All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S05E09.480p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-PLAYREADY_track3_[und]

ANNOUNCER: This program is
about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the
actual family members

and police officials
have participated

in recreating the events.

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

Tonight on
"Unsolved Mysteries."

In honor of Veterans Day, the
compelling saga of America's

last POW.

April 20, 1965.

American involvement in
Southeast Asia was on the rise.

Colonel Charles Shelton, an
Air Force pilot stationed

in Okinawa, said goodbye
to his wife and children

for the last time.

Nine days later,
Shelton was shot down

and captured when on a
top secret reconnaissance

flight over Laos.

For the next 25 years,
Shelton's wife, Marian,

waged a valiant crusade
to prove that her husband

was still alive long after
the war in Vietnam was over.

In 1991, a young woman was
driven to a remote area

in Florida and brutally murdered
by two men who thought they had

committed the perfect crime.

What they didn't know was
that another man hiding

nearby had seen everything.

Also tonight, another
edition of special alert.

Authorities need your help to
capture a convicted killer who

recently escaped from prison.

Join me.

Perhaps you may be able
to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

On a chilly morning
in October of 1990,

the family of Air Force
pilot Charles E. Shelton

was joined by friends
and dignitaries

at Arlington National
Cemetery in Washington DC.

They were gathered to mourn
the death of an American hero.

But it was not Colonel Shelton
who was laid to rest that day.

It was his wife, Marian.

Marian Shelton spent the last
25 years of her life fighting

what may be the final
battle of the Vietnam War,

a battle for the truth
about her husband

and more than 2,000
other American servicemen

missing and unaccounted
for since the war's end.

Colonel Charles Shelton was
shot down in the spring of 1965,

long before Vietnam had
become a household word.

Today, Colonel
Shelton has earned

a unique but tragic honor.

He is the only missing
serviceman still officially

listed as a prisoner of war.

Representatives of
the armed services

declined to participate
in this broadcast.

Though more than a quarter
century has passed,

the story of Colonel
Shelton is still a subject

of intense controversy.

According to Charles
Shelton's family,

precious little diplomatic
or military effort

was ever expended
by the US government

to actually find Colonel
Shelton and bring him home.

Some believe that his
prisoner of war status

is simply a concession
to POW activists

and a commemoration of
his legendary resistance

as a captive.

But strong evidence suggests
that Colonel Shelton

and perhaps other servicemen
missing in Southeast Asia

may still be alive.

To Shelton's family,
the possibility

seems very real that one day
they will celebrate the return

America's last POW.

Charles Shelton
and Marian Vollman

were high school sweethearts.

They married in 1951,
and their family quickly

grew to include five children.

But Charles and Marian
always acted as though they

were still on their honeymoon.

CHARLES: Is everybody ready?

Now, look at the camera.

LEA ANN SHELTON: My
father and my mother's

relationship, they were very
much in love with each other.

They were each
other's first loves.

Charles!

LEA ANN SHELTON: Even
after 10 years of marriage,

it was just real
intense and he often

said that she was his first love
and only love and last love.

ROBERT STACK: Charles
joined the Air Force in 1954

and moved rapidly
through the ranks.

At the time, American
involvement in Vietnam

was quietly and
steadily on the rise.

Charles Shelton was
swept up in the tide.

In 1962, Shelton
was sent to Saigon

to train Vietnamese pilots.

Three years later,
he began flying

top secret photo reconnaissance
flights over Laos.

In 1965, Dad was definitely
at the peak of his career.

He was just about finished
with his tour of duty

in the secret part of
the war in Indochina.

He had been, at that
time, the senior tactical

reconnaissance United
States Air Force pilot

involved in the war in Laos.

ROBERT STACK: Laos borders
Vietnam on the west.

Although officially
neutral during the war,

Laotian territory
was used by North

Vietnam as a staging area.

The United States bombed targets
there frequently and covertly.

Now, you kids go wait in
the car for your mother.

OK.

ROBERT STACK:
Colonel Shelton was

stationed at Okinawa,
Japan, where his wife

and children joined him.

But he was often gone
for weeks at a time,

and enduring the
pain of separation

became a familiar duty
for Marian and Charles.

Bye.

Bye.

I'll wait right here
till you get back.

You better.

ROBERT STACK: On
April 20, 1965, they

had no idea they were saying
goodbye for the last time.

Dad's 33rd birthday--

April 29th, 1965.

Although he wasn't
home, the family

decided to celebrate
the birthday anyway.

On that day, Mom invited
some friends of hers

and their children,
other officer

wives and their families
over to the home

to celebrate his birthday.

Hi, Don.

Marian.

I thought you
were flying today.

Hi, Mike.

Marian, I need to talk to you.

What is it?

Marian, Charles' plane was
shot down a couple hours ago.

He's all right.

They've been in radio
contact with him.

There's a search
and rescue mission

underway even as we speak.

Where is he?

He went into the area
called the Plain of Jars

in northern Laos,
near the Pathet

Lao headquarters in Sam Neua.

This is Grasshopper-32.

Come in Whiskey Angel.

ROBERT STACK: American planes
made visual and radio contact

with Shelton, but before
rescue helicopters could reach,

a sudden change in the
weather sealed his fate.

CHARLES SHELTON JR: There was
a low cloud coverage, which

made it impossible for
anybody to get in really close

and maneuver without a
tremendous amount of danger.

So Dad was left sitting on that
hill for three days, waiting,

and nobody ever came.

RICHARD REESE: There was just no
organized rescue in those days.

That was 1965 he was shot down.

If he was shot down in 1968 at
the place he was shot down at,

I think he'd been out of
there in an hour and a half.

ROBERT STACK: For
three days, Shelton

eluded capture by
the Pathet Lao--

the communist forces
operating in the area.

[speaking laotian]

CHARLES SHELTON JR: A platoon
of Pathet Lao surrounded Dad.

One of the Pathet
Lao present actually

was an informer
for our government

and reported the story.

He said that they
apprehended him.

And the story ends--
that particular

intelligence report--

saying that Dad's body went
limp, forcing his captors

to have to carry him.

[speaking laotian]

ROBERT STACK: Charles
Shelton's defiant resistance

would become legendary
among American servicemen

and even win the grudging
respect of his captors.

RICHARD REESE: He was
tough and he was tenacious

and he just didn't let go.

I think that if anyone
could survive over there,

it would be Charlie Shelton.

No doubt in my mind.

ROBERT STACK: Marian
Shelton was officially

informed that her husband
was a prisoner of war.

His personal effects, returned
by Air Force officials,

were a somber reminder
of his predicament.

But they also raised
deeply troubling questions.

Inside the footlocker, Marian
found her husband's dog tags

and his military ID, which
are normally carried by Air

Force personnel at all times.

Marian also found
her husband's camera.

When developed, the
roll of film inside

included this picture,
shot just before Shelton's

ill-fated flight.

He was wearing what is known
as a sanitized uniform, devoid

of any official insignia.

Many years passed
before the Shelton

family would fully understand
its tragic implications.

If you were
captured in Laos, you

were never going to come out.

The war in Laos
was that sensitive

that the government
was not going

to bother with politicizing
our presence there

by looking for the return
of POWs or hostages.

And to this date,
I don't believe

our government has ever
admitted to having troops

present in Laos officially.

And we've never negotiated for
the men in Laos officially.

ROBERT STACK: Three months
after Charles was shot down,

Marian and the children
returned to Kentucky.

Lea Ann, honey, don't
drag those on the ground.

ROBERT STACK: While
the war in Vietnam

dragged on for eight more years,
rumors and unofficial accounts

of Charles Shelton filtered
through the military grapevine

and back to the United States.

CHARLES SHELTON JR:
From time to time,

pilots would come
through from Indochina,

and they would
come with some news

by word of mouth
about Dad's situation.

They'd come through, tell Mom
that Dad was sick or healthy,

if he'd been wounded, or
if he'd escaped again,

or this type of thing.

Mama kept a lot of that
information away from us

because, again, she was afraid
that that would hurt us.

And I didn't want to hear it.

I loved my father.

I loved him very much.

When Mama started telling me
stories about what had happened

to Dad, I heard about him
being kept in a shallow grave

with bars over it and they poked
him, trying to keep him awake.

I couldn't stand to hear
about stuff about torture.

[speaking laotian]

I have asked for this
radio and television time

tonight for the purpose of
announcing that we today have

concluded an agreement
to end the war

and bring peace with
honor in Vietnam.

ROBERT STACK: Finally,
on January 27, 1973,

President Richard Nixon
appeared on national television

with a message that Americans
had been so desperate to hear.

RICHARD NIXON (ON TV): Within
60 days from this Saturday,

all Americans held prisoners
of war throughout Indochina

will be released.

There will be the fullest
possible accounting

for all of those who
are missing in action.

ROBERT STACK: The family was
told that all POWs would be

included on one of two lists--

those who were
coming home and those

had perished in captivity.

CHARLES SHELTON JR: Those
lists were scheduled

to be turned over
to our government,

and we understood that the
Defense Department would be

calling the families
all day long,

letting them know whether or not
their husband or father's name

was on which list.

[phone ringing]

Finally, the phone rang
way late into the night.

[phone ringing]

Hello?

Yes, I am.

I see.

Thank you.

CHARLES SHELTON JR:
She began to cry

and, of course, I
knew what that meant.

Dad's name wasn't on the list.

We naturally concluded
that, therefore, we

would be told soon just
how he died in captivity

and his body returned, and
that was the end of the story.

And I think we all felt,
although a sense of loss

at the time, there was also an
even greater sense of relief

that the waiting was over.

ROBERT STACK: January,
1973, Operation Homecoming.

For most Americans, the return
of 591 POWs seemed to signal,

at last, the and of the war.

Soon after, in April
of 1973, the Pentagon

issued a statement that
stunned the families

of those servicemen still
missing in Southeast Asia.

There was no indication
that American

POWs were alive anywhere.

Mom realized, I think, more
and more that if dad would ever

come home, or if
any of the prisoners

would come home, that
it really depended

on the efforts of the families.

And she seemed convinced
of that early on--

so much so that she ventured
into Southeast Asia.

ROBERT STACK: August, 1973.

Only a few months after
the end of the Vietnam War,

Marian left the
safety of Kentucky

and traveled halfway
around the world.

Accompanied by
reporter Leah Larkin,

she visited the jungles in Laos
that had claimed her husband.

Marian's pilot and guide was
an American operative fluent

in the local dialects.

[speaking laotian]

LEAH LARKIN: We
met with villagers

where he was
supposed to have been

or was held alive in a cave.

There were sightings
of him in the cave.

And some of the
villagers had actually

visited some of these caves
and had seen prisoners.

[speaking laotian]

My husband.

LEAH LARKIN: She'd
hoped that she

would get some positive proof
that her husband was still

alive.

She got no positive proof.

She says they've
never seen him.

LEAH LARKIN: People
said yes, there must be

men alive, but nothing really--

no concrete evidence.

She says she's very sorry.

One day, she convinced
herself he must be dead.

There's no way he
could still be alive.

Then the next day,
something would happen

to give her a glimmer of hope.

It was this constant going
back from one to the other.

He's dead.

No, he's not dead.

And I think that's a torment
that's very difficult to live

with, and it's obviously
a torment that plagued

her the rest of her life.

ROBERT STACK: Marian
Shelton returned home

empty-handed and disheartened.

But two years later,
events in Southeast Asia

provided a windfall of new
information and new hope.

On April 29, 1975, Saigon
fell to communist forces.

It was 10 years to the day after
Charles Shelton was shot down.

Thousands of refugees fled
Vietnam, crowded into vessels

that were barely seaworthy.

These so-called boat
people brought stories

about American servicemen
that sent shockwaves

through the POW-MIA movement.

WILLIAM HENDON: And they came
out all over Southeast Asia--

Hong Kong, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Thailand.

Hundreds and then thousands
told of seeing American pilots,

American prisoners,
still in chains, gaunt,

starving, begging
for food, in prison,

in captivity, on work gangs.

This is how we knew for sure
that our men were left behind.

ROBERT STACK: This propaganda
films, shot in North Vietnam,

shows American POWs
held during the war.

According to the refugees,
many were still alive two

years after the war had ended.

For reasons that remain
the subject of controversy,

the US government
withheld the refugees'

accounts in classified files.

WILLIAM HENDON: The
stories are overwhelming

in their specificity, in their
clarity, and in their numbers.

But if you mark it secret
and you keep it locked up

in the safes behind locked
doors, behind guarded doors,

then we don't know it's there.

ROBERT STACK: Eventually,
through the Freedom

of Information Act,
Marian obtained

hundreds of classified documents
pertaining to her husband.

Credible sources, many
of them CIA operatives,

reported that Charles
was alive even as late

as 1983, 18 years after
he parachuted into Laos.

There were so
many documents that

said Colonel Shelton and
other men were alive,

it was apparent that
there was just such

a gigantic amount of evidence.

There are reports in his file
that he was shot in the legs

because they were so
tired of him escaping,

and more reports
that he just kept

trying to escape afterwards.

CHARLES SHELTON JR:
A particular report

that was picked up off of
the radio between Pathet Lao

headquarters and Hanoi indicated
that, in 1968, the Pathet Lao

turned Dad over to
the North Vietnamese

and they decided
to interrogate him.

[speaking vietnamese]

I have heard about you.

[speaking vietnamese] Bow!

CHARLES SHELTON JR: When the
North Vietnamese returned

with more personnel to
apprehend and control Dad,

they found that he
had already killed

the other guards
that were present

during the interrogation.

The report finished
with the recommendation

that this prisoner
be moved north.

Whether that meant to China
or Vietnam, we can't be sure,

but it commented that
he was incorrigible.

ROBERT STACK: The more Marian
dug through official records,

the more she believed her
husband was still alive.

These often vivid
accounts became

her ammunition for a
bureaucratic showdown

on October 7, 1980.

Priority hearings in
San Antonio, Texas.

793 Air Force servicemen
already had their classification

changed to "presumed dead."

Marian was determined
to convince

the government that her
husband was still alive.

When I was in Vietnam
and Laos in 1973,

I met with a delegation
of the North Vietnamese.

I was seeking any information
I could find regarding

the fate of my husband.

When I asked specifically
about my husband,

I was told by the
North Vietnamese,

why are you asking us
when your own government

says they are all dead?

I am terribly disappointed
that our government

has made it so easy for
them to evade an accounting.

I feel that presuming people--

WALT SHJEFLO: When
they set up and decided

to hold these status
review hearings,

I don't think they had any
idea about burden of proof.

Burden of proof is
a legal concept.

What they were going to do was
make the servicemember's family

come in and prove he was still
alive when the only information

about whether he
was really alive

was in the hands
of the government.

That seemed quite unfair.

Did he have a mustache?

No.

WALT SHJEFLO: We argued
that, instead, it

should be the service's
duty to prove that he should

be changed to Killed in Action.

In other words, what evidence
do they have that he was dead?

They do have evidence
he was alive.

Now, what evidence do
they have to change that?

The board finds that, by a
preponderance of the evidence,

Colonel Charles E. Shelton can
reasonably be presumed dead.

These findings were reached by a
majority decision of the board.

ROBERT STACK: Four
years later, Secretary

of the Air Force Vernon
Orr refused to accept

the board's recommendation.

In 1984, he upheld
Charles Shelton's status

as a prisoner of war,
making him the only one

of more than 2,000
missing servicemen

not listed as presumed dead.

PHIL DONAHUE: Do you think
your husband's alive?

I think he very well
can be and probably is.

ROBERT STACK: It
was a weary Marian

Shelton who took to the
airwaves in the late 1980s.

Before national audiences
that numbered in the millions,

she continued to press
for a vigorous follow-up

to the reports of
surviving POWs.

They know there's
prisoners over there.

And I think they know that
my husband's over there.

JOAN SHELTON: My mom was so busy
doing a lot of the POW things

and going all over the country
and speaking on television,

and she didn't know
how to cope with it.

When she would come home,
she would drink in private

and sleep.

She couldn't
take it any longer.

She knew that Colonel
Shelton was alive.

She knew many other
men were alive.

And she could not stand to hear
the US government continually

lie about it.

Slowly, her heart started to
break that the United States

government, what
my dad fought for,

was not going to bring him home
or was not trying hard enough.

So it devastated her.

Her American dream, that
we're all supposed to have,

was broken.

ROBERT STACK: Despair finally
overwhelmed Marian Shelton.

On several occasions
in 1987 and '88,

she was hospitalized
for alcohol abuse.

Marian's 25-year struggle
for her husband's freedom

finally came to an end
on October 4, 1990.

Her body was
discovered by friends

on the patio of her home.

Marian Shelton had shot
herself in the head.

WILLIAM HENDON: Marian
Shelton was the POW movement.

She's done more-- did more
while she was alive than just

about any other person to
try to bring those men home.

MARIAN SHELTON: Charles was
my childhood sweetheart,

my best friend, my protector.

I prepared myself, as did
my husband, for him to be

wounded, captured, or killed.

But we were never
prepared for him to be

abandoned by his own country.

JOAN SHELTON: I do know that
there are men still there,

and I'm pretty sure
my dad's one of them.

And even if he
died 10 years ago,

I blame our government
for not bringing him

home and leaving him behind.

To those people who
would listen to our story

and just conclude that we're
living in a kind of fantasy

land, I would remind
them that, two years ago,

the government of
the Soviet Union

repatriated to Japan 70
prisoners of war taken

from Japan in World War II.

And that the French were
still being released

by the Vietnamese as late
as the '70s and early '80s

who were captured at
Dien Bien Phu in 1954.

So it's not unusual
for, as we see,

communist governments
keeping citizens

as long as they want to.

And sometimes prisoners
can live, obviously,

for decades in captivity.

ROBERT STACK:
Albuquerque, New Mexico.

August 18, 1984.

I've been hit.

ROBERT STACK: 10:25 PM.

- Where you hit?
- Twice.

Where?

Real bad in the arm.

332.

DISPATCHER (ON RADIO): 32.

1083.

We got shots fired.

Start 4355.

ROBERT STACK: 10:28 PM.

Police units respond that
most urgent and personal

of emergency calls--

officer is down.

I knew I was losing
a lot of blood,

and I was worried about that.

And it was getting
hard to breathe

because of the wound in my
side and my left lung area.

But I had an attitude that
I was not going to die,

that I was going to
make it through it.

I think that helped a lot.

- How is he?
- Pretty good.

He's doing all right.

He got two hits here.

He's got one right here
and another one in the arm

right here.

ROBERT STACK: Vic Webb been on
the Albuquerque Police Force

for five years, and this
incident was the first time he

had ever fired his gun on duty.

What happened?

ROBERT STACK:
During the shootout,

Webb was struck twice.

Without the rapid response
of his fellow officers,

he would almost
certainly have died.

Hang in there.
Hang in there.

At any moment, on any
patrol, police officers

must expect the unexpected.

The night he was nearly killed,
Vic Webb and another officer

entered a local pool hall
with an arrest warrant

for a female suspect
in a fraud case.

Instead, they found
themselves face to face

with a trigger-happy ex-con.

The evening began when
Officer Rick Foley sat down

at the police crime computer.

He discovered an
outstanding arrest

warrant for a woman he wanted
to question on another case.

I want to check on
an outstanding bench

warrant, please.

ROBERT STACK: An
informant told Foley

that the suspect
frequented an Albuquerque

tavern called Gary's Game Room.

Foley and Vic Webb arrived
at around 10:00 PM.

Another bench warrant?

Yeah.

Said she was seen in sever
places around the area here.

ROBERT STACK: Although they
were not ordinarily partners,

Webb had volunteered to
assist in serving the warrant.

VICTOR WEBB: When we walked
in, we noticed some people

sitting at a bar off to
the left and a couple

of people playing pool.

You guys need some
help with something?

Just looking.

VICTOR WEBB: Towards
the back of the room,

there was a dark
hallway, so we decided

to move back towards the
back and take a look.

Drop your guns.

Give me your guns!

Give them to me now!

This was a situation where
we were caught absolutely cold.

And here was a guy
pointing a gun at us,

demanding our weapons.

I'd been out of the
Academy for approximately

a year and a half, two years.

Fairly new on the department.

And my first thoughts
were I couldn't believe

this was happening to me.

I snapped back into reality and
knew that if, in fact, he was

going to shoot me or
kill me, I didn't want

it to be inside the Game Room.

VICTOR WEBB: His first
round hit me in the side.

I was wearing a bulletproof
vest at the time,

but this round went in between
the two panels on my side

and entered the rib area.

ROBERT STACK: Although the
first shot had broken two ribs,

Officer Webb managed to pull
his own weapon and return fire.

VICTOR WEBB: We were
probably about 3 feet apart

at this time, but he was
on one side of the wall

and I was on the other side.

I had fired five to six
rounds by this time,

and he was continuing to fire
back through the Sheetrock.

ROBERT STACK: A bullet ripped
through Webb's right arm,

severing an artery
and destroying nerves.

His shooting hand
was rendered useless.

Webb made his way to the exit
and struggled to his feet.

Only later did
authorities realize

that the suspect had
picked up Webb's gun

and used it to make his escape.

The alleged assailant
was subsequently

identified as Lyle Moody,
a paroled armed robber

with a criminal record
stretching back 17 years.

The great irony in this case
is that the fraud suspect

Webb and Foley were initially
seeking had been arrested 18

months before, but her
name had never been removed

from the police computer.

Since the night of the
shootout, Lyle Moody

has been spotted in Los Lunas,
New Mexico, Oxnard, California,

and Montbello,
Colorado, where he

was last seen in March of 1985.

I would hope that the police
officers who run across him

the next time know who he
is and know how dedicated he

is to not going back to prison.

My fear is that he's going to be
cornered by some other officers

who may not know who
he is and more police

officers are going to get hurt.

Recently, we were contacted by
the FBI with an urgent request.

They hope that our viewers might
assist in locating a convicted

murderer who had just escaped
from the state penitentiary

in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Please watch closely.

Perhaps you will recognize
Richard Lee McNair.

RICHARD MCNAIR:
Do you wanna live

here for the rest of your life?

The rest of your life!

There's no Burger Kings, no
Dairy Queens, no McDonald's.

This is it!

This is all there is.

ROBERT STACK: While in
prison, Richard McNair eagerly

assisted authorities in
presenting crime prevention

programs to local teenagers.

Richard McNair
was really a model

prisoner here at the state pen.

He was the editor of
the inmate newspaper,

very polite to staff, and most
people seemed to like him.

ROBERT STACK: Behind his
facade of cooperation,

McNair was dedicated to
breaking out of prison.

His first attempt in April
of 1991 was a failure,

but McNair persisted.

On the evening of
October 9, 1992,

McNair and two other inmates
finally discovered a weak link

in the prison security.

Mr. McNair and the
other two individuals

who escaped with him at the
time were in an education room.

They worked their way
through the air vent coming

into that room and crawled
up into a mechanical space

where the vents for
the institution are.

They then entered a second
vent which leads to the roof

area of the institution.

ROBERT STACK: The three
inmates made their way

over a series of rooftops
and through several coils

of razor wire.

Finally, after dropping
15 feet to the ground,

they were out of the prison.

TIM SCHUETZLE: As soon as
they hit the second roof

and they were heard by the
officer who immediately

reported it to the
captain, our captain

ran out of the institution
as the three individuals were

running about 50
feet in front of her

to the south of
the penitentiary.

She then radioed for help.

ROBERT STACK: Within 48
hours, two of the convicts

were recaptured.

However, Richard McNair
is still on the run.

Authorities believe McNair may
have stolen a light blue 1990

Chevrolet pickup truck like this
one, missing from H.A. Thompson

and Son's plumbing company
2 miles west of the prison.

McNair may be headed
to Oklahoma, where

his family lives, or
to Washington state,

where he has a girlfriend.

We consider McNair
extremely dangerous,

very volatile, very violent.

The original crime he was
charged with in November

of 1987 was a shooting death.

He said he will not come back.

He will not be taken.

McNair is extremely dangerous.

ROBERT STACK: Next, a
mysterious witness reports

a brutal murder in Florida.

For the police, nothing is
more frustrating than a case

where they are
virtually positive they

know who committed a murder
but have no way of proving it.

Florida authorities are
caught in just such a dilemma.

Their only hope of
closing the case

is to locate an
unknown eyewitness,

a man who called
the Miami Police

Department on May 1, 1991.

[phone ringing]

911 Police and Fire.

ROBERT STACK: The caller
told a police operator

that he had witnessed a
horrible crime in Belle

Glade, 80 miles north of Miami.

ROBERT STACK: The
operator could not fully

understand the caller,
so she connected

him to Detective Burt Blanco.

In a rushed, nervous
voice, the caller

began to describe a
grisly scene which he had

witnessed several days earlier.

He said he was hunting
illegally in a sugar cane field

when he heard a vehicle
in the distance.

The man stated that,
as he ran to hide,

a blue Ford Bronco
pulled up nearby.

A man and a woman got out.

She called him Ricardito.

What you're about to hear is a
translation of the eyewitness's

phone call to the police.

They started to
argue, the girl and him.

I'll kill you if you
don't give me the money.

- I'll give it to you.
- Give me the money.

I'll get it for you.
I promise I'm going to kill you.

ANTONIO: It appeared
to be a drug problem.

You don't believe me?

You see what I can do.

ANTONIO: He was telling
her to give him the money.

I don't have the money.

ANTONIO: She told him she could
not give him the money yet.

There were two of them.

The young man appeared to be
Cuban and the other Mexican

by the way he spoke.
- I'm going to kill you!

Give me the money.

ANTONIO: She was
shouting, Ricardito!

Don't kill me, Ricardito.

Ricardito, don't kill me!

I'm going to kill you!

No!

[screaming]

ANTONIO: After he killed
her, he dragged her away.

I got down on my knees
because I thought,

if this person sees me,
they're going to kill me, too.

Then the Bronco pulled away.

I saw a 7 and a 2 on
the license plate.

Then I left because
I was scared.

But later I thought,
it's a crime.

ROBERT STACK: The
mysterious caller

had said that the sugar cane
field was behind a building

shaped like an ice cream cone.

Detective Frank Mayo of
the Palm Beach County

Sheriff's Department
in Belle Glade

was assigned to investigate.

FRANK MAYO: I left the station
and went down to the area

of the Twisty Treat.

And once I was there,
I looked around

and I saw a set of
tree lines about a mile

south of the Twisty Treat.

So I decided to
drive to that area

and start searching
the tree line.

As I was passing along the
tree line in my vehicle,

I saw a small, brown object
over in the tall grass area.

Not, knowing at that time what
it was, I stopped the car.

I got out and I walked
over to the bushes.

And after I got
there, I realized

it was it was the body
of a female at that time,

but the body was in a state
at which, at that time,

I couldn't determine
which race it was.

ROBERT STACK: Detective
Mayo notified headquarters.

A team of homicide
investigators was immediately

dispatched to the scene.

It was a very heinous crime.

It was very violent.

I believe that the suspect
had a lot of disregard

for human life--

a lot of disregard.

She had been laying there
for approximately a week,

maybe a few days longer.

She had passed the
decomposition stage,

and she'd started to
get into mummification.

How we identified her
was her right thumbprint

was the only print left.

The majority of her fingers
had already turned to skeleton.

And with that right
thumbprint, we

were able to make
an identification

and prove that she was,
in fact, Rebecca Young.

ROBERT STACK: Rebecca Young
was a 21-year-old resident

of Belle Glade.

In a terrible irony, Rebecca's
mother had also been murdered.

Rebecca was 12 years
old at the time

and went to live with
her aunt Lucille.

LUCILLE WILLIAMS: We had
a very close relationship.

We was friends.

We was sisters.

We was mother and daughter.

We was grandparents, too.

And this is the way I
raised her and her brother.

Rebecca was a very quiet, shy
girl, and she was the type,

she would do anything she
possibly could for anybody.

She was the type of
child I would give

anything to have over again.

ROBERT STACK:
Police began to dig

into Rebecca Young's background,
looking for a murder suspect.

They soon discovered
that, after high school,

Rebecca had become
involved with a man

known to be a petty criminal.

She had gotten
hooked up with a person

locally who had gotten her
into a different type of life

than she was accustomed to.

He started introducing her to
the drug scene and prostitution

and things of this nature.

He had beat her up on
more than one occasion

and had intimidated
her and threatened her

into this type of lifestyle.

ROBERT STACK: While police had
determined that the man is not

a suspect in
Rebecca's murder, they

do believe that
his petty thievery

may have led to her death.

FRANK MAYO: This
person may have robbed

the client without
Rebecca's knowledge

that he was going to do this.

Rebecca may have
suffered the consequences

as a result of his actions.

ROBERT STACK: On May 14, 1991,
three weeks after Rebecca

Young's murder, the Palm Beach
County Sheriff's Department

detained a possible suspect.

He was a local man who had
reportedly told a prostitute

that he killed a black woman.

When the man was
pulled over, police

suspected that he was drunk.

See, man?
I'm clean.

See?

I'm clean, man.
- Sir, step out of the--

- What'd you stop me for?
- Sir!

Step to the back of your car!

I know what you
guys want, man.

Come on.
- Right there, sir!

Sir!
Step to the back of your car!

Man, I didn't do nothing!

Sir, step to the
back of your car.

Don't move.

FRANK MAYO: Before I
could interview him,

he told me that I wanted to
talk to him about a murder.

And when I told
him, no, I wanted

to talk to him
about the prostitute

he would've been
out with, he said,

I don't want to talk to you.

I want an attorney.

And at that point,
where we didn't

have any further evidence
that he was involved in this,

I had to release him.

ROBERT STACK: Even though
the suspect would eventually

be released, police feel
certain that he was involved

in Rebecca Young's murder.

They are now engaged in an
all-out search for the elusive

eyewitness who had
originally telephoned

them to report the crime.

Little is known about the man
except that his first name is

Antonio.

He said he called
from a pay phone

because he did not have
a telephone at home.

Judging from Antonio's
accent, police

believe he was born in Cuba.

This is a portion of the
actual tape recording

of Antonio's telephone call.

ROBERT STACK: Police
in Florida as well as

the friends and family of
Rebecca Young want to urge

Antonio to come forward.

It should be emphasized that
he is not wanted for any crime.

On our next
"Unsolved Mysteries,"

you'll meet George
Anderson, whose

apparent psychic
abilities have amazed

believers and baffled skeptics.

He says he can help
grieving families

by communicating with
their lost loved ones

from beyond the grave.

It sounds unbelievable, but
you can judge for yourself

as we take you to
an actual session

with this intriguing man.

Join me next time
for another edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[music playing]