All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S03E14.480p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-PLAYREADY_track3_[und]

ANNOUNCER: 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 (VOICEOVER):
Christmas Day, 1985, a relaxed,

joyful holiday for 28-year-old
Debbie Wolf and her family.

Seven days later, Debbie's body
was found submerged in an oil

can in a pond behind her home.

Police say she
drowned accidentally.

Her mother says it was murder.

80 years ago, a young
mother, Conradina Olsen,

boarded a train in Brookfield,
Wisconsin and vanished.

Now Conradina's grandmother
has uncovered a string

of bizarre clues leading
to an unmarked grave

and more unanswered questions.

1959, Fidel Castro
seizes power in Cuba.

Four years later, former Air
Force pilot, Geoffrey Sullivan

undertakes a clandestine
mission with anti-Castro forces

and disappears somewhere
over the Caribbean Sea.

Sullivan's daughter
has uncovered

evidence that her father may
have been imprisoned in Cuba.

Also tonight we will
update our recent story

of a daring prison escape.

Thanks to our viewers,
a female prison guard

and her jailhouse lover
were tracked down to a motel

in Canada and captured.

Join me, you may be able
to help solve a mystery.

When Debbie Wolf, a 28-year-old
nurse from Fayetteville, North

Carolina disappeared,
her family became

understandably concerned.

It began as a tragic,
but uncomplicated missing

persons case.

But a number of
unanswered questions

hinted at a darker secret.

For Debbie's family
and friends, a police

investigation appeared flawed.

Debbie thought
that helping people

was the best thing in the
world if she could do it.

She thought that if
she could be a nurse,

and she could pay back some
of the kindness and some

of the consideration
that had been given

to her during her
short lifetime,

that maybe she would make her
own mark, and I think she did.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On
Wednesday, December 25, 1985,

Debbie celebrated
a typical family

Christmas at her mother's home.

A day devoted to close
friends and good will.

4:00 PM, the day
after Christmas,

upon completing her
shift at the hospital,

Debbie Wolf left work,
presumably heading home.

The next morning, Debbie
should have been at work.

She had to be at work at 8:00.

Debbie did not go to work.

Debbie did not
answer her telephone.

It wasn't like Debbie at all.

She never missed work.

She would call in
if she was even

going to be a few minutes late.

She would call
and let them know,

but they had had no
word from Debbie,

and I had had no
word from Debbie.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): December 27,

the day after
Debbie disappeared,

Jennie Edwards drove
to Debbie's home

with her husband, John, and a
family friend, Kevin Gordon.

Debbie lived in an
isolated cabin seven

miles outside of Fayetteville.

Because Debbie was unusually
neat and meticulous,

they were surprised by what they
found in and around the cabin.

That seat's pushed way back.

Debbie's car was not parked
where she always parked it.

Look at these beer cans.

We looked around, and we saw
beer cans laying in the yard,

and it was definitely a brand of
beer that Debbie did not drink.

Her dogs were running
loose, as they normally did,

but they had not been fed.

Debbie!

Debbie, are you home, hon?

I don't see her.

There were small
things that were out

of place that Debbie
she would not have

put where they were placed.

There was a uniform laying
on the floor in the kitchen,

things thrown in the
kitchen on the floor,

like maybe she took them off.

It's a uniform.
John.

Yeah?

John.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Kevin
Gordon found Debbie's purse

shoved back under her bed.

Hey, guys, I think I
found Debbie's purse.

Found what?

Her purse?
It is.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It
was way up underneath the bed.

PHONE MESSAGE: Hey, Deb,
missed you here at work today.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
There was also an odd message

on Debbie's answering
machine, recorded earlier

that day before Jenny arrived.

You've been out a lot
of days, making us worry

when you miss another one.

Just wanted to make
sure you're OK.

JENNY EDWARDS: What concerned
me about his message was that

he said that she had missed
a lot of days at work,

and she hadn't.

In fact she had only missed a
few hours at work at the time

that he put the message
on the answering machine.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 50
Feet from the cabin was a pond.

They searched the entire area
and found no trace of Debbie.

Jenny Edwards called
the sheriff's office.

She was told that law
enforcement would become

involved only after 72 hours
had elapsed from the time

of the disappearance.

On Tuesday, December 31,
the sheriff's department

finally conducted a full scale
search, five days after Debbie

had last been seen.

They searched the cabin.

Later that afternoon,
they brought

the bloodhounds out, which
they could find nothing at all.

They then walked around
the edge of the pond.

I was there for that.

And they looked across it.

Granted it's a small pond,
but it's deep in some places

and it's not that small.

I asked if they were going
to put a boat into the water

and at least paddle across it.

They said they didn't know.

It was getting too
late and that they

would let me know the next day.

Of course, some
of the individuals

there that were friends
of the family had been

there a couple of
days prior, had done

some searching on their own.

And I think it was
mentioned that they

had already looked in the pond.

It was no use for
to book in the pond.

So I don't think we
did a dive of the pond

or a complete search of the
pond on that day, no we did not.

At that time,
I asked him if it

would be all right then
if I got my own divers

to go into the pond.

And he said, certainly.

Just follow the shoreline.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
New Year's Day,

1986, Debbie Wolf had now
been missing for six days.

Kevin Gorton and another
friend, Gordon Childress,

returned to the pond.

Both men were familiar
with rescue work.

Gordon dragged the pond,
looking for evidence.

KEN GORTON (VOICEOVER): He was
in the water approximately two

minutes when he called
out to me and told me

they had found what
looked like a set

of footprints and a drag mark.

As he continued to zigzag back
and forth across the pond,

he continued to come
over these tracks.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two
sets of footprints were found

along with the drag marks.

These prints remained
in the mud for weeks.

GORDON CHILDRESS (VOICEOVER):
I went out and went under,

and following the trail,
I was maybe six inches

from the bottom, and just
kind of like coasting

along the bottom after
a good hard kick,

I hit something and
my mask flooded.

It looks like
a body down here.

Are you sure?

Let me double check.

So I went back down
and confirmed the hole.

Spent more time looking,
didn't touch, disturb anything.

I couldn't see above midriff,
because it was inside of a,

looked like a burn barrel.

It was a rusty 55 gallon drum
type thing with holes in it.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): The police

were called to the scene.

The dead woman was
identified as Debbie Wolf.

An autopsy revealed no
trace of drugs or alcohol

in Debbie's system.

There were no obvious
signs of foul play.

The coroner ruled the cause
of death was drowning,

but was unable to determine
exactly when Debbie had died.

A number of discrepancies
soon surfaced,

which led Debbie's family
and friends to believe Debbie

had not drowned.

Kevin, I want you to come
over here and identify the body.

A typical cold water drowning
would be eyes open, mouth open,

hands and arms in a very clawed
state, just a fight for life,

which was quite on the contrary
to the way that Debbie was.

The eyes were closed.

The mouth was closed.

Arms were in a
relaxed state, just

her whole body was relaxed.

She looked like she was asleep.

We theorized that if it
was an accidental drowning,

that at that point, she may
have been out around the pond.

Her dogs were running
loose when the family

members and the sheriff's
department personnel

were there.

Possibly she was playing
with the dogs and fell in.

Another thing that
had struck me funny

was the fact that
Debbie was clean.

The clothes were clean.

You know her face was not
carrying a lot of silt. The day

that me and Gordie
went into the water

and spent maybe 20 minutes, it
took us both about three days

to wash our dive
suits out from just

the accumulation of
the silt and mud that

was in the bottom of that pond.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Police also

began to deny that the body had
been found inside of a barrel.

After the body was
retrieved, and dispatched

to a local hospital, I
walked away from the pond up

to the cabin.

As I was walking away,
they were discussing

how to mark the barrel
and how to bring it out.

And I thought surely
they would do that.

I walked back out of the
cabin about 10 minutes later,

and saw all their cars leaving.

And I asked one of our
friends who were there,

I said what happened?

Do they have the barrel?

And they said, no, they
decided to leave it there.

They'll get it in the morning.

The next day they went
back to get the barrel.

It seems that the
barrel was gone.

All of a sudden it didn't
exist, the same barrel that had

been there the night before.

In my opinion and the opinions
of some of the investigators,

what appeared to be a
barrel to some of the divers

could have been the
field jacket, which

may have ballooned out as
she was laying at that angle

at the bottom of the pond.

There was never a barrel
touched by any of the divers,

according to their statements.

Most definitely,
none of our divers

did we ever touch a barrel.

There There was no
doubt in my mind,

I'm 100% positive that it was
an old burn barrel or something

of that nature, metal,
rusted, 55 gallon type

drum that the body was in.

I remember the barrel that
was sitting by Debbie's cabin.

This is known here
as an oil barrel.

It's a big round metal drum.

Farmers use it
for burning trash.

However, she didn't
use it for that.

Instead we used it
for target practice

when we were out there
shooting pistols.

After I had called law
enforcement that we had located

a body, I went over to the
spot where the barrel was

and the barrel was gone.

The indention of the barrel
was still there on the ground,

but the barrel was
no longer there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A few
months later Jenny discovered

another inconsistency.

When I got a chance to
examine the clothes that

were on Debbie's body, I
looked at them very carefully

and realized that those
were not Debbie's clothes.

The pants were very, very
much too long for Debbie.

The field jacket-- Debbie
had owned a field jacket that

had belonged to her
brother, and that

is a totally different
field jacket than what

was found on the body.

The bra cup size,
three sizes too large

for her, and around
size, it would

be two sizes too large for her.

The shoes, Debbie wore
a lady's size seven,

and these were a men's
size six, which winds up

being about three sizes larger.

I don't know what
clothing belonged to Debbie

or what didn't belong to Debbie.

Of course, her mother would
probably know that information

or have that information
and know more about what

belonged to her than we would.

Of course, as
investigators all we can do

is ask questions and
try to get some answers.

We do know for a fact
through our investigation

that the tennis shoes she
had on were her tennis shoes.

We have photographs of her
with those tennis shoes

on prior to her death.

And that's as much as I want
to comment on the clothing.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Jenny Edwards became convinced

that Debbie had been murdered.

Hi, how are you today?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Among her duties at work,

Debbie was assigned
to coordinating

the hospital volunteers.

I don't want to
go out with you.

I've told you time
and time again.

One volunteer in
particular seemed

to bother her quite a bit
because he had a history

of psychiatric illnesses.

You wait here.

Wait here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
According to Jenny,

the volunteer obtained
Debbie's home phone number.

Hello?

MAN'S VOICE ON PHONE:
Hello, it's me.

Look, I told you I don't want
you calling me here anymore.

MAN'S VOICE ON PHONE:
I want to come over.

You don't even
know where I live.

MAN'S VOICE ON PHONE: Oh
yeah, I know where you live.

I'm coming over now.

Look, I wouldn't--

He was investigated by
the sheriff's department

the night that the body
was brought to the surface.

However, he provided
an alibi and refused

to take a polygraph, so he
wasn't questioned any longer.

He left several days after
that to go out of state.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The second man

suspected by Jenny Edwards
was also a hospital volunteer.

Hey, Deb.

There was another
volunteer at the hospital

at the same time that wanted
to become romantically

involved with Debbie.

Debbie discussed this with
everyone, including him

and told him that she would be
his friend, but nothing else.

She was interested
in someone else

totally away from the hospital.

You know I've got a boyfriend.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Jenny is convinced

that this was the man who
called Debbie the day after she

disappeared, expressing
concern that she'd been

missing from work for days.

MAN'S VOICE ON PHONE: You've
been out a lot of days.

Makes me worried when
you miss another one.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The second suspect

was also questioned by police.

Anyone that the
family requested

that we talk to or interview,
we tried to interview.

Of course, through
the information

we received during
these interviews,

there was nothing
there that we could use

in any criminal prosecution.

There was nothing
there to indicate

to us that this was a homicide.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): What
really happened to Debbie Wolf?

Her mother believes
she was taken hostage

by one of the two suspects,
kept alive for several days,

and finally killed.

Later, she believes someone
returned to the pond

to remove the barrel so
that a ruling of foul play

would be dismissed.

And there are
people out there who

know what happened to Debbie.

They know who's
responsible, and I'm

hoping that they
will come forward

and finally say something.

Debbie was a lovely
person, and she was loved

by very, very many people.

And I think that she has a
right to be put to rest finally.

And I'd like to do that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Next, how viewer tips in Canada

led to the capture of a
woman who allegedly helped

her lover escape from prison.

Last month, we profiled the
case of a corrections officer

from Maryland whose secret love
affair with a prison inmate

changed her from
a devoted mother

into a wanted
fugitive on the run.

Tonight, a dramatic
update to this story.

For ten years, 46-year-old
Sandra Kay Beeman

worked as a prison matron at
a maximum security facility

in Cumberland, Maryland.

30-Year-old Edgar
Kerns was being

held at the Cumberland Prison
while waiting sentencing

on charges of check fraud.

Come on, Eddie, hurry up.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On August 29, 1990,

Edgar Kerns and another
inmate, James Barnes

made a daring escape.

It appeared that they had
taken Kay Beeman hostage.

Authorities were
shocked when they later

learned that Kay Beeman had
actually helped with the escape

and that she was in
love with Edgar Kerns.

I haven't complained, have I?

No, you never really
much have complained.

I guess you maybe fall
in love with somebody

and you do some strange things.

But Kay's pretty well
lost about everything

that she ever had over
this one incident.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Just six hours

after our broadcasr, Sandra
Kay Beeman and Edgar Kerns

were captured in Canada.

On September 10, 12
days after the escape,

Beeman and Kerns checked
into the Beach Motor Motel

in Hamilton, Canada.

They registered as
husband and wife

under the assumed names,
Fred and Sandy Smith.

I was watching TV, and all of
a sudden, this lady's picture

come on.

So I called my wife in.

She was out in the
kitchen ironing.

And I said, do you
recognize this lady?

And she said, yes, she's the
lady that's living in Room 12.

And by this time, the
gentleman come on.

And I said, uh oh, he
also lives in there.

So I reached over immediately
and picked up the phone

and called the police.

When we got to the
Beach Motor Hotel,

the information from the
Mitchells was to the effect

that they hadn't left the room.

And it wasn't their
policy to leave

the room during the evening.

We were convinced they
were still inside the room.

The officers of the
Emergency Response

Unit, which was equivalent to a
swat team forced the door open.

The room was found
to be vacated.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A
witness later told authorities

that he had seen the fugitive
couple getting into a taxi cab

earlier that evening.

We were able to determine
the name of the cab

and a check with the cab
company revealed the driver.

I picked them up at the beach
strip, just up from the motel.

And I asked them
where they were going

and they said the
Red Rose Motel.

When we got to the motel
where the cab driver said

he had taken them,
one of our officers

was able to determine
from the office register

at that location, that
they had in fact booked in

and that Kerns had in
fact used his right name.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A few
minutes later, the Emergency

Response Unit moved in.

OK, let's go.

SGT. MIKE HOLK (VOICEOVER):
Three or four officers

of the Emergency Response
Unit approached the front door

of the motel room.

It was at that
point that someone

from the inside of the room
looked out through the drapes.

He's at the window!

SGT. MIKE HOLK (VOICEOVER):
The officers then forced open

the door and entered the room.

Kerns, he was forced to
the floor of the motel room

and held in a
position of safety.

The female in the
room was in the bed

and her hands were
handcuffed above her head

to the headboard.

At that point, they are both
persons who were arrested.

Kerns was removed by
my partner and myself

and transported to
Central Station.

He wanted to know how we had
learned of his whereabouts.

We asked him if he had ever
seen the program before.

He said, yes, he had.

We told him that he
was on it tonight.

He was astounded.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On October 30, 1990,

Sandra Kay Beeman
and Edgar Kerns

were returned to Maryland.

Next, a woman's search for
her missing grandmother

collides with a mysterious
legend of murder.

Amid the windswept prairie,
near the small town of Ellis,

Missouri lays a
lonely, unmarked grave.

Legend has it as a resting
place of an unknown woman

found murdered near the
railroad tracks years ago.

For as long as
anyone can remember,

the grave has been maintained
by railroad workers,

adorned with flowers
every Memorial Day.

In the past three
years, we have featured

many stories of lost loves.

Our next story also
concerns a missing loved

one, but with an odd twist.

The woman disappeared
80 years ago.

This is a story of
a granddaughter's

relentless search that
has brought her face

to face with a mysterious
legend of murder in a small town

and dark family secrets kept
hushed for nearly 100 years.

Brookfield, Wisconsin,
the early 1900s.

38-Year-old Conradina Olsen said
goodbye to her four children.

Now, Les, you be good.

And Gus, I'll see you tomorrow.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
She told them

she was going to Milwaukee
for a doctor's appointment

and would return
the following day.

Are you sure you don't
want to come along?

No, I'd rather stay here,

Goodbye, children.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Conradina Olsen's family

never saw her again.

For the rest of his life,
Conradina's eldest son, Edwin,

would regret not getting
on the train that morning.

He felt that if he
had went with her,

she would have been back.

She would have
come back to them.

My father, he suffered
for this all of his life.

He couldn't accept why
and how she went away.

He never knew why she went
away and didn't come back.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
In 1983, Geneva Fuchser

began investigating her
grandmother's disappearance,

hoping to find answers to
the questions that haunted

her father his entire life.

She learned that in 1891,
20-year-old Conradina

Heitman married 30-year-old
Carl Olsen, a railroad coachman.

By all accounts, Carl
and Conradina's marriage

was not a happy one.

Would you listen to me
when I'm talking to you?

I want this house clean.

In all of my research, I found
out that my grandfather was,

I don't know if he was abusive
physically to my grandmother,

but I did understand that
he was not good to her.

But back in those days, when
there was a bad marriage,

people didn't get a divorce.

One of the people just walked
away from the marriage.

And this is actually what I
had thought for many years

that had happened to her.

But now I don't.

I feel she was taken.

Something bad had to
have happened to her.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
In September of 1985,

while working at her gift shop
in South Sioux City, Nebraska,

Geneva had a bizarre encounter
with one of her customers.

From this chance meeting,
a startling possibility

began to emerge.

This was a quiet day, at,
oh, I suppose around noon,

this lady come into my store.

I knew there was something
different about her,

but I couldn't
grasp what it was.

And she walked around a bit.

I usually let people walk around
my store, so I don't bug them.

And so she came up around the
counter and we got to talking,

and she told me her
name was Susanna.

I'm looking for a Pegasus.

Pegasus?

And she says,
well, I'm a psychic.

Well, no, I'm a psychic.

And just, out of
a clear blue sky,

she said, you want to ask
me about your grandmother,

don't you?

And I was amazed.

I said, yes.

And she said, do
you have anything

of your grandmother's here?

And I said, yes.

I said, I have a
marriage license

and I have their
wedding picture.

And she closed her eyes and
she says, now don't talk.

Be very quiet.

And then all of a
sudden, she said,

I can see her boarding a train.

I can see children crying.

I can see her being beaten.

And I feel that your grandfather
knows what happened to her.

It just kind of sent
shivers down my spine.

I was flabbergasted.

I thought, I don't believe this.

How could she know?

How could she know this
about my grandmother?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Later, in Susanna's office,

Geneva was given more possible
clues about her grandmother's

disappearance.

I'm going to have you
start by signing your name.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Susanna

told Geneva that she
would soon be receiving

a packet of old letters.

The letters would pinpoint
the year that Geneva's

grandmother disappeared.

Ellis has something
to do about where

she is at this point.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
She also told Geneva

that the name Ellis was somehow
connected to the disappearance,

and that her grandmother was
buried in an unmarked grave.

--that she got on the train--

And she says, also, I
see within a year's time,

you will be getting a letter
from an unknown source yet

not heard from, somebody
you don't even know of,

that is going to tell
you where this grave is.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Incredibly,

several weeks later,
Susanna's first predictions

seemed to come true.

Thank you.

Within two months time, I did
get a packet of old letters

and pictures also.

There was many of them
from in the 1800s.

And within these old
letters, it states

there was some dissension
in the marriage,

and it also states that the
last known heard from her

was around 1910.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Encouraged

by this new
information, Geneva sent

a letter detailing her search
to a Midwestern newspaper.

The editors found
the story interesting

and printed the letter.

I got in contact
with Geneva when

I read a piece in
a monthly magazine

that she was looking
for her grandmother.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Bill Carpenter wrote to Geneva

and told her of the unmarked
grave near Ellis, Missouri.

He says there's quite a
story about this death.

Off And he says, it
is an unmarked grave

and it's along the
railroad right of way.

And when he said it's along
the railroad right of way,

I couldn't believe it.

I just-- tears come to my eyes.

I just wanted to cry.

Now this was another prediction
of Susanna's that came true.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): At
the turn of the century Ellis,

Missouri was a
small farming town.

According to local legend,
a fashionably dressed woman

got off the train at Ellis.

How dare you?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): She
was seen arguing with a man.

Witnesses reported
that it appeared

to be a lover's
quarrel, that the couple

stormed east down the tracks.

The man was later seen
returning to the station alone.

He boarded another
train and left town.

Three days later, the
woman's body was discovered

alongside the train tracks.

She had been murdered.

There was nothing to
identify the woman

to reveal where she had come.

According to the
legend, railroad workers

buried the woman in
a field a few yards

from where she was found.

I want to think this is
my grandmother's grave.

In my heart, I think it is.

And I don't know
what else could have

happened to my grandmother.

I think with all my
research, I would have

found out something, anything.

But this is what it has led to.

And all of these predictions
have all come here.

They've all-- how could
this not be my grandmother.

I certainly wish her well
in finding her grandmother,

but I remain rather skeptical
about the story because

of the fact that we
have newspaper articles

about the unknown grave
dating from before 1910,

when her grandmother
apparently disappeared.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
This newspaper article

does seem to discount
Geneva's conclusion.

It was published in 1888,
22 years before Conradina

Olsen disappeared.

It describes a dead woman as
being less than 20 years old.

Conradina Olsen was
38 when she vanished.

40 years ago, I
talked to an 85-year-old

man that had worked for the
railroad all of his life.

And he said that the lady that
they found along the tracks

was approximately in her 30s.

I feel that it is
her grandmother.

That's my feeling.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
If the woman found

murdered alongside the railroad
tracks was Conradina Olsen,

then who was the man
seen arguing with her

at the Ellis train station?

At the time my grandmother
disappeared, I've always

heard the story that
my grandfather also

went away for a period of time.

I don't want to believe
that my grandfather

did anything with her.

I don't believe he did.

I don't want to believe it.

But the way this is
all coming about,

I don't know what
to think about it.

Until I find for sure,
this is my grandmother,

I will always have that
doubt of not knowing,

and I want to know, not only
for myself, but for my father.

I'm going to find her.

I feel that there's somebody out
there that knows what happened

to her and I just want to know.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
When we return,

the disappearance of an
American pilot apparently

on an anti-Castro
mission in Latin America.

One eyewitness claims he
was imprisoned in Cuba.

September 23, 1963,
Waterbury, Connecticut.

28-year-old Geoffrey Sullivan,
a former Air Force pilot,

prepared to depart on a
mysterious covert mission.

SHERRY SULLIVAN: The
way my mom relates it,

my father was supposed to
come back in five days.

Give you a call soon
as I get a chance to.

SHERRY SULLIVAN: I don't
know if he was nervous,

but he gave her his
St. Christopher medal,

which he wore all the time.

He explained to her that
this would be his last trip.

I'm going to miss you.

Miss you too.

Not because he
wasn't coming back,

but because he didn't want
to be involved in this type

of operation anymore.

He took off that morning.

And that was the last
time she ever saw him.

He never came back.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Four
days later, Geoffrey Sullivan

disappeared over the Caribbean.

The mystery of what happened
during those four days

still haunts his daughter.

Sherry Sullivan was seven years
old when she lost her father.

Today sherry is a
private investigator

living in Bangor, Maine.

For the past six years, she
has sifted through a labyrinth

of bureaucratic red
tape and false leads,

hoping to uncover the
truth of her father's fate.

No one wanted to say
he wasn't coming back.

As it rolled into the years,
it was the kind of thing

that just wasn't talked about.

I mean, no one knew what to say.

And none of us were
ever allowed to go

through a grieving process
because as far as we

were concerned, he wasn't dead.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Geoffrey Sullivan enlisted in

the Air Force when he was 18.

In 1957, he earned his wings.

Two years later, Sullivan
received an honorable discharge

and became a freelance
commercial pilot.

That same year, Fidel Castro's
revolution triumphed in Cuba.

The Communist
threat was now only

90 miles from American shores.

Almost overnight, both
US government backed

and independent
covert operations

were launched to
undermine Castro's regime.

One of the men involved
in these operations

was 37-year-old Alex
Rorke, a journalist

and photographer from New York.

By writing a series of
articles about Cuban exiles,

Rorke became active in
the campaign to overthrow

Castro's government.

Geoffrey?

- Yes, Alex Rorke?
- Alex.

Nice to meet you.

You too.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
In 1961, Geoffrey

Sullivan and Alex Rorke met.

Rorke soon hired
Sullivan as a pilot

for his clandestine
anti-Castro activities.

When Geoffrey Sullivan
shook hands with Alex Rorke,

he sealed his own fate.

After the Cuban revolution,
a staggering array

of anti-Castro operations
sprung up in the United States.

Many of them were organized
by shadowy characters.

It was a murky underworld of
these clandestine operations

in which Geoffrey
Sullivan became caught up.

March, 1961, US backed Cuban
exiles prepared to invade

Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.

On April 17, they were
defeated in less than a

day because the US government
failed to supply air support.

In October of 1962,
Soviet missile silos

were discovered in Cuba.

For seven days, the world was
on the brink of nuclear war.

After the missile crises,
operations against Cuba

were still carried on
by the US government,

but they were trying to
be more discreet about it.

And that they did
shed some of the more

loose cannon operations.

And I think Alex Rorke's could
have been classified as such.

There was a public order
to men like Alexander Rorke

and Geoffrey Sullivan
to stop their operations

against Cuba altogether.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On September 23, 1963,

eight days after the
official warning was issued,

Geoffrey Sullivan left
Waterbury, Connecticut.

The next day he resurfaced
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

with Alex Rorke.

In Fort Lauderdale, Sullivan
and Rorke met with two men.

One of them was Frank
Sturgis, who had also been

named in the public warning.

Years later, Sturgis had
become well known for his role

in the Watergate scandal.

Rorke told me he did buy a
b-25 bomber, and that he wanted

to take the B-25 to Nicaragua.

He wanted to sit down and
talk with General Samosa

in order to have a base
of operations in Nicaragua

and to ask the general to
fit out the B-25 for bombing

missions inside of Cuba.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Sturgis convinced Rorke

that they should
first meet personally

with Nicaraguan officials.

The four men rented
an airplane and agreed

to depart for Nicaragua
the following morning.

The next day, Rorke's wife
drove him to Opa Locka

Airport in Fort Lauderdale.

How are you doing?

Como esta?

Nice to see you again.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): On the way,

they picked up another man.

My wife, Jackie.

Jackie, this is Kiki.

Mrs. Rorke didn't know
who this gentleman was.

He spoke broken English, but
she drove the both of them

to the airport where my father
was and dropped them off.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
At approximately 8:00 AM,

the Travel Air twin engine plane
took off from Fort Lauderdale.

On board were Geoffrey Sullivan,
Alex Rorke, and the stranger.

Curiously, Frank Sturgis and
his associate were left behind.

What transpired during
the next 48 hours

remains a jumbled maze
of unanswered questions.

According to the
official FAA report,

Sullivan's flight activities
were highly unusual.

He returned to Fort
Lauderdale three times

with very little explanation.

On his third return
to the airport,

the planes landing gear
remained retracted.

Your landing gear
appear to be up.

Sidestep to the right.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Sullivan

did not attempt to land
at Fort Lauderdale again.

Five hours later, he arrived
at North Perry airport,

just 30 miles away.

The plane made a short puddle
hop over to Hollywood, Florida,

which is a very
short distance away,

and told the people
there to refuel.

And the operator of
the flying service

said that it hardly took
any gasoline to refuel it.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): What should

have been a 20 minute flight
had taken nearly five hours.

No one knows where the
plane was during that time.

At 1:30 PM, Sullivan
and his companions

departed North Perry.

The official flight plan
listed Tegucigalpa, Honduras

as their final destination.

Sullivan next
contacted the tower

at Miami International Airport.

At 3:43 PM, he filed a revised
flight plan listing Tocumen,

Panama as his destination.

Sullivan attempted to file a
flight plan for a destination

that was some two hours
beyond the normal range

of his aircraft.

When he was informed
of this by the air

traffic controller on duty, he
then changed his destination.

However, this destination was
also well beyond the range

of the aircraft he was flying.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Seven hours

passed, again with no accounting
for the plane's whereabouts.

At 10:22 PM, Sullivan contacted
the Miami tower once more.

This time he filed a flight plan
for Belize British Honduras.

The official FAA
report states that he

refueled just after
midnight in Cozumel, Mexico.

This was the last official
sighting of the plane.

Geoffrey Sullivan
and his companions

were assumed lost at sea.

Despite a massive search, no
trace of Geoffrey Sullivan

or Alex Rorke was ever found.

23 years later, Sherry Sullivan
and her attorney, Carl McHugh,

petitioned the United States
government for information

concerning Sherry's father.

To date, they've received over
5,000 pages of documentation

from 14 federal agencies,
including the FBI and the CIA.

OK that's the
national security.

Very shortly after we initiated
our Freedom of Information Act

request to the FBI, my attorney
spoke with an FBI agent

on the phone, who wanted to
question him about whether he

really wanted to get involved
in this type of thing,

and suggesting that maybe we'd
be better off if we didn't.

He indicated that we were
opening a can of worms

as he put it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): More
than a third of the 800 pages

received from the
FBI were censored.

According to Sherry
Sullivan, information

found in these
documents indicates

that at least another 400
pages exist, but were withheld

for national security reasons.

It made me more curious.

It was almost really
the confirmation

we're looking for in a way,
saying, there is something

here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
In the FBI documents,

Sherry found the
named Floyd Park.

When she reached
Park by telephone,

he told Sherry he had seen
her father two days after he

reportedly disappeared.

Till next time?

Have a good flight.

Good luck.

Floyd park indicated that
he had seen my father and Alex

and a Spanish fellow in Belize.

We have not been able to verify
the identity of Floyd Park, who

he is really, and what he
was involved in the '60s

and how my father
would have known him,

why they would have
stopped to see him.

We weren't really able to
get those answers from him.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Sherry Sullivan

only talked to Floyd Park once.

She has been unable
to locate him since.

But Park did tell Sherry that
her father and Alex Rorke

might have been taken
prisoner in Cuba.

I think there's
a very good chance

that they ended up in Cuba.

I mean, they had been involved
in clandestine operations

in and out of Cuba.

Fidel Castro, from
what I've heard

had a bounty out on
my father and Alex

because he knew what
they were involved in.

He knew they were going
in and out of his country.

So there's a very good
possibility that they

could have ended up in Cuba.

Probably some way
they landed in Cuba.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
In 1986, Sherry

spoke with Marty Casey, who
had been in Cuba two years

after her father disappeared.

I was with two Cuban
exiles from Miami

and they met a fellow that
they knew from the area.

He was working in the compound.

- Mucho gusto.
- Como estas?

Americano?

Si, soy Americano.

Que bueno.

He recognized my
American accent.

I was speaking Spanish, and
he asked me, you know Rorkey?

And I said, Do
you mean O'Rourke.

O'Rourke.

No, Rorkey.

The pilot.

No, el piloto Sullivan.

No, no, the other
guy was the pilot.

It's Sullivan, which
would be the way

to pronounce it in Spanish.

And I said, well,
how do you know them?

And he said, I was in jail
here with them two years ago. .

Had no reason
whatsoever to doubt him.

Because I was the
one that thought

that Rorke was O'Rourke.

And I thought that
Rorke was a pilot,

and he was the one
who corrected me.

He knew.

I didn't.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Another name

Sherry found in the FBI
documents was Enrique

Molina Garcia,
allegedly a double agent

for Castro's government.

Sherry believes Garcia was
the mysterious third man

on the plane, and that he
tricked her father and Alex

Rorke into flying to Cuba.

Unconfirmed reports do
place Garcia in Havana years

after Sherry's
father disappeared.

When I was little, I used
to go over to my grandmother's

house and wind up his
watch all the time,

and that was my way of
keeping him alive, I think.

He was in that watch and
if I kept the watch going,

he'd still be living.

And of course, I'm
not little anymore.

But the little girl inside
me, the little 7-year-old girl

that never gave up
hoping thinks he's alive.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
For every mystery,

there is someone, somewhere
who knows the truth.

Perhaps that
someone is watching.

Perhaps it's you.

[music playing]