The Suspicious Friend | DOUBLE EPISODE | The FBI Files

in 1996 Spokane Washington is gripped by a series of violent robberies and bombings the FBI links the crimes to a radical group determined to overthrow the government [Music] facing deadly traps into nearly invisible foe investigators vow to stop the shadowy extremists ready to unleash more domestic Terror [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] the Constitution of the United States allows for the lawful expression of any belief but when a paramilitary faction used bombs and robbery to further their cause they crossed the line the well-organized terrorist cell was difficult to Define and even harder to stop I'm Jim calstrom former head of the FBI's New York office as the group stockpiled weapons for an assault the FBI and local police were determined to bring them to justice Spokane Washington a city of two hundred thousand near the state's eastern border with Idaho on Monday April 1st 1996 two dozen people were working inside a satellite Office of the city's Spokesman Review newspaper at 2 30 PM A van pulled up behind the building it was there less than 15 seconds [Music] inside a reporter had finished his work and was looking forward to spending the afternoon with his son they did not realize what was waiting for them outside despite significant damage to the building nobody was injured units from the Spokane County Sheriff's Department responded to the 9-1-1 calls [Music] the reporter and his son had not seen anything suspicious but one employee said that seconds before the blast she saw a masked man jump into a white van that sped away from behind the building get a license plate foreign much of local law enforcement was at the newspaper office a white van pulled up outside Spokane's U.S Bank several miles away 15 minutes since the newspaper bombing two armed masked men burst into the bank and announced they were robbing it as they passed her one teller tripped the silent alarm the robbers threatened to detonate a pipe bomb if anyone disobeyed their orders they warned the teller not to give them die packs paint canisters designed to explode and stain stolen money and bank robbers once the gunman had their money they herded everyone into a corner they trained their guns on the hostages allowing valuable seconds to tick by as the fuse burned [Music] at the newspaper office crime scene investigators heard radio reports about the bank robbery and explosion that scene was Secure so several detectives headed to the new crime scene [Music] and the Sheriff's Office dispatched more deputies to the bank [Applause] and Resident agency was on his way to the newspaper bombing with his partner while enroute we received a call that a bank robbery had occurred another bomb had been set off inside the bank since my primary investigative jurisdiction was bank robberies I immediately diverted to the bank the employees and customers were shaken but safe they believed everyone had gotten out before the blast but investigators had not yet declared the crime scene secure explosives disposal unit supervisor Sergeant James Goodwin had to make sure it was safe for police to check the building who are concerned about the possibility of a second device because any time you have an explosive device related instant you if you have one there is always at least a potential that you have another bombers sometimes leave a second device behind as a booby trap specifically to Target law enforcement the explosives disposal units swept the bank determining it was clear of additional bombs or victims and radioed to those outside that it was safe to process the scene okay it's all clear you're gonna get on the phone and see what it is the assailants were fast and organized getting in and out in seconds and making off with fifty thousand dollars they weren't typical bank robbers bank robbers are usually conducted by lone individuals who are seeking money to support a drug habit or something along those lines to have somebody in an organized manner come in and take over a bank with this much violence and uh prior planning it is an unusual occurrence agents questioned one witness who was in the bank's parking lot when the robbery took place she said after the explosion she saw two masked men run from the bank and get into a white van the third man was driving he had gray hair and appear ance she had written down the van's license plate number yeah we need to be on the lookout for all they learned it had been stolen from Ellensburg Washington okay Charlie 504 I'll be checking the park Spokane emergency dispatch issued an APB for the van and officers began a blocked by block grid search of nearby streets at the newspaper office FBI agents arrived and questioned the witnesses [Music] the woman who saw the van there also mentioned that the driver was an older man with gray hair and a beard oh but the most distinct Clues linking the two crime scenes were leaflets containing religious propaganda a common sight in the area at the scene of the spokesman review bombing and also at the bank we did discover numerous leaflets which had obviously been left there by the robbers religious propaganda is pretty uh prevalent throughout the area a lot of times these groups will leaflet a neighborhood or an area leaving them under windshield wipers and and on front doorsteps just spouting their their ideals and trying to get their message out but this group delivered their message with bombs and bank robbery 504 sheriff's deputies continued their search for the getaway van 90 minutes after the bank robbery one Deputy spotted it in a parking lot a mile from the bank [Music] from the back he couldn't tell if the robbers were there [Music] no one was inside dispatch advised the deputy that the van could be rigged with a bomb the explosives disposal unit arrived in minutes they knew the suspects might have booby-trapped the vehicle if there was a bomb in the van its trigger device could be radio controlled since Police radios can set off such triggers investigators ordered all radios turned off because they had enough open space to do so they used a robot with a camera to check the van first we initially sent the robot downrange uh an attempt to look into the van we found that we were we were limited in what we could see and we sent a technician downrange near the van in a bomb suit the others waited in the mobile command center for the technician's report even in the most dangerous situations bomb technicians need to keep their hands uncovered in case they have to perform delicate tasks it is an unavoidable risk of the job he smelled gasoline saw what he thought to be gasoline coming from underneath one of the doors to the van and saw what appeared to him to be time delay device that appeared to be intended to ignite the gasoline since the trigger was a time delay not radio controlled it was safe to resume using radios attached to the wick the technician saw a small initiator an element that sets the wit burning [Music] what would you like to do with it well look at this I can probably ready safe it Mark before you before you go ahead and separate the two would you let us know that you're going to do it in an effort to preserve any evidence the van might contain the bomb squad technician was putting his own safety in jeopardy okay go ahead and make the cut [Music] all right good get it out of there it worked okay Scott I just got it out of there in the van investigators found another copy of the manifesto the robbers left behind at the bank in newspaper bombings to FBI special agent David Bedford the rhetoric in the letter was typical of white supremacist militia groups in the area that was more or less a long religious sermon about usury a biblical term referring to the charging of interest um and the thing that stood out most about this letter that was left behind was a symbol on the page agents knew they could get help analyzing the manifesto from a Spokesman Review reporter Bill Moreland is an expert on extremist groups in the area for the past 22 years I've covered hate groups here in our area in the Northwest Chief among them the Aryan Nations which is 35 miles from Spokane in North Idaho it's attracted a lot of different extremists from different movements anti-tax movement anti-abortion movements the Ku Klux Klan Posse Comitatus the FBI showed Moreland the robber's manifesto it was clearly white separatists a Dogma about what intrigued me most was what was on the bottom of that note it was the Christian cross superimposed with a capital P and it's what I knew to be the logo of the Phineas priesthood individuals who call themselves Phineas priests say the crimes they commit are in accordance with their interpretation of God's law sometimes robbing banks to finance a plot to overthrow the federal government Moreland told agents about an interview he'd done months earlier it's part of a story he'd arranged to meet several members of an extremist group at a clandestine location they did not identify themselves as Phineas priests but they professed some similar beliefs when we got there we saw seven or eight individuals who were heavily armed automatic weapons street sweeper type shotguns sidearms all dressed in army camouflage type material they went through a number of exercises for our benefit the men explained they worked in cells with no formal leader no strict organization [Music] this leaderless resistance was designed to make it difficult for law enforcement to track them they said they were preparing for an armed confrontation with the federal government I said well what happens if you're driving home from this event from this training exercise with all your guns and your military equipment if a police officer were to stop you on a traffic offense what would you do and uh the individual I was talking to said didn't hesitate for a minute he said I would kill him I'd kill the police officer when we're equipped like this he said we're running hot and we would shoot to kill any police officer that stopped us to protect the identity of our group agents believe the bank robbers they were after were every bit as dangerous and elusive after masked men robbed a bank in Spokane Washington and detonated bombs at the bank and a newspaper office [Applause] Authority suspected well-armed extremists who called themselves Phineas priests Spokesman Review newspaper reporter Phil Moreland is an expert on extremist groups in the Pacific Northwest the FBI asked him for details about self-professed Phineas priests known to commit violent crime in the name of religion their secret groups and they come together with five or six or seven of their of their fellow people that are fellow Believers and decide to carry out some sort of action they don't tell the world about it and you can't look them up in the phone book or on the Internet very secretive they believe that God is one of their members that they're following his directions to carry out these crimes that they commit special agent David Bedford was part of the team investigating extremist groups in the area there's one more thing I wonder if you get a chance later on they found nothing related to the recent bombings we had very few leads to go by after the robbery the individuals were masked there were camouflage clothing they wore gloves very few leads to work with other than a composite drawing of the getaway driver the FBI hoped to have more than a vague drawing before going to the public to reduce false leads that take up time and resources but they could not wait any longer so what we did was publish that and sent copies all around Washington Oregon Idaho with the idea with the hopes of someone identifying this person information that was called in was filtered through the FBI's rapid Start program a database system designed to collect and organize large numbers of leads so they can be prioritized oh actually I do see it we received hundreds and hundreds of tips or possible leads of who this individual was and so a team of Agents would go out and investigate all of these people who came in that were look-alikes one by one they eliminated suspects James Johnson no longer suspect despite spending hundreds of man-hours following every viable lead investigators came up with nothing the case stopped until the assailant struck again [Music] on July 12th three months after the first attacks a woman spotted a masked man placing a bomb in front of a Spokane Health Clinic [Music] she called in the getaway Vans license plate number Spokane's 9-1-1 call center dispatched fire and police Personnel to the scene a dozen others Deputy Dan Spivey of the Spokane Sheriff's Office started off toward the clinic the deputies didn't know was that the U.S Bank that was robbed in April was being hit again this time there were three Mass gunmen instead of two like the earlier robbery the assailants had a bomb one teller recognized the voice of one of the robbers and set off the silent alarm as she loaded up now the men moved efficiently spoke in code and seemed to be timing the robbery they didn't notice the drive-through teller who worked in a separate part of the bank well those inside the bank were staring down the barrels of guns [Music] everything appeared normal to customers on the outside [Music] hoping the robbers had not heard the customer over her loudspeaker hello hello the drive-through teller tried to get him to help she didn't know if the customer understood her gestures if he would help or run Deputy Spivey was almost to the clinic when he got a more urgent call thank you I heard a bank robbery in progress come out at the same U.S Bank that had been robbed on April 1st but before deputies arrived one of the assailants announced they were at code blue and they left taking thirty seven thousand dollars in cash and the bomb with them the drive-through customers saw the men get in their van he decided to tail them and called 9-1-1 as he drove the plate he reported did not match the one from the health clinic but criminals often put two different plates on stolen vehicles to confuse investigators Spokane emergency dispatch advised the man not to put himself in danger said he would follow at a safe distance until deputies caught up police hoped the customer would not be spotted by the armed assailants in July 1996 authorities believed members of an extremist militia group robbed the U.S Bank in Spokane Washington for the second time in three months a customer saw the robbers leave in a van and followed Deputy Dan Spivey was in route to the bank when he heard about the pursuit our dispatch advised us that a citizen with a cell phone was following that suspect vehicle and they in turn were relaying location information to us field deputies it's probably changed directions to try to catch up [Music] customer gave constant updates on his location but had a hard time keeping up with the suspect's van while not being spotted behind a mall area the citizen lost the vehicle and I quickly searched the area attempting to locate such a vehicle was unsuccessful decided to go back through the area in a more slow methodical manner after an hour of searching Spivey drove into a parking lot above the downtown area I checked an upper parking lot and at the far end of the parking lot saw what I believe to be the suspect vehicle excuse me ma'am would you leave the area right now please get on the other side of the lot sir did you get away from that vehicle and go down towards the other end of the lot thank you thank you 504 rear plate two two three three Victor one plate matched the one from the bank robbery and the other from the health clinic bought me no one appeared to be inside I'll be backing off and standing by explosives disposal unit supervisor Sergeant James Goodman who helped defuse a bomb in a van after the April bank robbery declared the vehicle an explosive hazard you're given the history we had a concern that this vehicle may contain a device as well the natural thing to expect given this was kind of the second go-round was that having been unsuccessful the first time um they would they would try harder the second time deputies smelled a strong gasoline odor but again it was difficult to see what kind of device might be inside rather than risk sending in a squad member explosives disposal technicians once again deployed their specialized robot [Applause] the technicians operated the robot remotely from the safety of inside the edu truck he sent the robot down range in an effort to scout the vehicle and see what we could see [Music] the robot was equipped with a video camera remote controlled eyes for the explosives disposal unit technicians guided the robot to peer inside the van looking for a bomb the windows of this particular van have been darkened so we weren't able to see much of anything at all they tried the robot's lights too much window tint on I can't see anything out of the back either there seemed to be something in the van but the robot's camera still couldn't see clearly through the window tinting you can't see anything out of that window can you they needed to know what the object was we elected to use the robot to shoot a window out of the van and open it so that we could see inside [Music] the technicians then activated the robot's water cannon disrupter which fires a slug by water pressure rather than gunpowder so Sparks are less likely [Music] all right why don't we see if we can get some of that glass right there over the window so we've got a good view on the inside they used the robot's powerful claw to clear the glass once the window was broken we were able to see inside the van and observe what appeared to be incendiary device it looks like a couple propane cylinders timer and I'm not sure what that is yeah taped into the timer it looks like an initiator right down here yeah yeah okay what I'm going to do is I'm gonna go back into the window it appeared that it was intended to initiate a fire in the van burn the van thereby leaving us very little evidence the explosives disposal technician guided the robot to clear the bomb from the van he then moved the bomb to a more remote area so they could render it safe they again used the water cannon disrupter take your shout when you're running ready all right let's open it right up in the protective suit a technician checked the bomb and confirmed it had been rendered safe it looks like he's all cleared down once again the suspects had used a stolen van but this time investigators found no manifestos or other evidence inside although there were three assailants in the latest robbery the FBI believed the same individuals robbed the bank three months earlier for help they turned to forensic examiner Richard vorderbrugge of the FBI's audio video and image analysis unit similar clothing and weapons suggested two of the gunmen took part in both robberies vorderbrugge analyzed surveillance video to determine their heights I used a technique called perspective analysis photogrammetry that involves taking a set of measurements of fixed objects within the scene determining the specific perspective of the scene that is to say how the camera itself was related to fixed objects within the scene because the cameras were facing downward vorderbergi had to use complex mathematics to determine how actual size is reflected at that angle he then compared the measurements of the fixed objects such as a table leg to the relative height of the bank robbers [Music] he concluded the two Robbers from the April 1st robbery were very likely two of the three from the July robbery one of them was approximately five feet seven and a half inches and the second robber was approximately six feet one inch and by finding as I did that the heights of the two individuals in the bank in each case were about the same it certainly helped strengthen the case that they were the same people involved with the robberies and bombings likely committed by individuals calling themselves Phineas priests the FBI elevated the status of the suspects decided that they were not here for the sole purpose of robbing a bank and taking the money these guys had a message that they were trying to get out to the public and it was causing havoc in the city of Spokane a lot of people were concerned about their safety and as a result the FBI felt like um you know what these are these are terrorists to help capture the domestic terrorist suspects the U.S Bank offered a one hundred thousand dollar reward despite the reward a month passed with no new leads agents believed that terrorists were out there training getting ready to strike again [Music] after authorities linked several robberies and bombings in Spokane to a suspected group of domestic terrorists the targeted Bank offered a one hundred thousand dollar reward and the FBI released a composite sketch of the getaway driver a month after the second bank robbery in August 1996 the reward offer generated a promising lead an informant came forward saying he thought he knew the man in the composite sketch the informant a licensed Firearms dealer believed he met the man and a few others several months earlier it was before the bank robberies began he sold a group of men military clothing one of the men looked like the driver in the sketch the informants said they asked about buying plastic explosives into bazooka then they asked for his help outfitting their SUVs with tank armor and bipod mounted machine guns but he wanted nothing to do with such illegal activities before he left one of them bragged that a small group of well-prepared men was going to bring the banking establishment to its knees [Music] Foreman said he met the men at an auto repair shop owned by one of them the shop was located in the small town of Sandpoint Idaho about 75 miles Northeast of Spokane all right in late August the FBI went to Sandpoint to investigate the lead agents rented an abandoned building with a view of the auto repair shop and discreetly watched the suspects as they outfitted their SUVs FBI Special Agent Mark cullinan believed they might have found the robbers when observing these subjects daily activities it was suspicious to us first of all that they didn't have any noticeable means of employment that was an indicator to us that they're gaining money or the means to operate through other methods since we didn't know what had happened to the money from the bank robberies so this was a possibility agents photographed the suspects and anyone seen on the premises one of the individuals we identified as Robert berry berry ran an automotive repair shop in the Sandpoint area but didn't seem to be doing any business didn't seem to be using it to to generate any income agents identified a second suspect as Charles Barbie although Barbie had no record of convictions he had been arrested for trying to buy supplies from military personnel Barbie and Barry matched the heights of the bank robbers given by forensics experts [Music] the FBI determined the third man was Vern Merrill Merrill appeared to be the leader of the group and he resembled witness descriptions of the getaway drivers seen at the bombings in bank robberies agents needed more information on the men they took a risk to get it One Night in early September after the suspects left the shop surveillance teams installed a hidden video camera on a telephone pole behind the garage agents didn't know if the area was booby trapped or if they themselves were being watched the teams got out safely what the camera revealed was chilling agents watched the men test different weapons and types of bullets to see which could pierce the steel of car doors and the Kevlar of bulletproof vests it was clear they were preparing for battle during weeks of surveillance the FBI tailed the suspects from the ground in the air as they drove to various cities in the Pacific Northwest [Music] agents believe the men were casing banks are heading west on it's pretty happy on September 6 1996 two months after the second robbery the bank newspaper office and health clinic previously targeted received threatening letters promising further violent attacks authorities developed contingency plans that would allow them to follow the robbers to their next Target so far they've hit us twice they can't wherever it might be but that's not to say they couldn't take any of the other back roads down to meet or intersect I-90 so what we got to do is come up with points far enough away that they can't take a back road and get around behind us before getting in their home territory out there a month later on October 8th [Music] investigators on the Stakeout observed what they believed were final preparations for another bank robbery okay they're all leaving now three white male occupants they contacted special agent David Bedford 69213 they're leaving now I received a phone call from the agent that was actually watching them load up I started calling a lot of other co-workers saying get in your car start heading towards Sandpoint because something's going on and we need everybody up there as soon as possible and so we began our surveillance not knowing where they were going to end up the FBI tailed the suspects as they headed west out of Sandpoint their license plates indicated the truck was to be used in a crime that the plates on the Suburban did not match front to rear and both have been reported stolen this also added a new sense of urgency to our investigation they followed the men 400 miles west across the Oregon border individual breaking into a band in Hood River Oregon agents watched the men's steal a van from a used car lot and add it to their Convoy FBI was correct the suspects planned to use the stolen van in a bank robbery and abandon it afterwards observed the vehicles stop at a truck stop where they shifted some gear between Vehicles they did some moving around and some planting and then they departed again in one vehicle as agents shadowed the van they realized where the suspects were headed I approximately hundreds of miles away from where we had started and on the outskirts of Portland we watched them drive a Meandering route into the city by 10 o'clock it was clear which Portland Bank the suspects intended to hit a parking lot there's a big bang [Music] and as we uh we watched them pull into one of the bank parking lots we notified the bank they immediately locked the doors to the bank keeping all of their customers and everybody inside and our plan was as they exited the Vans to go up and enter into the enter the bank to Robert we were going to arrest them what do you think agents waited for the suspects to make their move here right there in front of the bank I was approximately 30 yards away from them and with my binoculars I could see exactly what they were doing inside the van and that was pulling out their their guns they were donning masks they were putting on their camouflage gear and they were getting ready to make a break towards the bank and it was at that time they saw the same things that we saw the customers that were trying to get into the bank were unsuccessful because the bank had been locked it looked like the suspects were standing down field agents called in for instructions let's keep surveillance on the vehicle our agents that were conferring with the United States attorney's office with uh the heads of our divisions and making a determination as to whether we had enough evidence at this point to arrest these subjects while the team conferred surveillance units followed the stolen van as the suspects retrieved their Suburban they started driving back towards Washington and we continued to follow them soon they got the go-ahead for the arrest now they needed to find the safest opportunity to do so the next stop all units come [Music] when the subjects stop for gas at Union Gap Washington we decided that that was a the best place that we had in order to affect an arrest foreign but with such violent and heavily armed suspects there was no guarantee of a safe arrest scenario after months of investigating domestic Terror suspects surveillance units tail them to a Union Gap Washington Gas Station two of the suspects stayed in one of their vehicles while the third entered the gas station with a suspect split up the lead agent put the operation in motion [Music] [Music] they needed to synchronize the arrests so all three suspects were surprised [Music] [Applause] [Music] Robert Berry and Charles Barbie were arrested without a fight special agent David Bedford discovered things could have gone much differently following the arrest we did a search of the vehicles they were driving we found hand grenades thousands of rounds of ammunition probably half a dozen different types of weapons gas masks tear gas canisters these guys were definitely ready for battle agents also found a threatening letter to the Spokane bank that had been robbed twice despite the three arrests the FBI knew one suspect was still at Large [Music] one of the things that was a question in our minds was on the July 12th robbery there was three people that came inside and a getaway driver we were still unsure who the fourth robber was agents interviewed friends and Associates of the arrested suspects they learned the fourth man was most likely Brian Radigan one of the things that concerned the FBI was Brian radigan's military experience he apparently had some training and sniper school and so the surveillance the investigation that we did regarding Brian was very careful very thought out those who knew Radigan said he was heavily armed well trained and paranoid the FBI wanted to avoid a violent confrontation as did the suspect's family we solicited help from Brian radigan's family members who after talking to them some for some time felt that it would be in his best interest if he came forward and was arrested and so the family member sent a train ticket to Brian and his wife [Music] the ticket was for a phony departure at a time when the FBI knew no other passengers would be at a Washington state train station undercover agents posed to station employees [Music] when Radigan seemed at ease they made their move [Music] Radigan had no way to fight back or run he and the others would be tried for their crimes not their political or religious views the FBI does not investigate individuals or groups based on their beliefs we investigate crimes we investigated these acts because they were violent crimes they were bombings they were bank robberies we investigated them as we would any other violent crime on July 24 1997 Charles Barbie Robert Berry [Music] and Vern Merrill were found guilty on eight counts related to the bombings and armed robberies and were each sentenced to life in prison in a separate trial Brian Radigan was found guilty of similar charges and sentenced to 55 years although that one Phineas priesthood cell is behind bars the FBI and experts like Spokesman Review reporter Bill Moreland know other domestic terrorist groups are still out there since 1996 the number of militia cells has dropped off but I believe there still are a number of them out there and there is Hardcore and deeper underground than ever and every bit is dangerous these groups do commit crimes the FBI will not stop until they are dismantled [Music] the Tennessee Community is shocked when a beloved elderly woman vanishes as investigators search the mystery of her disappearance deepens [Music] truth begins to emerge but slowly and in unexpected directions as police in the FBI try to help a troubled small town find their dear friend foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] in 1992 a woman disappeared from her Memphis home when the ransom went uncollected the FBI suspected A desperate amateur and feared the worst I'm Jim calstrom Farm ahead of the FBI's New York office as a search for the woman progressed investigators uncovered a Web of Lies and false accusations designed to hide the real perpetrator Memphis Tennessee on August 7 1992 25 miles outside the city in the small town of Eads successful land developer Alan Roberts arrived home from work as usual his wife's car was in the driveway but he was surprised to find the mail there [Music] his wife doe Roberts usually left a note when she went out but there was none in the kitchen Allen spotted dose asthma medication on the counter she always took the inhaler when she went out he called their closest friends nearby bill yeah bill this is Alan have you seen doe today has she been over there no one he spoke to had heard from dough Roberts worried she might have had an asthma attack while working in the garden [Music] he searched the grounds of their Farm no sign of dough no [Music] no he was about to call the police when his telephone rang it was a man speaking with an Asian accent what do you mean you have dough what do you want the caller demanded a 100 000 ransom for Doe's safe return [Music] just let me know what you want me to do and I'll do it okay but he didn't explain where to take the money before he hung up [Music] stunned Allen immediately called the Shelby County Sheriff's department and told them about his wife's Disappearance in the ransom call he received [Music] team of deputies and Sheriff's inspectors responded to the house Roberts told them he did not recognize the voice of the caller and did not know anyone would want to harm dough as the interview continued Agents from the FBI's Memphis field office arrived age is about 30 miles from both the Arkansas and Mississippi borders someone took dough across state lines the FBI would take the lead since transporting a victim state to state as a federal crime Roberts explained he last saw his wife that morning they had eaten breakfast together as they had every morning for 43 years 10 Alan left to meet a perspective out of town buyer for a property he was developing bye the buyer A Man Named Sam Wagner had called the day before making an appointment to see the property at 10 30 that morning Robert said he waited for over an hour but Sam Wagner never showed he spent the rest of the afternoon laying sod at another of his development properties water okay the investigators needed to check the house for evidence Robert showed them does asthma inhaler and said if she suffered a serious attack without it she could die they needed to find her immediately looking for signs of forced entry deputies checked doors and windows nothing appeared suspicious knowing that people sometimes run off voluntarily faking abductions to cover themselves deputies checked Doe's bedroom her suitcases and all of her clothing were still there as were her valuables it didn't seem like she left on her own if someone had abducted her one clue suggested it happened outside according to FBI special agent Joanne overall en Roberts located mail halfway into the garage and it was not taken into the house he suspected that his wife had gone to the mailbox and never made it back into the house and she had laid the mail down at that point beginning at the driveway deputies formed search lines Fanning out in a grid pattern to scour the 150 Acre Farm for any sign of the 65 year old woman or what happened to her despite the efforts of multiple search teams they found nothing the best chance for a new lead would be additional Ransom calls we began monitoring Alan Robert's phone right after the kidnapping with his consent we placed a record phone should he get a call from the kidnapper they also installed tracing equipment if the man with the Asian accent called again the FBI would be ready later that night the phone rang it was coming from a nearby pay phone no just just don't hurt her I'll do whatever you want deputies headed toward the source of the call sounded like the same man who called earlier okay he said door was safe for now and he knew law enforcement was listening Robert said the caller ordered him to remove the tape of their conversation and crush it in the driveway they quickly switched it with a blank tape at that time no surveillance officers were outside when Shelby County deputies arrived at the pay phone it was clear whoever made the call was gone by Daybreak investigators expanded their search into the eids community asking friends and Neighbors when they last Saw dough and if they noticed anything unusual on the day of her disappearance over there no one recalled seeing or hearing from her that day thank you bye-bye yes sir one neighbor told investigators that at church that week there seemed to be tension between doe and Alan but no solid Clues emerged word of the kidnapping spread and news stations picked up the story Joe Burch of wmctv in Memphis reported on the small community's reaction to Doe's disappearance felt it must have been someone from the outside who committed this crime because these people worshiped together they went to square dances together they spent a lot of their time together and their focus was their little community and staying away from Downtown Memphis and all the danger that might be here um so I think the people in the Eads community felt like an outsider probably committed this crime but investigators wondered how in a place like Eads a stranger wasn't noticed as the investigation's first full day Drew to a close special agent overalls concerned grew the 24 hours immediately following a kidnapping are critical as more time passes the chances of finding the victim alive diminish rapidly on the second day community members gathered to show their support and offer prayers for those safe return while the town of Eads prayed investigators turned their attention to the most likely suspect in a case like this we always look at the family members and relatives people that are closest to the victim first and then work the circle outwards needed to start with the husband Alan Roberts it was possible he had harmed though than used and accomplice to make the ransom calls is always difficult when family members realize they are suspects authorities had to ask the worried husband to take a polygraph test was an unexpected request but Alan agreed a polygraph measures a subject's physiological reactions while answering questions the subject reviews all of the questions before the test so there are no surprises commonly called a lie detector test a polygraph does not actually detect lies it only detects whether the subject is exhibiting the characteristics most people exhibit when lying spikes in heart rate perspiration blood pressure and respiration are you convinced that I will only ask you questions that we've gone over while polygraph results are rarely admissible in court many investigators find they Point them in the right direction The Examiner asked Robert's questions unrelated to the case to establish a baseline for truthful responses then he asked questions about his relationship with doe and the events of the day she disappeared [Music] The Examiner then interpreted the graphic output to determine if Roberts appeared to be deceptive on the questions about the case in his opinion Allen Roberts answered all of the questions truthfully Allen was sure this was the end of it but agents knew that test results were not always accurate they could not eliminate him yet to check Robert's story the FBI wanted to find Sam Wagner the man he allegedly went to meet on the morning of dose abduction we thought Sam Wagner may have come into this area and holdings that he may have kidnapped into Roberts for the money that they had because they had a substantial amount of money agents checked FBI databases and Nationwide DMV records searching for anyone named Sam Wagner [Music] in several States FBI agents interviewed men of that name but eliminated each as a suspect [Music] suspicious when Sam Wagner became an unknown individual that we couldn't locate and it became more apparent to us that Allen Roberts could possibly behind the kidnapping looks like he checks out I don't think if Alan did do something to his wife perhaps the couple's phone records and banking statements would reveal a clue there's nothing unusual about any of the phone calls yet investigators uncovered only evidence of a normal life spent in a small town with no sign of contact with anyone suspicious and no record of dough spending money after August 7th no leads were panning out eventually they came to believe Joe Roberts was dead it was more than likely going to end up being a homicide I requested through my supervisor that we bring in Shelby County Sheriff's Department into the investigation to make it a joint investigation if it were a murder it would be prosecuted in State Court the team returned to the Roberts House the search of Allen Roberts property looking for blood spatterings in the house as well as in the barn again Roberts cooperated he would do anything forensics technicians from the FBI and the sheriff's department processed the buildings looking for any evidence of a murder cleanup or disposal of a body they also gathered hairs and carpet fibers from Alan's truck to compare to any evidence recovered later the painstaking search lasted two full days Allen Roberts grew more frustrated that law enforcement had to devote so much time to him as a suspect he was wearing down and the real kidnapper was out there somewhere in 1992 the Shelby County Sheriff's Department in the Memphis FBI searched Allen Roberts farm and its buildings for any sign of his wife's possible murder Roberts had passed a polygraph and now none of the items on his property tested positive for blood yet no other suspects emerged and investigators had developed circumstantial evidence that implicated Roberts although several witnesses had seen Roberts that day his confirmed Alibi only accounted for about five hours authorities knew that left plenty of time to get rid of a body also some members of the eids community gave statements claiming Allen Roberts had acted in a suspicious manner following Doe's disappearance according to special agent Joanne overall people within the community felt he did not openly grieve for the loss of his wife he was socializing shortly after her kidnapping that both him and his wife were members of a square dancing group and within a couple of weeks Alan was back at the square dancing group with various partners news anchor Joe Burch observed Robert's lack of emotion during media coverage when somebody's wife disappears you'd expect to see a level of emotion and we just didn't see it from Ellen Roberts he was just kind of calm cool and collected and very direct and there wasn't a lot of teary-eyed emotional appeals that we see a lot in in kidnapping cases investigators kept watching Roberts as he tried to carry on with his life struggling with the frustration of not knowing where his wife was and being the only suspect in her disappearance yet they saw nothing that led them to doe Roberts [Music] in September the man with the Asian accent resurfaced now saying Alan was involved the kidnapper began calling people in the Eads Community stating that Doe Roberts was still alive many of the phone calls indicated Alan was part of the scheme to kidnap his wife it was extremely frustrating because he never gave specific points to drop money several of the people who talked to the kidnapper had caller IDs on their phones so agents traced the calls to phone booths on a well-traveled road we would go to go to the call was already gone other people had already used the phone we would check the phones for possible fingerprints and there was just never any evidence to tie an individual to that phone each of the calls were made within a few miles of the Robert's house a significant risk in a small community buzzing about the case this boldness suggested that the caller was an Insider familiar enough to be inconspicuous in public and that he considered himself beyond the reach of investigators desperate for something solid Allen Roberts took things into his own hands offering a reward for Doe's safe return and announcing he disconnected the FBI's recording and tracing equipment from his phone so the kidnapper could call freely on October 8 1992 two months after doe disappeared the kidnapper called Alan Roberts again [Music] he told him to drive to a pay phone at a country store a mile away now Roberts hurried to the store once again he was on his own with no corroborating witness to prove what was happening [Music] the phone was already ringing when he arrived he hoped finally this would be his chance to get his wife back hello two months after someone abducted 65 year old doe Roberts the kidnapper ordered her husband Alan Roberts to a pay phone the man with the Asian accent said doe was alive and still with him he asked Roberts for the name of an intermediary someone Alan trusted that the kidnapper could contact Robert suggested Charles Lord a leading church member and friend of the family the caller said he would be in touch about where to bring the ransom money then he hung up well they've been good Charles Lord the man Roberts picked to be his intermediary was a civil servant and treasurer of the local church he made a public appeal to the kidnapper on Allen Robert's behalf asking the man to call him and finally give specific instructions for a ransom drop they all wanted to get dough back more calls from the kidnapper came to Charles Lord and others in the community but still no details for an exchange in November 1992 Charles Lord called investigators to his home special agent Joanne overall hoped they finally had a direct link to the kidnapper he heard a car out on his Cove he walked down to the mailbox and there was a letter placed in his mailbox which was a kidnapping Ransom letter investigators were glad to have physical evidence [Music] fingerprints hairs of fibers on the letter might provide a link to the kidnapper but by the time they got to it they found the evidence tainted [Music] or took this letter and showed it to several people before we were called in and obtained the letter so there was quite a few fingerprints on the letter before we got it lab examiners checked all of the prints determining they belonged to Lord and the people he let handle the letter nothing to lead them to the kidnapper the message was no help either The Ransom had been lowered but still no instructions for a drop the kidnapper was playing games with them in case he contacted Lord again Agents Set a trap in a hidden camera which was literally placed in a birdhouse close to the mailbox if the kidnapper dropped off another note they'd have him on tape agents also installed wiretap and recording devices on Lord's telephone they still had no real evidence against Allen Roberts but a new suspect was developing Charles Lord began taking an active role in the investigation often stopping by the sheriff's office to check on their progress the deputies became suspicious he seemed too interested their suspicion deepened because of the peculiar nature of the phone calls he claimed he got from the kidnapper Charles Lord stated he received several phone calls from the kidnapper he did say that he talked with doe Roberts which was unusual because none of the other callers talked with doe Roberts but agents never got tapes of the calls equipment didn't work over the next week Lord reported another Ransom letter and one of those scarves placed in his mailbox agents recovered no evidence from the items but hoped their camera captured images of the kidnapper they had plenty of the regular mail carrier but when the tape got to where the kidnapper should appear it went blank when the equipment was placed at Charles Lord's residence continued to fail I just thought we had poor equipment eventually it became apparent that somebody was tampering with it [Music] agents suspected the interference came from Charles Lord then the victim's husband Alan Roberts reported a strange encounter with Lord he said the night before at the Eads Community Center Lord summoned him to a private meeting Alan was surprised when his friend offered to help get doe back for a price Allen Roberts told me that Charles Lord had advised that he had underworld contacts and that there was information available if Charles could get some money to pay for it also Allen advised at that time that Charles Lord was wearing a gun it was clear Lord was somehow involved but investigators needed more than suspicion they needed evidence on March 4th 1993 seven months after doe disappeared there was another twist in the case Memphis news anchor Joe Burch received a call at his office I've never recorded a telephone conversation before but I decided that I would record this conversation the call set off a trigger in my mind that this could be the same individual who's been making the anonymous calls in the doe Roberts case and I tried to get the man to stay on the line for as long as he would stay as Birch spoke to the man with the Asian accent he tried to elicit details as to who the caller was and what happened to dough when Birch tried to set up a ransom drop the caller hung up hello hello I took the tape directly into my boss's office we immediately called the FBI and the Shelby County Sheriff's Department investigators agreed to wmctv airing the tape hoping it might flush the kidnapper out it worked the kidnapper called back he was angry they aired the tape and demanded no more coverage but this time Joe Burch got him to do what no one else had arrange a ransom drop agents and Sheriff's inspectors take down the drop location ready to grab the caller who had eluded them for so long as instructed a reporter from WMC-TV drove to the spot with eighty thousand dollars in cash see anybody else do you see anybody else everyone waited hoping but the kidnapper never showed one more disappointment in a frustrating investigation other deputies observed Charles Lord was home the entire time weeks passed with no movement on the case then in June 1993 the kidnapper arranged another drop he called two of those nephews and told them to bring the ransom money to a local Motel soon The elusive kidnapper finally would surface in June 1993 investigators working the doe Roberts kidnapping staked out an eids Tennessee Motel special agent Joanne overall was part of the surveillance Robert's nephews received a call from the kidnapper and arranged Ransom drop they were told to go to a motel room which they did but they also called the FBI they were waiting to get a phone call or meet with somebody other surveillance deputies had been unable to find suspect Charles Lord that night as the team at the motel watched a man approached it was Lord [Music] he went to the room the nephews had rented Charles Lord told the nephews of doe Roberts that he had received a call from the kidnapper and that he was to show up there and get the money and he would receive a phone call as to where to take the money but the nephews wouldn't give him the cash they said they wanted to deal with the kidnapper directly investigators were sure that was exactly who they were dealing with he is the only individual who had received a telephone call s and with somebody to pick up money but we did not have enough evidence at that time to go forward with an arrest they did however increase their focus on Lord to look for a financial motive to the kidnapping the FBI subpoenaed Lord's bank records [Music] records trying to determine if he had loans out if he what his financial Holdings were and it became apparent that Charles Lord owed a lot of money to several banks in town substantial amounts of money and that he was unable to meet the payments and that he had filed for bankruptcy that circumstantial evidence allowed investigators to secure a search warrant for Lord's House [Music] in late June 1993 they served the warrant which allowed them to look for and seize any financial documents some of the files they recovered revealed Lord's criminal past that boat where he had retired several years prior and he had embezzled approximately seventy thousand dollars from the church there in the East where he was attending as treasurer of the church Lord had access to the parish bank accounts and cash donations despite the find investigators still had no direct evidence of the abduction we had nothing that we could use to charge him with a kidnapping and the murder of Joe Roberts it was important to obtain a confession from Charles Lord because we had no body good maybe this will help us out one agent working the case was trained in criminal profiling he analyzing Lord's actions he offered a behavioral profile to help get the confession he suggested Lord was a manipulative pathological liar who believed he was untouchable agent felt that overwhelming the suspect's ego was the only way to beat him what you guys need to do is that the plan was to bring Lord in for an interview and let him see what he would take to be evidence of a massive investigation against him for months agents created numerous evidence boxes hoping to Trump Lord's belief he was above the investigation then on August 25th 1993 at the FBI's Memphis field office investigators met with Lord and his attorney Charles Lord so I was watching him look at these boxes realizing that he had been under surveillance for a lot longer than he had anticipated and he became very nervous the FBI's tactics appeared to be working Lord eventually admitted to making some of the ransom calls he said he did it to keep the investigation alive for Doe's sake but denied any involvement in her abduction sensing that he was ready to crack the investigators offered him a deal Charles Lord was told by our office off as well as the Specter that if he would take a polygraph and pass a polygraph we would not look at him any further for the doe Roberts kidnapping however if he failed the polygraph his attorney and Charles Lord agreed to a further interview interrogation in reference to the kidnapping agreed after asking control questions to gauge Lord's truthful response levels the polygraph examiner asked about Doe including whether Lord was involved in her abduction did you harm the in the end the examiner believed the polygraph results showed Lord being deceptive though the results could not be used in court they meant authorities could continue questioning the suspect with Lord's attorney present in the interrogation room FBI agents and inspectors from the Shelby County Sheriff's Department pressed the suspect returning again and again to the polygraph results what I need you at first he continued to deny involvement but after several hours the interview tactics wore him down lord said he was ready to tell them what happened he said he needed cash to pay back his loans and cover the money he stole from the church and decided to kidnap doe for ransom [Music] on August 6 1992 he called the Roberts posing as a property buyer Named Sam Wagner and arranged to meet Alan the next day when he knew Ellen was waiting at the development property he drove by their house doe was bringing in the mail he knew she would trust him Allen's been involved an accident yeah get in the car and I'll take you to it Lord told investigators he planned to release dough after he got the ransom but she suffered a fatal heart attack in his car he said he panicked and dumped her body in her purse but he would not say where you won't take us to where she is the investigators believed he was lying at least about planning to release dough and perhaps about other details special agent Joanne overall knew they had to find the body to check his story they offered a deal Charles Lord agreed to tell us where Joe Robert's body was after he had confessed to the kidnapping in exchange for Shelby County not pursuing the death penalty Lord claimed he dumped her in the Wolf River a slow-moving river that runs 90 miles across the southwest corner of the state the Wolf River empties into the Mississippi of Memphis lord said he dumped the remains from a bridge in Fayette County 13 miles from the Robert's home divers would begin 50 yards up river searching for the body and purse lieutenant John Yancey of the Shelby County Sheriff's Department led the dive in the murky River we had 21 divers involved toll the visibility in the river was Zero it was told Blackwater and in the Dark Water several species of venomous snakes adding to the challenge was the fact that the crime took place a year earlier and he remains would be scattered and difficult to find FBI agents and sheriff's deputies helped the divers by stretching a rope across the river's width divers held onto the rope and moved across its length searching the River Bottom by hand normally you do an arm spanned arm over arm for a search for a body because it's large but we were looking for contents of the person time to try to make sure that this was actually the scene so we had to bring it down to where we were instead of doing the large arm spins we were having to do what I call this the hand grab and that's where you just get the dirt with your hand and that way you're able to find everything on the bottom once the divers reached the other bank the team would move the Rope of foot down river and start over [Music] anytime a diver found something he signaled and additional divers came in to Mark and extract the item we found a safe that had been taken in a robbery of a cleaners and the money had fallen out of the safe and we found the Pennies on the bottom and the dollar bills but we found no contents to any of her purse so I feel like it would have found Pennies on the bottom we would have found her makeup or a wallet or IDs or anything times in 110 degree heat the team continued their search of every square inch my second day and I was on the the bridge and an elderly lady walked up to me and said I want you to do me a favor and I said I'll try to if I can I want you to find us something today so we can get this over with so we can go ahead and bury dough and get this case over with after three full days they had searched a half mile of the river they believe the body would not have gone farther than that in the lowland Waters I went to my boss my teeth and I told him I said based on my experience and what we have done she's not in here but if you want us to continue to search we'll research that runs into Mississippi every how you want to do it but I'll tell you right now she's not here investigators were convinced Lord had lied to them unnecessarily placing the dive team in danger special agent overall confronted Lord we took Charles Lord out to this explain to him that these divers were putting their lives in Jeopardy and we needed to find the body and it didn't appear that the body was there the suspect had run out of Lies now he was ready to tell investigators what really happened to doe Roberts after a three-day search of Tennessee's Wolf River dive leader lieutenant John Yancey believed the remains of kidnapping victim Joe Roberts were not in the river we had searched everywhere possible in this over the years of experience I would have found something by now either some bones some makeup or something I said based on my experiences she's not in here near the divers are she's not there investigators confronted suspect Charles Lord 's gonna come off the table realizing they would not give up until they got the truth Lord admitted doe had not died of a heart attack in his car he said he took her to his house and tied her up in a room above the garage he could never let his neighbor go now he tried to kill her with sleeping pills when that didn't work he smothered her with a pillow lord said he buried her in his backyard compost heap on top of the body he placed a layer of lime then concrete hoping they would hasten decomposition they needed to determine if Lord was telling the truth this time to retrieve evidence and give doh's family the closure of knowing what happened the sheriff's department called in forensic anthropologists from the University of Tennessee after removing layers of leaves and compost they began the Dig Shelby County Sheriff's Lieutenant Ronald Goodwin supervised the meticulous excavation it's just using brushes and little trials much like uncovering artifacts and it's just it's one spoonful at a time to make sure that you don't miss any evidence and make sure you don't do anything to harm what evidence may be with a body after two hours they pierced a shell of concrete and lime in the space underneath a body well the first thing that we came to was a hand the rest of the body was laying flat in the grave site on its back face up it took 17 hours to completely exhume The Remains and what investigators found surprised them the scan was intact the body was in such good condition I felt like that many scientific tests that we could run might reveal it's a poisoning uh cause of death sexual attack or whatever it appeared that the actions that Mr Lord had taken such as the lime and so forth on top of the body had worked in reverse and it had preserved the body for us the most chilling detail was the position of the 65 year old woman's hand the only thing that was out of normal position was the hand which was up in front of her face in a defensive position with a finger spread it appeared to investigators she might not have been dead when she was buried maybe she was still alive maybe she was pushing up with her hand over a year after Bill Roberts disappeared the FBI and Alan Roberts had their evidence on October 19 1993 Charles Lord pled guilty to first-degree murder in kidnapping he was sentenced to life plus 25 years Doe's husband Alan had endured being a suspect for months now with the truth out he could finally lay dough to rest [Music] but one challenge remains for Alan Roberts forget about Charles Lord and I'm praying that God will let me forgive him I'm praying that doe is in God's hands right now Mr and Mrs Roberts enjoyed 43 years of marriage before they were torn apart he has faith that one day he will see her again

Channel: The FBI Files

Views: 120,070

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: xWVmaw4bjh0

Length: 98min 30sec (5910 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 24 2023