All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S03E08.480p.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: Tonight,
on "Unsolved Mysteries,"

A poignant saga
of Amelia Earhart.

53 years ago she vanished
in the South Pacific

during around-the-world flight.

But eyewitness accounts
suggest that Amelia

Earhart may have
survived and been

captured by the Japanese Navy.

In Woodstock, Illinois,
Colleen Ritter and Rick Church

were typical high
school sweethearts

until their romance went sour.

Now, Colleen's parents
are dead, and Rick Church

has disappeared.

Using an electronic store as
a front, FBI agents in Florida

go undercover to
capture the kingpins

of a South American drug ring,
a real life story of Miami Vice.

Also, we will present a
follow up to our story

about a popular 16-year-old
girl who mysteriously vanished

from Au Sable Forks, New York.

Last year she was apparently
in Los Angeles at a concert

for the musical group,
New Kids on the Block,

and may even have been captured
on film in their rock video.

Perhaps you can help
find Lari Lynn Nixon.

[theme music]

Two years ago, we examined.

The strange disappearance
of a 16-year-old girl.

Tonight, an update on her
case and an urgent appeal

from her family and members of
the teenage recording group,

New Kids on the Block.

Kari Lynn Nixon was an
above average student,

and well-known and liked
in the small community

of Au Sable Forks, New York.

At around 10:00 PM
on June 22, 1987,

Kari was returning
home after running

an errand for her father.

A few minutes later and only
700 feet from her doorstep

Kari Lynn Nixon disappeared.

KATHY NIXON: My immediate
reaction was terror,

and it's been a
nightmare ever since.

ROBERT STACK: Was
Kari's disappearance

a result of foul play or
had she simply run away?

RICHARD SYPEK: Kari wrote
some letters to a friend,

and in these letters,
she indicated

she would like to live in
Hawaii, move to Florida,

possibly California
and, in fact,

leave the town of Au Sable
Forks when she turned 18.

CAPT. LEU: My
theory on this case

is Kari Lynn Nixon was abducted.

Her father gave her
$20 for groceries.

She went to Thomas' Store for
her father, left Thomas' Store

with the bag of groceries.

If she was a runaway, she would
have done none of those things.

She would have been
dressed better.

She would have taken money with
her that she had in her bedroom

after we searched her bedroom.

She is a victim of a kidnapping.

ROBERT STACK: Authorities
investigated dozens

of reported sightings
of Kari, but were

unable to confirm her identity.

CAPT. LEU: Nothing has
been found, not one thing.

She's walked off the
face of the earth

as far as we're concerned.

As the years in the
investigation dragged on,

Kari's parents began
to give up hope

of ever finding their daughter.

But all that changed
in March of this year

when they saw a
videotape of a concert

given by the popular singing
group, New Kids on the Block.

On June 5Th, 1989,
the group filmed

their Hanging Tough live concert
in Los Angeles, California.

Among the crowd of teenage
fans, Kathy and Gary Nixon

saw a familiar face.

KATHY NIXON: We couldn't
believe how much that girl

looked like our daughter.

So we just kept rewinding
it and going over,

and over, and over,
and we just couldn't

believe it, because
we never really had

any hope that she was alive.

And then there was this girl
that looked so much like her.

I'm not 100% convinced,
but it looks like our Kari.

Upon viewing the tape, I
picked the girl out immediately

the first time it ran through.

It was obvious to me that this
girl did look like Kari Nixon,

and it appeared to be her.

ROBERT STACK: This detailed
enhanced photograph

was made from the
videotape and compared

with a picture of Kelly taken
shortly before she disappeared.

RICHARD SYPEK: There's
obviously many similarities.

The hair length, the hair
color, the shape of her face,

the chin the mouth, and
it displayed a multiple

of earrings in the
right ear in which

Kari Nixon has four
earrings in her right ear

and two on her left.

So the photo enhanced
finished product

further convinced
the Nixons that this

could be their daughter.

ROBERT STACK: Members of
the New Kids on the Block

did not recognize the
girl in the crowd,

but after hearing
Kari's story, wanted

to make a personal appeal.

JONATHAN KNIGHT:
Well, I'd just like

to say to Kari that if you're
out there, the best thing to do

would just be to call somebody.

And even if you go
to your local police

and just tell them
your situation,

then maybe they
can help you out.

JORDAN KNIGHT: Or if
any of you viewers

out there who have seen
her at a New Kids show

or just seen her on the street,
if you could contact someone,

you know, to let them
know where she is,

or if she's all right,
or anything, that

would be a big help.

KATHY NIXON: We need to find
this girl to find out who she

is, whether it's Kari or not.

Just so that if it's not, we
can go on to something else

to try and find her.

I love you, Kari, and
I need to talk to you.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: Six decades
ago, Amelia Earhart,

was one of the most
famous women in the world.

She had the figure
of a movie star

and the face of
an angelic tomboy.

The first woman to
pilot an aircraft

across the Atlantic
in 1932, Amelia

defied labels and definitions.

Part All-American girl,
part daredevil, she

was perfect hero for her time.

But she was also
ahead of her time.

A self-effacing, yet outspoken
champion of women's rights.

A pilot's a pilot.

I hope that such equality could
be carried out in other fields

so that men and women
may achieve equally

in any endeavor they set out.

ROBERT STACK: On May
20th, 1937, Amelia Earhart

and her navigator, Fred
Noonan, prepared for takeoff

from Oakland, California.

Amelia was 39 years old.

This flight was designed
to be the capstone

of her brilliant
career as an aviator.

She was attempting to become
the first person, man or woman,

to fly around the world at
its widest point, the Equator.

Today, 53 years
later, new evidence

has deepened the
mystery surrounding

Amelia Earhart's last flight.

The first leg of this slide
was via Burbank to Tucson.

From there, she went on to
New Orleans, Miami, Puerto

Rico, Venezuela, and Brazil.

Amelia and Fred then crossed
the Atlantic landing in Senegal

on the African Coast.

They made several short
hops across Africa,

then headed for Karachi
in what is now Pakistan.

From there to Calcutta,
Rangoon, Singapore and two

stops in Java, then Australia,
and finally Lae, New Guinea.

FRED GOERNER: Amelia and Fred
had flown almost 2/3 of the way

around the world, and they'd
done it fairly quickly.

They must have been very tired
when they got to New Guinea.

They had two days there.

They tried to rest up.

But after that amount
of flying time,

they must have been
exhausted and here they

were facing the most
difficult leg of their flight.

ROBERT STACK: From New
Guinea, Amelia and Fred faced

a grueling 18 hours in the air.

They also had to hit
the inconceivably

tiny target of Howland Island.

Howland is just a mile and a
half long and a half mile wide.

At its highest
point, the island is

only 20 feet above
sea level, about half

the height of a telephone pole.

The

Difficulty factor
on a scale of 1 to 10

piloting from Lae New Guinea
to Howland Island in 1937

and that aircraft, make it
a 10, the most difficult.

It would be like flying
across the United States

and locating the 18th green of
a golf course in New Jersey.

ROBERT STACK: On July 1st, 1937,
Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan

prepared to leave New Guinea.

Squalls were predicted
along their route.

They decided to
postpone takeoff.

Amelia wired her
husband that she

would not make it
back to Oakland

on the 4th of July as planned.

At precisely 10 AM on the 2nd of
July, Amelia and Fred took off.

They planned to cross
the International

Date Line and land on Howland
Island 18 hours later.

ELGEN LONG: Though she had the
best navigator in the world

sitting beside her, Fred Noonan,
she was responsible for running

that airplane.

She had to fly the heading,
she had to watch the weather,

she had to watch the fuel flow.

She had the watch the
mixtures, the carburetor air,

make sure they weren't
getting carburetor ice.

She was responsible for
the airplane maintaining

altitude and maintaining trim.

All these things were
constant, plus she had

to do the radio transmissions.

FRED GOERNER: Amelia
was not competent

where radio was concerned.

She would never take the
time to learn properly.

I think it can be honestly said
that the radio was the Achilles

heel of that flight.

ROBERT STACK: It may
seem incredible now,

but in 1937 before
radar came into use,

a battery-powered
radio was Amelia's

only link with the world.

Plying the waters around Howland
Island, the Coast Guard Cutter,

Itasca stood ready
to communicate

by radio with Amelia as soon
as she came within range.

With a radio bearing,
the Itasca could

rescue Amelia and Fred at
sea should anything go wrong.

For 16 hours, nothing did.

Then Amelia's lack of radio
expertise came into play.

ELGEN LONG: About 17 hours and
14 minutes into the flight,

now we're really getting
to the critical part.

She reports that she's
approximately 200 miles out,

and she wants them to take
a radio bearing on her,

and she whistles
into the microphone.

[inaudible] bearing on 3105
kilocycles on [inaudible].

(WHISTLES)

She stopped whistling.

ROBERT STACK: Amelia did not
whistle long enough to give

the Itasca a consistent signal.

What Amelia failed to
understand was that whistling

wasn't necessary.

Simply allowing an uninterrupted
radio signal to play for 30

seconds would have been enough.

Please repeat last
transmission on 7 5 0 0.

ROBERT STACK: 19
hours into the flight

and one hour behind
schedule, Amelia and Fred

calculated that they should be
directly above Howland Island

where they had also established
clear radio contact.

Looking down, they
saw only ocean.

Fred, I don't Howland Island.

I don't know where it is.

We should be right on top of it.

It's not on my side.

I don't see it here either.

ROBERT STACK: Something
was badly wrong.

Only once had Amelia
indicated that she

could hear the Itasca
even though they

could hear her perfectly.

Again, all Amelia had to
do was open her radio line

to let a signal play so the
Itasca could take a bearing

and find out how far
off course she was.

Instead, Amelia stopped
her radio transmissions.

She had overused the radio
and drained her battery

on a flight the year before.

She was reluctant simply
to let the transmitter run.

ELGEN LONG: They
know they've missed

the island, gone passed it,
but they don't know which side.

They have no way of knowing.

They have to take
a radio bearing.

So Amelia does the
only thing she can.

20 hours and 13 minutes
into the flight, Amelia

sends her last message.

Her voice is talking very
rapidly and very tense.

We will repeat message.

We will repeat this
message on 6210.

ROBERT STACK: In her
final radio message,

Amelia said she was switching
frequencies to 6210 kilocycles.

The Itasca could not reach
her on that frequency.

They assumed that a Amelia, once
again unfamiliar with emergency

radio procedure,
had turned her radio

dial to the wrong setting.

Frantically, the Itasca tried
other frequencies with no luck.

Earhart, this is the Itasca.

Come in, over.

We have an emergency.

Notify all the ships in the
area Amelia Earhart's plane

maybe going down.
We may be losing her.

ELGEN LONG: That was the
last verified transmission

ever heard from Amelia
Earhart and Fred Noonan.

They must have ran out of fuel,
and within a minute or two

from 1,000 feet, would
have had to ditch

the airplane into the ocean.

ROBERT STACK: Immediately,
a search effort began,

the largest ever mounted
to look for a single plane.

10 ships, 65 airplanes,
and 4,000 men

cover this 250,000 square mile
area around Howland Island.

The search continued
for 16 days.

Experts agree that Amelia's
plane with its empty gas tanks

would have floated for
five to eight hours.

On the plane, Amelia and
Fred had life preservers

and a two-person
inflatable life raft

equipped with emergency
supplies so they could

have been afloat for days.

Experts believe Amelia went down
somewhere near Howland Island,

but incredibly,
unconfirmed sightings

have placed Amelia
and Fred 2,500

miles West Northwest
of Howland on Saipan

in the Mariana Islands.

On When Amelia Earhart and
Fred Noonan disappeared,

Saipan was an important military
headquarters for the Japanese.

Intent on expanding its empire,
Japan was about to attack China

and had begun to build
up military operations

on key islands of
the South Pacific.

July, 1944.

Seven years after Amelia
Earhart's plane vanished,

the island of Saipan was now
controlled by American Forces.

Sergeant Thomas Devine was a
member of the 244th Army Unit.

I first became aware of matter
pertaining to Amelia Earhart

soon after my arrival
on the island.

Lieutenant Liebig who
was our First Lieutenant

had secured a jeep
and told me that I

was to drive into
[inaudible] airfield,

which was a short distance
away from our bivouac area.

ROBERT STACK: Devine
and the Lieutenant

drove along a
heavily guarded road.

They pulled up in front of
a padlocked aircraft hangar.

I'm sorry, sir, this
is a restricted area.

Restricted to whom?

With all due respect, sir,
that's none of your concern.

While he waited,
Thomas Devine overheard

snatches of conversation from
a nearby group of Marines.

We got Amelia Earhart's
plane in that hangar.

You guys wouldn't
believe what we found.

ROBERT STACK: Suddenly, an
official in civilian clothes

reprimanded the Marines.

You people want to knock
off the chatter here?

You understand what's going on?

This is a classified project.

You've come about that
damn close to compromising

the project right now.

I'm telling you I want you
to sit down, do your jobs,

and shut up, you understand?

THOMAS DEVINE: As
we went back, we

dropped the subject, because it
was just a minor incident that

took place.

Later on that same day, I
heard a roar from the airfield.

But we didn't pay too much
attention until suddenly it

came overhead very,
very low, and you

could see the markings on it.

It was not a military plane.

It was a civilian plane.

A marking was very
evident, NR16020.

We all looked up.

We all wondered what in
the world was going on.

ROBERT STACK: Thomas Devine
wrote down the identification

numbers on the aircraft.

They corresponded
exactly to the numbers

on Amelia Earhart's plane.

That same evening, Thomas
saw the plane again.

Now it was on fire.

THOMAS DEVINE: I
was aghast to see

this plane, the
so-called Earhart plane,

engulfed in flames.

And I saw that plane personally
on three occasions that day.

The last time the
plane was in flames.

ROBERT STACK: At
about the same time,

Bob Wallack was one of the
Marines stationed on Saipan.

ROBERT WALLACK: I was in the
1st Battalion 29th Marines.

We were in the second
wave going into Saipan.

During the daytime we had
nothing to do except look

around, souvenir hunt.

We're looking through
some government looking

buildings, brick buildings.

We found this safe
that was there.

One of the guys was a
demolition person that knew,

and he thought he could
blow the door off the safe

and we'd have something.

We thought we'd be millionaires.

But anyway, there was a
briefcase that I grabbed,

and I thought I had it packed
full of money or something

like that.

To my surprise,
it was something I

didn't expect to
see when it was full

of Amelia Earhart's papers.

Hey, Joe, come take
a look at this.

JOE: What have you got, Wallack?

Amelia Earhart.

What's this stuff doing here?

I may have only
been 18 years old,

but I knew I had a piece
of history in my hand.

This is incredible.

Yeah, I think you're going
to have to turn that stuff in.

Yeah

ROBERT STACK: Wallack turned
the briefcase and its contents

over to a commanding officer.

He never saw it again.

ROBERT WALLACK: That
briefcase is still

someplace in this country.

I believe that, because that
officer that I gave it to

was a high enough
rank that he didn't

just take it and throw it away.

He had something valuable, too.

I do not believe
Amelia Earhart died

at sea I think Amelia
Earhart survived

the downing on an island in--

ROBERT STACK: Buddy
Brennan and has

been investigating
the Amelia Earhart

mystery for more than 11 years.

In 1987, he interviewed a
woman Saipan who said she

had witnessed Amelia's death.

Unsolved mysteries
went to Saipan

and interviewed the same woman.

What follows is exuded
from both interviews.

NIEVES CABRERA BLAS
(TRANSLATOR): The woman was

brought ashore by the Japanese.

It was said they had
captured two spy people.

The Japanese soldiers
brought the spies into town.

Many of us went
there to see them.

[speaking japanese]

FRED NOONAN: I think
they want us to strip.

NIEVES CABRERA
BLAS (TRANSLATOR):

The Japanese guards made them
take off all their clothes,

everything they had
on their bodies.

It was then we could see that
one of the spies was a woman.

I had never known before a
woman who wore men's trousers.

Oh, the things that
happened to that woman.

The soldiers put her in jail.

they removed her
jewelry from her hands.

Then the Japanese came
and gave her rice.

She threw it out.

When they took her out of the
prison, they tied her hands,

they blindfolded her.

I was working on the farm.

I saw a Japanese motorcycle.

The woman was in a little seat
on the side of the motorcycle.

I watched, and they
took her to this place

where a hole had been dug.

They made her kneel
in front of the hole.

[speaking japanese]

Then they shot her.

[gunshot]

I planted a breadfruit
tree near her grave.

ROBERT STACK: In
1987, Buddy Brennan

conducted an excavation of
the gravesite he was only

allowed to dig for 12 hours.

BUDDY BRENNAN: We got down to
6 and 1/2 feet below what they

said would have been the
surface in 1944, which

is the date Miss Blas gave us of
having witnessed the execution.

And that's where we
retrieve the blindfold.

ROBERT STACK: Brennan believes
this tattered fragment of cloth

was a blindfold worn
by Amelia Earhart.

However, no human
remains were unearthed.

What really happened in Saipan?

Was Amelia Earhart
executed here?

Was her aircraft burned here
on an American airfield?

If so, who burned it and why?

Or did Amelia Earhart and Fred
Noonan go down with their plane

and perish somewhere in
the vast South Pacific?

I am convinced that the most
probable end to the Amelia

Earhart flight ended with
them running out of fuel just

like they'd said on
the radio, and just

like the official accident
investigation report

indicated from Captain
Noyes on the Lexington

that they were forced to ditch
Northwest of Howland Island

after their fuel was exhausted.

And they couldn't find
Howland Island because

of a navigational error.

ROBERT STACK:
Elgen Long believes

that Amelia Earhart and Fred
Noonan ran into three problems.

The United States nautical
charts Fred was using

had mislocated Howland
Island by six miles.

A faulty compass
on their aircraft

took them seven miles
farther off course.

Finally wind drifts
and related factors

pushed them another
22 miles west.

According to Elgen Long,
Amelia and Fred ended up

a full 35 miles off course.

ELGEN LONG: I stick with
where the airplane went down.

What happened to Amelia, I'm
really not positive about,

and we won't know until
we locate the airplane.

I think if we can raise her
airplane, and prove once

and for all the solution to
the Amelia Earhart mystery,

it would be something very, very
worthwhile for our heritage.

We can't afford to
throw our heroes away.

ROBERT STACK: Many believe that
the mystery of Amelia Earhart

could be solved simply by a
deep sea diving expedition.

Perhaps so.

Or perhaps Amelia
Earhart is destined

to remain a legendary
figure, a hero

suspended in time at the
apex of an unsolved mystery.

When we return, a chilling tale
of a teenager who apparently

embarked on a murderous
rampage when his girlfriend

broke up with him.

[music playing]

Ray and Ruth Ann Ritter grew
up in Woodstock, Illinois,

a small town north of Chicago.

They married in 1968
and had three children,

Colleen, Steve, and Matthew.

The Ritters were a close knit
family, strong churchgoers,

and community workers.

When 15-year-old
Colleen began to date

a childhood friend, Rick
Church, it seemed only natural.

Colleen and Rick were both
students at a small Catholic

high school.

At first, the
relationship seemed like

a typical teenage infatuation.

Hi, Rick.

Hey, how are you?

Good, how are you?

Good.
How was school?

COLLEEN RITTER: I
first started dating

Rick when I was a sophomore.

At that point, he was a senior.

Rick was really good looking.

He was involved in
sports activities.

He was real quiet, though.

He had a lot of friends,
but he was real quiet.

I know, it's not a
fun position to be in.

ROBERT STACK: A year after
Colleen and Rick began dating,

Rick went away to college.

For Colleen, the
romance began to cool.

A waning of young love is
an everyday occurrence.

Fortunately, most teenage
hearts mend quickly.

In the case of Colleen
Ritter and Rick Church,

however, something
went wrong, very wrong.

Rick seemed unable to accept the
idea that the courtship might

be over.

From his college dorm,
he called Colleen nearly

every night upset and on edge.

No one suspected that Rick
Church was coming unhinged.

[phone ringing]

Hello.

RICK CHURCH (ON PHONE):
Hi, Colleen, it's me.

How you doing?

Hi, Rick, I'm fine.

Yeah?

What are you doing?

COLLEEN (ON PHONE):
Oh, I have a math test.

And listen, I really
haven't studied much.

I have to go.

I just called to talk
to you for a second.

COLLEEN (ON PHONE): But you
never have anything to say.

That's not true.

Look, I'm sorry.

I just-- I really have to study.

I'll have to call you tomorrow.

OK, fine.

Well, good luck
on your math test.

COLLEEN RITTER: Rick, I have
been doing a lot of thinking.

ROBERT STACK: In June of 1988,
Rick came home from college

to find that his
parents had separated

and his girlfriend had
reached a decision.

So what are you getting at?

I think we should
see other people.

I'm not good enough for you?

COLLEEN RITTER: At the
beginning of that summer,

he became very possessive.

You know, where are you going?

Who are you going to be with?

That type of thing, and that
just like crowded me too much.

I couldn't stand that.

You were calling
me all the time.

I'm really sorry if
I inconvenienced you.

You're too possessive.

What?

COLLEEN RITTER: I
found it was really

hard breaking up with Rick.

I still wanted to be friends.

We had known each other
practically all our lives.

And I just consider
him a good friend.

So I thought maybe this
just wasn't-- it was like

a friendship trying
to turn into a romance

and it just didn't cut it.

You know, it just didn't work.

So then I just wanted us
to be friends once again,

because he really didn't--
he really needed somebody.

And I wanted to be
a friend for him.

But I just couldn't be
his girlfriend anymore.

It was too hard.

Anyway

ROBERT STACK: Two months later
on the night of Saturday,

August 20th, Colleen had
a friend sleeping over

as did her brother Matthew.

Ray and Ruth Ann Ritter
were out with friends.

Their other son was away.

[phone ringing]

Hello.

RICK CHURCH (ON PHONE): Hi.

Hi.

ROBERT STACK: At
11:30 PM, Rick Church

telephoned upset, because
he wanted one last Saturday

night with Colleen.

I was out with some
of my girlfriends.

RICK CHURCH (ON
PHONE): Where'd you go?

COLLEEN RITTER: He
was kind of depressed.

He just sounded very depressed
and very silent, really quiet.

Like he knew something he didn't
want to tell me or something.

And, uh, immediately
then I said,

well, don't talk
to me like that.

If you're going
to act like this,

I don't want to
talk to you tonight.

I'll just talk to tomorrow then.

And he said, well, fine,
and just hung up on me.

I don't know exactly
how the fight started,

but it ended up where
he just hung up on me.

I don't think there was anything
really unusual about that.

We had gotten in
arguments before,

and he had hung up on me
before, and I had done the same.

It wasn't unusual, I don't
think, in any circumstance.

It was just a basic fight.

ROBERT STACK: Around
5:15 AM, Rick Church

entered the Ritter's house.

What the police
believe happened next

is based on their investigation
and eyewitness accounts.

Ray and Ruth Ann
Ritter were asleep

in their ground floor bedroom.

By 5:25 AM, they were both dead.

Upstairs 11-year-old
Matthew Ritter awoke.

He was stabbed twice.

Colleen frantically dialed 911.

Rick broke into the room.

She ran.

Rick never spoke.

He began to stab Colleen.

Help me!

Help me!

We had a cedar chest,
and I was like laying

on the cedar chest
just pretending

I was dead, so he would stop.

Or just trying to do
anything so he would stop.

I was like playing dead.

And that didn't work.

He kept attacking me.

I told him-- I just yelled
out, I love you, just so I

thought maybe he would stop.

I was trying anything
at that point.

Help me!

Hey, you, what are you doing?

ROBERT STACK: Rick
fled when two neighbors

came to Colleen's aid.

Inside the house,
young Matthew Ritter

had managed to get
to the telephone

and give his address
to the 911 operator.

The police arrived
almost immediately.

He went that way.

He went back inside.

It's OK, I'm going
to need a [inaudible].

ROBERT STACK: Operating
under the false impression

that Rick had run
back into the Ritter

house, the police concentrated
their initial search

efforts there.

Matthew, bloody and in shock,
huddled with his friend

who was unharmed.

Colleen's girlfriend had
also escaped uninjured.

In the downstairs bedroom they
found the bodies of Colleen

and Matthew's parents.

Meanwhile, Rick Church had
run the 12 blocks to his home

and was hurriedly
packing his things.

At 5:45 AM, Rick took his
mother's truck and vanished.

Less than a half hour had
elapsed since the bloody attack

on the Ritter family.

The Woodstock Police issued
an all points bulletin.

CHIEF PITZMAN: This
was not a criminal

or somebody that's hanging
out on the streets or anything

like that.

This was a kid that had gone
to school here all his life,

and he knew a lot of people,
and had a lot of friends.

And went on to college, and
then all of a sudden, you know,

was accused of a
crime like this.

And I would think it'd be
totally out of character

for something like this.

And I really don't
know today yet what

the motive might have been.

Speculation is the
break up, boyfriend,

girlfriend relationship.

That's-- to do something like
this that's really something

over that, but you know,
that's what we have

at this point for the reason.

ROBERT STACK: At
the hospital, police

put Colleen Ritter
and her brother,

Matthew, under
24-hour guard in case

Rick Church showed up again.

Matthew was treated and
released the next day.

But Colleen was
critically injured

with more than 20 stab
wounds, most of them

in the back of her head.

Some of Colleen's doctors feared
she would be permanently blind

or suffer irreversible
brain damage.

Two days later, while Colleen
was still in intensive care,

her parents were buried.

COLLEEN RITTER: The hardest
part throughout all of this,

I guess, not having
my parents there.

That's real hard.

That's two of your best friends.

And they're gone,
so that's hard.

And not being able
to say goodbye,

because I wasn't at their
funeral, that was hard.

So I did that in my own way.

And I still am.

ROBERT STACK: Next, the story
of a risky undercover operation

conducted by the FBI to
capture Colombian drug lords.

[music playing]

In South America, the
country of Colombia

continues to fight for its life
in the ugly war against drugs.

The Colombian drug cartels
have taken full credit

for making terrorism and
political assassination

a way of life in their country.

And have made no
secret of the fact

that they want to increase their
power in the United States.

AGENT GAVIN: The cartels,
the leaders of the cartels,

the members of the
cartels in South America

and their representatives
in the United States

are particularly vicious.

There is no premium
on human life.

These people make the
mafia look like boy scouts.

They are totally violent.

They will kill almost
for the sake of killing.

Colombian drug cartels bring
in more than $5 billion a year.

In an effort to stem the
tide of the cartels influence

inside our borders,
the FBI three years ago

mounted one of the
riskiest sting operations

in United States history.

Because drug traffickers need
above all else, phishing and

unbuggable telecommunications,
the FBI set its trap

in an electronics store.

The sting operation began in
May of 1987 in Miami, Florida.

Its center was the unassuming
RA Communications Company,

which sold
sophisticated telephone

systems and electronic devices.

Our first customers
were quick to arrive.

I'd like some information
on your cellular phones.

OK, well, we sell and
service cellular phones.

We also service beepers
and sell beepers.

What is it that
you're interested in?

ROBERT STACK: The receptionist,
Sandy, and the manager,

Jay, were both highly
trained FBI agents.

These gentlemen would like to
know about our cellular phone

systems.

[speaking spanish]

Sandy, do me a
favor, take messages.

OK.

The drug runners wanted
the latest car phones,

ship-to-shore radios, beepers,
remote phones, and airplane

telecommunications devices.

AGENT GAVIN: We did everything
we could to provide them.

By so doing, of course, we
knew how they were operating,

what frequencies they
were operating on,

and it gave us the leg up.

ROBERT STACK: The
drug traffickers

overriding need for
untraceable means

of communication, word on the
street was RA had the best.

All the employees in RA who were
cooperating fully with the FBI

were men the drug
runners trusted.

Now listen, this is
the important thing, OK?

Talk to me.

I'm going to talk to the
man in the moon, right?

Now listen, I got to know
the man in the moon's wife

isn't listening in.
- OK.

You see what I'm saying?

What you want to know is if
this phone is tappable, right?

And I'm telling you,
listen to me now, trust me,

there's no way you can
tap into this phone.

In your experience,
there's no--

I'm an expert.

I just told you.

This is the top of the
line, state of the art unit.

AGENT MCNALLY: We held
ourselves out as being a service

component of the drug business.

We made it attractive for them
to remain, talk, converse.

And that became a
place to congregate.

It took on an aura of a
clubhouse type of effect.

Our clientele probably six
months into the operation

was entirely drug traffickers.

ROBERT STACK: Soon
the really major

players in the drug
underworld began

to drop into the RA clubhouse.

One of them was Colombian
national Jesus Penalver,

known by the FBI to handle
regular shipments of cocaine

worth as much as $50 million.

AGENT MCNALLY:
Jesus came to trust

the undercover agents
and cooperative parties

working in RA Communications.

And he bragged that
he had been involved

in some violent incidents
in Colombia, South America,

talked about his desire to flood
the United States with cocaine.

He freely discussed
with us the movement

from Colombia, South
America through the Bahamas

and into the United States.

ROBERT STACK:
Inside the clubhouse

Penalver felt safe
enough to make drug

deals using the company phone.

His conversations
were videotaped

and monitored by FBI agents.

[speaking spanish]

ROBERT STACK: Penalver's
cronies joined him,

and in the clubhouse, it
was not uncommon to see

as many as three
different drug traffickers

doing business simultaneously
into the early morning hours.

One of those
traffickers was cartel

operative Julio Marco Cruz.

AGENT MCNALLY: Julio Marco Cruz
was a customer, a purchaser,

someone who was going
to receive in excess

of 100 kilos of cocaine.

ROBERT STACK: Cruz had
arranged to receive

his large cocaine
shipment in early November

on a boat called the Tremolo.

Through RA's personnel,
the FBI discovered

the Tremolo's route
in time to alert

the United States Coast Guard.

November 19th, 1988, the
Tremolo entered US waters,

and the Coast Guard
moved in to intercept

a massive shipment of cocaine.

Under the Tremolo's
floorboards, agents

discovered over 800 pounds
of cocaine, their street

value nearly $40 million.

The next day, Cruz showed
up at RA Communications

accompanied by his bodyguards.

Amazingly, he seemed
to know nothing

about the Tremolo's capture.

Jay made a quick decision
to keep his cover intact.

He told Cruz about the
drug bust on the Tremolo.

I read it in the paper, bro.

[speaking spanish]

ROBERT STACK: Cruz
was infuriated,

but he never suspected that the
men who told him about the bust

were, in fact,
responsible for it.

He continued to use the same
telephones he had used before,

and the FBI continued
to gather information.

[speaking spanish]

It appeared as if the RA sting
might go on indefinitely.

But during the fall of
1988, Jesus Penalver

had begun forcing his
attentions on Sandy.

Nah, working hard.

ROBERT STACK: The
FBI feared that Sandy

and their other agents
might be in jeopardy.

AGENT MCNALLY: The
agents who are involved

in undercover activity are
exposed to potential danger

at any given time.

If the circumstances
were different, OK?

AGENT MCNALLY: And really,
we very closely reviewed

and evaluated with
FBI headquarters

and the other agencies
who participated,

that we had accomplished
a great deal,

and it was the appropriate time
to bring forward the matters

to a prosecutor phase.

ROBERT STACK: On
December 6th, 1988,

the FBI brought charges against
nearly 100 drug traffickers.

RA Communications was shut down.

AGENT MCNALLY: But we
had a significant amount

of arrests to undertake.

We had a very detailed plan.

Of the 93 people indicted
throughout the United States,

we were able to
apprehend 68-some people.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: Next week
on "Unsolved Mysteries."

In 1965, one of the first black
deputy sheriffs in Louisiana

was gunned down in cold
blood while on duty.

24 years later
new leads prompted

the FBI to reopen the case.

For every mystery,
there is someone,

somewhere who knows the truth.

Perhaps it's you.

[theme music]