WEBVTT - Chapter 4 | Strega One 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:05.200 This series includes sensitive and potentially distressing topics, including sexual 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:25.229 assault and abuse involving children. Listener discretion is advised. Dan 0:00:25.250 --> 0:00:28.630 Ritchie is a former reporter and historian in Putnam Valley. 0:00:29.450 --> 0:00:31.610 As such, he seems to have saved anything that ever 0:00:31.670 --> 0:00:35.410 caught his eye. An original bracket from the Statue of Liberty, 0:00:36.090 --> 0:00:39.720 a load-bearing bolt from the Brooklyn Bridge, and an outtake 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:43.760 from an ancient Coca-Cola ad. In the tidy house he 0:00:43.810 --> 0:00:47.500 shares with his wife, his study is a crazy quilt 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:49.379 of oddments and arcana. 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:56.180 The reason I don't like to throw things out is 0:00:56.200 --> 0:01:00.350 because historically, you know, there might be Something of value. 0:01:03.310 --> 0:01:07.360 Among those curios is a scuffed brown folder. It contains 0:01:07.390 --> 0:01:09.600 a record of every step he ever took to crack 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:13.420 the mystery of Robin Murphy. Now, since he's also a 0:01:13.540 --> 0:01:17.140 guy who taught criminal justice, Dan's a guy who likes facts, 0:01:17.180 --> 0:01:20.580 not ephemera. But as he explained to our ace reporter, 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:24.640 Kathleen Horan, sometimes you have to step outside of science. 0:01:28.590 --> 0:01:29.670 You want to see a real ghost? 0:01:30.500 --> 0:01:31.020 Oh, yeah. 0:01:36.860 --> 0:01:38.220 The ghost is in your office? 0:01:39.540 --> 0:01:43.380 Dan clicked a screen to load a video. Kathleen peered 0:01:43.420 --> 0:01:46.020 over his shoulder while he clicked the mouse. On the 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:49.160 screen flashed the image of a cement wall, the wall 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:51.640 of a high school where a kid crashed his car 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:54.470 and died of his injuries from the impact. 0:01:57.050 --> 0:01:58.730 So describe what we're looking at, please. 0:01:58.830 --> 0:02:03.550 We're looking at the back of a school, and we're 0:02:03.570 --> 0:02:05.430 going to see something come right out of there. 0:02:06.430 --> 0:02:07.770 Dan pointed to the screen. 0:02:07.790 --> 0:02:10.630 I'm going to put it on play, and you're going 0:02:10.650 --> 0:02:14.370 to watch, and you're going to see something unusual. 0:02:15.970 --> 0:02:21.160 Oh, wow. As Kathleen told me later, Spielberg himself couldn't 0:02:21.180 --> 0:02:24.990 have crafted a realer ghost. A swoosh that seems to 0:02:25.030 --> 0:02:26.610 evaporate before your eyes. 0:02:28.490 --> 0:02:29.830 So, um. 0:02:31.470 --> 0:02:31.650 You. 0:02:32.290 --> 0:02:33.910 So it's not like you don't believe in ghosts? 0:02:34.190 --> 0:02:36.910 No, I mean, this is obviously some... Let's see if 0:02:36.950 --> 0:02:41.310 we can... This is one frame at a time. You see, like, 0:02:41.330 --> 0:02:42.070 you see legs. 0:02:46.470 --> 0:02:48.769 Dan, as I said, likes to stick with the facts. 0:02:49.590 --> 0:02:52.540 But the more he looked into Robin's disappearance... the more 0:02:52.660 --> 0:02:56.160 space he made for the paranormal. Because after the cops 0:02:56.220 --> 0:02:59.980 and feds got nowhere, when Robin's case turned cold, the 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:03.140 only folks providing leads to follow were calling from the 0:03:03.220 --> 0:03:04.120 next dimension. 0:03:09.930 --> 0:03:13.870 Do you hear my madness? 0:03:16.110 --> 0:03:20.390 Laughter hides my fears. 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:33.079 Sorrow's depths are endless in this valley. 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:42.230 Of tears. 0:03:46.430 --> 0:03:51.410 I'm Paul Solitarov, and this is Season 2 of The 0:03:51.450 --> 0:03:52.370 Devil's Quarry. 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:00.160 How much time did you dedicate to searching and to 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:01.119 really delving into this? 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:08.280 Over a period of maybe five years, I just stayed 0:04:08.940 --> 0:04:09.750 almost obsessed. 0:04:11.150 --> 0:04:14.610 In 1997, Dan covered the Josette Wright murder trials for 0:04:14.630 --> 0:04:18.610 the Putnam Observer. After those ended, he met Judy Murphy, 0:04:19.170 --> 0:04:22.710 the mother of Robin Murphy. Judy went to the trials 0:04:22.810 --> 0:04:26.340 desperate for leads that might point to Robin's abductor. She 0:04:26.380 --> 0:04:29.650 was enraged at the Carmel cops for the handling of 0:04:29.690 --> 0:04:30.560 her daughter's case. 0:04:32.790 --> 0:04:35.470 When I entered the scene, there was kind of a standoff, 0:04:35.670 --> 0:04:38.350 you know, between the family and the police, so I 0:04:39.070 --> 0:04:41.950 tried to, you know, mend that as best we could 0:04:42.010 --> 0:04:43.730 because I felt as though, you know, in order to 0:04:43.770 --> 0:04:47.010 make progress, it was better for people working together than 0:04:47.050 --> 0:04:48.290 not working together, so. 0:04:49.310 --> 0:04:52.710 So you were kind of a go-between between the family and. 0:04:54.190 --> 0:04:55.909 The police department a little bit? 0:04:56.490 --> 0:04:57.850 A little bit, yeah. 0:05:00.550 --> 0:05:03.430 Dan's passion for the case endeared him to the family. 0:05:04.310 --> 0:05:07.789 They tipped him to any clues that came in. At 0:05:07.810 --> 0:05:10.610 a certain point, in fact, he became the Murphy's bloodhound, 0:05:11.250 --> 0:05:14.349 running down every lead for them, no matter how weak 0:05:14.550 --> 0:05:15.230 or wacky. 0:05:16.210 --> 0:05:19.890 I think people were kind of disappointed. Nobody really knew 0:05:20.250 --> 0:05:24.050 what was going on and, you know, who's responsible or 0:05:24.210 --> 0:05:25.750 what were we dealing with here? You know, was it 0:05:25.790 --> 0:05:27.650 a serial killer? I mean, you know, so it was, 0:05:28.290 --> 0:05:30.169 for little Putnam County, it was a big deal. 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:38.580 He traced and retraced Robin's steps on the night she disappeared. 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:43.260 He recanvassed her friends and coworkers, and he conducted the 0:05:43.300 --> 0:05:46.179 kind of painstaking search that no one else seemed willing 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:46.960 to undertake. 0:05:48.290 --> 0:05:52.050 Can you describe, uh, what this map is of and 0:05:52.089 --> 0:05:53.630 kind of, you know. 0:05:53.650 --> 0:05:57.130 It's a search map. It includes searches that occurred before 0:05:57.170 --> 0:06:00.890 I got involved and searches that I was involved in 0:06:01.210 --> 0:06:02.940 and in some cases organized. 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:07.799 Dan spread a map out in his study. Its dotted 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.919 lines and routes ran a radius of circles around the 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:14.620 Shoprack Plaza, the place Robin was last seen. 0:06:15.940 --> 0:06:20.089 The suspect or the person of interest, Howard... claimed to 0:06:20.130 --> 0:06:23.530 be 45 minutes he was missing, that he can't account 0:06:23.570 --> 0:06:25.870 for the time. So we looked at that as, you know, okay, 0:06:25.910 --> 0:06:29.590 let's kind of do a measurement out, 22 minutes out, 0:06:29.750 --> 0:06:32.310 you know what I mean? And, you know, and then 0:06:32.410 --> 0:06:35.480 see if, you know, we felt that was, you know, 0:06:35.500 --> 0:06:38.600 he'd have better luck searching if, you know, he'd dropped 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:40.020 her someplace, you know, so. 0:06:41.140 --> 0:06:43.240 On his own time, he searched every dump site he 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:45.320 could think of within a half-hour drive. 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:50.500 All the little circles... were searches that, you know, took 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:54.480 place at different times. Some of them prior, like 495 is, 0:06:54.620 --> 0:06:57.159 you know, behind ShopRite when they found the purse and stuff. 0:06:57.980 --> 0:06:59.940 And then some of them when I was involved as well. 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.410 And he shared his suspicions about Howard Gombert with the Murphys, 0:07:04.990 --> 0:07:09.930 suspicions heightened by Gombert's suicide bed in April of 95. 0:07:09.930 --> 0:07:13.310 He says he heard details that might point to Robin's remains. 0:07:14.730 --> 0:07:17.810 Or that, you know, someone, a nurse or someone had, 0:07:17.940 --> 0:07:20.740 you know, said, that he had, you know, marks like 0:07:20.780 --> 0:07:24.040 he had kind of been under, you know, thorns or 0:07:24.100 --> 0:07:28.780 maybe dragged somebody, you know, under the thorns. So, you know, 0:07:28.820 --> 0:07:33.190 we definitely looked, you know, at thorns and thorny patches. 0:07:33.210 --> 0:07:35.570 I mean, in a case like this, you can't really 0:07:35.630 --> 0:07:36.369 rule out anything. 0:07:40.530 --> 0:07:43.250 And so another year passed with no trace of Robin. 0:07:43.770 --> 0:07:48.390 Her mother, Judy Murphy, sat and seethed. and cast around 0:07:48.470 --> 0:07:52.850 for someone else to help her. Finally, a development. 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.540 There's a press conference on here on VHS. 0:07:59.920 --> 0:08:01.240 First, I'd like to start with Mr. 0:08:01.260 --> 0:08:01.820 And Mrs. 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:04.140 Bryant and Judy Murphy. 0:08:04.660 --> 0:08:05.140 We're here. 0:08:06.110 --> 0:08:09.550 Among the files in Arcana and Dan Ritchie's study was 0:08:09.570 --> 0:08:13.410 an old videotape he gave to Kathleen. The sleeve was 0:08:13.450 --> 0:08:18.610 dated July 27, 1997. The tape showed a press conference 0:08:18.630 --> 0:08:22.050 set in the charmless office of a Putnam County executive. 0:08:23.270 --> 0:08:28.350 The purpose of this morning's press conference is to announce 0:08:28.970 --> 0:08:30.670 a reward. 0:08:30.060 --> 0:08:33.429 Of $ 5, 000. 0:08:31.150 --> 0:08:34.130 In connection with the missing Robin Murphy. 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:38.800 That's the county executive, Robert Bondi, announcing a reward in 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:42.660 the case. Robin's parents were there, along with a Carmel 0:08:42.700 --> 0:08:54.420 police chief and several local reporters, including Dan. Chief Greg 0:08:54.460 --> 0:08:57.280 Amato gave a run on account of his detective's efforts 0:08:57.370 --> 0:09:01.370 in the case. But slouched in his seat, he looked 0:09:01.410 --> 0:09:05.689 frankly annoyed by the whole business. Judy and Brian Murphy 0:09:05.750 --> 0:09:09.470 sat across the table, looking like they hadn't slept in years. 0:09:10.370 --> 0:09:13.790 Heart-sick and sullen, Judy glanced at her lab, where a 0:09:13.830 --> 0:09:17.450 photo of Robin glanced back. Brian, a tall man with 0:09:17.510 --> 0:09:20.510 a brushed mustache and a face gone gray with grief, 0:09:21.150 --> 0:09:22.650 took one of her hands in his. 0:09:22.670 --> 0:09:22.729 Mr. 0:09:24.350 --> 0:09:27.470 And Mrs. Murphy, would you like to make any comments? 0:09:28.670 --> 0:09:30.890 I just hope that if anybody's out there, if they 0:09:30.970 --> 0:09:34.589 can try to say something, come forward. 0:09:35.570 --> 0:09:38.350 Brian begged the public to call with any information. 0:09:39.530 --> 0:09:39.770 Mr. 0:09:39.790 --> 0:09:40.170 And Mrs. 0:09:40.250 --> 0:09:42.130 Murphy, I have to ask this question. Do you have 0:09:42.170 --> 0:09:50.350 any hope that Robin still alive? No, says Judy, because 0:09:50.390 --> 0:09:53.510 I would have heard from her. Tell me something. It's 0:09:53.530 --> 0:10:19.089 been too long. It's hard to look at it. A 0:10:19.130 --> 0:10:22.010 reporter asked Amato if his interest in the case had waned. 0:10:22.710 --> 0:10:25.950 But the chief sidestepped the question, putting the onus on 0:10:25.990 --> 0:10:27.510 the media to bring in tips. 0:10:29.090 --> 0:10:31.790 We would hope that the news media would keep on 0:10:31.809 --> 0:10:34.730 this and Europe's biggest assets. 0:10:36.050 --> 0:10:39.450 It was a dismal capper to a dreary event. The 0:10:39.530 --> 0:10:41.929 offer of a reward that was two years too late 0:10:42.429 --> 0:10:46.140 and way too little to matter. Watching the Murphys, I 0:10:46.179 --> 0:10:49.179 can read it in their faces. No one in charge 0:10:49.220 --> 0:10:52.300 gave a damn about their daughter. In fact, the cops 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:55.220 were still calling her a missing person, as if she 0:10:55.260 --> 0:11:01.089 was somehow complicit in her absence. In any case, Judy 0:11:01.140 --> 0:11:04.830 Murphy had seen enough. A week or so later, she 0:11:04.890 --> 0:11:06.890 sat down and wrote a letter to the governor of 0:11:06.950 --> 0:11:11.450 New York, George Pataki. Her handwriting is large and overruns 0:11:11.510 --> 0:11:16.189 the margins, filling both sides of the page. She underlines 0:11:16.230 --> 0:11:19.810 key phrases to drive her plea home. It's read here 0:11:19.890 --> 0:11:21.490 by reporter Kathleen. 0:11:23.630 --> 0:11:29.280 August 5th, 1997. Dear Governor Pataki, please help our family. 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.800 We have not seen our 17-year-old daughter Robin for over 0:11:32.900 --> 0:11:36.520 two years. We believe she was abducted and murdered the 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.700 night she vanished in Carmel, New York, near Shoprite and 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:42.699 Burger King, only two blocks from our home at the time. 0:11:43.850 --> 0:11:46.050 Please look at the poster. We made them for the 0:11:46.100 --> 0:11:49.940 two-year anniversary. Carmel Police screwed this case up from the 0:11:49.980 --> 0:11:53.620 beginning and will not admit it. The car and pocketbook 0:11:53.660 --> 0:11:57.340 were found, but not my baby. I feel she is 0:11:57.420 --> 0:12:00.410 out there in the woods somewhere. I can't even bury 0:12:00.429 --> 0:12:04.150 her properly in a Catholic burial. We are being tortured 0:12:04.190 --> 0:12:08.030 by this. I feel her murderer is still in Putnam 0:12:08.130 --> 0:12:11.750 area and he got away with it. The suspect offered 0:12:11.790 --> 0:12:14.400 to take a polygraph. He was the last person to 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:18.520 see her, but Chief Amato said it wasn't necessary. Then 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:22.110 the suspect, within a week, moved to Connecticut, got a lawyer, 0:12:22.260 --> 0:12:26.349 and tried suicide. Now he can't be questioned because of 0:12:26.390 --> 0:12:29.990 the legal aid lawyer. This is a travesty of justice. 0:12:30.630 --> 0:12:33.170 Please help us, as no one seems to want to. 0:12:34.070 --> 0:12:36.429 For the Murphy family, as well as the other girls 0:12:36.470 --> 0:12:38.950 who are still alive in this town, but are possible 0:12:39.030 --> 0:12:42.670 future victims. I want the case changed to the Putnam 0:12:42.710 --> 0:12:46.920 County Sheriff's Department. I feel they can help us. So far, 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:51.240 Senator Leibel's office, DA Kevin Wright, New York State Attorney 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:55.420 General's office, will not lift a finger. Doesn't my daughter 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:59.339 deserve justice? 17 is too young to die. 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:01.240 Judy Murphy. 0:13:06.490 --> 0:13:06.730 Yeah. 0:13:08.429 --> 0:13:08.870 That's my mom. 0:13:11.090 --> 0:13:14.470 Kathleen showed a copy of the letter to Robin's older brother, Jamie. 0:13:15.730 --> 0:13:15.970 Yeah. 0:13:17.050 --> 0:13:21.130 He's frustrated. She has no hair on her tongue. She'd 0:13:21.150 --> 0:13:21.430 tell them. 0:13:22.590 --> 0:13:24.630 What's coming up for you now that you read that? 0:13:26.570 --> 0:13:29.689 I find it funny because my mom's giving him peace 0:13:29.730 --> 0:13:35.120 of mind. But I remember the frustration. So it was 0:13:35.130 --> 0:13:38.620 bringing back a lot of memories and emotions and things 0:13:38.660 --> 0:13:41.800 that I tried to to forget, you know? 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:44.040 So I'm feeling a little heated. 0:13:44.059 --> 0:13:46.400 Yeah. 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:51.870 So, but yeah, that's, I know she, she tried her hardest. 0:13:51.890 --> 0:13:57.690 It was just a nightmare. You know, I know my 0:13:57.730 --> 0:14:03.090 mother was going through hell. Being the oldest child and 0:14:03.130 --> 0:14:06.300 her older brother, it was very hard. I mean, it 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:10.300 put me in a bad place for a long time until, uh, 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:14.410 until I was able to get out of it. 0:14:20.610 --> 0:14:23.290 Alas, there's nothing in his sister's file to suggest the 0:14:23.330 --> 0:14:27.930 governor responded. Instead, there's every indication that Judy took matters 0:14:27.990 --> 0:14:32.510 into her own hands. Dan Ritchie began a full-bore investigation 0:14:32.590 --> 0:14:36.570 on her behalf while she searched for clues from the beyond. 0:14:38.230 --> 0:14:41.640 I think she was just looking for any answer possible. And, uh, 0:14:42.090 --> 0:14:43.570 She was finding hope anywhere she could. 0:15:08.150 --> 0:15:09.910 Do you think that was your rep in town, that 0:15:09.930 --> 0:15:10.430 you were a witch? 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:16.150 Um, kinda, yeah. It's on my plates. 0:15:17.030 --> 0:15:17.870 What does your plate say? 0:15:18.030 --> 0:15:21.910 It says Draga 1, which is Italian. It means one witch. 0:15:27.710 --> 0:15:30.170 Lorraine Hahn is nearly 80, but doesn't look a day 0:15:30.230 --> 0:15:33.490 over 70. She dyes a patch of her hair pink, 0:15:33.790 --> 0:15:37.270 wears a grin you'd call impish, and loves to tell 0:15:37.350 --> 0:15:38.650 people about her broomstick. 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.400 I used to get the downpour on everybody that went missing. 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:45.680 They all came to me because they all knew that 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:50.310 I did the scary boogie stuff. And I said, we'll 0:15:50.330 --> 0:15:52.890 tell Lorraine. Maybe she'll find out where this girl is. 0:15:52.990 --> 0:15:53.690 We tried. 0:15:53.710 --> 0:15:58.310 A year or so after Robin went missing, Lorraine walked 0:15:58.350 --> 0:16:01.910 into the Carmel police station with 10 pages of notes 0:16:01.950 --> 0:16:02.950 for the detectives. 0:16:04.190 --> 0:16:06.660 I consulted with the cops on other cases, but I 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:08.520 didn't push the way I did with this. 0:16:09.810 --> 0:16:12.930 Those pages were culled from her dreams and card readings. 0:16:14.190 --> 0:16:16.130 I gave them so much to read that I thought 0:16:16.150 --> 0:16:17.650 they were going to kill me when they saw me 0:16:17.690 --> 0:16:20.530 walking into the place. And I said, listen, someday you're 0:16:20.550 --> 0:16:21.510 really going to need this. 0:16:25.110 --> 0:16:28.150 Now, as crazy as it sounds, witches play well with cops. 0:16:28.810 --> 0:16:31.230 At least the kinds of cops who will accept their help. 0:16:32.230 --> 0:16:36.370 Lorraine wasn't the first such consultant on Robin's case. Or, 0:16:36.490 --> 0:16:40.410 Lord knows, the last. At the outset, Dan had his 0:16:40.490 --> 0:16:41.810 doubts about these folks. 0:16:42.930 --> 0:16:46.450 They're not giving you, if they give you something revolutionary, different, new, 0:16:47.050 --> 0:16:50.030 then you're interested. But other than that, and there were 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:52.840 dozens of them, you know, step forward. 0:16:54.540 --> 0:16:56.780 It's hard to get data on how often cops use 0:16:56.820 --> 0:17:01.660 tips from psychics. One reputable survey of 102 cops offers 0:17:01.700 --> 0:17:06.679 a window into how law enforcement approaches these consultants. Of 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:12.419 those surveyed, 75 did not recommend soliciting psychic detectives. One 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.380 of them wrote they'd, quote, never in a million years 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:20.240 used that crap, end quote. But 49 of them, almost half, 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:23.980 said they'd run down any leads that came in. Only 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.590 seven of them could remember an instance of psychics actually 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:31.669 helping to solve a homicide. The Carmel cops seemed to 0:17:31.710 --> 0:17:35.090 bird dog every tip they got from the paranormals. You 0:17:35.109 --> 0:17:38.119 can't go three pages in Robin's case file without hearing 0:17:38.180 --> 0:17:42.120 from a psychic. They started calling the station days after 0:17:42.180 --> 0:17:46.220 she disappeared. There was the Burger King employee who swore 0:17:46.260 --> 0:17:49.160 he'd find Robin. Just as soon as the cops fed 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:53.300 him the details needed to read her astrology chart. There 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:55.379 was the local man who sat down each morning to 0:17:55.420 --> 0:17:59.649 take voicemails from the undead. He phoned in after Robin 0:17:59.710 --> 0:18:04.170 paid him a visit. But some of those calls were outbound, too. 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:08.140 Early on, Judy Murphy tried to recruit a famous mystic 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.859 by the name of Noreen Renier. But Noreen, in her 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:16.240 third eye wisdom, declined to play. And so, enter the 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:18.139 next psychic and sign in, please. 0:18:21.300 --> 0:18:22.720 Please welcome Dorothy Allison. 0:18:24.980 --> 0:18:28.260 Dorothy has worked with police departments across the country. 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:29.320 For 30 years. 0:18:29.420 --> 0:18:32.310 She has solved missing persons and murder cases and has 0:18:32.380 --> 0:18:33.930 the most amazing history. 0:18:34.430 --> 0:18:35.310 Track record. 0:18:36.630 --> 0:18:40.560 Listeners of a certain age will recognize that voice. It's 0:18:40.580 --> 0:18:44.460 Sally Jessie Raphael, whose syndicated show in the 80s and 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:50.180 90s was every bit as craptastic as Jerry Springer's. Dorothy Allison, 0:18:50.330 --> 0:18:55.030 the psychic, often appeared on daytime TV. She was diminutive 0:18:55.090 --> 0:18:59.510 woman in enormous glasses and a dyed brown beehive of hair. 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:04.580 How many cases have you solved? I've done over 5,000, 0:19:04.580 --> 0:19:07.810 and I've got 20 albums. That's six of them. 0:19:07.830 --> 0:19:09.770 Isn't that an amazing record, 5,000? 0:19:09.770 --> 0:19:14.369 As I do this, I try to picture what a 0:19:14.410 --> 0:19:16.729 man looks like. The first thing I try to get 0:19:16.790 --> 0:19:20.500 is a name. This is how I find dead people. 0:19:20.540 --> 0:19:21.840 This is how I find. 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:25.419 Criminals, because the dead people are telling me something. It's 0:19:25.460 --> 0:19:28.399 a very cold feeling. No windows are open, but all 0:19:28.420 --> 0:19:30.270 of a sudden you feel a cold breeze. You don't 0:19:30.310 --> 0:19:33.930 know where it's coming from. And that person tells you something. 0:19:34.330 --> 0:19:42.770 We'll be right back. At Judy Murphy's insistence, the Carmel 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.980 cops wrote to Dorothy Allison, pleading for her help. 0:19:47.060 --> 0:19:50.770 I'm not a psychic. But Dorothy Allison was injured. because 0:19:50.810 --> 0:19:53.510 she said she would see visions and she couldn't tell 0:19:53.530 --> 0:19:55.790 whether they happened or whether they were going to happen. 0:19:56.830 --> 0:20:00.310 Dan, as noted above, had his doubts about psychics, but 0:20:00.350 --> 0:20:02.350 something about Dorothy hit different. 0:20:03.609 --> 0:20:06.450 She was out to dinner with a retired homicide detective 0:20:06.470 --> 0:20:10.230 who had a private detective agency when she started just 0:20:10.810 --> 0:20:14.490 blurting out Robin and Howard and said to him, talk 0:20:14.530 --> 0:20:16.690 to the local police and find out about a case 0:20:16.730 --> 0:20:20.470 if there's somebody involved named Robin. So, you know, she 0:20:20.540 --> 0:20:23.699 definitely got her antenna working. 0:20:24.940 --> 0:20:28.380 At Engel, the ex-detective turned PI offered to pitch in 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:32.740 for a bono. Soon, he and Dan Ritchie were working together. 0:20:33.820 --> 0:20:36.140 Carmel put me in touch with Ed Engel. I called 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:38.879 him and then, you know, started working with him, you know, 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:43.100 And he was kind of showing me the ropes, you know, and, 0:20:43.140 --> 0:20:45.960 you know, investigative, taking pictures. 0:20:47.940 --> 0:20:51.159 Dan was eager to learn from Engle. They did ride-alongs 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:53.119 while Engle tailed Howard Gombert. 0:20:54.200 --> 0:21:00.030 He did surveillance, photographed Gombert's father's house. Gombert was working 0:21:00.070 --> 0:21:03.470 in an auto parts store. He photographed him there, you 0:21:03.510 --> 0:21:05.370 know what I mean? So he was really, you know, 0:21:05.430 --> 0:21:07.870 like kind of, you know, dogging him for a while. 0:21:09.460 --> 0:21:13.179 Alas, Gombert never led them anywhere useful. And after a while, 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:18.770 Ed Engle stepped away. But Dan carried on undeterred. Only 0:21:18.850 --> 0:21:21.389 now he took most of his tips from the psychics. 0:21:22.530 --> 0:21:26.090 At some point, Dorothy, the psychic, sat down with Carmel detectives. 0:21:26.790 --> 0:21:29.490 Dan was there as Dorothy passed around a list. 0:21:31.190 --> 0:21:35.189 Clues to search for, as it's entitled. Places, anything or 0:21:35.210 --> 0:21:39.690 a place with a royal name, such as castle, king... Queen, 0:21:40.490 --> 0:21:42.449 a small zoo should be in the area. 0:21:42.670 --> 0:21:45.070 That list was long and wide. 0:21:45.869 --> 0:21:52.030 Professional games, gambling, auto repair, lion's heads. And I can't 0:21:52.090 --> 0:21:54.270 tell you how many lion's heads there are in Putnam County, 0:21:54.310 --> 0:21:58.670 but a lot. A Boy Scout killed in the area. Names, 0:21:58.830 --> 0:22:00.800 anything with gold in it, like Goldstein. 0:22:01.040 --> 0:22:04.440 Dan chauffeured Dorothy on routes through New York and Connecticut. 0:22:05.220 --> 0:22:08.780 They even did a drive-by past Willie McCracken's house. But 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:11.200 Gombert stayed when Robin disappeared. 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:15.430 Dorothy had a feeling about the place. When she said, 0:22:15.470 --> 0:22:17.570 I feel good about this place, it means that there's 0:22:17.609 --> 0:22:20.250 something there. So, you know, I got used to that 0:22:20.290 --> 0:22:21.930 was kind of the code, you know what I mean? 0:22:22.390 --> 0:22:23.470 Who else was with you guys? 0:22:25.940 --> 0:22:30.260 Let's see. A couple of guys from the sheriff's office 0:22:30.380 --> 0:22:32.540 and I think a couple of guys from the Carmel PD. 0:22:41.619 --> 0:22:45.040 Dorothy didn't stick around Carmel long, which is probably a 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:48.560 blessing all around. Her list of clues proved about as 0:22:48.619 --> 0:22:53.180 valid as her claim to have solved 5,000 cases. Nonetheless, 0:22:53.240 --> 0:22:55.280 Dan chased down all those leads of hers. 0:22:56.500 --> 0:22:59.220 I tried to follow, you know, what Dorothy said in 0:22:59.240 --> 0:23:02.760 the hopes that, you know, if I put it together, 0:23:02.820 --> 0:23:04.760 you know, maybe, wow, you know what I mean? Here's 0:23:04.859 --> 0:23:05.420 the solution. 0:23:06.750 --> 0:23:09.290 Dan was so invested that he rode with the cops 0:23:09.330 --> 0:23:13.359 as they chased their own tails, as well as Dorothy's clues. 0:23:15.420 --> 0:23:17.240 So it was a search, you know, that kind of 0:23:17.280 --> 0:23:20.340 went on and on, you know. And then I'd be like, 0:23:20.380 --> 0:23:21.940 I don't want to do this anymore. And then, like, 0:23:21.980 --> 0:23:23.480 my daughter, I'd put her on the bus, and she 0:23:23.500 --> 0:23:25.780 had her hair like Joseph Wright. And I'd go, I 0:23:25.800 --> 0:23:26.270 got to do it. 0:23:28.140 --> 0:23:31.090 Here's Dan reading his notes from a search he conducted himself. 0:23:31.730 --> 0:23:34.730 They concern an old estate called Morningthorpe Manor. 0:23:35.810 --> 0:23:38.790 While trekking through the woods on Friday the 13th, I 0:23:38.830 --> 0:23:41.050 happened to cross a piece of purple cloth tied to 0:23:41.090 --> 0:23:44.359 a young sapling. This would have no significance except for 0:23:44.380 --> 0:23:47.120 the fact that there's no evidence of any surveying work 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:50.740 going on and purple was Robin's favorite color. Meanwhile, I 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:52.460 found some information in a book called. 0:23:52.800 --> 0:23:57.030 His pursuit of Dorothy's leads turned up nothing, however, until 0:23:57.130 --> 0:23:58.669 Dan found a clue of his own. 0:24:23.130 --> 0:24:24.649 Do you still think about Robin? 0:24:25.170 --> 0:24:25.490 Oh, yeah. 0:24:26.810 --> 0:24:29.050 Danny and I all talk about her sometimes, you know. 0:24:30.780 --> 0:24:32.820 I have a daughter her age. 0:24:34.220 --> 0:24:40.140 There but for the grace of God. You know. Yeah. 0:24:41.040 --> 0:24:43.609 And boy, did I become protective after this. 0:24:43.630 --> 0:24:45.810 You know, as a mom. 0:24:46.869 --> 0:24:49.169 Things I took for granted all of a sudden I 0:24:49.190 --> 0:24:50.790 didn't take for granted anymore. 0:24:52.440 --> 0:24:55.699 Penny Osborne's a woman in her 70s now, but has 0:24:55.760 --> 0:24:58.840 a mane of black hair that catches the sun just so. 0:24:59.700 --> 0:25:02.000 There's a husk in her voice that may come from 0:25:02.100 --> 0:25:03.240 channeling spirits. 0:25:04.560 --> 0:25:09.100 I was a paranormal investigator, and I did a good 0:25:09.140 --> 0:25:10.830 share of paranormal investigations. 0:25:12.070 --> 0:25:15.830 Penny holds lots of space in Robin's case file. She 0:25:15.890 --> 0:25:19.670 and Dan met at the Putnam Historical Society, then worked 0:25:19.690 --> 0:25:22.129 together on a search that consumed them both. 0:25:23.390 --> 0:25:26.490 Danny and I just hit it off right away. We 0:25:26.530 --> 0:25:30.590 just had a lot in common and nothing in common. 0:25:31.950 --> 0:25:33.190 Does that sound crazy? 0:25:34.609 --> 0:25:37.879 After a visit to Dan's house, Kathleen sat down with Penny. 0:25:40.040 --> 0:25:43.800 Call it a hunch or whatever, but for some reason 0:25:43.960 --> 0:25:46.680 it would come to me as to where to find 0:25:46.740 --> 0:25:50.420 them or locate them. And I would say 90% of 0:25:50.440 --> 0:25:54.230