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.
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. t
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
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.
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.