Transcript

Was She Buried Alive? Woman's Body Found Perfectly Preserved

From The FBI Files · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 39 min · 12,298 words · 308 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Was She Buried Alive? Woman's Body Found Perfectly Preserved", an episode of The FBI Files published December 12, 2025 (1 h 39 min, about 12,298 words). It mentions 26 people, works and ideas, including Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Doe Roberts, Lefon Bobbit, Rasheed Jones, Alan Roberts.

What this episode is about

In January 1997, a violent bank robbery in Richmond, Virginia, left the community shaken as two armed gunmen stormed a local bank, resulting in chaos and the need for urgent intervention by police and the FBI. As investigators pieced together evidence and eyewitness accounts, their goal was to identify the culprits behind this unprecedented act of brutality, which marked a shocking departure from the typical non-violent nature of bank robberies in the area.

Key takeaways

  • Virginia's bank robbers flipped the script: cash grab turned into a deadly game of survival.
  • In 1997, Richmond saw its first fatal bank robbery, proving crime trends can shift dramatically.
  • Unlike Hollywood, most robbers prefer discretion; this duo swapped subtleties for sheer chaos.
  • The robbers' failed escape left behind tangible clues; it's amazing how evidence speaks when witnesses don’t.
  • A bank heist turned homicide? Talk about raising the stakes in 'take the money and run.'

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Christine Edwards, Richard Hartman, Richmond, Virginia, Richmond Police Department
  2. – 20:00: Wayne Wadell, Tom Leonard, Allison Davis, Lorson 380
  3. – 30:00: AR-15, Germaine Sims, Richard Hartman, Tech 9
  4. – 40:00: Lefon Bobbit, Rasheed Jones, Nicholas Altamari, Wayne Wadell
  5. – 50:00: Rasheed Jones, Lefon Bobbit, Germaine Sims, Nicholas Altamari
  6. – 1:00:00: Alan Roberts, Doe Roberts, Eids, Tennessee, Jim Calstrom
  7. – 1:10:00: Alan Roberts, Doe Roberts, Eids, Tennessee
  8. – 1:20:00: Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Alan Roberts, Doe Roberts
  9. – 1:30:00: Alan Roberts, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Doe Roberts, Wolf River
  10. – 1:39:06: Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Alan Roberts, Doe Roberts, Wolf River

Notable quotes from "Was She Buried Alive? Woman's Body Found Perfectly Preserved"

  • 23-year-old Christine Edwards, one of the bank's tellers, arrived for work.
    about Christine Edwards · at
  • And we got hold of all of our all the units, all the guys working the case.
    about Germaine Sims · at
  • After a 1997 bank heist that left one teller dead, Richmond, Virginia authorities believed they had identified the gunman as Lefon Bobbit and Rasheed Jones.
    about Lefon Bobbit · at
  • Special Agent Wayne Wedell received the go-ahad to bring in the fugitives on those charges.
    about Wayne Wadell · at
  • If someone took dough across state lines, the FBI would take the lead since transporting a victim state to state is a federal crime.
    about FBI · at
  • Authorities had to ask the worried husband to take a polygraph test.
    about Alan Roberts · at
  • He made a public appeal to the kidnapper on Alan Robert's behalf, asking the man to call him and finally give specific instructions for a ransom drop.
    about Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles · at
  • On October 19th, 1993, Charles Lord plead guilty to first-degree murder and kidnapping.
    about Doe Roberts · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles — Person · Primary suspect/defendant (kidnapping & murder case) · 21 mentions · first at
    Initially a trusted church intermediary in the Doe Roberts kidnapping, later revealed as the perpetrator who staged calls/letters and ultimately confessed.
  • Doe Roberts — Person · Kidnapping/murder victim · 13 mentions · first at
    Central victim of the second case; her disappearance triggers the ransom investigation that ultimately exposes Charles Lord.
  • Lefon Bobbit — Person · Primary suspect/defendant (bank robbery & murder) · 6 mentions · first at
    Identified (via Sims’ cooperation and forensic links) as one of the two gunmen in the 1997 Richmond bank robbery; later arrested and convicted.
  • Rasheed Jones — Person · Primary suspect/defendant (bank robbery & murder) · 5 mentions · first at
    Named by Sims as the second gunman; later located via tips about dye-stained money and arrested by the fugitive task force; convicted at trial.
    After a 1997 bank heist that left one teller dead, Richmond, Virginia authorities believed they had identified the gunman as Lefon Bobbit and Rasheed Jones.
  • Alan Roberts — Person · Victim’s husband; key witness/complainant (kidnapping case) · 41 mentions · first at
    Reports Doe Roberts missing and receives ransom calls; becomes an early investigative focus and later is cleared as the case points to Charles Lord.
  • Germaine Sims — Person · Key suspect/cooperator; convicted conspirator · 5 mentions · first at
    Purchased the AR-15 and Tech-9 used in the robbery; later cooperated and identified Bobbit and Jones; ultimately convicted and sentenced to life.
  • Wayne Wadell — Person · Lead FBI case agent (Richmond field office) · 4 mentions · first at
    Coordinates federal response, evidence processing, and suspect development (Sims → Bobbit/Jones), including arrests and forensic linkage of weapons.
  • Christine Edwards — Person · Victim (bank teller) · 3 mentions · first at
    23-year-old teller killed during the Richmond bank robbery; her death is the central homicide driving the investigation and prosecution.
  • Richard Hartman — Person · Victim/survivor (bank security guard) · 5 mentions · first at
    Security guard shot multiple times and permanently blinded; his actions and the exterior gunfight are key to reconstructing the robbery timeline.
    None of them could really testify for us because the guard was blind as a result of being wounded. One teller was dead.
  • Tom Leonard — Person · Lead investigator (Richmond Homicide detective) · 3 mentions · first at
    Key on-scene homicide detective who reconstructs the robbery using flawed surveillance, physical evidence, and coordination with the FBI.
    Agent Wedell and Detective Leonard now had a clear account of the crime. Since the robbers came into the bank shooting, investigators believed their intent was to murder everyone, to.
  • Nicholas Altamari — Person · Federal prosecutor (Assistant U.S. Attorney) · 5 mentions · first at
    Provides prosecutorial perspective; pressures Sims during interviews and describes the emotional impact and trial posture of defendants.
    Over several hours, Alamari kept pressuring him until finally Sims admitted he had bought the AR-15 in the Tech 9 with the intent to sell them later for a profit.
  • Jim Calstrom — Person · Host/Narrator (former FBI executive) · 2 mentions · first at
    Introduces and frames both cases as narrator, providing law-enforcement perspective and continuity across segments.
    Bloodshed. But in Richmond, Virginia, a pair of gunmen entered a bank with their guns blazing. I'm Jim Calstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. The raw violence of…
  • Allison Davis — Person · Witness/victim (bank employee; traumatized survivor) · 4 mentions · first at
    Hid under a desk and survived; her trauma and sedation prevented early interviews, worsening the witness-evidence gap.
    Allison Davis, a customer service representative, and Richard Hartman, the bank security guard, also began their day.
  • Tracy Freeman — Person · Victim/survivor (bank teller) · 2 mentions · first at
    Surviving teller shot during the robbery; her condition and trauma contribute to the lack of usable eyewitness testimony.
    Tracy Freeman in severe shock and bleeding heavily was stabilized and rushed to the hospital.
  • Dave Martin — Person · First responder (Richmond police officer) · 2 mentions · first at
    Responds to gunshots, engages/attempts to contain suspects, and relays pursuit details; part of the initial gunfight response.
    Officer Martin guarded the front as Webb went to check on the guard. He was still alive.
  • Michael Webb — Person · First responder (Richmond police officer) · 2 mentions · first at
    Engages armed suspects outside the bank, calls for EMS, and survives being pinned down; provides key account of the firefight.
    80 yards away. Richmond police officers Michael Webb and Dave Martin were at a convenience store getting coffee for their morning shift.
  • Steven Reed — Person · Witness/victim (bank customer) · 3 mentions · first at
    Customer present during the robbery; grazed by a bullet but unable to provide useful testimony due to Alzheimer’s disease.
    Had come to the emergency room on his own, but he was also of no help. He had Alzheimer's disease and could not remember any useful information.

Companies & orgs

  • FBI — Company · Investigative agency · 1 mention · first at
    Primary law enforcement agency involved in the investigation of the bank robbery and murder.
  • Richmond Police Department — Company · Local law enforcement · 2 mentions · first at
    Local police department involved in the initial response and investigation of the bank robbery.
    80 yards away. Richmond police officers Michael Webb and Dave Martin were at a convenience store getting coffee for their morning shift.
  • Henrico County Police Department — Company · Local law enforcement · 1 mention · first at
    Local police department involved in the investigation of the bank robbery.
    The dispatcher forwarded the information to the Henriiko County Police Department.

Products & tech

  • Tech 9 — Product · Weapon used in crime · 7 mentions · first at
    One of the semi-automatic weapons used by the robbers during the bank robbery.
    The bullet hole behind the customer representatives desk showed the gunman turned and fired at her, but the shot missed.
  • AR-15 — Product · Weapon used in crime · 6 mentions · first at
    An assault rifle used by the robbers during the bank robbery.
    Unable to clear the Lorson, the lead gunman pulled an AR-15 assault rifle and followed them.
  • Lorson 380 — Product · Weapon used in crime · 4 mentions · first at
    A semi-automatic handgun used by the robbers during the bank robbery.
    Ballistics testing showed both were shot with a Lorson 380 recovered outside the bank.

Places & events

  • Richmond, Virginia — Place · Setting · 4 mentions · first at
    The city where the bank robbery and subsequent investigation took place.
    Throughout the 1990s, Richmond, Virginia, averaged about 10 bank robberies a year.
  • Eids, Tennessee — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    The small town where Doe Roberts was kidnapped and murdered.
    On August 7th, 1992, 25 miles outside the city in the small town of Eids, successful land developer Alan Roberts arrived home from work.
  • Wolf River — Place · Crime scene · 2 mentions · first at
    The river where Charles Lord initially claimed to have dumped Doe Roberts' body.
    Lord claimed he dumped her in the Wolf River, a slowmoving river that runs 90 miles across the southwest corner of the state. The Wolf River empties into the.

Full transcript with timestamps

In Virginia, a bank robbery explodes in violence. Put your hands up. Put your hands up. Spraying bullets from automatic weapons at anyone in their way. The robbers disappear. With no reliable witnesses, the police and FBI have to decipher fragmented evidence to identify the shooters and then bring them to justice. Heat. Heat.

Despite what you see in the movies, most bank robbers come in quietly, pass a note, and slip away. They want cash, not bloodshed. But in Richmond, Virginia, a pair of gunmen entered a bank with their guns blazing. I'm Jim Calstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. The raw violence of the crime shocked even the most seasoned investigators who vowed to catch them before they struck again.

Throughout the 1990s, Richmond, Virginia, averaged about 10 bank robberies a year. Prior to 1997, not one of them was fatal. On the morning of January 30th, 1997, the employees of a small bank on the east end of the city, began the day's business. 23-year-old Christine Edwards, one of the bank's tellers, arrived for work. Her colleague, 21-year-old Tracy Freeman, was already there. Allison Davis, a customer service representative, and Richard Hartman, the bank security guard, also began their day. Steven Reed, a regular customer, arrived shortly thereafter.

He entered the bank as the tellers finished setting up and was greeted by Hartman.

Good morning. How may I help you, sir? No one saw the two men slipping in the bank's rear door.

First National Bank. How may I help you? Oh, yes. Uh-huh. When the men struck, they did so swiftly and without mercy.

80 yards away. Richmond police officers Michael Webb and Dave Martin were at a convenience store getting coffee for their morning shift.

Hey, hey, hey. Something's happening at the bank. Where? Heard gunshots at the bank.

The bank right up the street. Back up. As the officers responded, Richmond dispatch ordered backup units to the scene. 16 respond 929 116.

At the rear of the bank, the officer spotted a security guard lying in the parking lot.

At the bank, man down. Looked like he's been shot. We're going to the front now. Officer Martin guarded the front as Webb went to check on the guard.

He was still alive. Barely. Webb called for an ambulance. EMP now. Then two armed men emerged from the bank.

Stop. 1910 to 119 W. Shots already. Shots are being fired. Units. Web emptied his clip. The officer knew he was pinned down and outgunned. Uh, they stopped shooting. I stopped shooting and I just knew these two guys were going to come each side of the vehicle after me. Uh, I changed magazines and sat there and waited for a couple of seconds,

but the gunman never came for him. Officer Martin left his position to back up Web, but the asalent surprised him. With only a service weapon, Martin was outgunned, which allowed the robbers to get away from him.

All the officer could do was report their position as they escaped across the cemetery.

Got a black male running with black jacket toward Divertown Road. Two men. The Richmond officer saw a cloud of red dye. The sign that the gunman had stolen a bundle of money containing a timed die pack. The men leapt over the next wall and the officer lost sight of them. The dispatcher forwarded the information to the Henriiko County Police Department.

Officer Martin searched the neighborhood, knowing two men with automatic weapons could be around any corner, but found no sign of the suspects.

233 radio. When Henriiko patrolman arrived on the scene, EMTs arrived. They tended to the wounded guard outside. Richmond police entered the building. Police. Everybody down. Stay where you are.

Looking for any other gunman that might still be inside. And to check the condition of the other employees.

I see one teller down over here on the left. They found two tellers. Both shot.

Okay. Come on out, man. Come on. Everything's fine. Allison Davis had taken cover.

Come with me. Is she okay? Everything's okay. She was not injured but paralyzed with fear and taken to the hospital for evaluation.

After clearing the bank, the officers felt it was safe to let the EMTs care for the wound.

For teller Christine Edwards, it was too late. gone. Okay, tell me where it hurts.

Tracy Freeman in severe shock and bleeding heavily was stabilized and rushed to the hospital.

All right. Along with Richard Hartman, the security guard. At the Richmond Police Homicide Division, Detective Tom Leonard was disturbed by the robbers's brutality.

This was our most violent bank robbery that we can remember in our history. So, our fear was they were in the neighborhood and we needed to get him off the streets.

Leonard headed to the bank. Officers collected items dropped by the robbers when they fled, including a Lorson 380 semi-automatic handgun and the clip to a Tech 9, another semi-automatic weapon. A K-9 officer with a tracking dog began searching for the suspects.

The dog followed a scent through the cemetery. On Art Avenue, the dog lost the trail.

And Reicho and Richmond police canvased the neighborhood, asking the residents if they had seen any strange men fleeing the area,

Rita. But no one saw anything suspicious. Detective Leonard arrived at the crime scene with an evidence technician. Got it. Um,

we immediately shut down that bank and the only people that were inside the bank was myself and forensic people. So, as we went through the bank looking for forensics evidence that we could pick up and look at, we found a lot of spent shell casings which were fired. We had some that were unfired. Those shells were 9 mm, likely used in the Tech 9. Behind the teller's counter, investigators found a backpack apparently left by the robbers. Inside was a piece of green tablecloth, a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid, a box of matches, and a note reading, "Please wait 5 minutes."

We couldn't figure out what that was all about. On the surface of the teller's counter, investigators spotted several boot prints.

Mhm. They preserved each print with tape, which they would later compare with footwear collected from potential suspects. Good.

Because the bank was federally insured, police called in FBI special agent Wayne Wadell from the Richmond field office.

Let's go ahead and see what we get on this. At the bank, he and Detective Leonard checked a videotape that had recorded several surveillance cameras simultaneously. But there was a problem.

Oh man, Tom, look at that. You got a problem. Something caused the film, in our opinion, to uh to not be not be working correctly. It went one camera to another camera to another camera and you you were getting different angles from the uh from the front door, the rear door, and from different tele positions. They would need to make still photos from the individual frames to get any useful details. Special Agent Eduardo Alfred joined the investigation. He knew the FBI would not stop until the gunmen were captured.

I'm sure if you talk to every person that was involved in this investigation, they would tell you the same thing. They they wanted to stay on this case uh around the clock, which essentially is what happened.

Evidence collection at the bank lasted for hours. Later on in the evening at around 5:30 or 6,

we received word that Henriiko County had uh received a report of a breakin. I went over to uh the break-in site.

It was on Art Avenue across from the cemetery, not far from where the K-9 unit had lost the trail of the suspects.

We didn't know if it had anything to do with the bank robbery or not. uh a young woman that uh lived there with her father found the front door had been knocked open and went in the house and discovered a lot of items that appeared knocked around or perhaps taken.

When special agent Wedell went inside, a Henriiko officer pointed out a hole in the ceiling.

It appeared someone had stepped through from above. They feared someone might be hiding in the attic. No one was there. They searched for evidence. Investigators found a pair of boots. They also found a backpack and a coat.

Inside was another note reading, "Please wait 5 minutes." They also found another green tablecloth. Red dye like that used in bank dye packs covered many of the items. So we absolutely felt that that there was a connection between the the house breakin and the bank robbery,

but they didn't know how the two crimes were related. We had no idea why the bank robbers would come to that house. Was it inopportune moment? Did they know someone there?

Uh was there something that drew them there? You may have already. Was it happen stance? We we had no idea.

What is your name? We interviewed the uh the owner and his daughter and the daughter's boyfriend. And you interview these people because what are these bank robbers? What are these suspects doing in your house? And we're trying to find is there a link or is there not a link?

Diamond brand. The residents were equally confused. They reported that whoever broke into the house stole some men's clothing, suits, and jackets. During questioning, the boyfriend acted nervous and claimed he had no information to her.

About what time did you get here? At the hospital, a Richmond detective sought out the wounded victims who could provide eyewitness accounts.

Yes, ma'am. But he was unable to see anyone. The two wounded survivors were still in surgery and could not be interviewed. Allison Davis, the customer representative who had escaped injury under her desk, was so distraught she had to be heavily sedated.

Steven Reed, the customer inside the bank, had been grazed by a bullet and had come to the emergency room on his own,

but he was also of no help. He had Alzheimer's disease and could not remember any useful information.

By the end of that first day, we still had nothing more than what we had to begin with. So, we knew it was going to be a ways to go. It was going to be a tough case. In Richmond, Virginia, two armed bank robbers escaped with $10,000 cash, leaving two employees wounded and 23-year-old teller Christine Edwards dead.

The community was stunned, as was assistant US attorney Nicholas Altamari. This girl was an angel.

And these guys, they just walked into the bank without a word spoken and shot her dead. It's sick.

Determined to find her killers, Richmond homicide detective Tom Leonard and FBI special agent Wayne Wadell had to pursue the case without the benefit of eyewitness accounts. back him out to the side.

The problem with with the employees and the and the customer that were in the bank is they were all traumatized. Uh we actually could not talk to any of them for several several days.

The detective tried to interview Allison Davis, the customer representative who had taken cover under her desk and escaped injury, but she was too traumatized by the ordeal.

Yes, I'm detective. Hospital staff had to sedate her. and she was unable to speak.

Needs 30 seconds. There were no witnesses available to tell investigators what actually happened inside the bank.

All they had to understand those events was a flawed videotape of the surveillance cameras. According to Detective Tom Leonard,

that really caused us a problem trying to piece things together because we were missing little bits and pieces of the video. So, you didn't get to see the whole robbery occur like you normally would. Working with still photos captured from the surveillance video and records of the physical evidence recovered from the bank, the investigators pieced the crime together moment by moment.

It was a complex series of events all taking place in a matter of seconds. You could see where the bank had obviously opened, but the only people were inside were the security guard, the the bank representatives, and one customer. The customer was standing there at the u the walkway area where you go through your little lines talking to the security guard.

The lead gunman headed straight for the teller's counter. The first guy bypassed the security guard without even looking at him, without even noticing him. In our minds, we realized the front guy was not worried about the security guard. He knew that the second guy was going to take him out. In the photos, investigators saw the second robber pointing the Tech 9 at the guard.

The first robber reached the counter and shot both tellers, killing one. Grab that weapon and he walked all the way down here.

Ballistics testing showed both were shot with a Lorson 380 recovered outside the bank.

One over the counter. The bullet hole behind the customer representatives desk showed the gunman turned and fired at her,

but the shot missed. Investigators noted the unfired 9 mm rounds found on the floor.

This suggested the Tech 9 had likely jammed and the gunman ejected rounds trying to clear it. I think I think when she was

the photos revealed there was a brief standoff while the second [clears throat] Robert tried to clear his Tech 9.

The first attempted to shoot the guard with a Lorson, but that gun malfunctioned too. The Lorson 380 recovered outside the bank was found with a jammed cartridge. When the guns jammed, the customer, Steven Reed, fled, followed by Richard Hartman, the guard. Unable to clear the Lorson, the lead gunman pulled an AR-15 assault rifle and followed them. Spent shell casings and bullet strikes found outside supported witness statements as to what had happened next in the bank's drive-thru.

Did you recognize him if you saw him again? One witness saw a gunman chasing the fleeing customer. He grazed his arm. The guard tried his best to stop the killer, but was struck by multiple rounds. The gunman returned inside. Hartman was still alive. The witness watched as he entered the rear of the bank.

He pulls open that back door, the wooden door. Investigators realized Hartman had risked his life trying to draw the robbers out. The robbers loaded a backpack with money, including one bundle that contained a die pack. The guard approached, fired, but missed. Another witness saw the guard flee the rear of the bank. The lead gunman pursued him into the parking lot and fired. The final shot to the temple permanently blinded Richard Hartman. Moments later, officers Webb and Martin found him there. Agent Wedell and Detective Leonard now had a clear account of the crime. Since the robbers came into the bank shooting, investigators believed their intent was to murder everyone, to eliminate all witnesses at the bank.

The contents of the robbers's backpack revealed a plan to minimize witnesses on the outside.

The tablecloths and the note were, I think, to be put over the doors uh to ward off anyone coming up to the bank. Give us 5 minutes. We're still cleaning. Give us 5 minutes. We're not ready to open up yet. Something like that. With the bank to themselves, the robbers could take their time. The piece of evidence that disturbed investigators the most was the lighter fluid. They believe the robbers were planning to use it to set the bank on fire as they left.

Investigators knew they were dealing with especially violent criminals who acted with no remorse and we needed to get them off the streets. Our fear was these people were going to get out into the community and commit some more murders because they'd already been bold enough to come into the bank and start shooting people and we'd have to gunfight with these people to try to catch them later.

Got a little dent in the And the criminals were wellarmed. Crank it up. They still had an AR-15, the civilian version of the military's assault rifle, and a TE 9, a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. The one weapon recovered, the murder weapon, was a Lorson 380 semi-automatic. A records check revealed it had been stolen weeks earlier. Investigators released details of the guns to the press and asked for the public's help in tracking down the weapons. It worked, according to Assistant US Attorney Nicholas Altamari.

We got lucky. We got very lucky. There was a there was a person who was out there that overheard a woman that she worked with say that she thought that her husband sold those weapons. The FBI and the Richmond PD followed up on that lead and in fact did locate a um a gentleman who was a legitimate and licensed gun dealer. selling.

At first, the dealer was reluctant to talk to authorities. He didn't want to incriminate himself by admitting that he might have sold weapons used in a murder.

After agents assured him he could not be held liable since the guns were sold legally,

he admitted he had sold a Tech 9 and an AR-15 a few days before the robbery. Uh, yeah, I got it all right here. He located the ATF forms filled out by the purchaser.

Investigators now had a name to move on. The gun dealer told us that he had sold the weapons to Germaine Simps. And we got hold of all of our all the units, all the guys working the case.

Everybody was out trying to locate him. They finally ascertained that Sims was out of town. While the search for Sims continued, investigators kept following their only other promising lead. The Art Avenue house that the robbers had broken into.

We started checking everything we could find out about the owner and his family. The girl that lived there had a boyfriend. We started checking him out. So, we started from scratch with just basically an investigation on every person in the house.

You all right? The boyfriend, who had acted nervous during interviews, consented to a polygraph test.

The polygraph examiner asked questions about the robbery and murder while special agent Wedell observed.

Did you rob him? After an hour of questioning, the polygraph results were inconclusive.

Did you rob that bank? The boyfriend could not be eliminated as a suspect. Special Agent Wadell knew he needed to re-examine the house and went back with a search warrant. This time he returned with an FBI evidence response team. He was determined that a more thorough search would reveal a connection between the bank robbery and the breakin. The ERT technicians scoured the attic.

Got two guards here. Behind a wallboard, they found a Tech 9 semi-automatic pistol and an AR-15 assault rifle. Precisely the type of guns used in the crime. They were still loaded and their serial numbers were intact. Special Agent Wedell proceeded to check if these were the same guns purchased by Germaine Sims. We wanted to verify that they were in fact the weapons that had been bought from the gun dealer and used in the bank robber. So we called back to the office. We read off the serial number, make, model of these weapons, and they were compared to the ATF firearms form.

They were the same weapons. A ballistics expert compared slugs recovered from the bank to slugs fired from the recovered AR-15. They matched, connecting that weapon to the fatal bank robbery.

It seems certain that Germaine Sims had indeed bought the weapons used in the robbery and murder. Now, the FBI and Richmond police needed to find him. In Richmond, federal agents determined two weapons used in a deadly bank robbery were purchased by a man named Germaine Sims.

Agents could not find Sims, but a background check revealed he was receiving government assistance.

They followed up on that lead. At the social services office, an administrator confirmed that Sims regularly came in to pick up food stamps.

She flagged his name on their computers and agreed to page the FBI the next time the suspect showed up.

Yes. Afternoon, ma'am. This is special agents. Agents went to the address listed on the ATF form and spoke to Sim's mother.

Yes. She hadn't seen her son since she kicked him out the previous week. Days later, Richmond agents received a page from the social services agency.

Sims was there. Okay. What up? It's just a matter of pulling your check up. The administrator stalled Sims until the agents arrived.

They hoped he didn't suspect anything. When the agents arrived, the suspect seemed calm.

Okay. Excuse me, sir. Special agents FBI. I need you to come with me. They asked Sims to come in for questioning.

Reluctantly, he agreed. Go ahead and thank him for They took him to a nearby police station where investigators tried to get him to talk about the guns.

But interviewing the suspect was no easy task. According to Assistant US Attorney Nicholas Altari,

thank you. Sims was a difficult uh person to deal with. He was um he was a person who was filled with hate and hostility. Um he didn't want to be there. He didn't want to certainly cooperate with us.

We were dragging bits and bits of information out of him and he was really only providing us um information that we already knew.

Um we were having a lot of trouble bringing him to the table, so to speak. Sims denied any involvement in the crime, stating he was at his girlfriend's apartment at the time of the robbery.

Who lives there with him? Over several hours, Alamari kept pressuring him until finally Sims admitted he had bought the AR-15 in the Tech 9 with the intent to sell them later for a profit.

He said he stashed the weapons at a friend's house, a man named Rah, but claimed he couldn't remember the address. a street called Main Street.

Instead, he gave directions. Now, who else is this guy robing? The interview continued while special agent Wayne Wadell tried to confirm Sims story.

Sims told us where this house was located and described the house to us. We went to the uh locations. We could not find the house. Determined, Alamari confronted Sims with his deception.

Do you think you're dealing with a bunch of amateurs here? But Sims maintained his story that he still knew nothing about the bank robbery.

You've already told me that. By then, authorities had located Sims girlfriend, who supported his alibi,

but investigators had strong evidence connecting him to the crime. You're going to jail for the rest of your life.

He was informed that he was under arrest for bank robbery. the plane. There's nothing like um the silence of a of a jail cell to focus somebody on on their problem. And he had a huge problem. He had his name um on the title to these weapons that were used in this in this robbery. And we thought that if we gave him a little time to think for himself that he would um eventually come to the conclusion that it was in his best interest to cooperate with us.

After a week of incarceration and repeated interviews, Sims decided to talk. Now tell me about the guns.

He said after he bought the guns, he left them with two friends, Rashi Jones and Lefon Bobbit. on the telephone.

He still denied having any involvement in the robbery, but investigators continued to work on him.

He admitted that um that of course he knew that they had robbed the bank. He still claimed that he was surprised that they had used his guns to do it and expressed his outrage that they would have they would have uh done this to him and gotten him. Sim said that after the robbery, Bob and Jones came to his apartment wearing clothes he had never seen them in before. They told him about the botched robbery, the gunfight, and their escape.

They explained that they had broken into the house on Art Avenue, choosing it at random. They stole some clothes and stashed their guns behind the wallboard in the attic. coming.

As they were leaving, Jones accidentally stepped through the ceiling. Go, go, go.

They then slipped out, avoiding the patrolling officers. They had the money with them, but it was stained red from the die pack.

No, they might. Police records revealed that Lefon Bobbit had 11 prior convictions and was free on bond from charges related to grand theft auto.

Rasheed Jones had seven prior convictions, including grand lararseny and was on parole.

Investigators reduced the charge against Sims from bank robbery to conspiracy. Now with the identity of the killers in hand, the real chase could begin. After a 1997 bank heist that left one teller dead, Richmond, Virginia authorities believed they had identified the gunman as Lefon Bobbit and Rasheed Jones. They had no idea where to look for Jones, but they did set up surveillance at Bobbit's last known address.

They've been in it for a while. Yeah. Assistant US Attorney Ken Melson was determined to apprehend these men as quickly as possible.

We had to get these two cold-blooded killers off the street as soon as we can so we would eliminate the possibility that they could do the same thing again and someone else would get killed. And yet we had a lot of work to do collecting the physical evidence, getting it analyzed by the lab.

They needed more time to build the federal case, but could not afford to have two killers on the loose.

A prosecutor's office in Henriiko County to charge Bobbit with the burglary, the breaking and entering of the Art Avenue address. With respect to Jones, he was in violation of his parole. So, we got a warrant for parole violation.

Special Agent Wayne Wedell received the go-ahad to bring in the fugitives on those charges.

We had two agents watching Lefon Bobbit's house. The two agents were uh Paul Messing and Eddie Alfred.

And we finally get authorization to arrest Lefon Bobbit. I get hold of Messing and Alfred. They tell me that Bobbit has just left his house.

All right, thank you. The agent told the surveillance team to follow Bobbit, then headed off to back them up. The agents followed the suspect into town where he boarded a bus. They kept in contact with special agent Wedell, updating him on their location.

3024. Soon Wedell caught up. They decided to arrest Bobbit at the next bus stop.

Bus is right in front of me. All right, 104. I'm getting ready to come around you right now. Wedell pulled around front to get into position. The other agents pulled in behind. When the bus stopped, the agents were ready.

Bob, if you're under arrest for parole, put your hands up. Within moments, suspect Lefon Bobbit was in custody. Investigators executed a search warrant on Bobbit's home. In his bedroom, they discovered a manual for a 380 Lorson pistol. the same model used in the murder.

They also found several spent 380 shells. For FBI special agent Eduardo Alfred, this circumstantial evidence suggested it was Bobbit who fired the fatal shot.

Was actually the weapon that one of the tellers was killed with. Finding that shell casing was very helpful as far as determining which one of the subjects or suspects might have had possession of this weapon. Uh on this particular day,

the FBI lab identified Bobbit's fingerprints on items left at the bank by the robbers. The first evidence directly linking him to the crime. Technicians at the FBI's Question documents unit compared the boot impressions found at the bank with boots recovered from the Art Avenue house and from Bobbit's home.

One of the Leighton uh footwear impressions was consistent with a boot that was left at the Art Avenue address. Another Leighton was uh found to be consistent with a boot found at Bobbit's house at a later search. And so that circumstantially, again, not conclusively, but circumstantially, placed Bobett and his apparel in that bank. The boots found in the attic likely belong to Bobbit's alleged partner in the crime, Rashi Jones. Federal prosecutors now charged Lefon Bobett with the bank robbery and murder. But investigators still needed to find Rasheed Jones.

Three months after the crime, authorities received a tip from a store clerk, he reported a customer had attempted to pay with dystained bills. The clerk refused to accept them.

Mr. Jones uh had been in that particular area in the south end of Richmond trying to exchange some of this money. So, uh, the future task force pieced that information together and they were really able to to hone in on that particular area based on the proximity of this particular, uh, merchant store.

The FBI focused on that neighborhood, working all of their contacts. The effort paid off.

The information that came in uh, was from uh, just a reliable source of information. uh somebody that uh was aware of uh this crime and knew uh Mr. Jones and was able to uh pinpoint a location of where he was uh hiding. Jones was staying in a rundown apartment building frequented by transients. Agents were able to obtain the cooperation of a man living there. The arrest was planned for 5:00 a.m. when Jones would likely be asleep. Yeah, he's here.

They called the location and spoke to their contact inside. Sleeping on the couch in the kitchen.

He said Jones was there sleeping and he had a gun. The contact also warned there were other people in the apartment and most of the lights did not work. As the arrest team approached the building, they went through a final briefing reviewing photos of their target. They anticipated a dangerous confrontation. Jones was armed, desperate, and surrounded by innocent bystanders.

In 1997, the Richmond Fugitive Task Force SWAT Unit closed in on Rasheed Jones, suspected of bank robbery and murder. They'd received a tip that Jones was hiding out in an apartment. From their contact inside, they learned Jones was armed and most of the lights did not work. There were several innocent people in the apartment. The building was dark and foreign, complicating an already difficult challenge in which SWAT had to take down an armed fugitive while protecting innocent bystanders.

The team decided to sneak up on Jones silently. They hoped he had not been tipped off. When they reached the target apartment, an agent phoned their contact inside.

FBI, we're here. The contact was escorted out of the building. When they made it to the room where Jones was said to be sleeping, he was gone. So was his gun. Tension mounted as SWAT began searching the rest of the apartment.

Get your hands up, man. Get your hands up. Come on. Get up. Get up. They found and removed two other residents.

Every room was cleared. Except one. A bathroom. Jones, I know you're in there. Come out. Put your hands up, Jones. That's him. Let's go.

To the team's relief, Jones was unarmed and surrendered without a fight. The manh hunt was over.

Get on, sir. Agent searched for his weapon. They discovered it in a closet. Its firing pin broken.

Had the gun been functional, the arrest might not have gone so smoothly. Jones was immediately charged with probation violation and later for the bank robbery. On February 25th, 1998, the trial of Rasheed Jones in the Fawn Bobbit began, but it would not be an easy case. Assistant US Attorney Ken Melson and his prosecution team were unable to use any of the people in the bank as witnesses. None of them could really testify for us because the guard was blind as a result of being wounded. One teller was dead. Another one had never had the opportunity to even turn around to see anything. And a third tell a third employee was unable to testify because she didn't see anything. She was under a desk during most of the robbery.

Melson found a way to deal with the lack of witnesses by commissioning a digital recreation of the crime. We had to stand in for them digitally and show the jury what happened inside that bank. We were the witness's voice to the jury during the trial so that they could be involved and experience the agony of the victims, experience the the moment of the bank robbery. And that would give them not only the true feeling of what went on in the bank, but the true carnage and intent of the defendants. After hearing six days of testimony, the jury convicted both gunmen on all charges.

Assistant US attorney Nicholas Altari. In the trial, they sat there smug as all get out. And it wasn't until after they were convicted that you could really see him start to worry because then it was about them. Then they were worried. Bobett and Jones were each sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Germaine Sims, who purchased two of the weapons used in the robbery, was convicted on conspiracy, accessory before the fact of murder, and several weapons violations. He too was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

As the victims and their families continue to heal, they and the city of Richmond know that Jones, Bob, and Sims will never be a threat to anyone again. A Tennessee community is shocked when a beloved elderly woman vanishes. As investigators search, the mystery of her disappearance deepens. The truth begins to emerge, but slowly and in unexpected directions. You

see anybody around? As police and the FBI try to help a troubled small town find their dear friend. In 1992, a woman disappeared from her Memphis home. When the ransom went uncollected, the FBI suspected a desperate amateur and feared the worst. I'm Jim Calstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. As the search for the woman progressed, investigators uncovered a web of lies and false accusations designed to hide the real perpetrator.

Memphis Tennessee. On August 7th, 1992, 25 miles outside the city in the small town of Eids, successful land developer Alan Roberts arrived home from work. As usual, his wife's car was in the driveway, but he was surprised to find the mail there. Do

his wife do Roberts usually left a note when she went out, but there was none. Do

in the kitchen, Alan spotted Doe's asthma medication on the counter. She always took the inhaler when she went out. He called their closest friends nearby.

Bill. Yeah, Bill. This is Alan. Have you seen Do today? Has she been over there?

No one he spoke to had heard from Do I'm a little bit worried. Okay. I tell you what, I'm going to go look around the property for you. Do me a favor. Call her out. See if you can find her. Okay.

Robert's worried she might have had an asthma attack while working in the garden. He searched the grounds of their farm.

No sign of D. Do he was about to call the police when his telephone rang. Hello, Do.

It was a man speaking with an Asian accent. You have Do? What do you mean you have Do? What do you want?

The caller demanded a $100,000 ransom for Do's safe return. Not a problem. I can take care of it. Just it'll take me a little time. You just let me know what what you want me to do and I'll do it. Okay.

But he didn't explain where to take the money. Where do you want me to take it?

Before he hung up. Hello. Stunned. Allan immediately called the Shelby County Sheriff's Department and told them about his wife's disappearance and the ransom call he received. A team of deputies and sheriff's inspectors responded to the house.

Not too. Roberts told them he did not recognize the voice of the caller and did not know anyone who would want to harm Do

Came back home then about 7:30 8:00. As the interview continued, agents from the FBI's Memphis field office arrived. EG is about 30 miles from both the Arkansas and Mississippi borders.

If someone took dough across state lines, the FBI would take the lead since transporting a victim state to state is a federal crime.

Roberts explained he last saw his wife that morning. So, you plan on working? They had eaten breakfast together as they had every morning for 43 years. Yes, I am. I hope it's not too hot to work.

At 10:00, Allan left to meet a prospective out of town buyer for a property he was developing.

See you later. All right. Have a good day. All right. Byebye. Bye. The buyer, a man named Sam Wagner, had called the day before making an appointment to see the property at 10:30 that morning.

Morning. Robert said he waited for over an hour, but Sam Wagner never showed. Seemed like

he spent the rest of the afternoon laying sod at another of his development properties.

Sure. Yeah. The investigators needed to check the house for evidence. Robert showed them Do's asthma inhaler and said if she suffered a serious attack without it, she could die.

They needed to find her immediately. Nothing appeared suspicious. Is it locked?

Knowing that people sometimes run off voluntarily, faking abductions to cover themselves, deputies checked Do's bedroom.

Her suitcases and all of her clothing were still there, as were her valuables. It didn't seem like she left on her own. if someone had abducted her. One clue suggested it happened outside. According to FBI special agent Joanne Overall, Alan Roberts located mail halfway into the garage and it was not taken into the house. He suspected that his wife had gone to the mailbox and never made it back into the house and she had laid the mail down. At that point,

beginning at the driveway, deputies form search lines, fanning out in a grid pattern to scour the 150 acre farm for any sign of the 65year-old woman or what happened to her. Despite the efforts of multiple search teams, they found nothing. The best chance for a new lead would be additional ransom calls. got this hooked up and when he called,

we began monitoring Alan Robert's phone right after the kidnapping. With his consent, we placed a recorder on his phone should he get a call from the kidnapper.

When the phone rings, they also installed tracing equipment. Leave it down the whole time you're talking. When you finish pushing,

if the man with the Asian accent called again, the FBI would be ready. Later that night, the phone rang. Hello. Uh,

yes. It was coming from a nearby pay phone. No, ju just don't hurt her. I'll do whatever you want.

Deputies headed toward the source of the call. Okay. It sounded like the same man who called earlier.

Okay. He said Do was safe for now and he knew law enforcement was listening. Robert said the caller ordered him to remove the tape of their conversation and crush it in the driveway.

We were taking outside. They quickly switched it with a blank tape. All right, go out there and crush it and I'll watch.

Oh. Oh, okay. At that time, no surveillance officers were outside. When Shelby County deputies arrived at the pay phone, it was clear

whoever made the call was gone. By daybreak, investigators expanded their search into the Eid's community, asking friends and neighbors when they last saw Do and if they noticed anything unusual on the day of her disappearance.

And Alan Robertson. Yeah, sure. They live right over there. No one recalled seeing or hearing from her that day.

Yes, sir. One neighbor told investigators that at church that week there seemed to be tension between Do and Allen,

but no solid clues emerged. Word of the kidnapping spread and news stations picked up the story. Joe Burch of WMCTV in Memphis reported on the small community's reaction to Do's disappearance.

What are you doing? I was just looking at the story about a lot of people felt it must have been someone from the outside who committed this crime because these people worshiped together. They went to square dances together. They spent a lot of their time together and their focus was their little community and staying away from downtown Memphis and all the danger that might be here. Um,

so I think the people in the Eids community felt like an outsider probably committed this crime. But investigators wondered how in a place like Eids, a stranger wasn't noticed. As the investigation's first full day drew to a close, special agent Overall's concern grew. The 24 hours immediately following a kidnapping are critical. As more time passes, the chances of finding the victim alive diminish rapidly. On the second day, community members gathered to show their support and offer prayers for Do's safe return.

While the town of Eids prayed, investigators turned their attention to the most likely suspect. In a case like this, we always look at the family members and relatives, people that are closest to the victim first and then work the circle outwards.

They needed to start with the husband, Alan Roberts. It was possible he had harmed Do then used an accomplice to make the ransom calls. It is always difficult when family members realize they are suspects.

Authorities had to ask the worried husband to take a polygraph test. Anything I can do to help.

It was an unexpected request, but Allan agreed. A polygraph measures a subject's physiological reactions while answering questions. The subject reviews all of the questions before the test so there are no surprises.

Though commonly called a lie detector test, a polygraph does not actually detect lies. It only detects whether the subject is exhibiting the characteristics most people exhibit when lying. spikes in heart rate, perspiration, blood pressure, and respiration.

Are you convinced that I will only ask you questions that we've gone over before?

While polygraph results are rarely admissible in court, many investigators find they point them in the right direction.

Is your first name Allan? The examiner asked Robert's questions unrelated to the case to establish a baseline for truthful responses. Then he asked questions about his relationship with Do and the events of the day she disappeared.

Did you kill Do Roberts? No. The examiner then interpreted the graphic output to determine if Roberts appeared to be deceptive on the questions about the case.

All right. In his opinion, Alan Roberts answered all of the questions truthfully. That indic.

Allan was sure this was the end of it. But agents knew the test results were not always accurate.

They could not eliminate him yet. To check Robert's story, the FBI wanted to find Sam Wagner, the man he allegedly went to meet on the morning of Doe's abduction. We thought Sam Wagner may have come into this area and because of their financial backings and holdings that he may have kidnapped Roberts for the money that they had because they had a substantial amount of money.

Agents checked FBI databases and nationwide DMV records searching for anyone named Sam Wagner. In several states, FBI agents interviewed men of that name, but eliminated each as a suspect.

Allan Roberts story became more suspicious when Sam Wagner became an unknown individual that we couldn't locate. And it became more apparent to us that Allan Roberts could possibly be behind the kidnapping.

Looks like he checks out. I don't think he's going to If Allan did do something to his wife, perhaps the couple's phone records and banking statements would reveal a clue.

There's nothing unusual about any of the phone calls. Yet, investigators uncovered only evidence of a normal life spent in a small town.

He's been in a check. With no sign of contact with anyone suspicious, and no record of Do spending money after August 7th, no leads were panning out. Eventually, they came to believe Do Roberts was dead.

After approximately 2 to 3 weeks of being unable to locate the victim, it was more than likely going to end up being a homicide. I requested through my supervisor that we bring in Shelby County Sheriff's Department into the investigation to make it a joint investigation.

If it were a murder, it would be prosecuted in state court. The team returned to the Roberts house.

The second search of Alan Roberts property was done more in a forensic frame of mind. And we were looking for blood spatterings in the house as well as in the barn.

Again, Roberts cooperated. He would do anything. Forensics technicians from the FBI and the sheriff's department processed the buildings, looking for any evidence of a murder, cleanup, or disposal of a body. They also gathered hairs and carpet fibers from Allen's truck to compare to any evidence recovered later. The painstaking search lasted two full days. Thanks.

Alan Roberts grew more frustrated that law enforcement had to devote so much time to him as a suspect. He was wearing down and the real kidnapper was out there somewhere. In 1992, the Shelby County Sheriff's Department and the Memphis FBI searched Allan Roberts farm and its buildings for any sign of his wife's possible murder. Roberts had passed a polygraph, and now none of the items on his property tested positive for blood. Yet no other suspects emerged, and investigators had developed circumstantial evidence that implicated Roberts.

Although several witnesses had seen Roberts that day, his confirmed alibi only accounted for about 5 hours. Authorities knew that left plenty of time to get rid of a body. Also, some members of the Eids community gave statements claiming Alan Roberts had acted in a suspicious manner following Doe's disappearance. According to special agent Joanne Overall

hung up after people within the community felt he did not openly grieve for the loss of his wife. He was socializing shortly after her kidnapping that both him and his wife were members of a square dancing group and within a couple of weeks Allan was back at the square dancing group with various partners. News anchor Joe Burch observed Robert's lack of emotion during media coverage.

When somebody's wife disappears, you'd expect to see a level of emotion. And we just didn't see it from Alen Roberts. He was just kind of calm, cool, and collected and very direct. And there wasn't a lot of uh tearyeyed emotional appeals that we see a lot in in kidnapping cases. Investigators kept watching Roberts as he tried to carry on with his life, struggling with the frustration of not knowing where his wife was and being the only suspect in her disappearance. Yet, they saw nothing that led them to do Roberts.

In September, the man with the Asian accent resurfaced, now saying Allan was involved.

Hello. The kidnapper began calling people in the Eids community, stating that Doe Roberts was still alive.

Many of the phone calls indicated Allan was part of the scheme to kidnap his wife. It was extremely frustrating because he never gave specific points to drop money. Several of the people who talked to the kidnapper had caller IDs on their phones, so agents traced the calls to phone booths on a welltraveled road.

We would go to the phone booths immediately and of course the individual who was making the phone call was already gone. Other people had already used the phone. We would check the phones for possible fingerprints and there was just never any evidence to tie an individual to that phone.

Each of the calls were made within a few miles of the Robert's house, a significant risk in a small community buzzing about the case.

This boldness suggested that the caller was an insider familiar enough to be inconspicuous in public and that he considered himself beyond the reach of investigators. Desperate for something solid, Alan Roberts took things into his own hands, offering a reward for Do's safe return and announcing he disconnected the FBI's recording and tracing equipment from his phone so the kidnapper could call freely. On October 8th, 1992, 2 months after Do disappeared, the kidnapper called Alan Roberts again. Is she okay?

He told him to drive to a pay phone at a country store a mile away. Now, Roberts hurried to the store. Once again, he was on his own with no corroborating witness to prove what was happening. The phone was already ringing when he arrived. He hoped finally this would be his chance to get his wife back.

Hello. 2 months after someone abducted 65-year-old Doe Roberts. The kidnapper ordered her husband Alan Roberts to a pay phone.

Hello. Hello. The man with the Asian accent said Do was alive and still with him.

He asked Roberts for the name of an intermediary, someone Allan trusted that the kidnapper could contact.

Somebody at the church. What do you mean somebody at the church? Roberts suggested Charles Lord, a leading church member and friend of the family.

Charles, the caller said he would be in touch about where to bring the ransom money. Listen, can I talk to do? Let me please let me talk to Do. Hello.

Then he hung up. Well, they they've been good. Charles Lord, the man Roberts picked to be his intermediary, was a civil servant and treasurer of the local church. church.

He made a public appeal to the kidnapper on Alan Robert's behalf, asking the man to call him and finally give specific instructions for a ransom drop.

Call my number and I'll line up how to get. They all wanted to get dough back. More calls from the kidnapper came to Charles Lord and others in the community, but still no details for an exchange. In November 1992, Charles Lord called investigators to his home. Special Agent Joanne Overall hoped they finally had a direct link to the kidnapper.

Come on in. I have Charles Lord stated that late in the evening, he heard a car out on his cove. He walked down to the mailbox and there was a letter placed in his mailbox which was a kidnapping ransom letter.

Investigators were glad to have physical evidence. Fingerprints, hairs of fibers on the letter might provide a link to the kidnapper. But by the time they got to it, they found the evidence tainted. Charles Lord took this letter and showed it to several people before we were called in and obtained the letter. So, there was quite a few fingerprints on the letter before we got it. Lab examiners checked all of the prints, determining they belong to Lord and the people he let handle the letter. Nothing to lead them to the kidnapper.

The message was no help either. The ransom had been lowered, but still no instructions for a drop. It seemed the kidnapper was playing games with them. In case he contacted Lord again, agents set a trap. Our office set up surveillance on his mailbox using a hidden camera which was literally placed in a birdhouse close to the mailbox.

Looks pretty good. Now you can back off. If the kidnapper dropped off another note, they'd have him on tape. Agents also installed wiretap and recording devices on Lord's telephone.

Basically, what you do, they still had no real evidence against Alan Roberts. But a new suspect was developing.

Yes, sir. Come on in. Charles Lord began taking an active role in the investigation, often stopping by the sheriff's office to check on their progress.

The Roberts, no Roberts. Yes, sir. The deputies became suspicious. He seemed too interested.

Their suspicion deepened because of the peculiar nature of the phone calls he claimed he got from the kidnapper.

Charles Lord stated he received several phone calls from the kidnapper. He did say that he talked with Doe Roberts, which was unusual because none of the other callers talked with Doe Roberts,

but agents never got tapes of the calls. But every time he received a telephone call, it appeared that our equipment didn't work. Over the next week, Lord reported another ransom letter and one of Doe's scarves placed in his mailbox. Agents recovered no evidence from the items, but hope their camera captured images of the kidnapper. They had plenty of the regular mail carrier, but when the tape got to where the kidnapper should appear, it went blank. When the equipment that was placed at Charles Lord's residence continued to fail, I just thought we had poor equipment.

Eventually, it became apparent that somebody was tampering with it. Agents suspected the interference came from Charles Lord.

Then the victim's husband, Alan Roberts, reported a strange encounter with Lord. He said the night before at the Eids Community Center, Lord summoned him to a private meeting. Allan was surprised when his friend offered to help get Dough back for a price. Alan Roberts told me that Charles Lord had advised that he had underworld contacts and that there was information available if Charles could get some money to pay for it.

Also, Allan advised at that time that Charles Lord was wearing a gun. It was clear Lord was somehow involved,

but investigators needed more than suspicion. Not just one. Thank you. They needed evidence.

On March 4th, 1993, 7 months after Do disappeared, there was another twist in the case.

Can we help you? Memphis news anchor Joe Burch received a call at his office. Yes.

I've never recorded a a telephone conversation before, but I decided that I would record this conversation.

Where is Roberts right now? The call set off a trigger in my mind that this could be the same individual who's been making the anonymous calls in the Doe Roberts case. And I tried to get the man to stay on the line for as long as he would stay. As Bur spoke to the man with the Asian accent, he tried to elicit details as to who the caller was and what happened to do

Robert's alive. When Bur tried to set up a ransom drop, the caller hung up. Hello. Hello. I took the tape directly into my boss's office. We immediately called the FBI and the Shelby County Sheriff's Department.

What can you tell us about Roberts? Investigators agreed to WMCTV airing the tape, hoping it might flush the kidnapper out.

The kidnapper called back. He was angry they aired the tape and demanded no more coverage. But this time, Joe Burch got him to do what no one else had.

Arrange a ransom drop. Agents and sheriff's inspectors staked out the drop location, ready to grab the caller who had eluded them for so long.

Is that her? That's her. As instructed, a reporter from WMCTV drove to the spot with $80,000 in cash. It'sbody else. Do you see anybody else?

Everyone waited hoping else. But the kidnapper never showed. She's leaving. It didn't happen.

One more disappointment in a frustrating investigation. 9. Be advised, subject has just left. No contact. Show us ahead.

Other deputies observed. Charles Lord was home the entire time. Weeks passed with no movement on the case. Then in June 1993, the kidnapper arranged another drop. He called two of Doe's nephews and told them to bring the ransom money to a local motel. Soon, the elusive kidnapper finally would surface. In June 1993, investigators working the Doe Roberts kidnapping staked out an Eid, Tennessee motel. to get a good shot.

Special Agent Joanne Overall was part of the surveillance. Do Robert's nephews received a call from the kidnapper and they tried to make an arranged ransom drop. They were told to go to a motel room, which they did, but they also called the FBI. They were waiting to get a phone call or meet with somebody. Other surveillance deputies had been unable to find suspect Charles Lord that night. As the team at the motel watched, a man approached

somebody across the yard. It was Lord. He went to the room the nephews had rented. Charles Lord told the nephews of Doe Roberts that he had received a call from the kidnapper and that he was to show up there and get the money and he would receive a phone call as to where to take the money.

But the nephews wouldn't give him the cash. They said they wanted to deal with the kidnapper directly. Investigators were sure that was exactly who they were dealing with.

He is the only individual who had received a telephone call stating that he had uh talked with Doe Roberts and now he was meeting with somebody to pick up money, but we did not have enough evidence at that time to go forward with an arrest. They did however increase their focus on Lord. To look for a financial motive to the kidnapping, the FBI subpoenaed Lord's bank records.

Yes, sir. I spoke earlier on the phone. We went through records trying to determine if he had loans out, if he what his financial holdings were, and it became apparent that Charles Lord owed a lot of money to several banks in town, substantial amounts of money, and that he was unable to meet the payments and that he had filed for bankruptcy.

That circumstantial evidence allowed investigators to secure a search warrant for Lord's house. Get the stuff over here.

In late June 1993, they served the warrant, which allowed them to look for and seize any financial documents.

Some of the files they recovered revealed Lord's criminal past. He had embezzled over $150,000 from the Memphis Depo where he had retired several years prior and he had embezzled approximately $70,000 from the church there in Eid where he was attending.

As treasurer of the church, Lord had access to the parish bank accounts and cash donations. Despite the find, investigators still had no direct evidence of the abduction.

We had nothing that we could use to charge him with a kidnapping and the murder of Doe Roberts. It was important to obtain a confession from Charles Lord because we had no body.

Good. Maybe this will help us out. One agent working the case was trained in criminal profiling.

He wants more attention. Analyzing Lord's actions, he offered a behavioral profile to help get the confession. What do

you have here? We got all these faults. Is he going to He suggested Lord was a manipulative, pathological liar who believed he was untouchable.

He's going to help Sal, but I don't know if he's The agent felt that overwhelming the suspect's ego was the only way to beat him. All right. What you guys need to do is let

The plan was to bring Lord in for an interview and let him see what he would take to be evidence of a massive investigation against him for months.

Push into his confessing. Agents created numerous evidence boxes, hoping to trump Lord's belief he was above the investigation. Then on August 25th, 1993 at the FBI's Memphis field office, investigators met with Lord and his attorney.

I got some questions about Do you know anything about Mrs. D Roberts? As Charles Lord sat in that room during the interview, I was watching him look at these boxes, realizing that he had been under surveillance for a lot longer than he had anticipated, and he became very nervous. The FBI's tactics appeared to be working.

Lord eventually admitted to making some of the ransom calls. He said he did it to keep the investigation alive for Do's sake, but denied any involvement in her abduction. Sensing that he was ready to crack, the investigators offered him a deal. Charles Lord was told by our office as well as the Shelby County Inspector that if he would take a polygraph and pass a polygraph, we would not look at him any further for the Doe Roberts kidnapping. However, if he failed the polygraph, his attorney and Charles Lord agreed to a further interview interrogation in reference to the kidnapping.

He agreed. After asking control questions to gauge Lord's truthful response levels,

the polygraph examiner asked about Do including whether Lord was involved in her abduction.

Did you harm Do Roberts? In the end, the examiner believed the polygraph results showed Lord being deceptive. Though the results could not be used in court, they meant authorities could continue questioning the suspect. With Lord's attorney present in the interrogation room, FBI agents and inspectors from the Shelby County Sheriff's Department pressed the suspect, returning again and again to the polygraph results. I've got every piece of evidence I need. What I need you to do.

At first, he continued to deny involvement, but after several hours, the interview tactics wore him down.

Lord said he was ready to tell them what happened. He said he needed cash to pay back his loans and cover the money he stole from the church and decided to kidnap Doe for ransom. On August 6th, 1992, he called the Roberts, posing as a property buyer named Sam Wagner and arranged to meet Allen. The next day, when he knew Allen was waiting at the development property, he drove by their house. Do was bringing in the mail.

Do there's been an accident. He knew she would trust him. Allan's been involved in an accident. Yeah. Get in the car and I'll take you to him.

What happened? Do you know? Do you Is he all right? Lord told investigators he planned to release Do after he got the ransom, but she suffered a fatal heart attack in his car.

He said he panicked and dumped her body in her purse, but he would not say where.

Franklin, would you be willing to take us to where she is? The investigators believed he was lying, at least about planning to release Do and perhaps about other details.

You did what you were supposed to do. Special Agent Joanne Overall knew they had to find the body to check his story.

They offered a deal. Charles Lord agreed to tell us where Doe Robert's body was after he had confessed to the kidnapping in exchange for Shelby County not pursuing the death penalty.

Lord claimed he dumped her in the Wolf River, a slowmoving river that runs 90 miles across the southwest corner of the state. The Wolf River empties into the Mississippi at Memphis. Lord said he dumped the remains from a bridge in Faget County, 13 miles from the Robert's home. Divers would begin 50 yards up river, searching for the body and purse. Lieutenant John Yansy of the Shelby County Sheriff's Department led the dive in the murky river.

We had 21 divers involved total. The visibility in the river was uh zero. It was total black water. And in the dark water, several species of venomous snakes. Adding to the challenge was the fact that the crime took place a year earlier. Any remains would be scattered and difficult to find. FBI agents and sheriff's deputies helped the divers by stretching a rope across the river's width.

Divers held on to the rope and moved across its length, searching the river bottom by hand.

Normally, you do an arm spand arm over arm for a search for a body because it's large, but we were looking for contents of the purse at the time to try to make sure that this was actually the scene. So we had to bring it down to where we were. Instead of doing the large arms spins, we were having to do what I call this the hand grab. And that's where you just get the dirt with your hand. And that way you're able to find everything on the bottom. Once the divers reached the other bank, the team would move the rope a foot down river and start over.

Anytime a diver found something, he signaled and additional divers came in to mark and extract the item. We found a safe that had been taken in a robbery of a cleaners and the money had fallen out of the safe and we found the pennies on the bottom and the dollar bills but we found no contents of any of her purse. So I feel like if we' have found pennies on the bottom we would have found her makeup or a wallet or IDs or anything ties back to her. In 110 degree heat, the team continued their search of every square inch.

On my second day, I was on the the bridge and and an elderly lady walked up to me and said, "I want you to do me a favor." And I said, "I'll try to if I can." She said, "I want you to find us something today so we can get this over with so we can go ahead and bury Dough and get this case over with." After three full days, they had searched a half mile of the river.

They believed the body would not have gone farther than that in the land waters.

I went to my boss, my chief, and I told him, I said, "Based on my experience and what we have done, she's not in here, but if you want us to continue the search, we'll search till it runs into Mississippi. Every how you want to do it. But I can tell you right now, she's not here. Investigators were convinced Lord had lied to them, unnecessarily, placing the dive team in danger. Special Agent Overall confronted Lord. We took Charles Lord out to the site and explained to him that these divers were putting their lives in jeopardy and we needed to find the body and it didn't appear that the body was there.

The suspect had run out of lies. Now he was ready to tell investigators what really happened to Do Roberts. After a three-day search of Tennessee's Wolf River, dive leader Lieutenant John Yansy believed the remains of kidnapping victim Doe Roberts were not in the river. We had searched everywhere possible and just over the years of experience. Uh I would have found something by now. Either some bones, some makeup or something. I said based on my experiences, she's not in here. The divers are. She's not there. Investigators confronted suspect Charles Lord.

Deal's going to come off the table. realizing they would not give up until they got the truth. Lord admitted do had not died of a heart attack in his car.

He said he took her to his house and tied her up in a room above the garage. He could never let his neighbor go now. He tried to kill her with sleeping pills.

Okay. When that didn't work, he smothered her with a pillow in my backyard. Lord said he buried her in his backyard compost heap. On top of the body, he placed a layer of lime, then concrete, hoping they would hasten decomposition. They needed to determine if Lord was telling the truth this time to retrieve evidence and give Do's family the closure of knowing what happened.

Stand by. The sheriff's department called in forensic anthropologists from the University of Tennessee. After removing layers of leaves and compost, they began the dig. Shelby County Sheriff's Lieutenant Ronald Goodwin supervised the meticulous excavation.

It's just uh using brushes and little trials much like uncovering artifacts. And it's just it's one spoonful at a time to make sure that you don't miss any evidence and make sure you don't do anything to harm what evidence may be with the body.

After 2 hours, they pierced a shell of concrete and lime in the space underneath a body.

The first thing that we came to was a hand. The rest of the body was laying flat in the uh grave site uh on its back face up. It took 17 hours to completely exume the remains and what investigators found surprised them. The skin was intact, the body was in such good condition, I felt like that many scientific tests that we could run might reveal poisoning uh cause of death, sexual attack or whatever. It appeared that the actions that uh Mr. Lord had taken such as the lime and so forth on top of the body had worked in reverse and it had preserved the body for us.

The most chilling detail was the position of the 65year-old woman's hand. The only thing that was out of normal position was the hand which was up in front of her face in a defensive position with a finger spread. It appeared to investigators she might not have been dead when she was buried.

Maybe she was still alive. Maybe she was pushing up with her hand. Over a year after Doe Roberts disappeared, the FBI and Allan Roberts had their evidence. On October 19th, 1993, Charles Lord plead guilty to first-degree murder and kidnapping. He was sentenced to life plus 25 years. Do's husband Allen had endured being a suspect for months. Now with the truth out, he could finally lay Do. But one challenge remains for Alan Roberts.

It's an uneven closure. I'm trying to forget about Charles Lord and I'm praying that God will let me forgive him. I'm praying that dough is in God's hands right now. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts enjoyed 43 years of marriage before they were torn apart. He has faith that one day he will see her again.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Was She Buried Alive? Woman's Body Found Perfectly Preserved"?

Jim Calstrom (Host), Tom Leonard (Guest), Wayne Wadell (Guest), Nicholas Altamari (Guest), Rita (Guest).

What is "Was She Buried Alive? Woman's Body Found Perfectly Preserved" about?

In January 1997, a violent bank robbery in Richmond, Virginia, left the community shaken as two armed gunmen stormed a local bank, resulting in chaos and the need for urgent intervention by police and the FBI. As investigators pieced together evidence and eyewitness accounts, their goal was to identify the culprits behind this unprecedented act of brutality, which marked a shocking departure…

What is mentioned in this The FBI Files episode?

26 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Doe Roberts, Lefon Bobbit, Rasheed Jones, Alan Roberts, Germaine Sims. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Was She Buried Alive? Woman's Body Found Perfectly Preserved"?

The episode runs 1 h 39 min; the transcript is about 12,298 words in 308 timestamped sections.

More from The FBI Files

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 25, 2026.