Robert Weeks was a suspect in the disappearances of his wife, business partner, and two girlfriends, all of whom vanished between 19. As a result of the broadcast, the still-living Cooper was reunited with his family. When he was asked to produce a birth certificate at age 65 to receive Social Security, he couldn't bear to tell his family the truth about his past, so he fled. It was later revealed that Cooper had changed his identity after being falsely accused of theft in his mid-20s. The family declared Cooper deceased a year after his disappearance, but then Margaret made a mysterious discovery: When she attempted to gather Cooper's birth certificate and other personal documents, she discovered that "Alex Cooper" didn't exist until their marriage in 1952.Īnswers began appearing in 1992 when Unsolved Mysteries aired an episode about Alex Cooper, and a viewer called in to say they had recently seen a man who looked just like Alex, though this man was named David Cooper. The family worried about Cooper possibly meeting with foul play or falling into the river after having heart trouble. Cooper's wife, Margaret, confided to her daughter that she hadn't seen Cooper in more than 24 hours. Cooper's adult daughter saw his car parked near the river but couldn't locate her father anywhere. It was later revealed that Dennis's girlfriend had been watching the program and asked the friend to call in the license plate number.Īlex Cooper was a successful traveling salesman in his mid-60s when he mysteriously vanished in April of 1987. The chase ended with a shoot-out and Dennis taking his own life. A friend of Dennis DePue's, who had been living under an alias, called in Dennis's license plate number the night the episode aired, and a high-speed chase between Dennis and the police ensued. Marilynn DePue's slaying was featured on Unsolved Mysteries less than a year after her demise. Her body was found by the side of the road a few days later with a single bullet hole in the back of her skull. Dennis told his children that he was taking Marilynn to the hospital, but Marilynn was never seen alive again. On Easter Sunday, 1990, Dennis pushed Marilynn down a flight of stairs before beating her severely. Even after their divorce, Dennis continued to use the family's guesthouse as an office and constantly entered the home even after Marilynn had the locks changed. Their marriage had become increasingly volatile, with Dennis making claims that Marilynn turned their three children against him. Marilynn and Dennis DePue had been married for 18 years when Marilynn filed for divorce in 1989. Both were tried as minors, with one going to juvenile detention and the other to a mental hospital. The investigation led to the arrest of two teenage boys. Police were even able to meet with the fire chief who responded to the incident - he had also happened to videotape the fire himself. The house was actually located in Redwood City, CA, about 80 miles west of Stockton. In 1990, Unsolved Mysteries aired an episode about the fire and immediately received calls from viewers. Police were baffled by the tape and couldn't determine where the fire occurred, although TV commercials that appeared later on the tape indicated it was filmed in 1988, one year before Villa and his son discovered the mysterious video. A narrator spoke about Satanism from behind the camera, but he made little sense. Curious about the tape's contents, Villa's son took it to watch later.Īt home, Villa and his son watched an unsettling home video of a house on fire. On their way to a payphone, the son discovered a discarded camouflage jacket with a videotape tucked inside. The story of the Stockton Arsonist begins innocently enough: In 1989, a man named Joseph Villa and his son were walking down a highway in Stockton, CA, after their car broke down.
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