Dennis Standefer Will News Today

From a philippine jail in 2001. rain charges, dropped. when we last spoke to carl, he told us dennis is a free man. rumored to be living in malaysia, and he has never been charged with fraud allegations made against him by carl and the other investors. the teacher got what he wanted. revenge. not just for how he was allegedly cheated. george rombach said carl had to hunt down dennis. it became carls way of dealing with the loss of his father. >> he couldnt get on with the rest of his life withou...

>> reporter: than in actually finding any treasure. >> exactly. >> reporter: the artifacts karl had seen from the various ships and digs? according to kirk, they were planted there by dennis himself. it is called salting the site. it was, it now seemed, the teacher all a big lie. the adventure, the dreams come true, the friendship with dennis standefer. for that, karl, completely overtaken by his dreams, had left his own father behind, in his time of need. ever want to be able to say you were ri...

Happen. i was ready to give up. i said if they dont get him today, im out. >> reporter: as time ticked by, karl became convinced that dennis had escaped once more. >> i was due back at school in about ten days. i was out of money. i was frustrated. and i just -- >> reporter: maybe you should just give up this whole -- >> i said, this is enough. i mean, this was important to me. but i did give it a real good shot. i gave it an honest shot. >> reporter: over a year of near misses and phantom sight...

And he could have dropped out at this point and let police handle it from here. but karl pushed ahead, feeling he had to do this himself, convinced that only he could find standefer. >> and an investor told me that dennis will tell you hes going up north if hes going south. its always misinformation. >> reporter: ryll called harold karaka, who began working the phones and e-mail. and seemed to hit paydirt. >> we tracked him through malaysia, through the hotels he ripped off there by not paying h...

Him as he casually joked with and charm ed them. police refused to let him go. he got angry. >> i had trouble with americans who tried to kill me. >> police allege that his visa papers were not in order. >> used that to lock him up on the spot. >> then, two days later, as he was led from the police station holding cell to the jail, carl got his chance to go face to face with dennis. >> hope you enjoyed killing me. the one that started carl on his- -- i reported him to the fbi. for selling drugs.

American named dennis standefer. >> i never anticipated he would do something like that. you know, he was trying to destroy everything i worked for my whole life, my reputation, my job. >> reporter: this was all no surprise to diver kirk shaffer who worked with standefer and had also allegedly given him money. that kind of fax, kirk says, is an old dennis trick. >> one of dennis favorite terminology was called the nasty-gram. what would happen is that anybody that started to stir up any trouble ...

And see that wreck there, knowing what might be inside it? >> oh, it was -- i was like a kid in a candy store. >> reporter: as karl and other expedition investors waited, divers scoured the hospital ship wreck, they brought up artifacts, cups and dishes. but no gold. karl says he didnt care. he knew it was risky. >> we didnt find anything especially valuable. but all that stuff is considered artifacts. and very intriguing. i mean, this was my first shipwreck. >> reporter: all that mattered was h...

And they took me to several departments. we signed complaints. and they told me exactly what needed to be done. >> reporter: back in los angeles, the other investors who first told karl not to go after dennis were now firmly behind him. they understood why this hunt seemed to possess karl, take him over. >> dennis probably made the mistake of hitting at the core of karls character. and my observations, hes a very honorable man. and he couldnt let that go unchallenged. >> reporter: but in jakarta...

Eighth grade drugs to kids. >> dennis screamed he was the victim of a false friend. >> you did it. >> youre welcome. >> how did it feel. when you got back to your hotel? >> i was shaking. i was so excited. the one think, he turned me in to the fbi, for buying and selling drugs to kids. he did this to me. in the next breath, he said, thanks for killing me, carl, my friend and my partner. that is the real dennis standefer. the victim and the attacker, simultaneously. >> weeks later, a apparently d...

Like this. and it wasnt the money. on my part, the loss of the money was less critical. >> reporter: karl and karaka joined in a hunt for standefer. their plan was to catch him at his own game by posing as wealthy investors with cash to spend. so, they sent him e-mails under false names, hoping he would reveal where he was. standefer, however, was a clever man. he responded to the e-mails all right, but said very little about himself. about the only thing that karl could figure out was he was so...