The Predator | TRIPLE EPISODE | The FBI Files

in the 1990s Seattle Washington was plagued by hundreds of bank robberies most of the thieves were caught but one continued to elude the FBI wearing a disguise he stole Millions threatening to kill anyone who got in his way with no leads and little evidence agents feared the only way to stop it was to catch him in the act [Music] [Music] [Applause] ha [Music] [Music] [Music] every Bank teller's worst fears Who Stare down the barrel of a robber's gun Banks use a variety of devices to discourage would-be robbers security cameras silent alarms and exploding die packs but when an elusive bank robber targeted Seattle's Banks none of these precautions were effective I'm Jim calstrom former head of the FBI's New York office it would take cunning precision and patience to capture a Master of Disguise the FBI knew only as Hollywood Seattle Washington 1992 the computer Revolution was growing technology entrepreneurs were pumping billions into the city's economy to accommodate the Newfound wealth Banks opened branches all over Seattle neighborhood convenience also meant more opportunity for theft [Music] on the afternoon of June 25th at Sea first bank's Madison Ranch government threatened to shoot anyone who did not comply with their demands [Music] one trained his gun on the frightened customers while the other forced a teller to empty her cash drawer [Music] after the bag was filled they demanded car keys from one of the customers who they had watched pull up they warned the tellers not to hit an alarm or they would return and kill someone [Music] the two sped away with nearly twenty thousand dollars since the bank's deposits were insured by the federal government the FBI was called in to assist the Seattle police because no alarm had been tripped the bank's security cameras were not activated investigators had no photos of the suspects customers and Bank employees described the gunman as being of medium height and build one employee heard the man holding the cash called to his partner using the name Mark the robbers had worn gloves so no fingerprints could be obtained investigators attempted to lift shoe prints from the desk where one of them had stood partial Treads were recovered which investigators believed were made by sneakers agents recorded the license plate number of the customers stolen car a Cadillac sedan hours later the stolen Cadillac was discovered abandoned in a neighborhood close to the bank forensic technicians would pour over the vehicle's interior but find no fingerprints hairs or fibers foreign to the car seven weeks passed with no leads then on Friday August 14th the pics this is a robbery everybody same bank was robbed again though the thief struck alone wearing a new disguise one of the tellers believed it was the same man he appeared to be wearing theatrical makeup trip off any alarms fill that up his take was more than eight thousand dollars and it was just the beginning over the next three months the same man hit four more Seattle area Banks a solo gunman wearing theater makeup a hat and dark sunglasses was responsible he brandished a Glock nine millimeter pistol and threatened to kill anyone who tried to stop him [Music] on his sixth robbery the thief had gotten away with 252 thousand dollars and investigators still had no leads and no name [Music] special agent Sean Johnson of the FBI Seattle field office began tracking this Master of Disguise who had come to be known as Hollywood it's much easier to coin a name for somebody than call them tall white male and a blue hat so with this person in particular he wore once again this elaborate facial disguise makeup so somewhere online somebody started calling him Hollywood because of that and that name stuck with him Hollywood had gone silent since he'd robbed see first bank's Hawthorne branch in Northeast Seattle his take from that location exceeded a quarter of a million dollars [Music] to date Hollywood had grabbed over three hundred and twenty thousand dollars from Seattle area Banks authorities had recovered none of the stolen cash and they still had no clues to his identity [Music] as the months passed investigators wondered if he had quit or moved on to another city [Music] yeah then on November 24 1993 just over a year since his last Heist Hollywood struck again brandishing his trademark block pistol Hollywood herded the customers together [Music] he returned to see first bank's Hawthorne branch the bank he had previously hit for more than a quarter million dollars [Music] he asked for the reserve cash [Music] unsatisfied with the cash drawer take he ordered a teller to let him into the vault in a back room [Music] [Applause] Hollywood emerged with nearly a hundred thousand dollars yeah again he's threatened to kill anyone who hit an alarm Noah disobeyed his orders when Hollywood came into the banks he was very much in control he was polite to a degree but it didn't make people comfortable they were very afraid that he would use the weapon he brandished it it actually pointed at a number of people during the course of the robberies so we knew that he was not afraid to show the weapon and also to possibly use that weapon against somebody who didn't obey what he told them to do security strategies in Seattle banks at this time included using marked bills to trace stolen money another tactic was die packs hidden inside a stack of bills the packs contain red dye and an electronic charge [Music] the pack Dead Leaves and stains a thief when he crosses Senses at the bank's exit silent alarms made it possible for tellers to call the police without alerting the robbers video cameras monitored every corner of the bank they'll take a pitch about every seven seconds so far Hollywood had somehow managed to defeat all these measures July 13 1994. Hollywood attacked his tenth Bank in two years I used a stun gun to threaten Bank employees teller risked her life pushing a silent alarm Hollywood looted the cash drawer unaware the patrol units were racing to the scene go [Music] all right good he fled with nearly 112 thousand dollars a witness outside the bank saw him get into a dark blue Dodge Caravan [Music] the second person drone the witness was unable to see the vehicle's license tag [Music] [Applause] after police secured the scene another bank employee arrived for work very good thank you just tell me what you saw he told police about an incident on the previous day [Music] the employee noticed a man taking notes in front of the bank standing next to a blue Dodge Caravan [Music] oh God by witness said he was too far away to get a good look at his face I appreciate you uh coming forward can think of any other details to agent Johnson it appeared that Hollywood studied the locations before striking [Music] he would scout out the banks days before get a feel for the layout who came who went from the bank a given times Hollywood's planning was paying off he had gotten away with over 660 thousand dollars he struck most often on Wednesdays or Thursdays time he appeared was six months later he filled his bag to tell her overheard a radio call from beneath his coat urging him to exit since a die pack exploded for the first time he had failed in a robbery attempt a witness outside the bank took down the license plate number of the getaway car [Music] special agent Johnson was able to trace the vehicle we ran the license plates from the cars and they came back to a couple lived in Tacoma Washington south of Seattle so I went and talked to the couple to find out how their car had been sold to test drive they had advertised the car in a local paper the buyer paid twelve hundred dollars in cash without test driving it the couple described the buyer as a white male in his late 30s or early 40s of medium height and weight based on their description the sketch artist created a likeness of the suspect the FBI now had their first glimpse of what Hollywood might look like [Music] by the spring of 1995 a masked Seattle gunman had robbed 12 Banks of nearly a million dollars and left behind few Clues investigators dubbed him Hollywood for his use of disguises and theatrical makeup [Music] he did agent's hand was a sketch of what they believed was the face behind the mask special agent Sean Johnson looked for a pattern to figure out similarities among the bank's Hollywood Rod perhaps he could predict when and where he would strike next I went back and visited all the banks that Hollywood hit since June of 92. what I was looking for some commonality how many doors were in the banks what was the layout of the lobby where was The Vault located was it downstairs upstairs on the main floor was the size of the parking lot was it adjacent to the bank was it across the street what kind of street was this Bank located on Johnson discovered that most of the banks were in commercial districts where area businesses made their deposits yeah the banks also boarded residential areas [Music] it's enabled Hollywood to blend into the surrounding neighborhood without a rousing suspicion he liked three areas of City primarily the Northeast part of town Madison Park which was just outside of downtown in West Seattle so once again looking at the types of banks he hit the branches themselves in areas of the city we came up with a pattern of likely targets in March of 1995 three years after Hollywood's initial Heist the Puget Sound violent crimes task force was formed especially attached with investigators from five different agencies they had one goal in mind to take Hollywood off the streets Hollywood struck most often around noon and almost always in the last three days of the work week four of his past five robberies occurred in late January or early February [Music] agents calculated that Hollywood appeared to be going through about twenty thousand dollars a month the effective Mike McGann joined the task force in June of 1995. McGann knew the streets and had many bank robbery callers to his credit it was my belief that at least 95 percent of the people that I arrested were narcotics users the other five percent I believe to be gamblers Thrill Seekers professionals or people that were working on a sheer desperation where I'd classify Hollywood was that he was a well trained well disciplined professional McGann poured over the security camera photos of Hollywood he noted the weapons he brandished were a nine millimeter Glock and a stun gun at the time these arms were being considered as Weapons of choice among law enforcement the detective also noticed that Hollywood indexed his trigger finger on the side of the nine millimeter a technique taught to police officers many of the robberies occurred in the late morning between 11AM and noon precisely the time when a shift change for the Seattle Police occurred the evidence pointed to a frightening possibility Hollywood might be a cop and the reason I I thought he was a police officer is he knew so much about how we operated that he was probably watching us or listening to us he had he was disciplined he was in and out of the banks quickly he moved swiftly he just knew a lot about the the policy procedures of the bank he knew that the the areas that he was hitting in were primarily in residential areas that don't have much police presence in them then something else caught his eye he noticed that Hollywood was wearing a radio on his belt if Hollywood was communicating with a walkie perhaps police could intercept the transmission [Applause] the detective contacted an Electronics expert known as The Glitch with his help McGann hoped to gain an advantage I had sat down with this person and showed him the surveillance photographs of Hollywood and the two-way radio he had and he was able to determine the frequency most common to those radios that he would work off and it was two different frequencies the glitch offered to rig up a scanner and began's unmarked car by eavesdropping on Hollywood investigators hoped they could pinpoint his whereabouts and catch him in the act the idea didn't work special agent Johnson was stationed outside a bank in Northeast Seattle monitoring the radio when Hollywood and an account struck elsewhere [Music] it's about 11 30. I was going to break off about 12 o'clock and all of a sudden I heard the Seattle police radio saying we've had a bank robbery First Interstate Bank and that was about two miles from my location I heard the physical description I knew at that point it was Hollywood and he'd come back and one of those three days I predicted a year before and we dismissed bystander outside the bank got the license number like his first robbery the getaway car was found in a neighborhood near the bank the FBI traced the car back to its owner who said he had sold it to a man for cash a few weeks earlier I had the owner come up and look at the vehicle and I said is there anything different about this car from when he sold it he said sure overall condition of your uh engine compartment here is anything the owner noticed the car had a new battery [Music] agents found that the car had been wiped down inside and out the owner also noticed that two of the tires had been replaced with newer ones so I went to trace the the tires and found out they've been bought in Tacoma Washington the battery provided a Sears store in Tacoma about two days after the car was purchased so I knew at that point that these people whether it was Hollywood and or his Partners were in the area at least two months before the robberies working with a sketch artist the owner described the buyer [Music] investigators now had two composite sketches but they were still no closer to catching Hollywood supervisory special agent Ellen Glasser was brought in to head the task force she made the decision to go on the offensive it's one thing to put pen to paper and to put your thought processes at work and try to solve a case it's another when you take a proactive posture and an investigation knowing that you might get into a confrontation with somebody like Hollywood the supervisor realized that a more aggressive stance would Place her agents in Greater apparel Hollywood had repeatedly threatened to kill anyone who tried to stop him we knew he had a propensity for violence and figured that if he was going to these elaborate means to disguise himself to plan the robberies that he probably would not necessarily give up easily as most others did and we were concerned about the safety of law enforcement and safety of customers and employees of the banks okay he's taking a lot of more Personnel we're assigned to specific areas of the city targeting the banks hit most often by Hollywood so he came up with a game plan saying okay we're going to be out on the streets on Wednesdays Thursdays and Fridays between these periods of time knowing full well that uh greed would probably take the better part of Hollywood and he would come back and Rob another bank even with the amount of money he'd already taken [Music] 22nd 1996. despite the increased presence of law enforcement Hollywood hit the First Interstate Bank in the affluent suburb of Madison Park it was his 14th known robbery yeah to generate leads agents reached out to the community we increased the reward to fifty thousand dollars that we were offering in the community for tips we didn't want to have the media work against us now we didn't want to glamorize Hollywood and and cause copycat bank robberies to to go out and rob banks but we also felt that we needed the public [Music] agents saturated Madison Park with hundreds of wanted Flyers perhaps heightened public awareness could also help eliminate that neighborhood as a potential Target then law enforcement could increase Manpower in the remaining neighborhoods the campaign yielded nothing Hollywood had not surfaced in months they consulted a police profiler to learn how Hollywood might react if and when he was cornered through could be someone who is familiar or someone who has taken based on his broad knowledge of violent criminal Behavior the profiler told them that Hollywood would not go quietly and it was very important for us to hear him say this guy is going to resist arrest this guy will not want to go into custody this guy will fight you this guy is dangerous authorities could only guess when and where Hollywood would strike next remain silent [Music] for almost four years Hollywood had threatened to shoot anyone who got in his way [Music] were convinced that if he was challenged the masked gunman would shoot to kill by 1996 a mass gunman known only as Hollywood had robbed 14 Seattle Banks rip off any alarm he threatened to kill dozens of people for his take of 1.2 million dollars over four years though Hollywood had not fired his weapon agents believed that if confronted he would kill okay supervisory special agent Ellen Glasser showed the task force of videotape of what could happen if they were not prepared we have been using for training in the FBI a video of the tragic fire fight that took place in 1986 in Miami where we lost two of our agents and several other agents were wounded what they were doing that day is they were on a surveillance for two dangerous bank robbery suspects so there were some obvious parallels to what we were doing on April 11 1986 the FBI confronted two armed bank robbers in Miami the shootout erupted the gunman Advanced while the agents were reloading their revolvers killing two of them and seriously wounding five others that Miami shootout was a reminder of How High the stakes were we can't always be a hundred percent prepared but we should be thinking have a plan all right come on that's it to avoid repeating the tragedy that occurred in Miami Glasser developed more uniform procedures between the various agencies the Seattle SWAT team trained alongside special agent Johnson we did extensive training with them firearms training felony car stops how to take people out of cars different situations and how it would respond to a bank robbery that Hollywood had committed and that was all done under Ellen glasser's supervision and her number one concern of course was the safety of all the people involved effective McGann knew they needed to make sure all Personnel were on the same page it also gave us a chance to test our Communications because the FBI doesn't work off police Communications they had their own so what we had to do is get everybody on board on the same radio frequency to prevent the danger of friendly fire all Personnel were required to wear clothing with emblazoned logos good otherwise but you had your head up just a little too long as Thanksgiving approached Glasser believed they were as prepared as they could be well that Wednesday that day before Thanksgiving in 1996 it started out just like any other day I went to work thinking I was going to catch up on some of my overdue paperwork thinking that I was looking forward to the holiday the next day having a day off the banks would be closed and thinking that people needed a rest because they had been working so hard agent Glasser detective McGann and detective Pete Erickson were the last ones in the office when an alert tone came over the radio at 5 41. upon hearing that I knew that it was Hollywood that it hit and I'm looking around the office thinking well Pete's here and I looked at him and said you want to go he goes oh yeah let's go and Ellen saw me run down the hall and she's yelling Mike what's going on I said Hollywood hit you want to go she goes yes so she grabbed her coat and we all left the task force office [Music] car was parked right outside the front door we ran down and turned on the lights and the siren and put the light on the rope and away we went multiple suspects had robbed a bank in Lake City the Seattle suburb just minutes from Task Force Headquarters [Music] as soon as we got into Mike's car I could hear the Seattle police radio traffic and I remember hearing the references to the makeup and it was really those references to the pancake makeup that that made it resonate in my head that this was it this was it they got another cool a witness had seen a vehicle exit the bank's parking lot in an erratic manner [Music] vehicle matching the description had been spotted [Music] the police believed they had found the getaway car turned out to be a false alarm the engine was cold 20 minutes had passed since the first call McGann was sure that Hollywood had transferred to a different vehicle by now he would need a place to change he would need place to take that makeup off that wig off to change his clothing to put the weapons you know so you put the weapons away or the money the getaway car there would most likely be a van [Music] side streets in the residential area near the bank from past robberies McGann and Adrian Glasser knew this was where he would most likely change vehicles some units were responding to one location and Mike was saying that's not him that's not him he'd patrolled in these streets he'd grown up in Seattle he knew every nook and cranny of the town in that area after several minutes of crisscrossing the main roads they pulled up behind a white van there was condensation on the insides of the windows I mean heavy condensation where the beads of water were dripping down on the insides of the van but there were flashlights moving about the van real quick light and it had dark windows tinted windows on it McGann had a strong suspicion it was Hollywood [Music] they called in to check the plates [Music] just bad [Music] the investigators had no way of knowing how many persons were in the van or if they had any weapons if it was Hollywood they knew at the very least you would be carrying a nine millimeter Glock by this time I knew he knew we were behind him he could see me he he just knew we were there and he drove Northbound and slowly came to a stop they prepared to approach the idling van good when I got out all I saw was this person holding the rifle at poor arms stepped out from the side and took aim at me with that rifle and right then I feared that I was going to be shot and killed the rifle generated by getting fired into the rear of the van the Chase had turned into a firefight ER on the night before Thanksgiving 1996 Three Investigators had just fired at a fleeing van after its driver had attempted to shoot them with a rifle they believed the van held a man known only as Hollywood an elusive bank robber foreign special agent Sean Johnson responded to the call for backup Pedro went off I looked at it and knew immediately there'd been a bank robbery I called the office and was told that Hollywood based on the description that they had gotten Hollywood had just robbed the bank see First Bank Lake City branch in the north part of town still several miles away Johnson raced to the location [Music] as the band came to another stop backup arrived [Music] foreign ducked back into the van and the chase resumed special agent Glasser felt it was a miracle the three of them had survived unharmed I think that's partially by the grace of God because these these rounds were found in the windshield of the car that was behind us so they went right over us they continued to pursue the unidentified gunmen through the residential neighborhood the agent updated their new position for approaching humans [Music] they followed the van until it disappeared around the turret fearful he might be driving into an ambush McGann got out and continued the pursuit on foot detective McGann told a K-9 Officer to cover the right side while he moved up on the left and I was trying to think am I doing everything right I'm alive there's no bullet holes in me my co-workers are alive plenty of help is behind us and I knew plenty of the help was in front of us coming at us [Music] up ahead they could see the lights from an approaching Seattle police cruiser it intercepted the van forcing it off the road [Applause] [Music] the van had come to rest in the front yard of a house investigators still had no idea how many vehicle all right the side doors but no one came out okay [Music] [Applause] [Music] one suspect had taken three rounds the bullets had penetrated his left shoulder thigh and stock the other had been hit in his right shoulder when I looked down at him and said what's your name and he said Steve I said Steve what and he said Steve Myers and I said are you Hollywood and he says no the other suspect was taller and heavier than the gunman from the security camera footworks police believed he was not Hollywood either the detective turned his attention but no one else was inside I'm thinking where's the third suspect you're saying the suspect got out are you positive they're saying yes he got out when he saw us he took off so I'm thinking oh my God investigators quickly organized to search both on the ground and in the air a third suspect probably Hollywood was on the Run police believed he was armed three rounds they did not know how far he could get from his wounded as the search continue a forensics team processed the van and in the back of the van there was a guitar case that had been converted into a gun carrying case and a blue nylon bag that that had money in it and it was a big bag of money the robbers had left behind more than a million dollars [Music] of a latex mask most likely belonging to Hollywood scattered around the blood-soaked interior investigators found an assault rifle a semi-automatic shotgun two pistols and several boxes of ammunition Hollywood's Glock nine millimeter pistol was nowhere to be found could have taken hostage in a house yeah that did cross my mind that you know maybe he ran into a house and was holding a family hostage and would hold them until you know the early hours of the morning or in traffic until traffic died out or he could be watching us he could be one of us wherever he was and whoever he was Hollywood had eluded the FBI once more after four years of pursuit the masked bank robber known as Hollywood had eluded capture again following his 15th known bank robbery but two of his accomplices had been taken into custody one was identified as Mark Biggins Biggins had been Hollywood's accomplice in three of the robberies including their first [Music] he wore the Reagan mask the other accomplice was Steve Myers the man who drove Hollywood's getaway cars special agent Johnson pressed Myers for Hollywood's real name [Music] you need to tell me who this person is where he is and he finally said okay I'll tell you the person you're looking for is Scott Scurlock Scott Scurlock wasn't a police officer he was a local actor agents moved in on his 20-acre Ranch in Olympia Washington an hour south of Seattle [Music] we gotta search more clear left but no one was there investigators found a semi-automatic nine millimeter Glock okay [Music] check it out agents recovered twenty three thousand dollars in cash The Searchers also found a dozen pairs of canvas athletic shoes who kind that Hollywood was reported to have worn in several robberies behind the house agents approached a barn inside they found tools building materials and equipment on the dusty floor one of the agents noticed some footprints that led to a trap door [Music] it opened into an underground chamber see light switch anywhere right here agents had no way of knowing if Hollywood was hiding there with a gun yeah Scurlock wasn't there but behind a curtain they discovered a second room it was a complete makeup studio [Music] the agents also found a photograph of Scurlock without makeup behind a barn special agent Sean Johnson and his team came across a large tree house it's at about 60 feet up into the trees it was built on seven cedar trees it consisted of three stories I had numerous ramps that extended out from the tree house it was something to behold agents searched the treehouse they found no sign of Scurlock police were still patrolling the neighborhood where the shootout had occurred the night before searches had combed the area but found no trace of The Fugitive Port came in that a man had spotted someone hiding in a camper behind his mother's house I'm out of the trailer police responded and approached the camper come out of the trailer they identified themselves but received no response okay an officer emptied a can of pepper spray into the window police come out of the trailer back up [Music] police set up a perimeter around the camper and called in reinforcements agent Johnson had just returned from searching scurlock's property within minutes of arriving at the office uh having not even unloaded any evidence I heard on the Seattle police radio shots had been exchanged at a location about two blocks away from the previous night's events so without even beginning to unload the evidence I took off again heading Northbound out of town license irons to this location every available unit converged on the site supervisory special agent Glasser had gone home after the shootout by that point in time I had decided not to cook a turkey on Thanksgiving I had changed the reservations for where we were going to eat Thanksgiving to a later time so that we could all be together as a family and we were almost out the door when we got a call from the office that Hollywood was barricaded in a trailer no other shots had been fired since that first Exchange shot scurlock's girlfriend was brought to the scene if it was the Fugitive perhaps she could persuade him to give himself up there was no response [Music] [Applause] nobody knew for sure who was in the camper out of options the SWAT team was called to action [Music] hoping to flush out the suspect they fired two rounds of tear gas into his Refuge oh they heard nothing SWAT members entered cautiously and the initial rate of communication with the SWAT team said there's lots of blood we see no body and my first reaction to that was is this guy a ghost or what how can there be no body and then just seconds later they say we've we've got a body through the smoke a white male could be seen lying lifeless on the floor a gun near his head oh [Music] scurlock's photograph was compared to the body it matched the car owner later determined that his death had been self-inflicted Mark Biggins recovered from his wounds he and Steve Myers pled guilty to bank robbery assault on a Federal Officer and Firearms violations were sentenced to 21 years in a federal prison Scott Scurlock had hidden behind a mask for four and a half years but when the FBI struck back the man they called Hollywood found there was no place left to hide [Music] in the Pacific Northwest tragedy would forever bind three women who would never meet one disappeared just months before her wedding another vanished leaving two children behind a third survived her night of Terror and spoke for the others she never knew the hunt for a serial killer LED FBI agents cross-country as they followed his deadly Trail here we go [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] The Disappearance of young women triggered a search that spanned the Pacific Northwest even a massive media campaign failed to locate The Drifter who first Charmed then killed them as investigators followed his Trail he always stayed one step ahead I'm Jim calstrom former head of the FBI's New York office in a case that landed on the FBI's 10 most wanted list agents hoped that the one victim the killer spared would help put him behind bars March 28 1987. Laurent crowston left a party in the suburbs of Tacoma Washington at four in the morning he was looking forward to a day of fishing come with me Lauren's fiancee 22 year old Robin Smith decided to stay she was having a good time [Music] Robin assured laurenti be fine I love you I love you too she would just get a ride home from someone she'd met at the party after fishing all day Saturday Lauren Fell Asleep exhausted he didn't wake up until early Sunday afternoon [Music] he hadn't seen his fiancee Robin since the party two days earlier Robin concerned the young man called Robin's mother hello yeah Edna Smith it assumed her daughter was with Lauren [Music] Robin she checked to see if Robin was in her old bedroom in no I haven't seen her perhaps she'd come in late without being heard Lauren told Edna not to worry okay I'll be there in a few maybe Robin had decided to spend the rest of the weekend at their friend's house [Music] at the apartment I don't get they have any choice with no sign of Robin her family decided to call police LaRon joined the Smiths at their house to wait for detectives from the Pierce County Sheriff's Office they were all worried Robin had never done anything like this before describe Robin as a happy young woman though quiet she worked long hours as a waitress saving most of her money to help pay for her upcoming wedding detective Terry Wilson and his partner initiated an investigation thank you important information we received from her mother Miss Smith it was unlike Robin to have just walked up and taken off she was engaged to get married she was close to her family and in fact she ever went any place her family was she usually told him where she's going to be at and so this was unlike her Laurent crowston told detectives about the last night he'd seen Robin early in the morning of March 28th Robin and LaRon hung out at a bar until it closed at 2 A.M some people they had met during the evening invited them to an after-hours party at their nearby apartment the place was rented by Elizabeth Glenn and Darren D O'Neal Lauren and Robin were having such a good time they didn't want it to end the last place the Ron had seen Robin was at the party [Music] so the party had been held he found Elizabeth Glenn at home he corroborated laurent's story and told the detective that she had intended to drive Robin home but as the night wore on her plans changed Darren seemed more interested in Robin so Elizabeth remained in the kitchen and flirted with a man named Mike perhota Elizabeth told the detective that she and pahota had made plans to meet later at his apartment where they could be alone rohota left the party first to avoid arousing Darren's suspicions by Daybreak Darren D O'Neal hardly seemed to notice he was wrapped up telling Robin about his favorite author Louis Lamour who wrote stories about the Wild West O'Neill was unemployed and talked about living off the land like the Outdoorsman in l'amour's books Elizabeth had heard it all before at about 8 A.M she left the apartment to meet brahota [Music] she told O'Neil and Robin she was going out to buy more beer [Music] when she returned 24 hours later O'Neil and Robin were gone Elizabeth pointed out that she found several items missing from the apartment in searching the apartment we found that there was a television had been pulled out and the television electrical cord had been removed there was a couple of lamps from his girlfriend had told us that had extension cores on it these were missing some a lot of his clothes were gone and she specifically mentioned that there was a blanket that also was missing from the house is this yours in a file box Wilson also found social security cards with several different aliases they included the unusual name of zebulun mccranahan when detective Wilson told his partner what he'd learned detective Walt Stout immediately suspected Foul Play [Music] Robin was left alone with Karen O'Neill and something happened at that resonance after that uh it would be speculation that maybe Darren tried to come on to her physically or sexually she may have rejected that or there was some something that happened there and I believe she was probably assaulted in that house detective's next question Dennis Morrison and Neil's friend and former employer Morrison said O'Neill had worked for him as a carpenter he said he had seen O'Neill just a few days earlier it was Saturday afternoon the day after the all night party O'Neill stopped by to ask for traveling money he said he was heading east over the Cascade Mountains Morrison had no cash to give him O'Neill was about to leave when Morrison realized he could write him a check Bill's Car to make the offer his friends seemed nervous and anxious to leave then a movement in the back of the car called Morrison's eye it looked like something was pushing against the back seat from inside the trunk O'Neill told him it was his dog he put it there to punish it Morrison described the car as a tan Chrysler with Montana tags [Music] authorities knew they were three days behind O'Neill by now he could be anywhere detectives continued to pursue the handful of O'Neill's known contacts in the area they called Gary Skinner the owner of another cabinet shop where O'Neal had worked part-time he told detectives he had been looking for Darren O'Neill since his last day at work when Darren left he apparently took a hammer with him from the shop because it was missing and Mr Skinner couldn't account for it having been taken in any other way with no leads pointing to his whereabouts Pierce County detectives hoped O'Neill's past would provide some answers a background check revealed that the suspect was no stranger to trouble had Warren sought for him he had been in trouble in Colorado he had been been accused of sexual assault physical assault some of the all of his victims that we were aware of had been the females so a profile of him was starting to form that was looking for a person who is proxy a predatory in nature that's violent for sure Pierce County deputies entered everything they knew about Darren D O'Neal into the National Crime information database the ncic a listing of criminals and victims Nationwide they included his physical characteristics the description of his tattoos and the make and model of his car if O'Neill were picked up by any Police Department in the country Pierce County would be notified immediately detectives also helped Robin's family launch a media campaign to locate the missing woman Robin's picture was posted all over the Tacoma Washington area along with O'Neill's the campaign began to generate leads O'Neill was spotted entering a local hospital alone on March 29th there was no security at the hospital but the ER nurses were nervous at this man's presence so they did call a couple of male employees of the hospital and Darren ultimately left without receiving any treatment for some scratches that were visible investigators believed Robin had inflicted the scratches on O'Neill's face when he attacked her the hospital staff told police that the scruffy man bore a teardrop tattoo at the corner of one eye the letters j-u-n-e were tattooed across the knuckles of one hand detectives learned that June was the name of O'Neill's ex-wife excuse me the media campaign continued to generate leads a highway flagman had seen O'Neill in his car at two different locations on March 30th two days after Robin's disappearance the first sighting was on a highway construction site east of Tacoma construction just keep us low O'Neill was heading south when the flagman waved him through he also saw O'Neill a few hours later at a gas station off the same Highway he called police when he recognized the man's face from the newspaper to be sure the detective showed the flagman a photo lineup it included a mug shot of O'Neill alongside five others foreign the flagman picked out O'Neill immediately [Music] continued the hunt a Washington state trooper spotted a tan Chrysler with Montana tags on the afternoon of March 30th the same day the flagman had seen O'Neill [Music] it had been abandoned on the side of Interstate 5 about 50 miles north of Pierce County two days after Robin's disappearance [Music] unaware of the ongoing investigation the officer found nothing suspicious about the car followed proper procedure by calling in the license plate in vehicle description a Communications officer entered the tag number into a database the information should have triggered the ncic listing on O'Neil and his vehicle it did not [Music] she had mistakenly typed the abbreviation Mo for the state of Missouri instead of Mt for Montana the trooper on Highway 5 was still unaware that this was the very car Darren D O'Neal had been driving following Robin Smith's disappearance [Music] investigators best clue was about to be towed to the impound on March 30th 1987 a Washington state trooper founded tan Chrysler with Montana tags 50 miles east of Tacoma misinformed by his Communications officer the trooper was unaware that Darren D O'Neal the man wanted her connection with The Disappearance of Robin Smith had abandoned the car [Music] the vehicle was towed to an impound lot for future sale [Music] is later the local paper ran an article about Robin Smith's abduction the story described O'Neill's car it sounded similar to a Chrysler the tow truck operator had recently impounded he checked the make model and license plate they matched quickly notified police detectives ran a check of the Priceless vehicle ID number a man calling himself zebulun mccranahan was reported to have stolen it from an Idaho residence in 1986. Wilson immediately remembered the peculiar name from an ID card he'd found at O'Neill's home it was one of the suspect's aliases at the Pierce County West Precinct garage detectives and evidence technicians processed the Chrysler they hope to find some trace evidence linking O'Neill or Robin to the car while technicians searched the interior the detectives moved to the trunk we found a large quantity of dried blood detectives also found a blood-stained lavender jacket Mrs Smith later identified the Garment as Robins they also recovered teeth bone chips and a clump of hair O'Neill's fingerprints on empty beer cans pointed to his involvement active Wilson had held out some slim hope that Robin was still alive it was now gone [Music] we felt now that we probably have a homicide on our hands by the way the type of blood that was found in the trunk and the amount of what it was found and so we started focusing on Darren as a homicide suspect at this point in time the whole tone of the investigation started changing the to charge O'Neill was murder examiners at the Washington State forensics Lab First needed to confirm that the hair and bone fragments belonged to Robin Smith Pierce County Sheriffs requested Robin's dental records and blood types sent to the lab but there was a problem Robin had not been to the dentist since childhood she also had never documented her blood type since a definitive match with known samples could not be made murder charges could not be filed as the hunt for suspected killer Darren D O'Neal ground to an abrupt halt 120 miles to the north detective Carlotta Jarrett of the Bellingham Washington Police Department was working on a similar case Wendy or he a 28 year old single mother was reported missing when she failed to pick up her daughter Wendy had a date the evening of April 24 1987. she left her daughter with a child's grandmother when Wendy failed to return a call the grandmother drove over to her house to find the little girl's favorite pillow on Wendy's bed she found blood stains and called the police [Music] detective Jared obtained a warrant to search the house Wendy's car a red Ford Torino was missing [Music] the front door to Wendy's house had been left unlocked her wallet and keys were missing in the bedroom detective Jarrett found evidence of a brutal attack there was bodily fluids in the bed and there was a great amount of pooled blood underneath that pillow which had seeped to the mattress below there was low to medium impact velocity blood spatters on a wall and there were also blood smears on the wall Bellingham Police retrieved the entire bit as evidence on the headboard they found more of Wendy's blood along with two blonde hairs that did not belong to the missing woman police also recovered an acrylic fingernail Wendy's friends told police that she had worn acrylic nails on her date with a man named Michael Johnson met Johnson earlier that afternoon on her lunch break he was the new bartender at La Paloma restaurant detective Jarrett checked the restaurant for leads I contacted the owner to see if she'd filled out an employment application for Mr Johnson and the only thing she had was a placemat that he had written some information on she gave that place to Matt to me and we did it and process it for fingerprints while the detective waited for results he visited a local Mission which the bartender had listed on the placemat as his residence detective Jared spoke to the desk clerk at the mission who remembered the day Johnson checked out he had seen Mr Johnson at the mission at 7 30 in the morning on the day after that Wendy he had had a date with him and at that time he was wearing black slacks a vest a white shirt and a tie and told him he was going to work he also said he had met a lady and he was going to move in with her this person also said that Mr Johnson was driving a red Torino and drove away in it previous to this point he'd had no vehicle on May 4th 1987 Jarrett received a phone call from police in Eugene Oregon [Music] they had found Wendy's car a red Ford Torino abandoned in the parking lot of a Tavern inside police recovered fingerprints that matched the fingerprints found on the place mat a check through the automated fingerprint identification system revealed that the prince belonged to Darren D O'Neal the man wanted for the suspected murder of Robin Smith detective Jared contacted authorities in Pierce County 120 miles south of Bellingham they quickly realized there was striking similarities in both cases since we were convinced that Darren O'Neill was responsible for Robin Smith's death and we also felt that he was responsible for Wendy ahi's disappearance and possible death we felt that the rest of the people in the country were also at Great risk from Darren O'Neill Pierce County deputies called in the FBI to assist in the hunt former special agent Del oros of the FBI's Tacoma resident agency was assigned the case at that point we knew we were dealing with an individual who was extremely mobile and extremely dangerous he had the history of a violent sexual predator and now he had the current tag or label of a murderer since Wendy and Robin's bodies was still missing formal murder charges were not filed sexual assault charges against O'Neill were still pending in Colorado the FBI opened a federal case against The Fugitive for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution [Music] no one knew where the suspected serial killer fled after he left Oregon [Music] Authority still had no murder case unless they found the bodies of the missing women [Music] in May 1987 evidence pointed to the brutal slaying of two innocent women in Washington State [Music] the FBI and local police launched a media campaign to flush out suspected killer Darren D O'Neal dozens of Agents fanned out to investigate sightings all over the Pacific Northwest yes O'Neill was spotted hitchhiking at truck stops north and south of Seattle very fast one trucker gave O'Neill a ride on May 23rd he claimed his passenger thanked him for the ride because the cops were after him the trucker pulled off the highway a short time later and left O'Neill just a few miles outside the city special agent Del oros recalled that even as leads came in the hunt for The elusive killer did not get any easier the months immediately following The Disappearance of Robin Smith and Wendy Ahi were extremely frustrating because of O'Neill's change in facial appearance a change in weight people were consistently telling us that the pictures that we were showing of O'Neill were actually two different people well they weren't the FBI focused on places The Drifter might blend in because O'Neill was constantly on the Move agents questioned Travelers at local bus and train stations they hoped someone had spotted O'Neill and would remember his distinctive tattoos even when they found people who had seen the fugitive it was always too late O'Neill was comfortable in the ever-changing world of transients and Drifters where people could easily disappear forever it wasn't as though we were going to find Darren O'Neill at the local Ramada Inn and it forced us to take a hard look at the reality of having to search for him in places where he would blend in very very easily by way of example we looked in bus stops homeless shelters day labor camps he was certainly not anyone who was going to be holding a nine to five job which really did increase the difficulty in trying to find him as the pursuit went on through the subsequent months while agents and detectives continue to pursue hundreds of mostly false sightings detectives were called to the rural area surrounding Crystal Mountain just east of Washington State's Mount Rainier hikers had reported finding what appeared to be human remains the location was close to where a flagman had seen O'Neill's car about a month earlier not long after Robin Smith's disappearance just inside the Woodline officers spotted a Jawbone and a skull [Music] each item was carefully flagged before it was retrieved as Stout and Wilson surveyed the crime scene they wondered whether the remains were Robins investigators also found other bones scattered in the vicinity folded clothing was found hidden in the base of a nearby tree it matched the description of the outfit Robin had worn to the party they also recovered a wallet inside they found Robin Smith's driver's license investigators fanned out to cover a wide area their persistence paid off they found a claw hammer with markings similar to the one reported missing by one of O'Neill's former employers detectives also suspected it was the murder weapon the Pierce County Medical Examiner agreed the careful examination of the remains revealed that Robin had probably died as the result of blunt force trauma to the Head Darren D O'Neill was charged with first-degree murder once the remains of Robin Smith were found we certainly had the confirmation that a murder had occurred and by virtue of that murder the Washington Federal authorities then issued their own separate and second investigation they issued a another unlawful flight to avoid prosecution warrant for him the FBI was more determined than ever to get their hands on the man responsible for this heinous crime by June of 1987 the FBI had issued two Federal warrants for the arrest of suspected serial killer Darren D O'Neal still on the loose in the Pacific Northwest the remains of one woman had been recovered close to Mount Rainier the second woman was still missing and presumed dead since O'Neill was last known to be in Eugene Oregon special agent Michael Elsie of the FBI's Portland field office was called in knowing that he was a sexual predator I went and checked with the local police agencies with some of their sexual assault cases to see if his uh Mo fit any of or description or anything fit any of their pending cases special agent O'Donnell detective Smith hundreds of man hours but agents refused to Simply wait for another sighting or another victim dozens of Agents met with detectives in districts across the region to try to link O'Neill to outstanding sexual assault cases the search was complicated by the fact that O'Neill looked very different in each of his mug shots most often the agents left empty-handed sex crimes in Colorado frustrated and out of leads agents continued to Wade through hundreds of old Case Files with a dangerous predator on the prowl agents had to exhaust every possibility an agent met with police detective Bill Carter in Portland has he had done a dozen times before the agent compared O'Neill's picture to sketches of sexual predators one sketch stood out he bore a strong resemblance to The Fugitive a 14 year old girl named Heidi Lang had provided the drawing five months earlier when she filed rape charges against her unknown attacker facial hair from the police report her description of the crime sounded eerily similar to O'Neill's other assaults I'm looking at the photos of Mr O'Neill especially when he had a beard in the glasses I saw that there was quite a bit of resemblance between the two and and the method and mo were similar as well luckily he did not uh kill Miss Lang as he had other subjects agent Elsie wanted to speak with Heidi Lang as soon as possible detective Carter arranged a meeting between the young girl and the FBI with her mother by her side she told the story from the beginning at around midnight on January 17 1987 two months before Robin Smith disappeared Heidi broke her mother's curfew and walked to the nearby convenience store to get a soda it was a tough part of town the young girl had walked it many times before but never this late at night [Music] as she crossed an overpass leading to the store a trucker called to her from his parked rig she ignored him and walked on [Music] it only took her a few minutes to get the soda then she started back home she walked as quickly as she could to get back before her mother knew she had left [Music] Heidi told investigators that as she approached the overpass the man and the truck were gone [Music] but on the other side of the overpass the trucker jumped out of the bushes and grabbed her he forced her down an embankment at knife point and shoved her into his semi parked at the side of the highway [Applause] years later Heidi recalls that she believed her young life was over the first thing I noticed is how dangerous he was I felt that he had every intention of killing me there there was no question in my mind he threw her into the sleeper compartment of his truck she was terrified with no idea where he might take her or what he might do he threatened to to make me a sell me to pimps he was gonna cut me open I I tried finding what what was going to keep from angering this man I had to behave like I was just holding conversation with him and at the same time learn what I could about him despite Heidi's best efforts the trucker climbed into the sleeper compartment and repeatedly raped the 14 year old for four hours and he did not like to think of you as a woman that brought him to violence that brought him to violence I had to keep him talking mostly to keep his mind off other things and I had I tried my best to give him the impression that I was insignificant and I was just there to be there with him and it wouldn't it wouldn't mean anything if he let me go [Music] [Applause] Heidi's insight and courage paid off after suffering hours of abuse her Tormentor Let Her Go [Music] she ran until she reached a truck stop she asked an employee for a ride home after all she'd been through Heidi bravely submitted to a rape test this provided investigators with samples of the rapist semen though no match could be made until the suspect was in custody when Heidi finished his story detective Carter showed her a number of photos of anneal and some similar looking men it was amazing that he was in it and I did see him and I picked him out I really did not expect to see him in them I I hadn't really heard anything since I had given the sketch seeing her attacker's face brought the memories flooding back but she never hesitated to press charges Heidi was determined to face her rapist and put him behind bars I think that she wanted to see that this person did not do that to anyone else ever again and so it showed very much strength in her character and especially at the age of 14 being able to be so descriptive in the events that occurred the description of the subject in him that kind of got us through the path where we were agent Elsie called the Tacoma office they finally had a witness to testify against O'Neill but they still had to find him agent Del oros called FBI headquarters in Washington DC to request additional assistance [Music] on June 18 1987 Darren D O'Neill's name was placed on the FBI's 10 most wanted list [Music] the case was now a priority for every FBI office in the country [Music] agents had to find O'Neill before he could strike again [Music] in June of 1987 suspected serial killer Darren D O'Neal was added to the FBI's 10 most wanted list special agent Del oros was in charge of the case he convinced the FBI's fugitive publicity unit in Washington D.C that Darren D O'Neal fit the List's criteria the bureau's determination as to who goes on to the top 10 Wanted list is a function of a lot of different factors primarily it's the protection of the community secondarily it has to do with the ability of those individuals to be mobile to transport themselves across Interstate lines so effectively going from state to state with Nationwide publicity The Manhunt for O'Neill was relentless countless sightings were reported in several States [Music] O'Neill was most often spotted in bars and taverns in the northwest investigators followed up on dozens of leads only to find witnesses with vague descriptions of The Fugitive nobody knew of his whereabouts anything uh anything noticeable about his appearance agents were left with little to go on okay thank you very much so we had a long stretch of time when the the clues were drying up the leads from other agents were not producing any form of immediate return we were going back and to the same people consistently reinterviewing the family friends we were reaching out as far as going to Prior instructors prior employers looking for some type of clue that would tell us or show us a pattern of his activity and his Mobility across the country [Music] later on February 3rd 1988 agents discovered that O'Neill had made his way to Lakeland Florida [Music] he was spotted by a Lakeland police officer conducting what appeared to be a drug deal the officer was unaware that O'Neill was wanted for murder O'Neill noticed that Kappa did nothing the officer turned his car around to investigate [Music] when the cruiser pulled past the stopped car O'Neil pulled up and asked for directions pretending he was lost sir asked him to pull over instead O'Neill took off the officer followed calling in the Louisiana tags on O'Neill's car as he drove O'Neill tried to lose him zig-zagging through the streets of Lakeland when their car jumped a curb the suspects ran food on foot and eventually caught them all expedited to Louisiana with learned the car he'd been driving is reported stolen from that state when asked O'Neill told police his name was zon Mayu [Music] clerk who was working knives compared the Fingerprints of the individual that she knew as Jean Mayu to the list of fingerprints associated with FBI top 10 wanted fugitives and found that the individual that she knewa jean-mayu was the individual that we knew as Darren O'Neal [Music] O'Neill was extradited to Washington State to face charges he prosecutors knew their cases were weak since Wendy alky's body was never recovered O'Neill could not be charged with her murder Smith case was Stronger but lacked definitive forensic identification it would be difficult to prove Beyond a reasonable doubt that the body found in the woods was Robin Smith's [Music] despite the evidentiary obstacles prosecutors moved ahead with the Robin Smith case they would take their chances with a jury O'Neill and his attorney would never let the case get that far in a Pierce County court on January 4 1989 O'Neill pled guilty to first-degree murder in the killing of Robin Smith detective Wilson knew there was an ulterior motive behind the plea the court system and the state of Washington at that time was if a person was convicted of first-degree murder but there was a loophole in there if you pled guilty to the charge the most you was the maximum time you got was 333 months the family of Robin Smith was devastated even without parole O'Neill would be free will before the end of his Natural Life The Killers still face charges in Portland Oregon for the kidnapping and rape of 14 year old Heidi Lang if convicted O'Neill would be put away for life [Music] but prosecutors had a problem [Music] Deputy District Attorney Charles Sparks recalls that the rape kid Heidi had provided at the time of her assault would not be admissible for a comparison with O'Neill there was a sexual assault kit that included vaginal swabs that were taken and that had molded because of the way these things were stored back then and it was not usable and DNA evidence would have been very helpful but we just didn't have it on May 16 1990 as O'Neill's trial began prosecutors knew their only chance was to put Heidi on the witness stand to face her attacker it would be traumatic for her but it was their best hope for putting O'Neil behind bars for good so it was very difficult for me to testify at the trial it was even more difficult to look at him face to face I was very frightening very scary experience first of all at this point I had promised this man that I wouldn't tell anybody what happened and this is a man who had no qualms about going after anybody even just a girl walking down the street in the middle of the night I knew I had to put him away or I was as good as dead that's the way I view it Heidi pointed out the man who had kidnapped and raped her sitting solemnly just a few yards in front of her testimony was enough to convict O'Neill the jury found him guilty on all 16 counts of kidnapping and rape Under Oregon law he was sentenced to 135 years in prison [Music] Darren D O'Neal is serving his first sentence of 27 years at a Washington State Penitentiary he will then be transferred to Oregon to spend the rest of his life Behind Bars he is convicted I was able to put put a lot of this in the past he's able to put it away and I that was most important to me that's the most I don't think I would have ever gotten over this if we hadn't put him away for agent oros though he has since left the FBI to serve as Deputy district attorney in Sacramento California the case remains fresh in his mind up to this very day I still have the wanted fire for Darren O'Neill hanging my office here at the District Attorney's office he even on the wall is a constant reminder of the dangers that face each and every one of us as we go out on the street I'm particularly aware of the fact that he represents a significant danger to the women in society he's an individual that was a cold calculated murder and he only he reaffirms for me that I'm in a profession that matters and that every day when I go into court I'm very make a difference young girl set out to run an errand for [Music] for him as the minutes tick by it became clear she did not simply walk with no clues to her whereabouts local authorities called in the FBI to him Vicki Lynn hoskinson was going only a few blocks but the search for him would spread to three states [Applause] [Music] [Music] every parent faces the question what is a child old enough to leave the house alone her mother in Tucson her eight-year-old daughter's bike ride to the Connor mailbox turned into a two-month nightmare under the federal kidnapping statute the FBI can enter a case after 24 hours I'm Jim calstrom so I'm ahead of the FBI's New York office it would take dozens of Agents working in two states to track down a paroled sex offender but it would take a mother's courage to change the laws that released a monster Monday September 17 1984. at around three in the afternoon in Flowing Wells Arizona outside Tucson eight-year-old Vicki Lynn hoskinson just home from school was helping her mom send a belated birthday card to her aunt because her big sister was staying late at school for track practice Vicki asked her mom if she could mail the card by herself the mailbox was little more than two blocks away after telling her daughter to be back before 3 30. Debbie Carlson gave her consent to her elated youngest daughter according to Mrs Carlson the trip to the mailbox and back would take less than 10 minutes they sent Vicki by herself which was the first time I'd ever sent any one of my children by their self to run an error and we always use the buddy system little Vicki Lynn hoskinson was on her first big solo Adventure according to her mother she promised to come right home after mailing the card foreign about 20 minutes after Vicky left Debbie Carlson was reassured by the sound of the front door and a little surprised to see that it was Vicki's older sister Stephanie her track practice had been canceled Mrs Carlson told her that Vicki went out to mail a letter but hadn't returned Stephanie thought her sister might be playing with a friend seven goes oh I'll go look for her she probably stopped at Jennifer's house so Stephanie the second time in one day I sent one of my kids without the buddy system Stephanie found Vicky's bike lying on the side of the road Vicky she called her little sister's name [Music] she hurried home to tell her mom [Music] well right away that was an antenna for me because Vicky would have never left her bike in the middle of the street that was her pride and joy it was she took care of that bike like it was you know a prized possession Debbie Carlson drove to the spot Stephanie checked the House nearby to see if anyone had seen their little sister [Music] shortly after loading Vicki's abandoned bike into the car Mrs Carlson was overwhelmed by emotion I was on my way back home I just uncontrollably started crying I just it was like I knew something was wrong it just was so out of character something was wrong Mrs Carlson called the Pima County Sheriff's Office [Music] she also called Mr Carlson home from work [Music] the little girl had been missing less than 90 minutes but concerned within the community everybody's reaction was the same that there was something wrong there was something not right with this situation Debbie Carlson provided photos of Vicki to deputies from the Pima County Sheriff's Department police retraced her route to see where she might have encountered trouble her destination was the mailbox in front of a convenience store near a busy intersection a deputy asked the manager if he'd seen the eight years the manager recognized her from previous visits but hadn't seen it that day have you seen her in the last say hour or two deputies also canvassed the surrounding neighborhood they checked first at her best friend's house [Music] dispenser said that neither Sheen or her daughter had seen Vicky that day then her five-year-old son spoke up he said Vicki had stopped by earlier looking for Jennifer hey it's Jennifer after he told her she wasn't home Vicki rolled off toward her house apparently having already mailed the car as the little boy finished his story two older boys they said they'd also seen figgy riding away from the convenience store minutes before they rode past her we saw a small black car with California planes was moving so slowly they passed it on their bikes they said it was heading in Vicky's Direction but they didn't wait to see if it passed her [Music] and they never noticed the driver a slow moving out of state car appearing at around the same time that he vanished struck the investigators as suspicious although it simply may have been someone's guest looking for a house number the sheriff had to consider the possibility that the little girl could have been abducted [Music] authorities take a case like this very seriously they've learned to expect to embrace for the worst the sheriff called in homicide detective Gary damers the sheriff decided that it was important to have the homicide detail handle this particular case because of The Disappearance of Vicki Lynn hoskinson it was felt that she had been abducted and that we were looking at a case that could eventually become a homicide case so we were called out a little earlier than usual a few hours later a command center was set up at the nearby Elementary School which was closed for the day it became the Clearinghouse for any information any leads as word of Vicki's disappearance spread there was no trouble finding volunteers to man the phones calls sheriff's deputies along with hundreds of volunteers organized a search of the area they systematically moved out in concentric circles from Vicky's last known sighting home the field of some sign of the girl but none was found even the dogs couldn't pick up her scent [Music] you know before you know it you know the minutes turned into half hour into hour and a more law enforcement more deputies started coming people within the neighborhood started coming over and uh everybody started looking for Vicky the deputy remained at the house should new information come available or a ransom call be made foreign the only calls were from concerned friends and family in terms of news there was still nothing [Music] okay still no Vicky under the federal kidnapping statute the Pima County Sheriff's Department was empowered to ask the FBI to enter the case on day two of Vicky's disappearance the special agent Larry Bagley from the FBI's Tucson field office took the assignment the evidence was simply that a young child who was very responsible left home and her bicycle is found in the middle of the street and she never returned home and that was enough to trigger our entry under the kidnapping statute in the case of a missing child chances for a safe return increase when immediate action is taken the FBI had the power to extend the investigation beyond the State of Arizona if necessary [Music] the agent's participation gave Debbie Carlson hope for a quick resolution [Music] a few blocks away the command center in the elementary school deputies and volunteers continued to work the phones by now it seemed that all of Tucson knew about The Disappearance of the four foot tall 60 pound good with auburn hair and it seemed like everyone was calling okay thank you some were pranksters some merely misinformed all had to be answered filtered and processed [Music] finally among the dozens of hopeful but futile tips and leads one call held a glimmer of hope a woman called to report that she thought she saw Vicki Lynn hoskinson at the mall the previous evening she was a clerk at a toy store she told authorities that a woman in a wide-brimmed hat came in with an upset little girl who looked like Vicki Linda the woman tried to placate the child with a toy she paid cash for the purchase pulling it out of an envelope the clerk also noticed that she carried a shopping bag from another store in the mall after paying the two left arguing over what to have for dinner the clerk agreed to come to the command center to provide a sketch [Music] from her description a police artist created a composite drawing of the customer it was their first real lead [Music] from the way the woman was described treating the girl investigators believe she may have lost a child and was trying desperately to replace it with someone else's foreign to think that Vicki was being cared for by her abductor the theory had some nagging inconsistencies for agent Bagley it was pretty unlikely to me that someone would have taken Vicki Lynn and then took taken her to a public place and to be seen with her that and the fact that that Debbie said that Vicki Lynn would never knowingly accompany a stranger in public and not try to get away but perhaps Vicky did not run from the woman because she was not a stranger to the child [Music] has to get his return to Vicki's neighborhood hoping that someone would recognize sketch and provide a name Nicole I sure will they found no one thank you you guys have a good day a number of leads that identified or people believed they identified this woman were telephoned into the command post and each one of those leads were followed up by a investigator or a detective investigators canvas the moment including the story shopping bag the woman had carried Nolan from the sheriff's department uh what did this schedule the flirt there recognized the woman remembering that a little girl was with her and even commenting that the woman had worn a wide-rimmed hat which wasn't included in the sketch as new Witnesses came forward all of Tucson held its breath with the hope that Vicki Lynn hoskinson would be found alive by the second day of the search for eight-year-old Vicky van Hoskins the news coverage was extensive local and national news teams broadcast hourly updates [Music] though Vicki was reportedly seen in the Tucson mall the night before arguing with a strange woman it seemed implausible to agents and deputies that if Vicki was still alive her abductor would have taken it to a public place [Music] investigators continue to search in nearby rural areas they also continued to prepare themselves and Vicki's mother Debbie Carlson for the worst I remember them coming in and the second day on Tuesday and wanting access to Vicki's room you know they made us close up her room and they started taking hair samples from her bed they took her sheets they took her pillow they took her hairbrush they took all these things and almost like you know they were preparing a homicide case is basically was what they were doing um and I was not real receptive to that you know because I in my mind this was not going to be a homicide case despite their doubts investigators continued to pursue their only lead they needed to identify the woman in the mall whom a witness believed and abducted Vicky we're gonna go get something to eat at the nearby High School a student thought he recognized the woman's face [Music] yesterday he said he saw the woman with the little girl in a dark colored car the previous afternoon he recalled the car was a black Monte Carlo a little girl who resembled Vicky was looking out of the window he believed that the woman driving was the same one depicted in the sketch investigators wondered if it was the same car seen earlier in the neighborhood by the two boys on the bikes okay the Monte Carlo that was seen was a lead for us because it sounded like it had a great deal of potential but there wasn't much we could do with it we did look for Monte Carlos and had and got no hits with that at the command center Witnesses of all ages were coming forward [Music] with a three-year-old couldn't have been more she helped her son describe to investigators what he had seen the day before they lived across the street from where Vicki Lynn's bike was found earlier that afternoon she told the detective her son was playing in the front yard while she went into the house for just a moment the boy said he saw a little girl being knocked down by what he called a black race car he said a big girl with long hair got out of the car and helped the little girl in then they drove off this little boy had apparently witnessed the Abduction of Vicki Lynn hoskinson [Music] his portrayal of events rekindled suspicions that Vicky may have been abducted by the woman from the mall but he was too young to give any more useful details and his mother hadn't seen or heard anything [Music] agents checked the spot where Vicki Lynn's bike had been found to see if anything had been overlooked foreign agent Bagley made a crucial find something that hadn't been reported earlier there was a fresh gouge on the post about 16 or 18 inches above the ground which was not the contact point for a large car so it looked to me like it was fresh it certainly appeared to me that perhaps the car that had hit the bicycle had run into this post he surmised that the small black car with California plates spotted just yards away could have been the car that struck the post at that height the agent asked if any other investigators had received reports of a black out-of-state car in the area one detective hat earlier that day he had taken a statement from Sam Hall the coach of the elementary school Paul reported seeing a suspicious vehicle at the schoolyard at about three o'clock on September 17th just 20 minutes before Vicki was last seen in the neighborhood [Music] he said he first noticed a low black car with California tags driving slowly near the schoolyard [Music] then he noticed that the driver was watching the children at play he described the driver as Mayo with long hair and a beard Paul told detective damers that when he looked at the stranger's face the chill went up and down his spine he described it as his hair raising on the back of his neck when he saw this individual so he kept a close eye on this subject as the man began to drive off Hall had the presence of mind to jot down his license number the next day when the gym teacher had heard that Vicki Lynn hoskinson was missing he believed that his sighting might be relevant when we obtain the license number from Sam Hall and heard his story it got me pretty excited because this was probably the break we were looking for [Music] would take several hours for the FBI to trace the license number to the car's owner investigators were uncertain if there was any connection between the strange woman at the mall and the bearded man in the car each investigator in this case was highly charged with emotion because every hour that passes makes the likelihood that Vicki Lynn would be recovered safely it diminished with every hour time conspired against them and hope for Vicki Lynn's safe return began to falter as day two came to a close September 19 1984. day three of the hunt for Vicki Lynn hoskinson foreign plate for the small black car was being traced investigators continued collecting statements from potential Witnesses another neighborhood woman came in help me describe how her child was almost abducted when told investigators that you've been doing laundry in your apartment building [Music] while she was busy with the machine the woman came in and tried to lure her child away the mother managed to drive her off alone [Music] police showed the witness their sketch of the woman from the shopping mall the drawing did not look like the woman grabbed her boy but the mother couldn't be sure that's [Music] it police canvassed the area and found the woman in question [Music] she was a fixture in the neighborhood Accenture But ultimately harmless have you ever seen his child she was released another one of 200 or so dead ends that investigators pursued each one meant dashed hopes late that afternoon Mrs Carlson held a press conference with her family [Music] she pleaded for Vicki's safe return by reaching out to millions of people through the Evening News she hoped someone would come forward with information on her young daughter's whereabouts one minute I had hoped they were going to find her and the next minute I was waiting for them to walk through the door and tell me they found her body and it was a roller coaster it's like am I gonna be having a funeral in three days um I'm gonna have my daughter in my arms in three days um is she gonna be one of those missing kids that is missing forever the FBI was inching closer to the answer the trace on the license plate led to a 28-year-old Los Angeles man named Frank Jarvis Atwood agents gave the information to the FBI identification division to check for priors about 10 o'clock that evening we re received by fax a rap sheet from the identification Division and that about blew our mind because we noticed that there was a prior conviction for child molestation and another for kidnapping Frank Atwood was currently out on parole in California Arizona FBI alerted agents there they decided not to tell the Carlsons until they knew more agents went to the LA address where Atwood's vehicle was registered it was the home of Atwood's parents retired army Brigadier General Frank Atwood senior and his wife is that what um Australia would like to ask you the Edwards acknowledged that their son had committed crimes in the past they also told investigators that he had visited a few days earlier but they didn't know where he was now agents told them that he might be involved in the kidnapping of a child and time was of the essence I'll tell you what I'm gonna give him my business card neither parent had any information to share it does get in contact with either one agents left their business cards in case the Atwoods learned anything new the mother was very protective of him and the father listened to the pleas that perhaps if we acted soon enough that perhaps Vicki Lynn might be recovered alive a few hours after the agents left the Atwoods received a call you know it was their son Frank he needed their help he said his car had broken down in Texas and he needed money wired to him so he could get it fixed [Music] his mother took down the address and told him not to worry [Music] his father copied it and left the house [Music] pray that my son he went to a payphone and called the FBI at Chuck's garage he gave them the address of the garage in Kerrville Texas where his son Frank and a friend awaited money for a new transmission the California office called agents in Arizona who in turn called agents in Texas with a request to apprehend Frank Edward [Music] the Texas girl called the garage yeah yeah the manager confirmed that Atwood was there with one other man he didn't see anyone else with them he did not know if Atwood was armed agents asked him to stall The Fugitive until an arrest team arrived the wheels were set in motion for the arrest of Frank Atwood there was one more call that agent Bagley wasn't sure he should make the the problem is whether or not to let the parents know that we have a good lead on this it's breaking extremely fast we're worried about whether Vicki Lynn is with him in that car and all sorts of things go through your mind ultimately they decided to inform the causes of this sudden turnabout in the case of their missing building the story was too big to keep under wraps for much longer they came over before the arrest was made was May briefed us that they're about to make an arrest in another state and it was going to be on the TV and basically they briefed us on the situation who they were going to be arresting there was no signs of Vicki they had him under surveillance without any idea about where the little girl might be or even if she was still alive federal agents moved in to arrest Frank Atwood for kidnapping stay out of here four days after Vicki Lynn hoskinson disappeared from Arizona the FBI made an arrest in Kerrville Texas [Music] Frank Edward and his traveling companion James McDonald were picked up without incident at an auto repair garage and held for suspected kidnapping [Music] there was no sign of Vicki [Music] Gary damers of the Tucson Sheriff's Department headed to Texas to interrogate him he told us that he would speak to us about certain things and there are certain things that he would not speak to us about some of the information that he provided was that he in fact was in the Tucson area Atwood's history of child molesting and kidnapping made him a likely suspect in the case [Music] Atwood admitted to being in Vicki's neighborhood on Monday September 17th the day she disappeared he said he had been staying in a nearby park at about three o'clock he left to buy drugs and returned to the park two hours later around 5 PM he wouldn't account for his whereabouts during those two lost hours he claimed he was not responsible for Ricky's disappearance [Music] James McDonald corroborated Atwood's story on the day in question he told investigators that he and Atwood had had an argument in the park at about three o'clock just after that Atwood left in his car for about two hours [Music] McDonald said that when Atwood returned around five o'clock he had blood on his hands and clothing Edward told him he'd gotten into a fight with a drug dealer and stabbed him McDonald also gave authorities the names of other people in Tucson that he and Atwood hung around with [Music] most were transients officially Focus shifted away from the mysterious woman at the mall and centered on Atwood but Debbie Carlson didn't want to entirely give up on the mall lady Theory first I really wanted to stick to that theory that it was probably a woman possibly who'd lost a child was trying to replace the child and I think that's what kept me going those first that first week was that possibly it was someone taking it would be someone who would be taking care of her though Mrs Carlson held out hope investigators were less optimistic about a happy ending [Music] he was arrested and with him in reality really started to set in that those last words I love you were the last words I was going to hear my daughter say to me while the FBI scrambled for a warrant to search Atwood's car agents and Arizona authorities returned to Tucson the next day to track down the other Park dwellers mentioned by McDonald [Music] investigators found two men who said that Atwood had spent a few nights in their trailer one of the men known as mad dog recalled seeing him there Monday night the night of Vicky's disappearance his story supported what Atwood's traveling companion Jim McDonald told the FBI McDonald said that he had observed Atwood on Monday afternoon with bloody clothes and blood on his knife and on his boots Mad Dog said the same thing separately that he had observed the same thing at his trailer and that they had even discussed that Atwood should get rid of his bloody clothes in the knife agents presented a warrant and searched the trailer for any evidence that might suggest kidnapping or murder initially it looked as if the search proved fruitful they collected a blanket that appeared to be Blood Stained along with a hairbrush believed to be Atwoods both were subjected to a battery of blood and fiber tests both revealed nothing [Music] Atwood's clothes and knife were never found [Music] the search continued both for evidence against Atwood and for some trace of the victim FBI agents and detectives including myself continue to search for Vicki Lynn hoskinson there was certain amount of frustration that had set in because we're unable to locate her the area is vast it's a lot of desert and trying to use all the investigative skills at you know available we had been unable to locate her but we continued to pursue any type of lead no clues to Vicki's whereabouts were scarce detectives continued to Canvas the park where Atwood had spent most of his time while in Tucson agents found a couple who knew Frank Atwood they also claimed to have seen the suspect in blood-stained clothes the day Vicky disappeared like the others Atwood told them that he had stabbed a double-crossing drug dealer [Music] while that was certainly possible the timing of the knifing exactly at the time of Vicki's disappearance seemed to stretch coincidence though investigators now had corroborating stories that suggested Atwood's guilt they still had no physical evidence and nobody to prove that Vicki had been in his car they needed to match some hair of fiber from the car with ones collected from the victim's bedroom it didn't turn out that way we didn't get a hair or fibers or blood that we could identify um during that time and even at this time the best forensic experts in the country were at the FBI and they were the ones that processed the vehicle so I truly believe that if there was something in there that could have been found it would have been found what agents were looking for wasn't inside the car but rather outside it FBI examiners lifted a sample of paint from Vicky's bike to compare to a speck of pink paint found on Atwood's front bumper foreign the paint spec just a few millimeters wide was tested at the FBI's materials analysis unit The Examiner first assigned the case passed away shortly after completing the tests former special agent examiner James Corby would re-examine the minute evidence usually the victim of a crime he had no association with the victim or the family and we work so many of those cases that you try not to get involved but it's very very difficult when a crime involves a baby or a small child somebody that's defense defenseless and you find yourself I think working harder to try to establish something in the case but if it's not there I mean it's not there but you certainly I think take a more critical look at that case and I think it's Human Nature in microscopic and chemical tests Corby determined the bicycle's paint and the paint found on the bumper matched Corby also found chrome plating from the bumper smeared on the bike so what we have here is an interchange of materials the paint from the victim's bicycle was on the suspect's car the plating from the suspect's car is on the victim's bicycle and this interchange of materials establishes contact between the bicycle and the suspect's vehicle it was good but without a body it would not be enough to charge Frank Atwood Jr with the murder of Vicki Lynn hoskinson authorities brace themselves for a difficult case with few Witnesses few visible Clues and nobody [Music] the case against Atwood could easily slip through any one of those cracks almost three weeks after little Vicki Lynn hoskinson disappeared off a street in her Tucson neighborhood Frank Atwood Jr was arrested in Texas and charged with kidnapping Vicky was still missing and presumed dead investigators knew that if her body was not recovered prosecution for murder would be next to Impossible [Music] the Tucson Community Living this nightmare day by day soon learned that Atwood had slipped through the cracks before Atwood was currently on parole after serving three years of a five-year sentence after a child molestation charge involving a seven-year-old boy was plea bargained down to abduction the enraged citizens of Tucson marched in the streets behind Vicki's family to protest lenient laws against convicted child molesters most wore yellow ribbons to show their faith in Vicki's safe return at wood fought extradition from Texas to Arizona [Music] with no evidence that Vicki had been taken across state lines the FBI dropped its federal charges against Frank Atwood but State charges of kidnapping still help in November more than a month since Vicky's disappearance Atwood returned to Arizona under heavy guard to stand trial for kidnapping Bale was denied and I don't remember the day that they says oh you know it will take probably at least six months and I'm thinking six months get out of here you're crazy little did we know it was going to take almost three years on December 3rd 1984 a clean shaven Frank Jarvis Atwood Jr pled not guilty at his arraignment due to publicity the judge ordered Atwood's trial to be moved from Tucson to Phoenix jury selections improve long and arduous taking almost six weeks but the case continued to unfold on April 12 1985. a woman walking her dog just off the main road found a small human skull in the desert Northwest of Tucson we immediately cordoned off the area the FBI was called in to assist we systematically worked the area what had happened was that the body had been scattered the animals had actually gotten to it and had moved a number of parts around and we just took our time I think we were out there for five days collecting everything that we could possibly get out of that area about a hundred people meticulously scoured a 20 square mile stretch of desert investigators photographed the entire area to record the condition of the location [Music] forensic technicians marked areas where evidence was to be collected foreign with so little physical evidence overlooking the smallest bone fragment might prove costly 12 hours a day for five days authorities recovered and recorded bone fragments their location and their condition over 20 bags of evidence were delivered to the lab for identification in late May of 1985. including a portion of lower mandible that still held teeth a witness came forward who testified to seeing Atwood arrive in the area with a child then leave alone the coroner found that weathering on the bones was consistent with eight months exposure to the elements dental records proved these were the remains of Vicki Lynn hoskinson you know they found a lower the lower mandible and a gopher hole one year later one of the search and rescue people that searched for her remains had taken a bouquet of flowers and put it in that gopher hole where she found the lower mandible Vicki Lynn affected a lot of people these are people who never knew her as the vibrant tomboy little girl that we had I don't think they're anyone who lived here during that time will ever forget how this community came together because of her [Music] Vicky's family laid her to rest on May 30th 1985. [Music] 500 mourners attended her funeral the community was outraged that the life of one of its youngest members was cut so short [Music] Debbie Carlson vowed that her daughter's death would have significance for the living I became very politically active to help fight for children's issues and down we got a couple loss changed in the state of Arizona and I think that was my Saving Grace because it gave me some focus it gave me a focus away from the pain and the gut wrench and the the tearing up my heart that I felt every second to I was doing something positive for Vicki and for other kids that my daughter was not gonna die in vain she was going to make a difference Frank Atwood was indicted for first degree murder on March 26 1987 two and a half years after Vicki disappeared he was found guilty Frank Atwood was sentenced to death [Music] but a case like this is never truly over [Music] 16 years later memories of Hope and despair still linger [Music] now never forget the sound of a helicopter to this day when I hear a helicopter I remember those days I remember the smell of the air the time of the year and the noise of a helicopter [Music]

Channel: The FBI Files

Views: 258,770

Keywords: FBI, FBI Files, FBI Documentary, Documentary, Crime, Crime Documentary, Crime Patrol, True Crime, True crime daily, Unsolved, Crime Stories, Crime Documentaries Full Episodes, Full Episode, unsolved true crime, fbi files full episodes, we got him, mystery, solved, investigation, police, criminal, prison, jail

Id: HyF5swx0leY

Length: 148min 45sec (8925 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 03 2024