Blamed on Bundy | Birds of a Feather | 2
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Who was James Heydrich and what were his claimed telekinetic powers?
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James Heydrich is a martial arts instructor at the Salt Lake Athletic Club. Those who work with him say he's the best they've seen. Incredibly fast, intense, and refined. James Heydrich
made his television debut in October of nineteen eighty on the airwaves of KSL TV.
His movements in the martial arts are what every student dreams of. He ponders before an attack with the grace of a delicate bird, then lashes out with the fury and strength of a panther. But his demonstrations involved more than just physical strength or speed.
Heydrich claimed to possess the power of telekinesis.
People don't believe in lifting objects without touching them.
the ability to move objects with the mind.
If your body can think it, why can't it do it?
Heydrich demonstrated his special powers to police, to staff at the Salt Lake Tribune, and then for the cameras at KSL TV. Picture a tall athletic man around 20 years old. He wears a bold cut, a thin mustache, and a wushoe uniform. He sits in front of a phone book and knits his brow as he hovers a hand above the book, drawing his fingers together as if picking up an invisible napkin. At the same time, a page of the book lifts, turns, and falls.
Reporters and editors, skeptics, and believers together watched as James Heydrich did in fact, move pencils, turn pages in a notebook, and flutter the leaves of a plant.
Now you might be wondering what a martial artist with claimed telekinetic powers has to do with the unsolved disappearance of Nancy Perry Baird. Nancy Baird is, of course, the subject of this season. I'll tell you up front, this guy, James Heydrich, has no direct connection to Nancy Baird. But he does play a part in this story through his connection to one of the suspects. James Heydrich arrived in Utah about five years after Nancy Baird disappeared, telling a wild story.
James Heydrich claims he learned his martial arts from a high priest at a monastery in Tibet. The high priest, according to Heydrich, took him in at the age of two after his parents died in a 1962 plane crash. His name was Wang Chang Wu. He wanted to put me into the monastery for special training. As a uh ninja.
Did you catch that little red flag? Ninjutsu comes from feudal Japan, not Tibet. Heydrich provided paperwork stating he was the son of a U.S. mother and a Chinese father named Wang Chengwu. Wang Chengwu was said to be the secretary of the commissariat of the Communist Party in China's Yukin province. No mention of a plane crash in this paperwork, and Yukin province is nowhere near Tibet, but More red flags. The paperwork said Heydrich had lived in a Shaolin temple until the age of fifteen, then became a political assassin with nine hits to his credit, including the killing of a CIA operative in Hong Kong.
We cannot prove or disprove Heydrich's story of his boyhood life in a monastery. We do know he appeared in this country six years ago in search of a lost brother.
This part of Heydrich's story bears striking similarity to the plot of the TV show Kung Fu, which aired during the 1970s. Heydrich's search for this lost brother brought him to Los Angeles in 1977, where police arrested him. In Heydrich's telling, he had been hitchhiking and accepted a ride from some guys in a van. Police pulled the van over a short time later and slapped handcuffs on everyone inside. Heydrich had only been out of the monastery a short time and barely spoke any English.
How did Heydrich’s fraudulent abilities become linked to the Nancy Baird disappearance?
He didn't understand what was happening. Prosecutors charged Heydrich with several felony crimes. He eventually pleaded guilty and was sent to prison.
While there, he was confronted by the leaders of two radical guerrilla groups.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who was James Heydrich and what were his claimed telekinetic powers?
0:00–4:28
2
How did Heydrich’s fraudulent abilities become linked to the Nancy Baird disappearance?
4:28–15:58
3
What role did former East Layton police officer Tom Jackson play in the original investigation?
15:58–28:14
4
How did the Jackson family first reveal the abuse they suffered?
28:14–38:08
5
What legal consequences did Tom Jackson face for his child‑sex‑abuse charges?
38:08–47:42
6
How did James Heydrich’s criminal history evolve across California, Utah and beyond?
47:42–58:14
7
What long‑term effects did the abuse have on Heidi, Tori and their siblings?
58:14–1:07:23
8
Why does the host compare this case to the Ted Bundy investigation?
1:07:23–1:14:08