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 --> 00:00:11,880 What you are about to see is not a news broadcast. 5 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,720 When Chad Langford, a 20-year-old Army MP, 6 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:22,960 was found mortally wounded, a cap was stuffed in his mouth, 7 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:26,200 a cord wrapped around his neck, and his ankles were bound. 8 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:29,240 The Army believes Langford did these things to himself 9 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:31,160 as a prelude to suicide. 10 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,400 His family is convinced he was murdered. 11 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:36,600 When news sessions of Thermopolis Royale 12 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,200 agreed to store an old footlocker for a friend, 13 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:41,040 he got more than he bargained for, 14 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:45,160 an unidentified human skeleton, and a perplexing unsolved 15 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:47,240 mystery. 16 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,160 In 1978, a police chief in Oklahoma 17 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:52,160 was mortally wounded during a shootout 18 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:54,160 with two arms and a gunshot. 19 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:57,160 Seven years later, his killer, David Gordon Smith, 20 00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:01,160 escaped from prison and vanished. 21 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:03,160 For nearly eight years, David Smith 22 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:05,640 lived on the run, successfully eluding capture, 23 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,640 until he was recognized by one of our viewers. 24 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:11,840 Join me for this dramatic update and more 25 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:13,640 on tonight's unsolved mysteries. 26 00:01:54,160 --> 00:02:17,640 March 12, 1992, 7.40 PM. 27 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:20,640 Along the deserted perimeter of Redstone Arsenal Army 28 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:24,360 base in Huntsville, Alabama, 20-year-old military policeman 29 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,520 Chad Langford was completing what should have been a routine 30 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,240 patrol. 31 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:34,560 30 minutes later, Langford radioed his base station, 32 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:37,920 informing them he was stopping to investigate an abandoned car. 33 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:40,640 I'm on pad and south. 34 00:02:40,640 --> 00:02:41,800 Roger, send you 28. 35 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:49,200 Papa 2-1, say again. 36 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:52,960 2-1, this is Redstone. 37 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:54,880 Say again. 38 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:56,480 Get a unit. 39 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:58,800 All available units proceed to South Patton Road, 40 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,000 low-cape Papa 2-1. 41 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:02,120 All gates locked down. 42 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:04,280 Secure the post. 43 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:06,960 Approximately 10 miles from MP headquarters, 44 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:09,480 a backup officer found unsettling evidence 45 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:10,960 that Langford was in jeopardy. 46 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:16,200 Close to the entrance of a civilian recreation area 47 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:19,600 that is part of the base, he found Langford's military ID 48 00:03:19,640 --> 00:03:23,240 tag, his armband, and his portable police radio. 49 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:24,800 They had been deliberately arranged 50 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:25,920 in the middle of the street. 51 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:31,080 A quarter of a mile away, the patrolling officer 52 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:33,320 made the discovery he had been dreading. 53 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:34,520 Redstone, this is Papa Sierra. 54 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:38,640 I've located Papa 2-1 at bunker 8745. 55 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:39,520 Officer is down. 56 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:41,120 I request amulets and backup immediately. 57 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:42,520 One, three, wait at the line. 58 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:50,160 The officer was stunned by Langford's condition. 59 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:54,080 The MP was bleeding from a head wound and breathing faintly. 60 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:56,240 His cap had been stuffed into his mouth, 61 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:59,160 and the cord from his radar unit had been wrapped around his neck. 62 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,840 His pistol strap was tied around his ankles. 63 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,720 Langford's handcuffs were clamped on his left wrist, 64 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:10,920 and on his left hand was a cryptic message 65 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:14,000 written in black ink, March 3, and what 66 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:17,600 looked like the name, Robert. 67 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:19,160 How'd he still look like? 68 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:21,040 How'd he get his shirt off? 69 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:22,960 Careful, careful. 70 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:25,600 Let's roll him over, check the rules, OK? 71 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:27,880 Oddly, Langford's 45 caliber pistol 72 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:29,960 was found under his left shoulder. 73 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:31,120 Get that out of here. 74 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,400 Later examination would show two rounds had been fired, 75 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:36,640 although it could not be determined whether one of them 76 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:37,540 had hit Langford. 77 00:04:37,540 --> 00:04:38,440 Get an ambulance here. 78 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:39,240 Ace out. 79 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:40,140 Go. 80 00:04:40,340 --> 00:04:42,860 Just hanging there like a buddy. 81 00:04:42,860 --> 00:04:45,260 Chad Langford was rushed to Huntsville Hospital, 82 00:04:45,260 --> 00:04:47,720 where he died two hours later. 83 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:50,820 Langford was four months shy of his 21st birthday. 84 00:04:54,740 --> 00:04:56,460 Chad Langford's family had assumed 85 00:04:56,460 --> 00:04:58,540 he was killed in the line of duty. 86 00:04:58,540 --> 00:05:01,380 They were shocked to learn that the army apparently believed 87 00:05:01,380 --> 00:05:04,940 Chad had taken his own life. 88 00:05:04,940 --> 00:05:07,700 When I heard that, I was very upset about the whole thing. 89 00:05:07,700 --> 00:05:10,260 I know that my boy did not kill himself. 90 00:05:10,260 --> 00:05:12,140 There's no way. 91 00:05:12,140 --> 00:05:16,860 I feel that to someone who's covering something up here. 92 00:05:19,700 --> 00:05:22,260 Chad Langford was raised by his father and grandmother 93 00:05:22,260 --> 00:05:27,540 in the small Northern California community of Elk Creek. 94 00:05:27,540 --> 00:05:29,980 Chad joined the army right out of high school 95 00:05:29,980 --> 00:05:32,020 and soon found himself with US forces 96 00:05:32,020 --> 00:05:34,140 stationed in South Korea. 97 00:05:34,140 --> 00:05:39,060 There he earned several good conduct medals. 98 00:05:39,060 --> 00:05:41,100 At the conclusion of that tour of duty, 99 00:05:41,100 --> 00:05:45,300 he joined the military police at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. 100 00:05:45,300 --> 00:05:47,900 According to his family, Chad loved army life 101 00:05:47,900 --> 00:05:50,660 and planned a reenlist. 102 00:05:50,660 --> 00:05:55,020 However, early in 1992, Chad's attitude suddenly changed. 103 00:05:58,180 --> 00:05:59,660 In January, he called me and told me 104 00:05:59,660 --> 00:06:03,660 that he'd been asked to do some undercover work. 105 00:06:03,660 --> 00:06:06,420 He called me three or four different times. 106 00:06:06,420 --> 00:06:08,740 And each time, he gave me a little bit 107 00:06:08,740 --> 00:06:12,540 about his still working undercover 108 00:06:12,540 --> 00:06:18,220 and sounded quite frustrated if you had said sometimes. 109 00:06:18,220 --> 00:06:20,580 Hi, Dad. How are you doing? 110 00:06:20,580 --> 00:06:22,420 Yeah, OK, I guess. 111 00:06:22,420 --> 00:06:24,340 Listen, remember what I told you a few weeks ago 112 00:06:24,340 --> 00:06:26,700 about my new assignment? 113 00:06:26,700 --> 00:06:29,820 Well, it's getting pretty intense. 114 00:06:29,820 --> 00:06:32,540 I had asked him just exactly what he was working on. 115 00:06:32,540 --> 00:06:35,820 He said, with guns and drugs. 116 00:06:35,820 --> 00:06:38,820 Numerous times, he told me, probably two or three times, 117 00:06:38,820 --> 00:06:44,380 he told me that if he was found out that he was a dead man. 118 00:06:44,380 --> 00:06:45,380 Let me get in the threats. 119 00:06:45,380 --> 00:06:48,420 You know, phone calls and letters. 120 00:06:48,420 --> 00:06:49,660 No, I don't know who's sending them. 121 00:06:49,660 --> 00:06:51,820 I don't recognize his voice. 122 00:06:51,820 --> 00:06:54,780 I mean, it might be nothing, but I'm starting to get worried. 123 00:06:54,780 --> 00:06:56,140 I don't know what to do. 124 00:06:56,140 --> 00:06:57,220 That time I told him. 125 00:06:57,220 --> 00:06:58,220 I can't. 126 00:06:58,220 --> 00:06:59,020 I can't. 127 00:06:59,020 --> 00:07:01,060 I told him, Chad, you've got to get out of this. 128 00:07:01,100 --> 00:07:04,700 And that he came back with, I can't get out of it. 129 00:07:04,700 --> 00:07:05,700 I can't get out of it, Dad. 130 00:07:05,700 --> 00:07:07,180 And I said, well, you've got to get out of it. 131 00:07:07,180 --> 00:07:08,080 Yeah. 132 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:10,220 Listen, I've got a couple to do here right now. 133 00:07:10,220 --> 00:07:11,820 OK. 134 00:07:11,820 --> 00:07:13,620 I will. 135 00:07:13,620 --> 00:07:15,940 Get my love to Grandma. 136 00:07:15,940 --> 00:07:18,700 Bye. 137 00:07:18,700 --> 00:07:20,660 When Jim Langford urged his son to talk 138 00:07:20,660 --> 00:07:23,460 to his undercover superior, Chad said he would not 139 00:07:23,460 --> 00:07:26,060 be able to for another 14 days. 140 00:07:26,060 --> 00:07:29,220 But in 14 days, Chad Langford was found bleeding 141 00:07:29,220 --> 00:07:31,180 from a fatal bullet wound to the head. 142 00:07:33,700 --> 00:07:37,180 The Army's Criminal Investigation Division, or CID, 143 00:07:37,180 --> 00:07:41,660 reviewed Chad Langford's death for four months. 144 00:07:41,660 --> 00:07:43,620 Their reports stated that Langford had not 145 00:07:43,620 --> 00:07:46,700 been involved in any undercover narcotics work. 146 00:07:46,700 --> 00:07:50,420 The CID finding echoed the Army's preliminary judgment. 147 00:07:50,420 --> 00:07:54,100 Chad Langford had taken his own life. 148 00:07:54,100 --> 00:07:58,180 The report included what the CID called a psychological autopsy, 149 00:07:58,220 --> 00:08:01,340 a post-mortem evaluation of mental health. 150 00:08:01,340 --> 00:08:04,180 It described Langford as having serious, lifelong, 151 00:08:04,180 --> 00:08:07,060 emotional problems. 152 00:08:07,060 --> 00:08:10,100 The report that they sent me, the psychological autopsy, 153 00:08:10,100 --> 00:08:11,100 they sent me, no. 154 00:08:11,100 --> 00:08:12,500 And that's so far out of whack. 155 00:08:12,500 --> 00:08:13,300 It's unbelievable. 156 00:08:13,300 --> 00:08:13,700 I'm sorry. 157 00:08:13,700 --> 00:08:15,300 I just can't believe that, any of that. 158 00:08:15,300 --> 00:08:17,620 I mean, I raised the boy for 20 years. 159 00:08:17,620 --> 00:08:19,540 I know him better than that. 160 00:08:19,540 --> 00:08:23,820 And the military has psychologists out to talk to you 161 00:08:23,820 --> 00:08:26,140 for a call you over the phone and talk to you for 10 minutes. 162 00:08:26,140 --> 00:08:28,540 And then they have the complete live story of everybody. 163 00:08:28,540 --> 00:08:33,500 And they're so far off the base, it's unbelievable. 164 00:08:33,500 --> 00:08:35,980 The report claimed that a deterioration in Chad's 165 00:08:35,980 --> 00:08:38,340 relationship with his girlfriend had triggered 166 00:08:38,340 --> 00:08:42,020 his final suicidal depression. 167 00:08:42,020 --> 00:08:45,260 The CID report said that Chad committed suicide 168 00:08:45,260 --> 00:08:49,420 for the distraught over my breaking up with him. 169 00:08:49,420 --> 00:08:52,420 But that wasn't true. 170 00:08:52,420 --> 00:08:53,500 I didn't break up with Chad. 171 00:08:53,500 --> 00:08:54,620 Chad broke up with me. 172 00:08:55,340 --> 00:08:57,060 I don't know what I should major on. 173 00:08:57,060 --> 00:09:00,940 In January of 1992, six weeks before his death, 174 00:09:00,940 --> 00:09:03,900 Chad had abruptly broken up with Roxanne. 175 00:09:03,900 --> 00:09:05,340 I mean, I've got to make up my mind soon, 176 00:09:05,340 --> 00:09:06,700 because after we get married. 177 00:09:06,700 --> 00:09:10,740 Roxanne, you need to talk. 178 00:09:10,740 --> 00:09:13,900 What? 179 00:09:13,900 --> 00:09:20,420 Listen, you're going to have to put off getting married. 180 00:09:20,420 --> 00:09:21,500 I don't understand. 181 00:09:21,500 --> 00:09:22,900 I mean, why? 182 00:09:25,180 --> 00:09:28,020 It's my work. 183 00:09:28,020 --> 00:09:30,380 This new assignment has taken a lot of my time, 184 00:09:30,380 --> 00:09:33,340 and it just wouldn't be fair to you. 185 00:09:33,340 --> 00:09:35,700 I mean, you deserve to have a lot of my attention. 186 00:09:35,700 --> 00:09:37,660 You still love me, don't you? 187 00:09:37,660 --> 00:09:39,340 I'm involved in things you don't even understand. 188 00:09:39,340 --> 00:09:41,100 I can't even talk about them. 189 00:09:41,100 --> 00:09:42,460 But why? 190 00:09:42,460 --> 00:09:43,980 I mean, why do we have to break up? 191 00:09:43,980 --> 00:09:44,780 Is there another person? 192 00:09:44,780 --> 00:09:45,900 Is that it? That's it, isn't it? 193 00:09:45,900 --> 00:09:46,780 Why do I have to break up? 194 00:09:46,780 --> 00:09:47,500 Why? 195 00:09:47,500 --> 00:09:48,580 Why do we have to break up? 196 00:09:48,580 --> 00:09:49,900 Can't you understand English? 197 00:09:49,900 --> 00:09:52,300 Shh. 198 00:09:52,300 --> 00:09:54,700 Just get out! 199 00:09:54,700 --> 00:09:55,600 I left. 200 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:56,780 I don't want to be with you anymore. 201 00:09:56,780 --> 00:09:57,940 In a rage, Corrine. 202 00:10:03,580 --> 00:10:06,380 I had a feeling that someone was telling him 203 00:10:06,380 --> 00:10:08,780 to break it off with me. 204 00:10:08,780 --> 00:10:11,060 And I think Chad did it to protect me or something. 205 00:10:16,340 --> 00:10:18,460 Roxanne so chad for the last time, 206 00:10:18,460 --> 00:10:22,060 five days before his death at the base nightclub, 207 00:10:22,060 --> 00:10:24,420 he seemed to have changed dramatically. 208 00:10:24,420 --> 00:10:27,740 Chad was dressed all in black, gang style clothing. 209 00:10:27,740 --> 00:10:30,060 He now sported nearing and was hanging out 210 00:10:30,060 --> 00:10:35,060 with several rough looking men Roxanne had not seen before. 211 00:10:35,060 --> 00:10:38,580 Limeford's lifestyle changes tie in with another shocking CID 212 00:10:38,580 --> 00:10:42,100 allegation that he had been the mastermind of an aborted robbery 213 00:10:42,100 --> 00:10:44,900 plan targeting base PX funds. 214 00:10:44,900 --> 00:10:46,940 The CID report included interviews 215 00:10:46,940 --> 00:10:50,260 with three soldiers who identified Chad as the ringleader. 216 00:10:50,260 --> 00:10:51,580 One of you guys will have to shoot me. 217 00:10:51,580 --> 00:10:52,580 Shoot you? 218 00:10:52,580 --> 00:10:53,480 Yeah. 219 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:54,700 But I'll be wearing a bulletproof vest. 220 00:10:54,700 --> 00:10:57,260 That way it'll look like I put up a fight. 221 00:10:57,260 --> 00:10:58,780 I'll probably have to fire off a couple of rounds 222 00:10:58,780 --> 00:11:00,220 so I don't look like a punk. 223 00:11:00,220 --> 00:11:01,120 All right. 224 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:02,820 Now what about the other escort? 225 00:11:02,820 --> 00:11:04,980 Won't he be able to identify us? 226 00:11:04,980 --> 00:11:07,380 Well, I guess we'll just have to kill him 227 00:11:07,380 --> 00:11:08,420 unless we want witnesses. 228 00:11:10,860 --> 00:11:12,700 It seems very strange to me that somebody 229 00:11:12,700 --> 00:11:16,620 would come forward to the criminal investigation 230 00:11:16,620 --> 00:11:19,620 division after someone was killed and said, yeah, 231 00:11:19,620 --> 00:11:20,620 we're planning on rob. 232 00:11:20,620 --> 00:11:25,380 We were planning on robbing a PX fan for X amount of $1,000. 233 00:11:25,380 --> 00:11:27,940 I just can't imagine anybody coming forward 234 00:11:27,940 --> 00:11:30,460 with that kind of information. 235 00:11:30,460 --> 00:11:34,220 It's really tough that he's not here now to be able to tell us 236 00:11:34,220 --> 00:11:35,180 what really happened. 237 00:11:35,180 --> 00:11:38,700 Now the plan is you'll be one of the escorts. 238 00:11:38,700 --> 00:11:40,420 You'll wear a bulletproof vest. 239 00:11:40,420 --> 00:11:43,300 Chad's father believes there is a legitimate explanation 240 00:11:43,300 --> 00:11:45,460 for any contact his son may have had 241 00:11:45,460 --> 00:11:48,660 with criminal elements on the base. 242 00:11:48,660 --> 00:11:50,940 Maybe they were trying to recruit him. 243 00:11:50,940 --> 00:11:54,620 Maybe this was right in his, what he was doing with the informant 244 00:11:54,620 --> 00:11:57,380 or other undercover work. 245 00:11:57,380 --> 00:12:00,180 Hours before his death, Chad left phone messages 246 00:12:00,180 --> 00:12:03,260 for several friends, but not for his family. 247 00:12:03,260 --> 00:12:06,780 The CID interpreted Chad's calls as goodbye messages 248 00:12:06,780 --> 00:12:10,020 to those he cared for most. 249 00:12:10,020 --> 00:12:11,820 When I got off work, my mother told me 250 00:12:11,820 --> 00:12:14,580 that there was a message on the machine from Chad 251 00:12:14,580 --> 00:12:16,580 that had been erased, but she heard it. 252 00:12:16,580 --> 00:12:16,980 Hi, it's me. 253 00:12:16,980 --> 00:12:22,660 It was him calling to say hi, and how was I doing? 254 00:12:22,660 --> 00:12:24,780 Was I taking care of myself? 255 00:12:24,780 --> 00:12:27,740 And that he would see me soon. 256 00:12:27,740 --> 00:12:30,380 Sorry I missed you. 257 00:12:30,380 --> 00:12:31,900 Give me a call. 258 00:12:31,900 --> 00:12:33,460 Bye. 259 00:12:33,460 --> 00:12:37,420 Didn't seem like a goodbye to me. 260 00:12:37,420 --> 00:12:40,860 Chad would have called me. 261 00:12:40,860 --> 00:12:42,500 I know he would have. 262 00:12:42,500 --> 00:12:46,100 He would have called me if something was to the point 263 00:12:46,100 --> 00:12:48,620 where he was going to commit suicide. 264 00:12:48,620 --> 00:12:50,700 I know he would have, but he didn't call me, 265 00:12:50,700 --> 00:12:53,420 and he didn't call his grandmother. 266 00:12:53,420 --> 00:12:57,020 So there weren't more goodbye calls as far as I'm concerned. 267 00:12:57,020 --> 00:13:01,540 I mean, I know he would have called me. 268 00:13:01,540 --> 00:13:04,420 The psychological autopsy claimed that Chad Langford had 269 00:13:04,420 --> 00:13:06,900 a profound lack of self-esteem and was 270 00:13:06,900 --> 00:13:09,060 desperate to create a new image even 271 00:13:09,060 --> 00:13:10,580 at the cost of his own life. 272 00:13:13,660 --> 00:13:16,820 According to the report, Chad felt that the glory eluding 273 00:13:16,820 --> 00:13:19,620 him in life would finally be his if he appeared 274 00:13:19,620 --> 00:13:21,820 to have died in a heroic last stand. 275 00:13:25,260 --> 00:13:28,060 Like a lot of the autopsy, Morales 276 00:13:28,060 --> 00:13:33,700 told us that he was doing this to make us feel good about him, 277 00:13:33,700 --> 00:13:39,460 because we wanted him to shine, and he was doing this 278 00:13:39,460 --> 00:13:44,860 to please us, and that he wanted to go out in glory. 279 00:13:44,860 --> 00:13:48,100 So this is why he set this whole thing up. 280 00:13:48,100 --> 00:13:50,780 This is why he drove out there and handcuffed himself. 281 00:13:50,780 --> 00:13:53,740 He didn't want it just to go out enough and go around the car 282 00:13:53,740 --> 00:13:55,180 and do with yourself. 283 00:13:55,180 --> 00:14:00,740 He just wanted to make it special. 284 00:14:00,740 --> 00:14:03,460 The official inquiry concluded that every aspect 285 00:14:03,460 --> 00:14:07,100 of Chad's death was methodically staged by Chad himself 286 00:14:07,100 --> 00:14:09,380 from his accounts of undercover assignments 287 00:14:09,380 --> 00:14:11,700 to the peculiar circumstances of his shooting. 288 00:14:25,340 --> 00:14:27,140 Right stone, this is Papa 2-1. 289 00:14:27,140 --> 00:14:29,500 Have a stranded vehicle. 290 00:14:29,500 --> 00:14:31,660 I'm on Pat and Sal. 291 00:14:31,660 --> 00:14:34,260 2-1, what's your location? 292 00:14:34,260 --> 00:14:36,140 I'm on Pat and Sal. 293 00:14:36,140 --> 00:14:37,220 Roger, city 28. 294 00:14:41,020 --> 00:14:44,500 2-1, say again. 295 00:14:44,500 --> 00:14:46,140 1, this is Redstone, say again. 296 00:14:49,260 --> 00:14:51,740 All available units, proceed to South Paton Road. 297 00:14:51,740 --> 00:14:54,100 It's OK, Papa 2-1. 298 00:14:54,100 --> 00:14:55,380 All gates locked down. 299 00:14:55,380 --> 00:14:57,860 Secure the boat. 300 00:14:58,380 --> 00:15:04,660 To start with, it was very bizarre, even from the night 301 00:15:04,660 --> 00:15:08,340 that it happened, because the Huntsville Police Department 302 00:15:08,340 --> 00:15:10,980 and other law enforcement agencies never heard a word 303 00:15:10,980 --> 00:15:12,580 from the Army about any of it. 304 00:15:12,580 --> 00:15:15,860 And generally, when there's a police officer that's shot, 305 00:15:15,860 --> 00:15:18,100 I mean, there'll be a manhunt everywhere. 306 00:15:18,100 --> 00:15:20,140 And everybody was really baffled because they weren't getting 307 00:15:20,140 --> 00:15:22,140 any information about it. 308 00:15:22,140 --> 00:15:25,220 You take into consideration that he was tied with his own equipment 309 00:15:25,220 --> 00:15:27,620 that it happened in a very remote area that, 310 00:15:27,620 --> 00:15:31,380 with easy access to the civilian recreation area, 311 00:15:31,380 --> 00:15:34,140 anybody could have gotten in and out there very, very easily. 312 00:15:34,140 --> 00:15:37,540 And then even before the Army ruled that it was suicide, 313 00:15:37,540 --> 00:15:39,780 there was just wild speculation as to what could have happened 314 00:15:39,780 --> 00:15:40,580 to him. 315 00:15:40,580 --> 00:15:43,660 People were saying espionage, drug deals, all kinds of things. 316 00:15:43,660 --> 00:15:47,500 Then it perpetuated itself as it went with the CID reports. 317 00:15:50,860 --> 00:15:54,020 According to Langford's family, even some of the evidence 318 00:15:54,020 --> 00:15:56,060 gathered from the death scene conflicts 319 00:15:56,060 --> 00:15:58,220 with the suicide findings. 320 00:15:58,220 --> 00:16:01,500 Investigators recovered 245 caliber casings, 321 00:16:01,500 --> 00:16:05,340 but they found no bullets of any kind in or near the body. 322 00:16:05,340 --> 00:16:08,220 Without bullets, authorities were unable to determine 323 00:16:08,220 --> 00:16:12,140 what type of gun killed Langford. 324 00:16:12,140 --> 00:16:15,100 In addition, lab tests did not conclusively 325 00:16:15,100 --> 00:16:17,620 prove Langford had even fired a weapon. 326 00:16:17,620 --> 00:16:19,140 And there was never an explanation 327 00:16:19,140 --> 00:16:22,060 of how he came to be lying on top of his own gun. 328 00:16:24,980 --> 00:16:26,700 They also said there wasn't a struggle, 329 00:16:26,700 --> 00:16:27,700 but there was a struggle. 330 00:16:27,700 --> 00:16:29,940 I mean, there's no doubt about it. 331 00:16:29,940 --> 00:16:34,180 They found two buttons in the front seat of the car. 332 00:16:34,180 --> 00:16:37,340 And those two buttons were supposedly 333 00:16:37,340 --> 00:16:40,340 pulled off his uniform when the medics got there. 334 00:16:40,340 --> 00:16:41,900 This was Eric's explanation to me 335 00:16:41,900 --> 00:16:44,180 that when they ripped open his shirt, 336 00:16:44,180 --> 00:16:46,980 both buttons flew in the front seat of the car. 337 00:16:46,980 --> 00:16:49,580 And that's completely impossible, 338 00:16:49,580 --> 00:16:53,660 because I've reset that up and there's no way. 339 00:16:53,700 --> 00:16:58,100 From where he was laying and beside his buttons were on, 340 00:16:58,100 --> 00:16:59,660 his buttons would have went the other way. 341 00:16:59,660 --> 00:17:01,340 They wouldn't have went into the car. 342 00:17:04,580 --> 00:17:07,380 Jim Langford also believes that MPs responding 343 00:17:07,380 --> 00:17:10,380 to his son's distress call squandered opportunities 344 00:17:10,380 --> 00:17:13,820 to question possible suspects. 345 00:17:13,820 --> 00:17:16,140 Within a mile of where Chad was found, 346 00:17:16,140 --> 00:17:18,980 MP stopped two different cars. 347 00:17:18,980 --> 00:17:21,860 However, contrary to military regulations, 348 00:17:21,860 --> 00:17:24,260 no record was made of the driver's names 349 00:17:24,260 --> 00:17:27,780 or of either car's make, model, or license number. 350 00:17:27,780 --> 00:17:30,500 The drivers were never questioned about Langford's death. 351 00:17:32,980 --> 00:17:37,740 Just letting him go, I mean, it's absolutely crazy. 352 00:17:37,740 --> 00:17:40,980 You're talking about a murder here. 353 00:17:40,980 --> 00:17:42,820 And it appears to me that anybody 354 00:17:42,820 --> 00:17:46,140 within three or four mile radius of that place 355 00:17:46,140 --> 00:17:49,340 should have been stopped and held for some time. 356 00:17:49,340 --> 00:17:50,340 They didn't do that. 357 00:17:50,340 --> 00:17:51,060 Let the man go. 358 00:17:53,860 --> 00:17:55,860 A source close to the investigation 359 00:17:55,860 --> 00:17:58,540 has said that one of the drivers was named Robert. 360 00:17:58,540 --> 00:18:01,140 The name found scrawled on Langford's hand. 361 00:18:06,860 --> 00:18:10,100 Those who believe Chad Langford was working undercover 362 00:18:10,100 --> 00:18:12,420 are convinced his sudden violent death 363 00:18:12,420 --> 00:18:14,060 was nothing less than murder. 364 00:18:15,060 --> 00:18:19,060 I feel that he went down there on that part of base 365 00:18:19,060 --> 00:18:22,060 because he was supposed to meet somebody down there. 366 00:18:22,060 --> 00:18:26,060 And when I talked to him on the first part of March, 367 00:18:26,060 --> 00:18:28,060 he told me he couldn't talk to his contact 368 00:18:28,060 --> 00:18:29,060 for at least two more weeks. 369 00:18:29,060 --> 00:18:30,060 And that was just about the same time 370 00:18:30,060 --> 00:18:32,060 he was supposed to talk to his contact. 371 00:18:32,060 --> 00:18:34,060 And he drove down at the end of that road down there, 372 00:18:34,060 --> 00:18:38,060 and there was a vehicle there, but he knew who was in that vehicle. 373 00:18:38,060 --> 00:18:43,060 And he phoned in just to get away from his radio. 374 00:18:43,060 --> 00:18:45,060 I'm still in this Papa 2-1. 375 00:18:45,060 --> 00:18:47,060 I'm checking out a stranded vehicle. 376 00:18:47,060 --> 00:18:49,060 I'm on Patton South. 377 00:18:53,060 --> 00:18:56,060 They would have taken more than one person to, uh, 378 00:18:56,060 --> 00:18:58,060 to Handelshad. 379 00:18:58,060 --> 00:19:01,060 He, uh, was very strong, very agile. 380 00:19:01,060 --> 00:19:05,060 Uh, and then again, he knew these people. 381 00:19:05,060 --> 00:19:07,060 I know he knew these people. 382 00:19:14,060 --> 00:19:16,060 Redstone, this is Papa 2-1. 383 00:19:16,060 --> 00:19:18,060 I need backup now. This is Papa 2-1. 384 00:19:24,060 --> 00:19:27,060 I think Chad was involved in, um, 385 00:19:27,060 --> 00:19:29,060 involved when he was telling me he was involved in. 386 00:19:29,060 --> 00:19:32,060 He was an in-between person with some drug dealing. 387 00:19:32,060 --> 00:19:34,060 Um, I think he was put in that position 388 00:19:34,060 --> 00:19:36,060 by somebody on that base, 389 00:19:36,060 --> 00:19:38,060 whether military or civilian. 390 00:19:38,060 --> 00:19:40,060 He put somebody putting there. 391 00:19:40,060 --> 00:19:42,060 And I think he was a middleman, 392 00:19:42,060 --> 00:19:44,060 and I think he was set up. 393 00:19:44,060 --> 00:19:47,060 I really feel he was set up. 394 00:19:47,060 --> 00:19:50,060 And, uh, I'm going to find out. 395 00:19:53,060 --> 00:19:57,060 Chad Langford's final hours remain shrouded in mystery. 396 00:19:57,060 --> 00:19:59,060 Did he invent a tale of undercover intrigue, 397 00:19:59,060 --> 00:20:02,060 and then stage a heroic death? 398 00:20:02,060 --> 00:20:04,060 Or did Chad Langford truly die a hero, 399 00:20:04,060 --> 00:20:07,060 gunned down in the line of duty? 400 00:20:08,060 --> 00:20:11,060 Next, thanks to our viewers, 401 00:20:11,060 --> 00:20:13,060 a convicted killer has been captured 402 00:20:13,060 --> 00:20:16,060 nearly eight years after he escaped from prison. 403 00:20:27,060 --> 00:20:31,060 Just after 8 a.m. on September 1, 1978, 404 00:20:31,060 --> 00:20:33,060 in Catoosa, Oklahoma, 405 00:20:33,060 --> 00:20:35,060 police chief J.B. Hamby 406 00:20:35,060 --> 00:20:37,060 responded to an emergency call 407 00:20:37,060 --> 00:20:39,060 from an auto-license tag agency. 408 00:20:39,060 --> 00:20:40,060 Freeze! 409 00:20:40,060 --> 00:20:41,060 Get out of here! 410 00:20:48,060 --> 00:20:50,060 20 rounds ricocheted through the small store 411 00:20:50,060 --> 00:20:52,060 in a matter of seconds. 412 00:20:52,060 --> 00:20:54,060 One robber was killed, 413 00:20:54,060 --> 00:20:55,060 the other was hit twice, 414 00:20:55,060 --> 00:20:57,060 but somehow managed to escape. 415 00:21:04,060 --> 00:21:06,060 Less than five minutes later, 416 00:21:06,060 --> 00:21:08,060 Chief Hamby died from gunshot wounds. 417 00:21:08,060 --> 00:21:11,060 He was a 24-year veteran of law enforcement 418 00:21:11,060 --> 00:21:14,060 and the only police officer in Catoosa. 419 00:21:17,060 --> 00:21:19,060 On June 15, 1979, 420 00:21:19,060 --> 00:21:23,060 the surviving gunman, 25-year-old David Gordon Smith, 421 00:21:23,060 --> 00:21:27,060 began serving a life sentence for the murder of J.B. Hamby. 422 00:21:27,060 --> 00:21:29,060 Open 43! 423 00:21:30,060 --> 00:21:32,060 Smith became a model prisoner 424 00:21:32,060 --> 00:21:34,060 and eventually achieved trustee status. 425 00:21:34,060 --> 00:21:37,060 Seven years after he murdered Chief Hamby, 426 00:21:37,060 --> 00:21:39,060 David Gordon Smith took advantage of his status 427 00:21:39,060 --> 00:21:41,060 to escape and to disappear. 428 00:21:43,060 --> 00:21:46,060 When we first aired this story last October, 429 00:21:46,060 --> 00:21:48,060 we received more than 75 leads, 430 00:21:48,060 --> 00:21:50,060 but none of them panned out. 431 00:21:50,060 --> 00:21:52,060 However, one thing we have learned on unsolved mysteries 432 00:21:52,060 --> 00:21:55,060 over the years is never to give up. 433 00:21:55,060 --> 00:21:57,060 The story aired again in March, 434 00:21:57,060 --> 00:21:59,060 and this time on a small South Dakota town, 435 00:21:59,060 --> 00:22:01,060 the right viewer was watching. 436 00:22:01,060 --> 00:22:03,060 He called the local authorities, 437 00:22:03,060 --> 00:22:06,060 and they immediately contacted the FBI. 438 00:22:06,060 --> 00:22:10,060 One day following the airing of the David Gordon Smith case 439 00:22:10,060 --> 00:22:12,060 on unsolved mysteries, 440 00:22:12,060 --> 00:22:14,060 an anonymous tip was received, 441 00:22:14,060 --> 00:22:17,060 giving us his location. 442 00:22:17,060 --> 00:22:21,060 He was working as a service manager 443 00:22:21,060 --> 00:22:25,060 in an automobile dealership in Spearfish, South Dakota. 444 00:22:25,060 --> 00:22:30,060 Agents of the FBI, local authorities in South Dakota 445 00:22:30,060 --> 00:22:32,060 went to his place of employment. 446 00:22:32,060 --> 00:22:34,060 He was arrested without incident, 447 00:22:34,060 --> 00:22:38,060 and he readily admitted his identity and questioned him. 448 00:22:40,060 --> 00:22:43,060 When David Gordon Smith is brought back to Oklahoma, 449 00:22:43,060 --> 00:22:47,060 he'll go immediately into our system. 450 00:22:47,060 --> 00:22:51,060 He'll be classified as a maximum security inmate, 451 00:22:51,060 --> 00:22:55,060 and because of his escape, 452 00:22:55,060 --> 00:22:58,060 he will be in our maximum security prison 453 00:22:58,060 --> 00:23:01,060 for a long time. 454 00:23:02,060 --> 00:23:05,060 There's a tremendous amount of relief. 455 00:23:05,060 --> 00:23:12,060 It was equivalent to a long-term, gigantic debt being paid off. 456 00:23:29,060 --> 00:23:33,060 You! 457 00:23:33,060 --> 00:23:35,060 Back in your back! 458 00:23:35,060 --> 00:23:37,060 Over the side! 459 00:23:37,060 --> 00:23:40,060 On December 14, 1983, 460 00:23:40,060 --> 00:23:43,060 a masked gunman held up a fast food restaurant 461 00:23:43,060 --> 00:23:45,060 in Toledo, Ohio. 462 00:23:45,060 --> 00:23:47,060 As he rushed to escape, 463 00:23:47,060 --> 00:23:49,060 he shot a police officer at close range, 464 00:23:49,060 --> 00:23:52,060 seriously wounded. 465 00:23:52,060 --> 00:23:55,060 The next day, Morgan Anthony Miller, 466 00:23:55,060 --> 00:23:57,060 a 27-year-old musician, was arrested 467 00:23:57,060 --> 00:24:02,060 after being identified by two eyewitnesses. 468 00:24:02,060 --> 00:24:04,060 Miller never denied that he and two friends 469 00:24:04,060 --> 00:24:07,060 had been in the restaurant that night. 470 00:24:07,060 --> 00:24:09,060 However, he always insisted that the robbers struck 471 00:24:09,060 --> 00:24:13,060 sometime after they left. 472 00:24:13,060 --> 00:24:16,060 Everything that they said that I had done 473 00:24:16,060 --> 00:24:18,060 was totally ridiculous. 474 00:24:18,060 --> 00:24:21,060 There's no way a real criminal 475 00:24:21,060 --> 00:24:24,060 would drive his own car up to a restaurant 476 00:24:24,060 --> 00:24:28,060 and talk to a waitress who works there. 477 00:24:28,060 --> 00:24:32,060 And 30 seconds later, rob the place 478 00:24:32,060 --> 00:24:34,060 and not expect to get caught. 479 00:24:34,060 --> 00:24:37,060 I'm not crazy. 480 00:24:37,060 --> 00:24:40,060 A month later, the case took a surprising twist 481 00:24:40,060 --> 00:24:43,060 when police arrested 35-year-old Joseph Clark 482 00:24:43,060 --> 00:24:46,060 in an unrelated case. 483 00:24:46,060 --> 00:24:48,060 During questioning, Clark admitted 484 00:24:48,060 --> 00:24:50,060 that he had robbed the restaurant 485 00:24:50,060 --> 00:24:52,060 and shot the police officer. 486 00:24:53,060 --> 00:24:55,060 But when detectives pressed him for details, 487 00:24:55,060 --> 00:24:58,060 Clark recanted. 488 00:24:58,060 --> 00:25:01,060 Five months later, Tony Miller was convicted 489 00:25:01,060 --> 00:25:03,060 of armed robbery and assault. 490 00:25:03,060 --> 00:25:08,060 He was given a sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison. 491 00:25:08,060 --> 00:25:10,060 I absolutely did not commit to robbery 492 00:25:10,060 --> 00:25:12,060 or the shooting of the police officer. 493 00:25:12,060 --> 00:25:16,060 And I would never do anything like that. 494 00:25:16,060 --> 00:25:18,060 I'm a musician and artist. 495 00:25:18,060 --> 00:25:21,060 I'm not a criminal. 496 00:25:23,060 --> 00:25:25,060 Update. 497 00:25:25,060 --> 00:25:27,060 Tony Miller is now a free man. 498 00:25:27,060 --> 00:25:29,060 On the night of our broadcast, 499 00:25:29,060 --> 00:25:31,060 one of the prosecution witnesses from Tony's trial 500 00:25:31,060 --> 00:25:35,060 called our telecenter and corroborated Tony's story. 501 00:25:35,060 --> 00:25:38,060 The man had seen the robber flee the area, 502 00:25:38,060 --> 00:25:41,060 but had never been asked to identify Miller. 503 00:25:41,060 --> 00:25:44,060 After viewing our story, the witness said, quote, 504 00:25:44,060 --> 00:25:47,060 it was the first time I had seen photographs 505 00:25:47,060 --> 00:25:49,060 of Tony Miller and the other man. 506 00:25:49,060 --> 00:25:52,060 Based on those photographs in my recollection that evening, 507 00:25:52,060 --> 00:25:56,060 the man who ran past me was not Tony Miller. 508 00:25:56,060 --> 00:26:01,060 On December 2, 1992, Tony Miller's conviction was reversed. 509 00:26:01,060 --> 00:26:03,060 A week later, he was released from prison 510 00:26:03,060 --> 00:26:06,060 after eight and a half long years. 511 00:26:06,060 --> 00:26:08,060 For a while, you'd think that, you know, 512 00:26:08,060 --> 00:26:10,060 this is just like a dream. 513 00:26:10,060 --> 00:26:13,060 It's just hard to describe. 514 00:26:13,060 --> 00:26:15,060 It feels so good. 515 00:26:15,060 --> 00:26:17,060 I just wanted to scream, but I'm scared 516 00:26:17,060 --> 00:26:21,060 that he'd lock me back up, so I didn't scream. 517 00:26:21,060 --> 00:26:24,060 I was really happy. 518 00:26:24,060 --> 00:26:28,060 Tony is one of the most enjoyable people I've ever met, 519 00:26:28,060 --> 00:26:31,060 and having him out of prison has just increased 520 00:26:31,060 --> 00:26:33,060 his natural joy and happiness. 521 00:26:33,060 --> 00:26:36,060 He's a very special person. 522 00:26:41,060 --> 00:26:43,060 When you know you're innocent, you know, 523 00:26:43,060 --> 00:26:45,060 there's no doubt about it in your mind 524 00:26:45,060 --> 00:26:47,060 that you haven't done a crime. 525 00:26:47,060 --> 00:26:49,060 And you know what? You can't give up, 526 00:26:49,060 --> 00:26:52,060 especially when you have support of your family. 527 00:26:52,060 --> 00:26:54,060 You know, a lot of my family members, Granny, 528 00:26:54,060 --> 00:26:57,060 I love her daily, to know that they're fighting as hard 529 00:26:57,060 --> 00:27:02,060 as they possibly can, to simply get to the truth. 530 00:27:02,060 --> 00:27:06,060 Because the truth will surface, regardless of how long it takes. 531 00:27:06,060 --> 00:27:09,060 It comes to the top every time. 532 00:27:15,060 --> 00:27:18,060 In a city as large as Philadelphia, 533 00:27:18,060 --> 00:27:21,060 police operators receive literally thousands of reports 534 00:27:21,060 --> 00:27:24,060 every day regarding possible criminal activity. 535 00:27:24,060 --> 00:27:28,060 Most of the calls are routine, but some are so unbelievable 536 00:27:28,060 --> 00:27:31,060 that even the most world-werey detected 537 00:27:31,060 --> 00:27:33,060 can be taken by surprise. 538 00:27:33,060 --> 00:27:35,060 On September 10, 1991, 539 00:27:35,060 --> 00:27:38,060 the police were arrested for the crime of murder 540 00:27:38,060 --> 00:27:41,060 and the police were arrested for the crime of murder. 541 00:27:42,060 --> 00:27:45,060 On September 10, 1991, 542 00:27:45,060 --> 00:27:48,060 Detective Pat Brennan was stunned to receive not one, 543 00:27:48,060 --> 00:27:51,060 but three telephone calls from a convicted rapist 544 00:27:51,060 --> 00:27:53,060 named Julius Patterson. 545 00:27:53,060 --> 00:27:56,060 Those calls would launch one of the most bizarre 546 00:27:56,060 --> 00:28:00,060 and disturbing murder investigations the city has ever known. 547 00:28:03,060 --> 00:28:07,060 Out of the blue, Patterson confessed to a shocked Brennan 548 00:28:07,060 --> 00:28:09,060 that he and his girlfriend, Paulette Haight, 549 00:28:09,060 --> 00:28:14,060 had killed two people, one in 1986 and the other in 1988. 550 00:28:22,060 --> 00:28:25,060 Incredibly, Patterson admitted that one of the victims 551 00:28:25,060 --> 00:28:27,060 was his own sister, 552 00:28:27,060 --> 00:28:30,060 even revealed where her body could be found. 553 00:28:35,060 --> 00:28:37,060 He was like a man on a mission. 554 00:28:37,060 --> 00:28:40,060 He was like a man, anyone else that would listen to him, 555 00:28:40,060 --> 00:28:42,060 that what he had to say was real 556 00:28:42,060 --> 00:28:45,060 and he was out to make the police act on it. 557 00:28:45,060 --> 00:28:48,060 With this urgency in his voice and the detail 558 00:28:48,060 --> 00:28:50,060 to what he was saying to us, 559 00:28:50,060 --> 00:28:53,060 just made me feel that everything he was saying was the truth 560 00:28:53,060 --> 00:28:55,060 and would be found it. 561 00:28:58,060 --> 00:29:00,060 Detectives were immediately dispatched 562 00:29:00,060 --> 00:29:02,060 to the address Patterson had given. 563 00:29:02,060 --> 00:29:04,060 Hi, ma'am, I'm sorry to bother you. 564 00:29:04,060 --> 00:29:07,060 The current resident had lived there for several months 565 00:29:07,060 --> 00:29:11,060 and had a difficult time believing there might be a body in the basement. 566 00:29:11,060 --> 00:29:13,060 How do you know it was a challenge of truth? 567 00:29:13,060 --> 00:29:15,060 Well, we have to check it out, ma'am. 568 00:29:15,060 --> 00:29:17,060 It's probably just a crying call, hopefully. 569 00:29:17,060 --> 00:29:19,060 You don't want to be here all night. 570 00:29:19,060 --> 00:29:20,060 Are you sure this is the right house? 571 00:29:20,060 --> 00:29:22,060 Yes, it is. 572 00:29:22,060 --> 00:29:26,060 Patterson had told detectives to look for a discolored patch of cement. 573 00:29:26,060 --> 00:29:28,060 What are you going to do if you find anything? 574 00:29:28,060 --> 00:29:30,060 We probably won't. 575 00:29:30,060 --> 00:29:31,060 We'll have to check it out. 576 00:29:31,060 --> 00:29:32,060 Is there a car? 577 00:29:32,060 --> 00:29:35,060 At the foot of the steps, under an old tattered carpet, 578 00:29:35,060 --> 00:29:38,060 they found an area which fit the description. 579 00:29:38,060 --> 00:29:41,060 But it remained to be seen what, if anything, 580 00:29:41,060 --> 00:29:44,060 might be buried beneath the floor. 581 00:29:47,060 --> 00:29:49,060 At almost that same moment, 582 00:29:49,060 --> 00:29:53,060 Detective Brennan received another call from Julius Patterson. 583 00:29:53,060 --> 00:29:56,060 Earlier, he had said that his girlfriend, Paulette Hyde, 584 00:29:56,060 --> 00:29:59,060 could be found at a motel in New Jersey. 585 00:29:59,060 --> 00:30:01,060 He was a couple of them to Jersey. 586 00:30:01,060 --> 00:30:03,060 Now, I need you to come in and give us a statement. 587 00:30:03,060 --> 00:30:07,060 Now, he was demanding to know if she had been arrested. 588 00:30:07,060 --> 00:30:09,060 I don't know if they haven't called us back yet, but we need you to come in. 589 00:30:09,060 --> 00:30:12,060 Once I confirmed for him that detectives were at the crime scene 590 00:30:12,060 --> 00:30:15,060 and that there were detectives in the room to South Jersey, 591 00:30:15,060 --> 00:30:17,060 he stated he would call back. 592 00:30:17,060 --> 00:30:21,060 He hung up the phone and he never called back. 593 00:30:21,060 --> 00:30:24,060 Using sledgehammers and shovels, 594 00:30:24,060 --> 00:30:27,060 the anxious investigators began to excavate. 595 00:30:28,060 --> 00:30:31,060 Soon, their worst fears were confirmed. 596 00:30:36,060 --> 00:30:39,060 Julius Patterson had been telling the truth. 597 00:30:41,060 --> 00:30:45,060 Julius Patterson has to be the worst type of person possible. 598 00:30:45,060 --> 00:30:50,060 For somebody to want to kill your sister, it's just mind-boggling. 599 00:30:50,060 --> 00:30:54,060 Like I said, I've never seen that in my entire police career. 600 00:30:54,060 --> 00:30:56,060 Something that tragic, especially. 601 00:30:58,060 --> 00:31:02,060 Police soon learned that from 1984 to 1986, 602 00:31:02,060 --> 00:31:06,060 Julius Patterson, Paulette Height, and Julius' sister Jesse 603 00:31:06,060 --> 00:31:08,060 had lived together in the house. 604 00:31:11,060 --> 00:31:14,060 Other members of the Patterson family confirmed 605 00:31:14,060 --> 00:31:18,060 that Jesse had mysteriously vanished in July of 1986. 606 00:31:24,060 --> 00:31:27,060 Testing later confirmed that the bones were the remains 607 00:31:27,060 --> 00:31:30,060 of Julius Patterson's 26-year-old sister Jesse. 608 00:31:30,060 --> 00:31:34,060 She had been born blind, deaf, and mute. 609 00:31:34,060 --> 00:31:36,060 It is almost too horrible to imagine 610 00:31:36,060 --> 00:31:39,060 that her brother who'd been entrusted with her care had murdered her, 611 00:31:39,060 --> 00:31:42,060 and apparently is part of a devious scheme 612 00:31:42,060 --> 00:31:45,060 to cash in on her social security benefits. 613 00:31:45,060 --> 00:31:48,060 But the investigation was just heating up. 614 00:31:48,060 --> 00:31:51,060 Julius Patterson had confessed to a second murder 615 00:31:51,060 --> 00:31:54,060 and had identified the victim as Gordney. 616 00:31:57,060 --> 00:32:00,060 Police eventually learned that during the 1980s, 617 00:32:00,060 --> 00:32:04,060 a man named Hall Luther Gordon, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, 618 00:32:04,060 --> 00:32:08,060 had also been under the care of Julius Patterson and Paulette Height. 619 00:32:10,060 --> 00:32:12,060 Though unlicensed, Height made her living 620 00:32:12,060 --> 00:32:14,060 by providing home care for the elderly. 621 00:32:14,060 --> 00:32:17,060 She had met Gordon at a local boarding house. 622 00:32:17,060 --> 00:32:20,060 He was last seen in July of 1986. 623 00:32:20,060 --> 00:32:25,060 Around the same time, his two caretakers moved away from the neighborhood. 624 00:32:27,060 --> 00:32:30,060 If you look at both of the individuals, 625 00:32:30,060 --> 00:32:33,060 Hall Luther Gordon and Jesse Patterson, 626 00:32:33,060 --> 00:32:37,060 both of these people, for totally different reasons, 627 00:32:37,060 --> 00:32:40,060 were incapable of taking care of themselves 628 00:32:40,060 --> 00:32:45,060 and were completely at the mercy of the people that were entrusted with their care. 629 00:32:45,060 --> 00:32:48,060 Because someone took advantage of that situation, 630 00:32:48,060 --> 00:32:52,060 and that in itself is not that unusual, unfortunately. 631 00:32:52,060 --> 00:32:55,060 But the fact that they actually went on to kill them, 632 00:32:55,060 --> 00:32:59,060 for no other reason than to increase their own wealth, 633 00:32:59,060 --> 00:33:02,060 yes, that did take a special significance for us. 634 00:33:03,060 --> 00:33:06,060 These pictures of Julius Patterson and Paulette Height 635 00:33:06,060 --> 00:33:12,060 were taken by a bank ATM camera in August and September of 1991. 636 00:33:12,060 --> 00:33:15,060 Authorities believe that over a 10-year period, 637 00:33:15,060 --> 00:33:20,060 the pair may have stolen as much as $150,000 from their victims. 638 00:33:23,060 --> 00:33:27,060 FBI agent Richard Kane and detective Duzak 639 00:33:27,060 --> 00:33:31,060 traced the missing fugitives to a motel in South New Jersey. 640 00:33:31,060 --> 00:33:36,060 They arrived only to discover that Patterson and Height 641 00:33:36,060 --> 00:33:38,060 had moved out the week before. 642 00:33:38,060 --> 00:33:40,060 He was here almost a year. 643 00:33:40,060 --> 00:33:47,060 We were able to track Paulette to another hotel down the road 644 00:33:47,060 --> 00:33:52,060 and found that she had stayed there for a night or two under an assumed name 645 00:33:52,060 --> 00:33:56,060 and had left there hurriedly abandoning possessions. 646 00:33:57,060 --> 00:34:03,060 Julius Patterson and Paulette Height were last seen in Philadelphia in September of 1991. 647 00:34:03,060 --> 00:34:07,060 The couple robbed an old friend of the Patterson family at gunpoint 648 00:34:07,060 --> 00:34:10,060 and then promptly dropped from sight. 649 00:34:12,060 --> 00:34:14,060 Julius Patterson is 38 years old. 650 00:34:14,060 --> 00:34:18,060 He is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds. 651 00:34:18,060 --> 00:34:22,060 He is wanted for questioning regarding the death of his sister Jesse 652 00:34:22,060 --> 00:34:25,060 and the disappearance of Hall Luther Gordon. 653 00:34:25,060 --> 00:34:30,060 He is also wanted for armed robbery, assault and parole violations. 654 00:34:31,060 --> 00:34:34,060 Paulette Height is 44 years old. 655 00:34:34,060 --> 00:34:38,060 She is 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 190 pounds. 656 00:34:38,060 --> 00:34:42,060 She uses the aliases Collette Hoop or Paulette a Price. 657 00:34:42,060 --> 00:34:44,060 She is wanted on charges of armed robbery 658 00:34:44,060 --> 00:34:47,060 and fraudulent receipt of social security payments. 659 00:34:47,060 --> 00:34:53,060 She is also wanted for questioning regarding Jesse Patterson and Hall Luther Gordon. 660 00:34:54,060 --> 00:34:57,060 Following our most recent broadcast of the story, 661 00:34:57,060 --> 00:35:00,060 a former employer Paulette Height called our phone center 662 00:35:00,060 --> 00:35:06,060 to report that Height had been working in a fast food restaurant in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, under an assumed name. 663 00:35:06,060 --> 00:35:11,060 Here's what happened next, according to Philadelphia police lieutenant Joseph Whitty. 664 00:35:12,060 --> 00:35:15,060 It gave us the social security number she used in the FBI track, 665 00:35:15,060 --> 00:35:19,060 that social security number to a Wells Fargo recipient in New York City. 666 00:35:19,060 --> 00:35:25,060 FBI agents in New York City Police Department staked out the location where she was to pick up her checks. 667 00:35:25,060 --> 00:35:29,060 At that time, both Julius Patterson and Paulette Height were apprehended. 668 00:35:30,060 --> 00:35:36,060 After the arrest, Julius Patterson led police to this empty warehouse in North Philadelphia, 669 00:35:36,060 --> 00:35:40,060 where he said he had left the partial remains of Hall Luther Gordon. 670 00:35:41,060 --> 00:35:46,060 Police records confirm that some human bones had been found there in 1989. 671 00:35:46,060 --> 00:35:50,060 The police now believe that they were the remains of Hall Luther Gordon. 672 00:35:51,060 --> 00:35:55,060 Three weeks later, Patterson led police back to the same area, 673 00:35:55,060 --> 00:35:58,060 claiming that he had buried yet another victim there. 674 00:35:58,060 --> 00:36:01,060 During the search, the unexpected happened. 675 00:36:02,060 --> 00:36:07,060 While behind the factory, he saw one of the detectives knocking him down, 676 00:36:07,060 --> 00:36:13,060 and then ran down Jason Railroad tracks and jumped off a railroad truss that was about 10 feet tall, 677 00:36:13,060 --> 00:36:16,060 onto a street and then made his escape. 678 00:36:19,060 --> 00:36:24,060 Three days later, Julius Patterson was captured in an intersection in North Philadelphia. 679 00:36:24,060 --> 00:36:27,060 When he was apprehended, Patterson was standing at a bus stop, 680 00:36:27,060 --> 00:36:30,060 wearing severed handcuffs concealed under a coat. 681 00:36:55,060 --> 00:37:00,060 Sometimes from the most unlikely elements comes a tantalizing mystery, 682 00:37:00,060 --> 00:37:04,060 and confirmation that the truth is stranger than fiction. 683 00:37:04,060 --> 00:37:08,060 The mystery might start, say, with this broken-down footlocker. 684 00:37:08,060 --> 00:37:13,060 Who can guess what the old trunk might contain, or where it might lead? 685 00:37:15,060 --> 00:37:19,060 Perhaps to a small town in Wyoming called Thermopolis. 686 00:37:20,060 --> 00:37:26,060 In 1986, a long-time resident whom we will call Gabby moved away from Thermopolis. 687 00:37:26,060 --> 00:37:31,060 He left some of his belongings, including the old locked trunk and a shed. 688 00:37:31,060 --> 00:37:35,060 He left the shed with a friend, Newell Sessions. 689 00:37:36,060 --> 00:37:38,060 Six years crept by. 690 00:37:43,060 --> 00:37:46,060 Finally, Newell couldn't stand the suspense, 691 00:37:46,060 --> 00:37:48,060 another minute. 692 00:37:48,060 --> 00:37:51,060 Let's just see what's in here. 693 00:37:51,060 --> 00:37:53,060 No telling what we'll find. 694 00:37:53,060 --> 00:37:55,060 I doubt if you'll find much of anything. 695 00:37:55,060 --> 00:37:56,060 Uh-oh. 696 00:37:56,060 --> 00:37:58,060 My goodness, it's a skeleton. 697 00:37:58,060 --> 00:38:00,060 It's human. 698 00:38:00,060 --> 00:38:04,060 What do you think about that? 699 00:38:04,060 --> 00:38:07,060 It's been in there a long time. 700 00:38:07,060 --> 00:38:12,060 Nobody could believe that we had uncovered a human skeleton. 701 00:38:12,060 --> 00:38:16,060 And there wasn't too much said at that time. 702 00:38:16,060 --> 00:38:20,060 I think it was my wife asked me what we was going to do with it. 703 00:38:20,060 --> 00:38:26,060 I said, I think that the best thing we could do with it would be to take it out here and take a hole and give it a proper burial. 704 00:38:26,060 --> 00:38:28,060 Newell's wife put her foot down. 705 00:38:28,060 --> 00:38:30,060 She told him he had to call the sheriff. 706 00:38:30,060 --> 00:38:34,060 Before he did, though, Newell felt obliged to contact Gabby. 707 00:38:34,060 --> 00:38:36,060 I've got Karen and the kid. 708 00:38:36,060 --> 00:38:37,060 Oh, they're just fine. 709 00:38:37,060 --> 00:38:39,060 So what's up? 710 00:38:39,060 --> 00:38:43,060 Well, uh, you remember that shed you left up here? 711 00:38:43,060 --> 00:38:44,060 I sure do. 712 00:38:44,060 --> 00:38:48,060 Uh, you remember the foot locker that was in the shed? 713 00:38:48,060 --> 00:38:50,060 Yes, I was going to put it in the locker. 714 00:38:50,060 --> 00:38:53,060 Gabby told Newell that he'd never even opened the foot locker. 715 00:38:53,060 --> 00:38:55,060 He thought he'd bought it at a garage sale. 716 00:38:55,060 --> 00:39:00,060 But when it came to the time and the place, Gabby's memory failed him. 717 00:39:00,060 --> 00:39:04,060 Well, when I cut the lock off, I found a human skeleton in the trunk. 718 00:39:04,060 --> 00:39:07,060 You were, uh, a little too young. 719 00:39:08,060 --> 00:39:12,060 You were, uh, not serious about this, are you, Newell? 720 00:39:12,060 --> 00:39:18,060 He act probably as surprised as I did when I opened the trunk, 721 00:39:18,060 --> 00:39:19,060 that he couldn't believe it. 722 00:39:19,060 --> 00:39:21,060 He thought I was kidding him. 723 00:39:21,060 --> 00:39:23,060 And I told him, no, I'm not kidding you. 724 00:39:23,060 --> 00:39:25,060 There is a human skeleton in there. 725 00:39:25,060 --> 00:39:27,060 We've got Johnny. 726 00:39:27,060 --> 00:39:32,060 Newell's sessions contacted John Lumley, the sheriff of Hot Springs County. 727 00:39:32,060 --> 00:39:36,060 Right from the start, Sheriff Lumley smelled her out. 728 00:39:37,060 --> 00:39:38,060 Newell doesn't know much. 729 00:39:38,060 --> 00:39:40,060 He said Gabby doesn't know much. 730 00:39:40,060 --> 00:39:44,060 I've talked to a lot of people about this case, and everybody's said 731 00:39:44,060 --> 00:39:50,060 almost 99.99% or more that they would have opened it immediately upon purchase in it. 732 00:39:50,060 --> 00:39:52,060 They said if they went to a yard sale or garage sale, 733 00:39:52,060 --> 00:39:54,060 bought a trunk that's half the excitement. 734 00:39:54,060 --> 00:39:55,060 It's like a Christmas present. 735 00:39:55,060 --> 00:39:57,060 Can't wait to get home to open it. 736 00:39:57,060 --> 00:40:00,060 I don't think my curiosity is any less than the others, 737 00:40:00,060 --> 00:40:03,060 although it apparently has a tendency to antropy. 738 00:40:04,060 --> 00:40:06,060 Because I know I took the thing home. 739 00:40:06,060 --> 00:40:08,060 I didn't have a hacksaw. 740 00:40:08,060 --> 00:40:10,060 I was going to cut the lock on it. 741 00:40:10,060 --> 00:40:13,060 And that's a lot of work. 742 00:40:13,060 --> 00:40:16,060 Two days later, another bombshell. 743 00:40:16,060 --> 00:40:19,060 X-rays revealed a bullet lodged in the skull. 744 00:40:19,060 --> 00:40:23,060 Now Sheriff Lumley thought he might have a murder case on his hands. 745 00:40:23,060 --> 00:40:27,060 He decided he'd better have a chat with Gabby. 746 00:40:27,060 --> 00:40:29,060 Where did you buy the trunk at, Gabby? 747 00:40:29,060 --> 00:40:32,060 Oh, I guess it was 73. 748 00:40:32,060 --> 00:40:35,060 Gabby was awfully vague about the details. 749 00:40:35,060 --> 00:40:40,060 He said he might have bought the trunk in Wyoming, or in Iowa, Illinois, 750 00:40:40,060 --> 00:40:42,060 or maybe Oklahoma. 751 00:40:42,060 --> 00:40:46,060 It might have been as early as 1973, but it might not have been. 752 00:40:46,060 --> 00:40:48,060 Gabby just couldn't be sure. 753 00:40:48,060 --> 00:40:50,060 He's trying to find furniture for the new place. 754 00:40:50,060 --> 00:40:56,060 Well, my being a suspect, I first off, I wasn't the least bit worried about. 755 00:40:56,060 --> 00:40:59,060 Why? What do I have to worry about? 756 00:40:59,060 --> 00:41:02,060 I mean, really, you know, I know I didn't do the guy. 757 00:41:02,060 --> 00:41:06,060 You know, I didn't shoot this dude. 758 00:41:06,060 --> 00:41:12,060 I'm barely, in fact, I'm not even as old as the gun that shot him. 759 00:41:12,060 --> 00:41:15,060 Gabby is in his mid-40s. 760 00:41:15,060 --> 00:41:20,060 The footlocker and the lock were made back in the 30s time period. 761 00:41:20,060 --> 00:41:27,060 I don't believe that Gabby was the person that caused the death to this person. 762 00:41:27,060 --> 00:41:32,060 My thoughts have always been that he has knowledge of who the person the trunk is 763 00:41:32,060 --> 00:41:35,060 or where they came from. 764 00:41:35,060 --> 00:41:37,060 I have to put tools in. 765 00:41:37,060 --> 00:41:43,060 For the record, Gabby says he doesn't know one single thing about the bones in the footlocker. 766 00:41:43,060 --> 00:41:47,060 And at this point, he's a little irked by the whole mess. 767 00:41:49,060 --> 00:41:56,060 On March 31, 1992, Sheriff Lumley turned the skeleton over to the Wyoming State Crime Lab in Cheyenne. 768 00:41:57,060 --> 00:42:01,060 Maybe the bones could tell him what Gabby couldn't. 769 00:42:03,060 --> 00:42:06,060 It sure doesn't look like there's any organization to these bones, are they? 770 00:42:06,060 --> 00:42:07,060 Not really. 771 00:42:07,060 --> 00:42:10,060 OK, well, let's start laying it out. 772 00:42:14,060 --> 00:42:19,060 He was in his 50s to mid-60s. 773 00:42:19,060 --> 00:42:23,060 Probably stood about 5'8", plus or minus an inch and a half. 774 00:42:23,060 --> 00:42:26,060 He was a Caucasian male. 775 00:42:27,060 --> 00:42:43,060 The bullet was then turned over to our firearms examiner who was able to identify it as coming from a 25 caliber weapon that was produced in the early 1900s, 1904, 776 00:42:43,060 --> 00:42:47,060 and then available in the United States about 1908. 777 00:42:50,060 --> 00:42:52,060 Here's a plastic bag. 778 00:42:52,060 --> 00:42:57,060 Also in the trunk was a rotted plastic bag from a supermarket chain called Hi-Vees. 779 00:42:57,060 --> 00:43:03,060 The bag with that particular logo was not manufactured until the early 1950s. 780 00:43:08,060 --> 00:43:16,060 Investigators figured that the skeleton had been buried once, only to be dug up and crammed unceremoniously into the footlocker. 781 00:43:17,060 --> 00:43:25,060 In an effort to identify the victim, Sandra Mays fashioned a three-dimensional reconstruction in clay. 782 00:43:29,060 --> 00:43:31,060 The result is uncanny. 783 00:43:31,060 --> 00:43:33,060 Only the eyes and hair are guesswork. 784 00:43:33,060 --> 00:43:40,060 Otherwise, this should be a good likeness of the man who somehow got a bullet in his head sometime after 1908. 785 00:43:40,060 --> 00:43:44,060 Strangely, both of his lower leg bones and one hand were missing. 786 00:43:44,060 --> 00:43:49,060 On his ribcage, there were several nicks which might have been made by bullets. 787 00:44:08,060 --> 00:44:13,060 For every mystery, there is someone, somewhere who knows the truth. 788 00:44:13,060 --> 00:44:18,060 Join me next week for another edition of Unsolved Mysteries.