911 emergency. >> we, the jury, find the defendant -- it was his childhood fantasy. search for treasure on the high seas. then, he met someone to help him follow his dream. >> he looked like a pirate. he looked like a treasure hunter. >> he embarked on unimaginable adventures. >> never in my wildest dreams. i mean, i had more adventure than i could have had in ten lifetimes, probably. >> be careful what you wish for. >> he would go on dives looking for sunken treasures. >> i could have possibly a couple hundred tons of gold on him. >> gold or fool's gold?

his quest would take a frightening turn. his dream, betrayed, stolen. >> i didn't care how long it took, how much money it cost or how risky it was but i was going to find him. >> would he find what he was looking for? in this hour "treasure hunt." there was once a boy who loved to read, fabulous tales of buried treasures, gold and silver lost at sea. pirate stories danced in his head. he was, as little boys can be, smitten, in love with make-believe, with adventure. >> on my 7th birthday, my parents threw a pirate-themed birthday party. and maybe that was the beginning of it. >> reporter: little boys grow out of things, of course. but karl ryll, that's his name, never could quite let it go, the fantasy of that unlived life.

>> is it his job to stop the execution? >> reporter: but reality is rarely quite so grand as the dream of little boys. and karl became a high school teacher in pasadena, california, a soft-spoken man, something of a loner who kept his dreams to himself. but he never forgot the little boy's fantasy, a fantasy that would become real and then turn into something else, something closer to obsession. this is a story about what it takes to follow your dreams, find the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. but like all dreams, it is also a story about the flip side when friendship becomes betrayal, when hope gives way to revenge. now, that's an adventure. it is about a mild-mannered teacher from southern california who finds himself on shipwrecks in the south seas. who goes from parent-teacher meetings to meetings with muslim rebels and international police

forces. >> god. i mean, i never could have anticipated what the next five, six years would bring. i mean, never in my wildest dreams. i had more adventure than i could have in ten lifetimes, probably. >> reporter: be careful what you wish for. >> that's true. >> reporter: it all began one day in 1990, at an adventure lecture given by this man, a real-life treasure hunter. dennis standefer was his name. karl was there. >> very confident, swaggering almost. i could almost picture him with a parrot on his shoulder and a patch over his eye. >> reporter: for a man like karl, so long alone in his dreams and fantasy, this was amazing. here was someone who shared these hopes, who lived them. >> he looked like a tough character. he looked like a pirate. hunter >> reporter: he belonged out there on the sea. >> exactly. >> reporter: standefer weaved the stories karl craved of sunken ships and tons of gold asleep in the briny deep, stories from central america, to the south pacific.

it was a magic connection karl had been looking for since boyhood. >> he was fascinating. he was probably the most fascinating person i ever met. >> reporter: two years later in 1992, the treasure hunter approached karl with a plan. standefer wanted to dive on a sunken world war ii japanese hospital ship, like this one featured in a news reel. >> hospital ship, complete with crosses and all the international insignia. but officers of the seventh fleet smelled a rat. >> reporter: the japanese, standefer said, not only had soldiers and ammunition on board these ships, but loot and treasure, too. treasure they supposedly plundered from southeast asia during the war, then secreted away in the philippines. >> it was upwards of billions and billions of dollars. >> reporter: artifacts? >> artifacts, gold bars, thousands and thousands of gold bars, tons of gold. >> reporter: at war's end, according to the legend, the

retreating japanese buried part of the treasure in caves. the other part they loaded on to hospital ships, one of which standefer had found, undisturbed, off the philippine coast on the bottom of the ocean. a king's fortune, he said, hidden below the surface. >> it was sunk in a protected harbor in the northern philippines. he wouldn't tell me the location. it was in shallow water, and his research indicated that it could have probably a couple hundred tons of gold on it. >> reporter: to prove to karl he had the goods, dennis displayed these articles about himself and his appearances on philippine tv. >> it would be very, very difficult, requiring many, many years and many, many millions of dollars -- >> reporter: even a story on cnn. >> up to 177 major sites of japanese treasure. >> reporter: then, dennis said the magic words. would karl like to come? would he ever? karl, teaching overcrowded

classes out of these trailers, was hooked. but dennis said there was just one thing. he would need about $3,000 from karl to help pay for the expedition. a lot of money for a part-time teacher. but not a lot, it seemed, to make a dream come true. and spend time with this incredible man, this treasure hunter. >> i was already picturing myself over there in the philippines diving and scouting around for treasure. >> reporter: karl's father, rudy, knew all about his son with a head full of impulsive ideas. had spent most of the boy's life trying to keep karl's two feet on the ground. >> i felt he was too hard on me, didn't give me as much freedom as i wanted. and so, i think i probably went off in the other direction a lot more than i should have. >> reporter: this time was no different. karl's father, suffering from emphysema, warned his son to focus on teaching to save his money. but that had little appeal to karl. he went off with dennis to asia. >> i'll never forget the feeling. as we cut into the harbor, it

was like treasure island. it was all green. and the weather was perfectly clear, blue skies, white clouds. i'm like i can't believe this is happening. it was like a dream come true. coming up, karl ryll is on board a hunt for hidden treasure. but does the man at his side have something to hide? >> he said, this guy is going to take you. [ male announcer ] tom's discovering that living healthy can be fun. see? he's taking his vitamins. new one a day vitacraves plus omega-3 dha

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the life of high school teacher karl ryll had just taken a dream-like turn. >> one day, i'm teaching in california. and then, a couple of days later i'm diving on a ship that supposedly has $500 million to $1 billion in gold. >> reporter: ryll dreamed, as a child, of sunken treasure. and now he was on board a real-life expedition. guest of standefer. he paid standefer $3,000 to take part, a small fee compared to the untold riches aboard a sunken japanese hospital ship. what was it like to look down

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 didn't care. he knew it was risky. >> we didn't 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 he was on a real treasure hunt with a friend who lived the life karl wanted. >> money would have been nice but i got into it for the sense of adventure. i'm like, this is what i always wanted to do. and this guy is going to make it happen here. >> reporter: the next summer, 1993, karl was back in the philippines with dennis. and this time they dug up

supposedly rare dragon jars, ancient pottery, found on a remote, volcanic island. >> the site was very interesting. they had maybe 20, 25 jars recovered by the time i got there. but they weren't what i expected. they were these kind of earthen clay, brown-type jars. they were -- >> reporter: pottery. >> yeah. they were like alien pots, is the best way i can describe them. >> reporter: the look of the jars wasn't the only surprising thing about them. they also turned out to be not ancient, but worthless. standefer claimed his contacts had cheated him. once again, karl returned home empty-handed. did it ruin your faith in this man? >> no, it didn't ruin my faith. but it made me a little more cautious. i began to realize he might be a poor manager of money. but then, so am i, obviously. >> reporter: by the end of 1994, karl says he spent almost

$15,000 on his trips with dennis, about a year's salary as a part-time teacher. but treasure hunting and dennis standefer were magnets for karl. >> he's one of the greatest storytellers i've ever met. i mean, you know, if a pigeon was landing on the roof, he could make it sound like the air force was coming. >> reporter: karl visited the philippines and dennis again in 1995. and then, two years later, when karl was on the verge of yet another trip, his father, now dieing of emphysema, stepped in to warn his son again. he pointed out that karl had no guarantees from standefer. no protection. >> he told me up front that -- he said, this guy is going to take you. >> reporter: you didn't believe him? >> no. >> reporter: your own father? >> you know, it's kind of a rebellious thing, i guess. >> reporter: karl told his father, treasure hunting isn't a world of guarantees and protection. it's about trust and friendship. and dennis, he knew, was the

real thing. >> he wasn't just somebody that i was doing business with. i considered him a friend. >> reporter: so, karl ignored his father. he was utterly wrapped up once more in something he considered a dream come true. and in the summer of 1997, he found himself in the philippines again with dennis standefer. while karl was abroad, his father's health already weakened by emphysema continued to deteriorate. and shortly after karl's return to the u.s., his father died. >> i feel like the last couple of years i had with him were somewhat stolen. >> reporter: he needed you. >> yeah. and i should have spent more time with him. i mean, i was working full time. but i would find time to go to the philippines and i didn't -- i should have gone over to see him more.

>> reporter: deep in grief, karl began to feel it might be time to leave the dream behind. but then, just as before, the treasure hunter reached out with a can't-miss opportunity. >> e-mailed me that he had found this kris. >> reporter: kris? >> kris is a muslim knife. had an ivory handle and had golden silver inlay in the sheath. i saw a picture of it. it looked great. >> reporter: the kris, dennis told karl, had to be worth $10,000. but he let karl have it for a mere $1,000. dennis' gift, if you will, to make up for the money karl had already lost. so, karl sent the money and he sent it gratefully. then dennis e-mailed him again and said, he met some muslim rebels in the southern philippines. and they told him about a sunken ship which contained platinum bars. and if karl would send him a few thousand more, he would go after those bars and both of them would make a lot of money, certainly make up for the money karl lost and then some. already burned and battling death, karl tried to resist. but the treasure hunter proved too persuasive.

karl gave standefer nearly $10,000 this time. he maxed out his credit cards. >> i just kind of took a deep breath. and said, dennis, this thing better be what you say it is. because if this isn't, this is going to put me over the top. and i don't know how i'll get this money back. >> reporter: and he said? >> he said, there is no way that anything can go wrong with this. >> reporter: but something did go wrong. soon after karl sent the money, standefer disappeared. and that muslim knife, the kris, that dennis had promised? when karl finally received it, it was indeed attractive and finely carved. but not silver. and there were no jewels. so, karl had it appraised and discovered it was essentially worthless. karl, devastated, was wracked with guilt, haunted by what he did and didn't do for his own father, reliving those stolen years over and over again in his mind. how could he have been so foolish? >> i was so angry that i

couldn't even speak. to think what this guy had done to me. >> reporter: eager to find answers, karl tracked down kirk shaffer, a california diver who worked for standefer and had also given him some money. shaffer says he never got paid back. and when he heard karl's story, the diver was ready to talk about dennis standefer. >> i never saw him find anything. even gold. look, most of the time it was running around, looking for things that he could tantalize investors with. >> reporter: shaffer told karl that standefer was a con man who had fooled newspapers and tv. the key, kirk says, was that the cons always had a kernel of truth. the japanese did hide gold on some hospital ships. and there were dragon jars. but, shaffer claims, standefer never had any intention of going after them. >> he seemed to be much more interested in just keeping the game going. >> correct.

>> 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 right, dad, after all? >> yeah, i would. i never had that opportunity. >> reporter: what do you do about a thing like that? >> i took it out on myself a lot. i mean, i was depressed. and then it became, you know, more of an anger because i felt that standefer had taken advantage of the situation. he knew the situation with my

father. >> reporter: he felt crushed and betrayed. but this time, he was not alone. with kirk's help, he reached out to other investors. among them, george rombach, accountant and lawyer, who says he invested $30,000 for himself and clients with standefer. >> he's absolutely a danger to civilized society. no question in my mind about that. >> reporter: rombach says, that like karl, he was taken in by a smooth operator. he told tall tales very well. your impressions of the man the first time you saw him? >> first time i saw him they were not favorable. he's very affable. and very shortly, i almost felt guilty for my first reaction. >> reporter: and there was gene hasenbeck, computer engineer. he tells us he gave dennis $127,000, all of his and his parents' savings. >> i lost my -- everything. i'm living in a small, ten-by-ten room now to this day, just renting a small room. >> reporter: all these men started out investing small

amounts of money, just for the fun of it. but they insist standefer kept them on the hook. kirk shaffer says dennis knew just how. >> it is alluring to think that you can go and you can find some treasure. and people do do it on a rare occasion. >> reporter: they want to believe. >> they want to believe, exactly. >> reporter: karl tracked down more investors and spread the word about what he says standefer did. he was determined to shut dennis down. so, you wanted to make sure everybody knew he was a crook. >> yes. i wanted to cut off his money supply. and it is like, okay. then what is he going to do? >> reporter: in the meantime, you went back to teaching and getting your life in order. >> yes, i went back to teaching. >> reporter: he quietly went back to his quiet pasadena life. and that would have been the end of the story of dennis standefer and karl ryll. the teacher was through with the treasure hunter and never thought he would see or hear from him again.

then, one day in early 1998, that was a knock at the door of karl ryll's south pasadena apartment and it would change everything. coming up -- >> he was trying to destroy everything i worked for my whole life, my reputation, my job. gail constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health.

out tens of thousands of dollars, his childhood dreams destroyed, california teacher karl ryll was now warning others about treasure hunter dennis standefer. a man he says who conned him, betrayed him, at the very time karl's father was dieing. >> my main goal was to make sure no one else got ripped off by him. and so, i figured i could at least do that. >> reporter: using e-mails and phone calls, ryll contacted everybody he could find connected to the treasure hunter, a blitz designed to cut off standefer's money supply. >> i was finding people that went back 30 years that he had ripped off. >> reporter: convinced his efforts had succeeded, karl sunk slowly back into an otherwise ordinary life, believing his bitter experience with standefer

had finally come to an end. but then, a knock at his apartment door. it was a police detective. and he had with him this piece of paper, an anonymous fax, charging karl ryll with keeping large amounts of date rape drugs in his apartment. >> and the fax also said i was giving these to my female students in my classroom. >> reporter: could you think of a more serious -- >> no. i'm not tenured. and any hint of any impropriety whether it's true or not, i mean, that would follow you the rest of your life. >> reporter: career would be over? >> yeah. >> reporter: karl says as soon as he saw that fax, he knew who it came from. what did you think as you read that letter? >> i was shaking. because i'm, like, i knew right away standefer did it. i told the police, i know who did this. the police questioned karl, searched his apartment, left without finding any evidence. livid now, karl traced the fax to a hotel in malaysia in the south pacific. and registered there, an

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 or any pressure, of course, they were automatically the enemy. and that's where the nasty-grams went. >> reporter: when karl told other investors about this fax, he learned the same thing had happened to one of them, too. george rombach had once complained to standefer about not getting any return on his investment. and soon, rombach says,

investigators from the navy got a fax from standefer. that one accused george of smuggling naval artifacts. >> the first time after that communication went out, i was detained coming back into this country and strip-searched, and my luggage turned inside-out for about 2 1/2 hours. >> reporter: investigators also searched george's home office, filled indeed with maritime artifacts but ones he owned legally. the investigation was dropped. just as the pasadena police dropped their investigation against karl ryll. but then, karl asked the detective to go after standefer. and then where did it go from there? >> he said i understand your situation and sympathize with you. but he said there is really nothing we can do. we have murder cases here we can't solve. he said, i'll be happy to take a report. but there is nothing we can do. this guy is overseas somewhere. think about it. >> reporter: karl did think about it.

>> i made a decision that day that i was going to find him. and i said i didn't care how long it took, how much money it cost, or how risky it was. but i was going to find him. and i was going to have him locked up. >> reporter: a pasadena history and english teacher on a manhunt for an alleged international con artist? sounds like another boyhood story. though not the kind of adventure karl dreamed about as a child. this adventure tale had now become something else to karl ryll, a grown man's story of revenge. it was an impulsiveness, almost an obsession that drove karl to chase his dreams with dennis standefer in the first place. and now, those very qualities would serve a much more serious purpose and propel karl ryll on a much more different kind of hunt. >> he was trying to destroy my reputation, my career. and i couldn't tolerate that. coming up, karl ryll's quest for revenge takes a dangerous turn.

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msnbc now. i'm craig melvin. newt gingrich and rick perry both failed to get on the state ballot in virginia. they did not submit the required 10,000 signatures needed to compete in the primary. it's a mad dash to the mall for last-minute christmas shoppers. some stores will stay open until 10:00 tonight. the final days can account for 40% of holiday sales. more on msnbc. now back to "treasure hunt." okay, dennis. you want to play? you want to play? let's play. >> reporter: after six years of adventure, high school teacher karl ryll was no longer hunting

for sunken treasure. he was now on a hunt for revenge, against dennis standefer, someone he says who took thousands of dollars from him in a treasure hunting scheme and then tried to silence him by faxing career-ending allegations to karl's school district. >> he thought this would probably finish me off. >> reporter: instead? >> it had the opposite effect. >> reporter: on the surface, teacher ryll seemed no match for the well-connected, wily standefer. a other investors, like george rombach and gene hasenbeck, said they, too, had been burned by the treasure hunter were worried. karl was becoming a friend, they told him, leave it all behind, move on. >> i didn't think karl had much of a chance. dennis has obviously been doing this for a long time. >> reporter: did you, gene? >> i tried talk him out of it. i said, karl, you're at a low point here. you don't have the money to be throwing after this. >> reporter: and karl began to have second thoughts himself. how would he do this? where would he even start? if anyone was elusive, it was standefer.

but then, through a tip from the growing network of ex-investors, karl met a man named harold karaka. harold said he knew all about dennis. >> he could sell that same piece of ice cube to the eskimo more than once, which is evident by the number of victims that were victimized more than one time. >> reporter: karaka says standefer took him for over $12,000, promising valuable asian artifacts. he never delivered. and now, karaka was angry. >> i told karl i made a promise to dennis that he decided not bring back my money that i would do whatever was necessary to go after that money and collect it. >> reporter: and he knew how to do it because this man, allegedly conned by dennis standefer like the rest, is a private investigator in los angeles. and in his business, karaka couldn't afford to let standefer get away. >> i didn't want my reputation to be soiled by an individual

like this. and it wasn't 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 somewhere in the southern philippines. still, in april of '98, with not much more to go on than that, the two men flew to the philippine capital, manila. >> we had some contacts in the national police there. and they had some contacts that were out in the remote areas where dennis, we thought, hiding and they thought they had seen him recently. >> reporter: the men went to the southern philippine islands, dangerous areas controlled by bands of muslim rebels. but karl and karaka say the rebels welcomed them because

dennis standefer had also apparently conned the muslims, promising them riches in exchange for free safe passage through their territory. >> he was going to dive and get all the riches from the ships. but he needed to get away, re-establish himself and then come back and make them all rich. so, they did all this for him. and then, he disappeared on them again. >> reporter: the rebels helped karl and harold track standefer throughout the remote southern philippines and archipelago of nearly 400 small islands. many of them uninhabited. >> as we progressed from village to village, our impression at the time was we were one village behind him all the time. >> reporter: now even as the two were closing in, they began to realize that, well, even if they did catch dennis standefer, there was no way to know for sure they could get him to spend time in jail. karl realized that his father's repeated warnings about standefer had been right. there were no guarantees, nothing they could think of, that would stick in court. >> i was getting frustrated. i didn't really have anything solid. and i -- i was just picturing

myself going over there. yeah, he committed a lot of fraud. he did this to me, did that. lock him up. i don't think that would have gone over too well. >> reporter: and then, to make matters worse, the trail went cold. dennis standefer slipped away. but back in los angeles, diver kirk shaffer, who worked with standefer, remembered a box the treasure hunter left behind months before. shaffer dug it out of storage. and what he found inside would set karl ryll on a very different path. in the box, shaffer says, were who appeared to be an underaged filipina girl. photos suggesting a romantic relationship. >> the girl, she had no mother and father. she was being raised by her grandparents. and somehow they got connected. i think through correspondence. and they met. >> reporter: in 1999, during a school break, karl headed back to the philippines alone. his mission, find the girl from

the photos and find out how old she was. this search would be different than trying to prove some fraud charge. but for karl ryll, there was no turning back. kirk shaffer told him where in the southern philippines dennis would hang out. after a few days of asking questions and passing around her photo, karl found the girl. she was now 20. but was underage, she said, when the relationship with standefer began. and beyond being too young for a relationship with an adult, she said, something happened to her that could land dennis in far deeper trouble. she claimed she had been sexually assaulted by standefer five years earlier. and now, she wanted to press charges against him for rape. karl took her to the local prosecutors office. >> he heard the story. and he said, i'll file charges against this guy for rape. >> reporter: karl had now uncovered something about dennis standefer far more grave than anything he had been pursuing.

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 he's going up north if he's going south. it's 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 his hotel bills or phone bills. >> reporter: the bills and other documents like this were clear evidence that standefer had been there. but the trail was cold once again and was going nowhere. until one more victim heard about karl's hunt. and called him from jakarta, indonesia. like the philippines and malaysia, a nation in the south asia sea. >> he called me and said, he's over here. he said, i didn't see him. but i missed him by about two hours but i got a business card. it says dennis austin. that's his middle name.

>> reporter: it could be another near-miss. standefer could be long gone once again. or he might still be in jakarta. this might be karl's last best chance to end his two-year hunt. by this point, he says, his time with dennis and the search for him had cost him more than $30,000. he didn't have much cash left. just enough for one more shot. should he take it in jakarta? there was only one way to find out. karl ryll had to go to a country where he knew no one, and had no contacts at all. and if he found the man he was looking for, what could he do? and what might happen to him? coming up, karl ryll hits the streets of jakarta. had standefer slipped away again? >> i had pretty much given up. i thought, it ain't going to happen. mommy says brush up and down, like this. [ mumbles ] mommy taught me bunny ears.

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running out of money and time, high school teacher karl ryll headed to jakarta, indonesia, tracking down one, last lead on treasure hunter and alleged con man dennis standefer. unlike the philippines, few people here spoke english. and in the summer of 1999, indonesia was in the midst of rebellion. americans were outsiders, often unwelcome in a nation battling internal strife. >> it was not a safe place for americans. it was very dangerous. so, i was a little apprehensive going in. i wasn't sure what to do. >> reporter: armed only with a letter from filipino prosecutors, karl went to the jakarta office of interpol, the international police agency. >> they heard my story.

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 karl's character. and my observations, he's a very honorable man. and he couldn't let that go unchallenged. >> reporter: but in jakarta, as so often before, the question cropped up again. where to look for dennis standefer? police thought they would start in the antique district of jakarta. karl and his home video camera went along. and it turned out that, yes. a lot of dealers in this part of town were quite familiar with an american named dennis. >> dennis, no title. just nickname. dennis. >> reporter: they knew him only as dennis.

karl says he recognized that as an old standefer trick, one that had already led to many dead ends in karl's hunt. never give out any personal details. >> he's very suspicious. he won't give out any information about himself. they didn't even know his last name. >> reporter: and maybe this is just another dead end. as police listened in, an antique dealer phoned this dennis. and the two of them had a conversation in indonesian. as far as karl knew, dennis standefer didn't speak a word of indonesian. >> so, i couldn't believe it was dennis he was talking to. >> reporter: you thought maybe you had the wrong guy. >> i wasn't sure. i said you're speaking indonesian. he said, well, he understands money. >> reporter: the next day, police working undercover traced the call to this neighborhood. there they found this woman who said she was the girlfriend of an american named dennis. she even showed detectives where he lived. >> this room he kept his stuff in here. >> reporter: back in the antique district later that day, karl

and police hid and waited to see if standefer would show up that day. did they have the right man? was he even still in town? or he did slip through karl's fingers again? and then, video camera rolling, police caught this shaky glimpse of what karl ryll had waited two years to see. dennis standefer, just a few yards away. police then spent the next two days setting up a sting, posing as import/export agents. they arranged a meeting with dennis through contacts in the antiques district. when the big day came, karl was told to wait for word in his hotel room. >> they had three cars set up with surveillance. i had to go back to the hotel. i was hoping i could be there and videotape it. but i had to go to the hotel. and he was supposed to arrive at 2:00. >> reporter: the appointed hour passed. >> 3:00 comes. 3:30, nothing. i had pretty much given up. thought it ain't going to

happen. i was ready to give up. i said if they don't get him today, i'm 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 sightings like some big foot always on the move. and all this flashed through karl's mind as he waited. how would this end? coming up, would standefer get arrested or get away? >> i really wanted to sit down and confront him. and say, you know, why did you do this?

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>> by the summer of 1999, high school teacher carl, hoping to stand off against dennis standefer. >> i wanted to say to him, why did you do this? you didn't need to do this. it seemed it was over. but not quite. >> i got the call. they got him! >> carl ran to the police station, too late to confront him. he is already inside. carl gave his video camera to one of the officers who taped

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.

eighth grade drugs to kids. >> dennis screamed he was the victim of a false friend. >> you did it. >> you're 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 disbelieving standefer was in a courtroom.

officials were working to get him extradited to the philippines to be for the rain charges. >> to me, the chase is the exciting part. >> he started out that way, sort of. >> he said what he did wrong was sending the letters to the fbi about carl and the school district. that is the only thing i did wrong. i don't understand why people are upset. i could have gotten your money back, i was on the verge of doing that before i got arrested. then, dennis did plead for help with an escape. >> he goes, what can you do to get me out of this. >> what do you have to offer? i have the richest ship in the history of salvage and treasure

hunting it is ready for the taking. i said, do you have any documentation you can show me. i wanted to see how far he would g he looks at me, he said, it is all up here. i said, well, it will stay there, that is as far as we will go with it. >> i knew he was there, and hopefully, wasn't going to get out. >> after spending two years in a jakarta jail, he was send to the philippines to stand trial. >> he said he is a legitimate treasure hunter. he never phoneied up. he said carl and his friends tried to kill him. paid off police to get to his platinum bars, which dennis

claims really do exist. and claims that carl got 23,000 back from him. he said carl paid the woman to file false charges. >> when we reached the woman, she firmly stood by the rain charge. later, in this affidavit she withdrew. she said she was a wife and mother, and wanted to move on. she said carl did give her money. about $2,500. and promised her more if he was repaid by standefer. we asked her if dennis was paying her now to say this. she said, not yet. carl admits giving her money, he said it was to help her family. and dennis, after spending two years behind bars was released

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 carl's way of dealing with the loss of his father. >> he couldn't get on with the rest of his life without setting that straight. i am pleased he was able to get his life back and exonerate his name. >> maybe it goes back to that loney boy, who dreamed the pirates and treasure.

he went after that dream with a passion. thought it was the answer to the loneliness. then, when it went sour, a man hunt. >> it is painful, someone who you considered to be a friend. turn on you like this. >> carl said yes, his single-minded two-year search for dennis filled up his life, in an unexpected way. the manhunt lead him to the investors, there he found more than revenge, he found, finally, friends. >> that is one of the things that dennis standefer will never understand, the value of a friend. he sees friends as people to use and manipulate. i feel like i am a better person because i have a lot of friends. i respect my friends. they respect me.