Deadly Paradise: the FBI's Most Complex Case

Palm a tropical island in the South Seas for most of the year it's uninhabited but by strange coincidence in June of 1974 six sailboats all converged on this tiny Island it should have been shanga but when Bad Blood developed piracy took and the only law was the law of the J want to get [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] a small uninhabited Island almost a, miles from nowhere it's hard to believe such a paradise really exists for most Sailors in the South Pacific pyra is a stop on the wait to somewhere else but for a few it's a destination of its own a place to disappear from the world that's just what happened to Mack and muff Graham although it wasn't their intention I'm Jim kelstrom former director of the FBI's New York office crime on the high seas falls under the jurisdiction of the FBI The Disappearance of the grahams in their yacht suggested trouble in Paradise the problem was there was not a shred of evidence to prove it almyra ATL is a series of small islands in the South Pacific formed by a coral reef which surrounds a lagoon it is owned by the United States and during World War II it housed a US Navy base the remains of the deserted base are still on the island today it is located approximately 1,000 mi from Hawaii and is a stopover point for Sailors and yachtsmen on their way to Samoa often times large beautiful sailboats can be seen at the broken down docks and its Lagoon but on June 26th 1974 a small sailboat named the Iola made its way past the Ducks and into palmyra's makeshift Harbor she had just completed a difficult 19-day Journey from Hawaii carrying a crew of two the boat was not suitable for the trip and now limped into the Lagoon barely seaworthy the ship's motor had Frozen up about halfway to Palmyra before leaving why the owners had repaired the Iola which was a wooden boat by covering it with a coat of fiberglass the fiction created by these two materials caused a crack to form in the hull on the way to Palmyra the Iola had begun to take on water they had little money and very few Provisions their plan was to live off the fruits of the island until later in the year they had made a deal with some friends to bring supplies to the island which they would Exchange for a crop of marijuana they intended to grow when they arrived at Palmyra they were unhappy to see a handful of visitors at the dock area they had hoped they would have the island to themselves when they came ashore they were greeted by a welcoming committee it wasn't at all what they had expected introduced themselves as Stephanie Sterns and Roy Allen even though the name Buck was tattooed on his right arm in plain view what's your name Roy Roy Roy you got a you got [ __ ] on your the side there when one of the yachtsmen commented on it Stephanie claimed that buck was his nickname something about Roy was different from the other yters he seemed rougher perhaps even a little dangerous shortly after Roy and Stephanie arrived another boat appeared in the channel a beautiful 38t catch called the sea wind it wasn't long before the new arrivals made their way over to the [Applause] dock M Graham was 53 years old his wife Ellen nicknamed muff was a few years younger wife mu like Roy they were surprised to find so many people on what was supposed to be an uninhabited Island where they planned to spend the better part of a year hi Stephanie I'm ma yeah hey Ma you got any cigarettes when Roy noticed Mac was a smoker he asked for a cigarette and took most of the pack this gesture would be considered impolite anywhere but on an island it was particularly so as supplies are limited and can't easily be replaced for Mack and the others this was their first insight into the kind of person Roy Allen might be Roy also boasted about his plans to raise marijuana and trade it for supplies soon everyone began settling into their New Life in Paradise Matt Graham began to explore the island the ruins of the Navy base in the Sandy Shores CQ CQ cqx and he also made sure to keep in touch with the outside world by shortwave radio everything's fine out here at regularly scheduled times Mac would contact his friend Kurt Shoemaker in Hawaii and tell him about his latest discoveries H6 i g Hawaii Island calling and [Music] listening he just like it you know Tom Sawyer out in on the Mississippi or something and so um would explain what he did each day you know he'd go on excursions just him with his machete through the jungle and exploring all the the things down there for Roy and Stephanie on the other hand things weren't going quite as well Roy found the island was not well suited for growing [Music] marijuana living aboard the Iola was difficult the boat was small damp fluttered and cramped their supplies were all but gone and they began to barter their possessions with the owners of the other boats for food and supplies to the grahams and the others Roy and Stephanie were a nuisance they were not properly supplied to be out on the high seas this far from civilization the other yters had enough supplies for themselves with some extra for emergencies but not enough to supply Roy and [Music] Stephany the Grahams were known for their Hospitality they had invited the other visitors to Palmyra aboard the seawing others warned them not to allow Roy and Stephanie on their boat but Mack wanted to make an attempt at being cordal on July 5th two weeks after the Grands arrived and long after everyone else on the island had already had the tour of the sea wind Roy and Stephanie received an invitation to visit they eagerly accepted oh the sea when was a real yacht you know it was a had uh was a beautiful looking boat to begin with and nice lines and and Mac had uh kept it in just perfect shape we want to go in the world it's gorgeous huh that's the the sea wind was everything the Iola was not it had a fully stocked Larder and it was equipped with every high-tech navigational device on the market it had plenty of room and the Sea had sailed around the world name it we got it right here Stephanie commented on its size and human Comforts she was enchanted by the big bunk in the forward cabin Roy remained suen when Roy began to find the cramped quarters and damp bedding at the Iola too confining he decided to move into a makeshift tent on the beach Stephanie would stay aboard the boat by now Roy and Stephanie had Bartered most of their possessions with the other y for food and supplies other than trading or Flatout begging they had little to do with the others their situation was getting worse by the day most of the marijuana seedlings they had counted on from money had been eaten by insects although Palmyra has abundant natural resources including fish crabs bird eggs and coconuts Roy had little knowledge of how to survive off the land to catch fish he would shoot them with his 22 caliber revolver like clockwork Mack continued his weekly radio conversations with Kurt and he kept him informed about Roy and Stephanie okay they had moved way down the end of The Lagoon and would have nothing to do with the other group and bizarre things like they start planting marijuana again to see if they could grow it uh he he needed the I think they were running low and food so he needed coconuts took a chainsaw and cut cut a coconut tree down to get to the Coconuts that's kind of stupid it also infuriated ma bra Mac loved the island and had no tolerance for Roy's destructive problem you don't have to do that to get one of these why don't you just climb up and get it down one day he confronted Roy about it ask Roy quickly became angry and told Mac to mind his own business [Music] the hostility between them was built on July 13th muff Graham wrote her mother a letter she hadn't been enthusiastic about living on an island in the first place and having Roy and Stephanie there only added to her [Music] misgivings dearest mother three boats are here now but one is leaving and we'll take this with them that leaves us alone with the hippie couple who plan to stay here and live off the land it's just our luck they decided to roost in Palmyra Roy and Stephanie have run out of sugar cigarettes and I don't know what they've bared with other boats next they will ask [Music] us muff sent the letter back to civilization with Bernard and Evelyn Leonard who were leaving bmra after a brief stay the Grahams had previously made arrangements to receive letters over the radio from Kurt schum who read them to ma during their regular weekly shortwave contacts during that period of time I was receiving mail from both of their mothers his mother and her and um they would then I would read this to them well as one of the boats down there would leave they would take the mail with them and eventually mail it when back in H Lulu or wherever so there was communication going back and forth and an interesting thing about it is uh one of the letters I read U the mother and I think she was in her 80s she says that she was afraid for them she says you should leave that place something will happen to you one day when Mack was talking to Kurt he told him that Roy had sent a message with one of the Yachts back to his friends in Hawaii they were supposed to bring Roy and Stephanie supplies to Palmyra and he told his friends to reply through Kurt's shortwave radio Hawaii is call Mac asked him if he had heard any news from him but Kurt had heard nothing and when Mack talked to him about Roy and Stephanie there was something about their description that worried him then in between these conversations he' occasionally mentioned the the other boat and uh I told him I said you know that doesn't sound too good to these people said you know you better be careful and he said well he said no I can take care of myself I'll be all right and so I said well I don't know I think you ought to get out of there myself or one if you ought to leave my fault I don't want to hear no I I don't care Roy and Stephanie's tempers were running short that's why look around you during the first weeks of AUST the sound of angry voices could frequently be heard across the Lagoon the other visitors to the island saw Roy as a violent and quick tempered man who was dangerous and should be avoided then Midway through through August another boat came to Palmyra and spent a few days Norman Sanders and Thomas wolf were on their way to Samoa the night before they were set to leave they had cocktails with mac and muff the talk turned to the Iola Sanders was a sailing expert he told him he had offered Roy advice about getting the Iola to Samoa he said he' suggested Roy and Stephanie should go there but Roy had just become angry and refused the help Wolf cautioned the Gres that it would be easy for an unsuspecting couple to disappear on a place like Palmyra in response Mack opened a drawer and pulled out a 357 magnet he assured the others that he could take care of himself I'm tougher than he is Max said confidently wolfen Sanders left mmra the next day the um the group of people that were down there the various boats um one by one were on their way somewhere and they one after another left visitors had come and gone pretty regularly for the last 2 months but with the departure of wolf and Sanders on August 17th things changed this was the end of the season when most Sailors would be stopping by pal Mila Mack and muff Graham were alone on the island with Stephanie and Roy on August 27th Mack talked to kurtt Shoemaker Roy and Stephanie and the Grahams had been alone on Palmyra for 10 days the tension between Mack and muff Graham and Roy and Stephanie had increased muff knew Roy had a gun and a chainsaw and at one point he'd been seen with an acetylene torch this scared her and she wanted off Palm but Max stubbornly didn't want to leave the boats had moved to opposite sides of the Lagoon and the couples pretty much ignored each other but then something unusual happened here is KH 6 i g I was talking to him and while we're talking he hears a a female voice yelling saying something you know calling to him and he says oh what's this happening so he says hang on a minute I'll go up tops side and see and he says I'll be darn she's coming over in her dinghy and she says she has a cake for him and he says uh I guess they're going to declare a truce or something huh that was the ter the words he used he says I better check this out carefully I said okay so same schedule next week same time so I said be careful now see you later was it one week later Shoemaker was at his radio for their regularly scheduled conversation for the first time since Mack and muff had left Hawaii there was no response from the seawind I was concerned about that and uh I tried for quite a while about 20 minutes or half an hour trying to make contact so the next contact was a couple of days later and then I tried again nothing and then for the next few weeks I I tried you know in intermittently from time to time and then it was at that point that I decided something happened unable to convince the authorities that something had gone wrong on Palmyra Shoemaker had a friend fly over the island the aerial survey seemed to confirm his worst fears almyra was deserted there were no boats in the harbor no Iola no sea wind and there was no sign of life well I had a feeling that all that time that uh something had happened the the boat had been taken over I I was very strong feelings about that simply because of the all of the incident that they related to me and he related and I mean it just pointed to that one thing but I couldn't convince anyone that that was a problem Shoemaker did have one resource available to him the radio having no idea where they had gone he spread the word to yachtsmen in the Pacific to be on the lookout for the seawing for days weeks and then months passed with no word about the fate of mac and muff Graham or the seawing two months after the last communication with the Grahams Bernard and Evelyn Leonard who had been given the last written message from the grams were at the alaw Yacht Harbor in Hawaii Bernard noticed a 38t catch with very distinctive yes it is yes it is well then it had it had been repainted but Bernard was certain it was the sea wind he also recognized a familiar figure on Deck Roy Allen knowing the tensions that had existed between the grams and Roy and Stephanie and also knowing that the grams had not been heard from in some time Leonard immediately called the Coast Guard the Coast Guard had been aware of the missing sea yes when Leonard explained that the owners were not on the boat the Coast Guard officers felt this might lead to something outside of their jurisdiction they called the FBI the call was answered by special agent Calvin shashido who worked out of the the FBI's Hawaii field office my assignment there was uh just a general mix of General criminal investigations security investigations backgrounds uh it was such a small office that we couldn't specialize we had to handle everything that came at us shashido agreed to meet the Coast Guard and the Leonards at the marina although what he heard was not conclusive enough to Warrant FBI involvement perhaps the owners were on Shore or perhaps they had sold the boat perhaps it wasn't even the seawing after arriving moments later the Leonard showed him the yacht in question there seemed to be no one aboard so he pointed out the uh uh areas where there was an attempt to disguise the boat you know it had been repainted the gunnels had been repainted the uh uh the uh name plate was taken off it was removed and painted over um and other things that he pointed out to show that it was actually the sea wi he knew it was the sea wi although there was still no direct evidence of Foul Play shishido was growing suspicious there was no visible activity on the boat so shishido instructed the Coast Guard officers to post a lookout the lookout spotted Roy and Stephanie the next morning rowing from the floating dock toward Shore in a little dingy he immediately alerted the Coast Guard who in turn called special agent sh [Music] Cheeto but another boat owner hailed Stephanie and Roy and told him that the Coast Guard had been looking around their boat the day before Roy noticed a Coast Guard Patrol boat in the marina that seemed to be moving towards [Music] them Roy quickly changed Direction and headed for the nearest dock [Music] after letting Roy off Stephanie started to roll back to the [Music] seaing two plane clothed policemen were approaching Roy when he spotted them without hesitating he turned and Dove off the end of the dock and began to swim away the officers found a wallet on the dock and in it was the identification of this Roy Allen and it had a photograph and uh I believe Mr Leonard found uh looked at the picture and said that was Roy Allen meanwhile the Coast Guard boat had spotted Stephanie in the rowboat and began to give Chase she turned and started to Road toward Shore hoping to reach the dock before they caught up in her [Music] when she reached the dock she jumped out and began to run but there was nowhere for her to go the patrol boat was right behind with Bernard Leonard aboard he and a coast Guardsman following him [Music] they saw her Dart into a hotel stairwell they found her hiding behind a potted Palm she immediately recog I Leonard from Palmyra come with us as the Coast Guard officer took her into custody one question was foremost on Leonard's mind what had happened to the [Music] Grahams Stephanie Sterns was taken to the Coast Guard offices for questioning on the way there Bernard Leonard and Stephanie found themselves alone in the Roo when he asked if Mack and muff were still alive she shook her head Mack and muff she told him had apparently drowned at least they never found their bodies Leonard was incredulous how could that have happened Stephanie explained that she and Roy had been invited to the Sea wind for dinner but the Grahams never showed up the next morning she and Roy found the Graham's overturned inflatable Zodiac boat washed up on shore in the shark infested Lagoon after searching fruitlessly for the bodies they decided to take their own boat back to Hawaii but it got hung up on the reef so they went back and took the abandoned sea wind Leonard listened to Stephanie but he didn't believe her story as I remember it I was in the Coast Guard offices she started telling a story again this time to special agent shashido in the Coast Guard okay this is the way happened this is the way I'm I'm telling it to you details then of what happened to them at one point I remember speaking to her she kept going on and on and I kept reminding her that she had the right to remain silent and that anything she said could be used against her in a court of law and she would just keep on [Music] talking Stephanie told him she had arrived at the seawind with Roy just about in time for dinner the boat was strangely quiet they called out but no one answered hello [Music] hello ma mom hello they went below and continued their search but got no reply I can't find anybody down here they're not here didn't she say they were going to meet us here yeah they know we were coming for dinner they assumed the grams had gone out fishing for dinner and made themselves at home till they returned there's nobody here according to Stephanie the Grahams never showed up so they both decided to spend the night on the sea wind all they believed the Grahams would show up any time but the next morning when the grhs hadn't returned she said they became very worried and went out to look for muff and Mac as soon as it was light but all they found was the Graham's overturned zodiac washed up on shore and a can full of gasoline they turned the inflated boat over and started the motor then she said they spent the next two days searching for the GRS or any sign of what might have happened to them but they found nothing the Grahams had simply vanished shashido found her story in plausible together and we went over there when she explained how they had taken possession of the sea wind her story was quite different from the one she had just told Leonard no one would have believed us they would have taken this time she said they had left Palmyra aboard the sea wind Towing the Iola which got caught up on a reef and sank and all we found Stephanie was tripping over her first lie but I knew there were at least you know two conflicting stories as to how they got in possession of the boat at this point we became very um uh worried about the Graham's condition we didn't know what had happened to them and we certainly you know was not going to get any uh real true information from Stephanie Stern but the FBI has jurisdiction over crime on the high seas shashido determined he had enough evidence to arrest Stephanie Sterns for Interstate transportation of stolen property then his attention turned to Stephanie's boyfriend Roy Allen who had evaded the police at the marina and was still at large shashido checked and there was no record of a Roy Allen but he had the wallet with Roy Allen's picture Bernard Leonard also told shashita that Roy had taken marijuana plants to Palmyra and had intended to grow them to sell drugs and a photograph of Roy gave him a starting place but I suspected that people with you know traveling on the Iola which is not really a seaworthy boat going around and planting marijuana on the islands and so on must be involved in drug running hi Cal how are you pretty good how are you I'm doing pretty good look can I do before you day Shido took the photograph to the drug enforcement agency and showed it to several of the agents so we would have get they were surprised when they looked at the picture let me get into it they told him that was Buck Walker and that they had been looking for him I'll get back to you on that have a good day all right and so we got all our background data on Buck Walker and that's when our search for buck Walker began and uh that now we're looking for buck Walker instead of Ry Allen Buck Dwayne Walker was a convicted fellon and a fugitive he'd been awaiting sentencing on a drug conviction when he and Stephanie fled Hawaii on the Iola headed for Palmyra as the search for began with a new urgency shishida was also concerned about the gra he knew Stephanie was lying and changing details about what had happened on C he didn't trust her story about the fate of the GRS there was always the possibility that the grames were alive and stranded on the island shashido made arrangements for himself and some other agents to travel to Palmyra to see if they could find them we decided to go to Pala to see if maybe the Grahams were were stranded there you know in need of food and uh or they could have been tied up for all we know and you know immobile and uh their lives were in danger so we decided to go out there to look around and and we did on the island they found the remains of the camp Buck Walker had abandon they took photographs and examined the site thoroughly a search of the island produced no sign of the grams however shashido did make a couple of curious discoveries I remember picking up a hatch cover and of course later was identified as a hatch cover coming off of the Iola the hatch cover was important because no Seaman would leave for high waters without his hatch cover without it the boat could take on water which would cause it to sink this told shashido that Roy and Stephanie had intended to scut the Iola using these Clues shishido began to develop his theory as to what happened to the GRS my thinking was that they had tied the couple up and put them on the Iola and sank the Iola and that was the only explanation we had because we couldn't find the Iola and there was no way the Iola could be in Hawaii because they certainly wouldn't be uh sailing the seawind and the Iola by themselves shashido found something at an Old Navy Warehouse that peaked interest I think one of the things too that I noticed was that in an old Workshop or Warehouse there was an old uh air rescue boat or sea rescue boat and it had uh place for three containers where they put provisions and off the three two uh receptacle areas were you know the cans were missing and the third was still left there and of course now we're looking for two people in my mind you know you know suspicious suspiciously thought that these two cans because you know it was large enough that they could have been you know containing the remains of the U couple meanwhile the search for buck Walker continued on November 8th 1974 after spending 10 days hiding out on the lava flows on the big island of Hawaii buck resurfaced in a tiny Hamlet off the Beaten Track he rented a room and went to a restaurant to a [Music] drink gentlemen here's your at the same moment cross the street two uniformed officers leading Lun as they paid the bill they showed their waitress a picture of buck she said he'd just been in the restaurant looking for a drink and she'd sent him to a bar across the [Music] street the officers spotted him and con contacted the [Music] FBI Buck was arrested on The Fugitive charge he was read his rights and handcuffed without a struggle FBI you're under arrest under questioning Buck revealed nothing that could help the investigation he answered questions with a Frank yes or no or with stone silence the investigators couldn't find even the slightest piece of information that could help them find the grams right while Stephanie was in prison awaiting trial shishido found more proof Stephanie and buck were lined while she was at prison uh we found out that she had some photographs developed so when the photographs were developed and brought back to prison we seized the photographs and examined them among the photographs showed that the sea wind or or Stephanie Sterns was on the seawind taking a photograph of the Iola on full sale with buck Walker on bought the Iola so we knew that at one point Stephanie was on the sea wind and buck Walker by himself on the Iola this was different than the stories both buck and Stephanie told officials shishida was convinced that the grams had been murdered but without any bodies and no hard evidence the US attorney assigned to prosecute the case did not believe they could make a homicide charge stand up in court we could but it's strictly circumstanced and we might not win the case and if we lose the case and later you know years later if the body should pop up and we get some real good evidence as to murder on the part of the the buck Walker and Stephanie Sterns he would he said we couldn't try them again so I thought well you know that makes a lot of sense Buck Walker and Stephanie Sterns were charged with Interstate transportation of stolen property it was an open and shut case buck and Stephanie had been caught with possession of the sea wind in Hawaii and had made numerous attempts to change its appearance Buck had registered it under his name as a homemade book buck and Stephanie were both found guilty Buck Walker received 10 years for his previous drug conviction and 5 years for theft of the seawind Stephanie Sterns received two years for her role in the boat theft but shashido was still convinced the couple had killed Mack and muff Graham and at somewh on or around Palmyra was the evidence to prove it he could only hope that someday it might surface and then he could charge buck and Stephanie with murder on January 21st 1981 a young South African couple Robert and Sharon Jordan were visiting Palmyra almost 7 years had passed since Mack and muff Graham disappeared that afternoon Sharon went for a walk down the beach and made a startling [Music] Discovery washed up in the shore was an aluminum canister and beside it she found human bones and the skull [Music] around one of the bones was a wristwatch she had heard the story of Mack and muff Graham and immediately contacted the Coast Guard Cal shashido was catching up on paperwork when he overheard part of a phone conversation human bones first he hear the words human bones and then Palmyra where's Palmyra the agent was new and had never heard of the case shashido was on his feet immediately what who was on the phone he asked the agent told him it was the Coast Guard shashido quickly took the phone and told the Coast Guard to ask the couple who had discovered the bones to stay on the island and wait for them when I first heard that of course I was really excited because I thought whoa somebody found some bones on palara and it had to be the grams and I thought this is it shashido and a team of investigators flew to palar to examine the new findings if the bones Sharon Jordan found belong to either one of the Grahams the FBI might be able to establish the cause of death shishida was shown the gruesome Discovery a skull human bones a wristwatch and some wire all lying next to an open metal box identical to the kind shishido noticed in the rescue boats on his previous visit to the island he speculated that the wire had been wrapped around the case and had somehow come loose then when the case came assure it had opened and the bones had Spilled Out since a second container had been missing from the Navy rescue boat shishido felt the other victim might still be inside divers were sent to searched the surrounding Waters looking for a container like the one found on the beach but in the shark infested waters the divers found nothing when shishido got back to Honolulu he sent the container wire skull and bones to the FBI laboratory in Washington DC for examination the skull belonged to a Caucasian woman in her late 40s or early 50s dental records showed that it was muff Grahams the skull also had signs of charring around the left eye socket and a hole in the left temple the FBI concluded that the Contour of the hole was consistent with a gunshot wound but due to the age of the wound could not say conclusively that it was caused by a bullet the aluminum box was examined by the FBI Elemental analysis unit they found evidence of charring on the outside of the box next the FBI needed to determine if the skeleton had been in the Box they cut out a rectangular section and subjected it to a battery of tests the rectangular piece of metal was found to contain traces of human protein conclusive proof that the Box had once held a body the FBI did did a tremendous job as far as the container was concerned because they came back with a report that indicated that there were human remains in the container that the remains had been burned and that while it was in flame the container was in about 2 Ines of water and they found uh traces of human protein uh human Fabric in the container and everything uh to indicate that a human body was disposed of in the container By Flame as shishido had suspected mff Graham had not simply drowned she had been murdered the FBI now believed it had enough evidence to prosecute buck and Stephanie for the murder of muff Graham having served her jail term for the theft of the sea wind Stephanie now had a white collar job in California she was arrested and taken into custody Buck Walker was still serving time in prison or so shashido thought when I sent uh our agents in uh the state of Washington uh Ali to put a detainer on balker I found out that he was an escape B and so I thought oh no not again you know are we going to have to to do the search all over for we found that there was only one woman that had visited him and that she had visited him the day before his escape a trace was placed on the woman which led them to her car parked in a motel in Yuma Nevada the FBI was notified and set up a stake out when buck and another man came out of a motel and approached the car the FBI moved in FBI he was considered an armed and dangerous fugitive wanted both for murder and [Music] Jailbreak on the front seat of the car they found barbituates and several thousands of dollars in cash [Music] Buck Walker was arrested and charged with the murder of MTH Graham Stephanie Sterns was also arrested and charged with the same crime though they would be tried [Music] separately because of the publicity the story had generated in Hawaii the trials were moved to San Francisco both cases were assigned to Federal prosecutor Elliot enoi the motive for the crime was never never in doubt the motive was they were um without a seaworthy vessel uh the only other couple on the island was leaving shortly they were running out of food and they didn't know when any other uh vessel would get their if at all because this was be becoming the end of the so-called season when you could expect uh people to visit the island so you had people running out of food and Provisions with an inability to get anywhere long inoi knew he could show Buck and Stephanie had opportunity and motive to kill the Grahams but first he had to prove in court that M Graham was murdered he also needed to completely discredit buck and Stephanie's story that the Grahams had drown as inoki began constructing his theory of the case shishida was busy putting holes in buck and Stephanie's [Music] defense the FBI had already found evidence of human protein on the sides of the aluminum box but since the bones were found next to it an noi wanted additional proof that the body had actually been in the Box therefore ruling out the possibility of muff drowning as buck and Stephanie had claimed he contacted San Francisco's chief medical examiner Boyd Stevens finding the skeleton together is supportive that M uh Graham was in that box and therefore held together it's not possible for me to really say that she couldn't have stayed together if she had been out of the box however the problems that would be required is that um the skeleton has to stay together even after it's disarticulated and that's an extremely strong argument that that could not have occurred if she had died and just been laying on the Lagoon bottom the second is that the skeleton has to come ashore together and that's just not really possible shishido also decided to test buck in Stephanie's story that the Grahams dingy the Zodiac had been found overturned oh of course you know a later investigation showed that if the boat had kept sized the way they said she they found it the the outboard mot would have been inoperable because of the salt water going into the engine itself um and of course we made a test to find out whether the Zodiac could actually tip over accidentally and we tried to force it to turn upside down banging into things with you know with three or four men sitting on one edge of the boat and it just wouldn't tip over inoi also asked medical examiner Boyd Stevens to examine muff Graham's skull in order to corroborate the FBI's findings that muff had been murdered and noi knew that having two highly respected sources would strengthen his case Stevens found flat abrasions to the skull consistent with prolonged confinement in a box such as the aluminum container the uh key issues for us was the flattening of the skull which represents that it had been placed against a hard flat surface primarily across the left side of the face and what I'm pointing to is the nose the eye sockets and what would be the cheek and life and of course the teeth one of the things that was evident about the skull ofus Graham is that this whole area about the face had been pled down so that it was a flat surface and if you can imagine if I take this skull and put it across a flat surface and let's just say this table is coated with sandpaper and I work it back and forth for a period of time eventually I would shave it down till it was a flat surface there was a second plane showing that the skull had changed position and again had been exposed to a flat surface with motion for a long period of time we used that as an argument that the skull had been within the box and and moving if the body had been buried in the coral sand then it would not be a change that we would expect to see and coffin wear is not seen if somebody's buried in dirt or in Coral it's seen if they're in a a hard surface container there were minimal animal bite marks and insects on the skull which were consistent with remains that had only been exposed to the surface life for a short period of time presumably the time after the Box had surfaced and opened but what about the charring on the skull in the metal box did this show an attempt to destroy the body one of the questions we had been asked is whether we could prove that the skull had been burned with anling torch people who were at Palmyra and buck and Stephanie were there saw buck with an ettling torch the FBI I believe this is what caused the burns to the skull if inoi could have Stevens corroborate this he could further implicate water if a person is exposed to a flame uh there may be burning of the outer portions of the skin but until the water is evaporated the tissue can't burn and it takes a heat period to boil the water off or evaporate it before the tissue can actually burn uh set torches of course run fairly hot and they would do that process fairly rapidly the marks on the skull clearly showed the use of an extreme source of heat further evidence that muff had been murdered the forensic evidence overwhelmingly proved that muff Graham had been murdered a trial date was set a trial involving people who live on the high seas presents some unique challenges the FBI bi had to subpoena about 40 Witnesses and then make sure they were in San Francisco at the time of the trial special agent Hal Marshall was assigned to the case I first became involved uh when I transferred to honoo in 1981 from uh Los Angeles Witnesses were flying in from all over the world literally Sharon Jordan and her husband and two children came in twice from South Africa and one of the hard situation was he were a lot of these people were boting people who did not keep in touch uh last we heard of some of them they were in a bay in Hawaii in a boat with no fixed address so it was a matter of getting them to San Francisco sometime having to wait 2 or 3 days sometime postponing it uh weather conditions and things like that that required us to to be sure they were there when we needed them and luckily uh everybody showed up that that need to show up and everything went smooth they were only two possible suspects and buck had an extensive criminal record but did Buck commit the murder alone or was Stephanie also involved she was the last person known to have contact with the Grahams on the day she brought them a cake Elliot and Oki believed Stephanie had one strong advantage on her side well um she had one option she could blame Walker and uh although she didn't directly do that her attorney certainly did in the way the case was argued and presented um so um that gave her a very big option that Walker simply did not have or if he had it was a much more difficult sell because of the circumstances and the personalities involved um he's the one with the prior record uh much bigger than than she is um you know the testimony about him shooting fish with his gun I mean he had lot of things on his side of The Ledger that were not on her side of The Ledger one of the other substantial differences is that Stephanie testified in the case Walker did not and so she directly refuted any claim of knowledge or involvement in in in any kind of homicide um but certainly um G through her testimony left uh a large room for her attorney to argue that Mr Walker had the uh opportunity and the means to commit a murder a jury found Buck Walker guilty after only a few hours of deliberations and he received a sentence of life in prison Stephanie Sterns was defended by famed attorney Vincent bugliosi who was convinced of her innocence she was acquitted of all charges when he convinced a jury that buck not only acted alone but sought to conceal the crime from his [Music] girlfriend we may never know what really happened on Palm on that day in late August though the forensic evidence paints a Grizzly picture well empirically I believe that uh that Miss Graham was killed exactly as the charge was uh made and that is that she was shot that uh there was an attempt to burn her body that her extremities were probably fractured to get her into the box and that she was cast into the ocean and then eventually came a grip and I think think that that probably happened to the husband as well M Graham's body has never been found although investigators believe there's a very high likelihood that he's in the other box [Music] [Applause] [Music]