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Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 3, Episode 10 - Full Episode

May 22, 2019 / 46:25

This episode covers the tragic case of Norman Ladner's death, the murder of Dwayne McCorkadale, the mysterious staircase in Santa Fe, and the disappearance of Nileen Marshall.

Norman Ladner, a 17-year-old from Picayune, Mississippi, was found dead after a hunting trip. While the coroner ruled his death a suicide, his parents believe he was murdered. They uncovered evidence suggesting foul play, including a bullet found near the scene that did not match Norman's gun.

Dwayne McCorkadale, a truck driver, was shot and killed at a rest stop in Oklahoma in 1988. Investigators suspect robbery as the motive, but leads are scarce. Witnesses reported a suspicious brown Ford Pinto in the area around the time of the murder.

The episode also features the story of a miraculous spiral staircase built for the Sisters of Loretto in Santa Fe, New Mexico, by an unknown carpenter. The staircase remains a mystery, with various theories about its origins.

Finally, the episode updates the case of Nileen Marshall, who disappeared in 1983. An anonymous man claimed to have her, sending letters to authorities, but leads have not led to her recovery.

TL;DR

The episode covers Norman Ladner's suspicious death, Dwayne McCorkadale's murder, a miraculous staircase, and Nileen Marshall's disappearance.

Episode

46:25
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this program is about unsolved mysteries
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whenever possible the actual family
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members and police officials have
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participated in recreating the events
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what you are about to see is not a news
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broadcast in Mississippi a hike in the
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woods ends in tragedy when 17 year old
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Norman Latimer is shot and killed local
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coroner rules a death a suicide
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Norman Ladner's parents are convinced
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that their son was murdered and a lonely
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Highway arrested
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what driver Dwayne mccorkadale was
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brutally gunned down in cold blood
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25 dollars perhaps you can help find his
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killers more than a century ago a
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mysterious carpenter arrived at a tiny
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chapel at Santa Fe New Mexico he left
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behind a wondrous legacy a magnificent
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spiral staircase and Valley was he just
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an itinerant craftsman for as the nuns
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believed God's answer to their prayers
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nileen Marshall disappeared during a
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picnic seven years ago she is not 12 and
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a man who claims to be holding her as
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male taunting letters to the authorities
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also tonight a poignant update of our
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story about a seven-year-old girl who
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made a solemn vow to a sick friend 21
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years ago thanks to our viewers Nicki
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Crowder has finally fulfilled her
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promise and we filmed their joyous
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reunion join me for another edition of
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unresolved mystery
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[Music]
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Norman Charles Ladner a Picayune
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Mississippi was a third child an eldest
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son in a family of seven he was a senior
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in high school a good student and a
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skilled craftsman with his own workshop
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in the family bar on August 21st 1989
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Norman left his Paris country store to
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go hunting the family farm it was a
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muggy summer day that apparently began
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like any other
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[Music]
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Norman you are property very well it's
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fenced on all four sides even though
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it's a 122 acres it has some were
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passionately and what about 60 acres
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more timber new roads so he knew most
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every foot of it
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he'd walk it a number of times
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[Music]
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hello to fish he loved to hunt he loved
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to be among the wild animals
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squirrels he would come back so excited
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when he would see a young deer the back
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pasture it was just his fascination and
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love of being out there where was
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peaceful and quiet normal would always
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be back by 7:00 to 7:30 in the afternoon
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or an evening without failed to help us
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sweep up and mop up the store we and
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restock the coolers and about 7 o'clock
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up again get worried about it because he
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was very punctual it was the most
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unusual
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you could almost such a o'clock morning
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that's the type of young man he was very
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punctual
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[Music]
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Charlotte Nam is not back yet and I'm
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getting a little worried
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yeah went down to the barn is not there
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either but bring the dog and meet me at
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the farm we'll go look for him
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I helped to some degree in the search
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but then I decided that it would be best
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had I waited at the store for him
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perhaps if he was lost he could come to
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the store or if he was limping from a
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snake bite or whatever he would come to
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the store first and I felt my place
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should be there
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[Music]
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Oh
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I know downtime and I felt it I felt he
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was cold I knew it wasn't had been dead
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for a while
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it's a deep shock and a tragedy to come
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upon to find your own son because you
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could never imagine or think to how this
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could happen or the loss of a child
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until you've experienced it gone through
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it just after 10 p.m. the Pearl River
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County Sheriff's Department cordoned off
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the death scene and began an
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investigation foul play is the first
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thing that I normally address in the
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course of an investigation I ruled it
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out in this instance because I saw
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nothing there to indicate there was a
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part like that yes
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you notice it's been broken in repairs
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before yeah at first I thought it might
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have been an accident in viewing the
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scene it looked as though he might have
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been in a tree nearby and so clearly
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falling out of the tree in the gun
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discharged et cetera
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[Music]
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after they found him a deputy came to
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the store
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and approached the dorm and he looked at
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me as if trying to find the right words
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to tell her mother that her son was dead
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and I said is he dead and he said yes I
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can tell you it's the most shattering
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experience anyone can go
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[Music]
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we felt that it was an accident
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and even when the coroner came back to
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the store after the results of his
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examination he came up with two davidís
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and he said he felt there was ninety
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percent sure that it was an accidental
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shooting the case of Norman Ladner
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became a living nightmare for his
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parents on the corner issued his
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findings he officially ruled their son's
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death a suicide caused by a close
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contact rule in which the bullet had
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entered at Norman's right temple and
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exited at his left imagine for a moment
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that you are Norman Ladner's parents you
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understand the caller to say that your
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son's death is an accident
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this is it best difficult to accept but
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it becomes nearly impossible to accept
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when you are told it is not an accident
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after all your son has committed suicide
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it was impossible for afraid to be a
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suicide I knew my son too well he and
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Jordan he lived life to the fullest he
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was happy he was outgoing he was not
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depressed in any way and he had too many
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things going for him the results of that
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autopsy is what I faced my findings as
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to believing that it was a
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self-inflicted wound I think that he
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went back into an area where he felt
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comfortable
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he enjoyed going
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for reasons it I don't know we don't
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know that he decided to take this one
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[Music]
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we believe the boy was standing when the
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shot was fired because of his body
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position in relation to the gun at the
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scene they made no attempt to locate the
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bullet and never fingerprinted the gun
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they cannot with say with any facts that
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his gun was the weapon that he was used
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to kill him
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even with their ruling of suicide I
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still believe that it was an accident
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and for several weeks we did nothing
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about it
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until we started to piece the the jigsaw
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together then we realized that it was
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definitely not a suicide as a matter of
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fact it definitely was not an accident
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one particular item in the coroner's
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report made no sense to the Ladner's the
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corner described a 1 and a quarter inch
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long laceration on the very top of
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Norman's head if Norman had committed
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suicide
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how would he sustains that you would
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the corner and the pathologist found
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this jagged route of the death scene
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they say it was spattered with blood and
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believe the route caused the laceration
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we didn't see how that could happen
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because falling straight back he would
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hit you hit on them the side or directly
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in the back not up in a crowning he hid
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up in a peak of his head because the
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authorities had never found the bullet
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that killed Norman the Ladner's began
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their own investigation they dug through
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the earth in the area where their son
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had fallen I remember so well the
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feeling that I had of having to sift
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through the dried particles of brain
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tissue and blood that my of my son we
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found a bullet it was longer then bullet
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that Norman's gun would would hold the
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chamber was not bored out for the length
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of that bullet and the bullet was intact
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it had a slight twist on it and he had a
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nick on it and it was had blood spitting
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dried blood in a hair that we examined
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under the magnifying glass we have no
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way of knowing where that bullet came
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from we don't have any reason to believe
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that it was the bullet that was fired
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that caused the boy's death mainly
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because we feel that the boy was
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standing at the time that the gun was
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fired and if that being the case with
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the direction of travel that the
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pathologist says the bullet taken it
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would not have been in the ground
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underneath his head finding the bullet
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indicated that our son was not in a
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standing position when he was killed
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the bullet was retrieved out of the
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ground which had the bullet was embedded
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about two or two-and-a-half inches in
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the ground and we came to the conclusion
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that he was lying on the ground
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and he was shot by someone in a standing
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position a state ballistics expert was
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unable to determine whether the bullet
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had been fired by Norman's rifle he
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returned the bullet to the Ladner's but
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they say it is not the one they found
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three weeks after their son's death if
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the Ladner's went to the coroner's
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office the question is ruling according
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to mrs. Ladner a stranger interrupted
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the conversation
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[Music]
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as we were a distance away he said mrs.
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Lander don't open this case up you have
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other children
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I suggest you raise them for your own
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good you'll never find the person that
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killed your son
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[Music]
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my reaction to that statement was that
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it was a warning that we would
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experience some type of problems if we
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would investigate this case but my
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feeling on this issue is that this was
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my son and I will not back down under
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any circumstances
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undaunted Norman's father returned to
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the area where his son had died
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[Music]
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hey to me 300 yards away
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he found a strange radio like device
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that looked homemade we figured we had a
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piece of evidence of some sort that we
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must try to find some way that you want
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it done once state authorities thought
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it was not an important clue but a
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neighbor suggested he take it to a next
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narcotics agent living in the area
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the former DEA agent said that this was
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a type of devices the drug dealers used
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to signal aircraft by sending out on a
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low-range signal for the proper
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alignment to drop shipment of drugs well
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that led me to speculate that Norman
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possibly came upon
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picking up a shipment of triplets when I
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land
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and possibly this was a reason he was
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murdered that he would have recognized
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the person or persons
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[Music]
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I don't think that that's what happened
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in this case it's very hard to accept a
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death period is it's that much harder to
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accept a suicide it's my feeling that if
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this case was ruled an accidental death
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today they would say nothing else about
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it what really happened a young Norman
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Ladner authorities continue to stand by
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the coroner's ruling Norman's parents
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refused to believe that their son could
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have killed himself this stays with you
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almost constantly almost 24 hours a day
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on every waking hour you think about
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this it's a part of us it's missing and
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it's a great deal of strain knowing that
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he was murdered and nothing has been
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done to bring his murderers to justice
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we have to proceed we will not stop this
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investigation no matter what until it is
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finished we owe it to our son and we owe
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it to our children we owe it to
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ourselves and we owe it to the other
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people's children out there as well we
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want to know what happened to our son
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[Music]
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in 1969 seven-year-old Nicky Crowder was
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hospitalized in Los Angeles California
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to have several tumors or move from her
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throat there she met eight-year-old
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Sheree Talon Hardy Sherita had a rare
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and dangerous form of cancer I looked up
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to Sherita because once she was older
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and she was there first so she kind of
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initiated me of what you know to being
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in a new place new atmosphere in the
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days that followed a warm and caring
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friendship blossomed between the two
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girls there was a bond there because we
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mattered to one another we looked out
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for what when we you know went on and we
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had something in common and that was our
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illnesses itself a few weeks after they
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met Charita underwent several hours of
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grueling surgery mommy is this going to
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happen to me no honey this isn't gonna
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have to TV it has a different type of
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operation than you're gonna have so
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that's when my mother explained to me
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that
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Charita had had a very very delicate
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surgery and that she wouldn't be able to
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have kids and I remember feeling like oh
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that you know was just the worst thing
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in the world
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that night Nikki did her best to comfort
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her friend
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I said you don't have to cry because if
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I ever have a baby I said you can share
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it with me and we can both be its mommy
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I saying I don't even name it Charita
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after you five weeks later Nikki was
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released from the hospital the two
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friends never saw each other again
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[Music]
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today nikki is the mother of a beautiful
00:19:39
three-year-old girl she wants to
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christen her daughter Sherita and keep
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the promise she made in 1969 and from a
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few minutes after Nikki story aired we
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learned that Sherita Ellen Harding was
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alive and well and living in Oklahoma we
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immediately contacted Nikki with a good
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news
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just ten days after I brought dues to
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more than 21 years after they said
00:20:08
goodbye
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Charita Len Harding and Nicky Crowder
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were finally reunited Nicky's home in
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Los Angeles
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[Music]
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I don't think Nicky has changed that
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much she was always caring giving person
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that seems like she's feels the same she
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would have to be to try to find me and
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you know all these years and be so
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persistent about
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father in the name of Jesus what's up
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over this child detective all of the
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days of her life on October 20th 1990
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Mickey Crowder was finally able to
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fulfill her promise a child is listen
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it's a gift you can't buy it's the most
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perfect gift in the world and it comes
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from God and nobody should be deprived
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of that whether they have it naturally
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working shared with somebody you know
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and that's something that I wanted to
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share with Sherita because of all the
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joy and strength you know she gave me I
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could give her back something that she
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missed Lord bless them even as
00:21:24
godparents cause your spirit to rest
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being a godmother is special to me
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because I don't have any kids and and
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you know this is giving me a catch out
00:21:35
on my own that I you know can share
00:21:39
I'm just honored or so I try to live up
00:21:43
to it best as I can I'm very happy and
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now I can go on and I can go on a
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positive note because she's bi and I
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just like to say thanks to everybody
00:22:03
i christen thee sharia Kennedy
00:22:12
[Music]
00:22:22
November 12th 1988 Chandler Oklahoma an
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anonymous caller reported seeing the
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body of a man lying beside a phone booth
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at a highway rest stop at approximately
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8:00 p.m. the Oklahoma Highway Patrol
00:22:36
arrived on the scene the man had been
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murdered coins were scattered about his
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body
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[Music]
00:22:46
the dead man was Dwayne mccorkin tail a
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27 year old truck driver and father of
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twin girls from Kansas City Kansas he
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had been killed by a single shotgun
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blast fired a close-range into his back
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the apparent motive robbery
00:23:03
if Dwayne had been killed in an accident
00:23:06
I could have stood it a lot better
00:23:10
it seems so ironic that he was killed
00:23:13
for money when the last thing a trucker
00:23:16
will do is carry very much for that very
00:23:18
reason
00:23:24
Assunta Bakersfield
00:23:26
Shannon told a Seattle everyday
00:23:28
thousands of big rigs travel the
00:23:30
highways and back roads of America
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though they come from many walks of life
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truckers have one thing in common CB
00:23:41
radios their lifeline to the rest of the
00:23:43
world but for Duane mccorkin an idle
00:23:50
conversation over the airwaves
00:23:52
may have signed his death Road
00:23:54
[Music]
00:23:57
Dwayne's final run began like any other
00:24:01
on November 10th 1988 he left Detroit
00:24:05
Michigan on route to Oklahoma City
00:24:08
mccorkin Dale made a regular run
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bringing parts to an Oklahoma City
00:24:14
automobile plant we have no reason to
00:24:17
believe anything was different that
00:24:18
night he enters the turnpike he's given
00:24:22
a ticket with the time on it and through
00:24:26
that ticket were able to determine that
00:24:28
he made no other stops he drove directly
00:24:30
from the turnpike gate to the rest area
00:24:36
other truckers reported that at
00:24:38
approximately 5:45 p.m. Dwayne
00:24:41
mccorkadale told them he was stopping at
00:24:43
the Chandler Russ table to call his wife
00:24:53
their eyes someone had been listening to
00:24:55
him on the CB and actually followed him
00:24:58
into that rest area where perhaps was
00:25:00
already there waiting for it
00:25:01
[Music]
00:25:08
it looked like he was walking up to the
00:25:11
telephone perhaps counting changing out
00:25:13
in his hand since it was changed there
00:25:14
at the base of the phone booth and was
00:25:17
was killed as he stepped up to make the
00:25:19
call
00:25:35
whoever was involved in this killed
00:25:37
mccorkin Dale just shot him in the back
00:25:39
and he was dead before he hit the ground
00:25:41
it killed him instantly
00:25:42
then checked him to see if he had any
00:25:45
money on him any valuables at all so
00:25:47
people like that are to us scary because
00:25:50
those type of people in our minds are
00:25:52
very likely to do it again and that's
00:25:54
why we place so much emphasis on this
00:25:56
case investigators determined that the
00:26:01
only ID was missing word Dwayne's keys
00:26:03
and his wallet they estimate that the
00:26:08
killers take was no more than 25 dollars
00:26:12
being killed for that little money seems
00:26:15
ridiculous especially when I know that
00:26:19
if they had come up to him in any
00:26:24
threatening manner he would have handed
00:26:25
it over early on in the investigation I
00:26:28
hate to say we were 2 dead in but our
00:26:31
leads were thin they were very thin one
00:26:34
of the things that the agent started
00:26:35
doing is he started putting notices in
00:26:37
the trucker magazines across the United
00:26:39
States and the call started coming in
00:26:43
within days investigators received
00:26:46
reports about a brown Ford Pinto
00:26:47
equipped with a CB radio several
00:26:51
truckers told of a dangerous game of cat
00:26:53
and mouse
00:26:55
time of the mccorkadale death we have
00:26:57
reports that the Pinto was driving very
00:27:00
erratically on the highway
00:27:03
trying to cut 18-wheelers off and when
00:27:23
the truck driver would call him on the
00:27:25
CB
00:27:25
they were abusive they said that leave
00:27:29
us alone or will do to you what we did
00:27:32
to this other trucker
00:27:35
three weeks later authorities received a
00:27:37
call from trucker Edie hight camp he was
00:27:40
breaking for lunch at a rest stop when
00:27:42
he was approached by a young woman who
00:27:44
was acting strangely well I hate to say
00:27:54
about you look kind of trashy I mean it
00:27:57
looked like she had been on something
00:27:58
and she was just awful shaky Texas
00:28:04
visiting some friends were trying to get
00:28:05
back to Alabama Mike Amy can you help us
00:28:07
I kind of turn to reach to get a map
00:28:12
next thinks he's got her hold the front
00:28:14
half inside the truck well then she
00:28:19
started a Stryker you know if I could
00:28:20
spare some money needed to fix awful bad
00:28:23
I said I wasn't about to give her
00:28:25
nothing for that about that time this
00:28:29
brown panel pulled up and then she
00:28:31
jumped down off the truck and headed for
00:28:33
the car and they took off
00:28:38
the next day just 13 miles south on the
00:28:41
same highway Duane mccorkin Dale was
00:28:43
gunned down after I read that article I
00:28:47
thought maybe I'm lucky that I didn't
00:28:49
get out of the truck otherwise I might
00:28:51
have been the one I would have got shot
00:28:52
because they was desperate well we have
00:28:56
no way of knowing if the Pinto was
00:28:58
actually involved in this or not it is
00:28:59
without a doubt our strongest lead and
00:29:01
we have got to locate the Pinto and
00:29:03
ultimately the people to talk to them to
00:29:04
see if if if nothing else we can
00:29:06
eliminate them from this from this
00:29:08
situation
00:29:09
[Music]
00:29:12
Dwain mccorkin dale was murdered doing
00:29:14
the thing he loved best but for him the
00:29:17
freedom of the road ended one senseless
00:29:19
of violence split second
00:29:21
[Music]
00:29:24
having the twins grow up
00:29:27
knowing their father only from pictures
00:29:29
has been hard because they see other
00:29:32
little girls and boys with their daddies
00:29:34
and they've asked where their daddy is
00:29:38
and we've had to tell them that their
00:29:41
daddy's in heaven with Jesus later on
00:29:44
I'm going to have to find a way to tell
00:29:46
them what somebody did to them when we
00:29:52
return the legend of a miracle staircase
00:29:55
in Santa Fe New Mexico no one knows who
00:29:58
built this mysterious and ethereal
00:30:00
structure Santa Fe New Mexico is a city
00:30:14
rich in the tradition and lore of the
00:30:15
Old West a century and a half ago it was
00:30:19
a last outpost along the Santa Fe Trail
00:30:21
a bustling untamed haven for outlaws
00:30:24
gamblers Mavericks and renegades in 1852
00:30:29
the sisters of Loretto a religious order
00:30:31
in Kentucky dispatched seven nuns to
00:30:34
bring religion and education to the
00:30:35
frontier it was a journey fraught with
00:30:38
danger harsh weather hostile Indians and
00:30:41
disease when they were on their way they
00:30:45
were attacked by cholera one of the
00:30:48
sisters died and one had to return
00:30:51
because she was too ill to travel so
00:30:55
five sisters continued the trip to the
00:30:57
west this is an a once in Santa Fe the
00:31:02
sisters established a school and began
00:31:04
making plans to build a chapel finally
00:31:07
in April of 1878 the sisters celebrated
00:31:10
the completion of the Chapel of Our Lady
00:31:12
of light it still stands today
00:31:17
[Music]
00:31:20
more than 20 French and Italian
00:31:22
stonemasons spent five years
00:31:24
constructing the Magnificent Catholic
00:31:26
chapel
00:31:29
or chuckles so splendid the sisters were
00:31:33
delighted except for one minor detail
00:31:35
there was no staircase leading to the
00:31:37
choir loft the sisters finally had their
00:31:40
Chapel but no means of ascending to the
00:31:42
music chamber
00:31:45
many of the lofts of churches early
00:31:49
churches in New Mexico had no staircases
00:31:51
they simply leaned a ladder up and climb
00:31:54
the ladder and say but the sisters
00:31:57
couldn't climb a ladder in their long
00:31:59
ropes so they they needed a staircase a
00:32:03
conventional stairway was not feasible
00:32:05
as it would require the removal of too
00:32:07
many seats some carpenters had come in
00:32:12
and looked the situation over but shook
00:32:15
their heads in dismay and there was just
00:32:18
no way and so they decided that they
00:32:21
would not do anything until they made a
00:32:23
novena to st. Joseph the patron of
00:32:25
carpenters how it would be thy name
00:32:28
Saiki the novena requires nine days of
00:32:31
meditation and regular prayer give us
00:32:36
leap days assisters prayed nothing
00:32:39
happened
00:32:42
as we forgive those
00:32:45
on the ninth and final day of the novena
00:32:47
a stranger arrived at the chapel come in
00:32:51
sir
00:32:52
Mother Superior I'm seeking work and
00:32:56
what is your trade sir I'm a carpenter
00:33:01
we do have need of a stairway to be
00:33:04
built in our Chapel
00:33:05
I think the sisters left the stranger at
00:33:07
10th but so many had said was impossible
00:33:11
they were hopeful their prayers had been
00:33:14
answered
00:33:16
if the carpenter had a name and has long
00:33:19
since been forgotten according to the
00:33:22
legend he carried only three tools a
00:33:24
hammer a saw and a t-square some say he
00:33:28
worked for six months others say it was
00:33:29
more money was finished he call the nuns
00:33:32
together you have your staircase he
00:33:35
announced then he left without being
00:33:37
paid and was never heard from again
00:33:40
[Music]
00:33:51
the carpenter obviously had to be a very
00:33:54
fine carpenter he had to be a master
00:33:56
carpenter to build the staircase that
00:33:59
was built because you see there's no
00:34:01
center support this is what makes that
00:34:03
staircase of extraordinary there is no
00:34:06
center post it rests by its own
00:34:10
geometric balance and design it's very
00:34:14
steep 22 feet going around and around
00:34:18
because it makes to 360 degree turns and
00:34:22
once again with no center post there's a
00:34:26
certain springiness when you walk up it
00:34:28
and you realize you're climbing a very
00:34:30
very special staircase sisters I've
00:34:34
counted the stairs there's 33 the exact
00:34:38
number of years our Lord Jesus Christ
00:34:40
was on this earth
00:34:43
I never failed to count those steps
00:34:45
whenever I go up or come down and it's
00:34:48
still 33 the sisters planned a feast for
00:34:52
the carpenter when he failed to appear
00:34:55
they searched the town the mysterious
00:34:58
stranger was missing nobody had seen him
00:35:02
nobody knew where he slept
00:35:06
nobody ever fed him they made a novena
00:35:10
to st. Joseph the patron of carpenters
00:35:13
so it's understandable that they would
00:35:16
believe st. Joseph David
00:35:20
[Music]
00:35:25
so far as anyone knows the carpenter
00:35:28
never returned to Santa Fe
00:35:32
the chapel is now a tourist attraction
00:35:35
through the years the mystery
00:35:37
surrounding the staircase persisted then
00:35:39
in 1965 Oscar had Weger a
00:35:42
third-generation master carpenter
00:35:44
visited the chapel he went in and he saw
00:35:50
the staircase and of course he was
00:35:51
overwhelmed being a builder any builder
00:35:54
is overwhelmed when they see this
00:35:56
magnificent piece of carpentry and he
00:36:00
remembered a story in the family that
00:36:03
his grandfather had come to this country
00:36:06
and and had built a staircase Oscar's
00:36:09
grandfather Johanna hadwiger was a
00:36:11
renowned European carpenter who spent
00:36:14
two years travelling and working in
00:36:15
Colorado and New Mexico it was during
00:36:18
that two-year period that the spiral
00:36:20
staircase was built Oscar had wicker
00:36:24
became obsessed with a staircase over
00:36:26
the next 10 years he created ten
00:36:28
perfectly scaled models he sent a letter
00:36:31
to the sisters contending that his
00:36:33
grandfather had been the Builder the
00:36:36
sisters were skeptical the sisters are
00:36:40
indeed surprised shocked
00:36:42
it's his claim all of a sudden and they
00:36:46
they tell him that perhaps he can't
00:36:48
prove this claim and that if he can't
00:36:50
prove it it might be fraudulent
00:36:51
they have nothing except their word of
00:36:55
mouth' that he did it already can I
00:37:01
don't buy it in 1970 Oscar had wicker
00:37:07
found what he felt was proof and a
00:37:09
storage room in his sister's home he
00:37:11
came across his grandfather's toolbox
00:37:14
inside was a faded sketch of a spiral
00:37:17
staircase the drawing was an overhead
00:37:20
view with 33 steps Oscar had lugar
00:37:24
passed away in 1980 the sketch was never
00:37:27
authenticated and has since disappeared
00:37:31
all that exists today is this photo copy
00:37:34
of the drawing as for Johan had we Gers
00:37:37
tools they too have disappeared who is a
00:37:44
stranger who answered the sisters
00:37:46
prayers as a Johan hardly gave the
00:37:48
European building or could it have been
00:37:52
as a sisters of Loretto lead 100 years
00:37:55
ago a Messenger of God on a sacred
00:37:58
mission
00:38:05
next a family's desperate search for
00:38:07
their missing daughter and a man who
00:38:09
claims he'll never return in 1983
00:38:23
four-year-old 19k marshall disappeared
00:38:25
while picnicking with family and friends
00:38:27
near her home in Montana for over seven
00:38:29
years Naya Dean's family has been
00:38:31
trapped by the agony of not knowing what
00:38:33
happened to her
00:38:34
[Music]
00:38:35
nileen story is all too familiar every
00:38:39
year thousands of children in the United
00:38:41
States disappear and tragically many of
00:38:44
them are never found
00:38:45
with your help nylons case may have a
00:38:47
different ending two and a half years
00:38:50
after she disappeared authorities
00:38:52
received this letter from an anonymous
00:38:53
man who claims he has nileen he writes
00:38:57
she's a sweet little girl I realize how
00:39:00
much her family must miss her I love her
00:39:03
and I have her I just can't let her go
00:39:05
please watch carefully you may know the
00:39:08
man who wrote this letter you may even
00:39:10
know nileen k Marshall June 25th 1983
00:39:17
Helena Montana
00:39:18
a group of local families were enjoying
00:39:21
a picnic in a remote wooded area less
00:39:25
than a hundred yards away nileen and
00:39:27
several other children who are playing
00:39:28
on the banks of a shallow creek at
00:39:31
around 4 p.m.
00:39:34
[Music]
00:39:36
but 10 days more than 2,800 searchers
00:39:39
combed the area the daleks weren't
00:39:43
successful the grid search was
00:39:45
unsuccessful was just absolutely nothing
00:39:48
to indicate if she was even there
00:39:55
authorities were baffled then my
00:39:57
aleene's mother learned of a chilling
00:39:59
possibility
00:40:02
some of the children playing near
00:40:04
nightly told her they remembered seeing
00:40:06
a strange man dressed in a jogging suit
00:40:10
dear little girls had walked by nine
00:40:12
lean while she was sitting there and a
00:40:14
man stepped out from behind the trees
00:40:16
and first little girl didn't recognize
00:40:19
him as part of the group and Eileen was
00:40:22
heard by her saying my brother can run
00:40:24
faster than you and she was still
00:40:26
sitting there with her little legs
00:40:28
crossed a second child an eight-year-old
00:40:30
girl came by and saw the man and the man
00:40:34
took a step closer to my lean if you
00:40:36
have a plate follow the shadow follow
00:40:39
the shadow
00:40:40
one of the little boys a six-year-old
00:40:42
said that nileen had told him the man
00:40:45
had told her to follow the shadow and
00:40:48
they haven't been seen since convinced
00:40:53
that nileen was abducted Nancy Marshall
00:40:55
and her husband Kim distributed
00:40:57
thousands of missing posters across the
00:40:58
United States they received dozens of
00:41:01
reported sightings but none could be
00:41:03
confirmed then on November 27th 1985 the
00:41:07
case of nileen K Marshall took a
00:41:09
dramatic turn the National Center for
00:41:12
Missing and Exploited Children received
00:41:14
an anonymous phone call from a man who
00:41:17
claimed he had nily two months later an
00:41:21
organization called child find of
00:41:23
America received a typewritten letter
00:41:25
from the same man in the letter a man
00:41:29
claimed that he was raising nileen but
00:41:31
he loved her and had no intention of
00:41:33
returning her to her parents this man
00:41:37
said he was taking good care of her but
00:41:40
during the same phone conversation or
00:41:43
same letter that he would write would
00:41:47
also make reference to things that he
00:41:51
was having Eileen do which would be
00:41:54
sexual abuse
00:41:55
[Music]
00:41:57
over the next six months child find of
00:41:59
America received two more letters and
00:42:01
another two phone calls these phone
00:42:05
calls were coming from the Madison
00:42:06
Wisconsin area as were letters that he
00:42:09
was sending the FBI to my understanding
00:42:12
had actually located the phone booth
00:42:15
that the phone calls were coming from
00:42:19
when that lay after locating the phone
00:42:21
with however the phone calls abruptly
00:42:22
stopped in his letters the man reveals a
00:42:26
few clues that might help find Aileen he
00:42:29
claims that he lives off substantial
00:42:30
investments that he and Aileen traveled
00:42:32
frequently
00:42:36
a teacher at home and she likes to go
00:42:38
with me when I travel she would gladly
00:42:41
recount to you trips to San Francisco
00:42:43
New York
00:42:44
Oklahoma City New Orleans Nashville
00:42:46
Chicago Porto Rico or Canada we were
00:42:49
even in Britain for a month last year
00:42:50
and she loved it nobody questions
00:42:53
passports there were numerous leads
00:42:56
about my liens sightings all over the
00:42:59
United States well that ties in if he is
00:43:01
in fact traveling that would account for
00:43:04
the sightings from one coast to another
00:43:06
coast just last June authorities
00:43:10
received another possible lead in the
00:43:12
case nileen Marshalls uncle saw this
00:43:15
composite of a man and woman wanted for
00:43:17
child abduction in another part of the
00:43:19
country he believes he saw them during
00:43:21
the first day of the search for an alien
00:43:25
it's not really all that unusual for a
00:43:29
person to remain at the scene of a crime
00:43:32
get lost in a crowd stick around to see
00:43:36
what was going to happen next I still
00:43:42
look for her I always will every time
00:43:46
I'm at an airport every time I met a a
00:43:49
resort every time I'm at an amusement
00:43:52
park sure I look like I'm having a good
00:43:56
time but I'm looking for my child every
00:44:02
minute that I'm out today 19 K Marshall
00:44:08
would be 12 years old this is a computer
00:44:10
aged photograph of what she may look
00:44:12
like at the time of her disappearance
00:44:14
she had dark brown hair and blue eyes
00:44:18
once again the anonymous man placed the
00:44:21
phone calls from a phone booth in
00:44:22
Madison Wisconsin he states that he now
00:44:25
calls nileen by her middle name k in his
00:44:28
letters he mentions that his parents and
00:44:30
younger sister were killed in a car
00:44:31
accident when his sister was 9 years old
00:44:34
[Music]
00:44:52
next week on unsolved mysteries in
00:44:55
Aurora Missouri a prominent citizen has
00:44:57
burned to death in her own home
00:44:59
a young [ __ ] man named Johnny Wilson
00:45:01
confesses to the crime but later recants
00:45:04
two years later the case takes a bizarre
00:45:06
twist when another man confesses to the
00:45:09
murder and says Johnny is innocent but
00:45:11
Johnny Lee Wilson is still behind bars
00:45:15
two men in a bar fight over a woman and
00:45:18
had more North Dakota the next day one
00:45:20
of the combatants Kenneth ng is found
00:45:22
dead in his garage an accident or murder
00:45:27
join me next week perhaps you can help
00:45:31
solve a mystery
00:45:36
[Music]
00:45:58
[Applause]
00:46:02
[Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 85
    Most heartbreaking
  • 80
    Most heartwarming
  • 75
    Most emotional
  • 70
    Most dramatic

Episode Highlights

  • The Tragic Death of Norman Ladner
    Norman Ladner's death was ruled a suicide, but his parents believe he was murdered.
    “It was impossible for me to believe it was a suicide.”
    @ 08m 30s
    May 22, 2019
  • Nikki Crowder's Promise
    After 21 years, Nikki Crowder fulfills a promise made to her childhood friend Sherita.
    “A child is a gift you can't buy; it's the most perfect gift in the world.”
    @ 20m 56s
    May 22, 2019
  • The Murder of Dwayne McCorkin Dale
    Truck driver Dwayne McCorkin Dale was murdered for a mere $25, leaving his family devastated.
    “Being killed for that little money seems ridiculous.”
    @ 26m 15s
    May 22, 2019
  • The Mysterious Carpenter
    A stranger arrives to build a staircase that defies explanation, leaving the sisters in awe.
    “You have your staircase, he announced, then he left without being paid.”
    @ 33m 32s
    May 22, 2019
  • The Disappearance of Nileen K. Marshall
    A family's desperate search for their missing daughter leads to chilling letters from an anonymous man.
    “I love her and I have her. I just can't let her go.”
    @ 39m 03s
    May 22, 2019

Episode Quotes

  • It's a deep shock and a tragedy to find your own son.
    Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 3, Episode 10 - Full Episode
  • This stays with you almost constantly, almost 24 hours a day.
    Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 3, Episode 10 - Full Episode
  • I never failed to count those steps whenever I go up or come down.
    Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 3, Episode 10 - Full Episode
  • I look for her. I always will.
    Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 3, Episode 10 - Full Episode

Key Moments

  • Unsolved Mysteries00:03
  • Tragedy in the Woods00:22
  • A Mother's Promise17:41
  • Senseless Violence29:19
  • Miracle Staircase29:52
  • Sisters' Journey30:29
  • Nileen's Abduction40:53
  • Enduring Search43:42

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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