WEBVTT - Dope Floats: The Uncrashable Gary Betzner 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:02.760 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:07.360 Elizabeth Dunton Zaren Brunette. I got a question for you. Yes, 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:10.719 do you know what is ridiculous? 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:13.240 I do know what is ridiculous? 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:14.200 Lay it on me. 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:18.079 Lick what lick what? Lick? 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:19.279 Stop saying that. 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.439 I can't remember when I was Remember when I was 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:26.599 telling you about people getting the Hines fifty seven tattoos. 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.960 Oh yeah, and it was oddly in Brazil. Yeah, well 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:34.400 they've taken their craziness Hines over to another continent. 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:35.280 They can't be stopped. 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.880 No, they cannot. So Hines has partnered with a company 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:39.800 called Lick. 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:43.760 Okay go on, and it's so sure this is gonna 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:44.080 be fun. 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:46.400 We got a ton of these. This is forwarded to 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:47.560 us by a ton of people. 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:49.680 The Elizabeth Army was marching, Oh yeah. 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:54.160 We rise up. Lick Paint. It's a paint company and 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:55.920 so they have a matte. 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.720 Paint I know, Blick Art supply the Yeah, they. 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.640 Dropped the bee because they're not their crips and so 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.760 they they it's Lick and they're out of the UK. 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:09.160 So they spelled color COO l O U R. 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:09.560 Yes. 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:14.440 Anyway, they have this matte paint red HTK fifty seven. 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.920 It's the Hinds Tomato ketchup color and so you can 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:22.360 paint your walls like that and that's that's ridiculous. Yeah, 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:25.800 and so you know, ridiculous, gross, what have you? But 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:28.720 I have another I knew there was more non mashup. 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:32.200 Is this a really good message that we got on 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.360 Instagram that was forwarded over to me from Helen w. 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:40.240 She said, you know, in a past episode, I think 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:43.040 it was when we were talking about that male heights 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:46.200 to the planmeth mail highs crime Watch the show in 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:49.200 the UK. She said, I know someone will have said, 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:52.760 but sorry, Elizabeth. Crime Watch was canceled by the BBC 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:56.320 and half of the UK true crime podcasters are still 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:59.720 not over it. It is sad I loved a good 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.920 crime watch. Sadly it isn't murder free, but it is 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:06.960 ridiculous that one of the presenters of crime Watch, Jill Dando, 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:10.800 was murdered on her doorstep. I know a man was 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:12.880 tried and jailed for it, but then it was overturned 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:14.360 and her killer has never been caught. 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:16.679 I don't I just make light of this, but was 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:18.600 her murder then presented on the show that she. 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:22.639 That begs the question and we're not making light. I don't, 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:24.360 but I just stole your one percent, so you're not 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:27.360 allowed anything in there. Okay, but yeah, So I just 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:30.240 thought that was like one of the greatest dms, like 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:31.639 the two parters. 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:35.760 Totally well structured. Yeah, way to miss your opportunity in 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:39.359 your moment like crime Stoppers, Crime Watch watchers, crime watch Yeah, 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:41.440 crime like, way to miss your moment Like now, true 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:43.639 crime is bigger, let's cancel this right, you. 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:46.760 Think that people be into it whatever. So in summary, 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:48.160 those two things are ridiculous. 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:50.000 Ridiculous. Yep, well I got one for you. If you 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:53.800 got a second, sit back down. This one has everything. 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:56.840 I don't know. This man's life is in a movie, Elizabeth. 0:02:56.919 --> 0:02:59.240 It's an oscar just waiting to happen. Brad Pitt's people 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.360 call me no for real. First, seriously, I couldn't believe it. 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:03.800 When I read through this guy's life. I was just like, 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:06.120 page after a page. I was like it was reported 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.600 the newspapers, there was stuff in senate testimony. I was 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:13.320 just just shocked, Elizabeth. Over the course of this show, 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.239 we have talked drug smugglers. Yeah, we've talked hippie drug 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.800 dealers in Hawaii. We've talked dudes who faked their own deaths, 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.600 who talked about hypnosis. We talked about Pablo Escobar, who 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:26.520 talked about the CIA. We've never talked about the Iaron 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:27.280 Contra affair. 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:29.919 Have we No? But it's right for the picking. 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.200 Mix all of that together and you get this story. 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:32.799 You're kidding. 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:57.400 This is ridiculous crime. A podcast about absurd and outrageous capers. 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:01.040 I sincds. It's always ninety nine percent murder free and 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.400 one hundred percent ridiculous. 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:04.440 You are damn right. 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:07.880 Elizabeth Barren in his own words, this guy I'm gonna 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:10.160 tell you about it. He described himself as quote well, basically, 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:12.680 I'm just a farm boy from Arkansas. There is a 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.640 story here that is much deeper than it presents itself 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:16.520 on the surface. 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:18.240 Oh he says that, and he ain't lying. 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:20.279 Meet Gary Betzner. 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:21.240 Hi, Gary, all right. 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:24.080 Gary had a rather all American upbringing. He was raised 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:26.440 in the Heartland. He born in the early forties, during 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.599 the war years, his formative years. This makes it be 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.400 the nineteen fifties, one of those kids raised, you know, 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:34.600 like I've talked before, Blue jeans Westerns on TV the 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:37.800 whole bit, right, Milkman. By the late nineteen sixties, he 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:40.279 was in his mid twenties, and so at this point 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.080 he's joined the military. He's become a pilot in the military. 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:45.520 He was one hell of a pilot while he was 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.080 in the military. The head of the top Gun program 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:50.680 reportedly told Gary that he was the best pilot he'd 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.160 ever known. You know, the top Gun program, right, that's 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:55.599 like the best pilots in the Navy. Yes, exactly. So 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.640 back home in Hayes in Arkansas, population fourteen hundred, Gary, 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:01.919 and there was what you might call a local celebrity, 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:05.839 colorful character. Now to pay his bills. What did he do? 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:07.960 What told you he'd become a pilot in the military, 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:10.760 comes back home, becomes a crop duster. He loved it. 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.160 He had thrills and chills and for you know, exhibitions 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:16.240 on the weekends. He would be a stunt flier occasionally. 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:18.479 Oh so he's like a crop duster. Did he want 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:23.080 like did he walk around Walmart farting and then leaving 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:28.159 the aisle? Like did you do that professional. 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:35.440 High passes that the airplane kind airplane? Yeah, agricultural fields 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:39.239 coming in low and fast and or low and slow. Actually, 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:41.560 for instance, this guy, he was such a good pilot. 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:44.440 He could skim the like watering holes and lakes around 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:47.280 his hometown of Hazen. And what I mean skim is 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:48.960 he put his waters right on the wheel and kind 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:50.840 of just kissed the water with his wheel. That's real 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:53.920 difficult because if you catch it'll pull your right out right. 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:56.440 He makes me think of that Stephen Stills song Tree 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:57.040 Top Flyer. 0:05:57.200 --> 0:05:59.240 Yes, I love that song very much. 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:01.200 Mainly because of the line don't do business that don't 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:01.880 make me smile. 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:05.600 Such a good, good one. Well, this dude is good 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:07.000 as the pilot dis he was. He also had his 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:11.400 fair share near death experiences. He crashed eleven planes. Oh yeah, 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:14.680 Ever he walked away without a scratch, every single kidding. 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:15.200 Oh yeah. 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.080 Well, I mean it's like a low flying slow crop 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:19.640 duster just like jumps out and runs next. 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:23.560 To it, races it to the ground. So in nineteen 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:26.799 sixty nine, he's out there, you know, single guy moving 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:31.040 around in Hays in Arkansas summer totally Well, you girl, 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:32.440 you don't even know. We're two years out of the 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:34.799 summer love, and you know we're basically in the Oki 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:36.600 from Muskogee era of this part of. 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:38.440 The country took a while to flow out there. 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.560 Yeah, they're still like hanging on to like buzz cuts 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.240 and like rolled up blue jeans. But oh yeah they 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:46.920 did have The moon landing happened in nineteen sixty nine 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:49.359 in July. Everyone's all excited. So these people they have 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:52.200 a moon party. He goes to attend it. This is 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:56.040 meeting was fortuitous because this night it becomes the night 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:57.640 he beats the love of his life, or at least 0:06:57.680 --> 0:06:59.359 for the woman he met, he was the love of 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:01.920 her life. I'll just say that. She says that I 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.680 don't want words in his mouth. Anyway. Neil Armstrong took 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.760 one small step from man one giant leap for mankind, 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:13.640 and Sally met Gary. They were just like right there saying. Well, 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:17.760 when she was telling the story, she said, and I quote, 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:19.920 there was a boom in the universe. It just shook. 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:24.160 So apparently two universal things happened that night. Yeah, she 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:27.280 fell in love like Muhammad A. Lee boxed Elizabeth shook 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:31.000 up the world. Anyway, There's one problem. Gary was already married. 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:34.160 Oh yeah, he his wife was seven months pregnant. Oh, 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.679 so that didn't stop married Gary from starting a family 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:40.080 with Sally. Sally, Someone's universe got shook, I'm telling you. 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:44.120 So his first wife, Claudia. Soon their daughter Pauli was 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:47.640 born and then married Gary got a divorce, and he 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:50.600 got right with Sally and he made an honest woman 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:52.400 out of her, and they started a second family. So 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:55.320 Polly had a brother and sister joined their number. They 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.240 named the boy Travis named the girl Sarah Lee. Just 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:01.520 like the Dutch bakery known for it's delicious frozen. 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:04.080 Cakes, you know that, Like there's that jingle. Is it 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:08.000 nobody doesn't like Sarah Lee? Or nobody does it like 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:08.600 Sarah Lee? 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:13.520 So glad you asked. I looked this up, the Mandel 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:15.600 effect on this. I couldn't remember which it was. I 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:17.520 was certain I was right, so I wanted to look 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:20.480 it up. So yeah, so the question is on the 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:22.960 line you'll find it's debate. Is it nobody does it 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.800 like Sarah Lee? Or nobody doesn't like Sarah Lee? 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:28.640 You know, hold on which one do you think it is? 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:30.320 Which one do I think it is? How did you 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:33.000 I always thought it was nobody does it like. 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.440 Sarah That's what I always thought. Like and also like 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.120 the bond. Nobody does it better. It makes it. It 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:39.520 makes pound cake so sexy. 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:41.760 Yes, right, it's like surely Bassi's thing. 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.400 Walking down the freezer out crop dusting so sexy? 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:47.920 Look, why do you do this to me? So I 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:49.720 did as I told you. I looked at the answer. 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:53.320 I found that the according to the Frozen cake maker themselves. Oh, 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.240 when you hear the full phrasing, the jingle catch race 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:59.439 makes way more sense. Right, So the full actual phrase 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:05.080 is everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like Sarah Lee. 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:06.800 That's stupid, right, I. 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:08.840 Don't care about all that because I'm like, dude, it's 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:12.920 nobody doesn't like Sarah Lee. That's Steve McQueen of clean phrasing. 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:15.840 It's just like, it's not some weird double negative contradiction. 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:16.760 That's exactly. 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.120 Everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like I mean, 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.640 what the hell's cake? Anyway? Sarah Lee is the name 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:25.760 of gary second daughter. So what is this now? Twice 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:29.280 married father of three makes his way as a stunt 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:31.640 pilot and a crop duster. What does he do next? 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:34.880 To Elizabeth? He goes into business for himself. He started 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.640 a company called bettsnerch Flying Service. The company does well, 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:39.559 in fact, does so well Elizabeth in nineteen seventy six, 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:41.480 he's able to sell his company. 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:42.520 Is flying service. 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:46.200 He does a crop dusting charter flights mostly crop dusting, right, 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:48.360 So he takes the profits from that and he moves 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:53.240 his family north. They relocate from Arkansas to Alaska, North Alaska. 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:53.680 Yeah. 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:56.920 Yeah, we've both been to Arkansas. Yeah, you've been to Alaska. 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:00.560 I have not. For my edification, Elizabeth, how different Arkansas 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:03.679 from Alaska? I mean, other than the weather that I'll 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.160 be similar at all? A culture shop. 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:07.880 I think it depends on where in Alaska. 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:10.600 Okay. This is also by the way, Peak Hippie Commune, Alaska, 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:11.720 nineteen seventy Yeah. 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.400 I would imagine that there's not too much of a difference, Okay. 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:17.000 I think rural it's a lot of the same people, 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:18.360 you know, same types of people. 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:20.880 Yeah. I mean there's like logging and fishing and so 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:22.839 it's you know, hard work. 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:24.040 At a lot of hard scrabble labor. 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:27.080 They have a much higher percentage of men than women, 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:28.839 I understand in Alaska. 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:29.280 Yeah. 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:31.440 But so, I mean I've only been to the tourist spots, 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:35.040 you know, if I watched TV. Yes, I may have 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.640 watched some sort of Alaskan cop show at some point, sure, 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.199 and really learned a lot about you know, life and anchorage. 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:44.760 Okay, I just know northern exposure, which is really fictional, 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.200 so I think that is not accurate, very true. Anyway, 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:49.559 Gary takes his family to Alaska for an opportunity working 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:53.640 the oil pipeline business because it was huge. Yeah, yeah, exactly. 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:55.400 So he went up there and he tries to go 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:58.040 and like bid on like an oil reclamation business. But 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:00.400 he he loses that because he doesn't now to like 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:03.280 who to like the base. He claims bribe, he didn't 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:05.800 know how to like work the permit process. He loses 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:07.679 his bid, loses a ton of money. So he goes 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:09.679 back to what is he he knows, Elizabeth, what does 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:12.160 he know? Flying right? But he can't crop dust up there. 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:14.480 So meanwhile, also at the same time, I told you 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.840 it's nineteen seventy six peak hippie commune, Alaska. So he 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:20.439 starts smoking pot. He then starts realizing, you know, I 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.040 could help out with this, so he starts flying in 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:25.720 loads of whiskey to the rural villagers and then picking 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:28.000 up like you know, other stuff in trade money. Then 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:29.199 he's like, oh, I could take out a you know, 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.600 a pound of pot to those guys. Does that becomes 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:33.439 a pot smuggler? 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:37.079 I would imagine that there's tons of work taking supplies out. 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:38.800 Oh yeah, definitely, definitely. But there's also a lot of 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:39.760 bush pilot's doing that. 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:42.640 So you had to differentiate himself. Yeah, so he's like. 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:45.319 Yeah, more costly load exactly. 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:45.760 Yeah. 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:48.560 So meanwhile he turns his wife Sally onto pot. So 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:50.640 now she loves it too, a little girl from Arkansas. 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:52.480 I was like, wow, this is not I love this cosmic, 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:56.520 wacky tebacy. But after this, you know, some time passes. 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:58.960 His business starts to go bad with the pot smuggling 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:01.760 because he loses his potcat and Gary finds it. He 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:03.880 can only fly up there for about six months of 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:05.720 the year, so he's really not able to make money. 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:07.880 So they have to go back home. Family moves back 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:10.480 down to the lower forty eight. Their return somewhat defeated 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:12.640 to Arkansas. Right, they just keep wanting to get out 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.960 of Hazen that they can't. But then fate played a hand. Elizabeth. Yeah, 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:19.000 Gary was brought low by gout the pain from the 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:21.720 condition was so debilitating he could no longer fly runs 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:24.439 for his drug smuggling clients and people that he would 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:28.240 like totally. So Fate played his second hand, Elizabeth, because 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:31.520 Gary heard about a treatment for his gout, something miraculous, 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:33.680 something that would alleviate the pain to just comfort and 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.479 let him work PCP. The treatment was cocaine. 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:37.200 Close. 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:43.760 You're very close. Not angel does. Yeah, apparently it's actually 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:46.640 he used because built it breaks up the uric acids 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:50.520 and apparently the chemistry makes some sense. I don't know. 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:51.440 I've never had gout. 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:54.800 I've never used COCD, nor have I. I used to 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:56.040 work with a guy who had gout. 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:58.160 My father's got I hear about it. 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:00.440 That's why he had to wear flip flop to work, 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:01.000 and I just. 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:04.280 Think that was a cover for possibly. But anyway, So 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:06.800 Garry also like to drink his cocaine. He didn't start it, 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:08.319 he'd just drop it in some gatorades. 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:10.160 Wait what you can drink cocaine? 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:11.720 Oh yeah, as long as you get into the body. 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:14.280 So he would like just drink it and then boom, 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:17.080 as he said, you're on your way, So send it up. 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:19.840 Gary found he also enjoyed cocaine recreationally. He's like, this 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:21.840 isn't just good for my gout, it's good for the Gary. 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:25.440 So that he starts to go to you know, I 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.120 need to get more cocaine. It's hard to find in Arkansas. 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:30.320 Where can I go to get myself more cocaine? I 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:32.760 got a plane. I'm gonna fly down to Miami. So 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.360 he roes down to Miami to looking to buy cocaine. 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:37.400 He's a smart young man. He goes right to the source. 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:39.559 He flies down. He decides, maybe I can get into 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:40.959 business with the smugglers in Miami. 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:44.640 Scratch a little off for garytop flying exactly. 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.320 Y're this point in nineteen seventy seven. This is peak 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:51.000 cocaine cowboys era of Miami. Right. So Gary Wesner wants 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.000 to find himself a place inside that white lined world. Right. 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:56.720 So Garry's like, how could I, a simple country boy 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.960 from Arkansas climb the ladder of this year import export business. 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:01.480 Pardon me, cocaine man. 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:05.200 So he somebody who has cocaine, lots of cocaine, And 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:06.800 Gary's like, you know what, let me get a little 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:10.280 off that next kilo flocko and uh at this he 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.520 arranges a coke by right, and so he's not supposed 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:14.160 to go over and they pick up some kilos at 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:16.640 his arranged coke buy. Gary feels that the vibe is 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:19.000 off right, so he's like, hey, why don't you test 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:20.920 that coke for me? Try it out muchacho, let me 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:23.320 see if it's any good. The coke dealer he won't 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:25.840 do it. Gary's it what? And this is the reason 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:28.240 is for it? This is the guy is no drug smuggler. 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:30.200 So Gary realizes this when he won't do the coke, 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:33.200 and then the DEA rushes in and Gary gets busted 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:35.480 at his first big coke by oh my god, they're 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:39.040 all he was popped with seven pounds of cocaine. 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:41.240 Seven pounds, yes, but it was a huge raid. 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:43.880 That night in Miami, they also busted two Miami Dolphins 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:46.640 players who were also caught selling cocaine. They were trying 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:48.440 to sell a pound of cocaine. It was a mood 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:48.800 a little. 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:53.040 It was a different time. Now, is that why now? Like, 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:56.840 do they encourage undercovered DEA officers to tune it up 0:14:56.880 --> 0:14:58.160 and take drugs? 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:02.080 No they do not. They this point, Gary's facing twenty 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:04.560 years behind bars. So Gary gets let out on bail. 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:06.920 What's he doing now? He skidaddles back to Arkansas. He 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:09.440 goes back to his family, Sally, the two to three kids. 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:13.440 He has Polly with his first wife. It's like Daddy's 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:15.600 home kids. So back in Arkansas, Gerry needs to work. 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:17.480 He's got to pay for his lawyers or whatever. He 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:19.400 goes back to doing what he knows best. He starts 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:21.600 smuggling and he gets busted again. 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:22.240 Oh my god. 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.240 So out on bail. Gary's now facing mandatory sentences, decades 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:27.640 in prison, possibly life. So time to get wicked with it. 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:29.680 Gary thinks. Garry's like kids, load up, We're going for 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:30.160 a drive. 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:32.400 Is there are there no crops to dust? 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:35.600 No? At this point, that won't pay for everything. September eighteenth, 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:38.160 nineteen seventy seven, Besterner and his family left the town 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:40.280 of Hazen, Arkansas. They planned to take an outing, just 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:42.840 a family excursion. It's Gary, his wife, his daughter, Sarah Lee. 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.840 Gary's behind the wheel of their family El Camino. Elizabeth, 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:48.560 Oh your kid, are you free? Car? 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:50.560 It's car, it's a truck. It's an el Comane. 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:52.440 It's an el Camino. So they are headed to a 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:55.240 Darry bar. Think Gary queen. Okay, Gary said he was 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:57.880 having car trouble. He pulls over the family el Camene 0:15:57.920 --> 0:15:59.480 on the middle of a country bridge, you know, just 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.400 matter like iron bridge, right right right, So he popped 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.800 the hood, checks the engine. Then, as if possessed by 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.640 a spirit or commanded by some unseen force, Gary walked 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:09.880 away from the car over to the side of the bridge, 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:11.920 and then he leapt over the side and plunged down 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:16.000 to the rushing waters of the White River. Elizabeth seeing 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:18.560 their husband, Cinema, who just ended his own life, his wife, Sally, 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:20.880 burst into tears. And I don't mean like the wetwork. 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:25.040 She erupted into hysterics. She's rending at garments, tearing hair. 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:27.040 The daughter Sarah Lee, equally shocked. 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:28.880 She's like, hey, nobody does it Like Sarah Lee, I 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:30.080 would have survived that chump. 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:34.760 Spoiler alert. He had not leapt to his death, nor 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.360 had he intentionally ended his life. No, And now I'm 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:38.880 sure you were wondering, was this one? Is this like 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.800 a sneaky self one percent? No, it was not, Elizabeth. 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:44.640 You should know better than that. Anyway, Just so you know, 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:46.280 he didn't end his own life, all right, So I 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:48.920 will proceed now to make fun of what he did do. Okay, 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.320 Gary Betsner had just faked his own death and he 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:54.000 went the extra mile. His wife was in on it too. 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:57.240 Wait and then she went through the hole? Oh no, yeah. 0:16:57.280 --> 0:16:59.680 They planned the moment, the bridge, the country drive, all 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:01.840 of it. In fact, they've been preparing for months. That's 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.359 how long Gary had been working on hypnotizing his wife. 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:11.600 Okay, wait, wait, so she was hypnotized hypnotized? Yes, and 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:17.919 so was she aware? Okay, I gotta listen to some 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:19.200 ads and get my head right. 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:21.800 Yeah, what's these ads? Hypnotized? 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:22.640 Thank you? 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:44.720 All right, one say back in a flash. All right, Elizabeth, 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:46.520 we're back. Yes, are you cool? Your mind? 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.359 Right? Oh yeah? I think well yeah, I'm ready. 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:51.679 Okay. So now let's get to the story the convincing widow. 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:54.760 So they told you they took no chances on her 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:57.040 having to be convincing to the law enforcement. 0:17:57.200 --> 0:17:57.320 Right. 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:00.399 So the pair the couple, Gary and his wife Sally, 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:02.800 they practiced for months of hypnotism so that way she 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:05.600 would be believably acting. She would have to actually believe 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:08.240 her husband was dead. So to do that super intensive 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.399 hypnotism course, they work out their program. This is for 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.520 three weeks, twice a day, they're doing all this hypnotism stuff. 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:17.000 She's now primed to believe her husband's dead. The way 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:19.040 it worked out like this, Gary would put Sally under 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:20.919