A new Investigation Discovery docuseries is revisiting the bizarre case of Benjaman Kyle, a man found naked and unconscious behind a Burger King in Georgia in 2004 with no memory of his identity. The four-part series, produced by Hot Snakes Media, suggests that the mystery may be darker than previously thought, with filmmakers uncovering inconsistencies in his story and potential links to cold cases and a Midwestern crime family.
In 2015, genetic genealogists identified the man as William Burgess Powell, an Indiana man who went missing in 1976. However, filmmaker Shannon Evangelista claims that major questions remain about Powell's life between 1976 and 2004. Through witness accounts, she alleges that Powell may never have suffered from amnesia and may have had ties to a notorious crime family in Lafayette, Indiana, and to George Keck, a person of interest in the 1977 killing of Purdue University student Kristine Kozik.
The mystery began on August 31, 2004, when a Burger King employee discovered a man lying naked behind the restaurant in Richmond Hill, Georgia. The man, believed to be in his mid-50s, was admitted to hospital under the name 'Burger King Doe'. He later assumed the name Benjaman Kyle, claiming his last name matched the BK initials. He was diagnosed with dissociative amnesia and had only blurred memories of Denver, Colorado, and Indiana.
Powell disappeared from his Indiana home in March 1976, with his car found abandoned in Battleground, Indiana, with the plates removed. His family believed he had died. After identification, Powell obtained legal identification and government assistance at age 67. However, Evangelista says Powell became angry and wanted to control the flow of information as the investigation progressed.
The docuseries includes a reunion with Powell's brother and a visit to Purdue University, where Powell worked as a janitor. It also features witness accounts linking Powell to a powerful crime family in Lafayette, Indiana, and focuses on George Keck, who was examined in connection with several unsolved Indiana cases before his death in 2020. Both Powell and Keck were janitors at Purdue at the time of Kozik's disappearance.
