Latest / Weird Darkness:True crime & The unexplained / Cases-With-The-Most-INSANE-Twists-You-ve-Ever-Heard (1)

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Cases-With-The-Most-INSANE-Twists-You-ve-Ever-Heard (1) · Weird Darkness:True crime & The unexplained

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: What is up, EWU Crew? Today, we are taking a
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: look at cases with unexpected and surprising twists. Some of
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: these cases are so unbelievable that you just may think
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  Speaker 1: they are from a movie script rather than real life,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: but each and every one of them is 100% true.
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  Speaker 1: Our first case is shocking and complicated with more twists
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  Speaker 1: than you will ever see coming. This is not your
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  Speaker 1: typical story of murder, It is more than just one tragedy,
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  Speaker 1: but many wrapped up together in an almost unbelievable way.
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  Speaker 1: As a teenager, Sharon Marshall appeared to have the whole
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  Speaker 1: world open to her. She was reportedly a Lieutenant Colonel
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  Speaker 1: in the ROTC and one of the best and brightest
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  Speaker 1: students in her class. An undeniably intelligent young woman with
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  Speaker 1: a kind heart to match. Upon graduating from high school
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  Speaker 1: in 1986 from Forest Park, Georgia, Sharon had earned a
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  Speaker 1: full-ride scholarship to the Georgia Institute of Technology with the
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  Speaker 1: plan to study aerospace engineering so that she could fulfill
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  Speaker 1: her dream of working at NASA. Despite this incredible opportunity,
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  Speaker 1: Sharon never went to college as she was harboring a secret.
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  Speaker 1: Sharon was pregnant during the final months of high school
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  Speaker 1: by her boyfriend, who she never told about the baby.
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  Speaker 1: Sharon hid her secret well, and she ended up giving
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  Speaker 1: birth and allowing a wealthy couple from Texas to adopt
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  Speaker 1: the baby boy. However, the pregnancy had shaken up her
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  Speaker 1: life plans, and at one point, she apparently even tried
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: unsuccessfully to run away with her boyfriend. After losing her
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  Speaker 1: chance to attend college, Sharon ended up moving to Tampa,
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  Speaker 1: Florida for a new start with a man named Franklin
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  Speaker 1: Delano Floyd. Despite having moved with Frank, Sharon started to
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  Speaker 1: date another man, and she was soon pregnant for a
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  Speaker 1: second time. She once again never told the baby's father
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  Speaker 1: about the pregnancy. This time, however, she chose to keep
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  Speaker 1: the child and raise it with Frank. Sharon gave birth
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  Speaker 1: to her son, Michael Gregory Marshall, in 1988. Frank and
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  Speaker 1: Sharon had a complicated relationship. It wasn't quite clear if
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  Speaker 1: it was romantic or not, but the two lived together
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  Speaker 1: and both provided for Sharon's son, Michael. Frank worked as
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  Speaker 1: a painter, but he frequently suffered from a bad back,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: and so he was rarely able to actually work. Because
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: of this, Sharon became an exotic dancer to provide for them,
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  Speaker 1: but they also began to rely on welfare checks to survive.
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  Speaker 1: Her coworkers thought of Sharon as kind and friendly, but
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  Speaker 1: she was especially close to an 18-year-old coworker named Cheryl Camesso.
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  Speaker 1: Despite the women's friendship, Frank and Cheryl were known to
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  Speaker 1: have frequent disagreements. though there were reports that the two
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  Speaker 1: of them may have been involved in a brief relationship.
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  Speaker 1: On a weekend in 1989, Frank, Sharon, and Cheryl went
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  Speaker 1: on a boating trip together where a fight broke out
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  Speaker 1: between Cheryl and Frank. Following the argument, Cheryl allegedly reported
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  Speaker 1: Sharon to social services for misrepresenting her true income as
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  Speaker 1: an exotic dancer. Sharon had been hiding some of the
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  Speaker 1: money she made to still get checks from the government.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: But Cheryl's call meant that Sharon no longer qualified for
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  Speaker 1: welfare aid. Enraged by Cheryl's actions, Frank went to the
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  Speaker 1: club where Sharon and Cheryl both worked and confronted her
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  Speaker 1: just outside the business. Witnesses reported that Frank actually punched
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  Speaker 1: Cheryl in the face during the altercation. Shortly after, Cheryl
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  Speaker 1: left her father's house to travel to stay with a
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  Speaker 1: friend But when she never called her dad to tell
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  Speaker 1: him that she had arrived safely, he reported her missing.
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  Speaker 1: Her abandoned Corvette was discovered at the airport and an
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  Speaker 1: investigation ensued to find the missing woman. Both Frank and
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  Speaker 1: Sharon were seen as persons of interest, but for years,
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  Speaker 1: no evidence ever arose to connect them to Cheryl's disappearance.
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  Speaker 1: The two quickly packed up and left the area, which
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  Speaker 1: only increased suspicion especially since they started using different names
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  Speaker 1: as they traveled. Frank and Sharon ended up getting married
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  Speaker 1: in 1989, and Frank claimed it was to give Sharon's
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  Speaker 1: son his family name to belong to, though the couple
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  Speaker 1: frequently went by different aliases. They ended up in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
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  Speaker 1: where Sharon was once again working as an exotic dancer.
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  Speaker 1: Sharon easily made friends everywhere the couple went, but no
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  Speaker 1: one seemed to like Frank as he was aggressive and unpleasant. Reportedly,
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  Speaker 1: Frank once again got into a fight with another dancer
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  Speaker 1: Sharon worked with. And when the woman yelled that Sharon
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  Speaker 1: should leave him, he responded, if she ever left me,
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  Speaker 1: I'd kill the- Little did Frank know, Sharon was making
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  Speaker 1: plans to leave him for a man she had met
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  Speaker 1: at the club where she worked. Allegedly, Sharon would have
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  Speaker 1: left Frank earlier, but she was afraid of what he
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  Speaker 1: would do to her or her son, Michael. Before she
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  Speaker 1: was ever able to leave though, Sharon was the victim
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  Speaker 1: of a sudden accident. She was found unconscious by a
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  Speaker 1: highway and it appeared as though she had been the
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  Speaker 1: victim of a hit and run. Frank claimed that he
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  Speaker 1: was asleep at the time of the accident. Though rushed
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  Speaker 1: to the hospital, Sharon never regained consciousness. Her friends from
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  Speaker 1: the club would come to visit her where she recovered,
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  Speaker 1: and many claimed that she was getting better, but Frank
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  Speaker 1: soon banned them from seeing her without explanation. Five days
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  Speaker 1: after the incident, Sharon died from her injuries, but many
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  Speaker 1: were suspicious of Frank's strange actions, especially since Sharon seemed
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  Speaker 1: to be recovering before suddenly dying. The doctor was also
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  Speaker 1: suspicious and based off of old bruises he noticed on
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  Speaker 1: her body, he classified her death as a homicide and
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  Speaker 1: even said that the head injury that killed Sharon may
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  Speaker 1: not have been caused by a vehicle. Though no one
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  Speaker 1: could prove that Frank had been the one to run
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  Speaker 1: over Sharon or that he had possibly killed her while
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: in the hospital, many came to that same conclusion especially
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  Speaker 1: when her coworkers had been the ones to pay for
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  Speaker 1: her headstone rather than Frank. Frank soon contacted life insurance
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  Speaker 1: companies to claim the $ 80, 000 policy he had taken out
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  Speaker 1: on Sharon only a few months prior to her death.
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  Speaker 1: The problem was that Frank frequently used aliases and so
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  Speaker 1: the social security numbers he provided never matched his name.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: After a few tries, he finally provided his real name,
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  Speaker 1: Frank Delano Floyd. It was then that all of Frank's
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  Speaker 1: lies began to unravel. It turned out that he had
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  Speaker 1: quite the criminal history. When Frank was 19 in 1962,
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  Speaker 1: he was convicted of abducting and assaulting a four-year-old girl,
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  Speaker 1: which resulted in him being sentenced to serve 10 to
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  Speaker 1: 20 years in prison. However, he escaped the mental hospital
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  Speaker 1: where he was first placed by stealing a vehicle. Frank's
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  Speaker 1: shocking story was only beginning as the day after his escape,
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  Speaker 1: he robbed a bank and was subsequently captured again. In 1972,
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  Speaker 1: Frank was released, but almost immediately, he tried to abduct
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  Speaker 1: a woman from a gas station and was once again arrested.
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  Speaker 1: This time, however, he paid his bail but skipped his
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  Speaker 1: court date. A federal warrant was issued for his arrest
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  Speaker 1: but he quickly vanished and began using fake names while
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  Speaker 1: on the run. That is, until he finally had to
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  Speaker 1: give his real full name to the life insurance company.
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  Speaker 1: Frank attempted to flee from authorities, but he was soon
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  Speaker 1: captured in Georgia and placed in prison to finish his sentence.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: For the friends of Sharon, they felt that Frank's arrest
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  Speaker 1: was a way to serve justice to her untimely death.
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  Speaker 1: During this time, Frank had reportedly given Michael to social
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  Speaker 1: services before he went on the run, and Michael was
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  Speaker 1: soon put into the foster care system where he was
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  Speaker 1: placed with a loving family. However, everyone was shocked by
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  Speaker 1: the little boy's behavior as he appeared to be nonverbal
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  Speaker 1: and would only scream and moan to communicate. Frank insisted
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  Speaker 1: he was Michael's father, and so the child was frequently
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  Speaker 1: brought to visit him while incarcerated. When Michael showed hesitance
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  Speaker 1: to visit Frank, a DNA test was eventually performed. Even
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  Speaker 1: though Frank initially resisted, it was discovered that despite what
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  Speaker 1: Frank said, Michael was not his biological child, and so
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  Speaker 1: the visits were stopped. But this shocking story doesn't end here,
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  Speaker 1: and it was far from over. When Frank was finally
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  Speaker 1: released from prison in September of 1994, After serving four years,
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  Speaker 1: he started stalking Michael and his foster parents in Oklahoma.
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  Speaker 1: He knew he would never be given custody of the child.
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  Speaker 1: and so he devised a plan to take him. On
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  Speaker 1: September 12th, 1994, Frank showed up at Michael's elementary school
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  Speaker 1: and demanded to see the principal, James Davis. When he
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  Speaker 1: wasn't allowed to take Michael, Frank pulled out a gun
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  Speaker 1: and threatened Davis. Michael was finally collected, all without alerting
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  Speaker 1: anyone at the school, and Frank forced the principal under
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  Speaker 1: gunpoint to take the two of them to an area
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  Speaker 1: a few miles from the school grounds. There, Frank tied
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  Speaker 1: Davis to a tree, leaving him unharmed and fled with
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  Speaker 1: Michael and Davis' truck. When the abduction was finally known,
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  Speaker 1: a frantic search began, but it would take two long
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  Speaker 1: months for anything to be discovered. Frank was found in Louisville,
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  Speaker 1: Kentucky and arrested, but there was no sign of Michael.
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  Speaker 1: Even after extensive searches, there was no trace of what
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  Speaker 1: had happened to the little boy, and Frank refused to
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  Speaker 1: tell anyone. Talking about Michael to the police, Frank stated,
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  Speaker 1: it's none of your business where he is, nor do
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  Speaker 1: I care how much any of you in Oklahoma miss
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  Speaker 1: him or love him. The first of many twists was
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  Speaker 1: revealed during Frank's trial for kidnapping Michael. In 1995, skeletal
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  Speaker 1: remains were found covered in vines in Pinellas County, Florida.
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  Speaker 1: The remains weren't immediately identified, but an investigation determined that
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  Speaker 1: the victim had died from a beating and two gunshot
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  Speaker 1: wounds to the head. Later that year, a mechanic in
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  Speaker 1: Kansas purchased a truck at an auction. and inside he
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  Speaker 1: found a large envelope filled with 97 photographs depicting a
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  Speaker 1: woman who had been beaten and bound. The truck had
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  Speaker 1: once been in the possession of Frank Floyd, who had
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  Speaker 1: stolen it while he was passing through the area in 1994,
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  Speaker 1: before eventually abandoning it. The photos were compared to the
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  Speaker 1: unidentified remains, and a wound to the photographed woman's cheekbone
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  Speaker 1: matched one on the recovered skull. The skeleton was soon
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  Speaker 1: named as belonging to Cheryl Camesso. Frank was convicted for
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  Speaker 1: kidnapping Michael, who still hadn't been found, but was classified
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  Speaker 1: as missing. And he was consequently sentenced to 52 years
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  Speaker 1: in prison. He then went on trial for the murder
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  Speaker 1: of Cheryl Camesso, where he was found guilty and sentenced
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  Speaker 1: to the death penalty. but the photos uncovered in the
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  Speaker 1: truck revealed something else even more shocking, bringing to light
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  Speaker 1: another twist in this case. The pictures also showed Frank
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  Speaker 1: assaulting a young girl, but these images were much older
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  Speaker 1: than the ones of Cheryl. A search began to find
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  Speaker 1: the identity of the girl. This is where the case
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  Speaker 1: took an alarming turn. It wasn't until 2014 that Sharon's
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  Speaker 1: true identity was officially uncovered. To find the truth about
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  Speaker 1: Sharon and the pictures, we have to go back. After
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  Speaker 1: being released from prison and while he was on the
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  Speaker 1: run for attempted abduction, Frank got married in the mid-1970s
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  Speaker 1: to Sandy Chipman. At the time, he had used the
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  Speaker 1: alias Brandon Williams, and so Sandy hadn't known who he
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  Speaker 1: really was. The marriage was far from romantic, especially as
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  Speaker 1: it had begun with them tying the knot at a
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  Speaker 1: truck stop. Sandy had four kids at the time and
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  Speaker 1: she herself didn't have the cleanest record. She left her
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  Speaker 1: kids in Frank's care when she had to spend 30
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  Speaker 1: days in jail after being caught passing bad checks. When
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  Speaker 1: Sandy was finally released from prison, she found that her
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  Speaker 1: house was empty and her children gone. It appeared that
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  Speaker 1: Frank had taken them and moved. It took Sandy years
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  Speaker 1: to figure out where her children had ended up. but
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: she eventually found two of her daughters, Alison and Amy,
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  Speaker 1: living with a social services group. Despite this, Sandy couldn't
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: locate her oldest daughter, Suzanne, or her son, Phillip. Her
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  Speaker 1: son was eventually found when as a grown man, Phillip
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  Speaker 1: came forward and had a DNA test to reveal that
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  Speaker 1: they were related. Frank had put him up for adoption,
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  Speaker 1: but what happened to Sandy's oldest daughter is even more shocking.
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  Speaker 1: Sharon Marshall's real name was Suzanne Marie Savarkas, and she
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  Speaker 1: was the daughter of Sandy Chipman. In a truly alarming twist,
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  Speaker 1: Frank had taken Sandy's children and split them up over
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  Speaker 1: different social services groups, but raised Suzanne as his own daughter.
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  Speaker 1: Frank and Suzanne moved frequently and across several different states.
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  Speaker 1: Frank told many different stories to those around him about
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  Speaker 1: how he had come to care for the young girl.
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  Speaker 1: But in most, he claimed to have rescued her when
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: she was abandoned by her parents. At this time, he
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: was calling her by the alias of Tanya Hughes. Yet
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: by the time that the young girl graduated from high school,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: she was going by the name of Sharon Marshall. It
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: turns out that Sharon was kidnapped as a child by Frank,
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  Speaker 1: her own stepfather, who raised her, frequently assaulted her, later
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  Speaker 1: married her when she was an adult, possibly killed her,
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  Speaker 1: and then kidnapped her child after she died. It was
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  Speaker 1: a twist that investigators found too unbelievable to be real,
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  Speaker 1: and yet it was true. Also revealed in 2014 was
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  Speaker 1: that after almost 20 years of lies, Frank finally admitted
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  Speaker 1: to what many had suspected by this time, that he
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: had murdered Michael by shooting him while on the run.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: He had hidden his body along Interstate 35, but an
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  Speaker 1: intensive search didn't reveal anything. It was later concluded that
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Michael's body may have been eaten by wild hogs in
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: the area. Frank Floyd was never found guilty of Sharon's murder,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: though popular consensus believes he is also guilty of this crime.
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  Speaker 1: To this day, he refuses to talk about Sharon's death.
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  Speaker 1: Frank is still awaiting his penalty for Cheryl's murder on
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: death row. Our next case is no less shocking or tragic.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: On August 24th, 1980, Gregory Villemin was born to his parents,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Jean-Marie and Christine Villemin. The family lived in La Panche-sur-Vallon
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  Speaker 1: in Eastern France, where Jean-Marie worked as a factory foreman
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: after being promoted. The couple had just moved into a
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: newly built home soon before welcoming their bright baby boy.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: By all accounts, the family was happy and successful. But
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: then things took a startling turn. The Villemont family began
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: receiving anonymous threatening letters and phone calls promising revenge against Jean-Marie.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: The letters and calls never specified what the sender wanted
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: revenge for, only that they were seeking it. Over four years,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: the threats continued and expanded to include Jean-Marie's parents as well.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Then on October 16th, 1984, while playing in the garden,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: four-year-old Gregory disappeared. Christine quickly noticed that her son wasn't
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: on the front yard anymore and called the police. As
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: the police began their search, Christine drove around the nearby
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: small village in a panic. No trace of the four-year-old
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: could be found. As the search continued, Gregory's uncle received
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: an anonymous phone call that stated, I've kidnapped the boy.
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  Speaker 1: I've strangled him and I've thrown him in the river Vaillant.
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  Speaker 1: I have my revenge. The next day, before anything could
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: be further explored, Jean-Marie found a letter that appeared to
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: be posted to them at the time Gregory was taken.
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  Speaker 1: It read, I hope you die of grief, boss. Your
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: money won't bring back your son. Here's my revenge, you...
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: Gregory's body was found later that day near Dossel in
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: the Bayonne River, only seven kilometers from his home. He
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: had been drowned with his hands and feet bound and
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: his wool hat pulled over his face. His family was
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: absolutely devastated. The case of Gregory's murder, which horrified the
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: French public, became known as the Affair de Gregory The
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: killer was soon referred to as Le Carbeau or The Crow,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: based off of a famous French film that had a
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: similar theme to the threatening notes the family had received.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: After intense investigation, police had a suspect narrowed down by
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: handwriting experts who analyzed the ominous letters and a key
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: witness statement. In 1985, Bernard Laroche, Jean-Marie's cousin, was arrested
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: and questioned based on a statement from his 15-year-old sister-in-law.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: But Laroche denied being the crow, and soon his sister-in-law
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: took back her statement, saying that it had been coerced.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: Even though Laroche was eventually cleared and freed, Jean-Marie stood
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: in front of reporters and made a vow that he
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: believed Laroche was guilty of murdering his son and that
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: he would kill him But the case took another shocking
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: twist on March 25th, 1985, when the handwriting experts determined
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: that Gregory's own mother, Christine, may have written the threatening letters.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: Only four days later, Jean-Marie went to La Roche's work,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: determined to avenge the death of his son and not
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: believing that his wife was guilty. There he shot and
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: killed his own cousin, as he was leaving the building.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Jean-Marie was convicted of murder and sentenced to five years
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: in prison. In July of the same year, Christine was
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: charged with the murder of their son. She was pregnant
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: with twins at the time, but went on a hunger
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: strike to protest her innocence. For 11 days, she refused
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: to eat and she was eventually freed after an appeal
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: found that she had been convicted with flimsy evidence and
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: no real motive. However, Christine's tragedy wasn't over yet. As
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: she was released, she collapsed and reportedly miscarried one of
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: her babies. She wasn't officially cleared of all charges until
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: 1993 and Jean-Marie was released from prison after serving only
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: two and a half years in 1987. After so much turmoil,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: the Villemont family was still no closer to knowing who
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: had killed Gregory For decades after Gregory's death, the case
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: continued to haunt France and was reopened and reexamined with
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: tests done to the letters the rope used to bind
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: him and DNA testing on Gregory's clothing and the saliva
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: on the stamps used to post the letters. But it
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: was no use. All was found to be inconclusive. In 2017,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: the case was once again reopened. And this time there
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: was new evidence which resulted in three arrests. Once again,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: shocking France. Gregory's great aunt, great uncle, and his aunt
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: were taken in for questioning, along with others, including more
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: family members. The aunt was eventually released, but the great
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: aunt and great uncle refused to speak to police at all.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: None were convicted. A different tragedy soon struck when the magistrate,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Jean-Michel Lambert, who was in charge of the first investigation,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: took his own life because of the pressure and criticism
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: he faced with the case still being unsolved 33 years
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: after Gregory's death. The why of Gregory's death has never
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: been answered, but some cite jealousy within the Villemont family
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: as a possible cause, and others suggest that the fact
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: that the letters called Jean-Marie Boss could mean it had
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: to do with his work Either way, no real evidence
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: or suspect has been found, but almost everyone in the
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Villemont family has been under suspicion at some point. In
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: December of 2020, the case was once again reopened, but
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: this time police are determined to uncover the real identity
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: of the Crow once and for all. New interviews have
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: been conducted and police are relying on a brand new
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: technology called stylometrics, which looks at the style, syntax, punctuation,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: and turns a phrase used in the threatening letters to
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: identify the killer. A new suspect has been identified, but
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: so far has not yet been named. It appears that
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: the murder of Gregory Villemin may soon be solved. Our
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: next case is not a normal missing persons case and
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: has a twist that seems too surprising to possibly be true.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: and yet it is. Nicholas Barclay was born December 31st, 1980,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: as the youngest to two older siblings. He had a
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: rather normal childhood in San Antonio, Texas, but as a preteen,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: he started to develop a reputation as a troubled kid.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Nicholas was known to have a history of fighting physically
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: and verbally with his mother, skipping school, threatening his teachers,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: stealing shoes, and even breaking into a convenience store. By
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: only 13, Nicholas had a juvenile criminal record for his
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: antics and allegedly three tattoos that his friends had given
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: him with an unsterilized needle. At some point, Nicholas was
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. His mother was reportedly so
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: exasperated with his demanding supervision that she asked her older son, Jason,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: to come and live with her to aid in the
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: young boy's caretaking. On June 13th, 1994, Nicholas called home
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: looking for someone to pick him up after playing basketball
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: in his neighborhood. His older brother, Jason, answered the phone,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: but refused to wake up their mother who had been
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: working late nights and instead told Nicholas to walk home,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: but he never arrived. Unfortunately, with Nicholas's reputation, Few believed
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: something was wrong when the 13 year old couldn't be found.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Most were inclined to believe he had run away and
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: he would return at some point soon. This theory was
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: given credence by the fact that the day after he vanished,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: he had a court hearing to decide if he would
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: be sent to a rehabilitation center. But still, after not
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: returning for longer than normal and with his mother's pleading,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: an investigation to find Nicholas was finally started. For months,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: there was no sign of him. The only clue was
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: three months after Nicholas's disappearance when Jason called the police
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: to say that he could hear his younger brother breaking
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: into their garage. Yet when police arrived, there was no
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: evidence of forced entry nor any sign of Nicholas, but
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: they couldn't understand why Jason would lie about such a thing.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: After years passed, the Barclay family started to come to
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: terms with the fact that they may never see Nicholas again.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: That is, until this case took a surprising and unusual turn.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Few missing children's cases end in the child being found,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: and yet, in 1997, three years after he went missing,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: the Barclay family was told that Nicholas had been found
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: alive and safe. Despite this joyous news, there was something
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: rather strange about the phone call. Nicholas was said to
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: have been found in Lanari, Spain after having been taken
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: by a child trafficking ring that had moved him all
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: the way to Europe. After years of being held captive,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Nicholas had managed to escape. The police told the Barclays
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: that Nicholas had been forced to speak only French for
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: the three years he was gone and had been hurt
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: during his time away from them. Carrie, Nicholas's older sister,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: flew to Spain to identify and retrieve her missing brother.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Things did not go as planned though, as Nicholas appeared
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: afraid of his sister, especially the fact that she might
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: not recognize him and force him to remain in Spain.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: When he finally allowed Carrie to come and see him,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: he kept a baseball hat and sunglasses on, yet Carrie
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: said that she knew he was her brother. The two
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: spent some time together to get reacquainted, as Nicholas claimed
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: that he had very little recollection of his life before
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: being taken, as his mind had blocked it out as
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: an emotional response. When Carrie showed him family photos, Nicholas
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: appeared to remember certain things and people, such as asking
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: her if Grandpa was still in. Before he was allowed
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: to return home with Carrie, though, Nicholas had to pass
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: a test where the police showed him family photos that
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Carrie hadn't gone over with him and he had to
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: correctly identify the people in them. Nicholas only made one
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: small mistake, and so he was allowed to return home
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: to Texas with Carrie. Even though the Barclays were delighted
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: to finally have Nicholas back, there were a few things
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: that they couldn't ignore, one being the most obvious, which
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: was the fact that their brother had been blonde with
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: blue eyes when he was taken, but the boy who
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: came back from Spain had dark hair and brown eyes.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: Nicolas had an extraordinary explanation for his change in appearance.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: He said that to keep his identity a secret, the
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: people who had taken him had performed experiments to change
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: his hair and eye color so that no one would
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: recognize him as Nicolas. He also spoke with a heavy
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: French accent, but this was explained away with his story
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: of being forced to only speak French for the three years.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: The family was so relieved to finally have Nicholas home
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: that they actively ignored some of the things authorities raised
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: concerns about and even told investigators to close the case.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: A film crew heard about the amazing story and asked
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: to follow the Barclays around to document how Nicholas was
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: adjusting to returning to his family. They agreed and that
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: was when everything started to fall apart. A local private
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: detective was working with the crew and became increasingly suspicious
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: of the French-speaking, dark-haired Nicholas. He began his own investigation
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: and took a picture of Nicholas's ears to compare to
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: earlier photos. He found that they didn't match, and his
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: ears don't age or change. He took his concerns to
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: the authorities. By February of 1998, after Nicholas was back
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: living with the Barclays for five months, the FBI became
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: involved when they obtained a court order to investigate. When
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Nicholas's fingerprints and DNA were taken, it was determined that
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: the man the Barclays believed to be their Nicholas was
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: actually a 23-year-old Frenchman named Frédéric Pierre Bourdon. Frédéric was
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: a notorious con artist with over 500 different identities and
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: the nickname, the Chameleon. Despite this shocking revelation, the Barclays
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: refused to believe that Frédéric wasn't Nicholas. Even when in court,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Frédéric admitted to being an imposter and pleaded guilty to
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: passport fraud and perjury. He was imprisoned for six years.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: Questions swirled around this revelation. Where was the real Nicholas?
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: How had the Barclays been fooled? And why did Frederic
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: do it? Though this case is utterly shocking, the imposter
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: is not the only twist. Investigators were concerned by the
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Barclays' behavior during the entire incident and their willful acceptance
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: of Frederic. Frederic himself later weighed into the controversy, saying
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: that even he couldn't believe that the Barclays accepted him
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: so easily, rousing even more suspicion of the family. Frederic
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: even claimed that the Barclays knew he wasn't Nicholas, but
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: that they had all pretended and played along with his scheme.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: And he couldn't understand why. He reported that when he
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: met Carrie, she had fed him knowledge about the family,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: telling him who everyone was, and what to remember. She
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: had allegedly helped him pass the police's test before being
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: allowed to go to the US. Frederic also said that
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Jason had never accepted him, nor pretended to. In fact,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: all he had said to Frederic upon meeting him was,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: good luck. The phone call Jason had made three months
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: after Nicholas disappeared suddenly became a clue. His police said
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: that those types of calls aren't unusual when someone has
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: been murdered. as the murderer often attempts to make it
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: seem like the victim may still be alive after killing them.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: And this is exactly what the private investigator and Frederic
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: believe happened. He believes that the family accepted him so
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: willingly because they had killed Nicholas, or Jason had, and
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: were more than happy to cover it up by claiming
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: he was the real Nicholas. Before Jason could be investigated,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: he died from a drug overdose. It is reported that
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: he had long been battling a cocaine addiction. No other
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: evidence appeared and the case went cold. Frederic finished his
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: jail sentence and went on continuing to steal identities across Europe.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: Nicolas has still never been found, but his story has
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: inspired the popular Netflix documentary, The Imposter.