a bank is robbed there are no witnesses [Music] its president is missing without a trace [Music] when a body surfaced the criminal investigation grew deadly serious [Music] federal agents descended upon a small town that found itself gripped by fear [Applause] [Music] [Music] when the small community of noaa missouri discovered their bank was robbed they were shocked when the bank president turned up missing they're outraged but things aren't always as they first appear and when clues began to surface the facts were more terrible than anyone could have guessed i'm jim calstrom former head of the fbi's new york office for federal agents the noaa bank robbery became an intricate case in modern forensics and dogged determination [Music] the cowskin bridge over grand lake oklahoma just after 3 a.m [Music] the lake is popular for fishing but on this night it would be the scene of something far more sinister [Applause] [Music] a gruesome crime meticulously planned and executed the cold-blooded murder that would shatter the tranquility of the nearby town of noel missouri [Music] tucked away in the southwest corner of missouri and home to about 1200 residents noel is a community proud of its small town charms and low crime rate on the morning of october 6 1989 pauline coonrod headed off to work at the state bank of noah the cashier's first task upon arriving was to unlock the front doors but kunrod found the doors already open [Music] she thought perhaps the bank president dan short had arrived early but as she walked through the building she saw no one within moments rod realized the vault had been robbed noel police and the mcdonald county missouri sheriff responded to coonrod's 911 call the fbi was also called in since the bank was insured by the fdic the federal deposit insurance corporation an agent was sent to investigate from the nearby joplin missouri office the entire scene was meticulously photographed and dusted for prints the agent noticed that the security camera had been spray painted and shot out spent casings found below the camera indicated that the robbers used a 45 caliber handgun investigators discovered that the thieves had made off with over 71 thousand dollars including 320 pounds of quarters dimes and nickels [Music] strangely more than 100 000 in bills was left behind in an unlocked drawer bank president dan short was one of four bank employees with access to the vault in its timelock yet he was the only one of the four who hadn't arrived that morning questioning him became essential to the investigation bank vice president mark allman told investigators that short intended to work late the night before the time lock on the vault um hadn't been set the night that the robbery occurred dan had came in was and was in the habit of working later in the evenings at different times during the week but that particular night he'd put it on standby so that he could come back at a later time and and open the vault manually agents wondered if dan short had in fact returned to the bank that evening [Music] the sheriff drove to short's house in arkansas near the missouri border but no one was home and his red pickup truck was gone short's absence alarmed investigators they couldn't help but wonder what role the banker played in the robbery within hours word of the crime spread throughout the scandalized community knoll is a small town main industries poultry processing plants some small shops local merchants quiet town tourism in the summertime with the rivers that sort of thing but basically just your average small town crimes like this did not happen here reports of the heist and the missing bank president filled null news broadcasts investigators received many calls from the community offering help one call from an employee at sibley manufacturing just outside of town gave investigators their first break he reported a red pickup truck abandoned in the factory parking lot the truck was registered to dan short investigators found coin wrappers strewn across the truck bed the truck was dusted for fingerprints but only shorts were identified the discovery of the truck gave case agent and 19-year fbi veteran liddell farley a couple of scenarios to pursue at the end of the first day we weren't sure if we were dealing with it with an abducted banker or whether the banker mr short had absconded with the money stops were being placed with his credit card airports were being canvassed our rental car agencies were being checked to see if he perhaps at least a car but primarily we're looking for his body either alive or dead in the immediate area of noaa with shorts still missing investigators secured a search warrant for the bank president's house hoping to find something that would lead to his whereabouts [Music] state police anybody home mr shore inside all was quiet [Music] in the kitchen they discovered an overturned trash can suggesting perhaps a struggle [Music] [Music] they searched every room hi come here a minute by the bed they found short's glasses on the nightstand he never went anywhere without them let's get some light on here it appeared that the banker had left in a hurry i'd say yeah still it was impossible to determine from the search whether he had fled or was abducted with no sign of short agents canvassed his neighborhood hoping for a lead one neighbor carol dryden recalled seeing several vehicles pulling into short's driveway the night of the robbery assistant u.s attorney mike jones was involved early in the investigation according to jones dryden's statement was critical around two o'clock in the morning which really gave us the first time frame uh she saw lights uh going into dan shard's property headlights and then about 15 or 20 minutes later going out of dan shark's driveway but the neighbor's statement didn't put the fbi any closer to finding short mcdonald county sheriff don schlessman was a lead investigator in the case and coordinated the massive search for the banker in the area surrounding noel we set up a command post on the west side of knoll the groups were split up giving roads to walk down highway patrol had their helicopter down we had airplanes just mainly did a search from the air and ground beginning from the location where shortstruck was found search teams proceeded outwards in concentric circles hoping to find a trace of short in the immediate vicinity five days after the crime there was still no trace of the bank president as the hunt expanded farley and 22 agents from the kansas city office formed a task force with local law enforcement to house the large number of personnel the fbi set up headquarters of the local armory while they unpacked leads came pouring in from concerned residents one tip came from local truck driver buddy mills having heard about the heist mills told an agent about what he saw on a road in noaa the morning of the robbery returning home from work at about 3 am he encountered three veals leaving town one truck matched the description of short's red pickup it headed off with a two-tone van the other dark-colored truck followed mills for a while until it turned down a road toward neighboring arkansas this information jived with carol dryden's recollection of the traffic outside of short's house at 2 am mills account reinforced the time frame [Music] finally met with the bank president's ex-wife joyce who had been married to short for 25 years although they had recently separated joyce stressed he was a loving father to their two children having worked closely with him at the bank for several years she never witnessed any impropriety yet short was the fbi's only suspect right now and after several days of searching he was still missing on october 11th a couple fishing in grand lake just over the state line in oklahoma hunted for a good spot to drop a line they motored to a favorite shady spot hoping to hook some bass they cited what looked like a clump of seaweed floating on the water moving closer they made a gruesome discovery [Music] just under the surface they saw the head and arms of a submerged body [Music] five days after the robbery of the state bank of knoll missouri a dead body surfaced two employees of the marine toted to a dock the body was badly decomposed but the coroner determined that the man had been dead for five days immediately after death bacteria begin to break down the soft tissues of the organs releasing gaseous compounds after a few days the gas fills the corks and can lift the submerged body to the surface sheriff don schlessman recalled the bloated remains lifted additional weight from the bottom of the lake he had the chain tied to him in a concrete block and part of the chair and uh it was pretty gruesome sight really a corpse will float until the skin tears releasing the gases then the body will sink back to the bottom if the boaters hadn't seen the body that day it may have never been found [Music] the time of death was later determined to be consistent with the time frame of dan short's disappearance the sheriff found a wallet in the victim's back pocket inside was a driver's license confirming the identity as dan short [Music] the sheriff contacted the fbi the search for 51 year old dan short was over and a homicide investigation had begun with his surfacing which was almost in defiance of the people who had murdered them it gave us the knowledge of what had happened and it gave us the focus that we needed in the investigation to direct the resources thereafter farley and his partner larry nolan rushed to the lake to conduct their own review of the body special agent nolan's first task was to preserve the evidence collectively the decision was made to release mr short from the chair at which time i released him and preserved the concrete block and the chain hoist the chair and also the duct tape with shorts corpse freed from his death the coroner removed the body the medical examiner determined the probable cause of death was drowning the chair with a block chain hoist and duct tape were examined and photographed by investigators before being sent to the fbi lab in washington d.c the task force set up a hotline and published pictures of the chair to alert the public hoping someone would come forward with information it was clear from examining the chair and the apparatus so to speak that was attached to it and the location of mr short's body that he had died a horrible death all indications are that he was conscious when he was dropped from the bridge some 30 feet to the water the hotline was inundated with calls helping build a file of more than 80 suspects according to sheriff don schlessman one promising tip came from an anonymous caller who urged investigators to question two brothers joe and shannon agofsky shelter police department dispatch received an anonymous call from someone that said the agoski's had a lot of change in their possession and a lot of change was what was taken from the bank the fbi tracked down 23 year old joe agofsky at a junkyard just south of nola the manager pointed agents to where joe worked on his car yeah sure he's that's him right there in the black best yeah okay thank you how are you doing are you joe gowski yes sir joe said that on the night of the robbery he had been at his girlfriend's house more than 40 miles from nowhere and does she live locally here yes sir okay very good uh we're also interested in uh 45 handguns he was cooperative and told them he had two 45 caliber handguns the same caliber as the weapon used to shoot out the security camera they inquired if they could test fire the guns joe agreed and told investigators the weapons were stored at his home his 18 year old brother shannon would be there to meet them the agents arrived shannon agusti showed them where the guns were kept [Music] shannon told investigators that on the night of the murder he was at his mother's house where he was still living at the time of the crime all right all right it's going to be all right if we take these downtown after firing both guns agents sent the shell casings to the fbi lab examiners there would later determine that they did not match those found at the bank to lead agent farley it was a dead end both expressed their willingness to help the investigation if they could both had alibis for the evening of the crime given these factors our attention was directed elsewhere with other suspects uh as both the gospel brothers appeared to be not involved in this crime back at grand lake in oklahoma where short's body had been recovered two days earlier resident rowdy foreman was out fishing with his son and daughter when he made a curious discovery along the shore we came across a wooden dowel a brace we don't call it that and it was just it was just out of place alongside the chair part foreman also found a piece of duct tape having seen pictures in the newspaper he believed it may have been from the chair found with short's body he sent his son to fetch plastic bags from his house in order to preserve his find sheriff don schlessman and a partner drove to oklahoma to question foreman about the discovery and they asked me do you have a piece of evidence i told him i don't know if it's evidence i said i found a piece of duct tape and his first comment was oh my god it's that pretty and they were looking at the fingerprint just clear as day it was a print there the fingerprint appeared to be made from car grease impervious to the lake water but investigators still had to prove the tape was used in the crime although the tape contained fingerprints that piece of evidence was not relevant unless it could be proven to be part of the chair or the apparatus in which mr short was drowned to prove that fbi examiners would have to match the glue and strands from the torn piece of tape with the tape found on the chair but that would take weeks until then the fbi and local investigators still had no prime suspects for the crime [Music] a week after the robbery of the state bank of nole missouri and the brutal murder of its president dan short the fbi had recovered short's body the murder device and a possible fingerprint from a nearby lake investigators fielded calls from residents who were willing to help but also afraid to do so due to the manner in which mr short was killed although the local citizens were very concerned and wanted to be helpful some were reluctant to do so out of fear [Music] therefore some of the witnesses did not come forth they did so sometimes out of the insistence of a friend or an associate farley received one such call from a man who claimed his friend might have information about the chain hoist wrapped around the chair that drowned and shorter the friend's name was wayne boutang bhutan owned the chain hoist which had recently been stolen though he notified the police the hoist was never recovered he suspected the agopskis of stealing it [Music] farley showed boutain the photos of the hoist investigators had retrieved from the lake moutain identified it as his own he recognized damage on the pulley [Music] he'd last seen the apparatus at sheila agofsky's house where he once lived bhutan agreed to take a polygraph test and passed it another important development in the case was the determination that the chain hoist which was duct taped to the chair was property of wayne boutain who had left it at the residence of shilogowski a few days before the murder of mr short on the strength of boutain's statement farley decided to question the agovskis again driving up to their mother's house he noticed an old van in the front yard it closely matched the description of one of the vehicles buddy mills saw the night of the bank heist yes ma'am farley questioned sheila about the missing chain hoist but she claimed to have no memory of it [Music] she also corroborated shannon's alibi saying he was at her house the night of the murder i don't know anything about it i have no idea okay i can't help you with anything i appreciate your time farley left with suspicions that she knew more than she was telling he asked the brothers to give their fingerprints hoping to match the one found on the duct tape joe agofsky complied [Music] when asked about the hoist he told farley he remembered seeing it at his mother's house yet he didn't know what became of it [Music] a few days later farley returned to sheila agofsky [Music] there he found shannon with a friend by the name of gant sanders having secured joe's fingerprints farley tried to convince shannon to give his as well a set of his fingerprints it'd make things a lot easier possibly get you out of some trouble joe gowski was very cooperative and produced his fingerprints upon request without hesitation while shannon was evasive and peasant to gant sanders cautiously shannon echoed his mother's story proclaiming he had no knowledge of the change he eventually promised farley he'd come down to the police station to give his prince but he never showed although farley had initially dismissed the agovsky's suspects he took note that shannon and joe's memories of the chain hoist were conflicting now he decided to take a closer look into their background researching the family's financial records farley discovered that nine years earlier they had received money from an insurance settlement after their father died in a plane crash popular opinion was that their money was still plentiful making them unlikely candidates for bank robbers but farley learned that wasn't so while they had all received a considerable sum of money as of that time joe had spent his their mother had spent a large portion of hers and shannon legoski had a considerable amount of money still in a fund but it was not available to him at that time until he was 21. agents found that both brothers had recently purchased cars with cash yet neither had jobs [Music] investigators also determined that 18 year old shannon had spent more than 5 000 since the heist although the agofsky brothers spending looked suspicious farley still had no solid evidence linking them to the bank robbery and murder revisiting crime reports and witness statements he made a new connection truck driver buddy mills said he had seen three vehicles leaving noel on the night of the robbery [Music] that meant there was a possible third suspect out there if two of the vehicles were driven by the agovsky brothers then perhaps the other was driven by one of their friends parley recalled the young man he met briefly on the agostini's porch the day he questioned shannon gant sanders sanders had recently become shannon's roommate farley tracked him down at a junkyard the closest associate that we could identify of both shannon and joe gowski was gantt sanders it was learned that gant had been good friends with both joe and shannon both prior to and after the robbery of murder but sanders said he knew nothing about the robbery and murder although he offered no alibi for the night in question farley decided to question shannon again this time with a polygraph machine a couple of things about the test is nothing will be painful the test was administered in a motel room by a technician from the missouri capital of springfield a polygraph is used by investigators as a tool to rule out possible suspects the machine monitors the subject's reactions to stress in three ways tubes fastened around the chest monitor the slightest change in respiration low voltage electrodes placed on the finger detect moisture on the skin all right relax your arms and a cuff on the arm measures changes in blood pressure examination is based on the body's fight-or-flight principle when the brain perceives a physical or psychological threat the body responds by increasing blood pressure heart rate and respiration shanna nagowski was asked about dan short the robbery and the murder did you take a chain hoist from wayne butane's [Music] did you kill dan short no based on his physiological responses the examiner determined that the younger agofsky brother was deceptive about his knowledge of the crime it was clear to farley that shannon was somehow involved but he'd need more convincing evidence to bring charges figure out what's best for yourself in december 1989 the agovskis were subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury to answer questions under oath each family member gave testimony separately shannon joe and sheila each disavowed any knowledge of the bank robbery and the murder of dan short after questioning shannon was once again asked to supply his fingerprints voluntarily [Music] in washington dc fbi analysts continued to examine the items sent to them by the agents in knoll trying to match the chair part and tape retrieved by foreman to the chair and tape that had been bound to dan short an examiner confirmed that the wood found by rowdy foreman was part of the same chair that dan short was taped to the piece of tape with a fingerprint on it was the most promising piece of evidence [Music] but did it match the tape used on the chair and body it did examiners were conclusively able to link these portions of tape by matching the torn ends the fibers and the glue the tape found by foreman had two complete prints on it they compared the prints to joe agofsky's but they did not match farley recalled this finding was not all bad news the fingerprint examiner notified me that the prints on the tape were similar to that of joe gowski but not identical and he advised me that the fingerprints of siblings were often similar in pattern therefore the getting the fingerprints of shannon was imperative although he told the grand jury he would provide his fingerprints shannon never did but this time farley would force shannon to comply by serving him with a subpoena grudgingly shannon agoski gave his prince to the fbi almost five months after the heist and murder since comparing his prints to those found on the tape would take several weeks shannon was free to go [Music] but agent farley did not remain idle he knew that gant sanders was close to both brothers and probably knew more about the crime than he had said [Music] so he decided to confront him [Music] he told sanders that if he was innocent and had knowledge of the crime he should cooperate with the investigation but if sanders was knowingly protecting the govskies and they were convicted of the robbery and murder sanders would be jailed for aiding and debating worse without a solid alibi he was still under suspicion of the crime but sanders revealed nothing [Music] he remained faithful to the brothers [Music] farley thought that perhaps sanders was hiding his guilt with his silence agent farley pursued two brothers joe and shannon agofsky as the prime suspects in the bank heist murder joe's fingerprints had been compared to the two found on the duct tape from the murder device his did not match as investigators waited for results on a comparison with shadows additional partial prints were discovered on the tape now the fbi needed new prints from shannon a 360 degree view to match the partial prints on the duct tape but shannon was nowhere to be found farley hoped that he could get to shannon through one of the agosky brothers friends gant sanders [Music] the agent also suspected sanders could be the unidentified accomplice but cooperating with the fbi would mean betraying his longtime friends finally in june of 1990 hoping to clear his name he contacted farley wanting to talk investigators told sanders they thought that he had helped commit the bank robbery and murder in knoll with the akovsky brothers but sanders claimed he had nothing to do with the crime however he did admit to his involvement in another more recent incident on one particular evening in late december 1989 shannon and joe agofsky broke into a house in missouri and stole several rifles [Music] the brothers rendezvoused with sanders later that evening setting the second part of their plan into action the next day sanders and shannon drove across the state line into arkansas and sold the guns it was a federal violation sanders recalled another time when the brothers tried to convince him to participate in another more violent crime just months after dan short's murder sheriff don schlessman recalled how the agovsky's tried to recruit sam to us now and they told him we're uh we're not doing any more mickey mouse stuff we're uh we're gonna go hit a place and it's probably gonna be some shooting because they got armed guards and if you don't really want to kill somebody you'd probably let us know so we can take you back home and so uh gant told him he didn't really think he would be involved in something like that so they turn around and did take him home by cooperating with the fbi sanders made a deal for his role in the illegal sale of the firearms and was put on probation he was also finally dismissed as a third suspect in the bank robbery passing a lie detector test three times with the help of sanders statement farley issued a federal warrant for shannon agofsky he was indicted for transporting and selling firearms across state lines since joe had not been involved in the sale he was not charged authorities tracked down shannon in a small town in arkansas several months when later police searched his vehicle and found several bags of nickels in his trunk shannon was turned over to authorities in missouri and booked in the springfield federal courthouse look at me while being processed farley acquired the set of shannon's fingerprints examiners have been waiting for the fbi lab needed a front and back view of his prince hoping to match two partial prints found on the duct tape used in the murder of dan short but his older brother joe was still free and farley had little evidence to tie him to the crimes investigators knew the brothers remained in contact while shannon was behind bars since all prison conversations were recorded agents got a glimpse into the agovsky's family relationship shannon made a number of calls to his mother and joe according to assistant u.s attorney mike jones one call was particularly incriminating shannon was asking joe if we would be able to make a case against him and angel indicated that we would not be able to put him at the scene farley knew the brothers were worried but the call was not enough to arrest joe then just days later he finally received the results from the lab those fingerprints turn out to be the fingerprints of shannon agofsky the tape was determined to have come from the chair in which mr short was bound to therefore that piece of tape became a most important piece of evidence in this case mike jones now had a strong case against shannon exhibits we were going to prosecute shannon once we got those first two fingerprints and then the main focus was on joe trying to get a case built against joe how's it going finding evidence against joe was a thorny task nothing directly linked him to the crime once again farley combed through financial records to see how much joe had spent we attempted to determine all his cash transactions and did determine that he had spent some nineteen thousand dollars in cash during the 16 months following the robbery during that time he was unemployed and had no logical explanation for having that much cash scrutinizing joe's phone records farley made another important find joe had made several long-distance calls to his girlfriend at her home during the very days leading up to and after the robbery yeah the calls destroyed his alibi joe had stated that he was staying with her the entire time nothing smart they called sanders in for additional questioning hoping he could shed more light on joe's involved sanders told the agents about a conversation he had with both agofsky brothers that incident took place in sammy skagg's junkyard the three of them were working on one of the cars and sammy skaggs announced that the banker from joplin was here to pick up his car and that apparently generated a comment from i believe it was joe that what the three of them ought to do was to follow a bank or follow him home grab him kidnap him and force him to take him to the bank and open the vault at the time sanders agreed that it might be an easy way to get rich the plan sounded eerily like what could have happened to dan short it was now clear to the fbi that the brothers had the knowledge motive and opportunity to pull off the homicide in heist based on accumulating evidence joe agofsky was arrested more than two years after the horrifying both brothers were indicted on three federal counts relating to the bank robbery in murder but would the evidence be strong enough to convict the two brothers the investigators were betting on it almost three years after a bank heist and brutal murder fbi agent liddell farley handed prosecutors all the evidence the task force had amassed reviewing their files the agents described the agovsky's plans and actions to assistant u.s attorney mike jones and his associates they were determined to prove beyond any doubt that the brothers had committed the crime [Music] the fbi had learned that joe agofsky needing information about the state bank's floor plan had opened a safe deposit box a few weeks before the crime bank vice president mark allman told investigators that joe was particularly interested in dan short as well he made a point of asking who short was and where he lived he's our president would you like to meet him returning home joe drew floor plans to the bank and plotted the crime with shannon they decided to do the job before the sun rose so there would be no witnesses go through the front door and get you there i want you guys to knock the cameras out to get into the vault they needed someone who had the keys and knew the combination [Music] for that they would abduct dan short the bank president and force him to open the vault afterwards they needed to make sure he'd never talk don't give that combination up they thought it would be easy money life would be good with their new fortunes get these guns clean in the early hours of october 6th joe and shannon agofsky put their plan into motion acting as a lookout for them was an unidentified accomplice who drove the blue chevy pickup it was the same vehicle neighbor carol dryden recalled seeing around short's house a week before the kidnapping the brothers loaded their mother's brown and tanned van with the equipment they would need to commit the crime at around 2 a.m they arrived at dan short's house a brief trip across the arkansas border [Music] eventually he awoke from a deep sleep [Music] tried to flee but he had no chance against the brothers the terror continued as short was stuffed into the front seat of the van each criminal drove one of the vehicles including short's red pickup as they sped off for the bank [Music] agent farley and the prosecutors continued piecing together the events of october 6th [Music] the agovskis and their accomplice pulled up to the bank only a brief drive from short's house [Music] with their captive in tow the robbers quickly opened the bank's front door and ran in no alarm sounded because short had neglected to set them and no one would ever be able to see what was about to happen [Music] let's go let's go see that after ripping the duct tape off his mouth they pulled short over to his desk and retrieved the keys to the safe then they forced him to provide the vault's combination once inside they grabbed all that was in reach get him out get out dashed away afraid for his life short complied with their every demand but the assailant's pistol kicked him and knocked him out on the way out of nowhere buddy mills crossed paths with the brothers after he passed the intersection the three vehicles sped off the first two heading toward grand lake reaching grand lake some 22 miles from north the two remaining vehicles stopped along the high point of the cowskin bridge [Music] here shannon and the unknown accomplice prepared to kill short by drowning in his haste shannon took off his gloves to secure a portion of the tape and unknowingly [Applause] when they finished they lifted short above the lake and plunged him into the black water below at the first trial in september 1992 the evidence was strong enough to persuade a jury to convict shannon and joe agofsky of three federal crimes relating to the robbery abduction and use of firearms during the illegal acts in the state trump himself only shannon was found guilty of murder though the unidentified accomplice was never found it was determined that the agovsky brothers were the masterminds and principal perpetrators of the crime no charges were brought against their mother sheila without doubt this was the most difficult investigation i've been involved in as an fbi agent some 29 years of investigating various crimes this was an unusually heinous crime today joe and shannon agofsky are serving life sentences with no chance of parole for his cooperation gant sanders served the remainder of his firearms charge on probation noel has returned to normal a violent chapter in its history now closed yet because of the crimes of these blood brothers it will never be the same quiet innocent place it once was [Music]