All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S02E16.480p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-PLAYREADY_track3_[und]

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
This program

is about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the
actual family members

and police officials
have participated

in recreating the events.

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

[music playing]

Georgia Rudolph has
been haunted by dreams

and memories of a
young girl who lived

at the turn of the century.

A girl in Georgia never knew,
in a place she'd never visited.

Amazingly, her descriptions
of the girl's life

appear to be corroborated
by facts that she

had no possible way of knowing.

Could George's experiences
be evidence of reincarnation?

Rookie police Officer,
Steve Sandlin,

was found shot to death in the
station house where he worked.

Some believe he stumbled on a
case of small town corruption

and was murdered.

We'll also profile a case
of a man called Thumper--

an outlaw biker who travels
across the country setting up

illegal drug laboratories to
manufacture highly addictive

methamphetamines.

Tonight, with your
help, Thumper may

finally be brought to justice.

[music playing]

Reincarnation.

To our ears the word
has a eerie ring.

The dictionary
definition-- rebirth

of the soul in a new body--

seems a pale few
words that describes

such an extraordinary concept.

Much of the world believes
absolutely in reincarnation,

but for people who don't,
the onset of dreams

and memories that
cannot be explained

is often very upsetting.

That was the case for a woman
we found named Georgia Rudolf.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
For 33 years

Georgia's mind has
conjured up visions

of a mysterious young girl.

In one of the most vivid
the girl was with an older

woman, perhaps her grandmother.

In all of Georgia's visions
neither the time nor the place

is familiar.

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER):
There's a lot of sensation.

I feel the cold.

I feel the night.

I smell the horses.

I smell the leather.

I can feel the girl--

but it feels like myself--

climbing on this carriage
and going down the road.

And I can hear the sound
of the horse's hooves.

I can feel the movement
of the carriage.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Georgia Rudolph

is a 41-year-old registered
nurse living in Macon, Georgia.

Since childhood she's been beset
by recurring mental images.

Sometimes they appear
as dreams, or often

as memories of an event
she has never experienced.

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER):
There never seemed

to be a common
denominator of what

would trigger off the memories.

I would be sitting,
playing, or I

would be watching TV and just--

there would be a memory.

As a child, I
don't think there

was a moment that
went by that I didn't

have either memories or dreams.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Georgia Rudolph

was born in Columbus, Ohio.

At the age of three,
she was placed

in a series of foster homes.

When she was five Georgia was
adopted and the memories began.

[music playing]

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER): As a
little girl I was different.

I used to draw the
picture of this girl

and I would just do stacks
after stacks, after stacks,

of this picture.

I've also drawn a picture
of a house since I was five,

and then the house
would go with the girl.

And if I didn't get her right
I would erase her or tear

it up and start all over again.

I knew exactly how this
girl was supposed to look.

My whole childhood I thought I
was crazy because the drawings

were of the girl that
I would dream about.

And when I remember her
it's always the drawing.

The face-- I have
always known that face.

I've seen her two
different ages.

One as a young woman,
18, 19 years old,

and as a young girl--

probably 8, 9.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
As Georgia grew older

her impressions of the
past began to accumulate.

Often they are no more
than a flash of an image,

but curiously, all
the images seemed

to come from an earlier time.

A time around the
turn of the century.

There were no
automobiles, or airplanes,

but there were repeated
images of old fashioned

sternwheels, which Georgia, in
her lifetime, had never seen.

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER): It's
not like a childhood memory.

It feels different.

It's like taking a
picture from my mind,

projecting it on
a screen and just

replaying it over and over.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
A river seemed to play

a large part Georgia's dreams.

Another constant was a young
man dressed in a brown suit

and wearing a Derby hat.

Sometimes he was along.

Sometimes her was with
a girl, and always it

was a recurring image of
a horse drawn carriage

on a cold winter night.

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER): I kept
feeling that they were memories

of pre-adoption that
nobody would tell me about,

but when I found my
biological parents I found

that the memories had
nothing to do with my life

before I was adopted.

When Georgia first contacted
me I felt it might be something

like an early traumatic
childhood memory that she was

trying to remember,
or re-experience,

or possibly it could be
an aspect of a multiple

personality where she
was imagining herself,

or experiencing herself
to be someone different,

which sometimes
happens in these cases.

Other than that,
the reincarnation

was probably the
last thing in my mind

about what had happened to her.

So we're going to go through a
procedure this evening that--

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Dr. Douglas Smith

is deputy director
of a mental health

center in Macon, Georgia.

In 1984, he began
regressive hypnosis therapy

with Georgia Rudolf.

It is a type of analysis
that lets the patient go back

in time under hypnosis but still
remember everything she says.

DOUGLAS SMITH: To let
it out very slowly.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Last December,

we asked Georgia to, once
again, undergo hypnosis

with Dr. Smith.

DOUGLAS SMITH:
Relaxed and at ease.

Try to allow all the
tension to leave your body.

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER): During
the first session of hypnosis,

he asked me a question, and
referred to me as Georgia.

I remember very
vividly, saying, I don't

know who you're talking to.

And he said, well if this
isn't Georgia, then who is it.

And I remember saying, my
name is Sandra Jean Jenkins.

DOUGLAS SMITH: And what
year were you born, Sandra?

1895.

DOUGLAS SMITH: Do
you have a boyfriend?

Yes.

Georgia seems to me, a
very down to earth person.

She doesn't go around reading
a lot of psychic magazines

and esoteric material.

So I think that she's a
very stable individual.

And it surprised me
when she came out

with the amount of
emotion, and affect,

and details that she
did under hypnosis.

The sensation that I had
when I gave her name, her age,

and said, I was
born in 1895, is one

that I will never forget
because I felt like my head was

going to come off of my body.

It hurt so bad.

DOUGLAS SMITH: Look
down at yourself

and tell me what you look like.

I have brown hair.

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER):
My eyes are brown.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Georgia came

to believe that the face she had
drawn so many times as a child

was the face of Sandra Jean
Jenkins, who was also the girl

in her memories and dreams.

Further therapy sessions began
to give detail to her images.

Georgia could now
clearly see Sandra

Jean on a stern wheeler
which apparently

belonged to her family.

One of the men on the boat was
the young man in the derby hat

whom she'd seen so often.

His name was Tommy Hicks.

He and Sandra Jean
we're sweethearts.

The sessions also revealed
that the two of them

were about to be married.

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER): When this
came out about Sandra Jean,

not only did I feel I was
crazy, it scared me to death.

It went against everything
that I have ever been

taught as far as religion goes.

She is very
sincere in her belief

that she actually, subjectively,
experienced all the things

that she has experienced in that
past life that she described.

She's not faking or pretending.

It is a real experience for her.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Were the images

that had haunted Georgia
Rudolph for more than 30 years,

evidence of reincarnation?

When we return, Georgia
travels 500 miles from home

and finds unexplainable
coincidences between her dreams

and the life of
Sandra Jean Jenkins.

For more than 30
years Georgia Rudolph

was plagued by mystifying
impressions of a past

she knew nothing about.

She was afraid to admit the
possibility that she might be

the reincarnation
of a girl named

Sandra Jean Jenkins who lived
at the turn of the century.

Under hypnosis,
Georgia had repeatedly

mentioned the word Marietta.

It became clear to Georgia
that Marietta was a place.

A place that might reveal a
connection between her dreams

and the life Sandra
Jean Jenkins.

Marietta, Ohio is
a city of 35,000

located at the confluence of
the Ohio and Muskegon Rivers.

In its heyday, at the
turn of the century,

it was a major river port--

because Georgia's dreams were
centered on a river and river

boats, she went to
Marietta in 1985 hoping

to find a record of the
people and places so

vividly etched in her memory.

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER):
If I'm not mistaken

it was a big, red,
brick building.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Georgia had

arranged to meet with a
reporter named Ted Bower.

He was a lifelong resident
of the city and for 32 years

had worked for the
local newspaper.

TED BAUER: When Georgia
arrived in Marietta I'd said,

I'll take you around and
show you some of the places

that you've talked
about over the phone.

And She says no, I'll
show you where to go.

I couldn't believe her
knowledge of Marietta.

She knew as much or more
than some of the old timers

knew about the town.

GEORGIA RUDOLF: I
remember this place.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): Ted Bauer
was amazed when Georgia stopped

in front of an insurance company
and suddenly began describing

the interior of an ice cream
parlor which had been there

at the turn of the century.

Incredibly the
decor she remembered

had been completely
changed in 1937--

11 years before
Georgia was born.

I remember the tile inside.

It was like, red and white.

And it was like red,
white, red, white.

And it was tile, but it wasn't
like the tile we see today.

TED BAUER: She described the
interior almost perfectly.

I checked this with
the son of the man

who had run it for years.

In a way it seems crazy,
but what do you do?

She was accurate about
her descriptions.

I was just baffled by her.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): Ted
Bauer's curiosity was aroused.

He began to
investigate on his own

to see if the things
Georges seemed to remember

could somehow have
been available to her

in local records.

TED BAUER: I did
a lot of research.

I talked to family members
of former store owners

and I checked around
newspaper files.

I've thought about
it many times,

and it's possible that she
could have done some research

or had it done for
her, but I don't know

how that could have been done.

It would have been
a tremendous job.

I can't buy the
reincarnation bit, but she

has some kind of power--

some way of knowing what
happened in the past.

I don't know what the power
would be, but she has it.

When I began to understand
that I was being 100% correct,

there was a fright, but
there was an excitement that

was starting to build in me.

It was like-- this
is really real.

I really was this girl.

And when I started finding
things that were in my memory,

it was like having been
away and going back home.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): Despite
her uncanny recollections,

Georgia could find no record
of a Sandra Jean Jenkins

in Marietta, She next
visited a small farming

community, Newport, Ohio,
five miles to the north.

Here too, she seems
instinctively to know

her way around.

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER): The first
thing I saw when entering

Newport was a big, gray house.

It sent chills through my body.

It was like, this is my house.

This is where I lived.

I could see a room I knew that
this had been her bedroom.

This was the house that
Sandra had lived in.

[church bells]

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Throughout Georgia's life

a single dream had
always stood out,

more perplexing and haunting
than all the others.

In it Sandra Jean,
as a young girl,

stands alone on the
steps of a church.

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER):
In the dream

I know she has to walk
exactly two blocks.

And she's standing in
front of a cemetery.

And there's a path that
goes off to the right

and it curves and twists
in different directions.

And then the path
eventually straightens out.

And when she gets to the point
where it straightens out,

she's on the side of a hill
looking down on a grave--

which I know to be her
grandmother's grave,

but I'm never able to get
the name off of the headstone

Because it's that
point that I wake up.

And I have had this
dream 200 or 300 times

and always wake up
in the same place.

[music playing]

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): In
Newport, Georgia found

the church from her dream.

Perhaps now she could
discover the identity

of Sandra Jean's grandmother.

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER):
It frightened me.

Everything I found
frightened me more

because I still
didn't want to believe

that this was reincarnation--

but I walked the two blocks that
I knew I had walked in my dream

and I found myself
in the cemetery.

And I started walking this
path and as I walked it,

it began to dawn on me--

this is the path in my dreams.

I can remember my heart
and the feeling in my body.

I mean, it was just
total excitement

because I knew when I
reached the end of that path,

I was going to be standing over
the grave that I had dreamt

about over, and over, and over.

And when I stopped
where the dream stops,

I was looking down
on the grave that I

knew to be my grandmother's
and it said Mary Bevan Greene.

And I finally got a name.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
The gravestone

provided the missing link to the
house Georgia had seen earlier.

At the turn of the century,
this house had been

the home of the Green family.

Moreover, the Greene's had
owned a fleet of stern wheelers

which operated up and
down the Ohio River.

Now, the story of Sandra
Jean Jenkins and Tommy Hicks

came into sharper focus.

DOUGLAS SMITH: I want you
to allow yourself to go back

a little bit further now
and feel safe and secure

in talking to me.

I'm going to ask you a question.

What happened to Tom?

Tommy.

DOUGLAS SMITH: Where are you?

I'm in my room.

DOUGLAS SMITH: What's happening?

Is Tommy gone?

Yes.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Under hypnosis, Georgia

recalled that in 1914, just days
before Sandra Jean and Tommy

were to be married,
he was swept overboard

in a storm on the Ohio River.

His body was never found.

Sandra Jean Jenkins
was left alone--

and to her family's dismay--

pregnant, with
Tommy Hicks's child.

Tommy's gone.

I don't want to be here.

Mama will never forgive me.

DOUGLAS SMITH: What is it she
won't ever forgive you for?

My baby.

[music playing]

DOUGLAS SMITH: I want you
to move forward in time.

You are now at the river
and I want you to describe

to me what you did then.

GEORGIA RUDOLF: I
take my locket off

and I slide into
the water at a walk.

And I walk.

DOUGLAS SMITH: Where
are you buried?

They put me up on a
hill close to the family

but not with the family.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Georgia is convinced

that because Sandra
Jean took her own life,

she was buried in
an unmarked grave

just a few feet away
from Mary Bevan Greene.

Georgia had said under hypnosis
that from Sandra Jean's grave

you could see an angel
with one arm upraised.

When she looked south
from Mary Greene's grave,

Georgia saw the
statue of an angel--

its right arm extended upward.

Georgia's discoveries in
Ohio do seem convincing,

but is there any real proof
that Sandra Jean Jenkins

or Tommy Hicks ever existed?

Birth and death records
were a haphazard affair

around the turn of
the century and so far

neither of their exact
names had been found,

but there does seem to be a
record of Tommy's parents.

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER):
When I was under hypnosis

I had said that Tom's parents'
names were Tom and Jenny Hicks.

The only proof that I
have that Tommy existed

was that in 1906 there is a
farm registered to Tom and Jenny

Hicks in Newport, Ohio.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Georgia also located

the Greene family's
nearest living

relatives who
provided her with what

Georgia believes is
evidence that Sandra

Jean Jenkins actually existed.

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER):
They brought

out a picture taken in 1908.

It's a family reunion picture.

And the girl that
I call Sandra--

that I have drawn
my entire life--

is standing in that picture.

It's all family, but no
one knows who this girl is.

There was a statement made
by a member of the family--

I don't know this girl's
name, but I know she

drowned out back of the house.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): In
the family photograph,

a girl from Georgia's dream
seemed to be standing slightly

apart from those around her.

The photograph is accompanied
by a complete roster of names.

Every person is identified
except the girl Georgia

recognized as Sandra Jean.

DOUGLAS SMITH:
Almost every culture,

at one time or another, has
had a belief in reincarnation.

Sometimes I think, in fact,
that it's a metaphor for man's

anger over the brevity of life.

In terms of whether
reincarnation

is a real fact or nor--

as a scientist I don't know.

I want proof.

I'm a doubter, but
as a human being

I would love to have
it be the truth.

I believe that
reincarnation is real,

but I'm not sure what
reincarnation is.

I know there's something to it.

GEORGIA (VOICEOVER): I have
had an experience that a lot

of people don't get to have.

My logic oftentimes will
tell me, no this isn't real,

but my hearth tells
me, yes it is.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Could the saga

of Sandra Jean Jenkins
simply be the product

of an overactive imagination?

Could it in fact be a
reincarnation experience--

the legitimate memory of
a life Georgia Rudolph

lived at the turn
of the century,

or could it be something else?

Something we can neither
define, nor understand?

[music playing]

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): When we
return a tragic story of Steve

Sandlin a rookie police
officer who, some believe,

may have been killed because he
knew too much about corruption

in a small New Mexico town.

[music playing]

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): Everybody
who knew Steve Sandlin

said he was born to be a cop.

His father was a career law
enforcement officer and even

as a child Steve
planned on following

in his father's footsteps.

TOM SANDLIN: Because
I was a policeman,

Stevie grew up seeing a uniform.

He liked it.

He used to wear my helmet,
wear my motorcycle boots.

He'd go around the house all
day dressed up like a cop.

Steve wanted to
be a police officer

and nothing was going
to do until he did it.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
In March of 1988

when he was 21 years old,
Steve announced to his family

that he had been accepted as a
member of the Mountainair, New

Mexico Police Department.

Mountain Air four, 10-8.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): But in the
early evening on May 7, 1988,

while Steve was working
alone in the police station,

his dream came to a violent--

and still unexplained-- end.

I can't recall the exact
wording by the individual

that notified us,
but when we arrived

he mentioned
something about Steve

upstairs, a gun, and blood.

And he didn't know if it was
a joke, or real, or what.

DAVID CARSON (VOICEOVER):
We had our weapons drawn.

We weren't sure what
we were walking into.

And I went to Steve and I
remember saying to him hang on,

Steve.
- Steve, hang on.

Get him rolling, Gary.

DAVID CARSON (VOICEOVER): And
asked him what had happened.

Mountainair two,
[inaudible] your request.

Officer down.

DAVID CARSON (VOICEOVER):
He was unresponsive.

He was breathing, but he
never did say anything.

We immediately called emergency
services-- ambulance personnel.

And they immediately started
their life saving operation

to try and save
the officer's life.

He was still alive at that time.

They were in the process
of trying to start an IV

and shortly thereafter,
Officer Sandlin expired

and he was pronounced dead by
the doctor here at the scene.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Steve Sandlin had only

been on the force eight weeks.

His gun and was
found by his side.

Authorities believe that
the fatal bullet may have

been fired from his own weapon.

The cause of death
was, at first,

thought to be accidental or
a suicide, but some disagree.

We all know--

those of us who knew Steve--

know that there is no way that
it could have been a suicide,

or even an accidental shooting.

We believe Steve was
murdered and we believe there

was a conspiracy to do so.

I think someone killed
Steve Sandlin intentionally.

I say that because there is no
evidence that it was suicide.

There is no evidence
it was accidental.

And there's very
strong, persuasive

evidence that he was
murdered and that his murder

was planned.

The death of Steve
Sandlin has touched

off a controversy
that has reached

beyond his grieving family.

To date, one Assistant
Attorney General

has resigned over this case.

Another, James Scarantino,
has been fired,

but perhaps the most
disturbing allegation

are those who believe that
not only was Steve murdered,

but that his
killer's identity has

been deliberately covered up
by law enforcement officials.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Mountainair

is an isolated
community located 80

miles southeast of Albuquerque.

Despite the fact
that the area's known

to be a center for the
cultivation of marijuana,

the town's police department
consisted of only four men.

When Steve Sandlin began working
for the police department

he was enthusiastic
about his new job

and often to worked
during his off hours.

Stevie really enjoyed
the job at first.

He's laugh and talk about
it-- everything that he did.

However, toward the last, his
attitude started changing.

I don't know exactly
what the change was.

Steve just started saying
that things weren't

like he thought they would be.

Something was wrong.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): The
afternoon of Steve's death, May

7, he had returned to
the empty police station

after a disagreement with
Chief Carson over some traffic

tickets he had written.

DAVID CARSON: What I told Steve
was, Steve, slow down, son.

You can't catch everybody.

That's not your role.

We don't want you to burn out.

We don't want you working
16 or 18 hours a day.

Just take it easy.

And he seemed a little
down about that.

He wasn't chewed out.

It was just a conversation.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
By 7 o'clock,

Steve was alone at
the station and spoke

with his girlfriend
Michelle in nearby Bosque

Farms, New Mexico.

We were making
plans for the next day

and he said that Chief
Carson yelled at him

and told him to go
back into the station.

So he was kind of
mad about that.

And he said if they want
him to be a security

guard that he would
sit up to the station

and be a security guard.

And while I was talking to him
I heard the a lady's voice come

in and he muffled the phone.

And I couldn't
hear what was said,

but it sounded like
he was getting loud

and she was yelling at him.

And he said it was no big
deal and he said he had to go.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Approximately 45 minutes

later at 7:45, Chief
Carson received

word that Steve had been shot.

DAVID CARSON: I saw no
evidence of any confrontation

where there were shots fired.

Nothing.

And from an average
person's point of view

it was, apparently, a suicide.

Oh, there is no way.

Steve loved life.

He was happy, he was doing
what he always wanted to do.

That was not--
that was not Steve.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Chief Carson

believes that if Steve's
death wasn't a suicide,

then it was accidental.

DAVID CARSON: There
was information

that came to us that he was
prone to play with his gun.

I can see the
possibility that perhaps

he was playing with his gun.

And I think that, that probably
is the strongest possibility

in Steve Sandlin's death.

The possibility of it
going off is tremendous.

Maybe a few years ago
Steve would have played

with a weapon, but
I don't believe

he would have played with
it in this particular stage

of his life.

Let's look at
the gunshot wound.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): The
results of the Steve's

autopsy were inconclusive.

Some believe that
the gun may have

been as much as two feet
away from Steve's head

when it was fired--

an unusual distance for
a self-inflicted wound.

Secondly, there were
only insignificant traces

of gun powder found
on Steve's hand--

an unusually small amount if
Steve had fired the fatal shot.

Despite this information,
the Attorney General's Office

refused to rule out suicide.

dissatisfied, Steve's
family conducted

their own investigation.

I feel that
Steven was murdered.

I feel that he was
murdered because he

knew too much about something.

Steve's death was a homicide.

I think they killed him to
keep him quiet of something

he may have known that was
going on down in Mountainair.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
The family's

investigation uncovered
one possible motive

for Steve's murder.

After only a few
weeks of active duty

Steve had begun to patrol
alone and would sometimes

wait outside local bars in order
to apprehend drunk drivers.

Sir, I'm going to need to see
your driver's license, please.

Sir, you're going to have
to step out of the car.

Put your left hand outside and
open the door from the outside.

Come out.

Shut the door.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): On
the night of April 11,

just one month before his death,
Steve arrested a local resident

and made an important discovery.

Is this yours?

Sir, I'm placing
you under arrest

for possession of marijuana.

Put your hands on the car.

On the car.

Spread your legs.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
The following day

a warrant was obtained.

The man's home was searched.

54 pounds of marijuana was
discovered, with a street

value of close to $100,000.

Within days of the arrest,
Steve received death threats.

Alarmed, he refused
to sleep at his home.

There were number
of deaths threats.

I didn't dismiss them.

However, it wasn't
possible to trace

these threats-- the
mysterious phone

calls, these kind of things.

We we're all familiar with
these type of threats,

especially after we started
arresting drug dealers

and so forth they
became more amplified.

So how long have you
been with the Mountainair--

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
During this time,

the New Mexico
Attorney General's

Office was investigating reports
that the Mountainair police had

carelessly handled evidence.

Steve had been questioned
by investigators the day

before his death.

The last time I
spoke to Steven, Steven

indicated that
there was something

going on that he did not agree
with down in Mountainair.

He asked me what would
I do in that situation

and I basically told
him to tell the truth.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
After his death,

Steve's house had been
searched by the authorities.

Three days later his family
arrived in the Mountainair

to collect his belongings.

These bowls are really pretty.

Do you know where he
got them Michelle.

EILEEN SANDLIN: Michelle
and I were in the kitchen

and she opened a drawer.

Ed, Ed, come here.

EILEEN SANDLIN: What
we found in the drawer

were several bags of marijuana.

And Ed looked at us
and said, they've

already searched this house.

What's this stuff doing here?

He said they couldn't
possibly have missed this.

And they couldn't have.

You just open the
door and there was.

It wasn't hidden.

It wasn't disguised in any way.

It was just there.

The only reason
that I could think

of it being there was someone
had made an attempt to make

Officer Sandlin look bad--

or possibly, the police
department look bad, but I'm

convinced that the evidence--

that marijuana--
was planted there

after Steve Sandlin's death.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Steve always

recorded his traffic stops
on a small cassette recorder.

In her search, Steve's
mother discovered

that all of these mini
cassettes were missing.

What happened to
these potentially

incriminating cassettes?

And who put the marijuana
inside Steve's home?

This whole case is
like a big spider web.

It just-- and it has tentacles.

You go one direction and there's
five more places to look.

Several witnesses were
found who stated that they saw

Chief Carson parked, or
outside the Mountainair

Police Department between
7:15 and 7:25, or thereabouts.

We're not talking one,
two, but several people

place him there at that time.

Anyone who would make
the statement officially

that I was in the area, or here
at the police station, any time

between 7 and 7:30 is a liar.

I was in the company--

and it's very easy to analyze
where I was-- in the company

of 200 to 300 people
at a public function

at the Mountainair High School.

And there are a number
of people that I

was there with and
spoke with that can

place me there at that time.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): There
are many disturbing questions

involved in this case.

If Steve was murdered,
why was he killed

inside the police station?

Why was marijuana
discovered in his house

after a thorough police search?

And perhaps most
importantly, do Steve's

fellow officers
know more than they

are telling about his death.

When I was offered
the opportunity--

when I had the
opportunity, I did

agree to take a lie detector
test for the Federal

Bureau of Investigation.

Their questions about
the Sandlin death

were very specific.

I was more than happy
to do that-- to get

the opportunity to do it.

I spoke with Director Nelson--

with the Special Agent in
charge, Nelson in Albuquerque.

After that polygraph was given
and his official statement was

that the Federal
Bureau of Investigation

has no reason to believe there
was any attempt to deceive

them on my part whatsoever.

I don't know if it's cronyism.

I don't know if there's
other people involved.

I don't know-- and
no one's telling us.

That's the main frustration, is
that there are things that we

know and can't
understand why things

are not being done about them.

If there's anyone--
anyone at all--

who has any
information we would be

so eternally grateful
to know that so that we

can put our son to rest.

[music playing]

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): Today
one of the front lines

on the war on drugs is
inside illicit laboratories

such as this.

Using commonly
available chemicals,

the operators of these
small mobile labs

manufacture the highly
addictive methamphetamines known

as Meth, crank, or crystal.

Tonight police need your help
arresting one of the most

notorious of these Meth cooks.

According to
investigators he has

masterminded the construction
of methamphetamine labs

across the country.

KURT BARTHEL: His
normal mode of operation

would be to have any one of his
cronies set up a lab for him--

just basically have
all the chemicals

and all the necessities on
hand so when he shows up

he would not have to do any
manual labor type operations.

He just gets right to the
cook and gets it done,

and gets out of the area and
takes his rewards with him.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
34-Year-old

Jonathan John Brown,
also known as Thumper,

is a charter member
of a motorcycle

gang known as the Hessians.

Currently he is a
federal fugitive

with outstanding
warrants in California,

Tennessee, and Oregon.

Brown managed to elude detection
until November of 1987,

when after a lengthy stakeout he
was tracked to one of his labs

near Lancaster, California.

HENRY COSTALES: On
this particular day

we observed Jonathan John
Brown carrying six, five

gallon containers of acetone.

He had about 30 gallons
of acetone-- which

is quite a sizable amount.

And by the fact that he
had such a sizable quantity

would indicate to us that
this was a sizable Meth lab.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): As
Brown pulled away in his truck

the police closed in.

Out of the car.

Hands on the roof.

Move faster.

HENRY COSTALES (VOICEOVER): He
told us that the acetone belong

to another subject
and that he was merely

delivering the chemicals.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER): Thumper
was arrested and booked

temporarily on charges
stemming from his possession

of a small amount
of methamphetamine

and for some outstanding
traffic citations.

After his arrest a search
warrant was obtained

and police discovered a sizable
clandestine methamphetamine

laboratory, but by the time more
serious charges could be filed,

Thumper had been freed on bond.

Be careful.

Don't touch anything.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
He then vanished.

HENRY COSTALES (VOICEOVER):
Methamphetamine on a street,

coming directly from a lab,
would sell for approximately

$10,000 a pound.

They could have very
easily produced anywhere

in the neighborhood
from 50 to 100

pounds of methamphetamine
finished product

from this location.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Police estimated

that with the chemicals on
hand with this crude lab

could have manufactured
amphetamines

with a street value
of between one and 1

and 1/2 million dollars.

February of 1988, Thumper
had managed to elude police

when an informant
told investigators

that he was hiding
out at a remote drug

lab near Medford, Oregon.

We were not exactly
sure what we were

going to find in the house.

We had intelligence that there
was a good deal of weaponry

in the house and that
these people were to be

considered quite dangerous.

Immediately upon forcing the
door open with the door ram,

the entering team received
gunfire from inside.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Two police were wounded

and one Hessian was killed.

The battle ended
when police threw

tear gas into the premises.

The people in the
house surrendered.

When the officer
searched the property

they found various drugs and
a crude lab, but no Thumper.

KURT BARTHEL: In conducting
interviews with the neighbors,

I was able to find
out that Thumper was

a regular on the premises
that stayed there quite

often and normally for
long periods of time

and was there as early as
one day prior to the raid,

and that if the raid would
have been done one day earlier

we would have captured him too.

NARRATOR (VOICEOVER):
Brown travels

alone and has helped
set up his illicit labs

across the country.

He keeps a low
profile, but seldom

goes anywhere without his large,
Neapolitan, bull, mastiff dog.

Jonathan John Brown
is six feet in height

and weighs 190 pounds.

He has a pockmarked complexion,
and brown hair, and brown eyes.

He also supports several
distinctive tattoos.

Both arms feature in an
iron cross behind a skull

with a knife through
it and one on his chest

reads Hessians a West Coast.

[music playing]

Join me next week for another
edition of Unsolved Mysteries.

[music playing]