All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S04E11.480p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-PLAYREADY_track3_[und]

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Captain

Jeffrey Digman was a marine's
marine with a bright future.

But then Jeffrey Digman was
found dead in his bedroom,

a bullet to the head.

The police ruled suicide, his
family says it was murder.

Barbara Ann Ratner
and Barbara Ann Smith

met in 1958 when they
were just teenagers.

They soon became
the best of friends.

Years later, the two Barbaras
discovered a mysterious secret

in their past and
learned that they shared

much more than first names.

In Florida, nearly
30 churches have

been hit by suspicious
fires in only 16 months.

Authorities feel a deranged
arsonist may be at work.

Also tonight we celebrate
a remarkable milestone.

Recently calls from
our viewers resulted

in our 100th case solved.

Thanks to you, law enforcement
has closed cases that were

deemed virtually unsolvable.

And the families
of missing persons

have been joyously reunited
with their lost loved ones.

Join me for this
special presentation,

you may be able to
help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

For adopted children the
search for a natural parent

can last a lifetime.

In this unusual story, two
women named Barbara are

both looking for their mother.

Remarkably the two Barbaras,
are longtime best friends

who discovered as adults that
they had far more in common

they could ever imagined.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Barbara Smith

grew up in Los Angeles,
California in the 1940s.

When she was
five-years-old, Barbara

had one of those unfortunate
childhood experiences

which would forever
change her life.

And your own mother
didn't want you.

That's why she gave you up.

My mother told me so.

BARBARA SMITH REED: I
just started to run home

and I just burst out into tears.

That's when it rang clear
to me that it could be used

in a very vicious, hurtful way.

Someone had given me up.

Even though I had
known the security

and love of my
own family, it was

a time of well what happened?

What really did happen?

And I guess it was the
first of the real feelings

of what it meant to be adopted.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Barbara

was born in July of 1940.

She remembers being told by her
parents, Jack and Rose Smith

that she had been adopted.

It never bothered her,
until the day her best

friend began to ridicule her.

Sweetheart, remember how
I told that the Doctor's

going to come over?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
That evening,

Barbara was inconsolable.

Her parents asked the family
doctor, Maurice Sultan

to stop by and speak with her.

How are you?

BARBARA SMITH REED (VOICEOVER):
Dr. Sultan came into my room

and he sat down he told
me the whole story.

Barbara, I am the
doctor who delivered you.

Your real birth dad, he died
during the Second World War

and your birth
mother, she died right

after giving birth to you.

I don't believe it.

Well, why don't you get
a good night's sleep and--

BARBARA SMITH REED: So that
started, at that point,

my father to come in the room
after the doctor left and he

talked with me and said,
well, I hope you're feeling

better and calming me down.

And saying, Barbara, you
know that everybody is gone.

I know that my
family is still alive

and you know that too, Daddy.

BARBARA SMITH REED (VOICEOVER):
And he just sort of left it.

He didn't continue,
he didn't say anymore,

just left it at that.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Finally when

Barbara was a
teenager, her father

brought out her long
buried adoption papers.

For the first
time, Barbara Smith

learned that her real mother's
name was Victoria Baumgartner.

BARBARA SMITH REED:
There was no indication

there that she had ever died in
childbirth as I had been told.

And I remember seeing my
mother's signature on the paper

and I just stared at it and
stared at it and stared at it.

I just, it was the
only thing that I

knew that she was in existence.

And it sort of, at that point
resurged in myself saying,

I know that they're out there.

I don't know who or what
but something is out there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
A couple of years passed.

In 1957 Barbara met a
young man named Steve Reed.

They soon fell in love and
eventually became engaged.

- Hey, come on in.
- Hello.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
One afternoon,

Steve and Barbara visited
a friend of Steve's

named Pie Ratner.

Barbara was startled
by a portrait

hanging in the living room.

Wow, that portrait
looks almost like me.

Yeah, that's my sister Barb.

remember I told you how
much you guys looked alike?

Oh that's right
you did mention that.

Yeah, well you--

BARBARA SMITH REED (VOICEOVER):
I looked at that portrait

and I thought, well he's right.

She does resemble me.

How interesting.

Everybody's upstairs.

BARBARA SMITH REED
(VOICEOVER): And then we

assembled in to the dining
room and Barbara came in

and just, we briefly
were introduced.

She said, hello.

- Steve.
- Barbara

- Hi.
- How are you?

I'm good.
How are you doing?

OK.

I'd like you to meet
my fiance, Barbara.

Hi.
Barbara--

BARBARA SMITH REED
(VOICEOVER): And I thought,

she does look like me and I just
kind of thought that to myself.

Friends for the movies.

We met and it was
just instant like.

You know how sometimes
you meet somebody

and you feel like you've
known them for a long time?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The two Barbara's soon

became the best of friends.

They even married two men
who were also best friends.

The young couples
were inseparable.

BARBARA SMITH REED:
Our friendship

developed almost instantly.

We really became very close.

We shared a lot of
our lives events,

having children we raised
our children together.

To the point that
Barbara was Aunt Barbara

and I was Aunt Barbara
for her children.

Barbara never knew
that she was adopted.

And I had been told
that she was adopted.

So it was a thing that I
knew, never talk about it.

But I talked about it from
my point of view later on.

I told her that I was adopted
and the name of my mother

and what I knew.

She just asked a couple of
questions and that was it.

And nothing more was
ever thought about it,

until her mother passed away.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): In 1966

Barbara Ratner's mother
died and her father decided

to sell the family home.

While helping to pack,
Barbara uncovered

a box filled with mementos
from her childhood.

Barbara Ratner was
shocked to discover

that she had been adopted.

Amazingly the adoption papers
listed her natural mother's

last name as Baumgartner.

The same last name as Barbara
Smith's natural mother.

BARBARA RATNER BESANTY:
I was dumbfounded.

I didn't know that I was
adopted but I didn't connect it

with Barbara, at that moment.

It was a few minutes
later when I started

reading the correspondence.

And there was one paragraph
where they were describing

the mother as being
a healthy woman,

already having one
previous child, a daughter,

living in Beverly Hills that
was in very good health.

I just knew it was Barbara.

I just knew.

[phone ringing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Barbara Ratner

immediately called her
best friend, Barbara Smith.

What was your natural
mother's name again?

Victoria Baumgartner.

BARBARA RATNER BESANTY:
And I said, well, you're

not going to believe this.

I said, I just found some papers
and I am baby girl Baumgartner.

And there was a long
pause and then she said,

I'll get back to you.

And hung up.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Barbara Smith

called her adoptive parents.

Her father agreed
to call Dr. Sultan.

He confirmed that
Barbara Smith and Barbara

Ratner were indeed sisters.

It was just the most
wonderful thing to me.

I mean, your best
friend is your sister

and that couldn't
be more wonderful.

I mean we were already
Auntie Barbara.

And I remember running into
her children at one point

and saying, but I'm
really Auntie Barbara

but I'm really Auntie Barbara.

And they looked
at me and thought,

what is she talking about?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The
two Barbara's were overjoyed.

In 1969, they approached
Dr. Sultan with questions

about their natural mother.

He provided them
with a few details,

but withheld most
of the information.

Before his death in 1989, Dr.
Sultan destroyed all records

pertaining to their adoptions.

We really appreciate--

BARBARA SMITH REED (VOICEOVER):
He was reluctant because he

was very close to my parents.

He just wanted to let
sleeping dogs lie is the word.

The best thing that we can
do under the circumstances.

This was just not
something that you

could conduct with finesse.

And to be close to
the family and to do

all of the arrangements
and the things

that went on in
both of our cases,

I mean it just must have
left him devastated.

Because by law, you are
to protect the mother.

She was his patient.

So where does that leave us?

With very little information.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Barbara Smith and Barbara

Ratner then contacted
the Children's

Home Society of California.

A sketchy history of their
past began to emerge.

In 1940, an unmarried
23-year-old woman

named Victoria Baumgartner
arrived in Los Angeles.

Good morning.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
She was pregnant and turned

to Dr. Maurice Sultan for help.

Having any discomfort?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On
July 31, a baby girl was born.

She was adopted by
Jack and Rose Smith,

who named her Barbara Ann.

I'm sorry, Victoria.

It's time to take the baby
back to the nursery now.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 15
months later, Victoria gave

birth to a second daughter.

Again, Dr. Sultan made
arrangements for adoption.

In an absolutely mind
boggling coincidence,

the two young sisters grew
up just five miles apart,

each was named
Barbara Ann and each

was raised by an adoptive
mother named Rose.

BARBARA SMITH
REED: As we started

to compare some of the
facts and the dates,

it was just a lot
of similarities.

Even some of her outfits
as children were similar.

I don't think a
lot of twins have

as much similarities as we do.

And that fact that we
married best friends.

And the fact that
we are best friends.

It just goes on.

Barbara Ann Smith
and Barbara Ann Ratner

found each other against
almost inconceivable odds.

They have little information
on Victoria Baumgartner.

But bolstered by
their own experience,

they are convinced that
if they keep looking,

they will someday find
their natural mother.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next,
the death of a Marine Captain

is shrouded in controversy.

Was it suicide or murder?

THEME MUSIC]

From the time he was
10-years-old Jeffrey

Digman wanted to be a Marine.

He signed up while he
was still in college

and was accepted into
Officers Candidate School.

WILLIAM JOE DIGMAN: Jeffrey
was very even tempered he spoke

very softly, very quietly.

He was a very clean
type of individual.

Everything had to
be just perfect.

He was just a very
organized individual

who knew what he
wanted and directed

all of his efforts and
attention in achieving in that.

Because he was
such a athletic kid,

he thought it was the,
very macho to be a Marine

and I think that's why
he chose the Marines.

He thought he could
do it and he could.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
At the age of 28,

Jeffrey Digman was
promoted to Captain

and stationed in his
hometown of San Diego.

In late June of 1988,
he and another officer

pooled their money and
bought a house together.

DRILL SERGEANT: One, two, three.
ALL: One.

DRILL SERGEANT: One, two, three.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Just four months

later on November
1st 1988, Digman

was transferred to Puerto Rico.

According to friends, Digman
was unhappy about the transfer.

But by Christmas he
had begun to settle in

and was dating Lucy Garcia,
an accountant at the base.

Thank you.

I enjoyed that.

LUCY GARCIA: Jeffrey
was a very quiet person.

He was so serious.

And I liked that of him.

He said he was going to
take two weeks off to go

back home and fix some things.

Work on his income
tax papers and do

some other things over there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Just after the holidays,

Digman spent two weeks
at his home in San Diego.

He was scheduled to fly back
to Puerto Rico on January

22, 1989, Super Bowl Sunday.

At halftime a neighbor
saw Digman return home.

Digman's roommate, a
Major in the Marine Corps,

had gone to Las Vegas for the
weekend with his girlfriend.

[gunshot]

At 6 PM, neighbors
heard what they

thought was a car backfiring.

At 10 PM, the Major
returned from Las Vegas.

He was surprised to see Jeffrey
Digman's car still there.

Digman's flight to Puerto
Rico been scheduled

to depart 15 minutes earlier.

HENRY SAWICKI: When the
roommate returned home

with his girlfriend, they
noticed that the house

appeared to have someone in it.

The lights were on, the garage
door was open apparently.

So this caused
them some concern,

some suspicion as Mr. Digman
was not supposed to be there.

The roommate and the girlfriend
again thinking that something

was out of the ordinary,
went across the street

to get some neighbors.

Hi Bill, I'm
sorry to bother you.

I was wondering if
you could come over

and help me out
over at the house

and just take a
look inside with me?

What do you need?
What's the matter?

Well I'm not sure but
if you could come over--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The
Major persuaded his neighbor

to go into the house with him

That's all right.

Did you notice anything
strange around here tonight?

No, it looks normal, natural.

Jeff's car wasn't supposed to
be here and I was- the lights

were supposed to be off.

I don't know.

But I'll appreciate
you coming over.

That's OK.

I'll check in here.

[suspenseful music]

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Jeffrey

Digman was dead with
a single bullet wound

to his right temple.

Digman's blood alcohol level
measured an incredible 0.24.

Exactly three times the
legal limit for intoxication.

--Touch or move anything?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The
death was ruled a suicide.

No, no I didn't.

HENRY SAWICKI (VOICEOVER):
Among the items

that lead us to conclude
that it is a suicide,

we're talking to
his acquaintances

as going to possibly his state
of mind before this occurred.

Just positioned
on the bed and--

HENRY SAWICKI: As well
as forensic evidence

that was discovered
at the scene.

One of the pieces
of forensic evidence

was what we call a
gunshot residue test.

And that determined
that there was gunpowder

or an indication
that Mr. Digman had

fired a gun on the right hand.

I at no time ever believed
that he committed suicide.

I never believed that from
when I first got the phone call

to when I went down that night.

Or in the past two years,
have I ever believed

that he committed suicide.

I've always believed
that he was murdered.

And that's what the evidence
shows, that he was murdered.

The Naval Investigative
Service backed up the coroner's

ruling of suicide.

Unconvinced, Bill and Donna
Digman hired several experts

and began their own
investigation, which

not only took on
a life of its own

but soon took over
their lives as well.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
For more than a year

the Digman's, working
out of their home,

collected information
about their son's case.

Upstairs, in his
childhood bedroom,

they painstakingly
duplicated the scene

of Jeffrey's death using
the actual furniture

from his house.

With the help of a
private investigator,

Bill Digman
demonstrated for us why

he believes his son could not
possibly have killed himself.

In this room we've recreated
a mock-up of the crime scene.

Everything is located in the
same position it was that night

and it was determined by our
investigator, Ted Gunderson.

Well, the first
thing I had to do

was determine the trajectory
of the bullet, which I did.

And this is the trajectory of
the bullet on that occasion.

Also it was important that
we recreate the bedroom

as nearly as possible.

And we did that by
measuring the furniture

and using the exact furniture
that was in the room

that night, the night
of the shooting.

This was the position
that my son was found in.

And I am the same
height as my son.

Now he was shot
through the head.

And for him to have been able
to have shot through the head,

he had to be shot
somewhere along the bullet

path here, which means that you
have to get lined up with it.

And to do that I have to get
in this contorted position,

like this.

The other thing was
that he was left handed.

If he'd held the gun in his hand
and in this contorted position,

along the side of the bed,
as soon as he was shot

he would have
fallen to the floor.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Even
though Jeffrey Digman was left

handed, investigators found
powder burns on his right hand

as well.

Bill and Donna Digman believe
there was other evidence

inconsistent with suicide.

A trail of blood ran from
Jeffrey Digman's left ear,

down his cheek.

This raised the
possibility that Digman

was in an upright position
for at least seven seconds

after the gunshot
wound was inflicted.

Police photographs
taken at the scene

also revealed an abrasion on
Digman's cheek and a contusion

on his elbow.

Above Jeffrey's head,
on the turnback sheet,

was an unexplained
smear of blood.

His parents hired
Steve Schliebe,

an independent forensic
expert, to review the case.

I don't feel that
Jeffrey killed himself.

I think there was some kind
of a struggle that took place

and he was shot
during that struggle,

based upon an evaluation and
the evidence at the scene.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 10
months after Jeffrey Digman's

death, his parents requested
that his body be exhumed

and a second autopsy performed,
with their observers present.

The Naval hospital in San Diego
performed a second autopsy,

they found two injuries not
mentioned in the first autopsy

report: contusions on
Jeffrey Digman's right elbow

and on the middle
finger of his left hand.

The second autopsy
report however

stated that these injuries
were insignificant.

There was no medical
evidence to support

a conclusion of homicide.

The Digman's continued
to believe that their son

had been murdered.

They felt Jeffrey's death was
somehow related to his tenure

with the San Diego
Marine Drug Testing Unit.

For seven months
in 1988, before he

was transferred to Puerto
Rico, Jeffrey Digman had

served as chief of the unit.

People were dealing drugs.

People were testing positive.

He would write his
reports documenting what

the results of his investigation
were and those people

weren't being disciplined.

They were not being discharged.

He was very upset over that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Jeffrey's mother

recalls that while he
was with the drug unit

she visited him at his
house in the very room

where he would later die.

And I found some military
documents in his safe

and I asked him, what
were those documents.

And that was when he told me
that he was saving those tests

from drug abuse
tests, so that he

could cover himself
in case anyone

said that he wasn't
doing his job.

When we came back to
move Jeffry's things,

we wanted to empty the
desk, to make it lighter.

And we opened the hinged door
that the safe was usually

behind and the
hinged door came off

and our hands and the
hinges were not connected.

And the safe was not there.

They were after those papers.

We didn't get the safe back
because I believe that they

pried it open, broke it.

Couldn't very well
give it back to us

if it would have been damaged,
or possibly it had blood on it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
There is a final puzzling

postscript to this case.

When Lucy Garcia I helped the
Marines pack Jeffrey Digman's

belongings in Puerto
Rico, one of the items

was a small, green backed diary.

LUCY GARCIA (VOICEOVER):
They opened the book

and they start reading it.

They closed the book again
and then they give it

to the person who was packing.

When I give the green
book to one of the enlisted,

I notice that all the
pages were in the book.

Everything was fine.

Eventually we unpack
things and looked

for the little green book that
Lucy was telling us about.

And when we found
it what we found

was that the pages
were cut out of it.

WILLIAM JOE DIGMAN (VOICEOVER):
It's been difficult,

thinking about it all the time.

With the mock up
there, so close.

The constant reminder
that he's dead.

But I have a job
to do and some people

may say they were enthusiastic
or obsessed with this.

Yeah, we're obsessed
with the fact,

we want to know why
our son is dead.

We want to know why.

We're not going to give
up until we find out why.

Two months ago, the Armed
Forces Institute of Pathology

reviewed both autopsy reports.

They changed the cause
of death to undetermined.

Although the Naval Investigative
Service and the Riverside

County California
Sheriff's Department

stand by their original
suicide ruling,

they would welcome any new
evidence pertinent to the case.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Next, authorities in Florida

need your help to
solve a wave of arson,

on tonight's Special Alert.

[theme music]

On October 24, 1991 firefighters
rushed to the First Baptist

Church in Ocala, Florida.

Despite their efforts
the 85-year-old landmark

was completely gutted.

Incredibly, this was the
21st suspicious church

fire in Florida during
a 15 month period.

Authorities began
to fear that they

might be dealing with a
pathological serial arsonist.

The series of blazes
began in July of 1990

in Jackson County, Florida.

By February of 1991, 11
churches had been torched.

By June, a total stood at 15.

Then suddenly, the fires
mysteriously stopped.

For 3 1/2 months all was quiet.

But in October, the reign of
destruction erupted again.

Seven more churches in as
many days went up in flames.

Among them, the First Baptist
Church in Ocala, Florida.

Damage from this fire
alone is estimated

in excess of $4 million.

After the rash of
fires in October,

authorities formed
a special joint task

force comprised of federal,
state, and local investigators.

Task force is looking at all
possible patterns and avenues.

Everything from profiles
of possible fire setters

to times of day and
other information

regarding the churches.

But there certainly is no
specific pattern that has

been determined at this point.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Just five hours

before our camera crew
arrived in Gainesville to film

interviews, the Westwood
Hill's Church of God

was destroyed by an arson fire.

At daybreak, church members
looked on as a task force

searched the rubble for clues.

Churches like ours, like
to stay open and offer

people a place to
meditate or pray

and be involved 24 hours a day.

And it's got to the
place now that where

we can't leave our doors open so
someone could come in and pray.

We're having to
guard the church.

I would hope that we will come
to some sort of quick solution.

However, I think it should
be noted that we need to be

prepared for the long haul.

These are very complex
investigations.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): To date,

more than 26 churches have
been damaged or destroyed

by the arson fires.

Resulting in a combined property
loss in excess of $8 million.

But for the congregations,
the devastation cannot be

measured in dollars and cents.

These are very
important places for us

very important structures.

They house memories,
good feelings,

and they're a very vital
part of our community.

So the loss is
heavy for all of us.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Fortunately,

no one has been
killed or seriously

injured in any of the blazes.

Currently there are rewards
totaling $46,000 in this case.

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Theresa

and Paul Stamper of Kingfisher,
Oklahoma were married in 1982.

Paul was a successful
local businessman.

At the time, Theresa
had no idea that Paul

was also a convicted felon
with a violent, criminal past.

I know you were with someone.

Now, I want to know who you were
with and I want to know it now!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Within six months,

Theresa's marriage to Paul
became a living nightmare.

He accused her of
being unfaithful

and would often erupt in violent
and uncontrollable rages.

You shut up.

Ow!

THERESA STAMPER (VOICEOVER)
: He was jealous.

And you had better be
here when I get back.

I mean I could
be sitting at, we

could be sitting at a red light
and I could just turn and look

at someone, and it could be
a guy sitting in this car,

and he would just
double his fist up

and just hit me
right in the mouth.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Finally after two years

of nearly constant emotional
and physical abuse,

Theresa found the courage
to leave her husband.

For the next six
months, Paul Stamper

stalked Theresa night and day,
waiting to seek his revenge.

On November 23, 1985, Theresa
and a friend Chris Butler,

were heading home
after an evening out.

They were pulled
over by what they

assumed was a highway patrol.

Paul!

Theresa honey,
get out of the car.

No!

What are you doing?

[gunshot]

[gunshot]

No, Chris!

Oh, my God.

Chris had come to and he had
yelled, don't leave me here.

Theresa don't leave me here.

And there was, there
wasn't anything I could do.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Chris
Butler survived the attack.

Paul Stamper drove north,
holding Theresa at gunpoint.

After two days she
managed to escape.

Paul Stamper was arrested at a
bus station in Salina, Kansas.

But just six months later,
he broke out of jail

and disappeared.

Update.

Just minutes after
this story aired,

the FBI received information
from several of our viewers

that Paul Stamper was
living in Commerce City,

a suburb of Denver, Colorado.

One phone call
was very specific.

It at his alias, it
had his location,

his address, his
employment, that he was

driving a semi-truck overland.

And that brought an immediate
response from the Denver FBI.

So that we moved
out within the hour.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Just three hours

after our broadcast,
Paul Stamper was

arrested as he left his home.

The fugitive had been
living in the Denver area,

under the assumed
name Gary Wikel

for approximately four years.

This is one of the more
efficient, cost effective,

speedy apprehensions
that we've ever made.

For us to not have any
idea, early evening,

that this individual
is in the Denver area.

And by 11:30, he is captured,
he's off the streets

and he's on his way
to Denver city jail.

That, I think, may be
close to a record for us.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Paul Stanford

was returned to Oklahoma
and is currently

being held in the
Kingfisher County Jail

while awaiting trial on
charges of kidnapping

and attempted murder.

If convicted, Stamper could
receive life in prison.

[theme music]

The Haunting Desert
of the American

Southwest, immense, desolate,
nearly uninhabitable.

Visited by only the most
durable of men and women,

who for one reason or another
finds safety in its solitude.

Vast horizons where one
can be alone and observe.

Where secrets can
be hidden midst

the sand, sage, and chaparral.

[plane descending]

1933, just north of
Farmington, New Mexico.

That summer, a daredevil,
barnstorming pilot

named Red Moiser made
several mysterious flights

into the desert.

There he was met by a Mexican
millionaire named Leon Trabuco.

19 years later, the secrets
of the enigmatic and elusive

Trabuco would begin to unravel.

In 1952, a federal
grand jury was convened

after investigations
by the United

States Treasury Department
and the Secret Service.

It was alleged that Leon Trabuco
and four other financiers

had engaged in a
sinister plot to buy up

much of Mexico's gold
reserves and resell

it in the United States.

It is a brazen scheme
conceived at the height

of the Great Depression and
born from a conspiracy of greed.

Y, que lindo.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
By the spring of 1933,

Trabuco and his associates
were convinced that the United

States would soon
devalue the dollar

and that gold prices
would skyrocket.

But the potential for enormous
profits carried great risk.

Their gold had to be smuggled
into the United States.

If caught, the conspirators
faced long prison terms.

At a makeshift foundry
in Puebla, Mexico,

gold in every imaginable
form was melted down

and cast into ingots.

In less than three
months the conspirators

had allegedly amassed
an incredible 16

tons of solid gold.

So Mr. Trabuco,
this is the property

I was telling you about.

Lots of space to store stuff.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Leon
Trabuco traveled to the United

States in search
of a safe hiding

place for the illegal treasure.

After several
unsuccessful trips,

he decided it would be
wiser to bury the gold.

It's too big.

I need something a
little more secluded.

Secluded.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Legend has it

that Trabuco chose a
sparsely populated region

in the Northwest
corner of New Mexico.

The area is near the Ute and
Navajo Indian Reservations.

Just north of the small
town of Farmington.

[plane ascending]

Red Moiser allegedly made
a total of 16 flights.

Carrying an average payload
of one ton per trip.

After each delivery, the gold
was loaded into a pickup truck

and transported to
an unknown location.

Oddly, Leon Trabuco never
made a map of that location.

Nor did he reveal the burial
place to his co-conspirators.

Records indicate that
the final shipment

was delivered on July 14, 1933.

Just 6 1/2 months
later, the Gold

Reserve Act of 1934 became law.

The price of gold soared.

The conspirators had made an
overnight profit of $7 million.

However, the group elected not
to sell the gold but to wait.

Confident that the price
would continue to rise.

Blinded by greed,
not one of them

was aware of an executive
order related to the gold act.

It declared the private
ownership of gold

within US borders
after January 17 1934,

would be punishable by steep
fines and imprisonment.

The group had waited too long.

When FDR put the gold embargo,
that takes gold off the market.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Ed Foster

grew up in Farmington
New Mexico and has spent

more than 35 years
researching the legend

of Leon Trabuco's treasure.

--gold.

It's illegal.

And so consequently,
these five men

from, financiers from Mexico
City, they had 20 tons of junk.

It was not worth a
dime because they

couldn't sell it for anything.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Within five years,

three of the conspirators
met with untimely deaths.

Leon Trabuco spent
the next two decades

traveling the world
in a vain attempt

to sell the illegal treasure.

In 1952, he tried
to cut a covert deal

with US government
officials prompting

the grand jury investigation.

Trabuco was never indicted.

He died several years later,
apparently taking to his grave

the secret location of the gold.

[helicopter whirring]

Ed Foster has scoured the desert
terrain surrounding Farmington

and is convinced that he
has found the landing strip

used by Red Moiser in 1933.

It is a seven mile long
plateau known as Conger Mesa.

I believe that Conger Mesa
is where the plane would

adjust and come in and land.

I met this Indian lady that
couldn't speak English.

So I got it an interpreter.

She said she had
watched that plane

land there many, many times.

Ed interviewed
another Navajo woman

who was six years old in 1933.

[non-english]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): She
remembered several Mexican men

who lived on the reservation.

This would be very unusual
for a Mexican to move out here.

For a Spanish or a white man
to move out here and live

would be unheard of.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 20
miles west of Conger Mesa,

near an abandoned
Navajo home, stands

a building unlike any
other on the reservation.

Ed believes that
it was constructed

by the men Leon Trabuco left
behind to guard the gold.

This house has windows, a
front door and a back door

and it had a veranda.

To me this house would look
good in Tijuana, Mexico,

but not on the
Navajo reservation.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 28
miles east of the Mexican style

home, Ed uncovered
an intriguing clue

etched in the face of
a stone outcropping

he calls Shrine Rock.

Ed believes that
it's the key that

will ultimately lead
him to Trabuco's

treasure buried in 1933.

This is 1933 16 t-o-n.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Ed foster

feels certain that the
gold is buried somewhere

within this triangle formed
by Conger Mesa, Shrine Rock,

and the Mexican style home.

Ed contacted internationally
renowned treasure

hunter, Norm Scott, to conduct
a detailed survey of the area.

I get an awful lot
of stories coming to us

after 30 years in the business.

And probably about
80% to 90% of them

you have to chalk up to
some fictional writer who's

writing a book or magazine.

But this one has a ring
of authenticity to it

and therefore it
deserves attention.

And we intend to give it to it.

I have looked with my eyes and
metal detectors for many years

and now they have technology.

And that's why I
think it's going

to be found with technology.

It's not going to be
found with dumb luck

because I've spent all of that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Is Ed Foster merely

chasing a legend,
which has grown grander

with the passing of the years?

Or does a desert of
New Mexico indeed

hold the secret to Leon
Trabuco's long lost fortune?

[theme music]

On our next Unsolved
Mysteries, in 1978

a charming, sophisticated
man befriended

a wealthy widow in Tennessee.

Before long he was running
her estate and her affairs.

Seven years later he
allegedly faked his own death

and vanished, leaving the
widow virtually penniless.

Join me, next week
for another edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries".