CBS Workers Kidnapped And Murdered | Material Witness (True Crime Documentary) | Real Stories

a woman disappears the only clues are an incomplete eyewitness account and three dead men on the New York pier [Music] the case takes a bizarre twist when investigators uncover a web of greed deceit and even more murder the cold-blooded killer is on the loose this police track him over six states they are in a race to find a missing woman before more blood is shed [Music] and more people died the solution to these brutal murders rests with a missing material witness [Music] in this program some of the names have been changed New York City Monday April 12th 1982 it was the end of the workday and commuters headed for their cars at a parking facility on the west side of Manhattan it was just after 6:00 p.m. when a lone woman made her way across the desolate rooftop parking lot the lot was located on Pier 92 by the Hudson River in the midst of the bustling crowds of midtown Manhattan as she approached her car her key would not fit in the driver's side door the lock was jammed [Music] she had no idea she was in grave danger a moment later three employees from the CBS television network arrived on the parking deck they had just gotten off work as the three headed to their cars they saw a man struggling to load a woman into a van concerned they approached another CBS employee Anthony Silva was trying to catch up with his friends he saw them talking to a man behind a silver van Silva took cover [Music] Sylva tried to alert the parking attendant to the shootings taking place two stories above but the man thought he said three cars had been hit he was in no hurry to deal with it [Music] as silver pulled out under 12th Avenue [Music] he watched to see if the gunman would follow him the van went the other direction he rushed back to the parking attendant and insisted he call the police three people had been shot [Music] 30:44 responded to the trip homicide police officers were dispatched to the scene and sped towards the parking garage [Music] the crime scene was bloody and grim New York police detective Richard Chartrand systematically one-by-one the search was done of each body each one was shot once in the rear of the head with a small caliber gun the location of bullet entry would appear that these were assassinations the single 22 caliber shell casing lay beside each body two men were found close together the third was found a short distance away like the others he had been shot in the head at close range it appeared he tried to run from his assailant the 22 caliber shell casing was collected police feared these weren't the only victims we did an extensive search on up here to make sure there wasn't a fourth or fifth dead body up there we even had the harbor precinct come in and search the surrounding waters we didn't want somebody floating that might have jumped off the pier to avoid being shot investigators found no additional bodies beside a blue car they discovered several items a set of keys a purse and a pair of women's shoes scuff marks on the back indicated the victim had been dragged blood was spattered on the pavement near the car from the small amount it appeared the woman was wounded but how badly the officers could only guess a detective took the keys found on the ground and tried to unlock the car they wouldn't fit [Music] the lock was jammed with a toothpick [Music] the passenger-side door open in the glovebox police recovered a license and registration the car belonged to Melissa Benson of Ridgewood Queens [Music] what happened to her and why was still unclear robbery seemed unlikely in her purse investigators found credit cards and a wallet full of cash none of the clues pointed to the killer but Anthony Silva provided a description the shooter was described in five-foot five to five foot eight with a reasonably husky builder he said that there was some sort of a commotion yerevan Silva told police to look for a gray or silver van with a burgundy stripe down the side because of his description of the gunshots detectives believed these were assassinations a silencer must have been used the parking lot was reserved for those with monthly permits each person who parked there had to fill out an agreement and could only enter by punching a license-plate number into a keypad the parking attendant provided police with Benson's agreement and those for all the vehicles in the rooftop lot detectives took the stack of papers hoping they would help reveal their killer's identity with the red stripe see leaving a scene with a white female wounded as news of the murders spread through police channels more and more officers joined the search for the killer who was already long gone at the crime scene the press clamored for the story it appears that the three males apparently happened upon either an altercation or an abduction of some kind at this point we are just not sure what happened various items which would indicate that the female was present at the scene women's shoes women sunglasses and some other items are present at the crime scene close to one of the bodies as the story broke across the city New Yorkers were shocked reporters Selwyn Raab covered the murders for the New York Times everybody in New York knew about the story on the night had occurred three men tried to act as good Samaritans the idea that three people during a period when people were very concerned in New York about a soaring crime rate would intervene and get shot down blasted away the way they were so from the start this was a case that was obviously going to draw a lot of attention the grisly murders touched a nerve each new piece of information triggered a growing sense of dread across the city that send the real message maybe you better not intervene if you see something happening it could happen to you even in a crowded area even when you're with two other when you got three men and you think you can you could handle a situation like that it isn't one person on a dark street so that made it very intimidating as panic grew police were under immense pressure to find the killer and Melissa Benson [Music] the faster they could find her the more likely she would be alive officers first visited her current employer Melissa Benson worked in a camera store as an accountant her co-worker told the officers before that she worked at a diamond company hoping to find some clue to Melissa Benson's whereabouts investigators went to her apartment in Queens the superintendent let them in the super said he didn't know much about her benson kept to herself for a homebody however she was quite familiar to the local police an officer from the 104th precinct in Queens knew her she became a regular around the precinct after a friend of hers named Debbie Wong disappeared Benson feared Debbie Wong was in grave danger the woman never turned up and now Benson was missing two investigators found nothing incriminating in her apartment just piles of financial papers which did not seem unusual for an accountant according to the Queens officer Benson said she was working with the FBI if she was involved with the bureau the next step was clear for detective Chartres had made a call to the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and dropped a little bomb on him and said you guys got something going and does this name mean anything to you the news Benson was missing was a blow to agent Robert Paquette she was the key witness in a multi-million dollar fraud investigation I had received a call from the New York Police Department and he advised me that there was a murder that took place at Pier 92 in New York City and that one of the individuals involved was was Benson in addition to three other individuals who were employed by CBS at the time somewhat stunned FBI agents agreed to meet with a detective the next day NYPD detectives and officers patrolled the streets that night searching for a silver or light-colored van in the early morning hours they caught a break a man and driver matching the general description given by witnesses yet no sign of a missing woman police brought the man in for questioning he insisted he knew nothing about the crimes of the missing woman Melissa Benson he wasn't anywhere near the pier at the time of the murders [Music] they had a suspect in custody but detectives continue to try and link him to the crime while a man was questioned they began analyzing parking lot permits mentions agreement indicated she had only parked there a few months it was dated April 1st of that year police reviewed the other agreements hoping to uncover a clue to the killer's identity once his alibi checked out investigators were convinced the man they had in custody was innocent they released him [Music] the New York police feared they were running out of time if they were to find Melissa Benson alive on the evening of April 12 1982 NYPD investigators were grappling with a brutal triple homicide the bodies of three television employees were found in a parking lot atop Pier 92 on Manhattan's West Side and a woman named Melissa Benson was missing by the morning after the murders the NYPD learned Benson was an important witness in a federal fraud case they traveled to FBI headquarters to see if they could shed any light on the missing woman federal agents explained they had been conducting a fraud investigation for the past eight months it involved a diamond company in New York which once employed Melissa Benson they described how their case began to the New York detectives I received a call from an investigator who was employed by the Bank in New York City they had believed at this time that Kandor diamond had defrauded their company of approximately six point five million dollars candid diamond corporation was a family business owned by a man named her win' Margolis Melissa Benson handled his finances creditors recently discovered someone at the company falsified documents in order to secure a million-dollar loans the creditors were becoming suspicious and an auditor was scheduled to inspect candor's books the next morning the auditor from the finance company began to value candor's inventory of precious gems and examine their books the diamonds candor had been buying up were worth more than two million dollars on paper now they were missing [Music] [Applause] Margolis told the auditor he feared they had been stolen the finance company called the FBI we interviewed numerous people that were involved with the company and those people that worked in the vicinity of Canada are Damon and - a person they all painted a picture of a company that was in trouble candor was forced into bankruptcy but proving who specifically was responsible for the scheme would be difficult FBI agent Don Richards knew he needed to find someone on the inside willing to talk the diamond district is a very very closed community and the only way that we saw that we can get into what was going on Kandra diamond was to find somebody on the inside who was going to talk with us they chose Melissa Benson she wanted nothing to do with her she tried to pretend that she was really an innocent victim of this whole scheme Benson avoided them for weeks then suddenly she asked for a meeting it was January in 1982 four months before the mysterious shooting she told the agent she was worried about a friend a woman named Debbie Wong Benson said she had gotten a friend a job as a bookkeeper at candid diamond corporation in 1981 she told the agent Wang had recently disappeared and Benson feared she might be next at the time investigators weren't certain what to make of the disappearance but now that Benson was also missing the agents were concerned Benson had always insinuated that Wang knew nothing about what was going on and that really all she did was hang out with her so when she first disappeared we didn't understand the significance of her disappearance on March 25th Benson pled guilty to federal fraud charges and agreed to testify and tell everything she knew about candid diamond corporation but the FBI had now lost their witness for both the FBI and NYPD finding Melissa Benson was Priority One the investigators headed to Queens to take a deeper look at Benson's missing friend Debbie one detectives spoke with two teenagers who witnessed her abduction on the night Debbie Wong disappeared January 5th 1982 the teenagers told police they saw a woman walking out of an apartment building when she got to her car they saw a man wearing all black rushed from a van and throw a blanket over her head the teenagers told police the man shoved her into a car and sped away and a van followed them they didn't get a good look at the abductor one week after Debbie long disappeared officers found her car abandoned in a lot on Manhattan's West Side the car bore few clues to her whereabouts the police found disturbing evidence inside was a single 22 caliber shell casing the evidence that most concerned police was found on the carpet under the backseat a small dark red stain that appeared to be blood no body was found the investigators were determined to confirm whether the Benson case and the Wong case were linked they asked for the evidence from Long's car to compare with the evidence gathered from the parking pier one shell casing would be all they'd need ballistics tests confirmed what they've suspected the casing found in Debbie Wong's car was similar to those found at the parking garage they'd been fired by the same gun that shall casing match the shell casings from the pier so it would leave a reasonable person to say that's a connection that's a lab evidence from Debbie Wong's car was tested they confirmed the dark stain was in fact blood genetic markers were consistent with Debbie Wong's blood type police now feared she had been killed whoever killed the three men in the parking garage and took Melissa Benson also abducted Debbie Wong three men were killed in a New York parking garage police believed they were executed when they came to the aid of Melissa Benson she was now missing along with her close friend Debbie Wong the two women worked in New York's diamond district for a man named Aaron Margolis his company was under federal investigation for fraud and Benson was providing the authorities information about her boss investigators went to talk with Erwin Margolis FBI agents visited the diamond importer at his home in a Westchester suburb he told them two million dollars worth of diamonds were stolen from his safe and he had strong suspicions who took them he was certain Melissa Benson and her friend Debbie Wong with the thieves Benson had seen the gems and knew the combination to the safe he claimed he was innocent of any fraud he was all perpetrated by Melissa Benson according to special agent Don Richards everything was her fault she had orchestrated that she had this strange illness she was dying she had been embezzling she needed money for cancer operation in Europe and just on and on and on the number of things that he came up with as to why she was guilty of doing all these terrible things to candor diamond unbeknownst to him to try and corroborate Margules story agents visited Debbie Wong's husband at his home in New Jersey he said he had last seen his wife on the day she disappeared he admitted they had had a fight he suspected something was going on with his wife and Benson Melissa had given his wife a blue bag and he wanted to find out what was in it it was filled with stacks of documents related to the candid diamond corporation Debbie was furious he had seen the documents he told her to get rid of him she said she had been holding the bag from Alyssa Benson according to Wong's husband Benson had stolen the documents because she feared margolis was planning to set her up to take the blame for his illicit schemes she needed insurance and she wanted to keep it safe so she asked Debbie Wong to keep the documents for her [Music] found the bag wrong one is nothing to do with the papers and insisted Debbie get rid of them he stormed out of the house that day taking the blue bag with her she returned the bag in the documents to Benson's apartment in Queens miss Wang had to visited miss Benson's apartment in Queens this evening she had called her husband and told him that she was leaving and was going to be on her way home I was approximately 7 o'clock in the evening it was then that the teenagers saw the masked man shove her into the car and drive off Debbie's husband never saw or heard from her again with a strong suspicion the two cases were related investigators heightened their search to identify the killer FBI agent Don Richards you start with a known and you keep adding the unknowns and you try to figure out how it fits one of the first tasks was try to find out who was up on the the parking lot and that had access you go through all of the applications you look for vans of the many parking agreements investigators found only one van had used a lot that night but a check of the plates with the DMV came back empty one of the detectives came up with a recent parking lot application of a van seemed to fit the license plate didn't seem quite right the license number was a phony the agreement however contained another clue and some of the information on there had been scratched out and redone a second license number which had been written and then crossed out was barely legible on the page through a little bit of forensics you're able to raise the correct license-plate number that was written down then scratched out investigators hoped this number would lead them to the killer this time they got a hit the plate was registered to a man named Donald Nash Nash had filled out an agreement for a silver Chevrolet van on April 6th less than a week after Benson had applied this is good this is real good you're on your way and you can you can feel yourself begin to say okay we've we've got that initial break or on the right track police discovered he had been arrested seven times in the last 30 years on various felony and misdemeanor charges Donald Nash was now the prime suspect well suddenly the adrenaline starts pumping you feeling good you're you're on the scent and you're moving and from there you just begin to run that out as quickly and as thoroughly as you can the FBI ran Nash's name and license plate through their own crime database and got another hit Nash's van had been linked to an infamous FBI case known as the pizza connection we found that that license plate had been spotted by an FBI surveillance team that was doing a surveillance on a meeting of some Genovese people in Queens and we didn't know its relevance [Music] the FBI's investigation began back in 1979 after mafia crime boss Carmen Galante was gunned down in a Brooklyn restaurant in the world of organized crime a shift in power was taking place if Donald Nash worked for the mob investigators feared they might never find him or Melissa Benson the FBI stepped up surveillance outside pizzerias bakeries and other known mafia friends agents collected license-plate numbers of any and all cars parked in the area they recorded the license plate of Donald Nash's silver van for FBI agents Donald Nash with his possible links to the mob seemed an even more likely suspect than they're scheming diamond merchants to determine whether the mob ordered a hit on Melissa Benson the FBI asked around on the streets I had two or three agents do a little research into our files speak with their informants they speak with other people to find out if this woman who had been killed in any way was connected girlfriend wife relative of the people though he had under investigation Benson had no mob ties if organized crime hadn't ordered the hit agents wondered why Nash would be in that neighborhood they soon made the connection the spot where Nash's van was seen was just blocks from Benson's apartment in Queens we know from the facts of the pizza case investigation that Nash did not have any relationship with those individuals however based on the fact that that plate and that van were at the pair of that evening that there was only one reason that he could have been in such a close proximity to her apartment and that was because he was surveilling her and that he was interested in determining what her normal activities were it appeared Nash had been stalking her police continued their desperate search for him hoping to find Melissa Benson before it was too late New York Police and the FBI were investigating a disappearance of a woman they thought might be linked to organized crime mafia crime boss Carmen Galante was gunned down in Brooklyn during the investigation into his murder they uncovered their chief suspects license-plate number the FBI determined their suspect Donald Nash and his victim Melissa Benson had no mob ties it did appear Nash was stalking Benson and his license plate was recorded as part of a surveillance in the Mafia head investigators believe someone may have witnessed the murders and headed back to the pier the SS Rotterdam was was moored on the west side of Manhattan getting ready for a cruise we were desperate to find any evidence at that point that would help us solve the crime and we realized that there were a lot of people on that ship on deck with cameras and we asked the passengers if they would share with us there were videotapes and photographs to see if by chance we might have caught the murderer on on camera agents interviewed passengers and collected rolls of film but no one had seen anything and none of the photos captured the murders or the murderer as investigators struggled with dead-end leads trying to understand the facts of a crime they were constantly under the microscope of the New York Press that was front page on the New York Times in New York Post today Lee News the director of the FBI was getting probably a three or four telephone calls a day from a chairman of CBS wanting to know what the progress was the residents of the city seemed starved for any information they could get on the story this was better than any kind of chance of fiction story or dashiell hammett detective story what you had here from the start was anyone who started picking up the stones to see what was going on you had a tale of greed embezzlement murder missing witnesses cookbooks very strange witnesses and also all the participants had checkered or intriguing backgrounds Melissa Benson had been missing for less than 24 hours when police received a call that a woman's body had been found in an alley located near Wall Street a non-residential area that was often desolate after dark it was the perfect spot to dump a body without being seen police scanned the area looking for clues to identify the woman's killer it was a factory area and there was cardboard boxes there and it was quite evident that there were tire tracks on the cardboard all of which were photographed and gathered up everything down here even garbage was gathered up to see if it would have any relationship to the Internet the tire tracks were a solid piece of evidence for police but they wouldn't help unless they could find the killer's van a payphone was next to the body police ordered records pulled for it maybe someone who had used it it seemed the killer dumped Benson's body it was also possible the killer used the phone perhaps it held the key to finding the murderer the body was sent to the morgue using dental records it was identified as Melissa Benson she had been dead for less than 24 hours cause of death a 22 caliber bullet fired at close range into her brain the Emmy determined her death was not instantaneous I don't believe that she died immediately during the forensic and medical investigation there were particles in her throat that should not have been there which would indicate that there was one or two less gasps after she was thrown into the van the medical examiner found metal particles straw bits of styrofoam and tiny pieces of cellophane tangled in the victims hair none of those materials were found near Benson's body they must have gotten in the victims hair inside the getaway van they were collected to match against the van when it was located the 22 caliber bullet removed from Benson's body with its distinctive lands and grooves etched around the outside was compared to the 22 caliber bullets recovered from the men murdered at the parking garage the grooves matched the same man who abducted Debbie Wong also took Melissa Benson her witness is dead she was killed along with three people who worked for CBS we don't know who did it we didn't understand exactly why the connection was there somebody killed this woman in the CBS employees we had to find that person to increase their efforts to find the killer the NYPD and the FBI set up a joint task force we closed no doors everything was open for discussion I think you have a part you don't know how it fits together I just think it does and over time you'll find out because Benson was working with the FBI agent Don Richard's felt an urgency to find her killer we couldn't help her after she had been killed the best thing we could do for her was find her killer you you don't mess with our witnesses not get away with it they believe their prime suspect Donald Nash had been planning the crimes for some time parking lot records showed he had parked at the pier on the same dates and times as Melissa Benson in the weeks prior to her murder he appeared to be stalking her Nash's van was registered to a construction company in midtown Manhattan police were dispatched to the scene but it was empty once we identified Donald Nash we went to the location that was known to be his business location his business location amounted to a telephone on a desk and somebody else's premises he was well known to the area and well-liked he was the local handyman if you had any problems mechanically or electrically you got ahold of Donald Nash he would take care of it fix it for you do whatever you want officers also visited Nash's neighborhood a rough area of the city known as Hell's Kitchen run by an Irish gang called the Westies the mo of the crime made detective Chartrand suspect Nash was connected to the gang I know it he was using the same technique that some of the quote Westies were using and they were responsible for maybe 1718 murders always a van always a small-caliber gun always a shot that I had neighborhood locals had known Nash for years but no one admitted to knowing his whereabouts perhaps out of loyalty or fear in this area known as Hell's Kitchen they have their own code and the code is never give up anybody because if you do and it's found out you're gonna be dead very shortly they'll come and kill you if they don't their friends will so everybody keeps quiet with no one talking about Donald Nash the FBI turned their attention to the only person with a possible motive to get rid of Melissa Benson Irwin Margolis agents hope to find a link between Margolis and the suspected killer this time Margolis agreed to talk only if his attorney could be present his story stayed the same he again pointed the finger at Melissa Benson he was not as cooperative as you would expect he basically tried to place the entire blame on his Comptroller in insinuated that she was behind it all the diamond merchant denied he knew Donald Nash if I'm Benson was a criminal and any number of people might have wanted her dead my goal is his attorney Dave Owen suggested Benson had taken everyone for a ride including the FBI they had no proof to tie Margolis to the murders and the officers were running out of leads but the urgency of finding the killer was growing the pressure on the political end is increasing doesn't matter that it's a weekend the calls keep coming chairman of CBS wants to know when you gonna make an arrest police commissioner what are you gonna make an arrest the media wants to know what are you gonna make an arrest and even though they had a suspect they had no idea where he was while they were going over phone records they got a break it was a single phone number buried in a mountain of phone records from lower Manhattan on the night of the murders a phone call was placed from the payphone where the body was found to a home in New Jersey the call was charged to a number in keansburg registered to Donald Nash the FBI now had his address and set up surveillance we put a team over there they barely had setup and all of a sudden they spotted him not the van but they spotted him and he was heading off with a friend and surveillance began they soon caught sight of a man but couldn't approach there wasn't enough evidence to arrest him and questions would tip him off he might run but watching Donald Nash would not be easy he was about to take them on a dangerous ride in April 1982 the NYPD and the FBI joined forces to catch a hired gun Donald Nash was believed responsible for at least four deaths and an unsolved kidnapping the NYPD had tracked him to his home in keansburg New Jersey now the FBI took the lead it was April 17th 1982 five days after the murders and they were on his tail Special Agent Don Richards we don't have nearly enough to arrest this man we can't even pull him over unless a speeding but let's find out where he is let's make sure that he doesn't slip away at FBI headquarters in New York agents got word Nash was on the move traveling in a red Datsun with an unknown man according to the DMV the Datsun was registered to Thomas Dane who also lived in keansburg just a few blocks from Nash agents tracked the two men to a nearby sporting goods store where they watched them load several large packages into the trunk they could not identify the items it looked like camping equipment but the store also sold high-powered rifles and ammunition [Music] they feared their surveillance might be turning into a cross-country or even global chase once Nash headed for the airport agent ron Moretti still works undercover and his identity has been hidden to protect ongoing investigations Nash proceeded to the Newark International Airport where they went into the long-term parking area and Donald Nash got into a black van now we've had been just given a description that the van used in the murder was a light-colored van either white or silver so we were looking for a white or silver van but we also realized it was a possible that someone might paint that van though the van was black agents understood its importance if this was the same vehicle used in the crime it may still contain vital evidence but they did not have enough tying gnash to the crime to get a search warrant they decided to tail him until they uncovered the proof they needed agents ran the plates to the DMV they had been recently issued and were not yet entered into the DMV database the agents followed Nash to a highway rest stop they watched as the men transferred items from the car to the van the black van doesn't have the plate on it [ __ ] it's a wrong color it's a long plate here's at the right pan one agent went forward to get a better look the van had hunting decals affixed to the back Nash might be planning a trip to some sort of rural area they would have to follow him because they could not arrest him without being certain he was the murderer if the van didn't contain any evidence they couldn't hold her and if Nash was hired by someone agents also wanted to find that man [Music] again he was on the moon and the FBI was in pursuit and I had been in constant communication with a surveillance team and the only thing we had to go on was his van I mean we we didn't find a van we were looking for we would have been in a lot of trouble yet within minutes agents were faced with a dilemma [Music] they couldn't risk losing Nash and radioed for other agents to watch Dane so flying down the interstate with two cars on a van it's probably the the most important case that the FBI and Police Department are working on and last month and you can't let him get away we had no idea where he was taking us we had no idea if we had the right van we had no idea we had the right man and they'd let him go Nash got on the New Jersey Turnpike headed southbound with two carloads of federal agents never far behind the New York office was run and supervised by a Deputy Assistant directed by Naima Ken Walton Ken looked at his surveillance supervisor and told them that he was to have full access to all Bureau aircraft and that they were quote not to lose him and if anybody did lose him they should not come back to New York by day's end Nash led agents as far as Lancaster Pennsylvania he checked into a motel and appeared to call it a night my instructions were following until we can figure out how we can arrest him just don't let him go don't let him out of your sight agents kept a close watch on his room they wanted to get a closer look at the van but they could not risk getting caught they waited for Nash to settle in well let's find out if it is the right van let's look on the dashboard for the vehicle identification number auto manufacturers in grave event or vehicle identification number on every vehicle often on the dashboard it is a unique number no two vehicles have the same VIN if the ID numbers for this van and the silver van were the same the men would have their answer this was their chance now it's two o'clock in the morning the Vans locked don't want to spoil anything in there anyway so the surveillance agent takes a flashlight shines it around but on this night luck was not on their side papers on the dashboard covered the ID number the FBI would have to wait for the next day and nash's next move FBI agents in New York were investigating a diamond company owned by a man named her wing Margolis the FBI suspected someone on the inside was defrauding its creditors out of millions of dollars they focused their attention on the company's comptroller Melissa Benson then Margolis employees began disappearing a woman named Debbie Wong was abducted outside Melissa Benson's apartment [Music] after Wang disappeared Benson became frightened and told the FBI she would cooperate with their investigation less than a month later Melissa Benson was shot and killed she was then loaded into the back of the silver van three men tried to come to her aid and were brutally murdered police tried to make sense of the murder scene piecing together the clues but they had little pointing them to the killer the day after she was abducted Melissa Benson's body was found in a New York alleyway [Music] the murders were front page news [Music] New York Times reporters selwyn raab of course a murder like this that happens in a very public area for people killed during the evening rush hour it's gonna be enormous pressure police had only one solid lead in the case and he was hundreds of miles from New York they were following a man named Donald Nash he was a suspected killer but the investigators had no proof he was involved in the murders they were ordered to keep a close watch on him [Music] Special Agent Ron Moretti our surveillance team had to stay awake 24 hours a day because not only will they follow him when he was driving but where he spent the night we didn't want to nice to be able to leave without us knowing about it so someone had to stay awake and keep an eye on the van the entire time so it was taxing our surveillance team at the scene of Benson's disappearance witnesses had seen a silver van Nash was driving a black van agent suspected he may have painted only looking at the vehicles ID numbers would confirm their suspicions but the number was obscured and now Nash was once again in motion [Music] they continued tailing at a safe distance with Nash apparently unaware of their presence [Music] FBI Special Agent Don Richards coordinated the search in New York the next morning the people back in New York are trying to figure out what else can we do to tie the ban and this this man to the murders themselves investigators hit the streets let's check all of the body shops in and around where he lives and see if they had done a job on a silver van making it black none of the body shops worked on a silver van in the last two days they were at another dead end so it could try to get a search warrant on his home to see if there's anything there that could tie it in we don't have probable cause so it's getting tougher and tougher once again detectives in New York turned to phone records to try and tie Donald Nash to the victim Melissa Benson and her boss Irwin Margolis their job was difficult every phone call was made by Nash either in New Jersey or in New York the subscriber to the phone that received the call and then we got all of their phone calls and everybody that they ever caught we had a cardboard box pile two feet high with telephone records their goal to identify every call he made in the months prior to the murders maybe they could find a link between him and the victim agents knew Nash was in contact with his nephew Thomas Dane they staked out his home in New Jersey dane had no criminal record but because they had seen him help Nash make his getaway detectives suspected he might be involved in the crime they set up to watch his every move agents following Nash tracked him to a campground in West Virginia he hit the road again with a helicopter in close pursuit choppers maintain visual contact with the van from high above allowing agents to hang back so they did not risk being spotted they weren't certainly had killed Melissa Benson but they believed he might be dangerous agent Don Richards wanted to make an arrest and fast so we said we we've got to find a way to see if we've got the right fan from the air the roof of the van appeared to be discolored a lighter color paint was showing through the black roof of the van undercover agent Ron Moretti got the car they could see that it was a lighter colored van underneath the black paint so now we felt more confident that we had the right van Nash had now crossed into Kentucky the reports I was getting back to the surveillance team where he was getting into some backwoods area of Kentucky and they weren't sure whether they were gonna be able to continue following him we were concerned that should they lose Donald Nash we would never be able to find him again if the van pulled onto one of the tree covered roads joining the highway the chopper might not be able to maintain visual contact the FBI had to get the VIN number from the van they put a call in to the Kentucky State Police they advise vehicles traveling on i-64 westbound around the 59 or 60 Kentucky State Troopers Steve broght remembers the request the FBI asked that we stop a van that was on i-64 traveling westbound and obtained the VIN number off of it to the Kentucky State Police that request sounded impossible I said realistically you want us to put up a roadblock in the middle of an interstate highway bring all commercial traffic to a screeching halt to see if you've got the right ban yeah fortunately they were friends of the FBI and they said they'd give it a shot and so a trap was set troopers established a roadblock and waited for Nash to approach if they could see the VIN number when the van stopped and the numbers matched the FBI would finally have what it needed proof the vehicle Nash was driving was in fact the infamous silver getaway van cloaked in black the FBI was tracking a suspected killer through Kentucky they believed he had killed at least four people and possibly a fifth he'd pursued Donald Nash from New York and he was now speeding westward on an interstate highway the FBI enlisted help from yet another law enforcement agency the Kentucky State Police state troopers established a roadblock hoping to get a glimpse of the VIN number of Nash's van the FBI had been on his tail for nearly 72 hours straight and he had done nothing to give them the probable cause to pull him over if they stopped him without cause and the van didn't contain any evidence of murder they could never hold him for three days now had been the model citizen he didn't even break the speed limit the FBI and the Kentucky Police were counting on their roadblock to give them the opportunity to read the VIN number when Nash reached the roadblock a trooper assured him it was just standard procedure but the view of the ID number was still obscured Kentucky State Trooper Steve brought traffic was beginning to back up so a decision was made to let him go in case something went wrong we didn't want a bunch of traffic behind us that would be involved in any potential confrontation with him they didn't get the numbers the pursuit of Donald Nash would have to continue agents had to find another opportunity back in New York police continued trying to find enough evidence to pull Nash over and make an arrest detectives had been piecing together months of Nash's phone records looking for anything linking him to the murders then detectives found it Nash had made several calls to a man named Dave Owen Owen was Irwin Margolis attorney Nash had called him three times in recent weeks the FBI brought Owen in for questioning they thought they might have found the connection between Nash and Melissa Benson's boss when questioned the attorney insisted it was perfectly logical for Nash to call him he had recently represented him on a minor fraud case Special Agent Ron Moretti we knew we had to act fast and try to get some type of evidence where we could either get an arrest warrant for Nash or a search warrant for his van and detain him on federal charges or murder charges out of the state of New York as the FBI was deciding their next move Nash stopped of his own accord a few hundred feet up the road [Music] [Applause] [Music] because Nash pulled over the Kentucky State Police could ask to see his license and registration and the vehicle ID number which is listed on the registration and after talking to him for a few minutes I'll let him go I gave the dispatcher the VIN number off the van he ran it through the NCIC computer and it came back as a stolen vehicle it took only a few minutes to get what FBI agents had waited for for days the VIN number matched the ID number agents had on file for the silver van the vehicles were one in the same the Kentucky agents were waiting for instructions from the FBI we were following this van at a distance so the driver of it wouldn't see us in the marked cars we didn't want to spook him and make him do something out of the ordinary and just about the time we got ready to stop him the van drives into her arrest area Nash pulled the van against the curb the troopers surrounded it [Music] the report of the van being stolen gave them enough to make an arrest there's always potential for violence he was a suspect and a murder whether he knew it or not where a firearm was used you have to wonder in those circumstances and when I see what's he gonna do he said what's wrong and we said well the value has been reported stolen and he said no that there's got to be more than that this many of you wouldn't be here for a stolen van Nash's biggest concern was with retrieving his glasses he was practically blind without them he pressed the police to explain the real reason they were arresting him we still did not want to tell him that he was a suspect in a murder at the request of the FBI so we continue to tell him that he was being arrested for having a stolen van I don't think he ever believed this [Music] Donald Nash was arrested for driving a stolen vehicle on Monday April 22nd in his pockets some eight thousand dollars in crisp new $100 bills the suspected murderer was finally behind bars but if his van didn't contain evidence of murder the officers would not have enough to hold him [Music] FBI agents flew to Kentucky to retrieve their prisoner they hoped he would talk FBI Special Agent Bob Burkett we made an attempt to interview him he had made it pretty clear to us he was not going to cooperate in any investigation with Nash not talking they had to rely on the evidence we then compiled the information evidence we did have we made application to the US District Court in Lexington Kentucky and was granted permission to search the van the van had been hastily painted in places the original silver color still showed through technicians from the Kentucky State Police worked into the night processing the van the FBI hoped inside was the evidence to tie Donald Nash to the murder of Melissa Benson and give them some insight into Debbie Wong's whereabouts first technicians documented the contents we collected small pieces of styrofoam cellophane and metal scrapings all items found on melissa Benson's body they retrieved a telltale 22 caliber shell casing the casing would be tested against those found at the pier in New York technicians inked the tires and took impressions to try and match them with the impressions found on the cardboard near Melissa Benson's body [Music] supervisor Larry Ayers turned his attention to the blood there were small but there were numerous bloodstains on the van as well as blood-stained clothing I was amazed at how much physical evidence there actually was in the band I wasn't expecting to find very much then several days since the murder had occurred the blood was sent to the lab for comparison police had samples of Melissa Benson's blood for testing but because Debbie Wong's body had never been found they would have to find something to make a comparison at Debbie Wong's home officers collected personal items including a hairbrush and samples of underwear forensic technicians analyze the bits of metal plastic and styrofoam recovered from the van they matched those found in Benson's hair at the time of her death the blood scraped from the Vans interior were of two different blood types matching Melissa Benson and Debbie Wong this evidence placed both women inside the van [Music] ballistics testing confirmed the three shell casings found at the pier and the one found in Wong's car were similar to the one found sitting in Donald Nash's van and the tire marks from the van matched those found near Benson's body we had tire impressions left at the crime scene where Miss Benson's body was left and we matched the tires to that we found boxes of ammunition munch on shot we found in the van bits and pieces of hair pieces of clothing human blood the forensic technicians found evidence the same caliber weapon was in the van as were the two victims Melissa Benson and Debbie Warner they had also placed the van at the site where Benson's body was dropped on April 21st 1982 Donald Nash was extradited back to New York just over a week after the city was stunned by his vicious crimes the next day the quiet suburb of keansburg New Jersey was alive with activity FBI agent Don Richard's I sent two agents to begin to develop a search warrant based on evidence from the van and everything else we had for the house oh we had no burger weapon without a gun the case still had weak links there was a small Creek out behind mr. Nash's house and we thought there's a good chance that he may have thrown the gun into that Creek he also might have used it to dispose of a human body scuba teams from the FBI NYPD in New Jersey police donned gear to search a wide stretch of the creek law enforcement searched Nash's home and his garage inside spray paint and a large outline on the floor spoke volumes in the garage we found black paint some tape some newspapers that had black paint on it to like paint spray cans it was on the walls and it was in a perfect rectangle looked like about the size of a van it must have been here Nash executed a shoddy paint job transforming his silver chevy van into a mysterious black vehicle while scanning the perimeter of the garage agents made an unusual discovery a bullet hole had punctured one of the walls but even stranger the wall on the inside was undamaged back and forth they looked outside and found the hole looked inside and could not undercover FBI agent Ron Moretti the laboratory guys then took a tape measure and measured the outside of the garage and they went back on the inside and measured the inside of the garage and found it to be a couple feet short on the inside than it was on the outside it became clear a secret room existed somewhere behind the wall of the garage a hidden door led into a dark crawlspace his agents crossed the threshold they were prepared for anything construction supplies an arsenal or the final resting place of Debbie Wong [Music] police in New York had captured the man who killed Melissa Benson but a friend Debbie Wong was still missing they searched a creek behind the killer's house looking for Wong's body in the murder weapon investigators still needed more evidence according to FBI agent Don Richards you can put the man in custody at the scene of the crime he put his vehicle there you can put blood and hair from the crime scene in his van so you can tie him to the van and the van to the killing that's good you're still not there but you it's it's looking better it's looking a whole lot better [Music] Donald Nash was a man of many secrets as law enforcement officials were searching his home they found a hidden room in the back of his garage his agents entered the dark room they found 22 caliber shell casings littered the floor of the small musty space hidden behind a fake wall in his garage it appeared a gun had been fired inside on more than one occasion crime scene technicians bagged some of the casings and took scrapings of the reddish substance staining the sink blood residue though whose blood it was would remain a mystery forensic tests would reveal it to be a different blood type than either Benson or Warren Donald Nash may have used this room to dispose of other bodies undercover FBI agent Ron Moretti appeared Oh said he had used this room to either dispose of bodies or clean up his van which would account for the blood being found him in the creek behind the house the murky waters were slow going for the divers handfuls of mud had to be sifted inch by inch it was as muddy as a Mississippi and you could not see your hand in front of your face so it became a groping along the bottom but persistence paid off more twenty-two caliber shell casings were unearthed but their next big break came once again from phone records police had spent a week analyzing a stack of phone records two feet high pay phones Nash's phones and now the phones of Nash's relatives and known associates they learned weeks before her murder someone had called Melissa Benson from the home of Nash's nephew Thomas Dane agents asked him to come down to headquarters Benson's number was unlisted police wanted to know how Dane had gotten it he insisted he never called her and knew nothing about the woman but as the meeting wore on Dane wore out he told police Nash had probably made the call himself to check up on Benson for detectives the big question was how Nash knew the number Nash wasn't talking but his attorney was as the FBI's case strengthened dave-o and agreed to cooperate finally he gave him admitted that he was the one who arranged the meeting between himself and this hitman and was a go-between between Errol and Margolis and the Hitman investigators had finally confirmed the link between Donald Nash and Irwin Margolis Dave Owen introduced the two in 1981 shortly after Margolis went bankrupt and learned he was being investigated by the FBI someone in his organization was talking and Margolis wanted to know who [Music] he suspected Melissa Benson and Debbie Wong were cooperating with the feds he felt that Miss Wong was the weaker of the two women and if anyone would be cooperating it would have been her so I think in theory we we believe that he had her killed first believing that she probably was even though he had no reason to accurately identify that she had met with the FBI Margolis is suspicious cost her her life in exchange for immunity dave-o and testified at trial the Nash agreed to kill both Debbie Wong and Melissa Benson for a fee of $8,000 last week a figure as the blanket was thrown over her had gun put to her head and she was shot once killed police theorized Nash was assisted by an accomplice who has never been identified with Wong out of the way investigators believe Margolis went after Melissa Benson he hired a private eye to tailor Margolis was a paranoid man and unfortunately for Miss Benson and and the FBI apparently the private investigator saw her go to a meeting with an FBI agent Nash tracked Melissa Benson he chose Pier 92 is the perfect isolated spot for murder Special Agent Bob Burkett we determined that most likely the shooter had been stalking in trying to develop details of the victims activities and in fact probably was just looking for the right time and day to complete this this murder he pulled into a space next to Benson's car on the rooftop lot [Music] [Music] having stalked it for weeks Nash knew Benson's habits when she got off work and how long it took her to walk to the lot for NYPD detective shards rant Nash's brutal crimes didn't match the man you could walk past Nash on the street and not even know he was there he never projected the feeling of a hard-nosed son of a gun but he was a cold-blooded murderer Melissa Benson had no idea what awaited her she stood just inches from her killer in theory in theory only he was seated in the van when she went to the passenger side of the car to get into the car he reached out and shot her the trajectory of the shell casing would go high into the left and that's how it wound up in the van he immediately got out pulled the doors open through her rent slammed the door at any what about assess letting the three witnesses Nash was unprepared for witnesses he reacted on instinct his eyesight poor since a childhood accident required him to chase down his victims one by one he's shot them at close range he had to it was the only way he could see his target Nash's attack on the three CBS employees was quick and brutal he never spoke to law enforcement about anything that happened that night New York Times reporters Selwyn Raab he was really as hard-boiled and cold-blooded as they came and when it came to a criminal code of silence he was certainly a master disciple of that after he left the pier Nash had to solve the problem of what to do with the body he didn't want to drive around in that van with the body in the back my feeling was that he would have taken her to New Jersey I've got rid of her there in the marshes or whatever he couldn't take that chance of going to the tunnel with Benson's in the back of the vehicle he went south and dropped the body in Franklin alley he then called his nephew to help him get out of town Thomas Dane in exchange for immunity testified against his uncle he admitted getting a call from Nash that evening Nash directed him to the long-term parking lot at Newark Airport where they dumped the van after he painted it it's pretty obvious that he got some help in carrying out this crime certainly in the escape if nothing else yet there was never a word uttered by him with Nash not talking investigators had to find hard evidence tying Margolis to the murders if they couldn't uncover any evidence he might walk free Melissa Benson was abducted from a rooftop parking garage in Manhattan three men came to her aid and were all shot at close range the killer drove from the garage in a silver van the FBI had followed their prime suspect all the way to Kentucky they felt confident they had the shooter in custody but he was a hired gun they suspected diamond merchant Kerwin Margolis hired him to kill Melissa Benson and her friend Debbie Wong they had testimony that he was behind the murder but they had no hard evidence the break investigators were looking for came several months after Donald Nash's arrest detective Chartrand is called - Melissa Benson's apartment relatives packing her belongings found a blue bag filled with documents from the Kander diamond corporation her even after death Melissa Benson was not silenced investigators believe Debbie Wong returned the bag to Benson the night she disappeared Benson secretly held on to it not even revealing its existence to the FBI the entitled revenue people and the FBI presented all of those documents in the case of fraud against the principle of Kandor diamonds it's all written out here she left to all of this behind so she was holding the hammer her efforts were not in vain Erwin Margolis and his associates were arrested in May 1982 on federal fraud charges Margolis was convicted of fraud and two counts of second degree murder for the deaths of Debbie Wong and Melissa Benson he was sentenced to 25 years to life for each of the murders but jail didn't stop her when Margolis he was determined to get even with his enemies while he's in jail awaiting trial through one of the other prisoners he starts looking for hitman he wants to kill the prosecutor and the fellow folk at the bank who initially turned the matter over to the FBI so we thoughtfully learn about this through a jailhouse informant and an FBI agent posing as a hitman meets with him as a visitor and he lays out the deal of how he wants these people killed and what he's willing to pay for it and the tape recording is wonderful so if he's willing to pay to kill them we're pretty sure he's willing to pay to kill him the other two women Donald Nash and Irwin Margolis committed a crime that paralyzed New Yorkers with fear and suspicion and changed the way they looked at their city this was was an abusive aggressive paranoid man who was ruthless in his business dealings he just wouldn't broach any challenge to his decisions his authorities and the way he wanted things done didn't matter if it was illegal didn't matter if it was immoral didn't matter if it was putting anybody else's life in danger didn't make no difference Donald Nash was found guilty of four counts of second-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder he is currently serving 100 years to life the people that were involved in the murders in this investigation were the absolute personification of evil man treating man very poorly Donald Nash currently resides in New York's Auburn Correctional Facility detectives tried to convince Donald Nash after he was convicted to at least give the the wrong family a little bit of solace by telling where the body was so they could at least bury her he denied any knowledge of it he has never spoken of the murders and Debbie Wong's body

Channel: Real Stories

Views: 7,908,530

Keywords: crime documentary, crime mystery, real stories, fbi files, fbi most wanted, fbi case, Real Stories, Real Stories Full Documentary, Real Stories Documentary, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic

Id: 9BjtNI4xp2I

Length: 93min 31sec (5611 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 15 2020