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This program is about unsolved mysteries.

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Whenever possible, the actual family members and police

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officials have participated in recreating the events.

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What you are about to see is not a news broadcast.

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Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries, journey into the shadowy world

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of dreams and hear the startling accounts of three people who

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are convinced that their dreams predict the future.

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In New Orleans, a brutal serial killer

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has apparently taken the lives of several young women.

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Police need your help before he strikes again.

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And an intriguing profile of a devious Kahn-Hua

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who preys upon lonely women taking first their hearts

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and then their wallets.

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Join me.

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Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

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MUSIC

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MUSIC

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Have you ever had a dream so vivid you thought it was real?

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So compelling, you wondered if it actually happened.

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As fantastic as it may seem, you're

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about to meet several people who are convinced that sometimes

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dreams do come true.

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Glenn Loney is a professor of theater at Brooklyn College

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in New York City.

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His story begins on a cold winter night 20 years ago

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when he had a dream which he believed saved his life.

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MUSIC

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I was driving up a hill and there was a blind curve up at the top.

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It was like the road was built sort of around a hillside.

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On my side, the outside lane, there's really a very steep drop.

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Suddenly, there came a car around the curve.

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There's a little two-wheel trailer behind it

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and suddenly the outside wheel of the trailer comes off

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and there was a shower of sparks like a sparkler.

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And suddenly, the wheel came skidding across the road toward my car

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and I thought, step on the gas or you're a dead man.

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And I woke up in a cold sweat.

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I never had a dream that I remembered every particular detail of

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and it was so vivid as if it had actually happened.

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I mean, other dreams aren't like that.

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Other dreams are bits and pieces of things from the real world

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and from the world of fantasy and things that never were or never could be.

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This was just like seeing the thing that somebody else had filmed it.

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That there might have been a camera in the back seat.

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Six months later, Glenn was on a business trip with a fellow professor

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in a part of the country where he had never been before.

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How's your classes going, by the way?

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Oh, doing fine.

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Good.

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Yeah, we got some good people this time.

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Mm-hmm.

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Halfway up, I realized this is the hill of my dream.

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I suddenly realized this is the road, this is the place.

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There was no traffic coming the other way, nothing.

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You all right, Glenn?

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No, I'm not.

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I said, my God, the car's gonna come around that curve

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and the wheel's gonna come off the trailer and it's gonna come at our car.

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I've got to step on the gas or we're dead.

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Oh, wow.

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Some would say that what happened to Glenn Loney was mere coincidence.

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However, there are many people who believe that what he experienced

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was a phenomenon known as a psychic dream.

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A dreamers can apparently foretell the future.

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There's a clear distinction between ordinary dreaming,

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which we all do every night, and the psychic dream.

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And the clear distinction is that for ordinary dreams,

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they're very difficult to remember.

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Five minutes, ten minutes after you're awake, you forgot most of the details.

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It's very hazy.

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On the other hand, a psychic dream wakes you both upright out of bed.

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It's a clear, vivid dream that literally shocks you awake.

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Dr. David Ryback is one of the leading authorities on psychic dreams.

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He and freelance author Letitia Schweitzer have written a book

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which contains more than 80 case studies.

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Dr. Ryback has concluded that perhaps one out of 12 people have experienced psychic dreams.

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When I first realized that I had the ability to see into the future through my dreams

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was when I was a teenager.

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Rhonda Anderson is one of the subjects in Dr. Ryback's study.

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I do remember just having glimpses into the future through my dreams.

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In 1980, Rhonda was living in Knoxville, Tennessee

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when she began dating Joe Anderson, the man she would later marry.

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The first test of their relationship came when Rhonda told Joe about her special ability.

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For me to believe something like that,

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I would probably have to have been involved in it

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or no specifically of the incident.

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I typically don't believe things like that without having some proof.

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Six months after Joe and Rhonda met, Joe got the proof he needed.

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While he was away on a weekend camping trip,

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Rhonda dreamed that he had an uninvited intruder at his campsite.

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I was so shocked.

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My heart was pounding so hard that I had to sit up in my bed

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and I looked at the clock and it was three o'clock in the morning.

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And I knew that there was really not anything that I could do about it at that time.

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Hello?

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Hi honey, how you doing?

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Oh Joe, I'm so glad you called. Is everything alright?

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The next morning, Joe called Rhonda as soon as he returned home.

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She had not been expecting me until later that afternoon

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and she asked me what I was doing back so early.

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I told her we had had an incident with a bear

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and decided to leave and come back home early.

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Joe says at around four o'clock that morning

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he awoke when he sensed a disturbance outside of his tent.

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He was certain of the time because he checked his watch.

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She had had the dream about three o'clock

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since I actually saw the bear after the bear had gotten into camp and torn things up.

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It must have been about the time that the bear had come into camp the first time.

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It occurred to me, you know, possibly it was just a coincidence

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but actually thinking back on it, the fact that she had the dream

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while the situation was occurring

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and the way she described it was very similar to what actually occurred

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I felt like it was been a very unusual coincidence.

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About a year later, Joe and Rhonda were married

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and Joe received another surprise.

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His new stepdaughter Roxanne also claimed to have psychic dreams.

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Researchers believe the ability can be passed from generation to generation.

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We do have cases where families have psychic dreams very often.

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The mother may have it.

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In one family we know the mother dreamed psychic dreams.

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The son did and all of the first cousins

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and they were even raised in different environments

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because each of the members had been adopted when the family split up.

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It's hard to know whether there's a hereditary factor or not.

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Clearly some families have two or three people in the family

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who not only have psychic dreams but have the same psychic dreams

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which is a really astounding event.

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Rhonda and Roxanne have had just that experience.

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In April of 1991, Rhonda dreamed that Joe was in a terrible accident

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but did not tell anyone in her family.

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A week later, Roxanne says she had the very same dream.

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Our car was on the side of the road

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and then I saw a glimpse of Joe, his head, his face

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and then I saw a police writing a police report.

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It was really, really disturbing to me.

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It really upset me because it just, you know, it scared me

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and it felt like it was something that was going to happen.

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And I said, well, Roxanne, I said, let's just think positively about it

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and let's just pray that everything will be okay.

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And from then on, I would just ask Joe to please be careful.

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Two weeks later, Joe was on his way to the mountains

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for another weekend of camping

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when he momentarily took his eyes off the road.

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Luckily, I wasn't injured.

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Of course, the first thing I thought about after that happened

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was that Rhonda had warned me to be very careful

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and I had not paid attention to the road

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and slid off and had the accident.

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The car crash could have been more detrimental.

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It could have been more disastrous.

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And I hung on to the thought that people would be more careful

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and I hung on to the thought that perhaps maybe that was the reason

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that I had the dream and Roxanne had the dream

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so that we could warn him over and over again to please be careful

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because had we not, we don't know what would have happened.

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The extraordinary experiences of the Anderson family

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could make even the harshest skeptics stop and think.

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After all, coincidence can only account for so much.

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You're about to meet a woman who says her psychic dreams

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did not foretell the future but brought her news of an untimely death.

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Joe, I'm so glad you're back. It's so good to see you.

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Katie, it's really great to be back.

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In 1942, 20-year-old Catherine Webb fell in love with a soldier named Joe Stewart.

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I don't think it's really the best time for us to go into a marriage.

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Both wanted to marry, but because of hardships in their families

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they decided that the timing was not right.

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We know the truth is, Joe, I've been thinking the same thing.

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Mother's not well, Dad's not very strong.

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I just don't think it's fair to you to take on that much responsibility.

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Yes, I've always regretted that instead of being so conscientious

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about our obligations, we should have thought of ourselves.

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I didn't see him for a while, and then I saw him again,

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and from then on through the years when I'd see him, we'd go out to her three times,

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but I left to go with that.

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Catherine never forgot her first love.

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She remained single until January of 1965,

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when at the age of 47 she married her next-door neighbor.

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The next year, Catherine began having a strange, recurring dream.

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I kept getting this dream all the time.

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All I saw was these nurses and doctors, a lot of confusion,

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probably working on someone.

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That would be how it would look.

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The nurses were rushing around, the doctors seemed very concerned,

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but I couldn't see what they were doing.

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And then it seemed to me that I just got the wrong idea.

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I was so confused, I couldn't see what was going on.

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And then it seemed to me that I just got the intuition that it's about Joe Stewart.

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And I just kept having that dream off and on, all during the month of May and June,

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and it just got worse and worse.

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Finally, Catherine had a dream which seemed to explain everything.

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In this new dream, Catherine was in her kitchen

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when she received a most unexpected visitor.

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I turned around and Joe was standing there.

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Joe? What are you doing here?

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Kate, I came to tell you that I died.

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What?

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Yes, it's true. I'm dead.

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It seemed quite natural for him to have a hold of my hand and take him in.

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I believed him, I just couldn't grasp it.

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Joe, I don't understand this.

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I'll explain.

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You see, I just had to let you know that thanks to your prayers, I'll have a Christian burial.

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It's all right.

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Who is this?

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It's me, Kate.

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I could smell flowers and fern, and I looked down at the man in the casket.

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No.

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It didn't look like Joe.

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It isn't you, it doesn't look like you.

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Yes, I know, but it is.

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And I came to tell you that I'll always love you.

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And I could feel the flesh and the warmth of his hand,

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and he said, I always loved you, and he kissed me.

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And I felt his lips and his breath, and that was it.

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My perspiration was pouring off of me.

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I was shaking.

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I thought, now I know why all those dreams, I saw doctors and nurses,

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and I thought it was Joe, this is what it meant.

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What I just saw was no dream, this was a vision, and I knew it was true.

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I just felt in my heart it was true.

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I didn't want to believe he was dead, but I knew that was true.

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Nobody let me know that Joe was sick.

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A few days later, Catherine contacted Joe's sister and brother-in-law,

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and her worst fears were confirmed.

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Catherine was stunned to learn that Joe had gone into a coma

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the very day that she had the first dream about doctors and nurses.

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He had died of a brain aneurysm just two days before he appeared to Catherine

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in her dream about the church.

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We know somebody should have told me.

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Well, we didn't know what to do, and even if you went to the funeral,

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you wouldn't have recognized him.

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The mortuary put a wig on Joe.

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His body was so thin, nobody knew him.

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Well, let me tell you something.

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Joe came to me in a dream.

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He came to me in my kitchen and told me himself that he had died.

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I was convinced that everything I'd tell him, they would tell me yes,

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that's the way it was.

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And when I did tell them, his sister said yes.

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She said, every detail you've told us, she said it's just the way it was.

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William Shakespeare once wrote,

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Today's dream is tomorrow's reality.

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The cases we've examined tonight certainly seem to support that sentiment,

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but there is still no logical explanation for psychic dreams.

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Perhaps this phenomenon will always remain inexplicable

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and beyond our understanding.

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Truly, an unsolved mystery.

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Next, a serial killer may be stalking the streets of New Orleans.

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New Orleans, home of the Mardi Gras.

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The city's heartbeat is its raucous French quarter,

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where great music, street celebrations and Cajun cooking

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00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:34,000
sometimes overshadow a more unsavory side of the city.

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August 4,

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1991, across the Mississippi River from the French Quarter,

255
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:59,000
a lone recycler gleaned what he could along a narrow, deserted city road,

256
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:02,000
often used illegally as a dump site.

257
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He had no idea he was about to launch one of the city's most complex murder investigations.

258
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The body was identified as 17-year-old Danielle Britton,

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00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,000
who lived nearby with her mother.

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She had been strangled and possibly raped approximately 12 hours earlier.

261
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At first glance, the murder of Danielle Britton seemed an isolated incident,

262
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but the reality was far more sinister.

263
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:43,000
Danielle Britton may have been the victim of a serial killer

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00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:46,000
who preys on women he believes are prostitutes.

265
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By some chilling estimates, more than a hundred serial killers

266
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:53,000
roam the streets of America at any given moment.

267
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Police are usually left to gather clues only from the silent testimony

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00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:01,000
of gruesome crime scenes, but the New Orleans case would be different.

269
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:11,000
Just 10 minutes into the investigation of Danielle Britton's murder,

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Detective Elizabeth Wigginton had her first inkling that she was dealing with a serial killer.

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A man approached me regarding an attack of a woman,

272
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which had occurred approximately two weeks earlier.

273
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:27,000
At this time, I realized that there was a possibility that this attack

274
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,000
and the murder of Danielle Britton could be connected somehow,

275
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with one striking difference that this victim survived her attack.

276
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It's more scary than anything because I did realize that he assumed

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that I was dead in order to leave me there.

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The surviving victim, whom we will call Brenda,

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00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:51,000
had her voice permanently damaged in a strangulation attempt.

280
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Police believe she was attacked by the same man who killed Danielle Britton.

281
00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:01,000
Brenda, I need for you to tell me as in as detail as possible what happened that night.

282
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:02,000
On the street I was on the street.

283
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:06,000
On interviewed by Detective Wigginton, Brenda was able to recall a trauma

284
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:09,000
in minute detail.

285
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,000
I was at my house and I decided that I wanted to go

286
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,000
and visit a friend of mine.

287
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:18,000
So I walked up Murrow Street and I noticed that a car was following me.

288
00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,000
You need a ride?

289
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,000
So the man in the car got inside,

290
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:27,000
and he was right beside me as I was walking and asked me where I was going.

291
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I'm just going a few blocks down.

292
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I'm okay.

293
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:36,000
And I kept on walking and he kept on insisting that he could give me a ride

294
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,000
to where I was going.

295
00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,000
The car stopped and before I knew it,

296
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,000
the man grabbed me and put me into the car.

297
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,000
What are you doing?

298
00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,000
Despite Brenda's protests,

299
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:52,000
a man drove about a half a mile past her friend's house

300
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:56,000
to the same deserted city road where Danielle Britton's body would be found

301
00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:00,000
two weeks later.

302
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,000
What are you doing?

303
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:07,000
He got on top of me and began to choke me.

304
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:12,000
He looked at me and I looked at him and I realized this man was trying to kill me.

305
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:17,000
So, um, I tried to fight him off, but I really couldn't.

306
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,000
I didn't have any strength.

307
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:23,000
The killers strangled Brenda with his bare hands,

308
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:28,000
stripped off her clothes and dumped her by the side of the road.

309
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:31,000
Six hours later, shortly after dawn,

310
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:34,000
Brenda awoke and was in the car.

311
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,000
She was in the car,

312
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:39,000
and she was in the car.

313
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,000
Six hours later, shortly after dawn,

314
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:46,000
Brenda awoke to find herself covered with garbage and discarded tires.

315
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,000
Finding Brenda had certainly been a lucky break in this case.

316
00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:01,000
We had now a live victim who could identify an attacker,

317
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:06,000
an attacker who could be responsible for the murder of Danielle Britton.

318
00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,000
I knew this guy was out there stalking his victims.

319
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:11,000
He was stalking women, intending to kill them,

320
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:14,000
and I was unable to come up with a suspect.

321
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:18,000
I had no idea it was going to get worse.

322
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:24,000
On September 22, 1991, the killer claimed his third victim,

323
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:31,000
Charlene Price, dumping her body within one mile of the spot where Danielle Britton was found.

324
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,000
On December 14th,

325
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:38,000
the fourth victim, as yet unidentified, was found in the same vicinity.

326
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,000
This is a sketch of the woman who was in her early 20s.

327
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:49,000
She was 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighed 125 pounds, and had protruding front teeth.

328
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:52,000
Did you touch anything when you got here?

329
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:58,000
Two and a half weeks later, on January 4, 1992, the killer struck yet again.

330
00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:03,000
The nude body of 29-year-old Lydia Madison was found in an illegal dump site

331
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,000
under the greater New Orleans Bridge,

332
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:10,000
eight blocks from police headquarters and 400 yards from the Superdome.

333
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:18,000
Police soon learned that three other bodies had been found in a nearby jurisdiction

334
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:23,000
which borders New Orleans, bringing the total number of victims to eight.

335
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:31,000
These bodies closely resembled bodies found in our investigation in the previous months,

336
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:38,000
leading me to believe that the same killer may be responsible for all these victims.

337
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:43,000
Seven of the eight women were found within a three-mile radius,

338
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:47,000
all but one on the west bank of the Mississippi.

339
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:52,000
The killer has struck once a month, always strangling his victims,

340
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:57,000
always leaving them nude face down in or near illegal dump sites.

341
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,000
These women have had difficult lives,

342
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:14,000
they're in vulnerable positions and are at risk to becoming statistics of murders and rapes.

343
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:18,000
I certainly can't do anything about helping them at this point

344
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:23,000
other than trying to find out who killed these victims.

345
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,000
And I'm determined to get this guy.

346
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:31,000
I'm still afraid. I don't run the street at all anymore.

347
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,000
I don't go anywhere unless it's to church or if I go to the stores with my mother

348
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:39,000
somebody accomplished me because I still don't know where this man is.

349
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,000
And I know he knows me just like as well as I know him.

350
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:47,000
So I'm still very much afraid if I'm at home, I'll still locked up.

351
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:56,000
But unless someone else is in the house with me, it's more now like I'm living in fear every minute or every second of the day.

352
00:24:56,000 --> 00:25:02,000
On the night she was murdered, Danielle Britton was seen with a suspect outside a bar called Neva's Rendezvous.

353
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:06,000
The man was driving a blue late model Buick Regal or Monte Carlo.

354
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:12,000
When we return, a man searched for an anonymous hotline counselor

355
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,000
who saved him from a nightmare of drug addiction.

356
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:24,000
Among the unheralded heroes of modern city life,

357
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:30,000
the men and women who answer the urgent calls coming into crisis hotlines,

358
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:34,000
at any moment a counselor may be plunged into a desperate situation

359
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,000
with the fate of a total stranger hangs in the balance.

360
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,000
Our next story is a very special mystery.

361
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:46,000
About one man searched for the anonymous hotline counselor who reached out and saved his life.

362
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:53,000
Houston, Texas 1982. James Vernon was strung out again.

363
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,000
He had been addicted to heroin since he was 16.

364
00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:00,000
On several occasions James had entered drug treatment programs,

365
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,000
but inevitably he wound up back on the street still addicted.

366
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:07,000
His life stripped of everything but the daily hustle for a fix.

367
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,000
Nothing mattered other than where was my next shot coming from.

368
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,000
And that became my life.

369
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:22,000
You speak of careers when you say someone has a career in show business

370
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,000
or someone has a career as a doctor.

371
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,000
My career was getting my next fix.

372
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,000
That was my career.

373
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:39,000
I can remember back in 1982 I just fixed and I just done a load of heroin as it's called

374
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:43,000
and I was just walking around the streets just trying to figure out what my next move was

375
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:46,000
because I knew that things were getting bad and I looked up and saw a billboard

376
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,000
that said if you need help we do care.

377
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,000
James felt he had nothing to lose.

378
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:59,000
He called the number and spoke to a woman who identified herself as Libby.

379
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,000
Well what would you like to talk about James?

380
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,000
Same old song.

381
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:10,000
I'm lonely and scared and nobody cares.

382
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:14,000
Oh by the way I'm a junkie.

383
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:17,000
Oh by the way I'm a junkie.

384
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:19,000
Okay let's start with that.

385
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:26,000
I remember her voice being soft and kind and caring and she didn't talk down to me or at me.

386
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:28,000
She talked to me.

387
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:34,000
And it was the first caring voice I'd heard in a long time that wasn't degrading to me

388
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:39,000
and she was like letting me know that it wasn't all of it wasn't my fault

389
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:42,000
that I had a problem and I needed some help.

390
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,000
It's not that I was a bad person.

391
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:48,000
It was just that I was sick and I needed some help.

392
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:51,000
Hi James. What's new?

393
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:55,000
Over the next few months James called Libby nearly every night.

394
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:59,000
Mother took me back in again.

395
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:04,000
Though he had finally found someone he could trust this new friendship wasn't enough.

396
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:07,000
James was unable to resist the pull of heroin.

397
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:13,000
In desperation he stole from his own mother selling her jewelry to support his habit.

398
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:17,000
I must have really been in bad shape to do something like that.

399
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:21,000
I know it's tough facing up to it James.

400
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:28,000
I tried to make it look like someone else broke into a house but I don't think she bought it.

401
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,000
She was really necessary.

402
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:35,000
I remember coming home after it was over and I knew that my mother was home and she asked me about it

403
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:40,000
and she said that all her jewelry was gone and the window was broke that I knew anything about it

404
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:43,000
and I lied and said no that I had nothing to do with it.

405
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:47,000
Now you know I wouldn't take your jewelry mama.

406
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:52,000
I can't believe somebody would do this.

407
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:56,000
You know this neighborhood ain't like it used to be.

408
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:02,000
Two weeks later and with great reluctance James' mother threw him out of the house.

409
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,000
I didn't want to do something to keep people out.

410
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:10,000
It was just real devastating for both of us because I had to face up to it then and I just couldn't do it.

411
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:14,000
I just couldn't admit it.

412
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:19,000
James turned to his ex-wife who allowed him to move in with her and their two-year-old son.

413
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:24,000
It appeared to be a promising new start.

414
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,000
I'm thinking okay I can do this okay.

415
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,000
I'll pull it back together.

416
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:30,000
I've got my wife back. I've got my son back.

417
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:32,000
I'll get a job. I'll get off the drugs.

418
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:35,000
I'll make it work. You know I'll do it for them.

419
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:38,000
Hey baby guess what?

420
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,000
But James wasn't able to do it.

421
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:48,000
He began using drugs again and his ex-wife felt she had no choice but to walk out.

422
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,000
There was no note.

423
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:53,000
I had no idea where she had gone, where my son was.

424
00:29:53,000 --> 00:30:00,000
The furniture, the clothes, the dishes. I mean everything was gone.

425
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,000
I think I did it. I was at a point where I just didn't want to live anymore.

426
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:05,000
I just couldn't stand anymore.

427
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:09,000
I decided that I was going to commit suicide and I knew how it was going to do it.

428
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,000
I was going to just overdose on heroin, just go someplace, sit down and go out.

429
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,000
Just sleep through it.

430
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:20,000
And then Libby ran across my mind and I wanted her to know that I really appreciated everything she had done

431
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:23,000
and for sticking with me but I just couldn't.

432
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,000
I just couldn't take no more. I was ready to die.

433
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:30,000
I haven't heard from you in a while. Hope that means you went to get help.

434
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:35,000
Listen I'm going to call her any day. I can't take it. I don't want it.

435
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:40,000
But I wanted to call you and thank you for everything.

436
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:44,000
You've been a real good friend.

437
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,000
Goodbye.

438
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:51,000
James, let's talk this over. Can't be that bad.

439
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:55,000
I've been living out on the street for the past couple of weeks.

440
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:59,000
I'm a junkie. I ain't got no money.

441
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:02,000
And you say it's not that bad.

442
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:06,000
Well maybe it's time you went and got help for yourself.

443
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,000
God James, you have to realize...

444
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,000
I told her I just didn't want to try no more.

445
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,000
This doesn't have to be the end.

446
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:18,000
And I did the last shot of what I thought would be my last shot of heroin.

447
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:21,000
And it should have been enough to kill at least three people.

448
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:25,000
And I got what's known as a slight rush and a little dizzy.

449
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:28,000
And that was it. I even messed it.

450
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:33,000
And I remember saying to Libby, she started screaming my name.

451
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:37,000
And I just started laughing. I go, I've even messed this one up lady.

452
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:41,000
I can't even kill me. And she said, alright you've tried your way.

453
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:43,000
I'm sorry. Let's give my wish.

454
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,000
Let's go back to treatment.

455
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:49,000
Promise me you will go to treatment.

456
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,000
Yeah, yeah, right.

457
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:54,000
Come on James, you have never lied to me before.

458
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:59,000
Now say those words. I'll go to treatment.

459
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,000
Okay.

460
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:07,000
Promise.

461
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:10,000
I'll go to treatment.

462
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:15,000
I'd never lied to Libby. She was the only person I hadn't lied to.

463
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:17,000
And I wasn't going to start then.

464
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:21,000
And just something about that voice, that caring, I went alright man.

465
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,000
You promised her.

466
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:26,000
James Vernon kept his promise.

467
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:33,000
The changes in his life since that evening are nothing short of miraculous.

468
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:37,000
When I say my poor, departed wife, I don't want you folks to thank my wife as dead.

469
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:41,000
She's got sick of being poor and departed.

470
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:47,000
From the brink of self-destruction, James is now confident enough to make his living as a stand-up comedian.

471
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:53,000
Nearly a decade after he last spoke to Libby, he remains drug and alcohol free.

472
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:56,000
Still going to therapy. I spoke to my therapist last week and she said,

473
00:32:56,000 --> 00:33:02,000
my mind was like a bad neighborhood. You should not go in there alone.

474
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:07,000
She pulled me out of a spot, man, where I don't think I'd have made it out of.

475
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:17,000
Libby, if you're watching this tonight, please call.

476
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,000
And I really want to talk to you. I really want to see you.

477
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:23,000
I want to give you a hug and I want to say thanks.

478
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:27,000
It's been a long time and a lot has happened.

479
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:31,000
But you've always been that light. You've always been there.

480
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,000
And I want to tell you that.

481
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:04,000
Most con artists play on a basic human instinct.

482
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:08,000
The desire of their victims to make a quick, easy buck.

483
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:13,000
However, the more cunning practitioners of fraud pray not on greed, but on emotion.

484
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:19,000
You're about to meet three women who fell in love with a smooth talking swindler named JD Method.

485
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:26,000
Each discover the hard way that when it comes to the confidence game, JD Method is a master.

486
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:28,000
Well, to new friends.

487
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:31,000
Oh, thank you JD. That's so nice.

488
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:38,000
Peggy Peterson, a single mother and businesswoman from the Golden Colorado area, met JD Method in 1990.

489
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:43,000
She had innocently responded to his ad in the personal's column of a local newspaper.

490
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,000
Have you ever been in a helicopter?

491
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:46,000
No.

492
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,000
No. Something I learned in Vietnam.

493
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,000
Really? You were in Vietnam.

494
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,000
I was a pilot there.

495
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:59,000
JD was a very charming person and a nice person and a fun person.

496
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:05,000
And someone with some professional credentials.

497
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:09,000
Well, you know, David, it really sounds like you like to go to swap meets and flea markets.

498
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:16,000
Linda Weaver, a divorced mother of three, got to know JD Method in 1987 through a telephone dating service.

499
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:21,000
After two weeks of phone calls, they began to see each other.

500
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:26,000
He's extremely well-versed in everything. He's witty.

501
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:29,000
Because it's such a fascination of mine.

502
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:34,000
He just knows the answers to just about everything. He's intelligent and you just enjoy his company.

503
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:38,000
He could talk about any subject. He knows about a little bit of everything.

504
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:42,000
In essence, he would interview these women. He would talk to them.

505
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:50,000
He would find out what they were about, their idiosyncrasies, what they liked, what they didn't like, what their style of life was.

506
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:54,000
You know, Peg, I was thinking, you really ought to have a few more credit cards.

507
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:57,000
No, I don't need more credit cards.

508
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,000
Oh, with credit like yours, you ought to have five.

509
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:01,000
Oh, I hate paying all that interest, JD.

510
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:11,000
Well, one of the things that we found in our investigation was Method's ability to get his victims to extend their credit through the use of credit cards.

511
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:17,000
And not just one, but get a lot of credit cards and even get a lot of the same kind of credit cards.

512
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:19,000
You ought to think about it.

513
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:21,000
Peg, I'd like you to meet Rick.

514
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:23,000
Hi, Rick. Hi, Peggy. Nice to meet you.

515
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:30,000
In the case of Peggy Peterson, JD spent several weeks carefully baiting his trap until she trusted him implicitly.

516
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,000
This guy, he helps me sell him.

517
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:36,000
Hey, Rick, I noticed that nice-looking Camaro over there. What's the story on that one?

518
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:41,000
Oh, JD, you'll love that. $1,500, private owner. Hold it down for it for $500 down.

519
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:42,000
Oh, is that right?

520
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:43,000
Yeah.

521
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:52,000
Hey, Peg, there you go. If I had $500 cash, I could buy that car today, sell it tomorrow for $1,000 profit, have $1,000 bucks in my pocket.

522
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:53,000
Is that right?

523
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:54,000
Yeah.

524
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:55,000
Wow.

525
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:56,000
Hey, what else you got, baby?

526
00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:57,000
I got a nice, clean zeal over here.

527
00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:59,000
Hey, honey, I'm going to go three thousand dollars.

528
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:00,000
Red in here.

529
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:06,000
Method worked the scam so well that Peggy made the decision to invest without prompting.

530
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:12,000
I had already survived him doing several car deals over the weeks that we had been dating.

531
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:15,000
So I wrote him out a check for $500.

532
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:16,000
Excuse me, excuse me.

533
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:19,000
Uh, JD, honey, let's just go ahead and get that car.

534
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:22,000
Yeah, let's do it. Come on. That'll be a good business for us.

535
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:23,000
Can you believe this woman?

536
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:25,000
Huh? What am I going to do with you?

537
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:27,000
No, I'm not going to take your money.

538
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:28,000
Okay, please.

539
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,000
Now, it's not a matter of the money. It's playing the game.

540
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:35,000
And he tore the check up and he said, I wouldn't take money from you.

541
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:39,000
And, uh, I said, so, you know, I mean, check was torn in half.

542
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:41,000
I didn't think anything about it.

543
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:45,000
The very next day, he calls me.

544
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,000
Listen, honey, I need your help this afternoon.

545
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:49,000
I had one of my...

546
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:54,000
JD told Peggy that his uncle was seriously ill and required immediate surgery.

547
00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:58,000
He explained that his funds were tied up with investors and feigned great embarrassment

548
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:01,000
at having to ask Peggy for a loan.

549
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:03,000
Okay. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'll have it ready for you.

550
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,000
Well, you know, what could I do?

551
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:11,000
I mean, I've already committed myself that I could let him have $500.

552
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:15,000
And, you know, what could I do?

553
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,000
I can't say, well, yesterday I had $500 to loan you, today I don't.

554
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,000
So they found the truck?

555
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,000
Yeah, they found the truck.

556
00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:28,000
Another victim whom we call Amelia met JD in August of 1990.

557
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:32,000
One month later, her son decided to sell his car and buy a pickup truck.

558
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:37,000
JD saw his opening and quickly talked his way into the deal.

559
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:42,000
JD told Amelia that he could sell the car and for an additional $4,000

560
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:45,000
could make a great buy on a new pickup.

561
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:47,000
So, you got the title?

562
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:50,000
We do. It's all signed, taken care of.

563
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:54,000
Okay. Okay, you both signed it over to me. That's good.

564
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:56,000
And, uh, $4,000 cash?

565
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:57,000
You got it.

566
00:38:57,000 --> 00:38:58,000
That's all we need.

567
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:03,000
I told him I had some questions about the car and was feeling anxious about the whole situation

568
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:06,000
since I didn't know him very well.

569
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:09,000
He was saying to me, you know, how could I possibly doubt him

570
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:13,000
here he is this honest, caring, wonderful person.

571
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:17,000
At some point in the conversation, you know, I had said something to the effect that

572
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:22,000
for all I knew he could be a con artist and his immediate response was

573
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:26,000
Amelia, you could be a con artist for all I know.

574
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:34,000
The end result was that we ended up with no truck and no money and no Mustang at the end of the situation.

575
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:39,000
That's how it got started. First it was a little amount and then it would get bigger and then bigger and bigger

576
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:43,000
and eventually it would get into the tens of thousands of dollars.

577
00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:46,000
Linda, I need your help on this deal now.

578
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:52,000
In the case of Linda Weaver, it was two months before JD began to ask for large sums of money.

579
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:53,000
Isn't that good news?

580
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:54,000
Yeah, that's great.

581
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:55,000
I think that's great.

582
00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:57,000
But there's going to be three weeks before it gets here.

583
00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:00,000
Now we've got to get this business rolling now.

584
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:04,000
So what I'm asking for is a small loan, $15,000 to get this car.

585
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:06,000
I don't have $15,000.

586
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:10,000
Do it for you and me.

587
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:13,000
Now you know the answer.

588
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:17,000
You can do this for us.

589
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:18,000
Okay.

590
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:20,000
Good girl.

591
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:25,000
It happened so fast that I didn't realize what was coming across until afterwards I'm going,

592
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:28,000
oh my God, what is going on?

593
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:29,000
You know, he was so good.

594
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:33,000
He hit and ran and he's doing it to all his victims.

595
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:38,000
Three months after he met Peggy Peterson, JD played out the same scene with her.

596
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:45,000
Listen dear, I need to borrow some money from you to help me have some cash for the trip.

597
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:47,000
I need about $9,600.

598
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:50,000
Oh man, that's a lot of money JD.

599
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:55,000
Well I know it seems like it, but that $9,600 is chili beans compared to what my assets are.

600
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:58,000
His rationale was always that, well I'm going to pay you back next week.

601
00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:00,000
I'll have my money next week.

602
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,000
I'll pay you right back.

603
00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:05,000
That night, I was just sleeping soundly.

604
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:10,000
I was sleeping like a brick and at 2.30 in the morning I just sat bolt up right in bed.

605
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:16,000
Like God had slapped me up the side of head with a 2x4 and realized what had happened to me.

606
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:21,000
I knew Jerry for 11 months during that period of time.

607
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:26,000
He, in one way or another, extorted over $70,000.

608
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:32,000
In Amelia's case, JD also waited three months before he went for the big money.

609
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:36,000
I don't know about taking the equity out of my home.

610
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:39,000
Well Amelia, it would only be a short term.

611
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:44,000
Now, if it make you feel more comfortable, I've got a promissory note.

612
00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:46,000
A promissory note?

613
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:52,000
Yes, it's a legally binding contract that ensures you that I'll pay you back the exact sum.

614
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:53,000
Jerry, I know.

615
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:59,000
The problem with the promissory notes was that JD Mepid would fill out the promissory note backwards.

616
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:04,000
He would make himself the payee and he would make the victim the maker.

617
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:14,000
So that when you read the promissory note, it said that she owed him $30,000, $40,000, whatever the amount that was involved with that particular victim.

618
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:26,000
By looking at that timeline, what you see is that as Mr. Mepid was starting a relationship, he would either be in the middle or the end of another relationship.

619
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:31,000
I don't believe JD Mepid knows the difference between truth and reality anymore.

620
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:41,000
I think that he has built his life on lies for so long that he doesn't even know the truth anymore.

621
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:48,000
I think he probably believes all of the glop that he shovels off on women.

622
00:42:49,000 --> 00:43:04,000
Update. On September 1, 1992, JD Mepid was apprehended in Beaverton, Oregon after police were contacted by a woman who lost $2,000 to a man she met through a personal's ad in the newspaper.

623
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:08,000
Police staked out the man's home in Beaverton and arrested him when he returned.

624
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:12,000
He was later identified as JD Mepid.

625
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:22,000
Inside Method's house, authorities see several briefcases and a steamer trunk containing papers and documents which may have been used by Method to perpetrate his scams.

626
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:29,000
Next Week

627
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:32,000
Haunting Tales in Honor of Halloween

628
00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:38,000
During prohibition, a dramatic club triangle ended in tragedy for a beautiful lady dressed in blue.

629
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:47,000
Some say her ghost still haunts a spot where she and her husband were in the middle of the night.

630
00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:54,000
And in Wilmington, California, many believe the spirits of the Civil War still roam the Drum Barracks Museum.

631
00:43:54,000 --> 00:44:02,000
Join me next time. Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.