Pushkin.

The Channel Islands have the kind of stark, pristine beauty that makes people fall in love with California.

Santa Cruz Island is probably the most stunning in the archipelago.

About 30 miles west of Malibu, it's surrounded by glassy indigo water, giant kelp forests and tide pools.

But probably the island's most fascinating feature, the one that draws kayakers and scuba divers from all over,

is its abundance of sea caves, with names like Shipwreck Cave and Limbo.

On the north side of the island, a couple hundred feet into the ocean, there's a huge white-spattered rock with a sheer cliff face.

It's called Bird Rock, for obvious reasons.

Bird Rock has its own sea cave, a tall chamber with walls that are covered in green algae.

It's mysterious and cool, but once you know the story of Fred Raylor, it's impossible to look at the sea cave,

or any part of this beautiful island, the same way again.

On January 2, 1981, Raylor, a 38-year-old man from Malibu, was pulled out of the water on the open ocean side of Bird Rock,

along with his wife, 36-year-old Verna Johnson Raylor, and her son, his stepson, 8-year-old Doug Johnson.

Verna and Doug were soon declared dead.

Fred was cold, but other than that, fine. His pulse was steady, his breathing was normal, he appeared to be unscathed.

Fred said their robot, a 16-foot orange-dory, had overturned, and he had done everything possible to save his wife and stepchild.

He was the sole survivor, and the only witness.

For many, many months, we were just trying to figure out what happened, and is there any truth to Raylor's story.

That's a criminalist named Dr. Duane Mosaic.

At the time of Verna and Doug's deaths, he worked for a California State crime lab.

And eventually we decided there was no truth to it at all.

We could not substantiate anything he said, but we could substantiate alternatives.

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