All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S03E10.480p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-PLAYREADY_track3_[und]

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.

ROBERT STACK: In Mississippi,
a hike in the woods

ends in tragedy when
17-year-old Norman

Ladner is shot and killed.

The local coroner rules
the death a suicide.

Norman Ladner's
parents are convinced

that their son was murdered.

At a lonely highway
restaurant, truck driver

Dwayne McCorkendale
was brutally gunned

down in cold blood for $25.

Perhaps you can help
find his killers.

More than a century ago,
a mysterious carpenter

arrived at a tiny chapel
in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

He left behind a wondrous
legacy, a magnificent spiral

staircase and vanished.

Was he just an
itinerant craftsman?

Or as the nuns believed,
God's answer to their prayers?

Nyleen Marshall
disappeared during a picnic

seven years ago.

She is now 12 and
a man who claims

to be holding her
has mailed taunting

letters to the authorities.

Also tonight, a poignant
update on our story

about a 7-year-old girl
who made a solemn vow

to a sick friend 21 years ago.

Thanks to our viewers,
Nikki Crowder's

finally fulfilled
her promise, and we

filmed their joyous reunion.

Join me for another edition
of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]

Norman Charles Ladner of
Picayune, Mississippi,

was a third child and eldest
son in a family of seven.

He was a senior in high
school, a good student,

and a skilled craftsman
with his own workshop

in the family barn.

On August 21st,
1989, Norman left

his parents' country store to
go hunting on the family farm.

It was a muggy summer
day that apparently

began like any other.

MR. LADNER: Norman knew
our property very well.

It's fenced on all four sides,
even though it's 122 acres.

It has some of the pasture
land with about 60 acres

or more timber and woods.

So he knew most
every foot of it.

He'd walked it a
number of times.

MRS. LADNER: He loved to fish.

He loved to hunt.

He loved to be among the wild
animals and the squirrels.

He would come back so excited
when he would see a young deer

in the back pasture.

It was just his fascination and
love of being out there where

it was peaceful and quiet.

Norman would always be back
by 7:00 to 7:30 in the afternoon

or in the evening without
fail to help sweep up

and mop up the store
and restock the coolers.

And about 7 o'clock,
I began to get worried

about him, because
he was very punctual

and it was most unusual.

You could almost set
your clock on him.

That's the type of
young man he was.

Very punctual.

Charlotte, Norman's
not back yet and I'm

getting a little worried.

Yeah, I went down to the barn,
and he's not there either.

Look, bring the dog and
meet me at the farm.

We'll go look for him

I helped to some
degree in the search,

but then I decided that
it would be best if I

waited at the store for him.

Perhaps if he was lost, he
could come to the store.

Or if he was limping from
a snake bite or whatever,

he would come to
the store first.

And I felt my place
should be there.

Norman!

Norman.

Norman!

Robert!

I found him.

I knelt down by
him, and I felt him.

I felt he was cold, so I knew
he'd been dead for a while.

It's a deep shock
and a tragedy to come

up on and find your own son.

Because you could never imagine
or think of how this could

happen or the loss of
a child until you've

experienced or gone through it.

ROBERT STACK: Just after 10
PM, the Pearl River County

Sheriff's Department
cordoned off the death scene

and began an investigation.

SHERIFF LUMPKIN: Foul
play is the first thing

that I normally address in the
course of an investigation.

I ruled it out in this
instance because I saw

nothing there to indicate that.

The gun was apart
like that, right?

Yes sir.

If you notice, it's been
broken and repaired before.

SHERIFF LUMPKIN:
At first I thought

it might have been an accident.

In viewing the scene, it
looked as though he might have

been in a tree nearby
and subsequently

fallen out of the tree and
the gun discharged, et cetera.

MRS. LADNER: After they found
him, a deputy came to the store

and approached the door.

And he looked at me as if trying
to find the right words to tell

a mother that her son was dead.

And I said, is he dead?

And he said, yes.

I can tell you it's the
most shattering experience

anyone can go through.

MR. LADNER: We felt
that it was an accident.

And even when the car
came back to the store

after the results
of his examination,

he came up with
two deputies and he

said he felt that it
was 90% sure that it

was an accidental shooting.

ROBERT STACK: The
case of Norman Ladner

became a living
nightmare for his parents

when the coroner
issued his findings.

He officially ruled
their son's death

a suicide caused by a close
contact wound in which

the bullet had entered
at Norman's right temple

and exited at his left.

Imagine for a moment that you
are Norman Ladner's parents.

You understand the coroner
to say that your son's

death is an accident.

This is, at best,
difficult to accept.

But it becomes nearly impossible
to accept when you're told it

is not an accident after all.

Your son has committed suicide.

It was impossible
for it to be a suicide.

I knew my son too well.

He enjoyed and he lived
life to the fullest.

He was happy.

He was outgoing.

He was not depressed in any way.

And he had too many
things going for him.

The results of that
autopsy is what I base

my findings as to believing that
it was a self-inflicted wound.

I think that he went
back into an area

where he felt comfortable,
he enjoyed going,

and for reasons that I
don't know, we don't know,

that he decided
to take his life.

We believe the boy was
standing when shot was fired

because of his body
position in relation

to the gun at the scene.

They made no attempt
to locate the bullet.

They never
fingerprinted the gun.

They cannot say with any facts
that his gun was the weapon

that was used to kill him.

Even with their
ruling of suicide,

I still believe that
it was an accident.

And for several
weeks we did nothing

about it until we started to
piece the jigsaw together.

Then we realized that it was
definitely not a suicide.

As a matter of fact, it
definitely was not an accident.

ROBERT STACK: One particular
item in the coroner's report

made no sense to the Ladners.

The corner described a 1
and 1/4 inch long laceration

on the very top
of Norman's head.

If Norman had
committed suicide, how

would he sustain such a wound?

The coroner and the
pathologist found

this jacket at the death scene.

They say it was
spattered with blood

and believed the root
caused the laceration.

We didn't see how that
could happen, because falling

straight back you would
hit your head on the side

or directly in the back, not
up in the crown of your head

up in the peak of his head.

ROBERT STACK: Because
the authorities had never

found the bullet
that killed Norman,

the Ladners began their
own investigation.

They dug through the
earth in the area

where their son had fallen.

MRS. LADNER: And I remember
so well the feeling that I had

of having to sift through
the dried particles of brain

tissue and blood of my son.

We found a bullet that
was longer than the bullet

that Norman's gun would hold.

The chamber was not bored out
for the length of that bullet.

And the bullet was intact.

It had a slight twist on
it, and it had a nick on it.

And it had blood stains,
dried blood, and a hair

that we examined under
the magnifying glass.

We have no way of knowing
where that bullet came from.

We don't have any
reason to believe

that it was the
bullet that was fired

that caused the boy's death.

Mainly because we feel that the
boy was standing at the time

the gun was fired.

And if that being the case
would the direction of travel

that the pathologist says
the bullet had taken,

it would not have been in the
ground underneath his head.

Finding the bullet
indicated that our son

was not in a standing
position when he was killed.

The bullet was retrieved
out of the ground, which

the bullet was
embedded about two or 2

and 1/2 inches in the ground.

And we came to the conclusion
that he was lying on the ground

and he was shot by someone
in a standing position.

ROBERT STACK: A state
ballistics expert

was unable to determine
whether the bullet had

been fired by Norman's rifle.

He returned the
bullet to the Ladners,

but they say it is not
the one they found.

Three weeks after
their son's death,

the Ladners went to
the coroner's office

to question his ruling.

According to Mrs.
Ladner, a stranger

interrupted the conversation.

May I speak to you over
here for a minute, please?

MRS. LADNER: As we were
a distance away, he said,

Mrs. Ladner, don't
open this case up.

You have other children.

I suggest you raise
them for your own good.

You'll never find the
person that killed your son

and then he left.

My reaction to that statement
was that it was a warning.

That we would experience
some type of problems

if we would
investigate this case.

But my feeling on this issue
is that this was my son,

and I will not back down
under any circumstances.

ROBERT STACK: Undaunted,
Norman's father

returned to the area where
his son had died two.

Hey, come here.

ROBERT STACK: 300
yards away, he found

a strange radio-like device
that looked homemade.

I wonder what that is?

I don't know.

It's from up there.

MR. LADNER: We figured we had a
piece of evidence of some sort

that we must try to find
somebody that knew what it was.

ROBERT STACK: State authorities
felt it was not important clue,

but a neighbor suggested he
take it to an ex-narcotics agent

living in the area.

The former DEA agent said
that this was a type of device

that drug dealers used to
signal aircraft by sending out

a low range signal for
the proper alignment

to drop a shipment of drugs.

Well, that led me to
speculate that Norman possibly

came upon someone picking up a
shipment of drugs on our land.

And possibly, this was the
reason he was murdered.

That he would have recognized
the person or persons.

SHERIFF LUMPKIN: I
don't think that that's

what happened in this case.

It's very hard to
accept a death, period.

It's that much harder
to accept a suicide.

It's my feeling that
if this case was ruled

an accidental death
today, they would

say nothing else about it.

ROBERT STACK: What
really happened

to young Norman Ladner?

Authorities continue to stand
by the coroner's ruling.

Norman's parents refuse
to believe that their son

could have killed himself.

This stays with you
almost constantly,

almost 24 hours a day.

And every waking hour
you think about this.

It's a part of us
that's missing,

and it's a great deal of strain
knowing that he was murdered

and nothing has been done to
bring his murderers to justice.

We have to proceed.

We will not stop this
investigation no matter

what until it is finished.

We owe it to our son, and
we owe it to our children.

We owe it to ourselves, and we
owe it to the other people's

children out there as well.

We want to know what
happened to our son.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: In 1969,
seven-year-old Niki Crowder

was hospitalized in Los
Angeles, California,

to have several tumors
removed from her throat.

There she met eight-year-old
Charita Lynn Hardy.

Charita had a rare and
dangerous form of cancer.

I like your flowers.

Thank you.

NIKI CROWDER: I looked
up to her, because one,

she was older, and
she was there first.

So she kind of initiated me of
what-- being in a new place,

a new atmosphere.

Let's have a race.

ROBERT STACK: In the
days that followed,

a warm and caring
friendship blossomed

between the two girls.

NIKI CROWDER: There was
a bond there, because we

mattered to one another.

We looked out for what went on.

And we had something
in common, and that

was our illnesses itself.

ROBERT STACK: A few
weeks after they met,

Charita underwent several
hours of grueling surgery.

Mommy, is this
going to happen to me?

No, honey, this isn't
going to happen to you.

She has a different
type of operation

than you're going to have.

NIKI CROWDER: So that's when
my mother explained to me

that Charita had had a
very, very delicate surgery,

and that she wouldn't
be able to have kids.

And I remember feeling
like, oh, that was just

the worst thing in the world.

ROBERT STACK: That
night, Niki did

her best to comfort her friend.

I'm sorry you're
feeling so bad.

Does it hurt?

I said, you don't have to cry,
because if I ever have a baby,

I said, you can
share it with me,

and we can both be its mommy.

I said, and I'll even
name it Charita after you.

Don't worry.

ROBERT STACK: Five
weeks later, Niki

was released from the hospital.

The two friends never
saw each other again.

Today Niki is the mother of a
beautiful three-year-old girl.

She wants to christen
her daughter Charita

and keep the promise
she made in 1969.

I promise.
I'll name her after you.

ROBERT STACK: A few minutes
after Niki's story aired,

we learned that
Charita Lynn Harding

was alive and well and
living in Oklahoma.

We immediately contacted
Niki with the good news.

Just 10 days after our
broadcast, and more than 21

years after they said goodbye,
Charita Lynn Harding and Niki

Crowder were finally reunited
in Niki's home in Los Angeles.

I can't believe it.

It's been a long time.

I'm so glad to see you.

I'm so glad you're alive.

CHARTIA HARDING: I don't think
Niki has changed that much.

She was always a
caring, giving person.

It seems like she
still is the same.

She would have to be to try
to find me in all these years

and to be so
persistent about it.

PASTOR: Father, in
the name of Jesus,

watch up over this child.

Protect her all of
the days of her life.

ROBERT STACK: On
October 20, 1990,

Niki Crowder was finally
able to fulfill her promise.

NIKI CROWDER: A child
is a gift you can't buy.

It's the most perfect
gift in the world.

And it comes from God, and
nobody should be deprived

of that whether they
have it naturally

or can share it with
somebody, you know.

That's something that I
wanted to share with Charita.

Because of all the joy
and strength she gave me,

I could give her back
something that she missed.

PASTOR: Lord, bless
them even as godparents,

cause your Spirit
to rest upon them.

CHARITA HARDING: Being a
godmother is special to me,

because I don't have any kids.

And I know this has given me
like a child I can of my own

that I can share.

I'm just honored,
so I'll try to live

up to it the best that I can.

NIKI CROWDER: I'm very happy.

Very happy that I found Charita.

And now I can go on, and I
can go on a positive note

because she's alive.

And I'd just like to
say thanks to everybody.

PASTOR: I christen thee
Charita Kennedy Crowder.

[police sirens]

ROBERT STACK: November 12,
1988, Chandler, Oklahoma,

an anonymous caller
reported seeing

a body of a man
lying beside a phone

booth at a highway rest stop.

At approximately 8:00 p.m.

the Oklahoma Highway Patrol
arrived on the scene.

The man had been murdered.

Coins were scattered
about his body.

The dead man was
Dwayne McCorkendale,

a 27-year-old truck driver
and father of twin girls

from Kansas City, Kansas.

He had been killed by a
single shotgun blast fired

at close range into his back.

The apparent motive, robbery.

JOAN: If Dwayne had been
killed in an accident

I could have stood
it a lot better.

It seems so ironic that
he was killed for money,

when the last thing
a trucker will do

is carry very much
for that very reason.

ROBERT STACK: Boston
to Bakersfield,

San Antone to Seattle, every
day thousands of big rigs travel

the highways and back
roads of America.

Though they come from
many walks of life,

truckers have one
thing in common--

Hey, this is
Double Whammy hitting

the back of Kansas City.
Come on back.

ROBERT STACK: CB
radios, their lifeline

to the rest of the world.

Well, [inaudible]
two baby girls

waiting for me back there.

ROBERT STACK: But for
Dwayne McCorkendale,

an idle conversation
over the airwaves

may have signed
his death warrant.

Dwayne's final run
began like any other.

On November 10th, 1988, he
left Detroit, Michigan en route

to Oklahoma City.

McCorkendale
made a regular run

bringing parts to an Oklahoma
City automobile plant.

We have no reason
to believe anything

was different that night.

He enters the
turnpike, he's given

a ticket with the time on it.

And through that ticket,
we're able to determine

that he made no other stops.

He drove directly from the
turnpike gate to the rest area.

ROBERT STACK: Other truckers
reported that at approximately

5:45 PM, Dwayne
McCorkendale told

them he was stopping at
the Chandler rest stop

to call his wife.

Yeah, I'm going to pull
over here at this rest area

and call the wife, and see
how things are back at home.

We'll catch you
on the other side.

We'll see you later.

It's Double Whammy,
we gone, bye, bye.

PAUL RENFROW: We theorize that
someone had been listening

to him on the CB and
actually followed him

into that rest area
or perhaps it was

already there waiting for him.

It looked like he was
walking up to the telephone

perhaps counting change
out in his hands,

since there was change there
at the base of the phone booth,

and was killed as he
stepped up to make the call.

Whoever was involved in this
killed McCorkendale just

shot him in the back, and he was
dead before he hit the ground.

It killed him instantly.

Then, checked him to see
if he had any money on him,

any valuables at all.

So people like that
are, to us, scary,

because those type of
people in our minds

are very likely to do it again.

And that's why we've placed
so much emphasis on this case.

What have we got, Tom?

ROBERT STACK:
Investigators determined

that the only item
that was missing

were Dwayne's keys
and his wallet.

They estimate that the killer's
take was no more than $25.

JOAN: Being killed
for that little money

seems ridiculous,
especially when

I know that if they
had come up to him

in any threatening manner,
he would have handed it over.

Early on in the
investigation, I

hate to say we were at a dead
end, but our leads were thin.

They were very thin.

One of the things that
the agent started doing

is he started putting
notices in the trucker

magazines across
the United States,

and the calls started coming in.

ROBERT STACK: Within
days, investigators

received reports
about a brown Ford

Pinto equipped with a CB radio.

Several truckers told
of a dangerous game

of cat and mouse.

PAUL RENFROW: At the time
of the McCorkendale death,

we have reports that the Pinto
was driving very erratically

on the highway trying
to cut 18-wheelers off.

Hey, man, what do
you think you're doing?

Trying to get somebody
hurt out there?

MAN (ON CB): Well,
you don't know who

you're messing with good buddy.

We'll drive anyway we want.

Hey, man, ain't no way.

[inaudible]

Behave out here.

You're going to
get somebody hurt.

MAN (ON CB): So?

We've already
killed one trucker.

And we'll kill another
if you stand in our way.

PAUL RENFROW: Then when the
truck driver would call them

on the CB, they were abusive.

They said that leave us
alone or we'll do to you what

we did to this other trucker.

ROBERT STACK: Three weeks later,
authorities received a call

from trucker Ed Heitkamp.

He was breaking for
lunch at a rest stop

when he was approached
by a young woman

who was acting strangely.

Hey, there.

How you doing?

All right.

Mister, you got any
dope you can let us have?

We really need something.

ED HEITKAMP: She was, uh,
well, I hate to say it,

but she looked kind of trashy.

I mean, it looked like
she had been on something,

and she was just awful shaky.

Well, me-- me
and my friend, we,

uh, visiting we've been down
to Texas visiting some friends.

We're trying to get
back to Alabama.

Can you help us find
the road to get there?

ED HEITKAMP: I kind of
turned to reach to get a map.

The next thing, she's
got her whole front

half inside the truck.

We just need a few bucks.

I really need something bad.

ED HEITKAMP: Well,
then she started asking

if I could spare some money.

She needed a fix awful bad.

I said I wasn't about to
give her none for that.

Uh, look, can you--

About that time this
brown Pinto pulled up.

And she jumped down off the
truck and headed for the car,

and they took off.

ROBERT STACK: The next
day, just 13 miles

south on the same highway,
Dwayne McCorkendale

was gunned down.

ED HEITKAMP: After
I read that article,

I thought maybe I'm lucky that
I didn't get out of the truck.

Otherwise, I might have been
the one who would have got shot,

because they was desperate.

While we have no way of
knowing if the Pinto was

actually involved
in this or not,

it is without a doubt,
our strongest lead.

And we have got to
locate the Pinto,

and ultimately the people,
to talk to them to see

if-- if nothing else,
we can eliminate them

from this--from this situation.

ROBERT STACK: Dwayne
McCorkendale was murdered

doing the thing he loved best.

But for him, the
freedom of the road

ended in one senseless
and violent split second.

JOAN: Having the twins grow
up knowing their father only

from pictures has been hard.

Because they see
other little girls

and boys with their daddies.

And they've asked
where their daddy is,

and we've had to tell
them that their daddy's

in heaven with Jesus.

Later on, I'm going to
have to find a way to tell

them what somebody did to them.

ROBERT STACK: When we return,
the legend of the miracle

staircase of Santa
Fe, New Mexico.

No one knows who
built this mysterious

and ethereal structure.

[music playing]

Santa Fe, New Mexico, was a
city rich in the tradition

and lore of the Old West.

A century and a half ago,
it was the last outpost

along the Santa Fe Trail,
a bustling, untamed haven

for outlaws, gamblers,
mavericks, and renegades.

In 1852, the Sisters of Loretto,
a religious order in Kentucky

dispatched seven nuns
to bring religion

and education to the frontier.

It was a journey fraught
with danger, harsh weather,

hostile Indians, and disease.

SISTER RITA MARIE: When
they were on their way,

they were attacked by cholera.

One of the sisters died, and
one had to return because she

was too ill to travel.

So five sisters continued
the trip to the West.

ROBERT STACK: Once in
Santa Fe, the sisters

established a school and began
making plans to build a chapel.

Finally, in April
of 1878, the sisters

celebrated the completion of
the Chapel of our Lady of Light.

It still stands today.

More than 20 French
and Italian stonemasons

spent five years
constructing the

magnificent Catholic Chapel.

The sisters were delighted
except for one minor detail.

There was no staircase
leading to the choir loft.

The sisters finally
had their chapel

but no means of ascending
to the music chamber.

MARY JEAN COOK:
Many of the lofts

of churches, early churches, in
New Mexico had no staircases.

They simply leaned a ladder
up, and climbed the ladder

and sang.

But the sisters couldn't climb
a ladder in their long robes,

so they needed a staircase.

ROBERT STACK: A
conventional stairway

was not feasible
as it would require

the removal of too many seats.

SISTER RITA MARIE: Some
carpenters had come in

and looked the situation over,
but shook their heads in dismay

and said there was just no way.

And so they decided they
would not do anything

until they made a
novena to St. Joseph,

the patron of carpenters.

Hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come--

ROBERT STACK: A novena requires
nine days of meditation

and regular prayer.

--as it is in heaven.

Give us this day--

ROBERT STACK: For eight
days the sisters prayed.

Nothing happened.

And forgive us
our trespasses as we

forgive those who
trespassed against us.

ROBERT STACK: On the ninth
and final day of the novena,

a stranger arrived
at the chapel.

Come in, sir.

Mother Superior,
I'm seeking work.

MOTHER SUPERIOR: And
what is your trade, sir?

I'm a carpenter.

We do have need of a stairway
to be built in our chapel.

ROBERT STACK: The sisters let
the stranger attempt what so

many had said was impossible.

They were hopeful their
prayers had been answered.

If the carpenter had a name, it
has long since been forgotten.

According to the
legend, he carried

only three tools, a hammer,
a saw, and a t-square.

Some say he worked for six
months, others say it was more.

When he was finished, he
called the nuns together.

You have your
staircase, he announced,

then he left without being paid
and was never heard from again.

MARY JEAN COOK: The
carpenter, obviously, had

to be a very fine carpenter.

He had to be a master
carpenter to build

the staircase that was
built. Because you see,

there is no center support.

This is what makes that
staircase so extraordinary.

There is no center post.

It rests by its own
geometric balance and design.

It's very steep.

22 feet going around and around,
because it makes two 360 degree

turns.

And once again,
with no center post.

There's a certain springiness
when you walk up it

and you realize you're climbing
a very, very special staircase.

Sisters, I've
counted the stairs.

There's 33, the exact
number of years our Lord

Jesus Christ was on this earth.

SISTER RITA MARIE:
I never failed

to count those steps whenever
I go up or come down,

and it's still 33.

ROBERT STACK: The
sisters planned

a feast for the carpenter.

When he failed to appear,
they searched the town.

The mysterious
stranger was missing.

SISTER RITA MARIE:
Nobody had seen

him nobody knew where he slept.

Nobody ever fed him.

They made a novena
to St. Joseph,

the patron of carpenters.

So it's understandable
that they would

believe St. Joseph did it.

ROBERT STACK: So far as
anyone knows, the carpenter

never returned to Santa Fe.

The chapel is now a
tourist attraction.

Through the years, the mystery
surrounding the staircase

persisted.

Then in 1965 Oscar Hadwiger,
a third generation master

carpenter, visited the chapel.

MARY JEAN COOK: He went in
and he saw the staircase

and, of course, he
was overwhelmed.

Being a builder, any
builder is overwhelmed when

they see this magnificent
piece of carpentry.

And he remembered a
story in the family

that his grandfather
had come to this country

and had built a staircase.

ROBERT STACK: Oscar's
grandfather, Johann Hadwiger

was a renowned
European Carpenter who

spent two years
traveling and working

in Colorado and New Mexico.

It was during that
two-year period

that the spiral
staircase was built.

Oscar Hadwiger became
obsessed with the staircase.

Over the next 10
years, he created

10 perfectly scaled models.

He sent a letter to the sisters
contending that his grandfather

had been the builder.

The sisters were skeptical.

MARY JEAN COOK: The sisters
are indeed surprised,

shocked at his claim
all of a sudden.

And they tell him that perhaps
he can't prove this claim,

and that if he can't prove
it, it might be fraudulent.

SISTER RITA MARIE: They have
nothing except their word

of mouth that he did it.

I really can't--

I don't buy it.

ROBERT STACK: In
1970, Oscar Hadwiger

found what he felt
was proof in a storage

room in his sister's home, he
came across his grandfather's

toolbox.

Inside was a faded sketch
of a spiral staircase.

The drawing was an overhead
view with 33 steps.

Oscar Hadwiger
passed away in 1980.

The sketch was
never authenticated

and has since disappeared.

All that exists today is this
photocopy of the drawing.

As for Johann Hadwiger's tools,
they too have disappeared.

Who was the stranger who
answered the sisters' prayers?

Was it Johann Hadwiger,
the European builder?

Or could it have
been, as the Sisters

of Loretto believed 100
years ago, a messenger

of God on a sacred mission?

Next, a family's
desperate search

for their missing daughter.

And a man who claims he
will never return her.

[music playing]

In 1983, four-year-old
Nyleen Kay Marshall

disappeared while picnicking
with family and friends

near her home in Montana.

For over seven years,
Nyleen's family

has been trapped
by the agony of not

knowing what happened to her.

Nyleen's story is
all too familiar.

Every year thousands of
children in the United States

disappear, and tragically
many of them are never found.

With your help, Nyleen's case
may have a different ending.

Two and 1/2 years
after she disappeared,

authorities received this
letter from an anonymous man

who claims he has Nyleen.

He writes, she's a
sweet little girl.

I realize how much her
family must miss her.

I love her and I have her.

I just can't let her go.

Please watch carefully.

You may know the man
who wrote this letter.

You may even know
Nyleen Kay Marshall.

June 25, 1983, Helena, Montana,
a group of local families

were enjoying a picnic
in a remote wooded area.

Less than 100 yards away, Nyleen
and several other children

were playing on the
banks of a shallow creek.

At around 4:00 PM
Nyleen vanished.

For 10 days, more than 2,800
searchers combed the area.

TIM CAMPBELL: The dogs
were unsuccessful.

The grid search
was unsuccessful.

There was just absolutely
nothing to indicate

that she was even there.

ROBERT STACK:
Authorities were baffled.

Then Nyleen's mother learned
of a chilling possibility.

Some of the children
playing near Nyleen

told her they remembered
seeing a strange man

dressed in a jogging suit.

NANCY MARSHALL: Two little
girls had walked by Nyleen

while she was sitting
there, and a man stepped

out from behind the trees.

And the first little
girl didn't recognize him

as part of the group.

And Nyleen was
heard by her saying,

my brother can run
faster than you.

And she was still sitting there
with her little legs crossed.

A second child, an
eight-year-old girl,

came by and saw the man.

And the man took a
step closer to Nyleen.

Have you ever played
follow the shadow?

What?

Follow the shadow.

NANCY MARSHALL: One of the
little boys, a six-year-old

said that Nyleen had
told him the man had

told her to follow
the shadow, and they

haven't been seen since.

ROBERT STACK: Convinced
that Nyleen was abducted,

Nancy Marshall and
her husband, Ken,

distributed thousands
of missing posters

across the United States.

They received dozens
of reported sightings,

but none could be confirmed.

Then on November 27, 1985, the
case of Nyleen Kay Marshall

took a dramatic turn.

The National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children

received an anonymous
phone call from a man

who claimed he had Nyleen.

Two months later,
an organization

called Child Find of America
received a typewritten

letter from the same man.

In the letter, a man claimed
that he was raising Nyleen.

That he loved her and had no
intention of returning her

to her parents.

TIM CAMPBELL: This man said he
was taking good care of her.

But during this same phone
conversation or same letter

that he would write,
would also make reference

to things that he
was having Nyleen

do which would be sexual abuse.

ROBERT STACK: Over the next six
months, Child Find of America

received two more letters
and another two phone calls.

NANCY MARSHALL:
These phone calls

were coming from the Madison,
Wisconsin area, as were

letters that he was sending.

The FBI, to my
understanding, had actually

located the phone booth that the
phone calls were coming from.

Well, evidently directly after
locating the phone booth,

however, the phone
calls abruptly stopped.

ROBERT STACK: In his letters,
the man reveals a few clues

that might help find Nyleen.

He claims that he lives off
substantial investments,

and that he and Nyleen
travel frequently.

KIDNAPPER (VOICEOVER):
I teach her at home,

and she likes to go
with me when I travel.

She would gladly recount to
you trips to San Francisco, New

York, Oklahoma City, New
Orleans, Nashville, Chicago,

Puerto Rico, or Canada.

We were even in Britain
for a month last year,

and she loved it.

Nobody questions passports.

NANCY MARSHALL: There
were numerous leads

about Nyleen sightings all
over the United States.

Well, that ties in.

If he is, in fact,
traveling, that

would account for the
sightings from one coast

to another coast.

ROBERT STACK: Just
last June, authorities

received another possible
lead in the case.

Nyleen Marshall's uncle saw this
composite of a man and woman

wanted for child abduction in
another part of the country.

He believes he saw them during
the first day of the search

for Nyleen.

TIM CAMPBELL: It's not really
all that unusual for a person

to remain at the scene of a
crime, get lost in a crowd,

and stick around to see what
was going to happen next.

NANCY MARSHALL: I
still look for her.

I always will.

Every time I'm at an
airport, every time

I'm at a resort, every time
I'm at an amusement park.

Sure, I look like I'm
having a good time,

but I'm looking for my child
every minute that I'm out.

ROBERT STACK: Today, Nyleen Kay
Marshall would be 12 years old.

This is a computer
aged photograph

of what she may look like.

At the time of
her disappearance,

she had dark brown
hair and blue eyes.

Once again, the
anonymous man placed

the phone calls from a phone
booth in Madison, Wisconsin.

He states that he now calls
Nyleen by her middle name, Kay.

In his letters, he mentions that
his parents and younger sister

were killed in a
car accident when

his sister was nine years old.

[music playing]

Next week on
"Unsolved Mysteries,"

in Aurora, Missouri, a
prominent citizen is burned

to death in her own home.

A young retarded man named
Johnny Wilson confesses

to the crime but later recants.

Two years later the case
takes a bizarre twist

when another man
confesses to the murder

and says Johnny is innocent.

But Johnny Lee Wilson
is still behind bars.

Two men in a bar fight over a
woman in Edmore, North Dakota.

The next day one of the
combatants, Kenneth Engie

is found dead in his garage.

An accident or murder?

Join me next week.

Perhaps you can help
solve a mystery.

[theme music]