Some cases from Unsolved Mysteries are hard to come by, like the child prodigy case and the Fallon cancer case. Some are not on any video sites and some haven't even been covered in the Dennis Farina era. What other cases are rare and hard to find?

Although they aren't as rare as they once were anything that wasn't aired on "Lifetime" still has to be considered rare as only the diehards would be aware of their existence.

I remember the first time I logged on here and found out there were a number of cases that never made syndication and then a whole bunch of others that were in some cases significantly edited for syndication.

I haven't seen the segment covering the Robert Kennedy assassination in 18 years. There was another segment about RFK involving the photos taken at the crime scene that the government didn't give back to the photographer for decades. That one is on the forbidden site but the first one isn't.

Another case I haven't seen on the forbidden site is the case of the terrorists who attached a bomb to the van of a navy officer's wife. I haven't seen that one in forever.

I should also mention that I don't watch the Dennis Farina version of the show. The way they modernized it and got rid of the creepy factor was bad enough. But Farina, bless his heart, is probably the worst narrator who ever lived.

I haven't seen the segment covering the Robert Kennedy assassination in 18 years. There was another segment about RFK involving the photos taken at the crime scene that the government didn't give back to the photographer for decades. That one is on the forbidden site but the first one isn't.

Another case I haven't seen on the forbidden site is the case of the terrorists who attached a bomb to the van of a navy officer's wife. I haven't seen that one in forever.

I should also mention that I don't watch the Dennis Farina version of the show. The way they modernized it and got rid of the creepy factor was bad enough. But Farina, bless his heart, is probably the worst narrator who ever lived.

I remember the 2nd version of the RFK assasination but not the first one. Did they ever find out who bombed the officer's wife's van? I recall seeing that one 2 or 3 times back then. I think Farina is a good guy but they should've never given him the role of UM host.

One that's rare for me is Adam and Alaina Emery. The first time I watched it on the forbidden site, I forgot what the case was about when I originally saw it live because it's one that's really not shown in syndication.

Did they ever find out who bombed the officer's wife's van? I recall seeing that one 2 or 3 times back then.

This article from 1991 said investigators themselves stated they may never know who attached the bomb to the van. Terrorists were believed at first then it was theorized that it was someone who had a personal grudge against Sharon Rogers' husband since rumors of him having extra marital affairs were going on.

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-03-07/news/mn-3265_1_san-diego

One that's rare for me is Adam and Alaina Emery. The first time I watched it on the forbidden site, I forgot what the case was about when I originally saw it live because it's one that's really not shown in syndication.

I watched that online last week for the first time in ages. The footage of Adam and Elena standing outside the courtroom after the verdict is still disturbing to watch because you can hear some woman crying hysterically in the background and Adam has no emotions, standing there like a robot. Just like how he showed no remorse for what he had done during the trial, you have to hope he is at the bottom of the bay because I'd hate to think he's been free all these years.

One that's rare for me is Adam and Alaina Emery. The first time I watched it on the forbidden site, I forgot what the case was about when I originally saw it live because it's one that's really not shown in syndication.

That one is actually kind of common but you have to look in the right places for it. I found it online but it was cut into 2 videos and the sound was bad. Someone else did upload it in full and the picture and sound quality was great.

This article from 1991 said investigators themselves stated they may never know who attached the bomb to the van. Terrorists were believed at first then it was theorized that it was someone who had a personal grudge against Sharon Rogers' husband since rumors of him having extra marital affairs were going on.

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-03-07/news/mn-3265_1_san-diego




That's quite an old article but surely gives more insight to who might've been involved.

That one is actually kind of common but you have to look in the right places for it. I found it online but it was cut into 2 videos and the sound was bad. Someone else did upload it in full and the picture and sound quality was great.
The full upload was the one I saw the other day. I've seen the cut version with the bad sound which made it hard to concentrate on the details of the case.

The full upload was the one I saw the other day. I've seen the cut version with the bad sound which made it hard to concentrate on the details of the case.

Thank goodness some people still upload those UM videos and some in high quality even. I just wish I could find the ones I named above or even the Wil Hendrick and Eric Rudolph cases.

From the latter days of UM, you might recall the era where UM slowly began to resemble "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" with stories on fertility statues, dog healers and "The Psychic Warrior" David Morehouse.

"The Psychic Warrior" segment was actually pretty interesting though. It had to do with the Stargate project of which Morehouse was a participant in. In involved a process known as remote viewing in which operatives used psychic abilities to participate in what essentially would amount to espionage.

Morsehouse himself is the focus of the segment as he details using the process to spy on enemies of the United States. He would later write a book entitled "Psychic Warrior" which delves into the subject matter in a far more in depth manner than UM did.

You can read more about Stargate here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project

The rare one for me is that overweight woman who applied for a job, then disappeared with all of the safe valuables. Have never seen it other than online

The rare one for me is that overweight woman who applied for a job, then disappeared with all of the safe valuables. Have never seen it other than online

Would that be the Cindy Wismiller case? Is this the one?: http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Cindy_Wismiller

The rare one for me is that overweight woman who applied for a job, then disappeared with all of the safe valuables. Have never seen it other than online

I forgot about the Cindy Wismiller case. The first one I thought of was Bonnie Wilder because "I mean, she must be 300 pounds. You know someone like that doesn't just get lost in a crowd, even in a big city, and this is a big city. You still don't get lost in a crowd when you are ENORMOUS."

:lol:

Wiseguy182 posted this thread awhile back: http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=263308&highlight=lifetime

This is a good starting point if you are looking for rare cases.

The ultimate rare case, in my opinion, is Todd Mcaffee that aired on September 13, 1989. I have never seen this, it never aired on Lifetime and very well may have never even been repeated by NBC.

Wiseguy182 posted this thread awhile back: http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=263308&highlight=lifetime

This is a good starting point if you are looking for rare cases.

The ultimate rare case, in my opinion, is Todd Mcaffee that aired on September 13, 1989. I have never seen this, it never aired on Lifetime and very well may have never even been repeated by NBC.

Yeah besides that all that has ever been aired from it is a brief couple of seconds seen in an introduction montage.

There are also a couple of segments that were produced for "Final Appeal" that I'm all but convinced never made air: John Purvis and Thomas Drake (yes I know Drake has been syndicated as part of the revamp but the original segment I don't think ever made air)

re: Drake. I'm surprised it never made it's way on to regular UM after FA was cancelled. I have it on good authority that most (all?) of the season five FAs were refugees from that series.

The one segment I haven't seen in ages is the case involving a family being attacked on a car trip by a gang (?). The son was killed during the attack. As I recall, he had a teddybear or some sort of toy. I can't find it online. It seems rare.

The one segment I haven't seen in ages is the case involving a family being attacked on a car trip by a gang (?). The son was killed during the attack. As I recall, he had a teddybear or some sort of toy. I can't find it online. It seems rare.

I believe that was a newer one. If I remember correctly it was a shooting due to road rage, not sure if a gang was involved. Out of all the hundreds of UM segments I have recorded, that is one of the a small handful that I just can't bare to tape. So sad that the little boy tried to shield himself with his teddy bear but was still killed....:(

The one segment I haven't seen in ages is the case involving a family being attacked on a car trip by a gang (?). The son was killed during the attack. As I recall, he had a teddybear or some sort of toy. I can't find it online. It seems rare.

That case would be that of Robert James. It aired on May 29, 1998 along with the Richard Aderson case. On August 1, 1997, Robert was in the car with his parents and older sister when a man opened fire on them with a shotgun when they tried to pass the suspect's vehicle. One of the buckshot ricocheted and hit 2-year-old Robert in the head, killing him instantly. His killer, Alvie Utah Williams, was convicted of his murder in 2003 and was given a life sentence until it was overturned and he was given a second trial. The outcome of that is still unknown at this time.

I believe some of the rarest cases ever aired on UM are their segments on the JonBenet Ramsey murder and the O.J. Simpson trial, neither of which I've seen. From what I heard, the Ramsey segment was pretty abbreviated and didn't do the case justice, and of course, the Simpson one looks pretty silly in retrospect, which is probably why it's never been aired much.

I know the "update" for Tony Miller was featured several different times on Liftetime (during the Stack era), but the entire segment has only been shown sporadically. I think I've seen it one time (the full segment) and it was with Farina hosting.

I know the "update" for Tony Miller was featured several different times on Liftetime (during the Stack era), but the entire segment has only been shown sporadically. I think I've seen it one time (the full segment) and it was with Farina hosting.

Tony Miller was never featured on UM period. It was a segment for the "Final Appeal" spinoff aired on 10/9/92. Like most of the segments produced for FA, it never made syndication as part of the "Lifetime" package as they chose not to purchase those episodes with the exception of Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald which was purchased for one of the early nineties revamps.

The update however was aired several times on "Lifetime" in syndication and and as you referenced portions of the original segment were featured on the Farina revamp although like anything aired on those syndications it varied significantly from how the segments were originally broadcast.

I really have to wonder why they bothered to make a FA show when they should have just aired it on UM all along. Maybe they thought to attract more viewers for longer periods of time but it seems pretty silly to me.

As for rare cases, I cannot find the Charles Southern case anywhere! I swear I saw it when I was younger (did it make it to Lifetime?) but I've been unable to find it ever since. I know others are looking for it too, because the forbidden site recommends "unsolved mysteries" as soon as I type in the name.

UM also did a segment on Stryder Styafyr (a pedophile) and I think I saw it once and never again. It was definitely a later segment.

I really have to wonder why they bothered to make a FA show when they should have just aired it on UM all along. Maybe they thought to attract more viewers for longer periods of time but it seems pretty silly to me.


UM was a hugely popular show back in the day. Brought in significant ratings for a show of it's kind and like most popular shows there were attempts to have other shows spin off of it. FA wasn't the only attempted spin-off of UM. There was at least one other one (possibly two?) that Cosgrove-Meurer attempted to try to spin off of UM but nothing gained footing. I do believe that FA was the only spin off though to feature Robert Stack and the one that most fell in line with the overall flavor of UM.

JS might be able to help you out with the titles of all the spin-offs as their names are escaping me at the moment but there were two or three of them.

The update however was aired several times on "Lifetime" in syndication and and as you referenced portions of the original segment were featured on the Farina revamp although like anything aired on those syndications it varied significantly from how the segments were originally broadcast.

Do you remember seeing the Miller update on Lifetime, DD? Just asking because I was under the impression it wasn't shown on Lifetime. I believe it was the 150th case solved by the show and that entire episode never aired on Lifetime in it's entirety to my knowledge. However, portions from it such as the Chad Langford segment and the bones in the footlocker segment, were transplanted into other episodes.

I do know that UM showed some kind of a retrospective montage that included scenes from the John Burns story. The Burns story never aired on Lifetime obviously. I remember seeing this many years ago and being confused as I didn't know the Burns story even existed. This retrospective was shown on NBC as part of another episode to mark a milestone for UM. I can't recall what it was at the moment - coffee hasn't kicked in yet.

JS might be able to help you out with the titles of all the spin-offs as their names are escaping me at the moment but there were two or three of them.

Yes, there were other Cosgrove-Meurer ventures broadcast on NBC around the same time UM was on, most notably "The Story Behind the Story" and "Against All Odds". The latter was narrated by Dean Stockwell of Quantum Leap fame. I can't recall the names of the narrators of TSBTS.

Both programs were very similar to UM, though the focus was not on crime or mysteries.

The Story Behind the Story focused on sensational yet little known news stories - the single episode I have seen featured a segment on a declassified WWII era military project/experiment to use bats to drop incendiary devices. Another segment from the same show focused on the authors of the "Naked Came the Stranger" novel, a group of male journalists who collaborated on the project and assigned a fictitious female name to it. I've seen promos for other episodes featuring topics such as Abraham Zapruder's famous film of the Kennedy assassination and technical problems with the Ed Sullivan Show episode featuring the Beatles and how it almost didn't air.

Against All Odds focused on people who survived life threatening or other strange situations and lived to tell about it. One episode featured a story about a man who survived the blast at Mt. Saint Helens - I forget where he was, but he was hiking in the area, very close to the volcano at the time it erupted. Another story was about a bank robber who successfully held up a bank only to be accosted by a mugger after the fact. The robber was dumb enough to report the mugging to the police and he was charged with the bank robbery!

Both shows featured re-enactments and interviews with the parties involved. Also, both shows borrowed liberally from UM's musical catalog. Unfortunately, both shows were also short lived and cancelled soon after they debuted.

I've noticed that some cases between the 1999-2002 seasons are hard to come by. I haven't seen the Michelle Witherell, Wil Hendrick, Cindy Wismiller, Fallon cancer cluster, child prodigy, Frank Montenegro, Jill Behrman and the walk-ins cases amongst others probably since the original Lifetime airings in 2001 and 2002 and the 2003-2006 re-runs.

Do you remember seeing the Miller update on Lifetime, DD? Just asking because I was under the impression it wasn't shown on Lifetime. I believe it was the 150th case solved by the show and that entire episode never aired on Lifetime in it's entirety to my knowledge. However, portions from it such as the Chad Langford segment and the bones in the footlocker segment, were transplanted into other episodes.


Hmm maybe. I remember the John Purvis update making a "Lifetime" syndication, not 100% sure about Miller.

Hmm maybe. I remember the John Purvis update making a "Lifetime" syndication, not 100% sure about Miller.

The Purvis segment definitely made it to Lifetime. It was part of the 3/10/93 episode that featured the Blind River Rest Stop murders. I asked CM about Purvis and they indicated this was the only airdate they had for his story. So, I think that little "update" segment is all that exists.

Miller was mentioned twice on regular UM. The original update on 2/24/93; Plus a recap of solved Final Appeals that aired alongside the Michael Lloyd Self case on 5/19/93. I don't believe Miller's portions ever made it to Lifetime, but I'm not positive.

I believe some of the rarest cases ever aired on UM are their segments on the JonBenet Ramsey murder and the O.J. Simpson trial, neither of which I've seen. From what I heard, the Ramsey segment was pretty abbreviated and didn't do the case justice, and of course, the Simpson one looks pretty silly in retrospect, which is probably why it's never been aired much.
I have seen the Ramsey segment and yes it's pretty vague and was filmed very shortly after the murder, but then again it was the Farina version so it wasen't original or narrated well for that matter...

I really would love to see the original Boston Strangler segment, not the one that was put on the DVDs. It included an interview with another inmate and mentioned DeSalvo's call to his lawyer before he was murdered- classic UM material and I haven't seen it in years. Fingers crossed someone uploads it sometime.

I saw the Ramsey segment for the first time shortly before all the UM videos were removed from the forbidden site. It was very brief and poignant and very little information provided since the crime had taken place just before.

Another one I just thought of. http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Rufino_Castaneda

Haven't seen the segment since I was a kid, but it really scared me. The whole attack sequence (though mostly implied) was really terrifying.

Also haven't seen this one since around the time it aired:
http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Regina_and_Margaret_Defrancisco

Tony Miller was never featured on UM period. It was a segment for the "Final Appeal" spinoff aired on 10/9/92. Like most of the segments produced for FA, it never made syndication as part of the "Lifetime" package as they chose not to purchase those episodes with the exception of Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald which was purchased for one of the early nineties revamps.

The update however was aired several times on "Lifetime" in syndication and and as you referenced portions of the original segment were featured on the Farina revamp although like anything aired on those syndications it varied significantly from how the segments were originally broadcast.

They did show the entire segment on the Farina hosted episodes. I've seen the full thing, and it was one of the longer 20+ minute segments.

Love the Joe Owens case!!

The other day, for the very first time, I saw the James Vernon case. It's a Lost Love segment. In all my years of watching UM, I've never ever seen this one before. It looks like they put a lot of money into the re-enactment scenes. I'm not usually a fan of the Lost Love segments, but I liked this one.

I thought I had seen every segment but my mind was blown when FilmRise put the show on Amazon and I watched the Marlene Santana segment for the very first time.

I never remembered seeing it on Lifetime. I started watching in season 1 (when this segment aired) but I was very young and I had to pace myself watching episodes because I didn't want to have to deal with nightmares.

Somehow, I always missed it. Never saw it until 30 years after the original airing.

I have seen the Bo Tanner segment once in my life, and the quality was very poor. From what I remember, this was one of the more rare ones that never made it to the forbidden site.