WEBVTT - Robert Redford's Death Might Help Catch a Killer 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:05.840 Hey there, folks. Sit is Saturday, November the eighth, and 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:10.520 the hunt is on for a killer, for the killer 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:15.560 who murdered a University of Colorado college student forty plus 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:18.360 years ago. But there's a renewed effort to find this 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:23.240 killer because of the death of Hollywood legend Robert Redford. 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:26.280 And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:29.440 I think a lot of people don't even know this connection. 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.599 It's fascinating to hear. But a guy has been on 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:36.760 the loose for forty plus years, and after Robert Redford's death, 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:39.720 there is a whole new effort to find this guy. 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:40.400 That's right. 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:46.480 Robert Redford died September sixteenth. The next day. The following day, 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:49.519 the FBI announced in a social media post that it 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.680 was offering a ten thousand dollars reward for information leading 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:56.640 to the arrest of sid Wells's murder suspect, the name 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:03.960 Thane Allan Simca. And it was a deliberate decision to 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.800 use the death of Robert Redford to renew the effort 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:10.520 to find this guy who has been on the run 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:12.440 since nineteen eighty six. 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:15.880 So what's the connection and who cares and why would 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:18.440 Robert Redford care where there is a connection here, and 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:21.039 it seems a little bit ro like you said it 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:22.640 that way, and I know you didn't mean it negatively, 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:26.600 and the authorities don't either. They used his death well. 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:29.840 It was a brilliant move because everybody's talking about and 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:32.120 it was talking about Robert Redford in this cold case 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:37.280 of forty plus years. Now there was attention on Robert 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:39.920 Redford and his life and his background and his family 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:43.560 and his daughter, and people started to make the connection 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.000 and hear about this story that he has for forty 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:52.080 years been wanting to find the guy who killed his 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:54.720 daughter's boyfriend when they were in college. 0:01:54.800 --> 0:02:00.240 That's right, So his daughter was dating Sidwells. He was 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:02.840 twenty two years old. This is such a just a 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:05.920 tragic and sad and all murders are, but this one 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:10.040 just seems so pointless. He was literally weeks away from 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:13.880 beginning his senior year at the University of Colorado Boulder 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:17.720 and his daughter, Shawna this was her boyfriend for several years. 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:19.679 They were both about to go into their senior year. 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:23.520 But the murder happened on August first, nineteen eighty three, 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:28.919 in his own apartment when his roommate found him shot 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:31.280 execution style in the back of the head in his 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.400 living room with a twenty two gage shotgun wound. That 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:36.640 is what police had to go by. This was a 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:40.800 kid who was well liked again, had a wonderful girlfriend, 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:43.400 and was close with Robert Redford and his family. And 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:46.919 when news of this murder happened, Robert Redford was actually 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:50.280 filming The Graduate at the time, and he was in Buffalo, 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:54.000 New York. And they actually stopped production of the movie 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:56.960 so that Robert could fly to Boulder to be with 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.600 his daughter and attend the funeral. And as you might imagine, 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:00.880 that made national headlines. 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:04.800 Yeah, and I never I've never heard the story before 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:06.839 his death. Never, And we were doing a story about 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:09.840 this is the point and why authorities did take advantage 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:12.000 of this moment. They want to solve this crime, and 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:15.079 why hasn't been solved. Well, here's the thing, folks. They 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:20.160 believe they know who killed sid Wells, the boyfriend of 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.160 Robert Redford's daughter, back in nineteen eighty three. In fact, 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:26.400 he was arrested and it went before a grand jury 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:29.919 just a couple of months after the killing. But that 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:33.720 person was they refused at the time to file charges 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:35.920 the district attorney and then that suspect was the name 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:36.440 again Thane. 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:41.000 His name is Thane Allen Smika Faine. Smika was a 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:46.240 roommate of sid Wells. Now they arrested him charges not 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:50.960 filed robes, and that was in nineteen eighty three. For 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:52.240 the most part, he been seen. 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:56.560 Since that is true, he basically the grand jury refused 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.320 to indict Smca in nineteen eighty five, and according to 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:02.080 the FBI, he vanished a year later. So as of 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:06.760 nineteen eighty six, he has not been seen. But this 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.920 hasn't been the first renewal of an effort to try 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:13.600 and find Smicha. And let's go over the evidence of 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.120 this young man. So a note was found at the 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:20.840 scene at the apartment, and Smicha had written out a 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:23.920 note saying, apparently writing it to sid that he had 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:28.320 gone to visit his parents. So investigators immediately drove to 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:31.880 Smika's home that evening or his mother's house that evening 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:34.640 to tell him about the death. And they started to 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:37.320 ask him, why are you back home, and he said, oh, 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:39.159 I had to do some laundry and I needed to 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.479 get a perm That might sound silly. But part of 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.480 the reason why they got suspicious is that turns out 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.960 where they lived in Boulder had a laundry facility, and 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.200 they found out he had gotten a perm the week before. 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:54.680 So what he told them, the reasoning behind why he 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.520 went to go visit his parents was not true. And 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:01.320 so that's when they started looking into Smike. And we're 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.520 concerned about his activities, his drug activities specifically. 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:07.599 Yeah, so again, people are innocent to approving guilty. But 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:09.440 this is the guy, and it's always been the guy. 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.400 He's the only person who for the most part, fell 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:17.640 under suspicion of authority. So they arrest them, they don't 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:22.280 charge him. A new DA comes I believe around twenty 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.160 tennish around that area, who decides, you know what, I 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.560 got enough evidence and I'm going after this guy. Reissued 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:34.720 an arrest warrant that was thirteen or so, thirteen years ago. 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:39.480 He ain't heard a peep from Thane Smika, correct. 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:42.159 And so yes, they actually used modern DNA testing to 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:46.880 try and specifically link Smika to the crime. And they 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.160 also have a friend who has come out and said 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:51.280 that Smca confessed to the murder after a night of 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:55.080 drinking they have another woman who told police that Smicha's 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.919 sister told her that she had to wash his bloody 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.360 clothes that evening, the evening of the murders. So they 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:03.159 have evidence now that they've been able to gather and 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:07.440 they want to then actually have him now face a 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.000 jury of his peers. So in twenty ten, as you mentioned, 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:12.880 they obtained an unarrest warrant to try and find him. 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:15.560 And that's when Robert Redford actually and this is interesting. 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:18.320 This was an article that was published by the Reporter 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:23.680 after Redford's death, but he talked about this now retired 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.119 DA talked about how impactful it was to have Robert 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:32.760 Redford call the police office and say thank you, thank 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.320 you for continuing to pay attention to this case, thank 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:38.520 you for trying to solve this crime that has plagued 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:41.599 me my daughter. And there are folks who say Robert 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:44.279 Redford was never the same after this murder, that he 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:48.520 got quieter, that he was chilled, and he was concerned 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:50.640 even perhaps for the safety of his own daughter at 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.320 that point, and he really did take a step back 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.280 from his very public life after this murder. 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:58.719 I get these were and again this is something I 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:00.840 didn't know what his daughter sewn. At the time. These 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:02.640 folks had been together four years. He was a part 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:04.760 of their family. He did vacations with them, He went 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:08.800 to his their house and sun dance and right rode horses. 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.200 I've right as well in an article with somebody who 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:16.200 interviewed Sidwell's mom said, Robert Redverord actually flew flew this 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:19.400 kid to New York to meet Tom Brokaw. I mean 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:21.960 this was a family member. Who know, they might have 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:24.640 been talking about marriage and going down that road. This 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:27.800 was somebody who was essentially a family member who was murdered. 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:31.160 This wasn't just some extension or some friend of his daughter. 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:34.520 I cannot imagine how it didn't have an impact. And 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.360 we think, I mean that movie. Was it an he 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:40.960 got his Oscar direct? Was it the Natural? I don't 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:44.840 know where the Natural falls in history, But this is 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:47.240 considered if you start talking about Robert Redford, that's going 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:48.880 to be one of the first two or three movies 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.480 that comes out of somebody's mouth. And to think, in 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:55.800 the middle of putting together what is I guess considered 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:59.840 Hollywood history and royalty when it comes to filmmaking. He 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:04.880 stopped in the middle of filming The Natural to go 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:07.200 be with his daughter whose boyfriend had just been murdered. 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:08.160 I had no idea. 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:08.800 I didn't either. 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:10.920 That's remarkable to hear that. 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:13.600 It is, and to hear about this murder and this 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:17.400 mystery and this unsolved cold case that I didn't even 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:21.640 know existed. So it was incredibly smart of the FBI 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:24.360 taking advantage. And yes, I'm glad you pointed that out. 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:26.080 I wasn't meaning it in a negative way. 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.800 And they aren't either. I would say it again. They 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:31.080 took advantage of the moment. Nothing wrong with that, and 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:33.120 you should. We're trying to give justice to a family, 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:39.480 and absolutely that is what they should do in this moment. Again, 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:43.320 Robert Redford died and I found out something from forty 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:44.880 years ago that I had no idea about, and that 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:46.520 there is somebody on the loose and they have a 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:48.920 name what this guy would be in his sixties. 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:50.800 Sixties points it would be his age right now. 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:53.600 And yes, so it's benefactive that now there have been 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:56.800 several news articles written about this cold case that most 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:59.960 of us haven't heard of, and the FBI didnver field 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.760 off of sharing that social media post they put on 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:05.480 that new flyer that they've now released, and you can 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:07.800 check it out if you go look onto their website, 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:11.600 it's there. But they actually have a an age progressed 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.640 drawing of what they think Smicha might look like now 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:18.080 and again reiterating that they're offering that ten thousand dollars 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:20.880 for any information because they're just looking for one lead, 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.880 one bit of information, because they when they had that 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:28.240 renewed effort back in twenty ten, they went back to 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:31.360 his parents, They took their phones. They were looking for 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:34.480 any kind of communication that may have been occurring between 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:39.640 his parents and between Smicha, and they could find none, which. 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:41.000 Is really really remarkable. 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.280 Even his parents all the time claimed they did not 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.320 know where he was once he left in nineteen eighty six. 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:49.840 They said they never saw him and they never heard 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:50.760 from him again. 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:55.240 Possible he's dead, I guess, I mean not necessarily old age. 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:57.000 Who knows what could have happened. But you lived to 0:09:57.040 --> 0:09:58.959 be sixty something, You could have medical issues, could have 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:02.080 had and hit by damn bus. Have no idea, but 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:06.360 the behavior or the ant what his parents are saying 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:09.840 suggest a guy who is actually on the run who 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:11.199 doesn't want to be found. 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:13.640 And who knows he's guilty. There's a reason why he 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.080 never showed back up, There's a reason why he left, 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.320 there's a reason why he's never resurfaced, and so a 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:21.800 lot of people think that points to his guilt as well. 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.280 Now where could he be now, Well, we do know 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.360 that according to the FBI, the last known trace of 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:33.720 Smika was when his car, which had a stolen license 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:38.240 plate and was actually scrubbed clean of fingerprints, was found 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:42.840 abandoned in Beverly Hills in October of nineteen eighty six. 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:47.079 So that is the last known connection to Smicha that 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:52.080 police have been able to actually tangibly set their hands. 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.880 On forty years ago. I don't know how people fall 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:58.440 off the face of the earth, but he has apparently done. 0:10:58.440 --> 0:10:58.520 So. 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:01.800 Look, I don't a lot of families out there who 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:06.120 wish that their unsolved crime could get this kind of attention. 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:08.600 And I get that, but they say, this is a 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:11.000 case that has never gone cold, This is a case 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:16.960 that has remained active. But now there is a tension. 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:20.640 And I don't mind that Robert Redford is being used 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:23.079 this way or his death is being Yeah, it sounds 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:25.960 bad to say it that way, but to think that 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.559 a guy forty years ago who haven't heard a trace 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:31.440 of him forty years ago. My question after you said 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:35.960 that was who's been looking for him this type of actively? Like, 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:39.559 who has been they are raising awareness of this somebody 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:43.400 now like, oh that guy. I don't think it'll be long. 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:46.640 I actually don't, because people keep writing artists and talking 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:50.440 about this. But that was the thing that jumped to mind, 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:54.040 is that how hard have they been looking for him? 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:58.160 I think we had to be forty years man, But 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.280 this is the time, This is the moment I think 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:01.319 they're gonna catch his guy. 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:04.600 I love your positivity. I think that's incredible. And here's 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.520 another thing to your point. Every time there's been some 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:10.360 sort of renewed interest in this case, tips have come in. 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:14.080 So there was a time when this actually was featured 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.360 on forty eight hours, the CBS news program that was 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:18.760 back in nineteen ninety eight. They had a bunch of 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:23.360 tips and sightings police say of Zmika from California and Mexico, 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:27.600 but nothing actually ended up bearing fruit. But the point 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:29.800 is when you get tips and you get information and 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:32.240 you can start following them down, maybe one of them 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:33.640 lead you to this guy. 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:34.959 And that's the hope in this case. 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:38.680 Wait what did you just say? There? They wait, repeat 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.600 that they've wait, repeat what you just said. 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:43.440 Yeah, that's part about they've the lead. 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:46.480 They saw him somewhere, do they think, And you were 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:48.240 looking into this a little more than I was, So 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:52.280 my question there is possible sightings or they think he was. 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:55.080 They do think in fact, positive sightings. They just didn't 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:55.600 catch up. 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:58.400 With possible sightings and they didn't catch up with him. 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:00.640 So that's what happened in nineteen ninety eight. And right 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:05.480 around that same time, the parents of Smicha were actually speaking. 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:07.840 To reporters and they told. 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:13.480 They told this reporter that Smicha told them that he 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:16.240 planned to flee and move to another country, so they 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.280 knew he was leaving, and they knew that his plans 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:22.080 involved going to another country. And he even told them 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.439 at that point. This may be the reason why you know, 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:26.480 you said he could be dead. This is interesting. He 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:30.320 told his parents to get their passports ready so that 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:32.960 they could come and see him once he had settled in, 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:36.120 but then he never reached out afterwards, they never heard 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:37.320 from him again again. 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:40.880 In a sentence, will proven guilty. But this is the 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:43.960 only person they have been looking at for this crime, 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:48.200 and quite frankly, it just doesn't look good. But still 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.160 there is they believe a killer on the loose, and 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:54.559 they do believe they have his name. Well, stay here, folks. 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.840 It's almost unbelievable to think of what happened on that 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:04.520 Colorado campus in how Robert Redford's daughter was involved in that. 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.839 But like you said, Robes, this changed him. Many people 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:14.960 believe forever Robert Redford. And only barely a year after 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:21.120 this tragedy, that same daughter had another terrible scare. We'll explain. 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:33.240 Stay here, all right, folks, welcome back to Amy and TJ. 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:37.040 The huntas for a killer, the killer of sid Wells 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.320 A University of Colorado. Soon do they say? Colorado University 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:41.640 is see you when we see it all the time? 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:43.480 But the correct way should? Do they not like to 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:44.800 be called the University of Colorado. 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.960 It's so funny because obviously, if if you're a fan 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:50.520 of this program, you know that my youngest daughter goes 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:54.560 to we just say Boulder, so but yes, see you Boulder, 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:56.480 but University of Colorado Boulder. 0:14:56.520 --> 0:15:00.960 I don't what's officially the right? Okay? Apologies folks in Boulder, 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:03.600 that's the correct way to do it. But yes, Robert 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:06.960 Redford his death has renewed an effort to find the 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:10.440 killer of Sidwell. Sidwells with the boyfriend of Robert Redford's 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:12.520 daughter when they were in school back in nineteen eighty three. 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.600 That murder happened on August first, execution style, and the 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:19.000 person they believe killed sid Wells has been on the 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:24.360 run for forty plus years or arrested once but never 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.840 formally charged, and now another arrest warrant has been issued 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:30.720 for him. Roges, this was we talked about you, and 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:32.920 maybe you can talk about elaborate a little more about 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:36.400 how people say this really impacted Robert Redford, who was 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:39.400 at the top of his game certainly at that point 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.080 to nineteen eighty three, had certainly more work to do, 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:45.400 but he was a Hollywood heavyweight at that time. 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:46.800 He absolutely was. 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:49.720 And yes, The Natural ended up becoming such a huge hit, 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:53.640 but yes, he had just begun production on that film 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.480 when this all went down, and those around him say 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:59.360 there was something inside of him that got fearful. He 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:03.520 kind of had this larger than life, just a life 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:05.760 of the party kind of personality, and they say after this. 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:07.080 When he came back from. 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.960 That funeral, he came back a changed man, and he 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:13.360 came back different, and he never really resumed that care 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:17.360 free version of himself before because suddenly, now this was 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:20.760 obviously an unbelievable tragedy to happen to anyone, but then 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:23.400 to have it be unsolved, to know that then this 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:27.320 person who his friends, his family, and police all believed 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:29.760 killed sid on the loose. 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.120 You're looking over your shoulder. 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:36.000 You're concerned for your safety, You're concerned for your daughter's safety, 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.120 your family's safety. And he had that. There was just 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:42.320 a chill that washed over him that never left him. 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:44.600 And this was such an important part of his life. 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:47.480 He wanted to do everything he could, and police say 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:50.120 he did. He offered anything and everything he could to 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:53.600 try and help find this man once he escaped. 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:56.400 You're talking about how fearful they were of somebody out there. 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:00.600 Robin Redford reportedly paid for security for the family because 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:02.600 they didn't know where the killer was and wanted to 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:06.040 make sure they were safe. I mean, so I am 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:09.960 learning now that yes, this was the boyfriend of his daughter, 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:13.119 But the more I read up on it, this sound 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:15.840 like a family member of Robert Redford died. 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:19.040 Yes, he considered him probably a son in law, a 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:20.960 future son in law at the very least. That's how 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:23.879 serious these two were. And yeah, the pictures of the 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:25.920 two of them are everywhere. They were such a sweet couple. 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:28.560 And yes, his mother the interview was sids mother. She's 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:30.760 since passed, but just spoke so highly. 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:32.480 She said. At first she was upset. 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.959 She thought that the Robert Redford connection was overshadowing the 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:37.600 death and the murder of her son, and she was 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:40.840 concerned that maybe people were too excited about Robert Redford's 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:44.399 connection and not interested enough in actually solving the crime. 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:46.959 But then she said, she came to realize she needed 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:50.040 Robert Redford and that his focus and that his celebrity 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:53.240 actually drew attention to the case, and that was she 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:55.600 thought at that point. Yeah, the only hope they had 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:57.639 of actually getting enough eyeballs. 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:00.639 You see, we've seen this over the years in crimes. 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.920 Family members are desperate to get media to pay attention 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:07.040 to their families, their loved one story, whoever was killed, 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:08.840 especially if there's someone on a loose or someone who 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:12.439 has and faced justice. They are desperate to get the 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:16.159 media to pay attention to their story and this was 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:18.199 an obvious way to do it, and she realized it 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:19.600 eventually and was grateful for it. 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.080 Yeah, I mean, and why not? And here we are again, 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.560 And I really wonder what she'd have thought. We talked 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.480 still about this being a family member. Was there was 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:30.439 You probably saw the photo as well, but it was 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.520 freaking adorable of them when they were freshmen. I think 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:36.960 sid wells his dad was in the military, so he had, 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:38.880 you know, this sense of milily even if he wasn't 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:41.200 going into the military. He I think it was rotc 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:44.040 but he had some freshman first dance he had to 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:45.600 go to and he needed a date, and that's when 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:48.239 he asked Sean O to be his date. And low 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:50.919 and behold, they stayed together throughout all those years. This 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:54.879 was a significant relationship. And I just had no idea 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:58.640 about this story. But Robes this same daughter. So this 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:01.400 murder was in August of nineteen eighty three. I think 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:06.520 it was early summer nineteen eighty four. His daughter was 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:09.640 in a really serious car accident in which her car 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:13.399 plunged into a river and she had to be pulled out. 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:18.040 She escaped without very serious injuries, but the very next year. 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:20.560 So to your what you were saying about his daughter 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:22.640 and how this changed him, and how he lived in fear, 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:24.600 and you know he had to worry about his daughter. 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.280 She was not in the home or nearby necessarily when 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.239 the murder took place. But still, this is somebody that 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:33.760 close that violence, that close to home, and that close 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:35.720 to somebody you loved the way you would love your daughter. 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:38.760 Then the very next year this happened. I can't imagine. 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:41.120 I would like to go back and study him now 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:43.199 to a certain degree, at least his public life, and 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:46.920 I bet you you very well could see a difference 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:52.720 in him from nineteen eighty two to nineteen eighty nine ninety. 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.320 I can't imagine how this one year changed this man. 0:19:57.080 --> 0:19:59.760 And you know what, it is a remarkable thing. I 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.560 think a lot of us see celebrities and we think 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.640 they they live this charmed life where they don't deal 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:08.760 with pain or tragedy, or they're insulated from some of 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:11.080 that by their celebrity and their money. 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:13.840 No, and it's so this is just. 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:17.920 Another glaring example of just the human side of all 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:21.440 of us, and that no matter who you are, murdered death, 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:23.840 all they touch you in such a deep traumatic way 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:27.800 you can't recover oftentimes, and that's what it seems to 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:28.600 have been the case with. 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:31.960 Robert Redford and in Shauna. I didn't. I went and looked. 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:35.520 She's married, she has two kids, she's living, she's a painter. 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:39.880 Seems like she's lived a beautiful life. But I'm sure 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:43.320 that pain and that not knowing and that emptiness is 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:43.840 still there. 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:46.119 And you know what, she's dealing with it again, she 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:48.919 sees the what's in news, she sees the headlines, she 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:51.040 knows what's happening. She just lost her dad. And this 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:54.600 is a part of this story. Now, this will not 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:57.520 be the last we hear of it. I just absolutely 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:02.239 think because of this in depth, Robert Redford might be 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:05.360