expedition in the Atlantic.

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The captain is 23-year-old Billy Joe Neesmith.

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The crew includes his brother Nathan, his nephew Keith Wilkes and a friend Franklin Brantley.

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We ready, let's go fishing.

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Franklin, you in?

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I'm in, let's go.

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In the late afternoon, they set off in the Casey Nicole, a snapper boat owned by Billy Joe Neesmith's employer.

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The boat had recently been returned to service after five weeks in dry dock for maintenance.

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We were headed out probably approximately close to 90 miles offshore.

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I guess it was somewhere around 3.30 or 4 in the morning, that next morning it was still dark.

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I had got up and was operating the boat and the boat just seemed to be sluggish, you know,

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like it wanted to bust through the waves kind of like a submarine or something.

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It did want to ride over the waves.

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Something's wrong.

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Man.

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Oh, you're right.

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Billy Joe!

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So I told my brother he was laying in the bunk, I woke him up, I said, Billy Joe, I said, oh son,

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I said something's wrong with the boat.

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What's up, man?

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Man, it wants to stay on course.

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What do you mean it wants to stay on course?

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I'm losing 10, 15 degrees, man.

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I try to manual in, it keeps going off and then I try to, oh, it's an automatic pilot

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and it won't hold, man.

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We got the noticing around, the boat was riding pretty deep into water.

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Yes, it's nice, I'm a two foot downer.

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Did you check the engine?

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It sounds like a sputter to me.

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No, I ain't checking.

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Man, Nathan, we got two foot of water down there.

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Let me see that line.

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Nathan, did you hit that pump shed?

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No.

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Hit him a couple of times.

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And we started working on our pumps, trying to get our pumps to work to pump the boat out.

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About now, nothing.

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We got to get them boys up there.

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We got to start fucking this water out here right now.

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The other crew members slept down in the bow.

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And when we turned on the light, we noticed they were watered about a foot deep down in the bunks where they were at.

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Hey, we're sinking, y'all. Come on, let's sail.

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Come on.

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And we got in a line and started passing the bucket, you know, trying to bail the boat out.

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In the meantime, we took the life raft out.

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It was a two man life raft.

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We'd been hollering Mayday on the radio.

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We had Billy Joe on it, working it.

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Casey Nicole, we're taking the water. Go down. Somebody come back to the place.

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Never did get anywhere with that.

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And the engine finally stalled.

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Casey Nicole, we're going.

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All power on the Casey Nicole was lost.

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The radio was useless.

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The four men abandoned ship.

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The life raft was kind of rotten.

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It had a hole in the side of it up on the top.

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We don't know for sure if the anchor snagged it and tore this hole in it.

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Or if the thing was just rotten and it eventually wore in it.

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We don't really know what happened there.

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But we do know that it had a hole in it about the size of a quarter.

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By sunrise, the life raft was sinking fast.

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Then salvation came floating by.

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The hatch cover from the Casey Nicole.

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I think I got it. You got it?

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Oh, it's here.

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Oh, it's here.

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The four men tethered the raft to the hatch cover and clamored aboard.

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It was then that Nathan Neesmith spotted the haul of the Casey Nicole in the distance.

229
00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,760
It looked like it was maybe three or four miles from us.

230
00:18:56,760 --> 00:18:57,760
I said, I don't know what kind of chance we got,

231
00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:02,760
but at least maybe one of us can make it to the boat and get some kind of help.

232
00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:05,760
Well, that's what I struck out to do.

233
00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:10,760
And they started hollering, no, no, you come back, you stay with us.

234
00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:13,760
We can't separate up. We separate up.

235
00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:16,760
We're going to be split up and they ain't telling us what to go wrong.

236
00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:28,760
I just kept swimming and kept swimming.

237
00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:31,760
I swam from probably about nine o'clock that morning

238
00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:37,760
and just before dark that afternoon, I got to where I thought was what the boat was.

239
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:42,760
Now I got a look around and I seen the stern of the boat sticking up at a distance,

240
00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:45,760
probably another hundred yards or so to the right of it.

241
00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:48,760
So I just kept swimming.

242
00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:53,760
I done swam till I thought there wasn't any more swimming in me

243
00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:57,760
and I drank some salt water trying to swim in it.

244
00:19:58,760 --> 00:19:59,760
I was just real weak.

245
00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:04,760
As darkness fell, Nathan lost sight of his companions.

246
00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:09,760
He spent a long harrowing night clinging to the hull of the Casey Nicole.

247
00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:17,760
The next morning, a freighter passed within three miles of Nathan.

248
00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:22,760
This ship here looked like it made about four stops, maybe five stops,

249
00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:27,760
and each time it would stop or circle, I could see a fog of smoke ball out of it.

250
00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:33,760
And it was in the direction that my other mates had went,

251
00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:37,760
so I figured that maybe it had stopped to pick them up.

252
00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:43,760
The freighter continued his odd maneuvers for nearly three hours, then disappeared.

253
00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:50,760
For two and a half days, Nathan and Niesmith drifted and prayed that the Casey Nicole would stay afloat.

254
00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:56,760
All seemed lost until a large wood and styrofoam bait box ripped loose from the boat's deck.

255
00:20:57,760 --> 00:20:58,760
And popped to the surface.

256
00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:05,760
I couldn't tell what it was for a minute, because I was scared and everything like that.

257
00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:08,760
I swam over to it where I could get a better view of it.

258
00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:16,760
Like I say, I was pretty weak. I was about starved down. I was hungry and thirsty and really weak.

259
00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:20,760
And I got to the front of it and blessed God, the whole front was out.

260
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:27,760
I mean, it was just like a boat to me. It looked like just something that I needed at the moment.

261
00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:46,760
It was really hard. I mean, I was getting real sunburned.

262
00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:50,760
My skin was turning real, real red. I was very close to dead.

263
00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,760
I mean, actually I was to the stage of death.

264
00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:58,760
But I knew I couldn't give up because I had two kids and a wife at home.

265
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:03,760
And I remember saying, God, please let me go home to my wife and kids and be able to raise my kids.

266
00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:07,760
You know, don't let me die in this ocean.

267
00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:18,760
At 10 a.m. on April 15, 1990, Nathan Neesmith was finally rescued 20 miles off the coast of Georgia.

268
00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:22,760
He had been adrift without food or water for four days.

269
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:32,760
Nathan Neesmith's companions were never found.

270
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:38,760
A large-scale search mounted by the Coast Guard yielded no trace of the life raft or the hatch cover.

271
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:43,760
But Nathan and his family never gave up hope that the three men might somehow have survived.

272
00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:49,760
It seemed a futile hope until a strange telephone call was made to the home of Nathan's sister, Onita.

273
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:58,760
It was October 5, 1990, six months after the casey Nicole had sunk.

274
00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:01,760
Onita's mother-in-law answered the telephone.

275
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:05,760
Hello.

276
00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:07,760
What?

277
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:09,760
I can't understand you.

278
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:11,760
Can you speak English?

279
00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:17,760
The caller, a man, spoke in Spanish and seemed unable to understand English.

280
00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:21,760
I can't understand a word you're saying. Can you speak English?

281
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:28,760
All this person would keep saying is repeating our phone number and saying our name, and that's all.

282
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:32,760
Then it was just like a cut-off. It wasn't anything after that.

283
00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:37,760
And, you know, we just kept saying hello, hello, and it was just cut-off, static cut-off.

284
00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:45,760
That same day, an unusual call also came into the home of Doug Tyson, owner of the ill-fated casey Nicole.

285
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:47,760
Hello.

286
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:54,760
Once again, the caller was a man. The only English words he said were the Tyson's name and telephone number.

287
00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:56,760
That was strange.

288
00:23:57,760 --> 00:23:58,760
What do you mean?

289
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:00,760
They were speaking in Spanish.

290
00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:02,760
In Spanish?

291
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:09,760
We didn't say anything about the call when we got it. Six weeks later after that, about six weeks, we were down visiting with the Niece Smith family.

292
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:15,760
And they started telling us about their call. And after they got through, I said, how long ago was this?

293
00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:20,760
I asked them. They thought back a minute. They said about six weeks.

294
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:26,760
I looked at my wife. She looked at me and she said, nodded her head. She said about the same time. I said, yeah.

295
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:33,760
Over the next year, five more calls came in. Three to Onida and two to the Tysons.

296
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:39,760
Finally, on March 6, 1991, the caller spoke a single sentence in English.

297
00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:42,760
Hello.

298
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:45,760
Excuse me?

299
00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:55,760
I said just very simple words. Not, I'm bringing it home. I'm bringing him home. Just said, I'm bringing him home. That was him.

300
00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:57,760
Hello? Hello?

301
00:24:57,760 --> 00:24:58,760
Hello? Hello?

302
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:13,760
After only a moment, the connection was broken. There have been no calls since. The Niece Smiths and the Tysons are convinced that the three missing men were taken aboard the passing freighter and perhaps transported to a foreign country against their will.

303
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:26,760
I think there's somewhere being held. I really do. And I think that whoever called us is putting theirself on the line because my brother or my nephew, or our friend.

304
00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:38,760
One of the three has made a friend, a very dear friend, because this person that's doing this is probably putting himself on the line to do it.

305
00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:47,760
You know, in my mind, people are lost at sea. They're never found. I realize that. But there's no explanation for where the debris went.

306
00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:58,760
And then the fact that Nathan's seen the ship stop the first day, you add all those together with the phone calls and I think it adds up to a tremendous amount of hope.

307
00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:15,760
And my heart, yes, I feel like they're alive. I mean, I think they had a lot. I know they had a lot better chance of surviving than I did. I don't think that I would have ever made it not knowing that they couldn't make it.

308
00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:28,760
What really happened to the lost crewman of the Casey Nicole? The Coast Guard search was the largest ever conducted in the area of the Atlantic Ocean where they disappeared.

309
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:37,760
Officially, Billy Joe Neesmith, Keith Wilkes and Franklin Bratley are presumed dead.

310
00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:42,760
Unofficially, there seems reasonable hope that they may still be alive.

311
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:51,760
When we return, one man's poignant search for his long lost child stands to inherit more than a million dollars.

312
00:26:52,760 --> 00:27:11,760
It's our baby Mac. Beautiful baby, huh? It's ours.

313
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:28,760
For most parents, seeing their baby for the very first time is a moment of unrestrained joy. But for this young father, it was a moment of confusion and panic that drove him away from the girl he loved and the child he has not seen since.

314
00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:32,760
Don't go. Don't.

315
00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:53,760
Four decades later, the young man is 63 years old. W.B. Mac McDonald is now a wealthy businessman with a sizable estate. Yet he is very much alone. Mac has never been married. No one from his immediate family is still alive.

316
00:27:54,760 --> 00:28:05,760
For 30 years, Mac McDonald has been searching for his child, but has found only frustration. Those lost years are the one thing his money cannot buy.

317
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:19,760
Mac's story begins in 1948 in Pomona, California, when he fell madly, perhaps tragically, in love with a girl next door. Her name was Mary Helen Carr. She was just 16 years old.

318
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:42,760
The first time that I noticed my neighbor, she was in a swing on her front porch. She was in a pair of white slacks and a light colored blouse and very pleasing to look at.

319
00:28:43,760 --> 00:29:01,760
While she was there on the swing, there was definite attraction both ways. However, I guess I was a little shy at that time that I didn't speak to her at that time. It was several months before I finally began to speak to her.

320
00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:03,760
Nice bike.

321
00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:07,760
Yeah, I'd like to keep it clean. My name's Mac.

322
00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:09,760
Mary Helen.

323
00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:18,760
Nice to meet you. I've seen you before. I'm just cleaning my bike. Do you want to go for a ride sometime?

324
00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:23,760
My mother would forbid me to ride that, especially with you.

325
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:25,760
Is your mother always here?

326
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:46,760
The romance progressed slowly and discreetly. Mary Helen's mother was distrustful of Mac's intentions. Still, the two young lovers saw each other at every available opportunity. Until the inevitable day came when Mary Helen's mother caught them together.

327
00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:59,760
We were planning on a future together and here were these tremendous stumbling blocks being thrown out into the path.

328
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:10,760
Mac felt he had no choice but to pack his bags and leave. His destination, the oil fields of Texas.

329
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:28,760
I was very much in love with her. My whole life was revolving around her at that time. But with the disturbance that I was causing her at home, I thought, well, I'll get away a while and maybe it'll solve some of these problems.

330
00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:36,760
We can be sure that what we're feeling for each other is going to last the rest of our lives.

331
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:44,760
We both agreed that this was the best thing to do, but it didn't make it any easier.

332
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:55,760
Went directly to Houston the only time I stopped on that trip was just for gas, because it seemed like I left part of me in Pomona.

333
00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:00,760
And it didn't get any easier the more miles I got away from her.

334
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:09,760
Three weeks later, Mac had established himself in Houston. He had no idea that Mary Helen had run away from home to join him.

335
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:20,760
Mary Helen called me from the bus station there in Houston and she said, I'm here for good. And I told her I'll be right there.

336
00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:31,760
And I tore the streets up getting down to the bus station. It was a very happy reunion.

337
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:34,760
Here we are.

338
00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:41,760
The next day, Mac and Mary Helen posing as husband and wife found an apartment and began planning for the rest of their lives.

339
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:43,760
We're here for the apartment?

340
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:46,760
Their troubles seemed far behind them.

341
00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:48,760
They just got married, right?

342
00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:49,760
Well, congratulations.

343
00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:52,760
Thank you. Well, it's right here. Let me show you.

344
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:58,760
It was happiness itself. It was the ultimate dream.

345
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:09,760
The feeling that she gave you, she was beautiful to look at, she was beautiful to talk to, and she gave you the incentive to tear the world up.

346
00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:11,760
I got a new neighbor.

347
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:13,760
You did? Are they nice?

348
00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:15,760
Yeah, they're nice.

349
00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:19,760
One month later, Mac and Mary Helen's world would collapse again.

350
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:21,760
It was very good.

351
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:26,760
Hello? Just a minute.

352
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:31,760
A friend tipped Mac off at the police or on their way to the apartment.

353
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:33,760
Hello?

354
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:35,760
Mary Helen's mother had made good on her threats.

355
00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:41,760
The authorities carried warns charging Mac with statutory rape and illegally living with a minor.

356
00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:43,760
Right now.

357
00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:46,760
I'm so sorry. I don't know how she found out.

358
00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:48,760
Sorry to fall.

359
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:50,760
She doesn't talk to your mother or something.

360
00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:52,760
It's okay. It's all right.

361
00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:54,760
That's fine. We'll call you.

362
00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:58,760
Mac made his escape with no time to spare.

363
00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:07,760
I left Texas and it was in the afternoon.

364
00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:14,760
See, my afternoon is when all these departures took place and I didn't stop till I was out of the state of Texas.

365
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:19,760
I was devastated again.

366
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:23,760
They jerked her back to California.

367
00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:27,760
And I had no way of contacting her again.

368
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:28,760
A year passed.

369
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:32,760
Mac returned to California to take a new job.

370
00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:36,760
One evening he and a friend stopped off at a drive-in in Long Beach.

371
00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:40,760
Mac?

372
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:42,760
Mary?

373
00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:45,760
Mary?

374
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:47,760
Mary?

375
00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:49,760
Mary?

376
00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:51,760
Mary?

377
00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:53,760
Mary?

378
00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:55,760
Mary?

379
00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:56,760
Mary?

380
00:33:57,760 --> 00:33:58,760
I almost fell out of the car.

381
00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:03,760
The waitress, the car hop that came to wait on us, was Mary Helen.

382
00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:06,760
Los Angeles is a big city.

383
00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:08,760
It was a big city then.

384
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:17,760
And the possibilities of driving into a restaurant and having her the waitress was like hitting a keynote ticket here in Reno.

385
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,760
Well listen, I can't really talk to you, but I get off work at nine.

386
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:23,760
Do you want to come by my apartment?

387
00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:25,260
Yeah.

388
00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:27,760
Here's my address.

389
00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:30,760
Grace.

390
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:33,760
You can see our baby.

391
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:36,760
I have a baby?

392
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:44,760
I almost had heart failure and it took my breath away.

393
00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:49,760
Because I had no idea she was pregnant. There was that possibility though.

394
00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:52,760
So I told her I'll be right over.

395
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:56,760
I'm sorry.

396
00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:06,760
When I...

397
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:08,760
Mac.

398
00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:10,760
Come on in.

399
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:12,760
With this baby on her arms.

400
00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:14,760
Come in. Look.

401
00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:19,760
Well I thought with a police department it was probably on premises.

402
00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:21,760
Honey?

403
00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:25,760
It was just a matter of time until I'm going to be shackled and in jail over this.

404
00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:27,760
So glad to see you.

405
00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:31,760
I was so distraught when her mother opened the door.

406
00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:33,760
What's yours? Hold him.

407
00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:38,760
That I overlooked the fact that she was about half civilized the first time she'd ever spoke to me civilly.

408
00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:40,760
It's not beautiful.

409
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:43,760
I was in such a traumatic state of fear.

410
00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:49,760
The benefit of being able to hold your baby for the first time, I missed that.

411
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:54,760
Because all I could think of is either the law is in the bedroom or they're on the way.

412
00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:56,760
Mac sit down.

413
00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:01,760
Mac was terrified that Mary Helen's mother still had a warrant out for his arrest.

414
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:03,760
I can't.

415
00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:08,760
In California, statutory rape was punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

416
00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:12,760
Mac McDonald stayed for less than five minutes.

417
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:16,760
He never even learned if the baby was a boy or a girl.

418
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:24,760
I feel that I made the greatest mistake of my life by not staying there and writing it out.

419
00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:31,760
I don't think there was, it probably, well it been 40 years.

420
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:33,760
That's what it's cost me.

421
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:41,760
I feel that the youngsters entitled to my estate.

422
00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:46,760
I'm not entitled to be its father probably.

423
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:56,760
But I'd want that youngster to know that even with the mistakes that I love them, I don't want them to have the best.

424
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,760
The night of our broadcast, Mac McDonald learned that he had a daughter named Sherry.

425
00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:10,760
The long awaited news came from a viewer in Dallas, Texas, Mary Helen Carr, Sherry's mother.

426
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:16,760
Unlike many of the reunions we have featured, the end of this search evoked decidedly mixed emotions.

427
00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:23,760
From Mac, from Mary Helen, and especially for their daughter Sherry, who'd been raised by a loving and caring stepfather.

428
00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:30,760
I'm 43 years old and pretty well set in my life and everything and I didn't know what to think.

429
00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:38,760
You know, I'm very happily married and I have two great kids and we just are a normal American family.

430
00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:41,760
And this is quite a shock to everyone.

431
00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:48,760
One week after our broadcast, Mac McDonald arrived at Sherry's home in Denver, Colorado.

432
00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:55,760
For Mac, the reunion would bring a bitter sweet and at times unsettling reconciliation with the past.

433
00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:02,760
Hello. Come on in.

434
00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:05,760
Yes, hi Mac.

435
00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:18,760
It's hard to describe the feeling that I had for my daughter when I opened the door and she was there and I was able to hold her.

436
00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:36,760
I just tried to come to the realization that it really was my father standing there and I just, you know, to see, does he look like me?

437
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:40,760
Does he act like me? You know, I have all these things I need to learn about him.

438
00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:43,760
I don't know what to say. I'm still on a state of shock.

439
00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:52,760
At this point in my life, to find that there is someone who is my father and who wants to establish a relationship with me, it's just emotionally very traumatic.

440
00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:55,760
Apparently he wants to be part of her life.

441
00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:01,760
And if that's the case, it's okay.

442
00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:08,760
I hope since he's gone to this much effort to find her that he doesn't bring any sorrow to her.

443
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:18,760
The fact that I didn't stay and fight the battle, it's most unfortunate. I don't believe I would do it that way again.

444
00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:24,760
However, yesterday unfortunately can't be redone.

445
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:29,760
I'd like to.

446
00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:38,760
No matter how you look at it, he left my mother with a tiny baby, you know, and I have to deal with that.

447
00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:45,760
I have to deal with the fact that I have a father who loves for me, who has raised me, who has cared for me.

448
00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:49,760
But I believe there's enough room in this family for everyone.

449
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:52,760
And I sincerely mean that.

450
00:39:53,760 --> 00:40:01,760
Next, an ex cop masquerading as a movie producer is wanted on charges of rape.

451
00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:19,760
Every year more than 20 million tourists descend upon Las Vegas, Nevada, the gambling capital of the world.

452
00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:24,760
Most come for only one reason, to spend and win money.

453
00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:31,760
It's no wonder that Vegas is also a mecca for every kind of hustler and con artist imaginable.

454
00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:43,760
In May of 1988, a self-styled star maker named Maxwell Carson arrived in Las Vegas.

455
00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:48,760
Carson was a smooth talker who dabbled in anything that might make money.

456
00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:56,760
Carson owned and operated a sports betting business, a fledgling film company and a modeling agency.

457
00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:04,760
But Max Carson was a man with a dark past. He was an ex cop gone bad whose real name was William John Wood.

458
00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:11,760
In 1972, Wood resigned from the Toledo, Ohio police force while under investigation for misconduct.

459
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:23,760
Between 1977 and 1985, Wood served time for a number of offenses, from passing bad checks to impersonating a federal officer to assault with intent to rape.

460
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:34,760
In 1986, William John Wood moved to Las Vegas and became Max Carson.

461
00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:39,760
Max was absolutely obsessed with good-looking women.

462
00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:56,760
He would especially with actresses, models, any good-looking women, use the movie industry or use his clout as quote unquote a movie producer to be, could get them whatever they wanted.

463
00:41:58,760 --> 00:42:00,760
Tiffany? Hi, Mr. Carson, I'll see you now.

464
00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:13,760
In November of 1989, Carson began holding auditions for an upcoming film. One striking 19-year-old model caught his eye. We will call her Tiffany.

465
00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:15,760
Hi, how are you?

466
00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:16,760
Hi, great. Thank you.

467
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:18,760
Have a seat. You're?

468
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:20,760
I'm Tiffany.

469
00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:21,760
Tiffany.

470
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:29,760
I went in, I talked to him and he told me a little bit about him, what the movie was about and what I would be doing.

471
00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:32,760
I'm going to put the role in there for you, of course, the speaking part.

472
00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:34,760
That'd be wonderful.

473
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:44,760
He had started talking about money and I felt strange that he would offer a large amount of money to someone in my position that's never really had any acting before.

474
00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:53,760
So I talked to a couple agents and they'd all heard of him. They had done their homework on him and found that there was nothing wrong with him.

475
00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:57,760
Super, well, we've got your address and phone number, I'm going to get in touch with you and I appreciate you coming in.

476
00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:06,760
Tiffany had several other meetings with Carson, but the movie never got off the ground. Max Carson's empire was on the verge of collapse.

477
00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:09,760
We haven't played ease, they haven't been paid.

478
00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:14,760
No, Bob, just relax. Have faith. We've been through so much together.

479
00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:22,760
By January of 1990, Max Carson would shut down his offices, yet he would maintain the illusion that he was still in full operation.

480
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:25,760
Hello, nice to speak to Tiffany.

481
00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:31,760
In February, he called Tiffany and hired her as a last minute replacement model for a photo shoot.

482
00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:34,760
We had a photo session this afternoon.

483
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:38,760
Carson arranged to meet her later that day at a restaurant on the Strip.

484
00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:40,760
Matt?

485
00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:44,760
Oh, hi. We're all set up. We've got two rooms set up, one for wardrobe.

486
00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:56,760
I met him in front of the coffee shop and he said that we needed to go to the motel there where they had set up a dressing room for me.

487
00:43:56,760 --> 00:44:02,760
Here's the limousine we're going to be using. And oh, I want to thank you very much for coming here on a short notice.

488
00:44:02,760 --> 00:44:07,760
This shoot should be probably about two hours you'd be done and those dresses are just fine.

489
00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:12,760
I started to feel a little uncomfortable just because there was no one around.

490
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:16,760
Tiffany, why don't you just go over there and fill out those forms and I'll make a call.

491
00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:25,760
I left the door open with my bag sitting in between the room and the door so that it would make it a little bit difficult to get the door shut.

492
00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:29,760
This is Max Carson. Listen, I'm expecting somebody in very shortly and...

493
00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:38,760
Supposedly, yeah. He was calling the makeup artist and the photographer to let them know that we're here and waiting.

494
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:41,760
Yes, okay. Well, I appreciate that. Thank you very much.

495
00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:45,760
And about that time, he had asked me if I would give him a hug.

496
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:46,760
Me, too.

497
00:44:46,760 --> 00:44:49,760
And I knew that I was in trouble.

498
00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:54,760
Um, Max, I don't feel very comfortable, okay? Um, I'm not going to do that.

499
00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:56,760
What do you mean you don't feel very comfortable?

500
00:44:56,760 --> 00:44:58,760
Let's just forget about the whole thing.

501
00:44:58,760 --> 00:44:59,760
Max!

502
00:44:59,760 --> 00:45:01,760
You're not going anywhere.

503
00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:05,760
Don't make a sound. Do what I say and I won't hurt you.

504
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:14,760
I thought at that point that I was going to die.

505
00:45:14,760 --> 00:45:19,760
I thought I was going to be extremely lucky if I walked out.

506
00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:27,760
I tried very hard to cooperate, hoping that that would keep him from becoming more violent.

507
00:45:27,760 --> 00:45:30,760
I mean, this was scary.

508
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:40,760
Later that day, Tiffany called the police, even though Carson had threatened that he would accuse her of prostitution if she told anyone.

509
00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:48,760
Max Carson was charged with kidnapping sexual assault and battery, but by then he had disappeared.

510
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:55,760
Two months later, and 3,000 miles away, Max Carson surfaced in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

511
00:45:55,760 --> 00:46:00,760
Once again, he tried to work a scam on a beautiful woman.

512
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:03,760
Hi. I hope I didn't keep you waiting.

513
00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:05,760
No, I just got here.

514
00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:08,760
Paul, I've been here before. Why don't you, uh, we go upstairs and lounge.

515
00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:10,760
Um, how about downstairs? I just want you to...

516
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:14,760
Carson and the woman had arranged to meet in the lobby of a Cocoa Beach hotel.

517
00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:18,760
Carson wanted to continue their conversation in a private room upstairs,

518
00:46:18,760 --> 00:46:22,760
yet convinced the woman to accept money for sex.

519
00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:24,760
I'll get something upstairs.

520
00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:27,760
Police, police, you're under arrest. Solicit, take it.

521
00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:29,760
Red, it's got 4148 knots and half a meter.

522
00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:32,760
Max Carson had walked into a clever trap.

523
00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:36,760
The woman was wearing a concealed wire as part of a sting operation.

524
00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:40,760
Carson pleaded guilty to solicitation of prostitution.

525
00:46:40,760 --> 00:46:45,760
At the time, police in Florida had no idea that he was wanted in Las Vegas.

526
00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:47,760
Take this guy downtown.

527
00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:52,760
Two days later, Max Carson was released from jail and disappeared once again.

528
00:46:52,760 --> 00:46:57,760
Only then did police finally discover his true identity.

529
00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:03,760
William John Wood was last seen in Reno, Nevada, in March of 1991,

530
00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:06,760
still using the name Max Carson.

531
00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:10,760
He tried to run one of his scams on a model he had known in Las Vegas.

532
00:47:10,760 --> 00:47:13,760
When she confronted him with his past, he disappeared.

533
00:47:13,760 --> 00:47:16,760
Authorities believe he may be operating anywhere in the country,

534
00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:20,760
though he seems to prefer Florida, Nevada, or Southern California.

535
00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:25,760
They are certain that he is still masquerading as a film producer or talent agent.

536
00:47:36,760 --> 00:47:51,760
Join me next time for another edition of Unsolved Mysteries.

537
00:48:36,760 --> 00:48:39,760
Unolved Mysteries