All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S04E17.480p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-PLAYREADY_track3_[und]

NARRATOR: This program is
about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the
actual family members

and police officials
have participated

in recreating the events.

What you are about to see
is not a news broadcast.

ROBERT STACK: The
majestic Himalayas

are home to the world's
highest mountain.

In 1957, an expedition
set out to challenge

his vast wilderness.

Not to conquer Mount Everest,
but to track down the elusive

Yeti, a legendary, human-like
creature known in the West

as the abominable snowman.

40 Years ago, interracial
romance in America

was almost unheard of.

When John Elias and
Eleanor Platt fell in love,

an uncaring society
forced them apart

and coerced Eleanor into putting
their baby up for adoption.

In Florida, John and
Virginia Constable left

home to visit their daughter.

Within two hours, they were
dead, the innocent victims

of an alleged drunk driver.

Join me.

Perhaps you may be able
to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

March 1987.

In Buffalo, New York, the
coda to a poignant love story

is played out.

Eleanor Platt and John Elias
are finally together again.

They had fallen in love
when they were young,

but the ugly barrier
of racial prejudice

had kept them
apart for 34 years.

It was 1953.

"Brown v. The
Board of Education"

had not yet been heard
by the Supreme Court.

A full six years
after Jackie Robinson

crossed baseball's
color line, there

were just 20 black players
in the major leagues.

Racial integration was
an alien concept in most

parts of the United States.

Buffalo, New York
was no exception.

When high school student Eleanor
Platt took an interest in John

Elias, a black man
11 years her senior,

it was by definition
controversial, and certain

to bring trouble
down on both of them.

Have you seen him around?

No.

I think he is so cute.

I think you're crazy.

I-- I think he's older.

He's looking me,
I'll be right back.

Hi.

Hi.

This is for you.

Thanks.

What's your name?

Eleanor.

I'm John Elias.

Eleanor Platt.

ELEANOR WOZNIAK: Right
away, I was drawn to him,

and we started talking.

We met at different
places, and I just

was fascinated with
the feelings that we

were having towards each other.

And I knew that I
was in love with him.

So what do you say?

I don't know.

Come on, you're going
to break my heart.

Maybe I should think about it.

You're gonna break me--
you got to think about it?

Come here.

JOHN ELIAS: We
talked and talked,

and we developed a closer
and closer relationship.

And then I asked her
would she marry me.

And she thought about it,
and I asked her again.

So finally she decided
after Christmas,

that she would leave home,
and that she would move

in with me in my apartment.

ROBERT STACK: For Eleanor,
leaving home was easier

said than done.

She knew her father
would object violently.

Nevertheless, on
December 26, 1953,

Eleanor ran away from her
parents' home to begin

a life with John Elias.

ELEANOR WOZNIAK:
I lived with John

from the last part of December
until the 26th of January.

And on the 26th of
January, I decided

I was going back home, because
I surmised that I was pregnant.

At that point, she
decided she wanted

to tell her mother
of her situation,

because she had been
missing from home.

I had warned her before
that if she went home,

that there would be problems.

Eleanor!

ACTOR AS ELEANOR PLATT: Daddy.

Where you been, Eleanor?

ACTOR AS ELEANOR
PLATT: I've been

staying with my friend, John.

John Elias.

John Elias?

You stay away from him!

I really want you to meet him.

I don't want to meet him.

Dad, I really
think you should.

I said no.

I'm going to have his baby.

You what?

Get out of my house, now!

IVA E. PLATT: My husband was
an alcoholic, and he drank.

And when he was drinking,
he was not himself,

and in order to keep
peace in the family

and keep my own sanity
in one sense of word,

I had to play ball
and let him take over.

Do what he wanted to.

I know what to do.

I'll call Harry
Horton at City Hall.

Harry Horton, he'll
take care of it.

Dad, don't care of it.

I don't want you
to take care of it.

She was put into a home,
because that's what they did

with girls that made mistakes,
and the law took care of him,

because they
accused him of rape.

And so he was arrested for that.

ROBERT STACK: John Elias's
arrest took place at midday

in the factory where he worked.

According to Eleanor,
charges that John

had held her against her
will were trumped up.

Because she was still
three days shy of 18,

John was charged with
second degree rape

and given a nine
month jail sentence.

JOHN ELIAS: I pleaded
guilty to the grand jury,

because I did not
want to have Eleanor

go through the ordeal of having
to be in a trial, brought

on the stand.

In a way, I felt that
I was protecting her.

ROBERT STACK: On
September 13, 1954,

in a home for unwed
mothers, Eleanor gave birth

to a daughter, Rose Marie.

The authorities at
the home had told

Eleanor over and
over that it might

be best to give the baby up.

ELEANOR WOZNIAK: When
I had Rose Marie--

I really didn't want to give
her up, I wanted to keep her.

And in my own mind, I couldn't
figure out any way of keeping

her, and so it hurt deeply.

Come on down, Eleanor.

ROBERT STACK: The day Eleanor
had dreaded finally arrived.

Rose Marie was taken
from her and placed

in a temporary custody
of social services

until the situation
could be evaluated.

Eleanor's ready now.

ELEANOR WOZNIAK: I handed my
daughter to the social worker,

and she took the baby and in
turn handed her to the lady

that was standing next to her.

I was tore up inside,
because I knew that--

or surmised that these
ladies were going to take her

and that I would
never see her again.

ROBERT STACK: Eleanor
immediately reestablished

contact with John, who'd
been released from jail

early for good behavior.

They were determined to
get their daughter back.

Once again, John
proposed marriage.

Eleanor eagerly accepted,
but insisted that they

tell her parents face to face.

John, what are you doing here?

You're can't come in here.

We want your blessing,
we want to get married.

Joe, get out here right now!

We love each other, why
can't you understand that?

Chop chop!

Get out of my house!

Daddy!

Can't you see that
we love each other?

Oh, you're married, huh?

Marry this!

Daddy!

Don't come back,
John, don't come back!

JOHN ELIAS: At this
point, her parents

had her arrested for failing
to obey their lawful orders,

even those she was
over the age of 18.

Eleanor disappeared.

I had no idea of where she went.

I could not contact her
family, because they

didn't want me at their house.

So after that, I asked
around, asked around,

no one knew where she went.

Daddy, I don't
want to do this.

You sign it.

Baby, listen to daddy, he
knows what he's talking about.

ROBERT STACK: Eleanor
had been sentenced

to a three year term in a
juvenile detention facility.

However, she was told
that her sentence

would be reduced
if, and only if, she

put Rose Marie up for adoption.

ELEANOR WOZNIAK:
I was naive and I

did not know how the laws were,
and I was scared of my parents.

I was scared of
the social worker.

And so I went ahead
and signed the papers,

not knowing what
the consequences

would be in the long run.

SOCIAL WORKER: Well,
Eleanor, I understand

you've come to a final
decision regarding adoption,

is that right?

Yes ma'am.

SOCIAL WORKER: Good, because
I think it's in the very best

interest of your baby daughter.

Now if you'll sign
these papers right here,

and as soon as you do this--

I was wondering if we could--
if we could wait one more week.

SOCIAL WORKER: Absolutely not.

Now we've discussed this
over and over again, Eleanor.

The longer you take, the harder
it's going to be on the baby,

on yourself, on your parents,
on everyone concerned.

ELEANOR WOZNIAK:
Afterwards, I found out

that if I had read and
understood the law more, that I

would not have had
to give her up,

because I was 18 years of age.

I hope that someday
you'll realize

what a good decision you made.

ELEANOR WOZNIAK: When
I did the signing,

I felt all tore up inside.

Like I'd-- I'd signed
my life away, and there

was nothing I could do.

ROBERT STACK: Eleanor was
released six months after she

signed the adoption papers.

ELEANOR WOZNIAK: I
still wanted to see John

and get together with
John and marry John,

because I loved him.

John was nowhere to be found.

Only later did she
discover that he had

literally been run out of town.

I was continually harassed
by the police department.

When I was driving my
car, they would ask me

for my license, my
registration, my license,

my registration-- a continual
harassment type thing.

I did not see Eleanor
anymore after that,

because I left town, where
I could get a decent job

and start settling
down after that ordeal.

ROBERT STACK: Eleanor would
never have another child.

Because of complications
resulting from Rose Marie's

birth, Eleanor was forced
to undergo a hysterectomy

at the age of 22.

Eventually the pain of her
shattered youth subsided.

In 1977, Eleanor
married Steven Wozniak,

and together they raised
four foster children.

John Elias was married also.

He and his wife had two
children, a boy and a girl.

In 1987, John began to search in
earnest for his lost daughter,

Rose Marie.

Along the way, he
located Eleanor.

JOHN ELIAS: That really you?

Yes, it's me.

It's a long time
since I've seen you.

I know it.

It's good to see you.

Oh, come on in the house,
it's too cold out here.

ROBERT STACK: With the blessing
of both of their spouses,

John and Eleanor resolved
to find their daughter.

If my daughter is
watching this, Rose Marie,

I want you to know
that I do love you,

and your father loves
you, and that's why we're

working together to find you.

There's so much we want to
explain to you and to tell you,

that we really do care, and we
really did care at the time.

JOHN ELIAS: I hope that we
will be successful in finding

this child who has
been gone for all

of these years, who was
literally taken away from us

by the forces of the law.

And at that point, even though
we don't want to interfere

with her life, we'd just
like to know her whereabouts,

how she is, and
how she came out.

John and Eleanor's search
came to an end the night

of our broadcast, when a
viewer in Elmira, Pennsylvania

recognized their long
lost daughter as one

of his coworkers, Sally Riley.

One of my coworkers
called me on the phone,

and he's hysterical.

And he's going, were you
watching "Unsolved Mysteries?"

And I said, no,
and he said, you're

not going to believe this.

And I said, what do you mean
I'm not going to believe this?

He said they're looking for you.

And I said, what do you
mean they're looking for me?

He says your mother and father
were on TV looking for you.

ROBERT STACK: Two weeks
later, Sally and her fiancee

traveled to New
York and introduced

her children to Eleanor and
John for the first time.

SALLY RILEY: When I first
saw my parents, I was--

I was kind of flabbergasted
or in awe, I really don't

know the word I'm looking for.

But it just-- you had to stare
at them, because, you know,

it's like, I'm a part of them.

Unless a person
has gone through it,

there is no way to
describe the feeling

that a person has once they
find their child that's

been adopted.

I had carried an imaginary
picture in my mind of how

I thought she would look.

All I needed-- I had a form,
but I didn't have a face.

When she stepped out of
the vehicle, I had a face,

and that was a good feeling.

ROBERT STACK: The
very special reunion

was arranged by Dominic
Telesco, Director of the Center

for Reuniting Families.

DOMINIC TELESCO:
John was just in awe,

looking ou the window
at his daughter

that they had never seen--

he had never seen her.

So it was a very,
very happy reunion.

Very touching, very emotional.

ROBERT STACK: For John,
Sally, and Eleanor,

the reunion marked the beginning
of an emotional healing

process that was long overdue.

That's up to you
guys to do that--

ELEANOR WOZNIAK:
I want to make it

as much as possible as a
mother daughter situation,

and I want to try to make
up for some of the years

that I have missed, and the
same way with the grandkids.

That they're growing up
to be teenagers, I want--

I've missed a lot of that,
and I'd like to share

what I have left with them.

SALLY RILEY: I'm just glad
I have a very extended

family now, and that
everybody is accepting me

and I'm accepting them, and it
just-- it feels really good.

ROBERT STACK: Next, authorities
need your help to capture

an accused drunk driver.

March 2, 1991.

Just outside Kissimmee,
Florida, local authorities

converge on the scene of
a deadly highway accident.

It is a tragedy played out
every day, all over the country.

A drunk driver has lost
control of his vehicle

and claimed innocent victims.

In this case, an elderly couple,
71-year-old John Constable and

his wife, Virginia, aged 69.

They had been
married for 45 years.

It is a tragic fact that
22,000 Americans are killed

by drunk drivers every year.

It is a bitter reality
that many of those

who drive on intoxicated
survive the terrible accidents

they cause.

All too often,
the victims become

faceless statistics,
except for the people

who lost someone they love.

We'd have been out of here--

Did you pack the fruit?

Yes, I have the fruit,
I have everything packed.

Did you get the camera?

Yes, let's just get
these things in the car.

On Sunday, March 3, 1991,
when John and Virginia Constable

left Davenport, Florida
to visit their daughter

Linda in Jacksonville,
a three hour drive away.

You call Linda?

I called her, I talked
to her just before we left.

She's all excited, waiting
for us to get there.

ROBERT STACK: At 12:35
PM, the Constables

were still just a few
miles from their home,

heading north on
County Road 545, which

they traveled nearly every day.

Just ahead, traveling southbound
and approaching a sharp curve,

was a pickup truck
driven by James White,

a house painter and handyman.

No one knows what time
he started drinking

or how much he consumed.

[horn honking]

[tires squealing]

[crash and glass breakng]

[helicopter approaching]

[indistinct chatter on radio]

ROBERT STACK: By 12:43
PM, eight minutes

after the accident, the
highway patrol and rescue teams

had rushed to the area.

John Constable had died
at the instant of impact.

His wife, Virginia,
was suffering

from massive internal injuries.

As she was being
evacuated, Trooper

Eugene Brewer of the
Florida Highway Patrol

arrived at the scene.

EUGENE BREWER: I
directed my attention

to Mr. White, who was the single
occupant in the pickup truck.

And he was placed
in the ambulance,

and I got in the
back of the ambulance

with him, at which
time I could smell

the odor of alcoholic beverage.

I'm Trooper Brewer with
Florida Highway Patrol, OK.

I'm going to request
the paramedic

take a blood sample from you.

ROBERT STACK: The
results of the blood test

would lead to reveal
that James White had

a blood alcohol level of to.

22, more than twice
Florida's legal limit of 0.1.

White was taken to
Kissimmee Memorial

Hospital 12 miles away.

Mrs. Constable was medevacked
to a trauma center in Orlando.

Nearly every organ in her
body had been ruptured.

She died just over an
hour later, at 2:06 PM

It It got to be 4:30, 5
o'clock, so finally I called

the Florida Highway Patrol.

I was getting very concerned
about them being so late.

And then the Florida
Highway Patrol officer

pulled in our driveway, and I
didn't think anything of it,

because we had placed a
call, and he probably wanted

some information to find them.

Thank you for answering
our call so soon.

It's all right.

Unfortunately, I'm here to
advise you that Mr. And Mrs.

Constable were involved
in a serious accident

earlier this afternoon.

- Are they all right?
- No, ma'am--

LINDA FAULKNER:
He said that there

had been an automobile accident,
and there was a fatality.

Are you sure?

Yes sir, I'm sure.

I just remember
asking which one.

I never dreamed it would
have been both of them.

And after that, I don't
remember anything.

It's a common thing
in our profession

to investigate accidents
where DUI is involved,

and more so than not, we
find a lot of them where

the innocent people
are killed and people

that had been drinking survive.

Hey Jimmy, how you doing, bud?

What's wrong?

ROBERT STACK: James
White had suffered

a fractured jaw, a broken
ankle, and three broken ribs.

His jaw was wired shut,
and he was admitted

to the intensive care unit.

His relatives who
lived in the area

became a constant
presence at the hospital.

He's in a lot of pain.

ROBERT STACK: By
Wednesday night,

three days after the
accident, White's condition

had improved considerably.

Hey, where y'all going?

Just down for a walk.

OK, visiting hours are over.

If you can have him
back in 30 minutes?

No problem.

NURSE: OK, thanks.

His family, apparently,
was walking him

a little bit each day,
and third day, apparently

they kept right on walking.

ROBERT STACK: It is believed
that James White and some

of his relatives
left the hospital

by an unguarded rear door.

They have not been seen since.

Only later did the
authorities discover

that White had a long history
of drunk driving arrests.

There was only one
real clue to go on,

a driver's license issued
to White in North Carolina.

JOHN GREGORY: Local
authorities in North Carolina

were sent to the address
shown on his license,

and no person by that
name was living there,

and hadn't lived there.

So I don't know if he was just
using that as an address to get

a driver's license or what.

He is an habitual offender.

He has done this before, and he
has a long arrest record just

here in the state of Florida.

And he just has no remorse
for the human life.

I just continuously go over
their accident every day.

It's just something that never
leaves me, trying to imagine

what they had gone through.

ROBERT STACK: Update.

Burlington, Vermont.

James White has been arrested.

LT. CHUCK WILLIAMS: Following
the broadcast of "Unsolved

Mysteries," we received some
200 phone calls about James

White and his whereabouts.

Two days after the "Unsolved
Mysteries" broadcast,

we got the phone call
we were waiting on.

James White was
spotted by someone

who had seen the program
up in Burlington, Vermont.

He was seen in a bar, and
he was arrested and taken

into custody up there.

PEAR HASKINS: I was very
glad to get him off the road,

to think that he's not
going to kill someone else.

I think it's a terrible
thing what he did.

He should have stayed there, and
he should have faced the music.

ROBERT STACK: Two weeks
after he was captured,

James White was returned to
Florida where he is scheduled

to stand trial on all charges.

White, who has two prior
convictions for drunk driving,

could receive a maximum
sentence of 30 years in prison.

Next, the search for the Yeti,
a mysterious half man, half ape

said to live in the
remote Himalayas.

The Himalayas extend
through southern Asia,

forming an almost
impassable barrier

between China and India.

It is a vast,
windswept land, site

of the world's highest
mountain, and one

of its most enduring mysteries.

For centuries,
the Sherpa people,

who are native to
the Himalayas, have

told frightening tales
of a strange half

man, half ape called the Yeti.

PETER BYRNE: One
of the first people

to come across as
an Englishman--

and he talked to the
Sherpas, and they

said it has a very bad smell.

It has a powerful odor.

He said-- he described it
later as an abominable odor.

And when just went
through the channels

and eventually got into
the English newspapers,

it became the
abominably smelling man.

And so the smelling
part was dropped,

it became the abominable
man, and eventually,

the abominable snowman.

That's how the name came about.

SHERPA GUIDE: Mr.
Doctor, we leave now.

The Yeti.

Yeti go up there.

ROBERT STACK: The
abominable snowman,

the perfect Hollywood villain.

He was monstrous, almost
comical, and impossible

to take seriously.

It is difficult to
imagine that a creature

like the abominable
snowman actually exists.

Most of us dismiss him
as a fanciful legend,

but for the native
Sherpas of the Himalayas,

the Yeti is very real
and very much alive.

Their belief is shared by a
number of Western explorers,

most of whom have
never seen a Yeti,

but remain convinced
that such animals do

roam the high plateaus
of the Asian wilderness.

In the 1920s, Western man began
descending upon the Himalayas.

Over the next 30 years, numerous
expeditions were launched

in the hopes of conquering mt.

Everest, at 29,000 feet,
the world's highest peak.

With each expedition
came more stories

of strange, human-like creatures
who lived in the mountains.

Then in 1951, world renowned
mountaineer, Eric Shipton,

came across a curious
set of tracks,

the first clear evidence that
the Yeti might in fact be real.

LOREN COLEMAN: The photograph
of the Shipton footprint

is a very big piece of
evidence, because it

showed toes, individual toes.

It showed a squat,
square footprint, which

a lot of the other
expeditions had found,

but now had good photographic
equipment with them.

ROBERT STACK: The footprint
photograph by Shipton

was 13 inches long
and 8 inches wide.

Shipton was certain it was
not made by a man or an ape.

His discovery sparked renewed
interest in finding a Yeti.

In 1957, a millionaire
Texas oil named

Tom Slick and a
colorful explorer

named Peter Byrne set
off for the Arun valley

in northeastern Nepal,
a rugged, hostile region

where temperatures
often fall below zero.

LOREN COLEMAN: Tom Slick
believed that there were

a lot of interesting
bio-medical problems

that needed to be solved.

He felt if he could
find a missing link,

that would unlock some of
the mysteries of medicine

for humans.

So he really began
looking because he

said it was a hybrid
animal, something

in between apes and man.

The missing link.

Tom Slick's interest
in the beginning

was to find out if the
Yeti were really there,

and that's the reason he came
on the first reconnaissance.

I had been hearing
about the Yeti

for years, ever
since I was a child,

but I think that what eventually
convinced me that they were

there was meeting
with the Sherpas

and talking with
them face to face.

Namaste.

Namaste.

PETER BYRNE: The Sherpas viewwe
the Yeti as a real living

creature, not as a
mythical creature,

they called hairy man that lived
out there, separate from them.

On the first expeditions
we took along with us 8

by 10 pictures of a
chimpanzee, a gorilla,

a primitive man, and so on.

[non-english speech]

[non-english speech]

[non-english speech]

[non-english speech]

ACTOR AS TOM SLICK: Does he
understand what we want here?

PETER BYRNE: They used to
point to the primitive man

and say that's the yeti.

In fact, they thought we
had a picture of the Yeti

when they saw that.

- Definitely.
- Yes, I see.

You sure?

PETER BYRNE: The Sherpas
described the Yeti to us,

always, as being man like in
form, about 5 foot 6, 5 foot 7,

5 foot 8, not very large.

And covered with hair,
totally covered with hair,

walking upright, the
face was bare of hair,

palms of the hands,
that sort of thing.

ROBERT STACK: By the third
week of the expedition,

Slick and Byrne
decided to split up

to cover a wider search area.

Each was to make his
own startling discovery.

PETER BYRNE: Our main find
on that first reconnaissance

was two sets of footprints.

The set of footprints
that I found,

we had started out from our
camp in the early morning,

and we simply chose
a mountain and I came

across a lot of footprints.

ACTOR AS PETER BYRNE:
I say, what is that?

It's not bear.

There's no claws.

ACTOR AS PETER BYRNE:
What is it then?

[non-english speech] Yeti.

You sure?

Yeti, [non-english speech]
Yeti, Mr. Peter.

It's yeti.

ROBERT STACK: In Peter
Byrne's photograph,

the alleged yeti
footprint is on the left.

It dwarfs the boot print of
one of the expedition members,

seen on the right.

Sir Tom, Sir Tom!

What is it?

Yeti, Yeti.

ROBERT STACK: In another
part of the valley,

at an elevation of 12,000 feet,
Tom Slick and his Sherpa guides

discovered a similar
set of tracks.

Yeti.

PETER BYRNE: The
significance of the prints

that Tom Slick found is
that they were in mud,

and whereas snow will distort,
with heat and with wind

and so on, mud will not.

He only saw two or
three, because it's very

hard to track in that stuff.

In fact, he was
lucky to find them.

ROBERT STACK: A
plaster cast was struck

and a shipped to the United
States to be analyzed.

The footprint measured 10 inches
long and seven inches wide.

It had some of the
same characteristics

of the footprint discovered by
Eric Shipton six years earlier.

DR. GEORGE AGOGINO: It
was a short, squat, almost

square type of footprint.

And I sent it to the various
physical anthropology experts

around the country,
and what they-- usually

the terminology that
came back was "unique,"

but we don't know what it is.

ROBERT STACK: The discovery
of the footprints made

headlines around the world.

Slick and Byrne began
preparing a second expedition,

determined not only to see
a Yeti, but to capture one.

In February of 1958, Peter
Byrne returned to the Himalayas

to embark on an exhausting
four month trek.

Tom Slick financed the
operation, but remained behind.

Three months into
the expedition, Byrne

hit the jackpot.

He met a Buddhist monk who had
a remarkable story to tell.

You've been looking for Yeti.

PETER BYRNE: He liked scotch,
this old man, and one evening

while we were sitting there,
having a drink and talking,

he said to me, he whispered,
he said, you know,

that up in the temple
we have a hand.

Hand.

A what?

Yeti hand.

And he said would you like
to see it, and I said yes.

So we went back to the temple.

We went into the top
part of the temple,

and he showed me this hand,
about the size of a human hand,

cut off with the wrist.

And I considered it
very significant,

and I took some pictures
of it immediately,

some flash pictures.

I asked the man, of
course, could I have it.

And he said no.

He said it must never
leave the temple here.

If it leaves the temple,
varius calamities

will befall the temple in
the community and so on.

I asked him if I could have
a part of it, and he said no.

ROBERT STACK: Byrne's
photograph caused

an uproar among the members of
Tom Slick's scientific team.

The alleged Yeti hand was unlike
anything they had seen before.

Opinion was divided.

Was it human?

Was it ape?

Or was it an
entirely new species?

The fall of 1958 found
Peter Byrne back in London.

He and Tom slick
met with members

of the scientific community to
discuss the latest findings.

PETER BYRNE: We
were having lunch,

Tom Slick, myself,
Dr. Osman Hill,

and the subject of
the hand came up.

Mind you, it wasn't a claw.

PETER BYRNE: Dr. Hill said
you've got to get the hand.

Do you think you could get
to see the Yeti hand again.

Alone, I mean?

Why yes, I'm
quite sure I could.

You know, I had thought.

PETER BYRNE: Hill, who
was a brilliant scientist,

reached under the table and
pulled out a brown paper sack.

And he said, there you are.

I take it that's
not dessert, doctor?

Very funny.

[laughter] No.

My point is we could replace the
Yeti hand with this human one.

What do you think?

Well, I'm not quite so sure
I can replace the entire hand,

but maybe a finger.

ROBERT STACK: By the
next year, Peter Byrne

had returned to the Himalayas
to carry out the plan.

He gained access
to the monastery

by inviting the monk to
partake of another bottle

of fine scotch.

PETER BYRNE: I
cut the finger off

and I replaced it
with the human finger.

It took quite a long
time wire the whole thing

together, and put
it all back together

and put it back in the box.

And nobody ever knew
anything about it.

And everything-- everybody,
actually, was perfectly happy.

They still had their hand,
it still had its fingers.

ROBERT STACK: The
thumb was brought back

to London where it
became the focus

of a detailed examination.

DR. GEORGE AGOGINO:
It was sent to me,

and I sent it to
the 20 experts which

I thought should
look at the hand,

and they were about equally
divided whether it was human

or whether it was some type
of primate, known or unknown.

ROBERT STACK: Dr. Agogino placed
a tissue sample in an envelope

and tucked it away in his
desk, where it remained

for more than 30 years.

In 1960, television personality
Marlon Perkins and Sir Edmund

Hillary, the conqueror
of Mount Everest,

launched a Yeti
search of their own.

They came back
convinced that there

was no such animal as the Yeti.

--even the descriptions
of the Yeti can be explained

by perfectly ordinary means.

They were essentially
over there to debunk it.

Most of the members of
the Hillary expedition

didn't believe in Yeti to start
with, so they went over there

and they found bearskin,
said that was the Yeti

and then they debunked it.

They looked at the
Pangboche hand,

said, wow this has
got wires on it.

Obviously it had wires
on it, because the Tom

Slick expedition had taken parts
of it and wired it up again.

So everything they came
across, the Hillary expedition,

they said there is no Yeti.

So you know, none of us were
surprised when they came back

and said Yeti doesn't exist.

ROBERT STACK: Interest in
the Yeti he began to wane.

Then on October 6, 1962, Tom
Slick died in a plane crash.

His partner
subsequently abandoned

the hunt for the elusive Yeti,
but the sightings continued.

KURT FRITZLER: I had made
camp at 16,500 feet, when out

of the darkness a
very loud, piercing

call began that sounded like
nothing I'd ever heard before.

It moved around, it
circled our campsite.

It would get closer, it
would get farther away.

It would call
intermittently, and the call

was always very loud, and
very piercing, and very--

frightening.

I was on a distance
of 10 meters,

so it was my impression--
it's bigger than me,

it was quite hairy, and
strong, with short legs,

and the face falls a little
bit more white or clear,

and then the body--

the body was quite dark.

Dark brown, black
hairs, long, long hairs.

And he has quite a lot
of hairs on the head.

I have to leave it open
that I do not know what

the Abominable Snowman is, but I
feel there there is a very good

chance, probably 50/50, that
something resembling the thing

they're looking for does exist.

ROBERT STACK: During the
course of filming this story,

"Unsolved Mysteries," learned
of the piece of tissue

Dr. Agogino had set
aside 30 years ago.

The sample was analyzed at
the University of California's

molecular evolution lab.

The results were
inconclusive, but seemed

to indicate that
the tissue probably

came from a human hand.

DR. JERRY LOWENSTEIN: The
problem with something

as vague as the Yeti is that
almost any result you have

can be fitted into the theory.

So I'm sure that most believers
will say well, this is great,

this proves that the Yeti is
some sort of subhuman species.

I think that's what
we've always thought,

that it wasn't an animal.

That it wasn't an upright,
walking ape, because apes

don't walk upright anyway.

That it was a hominid,
a hominid form,

a human form of some kind.

ROBERT STACK: Do the
Himalayas conceal

one of the great mysteries
of the 20th century,

providing a safe
and isolated haven

for a distant relative of man?

Or is the Yeti simply
a fanciful myth,

the creation of a primitive
people and an imaginative group

of explorers?

It seems impossible that
in this day and age,

we might discover an entirely
new species of animal.

However, we must remember
it was only 70 years ago

that the Giant Panda of China
was first observed in the wild

by Western man.

Until then, it, too, was
regarded as nothing more

than a mythological creature.

Next, the ashes of
an unknown woman

discovered on an isolated
California island.

All of us have known
people lived their lives

outside the mainstream,
adhering to their own rules,

marching to the beat
of a different drummer.

In life, we find their
eccentricities fascinating.

But often when a deeply
private person dies,

he leaves behind an
unsolved mystery.

Dr. Carey Stanton, who died
in 1987, was just such a man.

Stanton, a lifelong
bachelor, was a scion

of a wealthy California family.

He graduated from medical
school at Stanford University

and practiced as a
pathologist in New York City.

In 1957, when he was
just 34-years-old,

Dr. Stanton left New York.

He returned to California to
run the family cattle ranch.

It was not a typical ranch.

Stanton's family owned
9/10 of Santa Cruz Island,

as 62,000 acres, the largest of
California's Channel Islands.

When Dr. Stanton's parents died,
he took control of the ranch.

MARLA DALEY: Carey Stanton
was very protective

of Santa Cruz Island.

He used to say that
this island was not his,

it was just a responsibility
that was handed

down to him from his parents.

ROBERT STACK: Dr. Stanton
lived in virtual solitude

in the main ranch house, though
he welcomed house guests.

You have a nice stay with us?

Yeah, sure.

You know, that the girl's
coming tomorrow at 5:00

in the morning to
pick up cattle.

Perhaps you could
help me with that,

I could really use your help.

Oh, fine.

That'd be great.

ROBERT STACK: As
the years passed,

Stanton developed
a rigid, sometimes

quirky schedule,
that he expected

all visitors to abide by.

[bell ringing]

ROBERT STACK: Dinner was always
a semi-formal affair which

began precisely at 7:30 PM.

The weekly menu never varied.

The same five main courses
were rotated in sequence

throughout the year.

At the stroke of 8:30,
Dr. Stanton and his guests

repaired to the living
room for coffee,

and the only dessert ever
served, oatmeal cookies.

Dr. Stanton retired for the
evening at precisely 9 PM.

During all the years
he lived on the island,

he rarely deviated
from his routine.

[clock chiming]
- Mm.

Thank you for a
very nice evening.

GUEST: Thank you.

Good night.

ROBERT STACK: For
Dr. Carey Stanton,

Santa Cruz Island
was heaven on earth.

He established a
private cemetery,

exclusively for those
who have been intimately

associated with the island.

Stanton even had
his parents' bodies

exhumed, cremated, and reburied
in the little cemetery.

By 1987, there were 14 graves
surrounding the ranch chapel.

On December 8th of that
year, but total rose to 15.

Dr. Carey Stanton was
dead at the age of 64.

Dr. Stanton left
the entire ranch

to the Nature Conservancy.

The Conservancy, in conjunction
with Santa Barbara County's

Agricultural Commission and
other environmental agencies,

worked to preserve the
island in its pristine state.

Marla, come over
here a second.

ROBERT STACK: On April 27,
1990, the Deputy Agriculture

Commissioner discovered
an old metal box in a shed

on the ranch.

Take a look at this.

What do you think?

MARLA DALEY: And I looked in the
box, and it was full of ashes.

And I recognized the ashes
as being those of a human.

Human remains.

ROBERT STACK: No
one on the island

knew anything about
the mysterious ashes.

Larry Gillespie, the Santa
Barbara County Coroner,

found a few intriguing clues.

A snap-like clothing fastener,
manufactured in the 1940s,

several false teeth
from the '50s,

and a diamond studded
platinum ring dating

from before World War II.

Later tests on
the bone fragments

would yield more information.

We believe that it's an
elderly female victim, based

upon the findings of the
arthritic changes of the bones

and the characteristic of
that one particular wrist bone

that appeared to be female.

ROBERT STACK: Was Dr.
Carey Stanton the keeper

of a deep, dark secret?

It seems unlikely.

Sturton had a reputation
as a compulsive archivist,

who meticulously
labeled everything.

MARLA DALEY: It is very
unlike Carey Stanton

to have the loose end in
particular of human remains

left on Santa Cruz Island.

It's not something
that he would do.

ROBERT STACK: Who is the mystery
woman of Santa Cruz Island?

All that is known is that
she died sometime after World

War II at an age past 50.

She suffered from a slight
arthritic condition,

and wore a platinum and
diamond eternity ring.

MARLA DALEY: The Santa Cruz
island foundation doesn't know

what to do with her,
and we very much

would like to do the
right thing and find

a place where she belongs.

And if it's on the
island, we would

like to see that she's
added to the cemetery,

if she belongs here.

We want to do the right
thing to make sure

that these ashes receive a
final resting place which

is appropriate.

Next week marks a
very special milestone

for "Unsolved Mysteries," the
broadcast of our 100th episode.

In an unprecedented
two-hour show,

you will see a fascinating
array of intriguing mysteries

and recent updates.

Join me next Wednesday for
this memorable celebration,

the 100th episode of
"Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]