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Private Notes
Mafia chieftain John Gotti's family speaks candidly about life inside the mob. Troy Roberts reports.
The story of bank manager Michelle Renee and her daughter, who, in 2000, were kidnapped, taped with explosives and forced to rob the bank she managed.
It is a case that has captivated the country.
In the summer of 2008, Orlando, Fla. toddler Caylee Anthony disappeared, only to be discovered six months later a short distance from her home, her skeletal remains stuffed in plastic bags and her mouth sealed with duct tape. Her mother, Casey Anthony, was charged with the horrific crime after not reporting her daughter missing for a month, and allegedly lying to police.
As Casey, now 23, faces a murder trial and the possibility of the death penalty, her parents, Cindy and George Anthony, are standing by their daughter as they search for the truth.
And, for the first time, three of Casey's defense lawyers discuss the case in an exclusive interview with CBS News' "The Early Show" anchor Maggie Rodriguez.
For seven years Hailey Sisco and her brother, Dustin, have been haunted by the brutal killing of their father Mike Sisco, and his fiancée, Karen Harkness. Even more troubling for the siblings is that no arrests have ever been made and the case remains unsolved. But Hailey believes she knows who was responsible and is determined to prove the unthinkable.
Karen and Mike were both divorced with kids of their own when they met, but the couple was undoubtedly a perfect match. They had been dating for about four years when, in July of 2002, they were gunned down while in bed at Karen's Topeka, Kan., home. Both suffered multiple gunshot wounds but no one heard a thing.
While Mike and Karen were well-liked and respected with seemingly no enemies, police believed it was a carefully planned murder - one that left them with no concrete clues. There was no forced entry, nothing stolen, and no signs of a struggle.
Ever since, Hailey has been relentless in her quest to prove what she believes to be the heartbreaking truth and bring her father's killer to justice. Now, "48 Hours Mystery" brings in private investigators, Paul Ciolino, of Chicago, and Joe Moura, of Boston, to examine the case and the bizarre twist to the murders that some people claim, was there all along.
Correspondent Harold Dow reports.
An investigation is held to determine whether a mother who had visions that she would die just before she had drowned was a suicide or a murder.
The last time anyone saw Hugues de la Plaza alive, he was saying goodbye to friends at a San Francisco club after celebrating a recent promotion, in the summer of 2007. The next morning, police found de la Plaza dead in his apartment - stabbed in the neck, chest and stomach. Two years later, family and friends remain consumed by a fight to find the truth.
It was the start of a murder mystery that had it all: sex, lies, greed, a savage crime and a beautiful showgirl.
That showgirl, Marjorie Orbin, is now in Phoenix, Arizona's Estrella Jail, charged with the brutal murder of her husband, Jay Orbin.
"On Oct. 23, 2004, a man - a transient living in the desert - came across a container wrapped in heavy black plastic. He decides to open the container. He sees the torso of a body," Det. Dave Barnes of the Phoenix Police Department explained. "All of the insides, all of the internal organs, intestines were missing… I thought, 'Who could do this to human being? Cut off his arms, his legs, his head?'"
Prison stripes are a far cry from the diamonds and furs Marjorie was accustomed to.
In a "48 Hours" exclusive - six months of Marjorie's video diaries from jail and unprecedented access to a woman facing the possibility of death row.
In May 2005, Michael Golub left work to pick up his young son, Mikey, at the home of his ex-girlfriend Shannon and was never seen again. The 27-year-old's disappearance mystified the residents of his hometown, Johnson City, Kan. - a small community of 1,400 people, where everyone knows each other and each other's business.
Golub's family says he would never have given up his son for any price, and there is no doubt in their mind that he was murdered. Yet one piece of important evidence has always been missing: Michael Golub's body has never been found.
Now, "48 Hours Mystery" has brought in two private investigators to examine the evidence and uncover what they think happened to Michael on that summer evening. They reveal new facts about the case and new theories as to what happened to Michael Golub, and why.
Did Golub suddenly leave town to make a new life for himself? Or was he brutally murdered? And if so, would his family ever get justice? It would take two trials to get even close to an answer.
Correspondent Susan Spencer reports.
It's a mind-boggling story, one that sounds more like a bad movie than reality. But it happened. In the two decades after World War II, 10,000 English children were sent to Australia, reports 60 Minutes II Correspondent Bob Simon. Many were mistreated and abused. All were lied to.
Eighteen years ago, CBS News correspondent Erin Moriarty began reporting on what she says would turn out to be "the most horrific crime story I've ever encountered." In December 1991, four teenage girls were found murdered in an Austin, Texas yogurt shop. In a crime scene described by the lead detective as "wholesale carnage," the girls had been tied up, stripped down - at least one was raped - shot in the head and their naked bodies were stacked in a corner then set on fire.
In the weeks after the murders authorities received countless tips, many false confessions and even interrogated teenagers Maurice Pierce, Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen and Forrest Welborn after Pierce was caught with a gun at a local mall shortly after the crime. With no solid evidence they were let go.
Weeks became months and months turned into years with no developments in the investigation, until 1999, when the new detectives on the case made the stunning announcement that they made four arrests. More shocking was the news that it was the same four teenagers - now in their twenties - who police had spoken with eight years earlier. After being questioned by police this time, Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen confessed to the murders. Unable to crack Forrest Welborn, who claimed he didn't know anything about the crime, and with no evidence against Maurice Pierce, the charges against the two were dropped. Scott and Springsteen each stood trial for murder. Both were convicted with Springsteen condemned to death row and Scott sentenced to life in prison. But this case, full of unexpected twists, was far from over.
It's been more than a decade since gambling tycoon Ted Binion was found dead in his Las Vegas home, but the questions still remain: how did he die, and where is all his money?
Vegas headliner Wayne Newton, who knew Ted, tells "48 Hours Mystery" correspondent Peter Van Sant that while he believes Ted's destructive lifestyle contributed to his death, "someone got away with murder."
When Theresa Parker unexpectedly disappeared in March 2007, the small town of LaFayette, Ga., was shocked. So beloved was the 911 dispatcher that hundreds of people came out to search nearly 175 square miles of land for her.
Theresa, who loved helping others, was adored by family and friends including her police officer husband, Sam Parker. The couple, who married in 1993, seemed a perfect match.
But after 13 years of marriage the two decided to split and Theresa found her own place. One night after visiting her sister, Theresa left to go home, but was never heard from again.
Police found her car at the couple's home, but there was no sign of Theresa and no obvious signs of foul play. Investigators' extensive search of the heavy terrain around the home would not turn up a body, but as they turned their focus to her husband Sam, the probe would soon expose his dark side and Theresa's deadly secret.
Tracy Smith reports.
In November 1994, the body of 33-year-old Farah Fratta was discovered in the garage of her Humble, Texas home. The mother of three had been shot twice in the head.
At the time of her death, Farah was in the midst of a divorce. To the outside world, Bob Fratta was an upstanding citizen, who worked in public safety as both a police officer and a fireman. But divorce documents were about to make his dark side public, revealing his strange sexual requests that not only embarrassed Farah, but also sickened her.
Bob Fratta seemed the likeliest suspect in his wife's murder. A few months before her death, Farah called 911 in a panic. A masked man had broken into her home through a window and attacked her. Farah suspected the intruder was a friend of her husband and authorities believed her, but had no concrete evidence. Now, in the wake of her death, investigators were sure of Bob's involvement again, but his alibi was hard to beat: Bob was at church with their three children as his wife was being murdered.
Investigators worked tirelessly to build their case against Bob and four months later they got an unexpected break. Tracing Bob's phone records from the night of Farah's murder led them to a mysterious woman who held all the answers to the case.
Even more shocking than what she knew, was her startling admission: she could've prevented Farah Fratta's murder.
Correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports.
For family and friends of Michele Harris, the last 8 1/2 years have been a blur of investigations, trials and jury deliberations.
To the outside world, Michele and her husband, Calvin Harris, had a perfect life - they were young, attractive and successful with a beautiful family and a home in a picturesque upstate New York town. But Michele's disappearance in the early morning hours of Sept. 12, 2001, revealed a much darker story. With much of New York State Police and canine forces diverted to New York City in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, local investigators were slowed by the limited resources available to them. Was this the perfect time for murder?
Michele's disappearance remained shrouded in mystery until state police discovered tiny drops of blood in the Harris home. After four years, with no body or murder weapon, investigators felt they had enough circumstantial evidence and arrested Calvin Harris for Michele's murder. In May 2007, the case went to trial and Harris was convicted of second-degree murder. As he awaited sentencing, a new witness emerged. Harris' conviction was overturned and a new trial was set for 2009.
In the end, a second trial would reach the same guilty verdict, but as Calvin Harris continues to maintain his innocence, he is now fighting for a third trial. Meanwhile authorities have not given up the search for Michele's body.
"48 Hours Mystery" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports.
In March 1999, Karen Tipton, a mother of two and the wife of psychiatrist Dr. David Tipton, was found stabbed 28 times in her Decatur, Ala., home. It is a case that has left many victims in its wake - two children forced to grow up without their mother, a husband who mourns his wife, a mother who stands by her son in his fight for freedom, and Daniel Wade Moore, whose life has hung in the balance of an unprecedented legal battle.
Moore, then a drug user, was only 24 when he was arrested for Tipton's murder after confessing to his uncle that he was at the scene of the crime. In a move that further convinced authorities of his guilt, Moore stabbed himself with a penknife during a break in police questioning.
Moore, however, says that he is not guilty, explaining that his confession was false, spurred on by his simple desire to fabricate a story so horrific that his family would leave him alone and he could return to his drug lifestyle. Investigators found this explanation hard to believe and despite questionable physical evidence, a jury agreed. Moore was sentenced to death for the murder of Karen Tipton. But this case was far from over.
Erin Moriarty reports.
At 35, Damien Echols has spent his entire adult life on death row in an Arkansas prison alongside Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, who are both serving life sentences. The trio, all convicted of a triple murder, are known as the West Memphis 3, and they have gained widespread support from musicians including Dixie Chick Natalie Maines and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, and actor Johnny Depp, who are determined to prove the men's innocence.
"They were easy targets... Every single piece of evidence points to their innocence, not to their guilt," says Depp in an interview with 48 HOURS MYSTERY correspondent Erin Moriarty. "People need to stand up and say, yeah, it's time to find the real killers. Let's find justice."
Erin Moriarty reports on 48 HOURS MYSTERY.
Lancaster County, Pa., known for its Amish heritage and peaceful lifestyle, is home to the quiet town of Denver. But on July 22, 2008, the small town was rocked when Michael Roseboro placed an emergency call to 911, saying he found the body of his wife, Jan, at the bottom of their swimming pool. Less than an hour later, Jan Roseboro-mother of four-was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The Roseboros were well known and respected in their community, where Michael ran his family's century-old funeral home and Jan was a stay-at-home mom. So idyllic was the couple's life together that friends joked that they were like Ken and Barbie. Everyone was sure her death was an accidental drowning, except for the fact - as investigators put it - adults who know how to swim typically do not drown in their own swimming pools.
Did Michael Roseboro kill his wife to be with his mistress of only a few weeks? Or, did police, with little evidence to go on, rush to judgment, as Michael Roseboro's family claims? And does Angela Funk know more than she is telling, as prosecutors believe?
Harold Dow reports on 48 HOURS MYSTERY.
More than 17 years have passed since Scott County, Mo., Deputy Sheriff Rick Walter pulled over on a desolate strip of highway in Benton, Mo., to examine what he thought was an abandoned car. Instead, he discovered the body of 19-year-old Angela Mischelle Lawless. Based on the blood evidence, investigators believed Mischelle, who may have been running for her life, was brutally beaten and then placed back in her car, where she was shot three times.
As Walter was working the crime scene, a local man reported that he had seen the young woman in her car, and also told investigators that he saw a white car driving near the crime scene. At the same time, authorities immediately looked at Lawless' boyfriend, but could find nothing to tie him to the crime, and he passed a polygraph. Weeks went by with few leads, until four months later investigators got a break.
As Sheriff Walter tells "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty, "Everyone is scared about this case."
Laura Hall was like any other college student. She was living in Austin, Texas, whre she attended the University of Texas, dating the guy of her dreams, business student Colton Pitonyak, and planning to go to law school.
But on the morning of Aug. 17, 2005, Hall entered into a nightmare when she found a young woman's dead body in the bathtub in Pitonyak's apartment. It was 21-year-old Jennifer Cave, a friend of Pitonyak's.
Within days of the murder, authorities nabbed Pitonyak and Hall in Mexico. But while Hall claimed that she went to Mexico against her will, police believed she was helping Pitonyak escape and charged her with hindering apprehension. Even worse, Cave's body had been severely mutilated, stabbed dozens of times and dismembered. At his trial, Pitonyak stunned everyone when he testified that it was, in fact, Hall who dismembered her.
Correspondent Maureen Maher updates the case on an all-new "48 Hours Mystery".
A teenager's mother is killed a year after the teen's father.
In August of 2003, 19-year-old Kaysi McLeod had a fight with her mother, ran out of their Colorado home, and took off down the road on her bicycle.
At first, her divorced parents, Rob and Lori, didn't worry too much - Kaysi had run away before. And, like many teens, she had a rebellious streak and was once involved in drugs. But Kaysi had also recently put her life back together, so when she didn't show up for work a few days later, panic set in.
Lori's new boyfriend, Scott Kimball worked for the FBI, and assured everyone he could help find her, but weeks, then months, then finally years passed, without a trace.
That story was eerily familiar to two other fathers, Bob Marcum and Howard Emry. Their daughters, 25-year-old Jennifer Marcum and 24-year-old LeAnn Emry, had also gone missing from the Denver area in 2003. LeAnn's car had been abandoned in Utah, Jennifer's had been left at the Denver airport. Yet, when each father went to the authorities for help, they were turned away. And since no one was investigating, none of the three families learned about each other's plight for years.
The twists and turns in the three maddening cases would be the ultimate test of the families' love and determination. The cases would also challenge the intelligence and skill of two investigators - one, a local cop, the other, a seasoned FBI agent - who were brought together by chance to unlock the mystery.
Along the way, a menacing killer with the chilling nickname of "Hannibal" would be revealed. His identity would shock everyone - most of all the FBI - and ultimately be the key to solving the cases and bringing justice to three heartbroken families.
Harold Dow reports on "48 Hours Mystery: "Hannibal Unmasked".
Two years after his wife's death, Dr. Kirk Turner sat in a North Carolina courtroom, watching prosecutors lay out their murder case against him. He does admit killing his wife, but claims it was self defense.
While Kirk is adamant that it was self defense, investigators and prosecutors say the evidence showed otherwise. They believe that Kirk planned to kill his wife that day, and that he even went so far as to cover it up by stabbing himself with the spear.
But what would a jury think? Was Kirk Turner protecting himself, or was his wife's death premeditated?
Correspondent Peter Van Sant reports on "48 Hours Mystery: "A Killer Defense".
In March 1999, Shelley Tyre, the principal at the prestigious Thayer Academy just outside Boston, and her husband, David Swain, a single father and owner of a dive shop in Jamestown, Rhode Island, took a vacation to the Island of Tortola in the Caribbean. The two had met through their shared passion for adventure and this was their dream vacation - sun, sailing and scuba diving. But it would turn out to be Shelley's last. On the final dive of their trip, Shelley and David went into the water together, but only David returned to the surface. Something had gone mysteriously wrong that day and now Shelley was dead.
David Swain couldn't explain what happened to Shelley during the fatal dive. He admitted the two had split up underwater, forgoing the standard safety rule of using the buddy system. Did she suffer a heart attack or a stroke? Or was it panic? While Tortola authorities ruled Shelley's death an accident, her parents had their doubts, especially after David began showing a bizarre lack of remorse in the wake of her death. David's two children adamantly defend their father and say that he and they loved Shelley and that he could never have killed her.
Was Shelley merely the victim of a mysterious accident and David the victim of a past trauma that left him emotionally unable to appropriately cope with her death? Or, did David's violent past ultimately lead him to commit murder?
David Swain and his children speak for the first time since he was charged with murder in Troy Roberts' report on "48 Hours Mystery: "Shelley's Last Breath".
It's hard to say what's most horrifying about Jeff Wright's death - the fact that his wife Susan did it, that she stabbed him 193 times, or her claim that it was self-defense. Susan Wright has spent the last six years in a Texas penitentiary reflecting on the bloody end to her marriage and longing to see her children.
"There was so much left out of the first trial," says Wright, in an exclusive interview with "48 Hours Mystery." "I wish that my attorneys would have worked a little harder... I left my life in their hands and I trusted them."
During the sometimes theatrical 2004 trial, prosecutors went so far as to bring the couple's bed into court in order to paint Susan Wright, a former exotic dancer, as a cold-blooded killer who lured her husband to bed, tied him up, then brutally murdered him and dumped the body in a hole that he himself had dug for a home improvement project.
Richard Schlesinger reports for "48 Hours Mystery: "Betting Her Life".
The family of Sherri Rae Rasmussen, who was 29 when she was murdered in 1986, is calling for a probe into the Los Angeles Police Department's original investigation, which left the case unsolved for over two decades.
Rasmussen, the director of critical care nursing at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, was discovered in her Van Nuys condominium badly beaten and shot to death at point-blank range.
In an exclusive interview, Sherri's father, Nels, details how he tried repeatedly to get detectives to investigate his son-in-law's ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Lazarus, who friends and family say Sherri complained was stalking her. "To me it would border on harassment," says Nels, who accuses authorities of ignoring their pleas about Lazarus.
"The first weeks, the first five days I mentioned it so many times that he kind of lost his cool with me, saying that there was no need to go there," says Nels about the lead detective. And the family's attorney, John Taylor, calls the 1986 investigation, "sloppy, negligent, inept and incompetent."
Lazarus had ascended to a high-profile position in the commercial crimes unit. "In doing those kind of investigations... it gets a lot of press, a lot of attention," says Blankstein. "If the police and prosecutors are to be believed, she's harboring a secret about murder for 23 years."
Maureen Maher reports for "48 Hours Mystery: "One Of Their Own".
