University Daily Kansan / Monday, April 29, 1991
11
TV show helps investigators find man suspected in killing
Program has aided FBI in 148 arrests
LOS ANGELES — In the end, a TV show helped accomplish in five days what investigators had not been able to do in 14 years: locate the man suspected of detonating the bomb that killed a Chilean dissident.
The Associated Press
On Wednesday, Virgilio Pablo Paz Romero was arrested as he pulled up in his pickup truck to the landscaping site near West Palm Beach, Fla. six years near West Palm Beach, Fla.
The Cuban exile was the remaining fugitive in the Sept. 21, 1976, Washington, D.C., deaths of former Nicaraguan leader Sando Leteler and adeen Robit Moffitt.
The arrest came after someone watching Fox TV's "America's Most Wanted" on April 19 recognized Paz' face on the face of landscaper Frank Baez.
Paz, 39, was arrested on charges of conspiracy to murder a foreign official and conspiracy to manufacture explosives
"For us, this is a big capture," said
John Walsh, host of the 3-year-old series based in the nation's capital. Past accomplishments include the 1989 arrest of John Emil List, who murdered his mother for 16 years after killing his mother, his wife and their three children.
Of 347 fugitives profiled on the Fox show, 148 have been arrested as the direct result of viewer tips, said program representative Jack Breslin. Eight of those were on the FBI's most wanted list.
"America's Most Wanted" and NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" have put new muscle into the long arm of the law.
"Unsolved Mysteries" mixes crime stories with searches for missing loved ones and segments on mysterious legends. About 40 percent of its criminal profiles have resulted in arrests, a series represented say.
Despite their popularity, these shows have not escaped criticism. Some say they blur an already arbitrary line separating entertainment from them and that they encourage vigilantism and Big Brother spying.
"If they actually lead to the capture of a suspect, they become the story themselves, said Phil Guts, of the American Civil Liberties Union.
"Although these programs are about actual crimes, they can foster a vigilante atmosphere where neighbors can keep an eye on the hopes of getting some publicity."
In the case of "Unsolved Mysteries," a quest for public placed NBC's hugely successful series in the uncomfortable position of unknowingly broadcasting an elaborate hoax
An October segment featured Los Angeles disc jockeys Kevin Ryan and Gene "Bean" Baxter re-creating their June 13, 1990, radio show during which an unidentified caller confured to murdering his girlfriend.
The confession generated about 400 calls from people who thought they recognized the caller or the case.
Six months later, the Los Angeles Times reported the confession was faked and that Baxter and Ryan admitted to orchestrating it to boost ratings. The two apologized on the air and were suspended for six days.
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