a psychotic killer LED investigators across the Midwest no one knew whether gunman would strike next even as his tally of murders the FBI and State Police raced against time to rescue America's Heartland from this deranged gunman [Music] thank you [Applause] [Music] [Music] a small town without any crime was turned inside out by the arrival of one dangerous stranger some killers are cold and calculating others are impulsive unpredictable and hard to pin down I'm Jim calstrom I'm head of the FBI's New York office to flush out this killer required a SWAT team and a profiler who determined he would not surrender without a fight [Music] at 8 A.M on Monday morning September 22nd 1986 a U.S parole officer made his way to the home of a parolee in a lower middle class neighborhood on the outskirts of Indianapolis Indiana [Music] it was a routine visit scheduled a week earlier U.S probation officer Thomas Gall needed to get a urine sample from an ex-convict to check for illicit drugs [Music] 40-year-old Michael Wayne Jackson had been released from federal prison five months earlier on weapons charges he also had a history of substance abuse and severe paranoid schizophrenia parolee was reluctant to allow Gaul to enter but the officer insisted [Music] moments later a neighbor heard shouting coming from Jackson's house he saw the officer run out the door Jackson followed him firing a sawed-off shotgun into his back the final shot was at point-blank range the neighbor called police as he watched to see what Jackson might do next residential he told the 9-1-1 operator that the ex-convict re-emerged still carrying the shotgun [Music] but now he was wearing a dark trench coat and heading for his green pickup truck Indianapolis Police raced to the Killer's home hoping to catch him before he got far [Music] the neighbor added that Jackson also had on canvas sneakers and jeans as he watched Jackson Leave the neighborhood come from Jackson escaped before police could arrive [Music] the police called in the FBI since the probation officer was a federal official [Music] 39-year-old Thomas Gaul had been killed instantly from the shot to his head FBI special agent Jack Osborne of the Indianapolis field office was assigned the case when I arrived at the Jackson residence the victim was still at that scene we had dispatched numerous agents and numerous police were in the area we were in the process of identifying any witness we had so that they could be spoken to by the police department and also by an agent the eyewitness who had called 9-1-1 described Jackson's Behavior as having become increasingly erratic neighbors said he had seen Jackson outside more than once talking to himself in a loud and agitated manner okay I think that's an interesting thing this one piece will make 52 layers watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription required download really now agents call the parole office to learn more about Jackson's background while he was in prison the previous year he had been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic with anti-social personality and was too check in through the Indianapolis mental health facility and receive monthly medication for that illness and they were afraid that he was not taking his medication evidence technicians marked the positions of three 12-gauge shotgun shells found close to the parole officer's body Thomas Gall had been shot three times the last one proving fatal on the job for 11 years the Vietnam veteran was the first Federal parole officer killed in the line of duty foreign Thomas Gaul left a young family and many friends I knew Tom pretty well I knew his family knew of his wife knew that he had two kids I knew that he had been in the Marine Corps had spent a year in Vietnam we had talked about that a little bit he was an extremely likable person was extremely knowledgeable and caring and it was hard working the case and keeping uh distance because of that closeness the inside of Jackson's house was described by officers as unfit for human habitation amongst the refuse Searchers discovered the shirts spattered with blood that Jackson wore at the time of the shooting and had since stripped off trash and animal droppings were scattered everywhere there was no electricity or running water [Music] when a counter in the kitchen investigators found a hacksaw they also discovered a sort of stuck and Barrel of a shotgun likely from the murder weapon Jackson was presumably still carrying as investigators were processing the house an alert came across the police radio all right we're on our way five miles away Witnesses had reported another homicide just 20 minutes after after the parole officer was shot a second man had been killed at a convenience store by a shotgun blast and a third man had been abducted agents interviewed a witness who described the shooter as having bushy hair a beard and wearing a dark trench coat the woman added that the killer was wearing a bizarre disguise Witnesses at the JB Market indicate as the subject enters that market he's carrying a shotgun but he's got something on his face the Witnesses believe that it's Greece and probably some spray paint that is in his hair in his beard which really was a strange look agents were convinced it was Jackson [Music] the witness described that at 8 20 a.m the armed man with a silver face burst inside demanding money you get back to you get behind there oh yeah get the money panicked the owners struggled to open the register but the gunman couldn't wait hey batboy get out of here not wanting to leave empty header the killer forced a bread delivery man to drive him from the scene in his bread truck the witness didn't see which direction the bread truck was headed investigators revised the APB for Jackson to include the bread truck evidence technicians found a 12-gauge shell casing near the cash register the same gauge and make is those found at the first murder scene [Music] bug shot from the victim was later removed compared to samples removed from the probation officer foreign [Music] inside they found Greece and a can of silver spray paint that was likely the source of Jackson's makeshift disguise we find that spray paint can in Jackson's truck we're not sure why he sprays his face before he goes into the market after he had left his residence we're surmising that he's trying to hide his identity and he's doing that in this bizarre manner 20 minutes later agents received a call from the bread truck driver Jackson had released him at the airport unharmed but the man told investigators The Fugitive was still armed and on the move Jackson has taken another vehicle from the airport again at gunpoint and he drove up through the speedway Indiana area had failed to pay for ten dollars and fifty cents worth of gas at a Speedway Sunoco station and he was in a vehicle that is described to us and there was a female in that vehicle like the bread man the woman was released shortly afterwards and called 9-1-1 but a second woman was not so lucky at about 9 00 am a young mother had returned to her Suburban Indianapolis home following a shopping trip as she unpacked her bags in the driveway Michael Wayne Jackson emerged from a red pickup stolen at the airport get in the car she was Jackson's third hostage in less than an hour Jackson held her captive for over 60 Minutes driving with a shotgun in his lap [Music] she begged him to let her go but he refused shut your face there was no reasoning with the crazed future she asked him about the disguise on his face why his face was was smeared with grease and oil and had paint on it and he had no explanation for but did tell her that if she didn't comply with what he was telling her to do that he would kill her the woman realized she had few options she jumped out Jackson drove over her ankle but she managed to roll free before she was injured further the mother of one was treated at a local hospital for a broken ankle where she reported the incident she'd escaped her kidnapper in Frankfort Indiana 40 miles Northwest of Indianapolis once again ages revised their APB it now included her sedan last seen traveling north of Frankfurt [Music] investigators struggled to predict Jackson's next move they frantically gathered background information trying to gain an edge Mike Jackson had a very extensive criminal background in 1985 in Indianapolis he was arrested and charged federally where he had homemade bomb devices in his vehicle and a homemade shotgun for that he received one year's sentence in federal prison and he was on three years parole for that violation during this time Jackson had also been in and out of mental institutions much of his life over the strong objections of his family psychiatrists had recently released him from a treatment center since his schizophrenia had been stabilized by medication but without supervision Jackson had probably stopped taking his prescriptions this was not really a picture and after two killings and three abductions in less than two hours no one knew where Jackson was now we were in the process of sorting this out as well as trying to notify all local state emergency people in the state of Indiana as well as notifying other jurisdictions to help us try to locate Jackson we knew what vehicle he last possessed in Frankfurt Indiana and we hoped he was still in that vehicle and was not going to uh cause anyone else any harm anytime soon but authorities would be too late at 10 15 a.m Jackson decided he needed to change cars again they barged into the Frankfort Indiana home of a mother and child don't move kid Jackson ordered the woman or he would kill her and her son get your purse she complied thank you get in the car in less than two hurry up Jackson had kidnapped his fourth and fifth the killer was becoming Bolder and more aggressive agents had to somehow find catch him before his latest victims wound up dead [Music] by 10 30 a.m on September 22 1986 40-year-old Michael Wayne Jackson had murdered his parole officer and a grocery store clerk then carjacked five other people all in less than two and a half hours the FBI and Indiana police believe the killer was traveling north from Indianapolis but his exact whereabouts in destination remained unknown armed with a sawed-off shotgun and his face painted silver investigators believe Jackson was suffering from a psychotic episode after failing to take his medication [Music] The Fugitive was last seen in Frankfort Indiana where he had abducted a mother and child from their home [Music] get out of the car no one knew what he might do next go here Jackson drove his latest victims to a desolate area eight miles from their home he stole the woman's wedding rings then ordered them to the side of the road move it move it move it don't you go anywhere though the woman and her child survived unharmed it was 20 minutes to the nearest phone before she could report the Killer's last known whereabouts at the FBI office in Indianapolis three hours after Jackson's crime spree had begun special agent Jack Osborne issued a federal murder warrant for The Fugitive but with so little information on his exact location it would be difficult to prevent Jackson from striking again up north west of Indianapolis it's our last so we now had Jackson leaving or driving away from the Frankfort Indiana area but really had no idea where he was headed how he was going to get there what Rudy was going to take or if he might grab somebody else in the next few hours so this is our fifth location since Jackson's pattern of travel and crime was so Random agents expanded the search and alerted all FBI field offices in the 750 mile radius which included Cleveland Chicago and St Louis if we can get something out Statewide too to all law enforcement agencies particularly along Interstate 65 maybe now they also contacted the fugitive's mother in Jackson Mississippi but she had no idea where her son might be headed Frankfurt area investigators kept the media informed too by noon Michael Wayne Jackson's photo was on every news program in the Indianapolis area six hours later The Fugitive surfaced close to St Louis he had traveled 300 miles Southwest to nearby O'Fallon Missouri local officers received reports from two residents who had been carjacked by a silver-faced man with a shotgun a description of their car with Missouri plates was added to the list of stolen vehicles as Jackson's most recent it's about a five hour drive from Indianapolis to St Louis so in the early evening of Monday the 22nd of September local and state law enforcement in Missouri after they had received our apbs are notifying the police department and our office that they believed Jackson to be in that area because he had attempted a kidnapping and a vehicle theft of a couple different people in that area [Music] on a rural road later that afternoon a third of Fallon Resident was on his way home from work when he spotted his wife's car with the suspect at the wheel the man was unaware that Jackson had killed two others that same day hey the silver-faced man with bushy hair and a beard refused to stop as the cars approached an intersection the killer grew his weapon right in here at 7 pm that evening the man reported that the shooter only hit the front of his car [Music] he'd returned home after the shooting to discover that his wife and father-in-law had been assaulted by The Fugitive but not seriously injured authorities now added the stolen blue sedan and its license plate to the APB for Jackson it was the seventh vehicle carjacked in less than 12 hours we were glad to hear I think that we knew where he was we were glad to hear that he hadn't harmed anyone else and that we knew now that he had a different vehicle and at the St Louis authorities both Federal local and state were in the process of trying to get him located and stopped without getting anyone else hurt the all points bulletin Jackson was nowhere to be found Missouri State Highway Patrol officers responded to an accident near I-70 in O'Fallon close to where the fugitive was last seen a car had careened into a tree [Music] the driver was pronounced dead at the scene given the darkness of the night officers could not determine the extent of the man's injuries suspicious of the circumstances the Man's family ordered an autopsy the medical examiner determined that the man had been shot in the head at close range through the driver's window with a 12-gauge shotgun the same type of weapon Jackson had used to kill his parole officer in a grocery store owner examiners sent The Buckshot to the Indiana State Police lab so it could be compared to the others it would take several days to learn the results [Applause] [Music] area Patrol's stepped up surveillance in search of the Armed Fugitive [Music] [Applause] 10 miles away at around 7 30 PM a dark sedan with Texas plates pulled into a Wentzville Missouri gas station Jackson had carjacked his eighth vehicle and took its driver hostage the attendant was unaware of the man out and didn't know what to make of the man with a silver face ten dollars please when The Fugitive paid for the gas the attendant noticed a shotgun in his lap and blood on his hands thank you he immediately notified authorities who once again changed the APB for Jackson it now included the sedan with Texas plates state and local officers rushed to the Wentzville area near Interstate 7. they needed to find this retailer before he struck again on September 22nd 1986 the FBI continued to hunt for fugitive Michael Wayne Jackson wanted for murdering three and carjacking 11 others in less than 12 hours the silver face Jackson was last spotted at a Missouri Gas Station armed with a sawed-off shotgun driving a stolen dark sedan with Texas plates thank you the passenger was the car's owner who was Jackson's latest hostage it was impossible for authorities to know where Jackson might be headed since his behavior had been so erratic after he stopped taking his antipsychotic medication City Missouri police canvassed the interstate in local roads at 9 15 PM Jackson was spotted alone in the stolen sedan by the town's police chief and the sergeant Jackson seemed uncertain of what to do next Chief radio for reinforcements [Music] [Applause] the sergeant was struck in the head Jackson was long gone yeah you all right sure our Sergeant's injury was minor so the chief gave Chase leaving him with a concerned Witness but the chief never caught up with The Fugitive [Music] five miles away a pair of Missouri State Highway Patrol officers cited the stolen sedan abandoned on an interstate media [Applause] no one was inside but the keys were still there officers then heard banging from within the trunk oh watch out be prepared for the worst Katie oh all right [Music] they found only the terrified traumatized but unhurt his identification had been stolen so police checked to be sure he was unarmed [Music] he described his silver-faced kidnap armed with a sawed-off shot put in the trunk he had no idea where the man had fled but it appeared he had taken his gun since police did not find it in the car [Music] the FBI and local police fanned out not knowing which direction The Fugitive had run or if he had already carjacked his next victim despite hours of searching they turned up no sign of the gunman according to special agent in charge of the FBI and St Louis Hal helteroff the unite that Michael Wayne Jackson had abandoned his vehicle we had the two sweeps on the south side of the interstate and the north side of the interstate the next morning we were unable to flush him out of there then I determined that this was going to be a longer Manhunt than I had expected and at that point I ordered in more FBI agents state and federal agents examined Jackson's last stolen vehicle they noted the driver's side door had been pierced during the shootout with police since they did not find the slug it appeared likely that Jackson had been hit in the ribs the fact that Jackson fled the vehicle moments later could account for the lack of Blood on the seat one theory was that he was injured and maybe went South of the interstate and laid down somewhere and and either couldn't get up due to being injured or died [Music] the Central Command Post was established in Wright City to coordinate the search efforts [Music] Missouri the area around the interstate encompassed thousands of Acres of farmland and woods to contain it would require hundreds of personnel vehicles and 24-hour roadblocks for Missouri State Patrol Sergeant Don bezelli no one would be safe until Jackson was found information that we obtained from The Bureau about the background on Jackson made us more concerned for the safety of the citizens in Wright City and for the safety of our officers he hadn't hesitated to shoot before and he had already killed a law enforcement officer the probation officer and there was nothing to led us to believe that he'd stop great authorities established a perimeter around Wright City extending five miles in every direction residents in the town of 1200 awoke to find their Community saturated with law enforcement searching for an armed and unstable killer whose High rate of zero and little criminal activity of any kind citizens were frightened they were forced to lock their doors for the first time and many kept their children home from school we had to start alerting the community that we had a suspect in the area that was very dangerous and asked the people to keep us informed if they saw anybody matching Jackson's description and it didn't take long for the word to get around of course in that small community because our greatest fear was that he would take someone hostage brawling Countryside was divided into mile-wide sectors [Music] search teams consisted of bloodhounds SWAT numbers FBI agents and state police photos were distributed to Searchers and samples of Jackson's clothing were provided to the dogs to learn the Killer's Center hundreds of occupied and abandoned buildings dotted the landscape all would have to be searched back there you got a broken down building down there you could be hiding it over the next several days many locations were explored more than once Bloodhounds known for their large jowls and long ears which stir minute scents towards their perceptive noses found few sides of Jackson at one building Searchers came across an abandoned campsite but it appeared the cookware an old raincoat had been left behind by an itinerant laborer during the harvest season the teams found no evidence of Jackson's whereabouts we tried not to get frustrated we tried to keep the morale up saying today's the day we're going to find him it's it's the type of case that your troops are out there and they expect any minute that they're going to get a sighting on him so so that in itself just keeps you going media did their part to keep the public informed while the FBI and state highway patrol maintained 24-hour checkpoints from 27 miles of roadways into and out of the Wright City area they stopped each car that came through one of the men they stopped claimed to be the fugitive's nephew he said he had heard about the search and he wanted to help he told him his uncle could survive on his own whoops and that it was possible that Jackson could be wearing body armor since he owned some okay this might explain how Jackson survived the policeman's bullet that had likely hit his ribs we determined that from the use of dogs we had tracking dogs and we had cadaver dogs come in that we could not come up with a dead body therefore I was leaning toward the fact that he was still alive and well area Farmers tried to maintain some semblance of normalcy the remaining Vigilant a weekend one woman spotted a beard and fugitive in his dark trench coat carrying a shotgun I called police immediately but the man disappeared before authorities arrived seven days after Michael Wayne Jackson had fled his Indiana home the Spree killer was still on the loose the FBI knew that they had to find him before he found another victim by September 28 1986 a week had passed in the hunt for armed fugitive Michael Wayne Jackson wanted for multiple murders carjackings and the wounding of a police officer the 41 year old criminal was last seen armed and on foot in the rural area of Wright City Missouri despite a massive search the FBI and local investigators had found no signs of the Killer's whereabouts the FBI considered the possibility that Jackson had stolen another car and somehow escaped the area [Music] desperately turned to FBI senior investigative profiler Ron Walker for help what they were simply asking for was my estimate my predict prediction I guess of what he was going to do what his continued Acts were going to be and where he was likely to go and and really more importantly for them at this period of time uh was is he still in the area that they had been searching for seven days agent Walker analyzed Jackson's criminal and psychological history as well as the reports from his current Rampage since there were no new crimes recorded in the past week the profiler concluded that Jackson had not yet left Wright City Missouri my opinion was that he was there that he had probably become disoriented because of his paranoid kind of beliefs his fear of being captured he would avoid contact with people unless it would be to gain access to a vehicle to get out and for that reason I told him it was very important to maintain a very high profile a high level of obvious police activity because you don't want him to have the opportunity to think that he can get a way out by carjacking someone and getting a car and driving out of the area since the fugitive was likely still in the area the FBI called on the experience of tracker Bob swade from the Knoxville Tennessee FBI field office swabe is best known for finding Martin Luther King Jr's assassin James Earl Ray after Ray's escape from a Tennessee prison in 1976. agents hope the renowned tracker could locate Jackson based on the minute signs he was trained to read Mary seldom will you find a good footprint you've got to learn to interpret the disturbance that's on the ground and the little unusual thing like a leaf that is turned over or a stick that is just a small limb that has been stepped on and crushed or broken from Decades of experience swabe can discern the difference between animal and human tracks through the depth of their imprint the height at which branches of grass are Disturbed around them and their surface temperature while animals often leave traces of their body heat after resting human's body heat is mostly absorbed by their clothing or shoes preventing their heat from escaping but since the hunt for Jackson had been so extensive picking up his Trail presented some unique challenges even for the experienced tracker there had been so many people in there prior to us arriving on the scene I mean you know that had that had I guess probably two or three hundred uh police official law enforcement officers in this whole area searching before we ever arrived on the scene so I made it more difficult then on September 29 1986 a Wright City resident confirmed with the profiler had suspected he reported that his guest house had been broken into nothing had been stolen but he did find a broken mirror use disposable razors and an open can of soup from the bathroom sink evidence technicians recovered shaved hair flecked with silver paint it appeared that Jackson had once again changed his appearance after nine days of searching agents feared Jackson may have slipped past patrols with his new appearance special agent Jack Osborne took steps to alert the public at Large Jackson was added to the FBI's 10 most wanted list on October 1st so we could get some national exposure Manhunt in St Louis and the Wright City area had continued for numerous days there were sightings but we still didn't know for sure where he was and we thought that added publicity with him being such a dangerous person is what would help get him located if he had left that St Louis Wright City area on October 2nd investigators returned to a building they had searched a week earlier camping gear that searches had previously noticed was still there but one item is now missing blue raincoat they wondered if it was Jackson's and whether he had returned to Claymont now that the knights were getting colder I felt that he was probably going to look for some abandoned outbuilding to hide in just get out of the weather right you're dealing with a guy here who is uh who's been on the Run no food or water that we know of to speak of um high strength of of emotional and psychological anxiety and arousal physically he would have been very very debilitated and mentally as well as the team approached a nearby Barn they had searched before a Tracker noticed a muddy sneaker print leading inside Jackson was last seen wearing sneakers Searchers were not sure how old the print was or even if it was Jackson's we knew that they had been SWAT teams there and we didn't know really for sure whether that was his track or one of our own tracks part of the mud would dried up a little bit part of it was still wet indicating that it was probably maybe eight hours old single gunshot rang out from the Halo one team member escaped unharmed but another was trapped below when the shotgun went off above my head of course there was uh there was Buckshot flying all over that Barn I don't I don't think any of us got hit by it but uh I looked at my left and I saw one of The Trackers jump into a stable without knowing the gunman's exact location he couldn't make his way to the door without exposing himself as a Target yeah since the tracker had no radio searches spoke to him through the walls he confirmed he had not been hit and described the interior layout so the team could plan a rescue there was no way out except through the front door I saw the outcome in the Jackson case as being a violent one I saw this going to either a a barricade situation with a shootout where he is ultimately killed by the police possibly a suicide by police where he forces the police to shoot him I felt completely confident that there would not be a a peaceful resolution the tracker waited for help trapped inside the barn with an armed and demented gunman perched above him on October 2nd 1986 the FBI and Missouri State Police surrounded a barn in Wright City where a Tracker was trapped by a gunman in The Hayloft believed to be murderer Michael Wayne Jackson foreign surveilled the barn from above SWAT members took positions around the perimeter the Sharpshooter provided cover hoping to distract the gunman long enough for the tracker to escape [Music] the tactic world although the tracker had been inside for several hours following the single shotgun blast From The Loft he never saw nor heard the shooter after that FBI special agent in charge Hal helterkov was left with some tough decisions as he managed the standoff we didn't want to send in our troops uh if there wasn't if he had planned an ambush if he had just shot as a decoy if he was still in there live and well but still loaded with rounds of shotgun shells we just didn't know what we had the Barn's owner provided agents with a detailed sketch of the interior the farmer explained that there was tractor storage and some stalls on the bottom floor with a Hayloft above there was a window in the Loft but no other escape room no hidden trenches or trapped doors through which the suspect might have slipped out Peters they receive no answer and after working so hard all those days we didn't want to make an incorrect move and have one of our agents or officers or Troopers injured at the last minute when it was unnecessary so it was a very very disciplined well organized effort special agent in charge hope tear gas will flush the shooter out [Music] they fired non-flammable tear gas canisters into the loft [Music] foreign there was still no movement it's so dark and we were trying to determine should we have our our tactical move our assault should we wait till the next morning or wait till dawn or it's daylight again we went 11 days what's a few more hours when we know whoever's in there is trapped and we had a weather advisement that a violent storm was going to be moving in around midnight so the state police and I decided let's go now equipped with night vision goggles SWAT members navigated the dark shadowy space [Applause] [Music] pair of Agents provided cover while their Partners searched the lower level they found no one on the first floor [Music] they had no way to know if the killer was lying in wait or if he was still there at all hey guys I got a body over here they had their answers soon enough lying amongst the hay bales they found a man holding a shotgun who appeared to be Jackson oh yeah he was dead killed by the single shot he had fired hours earlier into his own head [Music] agents needed to confirm his identity I said let's take his fingerprints and we had an FBI agent expert fingerprint Examiner on a scene with a known Prince of Michael Wayne Jackson and he took his fingerprints and uh and then we waited while he did his assessment and finally he announced that it's definitely a match it's Michael Wayne Jackson and at that point we were all relieved they found no body armor on the Killer but as the FBI profiler had predicted Michael Wayne Jackson chose to die rather than give himself up 11 days after Michael Wayne Jackson killed his parole officer and began his crime spree the town of Wright City Missouri was able to feel safe again it could have ended much worse according to Missouri State Patrol Sergeant Don bezelli I was relieved for the people that no one else was going to get hurt that was my main concern no one else in that Community would have to worry about Michael Wayne Jackson anymore through the sacrifice of Thomas Gaul probation officers now have the option of carrying protective sidearms FBI special agent Jack Osborne was close to Gaul and his family and continues to mourn the loss as a law enforcement officer I think a little bit of you dies when people Close to You Suffer Tom was close to me personally Tom was a friend he was not only a friend of me personally but he was a friend to our office our office knew him and we worked very closely with him and the federal probation parole office for giving up his life in the line of duty the Indianapolis U.S probation office was renamed in Thomas goal's memory it enabled his friends and colleagues to express in a more permanent way Gold's significant contributions his exemplary character and the agency's Deep lasting affection for him [Music] foreign