All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S03E15.480p.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.

HOST: In Spokane, Washington
a popular teenager, Russell

Evans, intervened in a fight.

A few hours later,
he was found fatally

injured on a lonely road.

Was it hit and run, or murder?

For over a century,
fortune hunters

have searched in vain for the
legendary Lost Adams Diggings,

a secret mine in Arizona
where, according to legend,

a vast mother lode of gold
awaits some lucky prospector.

In 1976, State Department
official Bradley Bishop

disappeared from his home
outside Washington D.C.

Tragically, the next day, the
bodies of his wife, his mother,

and his three young sons
were found in a North

Carolina coastal park.

Brad Bishop is
wanted for murder.

For every mystery,
there is someone,

somewhere who knows the truth.

Perhaps that
someone is watching.

Perhaps it's you.

Join me.

HOST: Spokane, Washington.

June 4th, 1989 1:05 AM.

Two friends on their
way home were startled

when their headlights
flashed on a body

stretched out on the road.

13-year-old Russell
Evans had apparently

been struck by a car.

He was barely alive.

Call 911.

[coughing]

Brian, help me!

SANDY: I kept trying
to calm him down

because he kept trying to move.

And he squeezed my
hand a couple times.

Not very hard, but--

just because he hurt.

And, then he quit talking to me.

Blood pressure 90 over 50.

HOST: Russell was
admitted to Sacred

Heart Hospital at 1:30 AM.

As his parents stood by, doctors
struggled through the night

to stabilize his condition.

Mom's here.

SUE: When I got there, I
just wanted to see him.

And so I went right
to the trauma room.

And he was unconscious.

Probably be best for you
and him both if you went out

to the waiting room for now.

I promise we'll
keep you posted, OK?

- OK, thanks.
- Can I have an x-ray--

OK, let's get the
CT tech, uh, in here.

SUE: I just knew he
wasn't going to make it.

HOST: At 9:10 AM,
Russell Evans died.

You know, I--

I'm really grateful that
I had those eight hours,

because even though
he didn't talk to me,

I knew he knew I was there.

And, that was really
important to me.

What makes the Evans'
family's grief even more painful

is that to this day,
they have no idea

who was responsible
for their son's death

or why he was killed.

The Spokane Police have always
maintained that Russell died

as a result of a random
hit and run accident,

but a number of
unanswered questions

point to a more
sinister scenario.

Russell's parents are convinced
that their son was murdered.

Russell Evans was an active and
popular eighth grader at Libby

Middle School in Spokane.

By the age of 13, he was
already 6 feet 3 inches tall.

Russell excelled at
basketball and played

pickup games every day after
school with his friends.

He dreamed of one
day becoming a pro.

[cheering]

We did everything together.

He was at my house everyday,
and he was very well-liked.

Had a good sense of humor.

He got along with
pretty much everybody.

He had no problems.

Rusty had already made
plans to go to UCLA.

He wanted to be an
electronical engineer.

Play pro ball.

And he had it all-- he
had it all mapped out.

He had it all--

all put together,
which amazed me.

HOST: June 3rd, 1989.

In the hours before
Russell died,

he was with Aaron
and other friends

hanging out at a local park.

It was a typical summer evening,
until they were approached

by two other teenagers.

An argument ensued over
Aaron's girlfriend.

Hey man, come here real quick.

- What, man?
- What's your name?

Aaron.

[inaudible]

Yeah.

Let me tell you
something, man.

Hey, hey.

You guys better just take off
before there's real trouble.

Man, you don't even
know what trouble is.

Oh, really?

AARON: He said, "You better
watch out because I'm gonna get

some of my homeboys on you."

But I didn't really think
much of it, you know?

So I just turned around and
we left, and he got in his car

with his friend and took off.

HOST: After leaving
the park, Russell

spent the remainder of the
evening at a friend's house.

Then he called his father to say
that he was heading for home.

Around midnight, he ran into
another friend, Sade Madison.

- Hey, Russ.
- Hey, how's it going?

- Pretty good.
- Yeah?

What have you
been up to tonight?

We were at the park and
two guys came up to Aaron

and started hassling him.
- Really?

- Yeah.
- Did you know who they were?

No, no.

We had them outnumbered
though, they took off.

SEYD: He told me that
one of his friends

almost had gotten in
a fight that night.

He was all psyched up
about it, and telling me

how if it would have happened,
he would have been wanting

to jump in the fight, you know?

I gotta get home.

Yeah, so do I. OK, man.

See you later.

SEYD: I said my
goodbyes, and he head

off down the street, jogging.

And that's the last
time I saw him.

HOST: It was now
approximately 12:30 AM.

Based on evidence
found at the scene,

the police constructed their
version of what happened.

[tires screeching]

On the impact
with the vehicle,

he was separated from
his shoes, his shoelaces,

and other debris.

He finally came to rest
about 75 feet from where

we think he was struck.

From the bruises present on
Russell and the other injuries,

I think the most
prominent possibility

here is that we're dealing
with a motor vehicle accident.

Russell was struck in the back
by a bumper and an ornament.

HOST: Dr. Lindholm's
report determined

that Russell's injuries were
consistent with a hit and run

accident.

JOHN: We looked at
him after he died,

and I thought he'd
been in a fight.

Later on, when the
police started talking

about hit and run, his mom--

mom and I just
couldn't buy that.

I mean, the injuries
weren't there.

HOST: Russell was found
next to the median strip

on Thor Avenue, two
blocks from his home.

His shoes and shoelaces
were downhill, 86 feet away.

Three separate pools of
blood were found as far as

50 feet from where Russell lay.

John and Sue Evans
obtained copies

of the official police report.

It contained photos
of the pools of blood,

the shoes, and shoelaces.

Oddly, the shoelaces
had somehow become

separated from the shoes.

The police report failed
to pinpoint the spot

where Russell was found.

Sandy, we want to thank
you for coming down.

I know it's really hard.

HOST: The Evans returned to
the scene of the accident

with Sandy Ferris, the
woman who had found Russell.

Where do you remember
the shoes being?

SUE: A question of
mine at the crime

scene is, when I saw those pools
of blood over a 35 foot area--

in my mind, if somebody
was flying through the air

after being hit by a
vehicle, I don't see how you

could leave that much blood.

Let me see that, honey.

JOHN: In one of the crime
scene photos, where it shows

a shoelace scraped off or
broken away from the shoe,

there is blood on the shoelace.

Now tell me, how do you
get blood on the shoelace

if you're struck and
driven out of your shoes

and thrown 50 feet
down the hill?

He was about right up there.

HOST: The Evans became
convinced that Russell

had been struck by something
other than a motor vehicle.

They brought in a
second pathologist,

who agreed with
the initial ruling,

but concluded that Russell
had been in a fight

before he was killed.

He's right about--

JOHN: This pathologist
came back with the findings

that Russell had been in
a physical altercation

prior to his death.

If a body flies
through the air, when

that body hits the
pavement, there

would be some massive scraping.

Russell did not have this.

Well, this isn't making a
lot of sense, I'll tell ya.

If you're hit by a bumper,
then the bruise is going to be

fairly symmetrical and even.

The bruising along
his back is not even.

It's demarcated,
showing irregular--

an irregular pattern, rather
than coming from one object.

We believe it came
from repeated blows--

probably from a baseball
bat or two by four.

HOST: Russell's parents came
up with their own version

of what happened that night.

[tires screeching]

MAN: I think it was a fight
going back up the hill.

According to his hands,
he got his licks in.

He had finger
marks on his face--

finger bruises, I should say--

on his face, and the
side of the nose.

Finger bruising
on his upper arms,

as though he were being held.

The people that were allegedly
involved in the argument

with this friend of
Russ' were polygraphed,

because other people were
making allegations about them.

And they volunteered
to take the polygraph

because of these rumors that
were started by other kids.

And they came in,
took the polygraph,

and we interviewed them.

They passed the polygraph
with flying colors.

HOST: John and Sue
Evans are convinced

that finding an eyewitness
will determine what

really happened that night.

At the crime scene, Sandy Ferris
believes that Russell himself

provided an important clue.

Russ, can you tell
me what happened?

SANDY: When I first got
there, first thing I

asked him was, "What happened?"

And he started
calling for Brian.

Brian, help me up!

Help me!

He said it more like a person
was in listening distance--

that his friend should
have been there.

He thought his
friend was close by.

After the police
had gotten there

and they started to put
Russell in the ambulance,

we saw a boy in white
shorts up in the bushes,

and he was running up the hill.

And I tried to tell
the policeman this,

a couple of times,
and he kept telling

me to get on the sidewalk.

I thought maybe that probably
could have been the boy

that he was calling for, Brian.

JOHN: One of Russel's
friends was named Brian,

and I asked Brian what he
was wearing that night.

He said, "Well, I was
wearing white shorts

and a white t-shirt, but
I was nowhere around."

Then later down the line, when
the police questioned him,

he denied owning
that kind of outfit.

We've asked for him and talked
with everyone that we could

possibly think of,
and our assumption

is it was just somebody
that was curious that heard

the commotion, that
heard the sirens, that

went out to take a look.

HOST: When Sue Evans
arrived at the hospital,

the name Brian surfaced again.

How do you want to handle any
calls that might be coming in.

I don't want any information
given out about him.

Now, someone by
the name of Brian's

already called,
concerning his condition.

Hmm, that's odd.

SUE: Who would have known
about this, unless somebody

named Brian was at that scene--

that he was calling for.

There may be one or two that
know more than they're telling.

And the reason they're
probably not telling

is that they are
afraid for their lives.

SUE: It's very hard for
me to believe that anyone

would want to kill my son.

I believe, in my
mind, that it was

a fight that got out of hand.

However, my child is dead.

And I think that some
justice should happen.

HOST: Next, the poignant
reunion of a family who had not

seen each other for 17 years.

In the past year,
Unsolved Mysteries

has helped to reunite
nine people with missing

relatives or lost loved ones.

Tonight, we are
pleased to add Leanne

Robinson's name to this
growing list of happy endings.

HOST: In 1972, at
the age of 13, Leanne

lived in Carson, California with
her three-year-old half sister

Tammi and five-year-old
half brother Jim.

That year, their mother Doris
lost her battle with cancer,

and at her request
the three children

moved in with her
neighbor, Ellen Morell.

How are you?

Yeah, come on in.

HOST: With six children
in a two bedroom house,

life at Ellen's home was hectic,
but the children were happy.

Nevertheless, a social
worker assigned to the case

decided that Ellen could
not provide an adequate home

for Leeann, Jim, and Tammi.

The social worker felt that
Leanne would be better off

living with her father in
Texas, and that Jim and Tammi

should be put up for adoption.

LEEANN: I remember
feeling immediately

that I was going to
run away, or I was

going to take Tammi and Jimmy.

There was just no way I was
going to have us be separated.

Away for a while, OK?

LEEANN: I remember
wanting to fight,

but I thought if I just
be good and do what

everybody tells me
to do, then I'll

be able to reunite with them.

I love you both.

HOST: A few months
later, Jim and Tammi

were adopted by a young couple
chosen by the Department

of Social Services.

Leeann never saw or heard
from her brother or sister

again, and has spent the last
17 years trying to find them.

LEEANN: I can't see any
reason in this world

why we should be separated and
why we shouldn't be together.

They are my brother and
sister, and I'm going to keep

searching until I find them.

HOST: Just minutes after her
story aired, Leeann Robinson's

search came to an
end when she received

a call at our telecenter from
her 22-year-old sister Tammi.

Tammi, who lives in Maine and
has two children of her own,

immediately put Leeann in
contact with her brother

Jim, an Army Sergeant stationed
near Monterrey, California.

On December 10th, just four
days after our show aired,

Jim and Tammi arrived
at Leeann's home

in Los Angeles,
California, and met

their older sister for the first
time in more than 17 years.

Oh, I can't even tell you.

[crying]

LEEANN: I just had a really
good feeling that they--

somebody was gonna call in--

either they were, or
somebody that knew them.

And today, when I first saw
them, I felt so close to them.

It felt like the 17
years just came together,

and then it was
just a few days ago

that we last saw each other.

HOST: For Tammi,
The biggest surprise

came when she phoned
our telecenter

and discovered that Leeann was
there, waiting for the call.

A lady came to the phone
and she says, "Hello?"

And I said, "Hello."

I said, "Who is this?"

And she goes, "This is Leeann."

And I was too excited to cry.

I was just too excited
to do anything.

I said, "Oh my god, Leeann,"
I said, "This is Tammi.

And I don't even
remember what we said.

The first thing I think
I remember her saying

was that she loved me.

LEEANN: This is the
happiest time of my life.

I just feel like-- we're
so young, you know?

They're 22 and 23.

I'm 32.

We have a whole life ahead
of us, and we're all healthy.

We're very fortunate that
we could find each other.

HOST: Next, a disturbing
story of a government

official suspected of
murdering his entire family.

March 2nd, 1976.

Columbia, North Carolina.

A state park Ranger responded
to an urgent report of a brush

fire in a remote, wooded area.

As the Ranger brought
the fire under control,

he found the disturbing
calling cards of an arsonist.

An empty gas can and a shovel.

When the smoke
cleared, the Ranger

was shocked to discover
evidence of murder as well.

In a shallow grave, he
found the remains of five

partially charred bodies--

three young boys and two women.

A thorough investigation
of the shocking crime

turned up few clues.

Two articles of the
victim's clothing

bore the labels of
expensive department stores

in Bethesda, Maryland,
a suburb of Washington

D.C. The shovel came
from a hardware store

in the same area.

The Bethesda Police
had no missing

persons report they
could link to the bodies,

until six days later.

RADIO: Base to unit 12.

Unit 12, base.

Go ahead.

RADIO: [inaudible]

JOE: March the 8th, 1976.

I received a radio
call to investigate

the absence of five persons
from a residence in Bethesda.

Unit 12 direct.

We're proceeding.

HOST: The call had come
from a neighbor of William

Bradford Bishop, a
respected economist

with the State Department.

JOE: There was a common
driveway to the neighbor's home

and to the Bishop home.

And I met the neighbor
there to investigate

the whereabouts of the family.

Mrs. Williams?

Yeah.

Hi.

I'm Joe Sargent.

Hi.

Thanks for coming.

You called in a
missing person report?

Yeah, the Bishops.

I haven't seen them
for at least a week,

and I'm getting very worried.

Is there anything unusual
about why you wouldn't see them

for a certain length of time?

Well, it's not unusual
for them to go out of town,

but what's unusual is, usually
when they go out of town,

they let me know that
they're going out of town,

because I pick up their
newspapers for them

and I water their plants.

This time, nothing.

I haven't heard anything.

You said you had the keys.

Yes, I sure do.

May I have them please?

Yes.

OK, I don't see any reason why
I can't go in and look around

and make sure everything is OK.

Yeah, I'd appreciate
it if you did.

Why don't you just
wait right here?

OK, thank you.

JOE: It was rather routine to
do an investigation like this.

It's not unusual, and I wasn't
overly concerned about it

until I reached the
front step of the home

and noticed there were blood
droplets on the front step.

Upon opening the front door,
I saw blood droplets leaning

from the doorway
through the foyer,

and to a set of stairs that
led to the upper bedroom

level of the home.

In going to the stairs, I
observed blood splatterings

on the wall, and
in the one bedroom

I could see into without going
any farther into the scene,

almost the entire ceiling
and wall was completely

splattered with blood.

Hardly a place you could
put your hand there

wasn't blood splatterings.

I've been a police officer
for approximately 12 years,

and this was the worst scene
that I've ever observed.

HOST: Authorities were
finally able to identify

five bodies found a week
before in North Carolina.

The victims were Brad
Bishop's wife Annette,

his three sons, and his mother.

There was no sign
of Brad Bishop.

The Bishops who had seemed
to be such a perfect family,

had been ripped apart by
unfathomable violence.

Brad Bishop grew up in
Pasadena, California.

In 1959, he graduated
from Yale University.

Within a few months, Brad
married Annette Weiss,

his high school sweetheart.

By the mid-1970s, Brad and
Annette had three sons,

and Brad was a State
Department's director of

commercial practices and trade.

To most of his
coworkers, Brad Bishop

seemed to be on the fast
track to a high level State

Department job, but at least one
coworker saw a different side

of Brad Bishop.

Brad Bishop had extensive
experience overseas.

He liked the international
scene from the time

he was in the army in
Italy, Brad's career

was very much on track--

although he was exceedingly
despondent about not

getting a promotion.

HOST: Brad Bishop
and Roy Harrell

ran into one another
just outside the State

Department on the day the annual
promotion list had come out.

How are you?

Haven't seen you
for for a while.

I've been kind of busy, Roy.

What's the matter?

I didn't make the
promotion list again.

Neither did I.

Yeah, well I'm more
qualified than you are.

Brad, I think
that's a subjective--

ROY: He readily apologized.

He said, "I'm--

I think I'm getting the flu.

I don't feel well at all.

And that's the reason
I'm leaving work now."

Look, and when
you come back, we'll

have lunch sometime next
week and talk about it, OK?

OK.

Let's get a taxi.

ROY: So I helped
him hail a taxi,

and I watched him drive out.

HOST: The next day Brad
Bishop's family would be

found dead in North Carolina.

Bishop himself would
drop from sight.

Take care, see you Monday.

HOST: March 18th, almost
three weeks after the murders.

A Ranger with the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park

in Tennessee discovered an
abandoned station wagon.

In the back, he found what
appeared to be dried blood.

The car was registered to
William Bradford Bishop.

Bishop now became the primary
suspect in the slaying

of his own family.

WILEY: The courts
will have to determine

whether Brad Bishop is
guilty of killing his family.

But there was enough evidence
in March of 1976 for a warrant

to be issued for his arrest
for homicide, based on the fact

that there appeared
to be premeditation

in connection with the events
that occurred on March 1st.

HOST: The FBI believes
they have pieced

together Bishop's activities
leading up to the murders.

On the day he left
the State Department,

Bishop withdrew several
dollars from his bank account

and apparently went to
a local hardware store.

JOE: Bradford Bishop
went to a gas station

in Bethesda, where he
purchased the can full of gas.

And as far as we know, after
that, he returned to his home--

probably around 7:30
to 8:00 at night,

after the children
were put to bed.

Our investigation
shows that Mrs. Bishop

was probably killed first.

She was found
beside a book which

she may have been reading at
the time that she was killed.

The children were
probably killed next,

followed by Bishop's mother.

They were all killed
with a blunt instrument,

and none of the victims
had an opportunity

to defend themselves.

HOST: According to the
FBI, Bishop loaded the five

bodies into the
family station wagon

and left Bethesda, Maryland.

He headed 200 miles south to the
sparsely populated countryside

near Columbia, North Carolina.

JOE: It's my belief--
you know, murder being

a crime of passion--
that many, many people

are capable of the same thing.

It's just sometimes
certain people just flip

out faster and do these things.

Brad Bishop felt from the
time I knew him that there was

something lacking in himself.

This feeling was nourished
constantly by both his mother

and, to some degree, his
wife, who constantly told me

he was inadequate and
washed-up and wasn't

going anywhere in his career.

And I think that he conceived
in his mind this was a way to--

as he'd often said many
times about other people--

this would be a way of
putting them in their place.

HOST: The FBI believes
that Bishop, after buying

a pair of tennis shoes
near the site of the fire,

drove 400 miles to the
Great Smoky Mountains

in Tennessee, where his station
wagon was found abandoned.

WILEY: Bishop had the advantage.

The bodies were
discovered on the second.

The car was discovered
on the 18th.

So Bishop had plenty of
time in order to escape.

There was no indication
of any suicide.

There was no indication
of any accident.

And we have every reason
to believe that he in fact

disappeared from the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park

after the car was
abandoned there.

HOST: Brad Bishop successfully
covered his tracks

and was not seen for two years.

In 1978, 5,000 miles away
on a different continent,

a nearly unbelievable
chance encounter took place.

Roy Harrell the last man to
see Bishop before the murders,

came face to face with him
again, in Sorrento, Italy.

ROY: I had gone to the Piazza
Tasso Square in Sorrento

to board a bus bound for Rome.

I decided to go
to the men's room

before starting that journey.

And I was washing my
hands, and this bearded,

disheveled-looking man came in.

My mind's eye, I took his beard
and his grubby clothes off

of him, and I saw the Brad
Bishop I had seen coming

out the State Department.

You're Brad
Bishop, aren't you?

Brad, why don't you
get on the bus with me

and come back to Rome?

Oh my god.

No!

Brad!

[shattering]

Brad, Brad!

Come back!

Come back!

I followed him and
watched him disappear down

the cliffs going toward
the boat landing,

where boats go to Capri.

HOST: Did Brad Bishop brutally
murder his own family?

If he did, we can only
speculate about what

could have possibly
caused him to commit

such an unspeakable crime.

Unless Brad Bishop is found,
the truth will remain unknown.

William Bradford
Bishop is six feet

one inch tall with brown hair,
brown eyes and a medium build.

He is fluent in French,
Italian, and Serbo-Croatian

and holds a diplomatic passport.

At the time of the murders,
he was 40 years old

The FBI has created
this computer

aged photograph to reflect how
Bishop might look today at 54.

When we return, the legend
of an Indian massacre,

and a fortune in gold
still waiting to be

found in the Arizona desert.

There's an old saying
among fortune hunters.

As long as a man believes
there's a treasure to be found,

he'll be spurred
on by the belief

that he'll be the
one to find it.

It seems that people
have been forever

obsessed with the
prospect of uncovering

legendary buried treasure.

This never ending
quest to strike it rich

has fueled a million dreams,
each with a common goal

of instant wealth.

The Arizona Territory,
September, 1864.

Troopers from Fort Apache
find two prospectors

wandering in the desert.

By the time they reach the
fort, the men are barely alive.

We gotta go back.

We gotta go back.

HOST: One of the prospectors,
known only as Adams,

tells the army surgeon
a remarkable tale.

You don't understand.

There's mountains
of gold up there.

There's a river full
of gold up there.

There's gold up there
the size of acorns.

About two weeks
ago, me and my men

rolled up the [inaudible]
river, up into the mountain.

Was looking for Zigzag
Canyon, a canyon that was

supposed to be full of gold.

HOST: Adams and his
band of 20 miners

were led by a Mexican
guide, nicknamed Gotchere.

Gotchere, where's
that canyon at?

JOHN: Gotchere had promised
to take Adams to the gold,

in return for two horses, a
saddle, two $50 gold pieces

and a red silk bandana.

He even said the
miners could shoot him

if he couldn't find the gold.

This canyon don't go nowhere.

If you've been lying to me,
you're gonna pay for it.

HOST: Eventually, they reached
what appeared to be a dead end,

but Gotchere led the party
through a hidden portal,

into a narrow zigzag canyon.

TOM: I think Gotchere
played the major role

in getting them to the site.

And the reason he
was able to do this

was the fact that he was
raised by the Apaches,

and he knew the area, and he
was familiar with the fact

that gold was important
to the white man,

not so important to the Apache.

HOST: Inside the canyon,
the men found a stream fed

by a 20 foot high waterfall.

The stream was brimming
with what they had come for.

TOM: There was a
waterfall there,

and there was sufficient water.

But the amazing thing--
and according to a story,

again-- the gold was
visible right on the ground.

Realizing that gold is heavy.

That it settles down.

You'd have to
think, well how much

gold was there if
there was still

gold visibly on the ground?

That means every
flash flood brought

water over that waterfall, and
brought more gold from above.

HOST: Adams and his men
agreed to pool the fortune

and share it equally.

They set up camp and the
prospecting commenced.

Several days later,
unexpected visitors arrived.

A local Apache Chieftain named
Nana, and 20 of his warriors.

Adams, we got company.

TOM: The Apache-- there
were several things

that were sacred to them.

One thing, mountains.

All mountains.

The Zigzag Canyon,
probably, undoubtedly,

was sacred, maybe, in
some way, because it

was part of the mountain.

[non-english speech]

[non-english speech]

The Apaches believed that
gold was the tears of the sun.

Nobody touched the
tears of the sun,

because the sun was
the all mighty thing

to most Indian cultures.

I mean, it's the
source of all life.

Hand me that rifle.

A gift.

TOM: They met with
Chief Nana, and Nana

had set down these rules.

That they do not [inaudible]
above the waterfall,

for whatever reason-- probably
because there was more gold

up there, and he
knew it would attract

more white men to the area.

He hoped they would
fill their pokes

and leave and not come back.

HOST: Adams struck a
deal with Chief Nana.

Any miner found
above the waterfalls

would die at the
hands of the Indians.

Adams!

Adams!

HOST: But one morning, a
miner chasing a stray horse,

ventured above the fold.

He came across a gold nugget
the size of a hen egg.

Ain't that the biggest
nugget you ever seen?

It sure is.

Where'd you get this at, son?

Up yonder.

Above the falls?

You went above the falls?

Adams, he didn't mean no harm.

My horse got away, Adams.

I don't care.

I promised the chief we
wouldn't go up there.

You're going to get us all
killed, you understand me?

Take this and get back to work.

No, you keep.
It's yours.

Get out of here.
Go on.

All of ya'll, go on.

HOST: Discovery fueled
gold fever in the camp.

Unbeknownst to Adams,
the other miners

began accumulating gold from
both above and below the falls.

Some of the gold was
stored in a coffee

pot hidden beneath the
flagstone of the camp fireplace.

According to legend,
the miners amassed

as much as 300 pounds
of gold, worth nearly

1 and 1/2 million dollars.

[gun shot]
- Ho!

[gun shot]

HOST: One morning, Adams
and his partner Davidson

were a mile out of
camp when they heard

the sound of dwindling gunfire.

Chief Nana had been
true to his word.

From a lookout above
camp, Adams and Davidson

stared down helplessly.

I can take this
one right here.

No, it ain't gonna
do us no good now.

Just wait'll things
settle down, then

we'll head on up the
canyon, and get out of here.

We waited till
the sun went down,

then we snuck up the canyon.

You don't believe
any of this, do you?

About the gold?

Look at this.

Well, Adams, like
many prospectors,

spent the rest of
his life searching

for that Zigzag Canyon,
and never could find it.

I think that once a
person sees that might

gold in a place like Adams had,
he couldn't give up that dream.

There is no way.

He knew it was there.

He had to continue to search
for it until he found it.

HOST: Adams never did
find his mother lode.

Years later, he died
drunk and penniless,

and the story of the lost
gold grew into legend.

In the 1920s, a
railroad man named

John Mitchell we get
an extensive search

for the treasure.

His writings are the basis
for today's ongoing quest

for the lost Adams diggings.

Ron Feldman is a camping
guide who has studied

Mitchell's accounts for years.

I've always been
hooked on the lost Adams.

And it was John Mitchell's
story that intrigued me.

And I kind of reread
that several times,

and if you pay attention
to what John Mitchell says,

he tells you, basically, where
the lost Adams diggings is.

HOST: By comparing Mitchell's
references with modern day

maps, Feldman discovered
that many rivers

and landmarks had gone
under different names

in previous years.

He determined that Adams'
canyon lay on Eagle Creek,

near the tiny town of Clifton,
Arizona, 200 miles north

of Tucson.

In January of 1990, Ron Feldman
and geologist Mick McPherson

journeyed to Eagle Creek, hoping
to find the lost Adams fortune.

When Ron and I
walked into the canyon,

and discovered the
little hidden portal

that led into a zigzag canyon.

My feeling, immediately,
was that this was the spot.

This is where Adams had been.

This fits the stories
that I've read.

It has the right appearance,
and it is an appropriate place

where gold could have
been concentrated

in great quantities as
a [inaudible] deposit.

HOST: Everything
about the canyon

seemed to fit
Adam's descriptions.

That's got to
be the waterfall.

That's gotta be it.

HOST: Feldman and
McPherson even found

a trickle along the
canyon wall where

a waterfall had once flowed.

MICK: If you put more
water into the system,

as there was when
Adams was there,

you would have a beautiful,
cascading waterfall

into an open pool at
the base of the fall.

It's very hard to explain the
feeling that rushed through me.

It was very exciting.

Of course, we both
knew the legend

of the coffee pot
full of gold buried

in the floor of the cabin.

We soon discovered
the ruins of a cabin,

started digging in the floor.

We found some relics,
but no pot full of gold.

Look at that.

Pan, huh?

Old gold pan.

Haven't seen one that
old for a long time.

I wonder if there's
anything else here.

I don't know.

Feldman and
McPherson also found

the tools needed for
making horseshoes,

and a section of railroad track.

MICK: In the early days,
John D. Mitchell, the author,

was actually a railroad man.

He worked on the railroads,
and we thought of Mitchell

when we found those items.

We thought of Mitchell when we
didn't find the pot of gold.

HOST: Could John Mitchell have
found the coffee pot of gold,

and perhaps written his
history of the legend in a way

to mislead others?

Ron Feldman and Mick
McPherson are convinced

they have unlocked the secret
of the treasure's location,

and the mother lode of gold
is still waiting to be found.

However, other fortune holders
feel that Feldman and McPherson

are wrong, and the lost Adams
diggings may actually be

in another part of the state.

On our next Unsolved
Mysteries, the many

faces of Patrick Michael
Mitchell, ladies man, gourmet

cook, notorious bank robber.

His ingenious and daring heists
have netted close to $3 million

and earned him a prominent
place on the FBI'S

10 Most Wanted List.

Join me, next time.

Perhaps you hold the key.

Perhaps you can help
solve a mystery.