I was wondering, we are all big Unsolved Fans here? Is anyone here personally involved with the cases or know someone who was involved in any of the cases? Has anyone ever talked to anyone who has been on the show? It would be kind of interesting to have someone here on the board who was personally involved? Just my thoughts.

Yes. I've spoken on the telephone and corresponded via snail mail with Bob Oechsler, the UFO investigator who was the first to bring the "Guardian" video - a tape of an alleged UFO landing in Canada - to public attention. Interestingly enough, the story was rerun on UM yesterday at noon.

Justin

Before UM even debuted, my sister took high school acting classes with one of the UM guest actors. The man's name is Eddie Rutkowski. In 1994, he played convicted murderer Adam Emery (the Rhode Island man who may or may not have jumped off the Newport bridge).

Another schoolmate of my sister's, Kelly Ames, was interviewed on the show during the 1996-97 season. The segment discussed of mystery of using bee stings to reduce the symptons of multiple sclerosis, a disorder that Ames has.

Also, remember the segment on the 1970 bank robbery in Brighton, Massachusetts in which police officer Walter Schroder was killed? The bank robbery scene was filmed in my hometown of Arlington (MA).

Part of another UM segment was filmed in Arlington: the Ira Einhorn case, even though it's a Pennsylvania case. The interior of the movie theater in the segment was Arlington's Regent Theater.

woah. you have a lot of connections with it.
tres bien.

Well, only if you count that the Night Stalker shot someone a mile from where I lived. He had been killing people for months, mostly in LA, then one morning we turn on the news to find out he hit our little hamlet in OC, Mission Viejo, only a mile from our house. I was only nine and FREAKED!

A guy I went to Jr. High and High School with was an actor in one of the lost loves segments. This was around 1992. I can still remember my homeroom teacher reading us the annoucement to watch him on Unsolved Mysteries thate evening. I haven't seen the case in a long time, I don't remember much of the details. His name was Eugene and he was looking for his brother and sister, I believe. They were reunited in Taylor, Michigan, a short drive from my home in a shopping mall parking lot that I have been to before.

One of the later segments, I think it was shown in 2001 or 2002 was featured and filmed in Dearborn, MI which is where I live. I only saw bits and pieces of it, I think it had to do with police dogs tracking down the scent of a killer or something. And I remember being shocked when Robert Stack mentioned that a resturant worker was murdered here (and I think his body thrown in a trash bin behind the building). I have lived in Dearborn my entire life and never remembered hearing anything about a murder here. The killer was caught though.

Yes, I have been both personally involved in a UM segment they did on our daughters case and have also corresponded with a number of UM fans who have been monitoring it over the years. Most recently, Cold Case Files also, did a segment on her story.

what case was your daughters in shek?
Thank you for all your replies I find it interesting to see the fans that come here and there involvement with any of the cases.

how interesting.

Now, because I am not sue exactly what kind of info you were seeking in asking your question, I will start here with some background.

Um did an Unexplained Death segment on daughter, Lisa Marie Kimmell who was murdered 16 years ago while traveling from Denver to Cody, Wyoming in March of 1988 and her car was never found. (At that time)The car was considered a key clue to find out who killed her so I contacted UM and begged them to help us find the car and Lisa's killer. They took our case. We spent nearly a week with them while they were doing their filming. We were grateful for thier help even though the program did not turn up her car or killer.

Her killer and car have since been found. (Summer of 2001) But it wasn't because of the UM profile.

Now if you are curious about the filming process, all I can say it is nothing like what most would invision. I can share more details about that if you want them but I don't want to rattle on.

Sheila Kimmell

PS. I stumbled across this web site by accident about a year or so ago and found it to be very interesting. The people and the wide range of topics.

Sheila,

I would be very interested in hearing about the filming process if you would like to share and have the time. I'm sure others would also be interested to know a little bit about the background of the segments that we see. Thanks.

Thank you for sharing. My heart goes out to everyone who had tragedy in their lives. It is very interesting to me that the people involved in the case are also on this board. I always wondered about this and now I know that the show and this board does reach a lot of people.

To answer the question about the filming process. As, I mentioned, it was nothing like I imagined. A team of 4 people flew in from Califorina. A director, associate producer, a film/lighting man and and audio man. They were were all pretty casual, everyday kind of people wearing T-shirts, blue jeans and tennis shoes.

They use the actual people connected to a story when ever possible for their re-enactments or interviews. In our case they did have to find a young acting student in our area to portray our daughter. I don't know if this is always the case, but no one our case received an money for their participation in the show, as some may think.

They filmed for 7 straight days (they had a lot of area to cover to film our story) and then flew back to California to edit all their film footage down to a 15 minute episode. I think that was the hardest part for them because it would be nearly 5 months before they aired our story.

As a side note, the filming for Cold Case Files was just about the same.

I hope this answers some of your questions and if not, let me know.

Sheila Kimmell

Mcfly: I too lived approx. 1 mile from where the Night Stalker was caught. I was about 14 or so and was terrified to even go outside at night. ***Thanks, Shek, for sharing your experience with us. Its not at all how I would think the filming would have been done. Interesting...

I've posted this before on this board, but my great-aunt lives in Virginia & her neighbor, I believe her name was Ms. Kidd, was murdered in her house & found tied to a tree in the woods behind her house. My aunt lived in the next closest house to Ms. Kidd's. This happened around 1990 & UM aired a story on it around '92. After this happened, my aunt was so scared that she moved about an hour away from that area. It still scares me to think that I had visited with my aunt not too long before Ms. Kidd was murdered & Ms. Kidd came by the house & my aunt introduced me to her. She seemed like a very nice lady, I don't know why anyone would have wanted her dead. It's also scary because my aunt had the same kind of wooded area out back behind her house.

shrek: Was this the case where the car was found buried in the ground? It sounds similar to the Cold Case Files show I saw recently. I watch a lot of these shows and this one was one of the stranger ones I have seen.

Hi Snoopy,

Yes that is the same case Cold Csae File recently did.

Thanks for sharing the information about the filming process, shek. I never would have thought that it would have been like that. Very interesting.

I can tell you from first hand experience that much of what is presented in the media is distorted for a variety of reasons. I am the co worker in the Mary Mcginnis Morris case. For example, I have been portrayed (particularly on America's Most Wanted) as some kind of a nut, banging on windows and yelling for Mary. Nothing even close to this ever occurred. I offer a $5000 reward to anyone that can find a credible witness to indicate that I acted as the media reports indicate (banging, yelling). The Houston Chronicle indicated that Laurie Gemmell had said that I had done these things. Go figure. As far as Mike Morris' claims that Mary was afraid of me and he gave her a gun - well Mary and I spent half a day together in her car touring around for work business in our last week together at her invitation. No sign or reason for any fear.
I did not quit or get fired (At least nobody told me if I did). I simply took a month off with all appropriate notice. I wish I had sued Gemmell but I allowed the statute of limitations to run out. This business did not really help my career. I thought there would have been convictions long before now. There is a lot more to this case than has ever been mentioned publicly.
There is a fair amount of info via Google "mary mcginnis morris" and "mary morris murders"

Hi Koala! Have there been any developments in this case that you know of? Do you still live in the area? I am suprised that you said this has not helped your career, how so? Do very many people in the community know that you are the co-worker? I hope you don't mind the questions, just curious.

Hi, I saw a segment on a man looking for his birth family and felt the story was familiar. I called them because I thought my grandpa could have posibly been his dad. They told me they'd give him my info but I nenver heard anything. When I called them back they could not place the case. Then my Godmother wrote to them when she saw the same case thinking the same thing I did that he was related to me. My mom thinks so too. My dad thinks we are all nuts! LOL! But, we think it could be a brother to him.

I used to see the Kentucky State Trooper in my area when I was growing up who was later in the episode about the police dog finding the lady who had been beaten and left in a creek (or something like that).

One of the actors in a recreation in a Tennessee story (maybe a "Missing Loves" story, I forget) was a librarian at the Knoxville Library.

11

They had a thing on Whitey Bulger and they showed scenes of South Boston.

Which is where I was born and lived till until I was 11 (I miss it so much :( )

Now, because I am not sue exactly what kind of info you were seeking in asking your question, I will start here with some background.

Um did an Unexplained Death segment on daughter, Lisa Marie Kimmell who was murdered 16 years ago while traveling from Denver to Cody, Wyoming in March of 1988 and her car was never found. (At that time)The car was considered a key clue to find out who killed her so I contacted UM and begged them to help us find the car and Lisa's killer. They took our case. We spent nearly a week with them while they were doing their filming. We were grateful for thier help even though the program did not turn up her car or killer.

Her killer and car have since been found. (Summer of 2001) But it wasn't because of the UM profile.

Now if you are curious about the filming process, all I can say it is nothing like what most would invision. I can share more details about that if you want them but I don't want to rattle on.

Sheila Kimmell

PS. I stumbled across this web site by accident about a year or so ago and found it to be very interesting. The people and the wide range of topics.


I know you will never get over what happened but I'm very happy that the case was resolved after all those years. I was 13 when it was featured on UM. I'm now 30 and I always wondered about the Kimmel case. Every time I saw it i was hoping for a conviction. I wish your family happiness and peace.

I;m so happy for you and your family that Eaton is locked up for life. I know it wont bring back Lisa but at least you can rest a bit. I remember that case when I was 13, im now 30 and everytime it came on tv , I was hoping that it would eventually be solved.. she wa always in my prayers.. Thank you for sharing your story..

About the only connection I have is to the Ira Einhorn case. Holly Maddux's sister, Buffy Hall, is a good friend of my mother's. Quite an interesting lady.

Hello. I do have a personal involvement in one of the cases featured on UM in the 80s, and that's why I'm looking at this site.

When I was a little kid, three of my best friends were lost at sea with their dad, who was a commercial fisherman (actually, a shrimper) in Northern California. I don't believe the boat or any bodies were found, though I do seem to remember something about some possible wreckage washing up on shore.

According to the episode guide, this story aired Jan. 18, 1989.

My family were reluctant to provide many details to me when this happened, as I was only about 8 years old at the time. Ever since then it has really haunted me, but we are no longer in contact with the family in question, and my grandmother (who was our main link to the family and those three kids) has since died.

I don't think this particular story has been included on any of the DVD sets, so I've been trying to catch a rerun of it on the Mystery Channel. No luck so far. Does anyone know where I might be able to get a copy of this episode, or has anyone heard anything more about this story (if you even remember it?)

Thanks for any info you can provide.

peggynature - I have that story. E-mail me. I'm sure we can work something out.

-J

Hello. I do have a personal involvement in one of the cases featured on UM in the 80s, and that's why I'm looking at this site.

When I was a little kid, three of my best friends were lost at sea with their dad, who was a commercial fisherman (actually, a shrimper) in Northern California. I don't believe the boat or any bodies were found, though I do seem to remember something about some possible wreckage washing up on shore.

According to the episode guide, this story aired Jan. 18, 1989.

My family were reluctant to provide many details to me when this happened, as I was only about 8 years old at the time. Ever since then it has really haunted me, but we are no longer in contact with the family in question, and my grandmother (who was our main link to the family and those three kids) has since died.

I don't think this particular story has been included on any of the DVD sets, so I've been trying to catch a rerun of it on the Mystery Channel. No luck so far. Does anyone know where I might be able to get a copy of this episode, or has anyone heard anything more about this story (if you even remember it?)

Thanks for any info you can provide.

This episode was on last night on lifetime. No update was mentioned.

I just posted this in another thread, but I lived about 5 miles from where an explosion in Kansas City killed 6 firefighters in 1988. The entire house shook like an earthquake.

Also, and this is quite spooky, my uncle was friends with 3 of the people who were eventually arrested for setting the fire. Everyone (I think there was 4 total) was convicted and sent to long prison terms, but it's still eerie to know that my family knew them.

For knowing somebody that was in a UM episode -
Anybody remember the Past Life segment with a gentleman and a woman who shared past life experiences because in their past lives they were husband and wife. The gentleman was my professor in college. The segment became a hot topic in our class and the rest of the students got a tiny bit mad at me because I didn't record it but he told us all about it. He said he met the woman while filming, said she was nice but a bit kooky.

You know, it's funny. I've been posting on this board for a few months now and I only just thought of a connection that I have to one of the cases, albeit a very little one. Does anyone remember the Dannion Brinkley segment? He was the man who was struck by lightening and then became psychic. The segment discussed how Dannion helped to solve an unsolved murder out of Montana, the double homicide of John and Nancy Bosco.

With Dannion's help, they did eventually arrest a suspect, 18 year old Shadow Clark. I knew Shadow Clark, as we lived in the same neighborhood. My brother was a friend of his, as they were in the same graduating class in a very small high school. I was also friends with his sister and had an opportunity to hang out with Shadow quite a bit. Ironically, I even went to church with him and his family on occasion. Even today, I have a hard time believing that Shadow murdered the Boscos, even though I'm pretty sure DNA evidence would have convicted him (he plea bargained to avoid trial.)

On an additional creepy note, I was babysitting (for a good friend of the murder victims) in the neighborhood on the night the Boscos were murdered. While I'm not sure of the timeframe of the murders, it's interesting to note that I got a crank call that night (I answered and got a heavy breather... probably just a coincidence.) In addition, all the animals in the neighborhood were all going CRAZY that night. The dogs were howling and barking and the cat of the people I was babysitting for was running around with its hair standing straight up on end. These murders happened a little over 10 years ago and I can still remember how freaked out all the animals in the neighborhood were... :eek:

As I said... I'm not PERSONALLY involved, but it's creepy nonetheless.

I don't have any direct personal involvement but many aspects of the show have been close to me, physically and otherwise. The Bird Road Rapist segment from Miami involves the street very close to my parents' home in Miami, within blocks. In fact, Bird Road was the cruise street for us in high school with the pizza hangout and bowling alley and high school football stadium, etc.

Since living in Las Vegas many of the crimes have been close to me. I worked at Binion's Horseshoe as a sportsbook supervisor and had daily contact with Jack Binion and his father Benny Binion. I didn't know Ted Binion but saw him many times on the property. I'm still livid the second jury incompetently acquitted Sandra Murphy and Rick Tabish in Ted Binion's death.

The Kathy Hobbs abduction occured just blocks from where I lived at the time, near Maryland Parkway. I pass the lot where she was taken almost every day, in fact hours ago.

When the suspect in the Music City Row murders was arrested, I recognized him as a familiar face from downtown Las Vegas. He was a downtown casino pit boss or something like that in the '90s, and I must have seen him in sportsbooks because the face was unmistakably familiar.

Also, the guy who was arrested in a casino parking lot near Boulder City after staying at a weekly place near there and leaving notes in the trash that the landlord picked up and read, about the Unsolved Mysteries segment being "a bombshell." That was in the late '80s and I was dating a girl who worked in that casino at the time, driving out there several times per week. The property is completely changed now but seeing that segment brings back exactly what it looked like then, which is really spooky.

Finally, I used to be friends with Chipper Chirimbes, the guy who portrayed the bank manager in the Henderson, Nevada robbery, the one with the famous Trench Coat robber bandits and the snapshot taken by a reporter while the vehicle was fleeing in the opposite direction. Chipper is a sports handicapper who used to be a regular out here in sportsbooks during football season and featured on the weekly syndicated tout shows, but I don't see him around anymore.

What about Jeffie Mac's cellmate?

What about Jeffie Mac's cellmate?

Thank you, Thinman. Very true. That didn't even enter my mind when I posted last night.

I guess I don't count that as a UM segment because the event and the conviction and the Fatal Vision miniseries preceeded UM by many years, and I've been resigned he will never be exonerated or get out of prison. It's like the Alcatraz escape, something UM included that I already knew about and had made a conclusion about long beforehand. Those guys are fish food.

As you know since we completely disagree, I don't consider it an unsolved mystery because I'm sure MacDonald is innocent and the Helena Stoeckley gang actual, and the culprits.

The guy's name is Kenny. I may have mentioned that in an earlier post. I don't know his last name. He is a wiry gray hired guy about MacDonald's age, 60ish. Smokes a lot, which is still common here in Las Vegas. A streetwise guy but articulate. Supposedly he plays match play coupons to bump his bankroll, bet $20 to win $40 on blackjack, etc. He stays near the southern end of the Strip in the MGM/Mandalay Bay area and doesn't frequent the same center Strip casinos I do, but my friend Forrest knows him well and when I talk to Kenny it's normally when Forrest is involved. I've only spoken to him 3 or 4 times the most recent being a few weeks ago. So far that pro-MacDonald website hasn't forwarded me his prison address so maybe they aren't as desperate for donations as you think. I mentioned in my email that I wanted to write MacDonald as someone who supports him and met a former cellmate, but no response so far.

I also have no idea what Kenny did to share a cell on that level of the prison system, but he doesn't claim to be innocent. The money quote, which I'm sure I've posted before, is "at least half the guys in prison claim to be innocent. The only one I ever believed is Jeffrey MacDonald." But Kenny agrees with me that MacDonald will never get out of jail.

Fans of UM will recognize the guy from this link as the one who portrayed the bank manager in the high profile Henderson, Nevada robbery. It still cracks me up a little bit that a guy who is and has been part of the Las Vegas sports betting scene somehow made his way onto UM:

http://www.vegasonlinesports.com/sports-betting-cappers-chip-chirimbes.html

You know, it's funny. I've been posting on this board for a few months now and I only just thought of a connection that I have to one of the cases, albeit a very little one. Does anyone remember the Dannion Brinkley segment? He was the man who was struck by lightening and then became psychic. The segment discussed how Dannion helped to solve an unsolved murder out of Montana, the double homicide of John and Nancy Bosco.

With Dannion's help, they did eventually arrest a suspect, 18 year old Shadow Clark. I knew Shadow Clark, as we lived in the same neighborhood. My brother was a friend of his, as they were in the same graduating class in a very small high school. I was also friends with his sister and had an opportunity to hang out with Shadow quite a bit. Ironically, I even went to church with him and his family on occasion. Even today, I have a hard time believing that Shadow murdered the Boscos, even though I'm pretty sure DNA evidence would have convicted him (he plea bargained to avoid trial.)

On an additional creepy note, I was babysitting (for a good friend of the murder victims) in the neighborhood on the night the Boscos were murdered. While I'm not sure of the timeframe of the murders, it's interesting to note that I got a crank call that night (I answered and got a heavy breather... probably just a coincidence.) In addition, all the animals in the neighborhood were all going CRAZY that night. The dogs were howling and barking and the cat of the people I was babysitting for was running around with its hair standing straight up on end. These murders happened a little over 10 years ago and I can still remember how freaked out all the animals in the neighborhood were... :eek:

As I said... I'm not PERSONALLY involved, but it's creepy nonetheless.

That's very eerie! It must have been a shock for you. I always wondered about this case since it was only briefly profiled, but did they even have an idea of the motive? The heavy breather probably was a coincidence, but no less creepy!

I don't have any involvement with any cases but have a few interesting tidbits:

I live in the beach city where the sea lions were killed, though it happened before I was born.

Interestingly enough, I visited Granite, OK last year to see some relatives I had never met before on my dad's side of the family. This was the town where Dial made his famous escape. One of my relatives had known Bobbi very well, in fact! She helped the UM team set up with the filming and said that the crew was very nice. She told me she has been subpoenaed to speak in the upcoming trial and that Bobbi was calling to talk to her to tell her the other side of the story until she discovered this. My relative insists that several of the things that Randolph has claimed are very false and that she herself used to work in the prison and had encountered him on several occasions. She, however, is unsure of what to believe about the abduction.

The only other interesting thing is that when I was 13 I could have SWORN I saw Jesse James Hollywood in a car- he looked just like the picture on UM! He was later caught in Southern California I believe, but I'm still unsure if that was him.

I've seen Dr. William Bass from the (very early) Joe Sheppard segment speak in a public lecture before. As some of you know, Dr. Bass is the founder of the so-called "Body Farm" behind the University of Tennessee Medical Center where human decomposition is studied.

I've also briefly met then-Detective J.J. Jones from the Blair Adams segment. One of my old neighbors in Knoxville had been friends with him since they were kids. Jones is now Sheriff of Knox County.

The Oregon Bigfoot segment. Remember that guy named "Elmer Skipp" who was being chased by a bigfoot in an oregon forest around 1995? Peter Byrne was also in the segment. I talked to Skipp through email sometime in late (2008). He says he goes back to the place where everything happened almost every year and he wishes he would have had photo equipment at the time it happened.

The Tommy Zeigler case.
In the 90s I used to sit up late at night after my husband and kids were in bed and watch Unsolved Mysteries. I always had to turn the volume very low as my daughter was scared of the theme music. If she was ever up when it came on she would never look when Robert Stack was on because she was convinced he had scary eyes. Today she laughs about it.

One night I was watching and I saw that case for the first time. I was so excited- someone I knew was on UM ! but what was even more exciting was that they interviewed Vernon Davids, his attorney and there was my high school boyfriend's father on tv! And my whole family was asleep!

I grew up in Winter Garden FL the town where this case took place. it happened about a year after I graduated. I didn't keep up with it in the newspapers, but listened to my family talk about the case. Some of them knew the Zeiglers well and they along with my mother attended the trial.

Tommy's wife Eunice was a teacher in the classroom next to mine the year she married Tommy. I remember all the talk about Miss Edwards wedding and we had to get used to calling her Mrs. Zeiglar. She was a very nice lady.

I love this thread. Anymore stories?

I was not even yet 2 years old when the first 1-70 murder happened on April 8, 1992. Robin Fuldauer, 26, who was killed at a Payless ShoeSource store in Indianapolis, Indiana that day. I live about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis and have lived in the same county all my life.

Anyone remember the Florida Everglades Bigfoot case? They call it the Skunk-Ape down here, and the legend mainly stems from one man that lives nearby, David Sheely, who is about as authentic a "swamp man" as you can meet in South Florida.

I have met & spoken to David Sheely on many occasions. He refers to himself with such terms as "SW Florida's Skunk Ape Expert" and my personal favorite "a Crypto-Zoologist"

The skunk-ape stories, to me, are just entertaining stories to tell tourists. A few years ago, David commissioned a documentary DVD, complete with original music, which is borderline hilarious to watch. It contains a lot of detail, such as him going out on calls to his "skunkape hotline", his analysis of their diet, and a demonstration on how easy it would be for the skunkape to elude observation. I usually force visitors from out of town to watch it. :)

Don't know if it's worth mentioning or not, but I've visited the old furniture store (and some surrounding areas involved in the segment) that the Zeigler murders had taken place in. I've also been to Hico, Texas where Brushy Bill Roberts (who claimed to be Billy the Kid) died.

I posted this bf so it must've been on another thread,but I did talk to Claudia's (again I don't recall her last name) father on an AOL travel board (caribbean).She was the one who disappeared from a resort down there,after spending time with a bartender.
I'm mainly responding to remind everyone to please,please,do your research before going to a resort there,(if I knew I could mention the name,I would). But I do know(,at least back then),that this particular chain rotates employees,so that particular employee involved could be at any of those resorts,on that island or another one,at any time,if he still works there.Just a heads-up,for anyone thinking of going to the caribbean.