Latest / FBI Files / He Joined the Search for a Missing Church Bookkeeper. He Had Killed Her.

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He Joined the Search for a Missing Church Bookkeeper. He Had Killed Her. · FBI Files

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: A Tennessee community is shocked when a beloved elderly woman vanishes.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: As investigators search, the mystery of her disappearance deepens. The
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: truth begins to emerge, but slowly and in unexpected directions.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: As police and the FBI try to help a troubled
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: small town find their dear friend.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: In 1992, a woman disappeared from her Memphis home. When
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: the ransom went uncollected, the FBI suspected a desperate amateur
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: and feared the worst. I'm Jim Kallstrom, former head of
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: the FBI's New York office. As the search for the
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: woman progressed, investigators uncovered a web of lies and false
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: accusations designed to hide the real perpetrator.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Memphis, Tennessee. On August 7th, 1992, 25 miles outside the
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: city in the small town of Eads, successful land developer
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Alan Roberts arrived home from work. As usual, his wife's
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: car was in the driveway, but he was surprised to
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: find the mail there.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: Doe?
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: His wife, Doe Roberts, usually left a note when she
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: went out. But there was none. Doe? In the kitchen,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Alan spotted Doe's asthma medication on the counter. She always
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: took the inhaler when she went out. He called their
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: closest friends nearby. Bill, yeah, Bill, this is Alan.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: Have you seen Doe today?
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Has she been over there? No one he spoke to
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: had heard from Doe.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go up and around the property for you.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Do me a favor, call her out so you can
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: find her, okay?
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Robert's worried she might have had an asthma attack while
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: working in the garden. He searched the grounds of their farm.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: No sign of Doe. He was about to call the
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: police when his telephone rang. Hello, Doe? It was a
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: man speaking with an Asian accent.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: You have Doe?
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: What do you mean you have Doe? What do you want?
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: The caller demanded a $ 100, 000 ransom for Doe's safe return.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: Not a problem.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: I can take care of it. It'll take me a
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: little time. You just let me know what you want
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: me to do and I'll do it, okay?
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: But he didn't explain where to take the money before
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: he hung up. Stunned, Allen immediately called the Shelby County
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Sheriff's Department and told them about his wife's disappearance and
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: the ransom call he received. The team of deputies and
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: sheriff's inspectors responded to the house. Roberts told them he
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: did not recognize the voice of the caller. and did
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: not know anyone who would want to harm Doe. As
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: the interview continued, agents from the FBI's Memphis field office arrived.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Ege is about 30 miles from both the Arkansas and
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Mississippi borders. If someone took Doe across state lines, the
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: FBI would take the lead since transporting a victim state
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: to state is a federal crime. Roberts explained he last
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: saw his wife that morning. They had eaten breakfast together,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: as they had every morning for 43 years. At 10,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Alan left to meet a prospective out-of-town buyer for a
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: property he was developing. The buyer, a man named Sam Wagner,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: had called the day before, making an appointment to see
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the property at 10.30 that morning. Good morning, Todd. Robert
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: said he waited for over an hour, but Sam Wagner
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: never showed. It seemed like it. He spent the rest
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: of the afternoon laying sod at another of his development properties.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: The investigators needed to check the house for evidence. Roberts
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: showed them Doe's asthma inhaler and said if she suffered
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: a serious attack without it, she could die. They needed
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: to find her immediately. Looking for signs of forced entry,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: deputies checked doors and windows. Nothing appeared suspicious. Knowing that
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: people sometimes run off voluntarily, faking abductions to cover themselves,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: deputies checked Doe's bedroom. Her suitcases and all of her
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: clothing were still there, as were her valuables. it didn't
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: seem like she left on her own. If someone had
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: abducted her, one clue suggested it happened outside, according to
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: FBI Special Agent Joanne Overall.
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: Alan Roberts located mail halfway into the garage and it
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: was not taken into the house. He suspected that his
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: wife had gone to the mailbox and never made it
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: back into the house and she had laid the mail
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: down at that point.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Beginning at the driveway, deputies formed search lines, fanning out
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: in a grid pattern to scour the 150-acre farm for
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: any sign of the 65-year-old woman or what happened to her.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Despite the efforts of multiple search teams, they found nothing.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: The best chance for a new lead would be additional
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: ransom calls.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: We began monitoring Alan Roberts' phone right after the kidnapping.
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: With his consent, we placed a recorder on his phone
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: should he get a call from the kidnapper.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: They also installed tracing equipment. If the man with the
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Asian accent called again, the FBI would be ready. Later
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: that night, the phone rang.
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: Hello?
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Yes?
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: It was coming from a nearby pay phone.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: No, just don't hurt her.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: I'll do whatever you want.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Deputies headed toward the source of the call.
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: It sounded like the same man who called earlier. He
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: said Doe was safe for now, and he knew law
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: enforcement was listening. Robert said the caller ordered him to
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: remove the tape of their conversation and crush it in
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: the driveway. They quickly switched it with a blank tape.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: At that time, no surveillance officers were outside. When Shelby
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: County deputies arrived at the payphone, it was clear. Whoever
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: made the call was gone. By daybreak, investigators expanded their
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: search into the Eads community, asking friends and neighbors when
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: they last saw Doe and if they noticed anything unusual
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: on the day of her disappearance. No one recalled seeing
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: or hearing from her that day. One neighbor told investigators
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: that at church that week, there seemed to be tension
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: between Doe and Allen. But no solid clues emerged. Word
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: of the kidnapping spread, and news stations picked up the story.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Joe Birch of WMCTV in Memphis reported on the small
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: community's reaction to Doe's disappearance.
• 9:56
  Speaker 6: A lot of people felt it must have been someone
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: from the outside.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Who committed this crime.
• 10:02
  Speaker 6: Because these people worshipped together, they went to square dances together,
• 10:06
  Speaker 6: they spent a lot of their time together, and their
• 10:08
  Speaker 6: focus was their little community and staying away from downtown
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: Memphis and all the danger that might be here. So,
• 10:17
  Speaker 6: I think the people in the Eads community felt like
• 10:21
  Speaker 6: an outsider probably committed this crime.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: But investigators wondered how, in a place like Eads, a
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: stranger wasn't noticed. As the investigation's first full day drew
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: to a close, Special Agent Overall's concern grew. The 24
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: hours immediately following a kidnapping are critical. As more time passes,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: the chances of finding the victim alive diminish rapidly. On
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the second day, community members gathered to show their support
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: and offer prayers for Doe's safe return. While the town
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: of Eads prayed, investigators turned their attention to the most
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: likely suspect.
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: In a case like this, we always look at the
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: family members and relatives, people that are closest to the
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: victim first, and then work the circle outwards.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: They needed to start with the husband, Alan Roberts. It
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: was possible he had harmed Doe, then used an accomplice
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: to make the ransom calls. It is always difficult when
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: family members realize they are suspects. Authorities had to ask
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: the worried husband to take a polygraph test. It was
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: an unexpected request, but Alan agreed. A polygraph measures a
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: subject's physiological reactions while answering questions. The subject reviews all
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: of the questions before the test, so there are no surprises.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Though commonly called a lie detector test, a polygraph does
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: not actually detect lies. It only detects whether the subject
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: is exhibiting the characteristics most people exhibit when lying. Spikes
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: in heart rate, perspiration, blood pressure and respiration.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: Are you convinced that I will only ask you questions
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: that we've gone over before?
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: While polygraph results are rarely admissible in court, many investigators
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: find they point them in the right direction.
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: Is your first name Allen?
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: The examiner asked Roberts questions unrelated to the case to
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: establish a baseline for truthful responses. Then he asked questions
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: about his relationship with Doe and the events of the
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: day she disappeared. Did you kill Doe Roberts? The examiner
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: then interpreted the graphic output to determine if Roberts appeared
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: to be deceptive on the questions about the case. In
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: his opinion, Alan Roberts answered all of the questions truthfully.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Alan was sure this was the end of it. But
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: agents knew the test results were not always accurate. They
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: could not eliminate him yet. To check Robert's story, the
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: FBI wanted to find Sam Wagner, the man he allegedly
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: went to meet on the morning of Doe's abduction.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: We thought Sam Wagner may have come into this area
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: and because of their financial backings and holdings that he
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: may have kidnapped Doe Roberts for the money that they
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: had because they had a substantial amount of money.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Agents checked FBI databases and nationwide DMV records, searching for
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: anyone named Sam Wagner. In several states, FBI agents interviewed
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: men of that name, but eliminated each as a suspect.
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: Alan Roberts' story became more suspicious when Sam Wagner became
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: an unknown individual that we couldn't locate, and it became...
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: more apparent to us that Alan Roberts could possibly be
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: behind the kidnapping.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: If Alan did do something to his wife, perhaps the
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: couple's phone records and banking statements would reveal a clue.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Yet investigators uncovered only evidence of a normal life spent
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: in a small town, with no sign of contact with
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: anyone suspicious, and no record of Doe spending money after
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: August 7th. No leads were panning out. Eventually, they came
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: to believe Doe Roberts was dead.
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: After approximately two to three weeks of being unable to
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: locate the victim, it was more than likely going to
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: end up being a homicide. I requested through my supervisor
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: that we bring in Shelby County Sheriff's Department into the
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: investigation to make it a joint investigation.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: If it were a murder, it would be prosecuted in
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: state court. The team returned to the Roberts house.
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: The second search of Allen Roberts' property was done more
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: in a forensic frame of mind, and we were looking
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: for blood spatterings in the house as well as in
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: the barn.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Again, Roberts cooperated. He would do anything. Forensics technicians from
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: the FBI and the Sheriff's Department processed the buildings, looking
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: for any evidence of a murder, cleanup, or disposal of
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: a body. They also gathered hairs and carpet fibers from
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Alan's truck to compare to any evidence recovered later. The
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: painstaking search lasted two full days. Allen Roberts grew more
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: frustrated that law enforcement had to devote so much time
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: to him as a suspect. He was wearing down, and
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: the real kidnapper was out there somewhere. In 1992, the
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Shelby County Sheriff's Department and the Memphis FBI searched Allen
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Roberts' farm and its buildings for any sign of his
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: wife's possible murder. Roberts had passed a polygraph, and now
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: none of the items on his property tested positive for blood.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Yet no other suspects emerged, and investigators had developed circumstantial
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: evidence that implicated Roberts. Although several witnesses had seen Roberts
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: that day, his confirmed alibi only accounted for about five hours.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Authorities knew that left plenty of time to get rid
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: of a body. Also, some members of the Eads community
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: gave statements claiming Alan Roberts had acted in a suspicious
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: manner following Doe's disappearance, according to Special Agent Joanne Overall.
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: People within the community felt he did not openly grieve
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: for the loss of his wife. He was socializing shortly
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: after her kidnapping. that both him and his wife were
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: members of a square dancing group. And within a couple
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: of weeks, Alan was back at the square dancing group
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: with various partners.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: News anchor Joe Birch observed Robert's lack of emotion during
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: media coverage.
• 18:30
  Speaker 6: When somebody's wife disappears, you'd expect to see a level
• 18:34
  Speaker 6: of emotion And we just didn't see it from Allen Roberts.
• 18:38
  Speaker 6: He was just kind of calm, cool, and collected, and
• 18:41
  Speaker 6: very direct. And there wasn't a lot of teary-eyed, emotional
• 18:46
  Speaker 6: appeals that we see a lot in kidnapping cases.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Investigators kept watching Roberts as he tried to carry on
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: with his life, struggling with the frustration of not knowing
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: where his wife was and being the only suspect in
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: her disappearance. Yet they saw nothing that led them to
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Doe Roberts. In September, the man with the Asian accent resurfaced,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: now saying Alan was involved.
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: The kidnapper began calling people in the Eads community, stating
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: that Doe Roberts was still alive. Many of the phone
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: calls indicated Alan was part of the scheme to kidnap
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: his wife. It was extremely frustrating because he never gave
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: specific points to drop money.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Several of the people who talked to the kidnapper had
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: caller IDs on their phones, so agents traced the calls
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: to phone booths on a well-traveled road.
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: We would go to the phone booths immediately, and, of course,
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: the individual who was making the phone call was already gone.
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: Other people had already used the phone. We would check
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: the phones for possible fingerprints, and there was just never
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: any evidence to tie an individual to that phone.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Each of the calls were made within a few miles
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: of the Roberts house, a significant risk in a small
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: community buzzing about the case. This boldness suggested that the
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: caller was an insider, familiar enough to be inconspicuous in public,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: and that he considered himself beyond the reach of investigators.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: Desperate for something solid, Alan Roberts took things into his
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: own hands, offering a reward for Doe's safe return and
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: announcing he disconnected the FBI's recording and tracing equipment from
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: his phone so the kidnapper could call freely. On October 8, 1992,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: two months after Doe disappeared, the kidnapper called Alan Roberts again.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: He told him to drive to a payphone at a
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: country store a mile away. Now. Roberts hurried to the store.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Once again, he was on his own with no corroborating
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: witness to prove what was happening. The phone was already
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: ringing when he arrived. He hoped, finally, this would be
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: his chance to get his wife back. Hello? Two months
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: after someone abducted 65-year-old Doe Roberts, the kidnapper ordered her husband,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Alan Roberts, to a pay phone.
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: Hello?
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Hello? The man with the Asian accent said Doe was
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: alive and still with him. He asked Roberts for the
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: name of an intermediary, someone Allen trusted that the kidnapper
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: could contact. Robert suggested Charles Lord, a leading church member
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: and friend of the family. The caller said he would
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: be in touch about where to bring the ransom money.
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: Then he hung up.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Charles Lord, the man Roberts picked to be his intermediary,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: was a civil servant and treasurer of the local church.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: He made a public appeal to the kidnapper on Alan
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Roberts' behalf, asking the man to call him and finally
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: give specific instructions for a ransom drop. They all wanted
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: to get Doe back.
• 22:57
  Speaker 7: There you go.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: More calls from the kidnapper came to Charles Lord and
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: others in the community, but still no details for an exchange.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: In November 1992, Charles Lord called investigators to his home.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Special Agent Joanne Overall hoped they finally had a direct
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: link to the kidnapper. Come on in.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: Charles Lord stated that late in the evening, he heard
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: a car out on his cove. He walked down to
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: the mailbox, and there was a letter placed in his mailbox,
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: which was a kidnapping ransom letter.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Investigators were glad to have physical evidence. Fingerprints, hairs of
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: fibers on the letter might provide a link to the kidnapper.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: But by the time they got to it, they found
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: the evidence tainted.
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: Charles Lord took this letter and showed it to several
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: people before we were called in and obtained the letter.
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: So there was quite a few fingerprints on the letter
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: before we got it.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Lab examiners check all of the prints, determining they belong
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: to Lord and the people he let handle the letter.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Nothing to lead them to the kidnapper. The message was
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: no help either. The ransom had been lowered, but still,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: no instructions for a drop. It seemed the kidnapper was
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: playing games with them. In case he contacted Lord again,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: agents set a trap.
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: Our office set up surveillance on his mailbox. using a
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: hidden camera, which was literally placed in a birdhouse close
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: to the mailbox.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: If the kidnapper dropped off another note, they'd have him
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: on tape. Agents also installed wiretap and recording devices on
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Lord's telephone. They still had no real evidence against Allen Roberts,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: but a new suspect was developing. Charles Lord began taking
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: an active role in the investigation, often stopping by the
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: sheriff's office to check on their progress. The deputies became suspicious.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: He seemed too interested. Their suspicion deepened because of the
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: peculiar nature of the phone calls he claimed he got
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: from the kidnapper.
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: Charles Lord stated he received several phone calls from the kidnapper.
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: He did say that he talked with Doe Roberts, which
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: was unusual because none of the other callers talked with
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: Doe Roberts.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: But agents never got tapes of the calls.
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: But every time he received a telephone call, it appeared
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: that our equipment didn't work.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Over the next week, Lord reported another ransom letter and
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: one of Doe's scarves placed in his mailbox. Agents recovered
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: no evidence from the items, but hoped their camera captured
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: images of the kidnapper. They had plenty of the regular
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: mail carrier. But when the tape got to where the
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: kidnapper should appear, it went blank.
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: When the equipment that was placed at Charles Lord's residence
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: continued to fail, I just thought we had poor equipment. Eventually,
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: it became apparent that somebody was tampering with it.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Agents suspected the interference came from Charles Lord. Then the
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: victim's husband, Alan Roberts, reported a strange encounter with Lorde.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: He said the night before at the Eads Community Center,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Lorde summoned him to a private meeting. Alan was surprised
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: when his friend offered to help get Doe back for
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: a price.
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: Alan Roberts told me that Charles Lord had advised that
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: he had underworld contacts and that there was information available
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: if Charles could get some money to pay for it. Also,
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: Alan advised at that time that Charles Lord was wearing
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: a gun.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: It was clear Lord was somehow involved. But investigators needed
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: more than suspicion. They needed evidence. On March 4th, 1993,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: seven months after Doe disappeared, there was another twist in
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: the case. Memphis news anchor Joe Birch received a call
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: at his office.
• 28:31
  Speaker 6: I've never recorded a telephone conversation before, but I decided
• 28:39
  Speaker 6: that I would record this conversation The call set off
• 28:44
  Speaker 6: a trigger in my mind that this could be the
• 28:47
  Speaker 6: same individual who's been making the anonymous calls in the
• 28:49
  Speaker 6: Doe Roberts case. And I tried to get the man
• 28:52
  Speaker 6: to stay on the line for as long as he
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: would stay.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: As Birch spoke to the man with the Asian accent,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: he tried to elicit details as to who the caller
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: was and what happened to Doe. When Birch tried to
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: set up a ransom drop, the caller hung up.
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: Hello?
• 29:13
  Speaker 6: Hello? I took the tape directly into my boss's office.
• 29:21
  Speaker 6: We immediately called the FBI and the Shelby County Sheriff's Department.
• 29:26
  Speaker 6: What can you tell us about Doe Roberts?
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: Investigators agreed to WMC-TV airing the tape, hoping it might
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: flush the kidnapper out. It worked. Can we help you?
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: The kidnapper called back. He was angry they aired the
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: tape and demanded no more coverage. But this time, Joe
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Birch got him to do what no one else had,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: arrange a ransom drop. Agents and sheriff's inspectors staked out
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: the drop location, ready to grab the caller who had
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: eluded them for so long. Is that her? That's her.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: As instructed, a reporter from WMCTV drove to the spot
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: with $ 80, 000 in cash. It's her, but I haven't seen
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: anybody else.
• 30:17
  Speaker 6: Do you see anybody else?
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Everyone waited, hoping. But the kidnapper never showed. One more
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: disappointment in a frustrating investigation.
• 30:45
  Speaker 6: Other deputies observed.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Charles Lord was home the entire time. Weeks passed with
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: no movement on the case. Then, in June 1993, the
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: kidnapper arranged another drop. He called two of Doe's nephews
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: and told them to bring the ransom money to a
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: local motel. Soon, the elusive kidnapper finally would surface. In
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: June 1993, investigators working the Doe Roberts kidnapping staked out
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: an Eads, Tennessee motel. Special Agent Joanne Overall was part
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: of the surveillance.
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: Doe Roberts' nephews received a call from the kidnapper and
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: they tried to make an arranged ransom drop. They were
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: told to go to a motel room, which they did,
• 31:57
  Speaker 4: but they also called the FBI. They were waiting to
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: get a phone call or meet with somebody.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Other surveillance deputies had been unable to find suspect Charles
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: Lord that night. As the team at the motel watched,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: a man approached.
• 32:15
  Speaker 6: There's somebody coming across the yard.
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: We got somebody.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: It was Lorde. He went to the room the nephews
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: had rented.
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: Charles Lorde told the nephews of Doe Roberts that he
• 32:48
  Speaker 4: had received a call from the kidnapper and that he
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: was to show up there and get the money, and
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: he would receive a phone call as to where to
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: take the money.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: But the nephews wouldn't give him the cash. They said
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: they wanted to deal with the kidnapper directly. Investigators were
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: sure that was exactly who they were dealing with.
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: He is the only individual who had received a telephone
• 33:16
  Speaker 4: call stating that he had talked with Doe Roberts, and
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: now he was meeting with somebody to pick up money.
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: But we did not have enough evidence at that time
• 33:26
  Speaker 4: to go forward with an arrest.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: They did, however, increase their focus on Lorde. To look
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: for a financial motive to the kidnapping, the FBI subpoenaed
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: Lorde's bank records.
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: We went through records trying to determine if he had
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: loans out, what his financial holdings were, and it became
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: apparent that Charles Lord owed a lot of money to
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: several banks in town, substantial amounts of money, and that
• 34:00
  Speaker 4: he was unable to meet the payments and that he
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: had filed for bankruptcy.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: That circumstantial evidence allowed investigators to secure a search warrant
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: for Lord's house. In late June 1993, they served the warrant,
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: which allowed them to look for and seize any financial documents.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: Some of the files they recovered revealed Lord's criminal past.
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: He had embezzled over $ 150, 000 from the Memphis Depot, where
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: he had retired several years prior, and he had embezzled
• 34:39
  Speaker 4: approximately $ 70, 000 from the church there in Eads, where he
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: was attending.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: As treasurer of the church, Lord had access to the
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: parish bank accounts and cash donations. Despite the find, investigators
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: still had no direct evidence of the abduction.
• 35:01
  Speaker 4: We had nothing that we could use to charge him
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: with the kidnapping and the murder of Doe Roberts. It
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: was important to obtain a confession from Charles Lord because
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: we had no body.
• 35:12
  Speaker 7: Good, maybe this will help us out a little.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: One agent working the case was trained in criminal profiling.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: Analyzing Lord's actions, he offered a behavioral profile to help
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: get the confession. He suggested Lord was a manipulative, pathological
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: liar who believed he was untouchable. The agent felt that
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: overwhelming the suspect's ego was the only way to beat him.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: The plan was to bring Lord in for an interview.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: and let him see what he would take to be
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: evidence of a massive investigation against him for months. Agents
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: created numerous evidence boxes, hoping to trump Lord's belief he
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: was above the investigation. Then, on August 25th, 1993, at
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: the FBI's Memphis field office, Investigators met with Lord and
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: his attorney.
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: As Charles Lord sat in that room during the interview,
• 36:18
  Speaker 4: I was watching him look at these boxes, realizing that
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: he had been under surveillance for a lot longer than
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: he had anticipated, and he became very nervous.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: The FBI's tactics appeared to be working. Lord eventually admitted
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: to making some of the ransom calls. He said he
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: did it to keep the investigation alive for Doe's sake,
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: but denied any involvement in her abduction. Sensing that he
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: was ready to crack, the investigators offered him a deal.
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: Charles Lord was told by our office as well as
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: the Shelby County inspector that if he would take a
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: polygraph and pass a polygraph, we would not look at
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: him any further for the dough robber's kidnapping. However, if
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: he failed the polygraph, his attorney and Charles Lord agreed
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: to a further interview interrogation in reference to the kidnapping.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: He agreed. After asking control questions to gauge Lord's truthful
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: response levels, the polygraph examiner asked about Doe, including whether
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: Lorde was involved in her abduction.
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: Did you harm Doe Roberts?
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: In the end, the examiner believed the polygraph results showed
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: Lorde being deceptive. Though the results could not be used
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: in court, they meant authorities could continue questioning the suspect.
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: With Lord's attorney present in the interrogation room, FBI agents
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: and inspectors from the Shelby County Sheriff's Department pressed the suspect,
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: returning again and again to the polygraph results.
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: I've got every piece of evidence I need, what I
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: need you to do.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: At first, he continued to deny involvement. But after several hours,
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: the interview tactics wore him down. Lord said he was
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: ready to tell them what happened. He said he needed
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: cash to pay back his loans and cover the money
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: he stole from the church and decided to kidnap Doe
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: for ransom. On August 6th, 1992, he called the Roberts,
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: posing as a property buyer named Sam Wagner, and arranged
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: to meet Alan. The next day, when he knew Alan
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: was waiting at the development property, he drove by their house.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: Doe was bringing in the mail. Doe, there's been an accident.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: He knew she would trust him.
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: Alan's been involved in an accident.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, get in the car and I'll take you to him.
• 39:14
  Speaker 7: What happened?
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: Do you know?
• 39:17
  Speaker 7: Is he all right?
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Lord told investigators he planned to release Doe after he
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: got the ransom, but she suffered a fatal heart attack
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: in his car. He said he panicked and dumped her
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: body in her purse, but he would not say where.
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: Would you be willing to take us to where she is?
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: The investigators believed he was lying, at least about planning
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: to release Doe, and perhaps about other details. Special Agent
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: Joanne Overall knew they had to find the body to
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: check his story. they offered a deal.
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: Charles Lord agreed to tell us where Doe Roberts' body
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: was after he had confessed to the kidnapping in exchange
• 40:03
  Speaker 4: for Shelby County not pursuing the death penalty.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: Lord claimed he dumped her in the Wolf River, a
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: slow-moving river that runs 90 miles across the southwest corner
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: of the state. The Wolf River empties into the Mississippi
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: at Memphis. Lord said he dumped the remains from a
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: bridge in Fayette County, 13 miles from the Roberts' home.
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: Divers would begin 50 yards up river, searching for the
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: body and purse. Lieutenant John Yancey of the Shelby County
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: Sheriff's Department led the dive in the murky river.
• 40:45
  Speaker 7: We had 21 divers involved total. The visibility in the
• 40:49
  Speaker 7: river was zero. It was total black water.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: And in the dark water, several species of venomous snakes.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: Adding to the challenge was the fact that the crime
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: took place a year earlier. Any remains would be scattered
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: and difficult to find. FBI agents and sheriff's deputies helped
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: the divers by stretching a rope across the river's width.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: Divers held onto the rope and moved across its length,
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: searching the river bottom by hand.
• 41:30
  Speaker 7: Normally you do an arm span, arm over arm, for
• 41:32
  Speaker 7: a search for a body because it's large. But we
• 41:35
  Speaker 7: were looking for contents of the purse at the time
• 41:37
  Speaker 7: to try to make sure that this was actually the scene.
• 41:40
  Speaker 7: So we had to bring it down to where we were.
• 41:43
  Speaker 7: Instead of doing the large arm spins, we were having
• 41:44
  Speaker 7: to do what I call just the hand grab. And
• 41:47
  Speaker 7: that's where you just get the dirt with your hand,
• 41:49
  Speaker 7: and that way you're able to find everything on the bottom.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: Once the divers reached the other bank, the team would
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: move the rope a foot downriver and start over. Anytime
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: a diver found something, he signaled, and additional divers came
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: in to mark and extract the items.
• 42:10
  Speaker 7: We found a safe that had been taken in a
• 42:13
  Speaker 7: robbery of a cleaner's and the money had fallen out
• 42:16
  Speaker 7: of the safe. And we found the pennies on the
• 42:18
  Speaker 7: bottom and the dollar bills, but we found no contents
• 42:22
  Speaker 7: of any of her purse. So I feel like if
• 42:24
  Speaker 7: we'd have found pennies on the bottom, we would have
• 42:26
  Speaker 7: found her makeup or a wallet or IDs or anything
• 42:29
  Speaker 7: times back to her.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: In 110 degree heat, the team continued their search of
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: every square inch.
• 42:43
  Speaker 7: On my second day, I was on the bridge, and
• 42:46
  Speaker 7: an elderly lady walked up to me and said, I
• 42:49
  Speaker 7: want you to do me a favor. And I said,
• 42:50
  Speaker 7: I'll try to if I can. She said, I want
• 42:52
  Speaker 7: you to find us something today so we can get
• 42:54
  Speaker 7: this over with, so we can go ahead and bury
• 42:56
  Speaker 7: Doe and get this case over with.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: After three full days, they had searched a half mile
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: of the river. They believed the body would not have
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: gone farther than that in the lowland waters.
• 43:12
  Speaker 7: I went to my boss, my chief, and I told him,
• 43:14
  Speaker 7: I said, based on my experience and what we have done,
• 43:17
  Speaker 7: she's not in here. But if you want us to
• 43:19
  Speaker 7: continue the search, we'll search until it runs into Mississippi,
• 43:22
  Speaker 7: however you want to do it. But I can tell
• 43:24
  Speaker 7: you right now, she's not here.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: Investigators were convinced Lorde had lied to them, unnecessarily placing
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: the dive team in danger. Special Agent Overall confronted Lorde.
• 43:40
  Speaker 4: We took Charles Lord out to the site and explained
• 43:44
  Speaker 4: to him that these divers were putting their lives in
• 43:47
  Speaker 4: jeopardy and we needed to find the body and it
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: didn't appear that the body was there.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: The suspect had run out of lies. Now he was
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: ready to tell investigators what really happened to Doe Roberts.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: After a three-day search of Tennessee's Wolf River, Dive leader
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant John Yancey believed the remains of kidnapping victim Doe
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: Roberts were not in the river.
• 44:19
  Speaker 7: We had searched everywhere possible, and just over the years
• 44:23
  Speaker 7: of experience, I would have found something by now, either
• 44:27
  Speaker 7: some bones, some makeup, or something. I said, based on
• 44:32
  Speaker 7: my experience, if she's not in here, there the divers are,
• 44:34
  Speaker 7: she's not there.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: Investigators confronted suspect Charles Lord, realizing they would not give
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: up until they got the truth. Lord admitted Doe had
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: not died of a heart attack in his car. He
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: said he took her to his house and tied her
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: up in a room above the garage. He could never
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: let his neighbor go, now. He tried to kill her
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: with sleeping pills, but that didn't work. He smothered her
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: with a pillow. Lord said he buried her in his
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: backyard compost heap. On top of the body, he placed
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: a layer of lime, then concrete, hoping they would hasten decomposition.
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: They needed to determine if Lord was telling the truth
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: this time. to retrieve evidence and give Doe's family the
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: closure of knowing what happened. The sheriff's department called in
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: forensic anthropologists from the University of Tennessee. After removing layers
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: of leaves and compost, they began the dig. Shelby County
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: Sheriff's Lieutenant Ronald Goodwin supervised the meticulous excavation.
• 46:01
  Speaker 5: It's just using brushes and little trowels, much like uncovering artifacts.
• 46:06
  Speaker 5: And it's just, it's one spoonful at a time to
• 46:10
  Speaker 5: make sure that you don't miss any evidence and make
• 46:12
  Speaker 5: sure you don't do anything to harm what evidence may
• 46:14
  Speaker 5: be with the body.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: After two hours, they pierced a shell of concrete and
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: lime in the space underneath a body.
• 46:27
  Speaker 5: The first thing that we came to was the hands.
• 46:29
  Speaker 5: The rest of the body was laying flat in the
• 46:32
  Speaker 5: grave site on its back, face up.
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: It took 17 hours to completely exhume the remains, and
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: what investigators found surprised them.
• 46:45
  Speaker 5: The skin was intact. The body was in such good condition,
• 46:49
  Speaker 5: I felt like the many scientific tests that we could
• 46:52
  Speaker 5: run might reveal. It was a poisoning, a cause of death,
• 46:56
  Speaker 5: a sexual attack or whatever. It appeared that the actions
• 47:02
  Speaker 5: that Mr. Lord had taken, such as the lime and
• 47:05
  Speaker 5: so forth on top of the body, had worked in
• 47:07
  Speaker 5: reverse and it had preserved the body for us.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: The most chilling detail was the position of the 65-year-old
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: woman's hand.
• 47:19
  Speaker 5: The only thing that was out of normal position was
• 47:22
  Speaker 5: the hand which was up in front of her face
• 47:25
  Speaker 5: in a defensive position with a finger spread out.
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: It appeared to investigators she might not have been dead
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: when she was buried.
• 47:35
  Speaker 5: Maybe she was still alive. Maybe she was pushing up
• 47:39
  Speaker 5: with her hand.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: Over a year after Doe Roberts disappeared, the FBI and
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: Alan Roberts had their evidence. On October 19, 1993, Charles
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: Lord pled guilty to first-degree murder and kidnapping. He was
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: sentenced to life plus 25 years. Doe's husband, Alan, had
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: endured being a suspect for months. Now with the truth out,
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: he could finally lay Doe to rest. But one challenge
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: remains for Alan Roberts.
• 48:23
  Speaker 3: It's an uneven closure. I'm trying to forget about Charles
• 48:28
  Speaker 3: Lord And I'm praying that God will let me forgive him.
• 48:39
  Speaker 3: I'm praying that dough is in God's hands right now.
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: Mr. and Mrs. Roberts enjoyed 43 years of marriage before
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: they were torn apart. He has faith that one day,
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: He will see her again.