Live to Tell: The Birthday Party
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Real people, real crimes, real life drama. [Music] It was January 22nd 1998. It was Stan's 38th birthday. [Music] He didn't come to work and that's not like Stanley. Here's a very diligent person with a very high-profile job and he had an appointment that he didn't show up for and didn't call anybody about. [Music] A federal prosecutor was missing and nobody knew where he was. [Music] A group of his friends were throwing him a party at a club in downtown Manhattan. It was his birthday and he didn't come to his own birthday party. [Music] Did he go out? Did he go partying? Did he drink? Was he using drugs? Was he involved in some sex capades? [Music] You know, they were saying no, you know, he's kind of a quiet, mild-mattered guy. Like he wouldn't just disappear, he wouldn't just not come to work. [Music] One possibility was that he was at home either ill or sleeping or passed out. [Music] When we arrived at Stanley's apartment, the superintendent didn't have the key. So one of the guys followed the building superintendent up the fire escape and the superintendent used his elbow to smash in Stanley's kitchen windows. [Music] There was nothing that indicated that Stanley had been there recently. [Music] Then somebody pressed the answering machine on his telephone. [Music] You know, beep, happy birthday from some friend to relative. [Music] And then the third message was, this is your credit card company calling to say there's unusual activity on your card. [Music] A couple of beeps after that was even worse. [Music] A person called and she said, "I found your wallet in Bedford Stuyvesant in the garbage." [Music] And that was really scary. [Music] Bedford Stuyvesant is a tough neighborhood in Brooklyn. [Music] What would his wallet be doing, Bedford Stuyvesant? [Music] Somebody said, "Maybe he's lying in an alleyway somewhere bleeding." [Music] And somebody else said, "Or maybe where he was dead." [Music] This is unbelievable. This has got to be something more to the story.
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Kidnap victim Stanley Alpert was later able to lead the FBI to his captors.