All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S04E02.480p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-PLAYREADY_track3_[und]

HOST: Tonight, a
fascinating new mystery.

For years, Jim Boumgarden
had the oddest encounters

with people he had never
seen before who were positive

that he was someone else.

Then his friends and family
began to have odd run-ins

with a mysterious
stranger who appeared

to be Jim's exact double.

Was someone impersonating
Jim Boumgarden?

If so, who?

And why?

After he assassinated
Abraham Lincoln,

history records that
John Wilkes Booth

was tracked to a
farm in Virginia

and killed by Union troops.

But history may be wrong.

A few eyewitness accounts
suggest that the man

in the barn was not Booth.

And some historians now
believe that Lincoln's assassin

was never brought to justice.

When Alex Cooper, a devoted
father and grandfather,

disappeared, his family made
an unsettling discovery.

There was no such
person as Alex Cooper.

He had created a
fictitious past and become

a man whom never was.

Join me for another edition
of Unsolved Mysteries.

April, 1865.

The Civil War was over.

President Abraham
Lincoln was dead.

For nearly two weeks,
2,000 union soldiers

scoured the countryside
searching for his assassin.

On April 26, at 4 AM,
a cavalry detachment

surrounded a tobacco barn
on Garrett Farm in Virginia.

They had been told
that inside was

one of the most notorious
criminals of the century,

or of any age.

John Wilkes Booth,
you are surrounded.

You and all with you.

HOST: 26-Year-old
John Wilkes Booth

was an actor of national
fame, considered

by some the handsomest
man in America.

He was also deeply committed
to the Confederate cause.

On April 14th,
Booth had mortally

wounded President Lincoln at
Ford's theater in Washington.

The man who had freed
the slaves and given hope

to the disenfranchised was gone.

Abraham Lincoln,
who had preserve

the Union through sheer force
of will, now belong to the ages.

On April 26, 12 days
after the assassination,

an informant directed union
troops to the Garret Farm.

Come out with your
hands held high!

Don't shoot.

HOST: The man who surrendered
was not John Wilkes Booth,

but 21-year-old David
Herold, known to be

one of Booth's co-consiprators.

Lieutenant Edward
Dowdy grew impatient.

He gave the command to
smoke out his quarry.

The soldiers are under strict
orders to take Booth alive,

but an overzealous Sergeant
named Boston Corbett took

matters into his own hands.

Two soldiers dragged the
body from the raging inferno.

The nation was avenged.

Or was it?

NATE ORLOWEK: There is
tremendous physical evidence

which proves beyond a doubt
John Wilkes Booth, in reality,

was not killed by the
federal government officers

as they claimed.

In fact, lived until
January 13th, 1903,

when he died in Enid,
Oklahoma territory.

HOST: According to
official history,

John Wilkes Booth died
on April 26, 1865.

Incredibly, this fact has given
rise to an unlikely controversy

in historical circles.

The matter of Booth's
life and death

has always seemed an
indisputable chapter

in American history.

But even the
Encyclopedia Britannica

states that the identification
of the man shot in the barn

was equivocal at the time.

Those that question
the official account

believe that in the confusion
following the Civil War,

critical evidence may
have been mistakenly

recorded or perhaps covered up.

Others dismiss these series
as revisionist nonsense.

We'll examine both sides of this
fascinating controversy, which

has been brewing for 125 years.

In 1866, Senator
Charles Sumner argued

that the government
reward for Booth's capture

should not be paid out.

He claimed that there was
simply not enough evidence

to verify Booth's identity.

That same year, Senator
Garrett Davis of Kentucky

complained that he had never
seen any satisfactory evidence

that Booth had been killed.

And in the early 1900s, John
Schumacher, General Counsel

to the Department
of the Army, wrote,

"The evidence put
forth by the government

to support the conclusion
that the body was that of John

Wilkes Booth was so
insubstantial that it would not

stand up in a court of law."

Nate Orlowek and
Dr. Arthur Chitty

have spent years studying
the Lincoln assassination.

Independently, they have
arrived at the same conclusion.

The two who were
together in New Orleans.

Right.

The most persuasive evidence
to me at Garrett's barn

that the man in the
barn was not Booth is

the fact that his friend David
E. Herold came out of the barn,

and the first thing he
said was, "The man in there

is not Booth."

The man inside that barn
is not John Wilkes Booth!

His name is Boyd!

NATE ORLOWEK: And
there was a Boyd

who was a wanted
fugitive at this time,

for killing a Captain
Watkins in Maryland.

Of course, Herold
was not permitted

to testify in his
trial, as was the case

with all the defendants.

None of them were
permitted to testify.

His statement, of
course, was kept

secret as all the others were.

So we don't really
know, because Herold was

not permitted to say anything.

And of course, he was hanged.

So we don't know
exactly who the man was.

I have heard the
account that Herold

was pulled out of
Garrett's barn and said,

"That's not Booth in there."

I have no source for that.

I don't know where the
story came from, but I do--

HOST: Historian James
Hall refutes this incident

by citing a 40
page statement made

by David Herold to government
investigators 36 hours

after his arrest.

Herold referred
to Booth 10 times

by name when he was discussing
what went on in the barn

while it was being
surrounded by the soldiers.

To me, that's conclusive.

I can't see where they get the
idea that he'd come running out

and say, "It's not Booth."

By the time David E.
Herold changed his testimony,

he was under such
enormous pressure.

He was in fear of his life.

He had been incarcerated with
a canvas bag over his head,

and just a little hole
to be fed through.

He was under terrible
emotional strain

and was trying to save his neck.

And so therefore,
when he felt that he

would survive by changing his
story, he changed his story.

HOST: According to Nate Orlowek,
other witnesses also refuted

the government's
identification of the man

killed at Garrett's Farm.

Colonel, this
man is not Booth.

What's that, Lieutenant?

This man is not Booth.

This man has red hair.

Lieutenant.

NATE ORLOWEK: Lieutenant William
C. Allen worked for the United

States Secret Service in 1865.

And in August of 1937, his
widow, Mrs. Hannah Allen,

told a journalist that
her husband had told her

that he saw the man at Garrett's
Farm who had been killed

and that the man had red hair.

And that the government knew
that that man was not Booth,

but they were determined
to foist this man

on the nation as Booth.

HOST: By every
historical account,

Booth's hair was jet black.

Steven's testimony
about the red-haired man

was corroborated
by two other union

soldiers, Private Joseph Zisgen
and Quartermaster Wilson D.

Kenzie.

They surrounded
Garrett's Barn.

They burned the barn down.

They shot John Wilkes
Booth-- only it's not Booth.

How do you know?

It doesn't look like him.

No one will believe me.
Come back--

NATE ORLOWEK:
Kenzie and his buddy

Joseph Zisgen were
friends of Booth in 1862

and '63 in New Orleans.

Kenzie was a quarter
master and was

free to go wherever
he wanted basically

within the military lines
and so he went with Zisgen

to Garrett's Farm, because
he had an interest in what

was going to happen to Booth

HOST: In 1922, when
he was 77 years old,

Kenzie detailed what he
saw at Garrett's Farm

in a sworn affidavit.

MAN: As I rode up, Joe
Zisgen called, "Here.

Come here, sergeant.

This ain't John
Wilkes Booth at all.

The face was exposed enough so I
could see the color of his hair

and side of his face.

You men, move
away from that body.

You two are under direct
orders to speak to no one

to what you've seen here today.
You understand me?

Yes, sir.

NATE ORLOWEK: And he said
that the officers there

told him guards everyone
has to keep this secret.

There'll be dire consequences
for anyone who tells the truth.

The military really
meant business

and they were not going
to risk their lives just

to tell the truth.

HOST: The government autopsy
was performed by a physician

who was acquainted with Booth.

Doctor John F. May
was a Washington surgeon

who removed a tumor from
the back of Booth's neck

a few months before the
assassination, in 1865.

His statement is now in
the National Archives.

Like all the other government
records on the case,

it was held secret for 70 years.

The corpse bears
no resemblance

to the actor John Wilkes Booth.

ARTHUR CHITTY: John
and Frederick May

wanted to tell the truth.

And he recognized that
this was not Booth,

but it was made
pretty clear to him

very early on that
this better be Booth.

He's freckled.

I do not remember Booth
as being freckled.

ARTHUR CHITTY: And so we
have the curious affidavit

which starts off saying,
I'm sure this is Booth.

And then goes on to say, but
it doesn't look like Booth.

And it goes on to say, I recall
Booth as having black hair

and this man has sandy hair.

I recall that Booth had
rather clear complexion,

and this man is freckled.

But this is certainly Booth,
signed John Frederick May.

HOST: In 1906, Dr. May
clarified his findings

in an article titled The mark
of a scalpel he said he believed

the discrepancies
he found were due

to the physical deterioration
of both while he was on the run.

Dr. May also said
there was a scar

on the neck which
corresponded to the scar

left by his surgery in 1864.

Now, had the government
really believed

that that body was
Booth's, they would

have taken pictures of it.

They would have had
many, many hundreds

of people to identify it.

But the War Department
didn't do that.

The government knew that
that man was not Booth.

HOST: Eventually,
Booth's body was secretly

buried in the basement of the
old naval prison in Washington.

It seems incredible that
Union authorities would have

misidentified the assassin
of President Lincoln,

but if John Wilkes
Booth was not killed

at Garrett's Barn in 1865,
then what became of him?

When we return, we will present
evidence of Booth's escape,

his later years, and startling
facts about the assassination

conspiracy.

In 1865, the government moved
quickly to close the books

on the Lincoln assassination.

John Wilkes Booth had been
hunted down and killed.

The trial of Booth's
co-conspirators

resulted in four hangings
and three life sentences.

As a nation began to rebuild,
the details of the conspiracy

were classified as
secret and hidden away.

Some believe, however,
that John Wilkes

Booth escaped Union soldiers--

that he fled south
under assumed names,

and lived another 38 years.

In 1970, an obscure
attorney from Texas

named Finis Bates published this
book, "The Escape and Suicide

of John Wilkes Booth."

In these pages, Bates claimed
that he learned the true story

of Booth from one
of his clients,

a man named John St.
Helen, of Granbury, Texas.

In 1877, St. Helen
fell grievously.

And thinking he
was about to die,

made a startling
confession to Finis Bates.

Finis.

John.

Finis.

My name is not John St. Helen.

It's really John Wilkes Booth,
assassin of President Lincoln.

If I die, tell my
brother Edwin I'm dead.

NATE ORLOWEK: Well
Bates, of course,

thought this guy was crazy.

He had been told, as
everyone else had,

that Booth had been
killed in 1865.

So he thought he was
just hallucinating.

TB Road.

And Booth said to him, no.

I really am John Wilkes Booth.

And now that I've
told you my secret,

I want to give you
the whole story.

So he poured out for Bates
a very long confession,

detailing in great detail
the kidnapping conspiracy,

the murder conspiracy, how
he got out of Washington,

how he escaped altogether.

Escaped Washington
DC using a password.

TB Road.

HOST: St. Helen explained
that during the Civil War

all bridges out of Washington
were closed after nightfall

and heavily guarded, making
escape near impossible.

Halt.

But I must cross.

I'm sorry.

The bridge is closed.

I have a password.

Password.

T.B T.B Road.

All right, you may pass.

Corroborating Booth alias
St. Helen telling Bates

of this password is the dramatic
letter written by Frederick A.

Demond who was one of the
guards at the Navy Yard Bridge

the night of the assassination.

On May 31st, 1916, Demond
sent Bates a letter.

In that letter, Demond says that
at about 10:00 PM that night,

a captain rode up to
the bridge and said

if anyone comes up using
a certain password,

let them through.

And that password was, TB.

TB Road.

Demond says that was very
peculiar, because never before

had anyone been allowed to cross
the bridge using a password.

Bridge out of Washington
was closed after dark.

I don't know what
happened there that night.

These were just a
bunch of old soldiers

later on remembering it.

But Sergeant Silas
Cobb, who was in charge

of the squad at the bridge,
made a statement which

is in the National Archives.

And he also testified
at the conspiracy trial.

He didn't say anything
about passwords.

All he said was that
I thought these people

were proper people to
go across the bridge,

and I let them cross.

I can't tell you why
these old soldiers

dreamed up this password.

HOST: St. Helen's
narrative continued.

He told Bates that he joined
up with co-conspirator David

Herold, and together
they visited a doctor

who set his broken leg.

I'm gonna have to take your
boot off so I can see your leg,

all right?

NATE ORLOWEK: Booth,
alias St. Helen,

told Bates that
when he was going

through the open
country of Virginia,

he hid in the back of a wagon.

And at one point, he
heard someone shout,

"Dars dem soldiers now."

They thought they were
Northern soldiers.

So hurriedly, he was yanked
out of the back of the wagon,

and hustled into the woods.

When that happened, his papers
and other personal effects

fell out.

HOST: St. Helen claimed
that while on his way

to the Garrett Plantation,
he sent a man back

to retrieve his papers.

Before the man returned
and while David Herold was

out seeking supplies, news came
of an approaching Union troops.

Mr. Booth, Union soldiers are
riding in from Bowling Green.

You need to be
getting out of here.

How far behind you are they?

About two hours.

Thank you.

Thank you, gentlemen.

HOST: According to St.
Helen, he immediately fled.

The man sent to
retrieve his papers

was in the Garrett
Barn with David Herold

when it was surrounded by
Union troops on April 26.

Herold decided to surrender.

It's not Booth.

HOST: The other man was
shot inside the barn.

Because a dead man
carried Booth's papers,

he was identified
as the assassin.

I believe you, John.

I want you to rest, all right?

HOST: Several weeks
later, St. Helen

recovered from his illness.

Bates tried to dismiss the
confession as hallucinations

brought on by the fever,
but St. Helen later added

even more details to his story.

The following year, John
St. Helen left Texas,

but Finis Bates was
haunted by his confession.

JAMES HALL: Can you imagine
a young lawyer talking

to a bar owner down in Texas--

a gullible young lawyer.

So he just fills him full
of a great big long story.

And later on, Bates, that was
the name of this young lawyer,

embroidered the story nicely
and wrote a book about it.

But I think he just took a
young lawyer and fed him a line.

It's that easy.

Certainly it wasn't Booth.

HOST: Is it possible
that John St. Helen was

in reality John Wilkes Booth?

A comparison of photographs
shows a striking resemblance.

On January 13th, 1903, while
staying at a boarding house

in Enid, Oklahoma,
John St. Helen

committed suicide
by drinking a glass

of wine laced with strychnine.

Bates had the body preserved.

He took many
pictures of the body,

and eventually he had the
body mummified to preserve it

for posterity-- to prove once
and for all the government

had fooled us all.

And he was going to not
allow that cover up to stand.

HOST: In 1931, six
Chicago physicians

examined the mummify
body of John St. Helen

and recorded their
findings in this affidavit.

They specifically
noted a scarred

right eyebrow, a crushed right
thumb, and a broken left leg.

John Wilkes Booth is
known to have all three

of these unusual
characteristics.

Did John Wilkes Booth escape
Union troops at Garrett Farm,

only to kill himself
38 years later

in an Oklahoma boarding house?

The history books say no.

John Wilkes Booth died in 1865.

Four years later, his remains
were returned to Maryland,

and buried in an unmarked
grave in the family plot.

Perhaps there rests
the definitive answer

to this unsolved mystery.

HOST: Imagine that
there's someone

who looks exactly like you.

Walks the same way you do.

Talks the same way you do.

That has been the
bizarre fact of life

for Jim Boumgarden,
of Byron, Illinois.

For years, Jim has been
haunted by the specter

of a strange double--

a man who seems to be
everywhere, or at least

everywhere Jim isn't.

The place, Rockford,
Illinois in 1984.

The occasion, a
company softball game.

It is a typical
Saturday morning,

except for an eerie
event about to unfold.

Third baseman Rick Holder
is coming up to bat.

Suddenly, his brother-in-law
Jim Boumgarden,

who should be 20
miles away at home,

enters the game to pitch
for the opposing team.

Hey, Jim!

Jim!

Hey, Jim!

You know, I would
say hi to him.

I'd say hi, Jim.

Hello, Jim.

And I wasn't getting no
response from the guy.

So I just thought, you know,
after the game was over,

I'd go up and I'd
talk to the guy.

Hey, Jim.

How's Cindy and the kids?

JIM BOUMGARDEN:
After the game, he

said he went up
and shook his hand,

thinking he was talking to me.

He said the guy just kind
of looked at him weird,

give him a funny look,
and turned around

and walked away from him.

HOST: Five years later,
and just a few miles away,

Jim Boumgarden's father Ernie
was leaving the doctor's

office when he saw his son.

JIM BOUMGARDEN: My dad
came after this guy.

Was yelling at him.

Jim!

JIM BOUMGARDEN: This
guy ignored him.

He got into a car, which he
said was very similar to mine--

drove off and didn't
even acknowledge him.

Now we had two people
who knew me very well,

and they were both fooled.

Especially my dad,
who reared me.

This guy fooled my dad.

He has to look almost
identical to me.

HOST: Jim spent his childhood in
a suburb of Rockford, Illinois.

He knew he had been given
up at birth by his mother,

but he had no idea who she was.

Jim loved his adopted
family, and his life

was happy and uneventful,
except for one strange incident.

When Jim was 11,
visiting his grandparents

in Rochelle, Illinois, he
was approached by a group

of neighborhood boys.

Billy!

You talking to me?

Yeah, do you want to
play basketball with us?

My name isn't Billy.

What are you talking
about it's not Billy?

My name is Jimmy.

It's Billy.

Look, if you don't
call me by my right name,

I won't play
basketball with you.

JIM BOUMGARDEN: I couldn't
understand why they wanted me

to play basketball
so much and they

wouldn't call me by my name.

And why they are
making this name up--

I could not understand that.

HOST: Jim filed incident
away at the back of his mind.

After high school,
he joined the army

and served a tour in Vietnam.

In 1978, Jim married
Cindy Holder.

They settled near Rockford,
Illinois and had two children.

Often in Rockford, people
Jim didn't recognize

greeted him in an
unusually friendly way.

How's it going, man?

Haven't seen you
in a long time.

What's going on?

Not much.

I'll see you around, OK?

I met a lot of people, and
there's no way that you can

remember every face you see.

So I kind of brushed
off as nothing,

until some people would see
me in places that I never was,

or I wasn't at that time.

HOST: Finally, on
Christmas day, 1991,

the strange encounters
culminated at a mini mart

just five blocks
from Jim's house.

Sherli Herlien was
behind the cash register.

SHERLI HERLIEN: I was working
and this gentleman came in.

I assumed it was Jim.

No, not today.

15 Even.

SHERLI HERLIEN: He
looked like him.

He walked the same.

Talked the same.

Same mannerisms.

I assumed it was Jim.

Within minutes, Jim
and Cindy walk in.

Did you forget something?

No, why?

Well, you were just
here a few minutes ago.

First time I've
been here today.

And I looked over at Cindy
and I said, he's kidding, right?

And she said, no, this is the
first time he'd been out today.

And I said, then my god, There
was somebody that came in--

looked just like you.

If I'd been just
15 minutes earlier,

just maybe we could
have ran into each other

as he was coming out,
and I was going in.

And met face to face.

How awesome that would
have been, to see yourself.

The lady who
was there said she

saw a man who looked
exactly like Jim in there

not fifteen minutes ago.

She said he could
have been Jim's twin.

HOST: Three weeks later,
Jim's wife Cindy was visiting

his grandmother Sophie.

Sophie grew strangely
quiet when Cindy

told her about the odd
case of mistaken identity

at the mini mart.

Grandma, what's wrong?

Are you OK?

Ernie told me something
a long time ago,

and I promised to
keep it a secret.

HOST: Jim's father Ernie had
died a few months earlier,

and Cindy had no idea
she was about to hear

a long-held family secret.

Ernie told me that
when he contacted

his lawyers about
adopting Jimmy,

he learned that
Jimmy had a brother.

A twin.

Jim had a twin?

CINDY BOUMGARDEN: She said that
Ernie didn't like keeping it

a secret, but yet
he figured that Jim

had never known his brother.

He would never miss him.

I was kind of hurt at
Ernie, because he never told

us himself while he was alive.

But I was very relieved that
we had somebody that could

confirm that there was a twin.

I was excited.

You know, all the
speculations are now true.

I am looking for a twin brother.

HOST: Jim obtained
a family history

from the adoption agency.

To his disappointment,
no names were used.

But the report
did give one clue.

His birth mother had a nephew
who drowned at the age of 14.

Desperate for details, Jim
spent hours in the library

until he found the story
in a 1945 newspaper.

Finally, Jim had come
up with a family name--

Hieronimus.

Through the phone book, Jim
located a woman by that name,

living just 20 miles away.

May I help you?

Good afternoon.

My name is Jim Boumgarden,
this is my wife Cindy.

And I apologize
for disturbing you,

but I was wondering
if you could help me.

Is your last name Hieronimus?

Yes.

I think we might be related.

You don't have to
tell me we're related.

You look exactly
like my brother Bud.

HOST: Jim had found
his Aunt Myrtle,

his birth mother's sister--

the mother of the boy
who had drowned in 1945.

That would have been taken
sometime in the mid-forties.

She was about 33
or 34 at that time.

That's about the
time I was born.

I tell you--

HOST: For the first time,
Jim saw a photograph

of his mother Hazel,
and learned that she

had died three years earlier.

Myrtle told Jim that his
mother had cut herself off

from the family, and that they
had known nothing of his birth

or his twin brothers.

Did you know my father?

Well, there was a
man Hazel was seeing.

I think he might've
been married.

I didn't really know him.

Hazel never told you
about me and my brother?

No.

She never said anything
about having had twin boys.

Of course, I knew about
the little girls she had.

Little girl?

When?

Well, let's see, it was--

October, November-- 1945.

I was in the hospital myself.

HOST: Jim's aunt had
dropped a bombshell.

Not only did Jim
have a twin brother,

he had an older sister as well.

Now the mystery's even harder.

I've got two to
find instead of one.

But I'm bound and determined.

I'm going to find them,
one way or the other.

HOST: Finally, Jim
was able to visit

his birth mother's family plot.

Her maiden name was
Hazel Georgetta DeBaufer.

Eventually, she
married a man named

Carner, also now deceased.

JIM BOUMGARDEN: I
found out everything

except my brother and my
sister, in finding my family.

It's the only part of the web
that needs to be untangled now,

is finding them.

And then it will
be complete, and I

will be satisfied and relaxed.

Jim Boumgarden
and his brother,

whose first name
might be Billy, were

born in the Salvation
Army Hospital

in Cook County, Illinois
on March 29, 1947.

His brother was adopted by a
family in Rochelle, Illinois.

Their older sister was
also born in Rockford,

at St. Anthony's hospital in
October or November of 1945.

HOST: Next, the
baffling disappearance

of a 65-year-old
salesman from Canada.

Alex Cooper of Cranbrook,
British Columbia, Canada,

was an accomplished musician.

A folksy, down to
earth family man,

who enjoyed nothing more
than fishing and camping

with his wife, Margaret,
his five grown children,

and his three grandchildren.

Alex was a local businessman who
worked in the cleaning industry

from 1974 to 1983.

Then, in 1986, he took
a job as a salesman,

and began to spend some
of his time on the road.

Everyone who knew him
agreed, Alex Cooper

was the last person
you'd expect to find

at the center of a mystery.

Then came the morning
of April 4th, 1987.

When Alex's daughter Leila,
and her husband Pete, left

Cranbrook for a shopping trip.

We left Cranbrook quite early
that morning-- about 7:00--

7:30.

We were gonna drive
to another city, which

was about a three hour drive.

And it was actually Pete that
said, that's your dad's car.

And it was, obviously, his car.

Let's stop and
see what he's doing.

OK.
My dad and I are so close.

Pete would have known that if
we didn't stop and say hello,

I was just going to sulk
all day anyway, so we did.

We, right away, turned around.

And I just couldn't imagine
driving by without stopping

and saying hello.

That's just the way we were.

So we just walked
right by the car--

didn't really pay
it any attention.

We walked by it.

Walked down the
bank to the water.

We just assumed
that he was fishing.

It's about time he
got away on the weekend.

Yeah, that's true.

He's not down here.

Dad!

Dad!

At the water, I was curious.

When I got back to the car, I
started to get a little bit--

that feeling in your stomach
like, this is really unusual.

Past curious now.

HOST: Concerned because her
father had a heart condition,

Leila called her mother.

Margaret Cooper had not seen her
husband for more than 24 hours.

MARGARET COOPER: I felt
a great deal of fear.

Leila suggested that she check
out the hotel, which was close.

The hospitals.

And then, if she
didn't find him,

that she would go to the police.

Do you know where
he was headed to?

He was on a regular sales trip
as far as we know, on his way

through the valley to
sell some supplies.

What kind of
supplies does he sell?

Restaurant equipment.

LARRY WILTSHIRE:
There was no foot

prints or any other
physical evidence

that may be around the vehicle.

The vehicle was locked.

He had a set of clothes that
were left in the vehicle

along with some fishing tackle.

Nothing that we found
around the vehicle

would suggest that foul
play was involved in this.

We're gonna have
to take the car too.

He's going to be towing it away.

They have to take the car?

That has to go
back to our office.

We've got to check
it to see if there's

any evidence at all on it.

MARGARET COOPER: I felt very
lost seeing the car go away.

I wanted to make them leave it.

You really do have to take it.

It has to go.

MARGARET COOPER: I felt
that if the car was there,

he would probably come
back and get into it,

and this would end it.

But they took the car away,
and he didn't come back.

HOST: The police launched an
extensive air and land search,

but Alex Cooper had
absolutely vanished.

Perplexed and heartbroken,
his family desperately

searched for answers.

They learned that on the
day Alex disappeared,

he ate lunch at a
restaurant less than a mile

from where his car was found.

Hi.

MARGARET COOPER:
Alex had a very bad

habit in that he carried
his money in a roll

in his front pocket.

And if he was going to pay for
anything, out came the roll.

He took off what he needed--

popped it back in.

And that worried me a
great deal, afterwards.

Excuse me, sir?

You heading up
the road this way?

Yeah.

I was wondering, could
I catch a ride with you?

I'm just going up a little ways.

Sure, climb in.

HOST: Margaret Cooper feared
the worst possible scenario.

Someone may have robbed
her husband, killed him,

dumped his body in the
Canadian wilderness.

Leila Cooper imagined
an altogether

different course of events.

LEILA COOPER: I was thinking
about all the things that

could have happened to him.

I focused on the
water, number one.

That was my main thought-- that
he had fallen into the water.

I could see him maybe going down
to the creek-- to the water.

And being a
fisherman, seeing what

the possibility was of maybe
trying to catch something,

or drop a line in.
And he fell in.

Or he had a heart
attack and fell in.

HOST: Police divers dragged
the creek, and found nothing.

The media picked up the story.

Newspaper and
television coverage

provided yet another theory.

LARRY WILTSHIRE:
After the broadcast,

we had numerous sightings.

People come to our
office reporting

that they had seen a fellow
matching a similar description

as Alex Cooper for height,
weight, same type of clothing

they'd seen hitchhiking in
the area of the vehicle.

The investigators theory was, he
just left the area on his own.

For what reasons,
we have no idea.

HOST: If Alex had indeed
left by his own free will,

why did he leave
his heart medication

and credit cards at home?

And why had he taken only
the clothes he was wearing?

It was suggested that maybe he
had staged the disappearance,

and just ran away from us.

I wasn't able to
accept that at all.

Alex wasn't the kind
of man who would

be capable of creating that
kind of pain for his family.

LEILA COOPER: He was the best
father anybody could ever want,

and he loved us all.

And he was-- he was funny and he
was sincere, and he was honest.

And, you know, if
I'm proven wrong,

I guess I'll have
to eat my words.

But I believed everything
he ever told me.

HOST: The Cooper family
suffered through an entire year

with no word from Alex.

Eventually they had to
face the painful reality

that he was gone forever.

Margaret Cooper petitioned
the Supreme Court

of British Columbia to have her
husband declared legally dead.

Her request was granted.

I'm calling in
regards to Alex Cooper.

The birth certificate.

HOST: Margaret tried to obtain
Alex's birth certificate,

and made a chilling discovery.

No information at all.

Did you check--

HOST: She was stunned to learn
that a birth certificate was

never issued in Alex's name.

In fact, prior to his
marriage to Margaret in 1952,

there were no official
records of Alex Cooper.

No high school transcripts.

No military papers.

No medical history.

As far as anyone could
tell, Alex Cooper simply

did not and had never existed.

MARGARET COOPER:
Finding no record of him

made me feel very mixed up.

Unsure of myself and of
him, because I guess,

I had to really admit
for the first time

that he hadn't been completely
honest with me in things.

Made me really wonder
about his identity.

Didn't make me wonder about
him as a person, though.

Because if he'd have been Joe
Smith, I'd still love him.

HOST: Who was Alex Cooper?

Why had he assumed an
alias, and in essence lived

a lie for more than 30 years?

And most important,
was he still alive?

If so, why had he
chosen to disappear?

For four long years,
the Cooper family

lived in a constant
state of uncertainty.

Then on May 27, 1991, the
mystery of Alex Cooper

finally began to unravel.

Halfway across the
country in Toronto,

another man was
reported missing.

He was also a
traveling salesman.

His name was David Cooper, and
he bore an uncanny resemblance

to Alex Cooper.

Do you like saving money?

Everybody likes saving money.

You certainly sound
like a sensible person.

HOST: The man known
as David Cooper

had lived in a boarding house
in Toronto for nearly a year.

Every week, he would venture
out to a new community,

selling meat products to
families via the telephone.

Yeah, that's
right, half a cow.

We take the shell off it though.

All you get is--

HOST: During one of
Cooper's business trips,

a friend reported
him as missing.

Police searched Cooper's room
and found this photograph.

David Cooper and Alex Cooper
were one and the same.

LEILA COOPER: Sitting there,
holding this Polaroid of him,

I couldn't believe every
prayer that I'd ever made

and, you know, my dreams were
answered because he was alive.

But I didn't have him.

He was there, but
he wasn't there.

I had my 39th
wedding anniversary

not too long ago, by myself.

[inaudible] I live in limbo.

AUBREY DOVE: On the 29th of May,
when Mr. Cooper returned home,

he went up to his room.

And when he went in to
his room or his flat,

he noticed that there was
evidence of police presence.

The dust that's used to take
fingerprints was on the wall,

and was on a couple
of other places.

Mrs. Chase.

Mrs. Chase.

What happened to my room?

Mr. Cooper.

AUBREY DOVE: And at
that time, his landlady

advised him that he'd been
reported missing by the police.

And the police were trying
to find out where he was.

Well, who reported me missing?

I have no idea,
but I know I didn't.

I did all right, didn't I?

It's not your
fault, Mrs. Chase.

HOST: By the time police
returned to the boarding house,

Alex Cooper had disappeared
once again, for reasons

known only to himself.

AUBREY DOVE: We have a
person who has something

to hide to a point
where he would

walk away and leave the
family that he's been

with for the last 35 years.

So it has to be something
that's very serious,

or at least he believes
it's very serious.

LEILA COOPER: I'd
love to get him back.

I want to give him
a real big hug,

and then I kind of want to
give him a kick in the butt.

And then another big hug.

But I'd love to have him back.

MARGARET COOPER:
If he's running,

I don't know why he's running.

But it's time he quit.

He's got this family
that care about him.

And if he's out there
living among strangers,

he should rethink this thing.

We deserve it.

And so does he.

Shortly after
this story aired,

a viewer in Hamilton, Canada
recognized Alex Cooper

and immediately
called authorities.

During questioning, the
mystery surrounding his life

began to unravel.

Alex Cooper told police that his
true name was Albin Arsenault.

In 1948, he was
accused of robbing

an office of the Canadian
Pacific Railroad, where

he was employed at the time.

ALEX COOPER: I was
young, and I panicked.

And I said to myself,
there is no way

I'm going to be taking
the fall for this,

because I didn't do it.

I took off at that
time, and I became

Alexander Cooper at that point.

HOST: Four years later,
Alex married Margaret.

He had no idea that
any criminal charges

that might have been
filed against him

had probably been dropped.

For more than 35 years, his
true identity remained a secret.

Then as his 65th
birthday neared,

Alex Cooper's past
began to catch up.

ALEX COOPER: I was
due for pension,

and you're required to
submit a birth certificate.

I knew I couldn't produce one.

Several months prior to this,
I knew this was coming up.

I couldn't bring myself--

about to tell my family.

So I walked away.

It was a snap decision,
and it was wrong.

HOST: Two days after he
was questioned by Hamilton

authorities, Alex Cooper
returned to British Columbia

and was reunited with his family
after more than five years.

MARGARET COOPER: We were
a very close family.

This had been very
devastating for all of us.

And I'm really hoping that
we can work through this

and put it back together.

If not the way it is,
maybe something better.

We can't pick up
where we left off,

because things have changed.

But we're going to start fresh.

Take it a day at a time.

The way I feel, I
don't deserve for anybody

to accept my apology.

What I've done--
abandonment of your family,

to me, is one hell of a crime.

And the biggest job
for me, at this point,

will be to make amends.

And I would say it'll probably
take me the rest of my life.

HOST: On our next
Unsolved Mysteries.

This is the legendary
Shroud of Turin.

Believers say it is the actual
burial cloth of Jesus Christ,

and that his image has been
miraculously imprinted upon it.

Skeptics claim the
image was somehow

etched on the cloth in the 14th
century by a master painter.

What is the truth behind the
mysterious shroud of Turin?

In 1989, Ethel Kidd began
building her dream home

in rural Virginia,
seeking the safety

and security of country living.

But in a fatal twist of
fate Ethel soon fell prey

to the same kind
of senseless crime

she had been trying to escape.

Joe Maloney was a
master of deception,

and a master of manipulation.

He fashioned a devious
plot against his estranged

wife in which the murder
weapon was a party

drink laced with poison.

Join me, next time, for another
edition of Unsolved Mysteries.