1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,680 This program is about unsolved mysteries. 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:06,280 Whenever possible, the actual family members and police 3 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:09,280 officials have participated in recreating the events. 4 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:12,280 What you are about to see is not a news broadcast. 5 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:18,920 By his own admission, Stephen Michalak 6 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:22,400 is an ordinary man who leads an ordinary life. 7 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:26,400 But in 1967, Michalak claims that his life was turned upside 8 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:26,900 down. 9 00:00:27,500 --> 00:00:28,860 When he had an extraordinary encounter 10 00:00:28,860 --> 00:00:32,340 with a mysterious flying craft. 11 00:00:32,340 --> 00:00:34,860 For many years, A.J. Bro was a fixture 12 00:00:34,860 --> 00:00:37,860 in the small community of Homa, Louisiana. 13 00:00:37,860 --> 00:00:41,500 Then suddenly in 1991, he simply vanished. 14 00:00:41,500 --> 00:00:43,820 A mysterious note sent to the police 15 00:00:43,820 --> 00:00:45,700 suggested that he had accidentally killed 16 00:00:45,700 --> 00:00:47,500 himself while drinking. 17 00:00:47,500 --> 00:00:49,980 But at least three eyewitnesses are positive. 18 00:00:49,980 --> 00:00:53,380 They saw Bro in the weeks after he disappeared. 19 00:00:53,980 --> 00:00:56,940 California's Frontera prison is one of the largest women's 20 00:00:56,940 --> 00:00:59,100 penitentiaries in America. 21 00:00:59,100 --> 00:01:02,300 But over the past decade, the deaths of a prison guard 22 00:01:02,300 --> 00:01:05,140 and an inmate have led to controversial allegations 23 00:01:05,140 --> 00:01:09,780 of corruption inside the prison walls. 24 00:01:09,780 --> 00:01:12,980 Join me for these intriguing stories and a heartwarming 25 00:01:12,980 --> 00:01:15,740 update on another edition of Unsolved Mysteries. 26 00:01:54,380 --> 00:02:18,020 Every year, there are thousands of reports 27 00:02:18,020 --> 00:02:20,940 of unidentified flying objects. 28 00:02:20,940 --> 00:02:23,060 As a rule, people who admit to having an encounter 29 00:02:23,100 --> 00:02:26,900 with a UFO open themselves to ridicule and derision. 30 00:02:26,900 --> 00:02:28,740 Some will call them crazy. 31 00:02:28,740 --> 00:02:32,220 Others will openly accuse them of concocting a hoax. 32 00:02:32,220 --> 00:02:33,820 In this story, the person involved 33 00:02:33,820 --> 00:02:36,140 is a simple, unassuming man who is always 34 00:02:36,140 --> 00:02:40,540 skeptical about UFOs until he had his own close encounter. 35 00:02:43,740 --> 00:02:46,780 Stephen Michalak and his wife came to Manitoba, Canada 36 00:02:46,780 --> 00:02:50,020 from Poland after the Second World War. 37 00:02:50,020 --> 00:02:52,260 Stephen found work as an industrial mechanic 38 00:02:52,300 --> 00:02:55,300 in a cement plant, and life was happy and uneventful 39 00:02:55,300 --> 00:02:56,620 for nearly 20 years. 40 00:03:01,180 --> 00:03:03,100 Stephen was an amateur rock hound who 41 00:03:03,100 --> 00:03:06,340 spent every spare moment in the beautiful natural woodlands 42 00:03:06,340 --> 00:03:08,700 of Manitoba. 43 00:03:08,700 --> 00:03:09,980 I love nature. 44 00:03:09,980 --> 00:03:13,340 I love birds, animals. 45 00:03:13,340 --> 00:03:19,860 And also, I have interest in nature's old rocks and this 46 00:03:19,860 --> 00:03:21,700 and that. 47 00:03:21,700 --> 00:03:24,500 Every weekend, the long weekend, I usually 48 00:03:24,500 --> 00:03:29,820 travel, go out in the country and snooping in the rocks. 49 00:03:32,540 --> 00:03:36,500 On May 20, 1967, Stephen was prospecting approximately 50 00:03:36,500 --> 00:03:39,580 100 miles east of Winnipeg. 51 00:03:39,580 --> 00:03:42,180 Suddenly, he was distracted when a flock of geese 52 00:03:42,180 --> 00:03:44,780 in the pond below kicked up an unusual racket. 53 00:03:45,700 --> 00:03:54,180 Looking on the tree, I notice a two-cigarette-like shape 54 00:03:54,180 --> 00:03:58,100 thinks with the hump in the middle. 55 00:04:01,260 --> 00:04:02,980 I said, what the hell is that? 56 00:04:06,900 --> 00:04:12,220 One stay in the air, and the other one is coming down. 57 00:04:12,300 --> 00:04:13,220 Down, down. 58 00:04:18,260 --> 00:04:23,980 I start looking for marks. 59 00:04:23,980 --> 00:04:30,140 I never see a year or NASA or something written on it. 60 00:04:30,140 --> 00:04:30,940 No. 61 00:04:30,940 --> 00:04:31,540 Nothing. 62 00:04:31,540 --> 00:04:34,020 I didn't see anything on it. 63 00:04:34,020 --> 00:04:38,900 But still, I was thinking that probably 64 00:04:38,940 --> 00:04:42,620 experimenting with a vehicle from the United States. 65 00:04:45,220 --> 00:04:48,300 Stephen Michalak says that he made this sketch of the strange 66 00:04:48,300 --> 00:04:52,220 craft just after he saw it land. 67 00:04:52,220 --> 00:04:54,940 I do remember one description that he gave at the time. 68 00:04:54,940 --> 00:04:57,220 He said that the skin of the craft, the outside of the craft, 69 00:04:57,220 --> 00:04:58,980 was flawless. 70 00:04:58,980 --> 00:05:02,620 Stan Michalak was 10 years old in 1967. 71 00:05:02,620 --> 00:05:03,500 No, nothing. 72 00:05:03,500 --> 00:05:06,460 It was as though you had milled out of a solid piece of wood 73 00:05:06,580 --> 00:05:10,260 this disk, this saucer with the dome on top. 74 00:05:10,260 --> 00:05:13,780 Stephen Michalak told his son that after a few moments, 75 00:05:13,780 --> 00:05:15,740 the door of the craft slowly opened. 76 00:05:18,740 --> 00:05:26,020 When the gate opened, there was a kind of shrieky talk 77 00:05:26,020 --> 00:05:30,900 like a kid's in problem or something. 78 00:05:30,900 --> 00:05:35,020 Thinking of US as a country, a country that 79 00:05:35,020 --> 00:05:42,100 was in the end of USA, I said, OK, Yankee boys. 80 00:05:42,100 --> 00:05:45,580 Seems to me you are in trouble. 81 00:05:45,580 --> 00:05:46,220 You got troubles. 82 00:05:46,220 --> 00:05:47,020 I'll help you. 83 00:05:50,620 --> 00:05:52,620 When his English received no response, 84 00:05:52,620 --> 00:05:53,860 Stephen tried Russian. 85 00:05:58,100 --> 00:05:59,100 Then Polish. 86 00:06:06,020 --> 00:06:07,420 And finally German. 87 00:06:27,740 --> 00:06:30,140 Stephen says that as he drew nearer the door, 88 00:06:30,140 --> 00:06:32,820 the light was so bright he had to snap down the visor 89 00:06:32,820 --> 00:06:33,940 on his safety goggles. 90 00:06:36,020 --> 00:06:38,020 After a few moments, the door suddenly shut. 91 00:06:51,020 --> 00:06:52,020 It's hard to do. 92 00:06:56,020 --> 00:06:59,020 According to Stephen, the craft rotated counterclockwise 93 00:06:59,020 --> 00:07:00,020 and the door was closed. 94 00:07:00,020 --> 00:07:01,020 And the door was closed. 95 00:07:01,020 --> 00:07:02,020 And the door was closed. 96 00:07:02,020 --> 00:07:05,020 According to Stephen, the craft rotated counterclockwise, 97 00:07:05,020 --> 00:07:08,020 knocking him backwards and setting his shirt on fire. 98 00:07:12,020 --> 00:07:16,020 After igniting with the fire, the craft 99 00:07:16,020 --> 00:07:20,020 lifts up 30 to 40 feet in vanishing. 100 00:07:24,020 --> 00:07:27,020 And then I decided, I said, now is the time for me 101 00:07:27,020 --> 00:07:31,020 to buzz off from here, go out. 102 00:07:31,020 --> 00:07:32,020 So I started going. 103 00:07:35,020 --> 00:07:39,020 He started feeling strange and threw up several times. 104 00:07:39,020 --> 00:07:43,020 At the same time, he was experiencing spots in front 105 00:07:43,020 --> 00:07:45,520 of his eyes, which could be after effects from the brilliant 106 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:49,580 lights emanating from what appear to be ducks or ports 107 00:07:49,580 --> 00:07:51,460 in the top of the alleged craft. 108 00:07:58,020 --> 00:07:59,500 When Stephen checked his compass, 109 00:07:59,500 --> 00:08:01,980 trying to find his way southeast to the road, 110 00:08:01,980 --> 00:08:03,500 he says a needle went haywire. 111 00:08:07,900 --> 00:08:10,180 Disoriented and badly burned, Stephen 112 00:08:10,180 --> 00:08:12,940 took his best guess at the direction. 113 00:08:12,940 --> 00:08:16,380 Nine hours later, he finally arrived back home in Winnipeg, 114 00:08:16,380 --> 00:08:18,500 where his story made local headlines 115 00:08:18,500 --> 00:08:22,500 and apparently left doctors baffled. 116 00:08:22,500 --> 00:08:26,980 At that point in time, the diagnosis, 117 00:08:26,980 --> 00:08:30,980 if you can call it that, was burns. 118 00:08:30,980 --> 00:08:32,020 And sure, they were burns. 119 00:08:32,020 --> 00:08:34,700 Yes, heat caused burns. 120 00:08:34,700 --> 00:08:37,740 What they couldn't diagnose and didn't have a clue about 121 00:08:37,740 --> 00:08:41,500 was what appeared below the chest on the abdomen. 122 00:08:41,500 --> 00:08:44,580 The exact same pattern of holes that 123 00:08:44,580 --> 00:08:48,260 was on the grid on the side of the craft in the same order, 124 00:08:48,260 --> 00:08:50,940 in the same rows, in the same number 125 00:08:50,940 --> 00:08:56,300 appeared as red spots on his lower abdomen, red dots. 126 00:08:56,340 --> 00:08:58,260 Stephen was released from the hospital, 127 00:08:58,260 --> 00:09:00,740 but he says his symptoms worsened. 128 00:09:00,740 --> 00:09:02,780 The nausea continued, and his body 129 00:09:02,780 --> 00:09:06,780 seemed to emit a sulfuric stench. 130 00:09:06,780 --> 00:09:11,220 There was this sulfur ozone electric burning motor stink. 131 00:09:11,220 --> 00:09:12,580 About him, it's like he's carrying 132 00:09:12,580 --> 00:09:13,620 the aura of the smell. 133 00:09:13,620 --> 00:09:15,660 Whenever you walked and you got close to you, 134 00:09:15,660 --> 00:09:16,820 you could smell this. 135 00:09:16,820 --> 00:09:19,100 Not bad showers wouldn't take it out. 136 00:09:19,100 --> 00:09:20,980 That lasted for weeks. 137 00:09:20,980 --> 00:09:24,500 I remember seeing him in bed constantly, 138 00:09:24,500 --> 00:09:27,660 tired, nauseous, headachey, not feeling well, 139 00:09:27,660 --> 00:09:30,660 losing a lot of weight. 140 00:09:30,660 --> 00:09:34,100 Stephen Michalak was tested for radiation poisoning. 141 00:09:34,100 --> 00:09:36,420 The results were negative, yet no one 142 00:09:36,420 --> 00:09:41,700 could explain the source of the strange burns on his torso. 143 00:09:41,700 --> 00:09:45,060 The physicians were actually unable to determine many 144 00:09:45,060 --> 00:09:46,380 of Michalak's ailments. 145 00:09:46,380 --> 00:09:49,900 They knew, for example, he was physically thermally burned. 146 00:09:49,900 --> 00:09:52,780 His chest was burned and singed. 147 00:09:52,780 --> 00:09:55,460 But the pattern lower down on his chest 148 00:09:55,460 --> 00:09:57,100 was very, very unusual. 149 00:09:57,100 --> 00:09:59,660 It was eventually determined that it was a chemical burn, 150 00:09:59,660 --> 00:10:01,620 not a radiation burn, although he 151 00:10:01,620 --> 00:10:03,540 did have some symptoms that might have suggested 152 00:10:03,540 --> 00:10:06,340 that some people had some sort of radiation effects 153 00:10:06,340 --> 00:10:07,260 might have been involved. 154 00:10:11,340 --> 00:10:14,220 On June 30, six weeks after the encounter, 155 00:10:14,220 --> 00:10:16,420 Stephen and a friend went looking for the site. 156 00:10:16,940 --> 00:10:18,020 Bob, come. 157 00:10:18,020 --> 00:10:20,540 After several hours, they found a burned out circle 158 00:10:20,540 --> 00:10:23,020 with a radius of more than 15 feet. 159 00:10:23,020 --> 00:10:23,980 This is it. 160 00:10:23,980 --> 00:10:24,940 I knew it. 161 00:10:24,940 --> 00:10:26,420 I told you. 162 00:10:26,420 --> 00:10:30,500 On this barren patch of rock was a circular, roughly circular, 163 00:10:30,500 --> 00:10:35,500 ring of vegetation, dead pine needles, dirt, leaves, 164 00:10:35,500 --> 00:10:36,660 that sort of thing. 165 00:10:36,660 --> 00:10:40,100 The rock had been swept clean except for this ring, which 166 00:10:40,100 --> 00:10:42,420 was surrounding this area. 167 00:10:42,420 --> 00:10:43,780 They also noticed that the rock had been 168 00:10:43,780 --> 00:10:46,020 swept clean except for this area. 169 00:10:46,020 --> 00:10:49,060 They also noticed that a few of the trees 170 00:10:49,060 --> 00:10:53,020 appeared to have dead branches, as if something had either 171 00:10:53,020 --> 00:10:56,060 come in and touched them or brushed by them 172 00:10:56,060 --> 00:10:58,260 with an intense heat or some other effects. 173 00:11:01,620 --> 00:11:04,740 Within days, a team of experts from the United States 174 00:11:04,740 --> 00:11:07,580 working in cooperation with the Royal Canadian Air Force 175 00:11:07,580 --> 00:11:09,780 converged on the site. 176 00:11:09,780 --> 00:11:12,420 They took measurements, cataloged soil samples, 177 00:11:12,660 --> 00:11:16,060 and found that the rock had been swept clean. 178 00:11:16,060 --> 00:11:18,060 The levels appeared alarmingly high, 179 00:11:18,060 --> 00:11:19,740 and the health department considered 180 00:11:19,740 --> 00:11:21,820 quarantining the area. 181 00:11:21,820 --> 00:11:24,100 Later, however, they discovered that the high levels 182 00:11:24,100 --> 00:11:29,740 were caused by a vein of radium which ran under the entire region. 183 00:11:29,740 --> 00:11:32,820 Mr. Nicolay, this is my colleague, Dr. Shaw. 184 00:11:32,820 --> 00:11:33,820 Dr. Shaw. 185 00:11:33,820 --> 00:11:35,260 He's a radiologist. 186 00:11:35,260 --> 00:11:37,700 Meanwhile, Stevens Burns, who should have appeared to be 187 00:11:37,700 --> 00:11:39,860 healing, suddenly flared up again. 188 00:11:39,860 --> 00:11:42,380 I want to examine these burns. 189 00:11:42,380 --> 00:11:44,380 The years remained mystified. 190 00:11:44,380 --> 00:11:46,380 He's not suffering from radiation. 191 00:11:46,380 --> 00:11:52,380 After every three months, my burns from legs and here 192 00:11:52,380 --> 00:11:56,380 were coming back, showing up again and burning, 193 00:11:56,380 --> 00:11:58,380 and burning and vomiting. 194 00:11:58,380 --> 00:12:01,380 Anything I eat, bingo, goes. 195 00:12:02,380 --> 00:12:04,380 To this day, you can, if you let you, 196 00:12:04,380 --> 00:12:08,380 compress into his skin and feel subcutaneous scar tissue 197 00:12:08,380 --> 00:12:11,380 in the form of those burns on his chest, 198 00:12:11,380 --> 00:12:14,380 which he playfully calls his buttons, 199 00:12:14,380 --> 00:12:16,380 and it's there. 200 00:12:16,380 --> 00:12:17,380 You cannot deny this. 201 00:12:17,380 --> 00:12:18,380 This is there. 202 00:12:18,380 --> 00:12:20,380 Look at these cracks. 203 00:12:21,380 --> 00:12:25,380 On May 19, 1968, one year after Steven 204 00:12:25,380 --> 00:12:29,380 Nicolay's close encounter, he and a friend returned to the site. 205 00:12:31,380 --> 00:12:34,380 Just about center, a little north of center, 206 00:12:34,380 --> 00:12:38,380 the Geiger counter rose very, very dramatically. 207 00:12:39,380 --> 00:12:43,380 At that point, within an 18-inch section of the crack, 208 00:12:43,380 --> 00:12:49,380 they scooped out a whole, almost half a jar full of what 209 00:12:49,380 --> 00:12:52,380 appeared to be molten rock or molten metal of some sort, 210 00:12:52,380 --> 00:12:54,380 subsequently found out what it was. 211 00:12:54,380 --> 00:12:56,380 But at that time, it was unclear, 212 00:12:56,380 --> 00:12:58,380 but it was quite radioactive. 213 00:12:59,380 --> 00:13:03,380 According to Ed Barker, an analysis revealed that the 214 00:13:03,380 --> 00:13:05,380 material was an extremely pure grade of silver 215 00:13:05,380 --> 00:13:07,380 that is difficult to obtain. 216 00:13:07,380 --> 00:13:09,380 It had been coated with pitch blendor, 217 00:13:09,380 --> 00:13:12,380 which contains both uranium and radium. 218 00:13:14,380 --> 00:13:19,380 This is what we found, three identical bars of what appear 219 00:13:19,380 --> 00:13:23,380 at first glance to be silver alloy of some sort. 220 00:13:24,380 --> 00:13:28,380 They were obviously manufactured somehow. 221 00:13:29,380 --> 00:13:31,380 It was considerably radioactive. 222 00:13:31,380 --> 00:13:34,380 Now, it's perfectly safe to handle. 223 00:13:35,380 --> 00:13:38,380 This is one of the biggest mysteries and one of the biggest 224 00:13:38,380 --> 00:13:41,380 puzzles, and skeptics have pointed to this as the reason 225 00:13:41,380 --> 00:13:43,380 why the case should be discounted. 226 00:13:43,380 --> 00:13:48,380 Why would particles and metal fragments of this size 227 00:13:48,380 --> 00:13:52,380 and radioactivity have been missed by all previous investigators? 228 00:13:52,380 --> 00:13:55,380 And this is one mystery that we don't have definite answers 229 00:13:55,380 --> 00:13:56,380 to this day. 230 00:13:57,380 --> 00:14:00,380 Ed Barker believes the silver was planted by someone 231 00:14:00,380 --> 00:14:04,380 who may have wanted to lend credence to Steven Micolack's story. 232 00:14:04,380 --> 00:14:06,380 Planted on the site. 233 00:14:06,380 --> 00:14:13,380 Saying that, I do not believe Michelac did have anything to do 234 00:14:13,380 --> 00:14:19,380 with this, but I do believe that it was planted. 235 00:14:20,380 --> 00:14:24,380 I'd like to think that one day we'll get a letter from the 236 00:14:24,380 --> 00:14:26,380 U.S. government and it'll say, 237 00:14:26,380 --> 00:14:28,380 we have the two crafty in our hangar over here, 238 00:14:28,380 --> 00:14:30,380 and we were experimenting with them at the time. 239 00:14:30,380 --> 00:14:31,380 Sorry. 240 00:14:31,380 --> 00:14:33,380 And I'd want to go and see them. 241 00:14:33,380 --> 00:14:36,380 And I'm sure Dad would too, and that would be great. 242 00:14:36,380 --> 00:14:39,380 What would be worse is to have this thing drag to a point 243 00:14:39,380 --> 00:14:42,380 and drag on where it's never explained. 244 00:14:45,380 --> 00:14:48,380 Today, Steven Micolack is 76 years old. 245 00:14:48,380 --> 00:14:51,380 He and his wife continue to live in Manitoba. 246 00:14:52,380 --> 00:14:56,380 Steven still is not sure what it was he saw back in 1967. 247 00:14:56,380 --> 00:15:00,380 He says doctors have never been able to explain the burns on his 248 00:15:00,380 --> 00:15:04,380 chest or the mysterious symptoms which resembled radiation poisoning. 249 00:15:06,380 --> 00:15:09,380 Since no other explanation is forthcoming, 250 00:15:09,380 --> 00:15:12,380 Steven Micolack is willing to entertain the notion, 251 00:15:12,380 --> 00:15:16,380 no matter how far-fetched, that he saw something not of this Earth. 252 00:15:21,380 --> 00:15:25,380 When we return, allegations of murder and cover-up inside one 253 00:15:25,380 --> 00:15:28,380 of America's largest prisons for women. 254 00:15:39,380 --> 00:15:43,380 Frontera Prison, 45 miles south of Los Angeles, California, 255 00:15:43,380 --> 00:15:46,380 one of the largest women's penitentiaries in America. 256 00:15:48,380 --> 00:15:51,380 Frontera's maximum security wing houses some of California's 257 00:15:51,380 --> 00:15:54,380 most dangerous female offenders. 258 00:15:54,380 --> 00:15:57,380 Yet it is the alleged criminal activities of some guards 259 00:15:57,380 --> 00:16:01,380 and administrators that have shoved Frontera into the public spotlight. 260 00:16:03,380 --> 00:16:07,380 In recent years, former prison employees have made sensational 261 00:16:07,380 --> 00:16:10,380 allegations of widespread drug trafficking at the prison. 262 00:16:11,380 --> 00:16:14,380 They have tied these charges of corruption to a pair of seemingly 263 00:16:14,380 --> 00:16:16,380 isolated incidents. 264 00:16:17,380 --> 00:16:20,380 The disappearance and subsequent murder of a Frontera guard 265 00:16:20,380 --> 00:16:24,380 was just some rich in 1984 and the controversial death of an 266 00:16:24,380 --> 00:16:27,380 inmate named Terry Lucas three years later. 267 00:16:30,380 --> 00:16:35,380 In November of 1987, Lucas was found dead in Frontera's infirmary, 268 00:16:35,380 --> 00:16:38,380 where she was recovering from a cancer biopsy. 269 00:16:38,380 --> 00:16:42,380 To some, the incident appeared highly questionable. 270 00:16:42,380 --> 00:16:45,380 According to former Frontera guard Betty Thompson, 271 00:16:45,380 --> 00:16:49,380 an officer from another wing of the prison had approached Terry Lucas 272 00:16:49,380 --> 00:16:51,380 shortly before she died. 273 00:16:51,380 --> 00:16:55,380 The unauthorized visit apparently terrified the 25-year-old Lucas. 274 00:16:56,380 --> 00:17:02,380 This was an inmate that came off as tough and mean and mouthy, 275 00:17:02,380 --> 00:17:06,380 but when she saw the officer walking down the hall, 276 00:17:06,380 --> 00:17:08,380 her whole demeanor changed. 277 00:17:08,380 --> 00:17:12,380 She was absolutely devastated by his presence. 278 00:17:14,380 --> 00:17:18,380 Thompson claims that the officer was determined to unlock Terry Lucas' cell. 279 00:17:19,380 --> 00:17:22,380 He retreated only when Thompson threatened to report him. 280 00:17:22,380 --> 00:17:24,380 You just can't come into an area where you're not allowed. 281 00:17:24,380 --> 00:17:27,380 Most of the time, officers back officers. 282 00:17:27,380 --> 00:17:32,380 We don't back inmates, but in this particular instance, 283 00:17:32,380 --> 00:17:37,380 it was just almost automatic that I would stand in front of the door 284 00:17:37,380 --> 00:17:39,380 and not let him in there. 285 00:17:41,380 --> 00:17:45,380 After this officer left the area, I keyed the door and went in 286 00:17:45,380 --> 00:17:48,380 to talk to Terry Lucas in her cell. 287 00:17:49,380 --> 00:17:52,380 She said the officer scared her, 288 00:17:52,380 --> 00:17:56,380 and the reason he scared her is because it was to make her be quiet. 289 00:17:56,380 --> 00:17:58,380 Oh, respectable in the past. 290 00:17:58,380 --> 00:18:02,380 And she tells me that she's got information, she's got evidence. 291 00:18:02,380 --> 00:18:06,380 She knows who was involved in the disappearance of Jesslyn Rich. 292 00:18:06,380 --> 00:18:09,380 I can tell you who, I can tell you what. 293 00:18:09,380 --> 00:18:10,380 I got all the stuff. 294 00:18:10,380 --> 00:18:13,380 I can give you all the evidence you need. 295 00:18:14,380 --> 00:18:16,380 Betty Thompson was stunned by Lucas' revelation 296 00:18:16,380 --> 00:18:19,380 that she knew the fate of Jesslyn Rich, 297 00:18:19,380 --> 00:18:24,380 the frontera God who had disappeared under strange circumstances in 1984. 298 00:18:26,380 --> 00:18:29,380 Jesslyn Rich was a 35-year-old divorced mother of two. 299 00:18:29,380 --> 00:18:31,380 While working at frontera, 300 00:18:31,380 --> 00:18:35,380 she had maintained a straight A average in criminology classes at night school. 301 00:18:36,380 --> 00:18:38,380 At the time of her disappearance, 302 00:18:38,380 --> 00:18:43,380 Jesslyn had reportedly grown concerned about drug dealing inside frontera. 303 00:18:47,380 --> 00:18:48,380 You want to dance? 304 00:18:49,380 --> 00:18:52,380 Jesslyn Rich was last seen on November 11th, 1984 305 00:18:52,380 --> 00:18:56,380 at a country western bar where she and a friend Marilyn Alt 306 00:18:56,380 --> 00:18:58,380 were joined by two male acquaintances. 307 00:18:58,380 --> 00:18:59,380 Work and school. 308 00:18:59,380 --> 00:19:00,380 So that's your problem. 309 00:19:00,380 --> 00:19:02,380 You gotta get out more and live life. 310 00:19:02,380 --> 00:19:03,380 That's what it's all about there. 311 00:19:03,380 --> 00:19:05,380 And all of a sudden she sits very still 312 00:19:05,380 --> 00:19:08,380 and looks almost past me to the front door. 313 00:19:09,380 --> 00:19:11,380 Jesslyn, you okay? 314 00:19:11,380 --> 00:19:17,380 And I look at her and her eyes drew wide and fearful looking. 315 00:19:20,380 --> 00:19:22,380 But I didn't look to the door. 316 00:19:22,380 --> 00:19:24,380 I just, for some reason, just didn't turn around. 317 00:19:24,380 --> 00:19:28,380 And then she came back into the conversation. 318 00:19:30,380 --> 00:19:31,380 I'll be right back. 319 00:19:31,380 --> 00:19:32,380 Excuse me. 320 00:19:33,380 --> 00:19:34,380 Jesslyn, I'll keep you seat. 321 00:19:34,380 --> 00:19:35,380 Okay. 322 00:19:36,380 --> 00:19:41,380 As she turns around the corner to go down the hallway to the bathroom, 323 00:19:41,380 --> 00:19:46,380 a gentleman appears to me out of the side of my eye 324 00:19:46,380 --> 00:19:48,380 going directly behind her. 325 00:19:50,380 --> 00:19:54,380 And that's the last I see her, ever. 326 00:19:56,380 --> 00:19:59,380 Jesslyn Rich literally vanished without a trace. 327 00:20:01,380 --> 00:20:04,380 Her family and friends launched an all out search. 328 00:20:05,380 --> 00:20:07,380 To them it seemed harshly out of character 329 00:20:07,380 --> 00:20:09,380 for Jesslyn to abandon her children 330 00:20:09,380 --> 00:20:11,380 and scrap her career aspirations. 331 00:20:11,380 --> 00:20:14,380 But police investigators said they had no evidence 332 00:20:14,380 --> 00:20:17,380 to support the family's belief that Jesslyn had been kidnapped 333 00:20:17,380 --> 00:20:19,380 and possibly murdered. 334 00:20:22,380 --> 00:20:26,380 They made light of it, called us just distraught relatives, 335 00:20:26,380 --> 00:20:30,380 suggested that my sister had just ran off on a fling with some person, 336 00:20:30,380 --> 00:20:34,380 which is totally absurd, given her work record of only being late once. 337 00:20:34,380 --> 00:20:39,380 And a 4.0 grade point average student, it just was unheard of. 338 00:20:41,380 --> 00:20:43,380 Gary Montz tore apart his sister's house, 339 00:20:43,380 --> 00:20:46,380 searching for clues a police might have overlooked. 340 00:20:46,380 --> 00:20:49,380 When he sifted through Jesslyn's trash, 341 00:20:49,380 --> 00:20:52,380 he found evidence that her knowledge of illegal activities at the prison 342 00:20:52,380 --> 00:20:54,380 had put her life in danger. 343 00:20:57,380 --> 00:20:59,380 And inside in the plastic bag, 344 00:20:59,380 --> 00:21:03,380 were there are many, many pieces of paper torn up very, very small. 345 00:21:03,380 --> 00:21:07,380 I picked up a few of these and I could tell that it was my sister's writing or printing. 346 00:21:09,380 --> 00:21:15,380 And they were apparently notes or letters to a friend of hers, a co-worker. 347 00:21:15,380 --> 00:21:19,380 And I figured that I would take them home and sort them out later. 348 00:21:21,380 --> 00:21:24,380 The letter had been written to another guard at Frontera. 349 00:21:24,380 --> 00:21:28,380 Scrawled on the margin of the last page was Jesslyn's haunting recital 350 00:21:28,380 --> 00:21:31,380 of an apparent threat she had received from a co-worker. 351 00:21:31,380 --> 00:21:35,380 That anyone interfering with his drug activities would be taken care of. 352 00:21:38,380 --> 00:21:41,380 At the time, this letter was the only concrete evidence 353 00:21:41,380 --> 00:21:44,380 indicating that Jesslyn had met with foul play. 354 00:21:47,380 --> 00:21:50,380 Three years later, the case had faded from public view. 355 00:21:50,380 --> 00:21:55,380 Then in 1987, the mystery was suddenly thrust back on a center stage 356 00:21:55,380 --> 00:22:00,380 when Terry Lucas told Betty Thompson she knew what happened to Jesslyn Rich. 357 00:22:01,380 --> 00:22:03,380 I don't know what you're talking about, Jesslyn. 358 00:22:04,380 --> 00:22:07,380 The morning after extraordinary conversation with Lucas, 359 00:22:07,380 --> 00:22:10,380 Officer Thompson returned to the prison infirmary. 360 00:22:13,380 --> 00:22:17,380 When I walked over to touch her, I noticed that Terry was dead. 361 00:22:22,380 --> 00:22:26,380 I went out of the cell and I went down to the nurses station 362 00:22:26,380 --> 00:22:29,380 and I told them what I had seen and what I knew. 363 00:22:29,380 --> 00:22:34,380 And the coldness of the room, that she was not covered, her eyes were open. 364 00:22:34,380 --> 00:22:37,380 Her breakfast tray had not been touched. 365 00:22:37,380 --> 00:22:40,380 And the nurses told me they would take care of it. 366 00:22:43,380 --> 00:22:47,380 Incredibly, Betty Thompson claims that the inmates body 367 00:22:47,380 --> 00:22:49,380 remained in the cell for a full three days 368 00:22:49,380 --> 00:22:52,380 before the county coroner's office was called. 369 00:22:52,380 --> 00:22:59,380 According to Thompson, an official from the coroner's office 370 00:22:59,380 --> 00:23:02,380 was initially mystified by what he found. 371 00:23:02,380 --> 00:23:05,380 Betty claims there were blades of grass in Lucas' hair 372 00:23:05,380 --> 00:23:09,380 and multiple bruises on her face, ears, neck and lower arms. 373 00:23:09,380 --> 00:23:12,380 Her right arm appeared to be broken. 374 00:23:13,380 --> 00:23:15,380 He asked, who killed this inmate? 375 00:23:15,380 --> 00:23:17,380 And he's saying that this inmate was murdered. 376 00:23:17,380 --> 00:23:20,380 He is saying that he sees it as a murder. 377 00:23:20,380 --> 00:23:23,380 He is saying that he sees evidence that she was suffocated 378 00:23:23,380 --> 00:23:28,380 with the pillow that had been under her arm that appeared to be broken. 379 00:23:30,380 --> 00:23:34,380 Betty Thompson says that after the official met with high level prison administrators 380 00:23:34,380 --> 00:23:37,380 in Lucas' cell, he had a sudden change of heart. 381 00:23:39,380 --> 00:23:42,380 And he told me that we were not going to call it murder 382 00:23:42,380 --> 00:23:46,380 and we were not going to say that she was laying there dead for three days. 383 00:23:46,380 --> 00:23:51,380 We were going to in fact say that she was actually laying there only two hours 384 00:23:51,380 --> 00:23:57,380 and that the cause of death was actually complications due to diabetes. 385 00:23:58,380 --> 00:24:01,380 Betty Thompson says as she refused to go along. 386 00:24:01,380 --> 00:24:03,380 How many times do I have to tell you Thompson, 387 00:24:03,380 --> 00:24:07,380 you can't put this information in your report. 388 00:24:08,380 --> 00:24:11,380 Now you know what you're supposed to write, just do it. 389 00:24:11,380 --> 00:24:15,380 Thompson maintains that one of her superiors demanded that she change her report 390 00:24:15,380 --> 00:24:17,380 on Terry Lucas' death. 391 00:24:18,380 --> 00:24:22,380 You are not leaving this institution until you do as you are told. 392 00:24:22,380 --> 00:24:26,380 According to Thompson, she was subjected to threats and intimidation 393 00:24:26,380 --> 00:24:28,380 for six grueling hours. 394 00:24:28,380 --> 00:24:30,380 You can kiss your career with a Department of Corrections. 395 00:24:30,380 --> 00:24:34,380 There was one high administrator that even made the comment 396 00:24:34,380 --> 00:24:38,380 that the same thing that happened to Jesslyn Rich could easily happen to me. 397 00:24:38,380 --> 00:24:41,380 At that point in time, I broke down and cried. 398 00:24:45,380 --> 00:24:49,380 That's what this was all about and I hadn't told anything what Terry Lucas had said. 399 00:24:49,380 --> 00:24:52,380 I hadn't told them anything about that part. 400 00:24:52,380 --> 00:24:57,380 And for him to bring up Jesslyn Rich and her disappearance, 401 00:24:57,380 --> 00:25:00,380 it said why Terry Lucas had died. 402 00:25:00,380 --> 00:25:03,380 It definitely had something to do with that. 403 00:25:07,380 --> 00:25:12,380 Thompson says she finally gave in and signed a false report that was typed for her. 404 00:25:13,380 --> 00:25:18,380 But I added on the bottom that I had signed the document under duress 405 00:25:18,380 --> 00:25:21,380 and the document was untrue. 406 00:25:22,380 --> 00:25:26,380 To my knowledge, that document was ripped up. 407 00:25:26,380 --> 00:25:31,380 Another one was retyped saying the similar things that were on the first document 408 00:25:31,380 --> 00:25:34,380 and that my signature was forged. 409 00:25:35,380 --> 00:25:39,380 Eddie Thompson claims there were further attempts at intimidation. 410 00:25:39,380 --> 00:25:43,380 They began on her next shift with an anonymous phone call. 411 00:25:43,380 --> 00:25:45,380 Informery Officer Thompson. 412 00:25:45,380 --> 00:25:49,380 Thompson, if you don't learn how to do things in the proper manner, 413 00:25:49,380 --> 00:25:53,380 you'll end up dead alongside some muddy ditch. 414 00:25:57,380 --> 00:26:01,380 The following day, Thompson had an unnerving encounter. 415 00:26:01,380 --> 00:26:04,380 Hey, have you been receiving threatening phone calls? 416 00:26:04,380 --> 00:26:06,380 What are you talking about? 417 00:26:06,380 --> 00:26:09,380 Like you might be found dead in a ditch one night? 418 00:26:09,380 --> 00:26:12,380 At this point in time, the hair on the back of my neck just stood straight up. 419 00:26:12,380 --> 00:26:18,380 I was absolutely petrified because I knew that she knew what they were saying to me 420 00:26:18,380 --> 00:26:22,380 and that she was part of whoever was threatening me. 421 00:26:23,380 --> 00:26:27,380 Thompson says a menacing cause and harassment continued for seven months. 422 00:26:27,380 --> 00:26:32,380 Finally in June of 1988, the threats turned to violence. 423 00:26:36,380 --> 00:26:41,380 Betty Thompson immediately called the police who arrived at her home moments later. 424 00:26:42,380 --> 00:26:47,380 As I was upstairs filing a police report about this, the shooting, 425 00:26:47,380 --> 00:26:51,380 a phone call came in and I picked up the phone. 426 00:26:51,380 --> 00:26:55,380 It was a male voice and he said, next time we won't miss. 427 00:26:55,380 --> 00:26:59,380 The police officer saw my face and saw how upset I was. 428 00:26:59,380 --> 00:27:02,380 He included that in his report. 429 00:27:03,380 --> 00:27:08,380 In 1990, the brewing scandal at Frontera was the subject of a series of front page 430 00:27:08,380 --> 00:27:11,380 special reports in the Orange County Register. 431 00:27:11,380 --> 00:27:16,380 The article supported insider accounts of drug dealing and corruption. 432 00:27:17,380 --> 00:27:22,380 That same year, Betty Thompson and five other guards testified before State Senate hearings 433 00:27:22,380 --> 00:27:26,380 on the alleged offenses at Frontera Prison. 434 00:27:27,380 --> 00:27:30,380 Prison officials declined to be interviewed for this story. 435 00:27:30,380 --> 00:27:34,380 However, Tip Kendall, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections, 436 00:27:34,380 --> 00:27:37,380 told an unsolved mysteries researcher, quote, 437 00:27:37,380 --> 00:27:41,380 I'm not saying the things people are alleging didn't happen. 438 00:27:41,380 --> 00:27:44,380 There's just no evidence to support them. 439 00:27:44,380 --> 00:27:46,380 End quote. 440 00:27:49,380 --> 00:27:53,380 Next, thanks to our viewers, a woman framed by her stepfather 441 00:27:53,380 --> 00:27:56,380 has been reunited with a former deputy sheriff 442 00:27:56,380 --> 00:27:59,380 who came to a rescue when all else seemed lost. 443 00:28:01,380 --> 00:28:07,380 Recently, we brought you the poignant story of a woman named Kathy Williams Loving, 444 00:28:07,380 --> 00:28:09,380 who grew up in Chicago. 445 00:28:09,380 --> 00:28:11,380 Let me out! 446 00:28:11,380 --> 00:28:14,380 In 1961, when she was 14 years old, 447 00:28:14,380 --> 00:28:18,380 Kathy fell prey to the abusive sexual advances of her stepfather, 448 00:28:18,380 --> 00:28:21,380 a detective with a Chicago police. 449 00:28:21,380 --> 00:28:24,380 In 1961, when she was 14 years old, 450 00:28:24,380 --> 00:28:28,380 Kathy fell prey to the abusive sexual advances of her stepfather, 451 00:28:29,380 --> 00:28:32,380 Kathy finally went to the authorities for help, 452 00:28:32,380 --> 00:28:35,380 but she was labeled incorrigible and detained, 453 00:28:35,380 --> 00:28:38,380 apparently because of her stepfather's influence. 454 00:28:41,380 --> 00:28:44,380 Four months later, by order of a juvenile court, 455 00:28:44,380 --> 00:28:47,380 Kathy was remanded to a state training school. 456 00:28:47,380 --> 00:28:52,380 She was placed in the custody of a Cook County deputy sheriff to be transported. 457 00:28:52,380 --> 00:28:57,380 Kathy had no idea that this ride would become a remarkable turn of fortune. 458 00:28:58,380 --> 00:29:00,380 When they put me in the back of that paddy wagon, 459 00:29:00,380 --> 00:29:02,380 I just started boo-hooing. 460 00:29:02,380 --> 00:29:05,380 It dawned on me then, nobody knows where I'm going. 461 00:29:05,380 --> 00:29:07,380 I don't know where I'm going. 462 00:29:07,380 --> 00:29:09,380 This has to be hell. 463 00:29:09,380 --> 00:29:11,380 I didn't do anything wrong. 464 00:29:11,380 --> 00:29:13,380 Yeah, I heard that story before. 465 00:29:13,380 --> 00:29:18,380 Alone and scared to death, Kathy began to blurt out her story. 466 00:29:18,380 --> 00:29:21,380 I'm here because my stepfather was messing with me. 467 00:29:21,380 --> 00:29:22,380 Your stepfather? 468 00:29:22,380 --> 00:29:24,380 Yes, he was messing with me. 469 00:29:24,380 --> 00:29:25,380 Messing with you how? 470 00:29:25,380 --> 00:29:27,380 Touching me the way a man touches a woman. 471 00:29:28,380 --> 00:29:30,380 By the time they arrived at the reform school, 472 00:29:30,380 --> 00:29:35,380 the deputy was convinced that the system had made a terrible mistake. 473 00:29:35,380 --> 00:29:37,380 He offered to help Kathy, 474 00:29:37,380 --> 00:29:42,380 and she gave him the names of two friends, Louise Gordon and Maisie Bell. 475 00:29:42,380 --> 00:29:45,380 They brought the case to the attention of state social workers. 476 00:29:45,380 --> 00:29:49,380 Who was that you said you wanted me to call? 477 00:29:49,380 --> 00:29:52,380 Ultimately, Kathy was declared an emancipated minor 478 00:29:52,380 --> 00:29:54,380 and released from the reformatory. 479 00:29:54,380 --> 00:29:57,380 But Kathy never forgot the unknown deputy, 480 00:29:57,380 --> 00:30:02,380 who let a helping hand when no one else would. 481 00:30:02,380 --> 00:30:05,380 If I could find him, I just want to say to him 482 00:30:05,380 --> 00:30:08,380 that many people reach out for help, 483 00:30:08,380 --> 00:30:10,380 and many are refused help. 484 00:30:10,380 --> 00:30:13,380 But because of the fact that I reached out to him 485 00:30:13,380 --> 00:30:17,380 and he acknowledged me and gave me the help that I needed, 486 00:30:17,380 --> 00:30:20,380 he gave me my life. 487 00:30:20,380 --> 00:30:23,380 On the night we last broadcast this story, 488 00:30:23,380 --> 00:30:26,380 Kathy-loving search for her unknown benefactor finally came to an end. 489 00:30:26,380 --> 00:30:30,380 When former deputy sheriff Fred Lyle of Chicago called our telecenter, 490 00:30:30,380 --> 00:30:34,380 Lyle said he had watched the story on unsolved mysteries 491 00:30:34,380 --> 00:30:36,380 and remembered the incident vividly. 492 00:30:36,380 --> 00:30:40,380 That evening, Fred Lyle and an overjoyed Kathy-loving 493 00:30:40,380 --> 00:30:46,380 spoke on the telephone and made plans to meet as soon as possible. 494 00:30:46,380 --> 00:30:50,380 Today, Kathy lives in a well-appointed suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. 495 00:30:50,380 --> 00:30:54,380 On July 18, 1992, Kathy and several friends 496 00:30:54,380 --> 00:30:58,380 gathered to await the arrival of Fred Lyle and one of his daughters. 497 00:30:58,380 --> 00:31:01,380 For Kathy, it was a special occasion, 498 00:31:01,380 --> 00:31:04,380 which afforded her the opportunity to finally say, 499 00:31:04,380 --> 00:31:07,380 thank you. 500 00:31:07,380 --> 00:31:11,380 Oh, my God. 501 00:31:11,380 --> 00:31:14,380 The first thing on my mouth was I said, I love you. 502 00:31:14,380 --> 00:31:18,380 I said, I have been waiting all these years to tell you that I love you, 503 00:31:18,380 --> 00:31:20,380 and I wanted to say thank you. 504 00:31:20,380 --> 00:31:22,380 So I knew that was him. 505 00:31:23,380 --> 00:31:26,380 The celebration culminated with a homemade feast 506 00:31:26,380 --> 00:31:30,380 prepared by Kathy, which included Fred's favorite dishes. 507 00:31:30,380 --> 00:31:34,380 And I want to thank all my friends for helping me cook and prepare this meal, 508 00:31:34,380 --> 00:31:37,380 and thank you for the food, Amy. 509 00:31:37,380 --> 00:31:40,380 Very good. 510 00:31:40,380 --> 00:31:41,380 Now it's time to start eating them. 511 00:31:41,380 --> 00:31:43,380 Eat macaroni and cheese first, because they told me that. 512 00:31:43,380 --> 00:31:44,380 I did. I see you started eating. 513 00:31:44,380 --> 00:31:48,380 I want to see what your face looks like when you bite down on them. 514 00:31:48,380 --> 00:31:50,380 Let me see that smile. 515 00:31:50,380 --> 00:31:53,380 Fred Lyle left the Sheriff's Department in 1965. 516 00:31:53,380 --> 00:31:56,380 He has four children and eight grandchildren. 517 00:31:56,380 --> 00:32:01,380 And meeting Kathy was like welcoming a new member to the family. 518 00:32:01,380 --> 00:32:03,380 It's just something special. 519 00:32:03,380 --> 00:32:05,380 Something never happened to me before. 520 00:32:05,380 --> 00:32:08,380 You know, $1 would never happen again. 521 00:32:08,380 --> 00:32:10,380 But I can remember this one time. 522 00:32:10,380 --> 00:32:12,380 That's why I came down here. 523 00:32:12,380 --> 00:32:15,380 I just wanted to say thank you for finding me, 524 00:32:15,380 --> 00:32:17,380 because it did something to me inside. 525 00:32:17,380 --> 00:32:19,380 To know that somebody somewhere down the line 526 00:32:19,380 --> 00:32:21,380 appreciated some of the things I did for them. 527 00:32:21,380 --> 00:32:25,380 Strangely, you really finally have a daughter who can cook. 528 00:32:25,380 --> 00:32:28,380 The only one, too. 529 00:32:28,380 --> 00:32:33,380 The lesson I learned with Fred was that when all else has failed, 530 00:32:33,380 --> 00:32:35,380 don't give up. 531 00:32:35,380 --> 00:32:38,380 Not just not to give up, but there's always a way. 532 00:32:38,380 --> 00:32:41,380 And Fred Douglas Lyle was my way. 533 00:32:41,380 --> 00:32:44,380 Again, I can't say enough times. 534 00:32:44,380 --> 00:32:45,380 He was my hero. 535 00:32:45,380 --> 00:32:49,380 I reached out one more time, I thought. 536 00:32:49,380 --> 00:32:52,380 And he reached back. 537 00:32:52,380 --> 00:32:54,380 And he is my light. 538 00:32:54,380 --> 00:32:55,380 And he is my rainbow. 539 00:32:55,380 --> 00:32:57,380 That's what I've been waiting for. 540 00:32:57,380 --> 00:32:59,380 And another one, too. 541 00:33:03,380 --> 00:33:06,380 Next, a small town businessman vanishes 542 00:33:06,380 --> 00:33:08,380 under mysterious circumstances. 543 00:33:16,380 --> 00:33:19,380 Homa, Louisiana, population 31,000, 544 00:33:19,380 --> 00:33:22,380 lies in the heart of Cajun country, 545 00:33:22,380 --> 00:33:24,380 steeped in the romance of backwater bayous 546 00:33:24,380 --> 00:33:26,380 and sweeping magnolias. 547 00:33:26,380 --> 00:33:28,380 A.J. Bro was a fixture in Homa. 548 00:33:28,380 --> 00:33:30,380 He had lived in town his entire life, 549 00:33:30,380 --> 00:33:31,380 raised three daughters, 550 00:33:31,380 --> 00:33:34,380 and worked in the same clothing store for more than 30 years. 551 00:33:34,380 --> 00:33:36,380 He was a very good man. 552 00:33:36,380 --> 00:33:38,380 He was a very good man. 553 00:33:38,380 --> 00:33:40,380 He was a very good man. 554 00:33:40,380 --> 00:33:42,380 He was a very good man. 555 00:33:42,380 --> 00:33:45,380 He worked in the same clothing store for more than 30 years. 556 00:33:45,380 --> 00:33:48,380 Everyone in Homa knew that A.J. Bro was a man 557 00:33:48,380 --> 00:33:50,380 you could depend on. 558 00:33:50,380 --> 00:33:53,380 My dad came off as being very friendly. 559 00:33:53,380 --> 00:33:55,380 He was extremely nice. 560 00:33:55,380 --> 00:33:58,380 Anybody and everybody that knew him 561 00:33:58,380 --> 00:34:00,380 knew that if they needed something, 562 00:34:00,380 --> 00:34:03,380 that he was there to help him. 563 00:34:03,380 --> 00:34:06,380 A.J. had not come by his reputation easily. 564 00:34:06,380 --> 00:34:09,380 For years, he had battled a drinking problem, 565 00:34:09,380 --> 00:34:12,380 a problem which eventually led to his arrest for drunk driving 566 00:34:12,380 --> 00:34:15,380 and contributed to the breakup of his marriage. 567 00:34:15,380 --> 00:34:19,380 However, by 1991, A.J. had conquered his demons 568 00:34:19,380 --> 00:34:22,380 and been sober for eight years. 569 00:34:22,380 --> 00:34:27,380 Nearly every evening, A.J. could be found at the Easy Doze Club, 570 00:34:27,380 --> 00:34:30,380 a support group for people with drinking problems. 571 00:34:30,380 --> 00:34:32,380 A.J. was dedicated to sobriety 572 00:34:32,380 --> 00:34:34,380 and was available at any hour of the day or night 573 00:34:34,380 --> 00:34:38,380 to assist those who were in desperate need of help. 574 00:34:38,380 --> 00:34:41,380 Once he got involved with the program, 575 00:34:41,380 --> 00:34:43,380 it changed his whole life. 576 00:34:43,380 --> 00:34:48,380 He became even more responsible and more dependable 577 00:34:48,380 --> 00:34:51,380 and more trustworthy and more of a friend 578 00:34:51,380 --> 00:34:55,380 because he was involved with more people. 579 00:34:55,380 --> 00:34:59,380 The Easy Doze Club was headquartered in an old warehouse. 580 00:34:59,380 --> 00:35:03,380 On Wednesday, August 28, 1991, A.J. left the club 581 00:35:03,380 --> 00:35:06,380 at approximately 8.30 p.m. 582 00:35:06,380 --> 00:35:09,380 Hello, A.J. How you doing? 583 00:35:09,380 --> 00:35:12,380 A half an hour later, A.J. stopped at a convenience store 584 00:35:12,380 --> 00:35:14,380 to buy a quart of milk. 585 00:35:14,380 --> 00:35:16,380 He told the cashier that he was on his way home 586 00:35:16,380 --> 00:35:18,380 for he lived with one of his daughters. 587 00:35:18,380 --> 00:35:20,380 He never arrived. 588 00:35:20,380 --> 00:35:22,380 OK, I'll see you later. 589 00:35:22,380 --> 00:35:26,380 Two days later, A.J.'s car was found abandoned in a park 590 00:35:26,380 --> 00:35:28,380 across the street from the club. 591 00:35:28,380 --> 00:35:32,380 His three daughters immediately drove to the scene. 592 00:35:33,380 --> 00:35:35,380 When we got there, 593 00:35:35,380 --> 00:35:38,380 I had already called the police department to meet us. 594 00:35:38,380 --> 00:35:41,380 The car was locked so we couldn't get in. 595 00:35:41,380 --> 00:35:45,380 And our immediate reaction was tears. 596 00:35:45,380 --> 00:35:48,380 We were very emotional, very scared, 597 00:35:48,380 --> 00:35:51,380 and Detective Nakian, the detective working on the case, 598 00:35:51,380 --> 00:35:53,380 had appeared. 599 00:35:53,380 --> 00:35:55,380 When he got out of the car, we told him that we knew 600 00:35:55,380 --> 00:35:57,380 it was my dad's car because he had a cracked 601 00:35:57,380 --> 00:35:59,380 blinker plate in the front. 602 00:36:00,380 --> 00:36:03,380 Are y'all sure this is your father's car? 603 00:36:03,380 --> 00:36:05,380 This is it. 604 00:36:05,380 --> 00:36:07,380 My instinct told me that he was in the trunk dead. 605 00:36:07,380 --> 00:36:09,380 Detective Nakian, you think we could check the trunk? 606 00:36:09,380 --> 00:36:11,380 I think he might be in here. 607 00:36:11,380 --> 00:36:14,380 I immediately thought foul play because it just wouldn't be 608 00:36:14,380 --> 00:36:18,380 like him to park his car where everybody could find it 609 00:36:18,380 --> 00:36:21,380 and everybody knows him and disappear. 610 00:36:21,380 --> 00:36:24,380 But apparently that is just what A.J. Bro did. 611 00:36:24,380 --> 00:36:26,380 His body was not in the trunk. 612 00:36:26,380 --> 00:36:29,380 There was no sign of foul play, and a search of the park 613 00:36:29,380 --> 00:36:31,380 turned up nothing. 614 00:36:31,380 --> 00:36:33,380 The only clues were A.J.'s wallet and checkbook, 615 00:36:33,380 --> 00:36:36,380 which were found tucked beneath the front seat of his car. 616 00:36:39,380 --> 00:36:42,380 The entire town was mystified. 617 00:36:42,380 --> 00:36:46,380 A.J. Bro seemed the least likely person in Homer to disappear. 618 00:36:46,380 --> 00:36:48,380 Authorities launched an immediate investigation 619 00:36:48,380 --> 00:36:52,380 and distributed missing persons' flyers throughout the state. 620 00:36:52,380 --> 00:36:55,380 Soon a number of witnesses came forward. 621 00:36:55,380 --> 00:36:58,380 Witnesses who told intriguing tales of seeing A.J. Bro 622 00:36:58,380 --> 00:37:00,380 after he disappeared. 623 00:37:03,380 --> 00:37:07,380 On Friday, August 30th, the same day that A.J.'s car was found, 624 00:37:07,380 --> 00:37:10,380 a local resident named Kenneth Pellegrin claims that he ran 625 00:37:10,380 --> 00:37:14,380 into A.J. outside of a convenience store in Homer. 626 00:37:14,380 --> 00:37:16,380 Hey, A.J., how's it going? 627 00:37:16,380 --> 00:37:17,380 OK. 628 00:37:17,380 --> 00:37:20,380 It was a strange situation for me to see him then 629 00:37:20,380 --> 00:37:24,380 because he just didn't look the same as he always did. 630 00:37:24,380 --> 00:37:26,380 He was wearing like a flannel shirt, something 631 00:37:26,380 --> 00:37:28,380 like a lumberjack style. 632 00:37:28,380 --> 00:37:31,380 And the pants were loose-fitting, brown, very loose-fitting. 633 00:37:31,380 --> 00:37:33,380 There wasn't nothing neat. 634 00:37:33,380 --> 00:37:35,380 And he was wearing some old tennis shoes. 635 00:37:35,380 --> 00:37:38,380 So that struck me as wrong because all the times I've known him 636 00:37:38,380 --> 00:37:42,380 since seven years old, I've never seen him with his hair out 637 00:37:42,380 --> 00:37:46,380 of place or not dressed up neat. 638 00:37:46,380 --> 00:37:47,380 A.J. was nervous. 639 00:37:47,380 --> 00:37:50,380 It was like he was being watched. 640 00:37:50,380 --> 00:37:54,380 Kenneth Pellegrin also observed a red compact car parked 641 00:37:54,380 --> 00:37:56,380 in front. 642 00:37:56,380 --> 00:37:58,380 I noticed the car and there were three guys still 643 00:37:58,380 --> 00:37:59,380 sitting in it. 644 00:37:59,380 --> 00:38:01,380 But the engine was running and he was on the phone 645 00:38:01,380 --> 00:38:04,380 looking towards their way. 646 00:38:04,380 --> 00:38:08,380 And when I came back out, A.J. was gone, the car was gone. 647 00:38:11,380 --> 00:38:14,380 Had I known he had been missing, he would have been found then 648 00:38:14,380 --> 00:38:16,380 because I knew who he was. 649 00:38:16,380 --> 00:38:18,380 Soon after Kenneth Pellegrin called the office, 650 00:38:18,380 --> 00:38:22,380 I received another call from a witness who said that he saw A.J. 651 00:38:22,380 --> 00:38:24,380 in a car with three other gentlemen. 652 00:38:24,380 --> 00:38:28,380 It was a red, small, compact car on a roll route 653 00:38:28,380 --> 00:38:31,380 about eight miles out of town. 654 00:38:31,380 --> 00:38:34,380 He waved to A.J. Bro, but A.J. Bro did not wave back 655 00:38:34,380 --> 00:38:38,380 and that's very uncharacteristic of A.J. not to wave back. 656 00:38:38,380 --> 00:38:42,380 So he didn't think of anything of it because A.J. wasn't, 657 00:38:42,380 --> 00:38:45,380 he didn't know A.J. was missing. 658 00:38:45,380 --> 00:38:49,380 It makes me think that definitely somebody knows something. 659 00:38:49,380 --> 00:38:52,380 If both of these gentlemen who know him from a good while back, 660 00:38:52,380 --> 00:38:56,380 one a lot longer than the other, have seen him, 661 00:38:56,380 --> 00:38:58,380 we know that they know what he looks like. 662 00:38:58,380 --> 00:39:03,380 And they both saw him in the same color car with three men in it. 663 00:39:03,380 --> 00:39:08,380 I'm pretty much convinced that somebody somewhere knows something. 664 00:39:10,380 --> 00:39:13,380 For the next two weeks, there were no further sightings 665 00:39:13,380 --> 00:39:16,380 and no clues to A.J.'s disappearance. 666 00:39:16,380 --> 00:39:20,380 Then a chilling, handwritten note came into the police station. 667 00:39:20,380 --> 00:39:24,380 It read, A.J. Bro, he was drunk at the time, 668 00:39:24,380 --> 00:39:28,380 self-inflicted gunshot wound, stomach, 669 00:39:28,380 --> 00:39:32,380 drawstring cotton sack, put in by friend, 670 00:39:32,380 --> 00:39:36,380 rolled over steep, grassy Bayou bank, near Dam. 671 00:39:36,380 --> 00:39:39,380 The note was signed, Hulane. 672 00:39:39,380 --> 00:39:42,380 The note painted a bizarre scenario in which A.J. had been drinking 673 00:39:42,380 --> 00:39:44,380 and accidentally shot himself. 674 00:39:44,380 --> 00:39:49,380 Then someone, for some unknown reason, dumped his body in the bayou. 675 00:39:49,380 --> 00:39:55,380 It just so happened where we found a car that described that area. 676 00:39:55,380 --> 00:39:58,380 So we called the Sheriff's office, water patrol units in, 677 00:39:58,380 --> 00:40:02,380 and they dredged both sides of the dam on three different occasions, 678 00:40:02,380 --> 00:40:04,380 but weren't able to find anything. 679 00:40:05,380 --> 00:40:08,380 Soon the case took another strange twist. 680 00:40:08,380 --> 00:40:11,380 Authorities received a surprising report 681 00:40:11,380 --> 00:40:14,380 which indicated that A.J. Bro might still be alive. 682 00:40:16,380 --> 00:40:20,380 On September 28, four weeks after A.J. disappeared, 683 00:40:20,380 --> 00:40:23,380 a woman named Christy Boudreau was sitting on the front porch 684 00:40:23,380 --> 00:40:27,380 of her home in Lockport, Louisiana, 30 miles northeast of Houma. 685 00:40:28,380 --> 00:40:31,380 I saw a van pass up and down the street two times, 686 00:40:31,380 --> 00:40:34,380 so I forget whoever was in the van was evidently lost. 687 00:40:34,380 --> 00:40:40,380 Then I saw him reach over the driver's seat into the middle of the van, 688 00:40:40,380 --> 00:40:42,380 and he picked up a bag. 689 00:40:42,380 --> 00:40:45,380 I didn't know what was in it, so he got to my porch, 690 00:40:45,380 --> 00:40:49,380 and as he walked to me, he looked really nervous, and he was shaking. 691 00:40:52,380 --> 00:40:54,380 He wanted to know if I wanted to buy some frozen fish, 692 00:40:54,380 --> 00:40:58,380 and I told him no, and I smelled alcohol on his breath, 693 00:40:58,380 --> 00:41:01,380 and he looked homeless, kind of straggly. 694 00:41:01,380 --> 00:41:03,380 Okay. Thanks anyway. 695 00:41:04,380 --> 00:41:07,380 And as he got, I'd say, ten feet from me, 696 00:41:07,380 --> 00:41:10,380 he turned around and glanced at me, 697 00:41:10,380 --> 00:41:15,380 and that's when it hit me that I saw that man on a missing person flower 698 00:41:15,380 --> 00:41:17,380 in the post office. 699 00:41:19,380 --> 00:41:23,380 Christy, I have a picture here I'd like you to look of A.J. Bro. 700 00:41:23,380 --> 00:41:26,380 I met with Christy, and I showed her some photographs of A.J. 701 00:41:26,380 --> 00:41:30,380 One was a photograph of the flyer that was being distributed, 702 00:41:30,380 --> 00:41:33,380 and she wasn't too sure about that one. 703 00:41:33,380 --> 00:41:36,380 Then I showed her a photograph of a mugshot that we had of A.J. 704 00:41:36,380 --> 00:41:40,380 from when he was drinking, and she was almost certain that was A.J. Bro then. 705 00:41:40,380 --> 00:41:44,380 I mean, he was older, but he was skinnier, like in this picture. 706 00:41:44,380 --> 00:41:48,380 I was almost certain that that was the man that had approached me 707 00:41:48,380 --> 00:41:51,380 while I was on my porch, and that's what I told the detective, 708 00:41:51,380 --> 00:41:56,380 that I was 99.9% sure that that was Mr. Bro. 709 00:41:56,380 --> 00:42:00,380 A.J. Bro is a recovering alcoholic, 710 00:42:00,380 --> 00:42:03,380 and if he did start drinking again, 711 00:42:03,380 --> 00:42:06,380 and there's all sorts of things that could have happened, 712 00:42:06,380 --> 00:42:09,380 he could have had a blackout, and I remember who he is. 713 00:42:09,380 --> 00:42:14,380 A.J.'s family, however, refuses to believe that he has turned to alcohol once again 714 00:42:14,380 --> 00:42:18,380 and disappeared by choice, because A.J.'s wallet and checkbook 715 00:42:18,380 --> 00:42:22,380 were found in his car. They are convinced that he was abducted. 716 00:42:22,380 --> 00:42:27,380 When I think back to what happened or why things may have happened, 717 00:42:27,380 --> 00:42:32,380 in my mind I go back to the fact that his car was found at the park, 718 00:42:32,380 --> 00:42:35,380 what happened when he got there, I'm not sure, 719 00:42:35,380 --> 00:42:39,380 but I'm wondering if he may have seen something 720 00:42:39,380 --> 00:42:43,380 or heard something that he wasn't supposed to see or hear. 721 00:42:43,380 --> 00:42:46,380 A few days after A.J.'s disappearance, 722 00:42:46,380 --> 00:42:50,380 a golf course maintenance worker had called the city police. 723 00:42:50,380 --> 00:42:55,380 He reported that he had seen three men forcing a fourth man into a white automobile 724 00:42:55,380 --> 00:42:58,380 and the park or A.J.'s car was found, 725 00:42:58,380 --> 00:43:02,380 but the details were sketchy and nothing ever came of it. 726 00:43:06,380 --> 00:43:09,380 What really happened to A.J.'s bro? 727 00:43:09,380 --> 00:43:12,380 While there is some evidence that he may have been abducted, 728 00:43:12,380 --> 00:43:15,380 there is no indication as to why someone would kidnap him, 729 00:43:15,380 --> 00:43:20,380 and authorities now suspect that the note detailing A.J.'s accidental suicide 730 00:43:20,380 --> 00:43:23,380 was a mean spirited prank. 731 00:43:23,380 --> 00:43:27,380 A.J.'s bro at this time is still listed as a missing person. 732 00:43:27,380 --> 00:43:30,380 We have no evidence of foul play, 733 00:43:30,380 --> 00:43:33,380 but of course we have no evidence that he just got up in the left either, 734 00:43:33,380 --> 00:43:36,380 so we really don't know what happened to A.J.'s. 735 00:43:36,380 --> 00:43:41,380 It's not like him to disappear and not notify us. 736 00:43:43,380 --> 00:43:47,380 The last year it's been about a year since my dad's been missing, 737 00:43:47,380 --> 00:43:51,380 and it's been a very long year. It feels like forever. 738 00:43:52,380 --> 00:43:59,380 It's been torture, very hard, and we want it to end. 739 00:44:00,380 --> 00:44:02,380 A.J.'s bro is 51 years old. 740 00:44:02,380 --> 00:44:07,380 He is 5'11'' tall and weighs approximately 155 pounds. 741 00:44:07,380 --> 00:44:09,380 He has brown eyes and brown hair. 742 00:44:09,380 --> 00:44:13,380 A.J.'s was last seen on August 28, 1991. 743 00:44:22,380 --> 00:44:27,380 On our next Unsolved Mysteries, 744 00:44:27,380 --> 00:44:31,380 as a POW during the Vietnam War, 745 00:44:31,380 --> 00:44:36,380 Colonel Charles Shelton's legendary resistance earned the respect of even his captors. 746 00:44:36,380 --> 00:44:41,380 Back home in America, his family's persistence has been no less inspiring. 747 00:44:41,380 --> 00:44:46,380 For more than 25 years, they have fought to prove that Charles Shelton was still alive 748 00:44:46,380 --> 00:44:48,380 long after the war was over. 749 00:44:48,380 --> 00:44:53,380 Because of their efforts, Colonel Shelton is the only remaining POW, 750 00:44:53,380 --> 00:44:56,380 not presumed dead by our government. 751 00:44:57,380 --> 00:45:00,380 Join us next week for this timely and heart-rending story 752 00:45:00,380 --> 00:45:04,380 as we commemorate Veterans Day on Unsolved Mysteries. 753 00:45:18,380 --> 00:45:20,380 All rights reserved. 754 00:45:20,380 --> 00:45:23,380 No part of this recording may be reproduced 755 00:45:23,380 --> 00:45:25,380 without any permission.