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The End

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Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries

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Get your hands on the ground!

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In 1975, a notorious band of radicals known as the SLA

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allegedly gunned down an innocent woman during a bank heist.

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Finally, some 27 years later,

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they're being brought to trial on murder charges.

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Except this man.

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Incredible. Jim Kilgore is still on the loose.

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Mike Tullesti and Laura Law were together 11 years.

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Then, according to Laura, Mike abruptly packed his bags and left.

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But after police questioned her about Mike's whereabouts, Laura also vanished.

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But investigators found on the property would shock everyone.

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A beautiful restored Southern mansion is now a bed and breakfast.

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But many guest report experiences that can only be described as supernatural.

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At least eight ghosts were said to haunt the property.

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Spirits of adults and children who died of foul play.

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Pam, codented son, was viciously murdered by a street gang.

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Despite her tragic loss, Pam refuses to be overwhelmed by grief.

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She is pursuing the killers and fighting to rid her neighborhood of gangs once and for all.

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Perhaps someone watching holds a key that will unlock the secrets of a mystery.

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Perhaps it's you.

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Join me for Unsolved Mysteries.

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Music

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April 21st, 1975.

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On the cool spring morning, three volunteers from a local church in Carmichael, California,

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a suburb of Sacramento, entered the Crocker National Bank.

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The women had come to deposit the collection from weekend services,

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when suddenly they were surrounded.

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Authorities contend the four armed robbers were members of the notorious Symbionnes Liberation Army,

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or SLA, a rag tag group of power-hungry radicals

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who advocated the violent overthrow of the U.S. government.

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Get your hands on the ground! Get your hands down!

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Get down! Nobody gets hurt! Get down, lady!

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The shotgun-toting bank robber was especially menacing.

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Her manner was chilling as her words. Just ten feet away, 42-year-old Myrna Opsol froze.

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Then the unimaginable happened.

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Let her get down!

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She was gunned down in cold blood.

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My mother evidently didn't move fast enough.

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The bank employees pleaded with the robbers to come to assistance,

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and they shouted more obscenities and threatened more injury,

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and wouldn't let anyone come to her assistance.

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The bank robbers appeared to be following a script, every word and movement precise.

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Get off!

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It was very well-coordinated. Everybody had a role,

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and the robbers were very conscious of the time ticking.

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At some point, some of the tellers were grabbed.

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One woman was kicked, so all of them actually had weapons,

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and it was very, very violent.

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And all the time, Myrna Opsol was not dead yet.

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She laid on the ground, and she literally bled to death on the ground.

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All the bank robbers ran out of the bank to a car that was waiting for them.

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The driver of the getaway car was 20-year-old newspaper heiress Patty Hearst.

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She had been kidnapped by the Symbianese Liberation Army some 14 months earlier.

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However, within weeks of her abduction, Hearst assumed the name Tanya

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and declared herself a revolutionary.

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The SLA had a marquee name, but the search for Patty Hearst also unleashed

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the biggest FBI manhunt since John Dillinger.

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The massive effort paid off.

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In September 1975, the SLA's 22-month reign of terror came to an end

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with several arrests, including Patty Hearst.

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However, the story was far from over.

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Eyewitnesses to the Crocker Bank heist and the murder of Myrna Opsol could not positively identify the assailants.

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24 long years had passed before a stunning twist in the case led to murder indictments.

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All of the suspects involved in the murder were found dead.

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All of the suspects involved in the crime have been arrested and are awaiting trial, except one.

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The FBI needs your help to bring him in.

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His name, Jim Kilgore.

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Jim Kilgore's Autism began nearly a year before the shooting at Crocker National Bank.

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In the spring of 1974, at a San Francisco drive-in theater,

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Kilgore's girlfriend, Kathy Solia, introduced him to SLA Kingpin's Bill and Emily Harris.

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That's my boyfriend, Jim Kilgore, and he's a great guy.

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Kilgore agreed to join the group. Smart and tough, he was a prize catch.

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He was born in Portland, Oregon. He was vice president of the senior class.

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He participated in varsity golf. He was on the high school basketball team.

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He was very athletic. He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, graduating in 1969.

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During that time period, he became acquainted with Kathy Solia.

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Solia and Jim Kilgore were welcomed into the group's small inner circle,

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where Kilgore reportedly proved especially adept at creating false IDs.

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With the SLA on everyone's most wanted list, he was kept plenty busy.

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We know that members of this group would steal credit cards and driver's licenses, for example,

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at local gymnasiums and other health clubs.

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We know that they engaged in special missions to steal existing identifications.

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In the fall of 1974, the SLA convened at a safe house in a quiet neighborhood of Sacramento.

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And we come up with a new structure for this group.

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With a small but faithful army gathered around him, Bill Harris allegedly laid out his plan

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to escalate the SLA's violent revolution against the U.S. government.

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But Anarchy came with a price, and robbing banks offered the quick cash needed to further the group's agenda.

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According to police, in late February 1975, SLA members held up the guilt savings and loan in Sacramento.

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Allegedly, the point man in the heist was Jim Kilgore.

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He was a central member of the group.

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He was not peripheral.

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He was actively involved in the violence.

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He embraced it.

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You know, that bank robbery was a violent act.

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He was right there inside the bank.

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Two months later, on April 21st, 1975, Emily Harris, Michael Borton, Kathy Solia and Jim Kilgore

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reportedly executed the daring holdup at Crocker National Bank,

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killing customer Mona Opsall, a mother of four.

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Allegedly, Emily Harris fired the fatal blast.

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They all stormed the bank knowing someone could get hurt.

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What was their backup plan at that point?

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They all chose to let my mother lie on the floor and bleed to death

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and didn't let people come to her assistance.

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The robbers netted more than $15,000.

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According to police, Bill Harris was a mastermind behind the heist.

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The SLA changed modes, essentially, after killing Mona Opsall

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and taking the money that they got from robbing the bank and killing her.

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They now were looking to place bombs in locations that were targeted to kill people.

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They seemed to be more hungry to take other human lives, and that's what they set out to do.

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By the summer of 1975, investigators say the operation has shifted to San Francisco

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where SLA members worked odd jobs painting houses.

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In their spare time, they allegedly planted pipe bombs.

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Then, in late August, Kathy Solia, Bill Harris and Jim Kilgore

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made the 375-mile trek south to Los Angeles,

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reportedly to create more carnage.

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Authorities believe they were hauling an arsenal of deadly explosives in the back of the car.

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Most of them were pipe bombs using either two-inch or three-inch pipe,

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which is big. The pipe bombs used in Los Angeles were three-inch pipe,

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and those are very substantial bombs.

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They filled those pipe bombs with concrete nails and with gunpowder.

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Fun in Los Angeles, Jim Kilgore and the other SLA members

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allegedly planted a pipe bomb beneath an LAPD patrol car.

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But the triggering mechanism malfunctioned,

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and the officer narrowly escaped serious injury or death.

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Authorities say it was not an isolated incident.

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A call then went out to all the other police cars in the county.

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Check under your vehicles, and sure enough,

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an officer with Hallenbeck Division went out and checked underneath all the vehicles

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and found an identical device under one of the cars there.

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Over the next few days, Harris, Soli and Kilgore returned to San Francisco

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to rejoin their comrades.

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But the heat was on.

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FBI agents acting on a tip finally got a break.

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The owner of several apartment buildings recognized some house painters

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he had recently hired as SLA members.

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It kind of looks like one of the guys over in the Pacific, a young man.

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Within hours, Jim Kilgore and the others were under surveillance.

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The next morning, September 18, 1975,

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agents followed one of the suspects to a safe house on Presida Avenue.

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So they started to watch Presida Address,

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and from watching the Presida Address,

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they see Bill Harris and Emily Harris coming out of the house.

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When the Harrises returned from jogging,

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they were confronted by FBI agents carrying guns and handcuffs.

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Put your hands in the air, turn around, pass the door.

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An hour after that, having identified a second safe house in San Francisco,

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agents and members of the San Francisco Police Department

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raided a second location in San Francisco,

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and during that raid, they apprehended Patty Hearst.

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592 days after being abducted at gunpoint,

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Patty Hearst's days on the lam ended.

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The high-profile arrests of Hearst and Bill and Emily Harris

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instantly hit radio and television broadcasts nationwide.

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Meanwhile, the dragnet closed in on Kathy Solia and Jim Kilgore,

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who thought he's now believed were painting a home in nearby Pacifica.

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They raided that house later that afternoon,

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and when they showed up the house,

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all the remnants of the painting, the buckets of paint,

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and the paintbrushes were just left drying in the room.

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A radio was on with an all-new station.

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Kathy Solia and Jim Kilgore had simply vanished.

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On agent search Kilgore's apartment that afternoon,

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they found boxes of bomb-making materials.

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The evidence, FBI lab technicians later determined,

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positively linked Kilgore to the SLA crime spree.

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At that location, they found a fully manufactured bomb

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similar to the bombs that were placed under the police cars

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in Los Angeles and also up in San Francisco.

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When they inspected that bomb, they found his fingerprint.

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It was a very good break for law enforcement

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because it allowed us to charge James Kilgore with a serious offense.

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Still, no charges had been filed in the murder of Myrna Opsall.

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However, some 24 years later, in June 1999,

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Kathy Solia was arrested in an upscale Minnesota suburb,

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where she had been living as a homemaker and community activist

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under the alias Sarah Jane Olson.

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Olson was brought to Los Angeles to stand trial for planting explosives

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under a police car in 1975.

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Her testimony and new advances in forensic science

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led Sacramento District Attorney Jan Scully to re-examine the Opsall murder case.

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The state of the evidence today has convinced me

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now is the time to seek justice for Myrna Opsall.

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I still miss my mother intensely

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and she's missing out on the best years of her life

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and her grandkids and all,

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but this isn't about revenge or paybacks.

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It's just a matter of justice that they chose to do this

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and they need to be held accountable.

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SLA members Bill Harris, Emily Harris, Michael Borton,

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Kathy Solia and Jim Kilgore have all been indicted in the case.

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Under the felony murder rule,

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they're all potentially responsible for the death of Myrna Opsall.

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Patty Hearst, who had been granted immunity in exchange

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for her testimony about the shooting,

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is expected to be the prosecution's star witness.

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No date has been set for the trial.

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Now the only missing suspect is Jim Kilgore.

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He's still on the loose.

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The heat has definitely been set for the trial.

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The heat has definitely been turned up more and more

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throughout the course of the last two and a half years

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for Mr. Kilgore, so I'm sure he's probably looking over his shoulder

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a little bit more every day.

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This is a picture of Jim Kilgore in 1975 at age 27.

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Kilgore is now in his mid-50s.

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Authorities believe he has used as many as 13 different aliases

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and he may have altered his appearance.

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The case is still under investigation.

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Laura Launder, boyfriend of 11 years,

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Mike Talusti, enjoyed entertaining in their Artdale, Wisconsin home.

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Denise Bikioni and her husband were often guests.

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Denise was Mike's cousin and Laura's best friend.

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Laura was just a wonderful person.

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She had wonderful family dinners and she was good to Mike.

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I saw Mike very happy.

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I never saw them argue or fight and there were a lot of fun to be with.

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Where is it? Where is the money?

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I almost broke it.

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However, one night in March 2001, Mike Talusti was ready to argue.

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When he tracked Laura down at a nearby casino

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where she'd gone to gamble with Denise and her mother.

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Denise, you're a freak.

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I gotta go.

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What's wrong?

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Mike showed up.

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He's in the truck. He's so upset.

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He wants me to go.

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Laura, look at me.

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She was just trembling. She was shaking.

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And I said, well, what's wrong?

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And she said, I don't know. He's depressed.

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Something's wrong with him. We gotta go.

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You guys stay and have a good time.

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Were you calling?

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Yeah, tomorrow. I'll call you tomorrow.

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And I said, you know, my something's just not right here

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because he doesn't get mad. He doesn't have a temper.

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He has a temper, but he usually says what he needs to say

241
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,000
and it's over.

242
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:05,000
After that night, Mike Talusti would never be seen again.

243
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,000
According to friends and family,

244
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,000
Mike's behavior in the casino may indeed have been out of character,

245
00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:14,000
but for him to completely avoid contact with them

246
00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:16,000
was incomprehensible.

247
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,000
Strangely, however, one person who claimed

248
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:20,000
and all where Mike went,

249
00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,000
his longtime girlfriend, Laura Law.

250
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,000
Ultimately, she too would disappear.

251
00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,000
Mike, please stop, girl.

252
00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,000
When they returned from the casino,

253
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,000
Laura said Mike packed some clothes

254
00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,000
and $73,000 in cash,

255
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,000
which she said came from the graphics business they owned.

256
00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,000
He then set out on foot from their rural home

257
00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:43,000
in the middle of the night.

258
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:46,000
I said, that's so strange.

259
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,000
He left on foot and she said, yeah.

260
00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:51,000
And I said, Laura, why would he leave all of his vehicles?

261
00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:53,000
I said, this doesn't make any sense.

262
00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:57,000
And she said, well, I think he had a trucker pick him up.

263
00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,000
He's my cousin. He's like the sweetest guy in the world.

264
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,000
Why would he just disappear?

265
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,000
That's what I want to know.

266
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:05,000
I thought she was lying,

267
00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,000
but I thought she was trying to cover her embarrassment.

268
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,000
Maybe he said, I'm leaving you for another woman.

269
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,000
Well, we had that big fight the first night.

270
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:15,000
I thought I need to give her the benefit of the doubt

271
00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:20,000
because we truly loved her as a family member also.

272
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:25,000
I didn't want to actually take sides with either one of them.

273
00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,000
And then two weeks after Mike disappeared,

274
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,000
she called me up and she goes, well, he just called.

275
00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,000
And he's out west.

276
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:35,000
And I said, well, when's he coming home?

277
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:37,000
And she goes, well, I asked him, are you ready to come home yet?

278
00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:40,000
And he said, no.

279
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:44,000
Four months passed and there was still no sign of Mike to Lusty.

280
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:47,000
But because Mike and Laura ran their own business,

281
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,000
few knew Mike was gone.

282
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:55,000
By mid-summer, though, Denise insisted Laura talk to Mike's family.

283
00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:59,000
They are still not been told about his strange disappearance.

284
00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:03,000
I'm going to tell him that he's on an extended fishing trip

285
00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:05,000
and went a peg.

286
00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,000
What?

287
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,000
And I said, this is going on too long.

288
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,000
If this was my son, I'd be furious if somebody didn't tell me

289
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:12,000
that he's been missing.

290
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:13,000
I don't want to worry them.

291
00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:14,000
I don't care.

292
00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:18,000
You've got to tell them, all right?

293
00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:19,000
Oh, all right.

294
00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:22,000
OK, I'll tell them the truth.

295
00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:26,000
To Denise's shock, Laura lied to Mike's mother anyway

296
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,000
and told her that Mike had gone to Canada.

297
00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:32,000
It was so bizarre.

298
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:33,000
That scared me.

299
00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:38,000
It scared me that she would be so underhanded to plat and say,

300
00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:42,000
this is what we're going to say.

301
00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:46,000
With her suspicions now aroused, Denise recalled other instances

302
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,000
of Laura's increasingly bizarre behavior.

303
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:50,000
Hello?

304
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:51,000
Hi, this is Denise.

305
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,000
Oh, hi, Denise.

306
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:57,000
I'm going to come today and get my snowmobiles, OK?

307
00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:01,000
Well, sure, but I don't have the keys.

308
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,000
Denise's snowmobiles were stored in a shed in Mike and Laura's

309
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:08,000
backyard, and Laura seemed determined to prevent anyone

310
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,000
from entering the padlocked shed.

311
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:12,000
I don't know what's going on with you,

312
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,000
but for the past three weeks, every time I called about the snowmobiles,

313
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,000
you have some of the reason why I can't come get them.

314
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:20,000
I said, Laura, if you don't hand the snowmobiles out of that shed,

315
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,000
I'm coming with a locksmith, and I'll replace a locks and pay

316
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,000
for it and give you new keys and new locks.

317
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:28,000
I said, but I need my snowmobiles.

318
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,000
I don't know what you're making such a big deal about this for.

319
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:33,000
Because you put me through the ring trying to get these snowmobiles.

320
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:34,000
I'm telling you something.

321
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,000
If that shed isn't open, I'm going to break it open.

322
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,000
Denise?

323
00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:41,000
Laura had removed the snowmobiles by herself,

324
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:44,000
but she was still preventing anyone else from entering the shed.

325
00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:47,000
The thought now crossed Denise's mind.

326
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,000
Could something could do with Mike's disappearance

327
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:52,000
be hidden in the shed?

328
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:53,000
It was destroyed.

329
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,000
It broke the camel's back.

330
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:59,000
I called Mike's brother and I said, Mark, we have to talk.

331
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,000
I said, something's wrong.

332
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,000
Something's terrible wrong.

333
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:06,000
Four months after Mike Tellusty disappeared,

334
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:11,000
Mark Tellusty filed a missing persons report with the local authorities.

335
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:15,000
Because of the way the stories weren't jiving and things didn't add up

336
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:19,000
and no one's heard from him, I didn't hesitate at all.

337
00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:24,000
And he left everything and that also made me very suspicious

338
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:27,000
that something happened to him.

339
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:31,000
The case was ultimately assigned to investigator Gary Silke.

340
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:32,000
Did you find anything?

341
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:36,000
Laura seemed to be very cooperative the day that we were there.

342
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:40,000
She also invited me to look around on the property if I desired.

343
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,000
What do you normally keep in the shed?

344
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:47,000
Laura threw a roadblock in front of me when I asked to go into that building.

345
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:49,000
Can we take a look?

346
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:53,000
Well, actually, I cleared all of that stuff out a couple months ago

347
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,000
so that I could rent it.

348
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:56,000
Do you have a key?

349
00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,000
Oh, no. The man I rented it to has the key.

350
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:00,000
You don't have a spare?

351
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,000
Oh, no, but I couldn't let you in there anyway.

352
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:04,000
And what's his name?

353
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:08,000
George. George Giuliani.

354
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:11,000
Laura agreed to make arrangements for Mr. Giuliani

355
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,000
to drive up to the Arctale property

356
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:19,000
and then meet law enforcement so we could continue the search inside the shed.

357
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:23,000
Authorities now believe that within hours of being questioned by investigators,

358
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,000
Laura Law hastily fled her home.

359
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:31,000
Her whereabouts are still not known.

360
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,000
It would take several more months of investigation

361
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:38,000
before Gary Silke was granted a search warrant for the property.

362
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:44,000
On January 22, 2002, investigators finally entered the mystery shed.

363
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:47,000
The minute that we stepped inside,

364
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:50,000
I could smell the strong pungent odor of what I believe to be

365
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:54,000
that of a decomposing human body.

366
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,000
In the near empty shed, under several pieces of wood

367
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,000
and covered in a blanket and plastic wrapping,

368
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:04,000
police found the decomposed body of Mike Tullusti.

369
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:08,000
He had been dead between nine and 10 months.

370
00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:12,000
The autopsy showed cause of death.

371
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:17,000
It was attributed to a single gunshot wound to the back of the victim's head.

372
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:21,000
Several years before the incident,

373
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:25,000
Laura Law had purchased a 9mm handgun.

374
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:33,000
We believe that that is the weapon that was used in the homicide of Michael Tullusti.

375
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:39,000
Despite the evidence, those who knew them were stunned to conclude Laura had murdered Mike.

376
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:43,000
I was with her for 11 years and I thought she was a wonderful person.

377
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:44,000
Is it the best?

378
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,000
Did I know her at all?

379
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,000
Is Laura the one that we had so much fun with and did things with?

380
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:50,000
Is it Laura?

381
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,000
Or is this Laura the one that shot him?

382
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,000
Who is Laura?

383
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,000
It's unbelievable.

384
00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,000
What happened?

385
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,000
That's bottom line. What happened?

386
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:07,000
I'm almost sure that she has a gambling problem.

387
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:11,000
And I think that's probably what triggered this.

388
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,000
We're about broke.

389
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,000
Michael may have told her that enough was enough

390
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:19,000
and that she needed to consider leaving.

391
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:24,000
And Laura, you didn't want to leave that relationship and didn't want to leave the life as she knew it.

392
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:59,000
A summer lightning storm thunders over St. Francisville, Louisiana, illuminating the Myrtles plantation.

393
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:04,000
The Myrtles is an infamous 200-year-old antebellum mansion.

394
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:11,000
Converted to a bed and breakfast decades ago, it seems to be one of America's most haunted houses.

395
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:30,000
Shooting, poisoning, lynching are just a few of the deadly means by which the ghosts of the Myrtles met their mortal demise.

396
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:34,000
At least eight people died violent deaths here.

397
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:41,000
And legend has it their spirits remain on the premises, appearing regularly to guests and staff alike.

398
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:48,000
I've had enough happen to let me know that other people live here that we can't always see.

399
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,000
Perhaps the Myrtles plantation was destined to be haunted.

400
00:25:53,000 --> 00:26:02,000
Legend has it that in 1796 the original owner, General David Bradford, built the house directly on top of an ancient Indian burial ground.

401
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:07,000
Since that time literally hundreds of sightings of the unexplained have occurred.

402
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,000
Could spirits be haunting the plantation?

403
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,000
Thousands believe they are.

404
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:22,000
This mysterious mansion is said to be a window into the supernatural.

405
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:27,000
Guests here are well aware of the possibility of having a ghostly encounter.

406
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:36,000
I guess I have to say I really didn't believe that there were actually ghosts or spirits there, that it was just folklore and legend.

407
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:42,000
And it wasn't until I was already in that things began to happen that convinced me that yes, they are here.

408
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,000
But by then it was too late.

409
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,000
Financially I couldn't afford to be scared.

410
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:59,000
When Amy Campbell and her friend Michelle came to stay at the B&B last October 30th, they were well informed of its ghostly past.

411
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:05,000
We were very hesitant if we were going to stay all night because we had heard that the place was haunted.

412
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:11,000
We had heard that there were ghosts that visit people at night that tuck you in, fix your clothes.

413
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:14,000
We weren't sure we wanted to experience any of that.

414
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:24,000
I obviously was sleeping for a little while and I woke up feeling bouncing on the end of my bed.

415
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:30,000
And I saw a little girl jumping on the end of my bed and I thought surely I'm dreaming and I stuck my head back under the covers.

416
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,000
It kept bouncing and bouncing and bouncing. It felt like forever.

417
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,000
And all of a sudden it stopped.

418
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:39,000
And I looked back up at the little girl that was jumping on the bed and was gone.

419
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:51,000
The child ghost is thought to be Cornelia Woodruff, one of four people who died in a tragic set of events 175 years ago.

420
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:58,000
Cornelia was a daughter of Judge Woodruff, whose family lived at the Myrtles in the early 1800s.

421
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:04,000
When the Woodruff's house slave Chloe was caught eavesdropping on the judge, he was compelled to punish her.

422
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:07,000
This is the third time I've caught you.

423
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,000
I wasn't listening. I will not tolerate this.

424
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:10,000
Oh, sir, please no.

425
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,000
This time you will be punished.

426
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:14,000
Oh, sir, please no.

427
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:17,000
The judge had Chloe's ear cut off.

428
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:23,000
Fearful of also being sent to the fields to do hard labor, Chloe made a plan.

429
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:30,000
She decided to grind poisonous oleander leaves into a birthday cake hoping to make the family ill.

430
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:34,000
Then she would endear herself by nursing them back to health.

431
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,000
I baked your favorite cake, Miss Sarah.

432
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:41,000
She may have thought she was boiling just enough oleander to make the family sick.

433
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:48,000
Already knowing what was wrong, she would take care of them, be the hero, and be left in the household to take care of them.

434
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:52,000
But Chloe's scheme backfired.

435
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:57,000
Young Cornelia, her mother and sister, all died from the poison.

436
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:02,000
A lot of guests want to know what happened to Chloe after the poisoning.

437
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,000
It's believed that she was killed by a mixed mob.

438
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:07,000
Black and whites were probably together.

439
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:11,000
Of course, the other slaves were probably afraid of what was going to happen to them.

440
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:16,000
She was supposedly beaten, hung, and then thrown into the river.

441
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:25,000
It is said that Cornelia, along with her mother and sister, have joined Chloe in eternally haunting the house.

442
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:35,000
I think I've been frightened more in the day than at night.

443
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:40,000
Arlandes owned and restored Myrtles Plantation over 30 years ago.

444
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:44,000
He remembers his first ethereal encounter very well.

445
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,000
It was 1970, and he was mowing the north lawn.

446
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:52,000
First of all, I never thought that I would see any type of ghost.

447
00:29:52,000 --> 00:30:05,000
It was in the afternoon, approximately four or five o'clock, and as I was mowing, I simply looked up and there was this vision.

448
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:10,000
And then with a blink of an eye, it was gone.

449
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:17,000
Well, needless to say, there's a chill factor that comes over one when that occurs.

450
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:27,000
The vision Arlandes saw is said to be the ghost of the elderly caretaker who was robbed and killed on the estate in 1927.

451
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:36,000
Three years ago, Mark and Holly Parente spent a frightening night at the Myrtles.

452
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:42,000
Back then, Mark had been reluctant to visit, but knew his wife would be intrigued by the hotel's history.

453
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:50,000
It's known as one of the most haunted plantations in America, and I wasn't looking forward to finding out why.

454
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,000
Come right up. It is. It's a beautiful house.

455
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:57,000
I asked her if the tour guide came out, and she says, you know, welcome to the Myrtles.

456
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,000
Oh, and by the way, you're the only guest here tonight.

457
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:00,000
Really?

458
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:01,000
Yeah.

459
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,000
Come on. Don't worry about that.

460
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:05,000
Tell him he's fine.

461
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:16,000
It was scary. The thought of being in this haunted house by ourselves and no one else in here was very scary, more probably to Mark than me, but I was scared to.

462
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:24,000
Perhaps the Parentes had reason to be nervous. A former Myrtles owner is said to haunt that very staircase.

463
00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:29,000
Mark and Holly's room was just beyond that same flight of stairs.

464
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:35,000
My mind had gotten to me a little bit because I wouldn't let her turn the lights off.

465
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:44,000
So we're laying in bed, and she's sort of having a nervous chit-chat, and what I heard was a very deep, sounding bang.

466
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,000
Sounds like someone's on the steps.

467
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:51,000
As soon as I heard that noise, you know, the adrenaline rush.

468
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:52,000
I'm going to go.

469
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,000
No. No. Holly, stay here.

470
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:55,000
Oh, come on.

471
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:56,000
No.

472
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:57,000
I want to look.

473
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:02,000
If I had to venture a guess, it sounded like footsteps.

474
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:07,000
The reason for the murder of the prominent homeowner remains a mystery.

475
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:11,000
Winners! William Winners!

476
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:18,000
It was late one night in 1871 when a mysterious horseman appeared on the Myrtles front lawn.

477
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,000
Who's there?

478
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,000
Are you William Winners?

479
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,000
Yes, I'm William Winners.

480
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:34,000
Whoever was there shot him in the chest.

481
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:39,000
He made it back through the double doors, trying to reach his wife, Sarah.

482
00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:40,000
She was upstairs.

483
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,000
Sarah! Sarah!

484
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:46,000
No, William!

485
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,000
He only made it to the 17th step.

486
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,000
Oh, no. No.

487
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:52,000
William.

488
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:54,000
Why?

489
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:57,000
He died there in her arms.

490
00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:06,000
I wish someone would be able to explain it other than the story that I heard, but I can't tell you for sure what it was.

491
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:10,000
All I know was that it was enough for me, you know.

492
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,000
It was enough for me to make me want to leave.

493
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:18,000
In a way, I think we were both hoping it might have been our imagination, but it definitely wasn't.

494
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:26,000
For all who ventured to Myrtles' plantation for a glimpse of the hereafter,

495
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:33,000
perhaps they should take advice from those who have actually braved the halls of this haunted house.

496
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:37,000
There are certain times that I'm uncomfortable here.

497
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:40,000
Certain times that you could say I get the creeps.

498
00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,000
I can't explain it.

499
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,000
It's no certain hour.

500
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:46,000
It's just times.

501
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:49,000
You can walk in, and as I said before, you can feel a sadness.

502
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:53,000
Or you can walk in and you hear, especially upstairs, footsteps.

503
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,000
You know you hear them.

504
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:57,000
Someone is right behind you.

505
00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:59,000
You can stop. The footsteps stop.

506
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:04,000
Once you have the encounter and you feel the sensation,

507
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:10,000
you will know that their intention is not to harm you.

508
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:13,000
They are truly here to protect you.

509
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:15,000
They protect this home.

510
00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:19,000
This is their station. This is their life. This is where they live.

511
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:27,000
If Myrtles' plantation truly haunted, we can't say for sure,

512
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:31,000
but our production crew certainly had more than their share of unexplained technical difficulties.

513
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:37,000
Electrical equipment including cameras, cell phones, and walkie-talkies constantly malfunctioned.

514
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:41,000
Well, these just mysterious mishaps are ghostly intervention.

515
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:52,000
The tetanus shots, those are what hurt.

516
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:56,000
For Pam Coretti, it was just another day of running errands

517
00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:00,000
in her quiet working-class neighborhood of Freeport, New York.

518
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:04,000
As Pam was driving her teenage son to the doctor,

519
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:08,000
she saw what appeared to be a terrible car accident.

520
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:11,000
What's going on? I can't see anything.

521
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:14,000
I said to myself, look over there and see what's going on.

522
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,000
So he just looked over and said, I don't see anything. You can't see anything.

523
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,000
There's just ambulances all over.

524
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:24,000
So I passed it. I took him to the doctor's office. We came back home.

525
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:30,000
It was then that Pam received an unusual phone call about her eldest son,

526
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:33,000
21-year-old Damien Coretti.

527
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,000
No, he's not made. Take a message.

528
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:40,000
And I got a phone call from one of his friends asking me, is Damien there?

529
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:45,000
I said, no, he's not. He was going to go out to see his friends, aren't you, with him?

530
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:48,000
No. OK, never mind. And they hung up.

531
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:49,000
Hello?

532
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,000
And that was just the whole thing was odd.

533
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:56,000
After paging Damien to no avail and with the accident still fresh in her mind,

534
00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:58,000
Pam decided to check local hospitals.

535
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,000
I called South Nassau Hospital.

536
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,000
Hi, my name's Pam Coretti.

537
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:06,000
And said to Damien Coretti there, yes, who is this?

538
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,000
I said, this is his mom.

539
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:11,000
I said, is he there? Is he OK? Why didn't anybody call me?

540
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:14,000
Why aren't you, why aren't I being informed?

541
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:16,000
What's going on? Just tell me what's going on.

542
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:20,000
And she said, didn't the detective come to your house yet?

543
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,000
Within minutes, Pam was at the hospital.

544
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:28,000
Her son Damien had been involved in the incident she saw earlier,

545
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:30,000
but it was no traffic accident.

546
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:34,000
My son was there on the bed.

547
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:38,000
And he was in a hospital can.

548
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,000
And he looked like a complete angel.

549
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:47,000
And I went to hug him.

550
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,000
And there was blood on my hand.

551
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:51,000
Oh, God.

552
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:56,000
When they told me he was shot five times in the head,

553
00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,000
I couldn't comprehend it.

554
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,000
Everything went crazy at that point.

555
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:08,000
I saw my wife crying on the other side of the door.

556
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:10,000
There wasn't a nurse.

557
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:13,000
And then I said to her, what's wrong?

558
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:15,000
I said, he's dead.

559
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:18,000
Just like that.

560
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:20,000
I'm so sorry.

561
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:24,000
Something died in me that day, too.

562
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:30,000
Pam Coretti and her husband Damien all soon learned

563
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:33,000
that their son had died in a gang shooting.

564
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:35,000
Now the grieving parents had to deal with insinuations

565
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:37,000
that Damien was himself a gang member

566
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:40,000
and had somehow played a role in his own murder.

567
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:44,000
But to Pam Coretti, that just didn't make any sense.

568
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:50,000
Damien was a pre-med student at Stony Brook University.

569
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:53,000
And he had an ambition.

570
00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:56,000
And that was to go to college and get his degree

571
00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:58,000
and become an anesthesiologist.

572
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:02,000
My son had absolutely no gang affiliation.

573
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:05,000
That was proven over and over.

574
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:08,000
It was written in every newspaper.

575
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:10,000
He was absolutely not a part of a gang

576
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,000
and had no gang affiliation.

577
00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:14,000
Yeah, that's fine. Why don't you go ahead and fax me?

578
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,000
Mom, I'm taking off.

579
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:18,000
Could you hold on one second?

580
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:19,000
Honey, could you do something for me?

581
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:20,000
Can you run this by the bank?

582
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:21,000
Okay.

583
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:22,000
Okay.

584
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:23,000
What time are you going to be back?

585
00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:24,000
Before dinner.

586
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:25,000
Dinner is at 6.30.

587
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:26,000
All right.

588
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:27,000
Okay, thanks honey. I appreciate it.

589
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,000
After his leading up to his death, Damien had returned home

590
00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:32,000
for winter break and had rekindled friendships

591
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,000
he formed in high school.

592
00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:37,000
One of those friends,

593
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:40,000
there was a man by the name of Harold Zambrano.

594
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:41,000
Good luck, you kid.

595
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,000
Yo, popping chump for me, yo?

596
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:44,000
Yeah, sure.

597
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:46,000
Harold was a 19-year-old

598
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:49,000
member of a local gang called Niantas.

599
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:52,000
Yo son, can you go by the school

600
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:54,000
or by the laundromat and stuff?

601
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:56,000
I was just looking for these punks.

602
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:57,000
These punks?

603
00:38:57,000 --> 00:38:58,000
Why? What's up?

604
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:00,000
Harold told Damien that two days earlier

605
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:03,000
he was jumped by members of MS-13,

606
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:05,000
a violent El Salvadorian street gang

607
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,000
originally from Los Angeles.

608
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,000
They jumped you?

609
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:10,000
Yeah, man, look at that.

610
00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:11,000
They cried over the bottle.

611
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:12,000
Oh, that's horrible.

612
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:13,000
Yeah, no son.

613
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:15,000
Harold asked Damien for help.

614
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:19,000
Damien had the biggest heart in the world

615
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:21,000
that was part of his problem.

616
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:24,000
Anybody asked him for anything,

617
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:26,000
he would do it and he would be there,

618
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:28,000
even if he had his own plans.

619
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:29,000
That's not right.

620
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:31,000
I know, yo, that's why you got my back, son.

621
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:33,000
You better go look for these cats.

622
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:35,000
Yeah, yeah, I got your back.

623
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:39,000
Damien Corente, on the day that he died,

624
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:42,000
I'm sure had no idea as to what he was getting involved in.

625
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,000
Harold Zambrano, being a gang member,

626
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:48,000
probably never publicized that fact to Damien.

627
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:50,000
At a local strip mall,

628
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,000
Harold found what he was looking for.

629
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:53,000
Yo, that's one of them.

630
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:54,000
That's one of them right there.

631
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,000
Stop the car, stop the car.

632
00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:59,000
19-year-old Hermon de Leon.

633
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:02,000
Hermon de Leon is a known MS-13 member

634
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,000
and was wearing the colors,

635
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:06,000
so there was no question in their mind

636
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,000
that they had found somebody.

637
00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:10,000
Yo, we're friends now, son.

638
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,000
They approached Hermon de Leon.

639
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:13,000
Were you?

640
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:14,000
Don't play stupid, son.

641
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:15,000
Did you do this?

642
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:18,000
They confronted him with the injury to Harold Zambrano.

643
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:19,000
I didn't do that.

644
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:20,000
Yo, I was over here waiting for my girl.

645
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:21,000
Yo, what you talking about?

646
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:22,000
Wait for your girl.

647
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:23,000
You liar.

648
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:25,000
He was there at the laundromat with his girlfriend.

649
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:28,000
De Leon admitted that he was an MS-13 member

650
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:29,000
and told him that he had nothing to do

651
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:31,000
with that particular incident.

652
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:32,000
Do nothing like that, son.

653
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:33,000
It's not worth it.

654
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:34,000
Get him out of here.

655
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:37,000
Zambrano and those guys indicated that they respected the fact

656
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:38,000
that he was with his girlfriend,

657
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:40,000
and it wouldn't cause him any trouble

658
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:42,000
while he was with his girlfriend.

659
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:46,000
Damien, Harold and the others returned to their car,

660
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:48,000
and the incident would have ended right there

661
00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:52,000
if it weren't for a tragic coincidence.

662
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:58,000
Two more members of the MS-13 stumbled onto the scene.

663
00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:03,000
The confrontation then exploded into violence.

664
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:08,000
Harold Zambrano was shot in the neck and critically injured.

665
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:11,000
Damien Corrente was fatally shot five times in the head.

666
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:15,000
A police investigation quickly revealed

667
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:19,000
the identity of the alleged shooters.

668
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:25,000
Hermonde De Leon, Mario Portillo, and Juan Gil Ferrufino.

669
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:29,000
But the suspects could not be found.

670
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:33,000
The whole family was absolutely devastated.

671
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:34,000
And detectives started coming to my house,

672
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:36,000
and police started coming to my house,

673
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:39,000
and all my children's friends started coming to my house,

674
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:41,000
and they would sit the kids down and say to them,

675
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:43,000
tell me about gangs.

676
00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:45,000
And the kids started telling me about gangs.

677
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:47,000
And I was shocked.

678
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:51,000
I said, why didn't you tell me about gangs?

679
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:54,000
Then I began driving around to look for myself.

680
00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:56,000
And I saw exactly what they said.

681
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:58,000
I went up to the junior high school and the high school,

682
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:00,000
and I saw them, and you can tell by their colors,

683
00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:03,000
and you can tell by their bandanas.

684
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:08,000
I was totally unaware, totally unaware.

685
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:10,000
And I saw kids hanging out in different...

686
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:12,000
It never occurred to me.

687
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:14,000
I just thought it was just groups and groups.

688
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:16,000
These groups are extremely violent.

689
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:20,000
Males between the ages of 18 and 25, sometimes younger.

690
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:23,000
Later that week, Pam attended a police forum on gangs

691
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:26,000
held in reaction to her son's murder.

692
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:29,000
When someone asked the question point blank,

693
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:32,000
are there gangs here in Freeport?

694
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:33,000
The answer was...

695
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:35,000
I would have to say at this moment, not really.

696
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:37,000
And that's when I went berserk.

697
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:40,000
How dare you tell these people there's no gang activity here?

698
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:41,000
My son did...

699
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:43,000
And I stood up in front of everyone,

700
00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:45,000
and I started screaming.

701
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:47,000
How do you even say that when my son was murdered

702
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,000
on your doorstep?

703
00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:51,000
By gangs, and you're going to tell them

704
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:53,000
there's no gangs in Freeport?

705
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:55,000
There's graffiti all over the town,

706
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:57,000
all the repetitive patterns we've been seeing.

707
00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:00,000
It was at that moment that Pam Corrente had an epiphany.

708
00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:04,000
She would lead the charge to rid her neighborhood of gangs.

709
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:07,000
Perhaps you would like to join me for a closed meeting

710
00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:10,000
with the mayor tomorrow night on this very topic.

711
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:12,000
I would love to, yes. Thank you.

712
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:13,000
Don't you make it.

713
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:14,000
I would love to come. Thank you.

714
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:16,000
I had no choice. I had to fight.

715
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:20,000
It was either that or go with the rage and the anger and the hate.

716
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:22,000
So I can't do that.

717
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:24,000
But I can fight back by trying to educate our children

718
00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:26,000
and trying to find a way for them

719
00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:29,000
and to educate the parents to educate the children.

720
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:33,000
Pam and the Freeport Police Department formed GASP,

721
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:35,000
the Gang Awareness Suppression Program.

722
00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:36,000
Hi, I'm Pam Corrente.

723
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:37,000
Hi, I'm here in the neighborhood.

724
00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:39,000
I'm trying to raise awareness of the gang problem we have here.

725
00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:41,000
We have a gang problem in this neighborhood?

726
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:42,000
Yes, actually we do.

727
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:44,000
We're opening their eyes to a very big problem

728
00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:47,000
that maybe didn't exist when we were kids.

729
00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:50,000
And it was such a good, healthy outlet,

730
00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:53,000
instead of the hate and the anger and the rage

731
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:55,000
and the frustration that I was feeling,

732
00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:58,000
living only blocks from the mother and father

733
00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:01,000
of the kids who killed my son.

734
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:03,000
Thanks a lot. I appreciate your help.

735
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:04,000
Thank you.

736
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:05,000
Bye-bye.

737
00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,000
I hope I can make a difference.

738
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:10,000
I don't know that I am, but I hope I can.

739
00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:12,000
Since Pam founded GASP,

740
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:17,000
not one person has died from gang violence in the Freeport area.

741
00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:23,000
But even though Pam finds her new work rewarding,

742
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:26,000
it will never take away the pain of losing her son.

743
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:28,000
When the bloom is going to be beautiful.

744
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:30,000
There is only one thing that would help,

745
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:33,000
catching the alleged killers of Damien Corente.

746
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,000
Although police trace Hermón de León,

747
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:44,000
María Portillo, and Juan Gilferro Fino to El Salvador,

748
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:46,000
they now believe the suspects may have returned

749
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,000
to the United States.

750
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:52,000
All three are young Hispanic males

751
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:55,000
and may be hiding in Los Angeles or Miami.

752
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:02,000
With every mystery one critical clue may lead to a solution.

753
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:05,000
Join us again for Unsolved Mysteries.

754
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:01,000
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