LA Forensics: The Actor's Secret
A Sting Operation
Two months later, AMW aired a second segment on Reeves, informing the public of all the sightings. One clue would stand out from the rest: a woman reported seeing Reeves on a cross-country Amtrak train ride. She thought he would be a perfect match for her daughter and gave him her phone number. He had called her only an hour before the show aired, saying he was in Reno and asking if he could visit the woman and her daughter during the Christmas holiday. But to do that, Reeves said he needed money. He said he’d call back in a few hours.
Investigators quickly decided to do a sting operation before the show aired on the West Coast. When Reeves called, she agreed to wire money to a Reno Western Union office the following day. Police would be waiting. It would be a chancy scenario at best, because if Reeves saw the AMW airing he could disappear again.
A bar in the Circus Circus casino was tuned to AMW. Reeves was sitting there, but left just before the episode aired. A man sitting nearby saw the show and called police. Officers raced to the casino, but Reeves wasn’t anywhere inside. Back to the original plan.
"Part of these cases is that you have to assume something is going to go wrong," said FBI Agent Ralph DiFonzo. "You just missed him by a day. You went to the wrong house. Somebody gave you the wrong information. You arrested the look-alike...it is frustrating at times."
